November 21st, 2008
In IT consulting, what does a $75 an hour consulting business equate to in the long run? What happens if your rate structure extends beyond that?
If you keep carrying something like a $75 or $85 level beyond the grand opening special to get your first couple of clients, your business will become more of a hobby or non profit-type organization.
Consider Overhead and Expenses
You say, "How can that be? Why doesn’t $75 an hour equate to $150,000 a year?" Wrong, $75 an hour in running your own IT consulting business doesn’t come out to $150,000 a year because you can’t bill 2,000 hours a year.
New consultants often fail to consider all the overhead and expenses that usually come up as an IT consulting business matures. The uninformed person just starting out usually believes that $75 an hour times 40 hours a week times 50 weeks a year is $150,000 a year in IT consulting revenue because they think they’re going to bill 40 hours a week every week.
Know There Will Be Inconsistencies
It’s not going to happen unless you’re working 100 hours a week, and it’s probably still not going to happen every week consistently, for many reasons. Starting an IT consulting business sounds great on the surface. You’re thinking, "I’m going to work from home. I’m going to keep my overhead as low as possible."
Consider Your Utilization Rate
You need to consider what’s called your utilization rate. It’s the reality of only being able to bill out, on average, about 75% of the 40 given hours in a week. It still can take you six months to a year to even get to that level consistently.
The Bottom Line about IT Consulting
Finally, one of the most important things new IT consulting businesses overlook is the question of what happens as your business grows and you want to scale up? In setting your rates, you need to consider these factors.
If you keep carrying something like a $75 or $85 level beyond the grand opening special to get your first couple of clients, your business will become more of a hobby or non profit-type organization.
Consider Overhead and Expenses
You say, "How can that be? Why doesn’t $75 an hour equate to $150,000 a year?" Wrong, $75 an hour in running your own IT consulting business doesn’t come out to $150,000 a year because you can’t bill 2,000 hours a year.
New consultants often fail to consider all the overhead and expenses that usually come up as an IT consulting business matures. The uninformed person just starting out usually believes that $75 an hour times 40 hours a week times 50 weeks a year is $150,000 a year in IT consulting revenue because they think they’re going to bill 40 hours a week every week.
Know There Will Be Inconsistencies
It’s not going to happen unless you’re working 100 hours a week, and it’s probably still not going to happen every week consistently, for many reasons. Starting an IT consulting business sounds great on the surface. You’re thinking, "I’m going to work from home. I’m going to keep my overhead as low as possible."
Consider Your Utilization Rate
You need to consider what’s called your utilization rate. It’s the reality of only being able to bill out, on average, about 75% of the 40 given hours in a week. It still can take you six months to a year to even get to that level consistently.
The Bottom Line about IT Consulting
Finally, one of the most important things new IT consulting businesses overlook is the question of what happens as your business grows and you want to scale up? In setting your rates, you need to consider these factors.
Yes, non-profits are viable. But there are certainly more financially rewarding sectors for IT specialists. Let's first take a look at the pros of non-profits.
o It's easy to reach non-profits because they belong to trade groups and you can get your hands on the publicly available directories.
o You can get a lot of tremendous emotional satisfaction and gratification knowing you're helping a particular cause.
The two biggest downsides of non-profit:
o Thin profit margins
o Bidding wars
Bid situations reduce your firm to a commodity. Additionally, when you bid against someone else's specs, your competitor may be shortcutting. Thus lowering the bid price and keeping you from quoting a more realistic solution.
Non Profits and Government Bids Are Tricky for IT Specialists
For most IT specialists, selling to private sector small businesses is going to be a lot easier than trying to navigate the waters of non-profit and government bids. The unfortunate part is, in most cases, non-profits and government agencies are legally bound to take the quoted price.
The Downside of Bidding Wars for IT Specialists
When you're getting into a bidding situation, you really don't have the luxury of the trust, personality, and credibility factors helping you all that much. It really usually boils down to who can post the bond, who can follow the rules, and who can get the bid in on time.
Then, on top of everything else, bidding requires you to do a ton of non-billable upfront work that you can normally bill for in the private sector. This non-billable work consists of researching, developing configurations, and bringing it all together. And the reality is this: getting the contract may be a real long shot.
Bidding Wisely
If you are going to try a competitive bid, don't bet your whole company on it. Make sure that your bid chasing time is no more than 20% of your business development efforts. Unless your company is 100% focused on selling to non-profits or government agencies, you're usually better off concentrating on the traditional private sector small businesses.
If a government agency is looking to outsource support services, and it's a well thought out request for proposal (RFP), it becomes a more interesting proposition. If the agency however is just looking to buy hardware and some one-shot deal installation services, you're going to run into a lot of profitability challenges.
The Bottom Line on Non Profits for IT Specialists
Non-profit and government are still better niche options for IT specialists than just going down the retail path. But non-profit and government are anywhere near as attractive as the sweet spot of small business computer consulting.
o It's easy to reach non-profits because they belong to trade groups and you can get your hands on the publicly available directories.
o You can get a lot of tremendous emotional satisfaction and gratification knowing you're helping a particular cause.
The two biggest downsides of non-profit:
o Thin profit margins
o Bidding wars
Bid situations reduce your firm to a commodity. Additionally, when you bid against someone else's specs, your competitor may be shortcutting. Thus lowering the bid price and keeping you from quoting a more realistic solution.
Non Profits and Government Bids Are Tricky for IT Specialists
For most IT specialists, selling to private sector small businesses is going to be a lot easier than trying to navigate the waters of non-profit and government bids. The unfortunate part is, in most cases, non-profits and government agencies are legally bound to take the quoted price.
The Downside of Bidding Wars for IT Specialists
When you're getting into a bidding situation, you really don't have the luxury of the trust, personality, and credibility factors helping you all that much. It really usually boils down to who can post the bond, who can follow the rules, and who can get the bid in on time.
Then, on top of everything else, bidding requires you to do a ton of non-billable upfront work that you can normally bill for in the private sector. This non-billable work consists of researching, developing configurations, and bringing it all together. And the reality is this: getting the contract may be a real long shot.
Bidding Wisely
If you are going to try a competitive bid, don't bet your whole company on it. Make sure that your bid chasing time is no more than 20% of your business development efforts. Unless your company is 100% focused on selling to non-profits or government agencies, you're usually better off concentrating on the traditional private sector small businesses.
If a government agency is looking to outsource support services, and it's a well thought out request for proposal (RFP), it becomes a more interesting proposition. If the agency however is just looking to buy hardware and some one-shot deal installation services, you're going to run into a lot of profitability challenges.
The Bottom Line on Non Profits for IT Specialists
Non-profit and government are still better niche options for IT specialists than just going down the retail path. But non-profit and government are anywhere near as attractive as the sweet spot of small business computer consulting.
You may not realize it, but you use a specialized vocabulary every day. In the professional setting of the work place, this specialized vocabulary is referred to as “jargon.”
Jargon is the language you use to discuss issues within your corporation (e.g., XYZ Widget Company), within your industry (e.g., insurance), or within your type of position (e.g., marketing). This language can be made up of technical terms, abbreviations, and acronyms.
The difficulty with jargon is that only those people within the group (whatever the group is) understand it. Technical terms and acronyms that may be fine for interoffice email correspondence wouldn’t be appropriate when communicating with someone outside the group, such as customers.
Know the Audience
When determining what, if any, jargon to use, keep the audience in mind. What “group” is this reader a member of? Will he/she understand these acronyms or abbreviations? When in doubt, avoid the abbreviation, and spell it out.
Recognize that jargon doesn’t just refer to job-related issues. If you work for a corporation, you use terms that are unique to your industry. If you are sending an email to someone outside your industry, you will need to review the message and remove any potentially confusing industry terms.
Example
Using different forms of jargon, here are a few examples of responses to the same inquiry:
“Where do you work?”
