Simply Junior

Someone once wrote: “Most small business owners would tattoo ‘idiot’ on their forehead before they would develop a business plan!” I tend to agree with that person, but I also want to change that perception. I think the primary reason most entrepreneurial Small Business Owners have such a poor regard for a business plan (BP) is that they automatically associate a BP with the painful experiences they imagine they will go through when they take it to their banker.

It doesn’t have to be that way! In fact, the best use of a BP is to keep it to yourself and use it to track your success in your business. How many entrepreneurs have started a business with boundless enthusiasm for what we were going to achieve? How many of us still have most of those ‘achievements’ buzzing around in our heads? If only we could find the time to take action on them. A BP will help us do that.

A BP is nothing more than putting down on paper, your business:

* Goal (Mission Statement)
* Objectives (How I’m going to achieve my goal)
* Products/Services (How I’m going to make money)
* Sales/Marketing Plan (How I’m going to convince people to buy my products/services)
* Operations Plan (How I’m going to spend money to make money)
* Management Plan (How I’m going to make sure all this happens)
* Finance Plan (How I’m going to keep track of it all)
* And most Importantly, Key Performance Indicators (what you’re going to measure over time to prove your success)

From a technology point of view, documenting your technology requirements in the BP ensures that you spend your technology dollars wisely. There should be a good fit between the technology and the Operations Plan, otherwise you may find yourself rebuilding the technology as your business grows or evolves. By planning ahead, you can ensure that the technology can and does grow with the business.

And now that you’ve got all of this out of your head and on paper where you can see it, you can review it regularly to measure your successes and correct anything that is hindering success. Then, when you are ready to expand your business, you will have a proven BP that you can take fearlessly to your banker and with confidence, show why lending to you is money well invested.

The best retirement planning is a plan that enables you to retire as soon as possible in my humble opinion.

Too many people feel that they have to reach a certain number in retirement assets before they retire… As part of retirement planning why don’t you consider lifestyles that cost less to maintain, are still fun and for sure beat continuing to work.

In other words you don’t have to earn more you just have to spend less… Have you considered the following avenues to retiring now rather than later:
Living on a sailboat Living full-time in an RV Downsizing Living in foreign countries

We have done all the above, and can show you how to as well… I certainly do not look at these lifestyles as being sacrificial, we have had a ball and you can too… No need to wait for a “number” to be attained, to retire and have fun.

We started retirement in 1994, by buying a 35 foot sailboat, sailing to the Caribbean where we lived for eight years… Fun you bet, living the life Jimmy Buffett sings about…Why was it so cheap? There is no charge for anchoring…lots of time within site of a resort charging $500 a night, we had a better view, at no cost.

If sailing is not your thing how about full-time RVing? There are plenty of beautiful places to explore right here in the United States… Why not see them all in a hotel room that moves with you.

Do not think you can downsize from a house to a condo? How about downsizing from an 1800 square foot home to a 35 foot sailboat with curved walls…

Consider a foreign country for retirement, there are several countries within a three-hour flight time from the United States where you can retire and live very well for $2000 a month.

Does your retirement planning include examining lifestyles that are fun and inexpensive?

People when approach towards the rest half of their life span, start taking pension plans, and retirements schemes. This is done to ensure their well being during their non earning period of life. Smart people plan their course of action well in advance to avoid any risks in the future and retire for life. Thus those who care about the well being of themselves and their family try to get the best retirement plans for themselves.

Once a person gets the retirement under the governmental act, he is unable to carry on the same lifestyle, because he is no more earning the same income, as he was during his duty period. Sources of income do get narrowed, but the best thing a person can do is to make this source of income becomes a permanent source. This way you can retire for life and live a tension free life after your retirement.

Selecting the best retirement plan is something for which you should seek expert advice too. Apart from your own abilities and knowledge try exploring newer and more specific retirement plans which suit your case most closely and help you retire for life. The common mistakes which people do while selecting a retirement plan or scheme are given below. Have a look at them to understand how you can avoid such mistakes, which may destruct the entire future planning of yours.

• Consult financial planning sites and advisers to understand the various retirement plans and schemes available in the market.
• “Knowing and doing is not the same thing”, so don’t trust blindly on the theoretical concepts of retirement plans. Analyze them with a much realistic and practical view and then decide about it.
• Opt for a plan which lets you retire for life, instead of giving you a short time earning mode.
• Starting too late is also something which can deplete your plan’s positivity. Try starting in the last years of your service time, to ensure best future planning after retirement.
• Taking loan for retirements can lend you in complicated problems, which can then shatter your plans to retire for life. Avoid such plans which involve advances and loans from other agencies. As these loans are not free they require interest to be paid periodically.
• Rather then taking multiple plans, take one specific plan which caters your needs completely and then you can retire for life.
• Keeping all you short time plans in one category is also something which you should avoid. Those who are futuristic and know how to retire for life, they always make it a point to create a mix of only essential features in their retirement plan, which can yield good and permanent returns during their non earning period.

By following the above said guidelines you can avoid some of the most common mistakes which people make while selecting a retirement plan for themselves which can take care of all their future financial requirements. This way you can comply to all your needs in future and retire for life.

2011 is looking like the year of the Cloud; there is more news about it now and the types that you can get than ever before. Although I think it would be pertinent not to forget dedicated server and co-location as well as complex hosting.

