Archive for June, 2008
Monday, June 16th, 2008
An entrepreneur is an innovator. She sees a need in the marketplace and creates something new to fulfill that need or improves upon an existing mechanism that already fulfills that need.
An entrepreneur is a risk taker. She dives head-first into uncharted waters to create a marketplace where none previously existed. There is no set formula to follow when creating something new. No textbook can teach an entrepreneur how to create a brand new business.
An entrepreneur creates jobs. She provides work for people where work previously did not exist. America’s entrepreneurs are the engines that fuel the economy.
An entrepreneur executes opportunities. She has the drive and the energy to make her dreams come true.
An Entrepreneur Is Not…
An entrepreneur is not a rule follower. There are no rules when creating a new process. She is a rebel; she creates her own rules.
An entrepreneur is not a manager. A manager manages something that an entrepreneur creates.
An entrepreneur doesn’t do 9-5. The reason she is an entrepreneur is to create the freedom to do what she wants, when she wants. She sets her own agenda.
An entrepreneur is not afraid of failure. She learns from her mistakes which motivates her to succeed on her next venture.
Tino Buntic is an entrepreneur and creator of TradePals, a B2B directory of business professionals across North America
Posted in Economy | Comments Off
Sunday, June 15th, 2008
Hook up two of people’s favorite interests and you’ll expose a mania generally named a web based sportsbook. Would you know of anything that could possibly be more resourceful. Envisage a convocation of sports maniacs clapping to support a given home sports heroes, and often wagers are fixed besides the hubbub. Seeking to get their share of the excitement, spectators will recurrently aspire to figure out who is the likeliest to prevail the forthcoming fight. In the end, this all eventually turns into a warmhearted, amicable fight known as web based sportsbook.
Join the best online free online sports betting community: visit this site.
Yes, it can look obsessive but in point of fact sportsbook wagers is, in reality, solely an entertainment and to tie up with fellow sports admirers. Here, you can wager a a minor sum of gravy and nonetheless have an extravagant time. Here’s many basic recommendations to get going sportsbook wagers.
In order to bet, you’ll probably want to search out a web based sportsbook, i.e. a setup which receives web based sportsbook. In America, there are no less than four states where to go for sportsbook wagers lawfully, but semi-legally you may go for it everywhere provided you can pin down a bookie AND happen to be a legal adult. Included in the sports you can choose to bet on are pro and, further, college class basketball plus football, pro baseball, pro hockey, and, further, horse and dog racing. Patrons will have the option of wagering on the global results of a contest or game, when the opponent will go under, and even whether a given coin toss in a contest or game comes out either heads or tails.
The bookies reckon with pure statistics to help you out conclude which sports heroes you suppose is the likeliest to prevail. First off, there’s the probability, meaning advantage in points pertaining to the trailing contestant that is anticipated to take a licking by a set number points. This is the betting outfit’s form of offering impartial stakes for a Sportsbook. Thus you will be able to wager on a competitor that is anticipated to take a licking and and nonetheless win that bet provided the contestant actually loses by a set number of points.
You’ll see a lot of different genres of stakes, the straight bets, where you’ll guess the team which you think will prevail or go down being the most typical in sportsbook wagers.
So, why don’t you simply conduct some test runs and enjoy the excitement while you’re at it. Simply take care that you won’t get too enthused and squander your entire retirement pension on a vagary! For otherwise you’re certain to end up bewailing it all life long!
Posted in Online Lotto + Betting, Universe Of Gambling | Comments Off
Saturday, June 14th, 2008
Sorry to crash your party, but as we bring in the New Year,
it’s also time to bring in a New Tax Season.
As a small business owner or self-employed person,
one of the easiest ways to keep Uncle Sam off your back
and out of your life is to file your forms, payments and
other paperwork on time.
Over the next four months there are several key dates
that you dare not forget! Here they are — all in one place,
along with links to the IRS website PDF file for that
particular form, where appropriate.
NOTE: This article only addresses federal tax deadlines.
Be sure to contact your state’s tax department for their
due dates.
