Attorney Offers Tips for Safeguarding Your Wealth in 2013

Litigation is America’s fastest growing business because plaintiffs have everything to gain and nothing but a few hours’ time to lose, says Hillel Presser, author of “Financial Self-Defense (Revised Edition),” http://www.assetprotectionattorneys.com.
“Even if a case seems utterly ridiculous — like the man who struck and killed a teenager with his luxury car and then sued the boy’s family for damage to his bumper — defendants are encouraged to settle. It’s sometimes the only way to avoid potentially astronomical legal fees,” he says.
If you haven’t already taken steps to protect your assets, that’s one New Year’s resolution you’ll be glad you made and followed up on, Presser says. And while it helps to have the assistance of a lawyer who specializes in asset protection, there are many things you can do yourself.
“You shouldn’t have any non-exempt assets in your name,” Presser says. “The goal is to ‘own’ nothing but control everything.”
Presser suggests these resolutions for safeguarding your wealth in the event of a lawsuit:
• Inventory your wealth. Figure out how much assets you really have (most people have more than they think). Take stock of valuable domain names, telephone numbers, intellectual property, potential inheritances, and other liquid and non-liquid assets. That way you can then work on actions to cost effectively keep them safe.
• Set your goal. Setting your 2013 asset protection goal is your first step to becoming protected in the New Year! For instance, you could plan to execute an estate plan or set up a trust for your children in 2013. Decide what assets you want to protect in the New Year and a realistic timeline for implementation. Then — and most importantly — stick to your plan. Asset protection works only if you follow through.
• Protect your home. Find out how much of your home is protected by your state’s homestead laws and then encumber the remaining equity. Encumbering a home’s equity can be accomplished by recording a mortgage against it, re-financing a current mortgage or even taking out a lien of credit using your home as collateral! Another great strategy to protect your home is to transfer its title to a protective entity such as a limited liability company (LLC), trust, limited partnership, etc.
• Get everything out of your name. The worst thing you can do as far as exposure is titling all of your assets to your personal name. That doesn’t mean you have to lose control of them – the goal of asset protection is to “own nothing, but control everything.” In 2013, work on moving your assets out of your personal name and into the name of protective entities such as limited liability companies (LLC’s), trusts, limited partnerships, etc.
• Buy adequate insurance. Protect your loved ones. Make sure you have adequate insurance coverage in the event a job loss, natural disaster, or even a tragic loss of life. Those include — but are not limited to — your car, home, and other valuables.
About Hillel L. Presser, Esq., MBA
Hillel L. Presser’s law firm, The Presser Law Firm, P.A., represents individuals and businesses in establishing comprehensive asset protection plans. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s School of Management and Nova Southeastern University’s law school, and serves on Nova’s President’s Advisory Council. He also serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations for his professional athlete clients. He is a former adjunct faculty member for law at Lynn University. Complimentary copies of his best-selling book, “Financial Self-Defense (Revised Edition)” are available through assetprotectionattorneys.com.

 

Standard Partitions or Glass Wall Panels in the Office?

There have been hundreds of studies done by psychologists and business strategists in order to find out how they can optimise office space/decor with productivity in the staff. A small but significant part of the atmosphere created in an office comes down to the partitions by which it is divided.

 Listed below are the advantages of using wooden boards and glass screens as office partitions with regards to working environment and employee productivity.

 

Standard Partitions  

• There is a defined area in which staff can call their own.
• If the material is made out of chip board or a thick cloth, staff can spruce up their work space by pinning personal items on there. This gives them an identity rather than just another username and login number.
• You’re less exposed and, when you need to, can get your head down and finish by those important deadlines.
• There are far less distractions around the staff that will sway them from their tasks.
• There is also more privacy for those days when you just want to be left alone and not get involved in other activities around you.

 

Glass Panels

• Firstly, glass panels give a more open-plan feel to the office, making staff feel less stuffy and enclosed.
• They can lead to a brighter working area, ensuring any tired eyes early in the morning can properly wake up.
• There can be a more social vibe to the office which can lead to better working relationships, although this comes with the caveat that staff may socialise too much!
• There is a sense of belonging in that staff may feel more involved on tasks which they may not necessarily be assigned to, but are aware of its presence. Stops any feeling of isolation.
• Finally, the glass wall panels look stylish. A vibrant, interesting and modern office helps to perk up the spirits of its staff, even if it’s just a little.

Research has suggested that office design greatly influences productivity. For example the colour scheme of an office can dictate the mood of staff i.e. reds make staff more tense and alert whereas blues make them feel calmer and more serene.

