Is There Any Good News Related to the U.S. Economy?

By Jan Shimano

The following are some statistics that have been reported in the news media. If you take this at face value, then you are going to feel that your future looks grim indeed. Keep on reading, because there is some good news later on in this article.

* Total consumer debt is growing 23 times faster than the entire U.S. economy;

* The savings rate in the U.S. has dipped into the negative...something that hasn't happened since the Great Depression in 1932;

* The U.S. dollar has lost half of its value in the past 10 years;

* The unemployment rate has taken the biggest jump since 1986;

* The magazine, USA Today, recently reported that the greatest fear in America today, is running out of money before retirement.

I am sure we all know of someone who is about to lose their home that they worked so hard for over the years. It's heartbreaking, and we just don't know what to say to them.

For as long as I can recall, we have always been a three tier society here in North America. These were the rich, the middle class and the poor. It might surprise you to learn that the experts like Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki are saying that we are headed towards a two tier society. Can you guess which one is going to be eliminated? It's the tier that probably you feel you are a part of right now. Yes, the prediction is that the middle class is on its way out. We will be left with the rich and the poor. Which side of the fence do you think you are going to be on?

I know this doesn't look in the least bit encouraging...but now for the good news!

The same experts mentioned above, along with many others, are predicting that in the next ten years household wealth in North America will double, exceeding $100 Trillion. This is going to create more millionaires than at any other time in history. Paul Zane Pilzer, who was economic advisor to two U.S. Presidents, is quoted as saying "We're witnessing nothing less than a millionaire population explosion in the 21st century...."

No doubt you would like to be one of those newly created millionaires and be part of that rich tier. I can assure you of one thing....it's definitely not going to happen by osmosis. It is going to take some action on your part.

Let's get back to the experts and their advice. They suggest that if you want to be one of the new millionaires you should start a home-based business. The start-up costs are usually very small and immediately you have major tax benefits for having your own business. Make sure you do your research and find a company that is a good fit for you. There are literally thousands to choose from. I have found the one that works for me and I intend to be on the 'rich' side of the fence. Why don't you join me there!

About the Author:

Jan Shimano was District Manager for Health & Welfare Canada for many years. She was also self-employed as a Nutritional Consultant. She is currently a Business and Health Coach and runs her own internet marketing company from her home in British Columbia. You can get to know more about Jan by visiting her youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/1jinny

A 1 investment gives a 12 return

By Sean Fowden

The Bottom Line Secret Every Business Should Know ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12 Times the investment, what a Business Return? Banning conkers, stepladders are banned by the HSE, no throwing sweets at the pantomime, no hanging baskets, .

Trapeze Artists to Wear Safety Helmets, what a picture that conjures up. Mischievous stories like this do nothing to help the image of health and safety, but it has secret for saving money that no business can afford to ignore.

The benefits of good health and safety management far outweigh the costs of implementation. In this time of credit crunch surely any system that can improve the bottom line of a business by up to twelve times the investment should be examined and utilised without delay.

Rolling your eyes in disbelief? Well take a trip to the HSE website for proof www.hse.gov.uk/business/casestudy.htm and see the real case studies for yourself.

Still incredulous?

"We've seen it all before, we don't have accidents here, there is no need for health and safety getting in the way."

Comments like these are frequent and perceived to be true, but they aren't true at all.

If implemented properly a good health and safety management system, improves business image to clients, working practice, productivity, morale, lessens absence rates, lessens staff turnover rates, saves on training new recruits, reduces the chance of insurance claims, and could get you a reduction in insurance premiums.

Accident investigations typically cost a business a minimum of 5000.

Moral, Legal and Financial are the three significant reasons for business' to implement a good health and safety management system

In these days of the credit crunch and shrinking markets, can any business afford to miss out on these potentially large financial cost savings? An efficient and practical health and safety management system can deliver astonishing financial returns.

Health and safety does not have to be restrictive, contrary to the adverse publicity that we see and hear. I recently did some work with a local school on risk assessment. The headmaster in a school local to my home is very proactive in getting the children to take part in risk/adventure activities as part of their all round education.

Adventure activities like camping, night walking, potholing, paintball with the army, mattress surfing (dont ask) and the climbing wall has been ordered. The pupils also canoe and build rafts to go on the river that borders the school land, in which they also swim.

The girls at St. Trinians would probaly take flight when they take to the hockey field like demons.

I dont think they feel restricted by risk assessment and for a relatively small school they have a disproportionate number of Area and County level sports representatives, in one of Englands largest counties.

Have risk assessments been done? Of course. Are they restrictive? No. They provide sensible guidelines to staff and pupils to manage the risk without wrapping the children in cotton wool.

These activities ignite the childrens imagination, teaches them to manage risks for themselves and builds confidence and a rounded character for life after school. Do the parents object? No, they actively encourage the children to take part.

