June 2023 - Page 2 of 12 - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

How To Teach Fitness Classes In Schools

The government has issued new PE objectives to schools indicating that they must increase their structured PE during school time to every child by 2010. They also have to provide an additional 2 hours of out of school PE by 2014. By using real life case studies from successful instructors who are leading the field in developing regular ETM classes and strategies for schools this article explains how to present yourself as an expert, understanding all school ‘s love for acronyms and coding systems and pinpoint who to approach within schools .

Diversification has to be the buzz word in the fitness industry right now. There are so many avenues for the discerning fitness professional to go down within group fitness. These niche markets are in desperate need of the qualified Group Fitness Instructors skills, expertise and knowledge. No longer is teaching in a health club or sports centre the only option. Classes in the community, GP referrals, corporate venues, children, teens and the plus sized market are all MASSIVE opportunities and are relatively untapped areas. We need to start making significant steps towards finding solutions and creating specific programmes for these target groups.

Teaching fitness to children is not the same as teaching to adults so you will need to do a specialist teaching qualification (see the end of this article for course information) as an add onto your existing qualification. Remember you will not be insured to teach under 16’s unless you have a separate specialist qualification. You will also be required to be CRB checked but I am sure your school will be able to help you with this.

But how do you approach schools? who do you approach in schools? and how does it all work?

Liz Hindley owns a highly successful business in Preston, Lancashire called Physikidz (www.physikidz.com) After completing the CAFitness qualification Liz ( who is a mum of 3) began approaching schools with her unique ideas for getting children into exercise. “Leaping Liz” as Liz is known by the children , has developed C.A.T.S (Classroom Aerobics Training System). She identified that children at key stage level 1 and 2 would benefit from doing short simple exercise sessions every day. These sessions are taught in the classroom, without the need to get changed. Leaping Liz visits the participating schools periodically but in the meantime has designed and created all her C.A.T.S routines on a DVD which the teachers play every day for the children.

“The programme I run is operating in Preston (the UKs newest city!) and surrounding areas. I have run INSET days for teachers in Liverpool and Chorley, and spoke about my programme at a conference for SScos at the JJB Stadium in Wigan, which covered the whole of the Northwest. On the back of that and the website, I have sold C.A.T.S (Classroom-based Aerobic Training System) Dvds to schools all around the country.”

Liz is a fully qualified group fitness teacher and I asked her what motivated her to make the push into schools:

“A family friend, a local PDM, was concerned that schools in his partnership were falling short of the 2 hours structured PE that is a Government requirement for 2010, particularly at Key Stage 1. I offered to work with a school in his area to see whether there was a solution to the problem. My simple, short routines were such a hit, that other schools in the area asked me to visit. My alter ego “Leaping Liz” quickly became a local celebrity among teachers and the requests for school visits came flooding in. More than that, I found that I really enjoyed working with these little bundles of energy. I feel that I am really making a difference to the fitness levels of children in our area. They all feel inspired to tell me about their activities – swimming, judo, gymnastics, ballet – between my visits. I am also helping teachers to achieve a simple solution to the problem of fitting more PE into an already packed curriculum. No two schools are the same; no two children are the same. It is challenging, but enormous fun “ Says Liz

But how do you break into the schools system?

Liz offered to run half-hour aerobics sessions to three key stage one classes over six weeks at no cost to the school. Since going into that school, they have asked her back to work with key stage two, to work for a whole day during Health Week, to run after school sessions for the staff, to do a step taster session with Year 6 and to do a sponsored aerobics charity event. They also passed Liz’s contact details onto the primary school across the road, who booked her for six weeks, and so it continued.

Decide which age group you want to aim at to begin with. Better to approach a school and offer to teach Junior Yoga for 3 weeks in half hour sessions to Key Stage one, than to try to offer all your skills to the whole school. It makes you look more professional, and once you are in the school, they inevitably want you to try different things with different groups. Getting your foot in the door is the number one aim.

Getting into schools can be quite challenging. It is not a question of just writing to the head of PE or Head Teacher you need to understand how the school framework operates when using outside Instructors.

Caroline Oliver is a fully qualified PE teacher and is Exercise to Music /Fitness Pilates trained. She runs a website called http://www.kidzactive.co.uk. Caroline is also a School Sports Coordinator who along with the schools Professional Development Manager are the key people you need to contact if you are looking for work within schools. But what is a SSCO and a PDM. Caroline explains who they are and how these people can help you in your quest to teach in the school system.

