The Know Insider Weblog

We have tried just about every way you can imagine to sell our lawn care services. One of the best, and not too expensive, was to use door hangers.
Not just any old door hangers but full color, nice looking door hangers with a place to leave a price quote for our services.

Even if a competing lawn care business does use door hangers they are most likely blah and not too interesting.

After I thought about this for a while, I decided to make some advertising materials based on the idea of “more free time” for our customers. They may be paying us for short grass or a neat lawn but the bottom line for most of our customers want to spend their time doing something other than lawn care.

Based on this idea I ended up making two pictures we can use for door hangers for our lawn care business.

The first was a picture of me pushing a mower carrying golf clubs.
The second was a picture of me carrying a fishing pole and tackle box pushing a mower.

Once I had them looking the way we wanted I uploaded these to our online color printer. I had 500 full color door hangers made (250 of each) with a simple ad on the back with a place for me to leave a quote for the price of our services.

How’d this work out? Better than expected. I can pretty much tell if I put out 100 door hangers in a good area I will get anywhere from 3 to as many as 20 calls.

I think there are two reasons these work. One is door hangers have to be taken off the door to see what they are. If they are full color and glossy they will get looked at.

The second reason is you just don’t get that many door hangers. (From a lawn care business or any other business for that matter)
Think about it. You get flyers, direct mail, etc all the time.

BUT…I can count on one had the number of time I’ve had a door hanger waiting on me when I got home.

If you’re looking to target a specific area for your lawn care business how about giving door hangers a try? You might be very surprised (and delighted) with the results.

If you are interested in the two flyers / door hangers we use to promote our lawn care business you can get them by going to our website.

If you’re interestd in starting and running a lawn care business or ways to make your lawn care business more profitable chekc out our site on starting a lawn care business

You can email me anytime at patrick@lawncare-business.com

Are you confused by all the information you receive from various radio stations? Do they all tell you they are #1 and you don’t know who to believe? Most of them probably are #1 so believe it or not, they aren’t lying to you. The question is, “What are they #1 in and is it a group of ears you want to reach?”

Quite often a radio “Account Manager” or “Account Executive” which are pseudonyms for radio sales person, receives a call from someone who states they are gathering information for someone else, the real decision maker, someone who is looking at radio as a possible advertising medium. They ask for an information package to be mailed out to them; or faxed over if it’s urgent (Ha!). When the rep asks questions that are essential to the provision of any information pertinent to the situation (demographics, psychographics, time frame, budget etc.), the caller says they know nothing. They were just told to call stations and gather information.

Being an obliging rep, the information is sent or faxed as requested ….and then nothing happens 95% of the time. The decision maker receives the rankers, profiles, sales packages, announcer and program information and can’t figure out how to make a decision….so they buy print instead. Both sides of the prospective transaction lose.

The information each station sends out will of course focus on their strengths. As mentioned earlier, many will be #1 in their target market, which really confuses the issue. If the prospective client thinks that everyone is their target market, they may chose to buy the station that has the highest cume audience (cume - unduplicated listeners who tune to the station for at least 15 minutes a week). The price per commercial is usually quite high and discourages new advertisers before they start.

Even when the decision maker is the one gathering the information or meeting with the reps, they still often end up confused by all of the data. The secret to gathering the information you need, is to ask the right questions. How do you ask the right questions?

You ask the right questions of yourself first and provide as much information as you can about what you want to accomplish with this advertising and whom you need to reach. Make a list of the characteristics of your best customers. Define the age group, the kind of radio they are likely to listen to (talk, rock, easy listening, news, etc.). Identify any psychographics that may be pertinent.

No matter how much you would like to think so, everyone is not your customer. There is a group that is more likely to use your services or buy your product and they are the target to focus your efforts on.

When you request information, be specific. State unequivocally that you only want information that is relevant to the consumer characteristics, you provide. All the information must be based on the same criteria, to provide a basis for comparison. How else will you determine which station reaches your best customers at a cost effective rate?

