Personal Finance Series: No 28 – The Wealthy Skill Of Influencing With Integrity
Another critical skill in managing money well, in becoming wealthy rather than chasing money, is the skill of influencing others. This is, to get others to respond favourably to your actions, wishes, words, and deeds.In matters of personal finance budget management, understanding the ‘picture’ of personal finance in advance of shopping trips, dates, and conversations with a partner or spouse, means that a vital part of preparation has been taken care of. It removes the guesswork in misunderstanding. It reduces mistaken communication.Influencing: Get Results with IntegrityA person with strong influencing skills are easy to spot – people want to be around them. These people communicate with integrity because they are not pressurising other to do their bidding. They set about taking action, they are adaptable to the circumstances they are in. People are influenced positively because they are acknowledged, appreciated and feel understood.When influencing with integrity, it is important to remember that the perception you generate is the reality created, and therefore understanding yourself is am important step in having any positive impact on others.Influencing: The Hidden Signs of LyingOne of the most important skills in influencing skills is being able to spot when you are being sold to, or lied to or both. Sales professionals, ethically or otherwise ultimately want to influence you to buy what they are selling, so when considering decisions of personal finance spending, it is very useful to know when you are being deceived or lied to. This will enable a better decision and judgment of the proposed purchase.When people lie, they behave differently than normal. Often their limbs and arms will be stiff, jerky and gestures will be towards themselves rather than away from their bodies. People, when lying avoid eye contact or might touch their face, throat, mouth or behind their ears in a self grooming gesture which reassures themselves while they tell an untruth. Expressions are mismatched from the words they use, like a delayed smile, or even a forced smile. They might speak faster, be defensive, or unconsciously place an object between themselves and you, like fiddling with a pen, cup or crossing their legs.Understanding these hidden signs allows for a more informed processing of the information being listened to, and an appropriate response to be formulated.Influencing: Understand before being UnderstoodThe famous author Steven R Covey, talks about the power of influencing and one of the principles he advocates is to understand the other person properly before trying to make them understand you. It involves setting aside all the confusion that comes with first impressions; their mannerisms, looks, dress, and voice. By looking beyond these things, it is possible to understand a person at a deeper level.Many people don’t listen properly when in a conversation, and assume they know what the other person is saying. To understand before being understood is to properly diagnose the problem before offering a solution. This has the benefit through insight, of communicating more effectively because of that deeper understanding – and it removes one of the most common barriers to communication.Influencing: How to Make Friends with Social MediaRead their profile and interests
Comment on their status updates
Send helpful private messages or links
Talk about them not you
Add links and useful comments to your wall
Respond when they comment on your postingsBy foregoing the ‘get rich quick’ schemes and ‘make push-button money’ products, influencing with integrity creates a behaviour and way of thinking that drives deep relationships. It is the best form of longevity in business, and the most profitable. Therefore, when thinking about money management, think about “The Right Thing” for you and your family. Set parameters, budgets and measurements and use online budget software to help you.
Beginning Photography Tips
Taking great photographs often depends on practice and experimentation. If you are not satisfied with the results of your recent photographs there are some beginning photography tips that can you can use to quickly improve your photographs.Beginning Photography Tips #1 – Fill the frameOne of the reasons that many people are not satisfied with their pictures is the fact that the subject is so distant within the frame of the photograph that is difficult to see them. In such cases, the subject is typically lost within the scene.The following beginning photography tips will help you to fill the frame with your subject and create far more interest:1. Use your optical zoom lens. This is a great way to achieve close-up shots.2. Move closely in order to make sure you are positioned as effectively as possible to achieve a close-up shot.Beginning Photography Tips #2 – The rule of thirdsThe rule of thirds is one of the most important beginning photography tips you should be aware of in order to achieve good results. Some digital cameras today have the ability to place a 3×3 grid over the scene which can help this process. Even if your camera does not have the ability; however, you can image the grid, divided by width and length.Your subject should ideally be placed on the intersection of two lines but this is in no way mandatory. There is nothing magic with the intersections and the most important thing with the rule of thirds is that it helps you avoid centering the subject in all your photographs. If you place the subject out of the center of the photograph, you will find that you can achieve more visual interest in your photographs.Beginning Photography Tips #3 – Unclutter the sceneAnother reason why some photographs do not tend to turn out well is that they are too cluttered. It can be difficult for the main subject to stand out in the photograph is the background and surroundings are too cluttered.Try to choose settings where the background is simple and uncluttered. This will help your subject to stand out and prevent it from blending in with everything else in the background.Beginning Photography Tips #4 – Fill flashIn some cases you may notice that there simply is not enough light from the existing light source. In this case you may need to supplement the light source. A solution to this problem is the fill flash. This is not a true flash as a flash would generally be used at night.A fill flash works to provide supplementing lighting, or to fill in light in the part of the photograph where the shadows are too strong. This can make a dramatic and immediate difference in your photos.A typical example is if you take a close-up photograph of a flower in very strong daylight and contrast. In this case you are likely to get fairly strong shadows in some parts of the flower. A fill flash can give these shadows a “kiss” of light to brighten them slightly.Most cameras on the market today have a fill flash feature. You do not even need to use full manual mode in order to take advantage of the fill flash feature. The exact way in which you use the fill flash feature will depend on your camera model, so you should check your owner’s manual.Many cameras have a lightening bolt near the main button. By pressing this button you should be able to go through the different flash options.Beginning Photography Tips #5 – PracticeMany people make the assumption that buying a lot of expensive equipment right away will automatically produce great photographs. While more advanced equipment can provide you with more options, it cannot take the place of practice and experience.Even a point and shoot camera can be used to take great photos when you spend some time experimenting and practicing. The more time you spend taking pictures the more you will learn and the better photos you will be able to produce.
