Jim & Sally Martin of Jacksonville, Florida, are staring down this violent foreclosure storm – they will lose their home. They have fallen behind three months on their mortgage payments…they cannot catch up…and they cannot get help from their lender.

“My family has lived a nightmare for two years,” reflects Jim on his family’s struggle to cope with a financial nightmare and the impending loss of their home.

Amidst this potentially devastating national disaster, Fannie Mae, a major “investor” of home mortgages, plans to introduce new loan programs to lenders, hopefully keeping families in their homes.

“We have two children, ages 6 and 9…they’re just children and we’re putting them through this Hell,” Jim said while shaking his head.

Sadly, the Martins join more than 1.5 million homeowners (many families with children) facing foreclosure.
Help may not arrive in time to rescue the Martins, casualties of more than $300 billion dollars worth of mortgages (adjustable rate mortgages) resetting from the “teaser” rates and exploding the Martin’s monthly mortgage payments from $1700.00 per month to $2,300 per month.

“We have fallen and right now we just can’t get up,” said Jim. “We’re beyond the shock right now. We’re trying to keep our heads and protect our children. Our lender cannot do anything to help us. No payment adjustments. No loan restructuring. Nothing. We can’t refinance. We don’t have any money to pay the fees and we’re upside down.”

Code-named “HomeStay”, Fannie Mae is trying to get lenders (with whom Fannie Mae works) to refinance homes without first having to clear up borrowers’ unpaid bills on their credit reports, albeit too late for the Martins.

Fannie Mae’s HomeStay will stretch the loan term for this refinancing product to a maximum of 40 years from a current limit of 30 years, which stands to reduce monthly payments by about 5 percent.

In the meantime, there’s a bunch of red tape to untangle. Rules that govern these bonds sometimes prevent lenders from reaching out to borrowers until they are 30 days late on their payments. Typically, a mortgage lender allows 90 days or three missed payments before issuing a Notice of Default to a homeowner delinquent on its monthly mortgage payments.

“As bad as it is to go through foreclosure…and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody….we will survive. My family will survive,” Jim added. “This whole mess snowballed on us, what with the house payments jumping around $600 per month, my wife getting sick and missing work & and the van breaking down.”

As bad as it is, the Martins may face even more bad news is the foreclosure sale cannot repay the lender the outstanding balance.

In the next issue, we’ll explain how the Martins and countless other families discover the definition of “exculpatory clause,” “summary or default judgment” & other damaging legal terms further complicating an already horrible nightmare.

Sooner rather than later, unintended victims need help. Foreclosure is more than taking a “house” away from a family; in many cases, it’s taking a “home” away from a family.

These desperate homeowners need a solution now, as this violent financial storm gains strength before their eyes.

This “storm” will destroy many families credit. With hope, our free credit repair secrets, tips & strategies will help at Credit Repair - Free Credit Repair

Chinese herbal remedies have been used to treat all kinds of diseases and symptoms for thousands of years ago in China. It is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a system of healing that has many principles that are not easy to understand because of their many intricacies. A TCM practitioner has to take several years to learn them all and also to draw his knowledge on the various herbs and their interactions for healing. Here, I attempt to explain some of the basic principles using Chinese herbal remedies as a form of treatment.

Chinese herbal remedies are divided into 5 different seasons; including fall, winter, spring, summer and late summer. According to the principles that are followed here, the universal energy is at its highest during the summer and herbs are most abundant in the late summer.

All foods can also be viewed from an energy perspective. Of course, food also provides nutrition, vitamins and calories, but it is the energy that is studied here. It is believed that each food vibrates at a specific energy frequency that corresponds to a specific organ. These energies know how to thrive in specific seasons, which corresponds with a specific organ. Thus, some foods can be used as herbal remedies which can help increase or decrease a person’s vital energy. For instance, sunflower causes energy to rise, while a plant’s root causes energy to flow downwards.

While TCM also regards food as having healing energies, herbs are the ones that used to dramatically help increase the energy within these foods. Many foods and herbs are often mixed together and cooked for hours. Although there is no nutritional value left in the foods or herbs, it is the drink that contains the energy that is required to treat your various conditions.

Here, it is believed that the universe has provided us with a powerful, natural way in which to maintain good health. In TCM, various factors that contribute to your body being out of harmony are examined so that a permanent solution to the issue can be found. It is believed that this is much better than just treating the symptoms.

