What Innovation Can Do to Your Life

It's a talent that everyone has, yet they think they don't. The power of innovation. If you've ever marveled at somebody's creative prowess, guess what, you can create and innovate too. It just takes time. Everyone is born creative. The box of crayons in kindergarten were not limited to those who possessed potential; because the truth is, everybody has potential.

You know how long it took to learn to ride a bike or drive or to never commit the same mistake again? It's the same with innovation. It takes a  bit of practice and a lot of time before this mind function comes easily  when called. This article will teach you a few tips on how to bring innovation into your life.

Don't listen to what other people say. Follow the beat of your own drum. Allowing for the input of other people will only bring cacophony to the music you are trying to make. If you have an original idea, don't waste your time and effort trying to make people understand. They won't. And the help you will probably get comes in the form of negative feedback. If all those geniuses listened to their peers, we would probably still be living in the middle ages.

Spend time on it. I cannot stress that enough, although, please do not mistake this tip to tell you to quit your day job entirely. Do not. This involves some tricky time management but with a little discipline you'll be able to squeeze both in.

Exercise. Take a walk. Run a mile or two. Send all those endorphins coursing through your veins. Exercising certainly clears and relaxes your mind and allows for anything to pop up.

Record your dreams. Aren't some of them just the craziest things that your conscious mind would never have thought of? If you've had these dreams before, and I'm sure have, this only shows you the untapped innovative power you have lying within. So jot down those notes. Those dreams may just create an innovative spark in you.

Find your own style. You can always tell a Van Gogh from a Matisse. You'll know Hemingway wrote something by the choice of words on the paper. So it is the same with you. People will appreciate your innovation more because it is uniquely yours and that no one else would have thought of what you were thinking. That will let people see how valuable an asset you are.

Don't hide behind nifty gadgets or tools. You don't need the most expensive set of paints to produce a masterpiece. The same way with writing. You don't need some expensive fountain pen and really smooth paper for a bestseller. In fact, J.K. Rowling wrote the first book of the Harry Potter Series on bits of tissue. So what if you've got an expensive SLR camera if you're a crappy photographer? Who cares if you've got a blinging laptop if you can't write at all? The artist actually reduces the number of tools he has as he gets better at his craft: he knows what works and what doesn't.

Nothing will work without passion. What wakes you up in the mornings? What keeps the flame burning? What is the one thing that you'll die if you don't do? Sometimes people with talent are overtaken by the people who want it more. Think the hare and the tortoise. Ellen Degeneres once said that if you're not doing something that you want to do, then you don't really want to do it. And that's true. Sometimes you just want something so bad you become a virtual unstoppable. And that is passion. Passion will keep you going.

Don't worry about inspiration. You can't force it; inspiration hits when you least expect it to, for those unpredictable yet inevitable moments you should prepare. An idea could strike you on the subway, yet alas, you poor unfortunate soul; you have no sheet of paper to scribble down a thought that could change the world. Avoid these disasters. Have a pen and paper within your arm's reach at all times.

I hope this article has helped you bring more innovation into your life. Keep in mind that you're doing these things for your own satisfaction and not anybody else's. But soon enough they will notice, and everything should snowball from there.

12 Second Commute

I recently discovered 12 Second Commute, also known as 12 SC, and what I have found is a treasure trove for anyone building businesses online.  It has certainly made my life easier and saved me time promoting my businesses.  They have all the tools and resources an internet marketer needs to earn income online, it’s affordable and in one all inclusive system.  Here’s a sampling of some of the system’s features:

** World-class Autoresponder that can be setup by anyone in less than 40 seconds.
** Ad Tracker, Contact Manager, Capture Page Creator, URL Rotator and more.
** Unbiased Training and Support so you never struggle again.
** Multiple Streams of Income built in so you earn as you learn.
** Stunning capture pages you can use to promote any program

The people behind 12 Second Commute have been helping others earn money online in a solid and consistent fashion since 1999.  They even give you a FREE trial account with no credit card required so you can see how powerful and easy to use our system will be.  So, what do you have to lose.  Click here to try it out.  You might like it.  I’m betting you do!

Tips For Making Your Website Look Professional

Many people believe that designing a website is difficult, but that in only true if you do not take the time to learn how to build one. Like pretty much everything done on the web today, there are many software programs available which can make web design really simple.

Continue on for some great tips on how to choose the best web design program to build your site.

