According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) an Estate Tax is a tax that is imposed on your right to transfer your property and belongings after your death. The individual who is in charge of handing and filing an Estate Tax return is often the estate representative. An estate representative can be an family attorney or a family member who was declared the executor of a state in a will. When dealing with an Estate Tax there are number of things that an individual or family must do when preparing to deal with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

There are certain restrictions for estates that are subject to the Estate Tax. Each year tax laws are updated or completely changed; therefore, estate representatives or family members are encouraged to review the new Estate Tax laws. At the current time the majority of estates are not subject to an Estate Tax if they are valued at less than one million fifty thousand dollars. The Estate Tax value is expected to increase up to two million dollars for the 2006 year. In addition to meeting a certain estate value, it is also likely that the majority of properties that are jointly owned will not be taxed if at least one property owner is still living.

An Estate Tax return is due to be submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) nine months after the estate owner passed away. As with regular tax returns it is possible for estate representatives or family members to obtain a deadline extension. If tax is owed on the estate it still needs to be paid before the nine months arrives even if an Estate Tax return deadline was granted. Not paying the estimated amount of estate taxes due can result in late fees or additional penalties.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will determine the amount of Estate Tax owed by taking the fair market value of all property items that were previously owned by the estate owner before he or she passed away. Fair market value takes into account when an item was purchased and exactly how much it is worth today. When all of these items are added up the total is referred to as the Gross Estate. As with traditional tax returns estate taxes are allowed tax credits and tax deductions. When all of these items are computed together the amount of tax owed will be determined.

When an Estate Tax return is being filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) there are a number of other important documents that must be sent along with the return. These items include a copy of a death certificate, copies of property appraisals, copies of litigation documents that may apply to the estate property, and a copy of the deceased’s will. As previously mentioned an Estate Tax return can be filed by a lawyer, an estate representative, or a family member. Individuals can acquire the Form 706: United States Estate (and Generation - Skipping Transfer) Tax Return by contacting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or by downloading the form online.

Only a small percentage of Americans are required to file for an Estate Tax return; however, that does not mean that taxpayers do not need to known and understand what an Estate Tax is. A taxpayer may not own a high valued property; however, that does not mean that they cannot inherit one or be named an estate representative by a friend or family member who has passed on.

Gray Rollins is a featured writer for EasyTaxSupport.com. Visit us to learn about lowering your taxes and tax tips

Surgery has been a popular means of treatment that people have turned to for combating the signs of aging. One simply has to think about the term celebrity and one of the things that immediately comes to mind is cosmetic surgery. As often revealed by magazines and newspapers, some procedures are more successful than others.

Skincare surgery procedures usually do not produce the desired results with a single surgical procedure. In addition, scarring is often the result, especially if the patient’s skin is not in a relatively healthy condition to begin with.

The power of laser technology is probably the next-best alternative to surgical procedures in correcting serious skin problems. Laser skin treatment works by applying the destructive force of the laser beam on the outer layers of the skin.

The most popular laser skin care treatments include laser hair removal, laser skin resurfacing, and laser scar removal. The benefits of these procedures are that they produce less bleeding, less bruising, and less post-surgery soreness than their surgical counterparts.

If you feel that your skin condition warrants this level of skin treatment, then it is wise to first do extensive research on the topic. Do not just rush to the nearest cosmetic surgeon and demand the procedure. It is very important that you fully understand what is involved, what to expect both before, during and after the treatment. You also need to understand the risks and potential for complications.

Laser skin resurfacing works by burning away the outer layers of the skin. The new outer layers of skin that the body produces consist of new cells that can provide you with a smoother and rejuvenated skin. The process of skin resurfacing yields longer lasing results compared to other alternatives of laser skin care.

There are side effects to laser skin resurfacing. It produces swelling, sun sensitivity, skin redness and lightening of the treated skin.

Laser scar removal treats all types of scars, such as scar tissue growth or tattoos, by reducing the appearance of these scars of up to 80 percent. Something to keep in mind is that the lighter your skin, the more successful a laser scar removal could be. The procedure tends to produce discoloration of darker pigmentation skin resulting in noticeable skin tone differences between the scar area and the surrounding skin tissue.

