Archive for June, 2009
The World Wide Web has Revolutionized the World of Freelancing
Posted by: | CommentsThere are lots of websites that offer links to freelance work opportunities.
Good way to find the websites which suits you is by doing the word search.
For example if looking for work that involves Telecommunications enter the following words: freelance Telecommunications.
Placing inverted commas around the words will narrow the search to links that contain the words in that order only, so focusing the search.
For freelance designers and developers, finding work is one of the biggest challenges.
Especially in the current economy, this is one aspect of freelancing that prevents some from achieving everything they want as a freelancer.
Fortunately, there are plenty of great articles available online that can help you to improve in certain areas that will help you to have a steady workload.
One of the biggest struggles for many freelancers is finding a way to stand out from the crowd of others providing similar services.
In many cases is a huge difference from one freelancer to the next in terms of quality of work, quality of service, specific services provided, experience, and turnaround time.
However, potential clients often seem to have the perspective that we’re interchangeable and all the same.
So they see price as the main point of difference.
One of the most effective ways to differentiate yourself is to specialize in a very specific area of work in your field.
Instead of being a general freelancer, take the area you enjoy the most and that you do very well, and put yourself as a shark in this category.
Many of us works with the clients all over the world.
Freelancers can work in any country in the world for one client.
That flexibility sometimes causes us to lose sight of the fact that we still have the option to target local clients
No matter what kind of skills you have, you can easily put your talents and experience to work doing part time freelance jobs.
Lead Generation, Business Development, Personal Development by Peter Thomson
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Ideas and proven methods on:
business development, business coaching, communication skills, making money, motivation, lead generation, personal development, presentation skills, sales training, self help and even time management
by
Peter Thomson
www.peterthomson.com
Duration : 0:4:22
Facilitation First
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Facilitation First , a unique organization solely focused on helping business professionals learn the tools for efficient, effective meeting facilitation and discover how smoothly their business objectives can be met because of it.
Duration : 0:3:31
Cloud computing for business – the economic case
Posted by: | CommentsEvery business person and newspaper editor I know is talking about the advantages of cloud computing. But what is it, what is the impact on business and what are the financial and obvious benefits?
Cloud means Internet. The computing happens on the Internet – instead of the software you use running on your desktop pc, it runs somewhere on the Internet on a server located in a data centre usually staffed by people who are experts in managing technology. This type of “cloud†software is commonly known as “on demand†or Software as a Service (SaaS).
Some successful examples of well established Software as a Service are:
Web based CRM Software (Customer Relationship Management) – Salesforce.com pricing approximately $9 per user/month.
Small business management and accounting software (small business ERP) – Salesorder.com pricing $45 per user/month.
Medium sized business ERP software – NetSuite pricing approximately $99 per user/month.
There are 3 key benefits for every business here:
Time, cost savings and reliability
Businesses no longer require a dedicated IT professional to help them choose, implement and support the technology infrastructure thus decreasing operating costs and time to implement. The burden of vigilantly backing up information is eradicated as this is usually an inherent feature of the “cloud†software. Cloud software “operators†almost always have redundant systems that can be turned on in a very short amount of time should a major error occur.
Easier selection and more choice
Using a web browser, businesses now have 24/7 access to a huge range of business software they can in most cases immediately evaluate and rapidly decide if the software fits their needs at zero expense. This makes it straightforward for people in large corporations to circumvent the normal information technology buying processes and easily evaluate and justify their business proposal.
Superior user experience
The internet provides instant feedback to software designers and has driven amazing progress in user interface design resulting in more intuitive systems thus reducing learning times and increasing user satisfaction. This of course means faster adoption and higher productivity.
