Business Talk

I got an e-mail from someone who had just read a 651-word e-zine I wrote, to say that he enjoyed the message and had actually printed and filed it. Ten minutes later, I got an e-mail from someone who had noticed three grammatical errors and a spelling mistake in the same document. The first person (the one who liked the message) is a millionaire and the one who discovered the horrendous mistakes is currently unemployed and living off her father's pension. I had a question for this wanna-be teacher: "Tell, me, how many books have you written, how many did you sell, and how much money did you make?" Of course, she has never written anything that anyone read and never made any money, but she did study English. Big deal!

Here's the truth: I make grammatical errors and I make spelling mistakes and I DON'T CARE. I am not interested in grammar; I am interested in getting a message across. Some parrot that used daddy's money to study for years does not impress me - I am impressed with someone who gets real results in the real world. There are many educated derelicts out there. The only MBA that counts is a Massive Bank Account. I recently had someone e mail me and ask me to mentor her. She proceeded to tell me all about how well educated she was. I said I wasn't going to mentor her but I gave her three things that she could do to achieve her goals. Guess what? She never got back to me after that. Education is great, but results in the real world are more important.

The bottom line is the bottom line. A = A. If you are able to apply your education, that's great. However, education in itself is useless. The university or college made money and you feel important for getting your degree. That's the beginning. That's the starting line, not the end of the race. I don't like promises and pie in the sky - I like real world results. Don't pay for promises and words - pay for results. When Colleges start offering courses by real entrepreneurs who actually run businesses and make money, the courses will be well worth what you spend on them. Education that works in the real world is what we need. We're working on creating just that. Theory is great until you hit reality. I have been reading a wonderful book by Brian Klemmer. I really learnt a lot from it. When I saw that a word was missing from one of his idea boxes, I had to laugh. I could just imagine some loser contacting Mr. Klemmer to try to sell him some editing service. I'm going to call him right now and tell him what a great book he wrote.

If you are like most people, you might be asking yourself, "What can a dentist teach me about business, life and success?" Many think a dentist gets out of dental school, opens his or her practice and goes home rich and happy. The sad reality is this is not at all true. It may have been that way 50 years ago, but today a dentist has the same challenges as any other business owner.

As with any business that is going to succeed, we have to attract and keep customers; know how to market and sell; and provide quality customer service in order to become and stay profitable. Dentists, just like any other business professional, have to follow certain principles to be successful both personally and professionally. Many dentists are successful in business but not in their personal life. Many business professionals are successful in their work; yet often lack balance or a happy life. Therefore, they don't have TOTAL SUCCESS.

The daily challenges for dentists are the competition with other dentists and for discretionary dollars. Dentists also deal with pressure from insurance companies to participate in their plans. As part of an insurance plan, we are required to accept a lower payment for our services and are not paid our normal fee. With a lower reimbursement rate comes the increased stress of having to see more patients per day in order to make the same amount of money. To be insurance independent, we must have a well-run practice.

Unless we follow certain principles and systems in our business it is hard to survive and be as successful as we want to be. Chances are this is the same in your industry.

Business success is part of the equation of Total Success. Success in one's business comes from having systems in place that will give predictable and consistent results in both your business and personal life. It also comes from understanding the relationship of your Product or Service to your Internal and External Marketing and the relationship of these to your Sales Calls and Presentations. It also comes from understanding the relationship between your personal life and your professional life.

In order to have Total Success, you must have success in your personal and business life. Success is fleeting at best if you have it in only one area but not another. In addition, personal and professional success are a direct result of developing a healthy lifestyle, a strong spiritual foundation and respectful and loving relationships in all areas of your life.

Total Success is a direct result of the choices one makes on a day-to-day basis. It is not living with the belief that one day you will make changes you intuitively know you need to make now. It is recognizing areas of your life that are out of balance and making choices today to move closer to a balanced life. Choices that may not always be easy, yet they are wise and beneficial to living a quality of life filled with abundance, joy and happiness beyond most people's wildest imaginings.

Over your second drink at a cocktail party, you meet somebody whose neighbour turns out to be your best mate from secondary school, someone you haven't seen for 20 years. Or somebody who is working with your first boss of many years ago. Or somebody who is married to someone you met at a business school reunion. Or somebody with a holiday home five minutes from yours but you've never met him over there. And you say, "It's a small world."

There is a lot of literature and psycho- and sociological data relating to this phenomenon. In one experiment, Stanley Milgram, a prolific and unconventional American professor, asked random people to send letters to someone in Boston whose address they did not know. The idea was to discern how many intermediaries were necessary to get a letter to them, bearing in mind that you could only send a letter to someone you knew on first name terms.

Six degrees of separation
Duncan Watts, author of Small Worlds (Princeton University Press, 1999), describes it like this: "By requiring each intermediary to report their receipt of the letter, Milgram kept track of the letters and the demographic characteristics of their handlers. His results indicated a median chain length of about six, thus supporting the notion of 'six degrees of separation,' after which both a play and its movie adaptation have since been named."

And then, there is the Kevin Bacon Game, which Duncan Watts describes as "a curious thing to be sure". For those who don't know him, Kevin Bacon is an actor best known for not being the star of many films. But a few years ago, Brett Tjaden - a computer scientist at the University of Virginia - catapulted Bacon to true international recognition with the claim that he was somehow at the centre of the movie universe. This is how the game goes: Think of an actor or actress. If they have ever been in a film with Kevin Bacon, then they have a 'Bacon Number' of one. If they have never been in a film with Kevin Bacon but have been in a film with somebody else who has, then they have a Bacon Number of two, and so on.

"The claim is that no-one who has been in an American film, ever has a Bacon Number of greater than four. Elvis Presley, for example, has a Bacon Number of two. For real enthusiasts, Tjaden created a website that provides the Bacon Number and shortest path to the great man for the most obscure of choices. In fact, Tjaden later fireproofed his claim by conducting an exhaustive e-survey of the Internet Movie Database, and determined that the highest finite Bacon Number (for any nationality) is eight. This may seem nothing more than a quirky fact about an already bizarre industry, but in fact it is a particularly clear example of a phenomenon that increasingly pervades our day-to-day existence: something known as the 'small-world phenomenon'."

So here is a summary of the hypotheses so far. (1) We are all linked to everyone else (I won't win the Nobel Prize for this). (2) We think we live in a small world, a premise that is both true and false. True because we have connections with a finite universe of family, friends and colleagues, so it feels small. False because if you apply the six degrees of separation principle, your community extends much further than you think.