If there is less interaction between staff, through standard partitions dividing the office, then productivity will increase. However, motivation and job satisfaction tends to decrease which, in the long run, is bad for productivity.

 If there are glass partitions, coupled with a more open plan office design, then there will be more interaction between staff for problem solving and an emphasis on team work. Of course, this could lead to the staff having more social conversations rather than work problem solving.

If you work in an office with either of these partitions, feel free to comment below to share your thoughts on how productivity is affected by it!

James Duval is an IT Support Manager during the day and an Applied Workplace blogger in his spare time.

 

 

The Dynamics Of Customer Relationship Management

The customer relationship management system is the most updated and highly rated system mostly used for strategy formulation in marketing. This dynamic system of marketing and business deals with mutual relationship with customers and clients and is compactly titled as the automated CRM system. It is a widely spread tactic and the most reputable procedure for reducing the cost of a product placed within the market. This system of customer relationship management provokes and stimulates the factors or indicators of satisfaction and increased profits in favor of customers and clients across the globe as well as within the market place. CRM system allows for development of strong relationships within the business world and market.

Portions of dynamical aspects of CRM system:

The portions and areas of CRM which deals with the dynamics of marketing and skills are as follows:

• The system of marketing is the most consistent and delicate of areas in the customer relationship management system.
• The most non constant and variable aspect of the market lies within the interaction with customers and clients.
• Appointments should be made after consideration of analytical dexterity for business. It aids in the removal of obstacles and hindrances present in the way of marketing and enactment of business strategies.

Basically a system of marketing is all dynamic in nature. It keeps on changing due to the introduction of constantly changing trends in the area of workplace, products, loss and profit.

Scenario of marketing relationships:

The CRM system is the most helpful of tools for the purpose of identifying and subsequently targeting the skills and points that are prevalent in the market and its various businesses. Generation of conducive and effective marketing skills leads to an escalation in the potency of the whole venture and eventually, spawns great reforms in both the mobile and static aspects of business strategies that are to be. The scenario of marketing relationships should be dynamic. They should be based upon responses of a marketing client that should entail the procession of the intrinsic principles and concepts found in the CRM system. Marketing revenue for customers should also be dynamic in nature and should reflect the best deals for a client and customer. This strategy creates an active track which allows for the proceedings and workings of a sales process to remain neutral when embedded in the CRM system. Ability for holding and supporting the services of customers is composed of a most unique mixture or blend of cooperation and mutual binding forces. Appointments in a CRM system are focused and centralized courses of action that are based solely on the consumers of a market. The advertised product and the projects of static market should be integrated in the most appropriate and effective of manners before bringing it forward onto the platform of the global market. Segmentation, legal campaigns and targeting should affect the dynamics of an analytic CRM system. This will reflect the quality and high performance of a business and skills of marketing and assist in designing the iconic elements of operation and components of a market with all dynamic systems and terms completely accounted for.

Robert Green works for one of the leading CRM agencies in Europe and is an expert in online and offline CRM systems (interesting to know is that the Spanish term is CRM sistema).

 

How Writing a Book can Help Your Business and Other Vampires

Some of the most prolific books written today are paranormal romances. There are thousands of them, all trying to be the next Twilight. There are other vampires also, those that haunt the Internet and pop up regularly, like bar girls who steal or kidneys or how sending a chain letter to Bill Gates will make you rich. One of those vampires is the one about business ebooks. According to many experts, if you write an ebook for your business customers will beat a path to your door. Let’s hope that they are not there for your kidneys!

Nobody may to ready your business ebook. Have you ever read one? Did you download it before that long airplane ride to have something to read on the trip? There were 200,000 books published in 2011. According to Fast Company, the following were the best selling business books of 2012:

1. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain

2. How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon

3. Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours, by Robert Pozen

4. The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail–but Some Don’t, by Nate Silver

5. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, by Brené Brown

6. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg

7. Renegades Write the Rules: How the Digital Royalty Use Social Media to Innovate, by Amy Jo Martin

8. Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck: What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur and Build a Great Business, by Anthony K. Tjan, Richard J. Harrington, Tsun-Yan Hsieh

9. The Click Moment: Seizing Opportunity in an Unpredictable World, by Frans Johansson

10. Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, by Frank Partnoy

11. The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner

12. 11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era, by Nilofer Merchant

How many of these have you read? Do your customers read them? What products did you buy because you read one of these books?

Writing a book is about telling the world a story and why it is important. You write because you have a story to tell and because you love to write. You write to entertain your readers.

