Booting Linux From a Flash Drive For File Recovery

After a long time we are back to talk about some more cool tech stuff you can do with a USB flash drive. Today's topic will focus on booting the Linux OS from a USB stick. The purpose for booting Linux from a USB drive, at least the purpose of this guide, is to recover files from a broken install of the windows OS or any other OS for that matter. We can also run virus scans from the Linux distro securely without infecting other PC's or having to boot the infected PC.

What you will need:

* A USB stick anywhere from 512mb to 2GB (depending on the distro)
* A main board capable of booting from a usb device.
* and about 15 minutes plus download time.

Software to be used:

* Latest stable version of UNetbootin

Step # 1: Prepare the USB Drive

Once you have all your materials together go ahead and plug the USB drive in and backup all files you may have on the disk.

Step # 2: Installing to The USB

Start up UNetbootin and select the following:

1. Use the first radio button "Distribution". This will download and install, automatically, the distro we want.
2. Pick SystemRescueCD. We are going with this because it is easy the ntfs file system driver comes prepackaged so no additional customization is required.
3. Next select your flash drive.
NOTE: Be sure to select your flash drive and not your windows partition or primary partition, 'cause if you do then you will destroy the currently installed OS.
4. Finally click "Ok".

UNetbootin options to select are shown in an image in the source article located at the link at the bottom of this article.

Step # 3: Configuring Bios

We will need to setup your computer to boot from the USB stick. To do so first you mother board will need to support this feature and second you will need to do some configuration.

1. Reboot your computer and hit "F2 or" del "depending on your mother board to enter BIOS config.
2. Search for the section labeled boot sequence, or named similarly. This will sometimes be filed under a separate section like advanced BIOS features, or similar.
3. Move removable or USB to the top of the list. If you do not see these options listed your mother board most likely does not support USB boot. Consult Google for more info on this.
4. Reboot the computer with the drive plugged in.

Step # 4: Booting Linux

We are going to boot into command line for this guide. There are options to load a GUI for those of you who tremble in the face of CLI. I must warm you though Command Line is by far easier and faster.

1. Once your computer passes post you will see the boot loader screen. Navigate to "VMLinuz64" and hit enter.

After a bunch of OK's on the screen and most likely 1 red FAIL you will be at the prompt "root @ sysresccd / root%". This would indicate a success.

Step # 5: Copying files from a windows partition onto an external hard disk.

For this you will need an external medium on which to move your files have this ready to receive your data. You can also use the usb stick which you booted from, if of course there is enough space on it.

1. First we will need to identify our drives. I will assume you have two storage devices plugged in one being the flash drive and the other your windows hard drive. Execute the command below:

fdisk -l | less This command will show you all the storage devices on your system. Use the down and up arrows to navigate the output as it may be larger than your screen. My output for this command is shown below:
Disk / dev / sda: 160.0 GB, 16000000000 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors / track, 19452 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0xd0f4738c Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System / dev / sda1 * 1 19451 156240126 7 HPFS / NTFS Disk / dev / sdb: 2085 MB, 2085617664 bytes 2 heads, 63 sectors / track, 32329 cylinders Units = cylinders of 126 * 512 = 64512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00502bcd Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System / dev / sdb1 * 1 32330 2036720 6 FAT16 My device is 160GB NTFS partition. Knowing those two bits of info we can take an educated guess and say / dev / sda is our windows device.

NOTE: To exit this output screen press "q".

2. Mount the windows drive so that we can access the files on it. Run the mount command below:

mount / dev / sda / mnt / windows NOTE: you will need to replace "/ dev / sda" with your device found from the output of fdisk -l. It is likely that they will be the same.

3. Lets find out if we mounted the right device now. Run:

ls / mnt / windows This command will list the files and folders in a directory. If you see the tell program Program Files and WINDOWS directories it was successfully mounted.

4. Time to get our backup device out. Plug it in and wait a few seconds then run the fdisk command again:

fdisk -l Egypt
cat / proc / partitions You should see both devices you saw last time and now a new one should be there. Match the size of the device to yours and note the device location most likely / dev / sdc.

Mount this device to the pre-made backup folder using the mount command again:

mount / dev / sdc / mnt / backup 5. Now it is time to copy things from the old windows drive to the backup disk.

If you want to copy your entire windows drive to your back up drive run this command:

cp -R / mnt / windows / * / mnt / backup / YOUR_FOLDER_NAME If you plan on copy single files type the full file path and then the full destination path.

Additional Useful Commands:

* Sometimes a virus can infect the very first bit of code that is executed on your system the MBR (Master Boot Record). Luckily we can clean this up with relative ease in linux. Execute:

dd if = / dev / zero of = / dev / sdb bs = 512 count = 1 Remember to replace "/ dev / sdb" with your device cause if you miss and clean the wrong one you may have some issues.

* Maybe you do not have an external device to back stuff up but you have another computer with a network share. Well lets mount that network share so we can copy files to it. Create a mount point:

mkdir / mnt / network Mount the share:
mount -t smbfs // computername / folder / mnt / network -o username = user1, password = mypasshere Now you can copy and move files to the network share just like any other directory.

To mount a share without a password use:

mount -t smbfs // computername / folder / mnt / network Until Next Time.

7 Powerful Ways To Make Money From Adsense Using Only Free Tools

There is really no doubt that there are amazing incomes currently being made on Google AdSense and the really interesting thing is that even relatively small sites and blogs are finding new ways to make money from their AdSense sites every day.

Actually there are a lot of increasingly creative ways to make money and maximize on AdSense earnings that are being discovered and also being put to use every day. And what's even more fascinating is the fact that most of these tools being used do not cost anything. They are actually free. Here are 7 of the most effective currently being used.

a) Ways to make money from AdSense by distributing articles through ezine and article announcement lists

Some of the most effective methods ways to make money from AdSense clicks involve the simple step of just increasing the volume of targeted traffic to a site. One of the ways of doing this is by distributing interesting content to ezine lists and article announcement lists. It is not too difficult to quickly build a list that reaches a million or so email boxes and can so give a lot of visibility and drive tons of highly targetd traffic to your AdSense site or sites. Probably the most popular place for doing this is at Yahoo groups, but there are a few others that you can find easily by using your favorite search engine.

Success here depends on three main factors. Firstly you should be careful to join article announcement lists and ezine lists that are as relevant as possible to your subject matter and offering. Secondly your headline has to be a killer headline that will grab readers by the scruffs of their necks and force them to open your email message among the dozens or even hundreds of others they receive daily. It goes without saying that the content must meet the promise of your sensational headline. Anything less will cause annoyance and leave all those potential visitors to your AdSense site feeling cheated. And believe me, you do not want to cause this sort of reaction because it is definitely not one of the ways o make money from AdSense or any other program for that matter. Thirdly, you will need the sort of resource box in all your articles that will leave most of your readers with no option but to visit your AdSense site.

