You are going to be relying on the virtual assistant to take care of important tasks for your business. So finding someone that you can work easily with is vital. You also want to make sure that your virtual assistant is going to be able to present your business properly, and that they have the skills you need. Make sure that you can set up a consultation with the Virtual Assistant.

During your consultation you will be looking for how well the VA responds to your questions, how they answer the phone, the promptness of the appointment you made with them and is there follow through.

The virtual assistant that you are going to hire should also have an online office that you can visit. This is usually a website, and this website is the equivalent of a face to face interview. Their website should be free of misspellings, improper grammar and unprofessional writing. If the VA is not presenting a polished professional image for themselves, chances are they aren’t going to present you in a polished and professional manner.

You should also look for finesse. The VA you are thinking of working with should be able to easily guide you through the services that they offer. They should be very knowledgeable about their products, services and capabilities. You want to make sure that they have business sense and that they know how to use it.

Knowing their personal and professional traits is also important. To do this all you have to do is listen to the person you are interviewing. They should take the lead when necessary in the conversation, there should be confidence in the way they speak about themselves and their business, as you are listening do you feel as though you can trust this person and finally do you feel as though you can connect with this person.

You should also take a look at their experience. When we talk about experience, we are not talking about as a virtual assistant per se. You need to know the experience they have in the services they are offering.

Many administrative assistants have left the office to start their own VA business with years of experience in the different tasks and services they may offer, but have only been a VA for a few months. Likewise, someone can be a VA for years and actually have little experience in some of the services they offer. Make sure that you get the full picture when you are talking with them.

Making sure that you get the above information will help you find the right virtual assistant for you business and your needs.

Chris Simpson is dedicated to helping people find honest and legitimate work at home and home based business opportunities. Find legitimate work at home opportunities today at: http://www.HomeNetPro.com

1. Action articles: These will make you more money from a 350 word article than a 350 page book.

On this page you will find action articles about relationships. An action article is a 350 word article that has action questions at the end of the article. The questions are designed to get the reader to do something after they read the article.

These articles are powerful because they are a continual seller. Traffic comes to your website and purchases these articles for $7 each. This adds up if you have thousands of website visitors that buy. This will earn more money than a traditional book.

2. EBook:

Want to write an eBook in a day? Use your 7 tips article. Then write an article about each tip. Write everything you know about each tip into the eBook. You will end up having a 7 chapter eBook.

3. Article email:

When you submit your articles to ezine article sites ask a question and provide the article in the article description. Also put a link to your website in the description. Take this same description and article and put it in an email. You can also add an offer. Send it to your list.

4. E-course:

E-course is a better option than an eBook because you will establish contact with your customers more times. Plus, instead of giving them a large chunk of information one time, you will give them little bits of information several times. This schedule is easier for customers to digest and get to know you.

You can do this for free or for a fee. Can you make money with a free e-course? Absolutely! Every installment you send can be sponsored by somebody, even you!

What content should you put in an e-course? Use information from your 7 tips article. Create an interactive setup.

5. A booklet:

You can take your email newsletter and turn it into a booklet. Booklets are an excellent lead generator. Think about brick and mortar type of businesses. They are more successful with a booklet than a business card. The booklet gives the customer more information.

6. Audio CD or mp3:

Create an audio version of your 7 tips article and sell it. You can simply read it yourself into a microphone and burn a CD or mp3. It’s very easy and another way to generate leads and profits.

7. Signature speech:

Have you ever spoken in public or done a teleseminar? If so, then you are taking advantage of a great way to repurpose your article content. You can create a speech from your 7 tips article. Think about it. You are an expert on your topic and your content has already been written in your article, so use it when you give speeches.

The good news is that conferences and events are always looking for speakers. Plus, your customers will also enjoy listening to you speak and absorbing your wisdom.

