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So its Friday night, and youre out on the town with your mates. Youre well dressed and youve had a few drinks. Isnt life grand? You puff away on your cigarette, sipping a pint, and round the pool table considering your next shot. You are keenly aware of the gorgeous woman sitting at the bar, watching your every move. Follow these pool rules, and show her that you are as slick as your slicked-back hair!

Now you may be wondering who gets to break? The traditional way of determining who gets to break is a method called “lagging”. Both players line up their ball at the head string (the line on the table). Shoot your ball to the far rail, and bank it straight back towards yourself without touching the rail you are standing closest to. Have your opponent do the same. Whoever has the ball closest to the rail, without touching it, gets to break. Hitting a side rail is an immediate disqualification.

When you are racking the balls, they should be frozen or touching slightly. The lead ball must be on the foot spot (the dot on the felt). The “8″ ball must be in the center of the racked balls. The white or “cue” ball must be located behind the head string. When breaking, you want to use enough power to split the balls. Ideally you want to sink a couple balls, preferably one of either “solids” or “stripes”. This way you have the option of shooting for any ball on the table during your next shot. If you “scratch”, or sink the white ball off the break, it automatically becomes your opponents turn.

The object of the game is to sink all of your balls before your opponent, and then sink the “8″ ball in the pocket you have indicated. Take your time and line up your shots properly. Try not to use too much power when shooting. Yeah..it looks cool to hit them hard, but its not exactly cool to miss your shot. Try to take your easiest shots first, and try not to leave your opponent with clear shots. Try to use a proper stance when shooting, and bow your head to be in line with the cue. Your best bet is to simply practice on your own, before you go out and play competitively. Be careful playing in bars too, as you might get hustled. Now be a good sport, go introduce yourself to that babe at the bar!

Copyright 2006 Mary Desaulniers

I have no fear of death, but I am deathly frightened of losing my mind and memory. The idea of being trapped in a strangers body, lost, adrift in thought and time is more than I can bear. Friends have laughed at my fear; they have countered with glib remarks: At least you wouldnt know you are in that condition. You would be so far gone in memory loss that you wouldnt know your body is deteriorating. If you have no understanding of the nightmare, how can you be suffering?

True enough. However, I am uneasy about such glib assumptions. The question nags at me still: is there any way the unconscious or subconscious body can know of its misplaced self ? Can someone with dementia or Alzheimers have an unconscious or subconscious awareness that his memory, his identity or sense of self has been lost in the shuffle?

So far, I have not come across in my readings a single suggestion that such possibility exists. There is a great deal of literature about unconscious or procedural memory which does not seem to have any relationship at all with an explicit sense of self. We have a vast reservoir of unconscious memories. Our bodys motor functionsgetting up, going to the bathroom, walking, sleepingare all made possible by unconscious or procedural memorythe memory of procedures and actions we need to do to sustain ourselves as living organisms. We do not have to remember to breathe because the breathing is an unconscious process embedded in our cells. In this sense, there is no memory loss possible with unconscious memory unless the area of the brain that controls a specific action is damaged.

In a very real sense, we are made possible by procedural memory. There are everyday activities that we do which do not require reflection. Driving a car is a good example of implicit procedural memory. This sequence of action is so ingrained in our cells that the driving itself becomes automatic. These memories have been sandblasted into our limbic system. Thats why we never forget how to ride a bike even if there is a forty year lapse between our last bike ride and now.

Does unconscious procedural memory have an awareness of self? Daniel Schacter of the University of Arizona took a 58 year old man suffering from Alzheimers to the golf course. The man could still hold his club correctly, tee up in the right spot and hit very well. These procedures have not abandoned his memory. However, he could not remember that he had taken a shot and started teeing off repeatedly. He could not keep score. By evening, his memory loss was so acute he could not even remember the afternoons events and even denied having played the game that day. His sense of an intact self going through the passage of the day is nonexistent. ( “Memorys Ghost” Hilts 183)

One thing we do knowwithout memory of events, there is no self. We could not know who we were, who we are or who we want to be. Film-maker Luis Brunuel once wrote, without [memory], we are nothing.we can only wait for the final amnesia, the one that can erase an entire life, as it did my mother.

What we also know is that this sense of self is transientit changes with our memories and despite the sense that there is something primordial and geological about memories, they are not indelible; they do fade and change over time. And in the same way, our subsequent sense of self flickers in and out of focus.

What all this means is that our sense of identity, sense of self is more a work of fiction than truth. It is not meant to be solid bedrock , more like sand on the bottom of the sea, re-composed repeatedly by currents and changing tides. Everything that we experience alters our brain in some form. A word, an event changes the circuitry of the brain. These are physical changes that make the idea of a fixed self very slippery.

If memories change, remembering is not retrieving an actual event from a vault; remembering is re-creating, re-writing the past in terms of the present. Wordsworth defines poetry as a moment recollected in time; and by doing so, he has made the present an inexorable part of the past. A remembering is an attempt to make sense of the past in the light of the present, or an attempt to make sense of the present in the light of the past. There can be no memory without at least a whiff of the self in the present. In its explicit and total erasure of events, time and place, memory loss from Alzheimers eliminates all traces of self.