PDM – Partnership Development Manager – your most important contact. The PDM looks after a cluster of secondary schools and primary schools in the area. They are based usually within one of the secondary schools, this role is to co-ordinate all the partnership schools and get the structured PE time up to 2 hours in every school, which is a Government target for 2010. They have a pot of centralized money which is designated for PE.

You can find your local PDMs contact by doing a search on GOOGLE. Your local authority will have these details on a website or contact Youth Sport Trust in your region

SSCo – School Sports Co-ordinator. This is a role in Secondary School, and is where a PE teacher looks after 6 or so primary feeder schools. The SSco also has access to additional PE designated funds. Contact your local secondary schools to get the contact details of the SSco.

“Teachers are buried under mountains of paperwork and are very busy so an email to the SSCO and the PDM would be your first port of call. Introduce yourself and explain what you can offer the school, your qualifications and availability. Offer to pop in for a chat and discuss your ideas”

I emailed all the PDMs in my area offering my Street Dance Programme and Fitness Pilates for teenage girls. It took a few weeks for the PDMs to get back to me so by this time I contacted the SSCos in each school via email. I also let all my local community classes members know that I was aiming to offer classes in school, as many of my regular’s have children in schools are class room assistants and many pupils attend my evening classes so they helped to spread the word. I now teach Street Dance in 3 schools during PE Lessons and run 2 afterschool clubs. Once you get into one school word spreads like wildfire! My phone now rings constantly with other schools wanting to offer the sessions.

Donna Podesta of White Feathers Fitness has also been making headway within teaching in schools.

“I am in my 3rd year of running the Dance Club at my local High School and last year decided to take my video camera into the class to film the dance we had been working on. I then made this into a DVD (inspiration from [http://www.choreographytogo.com!]) and passed it on to the SSco at the school. I only really did this to show them how well the students were doing and the progress they had made with dance. Lucky for me he passed this on to the PDM for my area and I now have a contract, funded by the lottery to deliver a KS1 Dance Development Programme to 31 Primary Schools in my area. I have 2 girls working for my company now ‘White Feather Fitness & Inch Loss’ as I can’t deliver all the dance classes myself, we have just finished our first week and the children were so enthusiastic and excited they have been a pleasure to teach. Dance is such a fun way for children to become more active and improve balance, co-ordination and build confidence. Hopefully this positive introduction to exercise for these little ones will encourage them to continue to be active in later years” says Donna Podesta (www.whitefeatherfitness.co.uk)

By providing children and teens with safe, effective and FUN ETM classes we can encourage a lifelong habit of exercise and show the next generation the joys of exercising together in a group with friends to music. By forging partnerships with schools and the local community we can make a difference to the health of children and also provide ourselves with a rewarding way to take our services forward in new directions.

Off Grid Money Generator – An Amazing Home-Based Business Concept

How will you assess the true quality of a product? Relying on the opinions of the existing customers is the best method available and Off Grid Money Generator (OGMG) should also be evaluated on the basis of the opinions of the existing users. According to the makers, this product will make people familiarize with an innovative concept known as automatic advertising and this method offers wonderful opportunities to make money by selling Off Grid products without even spending time for making telephone calls to the customers. This concept may sound really strange for a lot people. How will you make money without even asking people to buy your products? Instead of having all these apprehensions, Off Grid Money Generator reviews have become a hot topic of discussion in these days.

Some years back, Bill Heid was a struggling individual who was trying hard to make both ends meet. The situation has changed and he has become a well known figure in the marketing world with the introduction of Off Grid Money Generator. What was the real reason behind his transformation? In order to get over his financial difficulties, he started making solar generators with “plug and play” solar method and a good number of people laughed at this crazy idea. In spite of having faced a lot of humiliation from various quarters, he was pretty adamant on his decision and eventually, he started getting a lot of orders for his solar generators. When he started getting orders in bulk numbers he decided to market his method of approach and that is how Off Grid money Generator came into existence. All impartial OGMG reviews clearly indicate that great income will become a reality with this innovative and effective home-based business and you can get off the monotonous corporate job grid without worrying about the financial aspects.