Announcing Release of Web Based Field Service Software Version 4.2 by Bella Solutions
Posted by: | CommentsBella Solutions, a leading provider of web based Field Service Software launches version 4.2. This release provides customization for Field Service businesses to easily integrate the software into their current business process eliminating the need to change the way they do business. Fields sales and field technicians no longer have to visit the office or drive inefficient service routes. Bella connects the field technician to the back office systems and customer data. As a result, jobs are completed faster, more jobs are resolved on the first visit, and job tracking is improved, all of which enhance customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and increase profits.
In addition, a robust Customer Portal feature was added giving Bella clients the ability to greatly improve customer satisfaction by the use of online service requests and updates. Client’s customers are provided real time access to check Job status and history and provide feedback. Field Service organizations are able to reduce costs by automating this process and increase sales by maximizing technician’s time in the field. View more information at Bella Service Software
Scheduling and dispatching field service and sales resources are challenges for service organizations. Many organizations rely on out-of-date software, paper-based and telephone-based processes to link field service workers with the office. Traditionally, field resources have been required to physically visit an office or call office staff on the phone to receive dispatch instructions, which is costly and takes time that could be better spent servicing customers. At the remote service sites, workers often did not have ready access to the information required to complete the service call on the initial visit. In addition, once a service call was completed, the need for completed forms and other documents delayed the closing of the service order, which in turn delayed billing and reduced customer satisfaction. Bella’s web based technology enable’s field service organizations to automate their schedules and dispatch processes, thereby reducing office costs and increasing technician and sales productivity.
Company officials said, "We work closely with our Clients who provide invaluable real world requirements. Merging these requirements with our customizable technology allows us to provide the best possible solution for the Field Service Industry.”
About Bella Solutions: Bella provides web-based software for Field Service companies such as Cleaning Services, IT Services, Contractors, HVAC, and many more. Essentially, the software solution can be utilized by any company that manages field sales and technicians or remote resources. Bella provides the ability to streamline operations by providing CRM, Service Job Management, Scheduling, Equipment Maintenance, Employee and Vendor Management, Reporting, Accounting, and Inventory Management all from one application accessed from any computer, laptop, or PDA connected to the internet.
For additional information visit Bella Field Service Software
Marketing Your Home Business Online
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When getting the word out about your home business start up the Internet is the key – whether you have a totally online business or not.
There are four key ingredients in successful Internet marketing effort for your home business. The first is a great home business Web site; the second is free content on your site and others; the third is search engine optimization; and the fourth is electronic products such as e-zines or e-newsletters, auto responders, affiliations and email marketing campaigns.
Let’s explore first the design of your home business Internet site.
Your business Web site should have five key elements: it should be easy to navigate; it should be attractive; it should offer something free, primarily informative industry-related content; it should offer something that keeps consumers coming back; it should have some registration or opt-in element that allows the home business owner to initiate subsequent contact.
An easy to navigate home business Internet site is one that doesn’t require your visitors to travel all over the place in search of the page they saw the last time they visited. It should include a back and forth feature that is simple to use and understand, a site map that is visible from the home page, an About us and Contact us page or pages, clear descriptions of the products or services sold, bios of the key staff members, and contact information complete with phone and physical address (not only the PO box.)
An attractive online business site doesn’t have to have all kinds of flash and state of the art bells and whistles, but it should have eye appeal. The text and graphics should not crowd the pages, and the type faces recommended are Verdona, Arial or Garamond. When you’re creating a home business Web page stay away from the word processing standard type faces – Times Roman, for example. Avoid overuse of bold or italics and never include more than two type faces or three colors on one Web page. It’s better that it look professional than it look elaborate. Resist the urge to show on your home business Web site the many HTML tricks you’ve learned in HTML 101.
Consumers expect free things on the Internet. If your online business site doesn’t give that to them they will go elsewhere. If you don’t have written communication skills ask reprint permission of others in the industry who are not competitors but have published relevant material. Hire others to write relevant articles for you or join online article membership clubs that supply these on a regular basis.
