For some people the idea of starting a business sounds like the worst idea in the world. They would rather work all the years of their life for someone else than even consider having a business of their own. For others, however, there is nothing more exciting than the thought of starting a business.

Many people dream of starting a business from the time they are young. These people love the idea of being creative and of selling products they believe in. They love the idea of convincing others to love the same things they love and they usually like the idea of working with money. Starting a business of their own sounds like the ideal way to spend years of their life.

If you’re one of these crazy people that dream of one day starting a business, you can begin the process by taking the time to ask yourself some important questions that will give you more understanding and direction of how to proceed. First, if you’re considering starting a business, try to brainstorm the kind of business that you would want to start. Do you dream of selling books or of having coffee shop, or is the idea of selling sporting equipment more your style? You see, you can have a business for just about anything, so it is important to narrow your ideas into a couple of focused ideas for starting a business. It is usually true that starting a business will go better if your business is focused on something that you love. Without passion you will not get very far with your dreams.

You should be a combination of realistic and idealistic when you’re making plans for starting a business. You have to have a real understanding of factors like money, time, and resources for your business, but you will never have the business you dream of if you wait until you have all of the details figured out. So allow yourself to get pretty detailed in your ideas for starting a business. Write out parts of starting a business that seem easy and possible and write out parts of starting a business that seem hard or like they could never happen.

Another important thing to do before you rush off in starting a business is to sit down with current business owners and learn everything they can teach you. Their years of trial and error will be invaluable to you as you seek to begin the process of starting a business yourself. Many have gone before you, so utilize their resources and be a learner.

Take steps of planning and preparation and your dream of starting a business can become a reality quicker than you’d expect.

1. Why should there be anyone would do business with you?

This could be the very first question that you must ask yourself before anything else. You got to demand yourself to an answer to this. Why the heck on earth would anybody pay for this Junk youre selling? Yup, Junk, as I phrased it. It doesnt matter how good your product is to be, to the eye of others, its just another piece of product in a sea pool of other similar products.

So, still be very proud of your product or service? Truly youre 100% proud of it? You truthfully and deeply believe people would be dumb by NOT buying from you?

Wellyou passed the first barrier! Youre ready to start go to next stage.

2. The basic business needs 3 things: Lawyer, CPA, and Creative or crazy fellow, which could very well be you.

Almost every business gets themselves for the first two. Its understandably so. Good creative person are really hard to find, hard to manage, and youll never sure of what youre paying for.

Every established and sizeable business knows the creative side plays a heavier weight than the lawyer and CPA. CPAs and lawyers can help you when you are up there. But at the early stage when your business is still an infant, your business live or die depending on its business branding activities in areas like business identities, logos, marketing campaign, advertising copy and business slogans.

Now, are you NUTS enough? Have people been calling you NUTS?
If so, you are ready for the next stage! Do give yourself a Cheers!

3. Singing for Your Own? You Got To Promote Yourself In Every Possible Way.

Do all of them. Yes, Do whatever possible to get your business name to be up there! Get your Business Brand being noticed by others. There more the merrier!

Business can just comes and go so fast before anybody could hears of them. People are busy, what do they care? They dont care about you and your business. Why should they care? Get serious. Do everything you can possibly and reasonably afford to do. But beware; you must not mislead others because itll backfire quickly enough to wipe your business off.

Do you Sing for your own self? Then youve passed! Move on to next stage

4. Big Decision: Could You Win The Competition.

Its very likely that youre entering a crowded business market when you first started. Take a hard and closer look at what other fellows are doing; what your competitors are doing right now could affect your business greatly.

At this stage, you got to decide: Are you going for Head to Head fight? Competing on better quality? Crazier pricing strategy? Extra Mile Service Level? Better Marketing Campaign? or what else? Or you would avoid all that, and create you own niche, where you are the leader?

If you decided to be offering the same or very much similar product at the same price, but your marketing materials doesnt look half as good as your competitorshey, youre in deep trouble! If youre charging half compare to others, then its still alright to Look cheap, simply because you are the Cheaper alternative where people are looking for.

5. Marketing is basically just a matter Perception.

Perception is just another fancy word for thoughts. The thought by the public has in mind all about you and your Good or Bad business. Good salesmen control the perception more on personal level like putting on neat suit, very nice smile and sincere voice, firm handshakeetc.