A good number of objective Off Grid Money Generator reviews suggest that a housewife, student or any other person can make use of ‘automatic advertising’ method, advocated in the OGMG, to earn money with great amount of ease. In a nutshell, it can be said that the marketing methods advocated in this program are extremely easy to implement and Bill Heid describes it as an off grid money making machine. A consistent stream of income while enjoying the comfort of your home is exactly what off grid money generator offers and all people aspiring to get away from the boring corporate job grid will find this opportunity as the best one available. This program will teach you how to get an Off Grid product and how to get it for nothing. It will also teach you to make use of celebrities to sell your products and this method will also make you familiarize with the most feasible way of collecting the name and address of all the potential customers.

You will come to know about how to send compelling post cards or emails with strong messages and OGMB will also make you learn the art of sending emails or physical mails without spending money. You will also learn about how to use Facebook and Google to generate huge income and innovative methods of making banners and classified ads to make $10,000 per day will become a reality with this unique program. If you want to feature your product on national TV without involving any cost you will have to purchase this product. The entire package consists of 7 CDs and this amazing product is available for a modest price of $79.95. If you are one of those first 100 buyers you will also receive 4 free bonuses worth $158.95 and they include transcripts of the CDs, effective techniques on how to save money on advertisements, the hugely popular book known as My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, “Compensation”. All unbiased Off Grid Money Generator reviews clearly indicate that this unique product will redefine your future in the best possible manner.

Why Is Accounting Important For the Students?

Accounting is a great field to study for various purposes. This field course offers you knowledge and skills that you can use in several industries. It is also one of the essential subjects for business management students. However, Most students do not take an interest in this subject because they find this subject complicated. Do they still have a query in mind about why accounting is essential? Because they don’t have an idea that accounting plays a crucial role not only in student’s lives but in everyone’s life. There are several reasons for showcasing the importance of accounting for students. Let’s have a look at the importance of accounting for the students:-

Accounting keeps you organized.

As we know that the students can easily make themselves organized with the help of math. But the one thing you need to keep in mind is that math is not enough to keep you organized with your wealth. Sometimes students need accounting assignment help. Still, there are few limitations of mathematics that are not sufficient to organize the financial resources. Accounting allows you to check how much income you have received or spent. When studying at universities or schools, a vast amount of students earn money. Therefore it’ll become important for the students to realize how much income they have gained after their graduation or post-graduation.

It is pretty normal for scholars to forget their expenses. But without accounting, students can’t understand how much money they have saved or have to pay overhead costs. Accounting also encourages students to keep track of the loans that someone has borrowed from them. Students can save huge amounts of money throughout their educational period with the help of proper accounting.

Helps to get the study loan

There are a lot of students who acquire study loans for pursuing their higher education. Without accounting, it is pretty difficult for them to get a loan from the banks as they have to show accountability to repay the interest or loan amount on the assigned due date. Accounting also helps the students to get more opportunities to show them accountability for the loan.

With this, you can also show the bank your earnings sources and your ability to pay the loan at a given time. If students are unable to give correct information about the earning sources of their families, they will not get the loan amount. It also allows learners to evaluate the loans, the interest on the loan, the amount of time, and much more. The students are then eligible to qualify for the loan for the studies.

It guides decision-making

A crucial aspect of the student’s life is decision-making. When it comes to financial decisions for students, Accounting becomes more important. Students will determine, through clear accounting, whether they require new gadgets for their studies or whether they can do the same job as the old ones. This encourages students to keep track of how much they spend on what they do. Besides, it allows students to prevent overspending on unwanted goods or facilities.

It also allows them to discourage underspending too. Yes, underspending is the case when students concentrate solely on saving rather than borrowing. For students, investment is one of the main things. For their future needs, they should invest their capital.

The measure of new strategies

You could think why we should discuss the measure of new strategies? As We have explained earlier that too many students earn money during their educational period. And most of the students also rely on their income for the additional study expenses. That is why they have to build an excellent strategy for the expenses to evade overspending and debts.

In certain cases, students borrow cash from lenders to cover their bills and their additional expenses. Accounting enables them to calculate the risk analysis aspect of lending money because the students are still at risk of either returning the money on time or not. Efficient accounting allows them to measure whether or not the current methodology would succeed for them. It also allows you to compare the numerous tactics to choose the right one for your company.

