. IMSI TurboFLOORPLAN Instant Architect
"IMSI TurboFLOORPLAN Instant Architect - Architecture Software"Photo: Jackie Craven
IMSI TurboFLOORPLAN Instant Architect Version 12 offers instant gratification for the beginner. This home design software program doesn't have all the "bells and whistles," but includes more than enough options to create floor plans, cost estimates, landscape designs, and masterful 3D illustrations. Plus, Instant Architect is budget-priced.
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3. IMSI TurboFLOORPLAN Home & Landscape Pro
"IMSI TurboFLOORPLAN Home & Landscape Pro Architecture Software"Photo: Jackie Craven
Home & Landscape Pro from IMSI TurboFLOORPLAN is a souped-up version of their Instant Architect software. It has out-of-the-box simplicity for beginners, but also offers powerful CAD tools and many extra features for advanced users. The ease and adaptability of Home & Landscape Pro make it an especially good buy.
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4. Chief Architect Home Designer Suite 9.0
Complex and powerful, the Chief Architect Home Designer Suite has sophisticated tools for designing and remodeling houses, kitchens, baths, decks, landscapes, and interiors. Also included are calculators for estimating the cost of your project. Before you buy, consider listening in on a free online seminar on the Chief Architect Web site. The tips you learn may help you choose the best program for your needs and skills.
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5. Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite
"Better Homes & Gardens Home Design Suite"Photo: PriceGrabber
Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 8.0 has been replaced by Chief Architect Home Designer Suite (above), but you can still order the 8.0 version online. Either version packs a lot of power with a huge library of sample plans and photo galleries. If you've never used graphics software before, plan to spend time learning how to use the program.
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6. Punch! Home Design Suite
Punch! offers a variety of respected home design software programs that will let you move from simple home designs to complex electrical and plumbing systems. Some programs are for the MAC, others for the PC. Browse this list to find the program that best meets your needs.
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7. DesignWorkshop Lite (FREE)
The cost-free DesignWorkshop Lite software program lets you build your own 3D models of buildings, landscapes, exhibits, or any kind of spatial design. For a small price, you can also order complete documentation, tutorials, and additional example building models. DesignWorkshop Lite has a dual platform for both Macintosh and Windows operating systems.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
How to Make Money with Your Blog
Do you actually want to monetize your blog?
Some people have strong personal feelings with respect to making money from their blogs. If you think commercializing your blog is evil, immoral, unethical, uncool, lame, greedy, obnoxious, or anything along those lines, then don’t commercialize it.
If you have mixed feelings about monetizing your blog, then sort out those feelings first. If you think monetizing your site is wonderful, fine. If you think it’s evil, fine. But make up your mind before you seriously consider starting down this path. If you want to succeed, you must be congruent. Generating income from your blog is challenging enough — you don’t want to be dealing with self-sabotage at the same time. It should feel genuinely good to earn income from your blog — you should be driven by a healthy ambition to succeed. If your blog provides genuine value, you fully deserve to earn income from it. If, however, you find yourself full of doubts over whether this is the right path for you, you might find this article helpful: How Selfish Are You? It’s about balancing your needs with the needs of others.
If you do decide to generate income from your blog, then don’t be shy about it. If you’re going to put up ads, then really put up ads. Don’t just stick a puny little ad square in a remote corner somewhere. If you’re going to request donations, then really request donations. Don’t put up a barely visible “Donate” link and pray for the best. If you’re going to sell products, then really sell them. Create or acquire the best quality products you can, and give your visitors compelling reasons to buy. If you’re going to do this, then fully commit to it. Don’t take a half-assed approach. Either be full-assed or no-assed.
You can reasonably expect that when you begin commercializing a free site, some people will complain, depending on how you do it. I launched this site in October 2004, and I began putting Google Adsense ads on the site in February 2005. There were some complaints, but I expected that — it was really no big deal. Less than 1 in 5,000 visitors actually sent me negative feedback. Most people who sent feedback were surprisingly supportive. Most of the complaints died off within a few weeks, and the site began generating income almost immediately, although it was pretty low — a whopping $53 the first month. If you’d like to see some month-by-month specifics, I posted my 2005 Adsense revenue figures earlier this year. Adsense is still my single best source of revenue for this site, although it’s certainly not my only source. More on that later…
Can you make a decent income online?
