The Big Lie of Investing In Mutual Funds

Have you been lied to? If you have listened to the advice of a financial planner or have money invested in mutual funds because you believe that those managers do a better job of investing your money, you most certainly have been lied to and probably more than once.

I realize that the statement above is harsh, especially if you happen to be a financial planner, but the facts and research back up my statement. This is not new information either. A professor by the name of Michael Jensen published the findings of a study in the 1968 issue of Journal of Finance. In that study of mutual funds he found that the average mutual fund managed by professional managers could not beat the market and the pattern of mutual funds' performance, whether outperforming the market or under performing the market could not be predicted.

Studies since 1968 have all come to similar conclusions. What that means is that it does no good to go with a fund that has outperformed the market in the recent past, because recent results are not an accurate gauge of future performance.

Long-term results show that even the best fund managers end up under performing the market by the amount of the fees charged by the fund.

You may be saying to yourself that certain managers have beaten the market, managers like Warren Buffet comes immediately to mind. While it is true that Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway did extremely well during the early years, the last few years have seen results that have not kept up with the S & P 500.

I am not trying to take away anything from Warren Buffet. His record speaks for itself, but most of his success has come from buying good companies at great prices and then holding those companies for the long run. That is a strategy that anyone can use without paying a manager a stiff fee and by not paying management fees, your money grows at a much higher rate.

In fact, if you have no interest in picking stocks a simple strategy of investing in Exchange Traded Funds that mimic the market index will provide a better return than mutual funds over the long haul.

Do not fall for the Big Lie of Investing in Mutual Funds. Take charge of your investments and reap the rewards for yourself instead of lining the pockets of fund managers who are no better at investing than you are.

Guaranteed Investments - The Truth About Your Portfolio And No Risk Investments

No risk investments are exactly what people yearn for. You can see it everywhere because they are looking and listening for secret tips about that next thing that cannot lose. But is that actually possible?

Whether it is possible or not, people are constantly searching for it. I guess you could say that a "No Risk Investment" is the holy grail of the investing world.

TRUTH: Everyone seeks to reduce their exposure to risk - all types of risks. We do that in everyday life. We're probably more congruent between our real life and our investing life than we'll admit.

We always want to lower risks that may crop up. Don't run with scissors. Don't pick up that broken glass with your bare fingers.

But decreasing risk and searching for the sure bet is two different things. Actually, it's two different attitudes.

WARNING: Don't fall into the trap that your next investment is a sure thing. Every investment has risks that include the total annihilation of your entire investment.

If you never forget that you could lose your entire investment and keep that in mind with every investment that you choose, you will be a wiser investor. And wise decisions produce a comfort level that you cannot get any other way.

Comfort does not come by finding the sure thing or the no risk investment. Comfort is attained by wisdom and risk abatement.

STRATEGY: Reducing your level of risk is a solid strategy to employ.

And constantly lowering your level of risk is a great attitude to possess. Wise people are always searching for the highest returns paired with the highest comfort level of risk for their individual taste.

CONCLUSION: Wise investors do not run after no risk investments.

Make Money From Wood Carvings, Without You Carving Anything

Wood carvings have always been popular. Most people, who have ever been to countries such as Indonesia, or the Philippines, will have seen them being made by hand. The talented craftsmen sitting cross-legged on the floor, chipping away at a piece of wood, until they have created an animal, person's head, or other wonderful piece of wood carving. These unique one-offs always seem far more special than anything we could make. Then, one day, you visit a craft shop back home, and see a shelf filled with identical wood carvings. How do they get them all to look the same? Surely, one craftsman cannot be that precise each time? Well, no, they can't. The secret behind this mass-production is a wood-carving machine. This is where you can set up your own lucrative business, making woodcarvings, without having to lift a single carving tool yourself.

The wood carving machines take one wood carving, and make identical copies. The way they work is almost magical. The original carving is literally traced by the machine, and it carves a second copy as it goes. That original carving, that costs two hundred bucks, say, then becomes two. The opportunities are endless. You can make as many copies, of any wooden carving, as you want to. Each one is identical to the first, and can therefore be sold for the same amount of money. Wooden seats for stools, wooden book ends, wooden Christmas tree decorations, and anything else that you can find, can all be duplicated in the same amount of detail as the original.