Also, the calendar is adjusted for Saturdays, Sundays and
federal holidays, because if a due date falls on a Saturday,
Sunday, or federal holiday, then the due date is moved to
the next business day.
JANUARY:
Tuesday, Jan. 17
Personal
If you pay quarterly estimated income tax payments,
it’s time to make the fourth-quarter payment for 2005
via Form 1040-ES.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf
Business
If you have employees, you must make the federal payroll
tax payment for December 2005 by today (assuming you are
on the monthly deposit schedule).
You use Form 8109 (found in the little yellow coupon
book) or the IRS Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
(EFTPS).
Tuesday, Jan. 31
Business
4th quarter and year-end 2005 payroll tax returns
are due by January 31, 2006.
Here’s an overview of the 4 most common federal
payroll-related forms due today:
1. Form W-2 (for your employees)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw2.pdf
If you mail the W-2’s, the postmark must be on or before
January 31, 2006.
You may also be a recipient of a W-2 (if you work as
an employee for someone else), so don’t give your
employer a hard time unless the W-2 is postmarked,
or delivered in person, later than January 31.
2. Form 941 (for payroll tax)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941.pdf
3. Form 940 (for unemployment tax)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f940.pdf
4. Form 1099-MISC
If you paid any independent contractors at least $600
in 2005, you must send each one a 1099 by January 31.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099msc.pdf
Tip: if the independent contractor is a corporation,
you usually don’t have to issue a 1099. The main purpose
of the 1099 is to track payments to Sole Proprietors,
i.e. unincorporated self-employed people.
FEBRUARY:
Wednesday, Feb. 15
If you have employees, you must make the federal payroll
tax payment for January 2006 by today (assuming you are
on the monthly deposit schedule).
Tuesday, February 28
If you prepared any W-2’s or 1099’s (mentioned above),
today is the deadline for sending a copy of those
forms to the IRS.
Form W-3 is sent to the Social Security Administration,
along with Copy A of any Forms W-2 you issued.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw3.pdf
Form 1096 is sent to the IRS, along with Copy A of any
Forms 1099-MISC you issued.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1096_04.pdf
MARCH:
Business
Wednesday, March 15
Today is a big day if your business is a corporation.
Form 1120 — the annual corporate income tax return
for regular “C” corporations.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1120.pdf
Form 1120S — the annual corporate income tax return
for “S” corporations.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1120s.pdf
Form 7004 — if you can’t file Form 1120 or 1120S
by today, here’s a tip: just file Form 7004 by
March 15 and you are granted an automatic,
no-questions-asked 6-month extension of time
to file the return (i.e. until Sept. 15, 2006)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f7004.pdf
Form 2553 — if you want your corporation to
be treated like an “S” corporation for the
first time, today is the deadline for telling
the IRS that you want to be an “S” corp beginning
with calendar year 2006.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2553.pdf
Also, If you have employees, you must make the federal
payroll tax payment for February 2006 by today
(assuming you are on the monthly deposit schedule).
APRIL:
Monday, April 17
Ah, yes, the most famous tax deadline of all.
Form 1040
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf
And if you are a Sole Proprietor, don’t forget that you must
file several business-related tax forms with your Form
1040. The most commonly used tax forms for the self-employed
person include:
Schedule C (to report your business income and expenses)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf
Schedule SE (for self-employment tax)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sse.pdf
Form 4562 (to deduct equipment and other depreciable
property)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4562.pdf
Form 8829 (to deduct a home office)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8829.pdf
Need more time to prepare your personal tax return?
Go no further than Form 4868, which grants an automatic
no-questions-asked 4-month extension to file the return.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf
NOTE: this is only an extension of time to file the return,
not an extension to pay any tax due. So if you think
you might owe, it may be wise to estimate what you owe
and send in a payment with Form 4868; otherwise you may
have to pay extra in late payment penalties and interest.
