First of all, you can save time, energy, and money when buying an existing business or a franchise. The lengthy process of researching and creating business plans and models has already been done for you. Usually when individuals decide to sell a business they prepare a business plan or offering summary for you. Also, if there is financing needed for your purchase, it is not as difficult to obtain since lenders are more likely to finance a business with a proven track record.

Additionally, there can be a ton of assets included in the purchase, especially in a turnkey business for sale. It’s great to inherit the infrastructure already established by the previous owner. This can include the customers, suppliers, employees, equipment, and systems. It is a good possibility that the previous owner(s) may offer some insight and assistance, therefore making the transition easier. In addition, the cash flow most likely will start immediately. Revenue, cost and profit are not in question as it would be in a startup.

Opening a franchise comes with the advantage of knowing that this business has been successful in other locations. The idea and process of running the business have already been proven. Therefore the learning curve in operating the business can be virtually eliminated. In addition, risk of failure is much lower with a franchise than starting a brand new business since the same business has done well in other areas.

Finally, since a franchise or existing business for sale already has a good foundation, you can focus much of your efforts on building and expanding the business. As you become more familiar with your customers’ needs and wants, you will have opportunities to add enhancements and improvements, therefore increasing your chances of higher profitability much sooner than you would in a startup business. There are thousands of businesses for sale and franchises out there right now and they are very easy to find. For instance, at BusinessMart.com you can browse through many businesses for sale and franchises, not to mention learn about the entire process of buying and selling a business.

About BusinessMart.com

BusinessMart.com has become the fastest growing business for sale search engine, helping buyers and sellers of small businesses and franchises. BusinessMart.com has many resources to help you on your journey to start your own business, sell your existing business or open a franchise. FranchiseBuyersNetwork.com, which is owned and operated by Business Mart, Inc., helps individuals looking for information on opening franchise opportunities or business opportunities and guides them on a path to success!

Disclaimer: This article was sponsored by BusinessMart.com, but I still wrote/approved it because I think it’s worth your time to read and has valuable information in it.

Back when I was a kid, I had the biggest trouble learning how to tie a neck tie. I hated it. Now that I live in San Diego and don’t have to dress up with a neck tie other than going out with my wife, I’ve pretty much forgotten how to tie a necktie.

But, since it’s been so long since you or I have tied a neck tie, we should probably get a few new neck ties while we’re at it.

Ok, now that we have our 3 free neck ties, let’s get to work learning how to tie these.

Ah shoot! Now we have to know which kind of knot we want to tie. Here’s 4 good ones and how to tie them:

• How to tie a Windsor knot:
  
  1. Start with wide end of the tie on your right and extending a foot below narrow end.
  2. Cross wide end over narrow and bring up through loop.
  3. Cross wide end over narrow and bring up through loop.
  4. Then put down through loop and around across narrow as shown.
  5. Turn and pass up through loop and…
  6. Complete by slipping down through the knot in front. Tighten and draw up snug to collar.
• How to tie a Half Windsor knot:
  
  1. Start with wide end of the tie on your right and extending a foot below narrow end.
  2. Cross wide end over narrow and turn back underneath.
  3. Bring up and turn down through loop.
  4. Pass wide end around front from left to right.
  5. Then up through loop…
  6. And down through know in front. Tighten carefully and draw up to collar.
• How to tie a Four in Hand knot:
  
  1. Start with wide end of the tie on your right and extending a foot below narrow end.
  2. Cross wide end over narrow and back underneath.
  3. Continue around passing wide end across front of narrow once more.
  4. Pass side end up through loop.
  5. Holding front of knot loose with index finger, pass wide end down through loop in front.
  6. Remove finger and tighten knot carefully. Draw up tight to collar by holding narrow end and sliding knot snug.
• How to tie a bowtie:
  
  1. Start with end in right hand, extending 1.5 inch below that in left hand.
  2. Cross longer end over shorter and pass up through loop.
  3. Form front loop of bow by doubling up shorter end (hanging) end placing across collar points.
  4. Hold this front loop with thumb and forefinger of right hand. Drop long end down over front.
  5. Place left forefinger pointing up on bottom half of hanging part. Pass up behind front loop and…
  6. Poke resulting loop though knot behind front loop (see illustration). Even ends and tighten

Now, again, if you haven’t already, you really should take advantage and get your 3 free ties. Seriously, they are great ties.

I hope you’re now outfitted with free ties, and have learned how to tie a neck tie. Your mother would be proud. Cheers!

[tags]how to tie a neck tie, tie, necktie, neck tie, free ties, mens, wardrobe, dressing up[/tags]

I overheard his girlfriend handing out slips of paper and talking about how he was going to have those surfing pics online for people to purchase later in the day. I grabbed one of the pieces of paper from her and then went over and talked with Josh a bit.

Thinking it was a good twist of an idea I had seen before (people taking pics at a club and then giving business cards out with the web address on them), I asked how long he had been doing this. He said this was his second day he had been working on this idea. Instead of the club, Josh took his photo skills to the beach to catch a surfing competition. Obviously, it works really well when you have someone to do the marketing duties as you take the photos. Personally, I think it’s a brilliant idea for a business.

I did take a look at his site, and it’s not too shabby. The gallery was nice, and I found out it was from Smugmug. I liked both Josh’s surfing pics as well as the gallery so much, that I figured I might be able to test the waters with something other than Google ads on some of the higher ranking pages I have on this blog. We’ll see if it turns out better than the $2/day I get from Google – let’s hope so.

