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If you read the newspaper or watch TV, you can’t help but feel that everyone in the US is in debt up to their ears. With the economy still struggling to recover, we hear of more and more people becoming mired in more and more debt.

I have heard from many people who are just paying the monthly minimum, but keep on using the card. The result is that the debt just keeps growing and growing and every payday a larger part of their salary is being used to service their debt. These people want a path toward financial freedom, a place where they control their finances, instead of their finances controlling them.

The problem so many of these people have is that they want very badly to gain control of their finances, but they lack the motivation to keep on track, to keep taking the steps they need to take to make that dream happen.

For those people I offer in this article, five steps to financial freedom, steps by which you can seize control of your finances. These steps are based upon the model for self motivation. They serve the dual purpose of not only helping you get back on track, but also keeping you motivated to stay on track.

Step 1: The first thing you need to do is to understand why you want to seize control of your finances. The more valuable a goal is, the more likely you are to achieve it. So write down all the positive reasons for why you want to regain control of your finances. What will you gain? reduced stress? the ability to buy things you need? a feeling of pride at how responsible you are? Also write down what will happen if you fail to make this change. Will you have to file bankruptcy? Will you lose your house? Will you be miserable and depressed and disappointed in yourself?

Step 2: Determine exactly what regaining control of your finances means in your situation. Clarity is motivating, so the clearer you are on exactly what you are moving toward, the more likely you are to get there. Here are some issues you need to get clarity on. How will you know when you have regained control of your finances? Does it mean reducing your debt? Does it mean living below your means so you can be paying off your debt? Write down what will be occurring in your life when you have succeeded. Every success you have will motivate you even more to achieve another success.

Step 3: Write down a clear description of how you are going to make this change happen. Make a plan. Write down all the steps you can think of that will help you make this change. Will you cut up your credit cards? Will you track your spending for a certain period of time? How long? Will you make a budget? Will you set aside a set percent of each pay check to use toward your debt? Will you need to take an additional, part time job for a while to catch up on your debt? Will you contact your creditors to try to work out a payment plan? Step Three provides two very important motivational impacts. Clarity, as we saw in Step Two, is motivating. But also, a big goal, like gaining control of your finances, is less scary when it is broken down into its component tasks. The less scary something is, the more confident you will be that you can succeed. Nothing is more motivating than confidence in your competence. That’s why it’s factor number two in the model for self motivation.

Step 4: Be in charge. Suze Orman says in The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom, “True financial freedom is not only having money, but having power over that money as well.” Make a conscious decision that you control your financial life. You are the boss! Power is motivating. Acting intentionally is motivating. Being a helpless victim of the economy is NOT motivating. Take charge and you will stay in charge.

Step 5: Find resources that will help you make this change. The worse the economy gets, it seems, the more resources there are for those who need help getting back on their feet.

Inflation can be defined as a persistent increase in the general level of prices. ‘Persistent’ alerts us to one important feature of inflation: it occurs over several periods. ‘General’ alerts us to another: inflation occurs throughout the economy, with the prices of many items rising in the same period. Inflation reduces the value of money because each dollar buys less.

High rates of inflation can have serious social, economic and political consequences. Some of the effects of rapid inflation are:

(i) It can penalize people on fixed incomes, like pensioners and self funded retirees, because their income does not rise as rapidly as prices, so they are able to buy fewer goods and services.

(ii) Inflation tends to redistribute income from low income groups to higher-income groups because low income groups have fewer real assets like property, which might rise in price, and are in jobs where it is difficult to get a pay rise to help offset the effects of inflation.

(iii) People lose faith in currency as a store of value and often borrow as much as possible to invest in ‘real’ assets like gold, houses and antiques, the price of which tends to rise faster than the general inflation rate.

(iv) Forecasts of the rate of return on capital investments become unreliable, and this makes businesses unwilling to undertake long-term projects. Because of this, future living standards may not be as high as they would have been.

(v) If the rate of inflation in a country is higher than those of its major trading partners, the ability of that country to compete on world markets is damaged.

(vi) High inflation rates lead to higher interest rates.

Different groups in society have different abilities to protect themselves from the effects of inflation. Powerful entities – trade unions, large companies, wealthy individuals – may be able to increase their share of national income at the expense of weaker groups – pensioners, the unemployed, and other groups that depend on social welfare. Thus, persistently high inflation can threaten social and political stability.

There is no single cause of inflation. Rather, at any given time, a number of factors interact to cause inflation. For example, a fall in the exchange rate may lead to an increase in the price of imports, which causes a genera! rise in the rate of inflation. Trade unions may react to this by seeking higher wages, which leads to an increase in the costs of businesses, which causes them to raise the prices of their goods and services. This scenario has happened occasionally in many countries of the world.

The main causes of inflation are:

(i) External factors, such as changes in exchange rates or changes in the price of goods. An example is oil prices during periods of war in the Middle East in the 1990s.

(ii) Excessive demand in the domestic economy. Suppliers of labor and goods and services seek to take advantage of the situation by raising their prices. This is usually described as demand-pull Inflation. It is sometimes associated with excessive rates of growth in the money supply.

(iii) If wages increase faster than the rate of increase in productivity, companies may find it necessary to raise prices to maintain profitability. This is known as cost-push inflation.

(iv) Government-induced price rises can cause the general rate of inflation to increase, for example, rises in indirect taxes raise the retail price of goods and services.