Form 1065
If your business is a Partnership or Limited Liability
Company (LLC), today is also your lucky day to file the
annual business income tax return — via Form 1065.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1065.pdf
Form 8736
To get an automatic 3-month extension of time to file
Form 1065, file Form 8736 on or before April 17.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8736.pdf
As if April 17 wasn’t already painful enough, it’s also
the deadline for the first quarter estimated tax payment
for Year 2006:
Personal — Form 1040-ES.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf
Corporate — Form 1120-W
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1120w.pdf
And if you’re an employer, yup, it’s time for yet another
monthly federal payroll tax deposit — for March 2006.
MAY:
Monday, May 1
Form 941 is due for the 1st quarter 2006.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941.pdf
Form 940 federal unemployment tax deposit is due today,
if your first quarter liability exceeds $500.
Had enough? OK, OK. I’ll stop here.
That should get you through the first four months of
the year.
For more tax resources, here’s a few more links:
Looking for a federal tax form?
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html
Looking for a state tax form?
http://taxes.yahoo.com/stateforms.html
http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/link/forms.html
IRS Website for Small Business & the Self-Employed
http://www.irs.gov/smallbiz
Wayne M. Davies is author of 3 tax-slashing eBooks for small
business owners and the self-employed. For a free copy of
Wayne’s 25-page report, “How To Instantly Double Your
Deductions” visit http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com
Posted in Financing | Comments Off
Saturday, June 14th, 2008
Think the best way to get more customers is to have the lowest prices in town? Think again. Think the best way to create a successful business is to try to appeal to everyone? Wrong again.
The only good thing about having the lowest prices and trying to appeal to everyone is that you’ll fail quickly and be out of your misery.
This is a really hard concept for many business owners to come to grips with. Small business owners can really struggle with pricing. There are tons of different approaches to pricing and that in itself creates plenty of confusion. It’s been my experience that most small business owners tend to undercharge for their services and products.
Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings
The bottom line is this. People buy for emotional reasonsnot price. People buy from you because you solve a problem for themnot price. Yes, for some people price is the deciding factor for purely economic reasons. But how many times have you seen someone skimp on necessary car maintenance but spend big bucks on a car stereo? People will pay ridiculous amounts of money if they perceive high value. Visit an antique shopwhy would you pay tons of money for an Early American kitchen chair when you can get a brand new chair for $30?
Listen, I’ve been watching the human species for decades and I’ve come to a conclusionwe’re a really weird group. We’re gifted with a magnificent intellect, the ability to reason and approach things in a logical manner. And yet, we make our decisions based on emotion! How else can you explain someone with 350 pairs of shoes or 35 antique cars or every Barbie doll ever made? We’re just a bizarre species! Once you realize that, it makes raising your prices easier!
Of course, it’s a little more complicated than that…so let’s talk about some pricing strategies.
Cost + markup
If you make a product, you can price it by taking what it costs you to make itmaterials, labor, and overhead and add on a markup percent for profit. If you deliver a service, you can price the service by taking what it cost to deliver the servicelabor, overhead and add on a markup percent for profit. If the costs increase, you can raise your prices or reduce what you get for profit. That’s a very common approach to pricing. The profit markup can be very small or it can be very large based on other factors.
Competitive pricing
Survey your competitors to find out what they’re charging then charge a similar amount.
Lowest Cost Provider
“We have the lowest prices in town” is often followed by the “going out of business” sale pricing. Unless you have Wal-Mart’s wallet, systems, and bargaining power, this is a recipe for poverty.
Value Provided
Your pricing in this method is based on the value that your customer perceives you provide them. This is a popular pricing strategy. In my opinion it has a major flaw. Let’s say your beloved child has cancer. What value do you place on the doctors, nurses, therapists, etc. who provide care? All the money in the world is not enough to compensate for the value of a cure for your child. The value you perceive and the amount of money you can pay are often widely divergent. In the consulting arm of my business, my customers often tell me that the value I bring to their businesses far outweighs the amount of money they can afford to pay me.
The “What do I need to make?” pricing model
If you need $40,000 to pay your own bills, can your business generate enough sales to net you that amount? How can you structure your pricing to make that happen? This is a more realistic approach to pricing. If you start out with a baselinea goaland work backwards you often get a better feel for what you have to charge to stay in business. This is the same as breakeven which we talk about in a different section of the manual.