Market Research – Drop Past Participation Restrictions, Save Money
Recruiting respondents for qualitative market research projects has changed a lot in the past 20 years. One of the most profound changes is the increase in the number of potential respondents who are either familiar with qualitative market research or who have participated in research in the past.Our findings indicate that roughly 75 percent of people who respond to first-time telephone or email invitations (not including Craigslist or similar ads) have had previous experience with qualitative research in one form or another. And that’s good for both researchers and respondent recruiters. The more people who respond favorably to market research invitations, the better the chances of finding the respondents you need. What’s more, higher cooperation rates reduce recruiting fees.But what about past participation restrictions?The initial idea behind these types of restrictions was noble: No one wants cheaters muddying up their research, or respondents who participate solely for the money. But in practice, disqualifying respondents because of recent or frequent participation can raise recruiting costs while doing little to purge dishonest respondents. Unrealistic past participation restrictions can also make it virtually impossible to complete hard-to-recruit assignments. The result is often expensive recruiting that goes over budget, coupled with unplanned relaxations to qualifying criteria.Imposing past participation restrictions on all projects may have been practical 20 years ago — before consumers were flooded with invitations to take part in market research studies. But just because past participation restrictions remain “standard industry practice” doesn’t mean they actually help your research in today’s world. Yes, past participation restrictions certainly have their place — but not when recruiting low-incidence studies, projects with quick turnarounds, or when you’re trying to save money.
Tools to Support the Internet Marketer
It is true that the number of internet marketers are growing rapidly, the numbers are expected top continue to grow for the near future. This means that all of those new marketers as well as many of the ones already engaged to making their livings online will be looking for tools to help support their internet marketing efforts.This article was designed to give some insight into just what initial internet marketing tools you may need to operate your online business in a efficient and profitable manner.What are internet marketing tools?From my experience any product, service, tactic, technique or method that will enable the creation, operation and ultimate success of a online business or website can be considered a Internet marketing tool. I know that there are many, much more detailed explanations for this term, how ever for the purpose of this article the above description will work just fine.Below you will find a few of the most important tools to support the internet marketer and a brief explanation of what they are.Search EnginesOne of the main internet marketing tools you should become familiar with are the all important search engines. The success of your online business will mainly depend on you getting a large amount of visitors or targeted traffic to view your particular product, service and/or website. The most basic yet efficient way is the use of search engines, You must learn to understand how they work to receive the best results.The first thing you will need to realize is that to get the most traffic from this method means that you have to get your website in a favorable position on the search engine page or (high page ranking). To accomplish this will take some time and preparation of you website or page. you see the major search engines use various criteria to figure out what website will get the top page ranking or position. it not only depends on the quality and relevancy of your website content in regards to the product service or business you will be promoting it will also depend on different algorithms that only the search engines can understand. With that in mind you should remember to never write or develop your sales copy or content to impress the search engines. You should stay aware that algorithms do not ask questions or make purchases of your product or service, it will do you best if you simply concentrate on making a positive impact on your potential customers and the search engines will follow likewise in a positive manner. You should start with the major search engines, “Google”, “Yahoo”,”MSN” “Bing”Website developmentFor all those internet marketers that will want to promote their own product or service, it will be necessary for you to construct, build or develop your website. In the ever changing days of doing business online there has been great advancements in tools to support the internet marketer in this area.A very popular method of getting your website created these days is to do it your self with the use of a tool called the “WYSIWYG” (What You see is What You get) web page editor. This method is relatively easy to use. it is not necessary to learn any complicated code or computer language, you only need to become familiar with the standard symbols in the “WYSIWYG’ editor and what functions they control and you are in business. You can find this product for free download to your own computer off of the internet. It comes called by different names, some of them are; “Page Breeze”, “KompoZer”, and “WYSIWYG Web Builder”. If you are considering trying your hand at building your own website this internet marketing tool could prove to be very valuable to you.The next internet marketing tool designed for the convenience of the person who desires their own website or web page is the website template. “A web template is a tool used to separate content from presentation in web design, and for mass-production of web documents. It is a basic component of a web template system. Web templates can be used to set up any type of website. In its simplest sense, a web template operates similarly to a form letter for use in setting up a website”. Web templates may be utilized virtually by any person or even business to set up their own website. When the template is bought or downloaded, the user can substitute all of the useless material included inside the web template with their very own special business, products or service information and facts.
