The Benefits of Living a Debt-Free Life

Once you make the decision to get out of debt and get a handle on your finances, whether it be through steady payments, debt consolidation, or a debt settlement program, you will finally begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Although the road to financial freedom is not a short trip and it may have a few bumps along the way, reaching the finish line is more than worth the trials of the journey.

There are many obvious reasons to be debt free, including extra cash in your pocket, not having to pay high interest rates every month and never again having to worry about late fees. But, what about the less obvious benefits? Are there any reasons that are nonetheless important, but we don't seem to think of them right away? Of course there are and it is these very benefits that may be the most important of all when it comes to seeking debt relief at the appropriate time.

If you want to purchase a home, a vacation getaway or invest in real estate, you may need to obtain a conventional loan in order to secure the deal. The truth is that few real estate transactions are done with cash, which is why lending institutions play an important role in your need as a homeowner. With that being said, it is nearly impossible to get financing if you already have a lot of debt. When a lender pulls your credit file or compares your debt to income ratio, they may find that you cannot afford another payment. If this happens, your loan would likely be declined. If your pursuit of debt relief is successful, however, this will not be a concern as you will be better equipped to repay a loan when potential lenders view your credit status.

When you apply for a job, you will probably be required to sign a form giving the employer permission to access your credit report. If you have a lot of debt or your credit score is poor, some employers may not be able to offer you a position that you would otherwise be perfect for. This is especially true if you are applying at a location that handles a lot of cash, such as a bank or casino. Your credit report says a lot about you, including your ability to responsibly handle money. If you are debt free, you will have a much better chance at getting the perfect job without having to worry about your credit score.

In a world where so many people live from one paycheck to the next, it is so nice to have some extra spending money in your pocket. Whether you want to plan a vacation, purchase something without having to charge it on a credit card or simply want to know that you can buy something if you want it, the best way to accomplish these goals is through debt relief with the use of a debt consolidation and/or debt settlement program.

One of the final, but most important, benefits of living a debt free life is to lessen the stress and anxiety all too often associated with bills. If you worry about making monthly payments or borrow money from one credit card to pay another, then you are already experiencing the need for debt relief. Being free of debt will also help to prevent you from being irritable with family just because you are stressed about finances. One of the leading causes of divorce is arguments over, you guessed it, money. When you are out of debt and have a few extra dollars in your wallet, you will soon begin to adapt to a cash-only basis and wonder how you ever lived without it.

Article Source: http://www.abcarticledirectory.com/

Startup Ideas that don't make the mark

Recently, we have been receiving a lot of applications for the funding commissioned by MDA. There are good and bad ideas. Of course, some of them will be getting "No, I am sorry to inform you that...." from us. it should not mean to you that it is the end of the road if we don't fund you. If you believe in your idea so much, you should continue the search for funding. Even better, try to do a startup without funding, like some of our resident contributors, Cobalt Paladin, Design Sojourn, Weichang, Der Shing and myself have done. Through a few correspondences and meeting some self-proclaimed and crappy "entrepreneurs", I have set up a list of reasons why they don't make the mark. I have also placed some notes in this post to tell people what kind of entries will end up in our rubbish bin. Here are three reasons why we are ready to reject them.

1. One man show is bound to fail.

Despite how much we tell everyone that a team is important, some Singaporeans are still doing that. Usually when an entrepreneur tells me that he runs a one man show, three possibilities come to my mind: (i) he cannot inspire people to work with him, (ii) he cannot scale his business and hence his profit margins will be extremely low or (iii) he does not know how to grow his business. Good businesses require tight-knitted small teams and great business demands a vast number of good and strong teams. This is one problem I see with single inventors. If I keep trying to help them and gather people around them and they still do nothing, this demonstrates that they just cannot handle people. If you are still not convinced by my reasoning, here is a story which I can share with you.

