Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Studying Business
Saturday, December 11th, 2010
Getting a small business loan right now is extremely difficult. Making this fact much more depressing is that so many people right now view starting a small business as their only way to survive due to job loss, pay cuts, or the closing of their previous business. For many older unemployed individuals, getting another job is a virtual impossibility because firstly, businesses aren’t hiring and secondly, those that are tend to select from the myriad young unemployed fresh out of college and willing to work for much less. Thus, starting a small business can provide one of the only bright spots in an otherwise drab professional outlook for many. Yet, getting funding for any business right now is extremely difficult because the credit markets have tightened up so much and the underwriting has become another Spanish Inquisition. Here are 7 tips that can help in getting a small business (SBA) loan: 1) make sure to list how much money you want and exactly how you are going to spend it, 2) detail who the business’ management is and provide the management’s professional background, 3) you will likely have to offer personal collateral, 4) ensure that you have a decent credit report and history, 5) you must provide all tax returns and financial statements for at least the past 3 years, 6) be sure to list in detail your operating plan, and 7) expect to answer a lot of questions and also expect to wait. So if you need an SBA loan these are some of the most important aspects of the process and it all starts with a well-written business plan which will address all of these points except your personal credit history.
Tags: Auto, business plan, business plan help, credit report, Draft, older job searchers, operating plan, personal credit history, Sba loan, sba loan tips, small busines, small business, small business lending, small business loan, unemployment
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Application Letters & Personal Statements
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Getting into training programs, colleges and universities often requires application letters and personal statements as well as other statements. Furthermore, business plans, small business loans and grant applications for funding both businesses and academic research also require application letters and professional statements. For example, some colleges and universities require both application letters and personal statements as well as essay responses to set questions such as stating how one’s personal experiences relates to their chosen field of study or similar. These letters and personal statements are the first requirement just to be considered for acceptance into a training program, college or university and are necessary at all levels from certificate studies, to Bachelors programs to graduate degrees. We have a great deal of experience in writing personal statements and application letters and all we require is some basic information about you and our writers are able to incorporate this information into a concise, well-written letter, statement or application.
Tags: application letters, College, essay responses, information, professional statements, requirement, small business loans, study, University, writing personal statements
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No Jobs but Opportunity
Thursday, October 14th, 2010
Not quite but it really feels like it to many, many people. The global recession and the national recession in the US officially came to an end in June of 2009 but no-one would really seem to know it. While the stock market has recovered somewhat the average investor is largely staying away from the markets because they same stacked against the individual investor. Hence, the influence of phenomena such as the Flash Crash in which large, institutional investors can cause dramatics shifts in the markets with 1 or 2 large trades. Additionally, other research now reveals that some 85% of college graduates are actually moving back home—so called boomerang kids. Everyone knows about the 9.6 to 9.7% official unemployment rate which means that the real unemployment rate is substantially higher. And finally, housing, which typically leads economies out of recessions, is nowhere near reaching bottom as the ongoing foreclosure crisis keeps dragging the economy down. An estimate 10 to 12% of all homes are in some state of distress and recent data indicates that foreclosure auctions just hit a record high of 930,437 which is a 4% increase over the previous quarter. So what’s the point of all of this gloom and doom? The point is that now is a great time to start a business. Sure, obtaining a business loan is difficult and the Three FFF Bank (friends, family & fools) might be closed but it’s a great time to take a risk and put some savings into a small business and successful small businesses begin with a business plan. If you have a little more funding available you can have a custom written business plan completed for several hundred dollars which is always advised. However, if you are truly strapped for cash there are numerous pre-written business plans or business plan templates that can be had for $20 or $30 which cover the most common businesses such as coffee shops, drycleaners, ice cream parlors, restaurants and bars to taverns, among others. Remember out of great strife comes great opportunity so don’t let the economy get you down.