Templates may also be made use of to:1. Show private information and facts or perhaps every day routines as in a weblog.
2. Promote products and services on-line.
3. Show information and facts regarding your business or enterprise.
4. Show any gallery of photographs.
5. Put audio files for example mp3 on line intended for play by means of the Internet browser.
6. As a location for videos on-line for the purpose of general population to see.
7. In order to setup a confidential sign in location on-line.Web Hosting ServicesOnce that you have created your website you will definitely need use of another very important internet marketers tool to give your website “a place to live” so to speak. What you will need is a web hosting service. What will this tool do for you? A functional web hosting service is a kind of Internet Hosting service of which can provide the space for people and businesses to get individual websites available for access using the internet. Web hosts are providers which give space on their web server they have possession of as well as lease, intended for use by their customers in addition to supplying internet online connectivity. A excellent dedicated server web hosting is actually more suitable, however not really required. In the event that you will be on a small spending budget, you could still start using a shared server web hosting option. The key is to do your research when looking to acquire a web hosting service. Make sure that the one you choose will be able to handle all of your specific internet business needs.AutorespondersAutoresponders are a very important tool to support the internet marketer. In these days of competitive internet marketing you will need to keep in contact with your website visitors, business contacts and website members. The way to do this efficiently and effortlessly is by utilizing a autoresponder.Many individuals may take a look at autoresponders also ways to begin using them to develop their online business. That is a great approach in my opinion, however you should know what a autoresponder is.Basically, it is a software program which allows you to deliver email messages to individuals effectively yet automatically. No this does not imply that it produces the emails on your behalf, also it does not include junk e-mail or delivering unrequested email messages. Exactly what you will be able to do is that you will be able to set up a series of prewritten messages which are sent in a specific order to prospective customers on your own database at recurrent time periods.The significance of this can not be underrated. Again and again online marketing experts explain how the money is in the list. This is simply not just something they say for their health. The internet marketing and advertising experts realize that this really is a inescapable fact. It has been proven over and over again that the more individuals that you can get to opt in to your mailing list that show a interest in your specific online business, product or service, is directly related to the greater income you will generate.You should use an autoresponder in order to effectively send email messages to your own potential customer list, even though you are not even at the personal computer. What you can put together is, for this example, a multiple part email course or report. You’ll then arranged the time periods so that your emails will, you can first try, daily make sure you only send them one section of the report or email course every day. Which means you create the actual e-mail once after which anybody becoming a member of that list will automatically receive those emails for as many days as your report or email course has parts. (3 parts – 3 days, 4 parts – 4 days, 5 parts – 5 days).This action will happen regardless if you’re online or even if you are far from Your computer. They’re going to be emailed on auto-pilot. Your potential customers will also be added onto your list without you having to lift a finger. If for any reason they don’t want to remain on your list, they have the option of un-subscribing, and all of this is handled effortlessly, efficiently as well as automatically without any help from you.A few of the more trusted and popular auto responders are: “AWeber” “Get Response” and “I Contact”. You will also be relieved to know there are free autoresponder software to download of the internet.There are a lot of various tools to support the internet marketer. You will mostly use them as your online business begins to grow and you require more functionality from your websites or business. Time will not allow me to talk about all of them, however they can easily be found by doing your own web search for the particular internet marketing tool you are needing at that time. Just to name a few that you may require in the future there are:Article Marketing SupportSEO (Search Engine Optimization) ToolsAffiliate Marketing ToolsProduct CreationAfter all is said and done you will use many internet marketing tools to support your online business. I hope that this article has given you a little insight into the basic tools you will require to operate a rewarding, successful, and prosperous, online business.