Miscellaneous Music

Home staging is very similar to interior design and it employs many of the same concepts: using color, light and accessories to balance a space visually and make it more appealing and attractive. However, home staging is more than just interior design; it is the process of preparing a house for sale. So instead of designing the space to appeal to the current residents – the sellers – the space is designed to appeal to potential buyers.

Staging is becoming increasingly popular as real estate agents and sellers alike look to distinguish their property from the competition. If you’ve ever walked through a model home, you will understand the feeling that buyers get. They react emotionally to an attractive and beautifully decorated home that they can mentally move their things into.

Staging is an extremely effective marketing tool and it is a fact that staged homes sell faster and for more money than their non-staged counterparts. If you choose not to stage your property, you not only risk leaving money on the table, you also risk letting it sit on the market longer than necessary.

Clean, Neutralize, Declutter

Before staging begins, it is important to have the property thoroughly cleaned. Kitchens and bathrooms should sparkle! Have carpets shampooed or replaced, wash all the windows, and make sure the walls are painted with a neutral hue to appeal to the majority of buyers.

The most important aspect of preparation is to remove clutter. Clutter eats equity! Paperwork, small items, collections, and family photos on the countertops, shelving and tables should be packed up and put into storage. You are going to pack it all anyway, so it is best to pack it up now and get it out of sight of your buyers.

Extra furniture should be removed to storage. If a home has too much or too little in it, it is difficult for most buyers to visualize how their own things will look in the home. Staging makes it easy for them to see themselves in YOUR property. Remember: You are selling your house, not your things, and the way you live in your home and the way you market and sell your house are very different.

The exterior should be neat and appealing. The walk should be swept. Landscaping should be neither sparse nor overgrown; you can’t sell it if you can’t see it. Add colorful plants and flowers to brighten up your beds.

Ready, Set, Stage

The goal of staging is to showcase your home’s best features, such as a view, a large kitchen, wood flooring, a fireplace or unique architectural elements. Each room should have an obvious purpose. For example, a bedroom should look like a bedroom and not be packed with disparate miscellaneous items.

The stager will then choose a focal point to highlight in each room, such as a staircase, an arch or large windows. He or she will accomplish this by selecting a pleasant color scheme and then accessorizing with items such as rugs, vases, plants, linens, window treatments, and pillows. Often the stager will simply reposition your furniture and accessorize with existing items from the household, moving them from room to room and utilizing them in new and unexpected ways. This is where the artistry happens and this is how the stager earns her pay – by using her creativity and eye for decorating to make your home look beautiful – quickly. She will typically supplement with items from her own inventory and add some rented furniture, if necessary.

Another fun technique of the stager is the creation of vignettes – arrangements that set the stage and capture the imagination of potential buyers by making your home look elegant, relaxing and inviting… a laundry basket full of fresh white linens with some lavender tied with raffia, a breakfast tray on a fluffed-up bed with magazines and fresh flowers, and elaborate place settings and a beautiful centerpiece on the dining room table.

Once the staging is complete, it is Open House time. The stager will apply the finishing touches: open the blinds and shades, turn on all the lights and lamps, light candles, place up lights in dark corners, add fresh flowers, plug in air fresheners and perhaps put on soft music to create a peaceful ambience.

The Cost (Investment) of Staging

Staging can cost as little as a few hundred dollars for a detailed consultation (for those who wish to do it themselves but need some direction) to under $1000 for a small home to up into the thousands for a large vacant house in need of furniture, decorating and accessories. Many stagers will do as little or as much as the seller wants, and employing just a few decorating and staging techniques can go a long way. Typically the client will pay up front for the staging services, then pay a monthly rental fee for accessories and furniture that were brought into the home.

Regardless of the cost of staging, it is always less than your first price reduction, so it pays to make the investment up front and really impress the buyers. You typically won’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

Credit cards can be a wonderful opportunity to do things that would take you several years to achieve, or to help out in an unexpected emergency. However, there is another side to this opportunity, a side that can turn into a true nightmare. Maybe you are already aware of the potential nightmare of swimming in credit card debt. You might believe that balance transfer credit cards are an easy solution. This article is to help guide you from possible dangers and give you the knowledge necessary to find the best balance transfer credit cards available to you.

Danger One – Interest rates

Interest rates can turn into a game of musical chairs (different rates) if you aren’t aware of the following pitfalls. First, answer the following questions: Does the interest rate on your balance transfer credit card stay the same or does it change after a certain time period? Is it the same for new purchases as well? Most importantly, will the interest rate remain the same for the balance transfer loan amount, if it is going to increase to high interest rates in three months you may be better off with your present loan.

