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It really amazes me today how most corporations not only stay in business, but how they do the volume of business they actually do? I guess in many cases it comes down to the fact that when making a choice where you are going to do business for a particular product or service, and there’s only one choice, your answer is pretty much made up for you.

One company that really has me scratching my head is Verizon. How can a person call their order department and spend an average of 1 to 1 1/2 hours on the phone with a so-called trained representative who is taking the order, getting all its details worked out, only to have them not show up or even call on the preset install date. This happen to me personally, not just once, but two separate times.

When I would call to find out why they didn’t show up at the preset install time, it took them more than 1/2 hour to even find the order. One of the problems as I see it is they do not talk or communicate with each other. You would think in this high tech computer age that they could at least open the account on the computer screen and see what the details actually are and who took the order. But I guess that would be expecting too much for today’s businesses.

It took an act of congress to get them to cancel my order the first time they didn’t show up, and when they pulled the same scenario the second time two months later, they used the exact same reasoning and excuses.

So my question to anyone who can give me a satisfactory answer is, how do so many business survive today with so much incompetency? I see it everywhere I turn. They are so screwed up with their operations and customer service departments that I cannot figure out how they survive.

It seems the only departments that operate with any accuracy at all is the billing departments. Order their service,.. GOOD LUCK. Have them show up on time… GOOD LUCK. Get it set up the way it’s supposed to be… GOOD LUCK. But don’t pay your bill on time just once and watch how they show up a day early to disconnect your service.

Even if you try to call them to speak to a manager, supervisor, or owner,… you first have to get through all the preset recordings that transfer you from recording, to recording, to recording only to talk to some foreign person who speaks little or no English and tells you they are about as high up the chain that you’re going to get.

Either way, you simply cannot get good customer satisfaction anymore and the days of personal service are gone forever.

My advice to anyone reading this is, if doing business with a corporation like Verizon is anywhere in your future plans, I would strongly suggest that you rethink your strategy.

My name is Dr. Steve Rowan and though I have several doctorates, most of them have to do with theology. I have written several different eBooks with a wide variety of variance. One book was a sexual tutorial for women titled “Sexual Ecstasy” which came from the sexual fantasies of men and women from ages 18 to 66. Another book which is almost complete has to do with Quantum Physics and the Law of Attraction. I have studied the Biblical Scriptures delving deeply into the Greek and Hebrew, and the wisdom there is astonishing once you get passed man’s traditions and all the churchosities. I am also a former hypnotist and I believe that I am very close to making the missing connection between the physical and spiritual realm when it comes to manifesting tangible things in our lives. Affirmation does not work and in my book I explain why.
Feel free to visit one of my sites at: www.dynamicmarketingtechnologies.com/sead2.htm

A lot of weight control diet experts start out their books with the following statement:

“The people who are successful at losing weight are the ones with the right attitude - they believe they will be successful.”

I don’t know about you, but I find this just a little confusing. If you’ve already tried 10 diets, and all of them worked (for a while) but now you weigh more than ever, how can you force yourself to believe you’ll be successful this time?
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And if you don’t believe it, should you even bother to start another diet?

Some experts think they can give you the “right attitude” by reminding you about all the chronic diseases caused by obesity. Being scared is a great motivator, for sure - and total honesty can really help. But will fear alone put you in that tiny minority of dieters who are able to lose weight and then keep it off for a year or more? Or will it just cause more stress?

Other weight loss experts try to act like cheerleaders, doing a printed version of “rah, rah, rah!” This is supposed to infuse you with their enthusiasm. It actually works, for a while. But the excitement wears off as you’re faced with the day-to-day, real-world challenges of losing weight.

And some diet book authors suggest that you chant affirmations on a regular basis. This can help reduce your stress level if you use it as a meditation technique. However, affirmations by themselves won’t make you lose weight. If you don’t combine the positive thoughts with positive action, you’re just engaging in some wishful thinking.

I think we need to take a good look at the idea that you need the right attitude in order to succeed. It implies that you will be successful only if you can change the way you feel. If you think of the people you admire most and who have become successful in any field, one of the things you’ll notice is that successful people do what is needed at any given time - regardless of whether or not they “feel like it”.