Help you to overcome financial trouble.

We described previously that the cost of studying is not limited to tuition fees, college fees, or school fees. There is far more to it than the fixed rates. In their academic period, there are plenty of study costs that students need to pay. All these costs cause financial problems to the students. As sometimes, students consume their money without doing accounting calculations, which results in financial trouble. They get out of money when they have to spend for their additional study expenses. Students also need accounting homework help.

Accounting helps them estimate the amount of money needed to save for the uncertain study expenses. In this way, accounting benefits the students to reduce their financial difficulty.

Conclusion

There are various points that exhibit why accounting is necessary. But We have listed some major points that are significant for students. Implementing these accounting tips helps you to save an immense amount of money from the academics expenses.

Advantages of E-Learning & How To Create An App For It

Education is no more confined to the walls of schools and educational institutions. With the prevalence of smartphones and tablets, it has now become possible to facilitate learning experiences online and beyond the boundaries of schools and institutions.

eLearning has been gradually grabbing up space in the apps market and the reason is the widespread education industry. There’s literally no limit to the number of categories, learning fields, languages, or cultural peculiarities involved in it. Besides, students or young learners are striving hard too to do better than others. The idea of eLearning apps is to help them compete in the rat race by letting them read, learn, and absorb knowledge beyond their textbooks. However, getting an app developed is not that easy and instant. You need to decide first who will be the audience. Kids, young students, and grown-up are the user groups that can benefit from an eLearning app. Second, you need the conceive the idea or purpose of learning the app will serve. It can be about providing reading experiences (of any course materials, books, etc.) video-based learning, online aptitudes, tricky riddles and question-solving, language learning and many more.

If you’re thinking about making your entry to the education industry with one purposeful learning app, here is a guideline.

Decide the type of leaners to target

Among the three defined users groups, decide whom do you want to help out with your app. The kind of app you want to develop depends on that. For instance, if it targets kids, consider focussing on puzzle solving, numbers and alphabets learning through games, or elementary topics learning with fun interactions. On the other hand, engaging young scholars and adult students mean getting the app featured with any online tutorials, practice sets, eBooks and study materials, online conference or discussion form, or learning videos by teachers.

Consider the features of your eLearning app

To make your app fun as well as engaging to the users, make sure you incorporate the most interactive features.

Gamification: It avoids making the learning experience dull. Gamifying the learning process with rewards, badges, or power points will make the experience fun-filled for the learners.
Cloud storage for the database: There should be a secure database in the form of cloud storage from where learners could quickly access all whatever information they need.
Virtual classroom: In whichever category your app belongs, make sure it offers a virtual space where learners could come together and interact with each other. Besides, the classroom must be having writing tools, whiteboard, video recording, and share features.
User account and dashboard functionality: Make sure your app should enable students to maintain an independent user account, where they could keep track of their learning courses, tests attained, videos downloaded, etc. in a dashboard.
Other features: Try implementing other interactive features speech-recognition, social media sharing, push-notifications, and multi-language support.

Consider monetisation approaches to earn from your app

After settling with your eLearning app idea, it’s time for you to decide how to make money with it. Effective monetisation approaches that will let you earn some good returns are in-app purchases, freemium policy, paid subscription packs, and partnership with schools and big educational organisations. Taking with app marketers will further help you in monetising your app and can even help to optimise your app store submissions.

Hire a mobile app development firm

Lastly, to assure the success of your eLearning app and make it really big as your contribution to the education industry, partner with a competent adept mobile app development company. Surely, you need a team having technology expertise in both iOS and Android and experience in widespread app categories to kickstart your app idea.

Networking And Diversity

In a fast, growing global environment, networking plays a big role in making valuable connections with others. Knowing the right business or social language, dressing appropriately can all be crucial in professional acceptance. Individuals who are good at networking tend to focus on cultural and other social protocol while networking. Having a universal focal point in business and social dealings can bring several advantages.

Listed below are ways in which professionals, entrepreneurs and students can gain the most from their networking by embracing diversity.

The Basic Norms

While networking with various ethnic and social groups, it is key to identify the basic cultural, social norms. Taking the time to acknowledge and appreciate differences can improve communication styles. It sets an atmosphere which is conducive for continued business and social interactions. Identifying basic norms can reduce the possibilities of being easily offended or misunderstood. It also limits confusion and can set standards for expectations.