The only outlay that you need to make is for the machine, and the wood. Some of these wood carving machines can be found, second-hand, on sale for as little as a couple of hundred bucks. So, if you made a copy of a carving that originally sold for $200, you could sell the second one for the same amount of money and have recovered the cost of buying the wood carving machine with only one carving! The wood that you use can also be any type that you can find. You can even find wood for free. A lot of people have trees in their gardens that they do not want anymore, and have them cut down. Quite often, the trunk is then chopped up for fire wood. However, if you get in touch with a person who you know has just had a tree taken down; you can probably get some of the wood before it has been chopped up into smaller pieces. They will be glad that you take it off their hands, and probably not want any money for it. It is worth getting in touch with your local tree surgeons, or other companies that actually cut down the trees, and see if they can get hold of the wood for you cheaply.

Before you know it, you will be creating wood carvings that are every bit as good as the original hand-carved ones, and building a nice little business out of it that you can expand massively!

22 Ways to Attract Clients As A Wedding Coordinator

As some that is in business for themselves, It's not very easy to find and keep clients quickly and have them coming consistently.

Here are a few effective marketing strategies specifically for wedding coordinator that you can use to take your Business to the next level.

1. Narrow down your niche


2. Create an educational based website to teach couples how to do business with you.


3. Focus on the top 5 or 10 couples for referral


4 Write articles for wedding publications and websites in your industry on you expertise


5. Don't make selling the focus of your business, focus on how your service can best solve the clients problems and value to them


6. As a Wedding planner talk about how your service can benefit them not how you would benefit them.


7. Ask client for memorable testimonies


8. Make a list of centre of influence, those who has the same audience as a you


9. Make couples feel special


10. Strive for 100 referral client based business.


11. Put your expertise on and sell it. (People love information)


12. Create a script that works for your small business and memorize them.


13. Remember to book your follow up call


14. Become a speaker in your business


15. Create client case studies


16. Come up with a clever #800 number


17. Brand yourself


18. Use an email signature as a customer attraction strategy. NEVER send an email that doesn't give a great commercial for you and your business.


19. Have a powerful voice mail that attract clients


20. Always offer a guarantee. Reversing the risk doubles your business


21. Get out of the house.


22. As a Wedding Coordinator do business with other people in the wedding business. Start doing some joint venture.

Focus On Repeat Business - For More Profit And An Easier Life

How much time, money and effort does it take to win a new customer? For most businesses, if they can quantify what it costs to acquire a new client, it's considerable.

You have to advertise, make contact, try and set an appointment, visit, fact-find, draw up a proposal, make a presentation then try to close. Phew, tiring just thinking about all of that! And of course you don't win every job you pitch on, many times all that effort produces no direct payback.

Now consider how much easier it is dealing with an existing customer. You can get through the 'secretary barrier' and speak to your client without difficulty. If they were happy with the work you have done so far, they'll be receptive to your next proposal. When you have discussions, they will be more frank because they trust you. You are in a good situation to suggest add-ons and price is less of an issue than it was initally because they are confident that your work is good.

Contrast that with how hard it is getting through to a new prospect and you can see that life is much simpler if you have a stable of happy, repeat customers.

How do we get to this pleasant situation? The key is to never disappoint your customer - no nasty surprises. If you promise something, do it. Excuses are poison. If a situation arises when you can't deliver, tell the customer up-front, so he can adjust his plans. And stay in touch, no one likes to be neglected.

Satisfied customers become extremely loyal; when a competitor tries to take your business, your customer will say, 'We already have a good supplier'. And they will spread the word about you too.

Freight Brokering - What is Dead-Head Pay?

They had another employee drive me in a car to Indiana. From there I got on No. 20 where - as my brother warned me - I'd be walking all the way back to central Illinois (he was a brakeman himself at TP&W). And that I did. After arriving in Indiana, I think I had several hours of sleep first and then a steak dinner at the "hangout".

We left Indiana about midnight and stopped to switch cars in and out all along Route 24 - Sheldon, Watseka, Chatsworth, Forrest, Chenoa, Gridley, El Paso and eventually back into the yard in East Peoria. We arrived about 12 noon and I was tired.

To be honest, I don't know what kind of pay I received for being dead-headed to Indiana. But I didn't care. This was back in my younger days - when a guy didn't have to worry about what he ate or drank let alone how much he was getting paid to get dead-headed 120 miles.

So, you'll find dead-heading in trucking as well. Normally, this is when a driver will drive empty, out of his way to pick up a load. Now, some people say it's dead-heading when the driver does not have to drive out of his way to pick up a load - but perhaps at the destination, there is little freight to pick up as a back haul so the driver has to leave elsewhere - empty - to pick up another load.

Either way - the truck is driving empty in order to pick up a load or driving elsewhere empty to find another load after making a drop.