With laser hair removal the hairs are destroyed at the root level by the power of the laser beam. This procedure can be applied on any area of the body where you have unwanted hair. It generally provides lasting results that means you won’t need waxing, tweezing, shaving and other painful ways of getting rid of body hair.

Laser skin treatment procedures may be costly and produce temporary discomfort, but on the benefit level they produce lasting results and are far less invasive than traditional cosmetic surgery.

Stacey Landry contributes skin care advice to ReviewSkinHealth.com, a site dedicated to providing comprehensive skin treatment and antiaging guidance and advice

When you own an eBay store, you have the luxury of listing items in your store inventory that essentially do not expire like regular auctions. This feature opens the doors for you to carefully think about and design a process for promoting your items.

As with most things in life, there is an easy road and there is a tougher road that demands more work. The results that one gets are often direct in line with the effort one puts in.

eBay provides you with a cross-promotional tool, where you can present a buyer with similar or related items when they view an auction listing, and when they go through the checkout process.

The easy way out of using this feature is to simply let the system decide which auction listings to show to the buyer. That is probably also the least efficient way of using the cross-promotional tool. However, if most of your listings are regular time-limited auctions, then you do not have much choice other than using the auto selection feature.

A more efficient and effective way of using the tool is to promote your more expensive items when a buyer views an auction listing. This method is actually even more important for when the buyer is going through the checkout process. At checkout time you know that you have a paying buyer who is interested in the particular purchased item. Now is the time to use that knowledge and up-sell.

Often, your more expensive items are the ones that move much slower. That can be for a variety of reasons, such as buyers limiting their searches to specific dollar limits, buyer confidence in you as a seller, and buyer confidence in the broader eBay auction system.

Hence, you must use every sensible opportunity you get to promote your more expensive items.

To do this effectively, you must fully understand your products and how they relate to one another. In addition, you must understand your buyer.

You must know that if the buyer purchased your red $10 widget, then they are most likely to be interested in your related $120 widget because the red widget works with or enhances the performance of your more expensive widget.

In this scenario, you would list your red $10 widget as a regular eBay auction and list your related $120 widget as a store inventory item. Using the cross-promotional tool, you would then manually select the more expensive widget to be shown on in the cross-promotional tool, as well as other items that might relate to the red widget or the more expensive widget.

Cross-promotion can be very effective in generating more sales, but you cannot expect the optimal results if you choose to rely on automatic selection. Put in some thought and work, and you should see far better results.

Jason Griffith writes eBay Store reviews for BestAuctionStores.com, a site dedicated to providing eBay Buyers with the ability to review and rate eBay stores

Parrots can be potty trained if you are willing to perform some dedicated and consistent training. Seldom are parrot perfect about their potty training but with some work, you can get near-perfect results. In fact, you can usually obtain results so good that when the parrot does have an accident, it is because you failed to pay attention!

Parrot characteristics vary according to their various conditions. Wild parrots do not potty where they sleep or eat. They move to another spot. In case of caged parrots, an adult bird will usually move to a spot far from its food and sleeping perch to defecate. Birds can be trained to “go” in different places, but often the cage is the preferred location.

SunDance Trained Me

I must say that I did not invent this training technique. SunDance taught me how to train parrots this behavior. Whenever she would potty on a shirt, she would be taken back to her cage and told to “go home” while I changed shirts or cleaned up the mess. Often, I might get busy and not go back to get her immediately, so she was not happy with this situation. Soon, she began to say “go home” before she defecated, giving me time to take her to her cage, let her poop and take her back with me. She liked this much better! If I did not respond quickly, she would nip gently on my neck and repeat her command to me to take her home. After she told me the third time, she would simply let go. It was up to me and her other humans to respond to the command she gave us.

Potty Times

Parrots go potty at specific times that can be used to train them. First thing in the morning, they will potty. About 10 minutes after eating, they will potty. This is reliable and you can use these times to know when to give the command and expect results.

Other parrot characteristics include getting into a certain posture before pottying. They sort of squat down and spread their rump feathers so they do not get them dirty. You will learn to watch for this body language and use it as well during training.