The Value System

Sharing and explaining different value systems can also improve the networking process. Being able to create bridges with like minded individuals and organizations can build productive and profitable networks. It can also enable ongoing business opportunities and future ventures. Value systems can also be instrumental in shaping the image and brand of a particular individual, organization or institution. One of the best ways to uphold a value is to respect it rather than question its relevance. Finding ways of implementing value points in business and social interactions strengthens the diversity component.

The Inclusion Act

Individuals who value diversity understand the importance of being inclusive. Expanding the circle in regards to gender, age, ethnicity, religion and class establishes diverse networks. It promotes unity and an adaptive mindset to new ideas and methods. It is very clear that being open and accepting, facilitates a healthy environment for growth and success.

Generation Gaps

Another element to diversity which is often over looked is the age component. Industries and organizations are seeing up to five generations within the professional environments. In varying ages, there are different communication styles and ways of doing business. The key to navigating this, is by making sure that there is a clear message in intentions and motives. Using proper reasoning, judgment and sensitivity can be very substantial in building long term and valuable relations.

While networking, it is important to include elements of diversity when making connections. Being aware, sensitive and understanding can improve communication and prevent a lot of disconnects.

How to Find an Online Opportunity

If you are looking for a promising business opportunity, the best thing to do is to explore the wide range of opportunities available online.

An online job allows you to work at home. It enables you to offer your marketable skills and put them to good use. All you have to do is to hook up with a reliable online employer.

The Internet provides a variety of jobs. Just sift through all the information to find one that matches your skills.

If you are looking for a good honest job – and you have the necessary skills for it, you can become a freelancer.

There are countless employers looking for good people to hire. There are many jobs available, especially if you are a writer, web designer, graphic designer, programmer, or an expert in SEO and online marketing. You can work from home and be productive in your own business home.

It is easy to put up a based business home. You don’t need any capital to work free lance and earn money. You simply have to have the skills that the job requires.

It is not surprising that more and more individuals are offering some sort of business service online.

There are many online jobs for people with various skills and lines of expertise. There are jobs available even for students who are still in business school or for professionals looking for part-time jobs to augment their income. If you hope to establish an IT company but think that starting your business small is the best way to go, you can find opportunities online.

How do you look for prospective employers?

You can offer your services on your own website. Considering the somewhat limited reach of personal websites, however, you may have to wait for quite some time for responses to your offer.

You can also join a site that is designed primarily to connect service buyers with freelancers.

How do these sites operate?

Service buyers post jobs or projects on the site. Freelancers who find a particular project interesting make their bids. They offer a price and mention how long it will take them to complete the project. The service buyer will then make an offer to the person whom he thinks offers the best bid.

If you are hired for a certain project, you are expected to complete it on time. Your service buyer will go over the assignment and give you feedback about your work.

You build your reputation as a freelancer on such feedback. As you work on more and more assignments, and receive good feedback on your work, you slowly build your reputation as a reliable and proficient worker.

Service buyers are always on the look-out for freelancers whom they can trust to do a first-rate job. If you are able to turn in projects that consistently receive good feedback, you increase your opportunities for being hired.

If you are a beginner at freelance work, the key is to offer your services at a low price for your first projects. Your low bid will help you get more projects. Work on these projects well so that you get good feedback about your work.

As you build on the number of projects completed, as well as on the positive feedback, you will soon acquire a reputation as a dependable, efficient, and professional freelancer. You will find it easier to get more projects.

You can even bid higher on some projects. There are many service providers who do not mind paying extra just as long as they are guaranteed first-class work.

You can always find gainful business to business employment online. You can earn a lot of money even if you just stay at home.

Innovation and Creative Competency

School teaches that there is one right answer. As students we are supposed to figure out that answer. It’s the one that matches what it says in the answer key at the back of the book or for the test.

But business and life isn’t like that. There isn’t just one right answer for most of the problems and situations we encounter. In business and in life we need to be creative, to explore many options, to be able to discover something or a process that is innovative.