1. (Who is asking): Someone in the same department
(Response): I work in CRT.
[This stands for Customer Resource Team.]
2. (Who is asking): Someone in the same company
(Response): I work for HLICO.
[This stands for Happy Life Insurance Company.]
3. (Who is asking): A working person who is outside the industry
(Response): I work for an insurance company.
4. (Who is asking): A young child
(Response): I help people save money today, so they can buy candy bars and ice cream later.
It’s important to remember that the language you use in your everyday work environment is unique. Using this language with the wrong person can cause him/her to become embarrassed or confused. You don’t want to appear condescending to a customer or coworker.
Be aware of when jargon is appropriate and when it’s not. When you know the difference, more effective communication will follow.
Jargon is the language you use to discuss issues within your corporation (e.g., XYZ Widget Company), within your industry (e.g., insurance), or within your type of position (e.g., marketing). This language can be made up of technical terms, abbreviations, and acronyms.
The difficulty with jargon is that only those people within the group (whatever the group is) understand it. Technical terms and acronyms that may be fine for interoffice email correspondence wouldn’t be appropriate when communicating with someone outside the group, such as customers.
Know the Audience
When determining what, if any, jargon to use, keep the audience in mind. What “group” is this reader a member of? Will he/she understand these acronyms or abbreviations? When in doubt, avoid the abbreviation, and spell it out.
Recognize that jargon doesn’t just refer to job-related issues. If you work for a corporation, you use terms that are unique to your industry. If you are sending an email to someone outside your industry, you will need to review the message and remove any potentially confusing industry terms.
Example
Using different forms of jargon, here are a few examples of responses to the same inquiry:
“Where do you work?”
1. (Who is asking): Someone in the same department
(Response): I work in CRT.
[This stands for Customer Resource Team.]
2. (Who is asking): Someone in the same company
(Response): I work for HLICO.
[This stands for Happy Life Insurance Company.]
3. (Who is asking): A working person who is outside the industry
(Response): I work for an insurance company.
4. (Who is asking): A young child
(Response): I help people save money today, so they can buy candy bars and ice cream later.
It’s important to remember that the language you use in your everyday work environment is unique. Using this language with the wrong person can cause him/her to become embarrassed or confused. You don’t want to appear condescending to a customer or coworker.
Be aware of when jargon is appropriate and when it’s not. When you know the difference, more effective communication will follow.
Examinons donc les différentes théories de jeux existants, leur sérieux et leur efficacité, pour ne pas dire inefficacité.
Tout d'abord, il est une chose essentielle a toujours garde en mémoire: le jeu est un sport, un loisir lie aux aléas du hasard. Comprenez donc la chose suivante: rien ne peut défier le hasard. Perdre est donc naturel et il faut bien l'accepter.
Tout n'est donc que question de chance.
Ainsi, toutes les théories sur "Comment battre les Casinos" n'ont aucun fondement et n'ont, par ailleurs, jamais prouve leur efficacité.
Ces dernières n'ont été inventées que pour donner de faux espoirs de contrôle d'une partie, face a un manque de confiance en soi.
1) L'une des méthodes les plus célèbres est celle de parier sur un événement qui n'a pas eu lieu a un moment précis. Selon des calculs statistiques, un événement qui ne s'est pas produit a ce moment sera forcement récurent sous peu.
Grave erreur. Par exemple, a la roulette: 3 cases rouges sortent coup sur coup,le joueur parie alors sur une case noire pour le quatrième tour. Manque de chance, une autre case rouge est sortie.
Hors cette méthode est très courante au sein des casinos, surtout parmi les joueurs cherchant a battre le casino. Regardez donc le nombre de personnes autour du table avec leur air songeur! En fait, ils analysent les parties.
2) La seule méthode plus fiable jusqu'a présent fut le comptage de cartes des sabots. Or, sachez que les casinos peuvent mettre dans un même sabot 8 voir 10 jeux différents pour le Blackjack. Donc cette méthode n'est plus trop en vigueur de nos jours.
Cette dernière fut très prisée car non basée sur les probabilités, et offrant, a long terme, plus d'avantage sur le Casino.
3) Toutefois, certaines méthodes ont vues le jour comme les Martingales pour la casino en ligne pour la roulettes. Celles-ci ont au moins le mérite d'annoncer la couleur des le départ: "Aucune fiabilité a 100%". Toutefois, elles offrent l'avantage de proposer les meilleures possibilités de paris (comment miser pour récupérer la précédente mise,combien, etc..), tout en ayant fait d'avantages de preuves que la première.
Les casinos permettent-ils ceci ?
Les casinos connaissent même mieux que nous ces fameuses stratégies "miracles". Par conséquent, les casinotiers changent régulièrement leurs conditions générales de jeu ou leur matériel, sans pour autant être trop inquiètes. En effet, contre le comptage de cartes, le casino a par exemple rajouté des jeux dans son sabot afin de le rendre impossible.
De plus, ces derniers savent qu'a la longue, l'avantage revient a la maison (soit, le casino).
Mais pour éviter de tout perdre:
Autre que le conseil singulier de "faites attention a vos mises. Ne misez jamais plus que vous ne disposez", il est utile de rappeler que les allers/ retours a Las Vegas ou Atlantic City ne sont pas nécessaires pour pouvoir bénéficier de bons casinos. Le choix s'offre a vous,: dans votre région ou en ligne. Alors pourquoi gaspiller en plus de l'argent dans des billets d'avions tous les deux mois?
Tout d'abord, il est une chose essentielle a toujours garde en mémoire: le jeu est un sport, un loisir lie aux aléas du hasard. Comprenez donc la chose suivante: rien ne peut défier le hasard. Perdre est donc naturel et il faut bien l'accepter.
Tout n'est donc que question de chance.
Ainsi, toutes les théories sur "Comment battre les Casinos" n'ont aucun fondement et n'ont, par ailleurs, jamais prouve leur efficacité.
Ces dernières n'ont été inventées que pour donner de faux espoirs de contrôle d'une partie, face a un manque de confiance en soi.
1) L'une des méthodes les plus célèbres est celle de parier sur un événement qui n'a pas eu lieu a un moment précis. Selon des calculs statistiques, un événement qui ne s'est pas produit a ce moment sera forcement récurent sous peu.
Grave erreur. Par exemple, a la roulette: 3 cases rouges sortent coup sur coup,le joueur parie alors sur une case noire pour le quatrième tour. Manque de chance, une autre case rouge est sortie.
Hors cette méthode est très courante au sein des casinos, surtout parmi les joueurs cherchant a battre le casino. Regardez donc le nombre de personnes autour du table avec leur air songeur! En fait, ils analysent les parties.
2) La seule méthode plus fiable jusqu'a présent fut le comptage de cartes des sabots. Or, sachez que les casinos peuvent mettre dans un même sabot 8 voir 10 jeux différents pour le Blackjack. Donc cette méthode n'est plus trop en vigueur de nos jours.
Cette dernière fut très prisée car non basée sur les probabilités, et offrant, a long terme, plus d'avantage sur le Casino.
3) Toutefois, certaines méthodes ont vues le jour comme les Martingales pour la casino en ligne pour la roulettes. Celles-ci ont au moins le mérite d'annoncer la couleur des le départ: "Aucune fiabilité a 100%". Toutefois, elles offrent l'avantage de proposer les meilleures possibilités de paris (comment miser pour récupérer la précédente mise,combien, etc..), tout en ayant fait d'avantages de preuves que la première.
Les casinos permettent-ils ceci ?
Les casinos connaissent même mieux que nous ces fameuses stratégies "miracles". Par conséquent, les casinotiers changent régulièrement leurs conditions générales de jeu ou leur matériel, sans pour autant être trop inquiètes. En effet, contre le comptage de cartes, le casino a par exemple rajouté des jeux dans son sabot afin de le rendre impossible.