There are many strategies to making money on the internet, but nothing makes sense unless you have a big list. Email Marketing is the most profitable way to make money on the internet. Discover how to use the internet and turn your computer into a cash gushing machine. Sign-up right now for Matt Bacak’s FREE online newsletter to find out how to do exactly that, Go here: www.promotingtips.com

YouTube was bought out by Google because of its popularity. Website owners have sat up and taken notice and this has led to a large increase in video marketing. There are a few simple steps when you are looking at doing video marketing. You create the video, optimize the video with correct categories and tagging and then submit this to all the major video sites. You will then want to go out to relevant blogs and forums and create postings so that you have back links to your website. People will often watch the video sooner than they will read articles.

To create your videos, you can simply do this on your own or you can have it done professionally. It is done simply using a video camera and software and a good standard for time length is often a minute. People often will not want to watch more for an advertisement and you can also generate a great deal of interest by having your viewers want more. This can help in driving traffic to your website.

When you submit the videos to your particular websites, you can do this yourself or through a video submission service. It may be simpler to use a video submission service because they will have expertise in finding the right video sites and also categorizing and optimizing your video so that yours come up higher when people are searching for particular videos. Think about each major video website. Each will have thousands upon thousands of videos and it is critical that yours do not get buried with the wrong keywords or categories. That’s why you want to optimize your video and not simply focus upon creating the video. The traffic is the critical step.

If you decide to have your work done professionally, take your time in choosing a video submission service company. Any good video submission service company will do the whole process: video creation, optimization, categorization, submission and finally all of the marketing to help drive traffic back to your website. If you choose a subpar company me, it is unknown how much potential traffic you may end up losing so choose a company to work with carefully

Ron Subs works with as a public relations consultant, more information about http://advideoservice.com/ can be found at http://advideoservice.com/

DHL’s services can be broken down into the following types: “Express Services”, “Logistics” and “Mail Services”. Express services can offer immediate same day pickup and delivery, “day definite” delivery within a specified number of days as well as “time definite” services, which allow packages to be picked up and delivered at pre-agreed times, making it an ideal way for businesses to manage their shipments.

DHL’s logistics services are geared towards enterprise-level businesses and include: air freight, ocean freight, road and rail freight. Supply chain solutions are also available, which allow companies to outsource their inventory management, order processing and warehousing. DHL also offers mail services, which offer Solutions for international business mail, direct marketing, as well as delivering publications and merchandise.

In 1998, Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN), the world’s largest logistics company started to acquire significant shares in DHL, and became majority shareholders in 2001. In March 2008, Deutsche Post reported a net income of 255m Euro, which was a 61% drop over the previous year’s profits of 649m Euro. This slump in profits is due to problems with its US-based DHL Express services, which is not expected to make a profit until at least 2009.

In May 2008, Deutsche Post announced that they will likely outsource all United States-based airlift operations to key rival UPS. Whilst DHL aims to delivery, pick up and track the cargo on and off the aircraft, UPS will carry the cargo on their own flights. This restructuring is intended to reduce annual losses from $1.3 billion in 2008 down to $300 million in 2011. Analyst Christian Obst has stated: “Management is admitting that they cannot stand face to face against FedEx and U.P.S. on their home turf.”

At present, DHL’s air operations are centred in Wilmington, Ohio, where ABX Air work as contractors. DHL’s move to outsource air freight to UPS could cost this 12,000 population small-town over 8,200 jobs. Ohio state is presently evaluating the Wilmington air freight hub for potential re-uses and pursued legal action to prevent a DHL-UPS deal. This was blocked by the U.S. Department of Transportation, rejecting claims that an agreement between DHL and UPS would be “unfair competition” in the United States air freight industry.

Presidential candidate John McCain has been vocal about the proposed deal between DHL and UPS, stating that: “should this happen, DHL will cede significant elements of cost and quality to one of its chief competitors. Consumers all over America would suffer.” Senator Barack Obama has also been involved. In his letter to Karl Zinsmeister, Director of the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, he wrote: “If the deal proceeds, Governor Strickland and Senator Brown have both told me that the DHL facility in Wilmington would likely cease operating. That would eliminate at least 8,000 jobs in Ohio and impact an estimated 41 counties. That level of concentrated job loss strongly weighs in favor of the government assisting them through the difficult time that will follow.”

In 2008, DHL faces not only problems with losses, but also risks a media and political backlash should the Wilmington site drastically cut jobs in the region. Despite this, DHL remains as one of the world’s most significant door-to-door courier services.

