Loneliness is one of life’s most miserable experiences. Everyone feels lonely at times, but is there a message for us in loneliness? Is there a way that we can turn it into something positive?
Sometimes loneliness is a temporary condition that lifts in a few hours or a couple days. But when we’re burdened with this emotion for weeks, months, or even years, it’s definitely telling us something.
In a sense, loneliness is like a toothache: It’s a warning signal that something is wrong. And like a toothache, if left unattended, it usually gets worse. Our first response to loneliness may be to self-medicate–to try home remedies to make it go away.
Busyness is a common treatment.
We think that if we fill our life with so many activities that we don’t have time to think about our loneliness, we’ll be cured. But busyness misses the message. It’s like trying to heal a toothache by taking our mind off it. Busyness is a distraction, not a cure.
Buying is another favorite therapy.
Maybe if we purchase something new, if we “reward” ourselves, we’ll feel better. And surprisingly, we do feel better–but only for a short while. Buying things to address our loneliness is like an anesthetic. Sooner or later the numbing effect wears off. Then the pain comes back as strong as ever. Buying can also compound our problems with a mountain of credit card debt.
Bed is a third response to loneliness.
We believe that intimacy is what we need, so we make an unwise choice with sex. After we come to our senses, we’re horrified to discover that this attempt at a cure not only makes loneliness worse, it also makes us feel desperate and cheap. This is the false cure of our modern culture, which promotes sex as a game, as recreation. This response to loneliness almost always ends in feelings of alienation and regret.
The real message, the real cure.
If all of these approaches don’t work, what does? Is there a cure for loneliness? Is there some secret elixir that will fix this toothache of the soul?
We need to begin with a correct interpretation of this warning signal. Loneliness tells us that we have a relationship problem. While that may seem obvious, there’s more to it than just surrounding yourself with people. Doing that is the same as busyness, but using crowds instead of activities.
The answer to loneliness is not the quantity of your relationships, but the quality. This is a distasteful cure for us, as dreaded as taking your toothache to a dentist. Satisfying, meaningful relationships take time and work. We’re afraid to open up. We’re afraid to let another person open up to us. Past hurts have made us distrustful. Friendship requires giving, but it also requires taking, and many of us would rather be independent. But the persistence of our loneliness should tell us that that kind of stubbornness hasn’t worked either.
If we have the courage to build worthwhile relationships, eventually we find that this is a cure that works. Our risks are rewarded. We find someone who understands and cares, and we find others whom we understand and care about as well. Like a visit to the dentist, this cure turns out to be not only final, but much less painful than we feared.
For online businesses with their main goal of selling products, shopping cart abandonment can mean the difference between profitability and loss. But since recent surveys suggest that less than 50% of retailers know their shopping cart abandonment rate, let’s review what it is and why it is important to know.
What is “shopping cart abandonment”?
Basically, shopping cart abandonment is when a visitor initiates your checkout process but leaves before completing their purchase.
Why is it important to know?
Industry publications report a 70% average shopping cart abandonment rate for the majority of retailers. Since, on average, websites convert visitors-to-sales at a rate of 1% to 2% then 98% to 99% of the visitors to your website leave without purchasing!
These percentages identify an enormous improvement opportunity for online businesses.
A Traditional Retail Example of Shopping Cart Abandonment.
Let me illustrate shopping cart abandonment using a traditional department store.
Imagine walking into your local department store to pick up a gift for a friend’s wedding.
You find the three items you want but together the price exceeds your budget so you drop one of them and head with just two to the checkout counter.
When you get close to the checkout counter, you grow frustrated with the long lines ahead. After a ten minute wait in line, the cashier asks you to complete a membership form before they will compete your purchase.
The membership form requires your driver’s license information so you pull out your wallet while people behind you start huffing impatiently.
As you register, you mind lingers about whether two items is just too much for your friend’s wedding gift. “I mean they only gave us one item for our wedding” you think. So you ask the cashier to remove one of the items.
While ringing up your one item, the credit card reader fails. After the fourth swap by the cashier, you panic wandering if your card has just been charged four times.
At this point you give up and leave the store empty handed. While storming out you wander if the department store up the street will make your purchase any easier.
Know These Top Reasons for Shopping Cart Abandonment
This example is filled with some of the top reasons why visitors to your website may abandon their shopping carts. A recent study by Vividence Corporation, a Customer Experience Management company, reported the most significant reasons for Internet shopping cart abandonment are:
• High shipping prices or long delivery times
• Comparison shopping and browsing
• Changed Mind
• Total cost of items is too high
• Checkout process is too long
• Checkout requires too much personal information
• Site requires registration before purchase
• Site is unstable or unreliable
• Checkout process is confusing
Seven Shopping Cart Abandonment Solutions for Your Online Business
Although some of these reasons may be outside your control such as a visitor changing their minds, the majority is manageable and can be reduced by incorporating seven improvements into your current shopping cart process.