De plus, ces derniers savent qu'a la longue, l'avantage revient a la maison (soit, le casino).
Mais pour éviter de tout perdre:
Autre que le conseil singulier de "faites attention a vos mises. Ne misez jamais plus que vous ne disposez", il est utile de rappeler que les allers/ retours a Las Vegas ou Atlantic City ne sont pas nécessaires pour pouvoir bénéficier de bons casinos. Le choix s'offre a vous,: dans votre région ou en ligne. Alors pourquoi gaspiller en plus de l'argent dans des billets d'avions tous les deux mois?
The experts are of the view that India is seemed to be third largest in the world within ten years. The 60% of Indian population depend on agriculture which accounted for 18.9%, whereas, the services rated 54.8% and industrial sector rated 26.3% GDP in fiscal year 2006-07.
The rapid growing software industry, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, the creative industries and financial services is providing solid base to Indian economy and job opportunities to masses. Small business enterprises are prospecting jobs traditionally for non graduates. The formal graduate recruitment is being made in the multinationals which are increasing operations in India. Although, there was trend to ex-pat western managers in multinational, however, now the local staff is being appointed by most of the international companies.
The largest recruiting companies include IBM, Wipro, TCS, Tata Engineering, ITC, State bank of India, and Infosys which recruit 15,000 to 20,000 graduates every year, hence increasing the job opportunities in India.
The organizational culture in India is enormously diverse. Work ethics varies from sector to sector. In local private sector; the work culture is influenced by family life and religion. The public sector is highly bureaucratic whereas, international companies possess quite modern culture. The trend of on job trainings to workforce enhances capabilities and professionalism in the organization.
In the year 2006, average salaries in India were $8,000. However, initial salaries of the graduate from the top universities are more than that. Saturday is often working day in India except in multinationals. The official language of India is English.
Since India has many job opportunities, but still many people, approximately a fifth of population, live in poverty including constant unemployment. One reason of the poverty in India could be 90% of labor forces work without social security and other benefits.
The rapid growing software industry, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, the creative industries and financial services is providing solid base to Indian economy and job opportunities to masses. Small business enterprises are prospecting jobs traditionally for non graduates. The formal graduate recruitment is being made in the multinationals which are increasing operations in India. Although, there was trend to ex-pat western managers in multinational, however, now the local staff is being appointed by most of the international companies.
The largest recruiting companies include IBM, Wipro, TCS, Tata Engineering, ITC, State bank of India, and Infosys which recruit 15,000 to 20,000 graduates every year, hence increasing the job opportunities in India.
The organizational culture in India is enormously diverse. Work ethics varies from sector to sector. In local private sector; the work culture is influenced by family life and religion. The public sector is highly bureaucratic whereas, international companies possess quite modern culture. The trend of on job trainings to workforce enhances capabilities and professionalism in the organization.
In the year 2006, average salaries in India were $8,000. However, initial salaries of the graduate from the top universities are more than that. Saturday is often working day in India except in multinationals. The official language of India is English.
Since India has many job opportunities, but still many people, approximately a fifth of population, live in poverty including constant unemployment. One reason of the poverty in India could be 90% of labor forces work without social security and other benefits.
Track all sources of traffic generation.
John Reese stresses the need to track where all traffic comes from and at what cost. It is crucial to know exactly how many sales, newsletter sign-ups, or other leads your particular marketing campaigns generating. This enables you to work smarter and not harder. By tracking all traffic to your site you can make twice as much while working fifty percent less.
Content is King
On the internet, people are searching for one thing....... Content! Load your website with as much content as possible. Then, continuously add content. Search engines love information and they will love your site if you've got lots of it. There's plenty of free content for the taking on the internet. You can load up your site with articles from article directories like ezinearticles.com. Or, you could be like John and use content from the public domain. Or, you can use content that is in the creative commons. This type is now easier than ever to find now that Yahoo and others have come out with a search engine designed specifically for content that is in the creative commons.
An affiliate program is critical to maximum traffic and sales. Lots of internet marketers don't take advantage of this powerful traffic-generating technique. An affiliate program allows you to have your own personal salesman spread all over the web. The best part about it is that there is absolutely no risk involved but tons of traffic and sales to gain. Your website simply cannot grow to its full potential without an effective affiliate program.
Banner Ads
John Reese advocates the use of banner ads during a time when they are largely an untapped marketing source. Banner ads are one of the most overlooked sources of targeted traffic online.
Also, banner ads are now one of the cheapest sources of targeted traffic. In the late 1990's during the dot-com boom, people were selling banner ads for $40 and $50 CPM. Then the dot-com bubble hit and these rates hit the floor. You can now buy banner ads dirt cheap, at $1 to $1.50 CPM. This is $1 for 1,000 banner impressions. The key here is to find the perfect place to advertise that will send targeted, willing to buy customers to your site.
Create viral reports that can quickly spread around the internet. This method works best when you have an affiliate program. Allow others to brand your report in order to encourage its distribution.
A quality free report can be a powerful promoter when passed around the internet. This same phenomenon can occur when you submit your articles to article directories and popular newsletters.
Take advantage of your virtual real estate.
Take advantage of the different parts of your website. Don't let any of your web pages go to waste. You can do this by adding a link to another one of your web sites or pages on your thank-you or sales confirmation pages. If you have articles on your site, place links to related articles on the bottom of the page. The longer you keep a visitor at your web site, the more valuable they become.
It is very important to funnel traffic from within the multiple sites you may have.
Continually seek out other web sites to link to you. Now, we're not just talking about any kind of link here, but powerful, traffic-generating links from respected sites. Here are some quick suggestions:
Send a related web site an article that you have written and allow them to display it on their website with a resource box at the end. Offer to exchange articles and tell them about the benefits of doing so.
Allow multiple, related web sites to distribute your free e-book or report. All web masters are looking to add value to their web site, why not make it easy for them.
There are unlimited possibilities, be creative!
Online group participation can produce a no-cost stream of traffic and sales.
Get involved in email discussion lists, online groups and forums that are related to your target market. Becoming involved in discussions makes you very credible. Traffic from forums can produce a much higher sales conversion rate.
This method can produce quite a bit of sales for you just by helping others out. Not to mention, you'll learn a lot along the way.
John Reese stresses the need to track where all traffic comes from and at what cost. It is crucial to know exactly how many sales, newsletter sign-ups, or other leads your particular marketing campaigns generating. This enables you to work smarter and not harder. By tracking all traffic to your site you can make twice as much while working fifty percent less.
Content is King
On the internet, people are searching for one thing....... Content! Load your website with as much content as possible. Then, continuously add content. Search engines love information and they will love your site if you've got lots of it. There's plenty of free content for the taking on the internet. You can load up your site with articles from article directories like ezinearticles.com. Or, you could be like John and use content from the public domain. Or, you can use content that is in the creative commons. This type is now easier than ever to find now that Yahoo and others have come out with a search engine designed specifically for content that is in the creative commons.
An affiliate program is critical to maximum traffic and sales. Lots of internet marketers don't take advantage of this powerful traffic-generating technique. An affiliate program allows you to have your own personal salesman spread all over the web. The best part about it is that there is absolutely no risk involved but tons of traffic and sales to gain. Your website simply cannot grow to its full potential without an effective affiliate program.
Banner Ads
John Reese advocates the use of banner ads during a time when they are largely an untapped marketing source. Banner ads are one of the most overlooked sources of targeted traffic online.
Also, banner ads are now one of the cheapest sources of targeted traffic. In the late 1990's during the dot-com boom, people were selling banner ads for $40 and $50 CPM. Then the dot-com bubble hit and these rates hit the floor. You can now buy banner ads dirt cheap, at $1 to $1.50 CPM. This is $1 for 1,000 banner impressions. The key here is to find the perfect place to advertise that will send targeted, willing to buy customers to your site.