David Whelan has written on behalf of Parcel2Go, an international courier service provider that includes DHL as its largest preferred supplier.

Prime example of that is call center companies outsourcing their work to countries like India. A lot of manufacturing work is now done in China and Vietnam. These are so called third world countries with cultural and historical baggage.

Doing business internationally with all these companies in the world you need to be aware of the culture of these countries. In some countries that can be a barrier of language but in some countries that barrier may not be there. While doing business in India language is not a problem as it has almost everyone understanding English whereas doing business in China you need to even translate your name into a Chinese character so that they can understand the name.

Then there is the question of culture. You need to understand the culture and respect that. In fact it is the cultural insensitivity that can sometimes ruin a good business opportunity for you. To overcome that you need to make sure that you hire an expert who can train your employees about the culture of the country.

These experts can actually tell you al about the finer aspects of conducting business in the country and also how to live there. Then there are relocation experts who can actually guide your company’s employees on how to relocate and help in getting all the basic things set up like the house.

Then there are special experts who actually help you translate all your material and even your website into the local language. In some countries it is purely essential to work in the native language. In most countries there will be several expat managers already that can provide help. This is a bonus because the learning curve becomes shorter and you have some social fabric to depend on.

This is absolutely important since as more and more of your competitors go to other countries for work you need to make sure that you are not left behind just because of the other barriers. Hiring an expert or even hiring local managers is then your best bet in this era or global economy and local thoughts.

The author writes about business card translation services and has resource which guides about the business card translation tips

Why would such naval service be a good background for a business career? One classmate explained it this way, “If you can perform well with other men in a confined area under dangerous conditions for months at a time, you can easily meet any challenge that a business will throw at you.”

If every submariner had learned that lesson, the American missile fleet would soon be decimated by seamen headed for business schools and new careers with higher income potential.

Over the years since then, I’ve wondered about other business career benefits that might flow from the naval experiences of those who didn’t serve on submarines. For instance, one of my college roommates became a shipboard supply officer in the U.S. Navy and attended business school after his enlistment was up. He now heads a successful company he founded that makes custom rubber components for original equipment manufacturers. In addition, one of my favorite bosses was a retired naval officer.

In 2005, those conjectures steered me in a new direction after I had the pleasure of being an online advisor to an outstanding officer in the Hellenic (Greek) Navy, Commander Papantoniou, who was studying for an MBA degree in Strategic Management. From his first assignment, I knew that Commander Papantoniou was an extraordinary business student.

While many new graduate students seek to do the least and gain the highest grade, Commander Papantoniou wanted to learn the most and was prepared to go well beyond the assignment to be sure that he squeezed every bit of value out of his studies. In the process, he displayed astonishing interest in details that most people miss.

Of course, there’s a reason for that attention to detail and doing the most: A ship can be sunk by a single mistake. Naturally, a naval officer would have to be detail oriented and able to use good judgment to advance very far in that service.

There was a bigger surprise. Commander Papantoniou’s imagination was outstanding in performing his assignments. One of my favorite courses to teach is based on a book I wrote about making breakthrough improvements in performance. Commander Papantoniou did his finest work in that course, identifying a way to take a simple administrative procedure and make it dozens of times faster and much less costly to perform.

I had a unique perspective to use in examining his course performance. Another brilliant student had completed a similar assignment for a different organization a few months earlier. That other student’s work was so effective that I still use it as an example. Commander Papantoniou, however, found a solution that was 96 percent less costly to use than my other brilliant student had discovered. Such a breakthrough made it seem the Commander was taking the course for the second time.

In the navy, an officer has to be continually prepared to outperform a deadly enemy and deal with the extreme conditions that nature can bring. The consequences of a mistake almost always involve potential loss of life and severe injuries, and many millions of dollars are at risk. Carrying that heavy responsibility provides a clear focus that makes finding operating improvements a breeze by comparison.

There’s also a well-established hierarchy in the navy based on centuries of experience in assessing the qualities that lead to success. Anyone who prospers in such an environment has resources for achievement that academic screening and evaluation usually don’t measure.