Within a very short of consistently applying this technique, my daily AdSense earnings increased seven-fold.

b) Ways to make money from AdSense by distributing free articles to high traffic article sites
Some people find the recent trends that have seen an increase in article sites surprising. I do not. The net is primarily an information-seeking tool. Anything that will help improve the search and quality of information will greatly benefit the people making that effort.

Some of the older article directories receive very high traffic, mainly from web masters and site owners seeking quality free content for their sites. So apart from the immediate exposure these sites also guarantee plenty of future targeted traffic to your site, when individuals find your articles useful enough to re-post at their sites.

The more new articles you release to these sites every week, the more targeted traffic your AdSense sites will receive. This is in fact one of the most effective ways of making money consistently from AdSense clicks. One of the reasons for this is that targeted traffic will tend to spend more time at your site or sites, and the more time they spend, the higher the chances that they will click one of the adsense ads posted there.

c) Ways to make money from AdSense by Using Articles And A Viral Marketing Website

Any online marketing technique that involves the use of referral marketing or viral marketing automatically has a huge chance of being a success. The net is ideal for viral marketing and in fact gives any viral marketer huge leverage. Viral marketing or referral marketing is one of the most effective ways to make money online. Just ask Bill Gates.

When Gates was trying to play catch up on the Internet after an earlier mistake of underestimating the future importance of the net, he launched his Hotmail free email service when rivals like Yahoo already had millions of users. He decided to use a simple referral marketing technique. Every Hotmail message that went out had a brief signature at the end requesting the recipient to sign up for their free Hotmail account. Within a few short months, Hotmail had millions of users. And there are many other amazing stories which viral marketing boasts of on the net.

There is one of the very simple ways to make money from AdSense by going viral. Sign up at a leading viral marketing site. You will automatically get your own viral site. You can then use some of your articles to point people to your viral site. The way these sites work is that anyone who signs up at your site will have to visit your AdSense site if you register it at the site. So within a very short time you will be driving thousands of visitors to your AdSense site.

Find more details on this at my blog which address you'll find in the resource box below.

Admittedly this traffic is less targeted. Still the huge potential and possible numbers you are able to receive using this tool more than makes up for this.

d) Ways to make money from AdSense with Your Email signature

People greatly underestimate the power and potential effectiveness of a simple email signature as one of the ways to make money online. Actually this is a viral marketing method because emails get forward all the time and are even copied to several other people sometimes.

Do not waste another minute. Go to all your email accounts right now and create a signature that points to your AdSense site or sites.

Writing effective email signatures is a skill that you will have to develop, but I have found that using famous quotes is more effective than a straight advertising message. Always remember that people hate to be advertised to online.

e) Ways to make money from AdSense By Asking Questions At Discussion groups

I recently had an interesting conversation with a young Internet and computer techie. He asked me if there were quick ways to make money online by answering technical questions and helping people to solve their computer and web-related problems. My answer was that there were many discussion groups where participants would get these answers for free. I advised him that he had a better chance of making money by making use of this free advice available online rather than trying to sell his own advice.

There are tons of online discussion groups where leading world experts will answer your questions and give you valuable insight for free. It is amazing why most people do not think of using these online forums to learn as much as they can about the most effective ways of making money from Adsense.

These forums can easily be found through you favorite search engine.

f) Ways to make money from AdSense By Bartering your online skills for valuable AdSense keywords

In the old days, before the invention of money, if somebody needed something, the first question they asked themselves was; "What is it that I already have that I can exchange for what I need? Barter trade seems to have been forgotten but it is a very powerful method of trading. to send them money for an item they need.

You can barter whatever it is you have, your skills, products or services, and exchange them for genuine valuable AdSense keywords. Valuable AdSense keywords are the most effective way for a small site with low traffic to earn big cash from Adsense. And you can do this barter trade on an ongoing basis so that you always have a constant supply of valuable AdSense keywords which you can use at your site or blog as one of the ways to make more money from Adsense.

g) Ways to make money from AdSense By Sending Teaser Emails

To Everybody In Your Inbox And Also To Your Opt-in Email List
Most of us receive tons of email in our inbox every day. You'll be surprised at the huge number of people you know by simply going through your email inbox. No matter how good your spam filters are, you are also bound to be receiving more than your share share of SPAM or unsolicited email. All this is "gold" lying in your email inbox and there are ways to make money using these emails. All you need to do to process the emails into pure gold is to send out "teaser emails about the most interesting aspects of content at your site. to send out teaser email on this content here is how I would construct it;

Subject: Free Tools Currently Being Used To Increase AdSense Earnings

Hello,

Just thought you might be interested in this subject, since so many people online use AdSense these days. If not please accept my sincere apologies. Details are at my site.

www. your site's address .com

Regards,
Chris.

I am sure you can write an even more effective teaser email. It would be a better idea to have a different message for your close friends, a different one for your business contacts and yet another one for those nasty guys SPAMMING you.

These are just some of the many creative ways to make money from Adsense.

The Five Components of a Business Strategy

Can you define exactly what makes up a business strategy? Some people say no, but we think you can.

In fact, we believe a valid business strategy has five components:

1. Your company's current or desired core competencies
2. A description of how you will differentiate vs. competitors
3. The industry or industries in which you intend to compete
4. The initiatives you plan to implement in the areas of marketing, operations, information technology, finance and organizational development
5. A financial forecast that shows how your plans will meet stakeholder requirements over the next 3 to 5 years

Let's look at each of these components .

The first component of a valid business strategy is a clear description of your company's current or desired core competencies.

You may be thinking, "Great, but what's a 'core competency?"' While there are many definitions, here's a good one from Wikipedia:

" ACore competency is something that a firm can do well and that meets the following three conditions:

• It provides consumer benefits
• It is not easy for competitors to imitate
• It can be leveraged widely to many products and markets.

A core competency can take various forms, including technical / subject matter know how, a reliable process, and / or close relationships with customers and suppliers. It may also include product development or culture, such as employee dedication. "

For example, we could say that Southwest Airlines is a reliable airline that offers low fares. But in order to provide those benefits, it has to have certain "core competencies," important capabilities that enable it to have low fares and to be reliable. We believe that Southwest Airlines has four core competencies that it executes so well that it regularly beats all other US airlines in terms of profitability.

These core competencies are:

• The lowest operating costs per plane
• An economic point-to-point airport network
• A fanatical culture focused on customer service and cost savings
• An ability to keep planes in the air more of the time than its competitors.

Southwest airlines could not offer the benefits of low prices and reliable service if it did not master these core competencies. What key benefits do you want to offer your customers? What core competencies do you need to master to provide them?