Create viral reports that can quickly spread around the internet. This method works best when you have an affiliate program. Allow others to brand your report in order to encourage its distribution.
A quality free report can be a powerful promoter when passed around the internet. This same phenomenon can occur when you submit your articles to article directories and popular newsletters.
Take advantage of your virtual real estate.
Take advantage of the different parts of your website. Don't let any of your web pages go to waste. You can do this by adding a link to another one of your web sites or pages on your thank-you or sales confirmation pages. If you have articles on your site, place links to related articles on the bottom of the page. The longer you keep a visitor at your web site, the more valuable they become.
It is very important to funnel traffic from within the multiple sites you may have.
Continually seek out other web sites to link to you. Now, we're not just talking about any kind of link here, but powerful, traffic-generating links from respected sites. Here are some quick suggestions:
Send a related web site an article that you have written and allow them to display it on their website with a resource box at the end. Offer to exchange articles and tell them about the benefits of doing so.
Allow multiple, related web sites to distribute your free e-book or report. All web masters are looking to add value to their web site, why not make it easy for them.
There are unlimited possibilities, be creative!
Online group participation can produce a no-cost stream of traffic and sales.
Get involved in email discussion lists, online groups and forums that are related to your target market. Becoming involved in discussions makes you very credible. Traffic from forums can produce a much higher sales conversion rate.
This method can produce quite a bit of sales for you just by helping others out. Not to mention, you'll learn a lot along the way.
How many times have you heard the story about the guy who just lost his job, had no money, and his credit history was shot? Yet somehow he made fortunes by investing in real estate. Believe it or not this can happen. Many success stories happen because of join ventures in real estate.
The concept is not new. It is simply a matter of using someone else's money for profit. There are many people who are very interested in becoming real estate investors; however they do not know the first thing about the real estate market. This is where someone like the guy mentioned above can profit.
If you have a keen sense of real estate and finance and know what would make a good investment, but have no cash flow, then you are a good candidate for a joint venture in real estate. Your knowledge and someone else's money can generate a profitable venture for both of you. It just takes some know how to get it all done.
There are many people who are willing to use their credit or finances to gain a profit in the real estate investment world. You will need to find these people, either by soliciting in the local papers, on the Internet, or by forming a local real estate investment group. This type of group is beneficial to everyone involved.
There are times when an investor has done nothing but buy and flip properties. He or she knows nothing about renting the properties. The typical investor also usually has one niche he or she sticks with. Someone who buys strictly commercial properties may know nothing about residential and vice versa. By forming a real estate investment group in your area, this knowledge from all the investors in the group can be shared.
This can also work to your advantage should you come across a property you may want to invest in but lack the information that comes with the type of property. There may be another investor in the group who will want to form a joint venture with you in order to take advantage of the deal. Many times there may be two or three investors who are willing to make the deal happen. This is also a great way to break into commercial investing. The more investors there are on a project the less out of pocket expense each one has. You may also find the odds slightly more in your favor with the lenders when you have a team of investors who want to purchase a large commercial property together as a joint venture.
Joint ventures in real estate can offer you the ability to obtain properties you once thought were not in your budget. You can gain knowledge from seasoned investors or you can profit from a new investor who is willing to back you financially in a real estate deal. The list is endless when it comes to the benefits of joint ventures in real estate. By forming the real estate investment group in your area, you can open a whole new world of real estate investing.
The concept is not new. It is simply a matter of using someone else's money for profit. There are many people who are very interested in becoming real estate investors; however they do not know the first thing about the real estate market. This is where someone like the guy mentioned above can profit.
If you have a keen sense of real estate and finance and know what would make a good investment, but have no cash flow, then you are a good candidate for a joint venture in real estate. Your knowledge and someone else's money can generate a profitable venture for both of you. It just takes some know how to get it all done.
There are many people who are willing to use their credit or finances to gain a profit in the real estate investment world. You will need to find these people, either by soliciting in the local papers, on the Internet, or by forming a local real estate investment group. This type of group is beneficial to everyone involved.
There are times when an investor has done nothing but buy and flip properties. He or she knows nothing about renting the properties. The typical investor also usually has one niche he or she sticks with. Someone who buys strictly commercial properties may know nothing about residential and vice versa. By forming a real estate investment group in your area, this knowledge from all the investors in the group can be shared.
This can also work to your advantage should you come across a property you may want to invest in but lack the information that comes with the type of property. There may be another investor in the group who will want to form a joint venture with you in order to take advantage of the deal. Many times there may be two or three investors who are willing to make the deal happen. This is also a great way to break into commercial investing. The more investors there are on a project the less out of pocket expense each one has. You may also find the odds slightly more in your favor with the lenders when you have a team of investors who want to purchase a large commercial property together as a joint venture.
Joint ventures in real estate can offer you the ability to obtain properties you once thought were not in your budget. You can gain knowledge from seasoned investors or you can profit from a new investor who is willing to back you financially in a real estate deal. The list is endless when it comes to the benefits of joint ventures in real estate. By forming the real estate investment group in your area, you can open a whole new world of real estate investing.
When I think of Jollibee Franchise in the Philippines, usually all I can think about is the mouth watering Yumburgers or ChickenJoy. But in reality, it takes so much more than just food to make Jollibee. If you’re curious about business operations for both the Jollibee Philippines division as well as Jollibee International, then hopefully this article will help out a little bit.
Acquistions in the Philippines
The corporation is actually known as Jollibee Foods Corporation. Oh and if you thought that Jollibee was the only fast food chain operated by this coporation, boy are you in for a surprise. To me, it seems like JFC owns a majority stake in all of the Filipino fast food niches. Do you ever eat at Chow King? I know I love the halo-halo there, but did you know that in the year 2000, JFC acquired Chowking! That’s right, all the delicious oriental style fast food from Chow King is operated at a high level by the same corporation as Jollibee. Oh and that’s not all. Seems like Jollibee Foods Corporation has the idea that diversification is key to its future, and I think they’re on the right track. JFC also bought out the popular fast food pizza restaurant known as Greenwich Pizza. Additionally, in 2005, Red Ribbon Bakery became part of JFC. Keeping with the baking theme, JFC acquired the French cafe and bakery known as Delifrance. The division of JFC that handles business inside of the Philippines is known as Jollibee Philippines.
Acquisitions outside of the Philippines
JFC has holdings in several other Asian countries including China and Taiwan. There’s a Chinese fast food chain named Yonghe King in mainland China (based in Shanghai) that is owned and operated by JFC. Another Chinese restaurant chain named Hongzhuangyuan was acquired on September 21, 2007. This chain has 33 locations in Beijing and was purchased for the amount of US $50.5 million.
Wow! I sure was surpised when I learned about all those acquisitions. It’s interesting to note that when I walk into any of the chains above that they’re owned and operated by the same corporation. I’m glad that Jollibee has a great track record with the Filipino community and that in addition to the amazing Jollibee stores in the Philippines, they can offer us a variety of different foods ranging from pizza, oriental food, coffee and baked goods. Yum!
Acquistions in the Philippines
The corporation is actually known as Jollibee Foods Corporation. Oh and if you thought that Jollibee was the only fast food chain operated by this coporation, boy are you in for a surprise. To me, it seems like JFC owns a majority stake in all of the Filipino fast food niches. Do you ever eat at Chow King? I know I love the halo-halo there, but did you know that in the year 2000, JFC acquired Chowking! That’s right, all the delicious oriental style fast food from Chow King is operated at a high level by the same corporation as Jollibee. Oh and that’s not all. Seems like Jollibee Foods Corporation has the idea that diversification is key to its future, and I think they’re on the right track. JFC also bought out the popular fast food pizza restaurant known as Greenwich Pizza. Additionally, in 2005, Red Ribbon Bakery became part of JFC. Keeping with the baking theme, JFC acquired the French cafe and bakery known as Delifrance. The division of JFC that handles business inside of the Philippines is known as Jollibee Philippines.
