3 Things You Need to Know About Free Student Credit Cards
November 3, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
There?s definitely no shortage of free student credit cards, but does “free” really mean “free” in the world of student credit cards? You?re in college now and if you haven?t learned this life lesson already, it?s about time you did — there is no such thing as a free ride, a free lunch, or free student credit cards. Here are three things to keep in mind when applying for a student credit card and putting it to use.
1. Why Aren?t They Free?
So why aren?t free student credit cards really free? Because if you run a balance each month, you have to pay for it in the form of interest.
It?s very easy to spend more than you realize when you first get a student credit card. If you can?t pay your bill in full at the end of the month, you?re going to pay interest and over time, that interest can really add up.
2. What You Charge Now May Haunt You Later
If you run up a big bill on your free student credit cards, it may haunt you later on in life — especially if you can?t pay your bills on time due to the amount of debt you?ve gotten yourself into.
Say you quickly max out all of your free student credit cards and you make quite a few late payments. A few months later you decide you want to rent an apartment and you?re ready to sign the lease. One problem — you didn?t qualify due to your credit problems.
It can and does happen. Any mistakes you make with your free student credit cards can prevent you from getting a car or even a house or apartment later on in life.
3. It?s Not All Bad
While it?s true that free student credit cards do have potential pitfalls, they do have their benefits. You do need a credit card to start building your financial future. It?s just a matter of using it wisely.
Remember, charge only what you can pay off at the end of the month (except in the case of an emergency) and pay each and every bill on time.
If you absolutely cannot pay off your entire balance at the end of the month (and you should), reserve at least 30% of your credit balance if you can. Credit bureaus are interested in how much available credit you have. Use it all up and your credit score will drop.
By managing your free student credit cards in a responsible manner, you?ll be well on your way to building a sound financial future and creating a solid credit history.
Instantly Available Free SharePoint Hosting Site to Manage Employee Self-Service Benefits
October 29, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
A free SharePoint hosting site, Employee Self-Service Benefits Site, is usually included with SharePoint hosting plans for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hosting. Such SharePoint hosting site templates capture common functionalities, roles, and requirements of specific business processes or sets of tasks in groups and organizations. They can be applied to common business tasks, such as managing a help desk, organizing employee activities, or setting up a discussion group, or in invoice management, to easily creating useful web-based applications. You can get basic Microsoft SharePoint hosting for under $9 per month for unlimited users and with that package forty free SharePoint hosting templates for business that were developed by Microsoft.
The Employee Self-Service Benefits template for SharePoint hosting site comes with tools that can help an organization to inform its employees about available benefits. Employees can be enroll for available benefits using this free SharePoint hosting template.
The SharePoint hosting templates are usually instantly available and free when one signs up for a basic SharePoint hosting plan. One can select SharePoint hosting site and workspace templates when setting up a new hosted SharePoint site via the Create page. The default templates that are included with SharePoint WSS 3.0 hosting are arranged under two tabs in the Template Section area of the new SharePoint Site. The SharePoint hosting templates can be modified and saved under a different name. Thus, useful hosted SharePoint applications for your organization are instantly available.
Computer Virus, 6 Ways to Keep Your Computer Virus Free
October 23, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
1. Basic maintenance
Don’t neglect to do the basic maintenance of your computer. The
three best components are anti-virus software, ant-spyware and fire
wall. Not using and keeping your software up to date will end in
a clear path to your personal information.
Hackers are busy at work everyday trying to find the weakness in your
system so that they may be able to steal your personal
information. Some would just simply like to create trouble and
destroy your hard drive.
2. Don’t open every attachments you get
Lots of the devastating worms and viruses of recent times were
distributed via email. These viruses feed on the curiosity and also
the ignorance of a huge number of email users. People will get an
email from some fake name emal and just open what ever file is
attached . If you don’t know the sender, don’t open it, just delete
it. If the attachment is from someone you know, always scan it first
before downloading it.
3. Stay clear of pornographic and illegal software sites
You can pick up viruses and spyware quickly at these sites.
visit some pornographic web sites. and One wrong click on a subtle
little pop-up or security warning window (which you’ll run into often
on these type of sites) and you’ll have infested yourself with trojan
horses, spyware, dialers and other unfavorable software that could
leave your computer wide open to further attacks.
The same goes for web sites distributing software, serial codes and
cracks illegally (warez).
Simply put – keep out of the dark side of the web and the odds of
keeping your computer clean shifts decidedly in your favor.
4. Things you should do before you start surfing
Check your anti virus for updates. Regularly run your anti virus. If
at any time your anti virus locates a virus, you need to update your
antivirus.
disconnect from the Internet and do a full scan of your computer with
the updated anti virus. Always make sure your anti virus
is actively protecting your computer.
Clean your computer cache and your temporary files.