Train Parrot

Choose a word for the action of defecation. “Go poop”, “go poo”, “potty please” or something similar works just fine. Use this word whenever you see your parrot potty.

First thing in the morning, after saying “good morning”, tell your parrot to go potty. Wait; it will happen very soon. Once it does, lavish praise on your parrot. Make a really big deal about what a great bird he or she is.

Watch for your parrot to finish eating breakfast and repeat the potty process. Also, watch for the potty body language and use the potty command and praise again.

In Closing

Some parrots learn this behavior quickly; others take some time to get the hang of it. But most parrots will get the idea in time and become reasonably consistent in avoiding messing up your clothes, sofa or carpet.

The key to training this behavior is consistency. After your parrot begins to let you know it needs to go potty, do not fail to respond. Stop what you are doing and take your bird to potty and praise it. If you sometimes ignore the need, you will not be nearly as successful as if you take the bird to potty promptly.

Nora Caterino helps parrot owners from over 14 different countries in taming and teaching parrots to TALK. If you want to learn more about her parrot training videos - to instantly solve annoying behaviour problems like biting, screaming, or feather plucking - then join the ‘Elite Parrots Club’ and get super coaching from the ‘Bird Lady’:

http://tinyurl.com/ywqsgh

Why is it that after years of studying something as a child, we forget later in life what we learned? Such is the common question of how to play piano despite years of lesson. Here i get you back to playing music even if you think you’ve lost it, and have begun to give up on how to play piano despite years of lesson.

First, realize that you have had lesson in piano, years of it perhaps, and that DOES count for a whole lot. How to play piano despite years of lesson entails mentally realizing that you really are only a step or two away from being able to play piano. The problem is that it seems like that first step is a big hurdle, and obviously a frustrating one having already had lesson, but unable to play.

Second: Start slow, do scales. Get the basic scales out and go through them. It took me actually having to number my keyboard at first, i had forgotten so much. From there i was able to translate the numbers to notes, and the scales began to get familiar. So often in trying to figure how to play piano despite years of lesson we don’t want to succumb back to the simple things. This scale practice is also preparation for the next step.

Third. Twinkle twinkle little star. That’s correct. I can’t think of a better way to get back in the game and figure how to play piano despite years of lesson than to go back to a simple melody or song and start playing it over and over. This connects everything - the notes, fingerings, melody and sound - all together as one, and the simplest route is by practicing a simple children’s song. Again the hardest part is going to mentally get over the hurdle of playing little kids songs when you “feel” as if you should be playing grander pieces. But if one wants to get to grander pieces and answer the question of how to play piano despite years of lesson, then one has to bite the bullet and get back to raw basics.

Finally, one should research new ways of learning to play piano! Since most people last took lessons years ago, they may not realize that new methods or techniques have come out that can cut to the chase much more clearly and quickly than before. From teachers to online courses, there are different outlets and methods to now explore while realizing how to play piano despite years of lesson is definitely an achievable goal!

Quick and Easy Piano learning methods do now exist. Check out http://www.squidoo.com/easy-piano-play/ for Chess’s blog to further find out how to play piano despite years of lesson. Thanks so much for reading and feel free to check out http://www.squidoo.com/easy-piano-play/ Thanks!

As a business owner, you’re no longer sitting in your too-small cubicle waiting to be called to HR for yet another downsizing in yet another company. No more being told when you can take lunch, make a personal call or, heavens forbid, go to the bathroom.

Owning your own business comes with lots of perks. One of them that is frequently overlooked however is that you now have the ability to fire a client.

Stop and think about that for a moment. As a business owner, you don’t need to take on every client that comes along and can *fire a client* if you want or need to. Isn’t that liberating?

“I need all the clients I can get. Why would I ever want to fire one?” you ask.

In order to make your business as profitable as possible, you need to ensure that your client relationships are win-win for both you and the client. There are several reasons why you may want, or need, to fire one of your clients. Here are the top three scenarios in which you may want to consider firing a client:

1. They don’t pay you on time.

If you have a client who consistently can’t, or won’t, pay you on time, you may want to consider firing him.

You are in business to make money, to provide for your family, to fulfill a need and be paid for your time in doing so. You are not in business to spend your time providing services for another company for free.