Chinese herbal remedies can be used for your relief from physical and mental symptoms. In many cases, these herbal remedies are also effective as cures. There can be a great deal to learn from this system of holistic healing. However, you may find it worth the time to acquire some knowledge as this would mean being able to live in complete harmony with your body. Alternatively, if you want to derive the benefits from Chinese herbal remedies, you can always consult a qualified practitioner.

Evelyn Lim is the publisher of a newsletter on Herbal Home Remedies. She draws on her practical knowledge passed down by her grandmother in the use of herbs to treat common ailments and shares about them in her newsletter. For free information and a bonus MP3 download, please visit her site at http://www.HerbalRemedyTips.com

Cold laser therapy, or low level laser therapy, is a treatment in which a cold laser is used to treat acute and chronic pain. It is also called a “soft laser.” If you suffer from back pain, joint pain, tendonitis, fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, neuropathy, neck pain, or other related health conditions, cold laser therapy might be a viable solution for you.

How it Works

Cold laser therapy works by increasing the levels of serotonin to help your body heal itself. The therapy is noninvasive and non-thermal. The cold laser was derived from phototherapy, a light healing method developed more than 30 years ago. In phototherapy, a special type of light penetrates the surface of the skin as well as underlying tissues to stimulate natural healing in the body. The low level laser light used in cold laser therapy is actually the compressed light of a wavelength from the red part of the light spectrum, or the cold part.

During the cold laser process, the body’s cells are exposed to photon energy, which in turn increases the cells’ metabolism, helps to develop muscle tissue and collagen, improves blood circulation, stimulates tissue repair and the healing of wounds, and stimulates the nervous and immune systems.

Cold lasers are also used in acupuncture to stimulate the acupoints of the body without using needles.

Types of Cold Laser Treatments

There are several types of cold laser treatments such as the Q1000 Laser, 660 Probe, 808 Probe, Q1000 Propack, and the Q10 Laser. The Q1000 Laser features nine different wavelengths meant to help cells for nerves, muscles, bone, ligaments, skin and tendons. Also with the Q1000 Laser, light is sent through quartz crystal, which gives the laser organic characteristics.

The 660 Probe is a gentle cold laser that penetrates deep into the body and provides more concentrated healing. It is often used for dental healing, facial or skin treatment, acupuncture, anti-aging, physical therapy, and more.

The 808 Probe uses an infrared laser to reach cells in the innermost parts of the body. It helps with bones and teeth as well as ligaments, tendons, and joints. The Q10 Laser is less expensive than the Q1000 and helps with injuries, pain, and facial rejuvenation. It’s also great for traveling. The Q1000 Propack combines all soft lasers into one package.

Using Healing Lasers

You can use healing lasers at home. Some lasers require training while others are fairly simple to use. The simpler models are designed so you can hold the laser near your body in the area where treatment is needed without discomfort. The laser does the work for you. The lasers also have different modes to help with certain needs. If you are considering cold laser treatments, consult with your doctor first.

With cold laser therapy, you can aid your body in healing using a natural, effective method. Keep this guide handy while seeking the cold laser products that are right for you.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web.
Learn more about Guide for Cold Laser Therapy or Majon’s Health and Beauty directory.

There is a time and a place for just about anything. That includes articles you don’t write yourself.

With high quality Private Label Rights (PLR) articles, affordable ghostwriters, and even software that can write articles for you, why bother writing your own articles and web content? The articles you buy have the exact words and content you need and, after all, you do own the rights.

But there is one very important thing these articles can’t do. They can’t BE you. PLR articles, though they may be well written, aren’t going to tell your reader anything about who you are. Even a ghostwriter, unless you have a very good ghostwriter and you’ve given him or her good notes to work from, can’t sound like you. Computer generated articles are occasionally written in proper English, but they can’t show your personality.

One of the most important things your articles can do for you is help your audience get to know you. As your reader, I want to see your personality, hear your opinions, understand what you think. Even if I disagree sometimes, I really do want to know who you are.

Someone once told me that writing is the closest thing there is to true telepathy. You, the writer, have an idea you want to share. You put your thoughts into writing. When others read your article, they’ll read the exact words you were thinking. Even if it’s not telepathy, your writing still has amazing potential to build a connection between you and your reader.