The downside of this approach is that it limits your incomewhich means that instead of achieving prosperity from owning a business, you’re only creating a job for yourself.
The “What do I want to make?” pricing model
Now we’re getting somewhere. Self employment should do more than create a job for you. It should build value. Most small business owners who survive long enough to want to sell their businesses are dismayed to find that the business has little value. No assets. No transferable brand. No saleable systems. Not retirement. It’s merely provided them with a living for a time.
This pricing model takes a long term view of your business. Where do you want to be in 5 years, 10 years, 30 years? What are the opportunity costs involved? If your business takes three years before it supports you, what is the cost to you in salary or wages that you could have made working for someone else? Pride of ownership is a wonderful thing, but find ways to make what you own more valuable in the long run.
Knowing where you want to get to gives you the opportunity to work backwards to see how you can get there.
Personal Pricing Strategies
One of my colleagues has a pricing model that she finds works very well for her. She talks to her potential clients about a project. Then, she sits down and thinks about the project, what it will entail in terms of time and energy. She decides on a price, takes a deep breath, and adds a thousand dollars to it. Only then does she call the client with the price. She knows that if she doesn’t do this she will under price her services. (And yes, she’s very busy and successful.)
Another colleague changed her pricing strategy after giving birth to her first child. She looked at her baby and said, “What is it worth to me to miss time with my baby?” She prices accordingly.
Another colleague looks at each customer and decides what she will charge based on the level of difficulty she feels the customer will present. Some customers are so difficult to work with that no amount of money in the world would compensate for the wear and tear. Other customers make her feel that she’d work for them for free (she doesn’t) because they’re so great.
Another business takes the approach that they’re the best at what they do so they charge premium prices. They back that up with great results and continual focus on what makes them better than the rest.
In short, there are any number of pricing strategies you can use in your business and any number of ways to justify those prices in the market place.
Caroline Jordan, MBA helps self employed professionals earn what they’re worth, attract customers they enjoy, and increase their income. For more tips and strategies for working “ON” your business, not just “IN” your business visit: http://www.TheJordanResult.com/mastering.html.
Posted in Economy | Comments Off
Saturday, June 14th, 2008
My name is Jeffrey Michael Miller and I’m a Publishamerica poet with a new book out entitled ” From The Inside Out “.
This article deals with a most important subject in my view and that subject is how to be true to your art whatever that art may be. My art is poetry so I’m going to use this as my example but feel free to apply this article to any art you have a true passion for because I feel it’s universal.
I see so many people who enjoy writing being what I call crossover artists who write in many genres but have no real specialty. I see romance authors or science fiction authors also putting out poetry books claiming to be authors/poets and this to me is troubling.
I am a poet who loves poetry and concentrates only on poetry so this kind of thing when it comes to crossing over I personally find insulting. The people who do this crossing over from genre to genre in my opinion are just trying to get their names seen in as many places as possible in the hope that in one it will stick and someone will see it.
I feel they care little for whatever genre they are writing under and they only care for the press that comes from it. In the music industry you don’t see rappers/country artists so why in the literary world do we see romance/science fiction/poets?
In my opinion the crossovers have no real passion or belief in any one genre so they write in them all and to me it’s disturbing. In my belief they also lessen and take away from the accomplishments of true artists solely dedicated to one genre and one genre alone.
You never see a proctologist/brain surgeon and so you shouldn’t have the fake author/poets of the world that lessen what poets do in the art.
I study karate and I took the time to find a real street effective self defense system of genuine value that is not used for sport or pretty acrobatic shows. I have a passion for the art and I’m true to it not wanting to mix it up with other things like a bad salad. It’s already perfect in every way to me without myself or someone else mixing things in and changing it’s real and effective and valuable origin.
I guess my message to crossovers would be to stop diluting the art we care for by just dabbling in it and then calling yourself a poet because you disgrace real poets by doing that. Take a look at what happened to M.C. Hammer when he went and crossed over from dancing to thug and you’ll understand the phoney light real poets see you in.