If they are having a tough time *right now* and you want to hang in there with them, be sure that it is worth your time and effort and that *right now* doesn’t turn into months. Remember that you only have so many hours in the day to work on your business, use them wisely!

2. You cringe when the phone rings.

Some clients can just rub you the wrong way — often. These are the clients that, no matter what, drain you of your positive energy.

If you find you’re cringing when that certain client calls, if he always wants something for nothing, or if his ethics aren’t up to your standards, it may be time to part ways.

3. You are ready to move up.

Have a client who refuses to pay you what you’re worth while others are waiting in the wings?

If so, let him go and hire clients who are ready AND willing to pay you what you’re worth! I had a client back in the day who actually told me I should be happy he was paying me a small amount as he could give me *more* work that way.

Want to guess how long he lasted?

You want to work only with clients who appreciate you and know your worth.

You get the idea. Now that you are a business owner, remember that it goes both ways - not only does the client interview and hire you, but you also interview and hire him!

You can more efficiently manage your profits this year by spending the time to take a good look at your business and your clients and letting go of those who no longer fit.

Online Business Manager & Entrepreneur, Sandra Martini teaches small business owners how to create more success in their business while maintaining their sanity and having fun. Sandra’s coaching programs are available via teleconferencing, emails and telephone calls. For more information and to receive the FREE special report, “7 Wealth-Building Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs”, go to http://www.Online-Biz-Coach.com

If you’re a virtual assistant looking to grow your business, visit http://www.vaguidetomoney.com today.

Investors typically are only willing to spend about five minutes to determine whether or not they should look more deeply at a project and spend time and resources on it. Consequently, over the years they have developed a reliance on a series of clues to help them make that determination. These clues are based upon how the business plan is presented, formatted, and prepared … visual clues that they can see before they actually read the document.

Initial Impressions

Let’s suppose that you send your business plan along with a cover letter that asks the potential investor to return the business plan in the prepaid envelope should he or she not be interested in the project. This assumes the investor is going to read the plan and make a determination. This assumption is wrong!

Instead, what you have told the investor is that you are financially strapped and are desperate for money. This relegates your project to the lowest level of where entrepreneurs are unlikely to be able to make the project work, and they quickly lose interest. Typically, they will not send the plan back, even if you provide the return envelope with postage affixed. They simply toss the business plan in the trash without ever opening it, let alone reading it.

At the opposite extreme, investors often receive business plans that are expensively bound, sometimes even in leather. This indicates to the investor that the entrepreneur is wasteful and would therefore waste the investor’s money. Again, the plan gets tossed in the trash without even looking at the project.

One investor even used the term “amateur hour” to describe those entrepreneurs who make the above errors in judgment. The investors understand that they may be losing out on a good project. However, they received so many projects that they are in a position to cherry pick only the best plans.

Going A Little Deeper

One of the other external clues that they use is the Executive Summary. If the plan does not have an Executive Summary, or if it is longer than three pages, or if it does not appear to address the required topics, again they simply toss the plan. Remember, I said that investors typically only have about five minutes to make a decision of whether or not to look at a plan more deeply. They know that it will normally take them longer than five minutes to read more than three pages, which is more than they are willing to invest in any project at this point.

Those are the primary clues that are external to the plan. But now they will look at the plan itself for additional clues. Mind you, they typically still have not read the Executive Summary. They are still looking for visual clues.

Internal Clues

Looking at the plan itself they start from the back, not the front. After all, an investor is interested primarily in projects that make them money. They are not as concerned about the product itself as they are about what kind of return is projected on their money. So they began by looking for the financials and see how well the entrepreneur presents a financial picture of the project. They are primarily looking for details, not summaries. If it looks like, as is typically the case, there are only a few pages in the document that show summary finances while the vast majority of the document deals with the product, they will toss the project.

They will also take a cursory look at how all the documentation is organized. Is there a reasonable amount of white space on the pages? Is its heading structure consistent? Does the document seem to be well formatted? Is there a well-structured table of contents? Does there appear to be a well-structured flow of information?

The Executive Summary

If the plan passes these tests the investors will typically read the executive summary to determine whether or not this is the kind of a project they are interested in. They always still have their radar up looking for other clues such as spelling, grammar, paragraph length, use of jargon, etc.

