March 2017

I received an email last week from Vickie, a 45 year old woman who is on the verge of emotional breakdown over money. Vickie and her 47 year old husband must file for bankruptcy, and she is experiencing frequent panic attacks over their money situation. Married for 14 years with two children, together they own 2 homes, a couple cars, have travelled extensively, and have otherwise lived very comfortable middle-class lifestyles. But over a year ago, her husband, a real estate executive, lost his $300,000 a year job. Now, together they face over $150,000 of credit card debt, plus thousands in past due income taxes, plus mortgages and car notes, and they have no regular income to support any of it. She feels like her whole world is crumbling and she is constantly fighting bouts of gripping panic and stress.

Not Alone

With over 50 million anxiety sufferers and record bankruptcy filings in America, many people find themselves in situations similar to Vickie’s, and can’t see a way out of their circumstance and looking for ways to ease panic attacks over money. As panic sets in it begins to impact everything from willpower to personal relationships and the desire to socialize with others (due to the embarrassment of it all). With so many Americans out of work in what is purported to be the worst recession since the great depression, meeting financial obligations becomes virtually impossible and a feeling of being trapped takes hold.

About Panic Attacks

Panic attacks represent a physiological over-reactive rush of adrenaline in response to a mostly unsubstantiated or overblown fear. In prehistoric times, this adrenaline rush helped humans fight off or run from a real attack from dinosaurs and other predators. Now the dinosaurs are gone, but experts say the feeling of “fight or flight” strikes panic attacks and anxiety sufferers each day. You might say that Vickie’s fear of impending bankruptcy is not overblown or unsubstantiated. In the end, times will be tough for Vickie and her family. But Vickie and her husband still have their health and their marriage, and get this – they both admit their respective roles or lack thereof in getting them into the financial situation in the first place – very important starting point. More importantly, they are beginning to understand that bankruptcy is a form of financial relief and legal protection from creditors – the ultimate source of the unsubstantiated fear. Talk to a lawyer or bankruptcy specialist about the specifics. But ultimately your worst fears about money are most definitely overblown if you are suffering from panic attacks and anxiety over them. You must strategize and gradually lift yourself out of the financial circumstance. And remember, if you must file for bankruptcy, you are not alone. If you check the rolls of past bankruptcy filers you will find names like Donald Trump, Circuit City, Blockbuster Video, and many other company’s and people. Bankruptcy is meant to be a backstop to keep you from panicking and seeing no …

Here is a question that most people looking to become a nail technician ask themselves. For some, becoming a nail tech is something to do to supplement their current income.

However, there are nail technicians that are making a living at doing nails and have gone beyond treating their nail business as a hobby. Today’s techs are getting super savvy at how they are marketing their business and realizing a nice income in the process.

Part of their success has been due to online technology and the internet. Online technology has opened doors to reaching a larger audience to market to. Sites like Twitter and Facebook are helping to network and build relationships with many people on daily basis creating an avenue to attract more and keep more clients.

YouTube has opened the door for nail technicians to put their work in front of 100’s of people daily enabling them to brand themselves as an expert in their industry.

The internet also makes beauty marketing information available at the push of a button. Nail techs can find information online you probably won’t find at your local library on this subject.

Successful nail salons will tell you the main ingredients to making money as a nail tech is knowing how to get clients, keep them, and get a ton of referrals consistently. They rely on good marketing combined with good relationship building tools to attract and keep clients coming back month after month.

You should also understand that there is a difference whether you work for yourself or if you work for someone as an employee. You will always make more if you work for yourself and know how to market your business successfully. Your income will usually have a cap if you are employed by a salon which will limit the amount of money you can ultimately make.

