BPL Auto

It’s amazing to note how many automakers are losing money simply because they have failed to understand the very basic thing about their buyers—and that is the very reason why people buy cars.

There are two chief executives of General Motors that have wasted hundred of billions of dollars because they failed to understand what their customers need. So why do people buy cars?

It is a fact that purchasing and owning a vehicle is quite expensive. The average price for a new car range is more or less $30,000 quite expensive for the average Joe with average salary. But why do people still insist on buying one? There are various reasons why people opt to purchase a car but above all it’s because of the convenience factor derived from owning one.

With a car the usual one hour consumed in commuting to work is cut say to 30 minutes. Plus, for parents with kids, taking them to school becomes a simply matter. Traveling say from New York to Los Angeles and back is also made easy using a car. The long list of benefits in owning a car is endless. So what is the point I’m trying to derive here: people buy cars because of the benefits that they get from the vehicles. When automakers try to subtract the things that a vehicle can do they tend to lessen its value to them.

The Toyota Prius for instance is a successful type of hybrid because it provides the customers with benefits that are expected of it. Although not really fast but who cares its not going to be used for racing anyway. The important is its fast enough to get people to places they want to go to. It has a reasonable range and can carry a reasonable load for a small car. Its actually priced high—$26,000 or so but its high fuel economy and unique shape make it a rolling billboard for Toyota.

Its not only American auto people who don’t understand even the leaders of Daimler in Germany have missed the whole point with the Smart. This vehicle cost Daimler $5 billion or so losses. Although it is true that Smart is cute but let us not forget the fact that very few buyers consider cuteness as a criteria in choosing a car unless of course your name is Paris Hilton.

The Smart which I believed is inappropriately named can seat only two people and doesn’t offer space for cargo. It is also very slow. You would not want to drive it in any distance unless you have nothing else to do with your time. And oh if you are thinking of driving it to say Paris to the Riviera or even on Europe’s superhighways you will only be frustrated. But in fairness to Smart it is very easy to park unfortunately parking is the least concern of buyers except in two cities, Paris and Rome. And in terms of its price, Europeans would probably choose to buy a small car such as Volkswagen Polo instead. This vehicle is equipped with top-of-the-line auto parts such as Volkswagen axle and can accommodate four passengers plus stuffs. Volkswagen Polo is also a great car to travel anywhere you want to go.

So why hasn’t DaimlerChrysler stopped the production of Smart as General Motors and Toyota has killed their production of electric cars? Speculations have it that it’s all about politics. It is said that killing the production of Smart would embarrass the Daimler board that approved the project and also the German office too. That is because the Smart plant is in France and stopping the production would mean Germans firing Frenchmen in a high unemployment area. That is not good for keeping foreign relations.

Does this mean that General Motors latest electric car concept the plug-in Volt is doomed? Officially not yet because of the very obvious reason— it is still a concept and therefore it doesn’t exist yet. The Volt as explained by General Motors will run on lithium-ion batteries and so far these are non-existent yet. When they do come, General Motors says that the range problem will be solved by a small gasoline motor that supposedly will recharge the batteries when they weaken.

Since everything is a concept there is that possibility of it working and well not working. But we’ll just have to wait for it. General Motors has not yet released any statement on how much the Volt will cost. At least the buying public will have something to look forward to. That is of course depends on whether the public finds it worth their while.

And lastly it is very important for our automakers to think that if they want for customers to value their car they need to boost its functionality and not just present vehicles in a beautiful package to excite customers which later on will only be forgotten.

Natalie Anderson
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/what-automakers-need-to-know-about-their-customers-100597.html

Looks like Volvo is becoming the “Lady’s Car” after all.

In the United States it is estimated that 54% of all Volvo buyers are women, and same thing is happening in Europe there is also an increasing percentage of female customers purchasing Volvo.

To give tribute to their increasing number of female customers, Volvo Cars has implemented an all-woman team to head up the design and development of the YCC (Your Concept Car) a vehicle especially designed to meet the needs of the most demanding women customers particularly the professional ones.

According to Hans-Olov Olsson, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation, “This is a fantastic opportunity for us. We can concentrate on the fast-growing group of women customers without losing the men. Because I’m certain that our male customers will love this concept car.”

The Volvo YCC was introduced at the Geneva International Motor Show. And as promised the YCC concept was equipped with a host of features designed for women. Volvo has also employed its Ergovision technology, a system which scanned the whole body to come up with data containing the relative proportions of the customer thereby guiding the customer on the perfect driving position which are stored in digital form on his or her personal key unit. This technology is quite amazing since once the personal key is dock on the center console, the seat, steering wheel, pedals, head restraint, and seatbelt automatically adjust to suit the driver’s individual built. The driver’s heel rest was also designed to be fully adjustable allowing variations in the height of shoe heels.