Acquisitions outside of the Philippines
JFC has holdings in several other Asian countries including China and Taiwan. There’s a Chinese fast food chain named Yonghe King in mainland China (based in Shanghai) that is owned and operated by JFC. Another Chinese restaurant chain named Hongzhuangyuan was acquired on September 21, 2007. This chain has 33 locations in Beijing and was purchased for the amount of US $50.5 million.
Wow! I sure was surpised when I learned about all those acquisitions. It’s interesting to note that when I walk into any of the chains above that they’re owned and operated by the same corporation. I’m glad that Jollibee has a great track record with the Filipino community and that in addition to the amazing Jollibee stores in the Philippines, they can offer us a variety of different foods ranging from pizza, oriental food, coffee and baked goods. Yum!
In any business, no matter how you slice it, the more effective your advertising is, the more successful you will be. The fast food indsutry is no different, and the people at Jollibee Philippines (the division in the Philippines, as opposed to Jollibee International) definitely know what they’re doing when it comes to advertising. They know their target audience very well: the traditional Filipino family, and it caters very well towards the typical family in the Philippines.
Keep it in the Family
Focusing on the cultural tradition of the importance of family values, they have made a concerted effort to make sure that Filipinos associate Jollibee with a wholesome family meal. Not so much wholesome in the nutritional sense (it is fast food overall), but wholesome meaning that feeling you get inside your heart when you watch a “perfect” nuclear family with two parents, one boy and one girl enjoy the deliciousness of ChickenJoy on TV. Jollibee is targeting two areas: both the pallete as well as the heart. As you watch the young boy excitedly bite into his Yumburger with his insatiable appetite and his mother looking on with a friendly smile as she has french fries in her hands, you’re transpoorted to this magical fantasyland. You want to be part of that family. You want your family to be like that family. And in addition to all this, you want to go to Jollibee and eat a Yumburger. It might be a stretch to say that people will think that by going to Jollibee, their family can somehow transform and conform to this social norm.
In the Real World
And yet, when you walk into a Jollibee, you look around and many times that’s what you see: Filipino families congregating and enjoying their meal together. So what’s this say about the advertising? Is it effective advertising? I would argue that it is, but let’s not confuse correllation with causation. But at the end of the day, Jollibee keeps selling Yumburgers and ChickenJoy, so they must be doing something right with their advertising.
The Secret?
I believe it’s that intangible factor that their targeting in a person’s heart which makes it so successful. Remember that one commercial when the boy takes his mother to the local Jollibee and then he says that one day he’ll take her to Jollibee Hong Kong? That commercial is an example of successful advertising in multiple levels. It demonstrates the family value of caring for one’s parents today. It also sends the message about taking care of them in the future. Yet, not only is the boy promising mere local fast food, but he takes it to the next level by saying he will take her to Jollibee Hong Kong which resonates with each person’s internal desire for upward mobility.
In the end, it’s clear that the advertisers at Jollibee have been doing their research and know the Filipino culture very well. In addition to knowing the culture, I would go so far as to say they are contributing to the culture and changing it at the same time, something not many companies can say. Now the trick will be to see how successful Jollibee International can be by learning how to cater to a country’s niche food desires the way Jollibee Philippines has.
Keep it in the Family
Focusing on the cultural tradition of the importance of family values, they have made a concerted effort to make sure that Filipinos associate Jollibee with a wholesome family meal. Not so much wholesome in the nutritional sense (it is fast food overall), but wholesome meaning that feeling you get inside your heart when you watch a “perfect” nuclear family with two parents, one boy and one girl enjoy the deliciousness of ChickenJoy on TV. Jollibee is targeting two areas: both the pallete as well as the heart. As you watch the young boy excitedly bite into his Yumburger with his insatiable appetite and his mother looking on with a friendly smile as she has french fries in her hands, you’re transpoorted to this magical fantasyland. You want to be part of that family. You want your family to be like that family. And in addition to all this, you want to go to Jollibee and eat a Yumburger. It might be a stretch to say that people will think that by going to Jollibee, their family can somehow transform and conform to this social norm.
In the Real World
And yet, when you walk into a Jollibee, you look around and many times that’s what you see: Filipino families congregating and enjoying their meal together. So what’s this say about the advertising? Is it effective advertising? I would argue that it is, but let’s not confuse correllation with causation. But at the end of the day, Jollibee keeps selling Yumburgers and ChickenJoy, so they must be doing something right with their advertising.
The Secret?
I believe it’s that intangible factor that their targeting in a person’s heart which makes it so successful. Remember that one commercial when the boy takes his mother to the local Jollibee and then he says that one day he’ll take her to Jollibee Hong Kong? That commercial is an example of successful advertising in multiple levels. It demonstrates the family value of caring for one’s parents today. It also sends the message about taking care of them in the future. Yet, not only is the boy promising mere local fast food, but he takes it to the next level by saying he will take her to Jollibee Hong Kong which resonates with each person’s internal desire for upward mobility.
In the end, it’s clear that the advertisers at Jollibee have been doing their research and know the Filipino culture very well. In addition to knowing the culture, I would go so far as to say they are contributing to the culture and changing it at the same time, something not many companies can say. Now the trick will be to see how successful Jollibee International can be by learning how to cater to a country’s niche food desires the way Jollibee Philippines has.
We all know, that in actual fact designers not only create images that are designed to catch the eye of the consumer, but to make a business appear professional also and indeed the core purpose of their work is to help convert potential customers into actual customers via brand/image and marketing materials linked in with this.
Is that all?
I’m sure a lot of business owners think that really is all there is to the design industry that serves them and the many designers that populate it.
In some cases (for some designers) that really is all there is to it – they don’t operate on many other levels other than to make their designs professional, pretty, and eye catching.
However there really are other aspects that must be considered when you commission a design to develop the brand image for your business, a couple of these are explored in more detail now;
1. Target Market;
Recently I was approached by a company interested in brand design; their product and service was one that should be targeting both men and women, and yet when I was shown the design they had received already for another designer I immediately noted some glaring issues with it.
The design itself was eye pleasing and on the surface of it a less experienced person may observe that it was a professional effort; but the designer had produced something which featured a stylised woman as the central figure within the logo and not only that despite the stylised nature of the image, she was clearly of oriental heritage.
I quickly pointed out to the customer that when one’s target market is male and females and not women only, that to gender bias one’s logo design is counter productive, and even worse to possibly alienate even more people by making the character a particular ethnicity when your product is targeted at all nationalities.
A creative must think, think, think, and then and think some more about the target market when they are designing. To enable that before they start designing, they absolutely have to ask the business owner about the business; who are the customers, how will the product or service be sold to them, and so on.
2. Colours & Tones
A long time ago now I wrote a very popular article entitled the ‘The Relationship Between Colours & Sales’ – I’ve long since populated the piece across the internet and you can thus read it on many websites.
Although as creatives we don’t need to enslave ourselves completely to the rules of colour psychology, any designer working on a project should always keep this in mind.
In addition to considering the psychological effect certain colours have on mood and behaviour, which is well documented by the marketing industry, one needs to consider the socio-economic dynamic of the target market as this has some bearing on the tone of the colour scheme chosen.
For instance it’s not uncommon for my clients to ask for a bright colour scheme for their brand design, but this doesn’t always suit their target market; it’s known that low income groups are attracted to bright colours and thus if you don’t wish to attract low income groups a bright colour scheme isn’t right for your brand design regardless of what you like as an individual.
When your designer goes to work and you review concepts it’s vital to appreciate the design isn’t supposed to necessarily appeal to what you like, it’s supposed to appeal to your target market and this may not necessarily be the same thing as your own favourite colours.