And, of course, the driver is looking for dead-head pay. In my opinion, a shipper should help to some extent by providing deadhead pay. But many don't.

I think it all depends on "urgency". How urgent is the shipper to get his load moved? Or, how urgent is the driver wanting to move truck? The broker, of course, should always try to get the best "package" for his truck. But, ultimately, it's the shipper's decision.

5 Steps to Studio Success

Today, I am going to share a fundamental formula for running a successful business – it works for just about ANY type of business. It works for IBM and Chevrolet, and it also works for the restaurant down the street. In fact, I use it with most yoga studios.

Very simply, there are five steps to running a successful business:

Decide who will you serve

Find out what they want

Get it

Let them know you have it AND how it will help them

Give it to them

That's it. Class dismissed. Okay, so you want some explanation? Let's take it one step at a time. This will take a few minutes to go though, but I promise it's worth it. And, at the end, I'll give you a way to evaluate your own studio. I'll use an example of Kona's sandwich shop, a restaurant near where I live, then we'll also apply it to a studio.

1. Decide who you will serve. You will do far better in business if you can narrow down your audience. Select a niche (or a number of them). I like to consider three criteria in choosing a niche:

a) Can they comfortably afford my products or services?
b) Can I easily reach them (advertise & market to them)?
c) Are they likely to be interested in what I'm selling (Does it ease some discomfort or provide some pleasure or benefit)?

Kona's sandwich shop is near a state university. They aim to serve students – this is their primary target market. Here's how they do on the niche criteria. First, students are often low on cash, so they sell low-priced sandwiches. You can get a good sandwich and a drink for under $5.00 (they probably couldn't make it selling sandwiches for $12.95, as downtown restaurants do). Next, students are mostly located on the university campus. They can be reached through on-campus ads, university newspaper, etc. Finally, students need to eat, and a take-out/eat-in place like Kona's fits their lifestyle well.

What are successful niches for a yoga studio? Back pain relief yoga, pre-natal yoga, weight-loss yoga, stress relief yoga, etc. Many studio owners feel they serve everyone. This may be true, but your students want to feel like you specialize in their needs. If you offer weight-loss yoga, you can probably find potential students at Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, a local gym, etc. There are clear ways to contact them. If they are already participating in another program to help with weight loss, they can quite possibly afford yoga too.

2. Find out what they want. Kona's tried serving everything from pizza to baked potatoes over the years, but again and again, they found that students just want a basic sandwich. A low-priced one that is freshly made. So this is just what they serve.

Looking at a studio, even though the class might be the same for some of the niches we've talked about, the reason people come is different. You MUST clearly know why these people might want to come to your studio. This means that you want to put coupons that say "Easier Childbirth and Less Pain – Try Pre-natal Yoga" in an OB/GYN's office. But the therapist's office gets the ones that say "Did you know that yoga can relieve stress and anxiety?"

3. Get it. This means get whatever you need to provide the product or service to your customers. Kona's got the ingredients and hired a staff of sandwich-makers. This is all they need.
For a studio, this step means that you need qualified teachers and a space to teach yoga. If you sell products, it means buying inventory. That's it (It's much easier after doing steps 1 & 2).

4. Let them know you have it AND what it will do for them. The folks at Kona's are great at this. They advertise in just about everything that the university students read. They provide coupons, because students always want to save a buck. They let students know that the sandwiches are freshly made, taste great and will fill them up. We all seek to avoid pleasure an pain (though most people will do more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure). For Kona's, this means letting students know they will avoid the "pain" of spending lots of money. And, they will have the "pleasure" or benefit of having a fresh sandwich that tastes great.

Notice that when we talked about pre-natal and stress-relief yoga, we addressed this too. Pregnant women spend time in Ob/Gyn offices, so we want to put coupons or postcards there. And, we don't use generic ones either – they are simple and specific. Basically, they say "you won't feel as much childbirth pain if you come to our studio and do yoga!" That's all it takes to persuade many women to give it a try.

5. Give it to them. This means that you have to provide whatever your selling in a comfortable and convenient way. No one wants to wait in line too long for a sandwich, nor do they want to have no place to sit and eat it. Kona's has a sandwich assembly line with one person putting on each layer of the sandwich, so the customer gets it quickly. They provide lots of indoor and outdoor seating so customers receive a positive dining experience.
Kona's has been one of the most successful sandwich restaurants in town for over 20 years.

In our sample studio, this is where the "rubber meets the road." I believe in giving students an "Exceptional Experience" (as I've talked about in past newsletters). When a students leaves your studio feeling like they are truly a being of spirit and light (or their back hurts less, or they are losing weight, etc.) then you have successfully delivered what you promised. Not only will they be back, but they will bring their friends.

