How to Buy Private Stock

I became interested in this when I saw it on the Internet. I am always looking for ways to make my money work for me. Bingo here was what I found to fill the bill. Making money and helping the small business grow. I believe I’ve found it and now you can too join in fun and excitement. You’ll Learn too and as you grow your nest will grow too.

Here’s your real opportunity to start small. You’ll be getting in on the ground floor where little things can become bigger than you might suspect or imagine. Private digital stocks of small companies is where they all start. Imagine all the big companies that started on a shoe string like computer software, computers or even a book store that started out of a garage. Chances are you maybe looking at something that’s unbelievable, but that all can change. Remember ideas become real with just a dream that materializes.

Good question comes up what effects the price of the stock? Good question and it depends on the why. Companies come and go and things maybe slowing due to new technology or a change in services rendered etc.. Leadership or manpower can effect it’s stock price too. Plus a lot of it has to do with rules and regulations on the stock due city, state or government rulings. Anything can make the stock price rise or fall. Also, it could be the time of the year or the economy in general.

Now, when should I buy more stocks or maybe sell some of my stocks? Well, that’s a question a lot of people ask. If you are selling because the stock is down and you want to save some gain fine. If you are selling to cut your loss again that maybe smart. The story goes then the next day the stock could soars… I should held on. The market is really hard to predict.

Buying is another thing. Stocks go up and down and the company may look promising so you jump in with both feet. You may add to you stock weekly or monthly which they call dollar cost averaging. I guess it all depends what your goal is with this stock. Spending on more shares is all up to you.

Bottom line now is why I like this https://moneyonlineinvestment.com/r/329284

Money Online Investment is free to join, low cost and exciting. You can get started for as low as three dollars per share. Shares you choose vary in price so it’s all up to you. I wish you great success in your stock investing.

Six Elements of a Value-Added Internship Program for Your Private Business

Starting an Internship program for your business requires clear objectives, a solid plan and disciplined oversight to run smoothly. Intern recruiting starts as early as February – best to approach a local school where your firm already has a relationship or where a curriculum matches your organization’s needs.

Both the student and the business have shared objectives and expectations – both seek a productive experience and the opportunity to learn valuable skills. Internship programs have always been a great source of talent for firms and opportunities for students. It starts with defining the purpose and impact of the internship on your business.

Essentials for building a successful Internship Program:

  1. Establish a clear objective (i.e. Improve or update the firm’s prospect files or expand the firm’s Social Networking reach)
  2. Assign a title (i.e., Sales Intern, Account Executive Intern, Marketing Intern, etc.)
  3. Align the Intern to two individuals: One should be the direct reporting manager and the other individual should be a mentor (for best results make sure the mentor has the same area of subject matter expertise)
  4. Map out a Training Plan: The intern will need formal orientation to your business PLUS subject matter or product training. You can blend the training schedule with an increasing amount of work responsibilities. Training needs to be measurable. While department round robins seem like a great idea on paper, to be successful they need to link in assignments and follow up.
  5. Empower the Intern to Impact the Organization: Plan ahead. Since this is a college student, minimize the clerical duties. Select meaningful projects and assignments that will bring value to your organization. Examples might include social networking postings or content creation for newsletters; workflow analysis and updates; procedure guides for specific positions; identify and centralize key forms on a shared drive for use by others in the organization, etc.
  6. Supervise the Intern: Start the week with a clear plan and goals. End the week with summary and feedback including positive achievements and encouragement for further growth. Be ready to increase responsibilities for the Intern if they are performing at a top-level. If the Intern appears to be achieving all assignments above average and fits within the company’s culture, be sure to discuss full time/future employment before their assignment ends.

Aim to make the internship a victory for both the student and your business. If you have recruited well and created a successful internship program, the success will lead to full time job offers and hires that will carry an immediate impact on your firm.

How To Plan A Banquet – A Guide To Planning Perfect Banquets For Company Or Private Parties

First time planners are often stricken with complete fear! Even those that plan events over and over again still fear that something will go wrong and they will be the subject of ridicule. Hopefully we can allay the fears and quell the butterflies in your stomach by helping you through the entire project.

