Today’s economic strife has caused much concern among workers everywhere, wondering if tomorrow will bring news that their job has been eliminated like so many hundreds of thousands of others. It is an uncomfortable feeling, and unless you are in a recession proof career, then likely the thought has crossed your mind too.

This may be the time to become a team player, and being the best employee you can be may give you an added advantage over other employees. For instance go out of your way to be highly visible at work, especially to your supervisors. Don’t hesitate to go above and beyond and do that extra little something that sets you apart. There are some positions that the company can live without, so try to work your way into a core position that makes you indispensable. Come to work early and stay late. Live and breathe your company’s mission. Share its goals, and be an active participant in internal and external activities.

This is the time for you to jump in and become more of a team player. You should do everything possible to assure your contributions are noticed and acknowledged. It is often the corporate offices located elsewhere that make decisions on hiring and firing. You’re possibly nothing more than a number to them, so whatever you can do locally to impress your supervisor will be to your advantage.

If the writing is on the wall and there is a possibility that your job is in jeopardy, you should begin proactive steps right away. Make sure you get your resume updated and fluffed. Do some research with regard to polishing your interviewing skills. And step back and do an analysis of your job skills. Networking among friends is the best way to find a new job and it never hurts to have options on the table.

Don’t make any large purchases, and work to pay your debt down. You may even consider signing up for credit insurance to help cover your bills in case you’re out of a job. Set aside some rainy day money. It’s true that if you get laid off, you’ll be able to collect unemployment. However, it’s generally only about half of what your normal pay is or less. Prepare yourself and you family mentally for the possibility of you losing your job. Most of all, keep a positive outlook. As the old saying goes when one door closes, another opens. This may be just the push you need to get out of a career rut and move on to something better.

The government in the UK promised to reduce the country’s carbon emissions by eighty percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. In recent weeks, however, the UK public opinion started to question the dedication of the government.

A recent article published by wallstreetpit.com claims that BP, a large British energy company, has announced that it will be refocusing its wind power projects in the United States while shutting down the wind power projects in Turkey, India, China and here in the UK. The article also claims that the UK will use wind power for thirty percent of the country’s electricity supply. One has to wonder why BP is pulling out of the UK if the government is truly dedicated to exploring the options offered by wind power and other green technologies.

The Guardian website included an article that touted Great Britain as one of the world’s premier locations for the development of wind technology. Great Britain’s wind technology popularity comes from its long coastline and the winds that have become famous around the globe.

The article on the Guardian’s site claims that the new partnership between Vattenfall and Iberdola Renovables has chosen the UK as the host for its latest wind farm project. The project is expected to put out 300MW of wind energy and will cost roughly 780M pounds Sterling to construct. Was this joint venture allowed because BP has moved its focus? If so - why is the government letting private business ventures shoulder the responsibility for wind technology?

Even more complaints are being voiced about the sum of money that will be needed to build the wind farms that will generate all of the green energy the UK’s government is so enamoured with. If thirty percent of the nation’s energy is going to be produced by wind farms, quite a few will need to be built to shoulder that burden. The Carbon Trust, an independent research group, has guessed that, in order to keep the government’s promise the process will need to get considerably faster and-at the same time-sixteen billion pounds will need to be removed from the project’s original budget. Redgreenandblue.com points out that although the UK targeted 2020 as the date by which this wind energy would be available, only twenty five percent of the wind farms will have been built by then.

Not only experts, but also most public opinions in the United Kingdom agree that renewable energy and not the current power grid is the future of energy production for the country. Green energy costs less money in the long run and is better for the globe than the current power grid system. Unfortunately, because of the shortfalls, British people should ask how committed the UK government really is to green energy. If the government truly wants to implement wind energy, why is the project budget being reduced? What is keeping the 2020 goal from happening?

A huge number of filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong usually call our employment agency and ask if we have Western employers available. What is it that filipino domestic helpers prefer Western employers instead of Chinese employers ?

Our employment agency caters to an international market. We receive inquiries from expatriates who need domestic helpers from time to time which results from our internet marketing endeavor.

Based on my interviews with some of those Filipino maids, they prefer Western employers compared with Chinese employers in Hong Kong because they tend to be more understanding and generous with compensation.