There are days in every person’s life when he or she doesn’t want to get up in the morning. It even happens to successful people. But successful people get up anyway, and do what needs to get done. In fact, it may be the action itself that creates the enthusiasm that is so evident in the people we most admire.

In other words, you don’t need to feel motivated. You need to be willing to take positive action. If you’ve recently purchased a diet book and you’re taking your precious time to read it, that in itself is proof that you’re willing to take action.

Even if you have 40 diet books on your shelf, and you are still overweight, that doesn’t prove that you aren’t willing to take action. Your previous failed attempts just mean that you have not yet discovered the techniques needed to overcome your natural drive to overeat or to eat the wrong food. Successful business people often start many failing businesses before they find the right combination that puts them at the top of their field.

Successful people don’t think of past failures as reasons to quit – they think of past failures as learning experiences, and part of the dues they have to pay before they can be successful.

So if you’re thinking about starting one more weight control diet, don’t worry about whether or not you have the “right” attitude. You can change your diet, your health, and your life. Just keep learning all you can about good nutrition and about how your food choices affect your health; join a support group if you need to; or find a nutritional counselor or behavioral counselor if you think you could use their support. Do what it takes.

Even if you’ve failed with a diet in the past, you have the “right” attitude as long as you’re willing to give it another try.

Learn what it takes for weight control diet success. Are you ready to take an honest look at the why you eat too much? If so, visit http://www.HowToThinkThin.com

Many people who come to Florida for the wildlife probably come for one animal alone: a talking mouse. While this talking mouse is a fun attraction, and quite articulate for a rodent, Florida is also filled with many other types of equally-appealing species. These beasts might not have been invented by the genius of Disney, but the creatures of Florida definitely allow Mother Nature to give ol’ Walt a run for his money.

Alligators: In 1987, the American Alligator became the official reptile of Florida. The reason for this is simple: in Florida, alligators are everywhere. This might not seem exciting to the people who live there: the alligators may be viewed as nothing but pests who swim in ponds, walk slowly across roads, and occasionally eat a neighbor’s cat. But for people visiting from places that don’t have alligators, they can be exciting. There’s nothing quite like seeing an alligator, taking a picture of him, and stating how you loved his work in “Crocodile Dundee.”

Dolphins: Dolphins are extremely popular animals in our culture. Not only are they highly intelligent, with recent researchers in Australia discovering that some dolphins teach their children how to use tools, but there are various tales of dolphins protecting humans from danger. One recent story states that several Dolphins in New Zealand swam around a group of stranded swimmers, protecting them from a Great White Shark. The face of a dolphin, seemingly always smiling, only further perpetuates our love for them. Dolphins are also one of the only mammals that, like humans, mate for reasons other than reproduction. See, I told you they were intelligent.

Manatees: Manatees are aquatic mammals, sometimes referred to as sea cows. The name “Manatee” is derived from a Carib word meaning “Beast.” “Beast” may be a fitting way to describe the physical attributes of this creature - they can weigh between 500 and 1000 kgs – but it’s not a fitting way to describe their demeanor: manatees are peaceful herbivores that spend their day grazing and surfacing for air. Due to their peaceful nature, or their overwhelming size, manatees have no known predators. However, human expansion has led to a harsh decline of their species. This has landed them on the Federal Endangered Species List. Originally listed as Endangered in Florida as well, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recently voted to upgrade their status to “Threatened.” This angered many wildlife conservationists who believe manatees should remain listed as an Endangered Species on national and state levels. Presently, there are thought to be between 2000 and 3000 manatees in Florida.

The Florida Panther: The Florida Panther is a subspecies of Puma that is, sadly, highly endangered. With most living in the low lands, forests, and swamps of south Florida, the Florida Panther is the only species of Puma in the entire US. But, this may be only for the time being: what once was a booming population is now down to less than 70 breeding panthers, a number that makes up a dismal 5 percent of what the Florida Panther population once was. The reason for their demise falls on human expansion, automobile accidents, and killing each other, in a fight over limited territory. These types of panthers differ from other types in that they have a wider skull, longer legs, and a crook near the end of their tail, a trait that may have resulted from inbreeding the species in an attempt to expand the population. Management of the Florida Panther has been a topic rich in controversy as people have argued the best route of conservation. On the bright side, the past few years have seen the Florida Panther population nearly triple.

