Gas Prices, Can This Send Businesses Toward a Recession Mentality?

I was noticing over the past weeks gas has been on a steady increase. Gas prices are the one single item that can send this country into a recession mentality! The reasons are obvious, If you’re a small business or entrepreneur you can bet your bottom dollar that the high gas prices will affect you.

Regardless of what the politicians are telling us, and regardless whether you deliver your products to the client or not the price of fuel is affecting you. It’s affecting your business because it’s affecting the consumer – your consumers.

In a recent survey done by the National Retail Federation they state, “Whether gas prices pose a fiscal or psychological concern consumers are affected regardless of income.”

Some interesting stats show that from the number of adults nationwide16.4% delayed a major purchase such as cars, TV, or furniture. Dining out has been reduced by 25.2%, 31.2% decreased vacation travel plans, 17.3% are spending less on groceries, and 23.7% are spending less on clothing.

That equates to the fact that restaurants, travel agencies, motel/hotels, car dealers, furniture stores, and retail clothing stores are all going to be affected by gas prices. If any one of those listed is the business you’re doing, then your bottom line of profits is definitely affected. The interesting part of all that is that it didn’t matter if those polled were in the $50K+ income bracket or less than $50K, the results were the same.

The only distinction seemed to be that adults in the age bracket of 45-54 years of age had the highest percentages but with the same outcome. For instance of the 25.2% of adults that reduced dining out, 28.6% of them were in that age bracket, and so on down the line. The survey also noted that 70% of the consumers of that age group were impacted by higher gas prices.

As you might have guessed, when these survey figures were broken down by region the West was higher in all categories than the NE, Mid-West, or Southern regions. Still only 5.7% of us have increased carpooling.

It’s a fact, whether we like it or not, that every penny spent on gasoline is a penny kept from retailers. Looking beyond just the retail industry, what about the service business. The cost of doing business for a repairman is going to increase as the expense for gasoline increases, and ultimately his prices will reflect that increase. It doesn’t matter whether he’s doing electrical, roofing, renovating, plumbing, whatever service drives up to your home is going to cost more in the long run.

Ultimately, as the domino effect goes into play, those who can least afford price increases will be the hardest hit. Seniors and retirees on fixed incomes just have to suck it up and bear the price increases. As the survey pollsters have said income levels didn’t vary results of choices, it still varies the ability to handle the domino effects. If income remains stationery but prices rise, there’s definitely an affect on those with fixed incomes.

For the entrepreneur to overcome the situation it requires some really extreme methods. Following are some tips to keep your expenses down:

• Order supplies online, anticipating a price increase, and have them delivered to you.
• Research your competitors online and save the gas.
• Group doing an errand or two when they’re in the vicinity of a scheduled client meeting.
• Do more of your business by mail, email, or on the internet. You can do just about anything from paying a vendor to transferring funds from one bank account to another on the internet, and you don’t use any gas. The only time you have to go to the bank is to make a deposit.
• If you conduct business at Trade Shows and have to travel find ways to cut corners. Carpool to the airport with a colleague or even a nearby competitor. (You’re both going to be doing business at the same show anyway.) Perhaps, you can combine two trips with only one return home after the second trip. Perhaps putting an ad in the Trade Show program can save you making a trip. (You could use that plan for the less important trade show.)
• Consider whether media advertising for your business would be cheaper than what you’ve been doing in person considering gas prices.

That’s just a few ideas to get those little gray cells working. After all, as an entrepreneur you’ve done marketing on a shoestring before. I’m sure you can come up with at least ten more ideas than I’ve given you. You might also want to check out the web site: http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?

At that site you can find the cheapest gas prices in your area. I’d venture to say that these rankings change daily, so check it out when you need gas.

Business Entrepreneurs: Ideas and Trends

Ideas for Entrepreneurs: Realities of Home Based Internet Business Trends

Before your eye gloss with the thought of establishing your own home based business via Internet, let us first have a reality check and check the trends.

Entrepreneurs venturing into the World Wide Web typically have dreams of having time all for themselves, sitting on their couches with laptops on and money pouring continuously with every click. That’s possible, all right but this normally is not a case.

Though we are talking of home based business in here, it is still not true that we can get things easily. Or that we can earn hundreds of thousands even while we sleep. Don’t be lured with business opportunities in the web that offer too-good-to-be-true fantasies. If they’re dealing with a motto like “be a millionaire in 1 month” then it is time for you to have doubts. Success don’t come easy, you know that. Only those who have a perfect combination of events and ideal attitude towards works would be the people who can be showered with success.

The specific idea of becoming a home based internet business entrepreneur is that of leaving an old job of stressful deadline buzzing and annoying bosses overlooking your works, in exchange for a flexible job that you are in total control of.

That’s true. You really would have these benefits when you switch to home base jobs and perhaps, you’ll gain even more.

Well, working home based in the internet is totally relieving. You wont have to abide with company cultures or deal with people you refuse to see every working days. You will also get around spending on transportation, clothing and eating allowances and most especially, you’ll be freed from the worries of stress and tension.

However, it’s not always easy to sail on with internet businesses. They are equally risky as compared with off line business ventures. We are not putting a scare in here, it’s just that we want you to open your eyes to truths that you would sooner or later face. Truths that are inevitable parts of internet business transactions.