It is because of these concerns, that we coined the phrase, “success is the byproduct of the elimination of failure.” If we eliminate all the things, or as many as possible, that investors use to decide not to read a plan, then they will read the plan. This will also place the plan within the top few percent of those they receive.

© Copyright 2007, Leonard M. Stillman Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Len Stillman is the owner of Business Plan Tools, LLC and the Thrifty Shoppers Club. He has served entrepreneurs, banks, and investors for over 35 years. You are invited to learn more about the information in this article by visiting http://www.businessplantools.com.

Velvet Lodge Kota Kinabalu

Ultra hip and modern, Velvet Lodge is Kota Kinabalu’s newest boutique backpacker accommodation. A market leader in comfortability, convenience and award winning design…Velvet Lodge is clearly in a league of its own.

Velvet Lodge is conveniently located within KK’s city center - truly your home away from home with everything you may ever need within easy reach. Velvet Lodge boasts 5 exclusive dormitory rooms in total (2 air conditioned, 3 fan operated) with a capacity of 4 guests per room. Every care has been taken to ensure the lodge offers everything guests could need to compliment their stay in Kota Kinabalu. Each of the 5 guest rooms are furnished with orthopedic spring mattresses with 100% super soft cotton linen, ultra cool cement screeded floors and striking purple sandblasted feature walls.

Guest facilities include cozy guest lounge, complimentary wireless Internet (WiFi), continental breakfast and spacious common bathrooms that are also tastefully designed. In addition, guests may opt to dine at Velvet Lounge which is oh so conveniently located on the 1st floor. Whether it be for a scrumptious meal, to kick back and relax or a party experience like none other… Velvet Lounge is guaranteed to surpass all expectation.

● Check out the rooms in our Gallery section.

● Compare the competitive prices for our boutique lodge.

Velvet Lounge

Velvet Lounge is Bandaran Berjaya’s resident entertainment joint. Covering an area of 2300 square feet, this intimate sized venue is set apart by its design - a love letter to hubby and wife owners’ eclectic Australian-SE Asian background. Cozy and personal, adorned with trendy designer wicker furnishings, latest cocktails and celeb-chef styled foods to tease the palate…Velvet Lounge draws its crowd like moths to a flame.

Open 7 days a week, Velvet Lounge is the place to kick-back and draw in the sights and sounds of an evolving metropolis. Its interior of understated elegance speak volumes - super soft velvet cushions on wicker sofa frames, delicately hand-laid sandstone on bar counters and signature walls, thus expressing the power of nature and exuding class - perfect for all the moods in between.

Taste calibrating spot…a sanctuary from the typical…Velvet Lounge - a rite-of-passage to a more evolved party experience.

As featured in: www.velvet.com.my

And conversely, do bad things happen to bad people? To answer that question, we must create a definition of good and bad. The dictionary is too simplistic. So, what is a good person like? Do they love kids, dogs, mom, and apple pie? Do they obey the traffic laws and never fudge on their taxes? How about going to church regularly, loving their fellow man and living by the golden rule? Can a criminal or child molester ever be a good person? I doubt it. But they can reform or begin again. So I suppose they can they live half a life as a good individual.

Are babies basically good and pure and then get corrupted by society as they age? Do we inherit bad ways from our parent’s genetics or behavior? When we continually see our dad beating our mom, are we more likely to grow up as a wife-beater or do we end up feeling sorry for our mom and vow not to go down the same path? Let’s agree on one thing. A good person is someone who tries to do the right thing, whenever possible. They help people in need and give of themselves in time and money as they see fit. They try to be good fathers, mothers, or sons and daughters. They make good employees or bosses because they see the value of helping the business. The same is true for the family.

Good people want the family members to succeed, so they offer their own input or aid whenever they are called upon to do so. Or they volunteer to host family events, organize gatherings, participate in school and sports events with the kids and generally behave as interested parents. Bad people would be the opposite. Uninvolved or very self-involved, selfish, greedy, envious, stingy of time and money and relatively unpleasant to be around.