Tags: boomerang kids, business plan templates, economy, foreclosure auctions, Jobs, June, national recession, recession, unemployment, written business plan
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MBA Topics: Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and Small Businesses
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
Initial Public Offerings or IPOs are the often viewed as the ultimate indication that a small business has become successful. IPOs can be an important method for small businesses to make the transition to a large, growth oriented firm. This is because by going public and accepting outside investors, small businesses gain access to enormous sums of capital that is then re-invested into the firm. This capital can then be directed at exploring new markets, developing new products or services or at improving core infrastructure and developing human and intellectual capital. Recently, IPOs have begun to recover as a financing medium for small and large businesses alike after several years of difficult IPO markets. So, if the intent of a small business owner is to gain access to enough capital to fund growth and expansion then now is a good time to examine the public option. However, as any MBA student recognizes in undertaking IPO research and funding, going public also entails public scrutiny as well as a higher level of reporting and SEC oversight.
Tags: enormous sums, firm, indication, initial public offerings, IPO, ipo markets, ipo research, Offerings, small business owner, Topics
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Electronic Textbooks
Friday, September 17th, 2010
Students the world over have come to recognize that they have long been ripped off by the textbook publishing establishment to which the higher education system panders. Thus, the cost of college textbooks has increased geometrically compared to regular inflation and colleges and universities are partly to blame. Higher education institutions regularly require the “most recent” editions of textbooks that the publishing houses have simply reworked by changing the page count, adding some useless fluff, and perhaps re-organizing the chapters. Thus, every year or every couple of years students must continually purchase their textbooks new and some texts can cost over $200 or $300 each! It’s a rip-off—you known it, I know it, the colleges and universities know it and the publishing houses certainly know it. Add on to this the insult of constantly increasing college tuition and we all begin to understand that the higher education system in most developed markets is not about higher education but is about fleecing as many students as possible of their money. One new development that can ease the cost-burden of pursuing higher education is the current electronic textbook initiative that is expanding with the introduction of the iPad and other electronic readers. Electronic textbooks are quite promising not only because they are less expensive that regularly printed college textbooks but because they allow the integration and instant viewing of a multitude of different media such as hyperlinks to websites and other online data sources, video and sound files, and collaborative networks for students. Even more promising is that there are organizations and firms that are beginning to develop open source textbooks and electronic textbooks that are distributed online for free or for reasonable associated printing costs. Open source textbooks may not be fully developed at the moment but it is only a matter of time before they begin to challenge the publishing establishment and colleges and universities should begin to examine these alternatives for their students. Perhaps one of the most promising of all of these developing alternatives to the traditional textbook is business textbooks and other specialties being offered and developed by flatworld KNOWLEDGE. So, investigate these traditional textbook alternatives and complain to your colleges and universities about the high costs of textbooks and of higher education in general.
Tags: College, count, Electronic, electronic readers, electronic textbook, electronic textbooks, establishment, higher education system, increasing college, textbook
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College Algebra Requirements
Friday, September 10th, 2010
Over the past two decades most college and universities have begun to require basic college algebra in all of their degree programs regardless of whether mathematics is particularly relevant to the major. Previously, college algebra was only required for programs that were science, mathematics or professionally oriented. Thus, students majoring in such areas as English, Psychology, Sociology or similar were not required to take college algebra or any math course necessarily. This ongoing requirement for basic college algebra has been a curse for many students majoring in areas outside of the sciences where college math just is not a vital part of their studies. These are normally classes and courses such as Algebra 105, Math 105, or Math 1005, Math 1130 or Algebra 1005 or something like that. At any rate, for many years we have been helping all students from every major with their college essays and research papers but now we have begun to offer help with College Algebra which most other companies in our industry do not touch. This is just the help you need to get through that requirement for your degree so that you can move on to the real coursework in your major.
Tags: college algebra, college and universities, college math, math course, mathematics, Psychology, requirement, Requirements, science mathematics, Sociology
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Study Habits & Learning Styles
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
The importance of good study habits is well known. A recent article in the NYT just noted that many preconceptions about study habits are changing with the continued development of technology and how people are interacting with their environment. At a basic level, the article points out that one should change their study locations from time to time in order to break up the monotony of studying. Previously, many experts also liked to point out that people have different “learning styles” and that these learning styles predict and influence the way a particular individual learns. Newer research is now revealing this concept to be completely off the mark. That is, learning styles such as “visual learners” or being “left brained” or “right brained” are now being shown to be fairly inaccurate. Of course everyone does prefer learning in certain ways but this is just a preferential thing rather than something hard-wired into a person’s neurological system. Everyone has the capacity to learn visually or to learn textually or similar. In fact, this same research now shows us that people should actually practice learning through all methods as a means to stimulate their learning process overall and to reinforce their learning. This shift in how researchers are now viewing the learning process is probably due to the prevalence of technology such as iPods, iPads and iPhones as well as the Internet and the web in which everyone is now exposed to more visually oriented material. Essentially, these technologies are changing not only learning styles but also studying styles as well.