Opportunity One – Some interest rates stay the same for term of the loan and you can consolidate higher rate interest loans and pay your balances off quicker and for significantly less interest than by staying with one or several high interest rate loans. What you need to do is to make sure the low interest rates will stay the same by researching the terms of the balance transfer credit cards available.

Danger Two – Oops, I’m late on my payment! Depending on the terms of your contract, this could be catastrophic to your long term budget.

Opportunity Two – Know the triggers in your contract that make the interest rates skyrocket. When you know the terms of your contract, you have control over whether or not you have to pay late fees, penalties, or very high interest rates on your balance transfer credit card in the future.

Danger Three – Look for those hidden fees! There are actually credit cards that will charge you more fees than they are willing to lend you, beware . . . you don’t want to pay fees, but be able to quickly pay off the principal due on your loan. Balance transfer fees, annual fees, loan fees, late fees, over-the-limit fees, miscellaneous add-on fees can make your loan skyrocket.

Opportunity Three – Read the fine print!

Research the different cards available to ensure that you won’t have to pay for hidden fees. Some balance transfer credit cards offer free interest for the term of the loan with no transfer fee. You don’t want to end up with a balance transfer credit card that turns into high interest and charges as much as a four percent fee on the loan amount you are transferring. It is easy to see why checking can save you literally hundreds of dollars for just a few minutes of investigating what is the best balance transfer credit card available.

Danger Four – You pay off one credit card or loan, only to use it again! Ultimately you will be sinking into debt.

Opportunity Four – Pay off that account with your transfer, then CLOSE THE ACCOUNT AND CUT UP THAT CARD! Don’t even have the temptation of having the account or credit card(s) available to use. You have the ability to control your credit, not let it control your life’s future opportunities.

Danger Five – Be careful when you transfer your old loan(s) to your new balance transfer credit cards. You need to ensure that you give the right account number(s) for the balance transfer payment to your new balance transfer credit card company. Also keep making minimum payments until you get a statement in the mail with a zero balance or confirm by phone (make sure you record name/date/amount paid for documentation) that you are paid in full.

Opportunity Five – These extra precautions and follow-up work will save you possible late and penalty fees on your old accounts. Again, you’re taking charge of your credit and ensuring that you have a promising financial future.

Conclusion

Yes, balance transfer credit cards can be a real opportunity to help you clear up debt by consolidating your credit cards and loans and maybe even lower your total payments. However, don’t forget the dangers involved with this type of credit card. Be sure to research and investigate all the possible pitfalls involved by checking the interest rate terms, any triggers that would increase your interest or cause late fees and penalties, also be sure to check for hidden fees by reading all the fine print in your contract, close out and cut-up your old credit card(s) so that you won’t be tempted to run up new charges on the accounts you just paid off. Finally, be sure to follow through with your paperwork and pay the minimum amount due during the transfer of money, so you won’t encounter problems with additional late fees and penaltiesnot to mention the affect it would have on your credit score. If you follow this plan, you too can secure the best transfer credit card for your specific needs and take advantage of the opportunities and stay away from the nightmare of bad credit and overwhelming bills.

E-commerce, or electronic commerce, refers to marketing, buying, selling, and distribution of products or services over the Internet, or other computer networks. In the larger context of business, e-commerce transactions involve, among others, supply chain management, electronic funds transfer, e-marketing, online transaction processing, and electronic data interchange (EDI). In addition, it also involves online marketing, automated inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

Due to advancements in computer technologies, and the easy access of electronic communications technology of the World Wide Web, it has become easier to carry out all the above business transactions as a home based business. As a home business, e-commerce can cover a range of different businesses, such as consumer based retail sites, auction or music sites, business exchanges – trading goods and services between corporations, etc.

If you intend to use your home business just to supplement your income, or if you are a woman with family responsibilities, and wish to add to the family income by some e-commerce activities from home, you can consider the following home businesses:

Affiliate Programs – You affiliate yourself with a company and act as a middleman/woman between it and the customers, by promoting the goods or the services the company offers. You get paid depending on the sales you generate, or by directing the prospective customers to the website of your partner company, through your own website.

There is a variety of categories of businesses offering affiliate programs, and they are a good start to help you start making money from home.

Email Processing – This is another easy way to make money from home. On joining this program, you need too perform some tasks concerning emails. Your payment will depend on the number of emails you will process. Sign up requires payment, so you need to select the cheapest, and the best paying. Initially, do not sign up for many programs.

Paid Surveys – To stay in business and to remain competitive, companies depend on, and conduct, market surveys and researches. Through Internet, these surveys and researches can be conducted at highly reduced costs.

Before you are allowed to participate in a particular survey, you need to fit their demographic profile. You are compensated accordingly, though most do not pay much. However, participating in a number of them can bring in some extra money.

If any sign up fees is involved, keep it low, as most surveys do not work.

Home Data Entry And Typing – Home data entry is a great home business. This is basically cleric work, requiring you to input information. Such a job pays well if you are able to find a good employer. Ensure the start up fee is low.

People who do not have the time, or the inclination, to do their own typing, outsource this work. This is a straightforward typing job that does not require much skill. This is a real opportunity to make some extra income.

Transcription Work – If you are doing medical or legal transcription, you may require some basic skills to understand the medical and legal jargon. You are required to type on paper what the doctors or the lawyers have recorded on tape.

You can supplement your family income well, but take care to keep sign up fees low.

You can also do a lot of other miscellaneous freelance work from home. If you are good at it, you can supplement your income by writing web content articles. If you have certain skills, such as programming or other computer skills, you can bid for online work. You need to assess your skills, and see what interests you, and go for it.

Most businesses these days have to do some sort of Internet niche marketing if they want to keep their head above water. If you are a small-business owner like me, chances are you have had to learn some niche marketing strategies in order to survive, perhaps even begrudgingly. I know myself, I would rather be focusing on learning more about my craft and my business itself, not the ins and outs of niche marketing. Yet niche marketing has brought me a greater appreciation for my customers and their needs. In fact, I even enjoy it now.

In this article I will share with you general approaches for one of the most viable free traffic sources on the Internet: Craig’s List.

The big “Internet gurus” are just finally getting around to noticing this incredible source of free traffic. Yes, Craig’s list is a Goldmine of marketing opportunities awaiting you if approached correctly. If approached blindly however, you can waste a lot of time and not see any reward. There are a few unique strategies that I employ now that have sent my click rates through the roof.

You see, I live in San Francisco. (the birthplace of Craig’s list) I have seen Craig’s List grow from a very small list into a worldwide phenomena. I have been marketing on Craig’s list for 10 years and know all the tricks. In fact, I have spoken with Craig many times (yes there is a real guy named Craig). To some people the Craig’s List web site might look a little complicated. Do this right now, open up another browser window and I will walk you through a few areas of the web site, highlighting the potential free niche marketing options.

* Community *
In the upper left-hand corner is this box. Listed as subheadings are “activities”, “artists”, “general”, “pets”, and others.

The “General” category is an excellent place for any kind of free report or other free promotional activity. Really, anything goes in this category. Having said that, you do not want to post anything in here that mentions a fee or even has prominently displayed fee based services on your landing page. If you do, it will likely get flagged, quickly.

However you can market your free newsletters, free reports, free tele-classes. If you have a niche product that corresponds to one of the subheadings, all the better. For instance if you are promoting a book on dog training, the ” pets” category here could be a gold mine.

* Personals *
You may think “personals” is a total waste of time unless you are looking for a date, however, the “missed connections”, “rants and raves” and “miscellaneous romance” could be a viable place for marketing a free newsletter or free products or relationship tools or similar things. Again, be careful with fee-based products. The Craig’s list community will flag them very quickly.

* Discussion forums *
It speaks for itself. In general, these are focused discussions on an array of topics. Currently there are 72 discussion forums active. The discussions are worldwide, existing on every Craig’s list. Personally, I have not spent much time here, but I bet you could have great success if you found an appropriate niche. These are real-time discussions. (Hmm, I have to try this myself)

* For Sale *
Yes, For Sale. How have you overlooked this before? These are free classified ads going out to thousands and thousands of people interested in what you are selling in every major city in the world. These are focused niche categories. There are many ways to promote products. For instance, there is a “computer” category. Presumably, those that click on this category will be looking to buy a computer or computer related products. What if you wrote an e-book on how to maintain your computer? Sell it here. “Registry Cleaner Affiliate”, sell it here. There are categories like “sports”, ” musical instruments”, “motorcycles”, “general”. Check this out. It is a real goldmine. I still promote Free stuff here, with the “For Sale” items at the landing page.

* Services *
”Services” is where independent businesses can place free ads. Niches include, “financial”, “legal”, “therapeutic”. This is also a category where you can flat out promote your services. And it is all free.

How to Leverage the Power of Craig’s List.

Craig’s list is operational in hundreds of cities all over the world now. This gives the opportunity to put free ads in front of thousands and thousands of people every day, focused and targeted toward your niche. However, who has the time to post hundreds of advertisements? I certainly do not. And, one thing about the Craig’s list niche marketing strategy – you must post a lot of ads and rotate them regularly.

This is not easy as Craig’s list has duplication flag that will not allow you to post the same message in more than one location or at one time. So, the way around this is to write several different ads. Just change the wording; it is simple. Yet, it takes time. You only have to do it once. It is time well spent.