Now let's apply it to your studio. Ask yourself the following questions:

What niches do I serve? Do I advertise or market to them specifically (or do you just post generic yoga fliers everywhere)?

What is the real reason they might want yoga? What pain or discomfort in their life do they hope it will ease? What positive benefit will it provide?

Now that you know what they want, ask yourself: Do I have the staff and space I need to serve these people's wants and needs?

How am I targeting these potential students? Where do they spend time? Am I clearly letting them know what results they will see in their life from yoga (or do I just let them know they can come to my studio for yoga, but figuring out the results are their business)?

Am I providing an exceptional experience to my students and clients? Do they leave my studio feeling "Wow, that was great!"

It takes some patience to go through these (and some brutal honesty), but I have yet to see a studio that has completed these steps thoroughly and is not successful.

Namasté,
Al Lipper
Coach Al Lipper

If you found this information insightful, pass on the good fortune to others right now. Thank you!

Clever Negotiation Ensures Favourable Charges For Registered Office

Getting an address for registered office in UK may not be very difficult but getting it in the right place is not at all easy. It is because an address in the right place increases the impressiveness of ones business. It helps in winning the confidence of customers. This results in expansion of ones business horizon and ensures higher profit. Being aware of this fact, every business aspirants like to book an address in a strategically perfect place.

This makes the task of getting an address for registered office in a desired place. The problem becomes even more critical due to the legal matters related to it. According to the dictation of law, a registered office should be only within the place prescribed by the government. This limitation makes businessman go after the places that has legal validity. Ultimately, there is a competition of grabbing the best place.

In his pursuit to find out an address for registered office in a legally valid yet strategically important place, one may be helped by firms that provide service for this type of office. Going through them he can get an address for the purpose in the place he wants. But for that good negotiation skill is very much necessary. They charge different cost for different kind of services. Better negotiation ensures better deal.

For some people only getting an address for registered office is sufficient. This category of businessman will be charged a lump sum amount at a time. Some others are there who needs additional services. They want the mails that Companies House sends to the office to be forwarded to them. For this additional service, they charge extra. They have certain parameters based on which they fix the charge. It varies from firm to firm. Making comparison and clever negotiation will be helpful in getting a suitable deal

Top Ten Fears of Starting a Business

Most people have fears about starting and maintaining a business. Fear will cause you to procrastinate and constantly put things off, including starting a business. If this happens, eventually you will find out that anything you start you never finish. It is important to deal with your fears so that you can get things accomplished and be able to move on with your life.

Listed below are the top ten fears people have about going into business.

1) Lack of financial resources such as obtaining loans


2) Record keeping and taxes


3) Lack of self confidence


4) Lack of self-esteem


5) Finding trustworthy employees


6) Business Failure such as bankruptcy


7) Security


8) Lack of knowledge on starting a business


9) Rejection such as too much time away from family members and friends


10) Long hours/hard work

Just like anything else that you are afraid of doing, you will stay away from it. For example, some people are afraid to fly so they stay away from airplanes and they use other means of transportation to get them where they want to go. Even though it takes them longer for them to get to their destinations, the fear of flying keeps some people from boarding an airplane. A few people do get enough courage to face their fears' head on and take that first airplane flight, while many others don't because of fear. Those who take their first flight will say later than it was not bad at all and that they do not know why they were so afraid to fly. What I am saying is that your "fear is real" and it can stop you from doing a lot of things including starting and running your own business.

Make a list of the fears that you believe have caused you to put off starting your own business. Once you have control over your fears, you will be more successful with starting and managing your business.

Are you interested in starting a business?

To the new and experienced entrepreneurs, getting help with your small business is very crucial to your success. Getting the right help will cause you to avoid costly mistakes, and it can also help you to save a lot of time, money and energy. You will need to get the right help to form the legal structure of the business, financial, management, procurement/certification, marketing, pricing products, preparing a business plan, and more. If you are a business owner who is wondering if you can take your business to new heights, contact Dr. Waters at tina.waters@waienterprises.com

Taking Risk on High Yielding and Broader Capital Ventures

Private Equity Venture Capital is an investment stocks from private firms that are not listed in stock exchanged market. Usually the exchanged market is composed of members who inter-sale securities in a definite stock market set at a particular time, or fixed buying timetable of closure. Private equity is funding on a very broad sense. Types are leverage buyout, growth capital, angel capital, venture capital, and the mezzanine capital.

Some Types of Private Equity Venture that are Popularly Favored

1. The Leverage Buyout

This kind of venture capital is set on a ratio of 90 to 10 percent capital funding distribution coming from loans, or second party funds with a 10 percent equity of the base company, using the assets of the enterprise to pose as collateral for those borrowed funds, and payments thereby of said loans will be paid by any cash flow, proceeds, or acquired gains of the subject business in equity.

In some instances, a significant amount of debt will be incurred to zero equity at all (disregarding the remaining 10% if it's not available at all). Usually, this happens when an enterprising group takes over the acquisition of a public or private company or business that's in the brink of insolvency due to mismanagement, or corruption. In other cases it is a combined capital from the buying group of managers, and from outside funding thru acquired debts, most often in form of high yield "trash" bonds.

2. The Angel Capital

This private equity capital venture that involves several business entrepreneurs joining together as a group "angel group" with the aim to invest as a collective shareholder of an entrepreneur's stock, with visions to specialize in some industry's expertise, likewise marketing in specific markets of target.

A wide range of innovative industries that has been patronized by the angel group capitalist, from software, communications, manufacturing, medical equipments, and various innovative devises used in hospitals and in the medical profession. These Angel groups aim at contributing to the economy in particular, and usually choose to involve with entrepreneurs just within their regional jurisdiction, so their visions will be established where it is projected to be catered along.

3. Mezzanine capital

It is a capital (debt incurred in equity capital ventures), which operates in a very broad financial process from the point the indebtedness has been drawn from a financier up to the time payments are settled, thus making a risky venture but with high yielding profits in investments classified as "subordinate" (a preferred stock), debt representing a claim on the Company's assets that are directly next level-higher than the company's shareholders.

Mezzanine debt often includes equity warrants, a separate clause attached to the obligation (notwithstanding the usual charge on interests), a debt conversion feature, more likely similar to convertible bonds.

Get Paid for Online Survey - Earn $100 Every Single Day Doing Online Surveys

Paid surveys are a good way to make extra income from the comfort of your own home, since all major companies need to know what their AVERAGE customers wants. So that's why they can afford to pay people like me and you up to $75 per survey.

Technically it's a very easy process, especially with the technologies like the Internet, you can get paid for online surveys almost instantly. And that's the best part, because you don't need to do anything, just fill easy surveys that take like, 10 to 15 minutes.

Anyway, I decided to put up a web site on the Internet to help people find the best surveys site for them. You probably think that they are all the same, but no, not really. Some of them offer even more that just surveys, so you will be more than happy just by joining some of them.

I truly hope that the web site that I've put up will be helpful to you and you can even leave some feedback and comments about it, so I can improve later. I'm a newbie in web site building so don't be harsh, I put together some high paying surveys web sites.

Personally, I tried almost all of them so I left a little feedback about every web site that I've tried. So I hope to see you soon there and don't forget to leave comments and feedback! And please, don't be too harsh, because I really spent some time doing the research and really want to add some value to you.

Action Captions – A Picture Says 1,000 Words But Who Gets To Choose Them?

I'm sure you've heard the saying, "different strokes for different folks." Some people receive printed information best, some prefer hearing the information and still others are visual oriented and want to see the information. In an article of any kind where pictures, or graphics, are interspersed with text you have to get your message across to both textual and visual oriented readers. In a competitive situation you may have to satisfy all three if orals are part of the effort. Does this mean that only those with a visual orientation will review your graphics? Of course it doesn't, but what graphic have you seen that doesn't include a caption? Most of the time you can't simply look at a piece of art and immediately grasp its meaning or intended message.

One hundred percent of the time you will never know what the person that created it intended it to say. Think of the standard organization chart that you'll find in most every proposal. Most often it simply has a caption that says "The XYZ Project Organization." Other than to break up dense text, how has this helped your proposal? No mater how visually appealing you make it, it's still just a bunch of boxes connected with lines that claims to be the XYZ Project Organization. What 1,000 does it say? How does it help your overall score? It has become the visual equivalent to fly over country or vanilla; you know it's there but so what?

Like the rest of your proposal a graphic should answer the what's in it for me question and this is accomplished using an action caption. The action caption becomes your thousand words. You tell the viewer what they are seeing and how it supports your claims, what benefit you provide, or why you're unique. As a result the ho hum XYZ Project Organization might become; The XYZ Project Organization – ABC's XYZ project organization eliminates redundancy and reduces overall development cost by watching it's Ps and Qs. If it doesn't add to your probability of winning don't include it. That goes for both text and graphics.