And your business marketing campaign need to strive to achieve equivalent level of effects. And it needs to be at a more abstract level by means of having an attractive Business Name, Eye Catching Business Graphics, Professionally dressed-up staff. Any things that just might seduce and persuade a potential visitor to become a paying customer.

6. Your Business Identity; Your Business Equity.

The Business Name, the Logo, the projected Business Look, the publics perception, recognition, or even affection if there is; these are critical to business success. Big businesses routinely pay big buck like million pounds for these aspects for the business.

Your Business Identity must be well organized to target at desired market. Its what termed as the Face side, the side which public always sees first. Work on refining it so it works wonders. Improve it to get better and even better, and then protect it, and treasured like your beloved!

Yup, there are so many people who just bought a ready business. But every time they run a new marketing campaign, they tend to fall into trap of projecting a different business image and look. Really, dont ever make such mistake like an amateur.

Consistently stick on to the business branding strategy that your have chosen on the very early stage. This is your Business Equity. By keep changing the business look, youll get the public confused, and worse still if they see that you dont even have the basic respect for your business identity.

Dont destroy the business equity; you need to be utmost concerned with your business image to the public. It has its own personality. It has to stand out from the rest. It has to send clear signal to the targeted market: Here We are, Come To Us, Get Us Today.

Do Love Your Business, just like you love yourself.

When big businesses develop products or services, they hire publicists to promote them. The publicists job is to organize a promotional camping. They provide a report or story to journalists in various forms of online and offline media. Theyre hired to promote and creating mass public interest. Making a small business perform on a grand scale is simple. By becoming your own publicist, you can promote the same way, leaving you competition in the dust.

First, make a list of potential contacts in forms media youll target. In other words, find journalists. Good journalists are always hungrily looking for a unique story to write about. When you present them with one, theyre more than happy to listen. Youre making their job easier bringing a story to them and cutting their research time down. They often spend more time looking for a story to write about, than dong what they love, interviewing people and writing stories to publish!

You can find many find journalists working for local newspapers nation wide. Simply call local newspapers and ask to speak to the appropriate reporter. Then, fill them in on your story. However, dont give the complete story away at that moment. Create interest and schedule an appointment for the reporter to get your complete story.

Youre actually setting up a press conference. When you spoke to each reporter, you gave then a convenient way to get your full story without leaving their office. How? By inviting them to your press conference that will take place on a teleconference call line. This way, you can invite hundreds of reporters to hear your story and interview you at once. You can find teleconference lines on the Internet at no cost. Just do a search for them.

When the press knows your story, it will create a buzz about your business and be printed in newspapers as a feature for people to read. Your business contact information will also be included in the newspaper article so people can contact your business. If 50 newspapers with a circulation of 30,000 readers per day print your story, 1,500,000 people will receive it in their newspaper. Of the 1,500,000 people, lets say that only 50,000 read your story. If of 50,000, only 2,000 contact your business, totaling 2,000 excellent quality leads, thats not bad.

This same technique used for exposure in magazines and other forms of media. Most have online and offline editions. When news is considered legitimate, its taken more seriously that any advertisement you can buy.

Did I mention this would not cost one dime?

Balance In Direct Sales: Take Time To Watch The Horses

As my direct sales business has grown over the past couple of years, I’ve had seasons where my life has been completely out of balance… it’s then when I have to pull back and reflect and get some perspective on life… including my home business.

A while ago, my daughters and I were out running errands… the usual mega-store run for everything you’ve ever needed or not in bulk, off to deliver an order to a friend and then back home again. We live in a small town and anytime we want to go ANYWHERE outside of our lovely town we have to drive through a beautiful community of horse farms and grand estates.

One horse farm along our usual route is magnificent…rolling hills, lush green grass, beautiful white fence. Each spring the mares and babies are out on the pasture by the road where we drive. I have to be careful when we pass by because we’re all ooooing and aaaahing – people in the cars behind me get mad because I slow down, people in front of me better not slow down because I’m not watching the road and I might rear end them… something about a colt running along side it’s mamma… breathtaking.

What does this have to do with doing a direct sales business? Not much really… except to say that there IS more to life than the business And sometimes you need to stop and watch the horses. It’s amazing – I can be driving along that country road and have my mind completely focused on what I need to do for my business… where I need to be, what I need to get, who I need to call… so much so sometimes that I don’t even hear the kids asking me a question as I’m driving. But when I get to the farm and I hear the kids say, “Oh oh oh.. mom look there’s a baby running”… immediately all the brain rush shuts off and I gaze and admire and remember there are other things to think about.