Some of the most successful writers, on the web and off, write just the way they talk. Readers love to hear the author’s unique voice come through their written words. It makes the article interesting and it helps the reader make a connection with the writer.

And that leads me to why it’s so important to show who you are through your articles. On the Internet, where trust is always a concern, your writing helps us get to know you and learn that we can trust you.

There may be a place for PLR and ghostwritten articles in your business, but don’t rely on them alone. Take some time to share yourself with your audience through your own articles too. The rewards are long lasting and well worth your while.

Denise Willms is co-owner of WAHM-Articles.com and author of the eBook, Uncovering the Secrets of WAHM Article Marketing.

Visit http://www.wahm-articles.com to get your free copy and to submit your own WAHM articles.

We’ve all been there. We get excited about some major new goal in our life, we get all fired up about making it happen, and then… zilch. Nothing happens. The very lives that we want to improve via our personal development and self improvement efforts get in our way, and our dreams of success on a massive scale fall by the wayside.

This is especially common when it comes to financial success or weight loss, and that is probably due to the fact that attaining financial stability or sustained weight loss are both things that take an on-going and consistent effort over the long-term.

The key to pulling yourself out of this self improvement slump is to find ways to once again become passionate about whatever it was that you wanted to accomplish in the first place.

A lot of people decide on some sort of personal development or self improvement program after a negative experience, and their goal becomes not wanting to experience that same type of situation again.

However, is NOT wanting something to happen really a strong enough motivation to keep yourself on track over the long-term so that you can attain the opposite of that thing?

For example, if you decide that you are finally going to get your finances together because you almost got kicked out of your apartment for not paying the rent, or you walked to work for 2 weeks until you could afford to get your car fixed, both of those experiences are pretty powerful motivators.

However, once you are back inside the comfort zone of having enough money to pay the bills, and your car is running fine, where is the motivation to achieve financial freedom that will keep you burning the midnight oil and working weekends in order to make that happen?

Another example is weight loss. If someone makes fun of you or if you have some other negative experience as a result of the fact that you are overweight, you’ll have your brand-new exercise and weight loss program planned out before you even get home that day!

However, after the pain of that incident fades, or you find some way to temporarily fill the emotional gap in your life that in the past has been empty as a result of your health, your motivation to workout 5 or 6 days each week and to eat healthy foods also fades away.

So, the key to keeping your motivational fires burning lies in finding ways to continually be as passionate about attaining your goals as you were when you first decided to do so.

One possible method for doing this could be to mentally relive the time in your life that caused you to decide to make changes in the first place. However, that definitely smacks of “living in the past” as well as “focusing on the negative” so a more proactive approach would probably serve you better.

Instead of thinking back on bad times that caused you to want to make positive changes in your life, why not envision future good times instead?

What would your life be like if you had more than enough money to pay your rent or your mortgage each month, you had 2 or 3 nice cars in the driveway, all of your expenses were covered, and you still had “play” money left over?

Consistent and repeated visualization of what your life will be like when money is no longer an issue will keep you motivated to do what it takes in order to achieve that financial success.

The same process can be used for weight loss or any other area of your life that you want to improve. Put powerful and emotional pictures in your mind of the life that you will lead once you have achieved your dreams, and focus intensely on those images as often as you can - preferably several times each day.

The key to this process is consistency. It has already been shown that humans have the ability - indeed, the very habit - of getting motivated about their dreams, but then not following through. If you do not consistently dream about and feel passionate about your desires, you will simply fall right back into the same trap that has already kept you from attaining success.

There is a saying that goes something along the following lines, and you would do well to put this somewhere that you will see it often. Paste it up where you will see it during the parts of your day when you have the most difficulty sticking to your success plan:

“Do today what others won’t, so you can do tomorrow what others can’t.”

Winners and successful people do whatever it takes day in and day out, month after month, and year after year in order to achieve success.

Do you want to be a winner, or do you want to just let yourself fall back into another self improvement slump?

Aaron Potts is the founder of the Today is that Day Success Community, and the author of Energy Harmonics, which teaches about self improvement, vibratory alignment, and the Law of Attraction. Visit his site to learn about Energy Harmonics and to get his free newsletter, or visit his blog at http://www.todayisthatday.com/blog/

Workaholism is rife in the business world. To many it is a badge of honour, worn with pride. A workaholic sees work as their life - the means and the end in their search for successful living. If this picture fits you it is worth noting that, of the people on the 9/11 hijacked planes who were able to make a last-ditch call from their mobile phone, none of them called the office.