Let me add more hypotheses of my own. In small worlds, the links between people tend to be strong. This mini-network is full of what network theory (an emergent science embracing information technology, sociology, mathematics, politics and any other science the object of which is 'connectivity') calls 'strong ties'. These are as opposed to 'weak ties' - connections with distant or semi-unknown people, those you have never met but have e-mailed or those you have met once and put on your Christmas card list. If you have a thick address book, the chances are that most of the connections are weak ties. But there are many other small worlds or clusters of people with strong ties inside the contact list. You may only have weak links with some of them, but this is your window to their small world.

A lesson from network theory
Network theory also suggests that our preconceived idea of a network is a multitude of linked nodes, either people if it is a social network, or points on a power grid. Network theory tells us this is a simple way of looking at things and that, in reality, you might visualise the picture better as a series of clusters linked to each other via nodes in each one. These nodes are the network's traffic warden, project manager, dating agent, cartographer, matchmaker and village wise man all in one. The nodes have a high degree of power because they control that linkage.

So, what is between these linked clusters? The name for it is structural holes. If an organisation is a network and follows the rules of network science, then we should be able to see clusters of strong ties and structural holes. And indeed we do. The clusters are called teams and the structural holes are the loose connections between teams or the people who do not belong to teams.

Same old same
This takes us to more interesting territory. Think about innovation, which requires the ability to spot new ideas and connections between ideas, the quest for novelty, for alternative ways of doing things, out-of-the-box thinking, rule breaking and the need to discover what you don't know. What is the best environment for generating innovation? Conventional wisdom, business school training, management experience and politico-managerial thinking says the best environment is a team. But strong-tie structures may not be a good platform for alternative thinking and discovering the unknown. It can be done, of course, but think of the team's membership: people you know relatively well and work with most of the time, and with whom you have regular intellectual interaction.

It is easy to predict what other team members will think about something. You know John's views and how Peter reacts. You know Mary's area of expertise and what Carol always wants to do. The strong-tie, small-world-team is highly predictable. You trade the unknown for a cosy environment and the supposed power of all brains together. And if you seek innovation, unpredictability, novelty and knowledge you don't have, you don't want John, Peter, Mary or Carol. They are part of your brain furniture. You want the things you don't know yet, the world of weak ties and loose connections, the management of which was probably absent from your business education.

The world of weak ties is a powerful one for new ideas, and for innovation as an extrapolation of new ideas. In knowledge management, the term 'Community of Practice' (CoP) has been used for a while to describe a more or less spontaneous collaboration between people who are not formally linked to each other by strong ties, such as those in a formal team. It's a more fluid structure with an inconstant membership and the members' level of participation ranges from elusive to visible. Theoretically, if you want to find innovation, this is the structure you should adopt.

Strong ties versus innovation?
I am not trying to establish a categorical bimodal organisational world: teams with strong ties and predictable behaviour on the one hand, and CoPs with their weaker ties and greater innovation potential on the other. The risk of bimodal thinking is that it leads to a bimodal worldview - no innovation in teams, innovation in CoPs. This is not quite what I mean. But let me reframe the issue.

There are undoubtedly two overlapping organisations within your company. One represents the designed part: teams, structures, committees and reporting lines, usually represented in an organisation chart (organigram in some countries). The other is a constantly emerging part with loose connections and ties, and where network theory is the best-kept secret in management. The balance between the two defines your organisation's health. At one extreme, over-designing and overstructuring will kill innovation and knowledge flow. At the other, a loose, ambiguous and rather unstructured organisation may be unmanageable, if - and this is the trick - you are a manager grown and groomed in the designed part, and unable to navigate and lead in the more ambiguous and network-centric organisation.

Some would say that one field expertise is the best way to stand out in a crowded business environment. I say that it is just a form of laziness! That is, relegating ones enormously far reaching talents to just one field is simply a waste of possibilities. Follow me here. Assume that your knowledge possibilities are like a large swimming pool. While wide and deep you decide to huddle in the shallow end. Sure it may be safe. It even may make you master of your small section of pool... But... it certainly won't help you stand out in today rapidly changing business climate. In fact ,after a short time you may find others in the middle enjoying the depths that taking chances can bring. I often ask clients that want to make a change in fields but are afraid to step away from what they know, a simple question: What would happen if we could become experts in a variety of fields. That's right! Your life could become richer than you ever thought possible. If you're still not convinced to become an expert in a variety of fields, consider what happened to all those "experts" in eight track tape technology. Or, all those "experts " in the field beta tape players. Though my examples may seem extreme, they are a wake up call.

The next new field is just around the corner. Are you staying relevant? If you are not stretching yourself to learn more than what you already know then you are already being left behind. What to do you ask? We'll get to that in a second. First consider these truths in today's fast paced "flat" world: A)Your past 15 minutes of fame are more like 5 minutes. B) A super sized flat world has made idea implementation critical in its quickness. C)The window for gaining riches from a product is 3 o 5 years max. D) If you don't find a way to produce your product cheaper or distribute it faster, you can bet your competition already has. E) Staying on top of trends is even more critical than having a 10 year business plan.

I agree with Thomas L. Friedman, who in his book, The World is Flat wrote : "If you want to flourish in this flattening world , you better understand that whatever can be done will be done-and much faster than you think." When I formed Rbridge Business Group, its mission was to help individuals and small businesses stay on top of the trends and maximize them to make money. We also understand that there is component that will never be replaced. And that is your desire to be wealthy and stay relevant. As promised, these things are needed to achieve your outcomes. Reading our online newsletter and becoming a part of ourThought Action Group (T.A.G.). Having a thirst for knowledge. Spending no less than 10 hours a week learning a new field of study. Using your talents to enlist the advice and help of others that have skill sets you wish to master. What's more, you can still "do what you hate because you so good at it" to breath life into your new field of study. As you stay on top of the trends, increase your knowledge base, and swim out into the deep end, you discover that being a multi field expert makes laziness a thing of the past.

With the new year upon us, we again have the opportunity for change -- to re-charge our batteries, to re-arrange our priorities, to start anew.

Are you excited? Are you energized? Are you focused? If you answered "no" to any of those questions (particularly the last one), you might want to take another look at your goals, and re-examine your chances for success in 2008.

When I study successful business owners, I consistently find some common themes among them. They are disciplined, determined, hard workers, and they are goal setters. They understand that what they want to accomplish is more within their control, as long as they remain focused on the goals they have set for themselves.

Every business owner WANTS to be successful - another way of saying "profitable," and every successful business owner knows how to turn those "WANTS" into achievable goals.