I am passionate about direct sales. But the reason I’m passionate is because of what I believe it can DO for the women (and men too) that are in the field. Unfortunately I hear of too many women (sorry guys, that’s the majority in our field) who spend too much time NOT taking time to watch the horses… those moments of quiet rest, to reflect on life rather than business.

I guess it’s all about balance. This is nothing new to you I know. So find your horse farm… and enjoy the moment… but remember to keep part of an eye on the car in front of you just in case!

If you are a business owner, manager, or work in the human resources department of a company, you’ve probably hired employees who have been less than truthful on their resumes. In fact, recent studies indicate that 75 percent of all resumes contain some form of falsification and fully 89 percent are misleading.

Even though the numbers alone make the case for background checks and resume verification, employers often forgo pre-employment screening of applicants. When they do, the employers’ lack of foresight can come back to haunt them. In some cases, companies have been found liable for negligent hiring and retention. In other cases, employers have faced public relations nightmares. Not too long ago, a prestigious university made the news when it was discovered that their admissions officer had allegedly lied about her educational background, and had not received the degrees she had claimed. In the most tragic cases, workplace violence has claimed innocent lives.

Pre-employment screening and background checks prove due diligence, and so can prevent lawsuits claiming negligent hiring. And, by screening out unqualified applicants, employers can save time and money otherwise wasted by recruiting, hiring, and training the wrong applicants. Resume verification and education verification can even help head off wrongful termination lawsuits.

Companies that provide employment screening offer a number of services. The type of screening that best serves you often depends upon the industry in which you work. For example, in the healthcare industry, background checks typically include a state criminal report, a social security number report, education verification, employment verification, a professional license check, a medical abuse check, and a sex offender check.

Those companies that hire delivery drivers or that employ long-haul truckers most often benefit from a national criminal report, a social security number report, a motor vehicle report and a license verification. Educational institutions and childcare centers usually request a national criminal report, a social security number report, a sex offender check, education verification, and employment verification. Those who work in the accounting or finance departments of companies should undergo a national criminal report, a social security number check, a credit check, education verification, employment verification, and an OFAC terrorist check.

Once you make the sensible decision to do pre-employment screening, how do you go about selecting the right company to do background checks? First, look for a well-established company that has a proven track record in both quality and accuracy. Next, make sure that they guarantee confidentiality. Third, check to see that they employ licensed investigators and provide you with the opportunity to speak to a live researcher. Finally, select a company that does both domestic and international searchers, and that does hands-on court research in the United States.

In today’s litigious society, and with the prevalence of dissembling on resumes and employment applications, you can’t afford to forego background checks and pre-employment screening of your employees and applicants. It’s a small price to pay for the peace of mind you’ll have knowing that the people you hire are who they claim to be.

If you are running a business, you probably know that the people that you hire can either make or break your business. This is why it is so important to make sure that you hire only the best employees to work for you. However, it is easy to accidentally hire an employee that is a “bad apple” and you’ll definitely end up paying for your mistake. If you want to make sure that you hire only the best employees, then it’s time to start running background checks on employees before you hire.

There are many employers today who are turning to employee screening to make sure they get the best employees possible. If you’re not sure that background checks are the right choice for your business, here are a few of the main benefits that may change your mind.

Benefit #1 – Lower Turnover – One of the main benefits of using background screening on your potential employees is that it can actually lead to lower turnover. It can be quite expensive for your company to have a high turnover of employees. However, screening before you hire can help you avoid this.

Benefit #2 – Better Attendance – Attendance is important to your company as well. Your company cannot function well when employees are constantly absent from work. Employee screening can help you week out people that have a bad attendance history at work.

Benefit #3 – Reduce Incidents of Theft – You’ll also find that background checks can help you reduce incidents of theft at your company as well. They allow you to take a close look at the criminal record of potential employees to decide whether or not they are trustworthy or not.

Benefit #4 – Experience Productivity – Another great benefit of using background screening before you hire is that your company will experience better productivity when you do this. You won’t end up with people who slack off on the job or who don’t want to be there. You’ll have quality employees who really make your company better.

Benefit #5 – Find Qualified Employees – Having qualified employees is very important if you want a profitable business. So, take a look at their background checks to see how they have performed in the past and if they really do have the qualifications that they say they do.

Benefit #6 – Make Sure the Person is Who They Claim to Be – Last of all, employee screenings allow you to make sure that the person you are considering for hire is really who they are claiming to be. This makes sure that you are protected and that you really know who you are hiring.

