Happy Birthday Mr. President!

February 6th is the birthday of Ronald Wilson Reagan, the nation's 40th president.

When he became president, many said the nation's best days were behind us.  He spent much of his presidency (1981-1989) reminding Americans, again and again, that this country is still a land of boundless potential, a beacon of freedom and hope for the world.

Reagan served as Governor of California and was a former actor. He is often remembered as "The Great Communicator" for his ability to connect with the American people.  

He had a great sense of humor as evidenced in quotes like, "Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."

One of my favorite Reagan quotes is, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

Reagan believed that government was NOT the answer to our problems, but was very often, THE problem.  And that the American people are the answer to every problem we face as a nation.

I think the Reagan legacy will be that Ronald Reagan helped America believe in itself again.  He showed us that we are an exceptional nation, and that brighter days were in our future.

President Reagan died on June 5th, 2004.

Rest in Peace Mr. President, you will be missed and remembered.

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5 Ways A Home Business Can Make Your Life Easier

Home businesses come in many different shapes, sizes and forms. These types of businesses provide individuals with an alternative to the office job setting and provide various freedoms to the business owners as well. In fact, there are five often-cited ways in which a home business can make one’s life easier overall.

Child Care Issues

Perhaps one of the most often cited features of a home business which can make one’s life easier is that by owning a home business, individuals are able to work while staying at home with their children. This makes the need for daily child care a nonexistent factor. Although some individuals who work from home still opt for putting their kids in daycare, having a home business does make doing without child care a possibility.

Transportation Issues

Another way which home businesses can make a business owner’s life that much easier relates to transportation issues. When owning a home business, one can conduct their daily business affairs from the convenience of their home office. This gets rid of the need for commuting to an office each day and putting mileage on the car, not to mention paying costly gas bills. It is also a time saver with regard to not having to commute to and from work which is also a highly regarded trait of owning a home business.

Tax Deductions

One who has a home business is also able to reap the benefits of multiple tax deductions and incentives which may be available to them. Using a home office enables a business owner to save money in the long run by seeing deductions on their annual tax returns. Although this only happens once a year, the rewards are often quite good for home business owners who operate their business out of their home office.

Being Your Own Boss

An additional incentive for home business owners is that they are their own boss. This is a wonderful thing to consider. No more bossy employers enforcing strict, unyielding schedules. Being your own boss is a sure way to make one’s life easier. One can work when they want to, take a break if they like and pursue their occupation in the manner which they see fit.

Reduce Overhead This Way

Lastly, an individual who runs a business out of their home will often find that their life is made easier by saving themselves money in the end. As opposed to those individuals who own businesses which are run out of separate offices, home business owners will see large reductions in overhead. Making use of the home as a workspace is a great way to make life easier on the individual and their wallet.

Coastal Vacations is an association of entrepreneurs, professionals and home-based business owners dedicated to providing the highest quality vacation values and travel benefits on the market today, and making them available to their clients at rock-bottom prices. This has in turn created one of the hottest and most lucrative business opportunities in the World.  I have been a member of Coastal Vacations since 2004.  This business has saved me money, allowed my family to take more and better vacations, and continues to create cash flow from the comfort of my home.  For more details about Coastal Vacations, click here

12 Second Commute

I recently discovered 12 Second Commute, also known as 12 SC, and what I have found is a treasure trove for anyone building businesses online.  It has certainly made my life easier and saved me time promoting my businesses.  They have all the tools and resources an internet marketer needs to earn income online, it’s affordable and in one all inclusive system.  Here’s a sampling of some of the system’s features:

** World-class Autoresponder that can be setup by anyone in less than 40 seconds.
** Ad Tracker, Contact Manager, Capture Page Creator, URL Rotator and more.
** Unbiased Training and Support so you never struggle again.
** Multiple Streams of Income built in so you earn as you learn.
** Stunning capture pages you can use to promote any program

The people behind 12 Second Commute have been helping others earn money online in a solid and consistent fashion since 1999.  They even give you a FREE trial account with no credit card required so you can see how powerful and easy to use our system will be.  So, what do you have to lose.  Click here to try it out.  You might like it.  I’m betting you do!

Tips For Making Your Website Look Professional

Many people believe that designing a website is difficult, but that in only true if you do not take the time to learn how to build one. Like pretty much everything done on the web today, there are many software programs available which can make web design really simple.

Continue on for some great tips on how to choose the best web design program to build your site.

Before you publish any web page, check it carefully for broken links. Nothing is more frustrating to a visitor than clicking on a link and being taken to an error page. You can check your links manually, or there are programs that will scan your site for you and report any broken links.

Allow users to cancel an action if they so choose. This could mean ordering products, opting in to an email newsletter, or returning to the homepage from deep within your site. If visitors cannot cancel an action they are not interested in, such as providing their contact information, they will feel they do not have a choice and won't buy anything.

Give your visitors the ability to search your site so that they can more easily find what they are looking for. If someone cannot find what they are looking for right away, their next thought will be to look for a search field. Put this somewhere obvious and include a search button.

Always ensure you are giving meaningful feedback, as this is what creates the communication between a website and its visitors. For example, if an action taken by a visitor results in an error, do not simply display "error occurred."  Instead, provide a message that explains what happened and how the visitor can correct the error by taking a different action. Without this feedback, visitors are more likely to grow frustrated and just give up by leaving your website.

Have a site map. These are useful to your clients and the search engines, as they give a detailed overview of your entire website. It can be a guide for viewers searching for a certain part of your site, and also allow you to keep track of its structure and layout.

Use a tracking service, rather than displaying your visitor counter for all to read. Many websites still display their counters, yet they do not serve any real purpose. There are many high quality tracking services available, and some are even free. Use these instead of showing off how many people visit you.