The wildlife of Florida can be dangerous – meeting an alligator or a panther in a dark alley might be a problem for some – but keeping your distance and respecting Mother Nature helps to grant you safety. Particularly for those who live in landlocked areas, there is nothing quite like the wildlife of Florida. We give it two thumbs up, and a fin.

Jennifer Jordan is a senior editor for http://www.milleniumlimo.com. An avid traveler and sightseer, she has been to a variety of places around the world. She’s also been to Wyoming more times than she cares to count.

Modern civilizations and societies are bombarded with commercial images. Advertising is everywhere and every business must engage in some form of advertising, publicity and public relations in order to succeed. But with advertising everywhere small businesses and corporations alike must compete for the consumer’s eyeball. Simply having a good ad is not enough and even having great placement alone will not suffice.

I have titled this article book; Adventures in Advertising for the Advanced Entrepreneur, because advertising is an adventure and often an entrepreneur must chart unknown waters. Having started a small business, which grew into a rather large multi-state franchise system and later into a multinational franchise company, I soon realized that advertising is an adventure and not just another task. Many advertising tactics in markets where we had started simply did not work in other regions around the nation and they certainly did not work once we took the business model out of the country.

In this article I want you to consider and discuss many types of advertising and some of the theories behind each type, as well as what worked and why. You should discuss advertising salespeople, account executives and the advertising industry as a whole. You should also contemplate the new forms of advertising and ways that companies on a limited budget can imprint their message in the minds of potential customers and consumers. Nothing good in life is ever easy and with advertising that same famous quotation holds true.

Rather than reiterating and walking the party line of MBA marketeers and the advertising industry, we will take you on a different journey; one which will challenge your mind and show you the value of thinking outside the box as an entrepreneur when it comes to the expenditure of your advertising dollars. There may not be an easy way but there may be another way, which you might discover in your industry sub-sector to take your company to greater heights and accomplish all your objectives, goals and dreams.

I thank you for reading this article and I am sure you will find tidbits of information, which will not only make you think but also help you become a better entrepreneur so that your company can win in the marketplace without overspending on your advertising dollars. Consider this article and all my articles on advertising not only a reading exercise but also a thinking exercise and as we use examples of various industries consider how these might apply to you or business, to your industry and to your future success. Take no prisoners and stay heads up while we take you on a journey, expedition and adventure in advertising. Perhaps this article is of interest to propel thought in 2007?

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

As customers and consumers become more and more demanding, hostile and belligerent in the market place it becomes more and more difficult to please them. Nevertheless, for the small business owners and companies that can satisfy them many a fortune awaits. Good customer service brings them back and this is the reason why all entrepreneurs, executives and employees on the front line need to understand that customer service is a contact sport. It is a game to be played to win and this is where we must achieve victory in the market place over the competition. Customer service is not just a buzzword or attitude it is the key element in success in your organization.

If you are not ready for some hardcore change then you have wasted your time in reading this article and if so I wish to insult you the reader and let you know that I consider you a coward, but if you will accept my challenge to hear me out then, I’ll make you into total customer service professional with customers begging for more. We must get your organization, agency, non-profit, small business or corporation into a systematic and automatic customer service mode and accelerate the hypersonic flow of word-of-mouth advertising.

We are talking about winning, we are talking about exceeding customer expectations and we are talking about total market share. You see whereas other business MBA marketing executives discuss “Market Share” well personally I have a different theory of business. I do not like the word Market Share. I only care about winning and the easiest way to win, is to win over your customers with excellent customer service.

Like most entrepreneurs I started my company small and eventually thru great customer service ended up growing it to 53 units servicing 39 cities. Oh but customer service pays back compounded interest and so we franchised our concept into 450 cities, 110 markets, 23 states and four countries. The key to all that growth was customer service and let me tell you we were in a highly competitive industry and it was not easy to satisfying the unending desires of our customer base, but we did and we won town after town, city after city, state after state.

I thank you for reading this article as it is my first article for 2007 on this subject, but while writing it, indeed it had occurred to me that it most likely will not be the last article on this topic. You see, customer service is that important. Perhaps this article is of interest to propel thought in 2007?

