Financial days

Tip! If they can manage and understand the budgeting process I’m all for it. When grandma gives them money for their birthday, after they have put aside 10% each for savings and for donation to a charity, allow them to budget for the remainder.

I read a “tip” on music sales today that made me angry. The author asked, “Are you selling your CD for $15?” Then goes on to say that we are Indie musicians and we shouldn’t. Sell it for less because it is the industry standard for Indie musicians to sell for less. How do I say this nicely…that’s Bull Sh*t!!!!

That attitude pisses me off. I mean it is hard enough for us to make a decent leaving selling CDs, but to sell them for $10? Unless you have less than 10 songs, don’t listen to em. It is that attitude that makes some people think you only have to pay $10 for a CD.

Tip! Swapping skills with another can act as payment in kind, rather than having to pay cash/money for a service.

Will more people buy the CD? Well, probably…a few. But you know what? If people like your music, they WILL pay $15 for a CD! Surprise, surprise, surprise. They may falter a bit, but they will eventually buy it, and when they do, it will mean so much more to them. Don’t be fooled. You are a professional. Now act like one.

Tip! Contact creditors and others you owe money to.

Now, let me give you an incentive why you should sell for $15 instead of $10. There are some age-old terms used in marketing, perhaps you’ve heard of them…discounts and sales?

Yeah, I admit it. I’m hesitant to pay $15 for a CD. It is a lot of money for a CD. I’m constantly looking for great CD deals online. I can’t stand paying $15 for a CD. It’s too much for my poor musician blood. But some, like me, require an extra incentive. So why not put your CD on sale? Offer 10% or 20% off. One-time only, or for a limited time. And you know, at 10-20% off, you’re still making more than $10. But to your fans, 10-20% off sounds like a great deal! Add a touch of urgency, and even those who hadn’t gotten around to buying your CD will.

Tip! Give your car a good tune up. While giving your car a tune up won’t actually save you money at the pump, it will save you in gas.

Ever since I started running special prices on my new CD, Gullible’s Travels, I’ve gotten a helluva resposne. Right now, you can buy it for 10% off. Or buy both our albums and get 20% off each one.

So if you have an album with more than ten songs, and you are currently selling your album for $10, this is what I want you to do. Contact your mailing list now. Tell them this:

Tip! Love equals money. Until you allow yourself love, don’t expect to allow yourself money.

“It was decided that in order to take our band to the next step, we will have to start running our business more professionally. To start, we will raise the price of our CDs in four weeks from their current price of $10 to their new price of $15. This should give all our loyal fans the opportunity to purchase a copy of our music at a one killer price. But it won’t last long. So order your CDs now!”

Now, watch the orders come flooding in!

Bard Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards has helped 1000′s of musicians make money with their musical groups through the Bards Crier Music Marketing and Promotion Ezine and the Texas Musicians’ Texas Music Biz Tips. Now you can get personal advice by visiting http://www.bardscrier.com for FREE “how-to” music marketing assistance.

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Tip! And finally, the rate of inflation (classically defined as too much of an increase in the amount of money in circulation), is rising. And if that kind of inflation (monetary) is rising, then price inflation won’t be far behind.

You’ve been thinking about it for a while, but you’re just not sure how much time, money and emotional expense you want to invest in your singing career. You’re sure you’ve got the talent or you wouldn’t even be deliberating the opportunity, but still the question remains. With so many so called “experts” all willing to take your money for some service of some kind, where do you begin to embark upon your singing dream? Certainly if “so and so” can make it in the music business, I certainly should have a chance as well – Or do you?

Tip! Sing for money at night clubs.

As a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency and jingle singer singing many commercials such as FOX TV, UPN and O’Charley’s, I’ve had the unusual opportunity to visit with many individuals, just like yourself, looking to enter the music industry from one angle or another. Let’s take a few minutes to explore some ideas and concepts that might help to further your career.

The first concept to explore is that you should definitely follow your dream of singing if you feel this strongly about it. We’ll highlight a few strategies you can embrace to eliminate unneeded spending and to avoid the opportunist that line the internet halls and gateways. For now, just follow your passion of singing and look at authentic methods to get you there – And hopefully by the time you’re done reading this you’ll have a foundation to start building from.

