Simply Junior

The cloud, also known as cloud hosting is rapidly becoming a popular option for businesses and even within the social sphere. Cloud hosting can be considered as the next level of shared hosting, whereby companies host a range of different applications across numerous machines through virtualisation rather than sharing the resources of a single, physical machine.

There are a number of reasons why companies are choosing to go down the route of virtualisation and cloud hosting, below are four of the most frequently touted advantages to this form of hosting solution.

First and foremost, the virtualisation approach means that more clients are placed on fewer physical servers. The result is that hardware, maintenance and power costs are reduced for the hosting company, subsequently making it a cheaper deal for clients. Frequently, as a business pays for such as service on a pay as you go, or highly flexible tariff, it is a more suitable and more affordable option for a company’s immediate needs.

Availability can also be improved through the use of the cloud as data is shifted between multiple servers. The number of servers can be adapted to the current needs of the client, the result being that applications, data or website are available online constantly. This brings myriad advantages not least because downtime is practically removed from the equation.

This point was alluded to earlier but as cloud solutions are highly flexible, businesses are able to tailor resources to their precise and very specific needs. For instance, a company may experience a spike or peak in interest for their website or online applications, a cloud solution can quickly be expanded so greater processing power is provided, eliminating the chance of exceeding restrictive traffic limits.

Finally, this form of hosting is highly reliable; data is typically stored in multiple locations so that the failure of one server will not affect the safety or availability of the data or application. This resilience, is one of the major benefits to cloud hosting.

Today this form of hosting is rapidly becoming a popular option over both shared and dedicated hosting, it is the flexibility and the chance to save money that have made this a desirable solution for many businesses.

If you’re ready to have your best year ever no matter what (as my coach Lisa Nichols say), then your first step is to plan to do something different. Here are 7 things to consider doing differently in 2011 that will help take you to the next level:

Move from reactive to proactive. Work on fine-tuning your marketing plan so that your results improve at each step of the way: Getting people in the door or in your funnel, qualifying leads, the selling process, improving the number of people who buy from you, and customer retention. If you don’t have a plan, then the first place to start is to get one, even if it’s not perfect or not complete. You can always improve, and my coach Ali Brown says when you take the first step, even if it’s a baby one, you’ve made a tremendous amount of progress toward your goal rather than if you just stood still in inertia. 
Look at one part of your marketing and make a small improvement. Readers tell me they like my newsletter, and I plan to make some improvements to the format over the next few weeks. That’s one example of a really small change that I can make in my marketing that will improve it for my readers.
Systematize something that’s worked in the past and repeat it. No need to reinvent the wheel if you’ve found the magic formula. Do the magic formula over and over again, perhaps more often, and you’ll increase your results. For example, if you’re good at convincing people to buy from you once you have them on the phone, find out how to get more qualified prospects on the phone with you.
Listen to your clients and roll out a new service offering that they are asking for. A huge part of the battle for getting new clients is getting people to trust you. Why not leverage the people who already trust you – your current clients – and serve them in a new way. Increasing your revenue per client is a great way to help your clients even more and to boost you bottom line at the same time.
Hone your skill. We spend a lot of time working on our core competency – the service we deliver to clients – and getting better at it. Why not get better at a marketing skill? This could include working on your public speaking skills, writing skills, selling skills, negotiation skills, and a host of other skills that will help you become more effective at representing yourself to potential prospects. Sometimes we forget marketing is a skill we can learn just like math – especially those of us who are reluctant marketers. 
Measure. How do you know something is working unless you measure it? Add procedures to measure your marketing effectiveness at each step in the process; then you can begin to see where you need improvements. These include numbers such as conversion ratios, sales per client, and return on marketing campaign. When you do this you’ll naturally be able to improve your return on investment for your marketing dollars.
Celebrate. Stop for a second when you reach a goal and celebrate all the hard work you did that paid off and got you there. Give yourself a reward, practice gratitude for what you received, and then set your next goal.

Which one of these tips speaks to you the most? Mark your calendar right now to take one step toward working this tip into your business so you can envision a brighter 2011.

In the value based business, the successful business owner or manager concentrates on the unique value that his or her business offers to its customers. This ‘uniqueness’ is discovered only through depth of thought and rigorous analysis of the reason and purpose that one is in business for in the first place.

It involves listening intently to what customers are saying and understanding their particular needs. Engaging customers at this level creates a close bond between the business and the customer. It creates opportunities for working with and through customers in a way that delivers results that are mutually agreeable.

Deep critical reflection is demanded to arrive at effective decisions that will deliver what the customer really wants, and not just what we may want to sell to them.

The three key elements that must be adopted to ensure customer focus, create value and transform both the value-based business and its relationships with customers are:

Adopt a ‘Customer Needs’ Driving Force

The mindset required for establishing a ‘customer needs’ approach must be imbedded in an understanding of the vision of the business, through a clearly articulated statement about what drives the business.

Such a driving force must be chosen by the business owner as part of setting the strategic agenda of the business. This then ensures that strategic choices are aligned to business capabilities, customers and markets and that these are properly differentiated and segmented within small business plans.

Adopting a ‘customer needs’ driving force results in products and services being developed by the value-based business around the current and future needs of its customers.

Build Strong Customer Relationships

Helping others get what they want builds strong customer bonds.

Use your business capabilities to help your customer strengthen their position in the market. This means tailoring your products and services to the needs of the customer, within the bounds and context of a mutually beneficial and trusting relationship.

This approach also applies to the internal environment of the business. The value chain of the business that extends to customers in the external environment begins in the internal environment as a series of processes.

People accomplish these processes. Seeing employees as customers, along a continuum of service, focuses business activities at the highest level in all its dealings with each other and external customers.