We all set goals, on some level, even if unconsciously. But as a business owner, it is critical that your goals are conscious, are well thought-out, and that you have a plan of action for achieving them. You fail to do this, and your competition will drive you out of business. You have to stay focused on your goals.

That said, it would not be a bad idea if we quickly reviewed the essentials of setting goals. So here is my version of Goal Setting 101!

It all begins with a vision. For some of us, that vision is so real, we can taste it. For others, it may be less dramatic. But vision it is, and provides for us an end point to which we can now direct our efforts.

Another advantage of the vision is that it helps us define our long-term goal. But don't get caught in a trap here. "Long-term goal" is simply your end point, linked to how long you think it will take you to reach it. And here is the second essential: a goal is only truly a goal when it is linked to a specific time frame. And as things progress, you re-visit, re-view and re-vise as necessary.

The third essential is a carefully thought-out plan of action. Instead of trying to eat the whole elephant in one bite (clearly an impossibility), you divide it up into bite sizes. Thus your long term goal is rendered into a series of short- term goals, that are manageable and achievable (within a reasonable time frame).

Finally, be sure to write it all down - the fourth essential. It is worth as much time as it takes to generate a written version of your vision, your long term goal, your plan of action, your short-term goals, your time frame for achieving them. Isn't that called a "Business Plan"?

So be excited, be energized about your prospect for this year, stay focused on your goal, and success will be yours for the taking in 2008.

No, it's not just your imagination. The pace of change really is speeding up in organizations all over the world. At least, that's the opinion of 82% of respondents to the 2006 Agility and Resiliency Survey, a global poll of organizations commissioned by the American Management Association (AMA) and conducted by the Human Resource Institute (HRI).

It isn't only the pace of change that's increasing, either. Change itself is undergoing a transformation, becoming increasingly disruptive. About seven out of 10 of the 1,472 respondents said that their organizations had experienced disruptive change - that is, severe surprises or unanticipated shocks - over the previous 12 months. Although 29% said it amounted to only minor disruption and organizational impact, about 40% characterized such disruptions as affecting core operations, necessitating a major shift in strategy, challenging the overall vision and mission, or even threatening long-term viability and existence.

When asked to compare disruption in their organizations today with disruption over the previous five years, about 37% said that their organizations had experienced more shocks and surprises, compared with only 19% who said there were fewer and less-frequent shocks and surprises.

It's not likely to get any easier, either - at least not in the short term. That's because some companies like it this way, and they're often the ones setting the pace in their industries. The survey asked responding companies about their market share, profitability and competitiveness. The AMA/HRI analysis found that the higher-performing companies were more likely than their lower-performing counterparts to say that they see change "as an opportunity" and that they like to "shake things up." They're also more likely to anticipate and plan for change before it happens or actually induce change and force others to react.

In short, a significant proportion of organizations seem to gain a competitive advantage by ratcheting up the speed and even the disruption of change. After all, what's "disruptive" for one organization might seem perfectly manageable for another. It's all about how agile and resilient the organization is.

It's no surprise that the AMA/HRI survey found that higher performers tend to be both more agile and more resilient than lower performers. The survey defined agility as "the ability to move quickly, decisively, and effectively in anticipating, initiating, and taking advantage of change" and resiliency as "the ability to absorb, react to, and even reinvent who you are as a consequence of change." By increasing agility and resiliency, companies are able to boost their ability to manage change - that is, what the change literature often calls "adaptive capacity."

What does all of this mean in practice? For one thing, compared with their lower-performing counterparts, higher performers view themselves as having superior change abilities at the individual, team, and organizational levels. At the individual level, for example, people in higher-performing organizations are seen as being better able to cope with pressure and stress, better at making sense of ambiguous and uncertain conditions, and better able to "see the big picture," taking a systems view of situations.

At the team level, a similar pattern emerges. Among high- performing organizations, teams tend to be more open to change, more likely to act as active learners and more effectively integrated into key decision-making processes. At the organizational level, higher performers are better than lower performers at actively and widely scanning for new information about what's going on, quickly taking advantage of opportunities and expanding external alliances and partnerships.

Higher performers are also more likely to engage in certain practices that improve their responses to change. The most widely cited of these practices was training to improve managers' change-management skills, followed by improved communication of organizational values/mission/vision, the establishment and development of talent pools, and training that's geared toward improving employees' perception and handling of change.

Whether you're a graphic designer or a business owner, choosing the most suitable commercial printer for your full color printing job is one of the most important factors for a successful marketing collateral.

Why? Because the right full color printing company can save you a lot of your hard earned money, efficiently use your time, and even help you keep your clients and generate new ones. When it's time to look for the most appropriate commercial printer for your needs, be sure to hire a company that not only meets your requirements, but also help you to maximize your resources so you can have the best quality print job according to your specifications.

Here's how to effectively choose the right full color printing company for your business:

1 - You have to identify your needs first before you can choose the printing company for you. Remember that your printer is not only your hired help, but most importantly, they are your partners in making sure that you provide your target customers with only the best marketing collaterals that represent your brand.

One of the most important factors to be considered is your budget. Of course you have to work according to the financial resources you have. Hence, you'll have to look for a printing partner that can work according to the budget you have without compromising the quality of your printed material. In effect, you're looking for a reliable and cost effective printing company that can provide you with good customer service.

2 - Most professional full color printing companies will most likely have a website where you can log in to order your print job. Most reputable companies in fact can be found in the Internet.

However, online printers are a dime a dozen. That's why you have to really take the effort to choose those that you can work with, as well as you can trust.

Another plus with online printers: you will know the price of your print job right away with their instant pricing quotes. You just have to put the type of job you require, the volume, and then other specifications that would complete your print job.

3 - If you want to have a professional commercial printer that produces quality work, then you can always go ask your friends and loved ones for referrals. They can help you choose the most suitable one for your needs.

So are you with a professional full color printing company now? If not, then better look for another commercial printer. Don't waste your time and money with less than quality results. You deserve more than mediocre print jobs.

Do you want results . . . or are you satisfied with excuses?

The barrier to irresistible growth is not the unstoppable, uncontrollable external change, but fixed (and frequently unexamined) ideas of how to respond to those changes.