1. Remove Member Registration until AFTER the sale is completed.
Many checkout processes require a visitor to register as a new member before they begin the actual checkout process. A principle of selling is to never stall a visitor from buying once they make the decision to do so. Instead support their decision by clearly and conveniently leading them through your checkout process.
After the sale is complete then offer your customer the opportunity to register. Since you have their personal information from the purchase, you can pre-fill the information (or request less of it). This enhancement removes the visitor’s buying barriers and enables them to perceive the registration as a value-added customer benefit.
2. Show shipping costs and other costs (i.e. applicable taxes)
Show the visitor all costs associated with their product purchase either in the first step of the checkout process or even in the product description. If you offer multiple shipping methods then default the shipping cost to the most popular one. If you apply taxes for certain States then communicate this early in the checkout process. Sometimes, retailers it is relevant for their market to ask a visitor for their zip code which can be used for calculating tax.
3. Build Confidence and Trust Throughout the Checkout Process
Place your guarantee, return, privacy, delivery, customer service and security policies in visible and relevant areas throughout the entire checkout process. Adding the policies at the very bottom of the web page is not effective since you are causing your visitor to search for it. Add the individual policies next to the information field or line item where it is most relevant to the visitor.
For example, add the privacy policy next to the email address field in the checkout process and add the delivery and return policy next to the shipping cost line item. In addition, add your security policy next to the “checkout” button.
Also, add your physical address and other contact information at the bottom of every web page. Usability studies suggest adding an “About Us” and “Contact Us” links to your navigational structure to build confidence and trust as well.
4. Add a progress indicator on each checkout page
Is it important to let visitors know how many steps are in your checkout process and to show progress as thy work through it. A progress indicator is commonly located at the top of the checkout pages and is clearly numbered with the current step highlighted.
Make sure that you provide visitors the opportunity to review what they did in previous steps without erasing the information they had already entered.
If a visitor enters information incorrectly or forgets a required field, have your checkout process remember their correct information and identify the missing information clearly. Do not make people repeat an entire step because of a missing field.
Surprisingly, the number of steps in your checkout process may not have a significant effect on your visitors’ commitment to purchase. Although for many businesses, a two to three step checkout process is ideal.
5. Provide purchase options
Offer your visitors the opportunity to call a 1-800 number for customer support or online chat like LivePersonTM (www.liveperson.com) during your checkout process.
Visitors may be uncomfortable with completing a purchase online or become confused during checkout so clearly present your 1-800 number and/or online chat support link on every page within your checkout process.
6. Clearly identify what your visitor should click nest to complete the step
Clearly indicate the “continue checkout” button. Make it obvious where the visitor should click to move forward in the checkout process and keep it consistent for every step.
7. Use a readable and clear font size and color
The font size and color of your copy may influence your visitor’s desire to complete their purchase. If your font size is too small or the color is too difficult to read forcing a visitor to strain then the potential for abandonment will increase. This is especially serious for online businesses marketing to older populations.
Get to know your shopping cart abandonment rate and start implementing the above improvements. Most importantly, test different strategies and track which ones produce the greatest increases to your sales conversion rate.
Kevin Gold is a Partner and Co-founder of Enhanced Concepts, Inc., which specializes in turning website visitors into leads or sales through tested website conversion strategies and performance-focused search engine marketing. To learn how to generate greater performance from your search engine marketing and to turn more website visitors into leads and sales go to http://www.enhancedconcepts.com
Today I would like to talk about a very powerful studio tracking technique, that isn’t well known, but if properly executed, will make you sound as tight as if the band was playing together.
What I am referring to is a guide track. A guide track can be thought of as the template of the song. Usually it is performed by the rhythm guitar—sometimes the keyboards, and all subsequent tracks follow this musical tour guide. The vocals should be on the guide track as well.
The easiest way to begin a guide track is simply to play and sing along using a single microphone. If you only have a few tracks (4 to always leave your guide track as your last track. There are a few things that should be noted about the guide track. First you should always start the guide track with a count. Even if a single instrument will begin the song in production. A count gives all musicians that are waiting for their point to begin the starting gun for the song.
The guide track can be quickly laid down. There is no need to reach for sonic perfection on this track since it will eventually be deleted. It’s more important that the track keep the rhythm, tempo, and dynamics of the song on task. If you drift tempo on the guide track, all subsequent tracks will follow suit.
The guide track gives you the unique ability to give direction to the players waiting down the line. For example if there is a pause, or a blank spot in the song, COUNT aloud until the music starts. All players in the queue will hit that re-start point with ease and precision. You can also give verbal directions such as “play more dynamically here”, “the song slows down here”, or “there is a key change coming up”. Also if the guide track is played and sung with feeling, the future players will respond to that as well.