The second component of a valid business strategy is a description of how you differentiate vs. competitors.

In our experience, differentiation is about being the best at something. This should be encapsulated in your mission statement - what are your company's aspirations and how are you going to beat the competition? We just talked about how Southwest Airlines differentiates - what are you going to offer customers that will make them choose your products or services so that you can grow your business?

It takes a lot of hard work to come up with a great answer to this question and even more work to make that difference real. It's easy for us to say that Southwest is the best low-cost airline in the US, but it's extraordinarily difficult for them to pull it off.

The third component of a valid business strategy is a description of the industry or industries in which you intend to compete.

You need to be able to define just what kind of company you are - are you a furniture manufacturer? A gift card retailer? A consulting firm, a bearings distributor, a toy importer, etc.? This step sounds easy but we find that companies are often so concerned about getting too narrow in their focus that they fail to become really clear about what they want to do. A company with a good business strategy will have thought through these issues and made the hard decisions necessary to clarify its identity. If it has, it can easily pass the litmus test of identifying the industry or industries in which it operates.

The fourth component of a business strategy is the set of initiatives you plan to implement in the areas of marketing, operations, information technology, finance and organizational development.

These are the plans that guide your company's focus and resource allocation over the next several years. If your business strategy is specific enough to be relevant, you will have detailed plans in all of these areas.

The fifth component of a business strategy is a financial plan that forecasts the results you expect to get from your plans and illustrates how they will meet stakeholder requirements over the next 3 to 5 years.

Your strategic planning process can not be separated from your annual budget process. In the vast majority of companies, if it's not in the budget, it does not exist. That's why you have to have a very senior financial person on your strategic planning team, preferably the CFO. During the planning process, your team must agree a financial plan that estimates the results of implementing your strategy. This plan needs to earn the approval of your company's management and board and should be reviewed on a regular basis to track results and make refinements.

So - those are the five components of a valid business strategy. Good luck planning your success. And succeeding because you plan.

Interview With a Network Marketing Master

Christopher Terry. By day, stocks trader. By night, network marketing genius. Because of his second "night" job, Terry will be resigning from his primary day job. The really amazing part of that is he will have done this within 5 short months of joining his network marketing company.

Within the network marketing company itself, Terry is a leader and a mentor. He does not abandon his downline members. He keeps us informed of company events and policies on an almost daily basis. He lets us know he is here to support us; as long as we are willing to do the work, he will do anything within his power to help us succeed. He is a network marketer's dream upline sponsor.

How did he do it? What is his secret? I sat down with him to find out and share with you his ideas for success.

Denise: Thank you for granting me this interview, Chris.

Christopher: Thank you, Denise!

D: How long have you been working at your career as a stocks trader?

C: I have been a Stock and Futures trader since the mid 1990's. I owned a construction business prior to that. I wanted to be able work and make money from home. Although I started trading in 1995, it was not until 1998 when I was able to walk away from my construction business and trade full time.

D: How successful were you at doing that?

C: I have done very well. I find it fascinating that I can create wealth from home. I love the fact that a person can take a relatively small amount of money and create a growing stream of income; however, it's all based on your own efforts. For example, in my business if I don't trade, I do not earn income. Also, trading takes years of dedication, time and effort to become successful; in other words, there is no such thing as an overnight success.

D: I understand you became a leader and motivational speaker in your industry. Share with me how you rose to that level.

C: I was actually in Amway for several years in the 1990s. I was fortunate to hit levels of success here in the United States in that company. I then went overseas as Amway opened up new markets, which gave me the opportunity to have an international business. I owe my "positive thinking" to that network marketing experience, since the leaders in Amway always recommended we read positive thinking books and listen to positive thinking tapes. At the time many considered it "brain washing." Today it is called "Laws of Attraction." So, l was into positive thinking and Laws of Attraction before it was a cool thing to do. That time period in my life gave me the foundation to grow both mentally and financially. I started a business outside of Amway, and then I went into the trading business.

D: What qualities do you see within you that helped you achieve success in your trading career?

C: I would have to say vision and foresight. I look at the future of what things can be, not as they are, and then I take action. I have always taken action, I am not afraid of whether that action turns out right or wrong. The worst thing to do is to have an idea and a plan but never actually do anything to put that plan into action. It is better to do something and fail than to never have done anything at all. I have always had a drive for success once I realized I have the power and the ability to become whomever and whatever I want. There is a four-letter word to success, and its spelled W-O-R-K; the reality is anything worthwhile takes work, trading and network marketing included!

D: Do you think those same qualities helped you build your network marketing business?

C: Those, and also reading positive thinking books and books on success, as well as overcoming my fear to speak to people. I was very shy growing up, so I learned to say "Hi" and start a conversation, to truly become interested in other people and what they had to say. I also am not afraid to work; if I had to dig ditches for a living, I would be the best ditch digger I could possibly be. I believe once you get your mindset right and you learn to ask the right questions, the game is 90% won, and success will be yours.

D: Tell me how you got involved in network marketing.

C: Interesting story! I was dating a girl and she was bragging about how her boss was making $5,000 a month in some business and that I should talk to him, so I did. He signed me up, and then my girlfriend, the very one who told me to speak to him, wanted me to quit because it was Amway! I told my sponsor that I had some problems and I had to quit. He told me, "Get rid of the problems." So, I broke up with my girlfriend and built Amway, and as you already know, I became very successful in that business!

D: Were you familiar with network marketing before that?

C: No, I was not.

D: What were your thoughts and, perhaps, preconceived notions, about network marketing in general, prior to joining your first network marketing company?

C: I had no idea what it was, all I knew was I had to bring people in the business with me, sell some products and I would get rich. Unfortunately, though, it does not work that way!

D: Could you elaborate on that idea? Most of us are brought into this industry with that same notion, and we all eventually experience the same rude awakening that you just described, that it is not as easy as they make it sound. So please, for the people reading this who are not yet in network marketing and are considering it, as well as for those who have started and perhaps are failing, explain what you mean.

C: Well, of course you do not just get in and get rich, this is the most common misconception about network marketing. There are people who enter the business and think everybody they know will get in with them. Then there are people who come in saying they have this "one guy that if he gets in, he will make us all rich, he knows everybody!" and it is the furthest thing from the truth. This business is a numbers game. To be successful, you must expose people to the business every single day, to be consistently meeting new people and telling others about our dynamic opportunity. The more people you come in contact with, the more likely you will find people who want to become a part of your team and earn an income with you. This is true from day one; even though you may have a list of 100 or 500 people that you know, you still want to always be in the creative mode and working what I like to call the ABC's - Always Be Contacting. You do not know where the next million dollar earner will come from.