John Kenneth Galbraith, the prize-winning economist, observed that "The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events." And the tide of expected future change in our society is now rapid and breathtaking to most -- whether we consider irresistible forces like the advent of the Knowledge Age (with knowledge doubling in many fields within a few years, months, or even days), the electronic improvements in communication choices (the potential number of ways for you to receive or send a message will continue to grow rapidly for many more years), shifts in work activities (from routine fulfilling of standard tasks to Peter Drucker's knowledge work) and stability (as a result of down-sizing and a "free agent" work force), demographic-driven social changes (ever older populations in the developed countries and ever younger ones everywhere else), weather volatility (both in temperatures and storms), the movements of currencies and markets, social mores of the moment (fads get shorter and shorter), or personal styles of the young (differentiating from older teenagers, not just from adults).

There is no doubt that today the world has become much more complicated and interconnected. For businesses, globalization means that the number and distance of customers, suppliers and competitors have grown geometrically. Such interconnectedness also means that what affects one can quickly spread and affect all, like the rapid expansions of computer and human viruses. These connections mean that economic and financial adjustments, especially in prices and currency values, travel faster and further than before. Your irresistible growth enterprise must be agile in adapting to these changes. I believe that making rapid and best use of sudden changes in powerful conditions no one can control is the key to becoming an irresistible growth enterprise.

When asked in the 1950s about how much control they had over their business's success, U.S. CEOs felt they had a great deal. By the start of the 1990s, CEOs often felt that irresistible forces had more impact on the company's success then the employees did.

We only have to look at various charts measuring events over the last decades to see that the volatility of many irresistible forces is also growing. In the last 30 years alone, this volatility has included an unprecedented success by a commodity cartel (the Arab oil embargo), the fall of a major government type around the world (communism), stock prices have experienced unprecedented growth in the United States and many other countries, interest rates have fluctuated from over 20 percent to as low as 2 percent in North America (and more widely elsewhere), and the advent of the service economy (of stores and local brokerage offices) was diverted into creating an information-based economy.

As these examples suggest, the degree and speed of change are both accelerating. At one time, corporate leaders could conduct leisurely studies of such changing phenomena after they began to occur, thoughtfully select the right actions, and then experiment with the best way to proceed. The time required to deliberate over choices today often costs a company its biggest opportunities, and can even lead to failure.

Consider Barnes & Noble, the leader in physical book stores. Before launching its electronic commerce business, it decided to watch what happened with Amazon.com for a while as it studied its options. By the time the leaders of Barnes & Noble were ready to act, Amazon.com had built a commanding electronic lead that will be very difficult to overcome. Naturally, it is nice to be able to find one trend and ride it for a long time. The results can be wonderful.

McDonald's is one of very few companies that have had this experience. The company's premise is based on customers' desires for dependable, inexpensive food, served quickly and effectively in convenient clean locations. From its beginnings as a single hamburger stand in the 1930s in San Bernardino, California, it has become a global giant today.

But even McDonald's had to learn eventually to adapt to the irresistible force of consumer food preferences as it moved beyond North America. The familiar hamburger, fries and soft drink menu had to expand to offer curry in England and a glass of wine in Paris.

Today's enterprises will find such long-term rides to be the exception to the rule. Consider how Microsoft flirted with disaster in the 1990s by missing the early significance of providing software and services for the Internet. Intel was originally a memory chip manufacturer, and shifted into microprocessors as its primary business somewhat by accident.

The world is full of shuttered stores that failed to meet customer needs. Their boarded up windows are mute testimony to the need to shift with the changing trends. Many of the most significant uncontrollable forces (such as new technologies, improved communications, the weather, demographics, user preferences, and economic conditions) have grown much more volatile and unpredictable in just the past five to ten years. Analysts suggest that this trend will accelerate due to the "chaos" effects of how a small change in one place in the world can cause an enormous change elsewhere.

Simply consider all of the changes that Jack Welch went through to turn General Electric from a slow-growing-industrial goods manufacturer into a financial services powerhouse with high-margin manufacturing specialties. Any one of these changes could have overwhelmed most organizations, yet Welch succeeded with several.

How well the company fares under Welch's successors will reveal a lot about the difficulties of continuing as an irresistible growth enterprise.

This multiplier effect will increasingly result with all irresistible forces, and this is the key insight upon which you must act now. While most organizations will react to such uncontrollable forces and their changes only when it is impossible not to (out of self-preservation or fear), the irresistible growth enterprise will see the creation of broad unstoppable change, the accurate anticipation of such changes, and the steady beneficial harnessing of such changes to achieve its purposes as its primary tasks.

Are you ready?

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

It was more than a decade ago, and I was visiting a franchisee of a well known, publicly traded executive search company.

Through an odd confluence of factors, I was pitching the president of the Los Angeles branch, who asked me, more or less, "Why are we having this meeting?"

That's never an auspicious start to a consulting relationship; that much I can tell you. When prospects don't feel a burning need, we don't need to go much farther.

The conversation got even worse after I replied, "To make you some money."

"Why, we're taking WHEELBARROWS of money to the bank, so why would we need your help?"

That's the sort of arrogance that good times bring...and it's nearly impossible to buck.

Soon after that, we entered a deep recession. Real estate prices dropped 20% in many upscale towns, money grew tight, and there seemed to be no end in sight to the economic woes.

And of course, that same recruiting firm became a hollowed out shell, firing people in droves, singing the blues.

Sound familiar?

If not, it could very, very soon. According to some economists, we entered a recession in December, 2007, and things are going to look gloomier before they brighten.

And that's precisely why it is the best of times to be a corporate consultant or coach. When the going gets tough, and it will, large and small companies, alike suddenly get uncharacteristically humble and open to outside ideas.

As consultants and coaches, we can't ask for more.

So, get ready to prosper this year and very possibly next year, as well.

Energy Drinks, Vitamin Waters, Infused Waters, all New Age Beverages, are the focus of attention for consumers, entrepreneurs and even investors.

I'm seeing many new companies and new products every single day; and those are the ones that call me. Imagine all the ones all over the world.

Vitamin Water sold for a few Billion dollars, 4.1 to be precise. Now everyone is jumping into the industry.1 Billion Dollars, individuals, investors and companies want to go into the "New Age Beverages".

So what exactly are New Age Beverages? Well, this is a new category within the Beverage Industry that covers the new style of beverages. This new "category" is growing and changing. Some time ago you only found Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar and maybe Vitaminwater as part of New Age Beverage. Now it has gone global, and crazy.

Now the category has evolved and you can include enhanced water, tea's, diet drinks, iced coffee and really, any new drink. Every beverage company want's to be associated with the "New Age" category because not just because it's sexier but because the category is growing quicker and investors are looking at it up close.