Your story about your business and what it took to start it and how you keep it going may become a bestseller. But, not if you write it, or have a cheap ghostwriter hack it out to help visitors to your website buy new lawn furniture. But, if the lawn furniture is haunted and the garden gnomes are wise gurus of life in the suburbs, then maybe people will read it.

The Staples Easy Button is a great marketing idea. The story about how it was created, and how American pop culture seized on it might very well make a great chapter in a business book about advertising. If you can write that story, then write it and promote that book on your web site.

Writing a bad, throw-away ebook to sell your business may do more harm than good. Vampires are like that. The writing quality, story quality, format quality, and grammar quality of the book reflect your business.

Write your business book because you have to write it and are willing to spend the months and months needed to write, edit, rewrite, package, and promote the book as something more than your business, not to just sell lawn furniture. The gnomes know when you are faking it. Just remember that.

About Mike Macartney

Mike Macartney is the publisher at Shoot Your Eye out Publishing. SYEO Publishing is a new book publishing company for writers who wish to publish their work today, in a very different publishing world than was the case even a few years ago. You can follow the world of books and publishing at SYEO on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shoot-Your-Eye-Out-Publishing/164919843554977

 

How to Handle Customer Complaints Before They Go Viral

With social media and the internet making it easier than ever to voice customer complaints, is your company doing what it can to prevent a potential PR disaster? Every day on Facebook and Twitter, people are discussing brands. Sadly, studies show that customers are more likely to share a negative experience than a positive one, and in the case of today’s customer relations, this could be potentially fatal.

It takes just one bad experience for a reaction to be triggered. It could be a bad quality product, a rude sales person or even an issue with delivery. With the high level of smartphone usage throughout the world, that unhappy customer could be on Facebook before they have even left the premises. A status takes just seconds to post, and once it is on the web, it is almost impossible to prevent a potential viral nightmare.

The Dangers of Unanswered Customer Complaints

Now imagine that this unhappy customer who has vented their outrage at your company’s poor service gets replies from other people that they follow, each of whom also has something bad to say. That post could get shared on someone’s blog, or it may get shared on other people’s statuses too. They may even have voiced their complaint on your official Facebook page.

There are two ways that this situation could go at this point.

1. Your company could answer promptly, and deal with the issue directly before it gets any worse.
2. Your company could ignore the complaint, and wait to see if things eventually settle down.

What if this whole disaster could have been prevented in the first place though? With a good customer complaints system in place, the issue could even have been dealt with before the customer walked away from the sales floor where the issue took place.

How to Get it Right and Reap the Re
wards

What customer complaints management is all about is getting the process right BEFORE things get too big to control. Your customers keep you in business, and without them, you would not be in business at all. Happy customers mean better business, and of course, the opposite is true too.

Having complaints is not always an entirely bad thing either – this is how you improve your operations, staff training, products and overall business. It is how you deal with those complaints that predict whether you are a business who gets it right, or one who misses out on opportunity to improve reputation and build better relations.

Investing in customer complaints management software may seem like an added expense, but at the end of the day, you are investing in the very people who support your business. This can never be anything but valuable.

Christopher Stainow is Chief Executive of Lennox Hill; creators of isoTracker Quality Management System & hosted Document Control Software ensuring the quality of your business processes and documentation to assist in business efficiency.

 

 

What Every New Business Owner Must Know

Looking to start your own business? Want to know exactly what it is that you are in store for? You are not alone; no one likes to lie down and accept things that they do not know, or understand.

Thus, coming as close to knowing the future as you can is an important part of being a business owner. After all; the more you know about what to expect, the better the chances are that you will be able to handle anything that is thrown at you with complete and utter ease. Following, you will find some of the best tips a new business owner could ever hope for, tips that will allow you to better prepare for your future as a business owner, because it will be a bright one.

Lesson Number One: How to Deal

It may sound like the most basic tip, but learning how to deal is important. No one will ever willingly work for a hothead. And if you have a tendency to lose your cool under pressure, you will soon find that meetings will seldom go your way, that accidents can and will happen, and that employees, when treated poorly, will quit.

So learn to handle yourself just as well as you hope to handle your business. Research shows that a more level headed boss is the key to success in a business, and tends to rake in more revenue, consumers, and all the other goodies that make a business tick.

Lesson Number Two: Learning How to Work

Just because you are the boss of your business, does not mean you can sit back, kick up your legs and call it a day for the rest of your business’s life span. Because if you do do this, then your business’s life span will not be very long at all.