Attendance Recording System:

Attendance Recording System allows the companies to manage, monitor and produce reports of employees attendance. This system fits easily into the business structure and gives you greater control over your staff. It is mainly used by companies which have more than hundreds or thousands of employees. They are used in areas such as healthcare, financial services, transportation or distribution, retail management, government, manufacturing, and hospitality. Attendance recording system provides an accurate means of recording employee entries, exits breaks, absence and leaves. This can be compiled to produce the total hours worked and the amount that the employees should be paid. More advanced systems can automatically consolidate this information across multiple locations, track how hours are allocated across projects, and monitor overtime hours. Attendance recording system handles companys time and attendance and access control needs.

In attendance recording system, an employee has to press his or her thumb on the small machine fixed on a wall to record their attendance. The impression of the thumb matches with the one already stored in a computer, and this enters his or her attendance. Some employees use identifying cards to punch in and out. Time and attendance recording systems lets the employees enter their own information directly into the system, including flex-time hours, vacation time, and sick day information.

By using attendance recording system you can make the attendance sheet into self-service attendance machine. Time and attendance recording machine has the following advantages : saves time and there is no need to manually take the attendance, provides authentication, eliminates errors, promotes employee self-service, manages and controls absenteeism, there is no way to check off someone else’s name by mistake. You also have the additional benefit of not having to issue cards, or replace lost ones. They can also cut down on time theft, buddy punching, extended lunches, and other time tracking problems. The systems reduce potential mistakes automatically by transferring information between company systems.

Time and attendance systems often have a Web version of the employee module, which allows workers to enter their time using a Web browser. Its flexible design runs on both PCs under Windows and UNIX workstations. Most systems are compatible with over 20 databases including Ingres, Sybase, and Oracle, and run on all major network environments, thus, providing instant access to all time and attendance functions. Time and attendance systems help companies to reduce and control costs by permitting employees to access non-critical information in a simple, secure, and safe manner. Most systems are Web-enabled and are integrated with current Internet technology

Whether it involves the calculation of overtime, variable or flexible work hours, or exchanging data from and to other applications, like payroll- or human resource systems, time and attendance recording system offers a complete and flexible solution. Employee time and attendance machines range in cost from less to very high cost. The requirement depends upon the number of employees to monitor, the number of locations to track, and the information reporting requirements. There are several time attendance equipments available in the market and some are manufactured as per the requirements of the particular organization.

Atos Origin Signs A Contract With Wm Morrisons For Fuel Card Management

London, UK July 11th, 2006 – Atos Worldline, an Atos Origin Company, today announced that it has been awarded a five year contract by Morrisons Supermarkets to provide support and business account services for its new Business Fuel Card. It is the first card in the UK retail fuel market to be EMV compliant and Chip & PIN based.

Following the successful takeover and integration of Safeway sites, Morrisons intends to substantially grow its retail fuel business and as part of this drive is launching a new business-to-business fuel card, EMV compliant with Chip and PIN functionality.

Atos Worldline was chosen by Morrisons to manage all services related to the fuel card from application processing via a Web portal with telephone support, credit checking and insurance, account holder database management ; transaction processing, such as online authorisation and invoice & statement production; management information; credit and debt risk management services; through to customer support services.

A key component of the service offered by Atos Worldline is its market leading approval rating for new applications. Experience has shown that this capability has assisted in enabling customers to significantly grow their business account revenues and increase market share.

Atos Worldline was awarded this contract for its in-depth understanding of the fuel market needs as well as proven capabilities in supporting and enabling customers to significantly optimise their business account relationships with powerful and innovative solutions in the domain of payment.

Atos Worldline has for many years been processing the cards and payment business of many large fuel based organisations, which includes credit, debit, loyalty, fuel, fleet and charge cards. The Atos Worldline system provides for transaction authorisation, data acquisition, application processing and fulfilment, credit checking and insurance, account holder management plus merchant reimbursement of all card payment transactions; an end-to end proven solution that delivers tangible benefits and measurable customer growth in a competitive market.

Phil Maud, Director, Petrol Filling Stations, at Wm Morrisons, Wakefield, “We chose Atos Worldline because of its considerable expertise in the delivery and development of fuel card management services. They clearly understand the opportunities and challenges that face this sector today and the future needs of this market. The choice of Atos Worldline as our business partner met our need for a specialist who understands our business requirements, has the technology focus and innovation to deliver and possesses the right mix of creativity, knowledge and experience.