Years back when I was in Cambridge, a brilliant German inventor I know approached a friend of mine from the United States to do business development. They formed a startup and I thought that the technology was fantastic to make the next Google. This is what exactly happened. One day, the inventor came to me and asked me about business models in my area of specialisation. I was baffled and told him that I was no expert of his industry. Then he continued to ask me what book to read about this. I told him to look up a few references. In the end, I realized that he did not trust my friend at all about business models. For every subject from financials to writing business plans, he had read every book. However, in the end, the business failed horribly. Luckily, my American friend did not suffer badly from the experience. Within seconds he quit the venture, a well-respected serial entrepreneur (and business angel who have done numerous technology startups and sold them to high bidders) in the Cambridge cluster called him and offered him a CEO job for the new startup. The moral of the story is trust which is cardinal to some of our Asian cultures. Remember, you cannot be the CEO, the accountant, the business development director, the public relations and the inventor all at one time. It's impossible to work like that.

So, if you want to convince us, show us if you have a team of two at least, where the other person possess complementary skills to what you don't have.

2. Derivatives vs Imitations

Some companies successfully did it through imitating what a successful big company do. For example, Baidu, the Chinese search engine took wholesale from Google. However, that can work if you can harness a domestic market as big as China, India or Brazil. Some founders try to do this in Singapore and find that their markets are so limited that it amounts nothing at all. As a matter of fact, Baidu is not really an imitation, but a derivative of Google operating in a niche market, namely the customers all write and read the Chinese language.

Of course, if you make a derivative from an existing product, you have a problem. The problem is not just your technology being challenged on the intellectual property front. The real problem is actually the market share that you are getting. Recently, Justin mentioned that if Chad Young did YouTube in Singapore, the company would not have flourished because of all the laws and regulations in the country. Actually, he is about half right. The real reason why Chad Hurley can get backers is because he has leverage of the market. Even if all the companies will sue him, the investors in Silicon Valley or the web 2.0 market will not ignore the amount of customers his website has generated. If you want to be in the internet business, you either have the top class technology or have the most customers. You can attack the niche market but be prepared that I will ask, "Are the people buying your product make up the top 20% of the income group in Singapore?"

3. Half hearted Efforts and Risk Adversity

If you want to do something, go all the way for it. If you want to take money from someone, be prepared to subject yourself to control from the investor. If you want to do both, you better go with full efforts. A lot of people talks about their ideas, but I have seen no prototypes. Believe it or not, even for a blog like SG Entrepreneurs, we wrote a business plan before getting the blog started. We even knew when we must get resident contributors to expand our base. It is quite easy to copy what we are doing in this blog, and I have seen copycats which have died along the way. We go all the way to get our system up and we try to implement everything possible. We never think that profits will come so quickly.

Here is something that Singaporeans need to learn: you must be prepared to suffer as an entrepreneur, otherwise join a company and work as an employee. Recently, I was watching a documentary called "High Net Worth" where the interviewer talks to Donald Trump why he does not encourage people to be entrepreneurs. Paraphrasing Trump's words, if you are not prepared to work 24-7 for your business or find people and ways to enhance your brand and product, don't be an entrepreneur and go be an employee. Not everyone is suitable to be entrepreneurs. It is the kind of advice that I like to give to some one man shows, who after a few years, are still one man shows.

From: http://www.articlestree.com/business/startup-ideas-that-don-t-make-the-mark-tx340496.html

At Last! Automation Demystified!

Product Review of: Automate Your Web Business

Like many other would-be web entrepreneurs, I get overwhelmed and more than a little intimidated by the �e-Commerce� mumbo jumbo that�s swirling around me. Up to now, I�ve been led to believe that to compete successfully with the big sellers out there making ridiculously high profits on the web, I need a sophisticated (and very complicated) web hosting machine. And oh, by the way, this must-have �system� can only be pieced together and maintained by high-priced experts. I�m in over my head. It�s an expensive, time-consuming process that requires more know-how than I could ever get on my own. Right? Wrong!

From Marlon Sanders, creator of the Amazing Formula for making money on the web, comes the ultimate, practical guide to automating a web business. Poof! My fear and �ignorance� of the technology is no longer an excuse for not getting my selling machine in gear. Here, for the first time, is an end-to-end tutorial of active marketing techniques�an easy and painless walkthrough of the all the steps you need to know to automate your web business.