For generations now, we have been conditioned to believing that work is the core of successful living. The world’s economy and our individual material benefits depend on it. Emerging generations today however are working to live, not living to work.

Why do you work? Is money the purpose of, or the means to, your definition of successful living? What are the qualities that go towards creating a successful life for you?. They are likely to include achieving a sense of:

• belonging

• commitment

• connection with others, being part of social change, being part of life

• contributing to the betterment of society

• dignity,

• enjoyment

• independence

• learning

• professional and personal growth

• purpose

• recognition, status

• satisfaction, self worth, self esteem, self belief, self confidence, and

• valuing self

Passion pays! When you ‘lose’ yourself in an interest you love, you ‘find’ yourself. For many, this is the attraction of work. When you have a job that you love, you come alive as a unique individual. Time flies when you become lost in the pleasure of using your natural skills , abilities and talents in ways that give you a feeling of intense personal satisfaction and fulfillment. Work is not the only way to get this sort of fulfillment. It also happens when you enjoy passionate interests away from work.

“I enjoy a sense of dignity, high self esteem, achievement, recognition and status. I wish I could get the same feelings from my job!”. Regrettably, not everybody enjoys their job. They find themselves looking elsewhere for life satisfaction. Personal interests don’t have to be physical - they can be intellectual, social, artistic, manual, environmental, or spiritual. For example, singing in a choir does it for me.

Excellent workers who can sustain high levels of productivity generally also often find pleasure in their family or other passionate interest away from work. They recognise having the right “fight and flight” mix sustains high work productivity and enriches their lifestyle.

Successful living is about getting the mix right, balancing the yin and yang of:

• harmoniously blended, mutually-energising work and personal life interests, and

• work and personal life experiences that are “complementary opposites” to each other.

In the 21st century world of 24/7 pressure and stress, people are increasingly seeking quality of life benefits through interests away from work. A harmonious mix of enjoyable work and personal interests not only increases the range of options for successful living. It also generates and sustains the energy, enthusiasm and enjoyment needed to maintain personal health and wellbeing.

Such health is needed not just for today or next week. Implementing a ‘quality of life’ plan now, with a good mix of interests, greatly improves your chances of actually having a long and happy life!

You are invited to visit http://www.workleisure.com for further information on Peter Nicholls’ approach to lifestyle management affecting work productivity.

Peter Nicholls can be contacted at peter@workleisure.com.

Night sweats from medications is more common than one would think. This article will list medications that cause sweating. In order for us to understand where the sweating is coming from, we should understand that medications cause night sweats as well as diseases and other natural changes. There are several different reasons for the sweating as related to drugs but we will not deeply analyze that issue.

Many medications can not be removed from our daily requirements and often times we can not add any other drugs to get relief. Take for example women that are dealing with breast cancer and have to deal with menopause at the same time. There are very few options for women when it comes to taking night sweat prevention medicines. The options that are available can increase the chances of cancer reoccurring. There is hardly anything that they can do internally to find relief from night sweats; they must look for other options.

With some medications confusion in the natural cooling system of our body will occur. Our temperature regulation system is unable to stabilize our body and keep it a constant temperature. At times we are just fine and then other times we are getting hot for unknown reasons thus developing night sweats. The fluctuation makes the sleeping environment unstable and difficult to maintain healthy sleep.

Located below you will see several medications listed that will cause night sweats. Each drug can cause night sweats or extreme sweating. Some of these medications list fever as a symptom, some come right out and say night sweats. All of these are doing the same thing; they are making people sweat at night.

There are ways to relieve yourself of night sweats, if you can keep your body cool during the night you will be able to stop sweating and start sleeping comfortably. The objective is to keep your body cooler when it needs the cooling boost. In order to do this you must either cool your room, sleep with less covering and a fan, or use a fan designed specifically for cooling your body while sleeping.

A special fan that can generate a light breeze between your sheets will be more effective than lowering your thermostat by six to eight degrees. A system like this will generate a light breeze that will travel between your sheets along your body and push the hot air out of your bed. It will also eliminate the heat that has been building-up within your bed and keep you body cool.

This type of cooling system will also benefit you in the following ways.

The extra body heat that you generate during the night, will be quickly moved out from between your sheets. This simple breeze will keep your body from ever reaching the point at which you start to sweat. This is the most effective method of dealing with night sweats when you look at it from a thermal dynamics point of view.

