Make a Career Out of Your Favorite Hobby - Scrapbooking
Ever wanted to earn cash while doing your favorite hobby, such as scrapbooking? Well, you could! There are many careers available in the scrapbooking industry. If you like creating albums of memories, you can be getting paid for doing it! Think it is too good to be true? Think again! If you are imaginative, you could find a job in an instant scrapbooking industry that matches your passions.Many craft stores have jobs available in the scrapbooking industry. Stores that offer lots of different craft and hobby supplies adore having an experience person in a certain field or hobby included in their staff. If you have a passion for scrapbooking, you can be an asset to their shop and you can also draw in customers. Assistant manager positions for those with an aptitude in a popular pastime like scrapbooking often pop up as well. If you are particularly ambitious, you might want to think about starting your own scrapbooking store or franchise.Is there a particular scrapbooking product line that you like more than any others? Well then, there is an additional job just waiting for you in the scrapbooking business work as a sales person. A scrapbooking sales rep takes his or her clients products to individual retail sites, demonstrates how useful the product is, and sets up agreement with the individual retailers to sell the product. Those who sincerely have faith in their product, truly believe that it is better than the other product, and can persuade individuals to buy are great for

Critical Business Procedure - Keep All Email Communications
Businesses routinely maintain copies of correspondence and memos. Far to often, however, they do not extend this practice to email correspondence. Email correspondence is no different then your normal paperwork. You must keep copies of all of it to protect your business in any litigation.Currently, only banks and broker-dealers are obliged to retain e-mail and instant messaging documents for three years under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules. Beginning July 2006, all public companies will also be required to do so under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.Notwithstanding these laws, your custom and practice should be to maintain copies of all email correspondence. Email is considered evidence and courts are hammering businesses that do not maintain email records. Judges are often ruling that the failure to maintain and produce email records means the business in question is hiding key evidence.In the recent Perelman v. Morgan Stanley litigation, a judge’s ruling on the failure of Morgan Stanley to produce email was key factor in the issuance of a $1.45 billion verdict. Based on the failure to produce email records, Judge Elizabeth Maass issued a pretrial ruling that effectively found Morgan Stanley conspired to defraud Perelman in a 1998 deal. Morgan Stanley is not the only business defendant to have this problem.In the summer of 2004, UBS bank was found by a judge to have “willfully destroyed” email evidence in a discrimination case. UBS was ordered to pay costs

Be a Better Communicator
Even if you are smart and interesting and a snappy dresser, you may not be communicating effectively at work. Your business culture, priorities, processes, and physical environment, all play a part in how well information is sent and received. A large part of improving your communication environment is improving your own ability to communicate on an interpersonal level.One of the paradoxes of the 21st Century is that we are able to communicate like never before — we have 24-hour news, e-mail, Internet chat, and cell phones everywhere. Still, the quality of our communication seems to be diminishing — we write fewer long letters, we rarely sit down to dinner with the family, we have fewer face-to-face encounters, and we take less time to hold meaningful conversations. As the efficiency of our communication increases, it becomes less interpersonal.It’s interesting that in 1990, only about half a million individuals in the US had a cell phone (that is less than one-quarter of one percent of the 1990 population). In 2000, 10 years later, there were about 100 million cell phone subscribers (about 35% of the population) and new subscribers are added at the rate of 50,000 per day.Still, in a world of perpetual sending and receiving of information, our contact with other people has become routine and efficient like the drive-thru window at Burger King. We pass some impersonal words, get our value meal, and drive off. The process occurs with hardly a thought. We’re on autopilot.mall companies don't have a Marketing Plan, or the owner has it locked in his head. A place of storage that is really difficult to access when you need to show it to the potential investor or the bank manager. And inevitably this event usually occurs when you are really busy and committing your plan to paper, or computer file, is added pressure that you really could do with out. I run a small retail business - an independent bookshop and a Collectables gift business on the Internet.