Cloud Hosting Research

Forrester (the famous research organization) recently surveyed 53 IT professionals at North American and European enterprises to find out where they run their email, calendar, contact, and task list services (what Forrester refers to as messaging or email services).

They spoke directly with IT professionals at 12 of those firms and with executives at 21 vendors. From that foundation of primary research, they analyzed the costs of moving email to a cloud-based service provider.

Of the 53 firms Forrester surveyed, 36 were considering or have considered a change in their email delivery facility. Cost was the motivation for 15 of these enterprises, and a further 13 were triggered by a transition, a consolidation, vendor switch, or version upgrade.

In the words of some of the IT professionals that were interviewed:

“Three years from now when my license comes due, I’ll strongly evaluate hosted email options. In the meantime, driving down to a consolidated environment is huge. If every group has its own email server, it’s a nightmare.” (Manufacturing company)

“We understand that IT isn’t a core competency for us; it’s a support mechanism. Do we need to spend time and resources to support email? We’re looking at ways to cut costs.Outsourcing email might be something we can do.” (Manufacturing company)

Not just for e-mail

Of course it’s not just for e-mail, people putting their whole system in the cloud, but this research just goes to show how important it’s all becoming. As a potential consumer of Cloud Hosting whether you’re a large blue-chip corporation or a small start-up I think it’s important to you to find out which of these really is what you want. Just because cloud is everywhere in the media as well as the buzzword of every blog, does not mean it is right for you?

Which way should you go?

I think you have to ask yourself some pertinent or probing questions about exactly the type of service you want. If you’re someone like Betfair or bettowin it’s likely that you’ll be under much more sustained pressure from outside influences, hackers and periodical shifts in demand than say someone like Argos (who could maybe have a couple of seasonal demands at Christmas and at new years sale time). Although it should be worth pointing out that both Argos and Paddy Power probably want the highest security possible to protect their customers from any sort of shenanigans.

When the Grand National is on, one would expect Paddy power and all the gambling sites have a much higher demand than just after Christmas…and of course House of Fraser, Argos and the main retailers e-commerce websites will always be under huge pressure before and after Christmas for the January sales

Buying this product is similar I suppose like with every purchase… buying a car is often a trade-off between quality and price and people like Skoda and possibly some of the Japanese and Far East brands sit well in between price and quality and do a very good job of it

The “IBM’ decision

In our industry I suppose there is a lot of what we call the “IBM decision”.

Way back in the last century (seems funny to say that now) in the 1980s and early 90s there was an old saying that “nobody got fired for buying IBM”. Today I think there is a certain amount of hangover from that in the data centre, co-location, dedicated server, cloud server industry.

People want to be safe, nobody wants to get sacked for helping out the little guy. I suppose the choice is to try and purchase from somewhere in the middle. But if you have the money to pay for something which is pretty similar but comes at a much higher price with supposed peace of mind.

As they say the choice is yours.

There are different types of retirement plans suitable for individuals. Roth IRA is a good retirement plan, which allows tax-free qualified distributions whereas the contributions are not tax deductible. Since its introduction in 1997, this scheme has gained popularity among US citizens. Some analysts interpret IRA as more advantageous than traditional IRA plans since the qualified distributions are tax-free.

When you opt for an IRA plan, there are many advantages. The plan requires you to pay tax for your entire salary. If you earn $ 55000 per month and you decide to contribute $ 4000 for Roth IRA you will have to pay the tax for the entire $55000. But the good news is that from the day you turn fifty-nine-and half years old, unlike traditional IRA, you get to withdraw the invested money, tax-free. You are able to enjoy this freedom since you have already paid tax on your full salary. This helps you a lot as you do not have to run after paying taxes after your retirement. Adding to the advantage, your heirs do not have to pay tax on the benefits availed from Roth IRA scheme.

In case of an emergency, Roth IRA allows you to withdraw money, tax-free. The withdrawal should not exceed the contribution you made.

The IRA can be used to make three types of investments. You can invest in mutual funds, stocks and options. Setting up your IRA with a stock brokerage firm may be most beneficial as the money can be invested in as many mutual funds as you like. Before investing, you must carry out a good study about the different Roth IRA companies around the country. Careful choosing of your funds can enhance the value of your Roth to a great extent.

There is a wide spectrum of Roth IRA firms to choose from. Therefore, the process of choosing should be immaculate. This would guarantee maximum returns for your hard- earned money. Operating charges for mutual funds in these firms are to be studied and compared. When you invest in a mutual fund these charges might get deducted from your returns. Such hidden charges should be noted while choosing the perfect firm for your needs.

As more people look forward to tax-free retirement savings IRA appears to be a more sensible choice. This is a smart move a young person can make, with regard to his retirement. The money invested will multiple into huge amounts, in the years to come. The contributed money can be withdrawn at any point of time without paying any taxes or penalties.

You can opt for a Roth only if you have earnings from a job. There are individual plans as well as employer-sponsored plans. Both employee and employer contributions are required in such plans.

Further, traditional IRAs can be converted to Roth IRAs as it has lot of benefits compared to the traditional ones. This has become a growing trend among the people. To spend the sunset of your life in a comfortable way, take an intelligent decision on your investments.