Hiring assistants can help, but you should never hand your company over until you are good and ready to retire in full. Until then, you are still the boss, and as such, you act as captain of your ship; all the big decisions come down to you. If you find that things that are happening within your company surprise you, then it means you do not have your hands far enough inside your company, and you need to crack down and start getting more serious.

Lesson Number Three: Keeping it All Together

Business is going to be stressful. This is something that you should accept, and come to handle as best as anyone can. No matter what happens, after employees’ safety, your business comes first. Every decision you make from this point onward will possibly affect your company. Even your personal life will have a direct impact on the success or failure of your company as a whole.

Think of it this way; if you saw your boss crawling around taverns all weekend, how would you feel come Monday morning? Your employees look to you for stability. As such, you need to exemplify the ultimate stability. Every time you are in public, you are representing your company.

As a new business owner, your younger days may very well be your most important. The things that you do now, at the start of your company, could come to haunt you one day in the near future if you are not careful. So as the captain of this ship, you need to display all the professionalism, strong will, level headedness and other traits that one would expect from their employer, no matter where you happen to be.

Trevor Graham writes for celebrityspeakers.com.au who have hundreds of industry leading business speakers available.

 

Instagram loses users in photo rights backlash

Published: 9:15AM Sunday January 13, 2013 Source: ONE News

Instagram backtracks on some changes

Photo-sharing application Instagram has lost nearly half its daily users in a month after publishing updated terms and conditions which said it would have the right to sell users’ photos without notifying them.

Following an instant backlash among social media users, Instagram quickly backtracked on its earlier statement, saying that sweeping changes was not what it intended.

Instagram, which was purchased by Facebook for US$700 million in cash and shares last April, added that it was not their intention “to sell your photos”.

But the damage was already done, with many users’ threatening to quit using application.

And it appears they have stuck to it – new figures reveal Instagram’s active daily users – the highest frequency user group – has dropped to 8.42 million this week, from 16.35 million on December 17, the day the controversial news broke, the New York Post reported.

The statistics were compiled by AppStats, which measures app usage by tracking users who are logged into Instagram via Facebook.

AppStats CEO Sebastian Sujka told The New York Post: “The main loss will be most likely due to the terms of service changes, given how much attention and controversy the terms of service change has brought, and seeing how clearly the Instagram app dropped after the terms of service change.”

Facebook has described the findings as “inaccurate”.

“We continue to see strong and steady growth in both registered and active users of Instagram,” Facebook said in a statement.

It appears that some changes to the application will still take place on January 16.

 

 

Designing Promotional Products for Your Brand

A company needs to make creative, exceptional designs that grab the attention of customers. One of the most effectual ways to develop a commendable brand is to hand out promotional products. Promotional products are items that appeal to different types of customers. Tangible items are used to spread important messages to as many people as possible. A good graphic design service uses the art of visuals to represent your company.

Radio, television and newspapers are the most well-known forms of media, but promotional merchandise is a unique form that is just as effective. One product has a bold, colourful imprint of your company’s logo. Typical items include pens, coffee mugs, shirts and tote bags. Each promotional item must have the company’s logo and contact details. This type of product works much like a business card. People who like nice things to carry around will love this type of merchandise.

Using a graphic designer is not a luxury for many companies. Using a professional is the only way to complete a serious project. There are a few tips that should be followed to find the most creative and efficient designer.

Here are some tips to help your life a little easier:

• The most important step is to review the portfolios of designers. Some are specially trained to work for companies of certain types or sizes. There are different specialties of graphic design, such as brochures, slogans, websites and corporate identity.
• If a portfolio looks impressive, the next step is to talk about the project and ask a long list of questions. Before a contract is signed, it must contain a good outline of the work, including the cost estimate and deadline. Half of the bill is paid, and the rest is paid after the print work is done.
• The client and designer must convene regularly to make sure that the right steps are being made. A real professional accepts feedback well and makes a series of suggestions. Setting up several meetings is the only way to create an optimal design.

Of course, using a graphic design service to create hats, shirts and coffee mugs is not required. However, promotional marketing increases the honour and professionalism of any business. A company that makes and sells products will seem more productive. This is similar to designing a website that is full of videos and pictures. Customers are impressed by any company that promotes a long line of merchandise made in different colours, styles and designs.

This great tip was brought to you by Belinda Wright, a graphic designer and artist for Kwik Kopy Corporate design and Printing solutions. Belinda likes writing blogs that focuses on creative graphic designs.