It’s possible to make a good income from doing acrylic nails and nail art designs if you market your business successfully. Just like any other business you have to work at it daily. The beauty industry is a very large industry with many opportunities to make money. It’s a profession that has many rewards when approached correctly.…

By creating credits we mean the process whereby commercial banks, make it possible for more deposits to be made through loan and this process of creating credits is also called creation of money or money creation. By granting loans to their customers, commercial banks increase the purchasing power of the borrower and also increase the volume of money in circulation. Commercial banks use current account as basis of creating credit or money. However, it is not possible for one commercial bank to create credit or money. For credit or money to be created, the entire banking system, will have to be involved.

Commercial banks are required by law to keep certain percentage of their deposits with them. This percentage kept with them is known as Cash ratio or Liquidity ratio or Cash reserve. This is done in order to protect customer’s deposits and prevent bank crisis. This percentage of cash ratio banks will keep is fixed by the central bank, and varies from one country to another. Assuming the central bank fixes 10% as the cash ratio, it then means that for every deposit a bank receives, 10% of the deposit must be kept in the bank while the remaining 90% can be given out as a loan or overdraft by the bank. This 10% cash ratio is kept or reserved with the bank in order for the bank to meet up with customer’s withdrawals. There are other methods by which commercial banks generate credit, for example the death of a customer, by government policies, by the sale of receipts and treasury bills, and also by selling shares to customers and the entire public.…

So lately there’s been yet another start-up network marketing company that I’ve been seeing on social media sites and getting a lot of buzz. The company is called Monat Global. And chances are if you’re reading this, you’re looking for some information on Monat Global before joining the company. If that’s the case, look no further. In this third party Monat Global Review, I’ll cover information on the company, the products they sell and more importantly the actual business opportunity they offer. Before proceeding, I want to disclose that I’m not a Monat Global distributor so it really doesn’t matter to me one or another if you join or not. This is important because you can be sure that you’re getting an unbiased perspective of the company and the opportunity available for distributors.

Who Is Monat Global?

Monat Global is a Florida-based company that markets high-end haircare products through a Network Marketing business model. The company is extremely young but unlike other start-up companies, the company is actually owned and operated by the Urdaneta family. The Urdaneta family have been involved in Direct Sales for decades and run a huge company called L’Eudine Global. From the looks of it, Monat’s products look to be very high quality. The products are paraben-free, Gluten-free, ethanol-free and sulfate-free. Having premium products to market is essential if you’re looking to build a business because without satisfied customers re-ordering every month, you have no chance of building a residual income.

How Do You Make Money With Monat Global?

As a distributor, you can earn income 5 different ways. You can earn immediate income retailing products and acquiring VIP Customers. But just like any other Network Marketing company, the true potential lies in building a rep base and customer base. As you grow your group and accumulate customers, you can earn between 7%-12% on your group’s volume every month. You can also earn 5% through 5 Generations. Overall the compensation plan looks to be fair and lucrative. There’s both upfront and backend income potential which is what you need if you’re going to build a business.

Should You Join?

Well… only you can truly answer that question. The management team is experienced and solid. The suite of products are premium and high-quality. And the compensation plan is lucrative. Surely, you’ll see success if you join, right? Nothing could be further from the truth. You could have the best opportunity and products in the Industry, but if you don’t have a single person to tell about it, you’ll make no money. At the end of the day, your success will come down to your ability to sponsor people and get customers. And at some point, your warm market will run out. This is why I suggest you learn how to market online and learn Attraction Marketing. If you can position yourself in front of a highly targeted audience you’ll have more leads you can handle. And when you’re in a position where you have people chasing you, …

Many small business owners spend a lot of time, effort and money doing things to grow their business that could be done more effectively in conjunction with another business. By this, I mean forming partnerships with other businesses can not only improve a small business' marketing, but it can also improve the business itself.

In this article, four ways to grow a small business through networking and cooperating with other businesses will be discussed. Each, of course, has distinct advantages and disadvantages. They are: 1) cross-marketing, 2) organizing an event, 3) forming a support group, and 4) sharing resources.