It is too easy, too comfortable, and usually a mistake to think that we are searching for the one right answer. Instead, in business we are looking for as many options as possible and then be able to make a choice or choices among them. If we think there is only one right answer we will jump on the first answer that comes up that would work. Usually the first idea is one that comes up fast because it is common and over-used. You are better off making your choice because it won the comparison discussion, not just because it was the first and only idea expressed.

Innovation means something new to the world or at least new to the situation. To come up with something new it is necessary to tap into the creativity of as many options as possible. That will work best when you open up to other viewpoints, brainstorm to bring out all types of responses, and include multiple ideas and multiple versions of similar ideas.

Creativity. Without open minds embracing many ideas and options, the road to innovation will be completely fogged in. With the openness for creativity, the road will have many dead ends but will also have plenty of room for u-turns, start-overs, and what-ifs.

What is creative competency? It does not require that you be an artist or writer or any of the ‘creativity’ occupations. Instead, all that is required is that your mind be open to possibilities and you share and keep sharing the hundreds of ideas you have, rather than squashing them by saying, ‘No one would think it is a good idea,’ or ‘That’s silly.’

The ideas shared with others often form the germ of an idea to expand and share back.

If I share an idea I have with you and you share one with me, we both now have two ideas, or many more as we explore how to mix and match and build on those ideas. Ideas multiply like rabbits if only you have an open mind and let them.

The Future of Affiliate Marketing As a Career Choice

Almost every kind of business today has an online presence and there are mechanisms that allow for online money transfers. It has therefore become very easy to purchase inventory, pay workers and receive goods and services without moving from where you are seated. The internet has made it possible for anybody to setup an easy online home based business.

Stay at home parents, students and senior citizens who still have the strength to work but are locked out from formal employment by their age can still live productive lives. Online entrepreneurship not only provides a platform for offering services to people in different parts of the world but also provides a steady source of income.

There are as many forms of online entrepreneurial activities as there are products and services to be sold. One of the most popular and fastest rising is affiliate marketing. The core principle of affiliate marketing is that the more people you covert, the more you earn.

You can start a career path in affiliate marketing with absolutely nothing in your hands. This means that you do not have to have product neither do you need money. Armed with just a computer with access to the internet, your first step would be to identify companies who have products and services to sell for a fee. By directing people to these companies’ website, every sale made out of your efforts earns you an income.

With the benefits that affiliate marketing brings to an organization’s sales, this is not a marketing tool that is going away soon. Companies like conversions made from affiliate marketing because it means that potential customers are made of the existence every day. The power that affiliate marketing has of word of mouth advertising is simply phenomenal.

Without leaving the house, affiliate marketing has proven that people can still make a decent living out of selling products that belongs to other people. It however takes patience and resilience to live off of affiliate marketing and people who have been in this field for a long time are witness to this. The best time to start is while still in school or before you become desperate for a source of livelihood.

There are many resources available on the web on how to start a career online. Many success stories of people who started and are reaping the benefits are also available to offer encouragement and insight into the dos and don’ts that build a successful career.

12 Surefire Brainstorming Techniques

Writers, students and anyone else will occasionally need an idea or two. While you may have times when ideas come with little or no effort, there will be times when the fountain of creativity seems to have dried up. Have no fear, however. Even if you’re not feeling particularly creative, you can still think and reason. By thinking clearly and using the following techniques, you’ll find an endless supply of ideas.

Free-writing – Just write. Don’t worry about format, topic, or anything else. Just write, about anything at all. It might be a description of your kitchen ceiling, or a diatribe about the lack of parking spaces at your local veterinarian’s office. The important thing is that you get writing, and keep writing. Let one thought lead to another, or just write on one thing, in ever increasing detail. Maybe you’ll write for a set amount of time, or maybe your aim is to fill a page or multiple pages. Pick out individual topics, ideas, names or anything else. Whatever you do, you’ll soon have many ideas to work with.

Breakdown – Take your initial topic, and write it at the top of the page. Divide the topic into subtopics, questions, themes, and such, listing them below. Continue to break down and list those subtopics as before.

Listing/Bulleting – List everything about the topic, then list any related phrases, keywords, questions, sources, etc. If you can think of it, add it to the list. Then take each item from the list, and do it again.

Cubing – Cubing refers to taking your topic and examining it from six different sides, like the six sides of a cube. Consider the topic in the following six ways:

Describe it
Compare it
Associate it
Analyze it
Apply it
Argue for and against it

Now, examine your answers. Are there any connections between them? Do any themes emerge?