So, with that definition behind us, how can we justify when a bad person wins the lottery or gets away with a crime? In the short term, it appears that they have beaten the system. But, in the long run, because of their poor habits and lousy choices, they will squander the money and waste the opportunity to reform. They will fail because they are not designed to succeed. Society will prevail and they will eventually fall back on hard times and revert to their evil ways. Conversely, if something befalls a good person, there are many ways that they will overcome the problem.

To begin with, they more than likely have a support group or friends and family that will step up and help them in times of strife. Their good deeds will reap rewards from those same people that will provide financial and moral aid as needed. Also, these good people will find a gold nugget of positivity in the more dire of situations because of their optimistic nature. Life has been good to them and they bask in that glory. The bad people are always looking for the other shoe to drop and the consequences that accompany even the best of results.

In summary, good people tend to attract better outcomes from whatever they attempt. Bad people ultimately will get what is coming to them as a consequence of their poor conduct. That’s the balance of power in life and in nature. The strong survive and the weak fall by the wayside. Thank goodness that those of you who chose to read this, are in the good category and will gain positive something from this article. If you happen to be from the other group, I can hear you griping already about this waste of your precious time.

Jeffrey Hauser was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years.
He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master’s Degree in teaching. He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and design firm, ABC Advertising. He has authored 6 books and a novel, “Pursuit of the
Phoenix.” His latest book is, “Inside the Yellow Pages” which can be seen at his website, http://www.poweradbook.com Currently, he is the Marketing Director for http://www.thenurseschoice.com a Health Information and Doctor Referral site.

How to Talk About Your Studio’s Services in a Way That Will Grab Someone’s Interest

Imagine you’re at a friend’s party. You’re introduced to someone new, and she asks, “So, what do you do?” You explain you own a yoga studio and teach Hatha yoga, including advanced classes and private sessions, perhaps you mention where you studied and how you’re planning to go to an intensive yoga workshop this summer. After a few minutes she smiles politely and says “Oh, that’s interesting…” and either shifts the conversation elsewhere or excuses herself.

Perhaps you dismiss it as her being disinterested in what you do. Later on, your friend (the one who introduced you to this woman) mentions that the woman you spoke with had chronic back pain. Why didn’t she say anything about it? Why didn’t she seem interested in yoga?

This woman could have been a potential student and perhaps an ongoing client for private sessions. Unfortunately, you not only lost out on potential business, but she missed an opportunity to ease her back pain. If she tried yoga, and her pain was reduced or eliminated, she might have been your best source of referrals (”Remember I used to have that awful back pain, but since I started doing yoga, it’s gone!”) We often look for win-win situations, but this was a lose-lose disaster. You didn’t get a student and she still has back pain. So, what went wrong and how could it be done better?

First impressions are always a learning experience about each person from both sides. However, we don’t ask what we really want to know, instead we ask other questions we think will bring the desired answers.

One key question we use is “So, what do you do?” This is really asking, “What can you do for me?” However, giving a face value answer is a big mistake because what people ask and what they really want to know are two very different things. If you answer the question they ask, they don’t get the answers they want. For example, if the person says, “I am a filesystems quality engineer for Apple,” this translates ok now I have your label, but I don’t know what that means to me.

At face value we don’t communicate much real value because the person you meet may not understand what you do or how it benefits them. One of the greatest perplexities in talking about, and marketing, professional services is we tend to answer questions about our services at face value.

You should never miss an opportunity to connect with a potential student or client again. Next time give an answer that will leave them feeling like “I want that!” This answer is sometimes called a “Tag line.” How do we create a compelling tag line? First, a couple of guidelines:

• When you first start answering these questions, you usually have 15 seconds to catch someone’s interest before their eyes glaze over and they start wondering about what’s for dinner.
• After you say your brief piece, listen! Their story is just as important as yours.

The key is to identify yourself and then target your specific audience.

1. “I’m a mechanic. I fix Volvo’s that have troublesome engines and transmissions.”

2. “I’m an accountant. I help small business owners with little tax experience easily make it through an IRS audit.”

3. “I am a yoga studio owner. I work with people who suffer from chronic physical pain to eliminate the pain and resume the active lifestyle they used to have.”