They wont understand about risk if they're wrapped in cotton wool and they wont have much fun either.

Saving costs through a good health and safety management system which is progressive not regressive can be achieved. Think of the other benefits to your business if your workforce had the kind of positive can do attitude that the pupils of this school show.

Would we have a Great Britain if our ancestors had not taken risks?

These criteria should be used in business, health and safety is cost effective, but it needs to be embraced by and communicated to the whole workforce. The big stick downwards is much less productive than involving everybody from the grass roots up and valuing their opinion.

Manager Oh yes we have risk assessments

Auditor Where are they?

Manager In that box file on the top shelf Auditor

Have the staff read and understood them? A hush falls on the room.

Does that sound familiar? If it does you are not doing a very good job with your health and safety. Cost savings will be negligible if you do not run the system professionally.

Gain the respect of your customers and suppliers, add kudos to your competitive edge not to mention the pro-active productive involvement of the work force. Do it right and pounds can be added to the bottom line of your business.

Give it a go, what have you got to lose? Your marketing gurus cant even give you a 12 to 1 return on investment, especially in these difficult times when businesses need every penny.

Go to www.hse.gov.uk/business/casestudy.htm and see for yourself what can be done!

About the Author:

The author Sean Fowden is a respected health and safety practitioner, who runs his own company for health and consultancy and training, rass ltd. Their web site is full of free advice and free downloads to assist any business. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

How to Build a Massive Web Presence by Writing Articles

By Jan Shimano

There are numerous reasons why people write articles. Some just enjoy writing and sharing information with others. However, for people like myself, we also write articles to share information. but additionally to help generate leads and create a presence for ourselves on the Internet. Many want to know whether it is worth the time and effort to do this. I think that when you have finished reading this article, you will be fired up to sit right down at your computer and start composing.

Some authors write about a large variety of subjects. For this very reason, they do not use their own name for all their articles. Readers would tend to doubt their expertise in so many subjects. So, this is one of the first decisions you have to make. Will you use your own name in all your articles, in some of them or perhaps in none of them. If at times, you are writing articles on subjects that have absolutely nothing to do with your business, then in those instances you might want to write under an assumed name.

Obviously, if you are trying to brand yourself on the Internet, then you would want to use your personal name as much as possible. If the subject matter can be in some way related to the type of business you are in, then it is going to be much easier to transition with a link back to your website.

It is recommended that articles be between 400 - 600 words. That works out to be about 8 paragraphs, with approximately three short sentences in each paragraph. If it much better to write a few short articles, than one long one.

It is quite amazing how your presence on the Internet can increase significantly in a very short period of time, through article writing. My first article was published at the end of December, 2008. That is only three weeks ago. Up until that time I had zero presence on the Web. If I searched my name, I would get no hits at all. Now, just those three short weeks later, when I Google my name in quotes "Jan Shimano" I am coming up with 2760 hits and each one relates to me personally. As an experiment, why don't you go ahead and Google my name and see how much it has increased as it usually goes up every day.

So I am sure you are waiting for me to tell you how I managed to accomplish this. Well, here's the story. I submitted all my articles to EzineArticles, which is the largest article directory and I highly recommend that this is the first place you submit to. The Google search engine just loves EzineArticles and rewards you with a high rating. If your article is accepted by EzineArticles, then you will have no trouble getting accepted at the other directories.

But here's the thing....just getting accepted at EzineArticles is not going to get you all those hits. There is a second step that is crucial to your success and that is to forward to a multiple submission company. The one I use and recommend is Unique Article Wizard (UAW). You have to enter three versions of your article on their site and you also do variations of your Resource Box. UAW then configures all the different paragraphs and resource boxes to come up with literally hundreds and hundreds of unique articles. This is very important, because the search engines do not like duplicate content. If you tried to submit the exact same article to all the different sites Google would 'punish' you. UAW could send your article out to thousands of sites.

EzineArticles is a free service. They do have a paid upgrade, but for the majority of people that is not necessary. I personally only use the free service and I am allowed to submit as many articles as I like. If you are using UAW, there is a monthly cost of $70.35. If you are only planning on writing an article now and again, this might not be the way to go for you. However, if you are serious about creating a huge presence for yourself on the Internet, then I can't think of a better way to do it.

In my estimation, this is one of the best kept secrets in internet marketing. The majority of people in my business feel that as they are not professional writers, they can't be part of this. This could not be further from the truth. If you can sit down and write a letter to a friend, then you can write an article. You are not writing it for your old English teacher and people are not reading it to critique your grammar. Go ahead, get one article under your belt and I believe there will be no stopping you!!!

About the Author:

Jan Shimano was District Manager for Health & Welfare Canada for many years. She was also self-employed as a Nutritional Consultant and a Master Herbalist. She is currently a Business and Health Coach and runs her own internet marketing company from her residence in British Columbia. Jan invites you to learn more about her by dropping by her YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/1jinny