The four major areas where Western employers shows an edge over the Chinese employers in terms of their treatment of filipino domestic helpers are : atmosphere of work environment, consideration, socio-psychological distance and personal space. This is the result of the in-depth study conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong on how domestic helpers in Hong Kong are treated by their employers.

The data were based on in-depth and structured interviews of Filipino helpers who have served both types of employers. A few Western and Chinese employers were also interviewed.

The study shows that Western employers tend to provide their Filipino maids with easier and more comfortable work environment compared with the Chinese employers. They are more considerate, and are more likely to treat their maids equally and to allow them more personal space, thus, giving their helpers more satisfaction in working for them.

Western employers are more homogeneous in terms of variations in treatment of filipino domestic helpers and also tend to concentrate on the positive side while Chinese employers are more diversified. As a summary, filipino domestic helpers are more likely to know what Western employers are expecting of them and how they would be treated versus the Chinese employers where treatment usually vary from one employer to the other.

Simply said, a limited liability company, commonly know as an LLC, is a cross between a standard corporation and a general partnership. With an LLC, you get many of the benefits enjoyed by a corporation without the need for most of the corporate formalities. As such, it is a perfect fit for most small businesses.

The multiple owners, called members, of an LLC get treated like a partnership for tax purposes. It passes through taxes on income directly to its members, so, unlike a corporation, the LLC itself never pays taxes.

An LLC does not suffer from the double-taxation problem that a corporation does. In other words, because the tax obligation is passed on directly to the owners, income is only taxed once. However, an LLC must still pay state (if applicable) and federal payroll taxes.

The way that income taxes are paid by you, as a member of an LLC, is decided when you initially set up the LLC. You choose between taxed as a C corporation, an S corporation, or as a sole proprietor. The beauty of an LLC is that you get to decide how you are going to be taxed.

Certain personal liability protection is afforded the members of a properly set up LLC, but business and personal activity must be keep completely separate for this to happen. This liability protection is one of the reasons people choose an LLC over sole proprietorship. Also, as an LLC a company usually earns more respect in the customer’s eyes.

When the formation paperwork is drawn up for a limited liability company, the person doing the work does not have to be a member of the LLC. This allows the company owners to use one of the several very reputable online formation services. This also ensures that your LLC is properly set up so there will not be any issues down the road.

With an LLC, the limited of an individual member’s liability is determined by the financial contribution they make to the LLC. You can have multiple partners with an LLC. These partners can either be active in the business or be silent partners/investors.

An LLC gives its owners greater flexibility than a corporate structure would, but at the same time it is very similar to a corporate structure. A small business with a limited number of owners would be a perfect candidate for the LLC structure.

The limited liability company is a fairly newly created business structure in the United States. Just a little over twenty years ago the LLC was recognized by only two states. Now days, every state allows you to form an LLC.

When you want to know some information online where do you go? Can you really find the website you are looking for? Will it come up just like that? How would you really know the URL address?

The answer to all these questions is no, you cannot do any of these things. So what to do? Just follow the crowd to your friendly search engine. Use a word or keyword that pertains to what you need to know. Put it into the search bar and many websites will pop up. The search engine will magically find all the information sources that you need to gather information on a certain subject.

So what are these vital words and sentences called. These are termed as keywords and key phrases. Advertisers use them in their ads to attract customers like you who are searching for certain items. The advertiser needs to be sure that these keywords are targeted so they do not attract the wrong crowd. This will stop them from attracted worthless leads.

Be careful to select the right keywords for your Adwords Campaign. You need to be very careful about this as Adwords is a pay per click advertising method. This means that you will be charged a fee for every click through, regardless of whether you have made sales. Wrong keywords will merely give you a stream of wasted traffic, which will cost you a lot of money. In fact it may cost you so much that you will be forced to give up your Adwords campaign.

You can use several ways to select the right keywords for your Adwords campaign. The best thing to do is to establish what product you are selling and also understand which market you are trying to attract. Examine your product and see who can benefit from it, and how it fulfills a need for a customer. Mention benefits in your ad and be sure you are targeting the right market for your product.

Establish a good supply of keywords that will draw potential customers. You can find more of these keywords at the Google Adwords site www.adwords.google.com You will find many variations and different keywords here to make your ads highly targeted, and profitable.

With the above tips you can create a lucrative Adwords campaign. Choosing the right keywords is the key to your success. When you spend a little time on your keyword research you will be able to make winning campaigns.