Think about having passion and originality for once and be true to your art with emphasis on the part that says your art. Leave ours alone and stop diluting it with your novice work and overblown ego. Be true to your art people.
Once you cross and change an art it ceases to be what it was and it begins to change because of dabblers and crossovers looking for another place to post their names and it sickens me.
If you know your true and real interest is not poetry then leave it to the people who have it as a real and true interest and stick to writing romance or whatever you do because you’re not and never will be a poet.
jeffreymichaelmiller.bravehost.com
Posted in Arts + Artists | Comments Off
Friday, June 13th, 2008
In a thick British accent, the travel podcast hosts’ disembodied voices discuss camping and ‘caravanning’ in the UK, ‘how not to make yourself smell of grease for a complete weekend,’ and the Cocktail of the Week (the Mosquito – a Mojito with a bite!).
The two hosts, who sound a bit like Sean Connery and Julie Andrews, are bantering about camping spots in the UK and the best kind of cocktails to mix up once you’ve arrived at your prime spot at one of the gorgeous ‘lochs’ on their list.
Welcome to the world of the travel podcast.
Podcasting has come of age in a flash. Less than two years ago, the term wasn’t even invented. A year ago, there were perhaps 5000 individuals podcasting out of their basements, or from a laptop at a local pancake house.
This year, with major companies joining the podcasting passion and tens of millions of online listeners latching on, podcasting has come of age. So much so, that ‘podcasting’ is the Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year.
When you dip your toe in the podcasting waters, you’ll come up with audio programs that range from exquisitely amateurish and poorly produced, to professionally produced shows with music, sound effects, high-profile guests and thousands of listeners.
Choosing which podcast is worth listening to is a bit like groping for the light switch in a pitch-black room. You have to knock over a few water glasses and stub your toe before finding one that is helpful to your travel itinerary.
In the past few days, I’ve listened to travel podcasts on the best roller coasters in the world, camping and caravanning in the UK, life in Japan for those who aren’t Japanese, life in rural Australia, budget travel (exploring the world one dollar at a time!), amateur travel, South African travel and tourism information.
And not only are individuals and small businesses jumping in the travel podcast stew, several travel companies are offering podcasts of their own.
Virgin Travel publishes several travel podcasts at virginatlantic.loudish.com, focusing on the specific locations of Cuba, Capetown, Johannesburg, Las Vegas, New York and Shanghai.
iToors.com is home to a gathering of some of the most professional sounding and most informative travel podcasts. Recently I took a travel podcast ‘toor’ of Prague, Czechoslovakia, where Wolfgang Mozart was loved and revered, his music ‘blowing down a storm.’ When Mozart died in 1791 at the age of 35, only a handful of friends and family showed up in his hometown of Vienna, Austria, and he was buried in an unmarked grave.
In Prague, though (as I learned from the podcast), 4000 people showed up for a funeral mass in St. Nicholas Cathedral, where the Mozart fans were overflowing into the street.
So not only do you pick up history and travelogues in a convenient podcast, you latch on to travel directions, listen to recordings of local bands or musical talents, and eavesdrop on chats with local shopkeepers or politicos.
The best way to find a travel podcast that suits your desire, whether its for a destination you’re traveling to, or to surreptitiously partake in a local culture, is to navigate online to any podcast directory and do a search for ‘travel’ or directly for your destination.
Since ‘travel’ is a specific genre, by pulling up everything in that category you should be able to easily sift through the myriad of travel podcasts, and find something that suits you.
My favorite podcast directories include:
• Podcastalley.com
• Podcast.net
• Podcasts.Yahoo.com
• Podfeed.net
• Podcast411.com
• PodcastPickle.com
• DigitalPodcast.com
• And of course, iTunes music software
You don’t need a portable MP3 player such as an iPod to listen to podcasts, think of the freedom you’d have while strolling the Champs D’Elysee, listening to the history of the famous Arc D’Triomph on your headphones. You may get a few goofy looks, but only from the tourists who just wish they had downloaded a few travel podcasts to carry along with them on their travels!