I asked Commander Papantoniou about my observations. Here’s what he said:

“A naval officer starts training in leadership very young, from the age of 18 or 19. An officer learns to live in a strict hierarchy. A naval officer climbs the hierarchy step by step, always from the stairways and not from the elevator.

“The training is a perfect combination of theory and continuous practice, the essential difference from someone who has only a theoretical background by graduating from a civilian university. Additionally, a naval officer has the opportunities to face very different or difficult cases, and people in a variety of situations. The officer has to find the best solutions, perfect balance and discipline, and give motivation to the crew to give their best.

“I believe that an ex-naval officer is different and maybe a better business leader because of the way that leadership aboard a ship differs from ordinary leadership roles. The sea gives people a different mentality and influences their way of thinking and leadership. Shipboard officers are open-minded, more adaptive, and more flexible than other officers.”

But earning an MBA online was just the beginning. Commander Papantoniou decided to study for a Certificate of Specialization in strategic management from Greece’s leading university and graduated first in his class. Then Commander Papantoniou enrolled in a second MBA program to earn a degree in Executive Management.

Commander Papantoniou next decided to retire from the Hellenic Navy with the rank of captain, an alternative that he had been considering before he started his business studies. What would he do next to use all of this new knowledge?

One of the largest, oldest, and most respected companies in the Hellenic marine industry soon hired Captain Papantoniou to be its Operations Manager. How’s that for starting near the top?

Not satisfied with what he knew about business, Captain Papantoniou enrolled in an online program to study for a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree, emphasizing change management and leadership. He planned to apply his new learning to the operations he headed. Once again, I had the good fortune to be his advisor.

With his very first DBA course, Captain Papantoniou identified and put into place a superb new business model that will greatly increase the growth and profitability of his company. I believe that by the time he has earned his doctorate the Hellenic marine industry will have been changed in fundamental ways through his insightful and effective leadership.

I asked Captain Papantoniou to share with me his insights into why online education had been so successful for him. He cited these reasons:

1. You can work at your own pace while continuing your naval career.

2. Costs are affordable.

3. Star professors who have written influential books are available at some online universities, enabling a lot of opportunity for one-on-one learning from the best.

4. You have the flexibility to design your own program and apply it to what interests you.

5. If your priority is to learn, there’s no better way to go.

Captain Papantoniou is still a relatively young man. After he completes the DBA, will even more degrees be in his future? Who knows? But I can say for sure that he will always be finding great ways to learn so that he can accomplish more.

What are the lessons for naval officers? According to Captain Papantoniou, they should:

1. Study online to check their interest in other careers.

2. Use online education to add knowledge that can provide career alternatives based on their interests.

3. Get practical support for new careers through on-going online studies.

Naval officers, welcome aboard the online study ship where you can gain many new leadership opportunities!

Donald W. Mitchell is a professor at Rushmore University. For more information about ways to engage in fruitful lifelong learning at Rushmore to increase your success, visit

http://www.rushmore.edu .

They continue with, “mid-market companies in the past have had to choose between traditional VAR’s with deep expertise in a single vendor’s solution, or VAR’s that sell a broad variety of software but have little expertise in creating integrated solutions for the customer. Sparxent’s approach will be to consult with mid-market customers to find and deliver the ideal business or IT solution, regardless of vendor or delivery model, that tightly integrates with their existing environments.”

While I don’t know these guys and I have no idea if they will be able to properly deliver on their vision, my strong opinion is that they have the *right* vision when it comes to their engagement approach. They believe you must deliver the ideal solution to the client *regardless of vendor or delivery model*.

My experience is that findings on studies and surveys are always the same - clients have high regard for *unbiased* consultation from their IT advisors. Companies pay high fees for unbiased consultation. They want to know their options. They want full input from their consultant. They want to know that they are making the decision, with deep and comprehensive information from their consultant. After all, companies are answerable for these purchasing decisions. They want the full panorama of options offered from an expert. That’s why they pay the high fees.