There are a lot of questions you need to ask. First timers probably don’t have the foggiest idea what questions to ask, so, the first thing we’d better do is outline these for you.

Perhaps the easiest way to do that is to fill out a form. (I love forms!)
If you were to phone me and ask me to help you make arrangements for a special event, the first thing I would do is reach for a blank form, and over the phone we would fill it out. When I had all the information, I would be better prepared to help you.

Before you continue reading, you may want to print the banquet planning worksheet(PDF) from my website. That way you can follow along with the worksheet as I describe the planning process. I’ve also included a pre filled sample planning worksheet that you might help.

Let’s begin with fact finding.

PURPOSE

The first question to ask is, “What is the purpose of the event?” This question should be really easy, but it’s perhaps the most important. The purpose of your event will determine your event’s agenda.

DATE

Break out your calendar to decide a date for your event. Look for possible conflicts. It might be tough to get people out to a Saturday night banquet if it’s a three-day holiday. It would be unwise to put on a church social if your local school, where most of your congregation had children attending, were having an open house or play that night.

Pencil in a date and then try to think of possible conflicts. I know of one organization that booked a very popular and relatively expensive Jewish comic into the club house of a predominantly Jewish retirement community. Attempts to sell tickets failed miserably, because they had not realized they had scheduled his appearance on a Jewish holiday – a very expensive oversight!

BUDGET

There are many, many determining factors in establishing a budget. First of all, how many are expected to attend? You might have a pretty good idea for a company party, but in some cases you might just have to make a “guess-timate” until you can get more information. Make the best possible estimate based on what facts you have, and proceed.

TICKET PRICE

Another factor to determine before we select a location is how much your attendees are willing to pay. Sure, we can work the other way: we can pick a location, hire a band, select the menu, etc., and then add up how much it all costs and thus determine how much everyone needs to pay, but doing so will probably leave you hurting in the end.

If you expect 1,000 people, and you determine $25.00 a person is acceptable, then your entire budget for food, printing, entertainment, etc., is $25,000. If you expect only 20 people and you know they won’t come if it’s over $5.00 a person, then you know you’re far more limited.

LOCATION

Determine the geographical area where the event is to take place. If you live in the area where the event will take place, you may already know of various hotels, country clubs, restaurants or catering halls that can accommodate your group. If you don’t live in the area, be sure to go look at the potential location before you book it. If the event is in a distant city and it’s not possible for you to travel there, and the event is a significant one, I suggest you hire a professional meeting planner.

I once attended a banquet in a quaint “50’s malt-shop-type restaurant. The party planner had not gone there to look at the room where the party was to be. She had just taken the word of a friend. True, it was a great restaurant, but their “room” had about 5 permanent booths on each wall. Guests were facing in all different directions. This made it almost impossible for the magician they had hired to perform. To further confuse the issue, it was not even a private room. Restaurant customers could not get to the restroom without disturbing the party, and the 50’s music continued to blare through the ceiling speakers throughout the evening because it was piped throughout the whole restaurant and could not be isolated from one room. A visit beforehand could have prevented this nightmare.

Many, if not most, facilities do not charge a fee for the use of the room but instead absorb the rental fee into the price of the meal. For instance, in our example of 200 people, a banquet facility would be delighted to supply a private room in order to sell 200 dinners.

Usually they will have several dinners to choose from – perhaps a chicken dinner, complete with beverage, salad and dessert, for $12.00 per person; or prime rib at $18.00 each; or sirloin steaks at $25.00 per person. In our example we are charging $30.00 per person. Let’s select the prime rib at $18.00.

Does that include tax and tip? Oh, Oh! Find out if it does, or you may get a surprise at the end of the night. Let’s say it does not. 15% tip and 8% (or whatever) tax makes the dinner a total of $22.14 per person. Our sample budget calls for 200 people at $30.00 each for a total of $6,000. If all 200 people attend, dinner will cost $4,428. That leaves $1,572 for all other costs.