Listening to and subscribing to podcasts: a podcast is nothing more than an audio file (generally an MP3 file) that is distributed or published via an RSS file. RSS (which stands for Really Simple Syndication) is an online distribution tool that allows content to be delivered to your computer without the need for navigating to a website or downloading your email.
As the development of RSS technology progressed, it became possible to include ‘enclosures’ in the RSS feed, such as audio files.
With this technology, MTV pioneer Adam Curry helped pioneer the burgeoning phenomenon of podcasting in late 2004. By summer of 2005, Apple had incorporated the ability to subscribe to podcasts in its popular iTunes music software, which literally turned podcasting into a mainstream medium overnight (within 48 hours of the release of the podcast subscription capability, Apple announced that over a million of its users had subscribed to podcasts).
The easiest way to subscribe to a podcast is to use your iTunes software, although there are other podcast ‘aggregators’ (as they’re referred to in geektown), such as Juice and PodSpider.
Tim ‘Gonzo’ Gordon shows you how to create professional, high-quality audio on your home computer. With 25+ years of radio production, writing and voice talent, Tim can show you how to set up a small pro studio and create audio for fun and profit. Subscribe to his free newsletter Digital Audio Bits at http://www.digitalaudioworld.com Learn how to podcast with http://www.podcastingadventuresonline.com
Posted in World Of Podcasts | Comments Off
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
When creating Multi-Media Content, Flash or Video Clips for a client’s web site or CD Rom Project, the last thing you want is to get him in trouble with the law. If there’s a need for music in a project, using royalty free music is essential.
Here are some general music tips that you may find useful:
1) Finding the right kind of music
There are hundreds of choices when it comes to royalty free music and making the right decision can be hard. After all, most TV production companies have music supervisors on staff whose only job it is to select appropriate music for projects. Selecting music is an art in itself. In general, you will find that your clients would prefer to use something they heard on the radio, something from their favorite album etc. Unfortunately, that’s copyrighted stuff and licensing an N Sync song for your next ‘how to’ video or CD-Rom may cost you a fortune. What you want to do is find buyout music that sounds similar to today’s popular music. It’s a little harder to find than your typical ‘canned’ music. A lot royalty free music may sound like music from a 70’s sitcom or worse, a cheap porno flick.
A good place to check out is http://www.buyoutmusictracks.com All their tracks are created by established record producers with grammy and gold record credits so you get music that sounds as up-to-date as what you may hear on the radio.
Our tip: Always use music that sounds just a little more energetic than you think you may need. You may listen to the music over and over while you’re putting together your project while the end user may only hear it a few times.
2) Less is not more in production music
When you are looking for background music for a project, choose music with some impact. I know it is supposed to be background music but if you choose high energy tracks, your whole project will leave more of an impression. Listen to a sampling of today’s TV commercials and you’ll find that most of them use very powerful music. You want your work to create an impact and keep viewer’s attention and a strong, powerful soundtrack can do that.
3) When ‘legal’ music is not legal
The usage license on your buyout music CD may be very liberal but it is not a license to steal. You can use royalty free music on all of your projects and as you have the legal right to use the music, your customers can be assured not to get into legal troubles.
However, that license is only extended to you, the purchaser. You cannot transfer that license by copying your CD and giving it to somebody else or by selling the CD. This may be news to you but there’s no such thing as a ‘used buyout music CD’ If you don’t purchase the music from the producers of the music, it won’t be legal still. So, next time you browse Ebay for royalty free music, make sure you are buying a new CD, not a used one or it will be useless to you.
4) You get what you pay for
While we’re on the topic of Ebay: You may find offers for entire 4 or 6 CD libraries for $75 or other ridiculously low prices on Ebay. The truth is, these CDs may not even be worth that low price.
One good quality royalty free music CD will cost you between $29 and $69 (some even more) If it’s less than that, here’s what you are likely to get:
- Discontinued titles that have been around for 10, 20 or more and not only sound dated but may also have already found its way unto hundreds or thousands of other projects during the years to make your own project sound dated.