Recently I studied for, and obtained, the UK's Chartered Institute of Marketing's "Professional Diploma in Marketing" by doing a convergent learning course on the net and in four intensive workshop days in my local town. It brought home to me that what we did in our own business was fine up to a point. As the course was very practical, with the chance to use any organisation of the student's choice in the assignments that we had to submit, I ended up formally setting down the Marketing Plan on paper, that had been up there in my head for no one to see!

So what is a Marketing Plan for?

Well, its purpose is to lay down, direct and co-ordinate all your marketing activities and events. Think of it as a map. With a map it is easier to get some place. With a marketing plan it is easier to get the business to where you want it to head. This is, hopefully, to huge profits!

Perhaps you are the owner or director of a company seeking backing or further investment? Well a good marketing plan can be really important in attracting new investment or better bank facilities.

Perhaps you need help in making choices regarding which parts of the market to focus on and how to compete in that target market (Marketing Strategy)?

Often the mere process of preparing a marketing plan will help you to develop a successful marketing strategy through the discipline and process that you go through.

A good marketing plan will describe all the marketing actions to be carried out within a specific time period. It will contain details of your company, its products or services, its marketing objectives and strategies and information on how to measure the results of the marketing activities.

It might help if I give you a framework of basic elements that a Marketing Plan should include.

Basic Elements of a Marketing Plan

So what do you need?

1.Executive Summary - introduces and explains the major features and recommendations to executives (or your bank manager).

1.1 Introduction - a brief description of your organisation, its products and or services.

The context and objectives of the plan should be described and a description of what your business activities are. You should include current revenues, customers and your market position. You can also blow your own trumpet here! Note your accomplishments and successes to date. If it is a new market entry or entirely new markets you are going for, then here is the place to describe any experience, training or competencies that your company has.

1.2 Vision, Mission Statement and Objectives

Mission statements focus on the long-range purpose of your marketing plan. "To educate entertain and enlighten our clients so that they become more successful Marketers." Company objectives should be more specific and oriented towards action. "We will deliver a balanced range of Marketing Solution Publications to the U.K. and Europe through mail order and Internet."

1.3 Team description

Who will deliver the plan? What are th

ice in the assignments that we had to submit, I ended up formally setting down the Marketing Plan on paper, that had been up there in my head for no one to see!

So what is a Marketing Plan for?

Well, its purpose is to lay down, direct and co-ordinate all your marketing activities and events. Think of it as a map. With a map it is easier to get some place. With a marketing plan it is easier to get the business to where you want it to head. This is, hopefully, to huge profits!

Perhaps you are the owner or director of a company seeking backing or further investment? Well a good marketing plan can be really important in attracting new investment or better bank facilities.

Perhaps you need help in making choices regarding which parts of the market to focus on and how to compete in that target market (Marketing Strategy)?

Often the mere process of preparing a marketing plan will help you to develop a successful marketing strategy through the discipline and process that you go through.

A good marketing plan will describe all the marketing actions to be carried out within a specific time period. It will contain details of your company, its products or services, its marketing objectives and strategies and information on how to measure the results of the marketing activities.

It might help if I give you a framework of basic elements that a Marketing Plan should include.

Basic Elements of a Marketing Plan

So what do you need?

1.Executive Summary - introduces and explains the major features and recommendations to executives (or your bank manager).

1.1 Introduction - a brief description of your organisation, its products and or services.

The context and objectives of the plan should be described and a description of what your business activities are. You should include current revenues, customers and your market position. You can also blow your own trumpet here! Note your accomplishments and successes to date. If it is a new market entry or entirely new markets you are going for, then here is the place to describe any experience, training or competencies that your company has.

1.2 Vision, Mission Statement and Objectives

Mission statements focus on the long-range purpose of your marketing plan. "To educate entertain and enlighten our clients so that they become more successful Marketers." Company objectives should be more specific and oriented towards action. "We will deliver a balanced range of Marketing Solution Publications to the U.K. and Europe through mail order and Internet."

1.3 Team description

Who will deliver the plan? What are th

g a marketing plan will help you to develop a successful marketing strategy through the discipline and process that you go through.

A good marketing plan will describe all the marketing actions to be carried out within a specific time period. It will contain details of your company, its products or services, its marketing objectives and strategies and information on how to measure the results of the marketing activities.