These answers are much more compelling than,”I own a yoga studio. We teach Hatha yoga, including advanced classes and private sessions.” Now the person you’re talking to may not suffer from chronic physical pain, but if they do (or know someone who does), you’ve made a lasting impression with your answer.

Here’s is the formula:

1. First, start with a short “I am _______.” statement. (”I am a yoga studio owner.”)

2. Next, “I [insert a positive adjective (help, fix, teach, support, etc.)] followed by who you wish to appeal to (”I help people who suffer from chronic physical pain”)

3. After that, describe what you will do for the problem or challenge (”to eliminate the pain”)

4. Finally, you can optionally add a positive outcome (”and resume the active lifestyle they used to have.”)

Yes, I know it starts by focusing on a problem or trouble people have instead of just extolling the virtues of yoga. Most people will take action to eliminate a problem they have or to relieve pain, but are less likely to do something good for themselves.

Once they experience it, they’ll be hooked! How would the studio owner in the beginning of this article feel if two years later the woman with back pain came in, still suffering, and within a few months of yoga, the pain was virtually gone? Because the studio owner didn’t know how to effectively share how she could help, this woman spent two years unnecessarily suffering. Remember, you’re helping people - this is what it’s all about.

Tag lines are not just for the studio owner either. Once you refine it on your own, share it with your teachers and staff. Have them improve your ability to help people (and get students) by describing themselves in a similarly compelling way. It also helps them learn more about your target customers.

Wouldn’t it be great if it got easier after the tagline? Well, it doesn’t because will continue to speak in this code.

The second key question is, “That’s great, how do you do that?” But don’t use a face value answer again. Translate the question as follows: “What kind of results do you produce for your clients?” Then answer like this:

“The clients who work with me get these results: They alleviate their pain through a gentle yoga routine by six months and begin to live an active and healthy lifestyle again.”

Successful results are a language that everybody understands. This kind of marketing language gets attention and interest from potential clients. You’re going to get more coded questions:

The third key question is, “That’s terrific. But how does your service work?” The vast majority tends to answer this difficult question in one of two directions:

• They go into “tech-talk” that explains their approach or process in excruciating detail. Tech-talk can be confusing to the average person: “The sub-optimal performance horizon undermines the maximization of variable input factors in the productivity matrix.” Huh??
• Or they use generic terms to explain their service that loses the needed impact. “Well, we’re all about productivity, and commitment. When we get those things going, our results improve pretty fast.” Well, Duh!

Nobody really wants to know how your service works. The hidden question behind the question is: “Do your services actually work?” Answer with something they can understand.

• Tell a story. Success stories that outline how you helped a specific client will get listeners hanging on to your every word:
• “We met a very distraught woman who suffered from chronic back pain for years and who was unable to go to work since it affected her so much. We created a gentle routine for her body to ease into and to help her build strength, release muscle tension, and improve flexibility, bringing her body back into balance, thereby alleviating her pain. Nine months later she was able to go back to work, play with her kids, and actually go shopping for hours again.”

If your studio does really alleviate chronic back pain then it isn’t that hard to come up with a few student success stories, because they create a powerful persuasion tool for gaining the interest of potential students.

Remember, most students/clients have chosen to spend just a few hours per week on yoga where you have devoted your life to it - it may mean something entirely different to them than it does to you. Learn what it is all about in their lives, and you will be able to serve more people (not to mention create even better tag lines). You may be amazed at the new students you gain and the results you achieve.

Coach Al Lipper

Business Coach for Yoga Studios
Destiny: Success
Website: http://www.CenteredBusiness.com
Email: coach@centeredbusiness.com
Telephone: (805) 544-3938

Coach Al Lipper of ‘Destiny: Success’ helps Yoga studio business owners smoothly run and expand their yoga studio business. He helps stressed and overwhelmed yoga studio business owners who spend most their time wrapped up in daily business tasks, who can’t handle any more clients, or who can’t make any more money out of the yoga studio.

Coach Al helps clients find new yoga business strategies which result in generating more clients, increased profits, and more free time for the business owner. The amount invested was small compared to the results. Contact him today to discuss your yoga studio challenges at (805) 544-3938 or visit http://www.CenteredBusiness.com