To enable drivers to see out of the car better, YCC designers have equipped it with top-of-the-line Volvo headlights plus lowered the hood and raised the fenders to provide better outside view. The rear window was also extended to the edge of the car so that drivers will always be able to see all four corners of the car. Interior Designer Cindy Charwick said, “It was all part of the aim of making life easier. The cabin environment has been designed so that everything you need is at your fingertips, and your surroundings need to make you feel good too.”

Other unique features of the YCC include a center console with a shallow compartment for keys, mobile phones and other small items. The console also slides back to reveal a deeper storage space. A wastepaper basket is also placed inside the vehicle plus another compartment designed to hold a notebook computer.

The rear seats are similar to those found in movie theaters in the sense that they can be folded out of the way when not being used. Passengers need only to lower each seat as they get in. there are eight exchangeable seat pad options with corresponding matching carpet textures and patterns that allow drivers to alter the interior according to their personal taste or style.

The YCC has a 215 horsepower, five-cylinder PZEV (partial zero emissions vehicle) engine with an Integrated Starter-Generator (ISG). The ISG enables the driver to shut off the engine when waiting in traffic or at stop lights and then restart again once the driver presses the accelerator.

Its six-speed Powershift gearbox lets the driver to choose from the fully automatic mode or use the controls on the steering column in shifting gears. The Powershift technology also ensures that the gear changes are always at the right revs resulting to smooth driving and lower fuel consumption.

The YCC was also made easy to maintain with its two capless ball-valve filling points which are basically similar to those found on racing cars and located at the driver’s side door. One is for gasoline while the other one is for washer fluid. And since the windshield washer fluid filler is found on the outside of the car, the engineers have designed the vehicle without a conventional hood. And just get a load of this!—the car will automatically notifies a service center when it is time for routine checkup and set up an appointment. Amazing!

The exterior of the car has also some remarkable features of its own like the Easy-Clean paint that covers the car and has qualities similar to coating on non-stick pan making it impossible for dirt to cling to it. The YCC is a concept car that showcases Volvo’s bright ideas and solutions to make the world a lot better. “We want cars to make life easier for their owners, not complicate things for them,” said YCC project manager Eva-Lisa Andersson.

Glady Reign
http://www.articlesbase.com/cars-articles/ycc-volvos-tribute-to-women-100523.html

When you get in your car, ready to drive to some distant place where you have never gone before, there are some things you need to have with you. These things include supplies, like food and water, clothes, fuel and last but not least, a GPS receiver.

Those little devices that you can fit in the palm of your hand are very handy when it comes to finding the best route to your destination. A GPS receiver is any device that can help you pin-point your location anywhere around the world, day or night.

But how does a GPS receiver work? Even though this may come as a shock to you, but at the basis of the whole concept stand highly accurate atomic clocks. These things can provide all the necessary information needed by the consumer or beneficiary.

To obtain the results a constellation of satellites are used, between 24 and 32 in numbers. The satellites emit microwave signals, and calculating the time it takes to get to the GPS receiver, these things can determine the location, time and velocity.

About four satellites are used to obtain each result. This is because each of the satellites emits a signal that propagates as a sphere. When three of these spheres intersect, that is the location of the receiver. The result from the fourth satellite is used to correct any errors than may be encountered along the way, and rest assured that huge errors may occur for any result.

The global positioning system was developed by the United States Department of Defense. It was a project developed to aid the air force with their GPS tracking systems, but after an unfortunate accident that occurred in 1983, Ronald Reagan released the GPS for the general public. Since then there are many fields that have benefited from this development.

Using the GPS tracking systems, people can now create highly accurate maps of unknown areas around the world. Thus people will have a helping hand when they go exploring new territories, minimizing the probability of getting lost.

Commercial use of GPS can be found in many vehicles. They can be incorporated with the car, or they can be bought separately, as a small device that can display all the information you need. Using the GPS tracking systems, you can determine which the fastest route to your destination is, you can record a route you use or you can benefit from all the other features this device has to offer.

When you set out to buy your own GPS device, then you are in for a treat. There are lots of places where you can buy them from, lots of brands you can choose and lots of tracking systems with various features that can appeal to you.

The question is which the best one is. In order to find the best solution for your dilemma, you should visit the website findritegps.com. Here you will find a wide collection of models from the best brands, and you are bound to find the right GPS receiver for you.