These are just a couple of important areas that must be considered by your designer before they start work on your brand development, some of the other areas include;
- Ensuring the design will work well whether printed billboard sized or business card sized.
- Making sure the company name is easily readable.
- Ensuring the design is neither too tall in height, or too wide horizontally; disproportionate designs can be more difficult to incorporate into layouts for print such as flyers, stationery, brochures and so on; this means these items may not look as good as they should.
Much of this advice can also be applied even when you already have your brand design established and have moved on to developing this further with your marketing materials.
It’s important that the designer working on your printed stationery and marketing materials appreciates the need to be sympathetic to the brand theme already established, and also has sufficient skill and experience to bear in mind that designs created must appeal to the target market.
Is that all?
I’m sure a lot of business owners think that really is all there is to the design industry that serves them and the many designers that populate it.
In some cases (for some designers) that really is all there is to it – they don’t operate on many other levels other than to make their designs professional, pretty, and eye catching.
However there really are other aspects that must be considered when you commission a design to develop the brand image for your business, a couple of these are explored in more detail now;
1. Target Market;
Recently I was approached by a company interested in brand design; their product and service was one that should be targeting both men and women, and yet when I was shown the design they had received already for another designer I immediately noted some glaring issues with it.
The design itself was eye pleasing and on the surface of it a less experienced person may observe that it was a professional effort; but the designer had produced something which featured a stylised woman as the central figure within the logo and not only that despite the stylised nature of the image, she was clearly of oriental heritage.
I quickly pointed out to the customer that when one’s target market is male and females and not women only, that to gender bias one’s logo design is counter productive, and even worse to possibly alienate even more people by making the character a particular ethnicity when your product is targeted at all nationalities.
A creative must think, think, think, and then and think some more about the target market when they are designing. To enable that before they start designing, they absolutely have to ask the business owner about the business; who are the customers, how will the product or service be sold to them, and so on.
2. Colours & Tones
A long time ago now I wrote a very popular article entitled the ‘The Relationship Between Colours & Sales’ – I’ve long since populated the piece across the internet and you can thus read it on many websites.
Although as creatives we don’t need to enslave ourselves completely to the rules of colour psychology, any designer working on a project should always keep this in mind.
In addition to considering the psychological effect certain colours have on mood and behaviour, which is well documented by the marketing industry, one needs to consider the socio-economic dynamic of the target market as this has some bearing on the tone of the colour scheme chosen.
For instance it’s not uncommon for my clients to ask for a bright colour scheme for their brand design, but this doesn’t always suit their target market; it’s known that low income groups are attracted to bright colours and thus if you don’t wish to attract low income groups a bright colour scheme isn’t right for your brand design regardless of what you like as an individual.
When your designer goes to work and you review concepts it’s vital to appreciate the design isn’t supposed to necessarily appeal to what you like, it’s supposed to appeal to your target market and this may not necessarily be the same thing as your own favourite colours.
These are just a couple of important areas that must be considered by your designer before they start work on your brand development, some of the other areas include;
- Ensuring the design will work well whether printed billboard sized or business card sized.
- Making sure the company name is easily readable.
- Ensuring the design is neither too tall in height, or too wide horizontally; disproportionate designs can be more difficult to incorporate into layouts for print such as flyers, stationery, brochures and so on; this means these items may not look as good as they should.
Much of this advice can also be applied even when you already have your brand design established and have moved on to developing this further with your marketing materials.
It’s important that the designer working on your printed stationery and marketing materials appreciates the need to be sympathetic to the brand theme already established, and also has sufficient skill and experience to bear in mind that designs created must appeal to the target market.
Sending birthday ecards to colleagues to express your friendship and care, is one of the easiest ways to show your warmth and feelings for them. Most of us operate with colleagues. Few people work from home, but even they have some business contacts. Otherwise one can expect a team of ten or more working together in a modern office. The goal of the team is to achieve common goals. To do that it is important that the atmosphere is friendly and cheerful. One most important element is care. If I feel that my colleagues care for me, I appreciate that much more than any thing else.
Most of are always busy with our work and that makes us forget important things in life. Remember urgent always takes precedence over important. That is the reason most colleagues forget birthday of their co-workers. Here is the easy way out. Make a sheet with names of all the co-workers and circulate that in the beginning of the year. Ask everyone to fill in their name and birthday. Now prepare photocopies of that sheet and pass one to everyone.
This will ensure that no one will forget the birthday of a co-worker. On his/her birthday, as soon as they start their computer and check mail, they will be delighted to find the inbox full of greeting cards. Select ecards with warm colors and the text should appreciate their qualities. Rather than selecting a card saying only happy birthday, select the ones that also have nice words to say about them. For example a ecard that says - we all appreciate your work and friendly spirit. Here is wishing you a Happy Birthday- will make the recipient feel much better.
Every business thrives if the people working are happy. Create the much needed happiness and atmosphere of friendliness with birthday ecards. Imagine two offices - one full of highly efficient people but no spirit of friendship and another with people of medium talent but great friendship and care for each other. Which place will produce better results? Make your choice. Keeping co-workers happy with birthday ecards is the easiest way to say - I care for you and I am your friend.
Most of are always busy with our work and that makes us forget important things in life. Remember urgent always takes precedence over important. That is the reason most colleagues forget birthday of their co-workers. Here is the easy way out. Make a sheet with names of all the co-workers and circulate that in the beginning of the year. Ask everyone to fill in their name and birthday. Now prepare photocopies of that sheet and pass one to everyone.
This will ensure that no one will forget the birthday of a co-worker. On his/her birthday, as soon as they start their computer and check mail, they will be delighted to find the inbox full of greeting cards. Select ecards with warm colors and the text should appreciate their qualities. Rather than selecting a card saying only happy birthday, select the ones that also have nice words to say about them. For example a ecard that says - we all appreciate your work and friendly spirit. Here is wishing you a Happy Birthday- will make the recipient feel much better.
Every business thrives if the people working are happy. Create the much needed happiness and atmosphere of friendliness with birthday ecards. Imagine two offices - one full of highly efficient people but no spirit of friendship and another with people of medium talent but great friendship and care for each other. Which place will produce better results? Make your choice. Keeping co-workers happy with birthday ecards is the easiest way to say - I care for you and I am your friend.
It's a well-known fact that it costs many times more to acquire a new customer than to keep doing business with your existing ones. For this reason, the best way to become profitable is to have loyal customers who keep coming back again and again. It's all about relationship building. So what can you do?
Customers Aren't as Loyal as They Used to Be.
It used to be that customers would find one service that met their needs and stay with it for absolutely years. Now, though, customers are fickle, and can all-too-easily be tempted away by a competitor's offer if they feel that it sounds cheaper or better than yours. So-called 'loyalty management' has become more of a science than it ever used to be, and it's one that you need to make use of if you don't want to be constantly failing to retain your customers.
Offer Discounts for Repeat Business.
You will see some businesses who give people a 'first-time' discount, as a hook to get people to try their services. This is entirely the wrong way to do it. What you should be trying to do is reward loyalty by giving people a discount each time they use your services. Over time, this makes it so that moving to the competition looks like a ridiculous proposition for them -- why would they when they get a 20% discount from you every time?
Keep Mailing Lists.
You should have at least two mailing lists: one for your prospects (people who might buy from you), and one for your customers (people who have bought from you). You should lavish attention on both lists, but especially on the existing customer one -- and really lay it on thick for anyone who's bought from you more than once.
You need to be in contact with your regular customers as much as you can, always understanding their needs and when they might need you again. Don't worry about this costing masses in direct mail, as you can always do it by email. The secret is this: contact, contact, contact. Send your regulars Christmas cards, invite them to meet with you for lunch -- anything you can think of. A good tip is to always use the techniques that your competitors are neglecting.