There’s a very old but very accurate saying that it is eleven times as difficult to find a new customer as it is to keep the old one. Of course, the ideal for your home business is to do both – keep the old and bring in new. The two ways you encourage repeat business is to give them a reason to return time and again to your home business site; and to bring them back to your home business site proactively and regularly with their permission.
Bringing the consumer back is accomplished through frequent change of useful content, and through money-saving or money-generating enticements. Once consumers find out that your industry news, your sales or your limited-time promotions change every week they’ll be on your home business site every week. Write an e-zine or newsletter that is free but requires online registration. Ask the subscriber to opt in for notification of important sales, promotions, new product announcements and events. Then stay in touch.
Garland Choate
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/marketing-your-home-business-online-130985.html
Working Voices – Presentation Skills, Communication Skills, Interpersonal Skills
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Working Voices РPresentation skills, Communication skills, Interpersonal skills Working Voices teaches interpersonal communication skills. Everything from Presentation Skills to Leadership Development, Voice Coaching, Writing Skills, Image Management, Cultural Diversity and Memory Techniques. You̢??ll learn more about our courses in a moment.
Our USP is:
â?¢ our content (relevant, up-to-date, PRACTICAL)
â?¢ our style (high energy, high interactivity, FUN)
â?¢ our people (expert, experienced, EFFECTIVE).
Established in 1998, Working Voices delivers courses in the UK and abroad and engages a hand-picked team of trainers to meet the needs of a client list that includes some of the worldâ??s most prestigious companies. Youâ??ll learn more about our people in a moment too.
About our courses
If youâ??ve been on a course that was dull or uninformative; if delegates left it ill-equipped to put the fundamentals into practice from that moment forward â?? the â??takeawaysâ? as we call them â?? then the course was NOT one of ours. Groups, seminars, one-to-ones: hereâ??s what we teach.
Presentation Skills
Presenting ourselves, our company, our case. Itâ??s what weâ??re all doing all of the time. This comprehensive suite of courses is about doing these things properly and confidently â?? and getting the results we want.
â?¢ Presenting
â?¢ Pitching Skills
â?¢ Body Language
â?¢ Anger Management
â?¢ Assertiveness Training
â?¢ Essential Communication Skills
Leadership Development
Working Voicesâ?? leadership development programmes focus on your managers â?? the people who hold the key to making your business successful and profitable. Ours is a suite of UNIQUE and proven one-to-one coaching techniques and team-building exercises.
â?¢ One-to-one Leadership Programmes
â?¢ The Chi * of Success
â?¢ Leadership Unplugged
â?¢ Coach the Coach
( * The circulating life force whose existence and properties are the basis of much of Chinese philosophy and medicine.)
Voice Coaching
Your voice says masses about you, face-to-face, on the phone or by voicemail. It might say good humour, energy, gravitas. It might say dull, uninterested, impatient. And, of course, it might say nothing at all if it is unclear or unintelligible. These courses deal with all the pitfalls.
â?¢ The Perfect Voicemail
â?¢ Speaking English Clearly for Business
â?¢ Making The Most Of Your Voice
Writing Skills
Todayâ??s business writers write for the screen â?? and good screen-writing requires a new set of skills. We show you how to make your writing â??screen-friendlyâ?Â: easy to scan, easy to grasp, easy to action, easy to archive.
â?¢ Effective Business Writing
â?¢ Effective Report Writing
â?¢ Writing Effective Emails
Image Management
Look the best you can, every day. The clothes you wear, the way you wear them, the colours you choose. Savvy women realise that itâ??s part of their workplace weaponry. Savvy men realise that good grooming is a perfectly legitimate â??male thingâ?Â. Weâ??ll show how looking good is easy.
â?¢ Visual Impact in the Workplace
â?¢ Exclusive Personal Image Day
â?¢ Image Management
Cultural Diversity
No two people or businesses are the same. Our cultural diversity courses highlight how diversity within and outside your organisation can create opportunity and not division, when it is handled and managed properly.