Clint Jhonson
http://www.articlesbase.com/gps-articles/how-does-a-gps-receiver-work-688199.html

Repairing your automobile can always cause certain headaches that are just not needed. Even though there are professional car repair shops that will help you repair your car, they will also charge a pretty penny for the work that they do. In fact, most of the time the price that people pay for car repairs in professional shops does not come from the auto parts themselves, but is the labor charges that have to be paid. One great alternative to professional car services that repair your automobile is to do it yourself. There are thousands of individuals who dislike taking their car to auto shops, which is the main reason that they do most of their repairs themselves. On the other hand, if you don’t mind getting a little dirty there are always simple options of repairing your car yourself. Here are some of the more common jobs that need to be done from time to time and the auto parts that you’ll need for them.

Changing Your Brakes

This is a project that usually has to be done at least every other year. Of course, it depends totally on the type of car you have as well as how old the car is that you’re driving. But brakes get worn down just as any of the other auto parts do, and they need changing from time to time. Before you start out on the journey to change your brakes, the first thing that you’ll need is the equipment. But how much do you need to change? Many people simply think that they’ll need only the brake pads; however, it’s important to consider how long one has been driving with their brakes worn down in the first place.

For a total brake change, the auto parts that one is going to need are the brake pads, discs, and calipers. Depending on whether or not the rotors are worn down also, you may need those. Also, most cars come with a set of brake shoe sets that you will need to replace as well as everything else on the list of auto parts that you’ll need.

Changing Oil and Fuel Filters

This is a whole other different job in itself and requires a different set of auto parts. Many professional auto repair shops will charge about $30 to perform an oil and oil filter change, and a fuel filter change costs about $50. However, one can do these jobs easily and simply by themselves with only paying for the auto parts. In order to change the oil filter the only thing that needs to be done is to buy the oil filter itself, which usually only costs around $5.00, and change it while you’re underneath the car changing your oil. On the other hand, the fuel filter is a little bit more expensive and the process is quite different because it actually usually involves taking off one of the wheels, but one only needs to pay for the auto parts that he or she will need, which is simply the fuel filter itself.

There are plenty of other simple repair procedures that can be done all by yourself. It’s definitely not necessary to quickly run to an auto shop every time that every little thing needs to be done. By doing the work by yourself you not only save the cost of labor, but you also only need to pay for the auto parts that you use!

Andri Irawan
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/auto-parts-for-necessary-repairs-712066.html

We all have dreams – outcomes we would really like. But often the obstacles seem too great. So they stay dreams, never making it into reality.

We feel stuck, so we try to get on with day-to-day tasks and struggle to ignore the frustration. This is a heavy brake on our performance. In his brilliant book ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ Tim Gallwey first showed a new way to look at this:

Performance = Potential – Interference

Gallwey found that, as a tennis coach, his clients improved their game much more as he told them less what to do. Giving instructions appeared to interfere with their learning.

Instead he focused on helping the client increase their self-awareness, finding then more of the player’s potential automatically became real. Moving on from tennis, Gallwey’s approach has been applied in many other fields. It seems universal, so we can apply it too.

This means that if we are unable to reach the goals that really matter to us, we can turn the situation around by reducing the interference we experience.

This interference can come in many forms and when it rises to a certain level, we become completely stuck.

Here are 4 key principles to getting unstuck:

1. Start from where you are

It’s easy to set conditions and prerequisites, such as “I’ll start when I’m qualified” or “I’ll start when I’ve finished the project” or the classic “I’ll start when I’ve got more time”.

Remember you’re aiming to start, to become unstuck. That means taking some action now. You can only start from where you are, otherwise you remain stuck.

2. Be yourself

We can fall into the trap of thinking that we can only start if we follow the example of someone else. This example could be a real person or a more general sense of the ‘right way’. In either case, we impose a major constraint on ourselves.

By all means use a role-model when it helps you towards your goal but if it hinders you, change the role model!

3. Be kind

It’s amazing that we sometimes give ourselves harsh and damning treatment that we wouldn’t dream of giving to another person.

If you’re stuck, beating yourself up about it is unlikely to help. Sure, you can be determined but be sensitive. Use rewards and encouragement just like you would to get the best from another person.

4. Use your natural motivation

If your car was stuck in the mud, getting it moving again would be more important than the exact direction you take. You can always correct the course later.

Take the first steps where you have motivation to do so. This builds some momentum which you can then turn more exactly towards your goal. This is the secret behind the wisdom “If you want something done, ask a busy person” because that person already has loads of momentum.