Clean your history, Update your adware remover, Run your adware
remover. Update your firewall and check the settings. Some hackers
can change the settings of your computer, putting you at risk.
5. Watch out what you download
Spyware is embedded in a lot of software on the Internet – especially
those related to ripping, converting and playing music and videos.
That free MP3 player or DVD Ripper you just downloaded may have
installed a bunch of harmful spyware without you even knowing about
it.
6. Get Professionally written software
Most software is well written by qualified programmers.
Professionally written software will include all the instructions
that you need to obtain the best performance of the tool. If not,
keep searching. Go to a site that you trust and read the comments
from other users about the tool you are buying.
Remember you are putting all your information at risk when you
connect to the Internet.
Why you should be using ?Collaboration Marketing? to grow your business quickly.
October 21, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
What is Collaboration Marketing?
Collaboration Marketing is an abstract mind-set used to describe a business building process that involves two or more entities (with similar, but non-competing products, services or ideas) that agree to contribute their existing assets (people, time, money, processes and resources) for the synergistic betterment of a newly formed relationship, business, or process.
What?
Ok, here?s a better way to understand “Collaboration Marketing”.
Collaboration Marketing
Collaboration Marketing, (CM) often referred to as a Strategic Alliance (SA), Joint Venture (JV?s), or Corporate Partnering (CP) can be defined as “a mutually beneficial relationship between two or more parties”. Collaboration Marketing can range from being very simplistic, quick, informal one-time events to very formal, long-term projects, relationships, or even the creation of a completely new company or company division. The power and possibilities that you can accomplish from a well-planned “Collaboration Marketing Process” are numerous, exciting, and (can be) quite profitable.
In this article, I?ll focus primarily on giving you some high level examples on the benefits of using an informal Strategic Alliance for getting new clients quickly.
The underlying principle that makes a Strategic Alliance so powerful is that they work on the basis of a “trusting relationship”. Trust among the participating parties, trust between the network of clients, members and any other circle of influence you or a potential Strategic Alliance partner may have. Trust that in most cases has taken you or your future Strategic Alliances partner months and even years to develop, cultivate, and nurture.
Ok, stay with me while I give a you an example of “the reason why” Strategic Alliances work…
Think about how you make your buying decisions. What?s the first thing you usually do when you need to make a product or service purchase that you?ve not used or consumed before. In most cases you?ll ask your a family member, friend or business associate for a referral. Are you asking for a referral because you don?t know were to find the product or service you?re seeking? Unlikely, the Internet, Yellow Pages, and 411 information services are overflowing with invasive ads for products and services (this is also another reason to use Strategic Alliances, but we?ll talk more about penetrating the “Noise Barrier” in a future Collaboration Marketing article) More then likely, your asking someone you “trust” because they have already gone through the sales experience with a particular vendor and can possibly save you time, money, and frustration based on their experiences.
Let?s take an example of how a start-up company used a Strategic Alliance to generate new clients within one week with little to no marketing and advertising cost.
Simon opened his Web Design Company with a passion for creating websites, logos, and custom graphics for his clients. Simon was a skilled graphic designer, but his sales and marketing skills were based solely on theory and what he learned from a few books he had recently read. Simon wanted to do a promotion offering 25% off his services for new clients. Simon and I had a conversation about this promotion and asked me my advice and thoughts on this type of promotion. His objectives were to find new clients quickly without spending a lot of money on marketing. I told him that he had two primary objections to overcome since his business was new, he currently had only one client and his competition in the Web Design space was fierce and while competing strictly on a discount price point may work, I suggested he use a Strategic Alliance to keep his prices at a competitive market rate to obtain new clients, while creating a “leverage switch” with a complimentary business owner that already had the a trusting relationship with the exact type of clients Simon was looking to provide service to. I suggested Simon call local printers, illustrators, and web programmers in his area. I had him pick local vendors (so he could actually go meet these other business owners, which builds rapport and trust) that work in complimentary, not competitive businesses. Simon contacted a local print shop, introduced himself and offered to provide a “Web Design” division to the print shops existing base of over 300 clients. Within one week, Simon and the owner of the print shop wrote an email letter to his existing clients announcing the new service. Within two weeks Simon gained an immediate influx of client requests with an acquisition cost of zero!
The reason this relationship worked is based on the established trust the printer had with his clients and the trust that Simon built with the printer. By showing him his portfolio, proving to the printer that Simon was capable and skilled, meeting him in person (not necessary, but it?s an added way to build trust and rapport) and offering the printer an added profit stream opportunity to open a new “web division” with minimal to no out of pocket costs. This was clearly a win-win Strategic Alliance. The printer was able to provide a profitable service (that his clients were asking for) and Simon was able to position himself in front of an established “warm market” of prospects.
What Strategic Alliance opportunities could you use to expand your business this quickly?
Copyright (c) 2007 Christian Fea