Business and Finance Tips

When you think ‘Gift,’ it conjures up images of an intriguing something concealed in a gift wrapped box that holds on to its sense of suspense till the ribbon is untied, the packing unwrapped and the box broken into and boom … when you take one look at that delightful surprise, you know immediately that you are loved; so you reach out, put an arm around in a hug and plant a kiss on one so gifted to find you the perfect gift. Well, that is how it is meant to be but not always do you find gifts so perfect to give and receive. But by putting a little more thought into the process, you can find the perfect gift or some thing close enough. We all love to be surprised by a gift that we might have longed for, secretly, but might not have had the power to buy one – say for example, a Rolex Submariner or a Louis Vuitton clutch bag – something we want yet just out of reach. Such is the nature of some of the most exciting gifts we give and receive.

The nature and reach of gifting in the dog eat dog world of business is such that, every year, even the biggest business and corporate have to spend their efforts and a few millions in gifting their employees, clients, associates, business partners, potential customers, and more with attractive and memorable gifts, sometimes more than once in a year. Also, gifting to clients and customers is a way of corporate networking that keeps customers reminded that we remember them at the time of new launches, branch openings, or during promotions and discounts. As it might not be always possible to find gifts to suit the personal expectations of the clients and employees, an assortment of gifts in the form of a corporate gifts basket can hit the bull in the eye – client, customer or employee! What better occasion for a boss to show gratitude to an employee than on his/her birthday?

A wine assorted gourmet corporate gift basket with wine from fine selections, gourmet crackers, signature creamy pecans, fancy mixed nuts, and Gouda Cheese Round will make any employee feel loved, respected and wanted for less than . The corporate gift baskets with wine can also have personal messages written on the wine bottle to compliment the occasion of gifting. Corporate anniversaries are one of the best occasions to gift all those who make the ‘corporate family’ with the choicest corporate gift baskets with wine and the company logo printed on it. Retention of skilled employees is a skill by itself and employee recognition gifting can have a tremendous impact on promoting employee loyalty. Appreciation and recognition with gifts and rewards have the intrinsic ability to bring out the best in the employees.

Gourmet foods gift baskets are an all occasion gift idea that can excite a kid or an adult alike. Some of the bestselling gourmet food gift baskets, while being reasonably priced, come with an assortment of tastes and flavors that can excite any palette. The gourmet food gift crate in wood is one such mouth watering gift basket which has all the goodies packed in a wooden crate which would make a endearing corporate gift or a very personal one too. The gourmet food gift basket contains, Hand-cooked Virginia Peanuts, Mano’s Signature Creamy Pecans, Assorted Truffles, 70% Dark Chocolate Mini Bars, Creamy Peanut Butter Covered Pretzels, Chocolate Dipped Carmel Coated Pretzel Rod, Chocolate Covered Malt Balls, Almond and White Chocolate Popcorn and Mano’s Dark Chocolate Bar, enough to set provoke a palate with uncontrollable desire.

Today’s discount coupon culture has turned the average consumer more frugal, less brand loyal and more time consuming in making purchase decisions and so companies are compelled to do market their business as the provider of choice. Large corporate houses use gifting of promotional items as a means to advertise their brand or product by giving personalized attention and by reminding they are valued so as to strengthening customer relationships and improve customer retention. The gifts, compliments or promotional items don’t need to be expensive but can be anything as simple as pens, coffee mugs, key chains or wallets with your name, logo, and telephone number just to keep customers reminded. A corporate promotional item as a gift can go a long way in promoting a positive brand image and in building long term customer relationships.

Do you have plans of owning your own business? You may have a friend who has become successful through his own business and you would really like to make it big like him. Well, it’s not too late. Just imagine the possibilities of being self-employed and the potential improvement it could bring to your life.

Starting a small business can have its advantages and can be quite rewarding. For starters, imagine being your own boss. No more pressure from supervisors and there will no one to order you around. You’ll be able to work on your own time and meet your own deadlines.

So are you tempted to try? Starting a small business is entirely normal. Many people have been successful in this enterprise and all big corporations started out small as small businesses. Imagine being able to make all those important decisions yourself. But just how do you begin?

In starting your own business, its important to plan carefully. You need to decide whether your business should be about services or should you sell your own products. Do you plan on selling new design of home furniture or would you rather improve homes by redesigning people’s gardens. If you have doubts about the frame work of your business, you should try looking for assistance on the Internet. Cyber space has all the answers you need in planning your business.

Learn all about materials, marketing, and other elements of a business on the World-Wide-Web. Try to gain insight on starting a small business from those how have succeeded in getting their small businesses going. You can find tips, free data, and pointers online that may spell the difference between success and failure.

