Study Investment

When you think about it and actually get involved in pursuing a
company purchase, you quickly realize that your success rate
of finding your “ideal” company to purchase is a direct result
of your ability to effectively locate viable potential
acquisition candidates and cost effectively DIS-qualify them
via your own, “well honed” business purchase criteria
checklist.

One of the first things you want to do in development of your
business purchase process is establish a list of “initial” DIS
qualification questions for use with business owners.

We use the term disqualification because you clearly throw
away a lot of hay to get to the needle in the stack! This list
of questions will add a tremendous amount of efficiency to
your business purchase methodology and make the job of your
merger and acquisition intermediary of choice much easier.

For simplicity of use, we have listed our most practical
questions categorically. You are encouraged to edit, add or
delete any of our listed questions. Our list of questions
cover many fundamental business attributes, but not many of
the subjective benchmarks to be considered in any business
purchase disqualification process. Again, you can add whatever
number of questions that correlate to your own personal
purchase criteria or preferences, business experiences,
knowledge and risk/ reward tolerance levels.

Suggested Initial Acquisition Qualification Questions:

INITIAL / BASIC QUESTIONS:

* Why is the business for sale?

* How long has it been for sale?

* Has there been other formal purchase offers made to date?

* Will the business sale include any transfer of real estate?

* What is the ownership structure of the company?

* How is the company legally organized?

* Who with the business will be involved in the negotiation of
the sale?

* What are the owners desired transition plans?

* Is senior management willing to stay and invest in the new
company?

* Does a new company leader candidate exist in the company now?

* Who knows the business is for sale? How confidential is this
subject?

* Is there any known outstanding litigation or environmental
concerns?

BUSINESS PROFILE QUESTIONS:

* Are all products manufactured “in house”?

* What % of products or services are “custom” or “made-to-
order”?

* Is there proprietary technology?

* Any protected technology or patents, existing or pending?

* How many full time employees?

* Locations of all office/ manufacturing sites?

* Is the labor force organized in any form?

* What are the financial/ technical barriers to entry of this
business?

* Are there purchase contracts? If so, are they assignable?

FINANCIALS:

* What financial information is available?

* Income statements and balance sheets for last 3 years?

* Are the company’s financials audited, reviewed or internally
compiled?

* Are the inventory and accounts receivable in a healthy
status?

* What is a replacement cost estimate for the fixed assets?

* Are there forecasted financial performance documents?

MARKETING AND SALES:

* Assuming investment, how can the business be doubled?

* How are products sold? Direct? Agents? Distributors?

* What % of revenues are domestic?

* What % of total revenues are from the top 5 customers?

* What is the company’s estimated market share?

* Who are the primary competitors?

* Are there noteworthy new products being developed/
introduced?

TERMS:

* What is the current business valuation? How is it defined?

* Will the owner(s) carry a note?

* Will the owner(s) also accept an “earn-out” portion?

* Is the owner willing to re-invest in the new company?

It is important to define early on in your business purchase
process what your most critical business purchase criteria are
and what attributes of a company are “deal makers” or “deal
breakers”. Companies with noteworthy attributes that did not
make your critical attribute filter list will have to be
evaluated on their own merits.

You will find that once you are actively involved in finding
your “ideal” company to buy that every purchase candidate is
different and each purchase opportunity you initially
disqualify with this list will generate another
disqualification question you did not think of before.
Disqualifying acquisition candidates is truly an iterative
process. There are no standardized procedures or required
evaluation sequences in this initial step.

Take the time and effort to develop and write your own business
disqualification questions. The return on your time invested
in development of a tool of this nature will allow you to look
at more potential deals in less time.

Finding business purchase candidates is also very critical to
meeting your acquisition objectives. Locating companies that
meet your EXACT purchase criteria is a major challenge. Also
investing the time and effort to generate quality acquisition
candidates cannot be over emphasized. Creativity, discipline
and tenacity will yield you the best results.

About the Author:

Mark Smock is President of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com,
the FIRST international business buyer directory of its kind.
Business Buyer Directory provides a non-traditional means for
proactive business buyers to locate businesses for sale
worldwide that meet their exact registered purchase criteria.

>This is intended for information and shouldn’t be construed as legal advice.

In order to make money by mail, you need to have something to
sell which others will want to buy.

An acquaintance of mine coined the title phrase of this article in a discussion we were having regarding creating success in wholesale distribution. At the time, I perceived that to be “consultantese,” another clich

Why should you do informative talks to smaller groups?