Once the guide track is done, begin laying the foundations of the music—that is the rhythm, bass, and drums. All other instruments, vocals, and “sweetening” sits on top of this foundation. When the foundation is complete, begin your overdubs. This will be solos, musical hooks, and sounds that will give the song interest.
Record your vocals last. At this point, it is a matter of personal preference if you want to take down the guide track to record your vocals. Some singers do not want the distraction of the chatter that sometimes goes with a guide track. Other times the count will still be necessary because the vocals begin with or before the music.
A good guide track gives everyone who follows a well-lit pathway. It cues and gives direction, it establishes the tempo, and the attitude of the song. When you are riding atop a guide track, it is easy to hang onto the handles.
Gary “g-man” Wesselhoff is an acoustic blues writer/performer working the Chicago Metro area. You can contact him at: gman@gmanblues.com
Many traders lose simply out of ignorance. They base their trades on hunches, news, or tips from friends, and do not define specific risk and profit objectives before placing trades.
Others have the merit of educating themselves but fall victims of their emotions. They hold on to losing positions hoping they will turn into winners and sell winners by fear of losing a small gain. They overtrade to fulfill a need for action or by fear of missing out.
The consistent winners follow a winning approach:
They have a strategy to enter and exit trades
They use good money management
They take consistent actions, they follow a trading plan
They keep good records so they can review their actions
They avoid overtrading
They have a winning attitude
Trading Framework was designed to help you build those crucial elements into your trading.
A strategy to enter and exit trades You need to a strategy to put the odds in your favor for each trade you take. Your strategy should be as objective as possible and include the following elements:
Entry: conditions required before you can enter a trade - may include technical analysis, fundamental analysis, or both.
Initial stop loss: price at which you will close the entire position if it does not go in your favor.
The risk per share is the difference between the entry price and the initial stop.
Initial price objective: price at which you will take some or all profits if the trade goes in your favor.
Trade management: set of rules that dictates your actions while a trade is opened. It may include trailing stops, closing position, etc…
For every action you take, the reason should be clearly described in your strategy.
Example: Buy pullback - stock in an uptrend on daily chart
Entry
Setup: Price above rising 30 day moving average with 3 or more consecutive days with lower highs
Buy signal: $0.05 above the previous day’s high
Initial stop
Below lowest of previous and current day’s low
Initial objective
At the previous pivot high - sell half
Trade management
Move stop below previous day’s low daily
A more complete strategy would include market and industries conditions, technical indicators, conditions from different timeframes, etc..
Money management rules to keep losses small The goal of money management is to ensure your survival by avoiding risks that could take you out of business. Your money management rules should include the following:
Maximum amount at risk for each trade. The different between your entry price and your initial stop loss is your risk per share. Your maximum amount at risk for each trade determines the share size.
Maximum amount at risk for all your opened positions.
Maximum daily and weekly amount lost before you stop trading – avoid trying to trade your way out of a hole after a loosing streaks.
Example:
Maximum amount at risk for each trade: $200
Maximum total amount at risk for all my opened positions: $800
I stop trading until the following day if my realized loss for that day is over $600
I stop trading until the following week if my realized loss for that week is over $1000
During your learning phase, your goal should be to survive, not to make money. Start with low limits and raise them as you become a consistent winner otherwise you will simply go broke faster.
Good record keeping Although the process of gaining experience cannot be rushed, it can be made much more efficient by keeping good records of your actions. Good records will allow you to:
Review your actions at the end of each day to make sure you followed you strategy, not your emotions.
Learn from your losses – they cost you money, make sure you get the education in return.
You should also keep a journal of your observations.
A trading plan to keep emotions out of your decisions During trading hours, emotions will turn smart people into idiots. Therefore you have to avoid having to make decisions during those hours. This requires a detailed trading plan that includes your strategy and your money management rules.
For every action you take during trading hours, the reason should not be greed or fear. The reason should be because it is in the plan. With a good plan, your task becomes one of patience and discipline.
You have to follow the plan without exception. Any valid reason for an exception - for example, correcting an oversight - should become part of the plan.
Overtrading
Sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing. Not trading on those bad days is key to becoming a consistent winner – in some situations it is very tempting to overtrade:
If you trade to fulfill a need for action, to relieve boredom
If you can’t find the proper setup but can’t wait
If you fear you are missing out on a great trade or on a great market
If you want to make up for losses (revenge)
If you trade to feel like you are working instead of sitting around. Trading involves a lot of work other than the actual buying and selling.