Once started, you will begin to move towards your goal. If things ever get ‘sticky’ again you can revisit these principles to free up your progress.

Trevor Hill

Monday morning upon arriving at my workplace I greeted my coworkers with “TGIM (Thank God It’s Monday).”

After the laughter died down one of my old buddies said “You’ve got it all screwed up Frankie, it’s TGIF, (Thank Goodness it’s Friday)”

“Aue contraire,” I retorted. “When you have experienced ‘the Weekend from Hell’, Monday (not Friday) is the day all the pain and suffering has ended, the catastrophes have vanished, and my life has returned to some semblance of normalcy.”

I can’t say all the omens and warning signs weren’t there. They were, but my usually cheerful, almost euphoric mood that comes with the weekend, clouded my vision, and left all the signs invisible.

Using 20/20 hindsight, the first of several dark and forbodeing clouds to roll over the horizon was my wife’s departure by air for Los Angeles to v9isit her mother and sick stepfather. That was strike one in my weekend ballgame with fate.

The second strike whizzed by when my daughter announced that she and her hubby were leaving for Florida to attend a wedding, and that I had been chosen to baby-sit my grandson and granddaughter (7 and 8 years old respectively) for the entire weekend. Face it, who else could she choose with my wife gone and her regular babysitter on vacation.

The third strike occurred when I arrived home from work on Friday night at about 4 PM and found my cat (actually only a kitten), sitting transfigured, like a miniature version of the Great Sphinx

at El Giza, Egypt. He sat silently (stone cold dead) in the middle of the living room floor with a pained and mournful look on his face.

Later that evening I drove my 94 Citation to my daughter’s house to pick up my grandchildren, who at the time were at the time engaged in a scaled down version of WWWIII. They quickly agreed to a ceasefire when I promised to take them to McDonald’s some time over the weekend.

I drove straight to an empty apartment we own that I had an appointment to show to several prospective tenants. Of the several couples scheduled to see the apartment, some didn’t show up and the ones who did looked like people from another planet, if you get my drift.

After the last couple, it was now 5:30 PM, the rush hour in the downtown, and traffic was bumper-to-bumper. I was in a long line on a steep upgrade waiting for a red light to change when I heard a slight, almost inaudible click from somewhere deep in the guts of my car. When the light changed, I stepped on the gas pedal and the car would not move. Changing gears was to no avail. The car would not go forward, or backward. The man behind me was in a pickup truck with a long tandem trailer behind it, and when he saw we were disabled, he backed dup and this gave us just enough room to drift diagonally backwards into a designated customer parking space for a large paint, glass, and supplies store. I hailed one of the store clerks and told him we would move it as soon as we could.

The temperature was in the 90′s and the humidity was high. As we started the 10 block walk back to our apartment, my young grandson started picking up little items from the gutter, like a rusty Copenhagen snuff tin, which he wanted to use as a drinking cup. After I put the stoppers on that little project he started finding sticks to poke his sister with. Then he intoned the question “When are we going to McDonald’s?”

I said “Hold it, you forgot we don’t have a car and the nearest McDonald’s is out by the mall (roughly 2-3 miles away). His reply “But Granddad, we could walk.”. That did it! I took them upstairs to the apartment and made them cheese sandwiches.

The next morning, after discussing my car problems with a friend, I decided my transmission must have merely run out of fluid. Luckily (I thought) I have a ROV (Ratty Old Van) that I can use to go get transmission fluid and a funnel. My optimistic side kept telling me it couldn’t be a busted transmission, just one low on fluid.

I went downstairs, climbed into the ROV, put the key in the ignition and turned it. Nothing happened, not even a click. I learned later that my wife had forgotten to switch off the dome light when she left 5 days ago. I then called my son to ask him if he had a car I could borrow in case I needed it to go to work on Monday morning. He said “Sure, I have an old car that belonged to a friend of mine who left it with me to sell, after he had bought a new car. He said apologetically that the body was all smashed up but it was drivable. After talking with him I went down and attached my very slow trickle charger on the van battery.

At this point I decided to walk down to the auto parts store to get transmission fluid. After walking the 10 blocks (with grandkids in tow of course) I bought 4 quarts of transmission fluid and a long funnel. Arriving back at the car I followed the instructions on the bottle and determined from the transmission dipstick that the fluid level was fine so the only conclusion was that the transmission was probably kaput!

After the long trek back to the apartment, I finally was able to reach the transmission shop by phone. They promised free towing but didn’t know how soon they could do it, but they thought it would probably be some time Monday morning.