Similes – Complete the following sentence: [Blank] is/was/are/were like [Blank]. By comparing your topic to another, seemingly unrelated word, you’ll begin to see new ideas about your topic, better understand different aspects of it, and new ideas will emerge.

Clustering/Mapping/Webbing – This technique allows you to expand on a topic in a freeform, organic manner. Write a keyword or words about your topic in the center of a blank page and draw a circle or box around it. Branch off in as many ideas as possible, connecting them visually to the topic. Then branch off from there. Go as far as you can or want to, continually branching off.

Parts – Look at the relationships between the whole, the parts and parts of parts. Make the following lists on opposite margins of a sheet of paper:

Whole………………………Parts

Part…………………………Parts of Parts

Apply these labels to topics and subtopics, words, etc. Then draw conclusions about relationships, patterns, connections, etc.

Journalistic Questions (The Big 6) – Ask yourself the 6 important questions of journalism:

Who
What
When
Where
Why
How

List related questions for each one, then seek out the answers; repeat as many times as you need to.

Outside the Box – Try approaching your topic from a totally different angle. Ask questions from a seemingly unrelated viewpoint. You might think in terms of occupations, academic subjects, demographic groups, cultural groups, etc. Examine it fully from each new perspective, jotting down every thought, question, commentary, interpretation, etc.

Charts/Shapes – Instead of words and phrases, think visually. Put things in terms of charts, shapes, tables and diagrams. If you can find photographs related to the topic, use them as well. List anything you see, any thoughts that come to mind and any conclusions drawn from the images.

Slanting/Re-slant – Examine an idea or topic in terms of purpose and audience. If stuck, think about a different purpose or a different audience. For example, if you’re writing about married couples with the purpose of entertaining couples with at least five years of marriage, try looking at the topic from the newlyweds.

Referencing – If you have a basic idea or topic, look it up. Go to the dictionary, the thesaurus, the encyclopedia, an almanac, quote collection, any other reference. List any information. If you don’t have a topic, open to a random page, pick any topic, then go from there.

Combination of Techniques – Start with any technique then apply another technique to the results. For example, after listing and bulleting on your original topic, try referencing each listed item.

Once you have used these techniques, you should have a list of the ideas produced. These ideas must then be organized in some way. You may start by listing them neatly, then categorizing them. Group them according to subtopics, put them into an outline, or try to sequence them in some way. The idea is simply to impose some sort of order on the disorganized results, giving you a clear collection of ideas to work with. Now equipped with these ideas and some related information, you’ll have a better idea of what to work on in your writing.

To Start An Online Business, First Begin By Asking Why And What Then How

I have found that when seniors want to learn about Internet Business or online business, many of these seniors are so eager to want to know how to go about doing it. Right from Day One, many of them are just eager to want to know how to create a website or how to start promoting other people’s products and services. They are just so anxious to know “how” “how” “how’…

Well, in this second article I want you to approach the learning of doing this kind of business by first asking “why”, then “what” and then only “how” instead of just wanting to learn the “how”, “how”, “how”. This is because I believe that once you have got the “why” and “what” right, then the “how” is the least difficult of the whole process.

1. First Start With “Why”

Most of the good internet marketing gurus will always ask their students to spend the initial part of their learning process focusing of getting the right “keywords”. Well, for us senior newbies, what this means is to get “Why” right first. And what do I mean by that?

Let’s examine the first three possible scenarios, that is, either you have a product to sell, a service to offer to customers or you want to help to promote someone else’s products or services.

Even if you have a product or service to offer you should ask the question, “why does the customer want to buy your product? “. If you do not have any product or service to offer to customers and you may want to help promote someone else’s product, again you also have to ask the question “why does the customer want to listen to you when you are promoting someone’s else product?”

To promote someone else’s product or service you need to know what product or service do you want to help to promote? Take you time. Don’t worry about where to find the products or services to promote. That’s the “How” part of this process. First just think of what interest you or “why do you think the customers want to buy that product or service? “. You can promote many products related to such topics like music, fishing, golf, handicraft, cooking, learning languages, astronomy, magic tricks, yoga, tai chi, travel and the list goes on and on. That’s why I say, take your time. This is the most important part of the process. Get this wrong and you will reduce your chances of succeeding significantly.