Yes, absolutely. At the very least, a high five-figure annual income is certainly an attainable goal for an individual working full-time from home. I’m making a healthy income from StevePavlina.com, and the site is only 19 months old… barely a toddler. If you have a day job, it will take longer to generate a livable income, but it can still be done part-time if you’re willing to devote a lot of your spare time to it. I’ve always done it full-time.
Some people have strong personal feelings with respect to making money from their blogs. If you think commercializing your blog is evil, immoral, unethical, uncool, lame, greedy, obnoxious, or anything along those lines, then don’t commercialize it.
If you have mixed feelings about monetizing your blog, then sort out those feelings first. If you think monetizing your site is wonderful, fine. If you think it’s evil, fine. But make up your mind before you seriously consider starting down this path. If you want to succeed, you must be congruent. Generating income from your blog is challenging enough — you don’t want to be dealing with self-sabotage at the same time. It should feel genuinely good to earn income from your blog — you should be driven by a healthy ambition to succeed. If your blog provides genuine value, you fully deserve to earn income from it. If, however, you find yourself full of doubts over whether this is the right path for you, you might find this article helpful: How Selfish Are You? It’s about balancing your needs with the needs of others.
If you do decide to generate income from your blog, then don’t be shy about it. If you’re going to put up ads, then really put up ads. Don’t just stick a puny little ad square in a remote corner somewhere. If you’re going to request donations, then really request donations. Don’t put up a barely visible “Donate” link and pray for the best. If you’re going to sell products, then really sell them. Create or acquire the best quality products you can, and give your visitors compelling reasons to buy. If you’re going to do this, then fully commit to it. Don’t take a half-assed approach. Either be full-assed or no-assed.
You can reasonably expect that when you begin commercializing a free site, some people will complain, depending on how you do it. I launched this site in October 2004, and I began putting Google Adsense ads on the site in February 2005. There were some complaints, but I expected that — it was really no big deal. Less than 1 in 5,000 visitors actually sent me negative feedback. Most people who sent feedback were surprisingly supportive. Most of the complaints died off within a few weeks, and the site began generating income almost immediately, although it was pretty low — a whopping $53 the first month. If you’d like to see some month-by-month specifics, I posted my 2005 Adsense revenue figures earlier this year. Adsense is still my single best source of revenue for this site, although it’s certainly not my only source. More on that later…
Can you make a decent income online?
Yes, absolutely. At the very least, a high five-figure annual income is certainly an attainable goal for an individual working full-time from home. I’m making a healthy income from StevePavlina.com, and the site is only 19 months old… barely a toddler. If you have a day job, it will take longer to generate a livable income, but it can still be done part-time if you’re willing to devote a lot of your spare time to it. I’ve always done it full-time.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Cold Calling Death
To make the point, I invited Marc Andreesen to join me on stage - to talk about one of his (many) companies, Ning. Ning is all about accelerating the emergence of social software through the delivery of its infrastructure as a service (with some really inspired thinking about cloning and tipping effects). It's a very cool idea, run by some very smart people. And Ning is ground zero of the coming revolution in the IT marketplace: social software will drive more infrastructure and transactional volumes than the entirety of last decade's ERP build out. To prove the point, Sun runs its ERP implementation on a partially used 5 year old computer - vs. our developer communities and customer portals, which serve millions of users 24 hours a day requiring far more infrastructure.
But what's interesting to me about our relationship with Ning is that no one from Sun had ever paid them a visit. No one had ever made a sales call, cold or otherwise. Marc assumed he'd simply run Linux on a whitebox platform - yet it turned out to be twice as expensive as running Solaris on a SunFire server (a point many customers find surprising, which is both a good, and a bad, problem to have). See C|Net's coverage, here. And now he's become a Sun customer (I'll post his email to me detailing the math next week).