T went down to the van to see if the battery charger had done its job and once again I inserted the key and got no response, not even a click. I thought to myself that later in the afternoon, I would call my son and have him deliver the ROC (ratty old car), so I would have a way to work on Monday morning.

When I called, he reported that he had sold the car he was going to lend me and hour before I called and the buyer had driven ff in it.

At this point the horror story was far from over and believe me, I am not making any of this up. My son promised me he would come over and jump start my ROV so I would have transportation to work. He did, and after he left, late Sunday afternoon, I decided I would drive over to a neighboring town about 3 miles away to make sure the battery was well charged. I loaded up the 2 grandkids and set out. Everything was going fine until the muffler on the ROV fell off and was dragging on the pavement. I stopped, pulled what was left of it off and went on, the van sounding like a hot rod with dual Smitty’s for mufflers.

Next morning the transmission shop sent a driver to my workplace to get the keys to my disabled car. When I got off work that evening I drove the ROV complete with double Smitty sound over to the transmission shop. They informed me that the transmission was completely shot and since this model had a torque converter, there would be an extra $250 charge on top of the $550 for the transmission job.

By this time I was so beaten down by the whole affair that I just handed over my credit card and told them to go ahead and do the rebuild. The straw that broke the camel’s back came when I finally got the car back on Thursday. and found a $15 parking ticket issued by the local police at 7:50 AM, about 15 minutes before the tow truck from the transmission shop had arrived. I just shook my head and started mumbling something about this affair being enough to enrage the “Good Humor man”.

Frank Ernhart
http://www.articlesbase.com/humor-articles/chronicle-of-the-weekend-from-hell-a-true-story-700102.html

Working from home is a great thing, no doubt about it.  You can wear what you want.  Keep you own hours.  Eat and drink when you want.  Surf the net without feeling like your boss is going to bust you.  You don’t have to worry about commuting and all of the stress associated with bumper to bumper traffic.  No annoying bosses to deal with anymore and you can take breaks when it suits you.  In short, you control your own destiny.

All of those things are fantastic pros to owning your own business and working from home.  However, there is a dark side.  There is the tendency to get sidetracked from the work that generates a profit and puts food on your table to the work you would maybe rather do at the moment like build that deck in your back yard, work on your car, or ugh…do the laundry.

There is also the tendency to lose track of time researching for your business or taking care of tasks that may be better suited for a different time or even handled by a different person.  All of these sidetracks, and many more, will take away from your daily productivity and essentially end up affecting your bottom line.

Here are 10 tips to help you stay on track and heading toward the profits you desire and deserve.

1. Organize everything.  Having a system in place for your business, your home office, and your work time is essential to remain focused and productive.  Develop a system of organizing your office files and your computer files.  Make sure there is a place for everything including the stuff you got in the mail today.  Some common file categories are:

• Expenses
• Bank accounts
• Receipts
• Customer files
• Contracts
• Payables
• Receivables
• Taxes
• Business entity documentation
• Marketing
• Copywriting ideas

On your computer it is often helpful to have a folder for every major aspect of your business with separate smaller folders contained inside if necessary.  For example you could have a taxes folder on your computer with separate tax information stored in sub folders by date.  Al l the tax information and documentation for each year would be stored in that year’s folder.  The important thing to remember when developing a system of organization is to make sure that it is a system that will work for you, your business, lifestyle and needs.  If it doesn’t you wont use it and it won’t do you any good.

2. Plan.  Some people are planners and others are doers.  To be a successful business owner, you have to be both.  You have to plan it and then you have to do it.  Plan your business, plan your year, plan your month, plan your week, plan your day.  Task lists and project management systems are great tools for the day to day, month to month type planning.  For longer range annual planning you will want to go back to your business plan and review, revise, and reassess it annually.

Goals are much easier achieved if you set out a plan to achieve them.  This includes the small daily goals like calling that contact about that new joint venture idea you have.  I’m sure you have already heard this, but good goals are measurable, relevant, timely, and attainable.

3. To do lists.  To do lists or task lists as we talked about in #2 are essential to keep you on task and focused on your goal. Task lists also help keep you organized and they help you prioritize your day.  If you’re like me, then they help to motivate you too.  There’s something satisfying about crossing an item off of your task list, and conversely something terrifying about watching that task list grow and grow while doing nothing to shorten it and keep it under control.