Bigger isn’t always better, so choose your audience based on the criteria you set, and work with the creative team at the station to write and record messages to captivate your customers.

Copyright © 2005, Nancy Fraser, Nota Bene Consulting
All Rights Reserved http://www.notable-marketing.com

Every year nearly 60,000 airplanes take off and land with an
estimated 36 billion paper checks at an annual processing cost of $8
billion. Who pays this $8 billion dollars? The banks and credit
unions across the nation, that’s who. Why do they go to all this
effort and expense? Many state commercial codes stipulated that only
a canceled check was proof positive of payment.

Since there are nearly 18,000 financial institutions in the United
States, most of them have not been able to charge fees to cover this
$8 billion cost of letting you have a checking account. This means
that all of that money has to come out of other fees, penalties and
loan rates.

At least this was the truth until October 21, 2004 when a new
federal law took effect trumping states rights to regulate banks
within their borders. The Check 21 Act allows a paper preprint of a
check to be considered the equivalent of the original check. In
English this means a bank in Oregon can copy a deposited check, send
the image to your bank via electronic means and receive their money
all in the same day.

Image exchange checks will not replace the old fashioned method of
moving paper checks any time soon, though the number of checks
written a year is decreasing an estimated 5%. Analysts expect the
image exchange checks to surpass paper processing in 2006.

So why do banks want to invest in the equipment and security
measures necessary to move checks electronically when the other
method works? I can name you 5 reasons for every check every
financial institution handles and they are all named Lincoln. Every
check a bank does not handle is a savings of 5 cents, for an annual
average savings, per bank, per year, of $266,000.

How will this affect you, the consumer, who writes 120 checks a year
for every man, woman, and child in this country? It doesn’t affect
you very much, except you will likely be receiving a printout of your
checks with every statement.

The exception to this is if you are one of the millions of consumers
who will write a check on Thursday, the day before your paycheck is
deposited. You have become accustomed to writing a check and having a
couple days to get the money into the account before the check
reaches your bank. You are using what is called the float principle.
Simply put, the float principle is the amount of time it takes a
check to be deposited, trucked and flown to your bank.

With image exchange, the float is sunk. Through 2006 the banks and
credit unions can collect an estimated $170 million per month in
bounced check fees on nearly 7 million checks written on accounts
before the money was in the account.

That $170 million translates into 5 cents for every check written in
the nation, or nearly $266,000 per bank, per year. This money will be
taken from consumers in the form of “service fees”, turning that $35
check into a $70 check because of the $35 bounced check service fee.
Who is more likely to have insufficient funds in their checking
account - the above average income or the below average income
consumers?

I guess it depends on your definition of below average income. The
ultra-below make less than $10,000 a year and mostly operate without
checking accounts. The ultra-above make more than $250,000 and use
electronic or plastic means of paying for their purchases and
everyday expenses.

That leaves the rest of the nation, approximately 200,000,000 of us
to provide enough service fees for the banks to average a quarter
million dollars in unearned income each year. We’re the people
writing 10 checks every month for every member of our household.
We’re the busy parents of active children trying to do everything and
be everything in what we call an American dream.

How can you protect yourself and keep from adding to your banks
bottom line? Control your checkbook and perhaps even change your
spending habits. As more and more banks switch to the Check 21
system, you have to be ready for when it happens to you.

You can do this in a very simple, practical, and easy manner. Flip-
flop the order of writing checks. Let me demonstrate on Sue, a
typical mother of two children (12 & 14) who works at a local office
building. Every Friday her weekly paycheck is deposited in her
checking account electronically.

How Sue will respond to Check 21 is that from now on she will no
longer do the grocery shopping on Thursday after soccer practice.
Instead she will wait until Saturday after gymnastics, or even Monday
on her way home from work to swing by the store and pickup a couple
bags groceries for the week. By making this switch in routine, she
will know the money for the groceries is in the bank.