The hardest thing for me is I cannot take the feelings inside my heart and mind that motivate me and give them to someone else, although I wish I could. The truth is, everybody has to find their own will, desire, and hunger to succeed; without them, they will end up like the rest, having some success, but not truly creating wealth. We all know or have heard the hard, cold fact that 98% of the people in this great country are broke and do not have a backup plan; if they lose their job or business, they will be 90-120 days away from poverty. People can blame it on the government, but the responsibility ultimately falls on each one of us. We should be proactive when we do not actually need to be and start our own home based businesses, which will get us out of that 98% and into the 2% income earners.

One final thought on this topic: I think the reason most people fail in the network marketing industry is that they treat it like a job and not like their own business. When you act as if it is just another job, you do the least amount of work possible for whatever pay you can get. These people want to work very few hours and get rich right away. Unfortunately, this does not happen in network marketing. Those who invest their time and effort into growing the business, even if there is no income at first, can see the vision of the future. At the beginning they will work 20 hours a day for zero pay, because they see that putting in 20 hours will pay the equivalent of 2,000 hours' worth of work one day, and eventually zero hours will pay 10,000 hours. Fortunately, in our business the compensation for our work is amazing, but if you do not expand with people, you will not take advantage of the true income potential of network marketing.

D: Thorough and well said. I would like to add that when you said one should always be in the creative mode, in addition to working the ABC's, I think the creativity part should apply to marketing your business. Be creative in your marketing efforts. Think outside of the box and create many different marketing campaigns. Utilize technology and the internet. The more you put yourself out there, the more you achieve exactly what you are saying, Chris, which is maximum exposure of the business to as many people as possible so you can increase your odds of signing up significant numbers new members into your downline. I do this on a daily basis myself, and I also make it a point to talk to people every day to make new contacts, as you have recommended.

Getting back to my questions, what were your first thoughts when you were introduced to the specific business we are in together?

C: I was actively looking for an online business to get into. I was not looking for network marketing/multi-level marketing, I was searching for an online business that was cutting edge and in which I could earn a residual income. When I saw this business it was in a cutting edge industry, doing business in 170 countries, it offered a strong income opportunity without having to sponsor people, yet by sponsoring people, it offered the ability to create wealth and long term residual income. They say to be successful you need a product that people want, need and can afford, that will be used over and over and is desired in the market place. I found it!

D: As we already know, this is not the only network marketing business you have ever been involved in. Were there any others besides Amway and ours?

C: I looked at a few others along the way, but I did not join any.

D: Why not?

C: Well, I am a high income earner in the trading world, both as a trader and an educator. I have been doing this for 17 years, and nothing really struck me as good enough for me to give it my full attention. I have seen MANY companies, products and services. When I saw the opportunity in the industry you and I are in together, I saw an industry that was young, dynamic, and that people loved. It has a place in the market because it meets people's desires to find a bargain and/or make a deal. Also, it is VERY profitable, so I wanted to be a part of it. I got in first, and then I learned about it as I grew with it. I have not looked back. I have built an incredible team that's growing in leaps and bounds. You are a part of that team, Denise, an amazing student and downline member.

D: Thank you, Chris! How do the other network marketing companies you've analyzed compare to the one you and I are in together?

C: They cannot compare.

D: Besides what you have already stated about our company when you actually found it, what made you think that this was the company to join?

C: I have no products to carry around, no juices or vitamins to purchase or sell, I did not have to sneak up on my family and friends, and I do not have to sell expensive products that I can buy in the store cheaper. We get paid to advertise. Period.

D: Now, I would like to share with our reading audience your own personal tips for network marketing success. Please tell me, what works for you?

C: Relationships are everything; your network is your net worth. I am always in the creative process and always opening doors to new people, saying hello and breaking the ice to get a conversation going. In network marketing, our job is to leverage time and money; without people on your team it becomes impossible. I would suggest genuinely becoming interested in others, going to events, whether it is a show or a business event, or any gathering where good quality people who you may want to work with will attend. I also suggest speaking to people who you would not normally speak to and might even make you feel a little uncomfortable; those are often your best prospects. We tend to feel heroic because we got the number of the drive-through window guy at Mc Donalds; meanwhile, we get false impressions of success when we see somebody dressed in a nice suit and tie and just assume they are already successful, so we say nothing to them because we think they've got it all already and don't need a change in their lives. Both of these people may be your best prospect, or your worst, but you will never know unless you open up the door and say something to break the ice. With the "successful business man" (or so we assume) who we are often afraid to approach, you can start with something as simple as, "Hey, nice tie, where did you get it?" Then see where the conversation leads.

D: Is there anything that you've done that didn't work so well?

C: Yes. As I've mentioned before, it takes years to become an "overnight success." I have made, will make, and will continue to make mistakes. It is okay to fail; the more you fail the closer you will get to winning. Becoming immune to failing is the key to success. You may wonder why I say this. Well, if you have somebody who is not used to failing and thinks failing is bad, then when he/she hears "No" enough times, it damages his/her confidence, and that person is afraid to keep trying. However, if you are not afraid to fail, you will not let those "No's" stop you. Instead, you will become more motivated to find the people who will say "YES" to your opportunity or presentation. Become a failure to become a success. This goes for ANY business!

D: What is the ONE business building idea you can share that you think is the MAIN reason you are where you are today, about to retire from trading, and about to embark on some major journeys in life, both literally and figuratively?

C: First, let me clarify something very important. The word "retire" is loosely used in the network marketing industry. I have been trading for 17 years and it is time for me to take a break. Do I think I will stay out of it for long period of time? No, it has always has been and will always be a passion of mine. I have built my name and reputation as a trader and educator, so I will most definitely return to the industry; however, I welcome a break in the action right now.

I love to help and give to others, so this is my current mission. There is nothing better than creating a profit in network marketing and helping others create wealth in the same fashion. Then, bringing my profession back into the mix, profiting on those profits as a trader too is a home run! However, I really do have the freedom to either work or not work; that is how large the income that I have created in our network marketing business is already. The MAIN reason I am where I am today is I will do whatever it takes; I will work 100 hours in a 24 hour day until I make it. As I said earlier, the main ingredient for me is that four-letter curse word, W O R K... and I have a LOW "IQ" ("I QUIT") level!

D: Lastly, you are extremely jazzed about the network marketing company we are in together. What are the defining qualities of this company that makes it so good? Based on that, what should people look for in their own network marketing company or when deciding to actually join one?

