If you find yourself in the market for a cell phone, but don’t want to end up locked into a long-term contract — or if you find obtaining a cell phone difficult because of poor credit history or financial limitations — you may want to consider a prepaid cell phone plan. Inexpensive and convenient, prepaid plans offer low-cost cell phone service without many of the complications of more traditional service plans.

Advantages

The chief advantage to a prepaid cell phone plan is the general lack of obligation. Prepaid plans require no credit check and no long-term contract — so you only pay for your cell phone service for as long as you need it. There are also generally no deposits or termination fees, and fewer of the hidden expenses that can sometimes crop up with other plans. The cell phones that come with prepaid plans also tend to be very affordable, although they may not be as feature-rich as some of the more upscale phones.

The other big advantage is the low cost — especially if you don’t plan to use your phone a great deal. With a prepaid plan, there’s no monthly bill — prepaid plans generally operate by a system of “credits,” wherein call minutes are paid for up front, instead of a monthly fee for a certain amount of minutes. Credits can be replenished at your leisure, often simply by calling your cell phone carrier or visiting a local dealer.

Drawbacks

Unfortunately, while href="http://www.wirefly.com/plans/prepaid/ ">prepaid plans leave a cell phone user joyfully free of most of the complications of an individual plan, all is not wine and roses just yet. There are a few limitations to this type of plan that you should probably be aware of.

While prepaid cell phone plans have no monthly bill, you will still want to keep track of the credits in your phone. As anyone who’s come face-to-face with overages can tell you, cell phone minutes can sometimes sneak up on you, even if you were only planning to use your phone “for emergencies.” The last thing you’ll probably want is to actually have an emergency, only to find out your phone has no credits left. In addition, some plans require credits to be replenished occasionally in order for the service to remain active — you may want to compare cell phone plans before picking one. Stay aware of how many credits you have left on your phone, and top them off if you need to.

The other drawback to a prepaid plan is the built-in expiry date. Many prepaid plans simply terminate service once the expiry date has passed — which isn’t necessarily a drawback by itself, but could be rather inconvenient if you weren’t expecting it. If you decide to go with a prepaid plan, simply be aware of its expiry date, as well as any hidden charges or restrictions that may apply to you, and you shouldn’t have a problem.

href="http://www.wirefly.com/plans/prepaid/ ">Prepaid cell phone plans can be a great convenience if you’re traveling, need an emergency phone, or just want to simplify your life.

Daniel Swensen is a freelance writer who covers websites like href="http://www.wirefly.com">Wirefly.

There are a lot of people that would like to make money on the Internet but are concerned that they are just going to get taken for a ride. I know for a fact that there are a lot of people that pass through my websites every day that want to make money doing things like reading email or filling out online surveys but they are not sure if that is really possible. I’m here to tell you that, not only is it possible, but there are some people that are doing it online and making some really great extra money.

The first thing that I should tell you is that if you think that you are going to go online and fill out some surveys and make thousands of dollars then you have set your sights too high. You can make some money, and if you really are willing to work at it you can make some decent money, but the truth of the matter is that you will not get rich doing it. The good news is that if you do some of the surveys, and follow the systems that I know about you can make some good extra cash if you are really diligent about it. The secret lies in not only being in with the right company, but being part of several companies that will reward you with on time payments for filling out surveys and taking part in their online programs.

The first step in making that extra money is to sign up with the right services. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you are going to make enough money to quit your full time job that is really just a dream for now. But if you join the right programs and are willing to work them then you might just find that you have some great extra money in your pocket, and we can all use that.

Tim spends his time finding unique ways for people to profit from the Internet and is following a life long dream of being an author.

Download my Special Free Report ** The top 7 Quick Surveys that Actually Pay Cash **
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A great idea for a church fundraiser is putting together an annual ‘Church Feastival’ where good food, carnival games, auctions, and family fun combine for a wonderful fundraising event. The idea is to attract a broad spectrum of the local population to your fundraiser by having something for everybody.