Now let’s make the assumption that instead of some imaginary woman
named Sue, this person was you. Did you see what happened? Instead of
writing a check before the money was in your account, you waited to
write the check after the money was in available. This guaranteed
your check would clear and you would not be charged any unexpected
service fees.

By waiting to write checks until after the funds are in the account
will take a little practice on your part and might be more difficult
to do than it sounds. If you make the effort, and train yourself to
think like a banker so you can avoid service fees, you will come out
money ahead.

As the rules of banking change, you have to know and understand your
rights and what these rule changes mean to you. Check 21 legislation
was enacted to make check processing easier and more convenient for
financial institutions across the country. They are also anticipating
a surge in income through service fees. Do your best to avoid padding
their bottom line - write checks only after the money is in your
account.

Roger Sorensen

America’s Financial Guide can be found at ==>http://www.Slave2Work.com Subscribe to Money Basics via http://www.slave2work.com/ezine.html

Slave2Work.com - Are you ready for financial freedom?

In last week’s article, we talked about why your small business needs a press kit. Because they’re not just for the press, I prefer to call them small business information package. To recap, you need a small business information package to augment your business card, which has only limited information about you and your company.

Your small business information package is the printed materials to give or send to prospective clients to tell them who you are, where you are, how to contact you, what you do, how to buy, and why to buy from you instead of your competition.

This week, we’re going to discuss what you should put inside your information package. For all intents and purposes, anything that promotes your company can go inside it. Some of the more common things include:

• Business card
• Small business brochure
• Letter of introduction
• Product or service review
• Price list
• Press releases
• White papers
• Recent articles written by you or about your company
• Biography of key officers
• Flyers, coupons or direct mail pieces
• Information pamphlets

So, let’s talk a bit about each. And let’s start with the big oneyour small business brochure. Your small business brochure can stand alone. If you decide not to have a complete small business information package, at the very least, create a tri-fold brochure so you have detailed printed information to give clients.

If your prospective client reads only one thing in your whole information package, it will most likely be your brochure. Why? Because it captures the reader’s attention better than any other item in your information package. Most of your other items will be letters, articles or reviews. They’ll look good, and they’ll all match because they’re on your letterhead, but they won’t jump out at your readers like your full color tri-fold brochure will.

So, you want to make sure it’s the first thing people see when they open the front cover of your information package. If you can capture their interest with your brochure, they’re more likely to read the rest.

The first page of your small business brochure should have your business name and logo, and possibly a photo or some graphics. Make it colorful. Make it interesting. Add a slogan or motto on the front that will make people curious as to what’s inside. You don’t want them to just look at the front cover and put it aside!

Inside, try to introduce yourself and review your product or service briefly. If you can, keep the introduction and review to the length of the first inside page or so. Adding a few graphics or photos throughout the whole brochure, together with informative text helps keep your readers’ interest. And, make good use of your headings, remembering that most readers will scan from left to right, stopping at graphics and headings, and sometimes reading the last paragraph.

Now, this part is important, and is possibly the biggest mistake most small businesses make with their brochureat least some of the other two inside pages could be better used to show prospective buyers how your product or service can benefit them, rather than to describe your product or service features.

I cannot stress this enough. Too many times small business brochures are used simply to talk about you, your company or your product/service. Most of your readers simply won’t care who you are, what you do or how you do it. What they really care about is how you can benefit them. How you can save them time or resources. How you can make their lives just a little bit easier.

Often, the last outside page of your brochure summarizes the inside pages, or lists products or services in point form. You could even add a price list, if you have one.

The next several items in your small business information package are all written on your letterhead, and the sky’s the limit as to what you can use.

You could put the letter of introduction just behind your brochure, or you could include it outside the information package cover if you’re mailing it. Usually this is just a short, one-page letter introducing yourself and your company, and thanking the recipient for taking the time to look at your information package.

Your product or service review could be long or short, depending on what you’re offering. This is not the place to stress benefits, but simply to list and describe your services or products. You can combine a product or service review with your price list very effectively.