C: Well, it seems lately I am sleeping no more than 3 hours per night! The energy of the team, of the company, and of the industry has taken the world by storm, and this keeps me "jazzed" as you say! I believe I had already mentioned earlier the reasons why I like our company, because there are no products to lug around and there is no trying to sell to friends and family a product or service they do not want. I have been approached by other network marketing companies that involve selling legal insurance, utility companies, juice companies, vitamin companies, weight loss companies, you name it! I have found that ours is so simple; our work is to advertise and it takes no more than two minutes per day. I am from the Amway world. I got my PhD in network marketing. In my opinion, the most ideal situation is the one that does not require a person to sponsor people to become successful, yet offers the opportunity to earn larger income because you do sponsor, train, and motivate others, and once you help them earn income, you earn additional bonuses. I come from a world where, when you help enough people get what you want, you in turn will get what you want. Everybody has their own version of what is best for them. Some may like a particular industry. My advice? Do your due diligence, figure out what you are passionate about, and run with it. That's all.

I want to thank Mr. Terry for taking the time to answer these questions so thoughtfully and thoroughly.

On a side note, Christopher Terry is one of the most benevolent and philanthropic men I've ever met, and he does it without creating great publicity or accolades for his generosity. He believes very strongly in the idea that "it is in giving that you shall receive." I am honored to know him and very glad we have gone into business together.

So there you have it. Christopher Terry's story and his tips for helping you create success in your own network marketing company. If you want have any questions or want to learn more, please email me at denise@bettermlmsuccess.com.

Flow Experience - A Key To Happiness

What is flow experience?

Flow experience is a concept defined by Csikszentmihalyi to describe those moments when you are completely and collectively absorbed in an activity. As such, everything else is forgotten. You have total concentration and nothing else matters. You are no longer aware of what is going on around you. The rest of the world is forgotten.

When you are in a flow experience, your focus is so complete that you forget about sleeping and eating. You are not even aware of yourself; you are immersed in the activity you are engaged in.

Sincemore, since you are so engrossed in the activity, your experience of time changes. You are so absorbed that the past and future are forgotten. Time absolutely flies by, although you are not aware of this at the time. It is only when you come out of the activity that you notice how much time has passed.

You can have a flow experience with any activity that is mindful and requires you to actively participate in it. As such, good conversation, reading a novel, playing sport, working on your hobby, letter writing, gardening, even cleaning the house are examples where you can experience flow. Passive activities such as watching television and sport are not conducive to a flow experience. You will probably know when you have had a flow experience as you will get that feel-good buzz afterwards of having engaged in something engrossing.

Whilst you are engaged in your activity, you will feel completely in control and are not worried about success or failure. The activity fees effortless but engaging. To the objective observer the activity may look risky and demanding (for example, surfing), but not to you, the participant.

We all possess the ability to engage in flow experiences and the more we have, the happier we are.

Why is it important?

• Flow enables you to focus and have total control and concentration during a particular experience.
• Understanding flow enables you to focus your attention at will, rather than waiting for something to come and grab your attention.
• Your skills are being used at their very best - you are giving your all.
• It can help you achieve your goals, since you are free from intrusive thoughts and events.
• It will enhance your well-being and happiness.
• Understanding flow can help you understand why you are procrastinating on a particular issue. Have a look at the conditions needed for a flow experience and reflect on them in terms of the task you are struggling to stay.

The three conditions to a flow experience

Csikszentmihalyi stipulates three conditions that must be met in order to have a flow experience:

1. Your chosen activity should have a clearly defined set of goals. This will help you focus your energy and give you direction.
2. You want a good balance between your perceived skills and perceived challenges. The important point here is 'perceived' rather than actual. It is a mind-state. If you believe your skills far surpass the challenge, you will become bored as it will be too easy for you. Whereas, if you perceive the challenge as being too hard for you, you will become frustrated.
3. Feedback is essential. It will enable you to modify your actions if necessary, to keep you in the flow. The feedback can be negative as well as positive. It can enable you to move on and progress (providing you have the skills to do so).
How to have more flow experiences Flow can occur with any activity, provided it is mindful. What is important is how the activity is carried out. Take a look at the following tips to help you towards engaging in regular flow experiences:

• Avoid multi-tasking. Trying to do two (or more) things at once is no way to achieve flow. It is not possible to give your all to two tasks at the same time. This will reduce your enjoyment and quite possibly the outcome may be compromised. Try to cut down on multi-tasking even for the most everyday chores.
• Try not to check your email every five minutes if you are working on a computer. Choose a time to read it and give it your full attention.
• Limit your distractions. Is there anything in your environment that is preventing you from achieving flow? Temperature, noise, layout, objects, other people, level of light can make a difference.
• Determine your goals and break them down into achievable chunks. Make sure these chunks are adequately challenging to keep your interest.
• Try new activities and develop new skills. The more your skills develop, the more pleasure you will receive. You may experience boredom or frustration early on. So take care to monitor your progress to check the activity is interesting enough and within your capability. Modify your goals if you need to.
• To keep experiencing flow with a particular activity you will need to increase the challenge - one that you believe you can meet. As your skills develop, the activity can become boring as it no longer requires as much attention. A new challenge will not only up your interest but enhance your expertise.
• How is your job? You spend a great chunk of your life in work, so you really want to obtain as many flow experiences as possible. If you are feeling bored, is there anything you can do to make it more challenging?
• Try to obtain regular feedback on what you are doing. It could be from yourself or another person.
• Avoid mindless activities which you do not actively get involved in - for example, watching television.

Read more

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1991) Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience.

What Cryptocurrencies Are Good to Invest in?

This year the value of Bitcoin has soared, even past one gold-ounce. There are also new cryptocurrencies on the market, which is even more surprising which brings cryptocoins' worth up to more than one hundred billion. On the other hand, the longer term cryptocurrency-outlook is somewhat of a blur. There are squabbles of lack of progress among its core developers which make it less alluring as a long term investment and as a system of payment.

Bitcoin

Still the most popular, Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency that started all of it. It is currently the biggest market cap at around $41 billion and has been around for the past 8 years. Around the world, Bitcoin has been widely used and so far there is no easy to exploit weakness in the method it works. Both as a payment system and as a stored value, Bitcoin enables users to easily receive and send bitcoins. The concept of the blockchain is the basis in which Bitcoin is based. It is necessary to understand the blockchain concept to get a sense of what the cryptocurrencies are all about.

To put it simply, blockchain is a database distribution that stores every network transaction as a data-chunk called a "block." Each user has blockchain copies so when Alice sends 1 bitcoin to Mark, every person on the network knows it.

Litecoin

One alternative to Bitcoin, Litecoin attempts to resolve many of the issues that hold Bitcoin down. It is not quite as resilient as Ethereum with its value derived mostly from adoption of solid users. It pays to note that Charlie Lee, ex-Googler leads Litecoin. He is also practicing transparency with what he is doing with Litecoin and is quite active on Twitter.