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

Starting a Mobile Auto Detailing Business sounds rather simple, right? You go get yourself a plastic water tank, pressure washer and some supplies and since everyone has a car getting customers ought to be rather easy. In essence this is all true however if you want to be profitable and make the most amount of money it is a little more complicated than that really. Having been in the Mobile Auto Detailing Business for decades we have learned all the secrets to maintaining efficiency and hence we have written them down.

In my many articles on this topic you will find strategies for getting your clientele, enhancing word-of-mouth advertising, acquiring referrals, designing brochures, preventing equipment failure, clustering accounts and working in winter weather. Many of the tips you will find nowhere else, as we have discovered most of these concepts thru trial and error and learning the hard way. You should use these articles as a manual and as an exercise in thinking as you prepare your business plan and marketing strategy.

Our company started out as a small company and then grew hiring Independent Contractors operating 53 units in 39 cities. Eventually we broke the company into two different companies and called them The Car Wash Guys (www.CarWashGuys.com) and The Detail Guys and Detail Gals . We then franchised these companies in 450 cities, 110 markets, 23-states and 4-countries. Today I am retired and whereas we do not sell these franchises anymore, I wish to depart knowledge to the industry.

I wish to thank you for reading this article, as I know there are many other books out there that are also quite good on this subject; how do I know? Well, I have read them all too, in fact, whereas I did gain knowledge in reading each of them, I felt something was lacking and thus decided to write articles on this subject.

As you read these article sets you will understand why I felt this way and you will see the focus on the actual running of the business and not just the detailing of the cars, boats, aircraft, trucks, motorcycles or RVs. Although this is my first actual article on the subject for 2007, as I have written 1000s of pages of company manuals, I am quite certain it will not be my last. Perhaps this article is of interest to propel thought in 2007?

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

For those of us who love cars and are mechanically inclined starting a small business, which has to do with auto-maintenance, makes a lot of sense. Many folks would love to own their own business as part of their American Dream. The question is what type of business can we see ourselves enjoying and excelling at and how on Earth would we come up with the $500,000 to $1,000,000 to start an Auto Maintenance Shop? Even renting a bay and buying all the equipment can be costly and run $100,000 to $250,000.

This is why many just starting out consider running a mobile oil change business instead. By running a mobile oil change business you delete the need for an expensive shop and can rent a small industrial space to park the equipment and store the bulk oil and waste oil for pickup. Starting a Mobile Oil Change Business sounds rather easy and everyone owns a car and there are many fleets of vehicles out there too that need preventative maintenance care such as oil changes. Getting business should be fairly easy right?

Indeed, there are certainly a lot of cars out there and they all need oil changes however there are issues, such as most of those vehicles do not get their regularly needed oil changes and there is an abundance of competition as well. Additionally, most people drive their cars different amounts of miles and that makes the routing and scheduling a little tougher, but all these issues can be overcome.

There are some really great Mobile Oil Change Business Manuals and Books you can buy. I recommend a few of them such as; Melric’s Book; http://www.melrics.com . Consider this a supplement to such well-written books on the subject and not necessarily a replacement. If you are going to start your own business you need to soak up all the information available. Having been in the Oil Change Business nearly a decade I have learned that efficiency, route-scheduling, marketing and referrals are the key to success. Of course you still need the fundamentals and this is why other books are also very good.

I appreciate you reading this book and I sincerely hope that you will use it as not only an operations manual but also as a thinking tool when developing your business plan, marketing plan and strategizing your future success. Although, this is my first article for 2007 on this subject, I doubt if it will be my last. Perhaps this article is of interest to propel thought in 2007?

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

Definitely times have changed. We live in a world of competition, where we have so many options to choose from, regarding what to eat, what to wear, and in choosing our everyday consumer products and of course, when it comes to our wedding, we have just as many options and many more decisions. When we think about wedding announcements, a few years ago, a simple plain, elegant invitation would have done it, now the announcements are not enough, we have to think about a whole set of stationary. The most important aspects to consider are as follows:

• Engagement party announcements
• Wedding announcements, including reception cards, maps and respond cards
• Rehearsal dinner announcements
• Ceremony programs
• Menus
• Reserved table tags
• Thank you notes
• Calligraphy, of course the list could still be stretched with some other little details, but I don’t want to disappoint anyone. Who ever said that getting married was not expensive? It is the big day and of course we need a big budget for it. But the good news is that we have so many choices that it does not necessary need to be expensive to be the best.