It's my view that the growth in front of Sun won't simply be from stabilizing and growing our existing customers. It'll be from acquiring new customers. Large customers as well as small. The important point is we won't be able to meet most of them - there aren't enough sales executives on the planet to call on each of the 4 million Solaris licenses we've distributed to the world. But so long as the internet connects us to them, the distribution of free software allows them to discover us - and for us to invest in building a bi-directional link, ultimately driving revenue from only those who want added services and infrastructure (vs. those who don't).
Which allows me to believe (perhaps hope) that the days of cold calling are numbered.
But what's interesting to me about our relationship with Ning is that no one from Sun had ever paid them a visit. No one had ever made a sales call, cold or otherwise. Marc assumed he'd simply run Linux on a whitebox platform - yet it turned out to be twice as expensive as running Solaris on a SunFire server (a point many customers find surprising, which is both a good, and a bad, problem to have). See C|Net's coverage, here. And now he's become a Sun customer (I'll post his email to me detailing the math next week).
It's my view that the growth in front of Sun won't simply be from stabilizing and growing our existing customers. It'll be from acquiring new customers. Large customers as well as small. The important point is we won't be able to meet most of them - there aren't enough sales executives on the planet to call on each of the 4 million Solaris licenses we've distributed to the world. But so long as the internet connects us to them, the distribution of free software allows them to discover us - and for us to invest in building a bi-directional link, ultimately driving revenue from only those who want added services and infrastructure (vs. those who don't).
Which allows me to believe (perhaps hope) that the days of cold calling are numbered.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Virtual Call Center
The traditional concept of a call centre involves one centralised location where agents can handle incoming and outgoing phone calls. These days, many more services are offered such as email and live chat functions. And thanks to technology, employees no longer need to be in the same geographic space. This revolution spawned the inception of the virtual call center, where salespeople and customer service representatives can be sitting anywhere in the world to perform various duties such as lead generation, appointment setting, telesales, market research and customer support. Although they are physically apart, agents are considered to be one call center unit.
Perhaps you will create a virtual call center by establishing several small locations that all serve a similar purpose, or you will employ telemarketers to work remotely for your company in their own home-based environments. If you choose to hire people to work outside of your main office, you'll find that there are many benefits. To begin, it can be a great cost saving technique because businesses don't need to rent office space and equipment. Hiring people overseas in various time zones will also enable you to offer sales and customer support around the clock. Furthermore, by filling positions remotely, you can find local people to work on local markets, maximising their cultural understanding and language skills. Finally, through virtual agents you are able to acquire the best candidates for each role, regardless of their location. So if your headquarters is in Beijing but you found a great sales manager in San Diego, you can still hire that person.
Having staff work remotely is not without its challenges. The initial training can be especially difficult because when an agent is working in a virtual call center, the trainer cannot see what they are doing or how they are reacting to new information. Interaction is limited so personal relationships and team spirit can suffer. When agents are working remotely, be sure they have enough support and guidance and feel like they are part of a greater team. Challenges can also come from the technology used; systems can be slow or you can struggle to explain a CRM system (for example) when you can't walk agents through various steps on screen. But on the other hand, new technologies like podcasts, virtual desktops, webcams and webinars can help to overcome some of these obstacles.
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) can link workflow and results of each agent up to the main Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, thus ensuring that employees work in a consistent and highly productive fashion. To increase your knowledge of new technologies, tools and trends, be sure to explore organisations like the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA), the Service Desk Institute,
Perhaps you will create a virtual call center by establishing several small locations that all serve a similar purpose, or you will employ telemarketers to work remotely for your company in their own home-based environments. If you choose to hire people to work outside of your main office, you'll find that there are many benefits. To begin, it can be a great cost saving technique because businesses don't need to rent office space and equipment. Hiring people overseas in various time zones will also enable you to offer sales and customer support around the clock. Furthermore, by filling positions remotely, you can find local people to work on local markets, maximising their cultural understanding and language skills. Finally, through virtual agents you are able to acquire the best candidates for each role, regardless of their location. So if your headquarters is in Beijing but you found a great sales manager in San Diego, you can still hire that person.