Sweating at night can be controlled once you understand the mechanics of sweating. It is also imperative that you know the origin of the problem. If you are sweating due to a medical condition, a medication, a natural change, or if you are just a hot sleeper, you should know why you are sweating. Once you understand why you are sweating then you will be able to make the necessary changes needed to start sleeping and stop sweating.

The following is a short list of medications that are known to cause night sweats.

1. Accupril
2. Accutane
3. Altace
4. Ambien
5. Amnesteem
6. Anzemet
7. Arava
8. Aricept
9. Aromasin
10. Avinza
11. Bextra
12. Black Cohosh
13. Biaxin-xl
14. Cozaar
15. Cymbalta
16. Dilaudid
17. Diovan
18. Eligard
19. Evoxac
20. Fortovase
21. Oxycontin

Kurt Tompkins is the founder of Tompkins Research, a specialty engineering firm concentrating on real life issues and logical methods to resolving problems.

His company developed, manufactures & distributes the Bedfan personal cooling system.

Let us show you how night sweats can be stopped.

Book awards bring exposure to books. Exposure generates sales. Sales mean more money in your pocket. Pursuing those book awards that allow publishers or authors to nominate their own titles can be a worthwhile activity for your book marketing efforts.

The literary community hosts a myriad of book awards. These awards differ as to who can nominate a book for an award. For some awards, publishers or authors can nominate their books and a committee or select group of people vote on the nominated titles. Other awards choose to have a nominating committee decide which titles should be considered for an award. Some awards have a select group of people (such as retailers, teachers, or students) nominate titles. There are a few book awards that are based on the number of copies a title has sold or lifetime achievements of an author.

Small and self-publishers can pursue those awards that allow publishers and authors to nominate books. Generally, these awards come with an entry fee. These entry fees can range from $40 to $200.

While entering a book award contest is not a guaranteed win for your entry fee, it certainly more than pays off if your book is picked for an award. Some book award programs publish the runners-up as well as the award winners. If your book falls into either of these categories, you receive a marketing gem.

Book awards, like book reviews, can be harnessed to promote your title in endless ways. One benefit of a book award over a book review is that an award warrants press coverage. Newspapers, magazines, and newsletters like to highlight authors and books that have won awards. Another benefit of a book award is that consumers tend to want to read books that have won an award. An award tells a consumer that a book is worth the money to purchase and time spent to read it. An award signals booksellers to purchase the book for their stores as book awards almost always guarantee sales.

When a book award is bestowed, the award should be used repeatedly in your marketing campaign. In addition to alerting the press about a book award, any book award received should be posted on your website, printed on all your marketing materials, used in advertisements, and added to your book’s cover on subsequent print runs. Also, make sure that you let your distributors know about the award and send an announcement to those publishers associations and discussion groups where you are a member.

Following is a list of a few book awards that are geared toward small and self-publishers.

• Annual Writer’s Digest International Self-Published Book Awards
Sponsored by Writer’s Digest, these book awards are the only awards exclusively for self-published books.
www.writersdigest.com/contests

• Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award
Sponsored by Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA), this book award honors books in three categories (fiction, nonfiction, and children’s) for outstanding contribution to Christian life.
www.christianpublishers.net

• Ben Franklin Awards™.
Publishers must nominate titles.
www.pma-online.org/benfrank.cfm

• Best Book Awards.
Best Book Awards actively promote the winning titles through their website and through the media.
www.usabooknews.com

• Indie Excellence National Book Awards.
The Writers Marketing Association presents these awards for non-published manuscripts, POD books, and books by self-published or small press authors. Awards are presented in over 50 categories.
http://www.pubinsider.com/indieexcellenceawards.html

• ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award.
ForeWord’s Book of the Year Award was established to bring increased attention from librarians and booksellers to the literary achievements of independent publishers and their authors. Print-on-demand titles and ebooks are accepted for nomination.
www.forewordmagazine.com/awards.asp

• The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award™.
This award, given by The Hurston/Wright Foundation and sponsored by Borders Books, is the first national award presented to published writers of African descent by the national community of Black writers. The award is offered for four categories and nominations must be submitted by the publisher with permission from the author.