It is important to talk to your wedding consultant, if you don’t have one, talk to your stationary designer and express what exactly you have in mind and what your budget is. She or he can always make suggestions for you and tell you what is necessary and what becomes superficial in the wedding stationary. There are certain things that it might be nice to order when you have the budget for it, but you don’t necessarily need to have everything you see in order for you to have the wedding of your dreams. Don’t be afraid to ask if there is a certain promotional invitation available or if there’s a certain style with a discount, what combinations could you make to lower the cost, or what options would you have, not to spend a fortune on your invitation order. A good stationary designer, will always be happy to design something according to your taste and budget, but whatever decision you make, always keep in mind that this is a once in life time and it has to be exactly the way you want it.

You can find other articles at: http://ReceptionsBG.com

Starting your own Auto Detailing Shop can be an exciting entrepreneurial endeavor and an awesome small business adventure, which can become part of your American dream. Of course before you start you will wish to learn the basics and want to get experienced detailing cars. This book is not concentrated on the fundamentals of auto detailing procedures or; How to Detail Cars, rather it is focused on the marketing, strategic planning and developing of business plans to succeed in the marketing place.

You see, Auto Detailing is a business and there are expenses, employees and customer service to deal with. Many auto detailers who are the top of the game as Auto Detail Artists and have skills, which are truly unbelievable, do not make the money they should, due to their lack of business acumen and experience. Of course over time they develop the business skills, but in the mean time they are involved in an uphill battle. This article therefore is available to give assistance in the business building phases to insure success.

Will this article guarantee success? No, not in itself, although it will help the hard-chargers with strength of character and give them some more tools to use in moving the ball down the field in the market place. In this article I want you to discuss the differences between wholesale auto detailing for car dealerships, rent-a-car companies and fleets of vehicles; with personal retail detailing. You might also learn the definitions of Express Detailing and how that affects high-end detail shops and how an Auto Detail Shop must cash in on the different types of customers to make the most money.

This article does not get heavy into marketing, advertising, direct mail, public relations, community involvement and word-of-mouth advertising for a constant flow of new and former satisfied customers, but you need to be thinking here. You should discuss branding, signage and image as well, after all in Auto Detailing we are selling image for the customer and we must be weary of first impressions and what that means for the Auto Detailing Shop’s success.

Lastly, I thank you for reading this article, as it is one of my first articles for 2007 on running an Auto Detailing Shop, although most likely not my final writing on the subject. Perhaps this article is of interest to propel thought in 2007?

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

For those of us who have been around the trucking industry for a while often we think we might like to own a business of our own rather than working for someone else. Often, folks will buy their own truck and become independent operators, while others will set up shops to work on trucks, sell accessories or service equipment. Unfortunately, it is not always so easy to set up a truck maintenance shop, as the costs can run well into the millions and there is still no guarantee of success.

Many truck drivers who had been on the road for a number of years are tired of driving a truck and they want to do something else. Of course being a truck driver does not pay enough money to start such a large business. There are some alternatives that would allow starting a business without that much money and still dealing in the trucking industry. Consider if you will, starting a Mobile Truck Wash Business; the capital costs needed are not that much and you already know everyone in the industry in the local area.

For almost 3 decades our company; The Truck Wash Guys (www.TruckWashGuys.com) has been in the mobile fleet cleaning business and we have taken our knowledge and written it all down into this book. As you read this article you should consider it an operations manual supplement and also a thinking tool in developing your business plan, marketing plan and route scheduling strategy. Most of the ideas and concepts in this article cannot be found anywhere else, as they are things that our company learned the hard way.

Although this is my article in 2007 on the subject of Mobile Truck Washing, I am sure it will not be my last. In fact, I have previously created 500 pages worth of manuals for our own company and will condense it into many more articles. If you run a Mobile Truck Washing Business or fleet cleaning business then you should stick with it. Perhaps this article is of interest to propel thought in 2007?

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington