Business friends

If you quilt you probably know other quilters. If you race cars you may belong to a local car club like Ty-Rods in Vernon, CT. Bob Boucher is a snowmobiler and he created a magazine for snowmobile fans. If you hunt, fish or shoot pool you will read magazines and talk to other people about your hobby. Naturally as a business owner you want to have business friends.

Biz friends help in many ways. BFF or "Business friends first" know many things you need to learn and can help you along the way of your journey. Always there to bounce off new ideas, find another opinion and help you stay of of the narrow vision may not be able to imagine.

How to find BFF or business friends. Every owner; restaurant, supermarket, insurance agent, garden supply, veterinarian, doctor, lawyer, chiropractor, accountant, plumber, auto dealer, landlord, store front owner loves referrals.

Referrals are the "life blood" of any business. Never underestimate the value of a good referral. A referral is rooted in reference. To have one person give out another persons name for providing a product or service is held in the highest esteem by the provider.

Start recommending today. Start collecting the business cards of your referrals.

Build up your BFF business cards library with little notes on it. Notes like what are the specialties of that business owner. Once you start recommending it becomes a lot of fun. Imagine your "two cents" making a difference because your helped a fellow business owner find new business and also that keeps you local money locally. Believe in the referral! If you love the product recommend it. If you dont love the product you need to get with the business owner or find a product you do love. Also, by collaborating with the BFF you will establish an ongoing business relation and that person will love you for doing so.

I refer business to other businesses everyday. It becomes second nature to me and my BFF love it as well. And did I tell you... they also recommend my business too ?

Carl Slicer

Government for business

Here are some examples reasons why government works. All politics is local and so is government. The more you understand your local government the more you will understand how it works, why it works & why government has a place. If you dont vote than you can not be apart of tomorrows future.

Here are some facts that I point out.

"The Perfect Government Service."

In 1973 the US Dept of Defense launched 24 space-based global navigation satellite system that circles our globe. You probably now this as GPS or global positioning system. The information that the 24 birds transmit is free to any person, any country or any business to use & calculate a map decision. It only takes 4 satellite angles to determine location, altitude & speed.

Fast forward 30+ years later and numerous business products are developed and the entire world benefits.

Trimble, Garmin, Loran, TomTom, Motorola, Nokia, LG, Microsoft, OnStar, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, ATT, Sprint Nextel, Google Android & Apple IPhone and may others sell a product related to the mathematics in the angles.

This field is a multi-billion dollar industry. But the data is transmitted free to all in the world after the US Taxpayer has paid for and maintains the GPS system.

Our gift to the world.

My point is this. The GPS system is the most perfect system of the 21st century that develops a standard, provided by taxpayers, and allows all to use the information available.

Can you imagine if Microsoft or Motorola ever owned the satellites?

Ever hear of a company called Qualcomm? QCOM cellphones were one of the best cellphones in use over 10 years ago. But Qualcomm decided to focus on the software & firmware market instead and today holds one of the most widely used patents in cellphone use today. QCOM had sales revenues in 2010 of $11 billion & employs over 17,000 people. Look inside your cellphone for a "CDMA" label & thats owned by QCOM.

The perfect government model.

Carl Slicer

Aluminum Scrap or soda cans.

Aluminum Scrap or soda cans.

Easy source to find and the most common metal mined on the earth surface.

We all know about precious metals like gold & silver but what about the other metals. Like steel, copper, aluminum etc?

I use www.Kitco.com for my daily quote updates on metals. Gold hovers around $1400 an ounce & silver is ready to break through to $30 an ounce. But what about aluminum cans?

It takes 32 (12 oz) soda cans to make a pound of scrap aluminum at 16 ounces per pound. In Connecticut the deposit on a soda can is $0.05 per can. That produces $0.80 per pound for deposit.

BUT in December 2010, the prices of Aluminum (AL scrap) is around 7 cents per soda can.

Being 2 cents more than the deposit means that 40% more than the Conn deposit.

You can purchase a soda can crusher for $7.00 at Amazon.com if you want to store AL in a 32 gallon trash barrel will run you $15.00 at your local hardware store. The trash barrel is easy to cover and easy to move when full.

Use $1.00 a pound as your guide. In 2010, the average scrap for Aluminum was $0.9723 a pound. NOTE: What scrap dealers will pay for AL cans in 2010 average was $0.70 a pound. To melt down the metal the melting point is 3600 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is very hot and it would be rare to find a smelter.

I think as Aluminum soda can collecting is similar to collecting change in a jar. How many cans can you collect in a given year?

Carl Slicer.

Refer: www.MetalPrices.com, www.Kitco.com

Tools: YouTube is a great source for learning too.

Recipe for learning: Take a drive for learning & mix it well with knowledge. Shake, shake, shake until it turns the color you want & tada!

Take key words for any business and apply them to YouTube. Let's see what happens.

Example: "Property Management Tips" will generate 11 clips on YouTube.com.

Now sort by MOST Viewed & lets start learning. I have included the search clip from YouTube.

YouTube has over 5000 clips found using keywords "Property Management". The parentheses limit the search to that particular phrase.

Search for key words "Window Cleaning" and over 4000 results come back. Now you can sort by view count, ratings by viewers, date the clip was created, etc.

I have learned that an average clip will be "Liked" approx every 1000 views. So if a clip had 14,000 viewings & the "Likes" are 14 then the clip is above average.

Follow the experts too. When you find clips you like dont forget to "Follower" that producer.

Two things will happen. First, you will be notified when a new clip comes out and perhaps an updated clip is available on that subject matter. Second, its a great way to review the clips you found worthwhile learning from. Maybe you might want your wife or employee to learn a technique for cleaning windows.

Remember knowledge is power.

Carl Slicer.

Raking leaves or raking in the money ?

As I was speaking to a neighbor in the fall, she was raking her yard and preparing the yard for the winter. This included raking the lawn with extra effort on picking up sticks and other debris.

Since Mrs. M. is over 65 yrs old I asked her about hiring someone to take care of the yard for her.

She said was not going to pay someone $225 to rake the yard. The yard is approx 3/4 of an acre.

I estimate about 10 hrs of work. At $150 for the job I could hire someone to rake the lawn and still make so profit for myself.

Two profit centers:

1) Gross sales $150 - $100 labor = $50 profit.

Find 4 other jobs similar in the neighbor/nearby & repeat step 1, 5 x $50= $250.

$250 profit one days work. Supplies needed 5 rakes, hefty garbage bags & a lot of lemonade.

Focus: Dont quote a job unless you have had practice. The neighbor is a well maintained neighborhood and the lawn was already cut. By mentioning she ''was not paying $225 to have the lawn raked" meant she has already concerned hiring someone.

Carl Slicer

Hungry to Survive

Waitering.

My grandmother, known as Hana, was an inspiration in my life. A self starter, Hana always depended on herself. At a very young age her father was killled in a car crash. Her family was made up of her brother & her mother. No life insurance was every mention as a means to support them so my great grandmother took it upon her own to continue to raise her two children. Circa since 1920s'. In East Hartford, Conn.

Many of my comments will come from family expierences. And I have a lot of gratitude to give them.

Waitering. I recall Hana travelling alot. Since my mother attended about 10 schools in various states as a child. Waitressing was something she could do upon pulling into town.

#1) Meals: Working with food meant meals were part of your allowance. Eat your lunch and maybe take food home to your family too.

#2) Tips: Earning tips while working is key to why most people waitress. Hana would say "Cash in your pocket at the end of the night." Now some places let you keep your tips & others will make you pool your tips. Either way it a great source.

#3) Contacts: (Scene from an old black & white movie in Hollywood) The waitress says "We'll I am really studying to become an actress." Do the math. If you get in front 100 people a day you have a captive audience to create impressions or develop contacts for your needs.

I will pursue what makes one waiter bettter from the next one.

Carl Slicer