You should not trade under the following conditions
You are not following my trading plan
You have reached your daily or weekly maximum loss
You are sick or very tired
You are very emotional (upset, pressured to make money, self-esteem destroyed)
You are using new tools you are not completely familiar with
You need time to work on your trading plan
A winning attitude Losing traders look for a “sure thing”, hang on hope, and avoid accepting small losses. Their trading is based on emotions. You must treat trading as a probability game in which you don’t need to know what is going to happen next in order to make money. All you need to know is that the odds are in your favor before you put a trade.
If you believe in your edge, which is you believe that the odds in your favor for each trade you enter, then you should have no expectation other than something will happen.
Your attitude will have a direct influence on your trading results:
Take responsibility for all your actions – don’t blame the market or world events.
Trade to trade well and for the love of trading, not to trade often and not for the money. The money will come as a result of trading well.
Don’t be influenced by the opinions of others. Reach your own decisions and follow them.
Be rigid with your rules and flexible in your expectations. Most traders are flexible with their rules and rigid in their expectations.
Never think that taking money from the market is easy and never assume that you know enough.
Have no particular expectation when you place a trade because you know that anything can happen.
Don’t try to guess the future – trading is a game of probabilities.
Use your head and stay calm – don’t get excited or depressed.
Handle trading as a serious intellectual pursuit.
Don’t count how much money you have made or lost while you are in a trade - focus on trading well.
Do you realize that you spend a full one-third of your life in
bed? That’s a lot of time, and knowing that, wouldn’t it make
sense to make sure that you’re as comfortable as possible while
you’re there? We’ve all slept on scratchy sheets or those that
are so thin you can almost see through them. But a good night’s
rest requires a certain level of comfort that simply can’t be
had with poor quality bed sheets.
Is it time for you to buy new ones?
Size Matters
If you’re more than twenty years old, you’ll remember when beds
only came in standard sizes. You likely had a twin, double,
queen or king. But with today’s mattress improvements, you could
have a king sized bed, but the standard king sized sheets may
not necessarily fit it. Why? Because mattress manufacturers have
made vast improvements to mattresses including things like
pillow tucks and extra thickness.
Knowing this, you will have to take care when buying your bed
sheets, otherwise you might have sheets that won’t quite wrap
around the edges, or do, but continually slip off.
Each package of sheets will provide the exact measurements of
the sheets, so it’s important for you to pay attention to them.
Measure your mattress before you go shopping so that you will be
prepared to make a decision. In other words, if you have a
queen-sized bed that has a pillow tuck on both sides of the
mattress, you may have to buy king sized sheets!
Thread Count
Have you ever had the privilege of sinking into a soft bed and
wondering how in the world it was so comfortable? Was it a new
kind of fabric softener? A perfectly worn in mattress? In all
likelihood, it was the sheets!
The thread count is what will determine just how soft your
sheets are–the higher the thread count, the more comfortable
your sheets will be. Sometimes called the TPI, this factor
measures how many threads are used per every square inch of
fabric. They can range anywhere from about 150 all the way up
into the thousands. In general, you should always avoid any
sheets that have a lower count than 200 because they won’t feel
good on your skin, but scratchy and uncomfortable. If you buy
sheets with a thread count of over 250, you should have a pretty
good night’s sleep.
Material
The type of fabric that you select when buying your sheets will
make a huge impact on your comfort level. And with so many
materials available, you should think hard about what type of
sleeping experience you desire. The most popular choices are
cotton, flannel, and silks and satins.
Cotton is by far the most popular because it is snuggly in the
winter and cool in the summer (although they have to be warmed
up in the winter first). There’s just something about sinking
into a bed with high quality cotton sheets! In addition to being
comfortable, manufacturers tend to produce them in more styles
and colors (than other sheet types) to keep up with the consumer
demand.
A winter just isn’t complete without warm flannel sheets. Most
people exclusively use flannel sheets in the cold months,
because they will become “sweaty” in hot ones. In addition, many
manufacturers have begun to produce flannel comforters and
blankets to match the patterns on the sheets.
Finally, a silk or satin pair of sheets is considered the
ultimate in luxury. They are silky soft and will keep you from
sweating in the summer. You can literally slide into bed and if
you have a satin or silk pillow case, lay your head in pure
luxury. The only downside to satin and silk sheets is that they
tend to slide off of the bed if not fitted properly.
What about you? Are you a cotton person or silk? Do you want a
frivolous thread count, or will 250 do? Think about your options
carefully before you shop for bed sheets and then enjoy your
choice!
Last year was the year of search engine marketing and the
experts predict the saga is going to continue full swing until
at least in 2010. When you set out to work on your site’s
visibility, it is useful to know what the professionals that you
cannot afford to outsource the whole headache to are up to and
beat them at the game. Scanning SEO news, it’s pretty obvious
that high search engine rankings still are the
be-all-and-end-all of online marketing, but things are beginning
to move on from here. The new buzzwords that stand out are
accessibility and usability and renewed energy is poured in what
are believed to be new opportunities in areas like local
marketing. But how much bang for your buck will you get this
time?
‘Accessibility!’. ‘Usability!’ Apparently that is what the
professional SEO community is focusing on to get traffic numbers
up for their clients. Evidence the popularity of these words
themselves. A keyword tracking tool like wordtracker shows this
in a matter of seconds. Over the last two months ‘accessibility’
has been scoring a count of 158 and usability more than double
that number, 308. Not a lot of queries perhaps compared to a
word like ‘shoes’ or ‘digital cameras’ or any tangible product
you might be selling, but then –luckily- there are not as many
SEO businesses out there as shoe shops.
So how do accessibility and usability factor in SEO strategies?
Is it again more of the same or are you missing out on vital
elements if you simply improve on your existing optimising
strategies? As your strategy for online marketing is on its way
and you are getting the hang of having the right keywords to
describe your business, it´s time to integrate everything yet
again and focus on your site´s usability and accessibility.
Usability
What is meant by usability is generally how well a site can be
navigated through links, graphics and text. All your optimising
efforts should have one goal in mind: attracting customers. Does
your site still provide valuable information to your human
visitors now that the spiders and robots can read it? This is
key, say the guys at doubleclick.com, who have got good insights
on what’s going on in online marketing in a broad sense.
“Personalization is the hot term for relevancy, with the goal
being to intertwine search with a consumer’s daily activity. As
clients become more sophisticated with increased demands, the
marketplace will yield more efficient results. Technology will
continue to be created to facilitate the massive amounts of data
currently sorted by the engines”, they report. Perhaps it is
totally obvious, but you would be surprised how many strategies
fail simply on wording and text writing.
It’s no use optimising for search engines if the visitors to
your site are not going to be impressed by what they read.
Overly-complex phrasing will have to become a thing of the past
and using common sense, neutral language will open up the
content to a wider audience of search terms. It is best to get a
copywriter to do this for you. If you are not sure whether your
site needs a professional writer’s touch, there are some tools
you can run over it to see if your linked terms actually make
sense in the wider context. Throw your pages through this tool
(free trial of seven days) and consider contacting a freelance
copywriter for a quote if it appears your content is hampered; http://www.ezapplications.com/samples.htm.
There are millions of similar tools out there that can give you
quite a good insight into your content. If you think your
content is a mess, consider hiring a freelance copywriter to
match content and keywords.
Accessibility Accessibility of sites is way more of a
technological issue. You will have what is generally considered
an ‘accessible’ website if it can be read by all browsers.
Providing as much ‘access’ to your site/content as possible
perhaps has a number of added dimensions that you are not aware
of and it is good to pay notice to every aspect of the matching
between your content and the search engines. The various
limitations of browsers other than Internet Explorer and
Netscape are quite distinct and need paying attention to during
this stage of your optimisation efforts. For instance, the Lynx
browser is a text-only browser with no support for tables, CSS,
images, JavaScript, Flash or audio and video content. There are
various tools that replace images in the form of ALT text,
JavaScript through the
There are two good ways you can check how accessible your
website is. Simply download the Lynx browser to see if you can
successfully access all your pages and download the Opera
browser and follow their instructions to enhanced accessibility.
Good SEOs focus on a few standard setting organisations’
guidelines, which are complex systems of rules on unifying
coding. What SEOs make sure of is that users from other
languages and cultures, and users of differing age groups are
not excluded from your site because of some silly technical
hiccups. Where an SEO says he’s making all the difference for
his clients is that he has numerous checklists to make sure your
business in whatever location or segment it is, is optimised. He
likely will market his services saying that he will make your
site more localised than your competition.
There is a lot of scepticism on the strategies in use here and
it remains to be seen whether better accessible local business
site optimisation will actually translate into tangible higher
Return on Investment numbers. Local search appears to be
performing well for national advertisers seeking to segment
markets. The local dry cleaner however doesn’t have (or probably
need) a Web site so the lead is not accurately tracked, and the
value remains doubtful. Don’t buy into it until you see results
from comparable segments to the one you are in!
All lists SEO’s use to make sure your site is technically kosher
are likely variations in one form or another of the lengthy,
prioritised in-depth checkpoints published by the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C), a forum for information, commerce,
communication, and collective understanding of the web. It can
be found here: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/. It is not deemed
100% fool proof, but it’s said to be Google-proof. The checklist
consists of general, common-sense priorities that designers and
programmers must take heed of. The bulk of the checkpoints are
likely issues you’ve comply with for years already, but it’s
always good to see if there’s anything new. It could give you
that edge over the competition you need!