Having staff work remotely is not without its challenges. The initial training can be especially difficult because when an agent is working in a virtual call center, the trainer cannot see what they are doing or how they are reacting to new information. Interaction is limited so personal relationships and team spirit can suffer. When agents are working remotely, be sure they have enough support and guidance and feel like they are part of a greater team. Challenges can also come from the technology used; systems can be slow or you can struggle to explain a CRM system (for example) when you can't walk agents through various steps on screen. But on the other hand, new technologies like podcasts, virtual desktops, webcams and webinars can help to overcome some of these obstacles.
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) can link workflow and results of each agent up to the main Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, thus ensuring that employees work in a consistent and highly productive fashion. To increase your knowledge of new technologies, tools and trends, be sure to explore organisations like the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA), the Service Desk Institute,
Saturday, January 8, 2011
High Speed Internet is Good for You
COMPARE HIGH SPEED INTERNET
Check Broadband Availability and Order Online
Complete our High Speed Internet Comparison Form to Check Availability of High Speed Internet for your Location.
Are Broadband Providers Servicing My Area?
While not all areas offer all types of High Speed Internet Service, most areas can typically offer two or three types of broadband service. In larger centers there are usually numerous high speed providers competing for your business. You can check availability of high speed internet using our free high speed internet service availability check. You can also view the available high speed internet providers in your area using our high speed internet provider map.
Select to Learn More: DSL Service - Cable Internet - Satellite
Looking for High Speed Internet Deals? We can help. At high speed internet deals you can read unbiased information about your broadband ISP or high speed internet options, find out about typical pricing and options and even learn a little about the technology. Once you've done that, you can instantly compare prices and plans for your local area and even order online or by phone. Whether it's Cable High Speed Internet Service, DSL Service, Satellite Internet Service, or Wireless Broadband we can help you find the high speed internet service provider that's right for you.
Check Broadband Availability and Order Online
Complete our High Speed Internet Comparison Form to Check Availability of High Speed Internet for your Location.
Are Broadband Providers Servicing My Area?
While not all areas offer all types of High Speed Internet Service, most areas can typically offer two or three types of broadband service. In larger centers there are usually numerous high speed providers competing for your business. You can check availability of high speed internet using our free high speed internet service availability check. You can also view the available high speed internet providers in your area using our high speed internet provider map.
Select to Learn More: DSL Service - Cable Internet - Satellite
Looking for High Speed Internet Deals? We can help. At high speed internet deals you can read unbiased information about your broadband ISP or high speed internet options, find out about typical pricing and options and even learn a little about the technology. Once you've done that, you can instantly compare prices and plans for your local area and even order online or by phone. Whether it's Cable High Speed Internet Service, DSL Service, Satellite Internet Service, or Wireless Broadband we can help you find the high speed internet service provider that's right for you.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
What to Do when things go wrong
While travel is intrinsically fraught with little wrinkles, guided trips—by their very nature—promise fewer of them. Snafus, however, aren’t unheard of. Several years ago, 100 passengers and 54 crew members were rescued off King George Island after ice punctured a hole in the hull of their ship Explorer en route to Antarctica. Nobody was hurt and passengers were financially compensated by the operator, GAP Adventures, within a few weeks. Of course, it doesn’t take a sinking ship to ruin a trip: Substandard accommodations, poorly trained guides, and substantial itinerary changes can all add up to a real bummer of a vacation whether it was the outfitter’s fault or not. So what’s a disappointed traveler to do?
Prevention: Find out a company’s policy on refunds before you book and don’t assume an itinerary is written in stone. If, for example, you’ve got your heart set on seeing the Reclining Buddha at Gal Vihara on your tour through Sri Lanka, ask upfront about potential hindrances.
Preparation: Review your medical insurance policy and consider supplementing it with travel insurance and/or medical evacuation insurance from companies such as Travelex, TravelGuard, Global Rescue, or Medjet Assist.
On the ground: Direct complaints to the trip leader, not fellow travelers. Don’t wait until the end of the trip to speak up.
Make a call: If necessary, move up the chain of command to the operator. If it’s a small company, ask to speak directly to the owner. Make sure you have the phone numbers before you depart.