What do you want to do? Are you looking to get signed as an artist or are you looking to get into the lucrative session singing market singing commercials and backup vocals on a myriad of projects? Because of the broad nature of this article, I will write from a viewpoint of looking to get into commercial singing and session work because both singers can make money and break into their perspective areas of the business, launched from here. For those of you looking at the dream of becoming a solo artist securing the record deal, I will write more future articles for your benefit.

Tip! If they can manage and understand the budgeting process I’m all for it. When grandma gives them money for their birthday, after they have put aside 10% each for savings and for donation to a charity, allow them to budget for the remainder.

Let’s get a basic game plan in place and expand on it. You need to start setting goals for today, this week, this month, year and five year goals. You need to have an affordable website that will become your business card and you will have a number of pages including home, bio, sample music that will include your reel, pictures, bio and misc/links. A website can be created for next to nothing and doesn’t have to cost more then $5 – $10 a month. You will need a demo reel of your singing styles and abilities. You will also have your reel in mp3 format to be able to email to producers, etc. You will need a good record keeping system in place. Figure out what works for you and be consistent. You will need a pager or cell phone which virtually everyone has nowadays.

Tip! Carpool. With the rise in gas prices carpooling is a great way to save some extra money.

Make sure that your goals are realistic – not over aggressive, but challenging enough to keep your career path moving. You might consider sitting down at a coffee shop once a week and looking at and evaluating goals as well as setting up future goals. This doesn’t have to be fancy; you may jot these down with a pen, but keep these handy and up to date.

Tip! No leverage. Entertainers and professional athletes make lots and lots of money because they have leverage.

Your website should include a logo and picture of yourself. Don’t make the mistake of including cheap looking artwork. Instead, spend a few dollars on a program to help you design artwork layout. We use a $30 program that is fabulous and can’t be beat for the price. Spend a few minutes investigating websites, companies that offer hosting with complimentary website building programs and start visualizing a website layout. It must look pro.

Your demo reel must stand out from the rest. To do this you must create a reel that is without question a knock your socks off, make your socks roll up and down, reel. Your reel must sound like you’ve already arrived on the scene. Don’t be mistaken for the, “My friend has a computer, keyboard and mics,” mentality. Your demo reel needs to sound like you’ve been singing national commercials.

Tip! ‘I’m not making as much money as I’d like (the ‘starving artist’ concept), but I absolutely love my work, or the flexibility, or the control I have, or the opportunity for creativity, etc.

You will want to include jingles as well as song demos on your reel although if time and money are an issue, then it would be better to stick with a straight jingle demo reel including as many jingles as possible on the reel – This gives you multiple styles to showcase, etc. You will want to stretch your singing styles while maintaining musical integrity. Don’t showcase the same musical style over and over – You want as much versatility seen in your demo as possible.

In closing, always remember that content wins. Pro looking and sounding demos reels score more work that multiple half baked reels. Your image on print, media and in person must exude a professional outlook. It is better to be simpler to be more professional, than it is to be sophisticated and not as professional. Understanding these key factors will help drive your career and hopefully land you more session work than you can handle.

Mr Gauger is a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency booking many household name artists and is a jingle singer singing on many commercials from FOX TV, UPN Station ID’s, O’Charley’s and many others. Mr Gauger can be contacted at http://www.reelmusician.com or tgauger@reelmusician.com or 615-300-5030.

Running a warehouse requires a strict logistics discipline. Imagine what would happen if workers would need to spend hours searching for items stored in there. Some time ago, people were keeping records written on paper, thus requiring many workers to manage the bureaucracy. Today, things are much easier, thanks to specialized order management software, which will help you keep an evidence of your orders and your stocks, thus avoiding the mess or the unpleasant out of stock situations.

One of the providers of warehouse management software solutions is Cadre Technologies. Their software, Cadence Order Management, eliminates the need to have one host system for orders entry and another one for order management. All functions are built in, and the changes in the system are done in real time.

Cadence Order Management can accept orders from various systems, and puts them in a consistent format. It is customizable according to your needs and to your business rules, without programming knowledge being required from your part. The Interactive Voice Response System allows clients to have their orders placed by phone.

Now it’s up to you to turn your warehouse into a successful business.

Tip! The time trap. You are trading your time for money.

Thanks to the ingenuity of Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson, several innovations have been introduced to keep your money safe. Jefferson expanded the idea of cold, hard cash, and took it one step further by freezing it, thereby causing his own cash to become even colder and harder.