Informative talks to smaller groups allow you more intimacy with the audience. You will be able to more closely connect with their needs and their responses to your speech. You have something to say that is important not only to you but to the audience as well. They will take time to listen and not socialize as long as what you have to say is relevant to their pursuits. If you are not relevant, you must find a way to make your topic something they want to know. You must make them aware of the importance of your topic. Suggest books they can read, suggest ways they can use the content of your speech to their advantage to make improvements at work or at home. You want to make sure that you deliver something of value

The point of an informative speech is not to sell yourself and make it an infomercial. The point is to inform the audience of a salient topic and give them information that they can use immediately. Once you have accomplished that task, gaining additional bookings will be easy. I have sat in many audiences and really enjoyed the speeches except when it came to the end and they went into full commercial mode. A successful speaker that is making an informative speech does not do it; they simply let the audience know they will be available for questions at the end of the speech.

An informative talk should also have some supporting materials so that it is easier for the audience to follow along. Many speakers do not want to take the time or spend the money to provide unbiased hand-outs. The one thing I do is make sure they have a worksheet where they can jot down important information (which they keep for future reference). Be ready to dole out free information.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people’s attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the “Networking Queen”. Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com

Blogging is easy, blogging is fun. And what’s moreit can help your business in a lot of ways. A blog is a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and web links in the cyberspace. You could call it an e-diary where you can register your thoughts, opinion and comments on anything and everything under the sun that interests you. Though people had been ‘at it’ long before the term blog was coined; it has gained currency as an effective medium of communicating over the Internet only recently. The introduction of automated published software like “Blogger” at www.blogger.com has been instrumental in blogging success. A blog or a weblog’ is conceptually similar to a website and is accessible to anyone on the Internet.

There are millions of bloggers in the world today blogging away to glory. But blogging can be more than just chatter in the cyberspace. It can be a great tool for boosting your online business’s profitability once you’ve understood how it works and what are its limitations. Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog#Corporate for some more information.

How to become a Blogger?

The key to learning how to become a blogger is to start blogging! Easier said than done? Not really. There are several websites that can give you information on how to be a blogger. Blogger.com is one of them. You have three options here to choose from:

- Have a hosted service like Blogger allows you to set up an account and fire away in a matter of minutes.

- A remotely installed blog like movabletype allows you to install on a server for a small fee.

- Desktop blog programs like Radio Userland are installed on your desktop and then uploaded to a host. These are usually desktop programmes that include hosting and upgradation for a certain period of time and charge you a small fee.

You can get more information on blogging resources from http://www.blogroots.com/resources.blog.

Also see: http://www.blogger.com/start

Once you have decided what option you want for setting up your weblog/ blog you are ready to start blogging. It is that easy. It could take a while before anyone will notice your little blog in the corner and take you seriously. But you can cut down this time with some great ideas at: http://help.blogger.com/

offers some great ideas on increasing your blog’s readership.
There is a Chinese saying, ” It’s a wise man who learns from others’ mistakes”. Read others blogs to see what works and what doesn’t, what are their writing styles etc. It’s a great way to teach yourself and fun too. you are learning on some one else’s expense.

Guidelines for the greenhorn blogger

Here are some simple guidelines for a newbie blogger. Take a chance with these to increase your chances of success.

1. Get Blogging: Like I said earlier, the best way to learn blogging is to start blogging.

2. Recognize your motivation: Why are you blogging? What do you hope to achieve?
   
3. Link to other blogs: the best way to popularise your blog is to link to other blogs. So link you must!

4. Develop a unique style of writing: Developing a writing style is an evolutionary process. Try different approaches and formats until you find one that fits your message, audience, and personal motivations.
5. Express your personality… let your humour, your perspective on life, and your values shine in your writing.
6. Be regular with your posting: readers will quickly wander away from blogs that are not updated regularly. So this is very important.

More blogging resources are available at: (www.lights.com/weblogs)

How to profit from Blogging?

Now that you have understood what a blog is and how to get blogging, its time to make it pay. Blogging is a great way to enhance your online company’s bottomline. It is a popular and an easy medium and has potential of reaching millions.

Here are some tips for you to turn blogging into a serious profitable strategy.

1. Customer Interaction: A blog is a good means to keep in touch with your customers regularly. You can keep them updated on new events, happening in your company, new products and services and other developments. the best part is that you can do it more cost effectively and in much less time than other methods like newsletters, customer updates and customer meetings. The elements of interactivity, community and collaboration are key here. Your blog can also serve as a platform for advertising, promotion and even internal communications. One well-known business example is software company Macromedia’s use of blogging to keep customers updated on what’s happening with its products.