- Homegrown CDs that are created in somebody’s bedroom studio. You can easily recognize these CDs as they usually don’t have any ‘real’ instruments on it, only synthesized stuff. You can clearly hear the difference between those CDs and something produced in a real studio with real musicians. Our tip: Check out http://www.buyoutmusictracks.com for music. Each of their CDs is only $29.95 and each title contains between 30 and 48 real studio recorded tracks.
5) CD or Download?
With the event of high speed internet, you don’t really have to wait anymore to receive your Royalty Free Music CD in the mail. If you need tracks fast, you can now download buyout music from the net. You can choose only the tracks you need and get to use them within minutes. Single downloadable tracks usually cost a little more money per track than buying a whole CD. On the other hand, you don’t have to buy a whole CD if you only need one or two tracks.
My advice, if you are buying music to ‘keep on the shelf’ for future projects and for your customers to choose from, buy physical CDs. If you need just one or two ‘perfect’ tracks or if you are on a deadline, downloadable purchases may be perfect for you. I don’t know if I have to mention it, but purchasing a Mariah Carey track from Itunes or Napster for a buck does not entitle you to use the music. You have to download your music from a buyout music company so the track is licensed to you.
6) Make your own
You may think, ‘are you crazy? I’m not a musician’ You don’t have to be a music genius anymore these days. Programs like Acid and Apple’s Garageband allow you to create original music by using ‘loops’ Loops are pre-made musical chunks of drums, bass, guitar, strings, whatever, that you can put together like a mosaic to create your own music soundtrack.
The advantage is clear. By creating your own music with a loops program you can make absolutely sure that nobody else is using the exact same music on their project. This will give you ‘original’ music at Buyout Music Prices. All you need is a good musical ear and a couple of loops CDs to get you started. You can find lots of loops CDs and more info at http://www.acidmusicloops.com Their Groove Construction Kits are a great way to get started with music loops. And here’s the best news, you can download the Acid program for free. Just visit http://www.musicleads.net/articles/freestuff.html for free (and legal) downloads of Acid, Protools and many other great music and sound tools.
I hope that these tips were useful to you. You are free to use or re-print this article in your newsletter, ezine, or on your web site.
About The Author
Alan Steward – www.musicleads.net
Alan Steward is a producer and engineer with many credits in the Music, Video and Television production world.
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Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
“The Chinese weren’t allowing anybody on Mt Everest. They ended up commandeering it for themselves, even though the Mount Everest is shared by two countries. However, he was all too aware of the potential dangers Chomolungma could bring. Certain parts of the climb are more dangerous than others and it is important for climbers to remain focused Hall was frostbitten and severely disoriented due to altitude sickness. Min Bahadur Sherchan returned a hero to Calgarians. The 75-year-old man from Nepal is now the oldest person to have reached the top of Everest. Now that Bahadur Sherchan has successfully scaled the tallest mountain in the world, he is once again ready to focus on his family. Min Bahadur Sherchan and four climbing guides reached the 29,035-foot (8,850-meters) summit of the world’s highest mountain early Sunday, said Ramesh Chretri, an official with Nepal’s ministry of tourism.
“Mount Everest this year became a political pawn,” he said with some frustration.
Sherchan just 6 days away from his 77th birthday beat the age record set last year by 71-year-old Japanese teacher Katsusuke Yanagisawa.
With the Chinese preparing for the impending summer Olympic Games, Andrew Brash noted that the government’s actions hardly reflected the Olympic spirit. They flexed their muscles this year all the in name of the Olympic spirit, but it was hardly spirited at all.”
More than 3232 people have climbed to the summit since it was first conquered in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary, who died in January, and Nepal’s Tenzing Norgay.
Bahadur Sherchan returned this week from Nepal after successfully climbing to the summit of Chomolungma or Mount Everest. This season Anthony Loeff the French climber is reporting the scales for Mt Everest after reaching the top of Mont Blanc earlier this year.
Climber from Nepal, 76, oldest climber to conquer the top of Chomolungma or Mount Everest. His first found him within 180 metres of the peak when his team stopped to help a fellow mountaineer who was left for dead. One year later, Andrew Brash, a University of Calgary alumni, returned to Chomolungma to finish what he had started.