www.hurstonwright.org/legacy_award.html

• Independent Publisher Book Awards.
The Independent Publisher Book Awards are sponsored by the Jenkins Group. These awards are for independent, university, small press, and self-publishers who produce books intended for the North American market. Print-on-demand titles are acceptable. The award offers 60 award categories.
www.independentpublisher.com

• The Nautilus Book Awards.
These awards are sponsored jointly by Marilyn McGuire & Associates and Independent Publisher Online. Their purpose is to recognize and promote books that change people’s lives and help heal our planet. Awards are offered in 20 categories including both adult and children’s titles.

http://www.marilynmcguire.com/nautilus/nautilus.html

• Writers Notes Annual Book Awards.
These awards are sponsored by Writers Notes Magazine to recognize extraordinary books by independent publishers. Awards in 11 categories are offered.
http://hopepubs.home.comcast.net/awards.html

As mentioned earlier, there are a multitude of book awards given each year. Some are specialty awards and others are more general. These are just a sampling of the more popular and well-known book awards for small and self-publishers. Go ahead and apply for some book awards. If your latest book wins an award or even if it is named a runner-up, you will have cause for celebration!

Sarah Bolme is the author of Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace

(http://www.marketingchristianbooks.com)

and the director of Christian Small Publishers Association

(http://www.christianpublishers.net). ©2007

Having a brand identity is extremely important to your business’s success. However, many business owners have misconceptions about brand identities that can damage their businesses.

“Brand identity” is the result of the combination of consistent visual elements that are used in your marketing materials. A basic brand identity consists of a logo, business card, letterhead, and envelope. It can be extended to include a website, brochure, folder, flyer, or any other professionally designed pieces.

I’m not a big company: I can’t have/create/build a brand.

Just because your company’s not huge doesn’t mean that you can’t benefit from creating a brand identity. Even for the smallest company, a brand identity will make you look bigger than you are, will make you appear more professional, and will make your sales process easier. You’ll also have a starting point for designing all of your marketing pieces, and your brand identity will make your marketing a breeze as well.

You might not be able to create a branding program that is as comprehensive and self-sustaining as those of some of the big companies, because you won’t be able to educate your clients like they can. Big companies with immediately recognizable logos and brand materials have made those logos and materials recognizable by spending a lot of time, money, and effort on educating the public about their brands. This is mainly done through advertising.

But this isn’t to say that you should jump out there once you have built a brand and start advertising; for many small businesses, advertising is expensive and doesn’t offer a good return on investment.

I run my business in a personalized, one-on-one way: building a brand would make my business impersonal.

Building a brand identity isn’t necessarily a depersonalizing tactic. You can build a brand that’s very personalized, and even centered on you and the way that you work with your clients. You can even use the personalized way that you run your business as a differentiation tool. That personalization can be one of the pieces of your business that makes you different.

Some major brands are built with this personalization. For example, Mrs. Field’s Cookies is built all around her story, techniques, and recipes.

Having a brand identity shouldn’t change the way that your business works. There might be some slight changes when you start working on the inner layers of your brand, but brand identity just changes the face of your business to the public, making it look cleaner and more organized and professional. You can even design your brand identity to look personalized by using a signature, initials, or even your photo in your logo or Visual Vocabulary.

Creating a brand is too much work.

There is a lot of work involved in creating a brand identity and then creating the rest of the brand to match it. But it’s all part of the overall work that you should do when you begin your business: determining your differentiators, creating your brand foundation and creating some of your brand basics, and positioning your brand.

Doing this work will give your business a clear path, and will make all aspects of your business easier. You will have the groundwork for your business laid out, and you’ll be able to build on that groundwork to create success.

Beyond this groundwork, you shouldn’t have to do much work; if you pick a good designer, you should be able to take more of an advisory role. Beyond answering some initial questions about your business and brand, you should be able to sit back and make the choices between options presented to you by that hired specialist, throughout the development of your logo and brand identity.

Your level of involvement in the design process will also vary depending on the amount of personalization that you have in your business. If you’re running a very personalized business, then you will probably want to guide the design process closely, since in a personalized business your logo should reflect your tastes and style. If you’re building a bigger business, then the style of your logo should reflect the industry and what’s best for your business; often, a designer will guide those choices.

I can’t use a symbol that’s been used before: I have to be entirely unique.

By using a variation of a symbol that’s been used before, you’re leveraging the recognition and meaning that the symbol already has. This is often the best course of action for small businesses, because you won’t have a large budget to spend on educating your audience on the meaning of a new symbol.