You have to realize that Vitamin Water is not the first company to get big cash for their brand. There are beverage companies being funded every day, and more being bought and sold from large companies. Many companies that you now think as the market leaders started not long ago as start-ups.

Some of the companies that you see on the news are Fuze, which sold to Coca Cola, Sobe, that sold to Pepsi Cola or Fiji Water that sold as well.

Other companies like Reeds Beverage, Who's Your Daddy, Jones Soda and Hensen with Monster Energy Drink access funding through the public markets. These and many others are public companies traded in the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ or the OTC (Over the Counter).

My company gets hundreds of call from business people and investment companies looking to either start or invest in these beverages. At the moment I have at least 100 people contacting me every month wanting to know about the industry, Energy Drinks, how to get distribution, how to export, how to bottle drinks or to go over business plans or other information. The industry is growing and the category is growing even faster.

Why are these drinks growing at 50% per year or more? Why do we see so many waters, energy drinks, hydrating products, etc. on the market today? The answer is easy. Consumers are demanding more and more drinks. They want drinks for every occasion or part of the day. They want organic drinks, sugary drinks, healthy drinks and every type of drink to fit their personality, and style.

Entrepreneurs and Investors are going into New Age Beverages because the demand is there and the profits are very high, very high. This is one of the characteristics that are shared -they all have high profit margins. How high are the margins? Well, you can make up to $24 Gross Profit per case. Yes, this is for one case. Imagine selling just one truckload of beverages or around 1,600 cases with this profit. Now imagine selling a truck a week!

++Some advice before you start your venture:++

-Don't just focus on the drink, focus on the whole package (I get a lot of phone calls and emails telling me they have a better tasting drink than Rockstar, Red Bull and Monster Energy Drink).

-No Promotion before Distribution. Don't fall into the Energy Drink Promotion Trap. Remember, you have to concentrate on your Distributor and Retail Packages. Sell first, then push product off the shelves.

-Learn your Financials. Figure out how much it takes to start and sell your new drink before you go and produce 5,000 cases.

In signing up for web meetings, check out what are the free web meeting services provided. You may be getting a free trial run for 30 days, only to find out you've got to pay more features that are provided free by other service providers. So watch what you're getting before you commit yourself or your business to a contract.

What Is Actually Free Here

Competing web service providers offer free web meeting solutions on a month's trial. After the honeymoon, you might get the shock of your life when you have to pay steep monthly fees after trying out the free web meeting solutions.

If you're on the shopping stage, test the other service providers and compare features. You'll always find one just suited to your personal or business needs. Mind you, not all free web meeting solutions are headache free.

These free web-based applications provide users the following advantages:

1. sharing of spreadsheets in real time with collaborators from any point of origin.
2. sharing of PowerPoint presentations and live desktop streaming.
3. real time sharing of files.
4. real time responses to issues and queries.
5. no full financial obligations for web conferencing.

Any catch? There are things to watch out for before you give out your credit card number after trying out free web meeting solutions. Be aware that these free web meeting solutions are not part of a full package. Either the software is still being tested, or the features do no include the power applications that will make you web meetings both pleasant and convenient.

What You're In For

In the meantime that you're trying out the different offerings, evaluate the features available and applications that you need. You can arrive at some deductions after decided on the following:

1. Are the present features adequate?
2. Do you need chat and voice features for your meetings?
3. Are you comfortable with the present set-up?
4. Are the solutions adequate for meetings with more than 20 people?
5. Do need frequent conferencing with different but permanent bases?
6. Do you frequently poll participants and want immediate results?
7. Do you want a play-back feature?
8. Do you want your PowerPoint presentation to be available to all meeting participants?
9. Do you like to see the participants and do you want them to see you?

If you've answered yes to all these questions, find free web meeting solutions that'll match your needs. Fortunately, there are web conferencing providers that won't tie you up to a monthly fee. You can just inform them you want a meeting on a specific time and you do the rest of the job.

You can determine if the solutions are just right for your small business or your personal requirements. But if you've got more people and they're scattered throughout the globe or in different parts of the state you'll have to give careful thought to the free web meeting solutions that'll go with the deal.

While the free web meeting is offered, grab the opportunity. In the interim, you'll get used to the features and become confident when making your choices once the trial period is over-but don't sign up when it is standard policy that when you use the freebie you're obliged to sign up even if the features of the free web meeting solutions were not tailor-fitted to your needs.

Introduction

Private equity is medium to long-term finance provided in return for an equity stake in potentially high growth unquoted companies. Private equity isn't new-it's been around in various forms for almost 25 years, including the Barbarians at the Gate-style hostile takeover of RJR Nabisco by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) in 1989. Private equity is booming, with buyout firms poised to raise more than the previous record of $215 billion, set in 2006. Private equity is a broad term which commonly refers to any type of non-public Ownership Equity securities that are not listed on a public exchange. Private equity is very much a 'people' business and the investment professionals involved and their interaction as a team will be a key in determining the return on the fund. Private equity is generally accessed by companies that do not have the operating history or track record to access lower cost capital alternatives, but need capital for growth or expansion. This equity is neither a silver bullet nor a dark force.

Buyout

Buyout houses are raping the public markets. Buyout groups are just like the old conglomerates. Buyouts have generated a growing portion of private equity investments by value, and increased their share of investments from a fifth to more than two-thirds between 2000 and 2005. Buyout and real estate funds have both performed strongly in the past few years in comparison with other asset classes such as public equities, certainly a factor in the bumper fundraising that both have enjoyed of late. Buyout people who were kings of the hill and masters of the universe were suddenly seen as normal people.

European

European venture capital is showing a steady increase in the number of successful VC-backed companies and notable exits. European private equity fundraising has passed the 100 billion threshold to reach 112 billion in 2006 only, similar level to the new capital raised through IPOs on the European Stock Exchanges in the same period. European private equity and venture capital provides a vital source of finance for growing companies across all industry sectors. European focused funds account for 26% of the global total, whilst funds focusing on Asia and the Rest of World account for the remaining 11%.

Blackstone

Blackstone took itself public on June 22; its IPO, the largest since 2002, raised $4. Blackstone's performance has even been worse than that of Fortress Investment Group, a manger of private equity and hedge funds that went public in February. Blackstone is the largest private equity company in the world. Blackstone's real estate holdings have done even better - up 29% per year since 1991. Blackstone set a record in 2006 by completing $101 billion in buyouts, amid historic levels of fundraising and deal activity in the U.S. Blackstone, like many other private equity firms, has made much of its money in the buyout business-acquiring undervalued public companies using borrowed money, taking them private, improving them, and reselling them at a profit. BLACKSTONE'S RECENT $39 BILLION acquisition of Equity Office Properties Trust showed that few deals are too large for this new breed of investor.