Include any press releases about your company, and articles written by you or about your company. If you don’t have any, don’t worry. You can write some specifically for your information kit. Include announcements of your grand opening, for example, or a new line of products, or your new location. Or write an article about one of your products or services.

White papers are becoming increasingly popular. Are you an expert in a particular area? If you are, you might want to write a white paper to include with your information package. A white paper discusses specific business issues, products, technology or other such topics. It usually summarizes information about the topic, and then suggests a proposal for action, referencing research data to justify the reasons for the action. It explains your topic in terms most people can understand, with the goal of educating consumers and marketing your product or service. White papers help establish the writer as an authority.

The biography of your key officers is basically a resume. Include short one-page biographies of key officers to highlight areas of expertise and level of experience in your industry.

Fliers, coupons and direct mail pieces can also be included in your small business information package. Fliers and coupons emphasize current specials or discounts. Here’s a few tips. When you’re thinking about specials or discounts, try to create a sense of urgency with them by making them time- or quantity-limited. And, consider the 10/10 rule, which theorizes that people are most likely to buy when they see discounts of 10% or $10. Or, better yet, offer something extra free.

Recent direct mail sales letters can also be included. There’s simply too much to say about them to really give justice in this short article, but some things to remember are: to stress benefits, create a sense of urgency, the 10/10 rule and a bolded P.S. including a call to action.

Keep direct mail sales letter simple and relevant. Be enthusiastic, know your product, use your imagination and understand your target audience. Establish trust and credibility. Include testimonials. Give free nuggets of information. And, just like in your brochure, write your direct mail sales letter for how people will read it, scanning left to right, and stopping at graphics and headlines, and the P.S.

Now that you’ve gotten all your information package items written and printed, it’s time to put them all together. You can buy covers in your company colors and have your logo and business name printed on them. Put your business card in the front slot and your information in the inside pockets, making sure your brochure is the first item they’ll see. Then send it out, and sit back and wait for responses you’re sure to get!

Eve Jackson owns Details Small Business Solutions, a company dedicated to helping small business do big business with communication and image consulting. We write business plans and design corporate identity packages, small business information packages and web sites. We’re also copywriters, writing copy for information packages, web sites and direct mail sales letters…

Charting and carrying your business plan is essential to ensure the success of your Online Business every time you start. A well-charted business plan assists you a well-organized approach towards achieving your goal.

Your business plan is very similar to a treasure map which without it, you would not be able to find your way to obtaining your rewards from running an Online Business.

Your Online Business plan should have the following charted out before executing them in action:

Business Mission

==============

This is the most important component of your business regardless of any kind. It must have a genuine mission to help other people in one way or another. If you engaged in a business solely for the money, you will need a lot of tough luck.

As customers or consumers ourselves, we do not like to be involved with people who are solely looking into our pockets without even a little responsibility in customer service. Agree? Certainly! On the same token, let us not engage business solely to make money. There are more wonderful reasons to be in business besides the attractive potential income one could make.

Very often, your business mission should always be summarized in a sentence easy to remember and follow by. The sentence should summarize the aim of your Online Business and the reason it was built.

Objectives

=========

When you have summarized your business mission, what follow are the objectives of your Online Business. What do you and maybe your partners or employees want to accomplish through this business? What are the products or services is your business going to offer to the people who are in need of them?

Marketing

=========

First, you need to identify your target market. Just who do you want to market your product or service to? Remember that if you do not have a market, you do not have a business. You must be able to identify your potential customers who will be interested in what you have to offer through your business.

You must also identify your competitor. Who are the people who have already accomplished what you want to do? What are they offering? How are their products and services priced? How is their website designed?

The more competition you have, the more unique you will have to be. You can also beat your competition by increasing the quality of your customer service.

Now, each time we hear the word competitor, we subconsciously interpret that word as something negative. The truth is we do not necessarily have to destroy or outsmart another Online Business owner in order to win financially.