Do you find that your memory fails you again and again? Would you like to understand how you can boost your memory? You will once you read and apply the ideas in this article. Your memory quite possibly is your most important intellectual factor. What are you doing to strengthen your memory on a regular basis?

The Importance Of Your Memory

Can you imagine your life with a nonexistent memory? How frustrating would be to not be able to recall simple facts that were just told to you or facts you once knew from a long time ago? Some individuals face disease which puts them in this exact state. Others, seemingly very healthy never exercise their memory and as the old expression goes whatever is not used is lost.

What Is Your Memory Like?

Do you find that you meet people at parties or at work and moments later forget their name? Do you believe that you can remember faces but always forget names? The human mind is trained to remember people, places and things that we get emotionally involved in. If you don’t believe me I want you to think back and remember your first true love. This person might have been in your life many years ago but you still remember this person don’t you? What did you have for lunch a week ago last Monday? See the difference an emotional connection makes versus something that is trivial?

How Can I Improve My Memory?

From the above example we concluded that the more emotionalized things are in your mind the more likely it will be that you will remember them. This is why when trying to memorize very dry information in school we found it challenging, there was no emotion involved. The easiest way to boost your memory is to associate what you are trying to remember with an emotional trigger.

What Is An Emotional Trigger?

An emotional trigger is a psychological tool that is used to help you remember something. Let me give you an example of an emotional trigger: recently I attended a workshop and met a lady by the name of Diva. So the question is how did I remember her name? I associated her name with the traditional meaning of the word diva and created a funny yet memorable picture in my mind of what the word diva represents. I then associated this funny picture with this nice lady. Every time I try to remember her name if I struggled the picture would come on the screen of my mind and just like magic I would remember her name.

What As Something That You Struggle To Remember?

I want you to take something that you struggle to remember perhaps the name of someone or a phone number. Now associate in name of this person with something that you find very funny and memorable. Use one of their attributes and use this as a tool to spur your imagination.

Are You Remembering Phone Numbers?

Do you realize that if I asked you to recall some of the phone numbers you have personally had over the years you could? Why is it that we have trouble remembering other numbers when they are given to us? The answer is we have not emotionalized these numbers and we rarely use them. So now the trick is how can we associate something with a stream of numbers? Let’s take a random number 369-1496. To me 1496 is the year Columbus discovered America so this part of the number is easy to recall. Now the question is how do we remember 369? One way to remember this is multiples of three another way to remember this is to take the last two digits of 1496 and invert them to 69 and all I have to remember that in his 3. So my emotional trigger is Christopher Columbus came to America in 1496. The last two digits are 6 and 9 and I remember they are multiples of 3 hence 369-1496. This might not be the ideal example but I am sure you get the point.

Your memory is vitally important to your success. It is your duty to exercise your memory on a regular basis to ensure that you can maximize all information that is retained within your subconscious mind. By working on improving your memory you will strengthen it and improve your ability to recall details and facts. Memory truly is a use it or lose it skill.

Leaving people with an impression of increase means that when you finish an interaction with another person, that person feels like you have contributed positively to their life. This concept is so simple and elementary yet many of us fail to do it.

To truly live this way you need to apply it in every aspect of your life: from the person who cuts you off in traffic to the people you kiss goodnight. Frankly in the hustle and bustle of everyday life this isn’t easy. Its much simpler to react and say something unkind than to pause and think about how you can help or improve the other person’s life for the better.

But when we stop, pause and think about how our interactions will affect another person, we can truly put this principle into action in our lives. This simple thought process can cause a dramatic change in your life and in your everyday dealings with others.

The most important time to apply this is when you are in a difficult situation or a highly emotional one. This is also the time when it will be the hardest to think about how to improve that other person’s life. Sometimes the smallest actions like smiling or simply saying thank you will improve a situation for the better.

We all know people who make us feel warm and happy to see them. They seem to naturally exude a spirit which draws people to them and makes others feel at ease. That easy interaction comes from the same thought process as leaving others with an impression of increase. With these individuals however, this is the way they live and they do not have to consciously think about their actions, it is ingrained in their being.

When we apply this principle to our business lives it makes a world of difference. We have all gone into a store and had a salesperson be rude to us and then vowed to never go back to that store again. Our decision was based solely on the actions of one individual. Not on the quality of merchandise, or how much we liked the store, just on that one person.