The benefit to the church is that many newcomers will form a very positive impression of your ministry and facilities that will in time translate into a larger congregation. And of course, there’s all the wonderful things you can do with all the funds raised by your ‘Feastival.’

Getting started
You’ll need to arrange for carnival games, inflatable amusements, plenty of good food, live music, tickets, and all the other seemingly endless tasks any large fundraising event requires. Always divide and conquer - split up all the major tasks among your organizing committee and don’t overload any one person.

Approach local businesses and prominent congregation members for help with signature food items such as barbecue, fish fry, corn on the cob, regional specialties like oysters or Cajun shrimp, etc. Getting these items donated instead of purchased adds tremendously to the bottom line.

For live music, work with a booking agent who can line up the right talent for a church fundraiser crowd. You want quality entertainment that won’t offend while still encouraging young and old to join in the fun.

Fundraising tips
There are lots of ways to raise funds with a big event. You can include additional fundraising activities like a bake sale, a cake walk, face painting, craft sales, and various carnival games.

Auctions can raise incredible amounts if you have desirable goods and services for sale. Group together related smaller items into larger gift baskets and offer those through silent auction bids.

Do all that you can to make it easy to bid. Tape down bid sheets, pens, and descriptions next to each auction item. Make sure the descriptions are typed in large fonts so no one has to pull out their reading glasses to bid.

For large dollar value items, use a live auction format and a professional auctioneer when appropriate. People will donate unusual and valuable items for a good cause, so put the word out well ahead of time to friends and local businesses about your auction fundraiser.

Publicity tips
To draw a big crowd, you have to get the word out about what a great event your ‘Feastival’ will be. Use your newsletter and email lists to send reminders to mark the day and create a sense of anticipation well ahead of the event.

You can also use flyers, roadside signs, posters and other traditional methods of attracting attention. Placing carnival rides where they can be seen by passing traffic is another good way to create interest.

Most importantly, put together a press release and distribute it to all the newspapers, TV and radio stations in your market. Make sure you put the most newsworthy aspect of your fundraiser in the summary paragraph up top. Include pictures for use by newspapers and offer live broadcast spots to radio stations.

Church fundraiser wrap-up
Make your ‘Church Feastival’ an annual event by creating the most fun, family-oriented day of entertainment possible. Publicize your event well ahead of time and also put the word out about how to donate goods and services.

Contract for carnival rides and inflatable rentals like a Moonwalk or jump house. Arrange for great live entertainment and large quantities of excellent food. Saturday or Sunday afternoons work best and remember to allow plenty of space for people to just spread out and enjoy everything.

Make your ‘Feastival’ your best church fundraiser ever!

Kimberly Reynolds writes for national publications on fund raising topics such as school fundraising, having your own

church fundraiser feastival and other church fundraising events.

Find more church fund raisers on her website, FundraiserHelp.com

Every accounting system measures cash, deferrals and accruals according to Generally Accepted Accounting Standards. Every accounting system outputs various statements and reports that show the financial health of the company at a point in time. Law, investors and common sense usually require this. But does your accounting system give you the kind of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that you need to insure your business is one to take pride in?

KPIs - A BEGINNER’S LIST

Do you have a KPI list? Every business is different and therefore, different KPIs are important to each. In choosing the KPIs you want to monitor, cast a wide net. Choose all that you think may be appropriate. Eventually, as you gain experience monitoring them and seeing how each relates to your overall business picture, you may weed some out as not relevant.

Here are some monthly KPIs every small business should consider monitoring:

- Count and approximate amount of leads - Count and amount of sales - Profitability per product - Number of telephone sales made - Marketing expenses - Count and amount of outstanding opportunities - Referrals gained - Testimonials received - Number of sales calls per sales rep - Customer complaints - Standard cash flow report - Debtors’ report - Creditors’ report

These items are then distributed to key personnel for evaluation. Management gets together monthly to discuss them and brainstorm on ways to improve their numbers. They note any standard symptoms that lead to lack of business success and take measures to correct them and avoid them in the future. The following are some common symptoms ones to watch out for through the use of your KPIs.