By the way, the facility may ask you for a deposit and guarantee. If you guarantee 200 people, you will have to pay for 200 dinners even if only 175 show up. Generally, a facility is prepared to serve about 10% more people than you guarantee. So it makes sense to guarantee a lesser number than you expect. Even some of those who told you absolutely they would be there, maybe even gave you a deposit, don’t show for one reason or another.

Just to be on the safe side, in our example of 200 people, I would guarantee the restaurant 185. If you’re pre selling tickets, which I recommend, you can always adjust your estimate upwards with the restaurant a day or two ahead of time if needed. Ask the facility about their requirements in regard to a change in the guarantee.

AGENDA

The evening agenda is largely determined by the event’s purpose. A typical event might go like this:

6:00 – 7:00 – Social or cocktail hour

7:00 – 8:00 – Dinner

8:00 – 8:15 – Meeting/Awards/Business

8:15 – 9:00 – Entertainment/Speaker

9:00 – 9:10 – Raffle/Door Prizes

9:10 – 1:00 – Dancing

Having an hour to “gather” is always good. You and the facility both will want everyone present when you actually sit down to eat. It’s been my experience that almost everything starts late, so plan for it and don’t be disappointed when it happens.

Will you be having a cocktail hour? A “Hosted” bar means that drinks are free to the party-goers. If you choose to host the cocktail hour, be prepared to spend about $1200 for our sample group of 200 people. Most organization-sponsored events have a ‘No-Host’ bar, in which guests buy their own drinks. It’s appropriate to announce ‘Hosted’, or ‘No-Host’ in the invitation.

Some form of entertainment during the cocktail hour is certainly a plus. The facility may have music piped in through its sound system, which is certainly the most economical; however, for around $300 you could have live music. Most banquet facilities have a piano, sometimes on wheels, and will let you either rent the piano or use it for free. Fee for the piano rental should be around $50 to $100 and a piano player anywhere from $150 to $250.

Other cocktail hour entertainment could include a chamber group, a jazz or “society” trio, harpist, or a strolling accordionist. A strolling “close-up” magician, performing from group to group or table to table, is always fun. Other forms of entertainment for the cocktail hour could include celebrity look-alikes, mechanical or conventional mimes, a balloon animal sculptor, caricaturist, graphologist, palm reader, tarot card reader, stilt walker, or just about anything else you can think of! Again, your budget is your gauge.

DINNER

This is pretty easy. When the Maitre’d says dinner is ready, have your party sit down!

The vast majority of banquets have certain people assigned to sit at the head table while everyone else may sit where they wish. If you choose to have a head table, you should make small place markers for those assigned to sit at the head table, and don’t forget to discuss table arrangements with the facility.

OPENING

Someone, perhaps you, should step to the microphone and announce that dinner is ready and ask everyone to take a seat. When this has been accomplished your President, or whoever is presiding, should welcome everyone.

It is appropriate at most banquets to have someone lead the flag salute, followed by a blessing on the food. People should not be called upon for these jobs extemporaneously, but should be asked in advance and their names and responsibilities should be listed on the printed program if there is one. Following the flag salute and prayer, your Master of Ceremonies (or who ever is conducting) should introduce the people sitting at the head table, introducing himself last.

THE PROGRAM

If business of any sort needs to be conducted, begin when dessert is finished, or at least served. Make sure that the facility knows that you do not want any bussing (clearing of tables) or coffee served after the program starts, as it can become an irritating distraction and take away from the enjoyment of the program.

ENTERTAINMENT

Following opening remarks, and/or other business, you could either introduce the main speaker, or present some form of entertainment.

This could be the highlight of the evening! There are many outstanding after-dinner performers and speakers. If you really want to have a successful event, hire a professional. At this writing $500 to $1,000 can buy you some pretty top-notch entertainment.

How about a comedian-magician who uses a member or two of your group and does some hilarious bits of business and audience participation magic tricks – 30 or 40 minutes of non-stop laughs!