Conversely we have been in stores where we are treated like royalty and they capture our repeat business over and over again. The actions of a few people determine the nature of our thoughts about whether we will continue to do business with that entity or not.

By training your employees or yourself to make sure that each person you do business with feels like you have contributed positively to their life you will increase your business exponentially. Your customers and co-workers will become walking billboards on your behalf.

I encourage you to read the chapter on “An Impression of Increase” from Wallace Wattles book “The Science of Getting Rich.

Improving your credit score can seem like an impossible task. This is because there is so much contradictory information and the scoring model makes you feel as though you have no direct control over your credit score.

Well they are wrong. No matter how bad your credit score is you can take a couple easy steps and improve it.

1. Dispute and remove negative items on your credit report. This can be done yourself or you can hire a service to do it on your behalf.

2. If an item is verified then work out a way to pay them in exchange have the item removed from your your credit report.

3. Pay your bills on time. It is alleged that missing one monthly payment can cause your score to drop by up to 50 points.

4. Open a new line of credit. You will get the most benefit if this is a revolving line of credit. We recommend an unsecured credit card.

This will also help you build a positive payment history by paying your monthly bill. However if you can not qualify for an unsecured credit card then open a secured card, but make sure it reports to all 3 bureaus.

Your score will get a bump if you can keep your balance at approximately 10% of your credit limit. This shows that you do use your credit and that you use it responsibly.

5. Pay your large debts down. This is called your available credit to debt. The bureaus need to see that you are not in over you head and that you do have credit that is not being used.

These are the five factors you should focus your efforts on. There is however one last factor that is surrounded by controversy.

6. Piggyback credit, this is where you become an authorized user on a high credit limit credit card. The benefit is this account is now reported on your credit report and adding a tremendous boost.

This tactic has been widely abused and the scoring model has adjusted its formula to discount authorized users. However there is a debate over if this change has occurred yet or not.

In sum, focus on steps one through five and you are on your way to a 700 credit score. You don’t have to live with bad credit you can increase your score and your quality of life.

When I saw the January issue of Entrepreneur Magazine I was thrilled. Cover copy had a teaser on it to the effect that entrepreneurs had been surveyed and inside were their answers. I was certain that, finally, someone was paying attention to entrepreneurs who were striving for a successful business. It was time to hear from us little guys!

I can’t tell you how surprised I was as I began to read the article. Their idea of an “entrepreneur” and mine were as different as night and day. I always classified an entrepreneur as someone like the “Mom and Pop” coffee shop around the corner, the family run produce market in town, or the 18 to 24 year old who had come up with a fantastic “gizmo” and was scooped up into a corporation as their newest genius. Let me give you a quote from the article that will clue you into its idea of an “entrepreneur”.

To explain the method used for the survey they state, “Entrepreneur magazine and PricewaterhouseCoopers “Entrepreneurial Challenges Survey” is an annual telephone survey of more than 300 CEOs of privately held, U.S.-based businesses recognized for their sustained, rapid growth. They average $31.5 million in annual revenue with an average of 185 employees, and have an ongoing annual growth rate of more than 23 percent……”

That definitely was not my picture of an entrepreneur. I don’t know too many entrepreneurs who average $31.5 million annually, or employ 185 people. To me, that’s a pretty successful company on its way to being a corporation. We should all be such entrepreneurs!

At any rate, I continued reading and I must say the information was worth the read, and the business of doing business can apply to those of us who aren’t quite making that $31.5 million per year yet. Here’s what the survey discovered.

What were considered their biggest challenges for 2006?

* 73% - Retention of key workers * 38% - Developing new products/services * 36% - Expansion to domestic markets * 35% - Increased productivity * 28% - Upgrading technology * 23% - Creating business alliances * 21% - Better management of cash flow * 14% - Expansion outside the U.S. * 13% - Improving risk management * 11% - Finding new financing * 11% - Buying another company or launching a spinoff * 7% - Preparing company for sale * 2% - Going public

Now when you stop and think about it, that’s pretty much what most entrepreneurs think about each year. Maybe not to the extent of expanding to foreign markets or launching a spinoff, but to keep your business perking along the road of improvement - all the rest are considered.