Cross-Marketing
In any community, there are numerous opportunities for businesses to cross market their products or services. Here are some examples. A souvenir shop in a resort community that gives its customers a discount coupon for a local restaurant would encounter no additional expenses. The restaurant, of course returns the favor, by giving a discount coupon to its patrons. A graphic designer, for example, may be able to cross promote services with a local print shop or sign maker. An oil change shop could give a coupon for a car detailer and vice versa. The key is to find reliable businesses that honestly view this sort of cross-promotion as a win-win activity.

Organizing an Event
There are many ways for a group of businesses to organize an event that will help each business grow. Farmers markets, street fairs, community events, etc. Are a great way for local merchants to realize the benefits of cooperating to bring customers to the area. A health club, for example, may hold a health fair in partnership with a local health clinic. A restaurant and a local wine shop may cooperate to have monthly wine and food tasting events. A web development company could partner with a local photographer to give a demo on shot-for-the-web techniques.

Form a Support Group
It is easy to become isolated as a small business owner. Between the late hours, the stress and need to make payroll, there seems to be little time for anything else. Not unexpectedly, the small business owner next door, down the street and across town probably is dealing with a lot of the same issues. One way to network and support other small businesses is to form a weekly or monthly coffee club. You could even introduce a topic of week and share ideas on one them each week.

Share Resources
A great way to lower expenses and strengthen your systems is to share resources. Even a simple thing like buying in bulk and splitting the order can have a big impact on the bottom line. Almost everything is less expensive in bulk, but many small businesses do not have the need, space or financial resources to buy, say a pallet of paper, but three or maybe. Another thing that many businesses can share is business intelligence. This may include a mailing list or information about reliable suppliers.

Sharing resources or expertise does require mutual trust …

Many healthcare and insurance related companies have experienced high ASA times (Average Speed of Answer) and problematic Call Handling Times (CHT). Others have experienced challenges with ABN (Average Time to Abandonment) and ATB (All Trunks Busy). A company’s call center is the often the first contact, the critical initial claims intake responsible for customers when problems or losses occur. As with most call centers, there are times when in-house occupancy rates are at 90% – and no one is available to answer the phone.

A company call center could certainly return the call an hour later or the next day, but that may be too late, as the customer may have already contacted an attorney or progressed down a more problematic or costly path than necessary. For claims related issues, industry experts agree that a cycle time delays can increase the cost of your claims dramatically and will simultaneously reduce the effectiveness and level of customer service provided by your organization. This is why many of today’s contact centers employ outsourced call centers for overflow, nights and weekends. The around the clock claims professional staffing with overflow capacity offers improved call center responsiveness and enhances the overall customer experience.

By leveraging a contact center for overflow, nights, weekends and holidays, companies can improve organizational by as much as 40% while enhancing the customer experience. All of these things can positively impact the bottom line of many if not most organizations. Today, many high quality call centers outsource FNOL (First Notice of Loss) for overflow and non-peak times, while some outsource their entire operation. JD Power and Associates has stated that insurers with longer than average cycle times of 14.8 days are rated in the bottom 50% in terms of customer satisfaction.

At 80% or greater call center occupancy in-house staff is extremely busy, turnover often increases due to burnout, customer service is adversely impacted and many calls go unanswered. At 50% occupancy staff has flexibility with down time, customer service levels are often very good, and most calls are answered. At 20% occupancy, essentially every call is answered, ASA times are short, customer service is superb; however efficiency is low and the cost per claim is astronomical. Finding the right balance with outsourced first notice of loss (FNOL) solutions can allow call centers to improve efficiency and reach optimum effectiveness.…

Vending machines are ubiquitous in our society; people walk by them and use them every day. They are in offices, retail establishments, medical offices, public buildings, and sports facilities. People pull change and dollar bills out of the purses or wallets and pay to get food or drinks from an automatic vending machine. Did you ever stop to wonder how the machines knows what money you put in the slot? Did you ever wonder how the device knows whether you put in a one or a five-dollar bill?

