Tony Brewer

When we dropped in to see David, he was in the middle of a business call with his partner Jeff. They were talking about trying a pay-per-click service to drive more traffic to their website. I’ve never had any experience with that part of the Internet before, so I sat down and quietly listened; I found the conversation very informative. Apparently there are a lot of companies that sell pay-per-click services. Jeff was talking about one in particular, called bizzclick. While David and Jeff were talking, David pulled up the Home page to check them out.

David and Jeff agreed to do a little bit more research on the company, and David said he would go ahead and explore the advertiser to see what information he could gather. I made a mental note to send an email to Judy about the company to suggest that she check out their publisher page; Judy’s been talking about trying to find ways to monetize her blog and I told her that I’d help her out if I could.

Thanks to Lemuel Craft

Last month my boss announced to the office that we would all be getting a 10% pay cut across the board. I was already stretched to the limit financially, so I had to find a way to cut my costs. I am grateful that I still have a job, but I knew I was in trouble. I don’t make very much as it is, and every month I get deeper and deeper into credit card debt. My worst fear was that I would fall behind on bills and have to move back in with my mom and dad. I’ve been out on my own for over ten years now, so that would be a tough pill to swallow. The good thing is that cutting 10% wouldn’t be that difficult. I figured that I could do that by not eating out so many times each week and looking into my clear bundle pricing. Hopefully with these small changes I can make things work. I guess I’m just going to have to be more conscious of my spending if I don’t want to have to go back and live with mom and dad.

The process of selling and buying a business can be really complicated. I remember when my in-laws decided to sell their business and retire. It was so very hard for them to even make the decision to step down from the business – the store had been their life for almost 30 years. My my father-in-law’s health was the deciding factor. They listed it with a business broker and after 10 very long and hard months, they got an offer on the business and were able to sell it.

There are other business sales and major events, such as buying or selling a franchise or taking a new business public. I’m not sure which of the three is the toughest, but I have a feeling that going public is much more complicated because you have to deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

There is a professional VDR solution for IPO process that helps keep all the parties involved on track and organized. I can just imagine the nightmare of keeping the latest copies of all the reports and audits necessary for the audits, reviews and due diligence process.

As complicated as an IPO or business sale can be, imagine if the potential buyer or lender is not America. My in-laws sold their business to a middle aged couple from Mexico. The letter of intent and purchase contract had to be sent to their attorneys in Mexico City, so all the documents had to be written in both English and Spanish. Thankfully, there are places like the  Merrill Brink translation services to handle that need.

Another issue that might require a technical translation services provider would be if your company shut down it’s U.S. operations and moved to another country, like so many manufacturing companies have been doing since the NAFTA Agreement was signed. Just think of all the documents that would have to be translated to be able to staff up and begun plant operations across the border.

I was reading an article on the Time.com website about how a lot of companies are participating in what is termed “Greenwashing.”  I had never heard of the term “Greenwashing” before, so I was curious and read the article.  It seems that “Greenwashing” is the term used to describe the action of promoting a product or service claiming that it is better for the environment than it really is.  The article included links to other articles that showed instances and examples of greenwashing by real companies.  I found the article to be informative, and have bookmarked the links for future reference.  It is disappointing to see how many companies are so shameless in their false promotions!

For years I have satisfied my dreams of investing in my own education. A wise person once said that an education is one investment that can not be taken from you. A majority of my education the past few years has been from books, online materials and seminars. You don’t get college credits by reading books, but the knowledge gained can be more powerful than some of the courses you do get credit for.

The biggest cost for me is time, the time spent learning could be spent working and earning money, it could also be spent with the family, or relaxing, all valuable things to do in life, so the vast amount of time I spend at conferences and seminars costs much more than the admission fee. The time I spend reading forums and online manuals could be spent doing other things to earn money.

With so much out there that I want to learn, and with so many opportunities to earn, it’s tough to decide sometimes where to invest the time.

Of course education is my favorite investment with time or money.