Have realistic expectations: It’s reasonable to expect some kind of compensation if the operator dropped the ball, say if the charter flight didn’t show up because of a logistical mistake or a local guide isn’t up to par. But don’t expect a refund if there’s been an act of God, transportation strike, terrorist attack, or other circumstances beyond the operator’s control.
Prevention: Find out a company’s policy on refunds before you book and don’t assume an itinerary is written in stone. If, for example, you’ve got your heart set on seeing the Reclining Buddha at Gal Vihara on your tour through Sri Lanka, ask upfront about potential hindrances.
Preparation: Review your medical insurance policy and consider supplementing it with travel insurance and/or medical evacuation insurance from companies such as Travelex, TravelGuard, Global Rescue, or Medjet Assist.
On the ground: Direct complaints to the trip leader, not fellow travelers. Don’t wait until the end of the trip to speak up.
Make a call: If necessary, move up the chain of command to the operator. If it’s a small company, ask to speak directly to the owner. Make sure you have the phone numbers before you depart.
Have realistic expectations: It’s reasonable to expect some kind of compensation if the operator dropped the ball, say if the charter flight didn’t show up because of a logistical mistake or a local guide isn’t up to par. But don’t expect a refund if there’s been an act of God, transportation strike, terrorist attack, or other circumstances beyond the operator’s control.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Telemarketing Firms
Did you know...?
* Most telemarketing firms use a tactic called "predictive dialing" so as not to waste the telemarketers' *valuable* time while waiting for you to pick up? Their computer auto-dials your number, assuming it'll take you an average 2-3 rings to pick up, and switches you over to the next available telemarketer when you do. Instant hangups and the delayed response typical of a telemarketing call result from this predictive dialing.
* A common practice of telemarketers is to call the elderly repeatedly and establish a relationship with them. The telemarketer will become a "friend" to a lonely old person, using this "friendship" as leverage in high-pressure sales.
* America has enough telemarketing power to make 560 calls per second.
* It is illegal for a telemarketing firm to solicit to you using any kind of artificial voice or pre-recorded message, under many circumstances.
* It is illegal for a telemarketer to call a consumer before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
* Telemarketers must identify themselves (name and company) upon request.
* In Germany, traditional telemarketing is illegal--businesses cannot call out to customers without prior consent.
* Thanks to ANI (Automatic Number Identification), telemarketing agencies can detect your return phone number AND home address if you call them.
* Telemarketers and junk mailers (more precisely, the companies that provide them with your information) routinely check and correct their databases using the information printed on personal cheques. Some telemarketing infomediaries go so far as to harvest phone numbers from these cheques.
Bite telemarketing calls in the ass!
You'll save yourself a lot of time and annoyance by committing to memory this short phrase--or better yet, write it down and put a copy next to your phone:
* Most telemarketing firms use a tactic called "predictive dialing" so as not to waste the telemarketers' *valuable* time while waiting for you to pick up? Their computer auto-dials your number, assuming it'll take you an average 2-3 rings to pick up, and switches you over to the next available telemarketer when you do. Instant hangups and the delayed response typical of a telemarketing call result from this predictive dialing.
* A common practice of telemarketers is to call the elderly repeatedly and establish a relationship with them. The telemarketer will become a "friend" to a lonely old person, using this "friendship" as leverage in high-pressure sales.
* America has enough telemarketing power to make 560 calls per second.
* It is illegal for a telemarketing firm to solicit to you using any kind of artificial voice or pre-recorded message, under many circumstances.
* It is illegal for a telemarketer to call a consumer before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
* Telemarketers must identify themselves (name and company) upon request.
* In Germany, traditional telemarketing is illegal--businesses cannot call out to customers without prior consent.
* Thanks to ANI (Automatic Number Identification), telemarketing agencies can detect your return phone number AND home address if you call them.
* Telemarketers and junk mailers (more precisely, the companies that provide them with your information) routinely check and correct their databases using the information printed on personal cheques. Some telemarketing infomediaries go so far as to harvest phone numbers from these cheques.
Bite telemarketing calls in the ass!
You'll save yourself a lot of time and annoyance by committing to memory this short phrase--or better yet, write it down and put a copy next to your phone:
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