4. Automate what you can.  One of the fantastic things about working from home and owning an online business is that there are so many wonderful tools available to help make our lives easier.  There are autoresponders and electronic shopping carts.  Web tracking statistics and article submission software programs.  Heck, there are even task list programs that will email you your task list for the day!  Automating certain tasks will help take the burden off of your shoulders and free up your time to spend on more important tasks.

5. Keep real hours.  One of the pitfalls of working from home is the tendency to work 12 hours a day.  I know you’re thinking no way, I wouldn’t do that, but it happens and your friends, family, and even your pets suffer the consequences.  You do too.  All work and no play makes ….well you know the rest.  Even if you LOVE your job, it is important to step away from it.  Keep real hours. 9-5, 8-4, 10-6 it doesn’t matter. Do whatever works best for you and your business but when it comes time to clock out and eat dinner with your family – do it.  Work isn’t going anywhere but your family is.

6. Let it go.  This goes back to #5.  When the horn blows and it’s time to turn off the computer and go to your child’s choir concert, be there with them in the moment.  If your mind is at home thinking about the task you didn’t quite finish or the project you’re starting tomorrow, you’re not truly with your child.

7. Track your hours.  Tracking the hours you work and the time it takes to accomplish certain tasks can be an eye opening experience.  You may find that the copywriting you think is only taking you an hour a day is actually taking you two.  You may also find that your administrative tasks are taking significantly less time than you thought they were or that answering emails consumes half of your day.  Tracking your time is essential if you want to later determine the value of it.

8. Plan your admin time.  Use the time of day that you are most productive for the tasks that are important to your business.  You can easily handle your administrative tasks during the time of the day when you’re unable to focus as well or are likely to have more interruptions.

9. Outsource what you can.  Since there are only 24 hours in a day and 5 days in a working week, it may not be possible to get everything done.  If you can fit it into your budget to outsource some of the more time consuming, and less appealing tasks, it may be worth your while to do so.  Particularly if your time would be better spent on tasks that generate revenue.

10. Identify your time stealers.  Everyone has time stealers.  Some get easily distracted by email.  Others find themselves spending too much time networking online or researching.  You likely know what your time stealers are.  If you don’t track what you do during the workday and how much time you spend doing it.  The results will be interesting.

Once you know where you’re losing time, you can take measures to eliminate it.  For example, if email is stealing your time, schedule checking your email into your task list in the morning, at lunch and near the end of the day.  That way you’re not responding to every new email in your inbox. 

Working from home is a joy but it takes a bit of structure and discipline if you want to be productive.  Using these ten tips as guidelines, you’ll be well on your way to a productive, and profitable future.
 
6 Business Management Tips You Can Live With

1. Set goals.  The number one business management tool you can use to better your business is goals.  Long term goals, short term goals and mid range goals too.  In fact, when you started your busies, you wrote a business plan right?  Did your business plan include your goals?  Business goals can include anything from how much you want to gross this year to how many hours you want to work.  In fact, it’s a common business management goal to work as few hours as possible and make a substantial income.  It’s one of the reasons many people start an online business in the first place.

So what are your goals?  As you write down your goals, take the time to make sure they meet the following criteria.  Are your goals measurable?  It isn’t enough to make a goal that you want to make more money or you want to work less.  How will you know when you’ve achieved your goal?  Quantify your goals so they’re measurable and you know when you’ve achieved success.

Make your goals timely.  What is your deadline for your goal?  If you don’t have a deadline for your goal, they’ll slip away and never get accomplished.  A deadline makes you accountable for your goals.  Along with timely is the ability to make your goals attainable.  There’s nothing worse than setting a goal that is so beyond your reach you end up feeling defeated.  Create your goals wisely, establish a plan to achieve them and you’ll create a pattern of success that will expand beyond your business and into your personal life too.

 
2. Set your business up the right way.  By setting your business up, we’re talking about both as an entity, LLC, sole proprietor, s corp. etc.., as well as setting it up separate from your personal life.  Get a separate business account.  Obtain a business address and phone number.  Separate and set up your business as an individual entity. This not only protects you legally it covers you with the government and tax system.  Take the time to meet with an accountant to get a best practices system established for accounting, this means all of your payables, receivables and taxes.  If you take these measures in the beginning, you’ll make your business life easier both day to day and in the long run.

3. Automate what you can.  The wonder of doing business online is that there are so many features and tasks you can automate.  Invoicing can be automated, shipping and fulfillment can be automated.  Email marketing can be automated, tracking your web statistics, advertising and even content distribution can all be automated.  Automate everything you can to enable yourself more free time to spend on tasks that generate profits or simply to give you more free time to enjoy your life.