For those of you who have contemplated the money-reading capabilities of vending equipment, the answers are really quite simple. Coins are read based on their obvious physical properties. Thickness, diameter, and ridges on the edge are the main characteristics read by a machines, but some advanced machines can also determine the chemical composition of a coin. For example, a quarter is 0.069 inches thick, 0.955 inches in diameter, and has 119 ridges around the edge. A nickel is 0.076 inches thick, 0.835 inches in diameter, and has a smooth edge, while a dime is 0.053 inches thick, 0.705 inches in diameter, and has 118 ridges along the edge. In an advanced machine, a coin passes through an electromagnetic field generated by an electromagnet; this creates an electronic signature based on its chemical composition. If this signature doesn’t match with a genuine coin’s signature, the coin is rejected by the device. Though it is quite simple to see how coins are read, paper money is a different matter.

Most people at some point in time wished that machines would read their one-dollar bill as a twenty, but unfortunately, this does not happen. Vending machines are smarter than they look and can tell what the denomination of the bill is without any issues (though we sometimes have difficulties getting a bill to go into the machine). Paper money printed in the United States contains many different security features designed to deter counterfeiters. There are also specific features which help with automated denomination recognition. One of the most common methods is through the use of a magnetic scan. Paper money is printed with magnetic ink which can be read by magnetic scanners. Another way that vending machines read paper money is with ultraviolet light. Vending equipment contains ultraviolet lights that scan inserted bills. These lights determine the value of the bill by reading the fluorescent response.

Some vending machines allow users to make purchases with credit cards and they read these cards like most other credit cards readers. They use a magnetic strip reader to measure and calculate the thousands of tiny magnets that comprise the strip on the back of the card. These tiny magnets, aligned in a specific way, convey information to the reader. When a credit card gets old, the integrity of the magnetic strip on the back of the card may have been compromised through damage or normal use; the magnetic strip reader can no longer read the information because the …

The Heart Saver CT screening for heart disease (also known as the UltraFast CT or Calcium Scoring CT) has been available for about 10 years now. This study looks for calcified plaque in the arteries of the heart. Plaque, put simply, is the fatty, waxy type of substance produced by the liver that proceeds throughout the bloodstream. You may also hear or read this referred to as cholesterol. Frequently, plaque will adhere itself to the walls of arteries and over time solidify. Then, it becomes known as calcified plaque. The Heart Saver CT looks specifically at the arteries of the heart searching for calcified plaque.

It is a reasonable test for those with the desire to satisfy their curiosity regarding the probability of future heart disease. The test takes about a half an hour and there are no needles or preparation involved. This study is NOT for someone with known heart disease. Since its purpose is to be a predictor of future disease, it would be a waste of money to do the test if you already know you have heart disease. The Heart Saver CT is an excellent tool when used properly.

In many instances, this study is done when a person is over the age of 35 and more likely over the age of 40. The cost can range from $100 to $300 and some insurance companies will cover this test. However, be prepared to pay out of pocket even if your insurance company will cover and then seek reimbursement. Many facilities that offer this study will not file your insurance for this particular test. The reason for lack of coverage is some insurance companies still consider this test experimental. If you have a family history of heart disease and / or high cholesterol then you should consider this test.

There is potential good and bad news about your results. If your calcium scoring result is zero, then congratulations. Zero is the perfect score meaning there is no indication of calcified plaque in the arteries of your heart. You do not have heart disease from atherosclerosis. However, any score higher than zero means that you do have heart disease. Many people do not understand this fact. Even though you have not had a heart attack, yet, an elevated calcium score means that someday you just might. Calcium score can range into the thousands of an unsuspecting victim. This person would be the epitome of a ticking time bomb. The type of person you hear someone telling about, “He was out mowing the yard and just dropped dead.” A score like that in itself makes this test a must do for anyone over the age of 45 with no known history of heart disease. Lives are saved because of it, but that is part of the good news.

