What Question To Ask Yourself When Planning Business Success?

Learning A Trade Pays Off

One thing that holds a lot of people back from going into business is a lack of confidence in their own value as a potential businessperson. They look at the world of entrepreneurial endeavour and think of how great it would be to be their own boss, decide the rules and the hours, and make money for themselves. All looks rosy until the question arises of what they are actually going to do. Regrettably, people on getting to this point are liable to think “Well, what can I do that no-one else can offer?”, come up against a brick wall and shelve the plan altogether. Firstly, there are very few unique businesses in the world, and those that are, are so niche that they probably do not make much money.

The better question to ask yourself when planning business success is “what do people need?”. You may also ask yourself what people want, but the former question is more important. People will always pay for what they need, but sometimes they have to lay aside what they want for reasons of economy. Depending of course on how busy you want to be and how much you want or are able to commit to the business initially, you can decide for yourself whether you want to serve a need or satisfy a want. One way or the other, this raises the question – “am I equipped to do what people need?”. If you do not feel that you are, this need not be the end of your entrepreneurial venture.

It has been proven time and again that people will pay for someone to do something they cannot do for themselves. It may be something really rather straightforward in real terms, but there may be many factors preventing them from doing the job themselves. Maybe they are impaired in terms of mobility or a certain motor function. Maybe they are extremely busy. Maybe they feel that the job would be better done by someone with the knowledge of how to do it.

This is where learning a trade really pays off. If you have ever considered learning a trade, there is really no better time. And if you never have, then why not consider it? Remember, there are many of us who work for a company or a boss because we don’t feel that we can drive things forward ourselves due to a lack in some part of the process. But why limit yourself? You can learn a trade, and the knowledge will end up paying for itself.

There are countless trades that we can go into. Maybe you’ve always fancied learning to become a plumber. By doing this, you can find yourself very much in demand from the get-go. People will always need plumbers, handymen, decorators and all kinds of other tradesmen. The benefits to you from doing a course in a trade that you find interesting will stay with you for some time – and could be the key to a goldmine that will just keep on giving.

First Published: July 4, 2009 EntrepreneurJourney.com

Jumping Into The iPhone

Do You Really Need That iPhone?

All of the iPhone hype and anticipation is about to end. Apple will launch first model on June 29. 6.00 pm. iPhone is a combination of a cell phone, iPod and a wireless internet device. iPhone has lots of never seen before features but some of the features might not meet consumers' expectations and first generation product will always have flaws.

The following are some of the issues consumers should take a close look at before jumping into the iPhone:

• First model product is kind of a test product and will always have flaws.

• Touchscreen (no button keyboard) typing may not be a pleasant experience for many consumers.

• iPhone is not 3G compatible, instead uses a slower 2.5-generation network.

• There is no memory card slots.

• No 3rd party applications can be used. 

• Battery is sealed and can not be removed like other cell phones.

A prudent financial decision would be not to buy this first generation gadget. Wait till the hype dies down and all the first generation bugs are fixed. You will be paying a lot less and will be getting a lot more value for your money.

First Published: June 26, 2007 ADawnJournal.com

Internet Business and Online Money Making

Internet Business These Days

Another type of business that is getting very much popular nowadays is the internet business. People who own a successful internet business are enjoying the financial benefits and also maintaining a luxurious life style. There are a lot of internet marketing experts who are available for live support online and also they write article or blogs on various websites which can be easily accessed to know the tips and tricks of the trade. There is quite a lot of online money making tutorial websites now present on the internet and people have learned the necessary details and have managed to become the entrepreneurs and have earned mil lions through the internet business. All you should know is to make yourself aware of the internet business strategies. In order to reach the place where you can be an entrepreneur of you own internet business, you must first know all the tools, resources and necessary technical know how.

The very first thing that you need to know for online money making is that you need to decide what sort of product you would want to launch and promote through your website or what sort of internet services you may want to provide to your visitors. You will then need to register a domain name for you and a web host who will host your website. Some website host servers charge as low as $80 per month.

There are many popular ways to make money online for example, blog writing, social networking or a search engines. Blog writing is more fun filled and creative form of activity and plus once you have the internet traffic on your website, your blog site can earn you thousands of dollars per month. A lot of visitors visit blog sites to read and share the information on various topics. Once this becomes viral it will start giving you the kind of promotion you need to be successful in your internet business.