Before you publish any web page, check it carefully for broken links. Nothing is more frustrating to a visitor than clicking on a link and being taken to an error page. You can check your links manually, or there are programs that will scan your site for you and report any broken links.

Allow users to cancel an action if they so choose. This could mean ordering products, opting in to an email newsletter, or returning to the homepage from deep within your site. If visitors cannot cancel an action they are not interested in, such as providing their contact information, they will feel they do not have a choice and won't buy anything.

Give your visitors the ability to search your site so that they can more easily find what they are looking for. If someone cannot find what they are looking for right away, their next thought will be to look for a search field. Put this somewhere obvious and include a search button.

Always ensure you are giving meaningful feedback, as this is what creates the communication between a website and its visitors. For example, if an action taken by a visitor results in an error, do not simply display "error occurred."  Instead, provide a message that explains what happened and how the visitor can correct the error by taking a different action. Without this feedback, visitors are more likely to grow frustrated and just give up by leaving your website.

Have a site map. These are useful to your clients and the search engines, as they give a detailed overview of your entire website. It can be a guide for viewers searching for a certain part of your site, and also allow you to keep track of its structure and layout.

Use a tracking service, rather than displaying your visitor counter for all to read. Many websites still display their counters, yet they do not serve any real purpose. There are many high quality tracking services available, and some are even free. Use these instead of showing off how many people visit you.

When designing your website, you should avoid using too many different types of fonts. You must also consider how different fonts appear on the standard computer screen; smaller serif fonts (Times New Roman, for example) are somewhat hard to read. Most sites use Vedrana, which is easily read in different colors and sizes.

Do not use images for your background. When you think about some of the biggest websites on the Internet, they do not have images as backgrounds. When you use image backgrounds, you represent yourself as someone who is not well-versed in web designing. Images as backgrounds also cause your site to load slower, which can lead to user frustration.

Make text easy to ready by using colors that contrast or backgrounds that are easy to read text on. When your text is harder to read because the background or text color creates eye strain or portions of text that are unreadable, site visitors are less likely to stick around.

As stated in the above article, web design today is made simple with the many easy to use software programs that are on the market. If you can follow some simple instructions then you too can enter the world of web design.

Apply the tips from this article so you can understand what to look for in a web design program.

Curtis Staggs

Shameless American Capitalist

What is Direct Sales?

Direct Sales marketing is a simple and effective way to market products or services direct to the consumer. It involves the sale of a consumer product or service, person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location by an independent salesperson. Products are sold through in-home product demonstrations, parties, group meetings or demonstrations, over the telephone, over the Internet and through one-on-one selling.

Direct selling is a growing industry with sales in the U.S. having doubled in the last decade to nearly $25 billion and are now more than $82 billion worldwide.

Do people purchase products from Direct Sales representatives?

Yes. Direct selling is a rapidly growing industry. U.S. sales totaled $28.7 billion in 2002, up from 26.7 billion in 2001, with more than 55 percent of the American public having purchased goods or services through direct selling. That's more than the number who have purchased through television shopping and on-line computer services combined. People value the products available through direct selling and 45 percent of Americans want to buy from direct sellers. Those who have purchased by direct selling are exceeded only by the percentage of those who have purchased via retail stores (96%) or through mail order catalogs (83%). As mentioned, worldwide sales are also strong with nearly $85 billion in sales.*

An opportunity for growth is seen with public interest in purchasing through direct selling (38%) exceeding those who have purchased (27%)! Here are a few reasons why consumers enjoy buying from Direct Sales Representatives:

• Direct sellers can arrange their calls to fit the consumer's busy schedule and can deliver their purchases directly to them.
• Direct salespeople are knowledgeable about their products and take the time to personally demonstrate and explain their products to the consumer.
• Since the products are going directly from the source to the consumer with only the Direct Seller involved substantial savings from advertising, processing and shipping can be passed on to the consumer.
• Direct sellers build a personal relationship with the Consumer giving them one-on-one-attention.
• The Consumer knows who to go to with questions and concerns, as well as who to refer friends to, rather than dealing with a company full of unthankful employees.

Coastal Vacations is a direct sales opportunity that promotes the benefits of a vacation lifestyle while developing financial freedom through business ownership.

Stability and Service

Coastal Vacations continues to offer Membership Benefits and Services that are unparalleled in the industry today. Coastal offers an incredible Vacation Package valued at over $15,000 for just $1,295.   It delivers unbeatable value to the consumer, as well as tremendous financial rewards for the marketing team.  The Coastal Vacations travel package offers a lifetime of vacation savings for less than the price of one family vacation.