2. Query management: With a blog you can receive and answer to customer queries more quickly than an email. For potential customers it is very important to have a sharp turnaround and you can do that easily with a blog.

3. Link to other sites: Linking your blog to other similar, but not competing, sites is a great way to get some free publicity and traffic for your online business. It is also one big reason why Search Engines will grab your site in their result pages. Ask any online entrepreneur what getting quality traffic to a website means and you’ll know what I am talking about.

4. Get Feedback: Getting feedback from your customers on your products and services, on your company practices and other things is one of the most valuable resources you can build. With a blog, it is not just easier but also time saving for customers to leave feedback for you without filling complicated and mile long forms.

5. Get Google to work for you: Selling ad space is one of the most popular revenue streams for online businesses. With Google’s free AdSense service it just got easier www.google.com/adsense. AdSense allows bloggers to display up to three content-specific “ad units” (boxes that can hold up to four ads each) per page. Each time a visitor clicks these ads, you get paid. Need more convincing?

6. Become an affiliate: Your blog can become a cash cow by using the simple idea of becoming an affiliate for other websites. An affiliate basically carries a link to the other site and each time some one clicks on that link, you get a small commission for it.

7. Donations: If you are running a blog that people love to read and keep coming back in hordes, why not ask them for some monetary appreciation?

Put on your thinking cap and let your imagination run unbridled. You will surprise yourself with the number of ideas that will make your blog less of a personal e-diary and more of a digital cash cow. Blogging is a relatively new marketing arena for webpreneurs, but has immense possibility and potential. Be sure to get on to the bandwagon early in the game and reap your benefits later.

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Presented by:
Perfect Home Based Business Opportunities

The work at home based business market has become extremely broad. There are so many different home based business opportunities available to those that wish to work at home. But how do you choose the home based business that is right for you and will allow you to work successfully from home? While there are plenty of legitimate home based businesses to choose from, it is important to select a work at home business opportunity that you will be comfortable with.

The variety of home based businesses available is astounding. There are home based businesses that sell products, those that sell information, some sell additional health benefits such as medical, dental or prescription coverage. Some home based businesses offer ways to help others lower their mortgages or become a sales vendor. The point is that the possibilities for home based businesses that allow you to work at home are endless. Many home based businesses are easy to learn and have very lucrative results.

When choosing the home based business opportunity you would like to try, learn everything about it you can before committing to one home based business. If you don’t believe that the product or service that the home based business provides is a good one, then that home based business is probably not for you. You must believe that the products or services of a home based business are helpful or valuable to others. You need to be able to convey to your customers that they need what your home based business offers and that it will be helpful to them or improve their lives in some important way.

The best rule of thumb when choosing a home based business to pursue at home is to select something that you would like or you would use. It is easy to be enthusiastic about something you like anyway. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you like it, your customers will, too. Liking your product will make it easy for you to operate your home based business. Working at home is not always easy, so it is vital that you love what you do. So choose a home based business that appeals to you, and you will have taken the first step to becoming a successful work at home entrepreneur.

Hopefully this articles has proven useful to you. Download my Free E-Book and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a successful Home Based Business. Receive The Free Quick
Start Workbook.

Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established Six Figure Income earner and one of the top online marketer’s. He specializes in helping people start their very own Work at Home and Home Based Business on the internet.

I grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.

I believe the media and our culture sends the wrong messages
about how to manage people and this makes it difficult for
Business Owners and Managers.

We’ve all heard the old clich

Fee Increase Leaves Some Sellers Angry, Others Thrilled

Much of my email from readers this month concerned the recent announcement from eBay that it will increase many seller fees on February 18, 2005. Since many business people use eBay’s online store system as their primary ecommerce point of sale, it’s no surprise that most of the emails I received were of the angry variety.

One email in particular caught my attention because it urged me to visit a website to sign an online petition protesting the fee hike. The email directed me to http://www.petitiononline.com/ebayfee/petition.html and upon further investigation I found that 22,548 digital signatures had already been collected (as of this writing).

Thank goodness not all of them had my email address.

This will be the fifth rate hike in as many years for the auction giant and should really come as no surprise. Price hikes are a normal course of business. It was the size of the hike that has many sellers upset.