In my estimation, the “unbiased” consulting approach is the future. The reality is that clients have information readily available and what they need is someone to make sense of it all and make it work for their particular environment. That’s where you come in.
Products can still be sold in the backend. The company Accenture, in their previous life as Andersen Consulting, sold $100’s of millions of dollars of hardware and software because they were positioned as a thought leader and unbiased in the eyes of their existing and prospective customers. They provided just what their clientele wanted - unbiased consultative advice.
I believe the questions you should be asking yourselves are:

* Do I have the right business model?

* How do my clients want to do business? Am I serving them in the best way possible?

* Am I biased in the eyes of my clients and prospects?

* Am I positioned as a thought leader and consultant or as a reseller of product?

As always you decide your fate. Choose wisely.

Ramon provides more marketing information, especially created for the IT VAR industry but also applies to everyone who wants to improve their sales. Stay up-to-date at StreetSmartVAR.com and while you’re there, don’t forget to sign up for Ramon’s popular, no-cost online marketing course!

The whole thrust of what my company’s services and consultations are about is to help VAR’s (Value-added Resellers) succeed. Helping them get *more* leads, more sales, more revenue, etc.

However, I think that we, the sales and business community, can make the mistake of being more concerned about collecting tips and techniques for success rather than collecting what my mentor, Dan Kennedy, refers to as “behavioral characteristics”.

When experiencing challenges in business and life, we need to corral all the resources we have but, bottom-line, talent and education (regardless, from Harvard or the local city college) are a far second to *character*. Character shows up when trouble comes; do you quit, do you give up; or, are you resilient?

My company has been growing at a fast pace. This growth is fantastic; however, with it comes a whole new set of challenges. Those who are experiencing this know what I mean. There is a lot of pressure. To have your butt on the line and to have enormous pressure is not for the meek. However it is essential to succeeding, especially for a business owner or entrepreneur.

Having your own business is the ultimate “sales” job. You have to always be selling. If you have employees, you’re not only earning commission day in and day out for yourself but for all the others dependent on your success. Now that’s what I call pressure.

Another type of resiliency, within the behavioral characteristics family, is the ability to truly understand sales - and accept its reality. When I see a sales rep who doesn’t do their prospecting, who expects every lead to be a prospect wanting a quote, who expects every lead from the marketing department or vendor to be a prospect ready-to-buy, then I see that they shouldn’t be in sales. It takes resiliency to be successful in sales.

Napoleon Hill, author of *Think and Grow Rich* said that you have to have a “definiteness of purpose”. You have to know, feel, and expect every sale to be closed.

Zig Ziglar, sales guru, describes the successful sales person’s attitude: “you’ve got my money in your pocket, and I’ve got your product in my briefcase, and I ain’t leaving until we make the exchange.”

Resiliency is not the only characteristic but if you look at all the great entrepreneurs in the world and in history and you examine their personal characteristics, resiliency is certainly one of them. It helped them come back when others wrote them off.

Study the great entrepreneurs and business leaders who have stood the test of time and collect behavioral characteristics. It can pay off in millions.

Ramon provides more marketing information, especially created for the IT VAR industry but also applies to everyone who wants to improve their sales. Stay up-to-date at StreetSmartVAR.com and while you’re there, don’t forget to sign up for Ramon’s popular, no-cost online marketing course!

Napoleon Hill, author of the famous book *Think And Grow Rich* (a must-read for serious students of success) tells how Andrew Carnegie’s mother once went into a department store to a buy a little furnace. The salesman started giving her the long lecture on BTU’s, energy efficiency, and quality construction. She finally interrupted and asked, “but will it keep me*warm*?”

Sometimes we get so involved in our desire to sell, what I refer to as our Need-to-Sell vs. our customer’s Need-to-Buy, we forget to see a buying situation from the customer’s perspective.

The question to answer: Is what we are selling or offering going to help them solve their business problems, issues, challenges or help them meet their goals? It’s a simple concept, yet why do so many sales and marketing folks in the technology industry, from vendors and resellers alike, do the exact opposite?

This not only occurs in face-to-face selling situations but in the copy written in marketing collateral. We start with “speeds and feeds” too quickly; we discuss product before we even know the customer’s situation. Just look at the ads in technology magazines. Most go right for features before even talking about “how it solves a customer’s problems.” There is so much of this kind of marketing and selling that we simply bore customers, make them numb.