Get ready to sell! When you free up your time through web automation you�ll be able to focus on what�s really important--marketing your product. After all, Marlon reminds us, it�s marketing, not automation, the impacts business and profits. It�s how you use the technology that matters. This ground-breaking product will show you the automation techniques you must do to succeed. Plus, it offers hints and strategies that are worth trying, and it spells out the ones you should absolutely avoid at all cost.

In the fast-moving chapters of this definitive how-to, we enter the world of �real-time processing� and �digital delivery� in terms we can understand and act on. We get a full-blown explanation of must-have information, such as how to set up a merchant account, the ABCs of creating order pages and establishing price points, and how to create an instant cash system and a can�t-miss referral generation machine.

Marlon layers technique upon technique�showing you what to do and when. He reveals the finer points of automating your upselling; your e-mail, mail lists, and database; your accounting system and your important computer procedures; and your problem follow-up system. Marlon even shows you how to automate the personalization process itself! When you�re finished putting these tips to work, you�ll have a well-oiled web machine that almost works on auto-pilot! You�ve saved tons of time and you�re free to focus on your profits! It�s awesome�and it�s all within your reach.

Marlon�s ultimate automation system puts the full array of web tools and technology at your fingertips. And his phenomenal use of screen captures, dynamic real-time links, and first-hand resource recommendations gets you right inside his own personal, automated marketing machine! This is what Marlon actually uses in his business. He shows you how he does it, why he does it, and the results you can expect when you do it. Not only that, he�ll tell you if he�s found a better way to do what he�s been doing. All of his secrets are revealed. Nothing�s left to chance.

True to form, Marlon�s delivered some exciting, eye-opening stuff in this e-book. His ultimate automation machine is a jam-packed toolbox of programs and advice to help you get the biggest bang for your web development buck�whether you�re a newbie or an advanced marketer. By the time I got to the last chapter of Marlon�s formula, I couldn�t wait to get my hands on the web automation technology that had scared me off before.

--Robert G. Gardner, Ph.D

Check out: http://getyourprofits.com/z/170/CD24633

Creating An Affiliate Marketing Program

Affiliate programs allow a business to generate a lot of traffic, therefore boosting sales through promotion by third party sales or websites. It's also a cost effective way to market your products and services, because you pay only for the efforts that actually turn into sales.

Establishing your own affiliate system can be either simple or overwhelming, all depending on how many affiliates you want to recruit, as well as your payment policy and the type of product that you offer.

In terms of your affiliate systems, there are two options for your business: outsource the entire system or manage your own affiliate system through your own web host. Each one is noted its own advantages as well as disadvantages.

If you have a small network of affiliates, then you can run your own affiliate software. If you decide to recruit a large number of affiliates, then you will probably need an external business to help you manage your network. The reason for this need is because you'll find it easer to deal with a large number of sign ups, track payments, monitor clicks, and so on if outsiders help you sort it out.

Kinds of affiliates There are numerous types of affiliates out there to pick from. There's the pay per sale option, where a person is paid only if a sale is generated from the affiliate's link. It's the least attractive to affiliates, unless the product is in high demand and the most profitable for business.

The other type is the pay per lead option, where you pay only for traffic. With this type, the affiliate is paid only if a visitor is generated from the affiliate's link. It's attractive to affiliates although costly to website owners, due to the likelihood of non-sale visits.

Things to keep in mind When setting up an affiliate network, something to consider is whether you'll approve affiliates automatically or manually. It's generally recommended to start affiliate programs with your established customer sites then progress to new ones.

If you opt for the pay per clicks program, you may have to control the affiliates because the quality of visitors will be a huge factor when it comes to the generation of sales. By manually reviewing, you'll also be able to evaluate the website or individual affiliates to see if it's in the best interest of your company.

If you decide to use your own affiliate system, one of your biggest challenges will be how to compensate affiliates with a percentage of what you receive from customers. To do this, you can rely on software such as Affiliate shop to assist you in tracking and managing commissions.

Source:http://www.articlestree.com/business/creating-an-affiliate-marketing-program-tx340499.html