Have you heard of the saying “I destroy my enemies by making friends”? There is a lot of truth in this quote. In the 21st century, people succeed by having win-win agreements and you are encouraged to do the same. As an Online Business owner just starting out, you can reduce your competition by being friendly. Yes, be friendly!

I know it might sound awkward to you if you have been spending most of the time in your life fighting to secure prestigious posts in school clubs or impressing your boss to give you a raise or promotion and make your colleagues envy you. But imagine the number of competition you can reduce just by establishing Joint Ventures, interviews or even giving some kind words on the forum!

I have explained a great length about identifying your competitors. Now, let us discuss your plans on advertising. So how do you plan to advertise?

When you set up your Online Business website, you need people on the Internet to know that you are in business. The first step is to always submit your website to search engines.

There are many Internet Marketers who spend most of their time trying to top the search engine listing, but in my humble opinion, it is a battle not worth continuing. With many books published to tell everyone how to be number one on the search engines, you are obviously not the only one who wants to secure the top listings on search engines (that is even if you know how!).

The good news is that there are several more ways to market your product or service effectively even without the help of search engines. You can easily research for ways to market your product or service in detail from other friendly articles on Internet Marketing.

Product

=======

There are three aspects you will need to consider at the start of your Online Business:

[1] Price - take the time to select your product price carefully. If you price it too low, people will perceive that it is too low on quality. If you price it too high, people will perceive that it is too expensive.

[2] Delivery - if you are selling a physical product, how would you deliver the product to your customers? What shipping prices will you charge? If you are selling an electronic product, you will need to have security measures in place and automate the delivery process for instant download by your customers.

[3] Payment - you can choose some of the common credit card payment processors below:

www.2checkout.com

www.clickbank.com

www.paypal.com

www.ibill.com

www.stormpay.com

Plan each step carefully and explore your options in full. Then, carry your plans out religiously, improve where needed, and you will be well on your way achieving your Online Business goals!

Copyright © Edmund Loh

About the Author:
Edmund Loh is the author of the E-Biz Wiz Blog and Starting An Internet Business Special Report. Visit E-Biz Wiz Blog for proven ideas, tips and information on starting your own Internet Business and subscribe to the 12 Day Internet Marketing Success Course at http://ebizmodelsyoucancopy.blogspot.com

WARNING: This single step can double your real estate investing income in the next 90 days.

Decide on your target market
Determine what your target market will be. I know from experience that it is really easy to want to do EVERYTHING: Foreclosures, probate, absentee owners, abandoned properties, tax liens, lease options, and the list goes on and on! But, to be a successful real estate investor and to really make money in real estate, you’ve got to focus! Drill an inch wide and a mile deep!

Let me guess, you heard a teleseminar on short sales and you wanted to dive in! Then, you buy the probate home study course you just found online!

I am guilty of this! I went to a 3 day real estate training several years ago. Every single strategy, technique or tactic that was taught was “it”! So, promptly upon leaving, I decided to try everything all at once… The thing about this is that we’re so often looking for the magic pill, and unfortunately, no such elixir exists in real estate.

Believe me. I understand your frustration when everything seems to contradict everything else. So, I’m going to clear things up for you! You don’t have to do everything in real estate. You have to do one or two things well. So, perhaps you work with foreclosures and within the probate system for your real estate investing focus. You become the expert in those areas.

You learn one market and how to negotiate, overcome objections, solve problems that come up and so forth. I systematized it and then move on to the next market and let the system run on autopilot.

So, first things first…

1. Pick your niche:
Foreclosures, probate, absentee owners, MLS, abandoned properties, farming neighborhoods, tax liens, code violations, etc.

2. Determine your method of communication:
Direct mail, driving for dollars, telemarketing or mass media advertising

3. Set your real estate marketing budget:
Figure out how much you are going to spend per campaign. A campaign is not a monthly budget. Keep in mind a real estate marketing campaign is not necessarily a monthly budget. You may spend $100 one month and $500 the next simply because of what marketing tactics you are using.