PROBLEMS TO BE AVOIDED WITH GOOD KPIs

Less than 10% of opportunities are converted to sales. Do you have leads that are not followed up on, or worse yet, not followed up on adequately? Depending on the source, a lead can be one of your best opportunities for a sale. Study your leads before they are contacted. What are they looking for? Let that guide your initial discussions with them.

You have a product that has been loosing money consistently. Surprisingly, this is a common problem. When companies don’t look at products individually in terms of their costs vs. their revenues, they are doing themselves a big disservice. In fact, you can have a product that makes you more revenue than any other product, but if you’re spending more to make and market it than your receive in sales, it’s still best to ditch it, or at least find a way to reduce costs. You can’t make these determinations without good product profitability reports.

The sale team is not following your defined sales processes. This could have a number of consequences, not the least of which is that you can’t count on your accounting and management reports to accurately reflect what is actually happening in the company. You must always know what your sales team is doing and how they are doing it. Remember that they represent you. For legal and financial purposes, they ARE you!

Communications failures between individuals and departments are frequent. This can result in lost income and/or increased costs; neither of which should be tolerated. Don’t let your business fail because one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.

There is no consistent pricing being used. This must be standardized, usually as a legal requirement. It is illegal to discriminate by giving one customer a better price than another for substantially the same product or service.

Customer complaints are on the rise, always a significant indicator that something in your organization has gone awry. Do the complaints indicate a problem in a pinpointed area of the sales or receivables cycle? Pin it down, analyze it and correct the process to prevent future recurrences.

There is no process to evaluate customer satisfaction. If you don’t know what your customers think of you, find out! There are many ways to do this. You should have some type of regular communication with them. Try a newsletter which encourages customer comments. Or perhaps you could send out a survey periodically to gauge their satisfaction.

There is no process to gather customer referrals. If your customers are very happy, encourage them to spread the word. Your best customers’ recommendations are another excellent source for new leads. Ask them to recommend you. It couldn’t hurt!

SUMMARY

It is the responsibility of every business owner to ensure the business is performing efficiently and especially, profitably! Key Performance Indicators can be a big help in this duty and can usually be integrated into a good accounting system to produce necessary management reports on a monthly or faster basis.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Accounting

There aren’t many things that I enjoy as much as that first cup of coffee in the morning. It’s simply great to be able to wake up to the smell of coffee brewing and to hover over that first steaming cup and let the scent slowly open your eyes for you. It’s like heaven on earth, and there aren’t really many words that can describe it. If you feel similar to that wake up cup of coffee as I do then you will love what I am about to tell you. Because every month I get great coffee delivered right to my door. It not only keeps me in full supply of coffee, but when I have extra it’s a great thing that I give to friends and family that share my love of coffee.

Many people buy their coffee grounds at the grocery store, and for years I did the same thing. But when you get the taste of some really great coffee and then you realize that the coffee that you have been waking up to in the mornings is less than appealing in comparison you start to wonder how you can fix that situation. I have been getting coffee from Belmondo for a while and all I can say is that I love the taste. The secret is really in how they prepare the beans, and how the roast them. They know their stuff when it comes to choosing the proper beans and then preparing them right. Of course you need the proper brewing equipment to have a superior cup of coffee.

Tim is an avid coffee lover and enjoys a great cup of java while writing articles

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Once you’ve made the leap into purchasing a cell phone, the question becomes, what plan to go for? Many carriers have a bewildering array of plans available, making the choice difficult. Pickling the right plan can be a bewildering experience, unless you know precisely what you need and what you’re looking for. Here are a few pointers to get you started.

Prepaid Plans

If you’re a very casual user who doesn’t anticipate spending a lot of time on your cell phone, a prepaid plan might be a viable option for you. Also known as “pay as you go” plans, prepaid plans often feature a very basic entry-level phone and no service contract, allowing you to pay for your minutes up front.

While it’s nice to have a cell phone plan that you’re not locked into, prepaid plans are not for everyone. Many plans require you to periodically “recharge” the phone’s minutes in order to keep them from expiring, possibly resulting in a needless expense. This varies by plan, so it will probably pay to do a little research in this area.