Now for the bad news: Another thing many do not realize is while some insurance companies will not cover this test, they will consider it for future coverage and premiums. Again, …

Over the years, Nigerian school administrators, especially, the lslamiyyah schools had paid Lip services to the proper keeping of records. All these schools do is simply teach and graduate students. However as observed by NTI, (2000:12) in 1964, a headmaster of one primary school in our neighboring Bauchi State was faced with one serious experience. A form containing many questionnaires about one of the old pupils of the school who was nominated to be appointed as the chairman of the Federal Public Service Commissioner was given to him to complete. The pupil graduated many years before the headmaster even went to primary school. Therefore, the headmaster did not know the man personally and did not know what to write about him.

The only solution available to the headmaster was to turn to the school records. The school records showed the year the pupil was admitted, the year he passed out, the records of his good academic performance, records of annual prizes given to the pupil among others.

It was these records that helped the headmaster to correctly and accurately filled the form that assisted the person to be successfully appointed.

DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS

School records keeping: This concept according to NTI (2000:12) is the history of the school kept systematically. This means that the systematic growth of the school at various points in time need to be thoroughly recorded and kept by school administrators. it is the authentic register of instruments of officials accounts of transaction or accurance which are preserved in the schools office (Olanrewaju 200S).

Aleiyideino SC et al (202) defined record as a written statement about a happening. School record keeping according to these scholars are records that give a lot of information about the school that will enable the authority to take decisions and asses the progress of the school. Head of School shall refer to both head teacher and principal.

Student: It shall be used to refer to both pupils and students. These records according to Dibu-Ojerinde,00 and Tukur(ed) (2005:21) classified school records into (a) Statutory Records (b) Academic Records (c) Finance Records (d) Staff Record(e) General Records.

Also linking Muslim schools to the category of voluntary agencies interested in educational development, Eke, et al (2000:46) explained that the Izalatil bid’a Wa Iqamatis Sunnah group, the Jama’atu Nasrul Islam, is the Islamic Trust of Nigeria (ITN) among others have contributed immensely not only to the development of education but also to proper school records keeping in Nigeria. Here cognitive and effective domains are highly exhibited unlike public schools that deal with only cognitive domain.

It is in light of the above that we are going to discuss the classification of school records as listed by Dibu-Ojerinde 0.0 and Tukur H.as follows:

A). STATUTORY RECORDS

1. ADMISSION REGISTER

This is a register of admission, progress and withdrawal of students, it should contain the following particulars about the admitted students.

(a) Admission number (b) Name in full (c) Sex (d) Name and address of parent/guardians (e) Day …

First of all, what is considered a risk? If we are going to identify the risks we will need to know what to look for. I have heard risk defined as the effect of uncertainty on objectives. That definition is all right but a bit too vague. To effectively identify risks for a particular project or initiative, I think you have to be a bit more specific to the objective.

As risk relates to the Project Stream™, best practices would dictate that each level is completed before the next level begins. As indicated in the diagram above, overlapping levels (as shown) will result in incidental risk and compromised results. This is a common occurrence and typically happens when levels stretch out and do not have a disciplined schedule for milestone start and completion.

“Delays have dangerous ends.” – William Shakespeare

When the project start and finish date are fixed, milestone durations should be planned with contingency durations. Otherwise any expansion of a milestone duration may compromise the adjacent milestones or possibly even the overall project risk.

Risk management scheduling is a critical part of project planning. The more time you spend crafting the schedule, the better chance you will have of project success. If you plan it well, you will be able to use the process schedule to effectively manage the project scope, schedule and budget.

“True nobility is exempt from fear.” – William Shakespeare

Make a Plan, Have a Plan. You will be glad you did!

Don’t be afraid to look to the past when crafting your plan for the future.…