â?¢ Communicating Across Cultures
â?¢ Cultural Awareness
â?¢ Embracing Diversity
Memory Techniques
The better your memory, the greater your ability to think on your feet and the greater your confidence. Think about it â?? then think about your performance at meetings or when you make presentations. We teach brain-training strategies that will give you the memory you want.
â?¢ Total Recall
â?¢ Power-up Your Memory
â?¢ Memories Are Made Of This
About our people
Nick Smallman is founder and Managing Director of Working Voices. He combined a classical acting and business career until asked to set up the company specifically to meet the interpersonal communication needs of the UK and overseas banking communities. Since then the client base has widened year-on-year and now includes the legal, media, fashion, distribution and pharmaceutical sectors. Nick trains in a variety of disciplines both in the UK and abroad (Europe, USA, China and Russia, principally) and is a sought-after motivational speaker.
Our trainers are expert and experienced; motivators as well as educators; high scorerâ??s against client feedback.
John Mabberley: A city Banker for 30 years, Johnâ??s enthusiastic and motivational style has given him a great track record for team and confidence building. John specialises in delivering all of our Presentation Skills courses except Anger Management and Assertiveness Training.
JC Mac: Chevron, Citigroup, EMI Music, BP/Amoco, Orange, Universal and the British Museum are just a handful of the major corporates which have benefited from JC Macâ??s holistic approach to Leadership Training. He handles all our Leadership Development courses and is in demand both in the UK and abroad.
Paul Hill: A graduate of English from Cambridge University, Paul is a trained actor and highly qualified voice coach. His Voice Coaching courses are a favourite with our global-company clients but heâ??s also part of the Presentation Skills team, delivering all courses except Anger Management and Assertiveness Training.
Kate McGoldrick: Kateâ??s background in radio and print journalism and the theatre -and an infectiously enthusiastic style â?? mean her Writing Skills courses are in constant demand. She also delivers the Presentation Skills suite including Anger Management and Assertiveness Training.
Sara Hollamby: Sara’s combined careers in the fashion industry and presenting on TV have spanned 27 years and made her a seasoned and popular group and auditorium speaker. She takes all our Image Management courses, which, just like the rest of our portfolio, are available â??one-to-oneâ? as well.
Jo Rice: Author of over 50 books including â??How to do Business in Japanâ?Â, multi-lingual Jo lived and worked in the Far East for many years and is now a leading expert in all â?? ALL â?? aspects of cultural diversity training. He delivers our Diversity Training courses â?? as much abroad as in the UK.
Paul Mabberley: Paul acquired his grasp of the art of presenting via, at one end of the spectrum, the UKâ??s creative design sector, and, at the other, university guest lectureships. He coaches our Presentation Skills courses (except Anger Management and Assertiveness Training), as well as Memory Techniques.
Genevieve Grant: Born in the USA, Genevieve came to London for post-graduate studies, and stayed. Her background has a wide span â?? political activist to charity organiser â?? and she brings the technique sheâ??s gained to our Presentation Skills courses (excluding Anger Management and Assertiveness Training).
About our clients
Here are just a few of them. Channel 4; HSBC Group; Barclays Group; Deutsche Bank; Lovells, Credit Suisse; BAFTA; Swarovski; Morgan Stanley. With or without the 50 others, we believe these names speak volumes about the quality of our client base.
Please visit www.workingvoices.com for more information on our company, our courses, our people and our clients. Then contact Tina at info@workingvoices.com.
Andrew
http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/working-voices-presentation-skills-communication-skills-interpersonal-skills-90752.html
The Tips, Skills, and Tools you Need to Negotiate Effectively
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Negotiating skills are a nonnegotiable requirement for success, but few people understand the structures, techniques and approaches available to them in an attempt to gain successful results. Effective negotiation means more than just getting what you want. It means arriving at a solution that satisfies all parties and creates future opportunities. Fine tune your communication style. Listening is a key part of effective communication. What is and is not said is key during negotiations and in building professional relationship. Establish an assertive approach, communicate in a clear fashion, remain professional, be patient, try to avoid aggressive behaviors. Neutralize objectives presented by the counterpart and negotiate with confidence.