Investor

Investors in private equity funds include wealthy individuals, insurance companies, college endowments and pension funds.

Conclusion

Private equity is responsible for 1 in every 5 dollars spent. Private equity is an investment asset class describing private investments in privately held (as opposed to publicly traded) companies. Private equity is a favored asset class for professional managers because it has historically produced superior returns. Private equity is interested in the longer-term performance of the company.

There has been much sayings that the economy of Asia Pacific will start to decouple from America and Europe as the countries in the region become more dependent on the emerging market in China and India, and also the robust demand made possible by the economic boom in the region. The concern become more widespread in the recent financial crisis, from which the export to American market starts to dwindle since the depreciating of the Greenback.

The story and the literature portrayed are partly true, in view of large companies in the region still very much dependent on American and European markets. Although the demand is robust and the economies in the region are making tremendous growth, the purchasing powers are still very low compare to those in North America and Europe. We just have to know the exchange rate to imply the importance of the markets to the manufacturers in the region. Most of the consumers in the developing countries in the region seldom ready for any new innovations and the less than maturity of the local markets, make the penetration of new products difficult, retailers are reluctant to absorb the risks, and one finds it difficult to engage an agent to sell the goods. Unless it is already a well known brand or reliable goods which have prior adoptions and are spread via word of mouth, the innovations are seldom successful.

Another reason is that the per-capita income of the countries in the region are still very small, and many are still struggling with basic goods. Although the internet and the globalization have helped to increase the living standard and have created large group of middle class, the luxury is not trickled down to the grassroot consumers. Furthermore, the distribution of income among the population is not equal, which makes the penetration to the mass less easy.

We can see elsewhere that large purchasing power derived from young generations, who are savvy in internet, telecommunications, and fashionable youngsters who are more exposed to the new innovations in the market. In fact, this group of youngsters are mainly responsible for the explosion of handphone innovations in Japan. However, this similar group who is responsible to push for innovations is not present in the region, except Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The other countries in the region, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and others, do not provide a mass market base which the world manufacturers can depend on.

With the crisis in US and its contagious effect on Europe, the economy in the region is becoming much fragile. Things have changed and many manufacturers are running dry of contract and many have found difficulty in continuing. The affected industries are Food, Machineries, Electronics.

"If we plant a seed in the ground we know that the sun will shine and the rain will water, and we leave it to the Law to bring results. Well, the desire you image is the seed, your occasional closing of the eyes in imagery is the sun, and your constant, though not anxious, expectation is the rain and cultivation necessary to bring absolutely sure results..."

Francis Larimer Warner, Our Invisible Supply (1907)

I am certain that if you check the curriculum at Harvard Business School, Wharton or the London School of Economics, you won't find a course on corporate mysticism. After all, succeeding in business is a competitive, numbers-driven game that relies on hard facts, financial analysis and exploitation of markets, isn't it? What a vested interest many of us have in that belief. After all, could we actually succeed in business by employing our intuition, by tapping into a collective consciousness of readily available signs and guideposts to bring our intended result?

Believe it or not, the evidence says yes. Although some of the methodologies and strategies that are taught at Harvard and other revered institutions may be good measurements of how well a company is operating, the overwhelming reason why business decisions are made by the top executives in most organizations is "intuition' or "gut feelings."

Are you kidding me? Business decisions being made by "feel" rather than cold, hard market data? Well, it certainly is a growing trend. The evidence is all around us. Most people are familiar with the "odd stories" of Thomas Edison awakening from a nap carrying the solution to a seemingly daunting problem. Or Richard Branson "just happening" to be at the right place at the right time to make the most of a business opportunity. Quite honestly, these seemingly unrelated patterns or sequences are as natural as the sun rising every day.

Tapping Into Collective Wisdom

So what are today's keen business owners and entrepreneurs "tapping into" that propels them to one success after another with little or no resistance? They are tapping into the collective wisdom that is readily available to everyone. In his book, The Wisdom Of Crowds, James Surowiecki points out that this collective wisdom "has endless ramifications for how business people operate, how knowledge is advanced, how economies are organized, and how we live our daily lives." Simply put, we all have cognitive powers that can be employed (in the very real sense) to assist us in making important business decisions. After all, how many times have you said to yourself in hindsight, "I just knew it," or "If I only listened to myself and bought that stock (real estate, etc.)"?

The powerful truth is, you already know what to do. Most of us have strong intuitive senses about business decisions, but we tend to override these senses with "rational thinking." There's a rule of thumb I recommend in these situations; use your intuition to bring you to the decision and use data to help you execute the strategy.

This methodology has been incredibly effective for many of the world's great entrepreneurs. Steve Jobs used this strategy when launching iPod for Apple. Li Ka-Shing has stated, "Actually, I don't consider myself a good businessman," despite his uncanny ability to "sniff out" good deals.

Being a Source

There's more. In their groundbreaking book, The Corporate Mystic- A Guidebook For Visionaries With Their Feet On The Ground, Kate Ludeman and Gay Hendricks studied hundreds of entrepreneurs and business owners from companies such as Motorola, Dell and many more. Their conclusion: "If you open up to being a source of integrity, vision and intuition in your organization, you step into leadership regardless of what niche you occupy.

Many people wait to be instructed or reminded to take full ownership of these powers. The Corporate Mystic knows that real power and real fun comes from being a source. When you are the source, you take full responsibility for bringing into being the corporate culture you want. Everyone can be the source, and when they think they are, they are. If you are willing to let go of your resistance to being a source, you claim a type of spiritual power that others can feel."

Does this mean I must be the "spiritual" leader of my organization? Well in a sense, yes. The way business is being conducted today is changing rapidly. Today, business is all about collaboration, not competition. It's about building communities (of customers) not just building brands. The dinosaurs of the business world were necessary. They served their purpose. But now they are going extinct. Why? The leadership in these companies forgot to be the source. They made decisions for short-term profits, which represses intuitive and inspired action.

So decide what it's going to be for you. Decide what your vision for your company is and use your intuitive capabilities to see you through.

Here's a quick roadmap from to help you along:

* Focus on contribution. Be deeply concerned about the empowerment of other people.

* Be on a continuous journey of self-knowledge and apply what you discover to your business decisions.

* Laugh a lot at your workplace.

* Get to know the pure essence of your customers and give them what they want.