4. Implement
Implement your plan - and stick to it! You’ve got to commit to your real estate marketing or else you’ll be throwing money out the front door rather than really making money in real estate! Be patient and stay in for the long haul and the deals will come. Just remember that real estate marketing is an investment into your real estate business and constant investment results in a constant stream of income.

The Next Level Institute is dedicated to helping real estate investors - whether a brand new or a seasoned investor - become more successful with less effort. Get your free 4-part mini-course on finding deals AND learn the 7 keys to sucking in the deals faster than a “Hoover” vacuum! Get your free e-book at: www.7steprealestate.com.

As webmasters, writers and authors we all want to find ways to maximize the profitability of our content. We employ a variety of methods such as Adsense, Yahoo Ads, links to affiliate products of all types but there are a couple of problems. There is the sheer time involved in creating these links and then keeping them updated to the most relevant and profitable products. To avoid a Google penalty you must use text-based affiliate links, as noted previously this can be a monumental task.

Keeping pace with the fast paced changes of the internet can make it time consuming, difficult and expensive to keep all of your content optimized for profits. What’s needed is a breakthrough technology to make it just as easy to keep a website optimized whether you have 10 pages or 10,000 pages of content. Well, the future is here! Michael Fortin and Sylvie Charrier have just recently unveiled what may be the single most important innovation for webmaster since Adsense.
While still in beta stage this new breakthrough is already beginning to turn heads. With just a simple snippet of code installed in the footer of a thousand page website, any group of keywords can be targeted and “automatically” converted to live links to the most profitable affiliate products at Clickbank and Amazon. Also you can target your own or any other product by designating which keywords, again even if there are a thousand instance of those keywords, once from the control panel.

What’s even better is that the program updates the targets regularly and follows the most profitable products without a single edit on your part. If the hottest selling weight loss product at Clickbank is outdistanced by a more relevant and more profitable product, your links will now be directed to the new profit leader. Similarly if a product is eliminated or removed your links never die, they just move the next most profitable one.

Can you imagine the work and expense of going back into thousands of webpages, ezine articles, ebooks and manually changing the links. Please! And can I go back to a typewriter too! Michael and Sylvie’s new software is going to revolutionize the web.

As this is still beta you can expect a few glitches as it is being refined and tweaked. The early birds already there. Remember the day you first heard of his software as one day you may be able to recount to others that you were aware of this before it became really big. I know I though Google’s IPO was sort of high and I would wait to pick it up went it came down.

Currently Clickbank and Amazon are “plugged in” to the system but close on their heels are Commission Junction, Digital River, PayDotCom.com, even eBay. All your content can now be working for you, night and day. The possibilities are mind boggling for a few visionaries legends will be told.

You can learn more about Content Into Cash here.

D Dean Hall is a writer with many interests. He also founded www.ArticleWell.Com, an article submission directory to help others market their ideas by providing a free format where authors can publish and publishers can find fresh and free content. Explore the benefits of article marketing.

The Internet is rife with opportunities in information and business. Entrepreneurs have utilised the relatively new medium to create businesses and earn themselves sizeable amounts of cash. For the regular user looking to earn money, there is seemingly no end of schemes to join. But few of these can match the potential earning power and ease of online sports betting affiliate programs. The online affiliate program offers all Internet users the opportunity to create their own demi-business from home. The simplicity is possibly the greatest thing about the affiliate program. There are only a few things that you need, a website, sign up to a sport betting affiliate program and then some space on your site to squeeze in a few advertisements. As with all simple business opportunities, it may appear too good to be true, but the fact is that affiliate programs produce result after result for hundreds of thousands of web users each and every year.