Litecoin was Bitcoin's second fiddle for quite some time but things started changing early in the year of 2017. First, Litecoin was adopted by Coinbase along with Ethereum and Bitcoin. Next, Litecoin fixed the Bitcoin issue by adopting the technology of Segregated Witness. This gave it the capacity to lower transaction fees and do more. The deciding factor, however, was when Charlie Lee decided to put his sole focus on Litecoin and even left Coinbase, where're he was the Engineering Director, just for Litecoin. Due to this, the price of Litecoin rose in the last couple of months with its strongest factor being the fact that it could be a true alternative to Bitcoin.

Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin, superstar programmer thought up Ethereum, which can do everything Bitcoin is able to do. However its purpose, primarily, is to be a platform to build decentralized applications. The blockchains are where the differences between the two lie. Basically, the blockchain of Bitcoin records a contract-type, one that states whether funds have been moved from one digital address to another address. However, there is significant expansion with Ethereum as it has a more advanced language script and has a more complex, broader scope of applications.

Projects began to sprout on top of Ethereum when developers began noticing its better qualities. Through token crowd sales, some have even raised dollars by the millions and this is still an ongoing trend even to this day. The fact that you can build wonderful things on the Ethereum platform makes it almost like the internet itself. This caused a skyrocketing in the price so if you purchased a hundred dollars' worth of Ethereum early this year, it would not be valued at almost $3000.

Monero

Monero aims to solve the issue of anonymous transactions. Even if this currency was perceived to be a method of laundering money, Monero aims to change this. Basically, the difference between Monero and Bitcoin is that Bitcoin features a transparent blockchain with every transaction public and recorded. With Bitcoin, anyone can see how and where the money was moved. There is some somewhat imperfect anonymity on Bitcoin, however. In contrast, Monero has an opaque rather than transparent transaction method. No one is quite sold on this method but since some folks love privacy for whatever purpose, Monero is here to stay.

Zcash

Not unlike Monero, Zcash also aims to solve the issues that Bitcoin has. The difference is that rather than being completely transparent, Monero is only partially public in its blockchain style. Zcash also aims to solve the problem of anonymous transactions. After all, no every person loves showing how much money they actually spent on memorabilia by Star Wars. Thus, the conclusion is that this type of cryptocoin really does have an audience and a demand, although it's hard to point out which cryptocurrency that focuses on privacy will eventually come out on top of the pile.

Bancor

Also known as a "smart token," Bancor is the new generation standard of cryptocurrencies which can hold more than one token on reserve. Basically, Bancor attempts to make it easy to trade, manage and create tokens by increasing their level of liquidity and letting them have a market price that is automated. At the moment, Bancor has a product on the front-end that includes a wallet and the creation of a smart token. There are also features in the community such as stats, profiles and discussions. In a nutshell, the protocol of Bancor enables the discovery of a price built-in as well as a mechanism for liquidity for smart contractual tokens through a mechanism of innovative reserve. Through smart contract, you can instantly liquidate or purchase any of the tokens within the reserve of Bancor. With Bancor, you can create new cryptocoins with ease. Now who wouldn't want that?

EOS

Another competitor of Ethereum, EOS promises to solve the scaling issue of Ethereum through the provision of a set of tools that are more robust to run and create apps on the platform.

Tezos

An alternative to Ethereum, Tezos can be consensually upgraded without too much effort. This new blockchain is decentralized in the sense that it is self-governing through the establishment of a digital true commonwealth. It facilitates the mathematical technique called formal verification and has security-boosting features of the most financially weighed, sensitive smart contract. Definitely a great investment in the months to come.

Verdict

It is incredibly hard to predict which Bitcoin in the list will become the next superstar. However, user adoption has always be one key success factor when it came to cryptocurrencies. Both Ethereum and Bitcoin have this and even if there is a lot of support from early adopters of every cryptocurrency in the list, some have yet to prove their staying power. Nonetheless, these are the ones to invest in and watch out for in the coming months.

Ways Young People Can Win With Money

Learning about money while you are still young is an awesome idea. Let me give you a few ideas that young people can use to really win in their financial lives.

Being realistic is key. And winning with money is realistic! This means you should use common sense, investigate investments, the markets, and the opportunities you are interested in. Read the fine print. If you were to take on debt, ask yourself if it would be worth it, or if the debt would be like an anchor. Again, be realistic. Look at the real consequences of the actions you could take. Good actions should be turned into habits.

Consider entrepreneurship. Write down business ideas. Learn the skills you need to succeed. See if your business idea is feasible by testing your product or service. If it is, type up a business plan, and get to work. Make the phone calls and do the web searches necessary to find the information you need.

Join a club or society for young entrepreneurs. Earn a business degree. The more you can learn about business, the better off you are. Being around and networking with other goal oriented, ambitious entrepreneurial types is a boon to your success. Being around the total risk averse and the complacent is not a boon to success.

Work hard at your job and / or at your business. Make a good name for yourself. If a job does not work out, do not trash your goal of being rich. Just keep plugging away and learn from your mistakes. Sales or customer service would be a good starting point if your first job is not running your own business.

While (and if) you live with your parents, sock away as much money as you can. W. Clement Stone once said, "If you can not save money, the seeds of greatness are not in you."

Learn about investments, by taking an investments class at your high school or college (taking a few more classes is better). Economics is good thing to study too. Finance and economics are tough courses but are very worthwhile. Read extracurricular books and read about your interests.

Winning with money is not always easy. Self discipline, sacrifice, frugality, hard work, managing risk, reading books, and holding on to your long term vision are essential to your success.

A Guide to Hiring an SEO Provider

If your business has any online components (such as a website), then SEO is critical to the ongoing success of your business. You may have the most expensive website in your industry, but without web traffic (visitors) to that website, it is essentially useless. It is not just traffic that you need, but targeted traffic. A good quality SEO service can provide relevant, consistent web traffic to your website (s). This guide will allow you, as a non-expert, to distinguish between good and bad SEO providers. There are many of both kinds, this guide should help you to find the good ones.

SEO needs to be implemented in a way that is effective in achieving your SEO goals and providing that all important meaningful presence on the World Wide Web.

Quality SEO is a critical investment when it comes to developing successful expansion and growth strategies.

Ineffective SEO implementation, renders your SEO efforts wholly ineffective and a waste of your money.

6 things you need to know and understand before hiring an SEO provider:

1) Hiring an SEO provider should be seen as an investment in your business. You should not view it as a business expense, but rather a business strategy and an effective way of enhancing your business presence within your business sector. Try not to begin your search with the intent of "buying some SEO". Hiring an SEO provider should have viewed rather as hiring an employee that understands and cares about your business and its online objectives.

2) The first page of Google (or any search engine) is everything. Few people ever go to the second page of the search results anymore. Google is so good at being a search engine that people blindly trust Google's ability to deliver the most relevant results on the first page. Think about how often you click through to the second page. This means that if your business is not on the first page, it's almost as good as now. The top positions on page one get the most clicks, which decrease as you progress downwards on the page.