It might help if I give you a framework of basic elements that a Marketing Plan should include.

Basic Elements of a Marketing Plan

So what do you need?

1.Executive Summary - introduces and explains the major features and recommendations to executives (or your bank manager).

1.1 Introduction - a brief description of your organisation, its products and or services.

The context and objectives of the plan should be described and a description of what your business activities are. You should include current revenues, customers and your market position. You can also blow your own trumpet here! Note your accomplishments and successes to date. If it is a new market entry or entirely new markets you are going for, then here is the place to describe any experience, training or competencies that your company has.

1.2 Vision, Mission Statement and Objectives

Mission statements focus on the long-range purpose of your marketing plan. "To educate entertain and enlighten our clients so that they become more successful Marketers." Company objectives should be more specific and oriented towards action. "We will deliver a balanced range of Marketing Solution Publications to the U.K. and Europe through mail order and Internet."

1.3 Team description

Who will deliver the plan? What are th

and a description of what your business activities are. You should include current revenues, customers and your market position. You can also blow your own trumpet here! Note your accomplishments and successes to date. If it is a new market entry or entirely new markets you are going for, then here is the place to describe any experience, training or competencies that your company has.

1.2 Vision, Mission Statement and Objectives

Mission statements focus on the long-range purpose of your marketing plan. "To educate entertain and enlighten our clients so that they become more successful Marketers." Company objectives should be more specific and oriented towards action. "We will deliver a balanced range of Marketing Solution Publications to the U.K. and Europe through mail order and Internet."

1.3 Team description

Who will deliver the plan? What are the resources and structure of the team who will do so? Management skills and capabilities. List any Marketing knowledge, sales skills, copy-writing ability, etc. Agencies - Include any Marketing consultants, PR agencies you are using.

If there are any gaps honestly point them out and do a Training Needs Analysis.

1.4 Main marketing objectives

You need only give a brief statement of these here to close the Executive summary.

2.1 Current market conditions

What are the trends in your market? What are the dynamics facing businesses such as yours? Who are your target customers? What competition do you face?

2.2 Market trends:

You should describe the macroeconomic trends that directly affect the target market that your marketing plan is aimed at. This is where the PEST Framework is useful to include. (Sometimes referred to as PESTEL, SLEPT or PESTE) the components are: Political Economic Social Technological Environment Legal

2.3 Target market

It goes without saying that you should be aiming all your marketing efforts precisely at a target market or you are heading for a disaster.

All good marketing planning should follow from a very detailed segmentation of the market. Size? Is it growing, staying the same, or shrinking? Customer characteristics e.g. age, sex, income level, location, marital status, number of children etc. Habits, patterns and values of target customer. What are their wants, needs and desires? What are their buying habits? - How do they spend their disposable income and when do they buy and how do they buy? How many times and when?

2.4 Competition analysis

In the micro environment analysis of a Marketing Audit you will hopefully have identified your present and potential competitors. What are their key products / services? How do they differentiate them selves? You should briefly explain the actions that you will take to oppose or overcome your competitor's offerings.

I highly recommend you use Professor Michael Porter's Five Forces Model for this and the four other threats he identifies. Space does not allow me to go into detail here although I have written a more comprehensive report in which I include a diagram of the Five Forces Model available from my own website.

2.5 Issues analysis

You should briefly list such key external issues as government legislation affecting your business, or new technological development that impinges on your product.

3.1 SWOT analysis

Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats

A major component of any marketing plan is the SWOT analysis. Strengths and weaknesses are born of internal elements while opportunities and threats come from outside. When opportunities and threats are recognised they can then be examined from the point of view of your product strengths and weaknesses.

What could we change or improve about our product to make it easier for the customer? What are our customers' wants and desires? - We may possibly find new opportunities by thinking about such questions.

It is worth remembering that a threat can also be an opportunity to you, while a strength may also be a weakness depending on your point of view!

A business offering a vast selection of products may see this as one of their strengths. But for the customer, confused by the bewildering array of options as they try to find what they need, sees it as a weakness.

4. Positioning Strategy

Decide how you want your clients to perceive you in