Or picture this…the dessert has just been served and in walks “Lt. Columbo,” complete with overcoat and cigar…”Oh, excuse me,” he says, “I was looking for somebody else.” All eyes are riveted on this familiar figure as he turns and starts to walk out. “Oh, one more thing, is this the Walker party?’ Then for the next 30 minutes or so he does a comedy routine in the style and delivery of Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo, using names of people in your group.

That will rock your people out of their seats with laughter. These are just a couple of suggestions. Everybody loves to laugh, and a good professional entertainer can make you a hero.

How do you find that kind of entertainment? Again, watch out for the well-meaning friend. Sometimes hiring a friend of a friend who tells jokes or plays the banjo can put a wet blanket on the evening if they don’t live up to your expectations.

Probably the best way to secure talent is to work with a professional talent agent that specializes in special events. Ordinarily there is no fee for his services. He can make recommendations and suggestions based on what your needs are, and work within your budget limitations.

Some entertainers may have special requirements, like a stage, spotlight, two mics or something else, and these items need to be arranged with the facility. There may be a rental fee involved.

RAFFLE/DOOR PRIZES

Giving away door prizes or raffle prizes should not be held until after the entertainment or main speaker. Perhaps it’s an inducement for your guests to stay until the end.

If you’re selling raffle tickets, again you need to make out a budget. How many tickets do you expect to sell and for how much money? Do you want to make a profit? Let’s say you expect to sell 100 tickets to those 200 people expected to come, and we sell them at the banquet for $2.00 each. That’ll give you $200 to buy prizes with. You can put this in your general budget or assign someone to take care of the whole raffle, including purchasing the prizes and selling the tickets.

DANCING

Following the raffle, the formal portion of the program is really over. Your people can now go home. If you’ve elected to have a deejay or band, they may stay for dancing.

The facility might charge to set up a dance floor. Sometimes this is a portable dance floor they build right on top of the carpet. A band will cost anywhere from $150 per band member to $450 per band member for four hours. A small trio of keyboard, drum and guitar could be anywhere from $750 to $1,500.

An $1,800 to $3,500 five-piece band, including a vocalist, is average. If you hire a band, you may be able to use one or more of those same musicians to provide cocktail hour and/or dinner music for a small additional fee. You normally need to make a deposit at the time you hire the band. Anything over four hours’ playing time is considered overtime, and you should talk with the band or agent about the cost of overtime when you make the initial arrangements. Bands also need to take a 10-15 minute break each hour. Ask if the band will supply recorded music during their breaks.

MOBILE DEEJAY

Sometimes you might prefer a DeeJay playing recorded music instead of hiring a band. This gives you the advantage of hearing the original recording artist instead of a dance band’s rendition.

Another advantage is that most mobile DeeJay units will set up before dinner and offer to play dinner music at no additional cost, and of course, a DeeJay does not take a break during the evening, so you have non stop music for your event.

Cost-wise, there is not a lot of difference between a 3-piece band and a DeeJay. Some DeeJays offer a full light-show that few bands do, and even with an additional charge, this could be a real plus. I think it’s just a matter of taste. Some people insist on a live band and others are just as adamant about a DeeJay.

PHOTOGRAPHER OR VIDEOGRAPHER

Video taping an event, except for historical purposes, is unnecessary. Seldom will the video tape or DVD be watched more than once after the event. Yes, maybe a Bar or Bat Mitzvah will watch his or her recording years later when they grow older, and maybe even a bride and groom would watch a well-edited and condensed recording. A company or organization’s banquet, however, will be seldom if ever watched.

I would recommend that you hire, budget permitting, a professional photographer rather than leaving it up to one of your guests or a friend of a friend who only takes photos twice a year. You can have the photographer deliver prints or a CD of digital photographs in which case you could print just the photos you want.

PROMOTION

Probably the most traumatic thing that could occur is that you planned the entire event and then no one came. If it’s a company party and the food, entertainment, drinks and dancing are all free, I don’t think you will have a problem, as long as you let everybody know when and where and that it’s FREE!

But if that’s not the situation, you may need to promote the event. Once you have all the facts (WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, WHO, and HOW MUCH), you can create a flyer – a piece of paper with all the facts on it, designed to motivate people to attend.