My company will be selling plastic bags, specially formulated to freeze cash safely and prevent freezer-burn. These bags, however, will be opaque. You’ll be able to label them as “turkey,” “beef,” or any other food you can imagine. A casual glance inside your freezer will only reveal dark colored bags, and not the fortune you’ve acquired from bribery.

Tip! Spirit and money are inseparable. To give a financial value to others is a spiritual act.

After you’ve labelled your “bags,” be sure to write down a legend. For example: turkey = $1000 in twenties, beef = $10,000 in hundreds, and so forth. Tape the legend in a secure place, another major appliance perhaps. The top of your microwave oven is one option. Another secret location to hide your treasure map could be inside your dishwasher. Perhaps you could even buy a second freezer and hide it inside, along with your actual frozen meats and vegetables.

Tip! Love equals money. Until you allow yourself love, don’t expect to allow yourself money.

Once you have your money and treasure map stored safely, go to your bank and tell them you’d like to make a deposit. Then throw up five pounds of ground beef and two frozen bags of corn onto the teller’s window. Ask the teller how long it will take for your beef and corn to double in volume or value. If they look at you queerly, explain that you’re there because of advice you received while visiting Mental Dimensions. If that doesn’t take away the teller’s look of puzzlement, throw a frozen bag of peas at his or her face and run away very quickly.

During your running, you may need a place to hide. If you pass by an appliance store, duck inside and quickly search for a freezer to hide in. Make sure the freezer is plugged into an outlet and turned on before you hop inside. If you’re carrying any loose change on you, quickly throw it inside a nearby refrigerator. Remember the rule of thumb we’ve obtained from William Jefferson: “Cash needs to be frozen, but spare change needs only light refrigeration.”

Tip! People who say, “I’m not in this for the money” will work their whole life focusing upon making money. People who save money find the freedom from it.

Rumor has it that Jefferson’s next investment strategy will be to drown his remaining money into the freezing waters of the Arctic Ocean. Any interest earned will then be stored in containers filled with frozen nitrogen. His bail is expected to be set anywhere from 50,000 ice cubes – 150,000 sirloin steaks.

Andy Alt
Mental Dimensions
http://mentaldimensions.blogspot.com/
A humor column for people who enjoy observational humor, political farce, comedy editorials, satire and spoof, along with an occasional dose of non humor.

Tip! Those who enjoy the innovations that modern living brings usually turn to contemporary furniture to use in the living room. This furniture is sure to suit their choices in terms of comfort, elegant styling and contemporary flair

Contemporary bedroom trends today combine all sorts of stylistic elements to create a look that is unique. Contemporary home décor combines the traditional with the modern, and local trends with global influences.

While contemporary design, despite its influences, remains cool, sleek, and uncluttered, this doesn’t mean that your bedroom will end up creating a cold atmosphere. Here are three hints on how to create a sleek, simple, and contemporary bedroom design with the added warmth fit for a bedroom.

Hint No. 1 First of all, choose a neutral color scheme for your walls, floors and furniture. Neutral colors are the best choices for contemporary design. Neutral colors in the bedroom produce a fresh and clean look. They also make the perfect backdrop for a favorite modern painting, which can add a splash of color. Keep in mind that contemporary bedroom trends use color only to accessorize and never as the basic design statement.

Hint No. 2 In the bedroom, it is always the bed that is the central furniture piece. This is the piece that should be carefully designed and decorated. A contemporary bedroom will demand a bold looking bed. Choose a layered look by adding black and white, or black and red sheets. If you choose a pattern, then again it should be bold, such as rich red rose duvet cover.

Tip! A certain kind of format that is starting to get very popular is contemporary furniture. While a bit of contemporary furniture looks like it belongs with the jetsons, filled with odd and strange, pod like seats and curvy lines, not all contemporary furniture is space like.

In a contemporary bedroom with neutral walls, bold red on a bed will add warmth and atmosphere to your bedroom. It will also brighten the room, and make it more inviting, just what you want a bedroom to be.

Hint No. 3 Keep everything else to a minimum. Simple nightstands, subtle recessed reading lights, full-length mirrors, a pair of wooden, bamboo or chrome stools, on which you may place cushions matching the duvet cover.

Contemporary bedroom furniture trends seek out the best in modern sleek style, but add a touch of warmth and comfort.

Dylan Miles, journalist, and website builder, lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://www.contemporaryfurniturestyles.comon which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.

