Advertising is one of the areas which need to be concentrated upon especially when you think of starting a home based business. In any other business you still can manage to get walk in customers but when working from home, you have no representation to capture the customers.Advertising is referred to as showcasing your product or service in the open market. If more and more customers would know about your product or service they would want to try it and your sales would increase and yours profits as well. Hence, advertising becomes very vital for any business to flourish.There are 10 different advertising techniques which  http://sexfriends.net/blog.php?user=dtcollins9&blogentry_id=23746 you can adopt to boost up your newly set home based business opportunity. All these are cost efficient techniques which can help your business to take an up curve.1.    Direct mail: The email advertising or direct mail is still one of the most cost effective ways to popularize your product or service in many industries. You should take special care in drafting the content and design in your email. If you think you do not have that skill you can take help of any professional.2.    Voice mail: This is another technique which when utilized correctly can help publicize your products or services effectively. You can send voice mails or leave message at the phone's answering machines to convey your message. This is mostly used technique as it can be used at any point of time be it day or night.3.    Brochures: Brochures still remain the most effective way of presenting the product or service across the new potential customers. A brochure is like an image of your product or service, so special care should be taken to make it as presentable as possible. The content and the message you want to convey about your product or service should be well written and presented in it.4.    Press releases: You can use press releases to present your new product in the open market. You can use either of the medium available like newspaper, television or radio to make people know about your product or services.5.    Case studies: Case studies of your products or services will help potential customers learn more about them. These case studies would help them make an educated decision before buying.6.    Referrals: Referrals are cost free medium of advertising. There is nothing better than word of mouth publicity.7.    Radio interviews: Giving interviews on radios so that your message about your product reaches out to people, is also a good advertising plan.8.    Affiliate programs: getting affiliates to one of the online programs is one of the ways to market your products or service to a wide range of customers.9.    Web site: There is nothing better than making your own website. As correctly said first impression is the last impression so your web site about your product and service should be well designed and presentable so that potential customers get to know everything before they plan to buy your product r service.10.    Newsletters: Subscribe to any common blog and post blogs about your product or service. By this way you would be able to provide interesting informative about your product or service.

11/23/2006[Elegy]“Adios Mr. Don Cipriano: Lima’s Monkey Man”Don Cipriano Benites, his last name isn’t needed, everyone in Lima knows him, I think perhaps in even beyond Lima, he died a few days ago, a sad day indeed.  I wrote a book, called, “The Mumbler,” and he was one of he characters in it.  I gave him the book one day, and he was so happy.  I even sat and talked to him for an hour, to find out about his life; he was in the papers in New York City once he told me, and a few other newspapers, he was proud of that also.   Anyhow, I was about to say, I wrote an article and put it on EzineArticles.com Internet Magazine, he liked that also.  But I suppose if you are not from Lima, Peru, you are saying: who the heck is the Monkey Man. Ah, let me explain, he was the last of his kind.  When I was a kid in St. Paul, Minnesota, 1953, and so, there were men who had monkeys and music boxes, and you’d give a nickel or dime, and the monkey would dance.  Well, Don Cipriano, was of that stock.  He died at seventy-six years old, for 59-years he worked in the Miraflores Park, in Lima, Peru, everyday, even Sunday, as the entertainment Monkey Man. I’ve had 9-trips to Peru, and every time I stop and talk to he Monkey Man (he was always there, I say was, because I stopped the other day, and 12-hours before that, he had died); as I referred to him, my wife calls him Don Cipriano, by his first name.  He has more of a grin than a smile, or had.  He was a small man; small boned, narrow looking eyes, and a white hat on usually, a blue suite coat, and somewhat polished shoes.  Had three or four monkeys these pasts 59-years.  He got his first monkey free, he once told me.  He worked in the park system for some five years as a caretaker and when the first monkey man, retired, he gave him his monkey, then he bought a few years later a Music Box, Red and White.  He never retired to my understanding, but took two weeks off a year to rest.  Other than that he was in the park from 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM.He was the last of his kind in Lima; you can find a few like him up in the Mantaro Valley region, in the small town-lets, and only a few. I expect they will be gone soon also.  But for Lima, that spot he put his music box on, the one the monkey danced on, and the one that sat near Victor Anchayhua the Camera Man, with his 1820s or 40s Camera, who has been in the park some 45-years and stood about fifteen feet away from Don Cipriano is having a hard time with this, grieving, yes indeed, he will miss him dearly I would guess.  He is busy now, answering everyone’s questions, “Where is the Money Man?” everyone wants to know, and so I suppose he can say (The Monkey Man where ever he is): I sure had a lot of friends!Spanish VersionVersión en Español23 de noviembre del 2006

[Elegía] 

“Adiós Don Cipriano: El Organillero de Lima”Don Cipriano Benites, aunque su apellido no es necesario, porque todos en Lima lo conocen, aunque pienso quizás más allá de Lima, él murió hace unos días, un día triste de verdad.  Escribí un libro, llamado “The Mumbler”, y él fue uno de los personajes en éste.  Un día yo le di el libro, y &eacut