The rate hike involved the following fees:

Oh, we all know that we can download a load of free stuff from the Internet easily. But the best downloads are the ones that DON’T come with ‘extra’ features like viruses, worms, adwares, spywares, whathaveyounots. It’s the truth. When you download something free on the Internet, they sometimes come with some kind of a program that will either give you a headache or give your computer a sickness.

You see, downloads are free on the surface. But whenever you download something from the Internet, they want something in return, such as our personal information which is sometimes harmless.

The better way to download things online is to get a download program to help you download things off the Internet. For instance, http://www.amazesoft.com provides FlashGet which is a program that can help you download large files like mp3, programs, songs, videos off the Internet in an organized way.

And another wonderfully amazing software for downloads is the GetRight download manager which can be downloaded at http://www.getright.com. This software not only speeds up the download process but it also allows you to download different files from different servers easily and organize it in such a way that you will be able to find the files that you have downloaded very easily. You can download multiple files at the same time without slowing down the speed of download. If the download is interrupted or connection is severed, you can continue the download process from where you left off without having to start the download all over again. GetRight also works with many different types of Internet browsers, i.e., Internet Explorer, FireFox, Opera, Mozilla, Netscape, AOL, MSN, etc. Whenever you download stuff from the Internet using this software, you can get the download without downloading the spywares and adwares that comes with some of these downloads.

Not to be left behind, SpeedBit also provides the same kind of service that GetRight and FlashGet provides, with the speedbit software that is downloadable at http://www.speedbit.com, you can download files from the Internet at 500% faster than the usual speed, broadband or not. The focus on SpeedBit is to make the technology of Download Accelarator Plis (DAP) more accessible to anyone in the world. There are tens of millions of people who are currently using SpeedBit to download stuff from the Internet. SpeedBit also helps you sift out the adwares and spywares that comes with most downloadable stuff on the Internet.

Of course, the faster your Internet connection, the faster you will be able to download programs and files from the Internet. Hence, it will make a significant difference whether you’re using a Broadband internet connection or a dial-up. Dial-ups are definitely much slower than Broadband. If you’re using Broadband and downloading real media files, it may take anywhere between 15 minutes to 45 minutes. However, if you’re downloading files from the Internet using dial-up connection, you may have to wait around 30 minutes to 180 minutes to download one single media file.

Therefore, if you’re using Broadband and combine with one of these downloading softwares, you’ll have a far more pleasant experience than those without such privileges.

Dakota Caudilla, journalist, and website builder
Dakota Caudilla lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://your-free-downloads.com on which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.

If you’re in need of a car insurance adjuster then there are a few facts you should know before you meet with him/her. The first rule of thumb is that if your car insurance adjuster is over friendly remember, he is there to save money for the company he works with, not especially for you.

Don’t ever sign anything without reading every detail and never underestimate the good will of the car insurance adjuster. If the adjuster wants to discuss anything on the phone, request that you would rather meet with him/her in person until after your insurance claim is settled.

You can be pleasant with the insurance adjuster but stay firm. No matter what happened at the scene of the accident, it is not the car insurance adjuster’s fault if the person that hit you was an idiot. Don’t underestimate the importance of an adjuster’s impressions because they all go into your file. The way you act toward him/her could have an influence on your insurance claim later.

Even if, for example, your car hit a deer, insurance adjusters will even be called for this too, to estimate the amount of damage to the car. Again let the adjuster do his/her job and be friendly. When you hit a deer it can cause the same amount of damage in some cases as hitting a car, or even worse. Let the car insurance adjuster look at the damage and make up his/her own mind regarding the extent of damage. Again don’t sign any thing until your car insurance claim is settled.

An independent car insurance adjuster is also expected to settle insurance claims quickly. This person may not owe a particular allegiance to a specific insurance company, but they want to collect the fee from the company. An insurance adjuster’s authority to settle a claim is restricted, but the adjuster will do everything possible to make sure you get treated fairly

The bottom line is don’t let a car insurance adjuster suck you into thinking he’s your best friend in the world, only to be let down later. This is the nature of job and no matter how friendly the adjuster is, he/she is there to do a job. You have little to do with that except provide them with information needed to assess the damages to your car.

Just be a little careful when dealing with a car insurance adjuster.

For a website totally devoted to Car Insurance visit Peter’s Website Car Insurance Answers at http://www.car-insurance-answers.com/ and find out about Car Insurance as well as Cheap Car Insurance at http://www.car-insurance-answers.com/cheap-car-insurance.html and more, including Online Car Insurance Quotes, UK Car Insurance, Car Insurance Rates and Car Insurance Quotes.