* Embrace change and use your intuitive abilities to create the change that is most advantageous to your mission.

Last, keep in mind that business is supposed to be fun. As an entrepreneur or business leader, you have one unequivocal responsibility: to increase the value of life through the delivery of your business mission. Be eternally conscious of and honor your personal spirit. Thereby you will expand opportunities for everyone you come into contact with.

Is there too much month for the money? Do you dream of being debt free? Have a nicer home? Travel? Pay for private school or college for your children or grandchildren?

Can you picture yourself having a nicer home, perhaps near a tranquil lake with peaceful water and a golf course near by? Perhaps a mountain setting is more to your liking with snow capped peaks- where skiing and winter sports are easily accessible. Maybe the large city is for you with the arts available, opera, theater, museums, and art galleries. Or maybe a farm or ranch would be more to your liking, raising crops or animals, leading a quiet life.

Many people are attaining their dreams and the great American Dream by owning a home-based business. People are getting tired of dealing with large companies and are grateful to have a person to speak with and not answering machines and button pushing. People like to touch, smell, feel and see what is available. As a business owner you can fill that role for people by bringing a personal touch back into business and achieve your goals at the same time. Both people win, the owner and the customer.

Have you considered attaining that American Dream and owning your own business?

Here are some tips in choosing the right program for yourself.

? Is the company proven?
? What is their track record?
? Talk to those who have "made it", not to those who quit. If you had a choice to learn a new sport from a pro or someone who never made the team, would you really not choose the pro? Treat your business the same. Look beyond a mentoring program that is offered, make sure it goes beyond "here is how to get started and good luck".
? If you want to make it in business, treat your business like a business, not just a hobby. Establish business hours and adhere to them.
? Wrap yourself around a product that you can put your faith in and be faithful in using your own product. This establishes credibility for you. What sort of product do you want to represent? Is the market primed for it? Is there a hole you feel needs filled in the market?
? Think about your goals. Are you wanting just a little income or looking to replace your full time income?
? Don't expect your business to be cost free. It should have minimal start up costs and minimal training costs but be real! If you want a real business, don't short cut yourself. Be prepared to invest but don't go overboard either by investing thousands. Be smart about your investment decisions. Realize it IS an investment.
? Find out if the company you are considering is limited to a certain region of the state, country, or world. If so, does that change or limit you or can you make a good living with those restrictions. Your business, you decide. Be prepared for either consequence.
? Find out what sort of inventory must be maintained? Do you need to stock up and fill your garage or can you maintain a minimum purchase with your personal use? Save yourself some time and money by not purchasing a bunch of inventory that you end up having to give away to get rid of it. Go for the minimal amount every month, usually around $100 retail, that you can use yourself so you have personal experience but not strapping yourself to a huge inventory.

Here are some benefits to running your own business:

? Tax advantages for working from home (consult your tax professional).
? Work your own hours.
? No boss to bother you.
? You get to determine your own income and finally get paid what you are worth.
? Bring a personal touch back to business.
? Bring mom-and-pop shop feeling back to business.
? Teach others about products that are missing from their life.

Owning and running your business is both frustrating and self-fulfilling. One thing to keep in mind is that no occupation is perfect and you have to choose your battles. Think about what it is that you do not or did not like in your day job and make a conscious effort to make those changes in your own business. If you bring on employees make sure to use the golden rule and treat others as you would like to be treated. Working your own business can be time consuming too so set office hours to keep yourself on a schedule so your family life can be strong too and not suffer for extra long hours of working a business.

There is a lot to consider when choosing a business so think carefully and choose wisely! The rewards far outweigh the costs!

A perfect gift that suits the giver, the recipient, the occasion at the desired price is something everyone dreams of. Compliments sound nice, especially when they are a direct praise to someone's gift. This opened business opportunities for those who are currently making use of their talent for running this hot new business called gift basket service. The gift basket industry is definitely a sector with tremendous fun and proven income opportunity.

How do you start this business?

You will just need to pull in several different gift items together and provide the assortment in attractive packages for creating a presentation that's both elegant and charming. It's a way to get your creativity and uniqueness appreciated the right way. Understand the basics of managing, bookkeeping, purchasing and advertising. Promote and market your gift basket services to your family, friends, and neighbors.

• Set up your business in a safe place with adequate space, ample security.
• Register your business name. Complete other legal requirements.
• Apply for a separate business telephone line.

  Create an impressive product portfolio - photos of beautifully arranged gift baskets.

• Maintain a company car for both custom shopping and deliveries.

A gift basket business is a proven income opportunity. The market is a wide one making the sales opportunities as limitless. However, your business location plays a vital part. Your income will depend on your networking strategies. A large startup capital is not required. Your initial investment can be something as meager as $100 and can go up to $1000. The rest depends upon your thoughtful planning, preparation and commitment. Find out the pricing of other businesses offering similar services. Maintain your competitive edge. This way, expect your initial investments to be recovered in sixty days.

If you're looking for wholesalers or dropshippers, you can spend hours and hours scouring the Internet to find the right wholesaler liquidators that meet your specific needs. Ever thought of investing in a wholesale directory?

Wholesale directories double up as goldmines on the Internet.

You can always search the search engines for your suppliers and there's nothing wrong with that. The problems however is that supplier's websites are hardly ever optimized for a top ranking on search engines. And this means that you'll have to spend hours and hours searching the web finding anything BUT wholesale suppliers! Then, when you finally do find a legit looking supplier, you will have to register with them first, before you can view their list of merchandise. This can be very time consuming.

With the help of online wholesale directories this problem can be overcome as within the best directories, products from various wholesalers are displayed with prices and a description, so that you can see the cost and type of products on offer rather than signing up with the wholesaler or Dropshippers before you know if they have the desired merchandise. The best wholesale directories will allow their users to search through the database by product in order to quickly find what one is looking for. Also, support forums give Dropshippers the ability to communicate with others in the industry, and customer service can produce hand made dropship lists for whatever niche that is being targeted.

There are a lot of wholesale directories on the Internet. Unlike the "standard" wholesale directories and wholesale lists, like the ones you'll find on eBay. Many quality paid for wholesale directories have dedicated people identifying suppliers and ensuring they are not scammers. In addition, these wholesale directories come with private guarantees of authentic suppliers. Watching out for scams like you will find in free wholesale directories is a key to being successful with drop shipping. Many wholesale directories will have a membership fee, but as you will learn, when dealing with wholesalers, it's sometimes better to pay for a higher quality directory rather than join a free one that doesn't have the products or the low prices.