Also, the more you use a prepaid phone, the more the value diminishes in terms of cents-per-minute. If you find yourself using your cell phone for anything but emergencies, you may be better off just biting the bullet and upgrading to an individual plan .

Individual Plans

Individual plans vary wildly by carrier, but a few issues are generally key: value, coverage, and extras. The most elementary benchmark for an individual cellular plan is likely the number minutes you anticipate using per billing period. Many cell phone carriers make much ado about “overages,” i.e. extra charges that apply once you’ve talked past your allotted minutes. Look for a cell phone carrier with a competitive plan that fits your needs in terms of talk time.

If you plan to travel a lot with your cell phone, you will almost certainly benefit from looking into what sort of coverage your carrier offers. The greatest plan in the world won’t be of any help to you if you end up stranded somewhere where your cell phone carrier doesn’t provide service. Roaming charge “sticker shock” can be quite a jarring experience.

Finally, consider splurging on some extras. Many cell phone carriers offer free phones with their plans, and if you have a use for wireless web, instant messaging, GPS, or some of the more advanced cell phone features, it’s definitely worth your time to compare cell phone plans.

Family Plans

Individual plans, despite their variety, are often relatively simple. However, once family members (especially teenagers) get involved in the mix, things can turn complicated very quickly.

The key factors in picking a family cell phone plan are shared minutes and network calling. If possible, find a plan that will allow family members to call each other without using up minutes — this will retain the usefulness of the cell phones as a means of communicating between family members, without using up a lot shared minutes.

Finally, don’t be afraid to comparison shop when looking for a cell phone plan. Cell phone carriers are fiercely competitive, each vying to offer superior services to their customers. You might think you’re attached to your carrier, but you may find a much more appealing offer from a competitor.

Daniel Swensen is a freelance writer who covers websites like Wirefly.

It amazes me how some men will seek out advice on a situation with a woman and already have a list of things that they know or the right ways to handle the situation but the will not do.

Most of the time they do not come out and say it as such rather they will say they already know that they must do this or that with women but that isn’t an option for them.

In these types of cases, the problem almost always (I am sure there are others, but have yet to find one) is that the man has attached so much value on the woman that in his mind, not being with her is not an option.

Just so you know, if she is the only one for you then there is nothing anyone can say or do to help you get her and if it is indeed the truth (it is not) you wouldn’t need any help, because no matter what she would be with you.

In truth what we have is a reversal of fortunes, you are the product and she is the buyer.

What makes this even more of a challenge is the man usually knows both the right way and the wrong way to handle this situation.

Since he is refusing to go about it the right way, it is only a matter of time before he chooses the wrong way to handle the situation.

Not because that is what he wants to do, instead it is because sooner or later he is going to find someone who will tell him that the wrong advice is the good advice.

Who knows it might even work, even though we both know it will not get you what you want.

In the end, no matter what you decide, when it comes to women you can choose to be in control of the situation and the outcome or allow her to take control of the situation and the outcome.

Either way there is no guarantee that she will be with you and only one way to make sure you get what you want.

Teddy Shabba is a Dating Coach for Men who has a daily newsletter that provides you with a wealth of information on how to be more successful with women. You can sign up for the Teddy Shabba Dating Advice Newsletter for Men now.

Also with over 500 articles from a variety of dating experts just for men our Dating Advice and Seduction Article Database is the perfect place for any man.

To learn more about How To Attract Women visit our article section Attract Women Today

Essiac herbal tea has been used for more than 80 years by people looking for an alternative cancer treatment. But more recently, Essiac is being consumed for other reasons. Look at the covers of the popular magazines on display in any supermarket check-out line and you will very likely see the words “detox” or “detoxify.” This is because people are growing increasingly aware of the presence of toxic materials that build up in their systems as a result of environmental toxins such as second-hand cigarette smoke, chemical residues in the food chain, and off-gases from synthetic home furnishings, to name only a few.

Essiac is brewed from the herbs: Slippery Elm inner bark, Burdock root, Sheep Sorrel and Indian Rhubarb Root. The herbal tea is said to look like apple cider but taste more like dry wood.