And so my question is laid to rest, at least for now. Should I shuffle into old age, demented and forgetful, I need not fear the agony experienced by the unfortunate victims of Bells Palsya lucid mind trapped in a failing body, conscious all the way to the end of its present and former selves. There is, unfortunately here for these poor victims, no saving gracelike memory loss.

Getting help for a friend who struggles with fear and anxiety can be tricky. He or she may be reluctant to get help or they may be scared. This is the time that your friend needs you the most. With this in mind, here are some suggestions on how a person can help his or her friend with their anxiety.

The first step a person should do is to convince their friend to get professional help. Explain to them that they must decide to get the help they need to overcome their anxiety. Nobody can do it for them. Explain to them that seeing a professional will really help them in the long run and that it is in their best interest to get this help.

Remind them that is hope and there are solutions to their anxiety problems if they seek treatment. There is nothing wrong in asking for help. Try to convince your friend that there are ways to manage your persistent anxieties and fears, however they must make the effort to learn these techniques.

When your friend is struggling, be there for him or her. Be supportive of your friend and try to help him out during his struggles. Dealing with fear and anxiety can be tough so give your friend a break when he struggles with his fears and anxieties.

One technique that you can use is to learn from your fearful and anxious situations. In every stressful situation that you experience, begin to learn what works and what you can do to improve. For instance, you have a lot of anxiety and you decide to take a stroll around your local park. The next time you feel anxious you can remind yourself that you got through it the last time by taking a short walk.

Taking advantage of the help that is available can go a long way in managing your fears and anxieties. When you are with your friend, you need to remind him or her of this fact.

If debt is currently an issue in your life, debt consolidation really can save you from the stress of bills, debt collectors, and the nagging thoughts of foreclosure or even bankruptcy. Debt consolidation can drastically change your life within weeks, months, or years depending on your current debt situation. Consolidating your debts will allow you to live with peace of mind that you are taking care of your financial obligations while continuing to live a happy life.

Debt consolidation is taking all of your bills and fitting them into one monthly payment. Fitting all your bills into one payment also means one interest rate, which will limit the amount you pay out every month, saving you a lot of money in the long run. Debt consolidation also makes paying off multiple debts easier because the monthly payments can be lowered when you take away insane interest rates. The average debtor pays more interest every month than they do on the actual principal balance of their debt! Eliminating the sky-high interest rates is a good start to getting your debts paid, without going completely broke.

Many people assume when they cant pay the bills its time to just throw up their hands and consider drastic actions such as foreclosure, repossession and bankruptcy. While there are some extreme cases where bankruptcy would be the best option, foreclosure is almost always avoidable as is repossession. Banks, car dealerships, mortgage companies, and creditors dont like to have to take back property or write off your debts, they would rather work with you on debt consolidation so that they can get back what they are owed and you can go on your way with your credit still in tact. Bankruptcy, repossession, and foreclosure are not easy outs when it comes to debts; in fact, they are choices that will continue to affect you for a long, long time. Consider debt consolidation before making any hasty decisions.

Debt consolidation on your own can be tricky, or downright impossible depending on your credit situation. Luckily, there are debt consolidation companies waiting to help people who are in over their head, just like you! Debt consolidation companies will take your credit report and any unreported debts that you can give them and work out a payment plan for you. These debt consolidation companies often contact each company and strike a deal to lower or get rid of the interest and even split the balance of the amount due. Obviously, lowering or getting rid of interest and part of each debt will limit what you spend each month, enabling you to actually pay the bill.

Whats the catch with this type of debt consolidation? Well, there really isnt one. Yes, this is a business and the consolidator does make money because while he takes away the interest that each company is charging, he will charge you interest or a percentage of what you owe. Doesnt seem fair? It is! It works out better for you, because even though you are still paying interest its just one interest payment for all the debts you currently hold. So, instead of paying twenty seven percent to ten companies youll pay twenty percent to one company. So, you go from having multiple payments and interest rates to just one payment for all the bills and one interest rate. It works! If you follow the plan, and make your monthly payments debt consolidation will soon have your credit report looking much better than it does right now.

You may think that you have so much debt you cannot possibly afford to repay even on a debt consolidation plan. Youd be surprised what these companies can get done on your behalf. And, if your debt is that outstanding you can work through the process slowly, a few debts at a time. There is nothing wrong with the process taking a while, as long as you keep up with the process and intend to actually pay off your debts. Getting your credit where it should be does take time, but its worth it. Your credit is your buying power, and each payment you make gets you closer to having more of it.

Worried that the companies you are dealing with wont work with a debt consolidation company? Youd be surprised. Yes, the companies will loose a little bit of money compared to if you showed up with cash to repay the debt tomorrow, but in the long run its better for them to take a debt consolidation deal than not. Most companies figure theyd rather get a portion of your debt back and settle the deal than not get anything back at all. Getting seventy five percent of your debt back is more reasonable to them than to keep paying debt collectors to contact you and try to get the money back. All in all, any money is worth striking a deal over, and that is why a debt consolidation company can really get you where you need to be. They are professionals and they know how to get companies to agree to their terms.

Debt consolidation companies will usually work with you to get your debts paid off within a reasonable monthly payment. Each month youll make just one payment, reducing the time and stress of paying the bill, and each month youll be a step closer to financial freedom. Paying off your debts, through debt consolidation or otherwise will take a weight off your back that you may not even realize is there. No one wants to have unpaid debts, but sometimes life gets in the way and it happens. It happens to the best of us. But, dont be too proud to consolidate those debts and get back on the right track. Open up your local phone book, or get online and find a debt consolidation service in your area. Contact a debt consolidator not with shame, but with pride, because you are stepping up to do the right thing.

Getting Out of Debt, The Smart Credit-Card Plan, the perfect paydown strategy

Behavioral economist Meir Statman, recently said getting out of debt is the financial equivalent of trying to quit smoking.” Just like any bad habit, good intentions alone will not be enough. To ensure success, we need to break our underlying patterns of behavior. How is it we live in the richest most powerful country in the world, but the average American is more than $11,000 in debt. Our European friends who live by a mainly debit card system have an average savings of $13,000. On a recent visit to Germany, I was shocked to find that less than 35% of all the shops and restaurants accepted credit cards. What would we need to do to reverse this trend and get into a (plus) situation.

Plastic Surgery
If we are serious about paying off our balances. We don’t have to literally cut up our credit cards, just stop using them routinely. We should go green for our everyday spending. Try carrying around a set amount of cash to use each week. We make better purchasing decisions when we actually have to hand over the green stuff plus there’s a preset spending limit. When we run out of money, we stop spending it’s that simple. When the only way to purchase is plastic, buying online for instance, then use your debit card. Your debit card can also be used as an emergency substitute for cash should you run out.

Leave Those Cards At Home
The best way to ensure that you enforce the cooling off period on new credit purchases is by taking the cards out of your wallet. You should store them in a place that’s not easily accessible and safe. Do not let others know where you have hidden them.

Close The Accounts No Longer Needed
Having unused credit available from lenders with whom you’ve had a long relationship will help boost your credit score. Having too many will harm your credit score. As a rule, 3 credit cards is what works best and try to never spend more than 50% of the available credit on any of the cards. This will keep your score at it’s highest. You should also consider closing all your store cards, if you need to make a purchase then use your credit card and pay it off at the end of the month.

Lowering Your Interest Rates
Start by reducing what you pay in interest. We can start by calling our current credit card companies and explaining that we intend to transfer our balance to another issuer unless our interest rate is lowered. Almost all credit card companies run promotional programs with low or 0% interest. They will be willing to put you on one of those rather than risk losing your business. All you need to do is ASK.

Tackling Those Credit Card Balances
Finally we need to develop a strategy for paying off our existing credit card balances.

Gather all your credit card statements together and make a simple table listing the entire amount you owe, and the minimum payment and interest rate for each card. This will help us determine the order in which we should pay off our cards. We need to focus on the highest interest rate cards first and pay off as much as you can each month while making only the minimum payments on our other cards. When the first card is paid off, use the same strategy on the next-highest interest rate card and so on until you’re debt-free.

Late Payments
Are the number one cardinal sin of debt management. You get hit with hefty late fees and very high penalty rates that can go to 30%, plus of course your credit score will take a big hit.

We all have a responsibility to improve our financial literacy and develop the required skills and practices for effective financial management. There is a real need to get away from the Someday things will get better in my life or the Someday I will be able to earn enough money to stop worrying about the bills. There is a lot more to life than that, but it has to be said and understood that the only person that can change your life is YOU. There is NO substitute for Action! With Action, you will overcome your fears and hesitations and accomplish everything you set out to do and more.

Have an opinion or a question you would like me to answer, then write me! http://www.CarlHampton.com

Believe it or not, learning how to find free football picks is not really all that difficult. However, finding good free football picks is something else altogether. With so many experts wanting to charge you hundreds of dollars for their picks, wouldnt it be good to know how to find free football picks that are worth your time? Here are some of the best ways to find such picks so that you can have that bit of extra input when you go to place those bets or enter your office football pool.

Check Sports Experts

Obviously, for most any information, the internet is a good starting point. In searching online for free football picks, you should start with sports and football sites. Sports channels, sports publications, and sports websites almost all offer their picks. Often times, they even offer those picks against the number from sports books. Often times, like professional football handicappers, the people on sports sites who are making the picks have made the sport and the teams their lives. The information, then, is likely close to as good.

Find Deals from Handicappers

Learning how to find free football picks includes checking services that would normally charge for the picks. For instance, if you go online and look at football handicapping services, many of them will offer free picks as a sort of sample. Additionally, they sometimes even just offer picks on the front pages of their websites as a way to show off their skill in the picks. They figure that once you see how often the free pick is right you will buy their services. For you, that means you can fish around the internet and find a number of free picks on games. You may not get every pick, you may not get the lock of the week, but you will get access to expert information on a variety of games, and isnt that all you are really looking for anyway?

Free Services

Believe it or not, when learning how to find free football picks, you will likely discover that there are actually handicapping services that are free. How is that possible? Many of these sites and companies get their money from advertising on their website. Beware, though, because you will likely have to register an email with such companies. They may make their money be getting your address for bulk emailers. To avoid the problem, just establish a new email address so that you can still take advantage of the free picks. With free services, you can separate the reliable from the unreliable by watching their picks for a couple of weeks without betting. Then, once you know who is legit, you can start adding the services picks to your factors when deciding on your own picks.

When it comes to picking football games for fun or for money, or for both, it is important to have all the information you can get. Sure, you could hire a handicapping company to help you with your picks, but at the end of the day, the best way to get help is by learning how to find free football picks.

Being the most popular alcoholic beverage in existence, beer is everywhere. In certain situations, it is readily available and may present a problem for anyone who is not familiar with its side effects or being responsible in this situation.

TDrink minimal quantities. If you find yourself drinking more than would be used in a social situation, alcoholism may be a lurking illness. The best way to avoid addiction is to drink minimal quantities and know when to stop.

TDrink beer at home. The best way to drink beer responsibly is to simply drink it at home. This will eliminate the danger associated with driving or getting into a confrontation with others.

TDo not drive. If you have consumed beer, it is best not to drive. Not only may it be illegal, but also dangerous. If you need to go somewhere, walk or have someone to take you.

TIf you are away from home and have been drinking, give your keys to a friend, designated driver or call someone to pick you up. If you need a ride home, you can call a friend, family member of even a taxi. Anytime that you are under the influence of alcohol, it is pertinent that you not attempt to operate an automobile. This could not only endanger your life, but those of others as well.

TNever leave your drink unattended in a public place. This is especially true of restaurants, bars and/or anywhere that alcohol is served. Leaving your drink unattended may leave you susceptible to someone placing a substance in your drink. If you get up to dance or go to the restroom, order a new glass of beer when you return. If you are just mingling, take your drink with you.

In the United States, an individual must be 21 years of age to purchase and/or legally consume beer. When purchasing alcohol, photo identification is required. This can be in the form of a drivers license or other similar form of identification, which features a photo and birth date of the customer. A number of retail grocers, in the United States, prohibit the sale of beer before 12 p.m. in the afternoon.

If you, or someone that you know, is believed to have a drinking problem, consult a local treatment center for diagnosis and therapy to help overcome the illness. Alcoholism is a disease that often requires professional medical care, which is why proper treatment is critical to its cure.

Jobs are different than business opportunities where you are being taught how to start a certain type of business. Jobs that require a computer and jobs that don’t. Jobs that require previous education and jobs that don’t. Some people perform jobs that are exclusively data entry, while others, like programmers, might have to occasionally enter data. You can find numerous telecommuting data entry jobs available which provide people with an excellent way to have a flexible schedule. Typically, data entry jobs pay between 10-15 US dollars (USD) per hour. It is predicted that this method and others may ultimately take over some data entry jobs. Real companies are offering typing/data entry jobs. Most of these jobs do not require you to have extensive training or much. This data entry jobs allow you to be in control with no deadlines to meet. Data entry jobs and typing jobs are amazing ways you can make money with your computer from home. The best part about these data entry jobs is that you won’t have to do any selling. While many people search endlessly to find the REAL data entry jobs, the smart entrepreneurs are going to the PROVEN job resources. The popularity of data entry jobs and the fact that now anyone who has basic typing skills can start earning a part time or full time income. Now you can bid for Data entry online jobs and make good money while sitting in your own home. If you are tired of looking for and applying for data entry jobs, then you should consider creating your own blogs. No doubt about the fact that the data entry jobs are so easy to do and they are very lucrative means of earning by working from the comforts of your own home. When you look for data entry job, you are more likely to run across scams than real jobs. They have to be confident that they can perform their jobs with little or no supervision. It gives all of us a bad reputation and cuts down on the number of jobs that are advertised. Are they selling actual job listings for current jobs right now. What happens if you don’t have any work at home jobs that I like and I want my money back. More real work at home jobs with real companies than anywhere else on the internet. Just like your local newspaper, you’ll see a very wide range of different types of jobs that are suitable for all different types of people. We have jobs that require experience and jobs that don’t. We have such a HUGE and diverse selection of work at home jobs and business opportunities that it would be very difficult for someone to be unable to find a work at home job if they are really serious about wanting to work at home. We’ve had members give us feedback that they received their work at home job in less than two weeks after receiving our information and we’ve had others whose jobs searches were much more disappointing. There are SO MANY work at home jobs to choose from and they are extremely diverse. In fact, there are so many different types of jobs that viewing the job information can be somewhat overwhelming at first.

People are more likely to read news than ads that is! They are thinking that ads are just a bunch of self-serving puffing so they divert to a more interesting activity and that is reading news.

News keeps them updated with the current events, ads dont. In addition, they are not interested in reading purely marketing pitches. That is the reason why newsletters are a hit! Newsletters are informative letters mailed to subscribers. They are printed and mailed so as to inform and to profit as well. Quality and reliable newsletter printing services is thus, a must in order to come up with valuable work of art. Moreover, a good interaction and mutual purpose to succeed must be the goal of both the printing company and the customers. This goal will lead to persuasion. Persuasion will then result to an intimate contact and trust between the company and the target recipients. These elements will trigger the boost in your business sales.

Newsletter printing services is a great way to keep your business associates, their employees and other subscribers aware of your companys endeavors, announcements, innovations and other changes. Printing options are ample color printing, digital printing, offset printing and the likes. These printing processes are of high-quality and budget-wise. Features like graphic and custom design can also be availed of. With these features you can make your newsletters flashy and eye-catching. With the latter, you can personalize by using your own images, logos and pictures. That way your company will be identifiable and retention will likely to take place. Further, when they decide to purchase or subscribe, your product or service will be on top of the list.

Newsletter printing services also suggest having 90-95% news or content and only 10-5% ads so as not to bore the readers and close the pages to your business detriment. Do not forget to edit and proofread your contents. Any flaw or defect will reflect on your company. Editing and revision will surely improve the quality of your newsletter. To be more economical, you can opt for a one or two-color newsletter which measures 8.5 x 11 page-size saddle-stitched. Also use quality paper to complement the content and to give your newsletter an aura of finesse and an air of class. When you find it troublesome in various newsletter phases, seek assistance from the printing experts. Basically, newsletter printing services are backed up by skilled professional makers to assist customers in the complex environment of printing.

What is Hyaluronic Acid?
Hyaluronic acid (also called Hyaluronan, or HA) is a component of connective tissue whose function is to cushion and lubricate. Hyaluronan occurs throughout the body in abundant amounts in many of the places people with hereditary connective tissue disorders have problems such as joints, heart valves and eyes. Hyaluronic acid abnormalities are a common thread in connective tissue disorders. Interestingly, they are also common biochemical anomalies in most of the individual features of connective tissue disorders such as mitral valve prolapse, TMJ, osteoarthritis, and keratoconus.

The Importance of Hyaluronic Acid (Hyaluronan, HA)
Hyaluronic Acid is present in every tissue of the body. Retention of water is one of the most important biological functions of hyaluronic acid, second only to providing nutrients and removing waste from cells that do not have a direct blood supply, such as cartilage cells. With a lower than adequate amount of hyaluronic acid, nutrients cannot be moved into these cells and waste cannot be eliminated from cells. Hyaluronic acid is sometimes abbreviated as HA. Hyaluronic acid is found in the synovial joint fluid, the vitreous humor of the eye, the cartilage, blood vessels, extracellular matrix, skin and the umbilical cord.

Hyaluronic Acid ; “The Key To The Fountain of Youth”
Hyaluronic acid has been nicknamed by the press as the “key to the fountain of youth” because it has been noted that at least some people who ingest a lot of Hyaluronan in their diets tend to live to ripe old ages. ABC News had a show on a village in Japan and hyaluronic acid entitled, “The Village of Long Life: Could Hyaluronic Acid Be an Anti-Aging Remedy?”

Hyaluronic acid for use by humans has been derived from rooster combs. Rooster combs provide the purest form of hyaluronic acid (Hyalurinan, HA) available.

Benefits
Hyaluronic acid moisturizes skin from the inside out, smoothing out wrinkles in the process
Hyaluronic acid helps people who need to ease the flexing of their joints, especially their knees, by restoring cushioning to their joints
Hyaluronic acid is suitable for men and women in their 30s and 40s who are beginning to see the first signs of aging
Hyaluronic acid is suitable for seniors who have established joint conditions

Keyword research is the basic skill or task that you must master if you want to be at all successful in the business of internet marketing. The essence of marketing is getting customers to buy your product right? And what are the important parts of that task?

Well first you have to have a product. Preferably this product has some demand from the public that give it value. The public then has to know that they have the need that your product can remedy. Then they need to know about your product more than they hear about your competitor’s product. How your product is the best that money can buy and all that yada yada. Because you have a limited supply of resources you have to make the most of your efforts which means that you try to target your marketing to the people that are most likely to buy once they have heard about it. On the internet things are a little bit different in that the main way to get your product in front of people, i.e. to get people to your sales page, is via the search engines. This is where keyword research comes in.

Search engines are really the portal for the customer to the internet whether that customer is after information only or to buy a product. They type in a keyword into the search bar and then based on the results will either refine the search further or click through links to get to what he or she is looking for. The general rule is that the higher the result is ranked by the search engine the more hits that link is going to receive. And since it makes sense the more traffic to a sales page the more sales you are going to get you want your page’s link to be as high as it possibly can be on the search engine result page. Once again this is done in large part with good keyword research.

Keyword research is the first step in search engine optimization. You see although the search engine’s formula is somewhat mysterious, it is not a secret that they base their ranking on the relevance of the page’s overall content as it relates to the keyword that was searched. So it is first important to find the most common thing that people type into the search blank when they are looking to fill a need that your product will fill.

Copyright 2006 Donna Gunter

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to start all over again in your business and your life, knowing what you know now, but with a completely clean slate? I’ve often fantasized about going back to specific points in my life, armed with my current personal experience, learning and wisdom, and thinking how differently I might handle situations during those crucial life moments if I knew then what I know now.

I’ve been self-employed now for 7 years, and the business I started back in 1999 is no longer the business that I run. I’ve found that is often the case with many entrepreneurs. You grow, change, develop, and as your life changes, or as market conditions change, so does your business. Or, after attaining what you think you wanted, you may find that it no longer suits you.

I’ve been giving much thought to the state of my business lately. Two years ago what I thought I wanted was a very small virtual assistant practice and a growing coaching practice. After having attained that, I had a bigger “a-ha!” that I’m very tired of trading time for dollars. This is how most service business owners make their money — you have a service that’s priced at xx dollars per hour, and you trade X number of hours of your time in return for their payment upon your completion of the service. You realize within a short period of time that you have only so many hours in the day, and that at some point you’ll reach your earning ceiling. Increasing your prices will raise that ceiling for awhile, but eventually you may price yourself out of the market and have to seek a new market that can easily afford the increased fees that you charge.

Then, to increase your income once again, you decide to hire a couple of employees. In some cases, that move will pay off, and you can begin to create a thriving business, rather than a sustainable practice. However, I know lots of service business owners who tell me that their headaches tripled once they hired employees. They opened themselves up to a whole new list of new issues with which they now had to deal (and for which they were unprepared), and report that their increased overhead costs on top of new employee-management issues actually decreased their profit margin.

I vowed when I started my business that I never wanted to be a manager of employees, as I had few fond memories of directly or indirectly supervising 70 full and part-time staff in the residence life department where I once worked. I have managed to stay true to my vow, but now wonder what’s next for me and my business?

To answer that question, I decided to go back to the drawing board. If you want to renovate and reinvent your business from the ground up, here are the 7 steps I suggest you consider as you determine what’s next. Thanks to Chris Barrow of The Business Coaching Company for the idea of this exercise.

1. Find a quiet place, free from interruption, and schedule some time for yourself. Don’t bring the Blackberry or the cell phone, and turn off your Internet connection if you’re going to use your laptop to complete the exercise. A quiet coffee shop might be an ideal location, or perhaps your public library might offer the refuge you need.

2. Imagine if you were able to change your professional or personal life over the next 90 days, with all of your assets and skills but with none of your liabilities and perceived weaknesses. You’re bringing with you all of your acquired knowledge and wisdom, but leaving behind the complications, legacies, obligations, doubts, limiting beliefs, traditions, tolerations, and mistakes.

3. Ask yourself the following question, “”If I could start again, knowing what I know now, what would be different?” Write a list of the top 10 things that you would do differently, or have differently around you, over the next 90 days in both your business and your life, Do this by creating 2 columns on a sheet of paper, one labeled Business and the other labeled Personal, and number from 1-10 in each column.

4. Take time to consider what you have written. Get up, walk away from it, sleep on it, and look at it again in a few days.

5. Ask yourself the following question, “So what would happen if I made these decisions and put in place the boundaries needed to make this happen?”

6. Consider the outcome(s), be it good, bad or ugly. Can you live with the results if the worst of the outcomes came true? What about the best of the results?

7. Consider the possibility of doing things differently anyway! Indecision gets you nowhere fast. Part of the joy of self-employment is to try something, and if you see it’s not working out, try something different.

One of the things I wish I knew way back in 1999 was that my business would grow and develop and change and may result in me being in a completely different business from what I had initially envisioned. Had I fully recognized that initially, the renovation process may have flowed more smoothly.

There are many agencies for online tutoring, and finding the right one can be tricky. What are the differences between the different agencies? Picking the right tutor requires a bit of research. When you perform a web search for online tutoring, you’ll see thousands of results. Where should you start? Probably at the top, because the most popular site of agencies for online tutoring will be at the top of those searches. But it is not as easy as that.
Each agency is a bit different, and some will be better suited to your needs than others. The first thing to do is get referrals. That means asking the company for a list of names and number of people who have used their service. You’ll need to call those people and see how they liked the tutoring service. You aren’t likely to get many bad referrals, but it helps to talk with somebody to get a feel for the different companies.
After you have a few agencies for online tutoring in mind, take a look at their tutoring and payment structure. First of all, do they have reliable tutors for the subjects you are interested in? If you’re interested in geometry, for example, do not be satisfied with a “math” tutor who may or may not be very good in geometry. Likewise, if you’re interested in a general biology tutor, don’t agree to work with someone who only knows evolutionary biology. Find the RIGHT tutor for your needs.
Next, take a look at their payment structure. Are the hours flexible, can you scale the number of hours you buy up or down? Many agencies for online tutoring offer package deals, but if you don’t end up using the hours this semester or year, can you save them or do you lose them? These are the questions you need to ask them. If it is unclear, call them and find out exactly how it works. Most are pretty flexible in their tutoring setup, so you shouldn’t settle for anything less.
You should also pay attention to the times that you’ll be able to get tutoring help. If the company only offers hours from 9-5 Monday through Friday, that may be too constraining. On the other hand, a company in India may offer 24 hour support. Again, you should pick the company that works best for you.
So, there you have it. Sifting through the different agencies for online tutoring can take a while, but it will be worth it in the end when you find the right agency! Good luck.

Bore of watching the same programs and same movies everyday; we always not in a mode of going theater now change your world with internet movie rental. Internet movie rentals have made impossible things possible for all the movie buffs. We all know todays world is of internet world and can get everything on web.

Visiting movie rental store to rent a new movie can be boring for you and its not possible for everyone to watch movie at theater. Internet movie rental has really changed our world of all movie buffs, those who used to spend their lots of money in watching movies at theaters

Now one can enjoy their movie sitting at home with internet movie rentals. There is on issue of going out and searching for your favorite, classic or any new blockbuster movie. You can get it online without wasting any time and more money.

For internet movie rental you just have take a membership and start ordering your favorite movie and with in few working hours you will receive your movie. Internet movie rental allows you to enjoy the movie not only the latest hit but also the classic which you cant find it easily in rental stores, as the latest movies are not made available so early in the market.

You get all the facility including their service because of all this things internet movie rental are becoming day-by-day more popular among all the movie lovers as no one want to spend their money on watching a movie at theaters which has not done good enough at chart. Enjoy your favorite movies with internet movie rentals.

Anna Josephs is a freelance journalist having experience of many years writing articles and news releases on various topics such as pet health, automobile and social issues. She also has great interest in poetry and paintings, hence she likes to write on these subjects as well. Currently writing for this website Rental movie.For more details please contact at annajosephs@gmail.com

I’ve sold cars for Dodge, Ford and GMC and all the places that I have been I’ve ran into some of the same problems. This one is the worst. Why do people try to finance a car if they do not pay their child support? Do people out there really think that a bank is willing to loan you money if you will not even pay for your children? Or is it that you think that nobody will find out?? Whatever it is, I made this article for all of the customers that have made me waist my time making a car deal just find out that they were behind on there child support. This is for you, stop shopping!

Once the printer ink runs dry it has to be replaced with another inkjet cartridge. There are many reputed companies like Canon, Epson, Dell, and Lexmark that provide the necessary cartridges to replace the empty cartridges. Replacing inkjet cartridge can add to a very big cost. It could be worse if you have to replace the empty cartridges frequently every month.

Nowadays many buyers are making use of compatible Inkjet Cartridges as they are less expensive and are easily available online. These compatible inkjet cartridges are available from the third party at a much lower price. These cartridges can be replaced by the printer ink of similar brand. Compatible Inkjet Cartridge will help you to make extra-ordinary savings with money back guarantee. As soon as the cartridge gets empty the ink that it contains begins to dry and finally clogs the nozzle. You can refill the cartridge once it reaches its wear out condition. Always remember to refill the cartridge as early as possible.

With Compatible Inkjet Cartridge you do not need to sacrifice the quality of your printer. It works with excellent efficiency that not only offers you quality output but it also maintains the quality of your printer for a longer period of time. Get Compatible Inkjet Cartridge for any printer that uses ink of any color.

The latest concept for the internet entrepreneur is pay to surf. Do I mean you get paid to sit on your butt and surf web pages? Yes, absolutely! I know many people would think it impossible to get double digit returns on their money daily, but that is in fact what is promised by these sites.

How do they work? The concept is very simple. You establish an account with them and then start surfing. They display pages that others want advertised on a timer of anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds per ad. You can either look at them or go get a coffee, but after a certain number have displayed you get paid!

Each pay to surf program has a time span that they hold on to your money. It may be 7 days, it could be 60 days, you decide whats right for you. After that time period, they transfer your earnings to whatever service you use. Each program has a favored processor on the idea of Paypal its hooked to your credit cards and/or bank account.

My advice is to investigate them thoroughly! A good sign is a corporation owner that is traceable and in the same country as you, or at least in a country that will hold them responsible. You should look at the actual payout percentages, and the number of participants. The Alexa ranking of a page is also a good indication if they have as many participants as they claim.

Many of the pay to surf programs are affiliate based as well and you can get a percentage of the funds that people you refer put in. Be sure you know what qualifies you for the referral bonus and how many levels deep you get paid. Even one level can be a whole lot of money if you refer serious people!

Look for some kind of track record, meaning that they have been in business for more than a week. This is a fairly new concept to the mainstream internet, but there are some companies that have been in business for several months, maybe some for a year, but I havent seen any yet.

As with any new concept especially one that pays out at that level buyer beware! Obviously, this is a high risk enterprise, but my attitude is that if it crashes and burns in three months, at least I will have made back MUCH more than my initial investment.

I would definitely like to hear good and bad about these programs. They are certainly going to get a lot bigger before they go away. The Internet certainly had its detractors in the beginning and there was also the dot-bomb situation of 2001, but it doesnt mean that there wont be a lot of these pay to surf site around for a long time. Im diving in!

Copyright 2006 Richard Stoyeck

The New Slant

Really understanding compounding will make all the difference in investing. I believe that Warren Buffett, the world’s greatest investor, is hardwired to think geometrically. He is rich beyond dreams because he totally gets the magic of compounding, and he executes on the concept. I am going to get these numbers wrong because I’m doing them from memory but it doesn’t matter. You’ll get the concept. Buffett started a partnership way back when. He had a number of limited partners invest with him, and he took 20% of the gains. In the late 1960s he terminated the partnership with his famous letter, “When you no longer understand the way the game is played, it’s time to leave the game.” I’m paraphrasing, even though it’s in quotes.

Buffet took about $100 million out of that first partnership for himself, so he was working with $100 million, keep that in mind. In 1974 when the bear market bottomed, it might have been early 1975, he started another rise…he took over Berkshire Hathaway. Buffet, since the 1970′s, has been getting a compounded (remember that means exponential) growth rate of about 22 to 24%.