“This contract provides Atos Worldline with a sound basis from which to develop our relationship together into a new era”, states Peter Phillips, Business Unit Director, Electronic Payments & Card Processing, Atos Worldline in the UK. The new Morrisons fuel card will be the first of its kind in the UK retail fuel market. It is unique in that it is EMV compliant, Chip & PIN based and includes the required levels of security and compliance to meet Morrisons business needs.

If youre reading this article, then the answer is probably yes, but before we get ahead of ourselves. You need to ask yourself a few questions regarding the actual location you plan on placing your new ATM machine.

1. Do you have customers asking for the location of the nearest ATM machine?
2. Do you have at least 200 people a day visiting your location?

If you answered yes to both of these ATM related questions. Then Im about to show you why you need to buy an ATM machine and how your going to make a great profit with little or no effort.

The key to being successful in the ATM business is to find ATM placement locations that will make you money. ATM sales are based on traffic count, so lets figure out how many people will use your new ATM machine on a daily basis. The formula I am about to show you is the same formula that is used by every ATM dealer and ATM distributor in the country when placing ATM machines. Trust me when I tell you this formula is tried and true.

ATM dealers and ATM distributors look at one thing when deciding weather or not to place an ATM machine at a particular location. The rule of thumb goes like this. 3% – 5% of the foot traffic that actually sees the ATM machine will use the ATM. So lets figure that you have a total of 300 people a day coming through your doors, and lets say that you are charging a 2.25 surcharge per valid withdrawal. If you take the middle road that 4% of the people that see the ATM machine will use it. Then you can count on your new automated teller machine to generate you a minimum of 360 transactions per month at 2.25 per valid withdrawal. That comes out to 810 per month or a total of 9,720 per year. All that from one ATM machine at one location.

The next question is how much will your new ATM machine cost. This question is a little harder to answer simply because there are so many ATM machines to choose from. Such as Class 1 Armored ATM machines, Indoor ATM machines like the Triton 9100 ATM machine, Through-The-Wall ATM machines, Scrip ATMS, etc. But one thing I can tell you is that 75% of the ATM machines used in non-bank locations are non-armored ATM machines. A good non-armored ATM machine is the Triton 9100 ATM machine. The Triton 9100 ATM can be purchased from either an ATM dealer or an ATM distributor servicing your area. The price for the 9100 should range between 2,950 and 3,800 depending on what options you choose.

So there you have it, if you have customers that are currently asking you for the closest ATM, or if you have a large amount of foot traffic coming in or walking by your location on a daily basis. Then you will most definitely profit from owning your very own ATM machine.

Before applying for a merchant services account, it’s important to research the various merchant account providers to avoid paying too much or signing with an unscrupulous company.

In applying for a merchant account service, consider prices, integrity and customer service.

Merchant account rates and fees

Be sure you understand all of the rates and fees charged by a merchant account provider. The usual charges include monthly fees, discount rates, transaction fees, application fee, equipment and installation fee.

Monthly fees are usually around 25, though that may vary according on whether you meet your minimum monthly transactions. Discount rates are a percentage taken from a sale that the merchant pays to cover the transaction costs and the risk involved. The usual discount rate is 1.5% to 3.5%.

The transaction fee is a flat fee charged for each transaction, generally anywhere from 20 cents to 1.00. The application fee, if there is one (some merchant account providers dont charge them), is the fee to open the merchant account.

The equipment and installation fee covers the cost of software installation. It can be free, or it could cost as much as 1,200 or more, depending on whether the processing is batch or real-time. The cost for POS terminals depends on the model you purchase but can range from 500 to 1,500.

Choose only reputable merchant account services

You should consider the reputation of the merchant account service.

What to look for when searching for a merchant account:

Beware of merchant service providers who have misleading ads offering things like “free merchant accounts” or “lowest prices guaranteed.” Read the fine print on the website to find out what they really offer.

Its a bad sign when every call you make to the company is answered by a machine.

Beware of merchant account services that make use of free domain or free web hosting services. If they can’t afford a domain name, how are they in business?

Be careful of providers who can’t answer your questions.

Avoid merchant account sites that don’t post rates and fees on their web site.

Use the Internet to find reviews of merchant account companies and take note of all unsatisfactory remarks

Make absolutely sure that your chosen merchant account service provides reliable customer service.