Search engines increasingly take their lead from Google and use
hyper linked text for relevancy so checking that your links make
sense all the time is not a luxury but incremental for your
business. Some SEOs will run software that check that if a
hyperlink is removed from the text –something that easily
happens in forms- and determine whether it still makes sense in
the general context of your site. An SEO would replace a simple
hyperlinked word like ‘more’, with a more descriptive term such
as ‘more news and events’, or similar. You get the idea here.
Source code in general is also quite important. Again, w3 sets
the standard and you can run your site through their validator
tool (http://validator.w3.org/) to get it analysed to see if
search engine spiders/robots have any problems splitting your
content/page into sections before indexing it – e.g. header,
metadata tags, headings, normal text, etc. If the spider has
difficulty in calculating the structure of your code, some of
the text could be misclassified or omitted. Find out and
optimise!
A Saturday morning expedition with the kids brought me an
unexpected surprise. Certainly I had some expectations of our
outing to the “Healthy Kids Day” at the local YMCA. Mildly
entertained children, yes. Gentle reminders to make healthier
choices, yes. But newfound inspiration to help others (and
ourselves) preserve precious photographs? That I wasn’t
expecting!
It happened during a conversation with a firefighter. I was
impressed by this humble man from the start. Not by his
appearance or by his communication skills, but by his simple
willingness to serve. In his role as a firefighter, he has
missed out on many family gatherings and holiday celebrations.
He is just one of many caring individuals who generously
volunteer their time to protect our small towns.
Then he said something that really amazed me. He recalled a
recent fire, and he described how he went into the lower portion
of the house and began taking all of the family photos off of
the walls. He carefully stacked them all on a bed and wrapped
them up in a blanket to protect them from smoke and water. It
goes without saying that the family was extremely grateful and
also surprised by the man’s compassionate actions. In explaining
his actions, the firefighter went on to say the words that we
have all heard countless times, “Those things can’t be
replaced.” He said that he’s been through the pain of losing a
father and losing a son, and aside from the people in his life,
nothing is more valuable than the photographs!
I’m sure we’d all agree that our photographs truly are our most
prized possessions. And while I hope that we may we never be in
a position to rely on a selfless firefighter; I have to wonder:
Are we doing all that we can to protect our precious
photographs? Are we treating our precious photographs with the
significance that we say they hold in our lives?
A fire or a flood is an unthinkable tragedy; one that I hope
none of us ever need to face. But what about the other hazards
that we subject our photos to every day? Many people relegate
these most precious possessions to an acid-filled shoe box,
where they will suffer great damage, slowly and silently.
Copyright 2003-2004, by The Sentimental Playground. Article may
be reprinted with permission.
Remember when Otis Redding sang, “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, wastin’ time…” For those of you too young to remember, suffice to say that it is a classic. It is a catchy tune that drones through your head all day long after you have heard it, and the whistling at the end is habit forming, too. So why would I infer that eBay has anything to do with “sittin’ and wastin’ time”?
If you don’t know what you are doing as you strive to become a seller on eBay, you could be wasting your time or fooling yourself into thinking that you have found a way to make a fortune. What is it you should know about eBay and the cost of doing business on eBay? This can best be summed up with two things - many kinds of eBay fees and PayPal fees. I bring this to your attention so that you go into an eBay relationship with your eyes wide open.
It would be like having a garage sale at your home and not factoring in the cost of placing an ad in the newspaper and paying your kids to watch and help sell the items. Sometimes you can go to all of the work of having a garage sale, and it can be a bust after you deduct the cost of having the sale. The same goes for auctioning items on eBay. After you pay the eBay fees, sometimes there isn’t much left. So you ask yourself as you look at the quarter, two dimes, and a nickel in the palm of your hand, “Was this really worth it?” Could be “yes”; could be “no.”
The old phrase, “…nickel and dime you to death,” comes to mind when I think about the eBay insertion fees, the eBay seller fees, and the PayPal (also owned by eBay) fees. One of the keys to being successful on eBay is to get the most from your listing and minimize the fees that you pay for listing your item. A person needs to do research to come up with a price that will allow for a reasonable profit after the “cost of doing business” is subtracted from the selling price. Taking an eBay class would help beginners with making the most out of their listings where the following costs are explained.
Insertion Fees - This is the price that you are charged for listing an item on eBay. When you list an item, the fee is automatically charged to your seller’s account. These fees are not refundable. The basic insertion fees follow a sliding scale. For example, if an item is listed for $1.00 to $9.99 the insertion fee is $0.35, and an item listed for $50.00 to $199.99 cost $2.40 in insertion fees. However, there are many other things that can be done to enhance a listing. They all have a cost factor. The first picture is free, but additional pictures are $0.15 each. To supersize a picture it would be $0.75. What if you want a border, subtitle, bold, gallery, 10 day auction, and gift services? Yes, you can do that, but each has a cost factor from $.0.50 to $3.00. It can certainly add up if you are not careful.