3) The 'big' keywords are not everything. It is better to be on the first page for a fewer smaller keywords, than try to rank for larger keywords and not be on the first page at all. For example, an accountancy business in Preston may not rank for the highly competitive keyword 'accountant' (unless they have a lot of SEO budget and time to wait for rankings); but the same business could conceivably rank highly for the keyword 'chartered accountant Preston'. A good SEO provider should research the keywords that your business could literally rank on page one for and also keywords that have enough search volume to be worthwhile for your business to try ranking for.

4) SEO is all about beating your competition. There is no guarantee from the search engines to say you will be on the first page of Google if you do certain things. Put simply, SEO works like this:

The search engines have their conventions; websites that conform by giving the search engines what they want, will find them making achieving search engine rankings. The only thing standing between you and the top spots in the search rankings is your competition. Not your actual business competitors, but your online competitors. The websites that currently have the top spots in the search engines for your desired keywords are your online competition, and you need to beat them out of those top spots. Some keywords will be easy to rank for, others will be more difficult. It is only your online competition that dictates which will be the case for each individual keyword. A good SEO provider will research the competition for each of your keywords. Then, after the most effective keywords for your business sector have been identified that they should be implemented in accordance with point number three above.

5) On-page and Off-page SEO.

Search engine optimization is a complex and ever-evolving science, but in order to intelligently interview a prospective SEO provider you need to understand that there are two main types of SEO.

On-page SEO relates to the factors on your website that affect your SEO (keywords, usability, page headings, outbound links, internal links, etc.).

Off-page SEO are the factors that relate directly to matters outside of your website that affect the SEO of the website, such as back links, citations, social sharing, etc.

SEO providers can work on your off-page SEO fairly easily, but if you are not willing to change on-page SEO, according to their recommendations, you can not blame them for lack of results. A good SEO provider will review your website and report back about your on-page SEO, and how it can be improved. You should have your web designer make the adjustments. (Remember he is the expert in this field)

6) An increase in search engine ranking is not necessarily an increase in leads and sales. All your SEO provider can do is get your website, videos, Google Places, articles, blog posts, etc. further up the search engine results. They can not guarantee an increase in sales or leads, because that factor is determined by your own sales funnel. It is not the SEO provider's job to make sure that the extra web traffic you receive will convert to more leads or sales. Your website needs to convert those visitors with good marketing, which is an issue for your marketing consultant to deal with.

The key differences between 'good' and 'bad' SEO providers:

Good SEO Providers
Good SEO providers know and understand the points mentioned above. You can judge this by their answers to the questions provided later in my next article.
Good SEO providers want to build a solid foundation and a proper SEO plan for your business, with an extensive initial keyword and market (competitor) research. They will often insist upon it, even if the prospect client does not see the need. Sometimes a good SEO provider will refuse to work with a client that does not want the important groundwork to be done, because they know that without it they will not be likely to provide the client with the results that they want. A good SEO provider will want to provide their client with results as their first priority. Often a client will say "but I've already done the keyword research myself". Many potential clients sit down for 5 or 10 minutes to write out all the keywords that they think are relevant to their business, and then think that they have now done all the keyword research that is needed. Real keyword research is a lengthy, investigative process.

Good SEO providers use responsible SEO methods, such as paying more attention to on-page SEO, securing quality back links, improving citations, helping social sharing, including a good user experience, etc.

Bad SEO Providers
Bad SEO providers will want to take their clients' money as their first priority. They will not conduct proper keyword and market research, but will say, for example, "what are your three keywords and your URL that you want to rank for". If this happens (as it often does) you can be sure they are simply plugging your website into software to get irrelevant back links all over the internet, using spam blog comments, link farms and other means. In many cases this approach is ineffective because the URL, or domain, may not match the client's desired keywords. This can also damage the reputation and, ironically, the long-term SEO and credibility of the website.
Bad SEO providers use bad quality SEO methods (Sometimes referred to as Black-hat methods), Utilizing these methods can have an extremely detrimental effect on how your website is perceived by search engines. This in turn may result in your website being (Sand boxed). Needless to say this is extremely undesirable, as damage such as this is extremely difficult to reverse.

Ensure you get the specialist SEO who knows how to highlight the attributes of your company and can draw attention to your products and your services in a way that really makes your business stand-out on the worldwide web.

Evaluating Stocks: Fundamentals and Technical Analysis

Certainly, a "complete" course on security analysis is well beyond the scope of this text. There are many excellent books devoted to the subject of how to analyze the value of securities - both from a fundamental as well as a technical standpoint. The goal here is simply to provide a basic understanding of the methods and theories behind each type of stock analysis.

It should be pointed out early on that Fundamental Analysis and Technical Analysis of securities are two fairly radically different approaches to determining the correct [or fair] value of a company's stock. Let's start with a general overview of each method and then look into the specifics of each area. Again, for a more detailed examination of each type of analysis, we suggest you refer to our book list and / or the books specifically mentioned throughout this document.

The definitive work on Fundamental Analysis is broadly considered to be the classic book "Security Analysis" by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd. This book, which was first published in 1934, is considered by most on Wall Street to be the 'Bible' of security analysis.
In fact, it was Benjamin Graham that Warren Buffett studied under when he first started in the stock market. Much of Berkshire Hathaway's success can likely be traced back to the information and ideas provided in the book Security Analysis and by the teachings of Benjamin Graham (although, it's widely acknowledged that Warren Buffett put his own spin on things over the years as well).

Fundamental Analysis is just as it sounds. It is based on examining the fundamental pieces of a business and its operation. There are no exotic formulas used. You do not need to be a mathematician. Anyone with a simple calculator and some basic information about a business should be able to employ Fundamental Analysis quite effectively.
The basic idea is if you put a dollar into the business (in the form of buying the stock) how much of a return can you expect. How much yield will you likely see and / or how much growth will you experience based on the operation, markets, competitors and costs of the business. Obviously, not all aspects of these fundamentals can be quantified. Such such as "good will" or changes in the economy or the consumer can be difficult to nearly impossible to calculate. However, to a large degree Fundamental Analysis throws these items out as concerns and simply looks at the cold hard facts which you do have available to you. Things such as costs of goods sold, margins, tangible assets, expenses, etc.

Armed with these basic and tangible numbers, one should rather easily be able to calculate the value and profitability of any business (given the numbers available and / or provided are accurate of course). Once a valuation is arrived at, the person performing the valuation can decide whether or not the market place (in this case the stock market) is applying what could be considered a fair market value to the stock. Certainly, when trying to make a profit on Wall Street, it is advisable to search out stocks which are (or at least appear are) being improperly or undervalued by the market. For the Fundamental Analyst, once an undervalued security is found, it's simply a matter of buying the stock and waiting for the market to realize the "more accurate" value of the security (assuming of course he / she is correct in their assumptions).
Find a cheap security, buy it and become rich. If only it was that simple. Or maybe it is? Just ask Mr. Buffett.