In the meantime, I posted this little story for a few reasons:

1. Taking surfing photos and marketing at the event is a great business. Nice work Josh.
2. Since I like the gallery Josh was using, I figured you ought to know about it too.
3. I really like the marketing technique because it adds value to the people’s days who were originally just there to see their son/daughter surf. They might not have the huge lens that these photographers have, so it’s a great opportunity to get some pro surfing pics for a great price.

[tags]surfing pics, surfing photos, surfing pictures, photography, gallery, galleries, entrepreneur, business, idea, san diego[/tags]

Now that I’ve gotten back to remote working again, I’ve been thinking about where I could go and still be able to make a living. The beautiful thing about remote working is that I could go anywhere. The Bermuda weather seems nice. How about that?

There’s plenty to do with your free time, when you’re not working. If you want to stay there for the long term, there’s plenty of rentals there as well.

Oh, and here’s the link to the weather in Bermuda.

I love the weather in San Diego, and the Bermuda weather seems like it’s pretty close. Beautiful and sunny all the time.

Bermuda is a different island in many ways from those that you generally think about such as the Caribbean. It is very polite and slightly restrained in the sense that you won’t find laid-back locals wandering around barefoot and offering you piña coladas. It is somewhat formal in dress, as you’ll see the female residents in stockings and heels and the men in jackets, ties, Bermuda shorts, and knee socks despite the beautiful weather. Golf and tennis are popular pastimes and you will find that most visitors, as well as Bermudians, are over 40. It is a wonderful and charming island that offers many things to see and do with great places to go.

It is a semi-tropical island that doesn’t have a rainy season and there is no one month that receives an excess of rain.

If you’re absolutely crazy, and not interested in living there for any extended time, you might just want to visit and take some Bermuda Cruises

Those sound wonderful.

So, for a remote working environment, the beaches and more, I think we might just have to check out that famous Bermuda weather.

Have any suggestions of other places we should try? Feel free to leave a comment for us.

Photo credit: davefitch
Sponsored post: This article has been written and placed in the “Sponsored” category because I might be getting paid to write it.

[tags]bermuda[/tags]

Plus, she’s bored with her job.

So, we talked about what she could do as a job to make some money. I told her I had been watching the opportunities on PayPerPost and tried explaining how it works. She was a little confused, but I think she got it in the end. But, to prove that money can be made, I figured I’d do a little sponsored blogging myself.

This post happens to be one of those sponsored articles (sponsored by PPP), but the beautiful thing is that it doesn’t have to be all cheeky. However, how could I not be happy about making money while blogging? It’s great! Plus, I get to choose to drive traffic to the companies and websites that I want to. It’s my choice.

I just wrote a post for $35 that took me about 20 minutes to write. This one is taking me about 15 minutes tops and I’ll get paid about $20 for it.

At that rate, even with some research and extra editing thrown in on some of the longer or more involved articles, I could be making an average of $15-20 per article. Let’s call it $30 per hour or so. That’s not bad!

If I didn’t want to work with the people I am currently with, I may even try to see if there is enough inventory in PPP or other networks like it to make an honest living doing it full time. It’s definitely a good alternative to having to go into the office every day.

And, as a side note, with our plans of getting mobile and living in France in about a year or so, this is definitely a viable alternative to working full time. I’ll be watching to see how the money flows in, but I have high hopes.

Disclaimer: This article is categorized as a “Sponsored” article.

[tags]ppp, payperpost, sponsored[/tags]

We grew up in the capital of Washington State, Olympia. It’s not necessarily a small town, but it’s not huge either. We had our little suburban lifestyle with our suburban friends and their suburban parents driving suburbans. Welcome to suburbia.

It was great.

But we didn’t always live there. When we were younger, we lived on a very small farmish type of thing. We had cows, pigs, goats, rabbits, chickens, dogs, cats and probably a few other things I don’t remember.

After our suburbia time, my dad decided he wanted his farmish thing back, and this time with some “hired” help… us kids. We were old enough to help now, and that meant slave labor. Good times.

So, off we went into a home which “had potential.” I’ll never forget those words. I hated them for years to come. The house was (from my city-boy perspective) run down. My dad saw it as an opportunity to do home improvements.

Can you see the headlines in his head? “City family makes wonderful life out of their own hands!” Uh huh.

First came the typical duties of running a farm, this time with horses who have stalls which they fill on a nightly basis. Of course, horses don’t have hands that can pick up giant turds with a rake, filter out the nice expensive sawdust, and throw it into the manure pile. So, that’s left up to us.

While we’re flinging horse crap, dad’s inside swearing at the pipes and walls. I’ve never seen my father sweat so much in my life. I’ve also not seen so much mayhem made of a house before. Dad was trying to remodel it, home improvement style.

The sad part is that once we were just about completely finished with the house, The Great 100 Year Flood of 1996 (which came 5 years after the other Great 100 Year Flood) came through and filled up about 3-4 feet of our newly remodeled home with muck.

So, we remodeled again.

Now, the end of the story goes like this: Pay someone else to fix your house. It’s not glamorous. It’s not “fun” (unless it’s a small project). It’s a pain in the ass, and if you have kids, they might talk about this one time where someone got a brilliant idea to find a house with “potential” and fix it up.

In case you’re doing some home improvements, specifically adding conservatories in the UK, you might check out Anglian Home.

If all else fails, at least wait until your kids are off to college.

Simple disclaimer: This post is a sponsored post, meaning I got paid to write it.