“What do you want to achieve?” and “How can we help you achieve what you want?” should always be the first words out of our mouths in addressing the needs of the people around us, both in our business and to the customer in the external world. Such questions display a degree of emotional intelligence in business.

Customer requests, feedback and complaints provide the opportunity to improve products and services by incorporating the valuable information that they contain.

Develop Strategic Partnerships, Alliances and Networks

Successful business owners join up processes between their companies and those of their customers in order to build an interdependent network of relationships that delivers greater returns to everyone.

When we work with and through others, we add value to what is on offer. This continuum of service and product delivery expands the reach of the value-based business and the customer.

Strategic partnerships, alliances and networks must never be entered into lightly. They must be built on a firm foundation and a shared value base. This is critical to ensure that products and services that are offered are not degraded or watered-down, in any way.

When forming such relationships it is paramount that the Mission, Vision and Values of the business are not compromised in any way. A partnership matrix framework that aligns these elements between prospective partners must be generated, as part of the business policy development process.

Business alliance and partnership relationships must be evaluated diligently before they are entered into. They require sound skills for negotiation and must be reviewed regularly as part of the business planning cycle.

The end of the estate tax during 2010 might only be a temporary reprieve. As the law now stands, beginning in 2011 estates valued above $1,000,000 will be subject to estate tax at very hefty rates rising as high as 55%. This circumstance suddenly creates the real possibility that the estates of surviving spouses who inherit more than $1,000,000 will ultimately incur a significant estate tax when they later die and before their estate moves on down to the couple’s children. That’s the bad news. But, the good news is that there may be an estate planning technique to minimize or avoid this result. It is called a “disclaimer.”

A disclaimer is an irrevocable and unqualified refusal by a person to accept an interest in property. The disclaimer permits the intended recipient to reject all or a portion of a bequest, with the result that it then passes without estate or gift tax directly to the next person or persons named in the trust or will or, if none, then to the disclaimant’s heirs at law. In many families, the next in line after the surviving spouse is usually the couple’s children. With the threat of the return of the estate tax in 2011 for estates valued over $1,000,000, the surviving spouse of a person dying this year may now have good reason to consider a timely disclaimer. Doing so may eliminate tax as assets pass from the surviving spouse’ estate on down to the couple’s children. The use of disclaimers in this context is best explained by the following example:

John and Mary are a married couple and have a combined marital estate worth approximately $2,000,000. They have three loving children. If John dies in 2010, there would be no estate tax under current law. But if he leaves everything to Mary, her estate would then be worth $2,000,000. Absent a further change in the law, if Mary dies in 2011 or thereafter, the excess above $1,000,000 (i.e. $1,000,000) would then be subject to estate tax. Her estate would then owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to the IRS.

But there may be a way to pass the excess on to the children tax free: if within nine months of John’s death she properly disclaims the excess above $1,000,000, the excess would then go directly to their three children, and the disclaimed portion would escape tax entirely on Mary’s later demise because it would never have become a part of her estate. In addition, her retained $1,000,000 would also pass tax free, as it would be within her own exemption. The result: there would be no estate or gift tax, either at John’s death or at Mary’s later death, and the entire estate of $2 Million would then pass on down to their children tax free.

In order to make a valid disclaimer, there are some IRS rules that Mary must follow, including the following: (1) she cannot have used the disclaimed portion of the estate or received any benefit from it; (2) the disclaimed portion must pass without any direction by her (i.e., it must pass automatically to whomever is next in line — presumably the children – and Mary cannot direct it elsewhere); (3) the disclaimer must be in writing; and (4) the disclaimer must be made within nine months of John’s death. Under Internal Revenue Code

If you are planning to move to Arizona or if you are yourself a new Arizona resident who are not familiar with Arizona State taxes, you can read this detailed summary about your state taxes. Another site that will provide elaborate information about Arizona State taxes will be their official website, but I believe it is enough to see below for the taxes and complete descriptions that you are supposed to know.

If you are a working resident of Arizona state, then the most crucial Arizona State taxes is that you will need to pay attention for is the income tax rates. They are divided into five different groups, ranging from about 2.7 percent to about 4.8 percent. For the complete list of the five groups and their respective rates, you can refer to the data below

For single or married who filed separately:
- 2.73% will be taxed on the first $10,000 of chargable income
- 3.04% on chargable income from $10,001 to $25,000
- 3.55% on chargable income from $25,001 to $50,000
- 4.48% on chargable income from $50,001 to $150,000
- 4.79% on all chargable income over $150,000.

The deadline of filing income levy returns is on the 15th of April. It is not fixed though; if it is on a weekend or if it is on a public holiday, then it will be shifted to other dates. There are also extra days that are provided to you by the tax company. For more information of the deadline for the current tax year, you can go to the Arizona State taxes official website directly. There, you can find what the deadline is so that you will not be fined for paying late after the deadline. Remember, deadline is always important because you will not want to spend extra money only because you miss the deadline, won’t you?

The law of Arizona needs the residents and the visitors of Arizona to add in extra goods to Arizona gross product. This comprises of interest income from civic trades that do not come from Arizona state. The capital income must also be included and taxes will be applied to it. For the taxpayers, sales tax is also crucial every time we talk about Arizona State taxes. The current rate for the sales tax is at, more or less, 5.6 percent. Medicine that the residents take and sustenance that the residents possess will not be taxed. However, not all the cities do this; some still charge Arizona state taxes for these two needs. To check for more elaborate information, you can just visit the Arizona official website, so that you know it very well.

Another important information is that Arizona State taxes will comprise of private property taxes. Insubstantial personal property taxes, however, are not charged.