A friend of mine tried this idea and the Internet really helped his computer repair business took off. Now he works completely out of his home. Businesses nowadays rely mainly on the internet. A lot of business deals and transactions happen on cyberspace. So are you ready to begin changing your life for the better by starting a small business?

Have you ever wondered why you don’t give a s*** what anyone thinks about you, dressing ridiculously for sport, being attracted to the runners or frisbee players and drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon cause it’s a good beer. Why that, my friend, is what we say ‘Hipster Instinct Phenomenon’!!!

Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20′s and 30′s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. They don’t have any serious responsibilities as of yet and are free to enjoy life. Their style tells the world that they are an anything goes kind of person and in this sense they often spawn new fashion styles. They love non-mainstream fashion, counter-culture and anything ironic. The whole point of hipsters is that they avoid labels and being labeled. However, they all dress the same and act the same and conform in their non-conformity. Everything about them is exactingly constructed to give off the vibe that they just don’t care.

Certainly, there is no concrete definition of a hipster. So would you like to measure your own hipster instinct? Attempting to do so, you might just find out exactly how hipster you are following this hipster trademarks:

Tops – Hipster loves tank top, vintage flannel shirt, t-Shirt with the neck or sleeves altered, t-shirt with ironic phrase or sweaters featuring pictures of deer, wolves or indeed any animal imagery, sports team logos from decades past.

Bottoms – They typically wear any colors mesh shorts or umbros, raw selvedge skinny denim jean pants that makes it look like you’ve been shopping in your girlfriend’s closet.

Shoes – They generally wear expensive vintage footwear likes motorcycle boots, vintage heels, ballet flats or the always classic black and white check Converse and Old-School Chucks Taylors.

Physical figure – The men take pride in having really dank retro mustache. Sometimes, they come with more than 2 inches of fluff and have their haircut like greasy or messy style. Many of them like culture substituting textbook tattoos, i.e. anchors, stars, birds, etc. on their parts of body.

Accessories – There are many kind of hipster accessories such as trucker hat, cabbie cap, fedora hat, child out of wedlock, handheld camera, non-prescription eyeglasses with thick black rimmed, bandana, illegal drugs and Parliament Lights.

Drink – They typically live off Pabst Blue Ribbon, Blatz, Miller High Life and non-alcoholic microbrew.

Transportation – The popular vehicles they usually take is fixed gear bicycle, next on down Vespa and sometimes limping along the street.

Activity  - They do anything ironically and tend to religiously blog about their daily exploits. Obviously most hipsters listen to Indie music, be fond of Pitchfork.com and Pitchfork Music Festival. Hipsters must therefore strive at all times to stay a step ahead of everyone else. Like most social groups, hipsters have their own way of communicating. They converse using special terms and lingo to show they are in the know. Being up on the latest slang is essential to being a Hipster. Most of them are connected through a global network of blogs and shops.

Lastly, it is rare to find an individual who will proclaim oneself a proud hipster because hipster would say they are not hipster even though they are.
As previously mentioned, now you can tick the boxes and score yourself to see how much of a hipster you are, or what else you need to add on to become one. Now just live your hipster instinct and enjoy!!!!

Many small businesses use competitions and lucky door prizes as a way of generating leads or building their data base. But if done incorrectly you will end up losing customers and could even find yourself on the wrong side of the law.

So how do you run lucky door prizes or competitions that are legal and get you brilliant results?
Top 10 Tips for competitions

1. Work out your intent. You need to know why you are running the competition in the first place. Is it to qualify leads, get email addresses for your database, get a new marketing slogan, and get feedback on your product or some other purpose? Start with the end in mind. When you know why you are running the competition you will adjust the prizes, competition form and process to best match your needs.

2. You need an entry box. A lot of people use clear bowls or fishbowls for people to put their cards into. These don’t keep the details private so could breach privacy regulations in some locations. The best option is a solid sided cardboard entry box. You can buy a gift box and cut out a hole or buy a blank entry box from a cardboard box manufacturer. You can of course get one purpose designed and built for you.

For online competitions I suggest setting up a separate email account just for each competition to keep your entries separate.

3. Somewhere to lean on to complete the forms. People need somewhere to lean on to fill in the forms. If the table you use is too low or you force people to sit down to complete the forms, many people won’t bother entering. Make sure your table is the right height for people to lean on (and no handing out clipboards with forms isn’t the solution. Many people are juggling bags and kids so can’t juggle a clipboard as well). Being comfortable also works for online competitions. If your form is tricky to complete you can expect people to click away rather than stay.

