The public school system in America is a dinosaur and the Ice Age is not far off. With all of the advances we’ve made in technology and as a society in the last 50 years, it’s ludicrous to see our children being educated in the standardized system used 50 years ago. The influx of parents who are home schooling and the home schooling resources available now versus 10 years ago attest to the fact that parents are fed up.Not only do the majority of public schools not work, but our children are getting less and less education. American children are getting further and further behind their Japanese and German counterparts; and in a time where the economy is global, how do our children remain competitive in the job market of tomorrow?Besides the threat of violence at school, the lack of education going on there, the generally sliding test scores and the lack of alternatives; the economical drain on property tax payers to support this lumbering, antiquated system is phenomenal. Simply put, if all of us had the option of doing something else, most of us would. Private schools, magnet schools or home schooling alternatives are a reality.For some of us though, there is currently no feasible alternative. Many of us simply cannot afford to shell out college-sized tuition starting in grade school. For many more who work outside the home, the time required to start home schooling is a commitment that we’re not sure we can incorporate into our already packed schedules.What is your child really learning at school currently that will translate into success and financial freedom and entrepreneurial skills later on in life? If we all sat down and looked through the graded papers our children bring home and asked, “How does this turn into dollars and cents later on?” the answer would be, “Most of it doesn’t.”So what can you do right now, on the budget and with the time you have to improve the quality of your child’s education?Expand where you’re at.What is your child learning about money right now? Normally we learn early in grade school how to recognize money (what’s a nickel, what’s a dollar), we see math used in story problems where the concept is actually addition or subtraction; and that’s our money education unless we receive additional education in college. For a subject that is so near and dear to our hearts, money is not prominent in most of our educations.This is where a lack of education spells a future lack of funds. You want your child to become a millionaire later in life; or even just be financially independent, you will be responsible for showing them how to think and what to do with money. Setting aside one hour a week to discuss finances with your child would give them so much more of a head start than they have right now. Make it interesting, make it personal, teach them what you wish someone would have taken the time to teach you. Are you paying bills this week? Have your child sit down and watch what you’re doing. Explain the method of accounting you use and what you’re paying for and how much. Are you setting up a budget for the family? Give your child the opportunity to give input on the budget as well as see how it works.If finances are a problem in your family, your child needs to understand money now more than ever. If you’re facing creditors, bankruptcy or foreclosure, why keep your child in the dark regarding the circumstances? If you’re investing for the future or for their college, why not explain what your goals are? Can you explain your own financial goals or why you’ve chosen a specific investment? Can you explain simple stock market terms, what is a certificate of deposit, what is a treasury bond? If not, maybe this is the first step in learning more about your finances – teaching your child. Don’t be embarrassed to start at the beginning; just start.What is your child learning about business right now? For most people’s children, their business education is confined to: trying to explain what their parents do for work, going to work with them one day a year and then getting their first job at 16. They will learn more about business if they go to college with a business major, but what practical, real-world experience are they receiving? Can you realistically expect someone with that limited amount of business knowledge to start and run their own business? How did you learn about business if you own your own?You had to jump in and do it.Whether you own your own business or not, all of us can agree that an education in business is a great way to cover core concepts and grasp a general idea of a topic, but experience in business is priceless. Your child starting a paper route or a babysitting business will teach them on a personal level what coming to work with you once a year would never do.Expand where you’re at. The entrepreneurial spirit that you are growing is an education that your child will never forget. Rather than sit back and watch our children waste precious learning time in front of the television, as a family commit to one hour a week getting an education on money. Go to the library, get on the Internet, find material that excites and inspires you and your child will become excited and inspired about money.Home schooling is a term that really means, “The buck stops here.” If we choose a better quality of education for our children, we have to supplement at home. If we choose a successful mindset for our children, we have to show by example. If we want more for our children regarding money and business potential for our children than we have had, we have to provide them with more right out of the gate.Right now there are more resources available for at-home education than ever before. We have more information at our fingertips than any generation before us. What is our excuse if we don’t use it?
Ultimately, what will give your child a leg up in a global economy and an ever-changing job market will be the confidence you instilled in them and an education than can be calculated into dollars and cents.