4. Outsource well.  Speaking of saving yourself time.  Outsourcing is a fantastic tool to give your business a step up and to give you a little less stress.  Many self-employed business owners, work somewhere between 40 and 80 hours a week.  It can be a lot of stress to own a business and handle every single task and responsibility.  That is just one reason to consider outsourcing – save your sanity and spend more time focusing on you and your family.

There are a number of tasks you may be considering outsourcing.  They generally fall into a few categories:

• Administrative tasks.  These are often time consuming tasks that do not have a high hourly value, yet they need to be accomplished to make your business run effectively and efficiently.

• Professional tasks.  These tasks often fall under the realm of copywriting, scripting, managing an affiliate program, marketing tasks and the like.  They are important to your bottom line, however they can be effectively handled by an outside professional at a nominal hourly value.

• Technical tasks.  These are tasks that may take you some time to learn how to do.  They often fall under the realm of creating software, databases, special web languages, and so on.  These are time stealers simply because of the time it would take for you to learn how to do these particular tasks.  Their hourly value can be quite high.  The impact on your bottom line varies from task to task.  If you’re creating a new web element, it may contribute directly to profits.

Take a look at your job description. What can you outsource to make your business run more efficiently?

5.  Tell people what you want, not how to do it – create systems and accountability.  Delegating responsibilities is good business.  Here are a few ideas on how to work with others for maximum results.

• Establish a system of communication that works for both you and your employee.  Use the system to include what you want accomplished and by when. Use the rules for goal setting; make the task measurable, timely, and attainable.

• Communicate the task clearly.  Make sure that all deadlines, resources, and task responsibilities are thoroughly communicated.  Ask your employee questions to make sure task is understood.  Once you assign the task, let it go.  When you let go, you can focus on tasks required to grow your business and improve profits.

• Upon completion of the task provide feedback to your employee.  If constructive criticism is required, sandwich it between positive feedback for best results and to ensure a quality working relationship.
 
6.  Business plans and budgets.  It is a good business practice to have a business budget built right into your business plan. This is particularly important if you plan on seeking financing for your business.   Having an accurate and realistic budget will enable you to make educated spending decisions.

When creating a business budget your first step is often to determine your expenses.  Your expenses include operating costs, taxes, the costs of outsourcing, marketing, publicity and so on.  Make a list of all categories you anticipate having costs and all areas where you already know your expenses.

A budget is not a money diet, it is a spending plan and this is particularly important when it comes to your business.  You want to make sure you have enough money to pay your bills and grow your business.  Track your expenses and income and review your budget often.  If you find you’re spending more in one category, make the adjustments in your budget.

When it comes to owning and operating a business, a few good business management practices can go a long way.  Take the time to organize your life, outsource and automate what you can, establish processes to communicate your needs clearly, and structure your planning and spending in a way that makes sense for you.

Jeremy Gislason
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/10-tips-to-make-working-from-home-more-productive-700195.html

Green vehicles are those considered to be environmentally friendly. And the popularity of such vehicles is increasingly growing, just like the popularity of EBC greenstuff brake components, thanks to the efforts of the global community to curb the problem of global warming. Car makers develop and produce green cars to give the public what they want – cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles. More and more electric hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles are being released by car companies. These car manufacturers will have a chance to show off their green cars in a motor show organized just for these environment friendly cars.

Co-Operative Insurance will sponsor a motor show just for these vehicles at the Eden Project complex from March 30 to April 15 this year. The event will be called “The Sexy Green Car Show” and it will be held at the large-scale environmental complex in Cornwall, England. The show will definitely showcase a wide variety of green cars from different car makers in the world. This is also a chance for the public to look at the latest technology being used by the different car makers. Aside from car manufacturers, fuel manufacturing companies will also be present to show what development they have had in the advancement of alternative fuels.

The motoring event was organized by Co-Operative Insurance and Eden Project in the light of a new European Union legislation. The mandate states that European carmakers should cut down their carbon dioxide emission by at least 18 percent by the year 2012. The arena where the event will be held is also appropriate for the theme of the event since the Eden Project is home to the biggest greenhouses in the planet.

In the upcoming motor show, the public can expect to see the latest green car technology developed by leading car makers. There seems to be already a strong support on the part of the car makers to the upcoming motor show for green cars as evident in the statement of David Meneer, Marketing Director for the Eden Project. “We are delighted that so many major players in the motoring world are now committed to what promises to be a world first – a show entirely devoted to ‘green’ motoring.” Meneer further added that: “Traditionally, environmental organizations have not had much to say about cars, except to try to persuade people not to use them, and more recently not to buy 4x4s. However, “The Sexy Green Car Show’ aims to give motorists who want to go ‘green’ a better understanding of government schemes such as the new fridge-type efficiency labels on cars, tax bands on emissions and variable congestion charges”.

Co-Operative Insurance meanwhile said that they are eager to support the first ever green car show in the planet. The insurance company is the UK’s first company to provide insurance for green cars. With this motor show, they are continuing their dedication to the endorsement of green cars which will help in the protection of the environment. David Newman, the Marketing Director of Co-Operative Insurance, has this to say about their dedication to green cars: “At Co-Operative Insurance, we are firm believers that every person can make a ‘tiny difference’ to climate change and our unique Eco Insurance product allows ‘green’ drivers to do this by offsetting some of the damage that their car’s carbon dioxide emissions contribute to the environment at no extra cost”.

The Eden Project already had more than eight million visitors since its opening in 2001. And with the first ever green car show in the planet to be held at the environmental complex that number will surely increase.

Anthony Fontanelle
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/auto-show-for-green-vehicles-to-be-sponsored-by-cooperative-insurance-108729.html

What have you got at home that you certainly do not have in your vehicle?

Sure, there is your big and very comfortable bed. But, we all do know that you can simply recline your seats and still be able to take that rest you need.

The television set. That is one thing that you do not have in your vehicle as well as all those other kitchen and other home gadgets. But you know, you just hate it when you do hurry home to watch your favorite ball game. But once you are in your garage, that is when you do see that you had already missed a good part of the game. After all, you still had to park your vehicle, run to make your favorite sandwich for your stomach was already grumbling, and then dash to your den to turn on the TV. Too bad.

But there is this new technology from General Motors. But no, this one would not have anything to do with having your television set installed right in your vehicle so you can watch while you drive. That would be too dangerous. This also would not have anything to do with interchanging the GMC body parts to become an entertainment system. No fun in that.

GM calls it the “Car2U” and they would be available in some 2007 GM models and cars. One comes as a magical key fob while another would be the home automation system. It was a wizard that came by the name Jody Harwood who conjured up such a way to make you enjoy your TV more. Harwood was actually a project manager for Lear Corp. and he is also going to share his magic with GM.

The Car2U key fob would actually allow you to start up the lights in your home so that when you rush home, you would not need to stumble in the dark and waste precious time before you get to your game. It can also start up your TV so that when you walk in, it would already be up and waiting for you. The key fob could also be used to start up the microwave to make your favorite popcorn. See? Life is certainly easier.

Tracy Dawson
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/make-your-car-your-home-70899.html

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has launched a new project funded by the Department for Transport, called ‘Young Drivers at Work’. The safety charity is to look at a new ways of helping young employees who are asked to drive as part of their job.

It follows a survey carried out by the RoSPA, which revealed that more than half of businesses would support the introduction of a post-test driving qualification for their young workers to support them in coping with the challenges they face when being out on the roads during work.

The findings and subsequent report recommend the development of a modular post-test for driving at work award that would safely advance the experience of young motorists both generally and in situations that employers identified as being necessary. The proposed qualification is to be established and achieved with the involvement and consultation of the car insurance industry.

Duncan Vernon, RoSPA’s road safety manager, said, “Our research found that there is a clear skills and training gap. Young workers are being required to drive vehicles, and in conditions and situations, in which they have limited, if any, prior experience.

“Many employers reported that they did not rely on the driving licence as evidence of competence in driving for work and many conduct their own assessments before allowing their employees to drive for work purposes. It is not surprising therefore, that so many said they would find a post-test driving for work qualification useful.”

The test would help to develop safer driving attitudes, awareness of driving in different conditions, enhanced hazard perception and driving on the motorway, as these were amongst the leading issues raised by employers concerning their young workers.

The RoSPA want the qualification accredited to a national standard, but have emphasised that it is an optional and flexible requirement tailored to meet the needs of different organisations.

Based on the research findings, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents also hope to develop a free ‘Young Drivers at Work Workshop’ to look at some of the issues raised by employers and young motorists. It is proposed that people within the organisations involved will be able to deliver the workshops themselves, with the help of a ‘how to’ guide to encourage effective facilitation.

Of the 407 employers questioned in the survey, more than half said they would be in support of the introduction of the post-test driving qualification, with reducing accidents the main reason for this.

Rochelle Martinez
http://www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/new-driving-at-work-qualification-to-be-supported-by-car-insurance-industry-890085.html