Have you ever thought that business is like sport? If you see the similarity, why wouldn’t you think that you have the need to get yourself a coach for your business? All great sportsmen have their own coach, after all. This is how they are able to deliver those magnificent results.

It is not so difficult to find a business coach. The most difficult part is to make sure that your choice of a coach is reliable and fruitful for you and for your business. If you are in search of a business coach, you could give a try to ActionCOACH, a company which is trained not only to show you how to increase your business profits, but most important, how to develop your business in the direction of offering you more time for yourself and for your beloved ones. Should you need more info, please check the 14 Points Of Culture which are the basis of ActionCOACH and see for yourself if their spirit fits your company’s profile.

Tip! The main characteristic feature of modern furniture is its understatement. Giorgio Armani, a couturier turned furniture designer says, that a subtle richness, not an obvious beauty, is most important in contemporary furniture design.

Contemporary bedroom trends today combine all sorts of stylistic elements to create a look that is unique. Contemporary home décor combines the traditional with the modern, and local trends with global influences.

While contemporary design, despite its influences, remains cool, sleek, and uncluttered, this doesn’t mean that your bedroom will end up creating a cold atmosphere. Here are three hints on how to create a sleek, simple, and contemporary bedroom design with the added warmth fit for a bedroom.

Hint No. 1 First of all, choose a neutral color scheme for your walls, floors and furniture. Neutral colors are the best choices for contemporary design. Neutral colors in the bedroom produce a fresh and clean look. They also make the perfect backdrop for a favorite modern painting, which can add a splash of color. Keep in mind that contemporary bedroom trends use color only to accessorize and never as the basic design statement.

Tip! Your walls should be painted with a single neutral color. Contemporary furniture and contemporary style is lost in too much bold color.

Hint No. 2 In the bedroom, it is always the bed that is the central furniture piece. This is the piece that should be carefully designed and decorated. A contemporary bedroom will demand a bold looking bed. Choose a layered look by adding black and white, or black and red sheets. If you choose a pattern, then again it should be bold, such as rich red rose duvet cover.

In a contemporary bedroom with neutral walls, bold red on a bed will add warmth and atmosphere to your bedroom. It will also brighten the room, and make it more inviting, just what you want a bedroom to be.

Hint No. 3 Keep everything else to a minimum. Simple nightstands, subtle recessed reading lights, full-length mirrors, a pair of wooden, bamboo or chrome stools, on which you may place cushions matching the duvet cover.

Contemporary bedroom furniture trends seek out the best in modern sleek style, but add a touch of warmth and comfort.

Tip! Those who enjoy the innovations that modern living brings usually turn to contemporary furniture to use in the living room. This furniture is sure to suit their choices in terms of comfort, elegant styling and contemporary flair.

Dylan Miles, journalist, and website builder, lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://www.contemporaryfurniturestyles.comon which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.

Tip! ) Let’s say you have a balance of $1,000 on your credit card and you take a $1000 cash advance. Two months later, you pay $1000 towards your bill.

If you’re apprehensive about starting a direct mail campaign – don’t be. Direct mail, despite the low response rate percentage is still one of the best marketing and advertising initiatives out there, that’s why you don’t see it slowing down. When direct mail is done right, it’s going to give you a great return on your investment – “a terrific bang for you buck”.
If that’s true, why do you suppose there are so many business owners that are opposed to them? There could be a number of answers, but more often than not, business owners don’t have a firm grasp of what is necessarily to have a successful direct mail campaign. Owners typically run just one postcard that they designed themselves and expect to be flooded with sales calls and new customers. It doesn’t work that way. In order to maximize your investment in direct mail you want to keep these things in mind: test, hire a professional, be memorable, be quick, be easy to read and make a compelling offer, oh, and checkout the insider tips below:

Tip! To save yourself from bounced checks, the fees for bounced checks can quickly total much more than the fee for taking out the cash advance loan.

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This is my 20th year working in the film industry on over 40 film productions. Throughout that time I have never met a new film school graduate who has a clue about handling the most important aspect of ALL filmmaking – the MONEY! I had always assumed (wrongly, it turns out) that film students just weren’t interested in knowing about film budgets. However after a recent survey of film students at a reputable film college we learned that film students DO intuitively understand that knowing the language of film budgeting is crucial to their careers in film. Surprisingly, over 80% were enthusiastic about learning more about film budgeting!