Being aggressive means standing up for yourself in ways that violate the rights of others.
Aggressive behavior is typically punishing, hostile, blaming, and demanding. It can involve threats, name-calling, and even actual physical contact. It can also involve sarcasm, catty comments, gossip and “slips of the tongue.” Negotiation training will give you the crucial negotiation skill, strategies, tools and techniques you must have to effectively handle negotiations ranging from sales, contract, labor and business negotiations, to international negotiations involving business and political conflict to all varieties of personal negotiations.
Negotiation Tips and Goals
1. Improve personal and professional profitability.
2. Achieve desired outcomes and create synergy while fostering relationships.
3. Maximize financial returns and value in negotiations.
4. Avoid being cheated.
5. Neutralize difficult negotiators and their tactics.
6. Enter into and conduct negotiations with confidence.
7. Know when and how to walk away from a negotiation.
8. Improve personal relationships with colleagues, clients and loved ones.
9. Build leadership and team building skills.
10. Turn cultural differences into assets rather than liabilities.
Strategic thinking and planning is pivotal to your success in this business climate.
Robert Zangrilli
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/the-tips-skills-and-tools-you-need-to-negotiate-effectively-139077.html
Is VoIP A Viable Business Communication Solution?
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Many large companies are learning how effective VoIP can be to streamline their businesses. Additionally, VoIP solutions are also very helpful to medium sized and small businesses, although such businesses may not need all of the bells and whistles. With today’s technology, VoIP is a viable and cost effective way to streamline many functions.
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a relatively new technology. While it has been possible to send voice signals over the Internet for years, the idea of VoIP has only recently caught on with the explosion of broadband technology. Even though VoIP is identified as a voice function, it is also possible to use it to send data. And this is where its usability comes into play.
VoIP helps you save money on account of various factors. VoIP offers a single platform for voice and data. A single broadband connection will run the applications of both your phones and computers. A VoIP enabled phone will work like a regular phone. In fact, you don’t even need to switch on your computer if the connection is active. It is also possible to get VoIP feature in your regular phones.
Another benefit of VoIP is that it can be set up to allow employees ease of access. You can complete work from nearly any location as long as you have access to a broadband Internet connection (including wireless). Because VoIP business solutions are Web based, they can be accessed from anywhere and work can be done from remote locations.
But how does VoIP help to streamline your business operations? You can bunch all your communication tools, your email, phones, official messaging and fax under one umbrella, to make them easily accessible to your employees. This has the impact of ascertaining that all incoming mail is routed to correct mailboxes and actioned promptly, reducing the chances of overlooking messages, sending them too late, or missing out on orders.
VoIP is also a cost-effective way to hold meetings between satellite offices and with off-site clients. Rather than spending the money to pay for airfare and accommodations, VoIP offers cost-effective video conferencing options that allow you to meet “face to face” from distance across the country if necessary.
Because VoIP is so versatile, it is possible to set up a system that fits your needs. Most of the smallest businesses do not need all of the special extras like remote access and video conferencing. However, because VoIP is often less expensive than more traditional phone and Internet companies, it is possible to simply make use of these services to save money. The system can grow as your business does, and it is easy to add additional services if you find you need them.
Technology is continually offering solutions to business problems. One of these options is making use of VoIP technology. It can help you streamline your communications, organize your business, or just save you money on phone and Internet service. No matter your needs, there is like a VoIP option that can fit your situation.
David Neehly
http://www.articlesbase.com/voip-articles/is-voip-a-viable-business-communication-solution-50064.html
Double Eagle M85 (g36c) review
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Double Eagle M85 (g36c) review
Fps=150
Effective Range=50 feet
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Duration : 0:4:52