(v) As we have seen, what people think about prices can actually affect the level of inflation, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy; when people expect inflation to rise, they increase their prices, thus ensuring that inflation increases.

The internet provides so many business opportunities that companies cannot hope to do well unless they have a website. An internet presence is essential in order to enable a company to be accessible to its clients since online commerce is now on the rise. However, companies can face certain problems because other parties find it easy besmirch its reputation online. This can only be handled with the help of an online reputation management company.

There are many different sources of problems that cause you to require reputation management. Many of them can originate from your competitors who use blogs, forums and various consumer option sites to spread negative information about your company. Another set of problems you will face is caused by dissatisfied customers who take to various consumer complaint sites on the internet in order to write about any unsatisfactory experience they might have encountered with your company.

Whether or not there is any validity to these complaints and negative comments, they will be visible to all people who go online to find out about your company or product. This can turn out to be very expensive for you because your online reputation will take a serious beating.

Another problem you will face is from other companies that infringe on your trademark in order to sell counterfeit products. The products and the online experience that these fake websites offer will result in customers losing faith in your company. Most customers will not even know that these fake websites have nothing to do with your company because there will only be a slight difference in spelling on the URL and the overall look of the website will be similar to yours.

A company that is experienced in online reputation management will be able to help you monitor your brand so that you do not face threat from any of these sources. It will use a variety of tools to find out the different ways in which your company’s reputation has been threatened and will take corrective action. A good online reputation management company will ensure that people who are searching for your company online will only encounter listings that show your company in positive light. This is achieved not just by reacting to negative listings but by acting proactively to make your website feature high on search engine listings. You can ensure that your business prospers with effective online reputation management.

Business will be dull whether you like it or not, so get used to it! Sometimes, if the cause is within your control, you could do something about it. At other times, when things are outside your control, there may be nothing you can do. Fortunately for you, this unusual article is about the things you can do when business is dull.

The highs and lows of business

In everything in life, there will be highs and lows. Business likewise, is no exception. There will be high sales periods as well as low sales periods, both periods are necessary for maintaining balance in business. Both are necessary forms of feedback and any serious minded entrepreneur should focus on making the most of both periods whether highs or lows rather than choosing one over the other. This is a fact of life and its better you get used to it and learn how to make the most of it.

As humans, it is only natural to think in dichotomies; positive and negative, good and bad, black and white, high and low, hot and cold, pain and pleasure and all others. The truth is this; we need both shades of dichotomies to maintain balance here on earth. Those things we refer to as unpleasant are actually the ones that make us better human beings.

After all, we are creatures of feelings, and the unpleasant ones tend to drive home the point faster than the pleasant ones. In other words, we learn better from our mistakes than from our victories. The same principle applies to the business world. You cannot have one side and reject the other; both are necessary and have their benefits.

Somehow, entrepreneurs don’t seem to have any problem dealing with high sales periods; after all, we don’t ever get tired of having more. But when it comes to the low sales periods, all hell seem to break lose. This unusual article is about knowing what to do when business is dull or slow. It will help you make the most of the low sales periods every business usually encounters every once in a while. It is very important to know that some low sales periods are self inflicted and others are not. I have decided to write this because one of the businesses I run is currently in this phase and I am becoming a better entrepreneur as a result.

Strategic Actions To Take During Low Sales Periods

1. Diagnose

When things don’t seem to be working out well in terms of revenue for your business, it is an indicator that something, somewhere, somehow is wrong. So, the first step to take is to trace the source of the problem. Meaning, take the pain to find out what is responsible for the low sales you are currently experiencing in your business.

What I have seen most entrepreneurs do when they are experiencing low sales is to lash out frantically looking for a ‘quick fix’ solution to the problem of low sales. I refer to this kind of response as taking wrong actions. In other cases, they simply respond by doing nothing believing that “this little affliction is but for a moment.” I refer to this kind of response as inaction. Read the rest of this entry »

Catalog printing is a great avenue to get information about your products and services flipping through the hands of potential clients and customers. When it comes to deciding what your catalog designs should look like, there is much to consider. From picking what product sector to display, to deciding how and what photos, images, and other design elements should be use, businesses should take their time with all the details of the printing process. Here are a few tips to get your catalog printing off to a good start for success in your business plan:

Pick the number of pages

What you want to include in your catalog printing directly determines how many pages you want to print. A 48-page catalog will be much more time consuming and thorough than an 8-page variation, but if you have plenty to showcase, it could be worthy your while. Catalog printing takes time and effort to produce, so if you’re short on one or even both, then it could be best to create a smaller catalog. Either way, look for a printer that is capable of creating the size and quality catalog printing you need to help your marketing efforts succeed.

Take it to a design expert

If you are having trouble coming up with the details and creating the layouts for your catalogs, turning to an expert with plenty of experience in this department will help put you at ease and could give you an edge on the competition. You want each page of your catalog designs to stand out and the text and imagery to be flawless, so work on perfecting that before you take your catalog printing too far. A quality printer will have in-house design services available for your to use in the event that you either don’t have a staff or would like a fresh set of eyes on the design.

Decide on the printing details

Catalog printing creates many choices for your business to make. From the printing process, to the bindery method and custom options, you have to make a lot of decisions before you can solidify your order. When it comes to choosing what kind of paper stock to use, recycled paper can be a great marketing decision if it works with your design and business philosophy. Otherwise, gloss text gives that smooth, high quality look that you can really benefit from. The quantity of your catalog printing, turnaround time and standard size are all other details to iron out before you can place your order.