When designing your website, you should avoid using too many different types of fonts. You must also consider how different fonts appear on the standard computer screen; smaller serif fonts (Times New Roman, for example) are somewhat hard to read. Most sites use Vedrana, which is easily read in different colors and sizes.

Do not use images for your background. When you think about some of the biggest websites on the Internet, they do not have images as backgrounds. When you use image backgrounds, you represent yourself as someone who is not well-versed in web designing. Images as backgrounds also cause your site to load slower, which can lead to user frustration.

Make text easy to ready by using colors that contrast or backgrounds that are easy to read text on. When your text is harder to read because the background or text color creates eye strain or portions of text that are unreadable, site visitors are less likely to stick around.

As stated in the above article, web design today is made simple with the many easy to use software programs that are on the market. If you can follow some simple instructions then you too can enter the world of web design.

Apply the tips from this article so you can understand what to look for in a web design program.

Curtis Staggs

Shameless American Capitalist

How to Start a Business

Starting A Small Business At Home

Learning how to start a business is an exciting adventure. You can make a great deal of money and be completely self-sufficient with a small home business. The key factor is to be organized and plan for the start-up prior to depending on the business completely. You need to give the business time to grow and flourish before you run it solely for your income needs. Let’s review some of the basics for starting a small home business.

Select a business that you know about or can do a little research and learn. You will spend many hours in your home business and should find one that you can be passionate about. The majority of people spend forty hours a week away from home at their jobs. If you don’t count the amount of time that you sleep, the average person spends roughly twenty hours a week in their homes.  This is half the time that they are at work. A small home business will take around fifty hours a week once it is up and running. If you are not passionate about the type of business, this can be a recipe for complete disaster. After all one of the benefits of a small home business is getting to work in an area that you enjoy and love a great deal.

Be realistic about your expectations for the small home business. For example, if you want to make and sell candles be realistic as to how many you can produce and market each week.  Don’t plan to make a profit on 500 candles being sold each day if you’re not going to realistically be able to make that many in your home business. Many people dream too far outside of the box and aren’t in touch with reality when it comes to starting a small home business. You should sit down and realistically think about the business and what type of work is involved. Have realistic expectations of what you can and cannot reasonably do working part time to start and then full time later down the road.

Review how a small home business is run. Regardless of service or product, businesses are basically run in the same manner. Many business methods apply to a variety of small home based types of businesses. There are traditional methods for keeping various records. You will need to know the basic tax laws for your area and the business license requirements.  Additionally, you will want to accurate business records. There are many different types of software that can help you with the organization and running of your new small home business.  Reviewing the basics of how to run a small home business will enable you to stay organized, focused and set on your goals.

Find out if there is a market for your product or service. What type of competition is in the area?  What can you offer different than your competitors. Many new small home business groups fail because they have not anticipated the competition in the area or the need for their product or service. For example, if you want to start a dog walking home business but the surrounding condo and apartment complexes do not allow pets there might not be a very high demand for your service.

The information found at how to start a business may help you find the business you’re looking for or at least help you eliminate some options.

What is Direct Sales?

Direct Sales marketing is a simple and effective way to market products or services direct to the consumer. It involves the sale of a consumer product or service, person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location by an independent salesperson. Products are sold through in-home product demonstrations, parties, group meetings or demonstrations, over the telephone, over the Internet and through one-on-one selling.

Direct selling is a growing industry with sales in the U.S. having doubled in the last decade to nearly $25 billion and are now more than $82 billion worldwide.

Do people purchase products from Direct Sales representatives?

Yes. Direct selling is a rapidly growing industry. U.S. sales totaled $28.7 billion in 2002, up from 26.7 billion in 2001, with more than 55 percent of the American public having purchased goods or services through direct selling. That's more than the number who have purchased through television shopping and on-line computer services combined. People value the products available through direct selling and 45 percent of Americans want to buy from direct sellers. Those who have purchased by direct selling are exceeded only by the percentage of those who have purchased via retail stores (96%) or through mail order catalogs (83%). As mentioned, worldwide sales are also strong with nearly $85 billion in sales.*

An opportunity for growth is seen with public interest in purchasing through direct selling (38%) exceeding those who have purchased (27%)! Here are a few reasons why consumers enjoy buying from Direct Sales Representatives:

• Direct sellers can arrange their calls to fit the consumer's busy schedule and can deliver their purchases directly to them.
• Direct salespeople are knowledgeable about their products and take the time to personally demonstrate and explain their products to the consumer.
• Since the products are going directly from the source to the consumer with only the Direct Seller involved substantial savings from advertising, processing and shipping can be passed on to the consumer.
• Direct sellers build a personal relationship with the Consumer giving them one-on-one-attention.
• The Consumer knows who to go to with questions and concerns, as well as who to refer friends to, rather than dealing with a company full of unthankful employees.

Coastal Vacations is a direct sales opportunity that promotes the benefits of a vacation lifestyle while developing financial freedom through business ownership.

Stability and Service

Coastal Vacations continues to offer Membership Benefits and Services that are unparalleled in the industry today. Coastal offers an incredible Vacation Package valued at over $15,000 for just $1,295.   It delivers unbeatable value to the consumer, as well as tremendous financial rewards for the marketing team.  The Coastal Vacations travel package offers a lifetime of vacation savings for less than the price of one family vacation.

Working with thousands of resorts and leaders in the field of travel and leisure, Coastal Vacations pursues this commitment by consistently seeking out the best vacation and travel values in the industry and making them available to clients at rock bottom prices. The Companies chosen to fulfill the benefits and services in our packages are of the highest caliber. Most are publicly traded companies, licensed and bonded, with a track record of 12 years or more. Our Independent shipping facility has 25 years of proven experience in the industry.