Affiliate programs are fundamentally a way for large websites to gain free advertising. Without having to pay any cash up front, the affiliate program works as a supply and demand enterprise. The demand is from the sport-betting site that requires new customers to keep generating new capital, and this is supplied by the thousands of affiliates. The affiliate program allows websites to spread their net to encompass a vast section of the Internet, without ever having to pay a penny. The affiliates are rewarded on delivery of a new fully paid up customer, as are the sports betting sites. The benefits for both parties speak for themselves. On the sports betting side, the site achieves a new customer and all of the profits and bonuses that arise from them. Whilst the affiliate generates between 20 and 35% of the players lifetime money generated for the betting site.

Affiliates with an entrepreneurial perspective cab easily generate a significant profit from their small business. With an affiliate earning up to 35% of a players total lifetime money, it does not take too long to amass a clientele that will generate a significant amount. Therefore if marketed right a site can start turning their revenue into extra revenue, by utilising profits and reinvesting in further advertising opportunities. Smaller businesses may not see the need to reinvest valuable revenue, but for those with a taste for entrepreneurial marketing the opportunities are there to make your site a big earner. It stands to reason that an affiliate stands a greater chance of attracting new customers to their clients external sites, if they can first attract more to their own site. The more people passing through the more likely somebody is to click on the advertising banners. Increasing a sites visibility is not always simple but there are a number of options available to website owners, with any budget. SEO documents, blog entries, forum posting and advertising through major search engines or other sites can all help lead valuable customers to your sites door. Then all you have to do is sit back and wait for them to click the links and earn your business some serious revenue.

Discover the secrets of top online poker affiliates and discover how to find the best poker affiliate programs at http://www.epokeraffiliate.com/

Copyright 2005 Ash Trivedi

One of the best methods for getting the word out about your product and making a lot of sales in a short amount of time is with Joint Ventures. These joint ventures or “JV’s” can take-on many different forms. Some are as simple as promoting each other’s newsletters, while others may be more complex partnerships with cross-promoting of complimentary products. Joint Ventures are a powerful tool for expanding business in many areas. So, what is stopping ‘you’ from using this technique to expand your business? For many new marketers, starting a JV can be a frightening task, especially when it comes to contacting other marketers. Too often, many marketers appear to be “spamming,” when they are really just seeking other JV partners. There is a correct way about finding joint venture partners and getting them to say yes to your proposal. Here’s a few tips to get you started right away.

Don’t use a template style letter and email all potential partners with that letter. Take the time to visit their site and make personal comments about it in your proposal. Let your future J.V partner know that you have taken the time to contact him/her personally.

There are joint venture networks out there that can save you a lot of time emailing and not get you accused of spam. You could visit sites like J.V Gold.com and http://www.jvAlert.com/invite.aspx?id=2133 (that site requires an invite, so I’ve given you one in that link)

So now you’ve got access to a massive network of heavy hitters and guru marketers. What you need to do is write the best proposal possible and really over deliver for your partners. This will make your proposal stand out over everyone else’s. Here’s a few tips you can use;

If you have a product or service, let your j.v partners have it for free. Let them know that as j.v partners they can have your product for a free review. Without offering them a free review you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who is willing to endorse a product to their list which may have taken them years to build a relationship with. Just by giving your product away for free to a couple of people you open up the gates for thousands of potential customers. If you have an affiliate program in place, offer your potential partners a higher commission rate rather than simply paying the standard affiliate rate. Make them feel special. Lastly, don’t give up. If you can’t for whatever reason join a joint venture network and you have to go emailing future partners one by one, this can get very tiring. Especially when all you may keep hearing is “no” or you get no reply at all. Well, just remember that you may have heard 100 “no’s”, but it only takes one “yes” from a heavy hitter to sky rocket your profits. Be patient and it will happen.

Ash Trivedi is an online marketer who’s created partnerships with multi-national companies and small businesses alike. Visit http://www.ash-trivedi.com/Mike.html for an opportunity to j.V with the gurus guru Mike G as a gift from Ash

My mother used to tell me, “There are two things in life for which you should spare no expense, your bed and your shoes.” Her reasoning was that if you are not in your bed, then you must be in your shoes, and your health and quality of life is greatly affected by either one. In this article I will discuss the first half of this equation, the health of your bed, which affects all aspects of your physical and mental performance.