4. Make it obvious. Your competition needs to be located at the front of your trade stand or your office. It needs to be clearly and obviously signed so people can find it and are encouraged to enter. Put a banner on your website letting passing traffic know about your competition and where they can find you to enter.

5. Tell people about it. Tell your regular clients about your competition as well as your new clients. You could also tell some of the major competition sites – where the site collated competitions and lets their members know so they can enter them (my personal favourite of these is Luv2win).

6. Make it worth their while. Giving away a low value item is not likely to generate much interest in your competition. Make the offer enticing with high perceived value.

7. Protect their privacy. You need to make it very clear how you will handle their personal details. Will you pass on their information to other people? Will you contact them to send them marketing material? You need to tell people what you will do with their information. Give them an opt-out box for them to tick if they don’t want to receive any further information from you (and respect that tick in the box if you don’t want to fall foul of Spam Laws and Do Not Call Registers).

8. Sort out your legals. Many locations have strong rules around the operation of gaming including Lucky Door Prizes.

In Queensland the Office of Gaming Regulation Inspectors check every stand of almost every expo or tradeshow for compliance. You need to download the Guidelines for Promotional Games and comply with items such as retention of entries for 5 years, the order of drawing prizes, written terms and conditions which must include things such as:

a. the name of the person running the promotion
b. Eligibility requirements for players
c. Description and retail value of each prize
d. Closing and drawing dates
e. Order the prizes will be drawn
f. How winners will be notified
g. Whether the results will be published and where
h. What will happen if the winner is not present at the draw
i. Any elimination rounds

It almost goes without saying that of you run a competition you must honour your commitments and actually award the prizes (unless you get no entries at all). Running a competition and not awarding the prizes can see you before the courts.

9. Follow up promptly. If you are using the competition to generate leads or create a data base then follow up on all entries within 14 days of close of the competition. You may want to consider hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) to convert the entries or business cards into a database for you. Pre-book your VA so they have time to do your data-entry when it arrives. When following up remind the person where you got their details.

10. Trumpet the winners. If you can get their consent, get photos of the winners that you can use in your marketing and promote the details of the winners to your mailing list and local media. Most people love the spotlight (and other people love to know the inside of other people’s lives). Good news stories are great for business.

If you follow these top 10 tips you will improve the response to your competitions and lucky door prizes and get more “bang for your competition buck.”

A series of space pictures taken by some photographers, NASA and satellites provide us interesting and amazing facts about planets, areas or galaxies. People can see ribbons of northern lights dance in the sky, dynamic interactions of the two galaxies NGC 6872 and IC 4970 and the snow capped peaks of China’s Tien Shan.

A 180-degree view of the sky was posed by Korean photographer O Chul Kwon with a fisheye lens when ribbons of northern lights danced in the sky above Enodah Lodge in Yellowknife, Canada. Amazingly, fluorescent green color covered the whole snowy landscape and made it look a Wonderland.

The photographer successfully created the “crystal ball” effect

A new picture that was released on March 16, 2011 by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured low clouds offering foggy allure to the snow capped peaks of China’s Tien Shan or “celestial mountains” not far from where the borders of China, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan meet.

A long valley glacier cuts like a highway through the mountains

Holbox Island and the Yalahau Lagoon in the northeast corner of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula were covered with jewel-like colors posed by the Korea Multipurpose Satellite (Kompsat-2).

The picture combines different wavelengths of visible and near-infrared light to display subtle details in geographic surface changes

Two interacting galaxies were spotted by the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii during their gravitational dance. This picture was taken as a student essay competition held in Australia asked teams to suggest a target for Gemini that would be beautiful and scientifically exciting.

Dynamic interactions of the two galaxies NGC 6872 and IC 4970

Around 1,235 possible planets that transit or pass in front of their host stars have been spotted by NASA’s Kepler space telescope as of Feb. 2011. The mission team took a picture of the stars with planet candidates to focus on the discovery.

The disk of our sun is also shown by itself (top right) with both Jupiter and Earth in transit

A circa-2000 satellite picture of Tassili n’Ajjer National Park in southeastern Algeria was taken as a snapshot of the region’s geologic history. While desert sands (yellow) fill in now dry lakes carved into ancient granite (red), salt deposits (blue) pop up among the wind-sculpted sandstone (tan).

This picture partly reveals the park’s various rock types

A satellite picture taken by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite captured bright orange pools where hot lava was emerging from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano on January 16, 2011. (Vegetation is shown in green, older lava flows are brown-to-black, and hot lava is orange-red).

The infrared picture presents a false-color view of the landscape around the eruption