Buy It Now - This is the feature that a buyer clicks if he or she wants to buy an item immediately. They are prompted to use PayPal and to pay for the item. To protect the seller the item does remain available to other buyers until the payment is completed. A buyer who is the first to send the PayPal payment through gets the item. This feature can be used with any of the other selling formats. However, the “Buy It Now” disappears once a bid is placed (if it is an auction item). Of course, there is a cost for this feature which ranges from $0.05 to $0.25.
Reserve Fees - As a protection to the seller, a reserve price may be initiated so that you don’t sell the item below a certain price. A seller reserves the right not to sell below that designated price, and the seller uses this option to motivate buyers to bid. A potential buyer may be discouraged if the starting price is too high, but a low starting price could backfire if a reserve is not preset. There is a fee for this, of course. The good news is that the reserve fee is refunded if the item is successfully sold. The bad news is that the fee is not refunded if the item doesn’t sell. Kind of like a double whammy, in my opinion.
Final Value Fees - When your item is sold, eBay charges a Final Value Fee. Even if the sale is not completed the fee will be applied. However, you can request a full credit if the buyer did not buy the item or backs out of the deal. Depending on whether the sale was from a regular auction, a store inventory, or eBay motor vehicles the costs may vary on the final value fee .
Pay Pal Fees - Signing up for PayPal is quick and easy. It is a real advantage for sellers because you are able to receive payments very quickly. There is no monthly fees or set up fees. The other good news is that the transaction fees are less than most merchant fees for taking a credit card. The other positives are that there is fraud protection., and Paypal is all available in 38 countries.
As you can see there are many ways that eBay makes money from the fee structures in place, but they are in business to make money. One rationale that is touted as the party line in the eBay schools is that it would be much more to sell items if a person opened a store instead of using the Internet. We are reminded that there would be rent, utilities, and many other things a store owner would need. Their contention is that it has to be worth something.
Just think about how many times someone has complained about wanting to get rid of some items stored in the garage? And how many times has someone else said, “Why don’t you sell it on eBay?” It is such a widely known entity and has such a worldwide Internet presence that you just about have to do it. Knowing up front about the various fees and the best way to list your item could help you be successful. You need to plan carefully and work wisely so that you are not “sittin’ on the dock of eBay, wastin’ time.”
Copyright usage: No permission is needed to reproduce an unedited copy of this article as long the About The Author tag is left in tact and hot links included. Comments or questions can be sent to Barb@sbmag.org
Barbara Snyder M.A. is a retired California Distinguished School Principal and Coordinator For Human Resources. She has a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. She holds elementary education, secondary, community college, and administrative credentials. She is currently the publisher of http://EducationResourcesNetwork.com, and Strictly Business Magazine, http://www.sbmag.org and Student Teacher Supervisor at Chapman University. Comments or questions can be sent to Barb@sbmag.org
How many times have you said to yourself…”I just wish that
company would treat me like they appreciated my business!”?
For many years I trained Customer Service Reps at a large
corporation. There is no doubt that it was during those years I
personally became a consumer with rather high standards and
expectations. It was also during that time that I realized my
only point of power (as a consumer) was to take my business
elsewhere if I didn’t get the treatment I deserved. While it may
not sound like much, take a minute and add it up!
How much do you spend at your grocery store in a year? How much
do you spend at your local gas station in a year? How much do
you spend at your Dr.’s office in a year (make sure to include
what your insurance pays)? Are you surprised?
Whether we consciously think about it or not, we are all
consumers of companies and businesses who profit because we
choose to do business with them. The key word here is “choose”,
and we’ll talk about that later.
Some of the smallest businesses do a fabulous job teaching their
employees how to treat their customers. Maybe it’s the place you
stop for coffee on the way to work in the morning. You go in,
the coffee is hot and fresh, it’s neat and tidy, the cashier has
a big smile (even if it’s really busy), and they even take the
time to thank you for your business.
Then there are some of the larger companies (not all). They have
mission, vision and values statements on the walls. In the
employee lounge area there are posters that say something about
their commitment to quality and service. Yet, when you reach the
customer service or check out person, they appear lifeless…no
enthusiasm, no eye contact, and virtually no acknowledgement…and
god help you if you inconvenience them by asking for an
explanation or a price check.
Decide right now to become an empowered consumer and give your
business to those who treat you like they appreciate your
business. Here’s a strategy to get you there: 1.Create a list of
all the places you do business. Don’t forget to include
subscriptions, financial institutions, and even your handyman.
2.Next, rate your satisfaction with each business on your list
(5= Very Satisfied - 1= Not Satisfied). 3.Review your ratings.