Finally, the customers have nothing left but to focus on *price* and, as a businessman, that is a place I prefer not to live in.

One of my mentors tells me that the worst crime you can commit in marketing is “being boring.” For instance, are your marketing pieces generic, unoriginal, identical to the other boring advertising and marketing?

The problem exists because we look at what everyone else is doing to “judge” what is the acceptable “norm” in marketing. Boring. That just causes everyone to look and sound the same.

Why not be different? Why not stand out from the crowd? Here are a few ideas you should consider when getting started:

– Review industries other than technology. What are other B2B companies doing?

– Apply consumer marketing techniques. What are business-to-consumer marketers doing? (In the end, all your prospects are consumers as well as potential clients and they respond better to consumer-type marketing applied to the technology industry)

– Be outrageous. Don’t be afraid to make your clients laugh or chuckle. They’ll see that you are a real person or company and that may help them warm up to you. Besides, in my opinion, this business is about relationships.

– Add your personality. Talking about relationships - people do business with people, not companies. Why not use personality in your marketing? I know there are some real characters at the helm of your companies. Why not use the personality of your CEO in your marketing? Use his/her image and expressions when talking to clients in person, etc. This will more closely connect your prospects and clients to your company if they have a personal relationship with you.

Don’t hide behind the corporate facade. Don’t be boring. Be outrageous, be genuine, be real, and people will respond.

Ramon provides more marketing information, especially created for the IT VAR industry but also applies to everyone who wants to improve their sales. Stay up-to-date at StreetSmartVAR.com and while you’re there, don’t forget to sign up for Ramon’s popular, no-cost online marketing course!

A common purpose of an Omnibus Agreement is to memorialize and confirm an understanding among several parties in respect to a joint business venture. Drafters of these agreements will want to cover all the bases of the partnership and all the terms the parties have agreed to. Usually, the parties will agree that any business opportunity appropriate for the new partnership will be offered to the general partnership and will not be usurped by any one member. There will be of course be exceptions which must be identified as well. An Omnibus Agreement setting forth an understanding in respect to the creation of a general partnership will generally contain the following articles and provisions:

I. Recitals. The recitals section of an Omnibus Agreement to create a partnership is very important. These recitals will set forth the general purpose of the agreement and the desires of the parties to evidence their understanding in respect to the new business arrangement. Essentially, both parties will be participating in a general partnership and will promise not to engage in business opportunities that are of the type the partnership was setup to engage in.

II. Definitions. Since an Omnibus Agreement is primarily for the purpose of confirming an understanding among several parties, the Definitions section is particularly important. Key terms such as “affiliate”, “group member”, “partnership group” and “sponsor” must be clearly defined.

III. Business Opportunities. The key here is to spell out that as long as one of the parties to the agreement participates in the control of the newly created General Partnership, that party and its affiliates shall be prohibited from, directly or indirectly, owning, operating, or investing in any business that competes with the partnership. This provision be called the “Restricted Business.” Another provision in this article titled “Exceptions” should provide for a method by which the parties may mutually agree to approve a party’s foray into the Restricted Business. It is not uncommon for the parties to create a “Conflicts Committee” to deal with these exceptions.

IV. Indemnification. It is important to include an indemnification provision, whereby all the parties to the agreement, jointly and severally, agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the new partnership for a certain period of time. The parties must agree to cover all losses by the partnership due to any investigation, claim, or violation. Procedures affecting this indemnification should also be discussed.

V. Miscellaneous. In order to make the contract fully enforceable, boilerplate contract provisions should be included addressing issues such as governing law, notice, termination, assignment, modification, and severability.

These are the key aspects of an Omnibus Agreement to create a general partnership amongst several different parties. Understandably, an experienced transactional attorney should be consulted throughout the process.

Mark Warner is an Omnibus Agreement Research Analyst for RealDealDocs.com. RealDealDocs gives you insider access to millions of legal documents online drafted by the top law firms in the US that you can download, edit and print. Search For Free at http://www.RealDealDocs.com.