 

 

How Promotional Products Can Help Advertise Your Product

Many businesses today are finding that it is harder than ever to get their name in front of prospective customers. Tight advertising budgets are being spread even thinner by the number of media outlets available. The challenge comes in trying to make sure the name of your business, service or product is in front of potential buyers’ eyes at the exact moment they have a need or are considering a purchase.

As consumers become more distracted, traditional media outlets are losing their ability to efficiently reach a targeted market. The internet and social media offer more options to communicate directly but advertisers still need to drive customers to their website. Add to that the crucial sales fact that a consumer has to receive a certain number of impressions before making a decision to buy, and you’ve got a lot to overcome.

The answer for your business could lie in promotional products. According to research conducted by Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), the advantages of using promotional products include:

• Low-cost and advertising flexibility
• Long-lasting and tangible
• Consumer places a perceived value on the item
• Builds goodwill
• Works in conjunction with other media strategies

Consumers have a positive impression of promotional products because they are seen as a gift and not as some type of interruption. They place a value on the item received and tend to look favorably on the company that provided it.

Get Your Name Seen Consistently by Your Target Market

Promotional products work best when they are something that is useful and are seen on a regular basis. Here are a few suggestions that can help give your business, service or product that extra boost:

• Refrigerator Calendar Magnets: How many times does the ordinary family visit the refrigerator each day? Five times, ten times? Now multiply that by the number of days in a year and there is a tremendous opportunity to have your name in front of them on a consistent basis. With the calendar attached you’ll certainly get double the looks and use out the promotional magnet.
• Clothing: Wearing something with your name on it is a silent endorsement for your company. Not only does the wearer provide free advertising space, he or she is spreading your company’s name around to a totally new audience each time the clothing item is worn.
• Mugs and Glasses: We all need to drink water and many people need to get their morning coffee before they can really get into their day. Put your logo and tag line on something they use to hold their drinks and your message will have top-of-mind awareness.
• Writing Instruments: These are always a great idea because they are both cost-effective and useful. Every time recipients make a note to themselves, they will see your name.

Promotional items work well in conjunction with advertising programs to increase brand recognition and motivation to buy. Whether it’s refrigerator calendar magnets, pens or coffee mugs, adding some pizazz to your marketing plan with promotional products is a smart idea.

This article was brought to you by promotional magnet manufacturer Magnets.com. To connect with Magnets.com visit our Facebook page here or to find calendar magnets click here.

 

 

How to Move Offices without your Business Suffering

Moving offices is more difficult than moving houses. If you have gone through the latter you know what it is like. Being experienced in any sort of moving is a big plus because you know how to approach to it. What is more, you are always prepared for the unexpected since you know that anything can go wrong at any moment. Moving houses, however, means relocating with your family. And moving your business means relocating all your employees along with the equipment and furniture. It is stressful because you are responsible for a lot more people and their families than just the other two or three members of your own family. For that reason, this is a moving that must be well-planned. All contacts with clients must be preserved and the work must keep going. Adding to it that the relocation should finish as soon as possible makes it clear that you need the help of professionals. If the DIY method is applicable for moving houses when moving your business you must hire a removals company if you do not wish your business to suffer.

First thing you should know is that logging off all servers and stopping the work for a little bit while is completely out of the question. No productivity means losing money. It is quite enough that productivity will be low and that it will cost you money to move your business along with the money spent on potential damages. That is why you cannot afford to stop your work even for a day. But don’t you worry. This can be avoided if you plan the moving several months before putting it into practice.

Being ahead of everything is essential. For that to happen you need to be updated with the latest information about removals companies and the process of moving. That you can do. What is important to remember is to update everyone else about your moving. Inform everybody: employees, clients, all your associates. You can assemble a meeting for the staff to tell them the news. As for your clients your personnel can help you upload the news on your site along with the new office address and all the necessary contacts.

It is not a bad idea to use a temporary server in order to keep the work going. Of course it will be even better if you could start the new server at your new office. But if that is not possible for the moment a temporary one should do it. In that train of thoughts, you could also ask your employees if they would mind working from home because if they do not that would really help maintaining your productivity. If that indeed happens many of them may need some of the office equipment and you will have to provide it to them. That is why you should consider storaging it. Like that, you can use whatever you need at any time during the moving.

Finally, thanks to the removals company you hired everything is safely transported to your new office. It is time you settled down and gave a staff orientation for your employees to get acquainted with the new office. What is next is a final update on your website about your new whereabouts. Make sure that all the information is up to date: address, e-mails, and phone numbers. Once you do that you are ready again to take up your casual activities and to continue working with your staff at your new office.

The article has been written on behalf of http://www.removalcompany.co.uk/page-storage.html