Many of you know that I'm a card carrying introvert on the MBTI scale (INFP), and as such, business networking isn't high on my lists of things I love to do.  Or, should I say, networking as it's traditionally carried out -- big room, lots of people, mixing and mingling over drinks and inane cocktail party-like conversations -- is not my favorite activity.  I'd rather have a tooth pulled, I think, than be subjected to this type of networking activity.  However, if you put me 1:1 with someone, or even with a small group of people around a table, I have a good time and make great contacts.However, organizations around the world seem to believe that the "big group" networking is most effective, so they sponsor many of these events during the course of a year. Sometimes you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone to achieve your goals, especially as a business owner, and that can be a very scary feeling.  Consequently, I have dragged myself, sometimes kicking and screaming, to more of these events than I care to count.I'm here to tell you that if you never choose to challenge yourself in any way, the success you'll have in growing and developing your business will be slow and stagnant, at best. What you resist most is usually what you most need to learn, and resistance around networking can be tied to  http://sexfriends.net/blog.php?user=dtcollins9&blogentry_id=23746 lacking confidence in yourself and your abilities, or, if you're an introvert, it can tied to not knowing how to handle these types of events in a manner that's consistent with your personality style as an introvert.What has made this process easier for me is that I go in with the attitude that I'm seeking to build relationships and find out as much as I can about the others with whom I speak, as I do love to help people out by connecting them to other people or resources that will help them accomplish what they want to accomplish.Now, before going to a "big group" networking event, in an effort to psych myself up, I think of 3-4 powerful questions I could ask the people there to best help me get to know them and what they do and perhaps lay the foundation for an ongoing relationship. This technique is much more effective than talking about sports scores or the latest celebrity scandal, believe me!Here are ten questions that I've used to help me begin to develop deeper relationships at a networking event:What is the product or service your business provides?Tell me about your ideal client and how I might recognize him/her.What projects are you working on right now?How did you decide to go into this business?What do you find most challenging about (your industry) these days? I fill in the industry name in with banking, computer maintenance, financial planning--whatever is appropriate to the person with whom I'm speaking.Tell me about your community involvement. In what other professional or civic organizations do you participate and what role do you play in the organization?How is (some current event) impacting your industry/business right now?What do you most enjoy about what you do?I'd love to hear one of your client success stories--how did you make a difference in the client's life or business?Who would be a good referral for you at this point?People love to speak about themselves and are flattered wh

When it comes to hosting holiday parties and family events, it is important to plan ahead  http://sexfriends.net/blog.php?user=dtcollins9&blogentry_id=23746 and come up with a game plan several weeks before the big day or event.Here are 10 important tips to help you enjoy a stress-free holiday party.1. When hosting family gatherings, we tend to over invite guests. Keep your guest list manageable and only invite the amount of people that you feel you can handle. Inviting too many guests will cause over-crowding and unnecessary stress.2. There is nothing wrong with asking others to help out by bringing a dish, dinner supplies or even showing up early or staying an hour late to help you prep or clean up after the meal.3. Keep your decorations and decor simple. You don't need to go all out and decorate every nook and cranny of your home or entertaining space.4. Clean your home and entertaining space a week in advance. Then the day before the gathering, go back in and just do some light cleaning.5. Plan your menu weeks in advance. You can precook or bake a lot of your foods and freeze them for the big day. Just thaw the day before and reheat on party day. If you don't have time to cook and bake, consider a fully catered or partially catered meal.6. Two weeks before the holiday gathering, draft up a supplies list. Make sure you will have enough dinner plates, bowls, serving utensils, silverware, tablecloths, chairs, etc. If you don't have enough, there is nothing wrong with asking some of your guests to bring their supplies along.7. Make clean up a snap by loading your dishwasher or washing dirty dishes, pots and pans as you go along. After a big meal, the last thing you want to do is spend hours in your kitchen cleaning up.8. Ask your spouse and children to help you prepare for the family gathering. They are quite capable of cleaning the house, setting up tables and chairs and decorating, which will free you up to do the more important part...cooking and baking for your guests.9. I like to over cook and have an abundance of food for my guests. It is better to have extra food than not have enough. Go to your local discount store and purchase several plastic food storage containers and you can send home leftovers with your party guests.10. If you are serving alcoholic beverages, don't over do it. Only purchase and serve enough alcoholic beverages for each guest to have two drinks. By limiting what is on hand, you won't have to worry about intoxicated guests driving home. Make sure you have plenty of bagged ice on hand for serving beverages.By planning out your holiday meal in advance, you can cut down on pre-party stress and anxiety. Take your time, make your lists and don't be afraid to ask for help from family and friends. You want your holiday party to be as stress-free and as enjoyable as possible.