What should be unique about your brand identity is the way that you use these symbols. You can develop new combinations of symbols to communicate your message. Or you can arrange the symbols in a different way, or use them in place of letters in your logo to make it more unique.

Another way that you can make your symbols unique is to draw them using different techniques or effects, such as calligraphy or paint strokes, or using different proportions. These techniques make your symbols unique and interesting, and can also communicate more of your brand’s personality.

Erin Ferree is a brand identity designer who creates big visibility for small businesses. As the owner of elf design, Erin is passionate about helping her clients stand out in front of their competition and attract more clients. Her “Define Your Difference Branding Workbook” will help you with your brand definition - the most important step in the brand identity design process. http://www.elf-design.com/products-define.html

As the maxim goes, it is better to leave no stone unturned. This is why Chrysler Group’s suitors are reaching out to some of the biggest auto dealers in the nation to gain even more crucial insight into the automaker and the marketplace.

Bidders have contacted public traded dealership chains including Lithia Motors Inc., the AutoNation Inc. and Group 1 Automotive Inc. Further, some privately owned dealers also have been contacted.

Medford, Ore.-based Lithia CEO Sid DeBoer said that he has spoken with one of the private-equity groups eyeing Chrysler which he declined to disclose the name. The conversation concentrated on Chrysler’s vehicle lineup and the future of the American auto market. “They have sought opinions about product lines and things like that from some dealer groups,” DeBoer said.

The suitors seeking to acquire the American arm of Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler AG include the private equity team of Blackstone Group and Centerbridge Partners, and the Wall Street firm Cerberus Capital Management and the Canadian supplier Magna International Inc. DaimlerChrysler executive Rudiger Grude is scheduled to meet with the representatives of those parties in New York this week.

The Tracinda, Kirk Kerkorian’s investment company, has given a proposed $4.5 billion bid for the ailing automaker. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based AutoNation, the largest dealer chain in the United States with 30 Chrysler locations, has had a “series of conversations with a couple of big private equity groups” interested in Chrysler, said the President and the Chief Operating Officer Mike Maroone.

“They were interested in our point of view on a number of issues - products, the dealer network, the health of the industry,” Maroone added. “We talked about broad issues, not behind-the-scenes stuff - our view of the market.” Maroone said AutoNation emphasized that it believes the industry needs to take a more customer-focused approach to building and selling cars and adopt a more rational pricing approach.

The Blackstone/Centerbridge team has spoken with Houston-based Group 1 Automotive’s CEO Earl Hesterburg in the past few weeks. This information was given by individuals familiar with the discussions. Group 1 spokesman Pete DeLongchamps said that he was unaware of any conversations. Lithia’s DeBoer, who took over the family business in 1968 after his father died, said that he is not surprised that potential buyers have begun to contact dealers. Lithia has more than 35 Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge retail outlets. “We have no idea as a dealer what a manufacturing company should do or who should own it or how they should go about it,” he said.

“But we do know what sells and what has a lot of potential,” DeBoer said. He added he would prefer that Chrysler stay with DaimlerChrysler. “They have tremendous synergy in many of the products,” he said. “I just don’t believe it’s the right thing for the German company or Chrysler.”

Every option is weighed and considered. And it is possible that a private equity would break up and sell Chrysler. Hence, the efficiency likened to that of EBC Active Brakes Direct could also be resorted when making decisions especially if it concerns the future of lots of workers.

“I don’t think anybody could do that and get value. I don’t think that’s the risk,” DeBoer said. “I think no matter who owns it whether it’s Daimler, Cerberus, Blackstone or Magna, they all have to do the same thing - reorganize the cost structure, make good product choices and run a company. “Jeep brand is a wonderful brand. Dodge has got a great name in its own way. Chrysler isn’t damaged by any means, there’s just a lot there,” he said.

Some dealers of Daimler’s American arm said potential buyers should gather information from Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge retailers of all sizes. “To get a perspective and good due diligence, it would be probably best for them to talk to as many varying size dealers,” said John Schenden, the owner of the Pro Chrysler-Jeep in Denver.

Anthony Fontanelle is a 35-year-old automotive.buff who grew up in the Windy City. He does freelance work for an automotive magazine when he is not busy customizing cars in his shop. For more information, please visit EBC active brakes direct.