Tags: Development, different learning styles, good study habits, ipads, Learning, neurological system, research, study, technology, visual learners
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Apple iPad & Online Education
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
The Apple iPad is seen as being an extremely effective platform to integrate with online education technology platforms and Apple eve offers student pricing. The iPad itself is a lightweight, easily transportable and mobile computing platform with integrated 3G and Wi-Fi. This feature alone meshes well with the flexibility and 24 hour access to online educational platforms that online universities and colleges tout as a major advantage over more traditional educational options. Additionally, the iPad also doubles as an effective e-reader which means that electronic college textbooks and electronic university documents from online research databases can all be downloaded and viewed in a convenient and easy-on-the-eye format. Furthermore, the extensive apps (applications) that are available for both the iPad and the iPhone ensure that the iPad has the ability to extend its functionality far beyond a simple e-reader or learning platform. There are numerous educational apps available that ensures students or online learners are able to research, learn and increase their comprehension of the learning material in their courses such as dictionary apps, language apps, grammar apps, as well as mathematical apps with formulas and much, much more. The Apple iPad allows online learners to access all of their learning material anywhere, anytime and in a comfortable easy to read format. All the while being able to listen to music, stay connected on their social networking sites such as Facebook and Flipboard and a host of other rapidly developing solutions and applications.
Tags: apple ipad, eve, facebook, online, online research databases, platform, social networking sites, technology, technology platforms, Wi
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University of Phoenix Sucks Fraudulent
Monday, August 16th, 2010
The University of Phoenix has now taken to suing its former students for tuition it says is outstanding. Lest there are some that say these may be legitimate debts let me assure you they are not:
Fact 1: I enrolled in an online doctorate that had once a year residencies–I travel often. The enrollment counselor (salesman) assured me that I could reschedule these residencies if necessary as they were on fixed dates
Fact 2: After completing two courses I had to change the date of my 1st residency–oops–the academic counselor and the financial aid counselor said this was extremely difficult
Fact 3: They said I had to actually WITHDRAW from the program & then apply for reinstatement to the program & to financial aid since by doing so I would fall below the minimum credit hour requirements
Fact 4: Clearly, changing the residency in this program was not as easy as the University of Phoenix staff implied & I quit attending the course I was in (online) and the University of Phoenix withdrew me automatically.
Fact 5: Although the course had already been paid for & returning student loan money is not technically required by the Department of Education, the University of Phoenix returned the tuition money for a course that had already been paid for & has proceeded to sue me through its collections division for the $2000 in tuition it says I owe
Thanks University of Phoenix. Let me tell you, the University of Phoenix will tell you anything you want to hear to get you enrolled and to get your financial aid money. However, once you are in and if there is an issue or a complaint you are screwed. Virtually all the staff that you work with including staff such as Robert Infante and others, are rude, threatening, impolite (see the email from Robert Infante below) and generally only concerned about increasing the University’s revenues–this is, after all, a for profit institution meaning that its first concern is not the education it offers or the students but rather the shareholders.
So if you are considering the University of Phoenix please reconsider. There are numerous other reputable institutions that offer online courses and flexible on-ground programs that are both less expensive AND non-profit in character. The University of Phoenix has numerous complaints, lawsuits and legal issues that are currently underway and that it has settled in the past which are indicative of its business practices. In other words, if you go to the University of Phoenix you are essentially buying your degree. If you are ok with that that’s fine but if there is an issue or problem you will be sued that is certain.