Working with thousands of resorts and leaders in the field of travel and leisure, Coastal Vacations pursues this commitment by consistently seeking out the best vacation and travel values in the industry and making them available to clients at rock bottom prices. The Companies chosen to fulfill the benefits and services in our packages are of the highest caliber. Most are publicly traded companies, licensed and bonded, with a track record of 12 years or more. Our Independent shipping facility has 25 years of proven experience in the industry.

The Top Four Ways to Maximize the Success Potential of Your Small Business

There is a difference between small businesses that are just making it, and companies that are truly taking off.  This difference commonly lies in the strategy being used to maximize the success potential of the business. Such strategies are made up of important techniques – primarily the four following – that allow a small business to make sure that it is functioning at its very best.

To be sure that your business is maximizing its potential, employ the following practices as a part of your own business strategy:

•    Make sure that your business offers knowledge or services along with its products.  No matter what industry or niche your company happens to fill, you will need to make sure that you have information and services to offer your customers that are different from your competitors.  Success, especially when marketing on the internet, is all about having something to offer, whether it’s knowledge, services, or something else.  This will also help you to be seen as an expert.  The more you are perceived as having expertise, the greater the trust you will have from your clients, and the stronger those relationships will be.

•    Don’t just say that you care about your customers.  Care about your customers!  This is one of the most far-reaching methods that you can use for growing your small business.  Though your prospective and current customers are important to your business because of their money, you need to show them that they are important to you for more than just that.  They need to simply be important to you; period.  This means being honest with your customers, and telling them the truth about the ways in which you are able to fill their needs.  Put your focus on helping the individual, not simply the majority of customers. Your efforts need to move from making a sale to helping the person.  Remember, it is much easier to create a repeat client than it is to create a new client!

•    Make going above and beyond a policy.  If you want to make your small business stand out from the rest, then you need the superior quality of your products and services to shine through.  Make your aim to over-deliver, every time.  Remember that customers love feeling as though they’ve received a good deal.  This can mean discounted prices, valuable bonuses, or surprise free gifts with purchase.

•    Maintain regular contact with your customers.  Using e-mail, direct mailers, catalogs, promotional flyers, “preferred customer” coupons, and other communication tools, it is easy to provide your customers with regular contact, informing them of great deals you’re offering, while reminding them that you’re around.  Make these communications worth while by offering free tips, discounts, and other useful ideas.

The main idea is that if you want to achieve your greatest success in your small business, offer expertise, care for your customers, deliver beyond your customers’ expectations, and keep in touch.  These are the difference between maintaining your business, and growing your business.

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What if there was a way to take more vacations for less money and earn money from home, would you click here to learn more?

The Journey Into Entrepreneurship: Starting A Small Business

For most of us there comes a day when we toy with the idea of starting a small business; work stress and frustrated career goals can often leave us thirsting for autonomy and starting a small business seems to fit the bill. But for those who are thinking of starting a small business, the road can be one of sacrifice and learning.

Before starting a small business do as much research as possible. Talk to other people who have started a small business and are willing to give you some guidance, read books by people who have a passion for entrepreneurship, and get online to read as much as possible about the ins and outs of starting a small business. On the Internet you’ll also have access to advocacy organizations developed to help those starting a small business; as well as access to chat forums where you can learn from the experiences of others in your situation

Locally there should also be organizations that can help you in starting a small business. Look at the business advocacy groups in your local area that can offer guidance.

Gather as much information as you can and keep careful notes. Remember that this business will be a reflection of you and as such should mirror the philosophies to which you subscribe. Starting a small business is not the same for everyone; take your own special circumstances into account before beginning your journey.

Depending on the business you are starting, it may also be in your best interest to hire legal counsel. A lawyer can help you navigate the complexities of small business ownership and save you time and money further down the road.

Additionally, a lawyer who is well-versed in online commerce can help you establish an online presence if starting a small business for you includes an Internet component.

Also, if starting a small business for you means bringing on employees, a lawyer is essential to your success. Hiring employees opens you up to a whole new set of liabilities; save yourself any complications by having a lawyer by your side to protect you.

Starting a small business can be a wonderfully rewarding experience. Put your best foot forward by facing each challenge and arming yourself with knowledge. Careful research and meticulous planning will reward you with success and the greatest possibility of future and continued viability.

To learn more about starting a small business, even from the comfort of your home, go to Start a REAL business for more details