This is where I introduce you to the cousin of the Magic of Compounding, which is called the Rule of 72. With the Rule of 72 you can calculate how long it will take you to double your money at any given rate of return. OK? Lets take an example. If you’re earning 12% on your money and you want to know how long it will take to double it (we’re compounding, remember?) divide 72 by 12, and your answer is 6. It will take 6 years to double your money. Lets do another one. If you’re getting 6% on your money, divide 72 by 6 and you’ll see that it will take 12 years to double. If you’re getting 9%, it’s 72 divided by 9, or 8 years to double up.

As for Warren Buffett, he’s getting 22% on his money. This means you divide 72 by 22 and gee, in only 3.27 years, or every 3 years and 4 months, he doubles his money. Since he’s been at it about 35 years with that $100 million he had to play with, he’s doubled his original $100 million almost nine times. You get that by taking 35 years and dividing by a double every 3 years and 4 months. It equals 10.70, or let’s go with nine doubles to adjust for a rate of compounding that is varying. The key point is he’s not making 9 times his money with the $100 million, that would be an arithmetic progression that would give him $900 million. He’s making nine doubles, a geometric or compounded progression.

Let’s see how that works.

Warren Buffet’s Geometric Progression
Starting Dollar Amount: $100 million
Time Periods Involved: Nine 3 year and 4 month periods

Period Time Taken Compounded Gain
0 Starting Point $100,000,000
1 3 years, 4 months later $200,000,000
2 6 years, 8 months later $400,000,000
3 10 years later $800,000,000
4 13 years, 4 months later $1,600,000,000
5 16 years, 8 months later $3,200,000,000
6 20 years later $6,400,000,000
7 23 years, 4 months later $12,800,000,000
8 26 years, 8 months later $25,600,000,000
9 30 years later $51,200,000,000

I believe Buffet is worth about $47 billion. It doesn’t matter, he is somewhere in his ninth double. This is the magic of compounding! Also, he never sells. This means his money is doubling every three years and four months with no tax consequences. He gets taxed only when he sells. Under normal conditions, the money compounds until he dies, then it’s taxed at a capital gains rate in the far distant future. In Buffetts case, hes giving most of his wealth to the Gates foundation to benefit society.

Teach your children to live a balanced life, and also help them master this concept and you will have very happy and very rich children. In stocks I show you how to make money at the bottom by buying depressed securities that are going to come right back, making you a fortune as they rocket off the bottom. In the future I will also show you how to make money with the Warren Buffet concept, or classical Graham and Dodd analysis. In the mean time, good luck with understanding the magic of compounding.

Start thinking exponentially, Make Money Now

No matter who you are or where youve been, chances are that youve heard one or more of Aretha Franklins songs. Chances are also that youve had one of those classics ringing pleasurably in your head for hours on end. The Queen of Soul has that effect on people everywhere, and shes heading out on the road again this summer to provide millions of her fans with another reason to cherish her work.

Life Story

Franklin was born in Memphis on March 25, 1942. After a bit of moving around, her family settled in Detroit when Aretha was seven. She was exposed to music at an early age, and began singing in her fathers church. She was soon a very popular member of the choir, and she produced her first recording at the age of 14.

Subsequent to this first recording, Franklin entered adulthood almost immediately. She signed a recording contract with Columbia Records and became a mother when she was 15, having her first son, Clarence, Jr. Franklin had another son, Eddie, when she was 16.

At this point, Franklin had to make a choice – be a full-time mother or pursue her music career. She chose the latter, as her grandmother helped her care for her sons while she continued to record songs. Franklin married Ted White in 1962 and had another son, Teddy White, Jr. in 1969.

She stayed with Columbia Records until 1967, when she moved to Atlantic Records, and the results were almost immediate due to the expanded artistic freedom she had with her new label. Franklin dabbled in gospel, soul and blues themes with her music, and several of her songs from this time period became top hits.

Blossoming Career

However, it was her R&B work that earned her the nickname, The Queen of Soul in the 1960s. Franklins work with Atlantic Records made her an international star, and several of her most famous songs, including Respect were released during this period.

Franklin continued to not only tour but to record, and her career totals are astonishing. She has released a total of 52 albums, and has had 17 singles reach the Top Ten of the US Hot 100 Singles chart.

Franklin has also won 17 Grammy Awards in several categories, but that is far from her only entry into her list of accomplishments. Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and was the second woman to gain entry into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.

The Queen of Soul has also been recognized by more than one President of the United States. In 1999, President Bill Clinton awarded Franklin with the National Medal of Arts, and President George W. Bush bestowed upon Franklin the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

What It All Means

All of these accomplishments should make it clear that Aretha Franklin is a national icon. She has appeared in movies like The Blues Brothers in 1980 and sang the national anthem in her adopted hometown of Detroit prior to Super Bowl XL.

Her songs are timeless, and the memories from her live shows live on in the minds of all who are lucky enough to be able to attend a concert. Franklin will be providing those same memories this summer.

In the February 2004 issue of Sporting Clays, Randy Lawrence wrote a superb article titled Respect For The Game. This insightful, gritty piece poses some soul-searching questions to those of us who partake of the wing and clay sportsinspire their traditionsshape our future. Sometimes a message is so important, and so well stated, it bears repeating. This is one of those times. I hope Randy will look kindly on my comments and pray that my remarks will do justice to the bulls-eye relevance of Randys observations.