Firstly, the University agrees to review your complaints through its Dispute Resolutions Board or Department which is hilarious in that the University of Phoenix actually investigates itself–no wonder it is prone to find in favor of itself then. Additionally, what major University operates its own in-house collections agency? Right, the University of Phoenix maintains its own in-house collections agency because this generates yet another revenue stream that widen its operating margins. It is a corporate entity rather than an academic one after all.
I have included all the emails of University of Phoenix staff that received my complaints although none of them have been helpful. However, if enough people contact these staff with their issues then maybe the University of Phoenix will decide to help its students and former students instead of suing and fraudulently luring them into a huge amount of financial aid debt:
To: “Robert Infante” <Robert.Infante@phoenix.edu>, “manny revera” <manny.revera@apollogrp.edu>
Cc: “bill pepicello” <bill.pepicello@apollogrp.edu>, “b pepicello” <b.pepicello@apollogrp.edu>, “bill pepicello”
<bill.pepicello@phoenix.edu>, “b pepicello” <b.pepicello@phoenix.edu>,michellec@aacrao.org, “goldie blumenstyk”
<goldie.blumenstyk@chronicle.com>, “alexander hapka” <alexander.hapka@phoenix.edu>,alumni@phoenix.edu, “robin fields”
<robin.fields@propublica.org>, “sara jones” <sara.jones@phoenix.edu>, “sara jones” <sara.jones@apollogrp.edu>, “s jones”
<s.jones@apollogrp.edu>, “robert moya” <robert.moya@phoenix.edu>, “robert moya” <robert.moya@apollogrp.edu>, “r moya”
<r.moya@phoenix.edu>, “r moya” <r.moya@apollogrp.edu>, “oig hotline” <oig.hotline@ed.gov>, balokolaro@hlcommission.org,
mgreen@hlcommission.org, fraudnet@gao.gov, editor@chronicle.com,sspangehl@hlcommission.org,
managing-editor@nytimes.com, “raquel sosa” <raquel.sosa@phoenix.edu>, “fred garcia” <fred.garcia@phoenix.edu>
Copy of threatening email sent to me by Robert Infante:
“It is my understanding that you are contacting University of Phoenix
staff and stating your continued disagreement with the university’s
findings about your grievance filed earlier this year and the balance
you accrued (I accrued nothing-it was paid for in advance by financial aid & I remained in the course long enough for the aid to not be returned) while in attendance.
You must immediately cease and desist with these communications or you
will be charged with violating the Student Code of Conduct (I’m not even a student anymore–what an idiot) for harassing
staff and failing to follow the directive that has been issued. If
necessary, we will also involve local law enforcement to address the
continued harassment (I emailed them copies of the complaints I filed with the Department of Education).
Sincerely,
Robert Infante
Robert Infante , Operational Development Manager
University of Phoenix | Office of Dispute Management
4615 East Elwood Street | AA-S401 | Phoenix , AZ 85040
phone: 602-557-3776 | fax: 623-444-1384 | email:
robert.infante@phoenix.edu
Tags: academic counselor, aid, apollogrp, bill, enrollment counselor, Fact, financial aid counselor, financial aid money, org, phoenix staff
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Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Friday, August 6th, 2010
Essays and term papers on sexual harassment in the workplace are often assigned during business related courses as a means to instruct students in areas such as human resources management or HRM, workplace policies and personnel management, among others. Sexual harassment in the workplace is a serious issue and has cost numerous executives and run of the mill employees their positions over the years. Additionally, sexual harassment has also cost many promising employees (mostly women but also some men) their opportunity to advance within a company and to put their talents and capabilities on display. The most recent example of the negative repercussions of sexual harassment in the workplace is a bombshell indeed. Mark Hurd, the savior of HP after Carleton Fiorina was fired as CEO of HP several years ago recently announced that he was resigning as CEO of HP. This just goes to show how irresponsible even the highest level executive can be and Hurd has now ruined a reputation and all the industry respect that he had garnered after stepping into HP’s leadership position and restoring that company’s core values which centered on its engineering, operations and technical innovation. Clearly, business schools and business education needs to do a better job of educating young professionals on just how destructive sexual harassment can be to an organization.
Tags: carleton fiorina, harassment in the workplace, HRM, human resources management, issue, mark hurd, means, Sexual, sexual harassment in the workplace, workplace
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