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Here’s what we discovered from that survey (completed in late September, 2005):

1. Over 80% of film students are not only interested in learning more about budgeting for film productions, they are emphatic about it!

2. In all cases, film students expect to find information about film budgeting from the internet, or as recommended reading from their professors.

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3. We also learned that there are no references or books available to film schools or film students on this very needed subject.

Those working in the film business recognize how important it is to be familiar with film budgeting, if not technically proficient. The confidentiality of film budgets makes it extremely difficult, even for working filmmakers, to get familiar with film budgeting. (I have a true story in my book about a meeting that I had with Ron Howard in 1993 where he wanted to learn specifics about the budget for his film – in spite of having been in the film business for over 30 years as an actor and budding director).

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Learning about film budgets while on-the-job comes at the expense of hard-knocks, expensive film budgeting software and late night self-training with a technical textbook (if you can find one). In the 20 years that I’ve been working in the film business, I have NEVER shown a film budget to anyone but a select few insiders – Producers, Production Managers, Studios, Bonding Companies, etc. So, exposure to actual film budgets really is an insider’s privilege – which I am about to open the door to for my readers. (Keep in mind the figures shown are samples only. The figures are real enough, but are not drawn from my actual past/present/future film productions.)

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How can film students get familiar with film budgets while they have the time and opportunity? The only colleges with film budgeting in their syllabus (that I could find after hours of internet searching) was in a specialty course for Production Managers at the New York Film Academy, and through mentors at the American Film Institute (where, I’m proud to say, parts of my book are being used by a mentor there, who has a long record of producing films including a term as Vice President of Production at MGM).

The only solution that I see for film students, and for working film crew, to get familiar with film budgeting is to provide them with the information myself. But, what kind of information, and at what level of detail?

The answer to that rhetorical question is – in as simple a format as possible, yet still be effective. By effective, I mean that any training in the area of film budgeting will actually help you impress producers for those few film jobs, get your script into production, find financing, be rehired for more film contracts, be more cost effective cinematographers, etc. Also, the basic concept of translating creative ideas into a budgeting process is new to most people, especially those educated in film schools, so that concept should be presented first.

Film students don’t need to become keen budget technicians. However, they DO need to get enough exposure to film budgets to understand the fundamentals, and to be able to communicate to film producers, film studios, bonding companies, banks, financiers, etc. in the same language as would be expected from professional filmmakers.

All of the above is covered in my book, Walk The Talk. I have written a series of 7 free articles based on my book. They’re written for the complete novice, so be patient if you’ve already been exposed to film budgeting. You can sign-up, FREE, for 7 weeks of articles at www.talkfilm.biz .

There is a seventh article that could have been added for those who haven’t been exposed to the simple administrative procedures like petty cash, purchase orders, check requisitions, etc. Knowing how to use these forms will put you WAY out in front of the pack of job-hungry film students looking for those few film jobs. You’ll need to buy my book at this link Walk The Talk to get that inside advantage. (I have kept the price affordable, specifically with students in mind.)

Here are the article titles:

1.MAKING IT! In Film Production

2. Introduction to Film Budgeting

3. Translating Creative Ideas Into the Film Budgeting Process

4. Your Participation In Above-the-Line Budgeting

5. Your Participation In Below-the-Line Budgeting

6. Your Report Card – Comparing The Budget to Actual Costs

7. Presentation of the Weekly Cost Report – It’s As Important As the Dailies

When you read my articles, print them out. Make your own examples. Reread them. Send me your questions if you get stuck. You’ll find that you’ll be way out in front of the pack!

John Gaskin opens the door to a confidential topic in the film industry -Film Budgets! Learn the inside tips from a 20 year pro of over 40 film projects all over the world. To receive a series of 7 free artilces visit: http://www.talkfilm.biz

If you are an undiscovered writer, and your secret dream is that one day you’ll Publish a Book , now you have to know that it is perfectly possible to publish your own book. You can choose Author House, a company which specializes in helping unknown authors to publish, promote and sell their books.

Whether you want your book to be print in hard covers or paperback, or color, you have all these options available. Additionally, Author House would help you with specialized marketing personnel, and with a lot of book marketing resources. It doesn’t matter which type of books you write: poetry, novels, children stories, action and suspense, or science fiction, everything will be properly published and promoted, so the success will finally depend on your writing abilities.

So, good luck, and if you publish, please send me a copy.

This is a sponsored review