16.08 2010

Effective Promotions with Promotional Products

The number of available promotional products and related manufacturers is growing by the day. This is in fact because promotional products and similar items are very effective in promoting brands, products, and even services. You can give away simple items such as pencils and pens all the way to promotional products drawstring backpack and apparels in order to promote your business. However, the only way to effectively promote using promotional products is by paying close attention to several related aspects.

Always start with doing a little research on your market segment. Discover the kind of promotional items your current customers will most likely use. Even when you are trying to attract new customers, the best way to define the right promotional items to use is by looking into your existing customers. Read more…

15.08 2010

Soda tax comes to Oregon

The Oregon Public Health Division is working on legislation to enact a tax on sweetened beverages.    This would include many sodas and other sweetened drinks like Gatorade and ice tea drinks.  The cost of a half-cent per ounce would equal to be about 6-cents per soda bottle.   This beverage tax would generate over $160 million  for the State of Oregon Government.

The Health Division is advocating the proceeds be used for anti-obesity programs.     The proposal also comes at a time when Governor Kulongoski has announced that the state is $10.3 billion deficit over the next ten years.    Many product taxes start with a dedicated fund idea and then get diverted to pay for other programs.   This is the fear of every taxpayer who finds a continuing tax increase on more and more products.

The legislation which has the approval of Governor Kulongoski would be introduced in the 2011 Legislative Session.   If Oregon Leg

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15.08 2010

Free government grants for women with kids

Being a mom is a great feeling. But if you are single then it can be quite tough. Even if you are managing to pull through just now, where is the security that you will manage later? Plus in order to take care of your child’s needs you have to end up giving up your dreams. Now you could always take personal loans but paying the loans becomes an added burden. That is where you can take help of the grants provided by the government.

There are different kinds of grants provided. In fact there are some 900 kinds of grants out there. You could get small immediate grants for basic amenities like food, rent, utilities and even day care services for the child. T

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14.08 2010

The Most Important Business Tips From Donald Trump

With most communication happening via email nowadays – a quick review of your Inbox and Sent Items can be extremely rewarding. I have on average around five to seven thousand messages in my Inbox and about half that amount again in my Sent Items. When I do a ‘clean out’ I review each email and then hit the delete button.

Today I found an email I had sent to my husband a couple of years ago – it contained tips from a Donald Trump book called ‘The Way to the Top’. All the tips are from Business Leaders – they are true classics in my opinion and worth considering often in good times and when we are being challenged.

[BB Edito

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13.08 2010

Trouble signs: Tax credit’s end and foreclosures’ rise

Sales of existing homes in the territory covered by the Sarasota Association of Realtors dropped nearly 48 percent from June to July after the window to take advantage of the tax incentives for first-time homebuyers and for those selling a home to buy another closed on April 30.

Sales fell 30 percent in Manatee County and 23 percent in Charlotte County-North Port, according to initial reports on sales data collected by the community’s respective associations.

The Manatee and Sarasota markets have not seen a collective decline since June 2009.

Coupled with a big spike in foreclosure filings reported earlier this week by California-based RealtyTrac Inc., Southwest Florida’s real estate market could be in for a choppy ride in a new reality that lacks the bolstering power of federal tax credits.

“We anticipated a change, but we didn’t anticipate this much of a change,” Erick Shumway, president of the Sarasota Association of Realtors, said Friday.

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12.08 2010

6 keys to Starbucks record breaking rebound

6 keys to Starbucks record-breaking rebound
By Oregon Small Business Association

In July, Starbucks announced record earnings during the third quarter as U.S. sales rose 9%. The Seattle Coffee Giant participated in new marketing strategies to spur the record comeback that reduce the elitist view of $4 coffee drinks and offer cheaper alternatives to broaden the market outside Starbucks stores.

“There’s no question that improving customer service, quality of beverage and speed of service has had a big impact on revenues,” CFO Troy Alstead said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Burt Helm of Bloomberg reported that the corporation’s fiscal-third-quarter earnings rose 37% based on increased sales. Starbuc

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11.08 2010

Steps to apply for government grants

Government grants are given for the countrymen to provide them with loans for funding their projects. The nature of the grant varies according to the one who is applying for the grant and the project that needs to be funded. To apply for a government fund you first need to find out every minute detail about the application process, as most government grants require a lot of paper work. Then you must ensure that you meet all the basic eligibility requirements of the grant.

You need to find out about the deadline of the submission of the proposal. You should also choose the right grant for your proposed project from the various kinds of grants available.

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