So the first and most important thing is to really understand why would the customer want to buy from you?

Don’t be afraid to spend as much time as possible on understanding the “Why”s. Why do you want to sell this product or service

2. Then we ask the question “What”

To help us understand why we think customers want to buy from us, we should ask the question “What is the problem that the customer want solved?”. Once you are very clear on that, then we can see if what we are offering is providing the solution that the customer is looking for. What problems are those products or services trying to solve for the customers? For example, if the customer has an overweight problem then the weight loss program that you are trying to promote may be a potential product to help such a customer. From your perspective, you should also try to be more targeted in your customer group. For example what target profile of the population are you focusing when you promote your weight loss program. Is it for overweight teenagers or overweight seniors? Who are you trying to help? Spend some time asking the question “what problems are you trying to solve for the customers” or “what are the most urgent problems that potentials customers have and what solutions can you provide”. Remember you can combine the “why” and the “what” when looking at customers’ problems and “what” and “why” a particular product or service is the best choice to consider.

Once you have identified the product or service and the problem that it will solve then, and only then, can you start looking at “keywords” which brings us to the third question and that is the “how”.

3. Finally we will look at “How”

When we ask the question “how”, what we are trying to find out is “how do customers look for solutions to their problems?”. Now what do I mean by that?

Let’s take one example to illustrate what I mean.

First lets take the simple example of cooking. Now if you are keen on the subject of cooking and you want to promote your own cookbook or someone else’s cookbook then you need to know “why do customers want to look for such a cook book?”. “What” is the cookbook trying to solve for the customer? For example, it is a Japanese cookbook for non-Japanese cooks. So the “why” and “what” is obvious. For example, helping non-Japanese who are very keen to learn how to cook Japanese dishes. To understand the “how” we have to put ourselves in the shoes of the “potential” customers of this cookbook. They want to know “how” to cook Japanese dishes. So when they go online to look for information about how to cook Japanese dishes, “how” do they go about doing it. They probably will use Google Search and will key into Google Search such words like “Cooking Japanese dishes” or “how to cook Japanese dishes” or “easy Japanese cooking guide” or some other such terms. Well in the Internet Marketing world, such words are called “keywords” or “key phrases”.

Our main objective in the first phase of our journey is to learn how to identify the right “keywords” or “key-phrases” that potential customers will use when they do their “Internet searches”.

There are several “tools” online that can help us to check which are the most popular “keywords” and “key phrases” that potential customers use to search for solutions that your products or services can provide them.

So in this article, what we have learned is that the most important first thing to do if we want to start an online business is to take our time and really study why and what problems does the potential customers have and then what products or services that you have that can provide solutions to these potential customers. If you already have a business in mind then that’s great and you can move to the “how”.

However if you are still trying to “discover” what is the “best” subject to get involved in to start your online journey, then here is a simple technique. Most IM gurus always say “don’t try to sell someone something. Instead, try to find out what some people need and then be the one to help them meet their needs.”

Once you have identified the product or service that you want to sell or promote that means that you have found the “niche” that you want to focus on. Then it is time to put on the “customer’s hat” and start to think like the customer. Within that niche, what problems or needs does the potential customer have? How would he or she start looking for solutions online? What words or phrases will they key into Google Search to find help for their needs. Make a list of all the possible “keywords” or “key phrases” that YOU THINK they will use to search for more information online. Then you can use some online tools to “check” if these are really the common keywords that people use to search online within that niche. In this way you can identify what are the most popular keywords related to your product or service. The secret here is that the more specific your niche is, then the more targeted your potential customers will be and the higher will be your chance of serving the right customers within that niche. Take for example the game of golf. Now if you are just selling golf training books, then your customer group is fairly diverse. However if you narrow that down to “how to improve your putting?” then your target customers become more specific. So instead of promoting a golf book for all golfers, you position yourself as someone who is trying to help golfers who want to improve their putting techniques. Just like instead of promoting a cookbook, position yourself as trying to help people who want to learn how to make chicken pies. As most Gurus will tell you, the secret is that the more specific your niche is the better is your potential to find and serve the “right customers” who have a specific need that you may be able to fulfill. So be more specific in finding your keywords or key phrases.

One of the most popular online tools for this is the free Google Keyword Planner.