If you’re an artist, great! You can create the flyer yourself. If not, maybe someone in your group is and they can help you. Otherwise, you need to “rough it out” the way you’d want it and take it to a graphic artist to do the “camera-ready copy” for you, then off to a printer to print however many you’re going to need. How many you need will depend on how you’re going to distribute them.

The layout, printing, envelopes and postage all need to go into your budget. There are, of course, additional ways you can promote the event – word of mouth, bulletin boards, phone committee, club or company newsletter, posters. If your event will be open to people outside your organization, you might try using the publicity channels of other related groups, companies, schools, etc., as well as your own. Have a “brainstorming session” with your committee, if you have one, to think of all the ways you can get the word out.

And remember that if you want people to come to your activity, you can’t just tell them. You have to tell them and tell them and tell them! Use all the resources at your disposal, and don’t hesitate to repeat yourself. The more times you tell them, the more will come!

TICKET SALES

There are as many ways to handle this as there are ways to promote the event. If you have to lay out funds ahead of time (which is usually the case), it is good to get as much money as you can up front. Pre selling your tickets will help you do that. Of course, your publicity must state your requirements and deadlines. This also will help you get a handle on how many are going to attend. Remember though, that there will still be some last minute cancellations and additions, so stay flexible.

TABLE ASSIGNMENTS

As mentioned earlier, most organizations assign only the head table, and the rest of the attendees are left to sit where they wish. Some groups insist on drawing pictures of the tables on a sheet of paper, numbering them, and then assigning people to specific tables.

I think it’s far more work than necessary, but if you must, then have at it.
Some banquets, especially those honoring individuals or groups, offer entire tables “for sale.” 10 people per table at $30 each means that for $300 someone could reserve a whole table. Make sure you put a “reserved” sign on that table, showing the name of the host.

THE PRINTED PROGRAM

When all the facts are in, if the budget will permit, a nice printed program could be put at each place setting or handed out as people arrive. It should contain the agenda for the evening and credits given to all those who contributed to the event.

Many organizations have been successful in selling ads in the program to defray the cost of printing or even to raise some extra money. I’ve put $250 income under the income column of our example. Don’t you think you could convince 10 people to give you their business card and pay $25 to be advertised on the back page of the program? Of course, this idea could be a little tacky if the event is to celebrate little Bobbie’s 10th birthday. Use your best judgment.

DECORATIONS

This could be a big item or not – strictly up to you. If you picked a beautiful location, and it’s not a special seasonal event like a Christmas or Halloween party, why not just enjoy the facility’s decor? If you feel you need decorations and you have a sufficient budget, call a party decorator who uses balloons. They go a long way towards dressing up a room without spending a lot of money.

Centerpieces on each table look nice. You can ask someone to donate these or have someone clever make something for each table. Many facilities make such a nice table layout that a centerpiece is not necessary. Don’t spend money unnecessarily, but do remember that the nicer the ambience, the better the memories or the event will be in the minds of those who attend, which means that they will want to come to your next event, too!

One note of caution. If you’re having entertainment, be careful that large
centerpieces, particularly balloons, don’t block the view of the performing area or even the people sitting on the opposite side of the table who want to see and talk to each other.

YOU DID IT!

Yes, you will fret and worry until the whole thing is over, but every party planner does. Just relax, do your best and enjoy! (Here’s a secret: If you enjoy what you’re doing, the people you are doing it for will enjoy it, too!)

Stragetic Planning for Family and Private Business

First of all it is beneficial to briefly summaries strategy and strategic planning.

Strategy is the longterm direction of the business that:

  • achieves a competitive advantage for the business in its chosen market
  • positions the business in the market in relation to its competitors
  • defines the scope of the businesses functions, capabilities and capacity
  • matches the businesses resources and activities to the business environment

Strategic planning is the process (and thinking) that underpins the development and analysis of the options available to the business when choosing its strategy.

For the purposes of this article the focus will be on the higher level strategic planning, or corporate planning, as this is where the company’s direction is set and what drives its operational performance that delivers shareholder value. In addition, it defines the company’s business model, the corporate culture and its reputation from a corporate, social responsibility perspective regardless of its size or structure.