Social networking is another source to earn online. You must have visited a lot of social networking websites who offer a platform for the people all over the globe to know each other and make friends. There are also dating websites and lot of people subscribe to these sites. Social networking also has proved to be a great deal of a help for internet business and money making. And if we talk about the Search engines optimization or SEO it is also getting very much popular. SEO is basically based upon the back links. You can place back links in your articles and place them at article web sites or other blog sites etc. The SEO (search engine optimization) of your website affects the popularity of your website and bring you to a higher ranking at famous search engines. The SEO also promote the web traffic to your page. One important point that a newbie should never ignore is that making money through online business is going to take a lot of hard work and time as well. You should be very clear in the beginning whether you want to choose the internet business for a part time or full time option and which methods of marketing you would consider. The best trait for you is to believe in yourself and this is the only trait you need to make things happen.

First Published: Feb 13, 2010 EntrepreneurJourney.com

Bill 791 to 134 - Rewards Credit Cards & Loyalty Programs Survive in Quebec

Rewards Credit Cards & Loyalty Programs in Quebec Canada

Part 1

I wrote Part 2 before May 1, 2017. But just before publishing, I found out that the Quebec government is pursuing a different bill, Bill 143, instead of 791. Bill 134 does not have the clause prohibiting devaluing loyalty programs as I mentioned in point 3 below. As a result, the Part 2 article below is no longer valid. Had Bill 791 passed, it would have been the end of rewards cards and programs in Quebec. However, I am publishing Part 2 anyway for your information and reference purposes.

Part 2

Will This Be The End of Rewards Credit Cards & Loyalty Programs in Quebec Canada?

Bill 791 Puts Rewards Programs at Risk of Extinction

One of the Canadian provinces, Quebec, has introduced a bill Quebec 791. This bill proposes three new legislative requirements for loyalty programs that operate in Quebec to protect consumers.

What Bill 791 means (if comes into reality) in simple terms is that rewards or loyalty programs will have to abide by these rules:

- Inform public how to collect + use the rewards

- The rewards won’t expire (once collected)

- The program or value cannot be changed when you use the rewards, devaluing the program

Loyalty or rewards programs can accept rule # one or two mentioned above. But rule # three is one with which no loyalty companies can comply. In theory, this sounds like a great idea because you are guaranteed to retain the value of the points you are collecting, whether it’s airline, hotel, or other points. In reality, this is not sustainable by any hotel, airline, or other rewards programs.

Changing the award chart, adjusting rewards redemption rate, or devaluing loyalty program, whatever you call it, is a necessity for the loyalty programs and it’s a must to survive. It’s kind of like inflation making grocery prices going up; whether you like it or not, it will happen.

Restricting loyalty programs to make necessary adjustments to survive will only make things worse and chase these programs away from Quebec. Quebec residents are the one who will suffer in the end.

And there is no need to wait to see the consequences. It’s already happening – MBNA Alaska Airlines MasterCard has already pulled out of Quebec. Other programs like SPG, IHG, Hilton Honors, Aeroplan, Avios, Amex, and many more will have to follow the same path.

If this bill passes, it will possibly be the end of rewards credit cards and loyalty programs in Quebec, especially those are international. Quebec residents and point collectors should take a hard look at this bill before it’s too late.

Is it possible to hold an annual fee credit card and still pay no annual fee?

Annual Fee Credit Cards

Is it possible to hold an annual fee credit card and still pay no annual fee? I am not talking about a no annual fee credit card. I am talking about credit cards with attached annual fees. Let me answer the question now. Yes, it is possible to have an annual fee credit card and pay no annual fee whatsoever.

I am not just saying this because I know it. I am saying this because I actually do it. I have an Aeroplan Credit Card which comes with an annual fee and so far I have managed to pay no fee year after year. How I do that? Follow these tips to start enjoying an annual fee credit card without paying any fess:

You have to have lots of transactions on your card. Your credit card company will not waive an annual fee on a card which has no or a few transactions. The more transactions you have, the better it is. Instead of using many cards, use only one. A few hundred dollars annual expenses may not be enough but a few thousand dollars will be enough for your card company to waive your annual fee.

Keep an eye on your monthly statements. Once you see an annual fee charge on your statement, call your credit card company and ask that you would like this annual fee charge to be reversed or you won’t be able to keep your account.

Do not expect the customer service associate to say yes right away. They are trained to hook people into a fee paying card. Once you tell them that you don’t want to pay any annual fee and would like to cancel your account, they will give you many reasons to keep your existing card or switch into another annual fee bearing card. Let me give you some examples to give you an idea of what you can expect to hear from your customer service associate -

If you cancel your account, you will lose all your credit records involving this credit card.

I can switch you to a different credit card with a lower fee.

Do not be intimidated by what you hear. Be firm and stick to your point, you will get what you want. One point worth mentioning here is that this article applies only to those who pay credit card balance in full every month. If you carry a balance and not able to pay your balance in full, there is no point calling your card company as you have no cards in your hand to play.

First Published: Aug 23, 2007