What I do is write several different ads/postings for different categories.

For example:
I have “Free Stuff” Ads for the Community and other non-sales areas. I have several free reports and several e-mail newsletters. So, I have four or five different versions of each “Free Stuff” Ad.

I have “Paid Products and Services” Ads For the Sale and Services Sections. I also have four or five different versions of several paid products that I list in the “For Sale” and “Services” section. Part of my business is in the therapeutic section.

Every day I have at least 15 to 20 Craig’s list ads targeting specific niches. I generally post in the most populated and active communities. I rotate the ads so as to not set off the duplicate content filters.

Niche Marketing to Craig’s list can be very profitable if it is done correctly. It can also be very time-consuming. As someone who has grown up in the Craig’s list community, I have seen the ins and outs of of it for years (since 1997 to be precise) and realize its quirky nature. The methods I now use took me about six or seven years to develop and research.

All of your efforts will do no good if your postings get flagged by the community or if your delivery and approach is wrong. In short, niche marketing to Craig’s list can be an absolute gold mine if done correctly. If done incorrectly, you can waste a lot of time and not see any results.

German language teachers and students are always on the lookout for interesting ways to present lessons or improve vocabulary. This DVD series may be a helpful resource. The vocabulary is simple, and the episodes are only 52 minutes long.

‘Nonni und Manni’ is a *REGION 2* DVD production released in 1988. If you do not have a DVD player capable of playing Region 2 titles, go to A-Language-Guide.com and browse through the ‘Advice’ section, or access the information at videohelp.com. Multi-region compatible DVD players are available at your local Wal-Mart for very reasonable prices. All it takes is a few clicks of the remote control, and your DVD unit will be able to play DVDs from anywhere in the world.

The original ‘Nonni und Manni’ TV series was produced in Icelandic – which is a North Germanic language. The German production has well-dubbed audio, spoken clearly at an easy-to-understand pace. There are no idioms and dialect accents to deal with. Intermediate to advanced students should be able to understand the speech (which, by the way, has no subtitles).

The ‘Nonni und Manni’ series is based on characters from children’s books written by Jon Svensson. Adults will enjoy the storyline as well.

The Plot:

1869: Nonni and Manni live near a small village on the coast of Iceland with their mother (Sigrid) and grandmother. Their father boarded a ship headed overseas before 8-year-old Manni was born, and the family has been awaiting his return.

One day a stranger named Harald comes ashore with the sad news that Nonni and Manni’s father has died. The family begins the mourning process, and Harald helps out on their farm in return for board. The boys form a bond with him, and begin to look up to him as a father figure. A local businessman, who is quite smitten with Sigrid, becomes increasingly irate about the situation.

A rich farmer in the village is murdered. Harald is blamed for the incident, and decides to flee into the mountains. Nonni and Manni are determined to help keep him safe and prove his innocence. With the help of a friend, they locate a secure hiding place.

As might be expected from any 12-year-old, Nonni devises several trips to the hideout with his little brother. They put themselves into peril by doing so, and the story progresses with several life-threatening close calls.

Miscellaneous Information:

The magnificent beauty of Iceland was the stage for this series. Production techniques in the mid 1980s did not use special effects like CGI graphics. The polar bear attack scenes are a smidgen unrealistic – but the suspense is maintained, nonetheless.

The background music is beautiful, with a distinctive melancholic edge. The theme song, ‘Ocean’, is in English – which seems to be the case with many foreign series. Costumes appear to have been well-researched. The boys wear wool outfits that appear a big irregular and bumpy, as you would expect from handmade clothing. The hats and hairstyles of the women are definitely something you won’t see in a North American western movie.

-Series writer: Joshua Sinclair I

-Director: Ágúst Guðmundsson

-Theme Song: Klaus Doldinger

-Online Purchasing: Amazon.de, Ebay, Abebooks.com. etc.

The same extra features are included on each DVD:

Short biography of Jon Svensson (1857-1944)
Film credits for Thor Cortes (Nonni) and Örn Einarsson (Manni)
Trailer
Photo gallery

Nonni und Manni, 3-DVD Set, 2 episodes each (complete series) – UPC Code:4250124320621

Book (January, 2007) – limited information available – ISBN-10:345170773X, ISBN-13:978-3451707735

Hardcover edition (1995) – ISBN-10:3451213567, ISBN-13:978-3451213564

Pocketbook (1990) – ISBN-10:3423702060, ISBN-13:978-3423702065

©Copyright Kathy Steinemann: This article is free to publish only if this copyright notice, the byline, and the author’s note below (with active links) are included.