If your service is one that the customer will need at regular intervals or a certain time of year, make sure you keep track of this in your customer database and send something out then. There's nothing worse than losing out on a customer's business just because they didn't have your phone number to hand and had a little extra time to see an offer from a competitor.
Another good thing to send to your mailing list is a newsletter, either by email or post. Take a few hours each month to write something with useful information about your industry that your customers are likely to keep and find useful, and put your logo on the top so that they can be reminded of you when they see it. As a bonus, you can keep this material archived on your website too, so it can be found by people searching for related words in search engines.
Be Crazy About Feedback.
You need to phone up as many customers as you can to get their feedback after they deal with you. Make sure they were satisfied with what you provided, offer to fix anything that they're not happy with, and ask them if they can think of any way you could improve. Customers will appreciate this -- and they'll like it even more if you actually implement their suggestions.
Provide a Personal Service.
Go the extra mile to make your customer feel like they're your friend, and not just a tracking number in your database. Tailor everything you do to their needs, and make everything easy for them -- don't leave them to do legwork that you could be doing. After all, they're the customer.
Finally, cheesy as it might sound, customers really appreciate a little thank you note when you've received their payment. For an extra personal touch, you could handwrite it.
Customers Aren't as Loyal as They Used to Be.
It used to be that customers would find one service that met their needs and stay with it for absolutely years. Now, though, customers are fickle, and can all-too-easily be tempted away by a competitor's offer if they feel that it sounds cheaper or better than yours. So-called 'loyalty management' has become more of a science than it ever used to be, and it's one that you need to make use of if you don't want to be constantly failing to retain your customers.
Offer Discounts for Repeat Business.
You will see some businesses who give people a 'first-time' discount, as a hook to get people to try their services. This is entirely the wrong way to do it. What you should be trying to do is reward loyalty by giving people a discount each time they use your services. Over time, this makes it so that moving to the competition looks like a ridiculous proposition for them -- why would they when they get a 20% discount from you every time?
Keep Mailing Lists.
You should have at least two mailing lists: one for your prospects (people who might buy from you), and one for your customers (people who have bought from you). You should lavish attention on both lists, but especially on the existing customer one -- and really lay it on thick for anyone who's bought from you more than once.
You need to be in contact with your regular customers as much as you can, always understanding their needs and when they might need you again. Don't worry about this costing masses in direct mail, as you can always do it by email. The secret is this: contact, contact, contact. Send your regulars Christmas cards, invite them to meet with you for lunch -- anything you can think of. A good tip is to always use the techniques that your competitors are neglecting.
If your service is one that the customer will need at regular intervals or a certain time of year, make sure you keep track of this in your customer database and send something out then. There's nothing worse than losing out on a customer's business just because they didn't have your phone number to hand and had a little extra time to see an offer from a competitor.
Another good thing to send to your mailing list is a newsletter, either by email or post. Take a few hours each month to write something with useful information about your industry that your customers are likely to keep and find useful, and put your logo on the top so that they can be reminded of you when they see it. As a bonus, you can keep this material archived on your website too, so it can be found by people searching for related words in search engines.
Be Crazy About Feedback.
You need to phone up as many customers as you can to get their feedback after they deal with you. Make sure they were satisfied with what you provided, offer to fix anything that they're not happy with, and ask them if they can think of any way you could improve. Customers will appreciate this -- and they'll like it even more if you actually implement their suggestions.
Provide a Personal Service.
Go the extra mile to make your customer feel like they're your friend, and not just a tracking number in your database. Tailor everything you do to their needs, and make everything easy for them -- don't leave them to do legwork that you could be doing. After all, they're the customer.
Finally, cheesy as it might sound, customers really appreciate a little thank you note when you've received their payment. For an extra personal touch, you could handwrite it.
When web developers and their clients get together, there can be a variety of different responses. Some are so keen to get on with the project that they completely ignore the legal contract; others simply work on the standard terms and do not bother looking at them; still others sit down and negotiate an agreement that works for both parties.
We advocate the latter course so that before the project starts both the developer and client look at the expectations each of them has out of the project. There are many standard terms that apply but this article focuses on some of the important legally-related issues to address at that stage.
Clarifying the Extent of the work
For projects working on the basis of fixed fees, it is essential to clarify exactly what will be undertaken for that fixed fee. A proper specification for the site (both in terms of functionality and "look and feel") is needed. It should also address required functionality in order to make the site legally effective (e.g. having the correct pop-up window with terms of business that can only be accepted by clicking the "I accept" button). It is also important to explain clearly how additional work, over and above the fixed fee work will be charged.
The agreement should spell out the impact and consequences of delay as well as any actions required on the part of the client and require that the client do whatever the developer needs them to do with due speed.
Setting Milestones
For many projects, delivery will be in stages. For all but the most basic websites, it will be appropriate to pay the fee in instalments linked to milestones. The results against which the milestones are to be assessed must specific and measurable. The web developer will want to make sure that the contract allows them to refuse to undertake further work until payment has been made for a particular milestone. The client will want to make sure that appropriate rights are automatically granted at the time of payment of the invoice for each milestone rather than acquiring rights only at the end and the above product is complete - e.g. a licence or a transfer of copyright. The reason for this is that it is not unheard of for developers and their clients to full out in a middle of a project and, provided the client is paid for the work to date, it is appropriate for the client to acquire rights in the work product to that stage.
Acceptance Testing
The agreement should provide for various milestones to be by reference to testing to ensure that key functionality is effective.
Warranties
The client will want to make sure that the developer has either created the material for the website itself or has acquired the appropriate rights to enable the site to function and be developed, possibly independently of the contractor undertaking the initial website development. Warranties will therefore be needed regarding ownership of copyright, the right to grant any licences included in the contract and regarding there being no breach of any third party intellectual property rights.
If the developer has ongoing maintenance and hosting obligations, the developer will want warranties from the client regarding the legality of content it is providing to the developer.
Liability Exclusions
Exclusions of liability are normally essential to protect service providers against unlimited liability. Limitations that purport to limit liability to the value of the contract are unlikely to be effective in most cases, unless the parties' bargaining power is equal and the terms have been negotiated (as opposed to being standard). We would recommend that a more effective limitation should be linked to the level of insurance cover available but it is important that the web developer checks that they have that level of cover - it is often overlooked that insurance cover of a fixed sum may be an annual total sum of claims rather than an amount covered per claim. If insurance is not per claim, the level of liability accepted under the agreement must be reduced to cover the possibility of more than one claim in a particular year. It may also be possible to limit the time for claims (e.g. one or two years).
From the developer's point of view, it is essential that exclusions are not unreasonable, otherwise they will be struck out altogether under section 3 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, in which case there will be no effective limit in place at all.
Something else that will not be tolerated is any exclusion of consequential loss - this is in fact common in American contracts but is not acceptable in general under English law.
Moral Rights
The developer and the client must consider whether they want to grant the developer the right to be accredited for the work on the website. If rights are being passed over to the client, the developer may be happy to have the credit on a website at that stage, but if they are later developing it in a way that might otherwise damage the developer's reputation, they might also want to reserve the right to insist on removal of their name and/or logo from the website.
Subjective Design Decisions
Typically a designer will be chosen on the basis of a portfolio. The client is therefore making a leap of faith in instructing the designer, believing in their ability to produce something that they will find attractive. Typically the designer will take on the task of creating a look and feel that is appropriate to the client. However, given the time involved in doing that, it may be appropriate to limit the number of options that will be made available to a client (typically 3) and to require that the client chooses from one of these. At first glance that might appear unattractive for a buyer of these services but otherwise the buyer can be unreasonable and constantly demand wholesale re-design at an unlimited time cost to the designer. Depending upon the bargaining position of the parties, the developer may need to agree to more generous provisions but ideally should limit its exposure in this area.