I have written other articles on the importance of using an organic mattress, but it is equally important to use organic sheets, pillowcases and blankets on top of your bed because your bedding makes direct contact with your body for 8 hours every night. Just as using a natural mattress protects you from the toxic effects of petrochemical foams and polyester in conventional mattresses, organic bedding protects you from harmful chemicals present in most commercial bedding.

I am sure you are thinking, “My current bedding is fine, it can’t harm me, especially if I would wash it and change it more often.” While I can’t help you wash and change your bed more often, you need to know that most commercially available sheets and pillowcases are made from a 50/50 blend of conventionally grown cotton and polyester, which is not safe. Let me explain why:

Cotton is a very useful fiber that has many good qualities: It is hypoallergenic, it wicks away moisture well for a nice dry feel, it is relatively soft, and it washes and dries well. But cotton is also the most heavily sprayed crop on earth and 25% of the world’s pesticides are used for cotton production. These pesticide residues build up in cotton as it grows, and they can be transferred directly to your bedding when it is made from non-organic cotton. Once you sleep on this contaminated cotton, pesticide residue can pass through your skin and into your body.

Non-organic cotton is bad enough, but the polyester, which comprises the other 50% of your 50/50 blend bedding, is made from petrochemicals that shouldn’t be anywhere near your body. Polyester contains chemicals caused phthalates, which are used to make the fibers more flexible, and these chemicals mimic the female hormone estrogen in the human body. Constant exposure to phthalates and other plasticizers in food containers, dinnerware, polyester upholstery and other sources, has been linked to cancers and the dramatic drop in male fertility that has happened during the last 60 years. Polyester also traps water vapor, which causes night sweats, jock itch and athlete’s foot. It is included in sheets because it is inexpensive and makes sheets more durable and wrinkle-free. But is this worth the potential health consequences?

The solution to this problem is to use organic cotton sheets and pillowcases on your bed. As the concern has grown over the pesticides in conventionally grown cotton and the phthalates in polyester, organic cotton bedding has become more widely available. Organic grown cotton is now being produced worldwide, from Texas to India. The organic cotton is woven into sheets and pillowcases that look and feel like commercially available bedding, without the pesticides and the polyester. I also find these sheets to be much more comfortable for sleeping because they don’t trap moisture like 50/50 cotton/polyester blends.

Better organic sheets are pre-shrunk using steam and are totally machine washable and dryable. They have just a few more wrinkles out of the dryer than the 50/50 blends, but that is a small price to pay for a healthy bed. We can all live with some wrinkles, but we may not be able to live with cancer.

Manufacturers of organic cotton bedding include:

-Coyuchi, located in Point Reyes Station, California, which imports organic cotton bedding and bath linens from India.

-EcoDownUnder, which is located in Sydney, Australia, which imports organic cotton bedding and bath linens to the United States.

-Native Organic, located in El Segundo, California, which makes organic cotton bedding and bath linens from Texas-grown organic cotton.

-Under the Canopy, located in Boca Raton, Florida, which makes organic cotton sheets and towels that are imported from Brazil, as well as organic cotton clothing.

Organic cotton sheets, pillowcases, mattress pads, and blankets from these manufacturers are now being sold across the United States through local retailers that specialize in natural fiber bedding. There are also a number of nationwide Internet retailers for organic cotton sheets and bedding, and one of the largest is Dax Stores.

Organic cotton sheets and bedding cost a little more than conventional bedding, but, like my mother said, you shouldn’t be afraid to spare some expense your bedding because it will repay you with better health. I think your health is worth that extra expense, and so would my Mom, bless her heart.

Mark McSweiger is a freelance reporter on home and garden topics and ecological news. He is a definite believer in the value of using flannel sheets and organic bedding.