After quitting your job, which most home based Internet entrepreneurs do, you have to be ready with loosing many things. However, if home based internet business works well for you, those losses will become insignificant as compared with the gains you have acquired through taking risks.

One great risk is you’ll stop getting your fixed source of income. There are good and bad sides to this. And depending on your case, they may either make or break your business life.

All jobs have some degree of uncertainty in them after all, business would have to deal with risks of failure or of success. However, entrepreneurs have a good argument of controlling your own income is better than having other people fix it for you. That way, you’ll have greater elbow room for growth. However, you must also be prepared for periods of losses.

Remember that even the largest establishment fail. No one can ever be assured that Internet sales would keep on coming. You would surely have great and bad months and the only thing that you can be assured of is that you always have to deal with unpredictability of trends. If you are not a risk taker, a steady paycheck may appeal to you more than an unsteady business earning.

As an entrepreneur, you have to face the truth that once you embark on an internet home based business, this very thing will be your life. It’s like turning work into your obsession as to eliminate the work attitude and all factors that go with it. Once you leave work, you really have to leave your old job. Most entrepreneurs practice breathing their own business so they need not experience fatigue while working and will therefore be able to dedicate long hours on their work without even getting fed up with it.

Making money would be impossible unless you take charge of really selling your business. Well that would surely be a task that you would have to dedicate yourself into. Initially, you invest days of unrest for getting your home based business through its second juncture. And the same would be true until you can actually settle yourself and realize that everything is going great.

Remember that there is no sure path to success, even if we are to talk success in its many facets, than to toil and really sweat for it. In the end, you’ll be happy that you did. After all, all your toil will boil down towards your earnings.

Impossible is Just a Word

Everyone, at some point of his or her life, has dreamed of being somebody special, somebody big. Who hasn’t fantasized about being the one who hits the game-winning homer? Who hasn’t dreamed of being the homecoming queen? And how many times have we dreamed of being rich, or successful, or happy with our relationships?

Often, we dream big dreams and have great aspirations. Unfortunately, our dreams remain just that – dreams. And our aspirations easily collect dust in our attic.

This is a sad turn of events in our life. Instead of experiencing exciting adventures in self actualization, we get caught up in the humdrum of living from day-to-day just barely existing.

But you know what? Life could be so much better, if only we learned to aim higher.

The most common problem to setting goals is the word impossible. Most people get hung up thinking I can’t do this. It’s too hard. It’s too impossible. No one can do this.

However, if everyone thought that, there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment.

Remember that scientists were baffled when they took a look at the humble bumblebee. Theoretically, they said, it was impossible for the bumblebee to fly. Unfortunately for the bumble, bee no one has told it so. So fly it does.

On the other hand, some people suffer from dreaming totally outrageous dreams and not acting on them. The result? Broken dreams, and tattered aspirations.

If you limit yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you deem impossible. If you reach too far out into the sky without working towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging on to the impossible dream.

Try this exercise. Take a piece of paper and write down some goals in your life. Under one header, list down things ‘you know you can do’. Under another header, write the things ‘you might be able to do.’ And under one more, list the things that that are ‘impossible for you to do.’

Now look at all the headers strive every day to accomplish the goals that are under things ‘you know you can do’. Check them when you are able to accomplish them. As you slowly are able to check all of your goals under that heading, try accomplishing the goals under the other header-the one that reads ‘you might be able to do.’

As of the items you wrote under things I could do are accomplished, you can move the goals that are under things that are ‘impossible for you to do’ to the list of things ‘you might be able to do.’

As you iterate through this process, you will find out that the goals you thought were impossible become easier to accomplish. And the impossible begin to seem possible after all.

You see, the technique here is not to limit your imagination. It is to aim high, and start working towards that goal little by little. However, it also is unwise to set a goal that is truly unrealistic.

Those who just dream towards a goal without working hard end up disappointed and disillusioned.

On the other hand, if you told someone a hundred years ago that it was possible for man to be on the moon, they would laugh at you. If you had told them that you could send mail from here to the other side of the world in a few seconds, they would say you were out of your mind. But, through sheer desire and perseverance, these impossible dreams are now realities.

Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Nothing could be truer. For one to accomplish his or her dreams, there has to be had work and discipline. But take note that that 1% has to be a think-big dream, and not some easily accomplished one.

Ask any at the gym and he or she will tell you that there can be no gains unless you are put out of your comfort zone. Remember the saying, “No pain, no gain”? That is as true as it can be.

So dream on, friend! Don’t get caught up with your perceived limitations. Think big and work hard to attain those dreams. As you step up the ladder of progress, you will just about find out that the impossible has just become a little bit more possible.

Steak Dianna

Steak Dianna
1 1/2 pounds round steak, pounded to 1/4-inch thickness
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
3 shallots, minced
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup beef broth
3 tablespoons Madeira wine
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1. Season steaks with salt and pepper. Heat butter with oil in a
large skillet over medium-high heat. Add steaks and sear 2
minutes per side (for medium-rare); transfer to a serving platter
and cover with foil to keep warm.
2. Add a tablespoon butter to the pan. Add shallots and sauté until
fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in Dijon mustard, Worcestershire
and broth. Stir to remove any browned bits stuck to the pan. Add
wine, lemon juice and parsley; stir well. Remove from heat and
swirl in remaining butter. Adjust seasoning and pour over
steaks.
Makes 6 servings.