As we have said, this article focuses on some core issues and does not address by, any means, all of the areas for discussion when negotiating a web development agreement. It will, however, help create a balanced relationship between the parties at the outset and reduce the chances of a costly dispute if these matters are addressed sooner rather than later.
We advocate the latter course so that before the project starts both the developer and client look at the expectations each of them has out of the project. There are many standard terms that apply but this article focuses on some of the important legally-related issues to address at that stage.
Clarifying the Extent of the work
For projects working on the basis of fixed fees, it is essential to clarify exactly what will be undertaken for that fixed fee. A proper specification for the site (both in terms of functionality and "look and feel") is needed. It should also address required functionality in order to make the site legally effective (e.g. having the correct pop-up window with terms of business that can only be accepted by clicking the "I accept" button). It is also important to explain clearly how additional work, over and above the fixed fee work will be charged.
The agreement should spell out the impact and consequences of delay as well as any actions required on the part of the client and require that the client do whatever the developer needs them to do with due speed.
Setting Milestones
For many projects, delivery will be in stages. For all but the most basic websites, it will be appropriate to pay the fee in instalments linked to milestones. The results against which the milestones are to be assessed must specific and measurable. The web developer will want to make sure that the contract allows them to refuse to undertake further work until payment has been made for a particular milestone. The client will want to make sure that appropriate rights are automatically granted at the time of payment of the invoice for each milestone rather than acquiring rights only at the end and the above product is complete - e.g. a licence or a transfer of copyright. The reason for this is that it is not unheard of for developers and their clients to full out in a middle of a project and, provided the client is paid for the work to date, it is appropriate for the client to acquire rights in the work product to that stage.
Acceptance Testing
The agreement should provide for various milestones to be by reference to testing to ensure that key functionality is effective.
Warranties
The client will want to make sure that the developer has either created the material for the website itself or has acquired the appropriate rights to enable the site to function and be developed, possibly independently of the contractor undertaking the initial website development. Warranties will therefore be needed regarding ownership of copyright, the right to grant any licences included in the contract and regarding there being no breach of any third party intellectual property rights.
If the developer has ongoing maintenance and hosting obligations, the developer will want warranties from the client regarding the legality of content it is providing to the developer.
Liability Exclusions
Exclusions of liability are normally essential to protect service providers against unlimited liability. Limitations that purport to limit liability to the value of the contract are unlikely to be effective in most cases, unless the parties' bargaining power is equal and the terms have been negotiated (as opposed to being standard). We would recommend that a more effective limitation should be linked to the level of insurance cover available but it is important that the web developer checks that they have that level of cover - it is often overlooked that insurance cover of a fixed sum may be an annual total sum of claims rather than an amount covered per claim. If insurance is not per claim, the level of liability accepted under the agreement must be reduced to cover the possibility of more than one claim in a particular year. It may also be possible to limit the time for claims (e.g. one or two years).
From the developer's point of view, it is essential that exclusions are not unreasonable, otherwise they will be struck out altogether under section 3 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, in which case there will be no effective limit in place at all.
Something else that will not be tolerated is any exclusion of consequential loss - this is in fact common in American contracts but is not acceptable in general under English law.
Moral Rights
The developer and the client must consider whether they want to grant the developer the right to be accredited for the work on the website. If rights are being passed over to the client, the developer may be happy to have the credit on a website at that stage, but if they are later developing it in a way that might otherwise damage the developer's reputation, they might also want to reserve the right to insist on removal of their name and/or logo from the website.
Subjective Design Decisions
Typically a designer will be chosen on the basis of a portfolio. The client is therefore making a leap of faith in instructing the designer, believing in their ability to produce something that they will find attractive. Typically the designer will take on the task of creating a look and feel that is appropriate to the client. However, given the time involved in doing that, it may be appropriate to limit the number of options that will be made available to a client (typically 3) and to require that the client chooses from one of these. At first glance that might appear unattractive for a buyer of these services but otherwise the buyer can be unreasonable and constantly demand wholesale re-design at an unlimited time cost to the designer. Depending upon the bargaining position of the parties, the developer may need to agree to more generous provisions but ideally should limit its exposure in this area.
As we have said, this article focuses on some core issues and does not address by, any means, all of the areas for discussion when negotiating a web development agreement. It will, however, help create a balanced relationship between the parties at the outset and reduce the chances of a costly dispute if these matters are addressed sooner rather than later.
Coming across storage shelving for the home is no walk in the park. If becoming organized is at the zenith of your list this year, there are multiple opportunities that are more than able to help you put all of your things where it needs to go.
Adding shelving storage to your residence doesnt have to be tricky or expensive. And, when you add it tastefully, storage solutions for the business are also available. Getting organized starts with providing a way to organize.
To help you, here are some storage shelving solutions that you can incorporate into your residence or business.
Up There? Wondering how high on the walls you can add shelves? One of the most massive problems that individuals have with adding shelving units to their homes is finding a way to put them up and still have a fine looking unit.
You should not add shelves that are beyond your reach. They will look out of the place as well. And, they should be installed straight, as a slight dip will show against the wall.
Hang It There. Another option that works well is to hang a storage organizer. You can use these in closets in right about any size and shape.
There are those that are excellent for storing shoes while others are perfect for storing clothing. Still, in the office setting, this is a great place to store files and paperwork. Most can be tailor made for your size needs.
Depth Counts Too. When adding shelves to an area that will be needed to store a lot of things, think about adding a little extra depth to the shelves.
This way, you can place neat storage containers on the shelves to hide all of the clutter yet keeping it organized at the same time. Make sure that if you put up deeper shelves, that the walls can support them and that you anchor them correctly.
One of the top ways to get a great amount of shelving space that is stylish are wall storage units that span the entire wall. Unlike traditional book shelves, these are units of different sizes and shapes that fit from the ceiling to the floor and offer a see thru look to them.
The dimensions can be varied and custom ordering them may be necessary, but this is a great way to get a good amount of storage from an entire wall while keeping the area looking stylish.
Finding storage shelving solutions for your house means that youll need to invest a little time in throwing away the junk and cleaning up.
And, it means taking accurate measurements as well. When you do add them to your house or office, you will adore the feeling of knowing where anything is and youll welcome guests in without worrying about the clutter.
Adding shelving storage to your residence doesnt have to be tricky or expensive. And, when you add it tastefully, storage solutions for the business are also available. Getting organized starts with providing a way to organize.
To help you, here are some storage shelving solutions that you can incorporate into your residence or business.
Up There? Wondering how high on the walls you can add shelves? One of the most massive problems that individuals have with adding shelving units to their homes is finding a way to put them up and still have a fine looking unit.
You should not add shelves that are beyond your reach. They will look out of the place as well. And, they should be installed straight, as a slight dip will show against the wall.
Hang It There. Another option that works well is to hang a storage organizer. You can use these in closets in right about any size and shape.
There are those that are excellent for storing shoes while others are perfect for storing clothing. Still, in the office setting, this is a great place to store files and paperwork. Most can be tailor made for your size needs.
Depth Counts Too. When adding shelves to an area that will be needed to store a lot of things, think about adding a little extra depth to the shelves.
This way, you can place neat storage containers on the shelves to hide all of the clutter yet keeping it organized at the same time. Make sure that if you put up deeper shelves, that the walls can support them and that you anchor them correctly.
One of the top ways to get a great amount of shelving space that is stylish are wall storage units that span the entire wall. Unlike traditional book shelves, these are units of different sizes and shapes that fit from the ceiling to the floor and offer a see thru look to them.
The dimensions can be varied and custom ordering them may be necessary, but this is a great way to get a good amount of storage from an entire wall while keeping the area looking stylish.
Finding storage shelving solutions for your house means that youll need to invest a little time in throwing away the junk and cleaning up.
And, it means taking accurate measurements as well. When you do add them to your house or office, you will adore the feeling of knowing where anything is and youll welcome guests in without worrying about the clutter.
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