Home Schooling a Future Millionaire
Best Affiliate Program – Black Belt Marketing Success Secrets
If you search the internet you’ll find millions of free and also paid online affiliate programs.Most people have signed up in these online affiliate programs and tried to make money from them but failed miserably.They don’t know why.Are you one of them?If yes, read on to find out how to locate the right top affiliate program and how to promote it to start making money.All affiliate programs are not created equal.Some will make you money if properly promoted and others will not, no matter what you do.Why?Below are some reasons why.(1) The Right Affiliate Programs To PromoteMost people are under the mistaken notion that just because an affiliate program is free that they can promote it and get rich.Nothing can be farther away from the truth.The bitter reality is that if an affiliate program is free, then most likely thousands of people will want to sign up to promote it.Since thousands of people are promoting it, competition will be stiff and so the likelihood of getting rich from it will be slim because there will be more people promoting it than people who wish to buy it.When supply is greater than demand, profitability will nose dive.This is economics 101.So stay away from free online affiliate programs which hundreds of thousands of people are already promoting!The best online affiliate program which will likely make you rich will be the one that very few people are promoting and which is in great demand. The demand MUST be greater than supply.Most likely, such an affiliate program will not be offered free!You will have to pay for it to promote it.When people are required to pay to promote an affiliate program, then most people will not sign up for it, so only few people will promote it.This will then guarantee that the demand for it will be greater than the number of people who promote it and this means that the profitability for it will skyrocket.This is the kind of online affiliate program which can make you rich!There are few people online who are getting rich from online affiliate marketing and this is one of their sacred hidden secrets of success!(2) Build Landing Pages For Your Online Affiliate ProgramsYou must create a landing page at your website for any affiliate program which you desire to promote.At the landing page, you will then include a short introduction of the affiliate program, preferably, your own personal experience of using the program or a short review.Then at the bottom, include the link to the affiliate program website.This affiliate program landing page must be optimized also.You may also add Google AdSense ads and other pay per click ads as well as Clickbank products on this page to monetize it.This way, if your customer doesn’t click and go to the affiliate program, they may click on any of the pay per click ads such as AdSense or Clickbankbuddy or pay per click ad and you’ll make money.If you don’t know how to monetize your website with Google Adsense, Clickbankbuddy ads and pay per click products and ads, please contact us for free help.By having a landing page for your affiliate programs at your website, you have the advantage of not losing all the traffic you’ve built up if the affiliate program is stopped.If the affiliate program which you’re promoting is discontinued, you may replace it with another similar affiliate program and continue generating income from it.(3) Secret To Promote Your Online Affiliate ProgramOnline marketing has become more difficult than rocket science.During the past couple of years, most affiliate marketing strategies which used to work 6 yrs ago don’t work anymore.E-mail marketing has been dead for many years now.And the ISPs have added salt to the injury by creating so many filters which filter away your e-mail offers and so they don’t reach their destinations.Besides, most people don’t read their e-mails anymore.Most people have been bombarded by thousands of spams and offers and they just don’t have time to read these offers anymore.So e-mail marketing is completely dead.Free For All, FFA promotion is dead too.Banner advertising is dead too, unless you have thousands of dollars to promote it at highly trafficked sites.Search engine marketing, SEM doesn’t work any more because the search engines are constantly changing their optimization rules.It takes both Google and Yahoo several weeks to even index your page and include it in their system.You may optimize your website properly and attain a top ten position in a few keywords.But they never last long.In a few months when they update their search ranking, all your positions may likely disappear and your traffic will be gone too.You may try to promote through Google Adword campaign.But the truth is that not all programs can succeed in getting traffic from Google Adword or any other pay per click advertising.If you try to promote an online affiliate program, which hundreds of thousands of others are already promoting using Google Adword and pay per click advertising, you’ll end up squandering thousands of dollars! This has happened to many people already.So stop squandering your money in pay per click advertising.
(There is a better way. To learn more contact us for free help.)You may also try to use article writing to promote your affiliate programs.But very few people know the “SECRET” on how to write a highly optimized interesting article which will attain top ranking in the search engines and therefore produce traffic and sales for your online affiliate program.To succeed in doing this, you must know how to optimize the article, it must be interesting and you must post it where many people will read it.If you write and post an article but it can’t be found in the search engines when people search for the affiliate program which you’re promoting and if people are not reading it at the article directories where you posted it, you’ll not generate any traffic or sales!This is what many people are doing and among the TOP reasons why they are not making any money in their online affiliate marketing.(4) Traffic Is The Lifeblood Of Success In Online Affiliate Marketing ProgramThere are so many naïve people who have spent tons of dollars buying internet marketing e-books, programs and videos from so called internet marketing gurus and as if that is not enough, they have been suckered into squandering thousands of dollars attending seminars organized by these so called gurus only to find out that what they are peddling are outdated and archaic internet marketing strategies which don’t work any more.These suckers never to think about the truth.The truth is that no right thinking businessman will sell a secret on how to generate thousands of traffic daily to you for $50, when he knows he can keep his secret, use them to promote hundreds of affiliate programs and make millions.The real truth is that these so called gurus have no secret that really work. But what they have is a large e-mail list which they have built through e-zine and newsletter publishing for many years.So they make their money by marketing their e-books and affiliate programs to these mailing lists.If you have 50,000-100,000 e-mail lists which you have generated over 6 yrs, you’ll always manage to make a few thousands of dollars marketing any program to them especially if it is about internet marketing!In conclusion, there are still a few online affiliate programs which are easy to market and generate obscene income and there are still many jealously guarded traffic generating secrets which work and which can explode your website traffic and sales and so make you rich instantly.But they are not free. They will cost you some money.If you’re ready to pay to sign up in any of these few online affiliate programs, and to get the powerful traffic generating secrets of millionaire webmasters, then you’re serious about getting rich from online affiliate programs.May these insights about affiliate program, best affiliate program, free affiliate program, affiliate marketing program, top affiliate program, free online affiliate program, best free online affiliate program, online affiliate program, make money with affiliate program help you to attain success in your online business.Copyright Info: This article is copyrighted and you may publish this article at your website, in your e-zine (newsletter, blogs) or send it to a friend as long as you retain the author’s resource box, including the website address, and refrain from altering the content or using it in any re-direction manipulation scheme.If you don’t agree to these conditions, please don’t copy and use this article.Anyone who violates this condition will be subject to legal action and payment of damages for violation of our copyrights. Thank you.
Alternative Financing Vs. Venture Capital: Which Option Is Best for Boosting Working Capital?
There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.
In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.
But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.
Different Types of Financing
One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.
Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.
But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.
Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.
Alternative Financing Solutions
But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:
1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.
2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.
3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.
In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:
It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.
A Precious Commodity
Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).
Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.
Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?