One of the newest buzz words to come out of the environmental crisis is the term “green-collar job”. What exactly is a green-collar job and will there be a need for green-collar workers in the future? Apparently so, as a study by the RAND Corporation and the Universtiy of Tennessee “found that if 25% of all American energy were produced from renewable sources by 2025 we would generate at least 5 million new green-collar jobs”.

Those numbers sound great, but what is a “green-collar? The United States is finally coming to realize that our dependence on fossil fuels is not only detrimental to the environment, it has negative economic ramifications as well. The need for new products and services that will help us develop a more energy efficient society is creating a host of new jobs and the redesigning of jobs that are already in existence. In order to bolster our economy, good jobs that are in green industries need to be created. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently someone asked me some questions that I think are on the mind of everyone who is thinking about buying tax liens. People want to know how much money they need to get started in tax lien investing and if this is something that they can use as their main source of income. In this article I will give my experience of what it takes to get started as opposed to how much money you need to invest in order to turn buying tax liens into your main income source.

First let me make it clear that tax lien investing is only one of my income sources. I use it as Read the rest of this entry »

There are two main reasons objections come up in selling and there are sales tactics you need to successfully deal with them. One reason is a knee-jerk reaction on the part of the customer to realizing the close is imminent. They bring up an objection to slow down the process. These objections are the ones you can get past easily by just acknowledging them and carrying on with the close. Let’s assume you are starting to write an order and the customer says, “Hold it, that’s a lot of money for a computer system.” Some salespeople stop here and leave. Did the customer say he wasn’t buying? All he said was it was a lot of money and he is probably right. Try using a sales tactic like, “I understand” or “Yes it is” and keep writing the order. About 40% of the time, the objection won’t come up again because it was just a delaying reaction to the close. But, in 60% of the cases, you still have work to do. That’s when the following sales tactics can help. Read the rest of this entry »

Foreign Exchange Market, or Forex as it is commonly called, is an international exchange market to buy and sell different currencies from around the world. An investor has the ability to buy and sell these currencies in order to create gains from small movements in the value of one currency over another. The Foreign Exchange Market or Forex is open from Monday at 0:00 GMT until Friday at 10:00 GMT. For this reason Forex traders are not limited to the general time constraints of the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ.

This versatility attracts many investors to become Forex traders. The liquidity of the Foreign Exchange Market is also very attractive for the Forex investor as trades range from 1 to 1.5 trillion dollars on a daily basis. These massive amounts of trades make it extremely difficult for any one trader to affect the market. Read the rest of this entry »

Many women are so confused by the words – “Business Plan”. What is it? Who do I show it to? Do I really need it? What is it really going to do for me?

A business plan is a written blueprint for your business. It describes a summary of what your business is about and it s goals. It also outlines how your business will function. The term business plan was first developed by bankers who wanted a detailed report of how a business would result in profits before they would make a decision on lending money. Today, no business banker will even entertain a business loan application without a business plan.

In a nutshell, the answer is yes, you really do need a business plan if you really want to build a solid foundation under your home-based business.

I guess the reason so many women procrastinate in doing a business plan is because they think they have to come up with some imaginary figures and statistics about their business which is of course very scary for anyone. This type of plan is known as an Executive Business Plan. This plan is shown to banks, SBA and other lenders who you may apply to for a substantial loan. Usually, this type of business plan must show a 3-5 year projection of how much money your business would make if they should lend you a specific sum of money. Although you will need this type of business plan should you wish to expand your business, the most important thing for you to know now is where you will be in the next 3,6,9 and 12 months.

One of the best form of business plans to start out with is Read the rest of this entry »

Avoiding the top 7 business financing mistakes is a key component in business survival.

If you start committing these business financing mistakes too often, you will greatly reduce any chance you have for longer term business success.

The key is to understand the causes and significance of each so that you’re in a position to make better decisions.

>>>>>> Business Financing Mistakes (1) – No Monthly Bookkeeping.

Regardless of the size of your business, inaccurate record keeping creates all sorts of issues relating to cash flow, planning, and business decision making.

While everything has a cost, bookkeeping services are dirt cheap compared to most other costs a business will incur.
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Announcing that Digital Women ®, an International online community for women in business will be giving away a $750.00 cash business grant. They are taking applications now for the grant to be given away in 2010.

There is NO application fee and all women are eligible. The grant can be used for business or personal use including paying bills. See the site for more details: WWW.Digital-Women.com

Announcing 2 new financial web sites for women in business:

Business Women Grants- A new site featuring foundations and grants for women looking for funding help to start their business.

Business Women Loans- A new site featuring business loans for women including microloans in the US

The current downturn of our economy has forced many women to turn to foundations and the government looking for loans and grants to fund their businesses. Find a current 2009 list of foundations at DigitalWomenGrants.org

Drop shipping is a retailing technique in which you (the person running the eBay business) would not keep inventory in stock, but, instead, when auctions are won, you transfer the order to a wholesaler or manufacturer who takes care of shipping the item to the winning bidder. So basically, you sell items on eBay, collect money, send a portion of that money off to the drop shippers, and let them do the rest of the work for you. You, like all retailers, make money on the difference between the retail (eBay) price of the goods and the wholesale price.
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