Broadly speaking there are only four types of corporate strategies being:

  1. Growth or market penetration – Same products / services into same market
  2. Market development – Same product / service into a new market
  3. Product / service development – New product / service into the same market
  4. Diversification – New product / service into a new market

Once we accept this then the planning process can be followed to develop a robust and valuable strategic plan for the business.

We apply a rigorous structured process to strategic planning that incorporates a range of activities and analysis designed to achieve the clear direction for the business, its structure, its employees and all business activities.

The first part of the process includes:

  1. Core values of the owners – These are critical as they make up the philosophy and ethics of the business and the people
  2. Goals of the individuals and for the business these are critical as it focuses everyone of the type of strategic direction of the business.
  3. Core competencies of the business – These may be based on the technical expertise of the owners however it is best to think about what competencies the business will leverage to develop the business model it will adopt
  4. Development of the businesses VISION and MISSION – These provide the focus for all future activities. A Mission statement should not be any more than two sentences of between 8 and 10 words otherwise they lack focus and are of little value to the business
  5. Your VISION is an internal statement that drives its direction and performance
  6. Your MISSION is a statement to internal and external stakeholders of how you conduct your business

The second part of the planning process is where the real power of strategic planning is developed as it consists of a series of analysis – Four in fact, which are all designed to provoke a breath and depth of thought that will have a major impact on the structure and operational performance of the business.

Environmental analysis – this is the business environment you operate in and it includes six elements:

  1. Political
  2. Economic
  3. Social
  4. Technical
  5. Environmental
  6. Legal

Industry analysis – this analyses the industry environment you are operating in and competing with and is based on Porter’s Five Forces:

  1. Power of buyers (the buyers of your products / services)
  2. Power of suppliers (those that supply your business)
  3. Threat of new entrants into the market (is it easy for another like business to establish)
  4. Threat of competitive rivalry – How competitive is the market and how do / will competitors react to your business
  5. Threat of substitutes – What is substituting your product / service in the market

Resource analysis – this is the compartmentalization of your resources and is the critical link between the businesses mission / core values, structure and operational strategies / performance. It includes:

  1. Physical – Your location and physical assets
  2. Reputation – The reputation of your business at all levels
  3. Organisational – Goes to the heart of the operational structures and includes what type of human resources is required for the business
  4. Financial – The financial requirements for the business now and into the future
  5. Information – This ranges from your operational information i.e. SOP, policies, T&C of Trade etc to IP that you want to protect / hold separate to the day to day operations of the business
  6. Technical – The technology utilised within the business and the future technology requirements of the business be it systems or software or the use of media

The good old swot analysis – The strengths, weaknesses (or constraints), opportunities and threats (challenges). The swot analysis is infinitely more valuable to the process after the above three analysis have been completed because the business owner will have a greater understanding of their business and will be able to conduct this analysis with clarity and purpose.

Phase three of the process is the development of the businesses strategies. This pulls together everything done to date and results setting a clear direction for the business. We have a three step process for the development of these higher level strategies, which includes

Matrix for offensive and defensive strategies through the matching of:

  1. Strengths and Opportunities – Offensive
  2. Strengths and Challenges (threats) – Offensive
  3. Opportunities and Constraints (weaknesses) – Defensive
  4. Constraints (weaknesses) and Challenges (threats) – Defensive

Prioritising the strategies by filtering then through a specific framework to assess their:

  1. Feasibility (do you have the capacity and capability to implement the strategy)
  2. Suitability (does the strategy suit the current circumstances of the owners and business environment)
  3. Acceptability (this is the risk / return assessment, which includes the possible reaction of stakeholders i.e. employees, your financier, suppliers, customers and competitors)

Strategic choice – Based on the above select the most appropriate direction for your business.

While this process appears involved, complex and time consuming it can be tailored to suit the business. However it is important to have a clear focus on the end game, which is to be a strategically focussed business that has a clear direction and purpose that can be measured.

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