Legit wholesale directories have staff that ensure that companies behind the product are real and not scams. Plus, wholesale directories come with a guarantee that states that all suppliers in the directory are real. Of course, you can locate free wholesale directories, but more than often, their information is out of date and riddled with broken links. This is the exact reason that free wholesale directories are a waste of time.

So how do you find legitimate wholesale directories?

It is important to remember that wholesale directories will normally offer a variety of different companies to choose from than another directory. Dropship wholesale directories should not be confused with dropshipping services that list products on eBay for the user. Instead, dropship wholesale directories link up Dropshippers to the suppliers so that a relationship can be established. Thankfully, dropship wholesale directories make access to these resources much easier, and they are a very inexpensive way to increase your dropship profits. But it's NOT just about eBay, oh no, these wholesale directories are PERFECT for merchants, flea market merchants, mail order dealers, retailers, and anyone looking to buy in small or large lots from , manufacturers, wholesalers and importers at the BEST prices.And nearly all have money back guarantees.

A lot of people give advice about how to run a successful business. I tend to think of business from an accounting perspective. You need to have controls and know something about the financial picture of the company. Then again, there are a lot of morons out there that just seem to be lucky. They don't have any controls in place and(or) know anything about accounting.

A lot of people say that if you love what you are doing you will be a successful business owner. This is where we start to get on track a little. If you explore this further you'll find that there are a lot of people who are successful business owner that absolutely hate what they are doing.

The key is balanced obsession. Sometimes people aren't even obsessed about the business they are running. We've all heard of the crazy CEO who likes to base jump among other things. In the end of the day they run a successful business because that is what supports their obsession.

Obsession can bring out many traits key to business. For instance, organization. Organization is the foundation of some accounting and legal firms. Businesses seek out these entities due to their ability to keep track of every detail. At the same time that is their business. If manufacturing companies were to do this inefficiency occurs, and the business would eventually succumb to costs.

This is why balance becomes important. Balance is created by the management of obsession. Obsessing about lowering costs or anything else for that matter becomes a problem when it interferes with other parts of the business. Having balanced obsession is essential. You yourself should be obsessing about the essential elements to the business as they become relevant. If you lack the skills or drive needed assign someone else to the problem.

For instance, the morons I spoke of earlier typically have a well equipped accountants. They are obsessive about their clients and accounting. As long as you, an employee or an agency is obsessing about issues vital to your business you will be successful 50% of the time. Hey, if I could give some advice that ensured success I would be charging for this information.

We typically take home renovation projects very seriously, yet there are so many things to think about and mistakes can be fatal. Following is a great checklist of things you must take into account to ensure a successful project.

Make sure you design your plan well.

Understand design trends before finalizing your remodeling plans. Home remodeling considerations most commonly include kitchens and private areas. Larger kitchens have a greater resale value than smaller kitchens. When coming to design the working area it is recommended to set the appliances in a triangular position. As for private areas, bedrooms and bathrooms should be separated visually from the working areas of the house.

Write down every little remodeling specification detail

Designing the remodeling specs is the most important task that you will undertake. This task can be the most complicated since you need to detail everything about your remodeling plans so that you can bid the project out to a contractor. Make sure you list down everything you want to change, so the contractor will have a clear idea of what you want. This can prevent design conflicts in the future. Make sure you write exactly which type of new faucet you want for your kitchen. Specify exactly which shade (and company) of hardwood floors you want. No detail is too small to be overlooked here, since based on these specifications the contractor will quote you his price. If you want white Italian marble for your living room, it will be a very different quote than maple hardwood floors.

Find a great contractor

The home remodeling specs that you created will be used to bid the construction project. Take your specifications plan and follow these three important tasks:

Take your specification plan and have it reviewed by an architect or other home designer. It will help them design or revise a house plan to fit your remodeling specs. Take the architectural plan and submit a request for bids from remodeling contractors. The architectural plan should include your construction specs.

Make sure you research the contractors bidding on your project, and make sure you protect yourself in negotiation. You can find a builder by checking the local newspaper, looking around in your neighborhood for houses being renovated, referrals by friends and associates, and referrals by the architect that looked over your specification plans.

Get the bids

After you've done your research, it's time to take bids. The rule of thumb is to get three estimates, but try for five - and then ditch the rock-bottom bid.

"That's the guy you want to run away from," says R. Dodge Woodson, a general contractor for 27 years and author of "Tips & Traps for Hiring a Contractor." "The typical game is to come in as low as you can so you get the job, and then add extra after extra." Since one of the main responsibilities of a general contractor is to hire skilled subcontractors (electricians, masonry workers, plumbers), you might wonder: Can't I hire the subcontractors myself? Well, of course you can, but make sure you can walk away from your job at a moment's notice to rush home and take care of a sudden crisis. If your job is too demanding, consider the alternative of hiring a professional that will take care of things and manage the project in your absence.

Get Everything in Writing

Get a written contract to make sure you're protected against lawsuits resulting from disputes, accidents, work-related injuries or damages to third parties. Any of these things can happen - even with the smallest of jobs. Your contract does not have to be complicated, but make sure you include the following:

? Contractor contact details such as name, phone number, email, and address.

? A full description of the work contracted (including a detailed list of the materials and specifications of the entire job).

? The start date and the target completion date.

? The total renovation budget and payment method.

? Your contactor's insurance plan and number, with a list of covered items and the period of time covered by the warranty.

The big 5

There are five things every contractor must have.

1. If required by your state, a license. You can check the Web (contractors-license.org) for your state's rules. Make sure your contractor is properly licensed, verify the license number with your state authorities or with the local licensing board.

2. Liability insurance. This way your property shall be protected from damages that were caused by the contractor or his employees.

3. Workers' compensation insurance. Without it you can be held responsible if someone is injured while doing work on your property.

4. The subcontractors should be insured. The same liability and workers' compensation insurance that your contractor has should be carried by all the specialists (plumbers, electricians and others) he hires.

5. A clean record in the Better Business Bureau. How many complaints have been filed, if any? Remember that misunderstandings do and will occur, so if there was a complaint, see if it was resolved satisfactorily.

Are you ready?

You have to adhere to some standards too. It's important to be thorough about your wants and needs, but you also have to get along with your crew. "You've got to deal with these people; they're going to be in your house," says Tom MacGregor, a New York contractor. You can't change your mind every other day and not expect people to get a little frustrated. If your contractor is a reputable one, your goals will be the same: a fast and smooth job, well executed, that everyone walks away from satisfied.