The next part of the survey was interesting because entrepreneurs were given a list of several “wild-card” factors that could affect business in 2006. When asked which three would be most harmful to their business, here’s what they said:

* 47% - Unstable U.S. economy * 43% - Rising health-care costs * 41% - Shortage of qualified workers * 40% - Weak market demand * 24% - Rising oil/energy costs * 24% - Rising interest rates * 22% - New government regulations * 18% - Weaker capital spending * 14% - Weakening world economy * 12% - Increased global competition * 11% - Decreased access to capital * 10% - Sudden drop in U.S. real estate market * 10% - Tax increases * 9% - Inflation

So maybe my entrepreneurs and those surveyed are not really that much different in thinking. The outlook of most entrepreneurs is probably optimistic, or will be unless more unforeseen disasters strike.

Even after the huge devastation of 9/11, within two quarters we were back to the same level of optimism as we had before. People get used to dealing with tough circumstances and factor them in, but are not swayed by them. When you really think about it; isn’t that what most entrepreneurs are like?

If they’re not, then they aren’t entrepreneurs by my way of thinking.

It’s hard to believe that three years have passed already since I introduced the chiropractic profession to Web 2.0 social media marketing. What first began as marketing on just social networks like Myspace, YouTube, and Facebook, has expanded to encompass the vast, new and rapidly growing online media outlets. If you were to take a snapshot at the growth of this Web 2.0 phenomenon back in 2005 and compare it now, it would appear like a virus that literally doubled every 24 hours. Now, I’m not just speaking about huge-growth of a new phase of the internet and communication. I am also referring to the massively profitable nature that comes with this technology for your chiropractic practice and the ability to easily generate multiple sources of income at a staggering rate.

There was once a time when chiropractors paid ungodly amounts of money on marketing and advertising. Actually, chiropractors are still doing that. But the difference is that those tactics do not work in this age. In fact, they’re a huge waste of money and chiropractors are suffering because of it. When you step into the present and embrace the methods that are working today, you’re giving your practice a chance to survive and even thrive in these difficult times.

I know the economy of this nation is bleak, but my part of the economy is actually succeeding, and there is a short list of other chiropractors that are finding tremendous success and countless new patients during this time. How are they doing it? They’ve tapped into the goldmine of Web 2.0 and social media marketing. So, do you want to strike gold, or be left out in the cold?

Here are some of the sites that are helping me reach higher levels of success each day. I suggest you give them a try, and see the magic they can work for your chiropractic practice. The Web 2.0 powerhouses include YouTube.com, Squidoo.com, EzineArticles.com, StumbleUpon.com, Facebook.com, Twitter.com, Myspace.com, Free-Press-Release.com, Wordpress.com, Photobucket.com, Furl.com, and eHow.com. Give them a try, and you won’t be disappointed.

I could easily list over 200 websites but for times sake, we’ll keep it at a few. It’s important to have a systematic blueprint or checklist to run-through when learning to harness the power of social media. The good news is that you, as a practicing chiropractor, DO NOT have to do it all yourself. These tasks can be very simple to outsource if you understand and have a little direction.

Even the incredible time saving and leveraged-based tools I use and recommend can be easily shown to a CA or marketing director for use. The most important thing is to be coachable, as this may be a new language to many chiropractic marketing newbies and veterans.

There are even ways to monetize your existing chiropractic practice online with Web 2.0 social media. I can’t even begin to tell you how great it feels to wake-up in the morning with consistently more money in my bank account without doing any work. Sometimes I think that I’m dreaming but this is a reality, not just for myself, but for many other chiropractors that are hitting it hard with social media.

When you create other forms of income while marketing your practice online, you make your practice entirely recession-proof; nothing can stop you. You need to be courageous and an innovator to do this. You have to think out of the box and ride the wave of the future.

Start by providing something of value to current and future patients online. When you put yourself and your practice in front of the world audience, you are greatly increasing your ability to communicate with a greater pool of people and sharing your talents. And believe that you have something to offer and talk about on the web! There are people out there that you can help, and they want to hear from you. Develop a YouTube video channel around a weekly series discussing some aspect of your chiropractic field. This is just an example of something helpful and informative that you could do that will simultaneously draw more people to your practice.

Be creative and you will find this new, powerful virtual world will bring you boatloads of new patients, build social proof, and allow you to generate multiple streams of residual income.