They basically coerced the Nepali government to not allow any climbers past camp two on the Nepali side. Indeed, the decision to actualize a long-time personal goal left Min Bahadur Sherchan with some internal uncertainties, he cited the political actions of China and Nepal as providing the greatest adversity he faced on his journey. Andrew Brash last attempt resulted in the rescue of Lincoln Hall, an Australian climber who was left by his team in the “death zone.”
As he planned for the climb, Sherchan told reporters he wanted to inspire fellow senior citizens. He also said many Nepalese have established records on the Mount Everest, so it was only fitting that the record for the oldest climber to reach the summit should also belong to a Nepali. The Chinese were flying their airplanes over Mount Everest and had Chinese officials in Kathmandu.
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Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
When we go to other planets and decide to make a colony on those planets we will need to be totally self-sustaining. In other words we will need to grow our own food and make our own oxygen and make sure there is water. We will also need power for heating as well. To do all this we may have to do some Terra Forming, yet some say; Don’t you mean “Terra Farming?”
Recently a gentleman in an online forum think tank stated: It is terra farming! It is not “forming”, but “farming”! His reasoning was that we would be farming to grow food and this he further stated that;
“This is the art of cultivating a barren planet to try to make it support life. As an example, suppose in 50 yrs human beings succeed in going to Jupiter. But unfortunately, we find out that there is no life on that planet. We can decide to introduce life on it by terra farming it, that is transplanting earthly vegetation, livestock and human population over there! By so doing, we’ll terra-farm Jupiter.”
Actually the word has come to be used as Terra-Forming, although you could be right with regards to the origin of the word. NASA uses it this way:
http://www.cascadia.ctc.edu/facultyweb/instructors/jvanleer/mars/terra.html
And generally the world appears in NASA Literature as one word; “terraforming” although the Microsoft Word Spell check does not recognize it as such:
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1030.html
http://technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=74
(oh, incidentally this group has a killer online newsletter if anyone is interested in such)
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13917
Maybe I should email; “Bill Gates” on this as he is very into such technologies and has interests in all the technologies surrounding space and the super computers which will help get us there.
Now then of course I have heard of Terra Farming and it has been used also;
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/LCC/
Although as Sir Arthur C. Clarke has used it both ways in various books of his, it appears that you could have terra forming, without terra farming. For instance if you built an eco-system to produce oxygen without planting food type crops, so he has brought up a very interesting point indeed. Thank you for that. Do you have ideas or thoughts on Space Colonies and the future? We would like to discuss this with you. Think on it.
“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
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Sunday, June 8th, 2008
Bad breath is one of those things that people spend incredible amounts of money each year trying to combat. And rightly so, no one wants to find that they are offensive to others, well most ordinary people do not. Some actually quite enjoy that prospect. They go into politics as a general rule. But, I digress. The battle against bad breath is making mint and gum manufacturers, dentists, toothpaste makers, and mouthwash companies quite wealthy.
We’ve all been around those whose breath we found offensive and remember those experiences as quite unpleasant. We chew gum, buy mints by the case and yet we continue to eat and drink the very foods the produce a healthy environment for bad odors in our mouths. Why on earth do we do this? The truth is that at some point every one of us has had bad breath. I can’t stand the thought of even speaking to anyone in the morning until I have thoroughly brushed my teeth and feel confident that my morning breath is under control. Some mornings I find I am particularly paranoid and brush a few times before leaving the house.
The best way to combat bad breath is to brush your teeth immediately after every time you eat or drink anything other than water. Flossing regularly will also assist in removing odor-causing bacteria that gets caught between your teeth and mouthwash is never a bad choice. The actual truth is that using mints and gums could be counterproductive unless they are sugar free as sugar promotes a healthy environment for the growth of bacteria.
While following this advice will not by any means eliminate the possibility of your having bad breathe, it should greatly reduce the frequency of which it occurs. Try these things and see how well they work for you.
John Gibb is the owner of Bad Breath guides, For more information on bad breath please check out http://www.bad-breath-guidance.info
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