4.If there are ratings of 1 or 2, take your business
elsewhere…immediately. 5.Businesses you rated 3 should be
considered in the danger zone. If you choose to stay with them,
at least give them some feedback on what they can do to improve.
Review them again in 6 months. 6.Repeat the process annually.
My point…you deserve to be treated with respect and
appreciation, and you have a CHOICE! If you exercise that
choice, you serve us all as consumers. Don’t settle for less!
This is a description of individual personal coaching. In the article I will explain what the “I” represents and discuss some of the issues and problems individuals face as they embark on their journey from “I-TO-WE.”
The “I” represents the self and is the beginning of the journey.
It is the most important phase because it forms the
foundation of the relationship with ourselves and others.
This is where you understand the concept of a connected self,
false beliefs, personal responsibility and emotional intelligence.
I work with individuals to help empower them to
define their vision of the future, identify their values to live by,
eliminate negative false beliefs and develop positive attitudes.
They learn to accept personal responsibility for their actions,
understand how to live in the moment and
begin to experience a fulfilling and balanced life.
If you are not a free and complete “I” then you will not be ready
to begin the “TO” stage of your life, the transition phase of
finding the right relationship, and you will not be ready
to experience and be part of a successful “WE”.
The “I” Coaching is by far the most important of the 6 Stages of Relationships. If you are not a “I” that is comfortable in your our skin and love yourself, you will not be able to freely give love to your partner.
My coaching philosophy is to find out who you are, where you are today and where you want to go. My job is to help you find your vision, decide on what you want, make a plan to get to where you want to go and be there for you to support and hold you accountable while you are on your journey to find the life you love.
The following 6 topics are the ones I feel are the most important to address in the process of defining your “I” and preparing to make the journey to be a successful “WE”.
FEAR
Fear is the basis for some many of the problems we all have. Fear comes in many sizes and shapes and it has one thing in common with many of us. It prevents us from getting what we want and deserve. So many of us have roadblocks of our own making that gets us stuck and sometimes we just need a little help from someone who cares to assist us in exploring our fears and beliefs, listening and helping us to make some critical distinctions and decisions. We get caught up in asking ourselves so many questions that it seems like an endless supply of chatter that confuses us and we become “frozen in the headlights like a deer.”
FREEDOM
My definition of freedom is peace of mind. This state is only obtainable by living by our values, being in the moment and having the courage to face our fears and do it anyway. We need to be content, to just do what we can, want what we have and be who we are. When we focus on the past we are caught in the fear of anxiety. When we focus on the future, we are caught in the fear of worry.
INTIMACY
We all want to minimize our fears so we will be able to freely give love and receive love. The problem with so many people is they have not resolved their unfinished emotional business from the past. When we do not spend the time to do the self-work necessary, we can find that our unresolved issues will impair our ability to sustain intimate relationships. Fear is the number one enemy that can prevent you from making the successful journey from I-TO-WE.
RESPONSIBILITY
Who’s responsible for you being happy and getting what you want? We all know how we would answer that question if someone asked it of us. But, how do you answer it to yourself. Do you really take personal responsibility for fighting your fears, gaining your inner freedom and finding intimacy? If you are like most of us, you sometimes try to blame someone, something, some place, anything but not yourself. I think we all can benefit from defining the rules for taking personal responsibility for our feelings and actions.
FORGIVNESS
We have all made mistakes we regret. We have all done things to others and ourselves we wish we could have a do-over. We are all human and we all are still learning and growing. We have to learn to let go of the guilt and practice forgiveness for ourselves and others and say we are sorry and let go of the pain.
MOVING FORWARD
The passion of my work is helping people to move forward with their lives. To help clear the mud of fear and confusion from their windshield and watch them speed away into the sunset of their dreams. Isn’t that what life is all about! You just have to believe, be motivated, kick down the wall of fear and just go for it! I am here if you would like someone to help and support you on this journey.
My article The Path to a Peaceful Soul and Successful Relationships will help you to understand how all of the above topics are woven together to lead you to the life you will love to live.
I offer Free Quizzes, e-Programs; Special Reports, Newsletter and Free 30 minute Coaching Sessions. The Programs Page http://www.i-to-we-relationship-coaching.com/programs.html will list the special 5-session introductory programs I offer for all 6 Stages of Relationships. Please visit my website at http://i-to-we-relationship-coaching.com/ to see how I help Individuals, Singles and Couples to find and keep their Best Friend during the Day, Lover at Night and Partner for Life.
always leave your guide track as your last track. There are a few things that should be noted about the guide track. First you should always start the guide track with a count. Even if a single instrument will begin the song in production. A count gives all musicians that are waiting for their point to begin the starting gun for the song.