The Essiac formula was developed by Rene Caisse, a Canadian nurse. But Ms. Caisse did not invent the herbal tea formula. Instead, she said the recipe originated with Native Indians. In the 1920s, Caisse met a woman who told her she once was diagnosed with breast cancer, but it was cured by drinking herbal tea, the formula for which was given to her by an elderly Ojibwa medicine man in northern Ontario. The woman gave the formula to Caisse, who went on to use it to treat thousands of patients in the cancer clinic she established in Bracebridge, Ontario. The name she gave to the herbal tea formula, Essiac, is her own last name spelled backwards.

Although current laws forbid claims that Essiac can cure any illness, the formula has been endorsed by such notable doctors as Frederick J. Banting, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923 for the discovery of insulin, and Dr. Charles Brusch, who was President John F. Kennedy’s physician.

As cancer rates rise, so does the interest in alternative treatments for this dreaded disease. Hundreds of so-called cures are available from sources that range from well-intentioned to less than trustworthy.

Many consumers wishing to cleanse away the toxins that build up in their bodies are selecting Essiac because of the beneficial properties attributed to the natural herbs that go into the herbal tea formula. Scientific research has proven that Slippery Elm inner bark, Burdock root, Sheep Sorrel and Indian Rhubarb root have many positive benefits.

In addition to its reported ability to assist the body in removing toxins, Essiac is also said to be useful in the treatment of diabetes.

Robert Scheer is a freelance writer and consultant for the Essiac Review web site

For more information visit http://www.essiacreview.com

Visa gift cards are becoming popular as gifts because people can use them in so many ways. Sometimes it is difficult to find that perfect gift, especially now because people seem to have the things that they want, and sometimes they don’t leave room for you to get them anything. Other times it may be that you just don’t know what the person likes or dislikes, or perhaps you aren’t sure what things they already have but you want to give them something. That is where giving free visa gift cards comes in handy. It is a gift that allows them to choose anything they want so you really cant go wrong. There are a lot of offers online for free visa gift cards now, and perhaps you have seen them, but are they really free?

Well the answer to that is yes and no. There are times when you can find a visa gift card offer that you have a chance of winning, this is different than a flat out free visa gift card. Generally if you see that someone is going to give you a visa gift card for free you are going to have to join their program, or perhaps take part in some kind of survey or something similar. You do get the card in most cases but you have to work a little bit for it. There are also some department store gift cards out there that have the same requirements placed on them. The real moral of this story is that you can get some great free gift cards, including visa gift cards but you are going to have to participate in their program in some way or another. Whether you are willing to do that or not is up to you.

Claim Your Visa Gift Card Here http://www.snagafreebie.info/freevisa.html

Tim has been leading people to free stuff online for 10 years, and owned one of the first freebie sites on the Internet.

Wal-Mart is such a big store, and the chain of stores makes it the largest in the world. Did you know that Wal-Mart employs more people than any other private business in the United States? In almost every area there can be found a Wal-Mart within driving distance. It’s no wonder that so many people are looking for free gift cards from Wal-Mart, you can get anything from clothes to groceries to electronics to car parts at Wal-Mart. But are free gift cards from Wal-Mart really free? How can you make sure that you aren’t just giving something away without getting anything in return?

If you are looking for free gift cards from Wal-Mart you will no doubt come across many offers. Some of them are legitimate, others are bogus. The ones that are bogus are not always so easy to spot. People just love to take other people’s money, and they tend to be good at it. Usually you will find that when there are free offers, like those for Wal-Mart cards or other department store cards you will have to participate in their program in some way or another. Now this isn’t to say that you can’t come out on top. Many times their program offers you benefits that exceed the offer of the free gift card, and you end up getting the gift card for free and then saving a lot of money by using their services. Just make sure that you read the fine print and know what you are getting into first.

You can Choose from 2 Wal-Mart Gift Cards Here http://www.snagafreebie.info/walmart.html

Tim has been leading people to free stuff online for 10 years, and owned one of the first freebie sites on the Internet.