If the definitive work on Fundamental Analysis is provided by Graham and Dodd, then perhaps the definitive work on Technical Analysis is provided by Martin J. Pring in his book "Technical Analysis Explained". To quote this well regarded book on the definition of Technical Analysis:
"The technical approach to investing is essentially a reflection of the idea that prices move in trends which are determined by the changing attitudes of investors towards a variety of economic, monetary, political, and psychological forces. is an art - is to identify trend changes at an early stage and to maintain an investment post until the weight of the evidence indicates that the trend has reversed. "

Technical Analysis is nothing new. It has been used in one form or another for as long as stocks have been traded. In fact, the star character in one of my all favorite favorite books ("How I made $ 2,000,000 dollars in the stock market" by Nicholas Darvas) used mainly Technical Analysis principles in his investing - whether he knew it or not. However, "Charting" also commonly called "Chart Reading", which Technical Analysis is also referred to as, has become much more popular and broadly used inhaps only the last 20 to 30 years on Wall Street. This may be a large due in part to its more wide spread teaching and acceptance in colleges in more recent years.
If, based on my own experience and knowledge of this method of analyzing securities, I had to summarize all of the technical analysis down into one central idea, I would put it like this:

The corner stone of Technical Analysis is the concept that no single individual can ever hope to know as much about a security as the whole of Wall Street does at any given time. Because "Wall Street" is made up of everyone who is invested in - or may invest in - the stock market, their collective knowledge about any specific stock and / or the market is such that this mass of people and combined knowledge (ie Wall Street ) can valuate securities nearly instantaneously and far more accurately than any single individual.

As such, in the mind of the Technician, it follows that there must be no need to use something as "archaic" as Fundamental Analysis to value a stock, when everything known about the stock (and this includes the business fundamentals) is almost instantly reflected in the stock's price. In this situation, it would make much more sense to use the recent and historical trends and movements of the stock price to deduce not only the current fair market value of the stock, but where the price "may move" in the future. This future price movement is large extrapolated based on historical chart patterns and how the stock has recently expired in relation to support and resistance levels. Any Technical Analysis book worth its salt will quickly introduce you to chart patterns such as "double tops", "trend lines", etc. It is these patterns which are the core of Technical Analysis.

However, the question of whether or not these patterns on charts can always accurately predict future price movements of a stock is (and probably always will be) up for debate between Fundamental and Technical Analysts. If there is one fundamental (again no pun intended) flaw to Technical Analysis, it is that over the years Technical Analysis has been [incorrectly] extrapolated to mean that the market will "always perfectly" evaluate a security based on all information known by the markets. Unfortunately, that is not "always" the case.
This leads to mind a funny joke I once ran across in a book (I believe the book was by or about Warren Buffett) regarding how technical Analysis has been elevated to levels beyond its true capabilities:

A Technical Analyst and his friend were walking across the street. His friend noticed a $ 10 bill laying in the middle of the road and exclaimed, "Look, there is a $ 10 bill in the road". At which point the Technical Analyst said "If it were really a $ 10 bill, it would not be laying in the road".
This joke underscores the idea that Technical Analysis may not always evaluate the market without error. However, as long as you keep this point in mind, then Technical Analysis and chart reading can be a helpful tool in both investing and trading.

Finally, we should point out that the term "Quantitative Analysis" on Wall Street simply refers to someone (also sometimes referred to as a "Quant") who employs a mixture of both Fundamental and Technical Analysis in trying to properly evaluate stocks.

Good luck in the markets!

No permission is needed to reproduce an unedited copy of this article as long the About Author tag is left in tact and hot links included. Questions and comments can be sent to Ray at articles@daytraders.com .

Option Trading Basics

Options trading can increase the profits you make when trading Stocks if you understand how to use them and know what you are doing. Options can be a very useful tool that the average investor can use to enhance their returns.

This article - Options Trading Basics, looks at what options are and discusses some of the options trading strategies traders can use with these versatile instruments.

Options - An Overview

Options give the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy (a call option) or sell (a put option) the underlying Stock or futures contract at a specified price up until a specified date.

In other words, options are like tradable insurance contracts.

An investor can purchase a Put option as insurance against a decline in the Stock price or a Call option in case the Stock rises. Buying an option gives the purchaser time to decide whether they will buy or sell the underlying Stock. The price is locked in until the expiration date, which in the case of LEAPS can be years into the future.

Options trading has several advantages that every Stock Market investor should be aware of, such as high leverage, lower overall risk than owning the physical security, more versatility and the ability to generate extra income from a current Stock portfolio.

An option of value fluctuates in direct relationship to the underlying security. The price of the option is only a fraction of the price of the security and therefore provides higher leakage and lower risk - the most an option buyer can lose is the premium, or deposit, they paid on entering into the contract.

By purchasing the undering Stock of Futures contract itself, a much larger loss is possible if the price moves against the buyers position.

An option is described by its symbol, whether it's a put or a call, an expiration month and a strike price.

A Call option is a bullish contract, giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying security at a certain price on or before a certain date.

A Put option is a bearish contract, giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying security at a certain price on or before a certain date.

The expiration month is the month the option contract expires.

The strike price is the price that the buyer can either buy call) or sell (put) the underlying security by the expiration date.

The premium is the price that is paid for the option.

The intrinsic value is the difference between the current price of the underlying security and the strike price of the option.

The time value is the difference between current premium of the option and the intrinsic value. The time value is also influenced by the volatility of the underlying security.

Up to 90% of all out of the money options expire worthless and their time value primarily Declines until their expiration date.

This clue offers traders a very good hint as to which side of an options contract they should be on ... professional options traders who make consistent profits usually sell far more options than they buy.

The option contracts that they do buy are usually only to hedge their physical Stock Portfolios - that this is a powerful distinction between the punters and small traders who consistently buy low priced, out of the money and close to expire puts and calls, hoping for a big payoff (illegally) and the guys who really make the money out of the options market every month, by consistently selling these options to them - please read the rest of this article.

The seller of the option contract is obliged to satisfy the contract if the buyer decides to exercise the option.

Therefore, if he has sold Copped Call options over his Shares, and the Stock price is above the option strike price at expiration, the option is said to be in-the money, and the seller must sell his shares to the option buyer at the strike price if he is exercised.

Sometimes an in-the-money option will not be exercised, but it is very rare. The option seller (or writer) has to be prepared to sell the Stock at the strike price if exercised.

He can always buy back the option prior to expiration if he chooses to and write one at a higher strike price if the stock price has rallied, but this results in a capital loss as he will usually have to pay more to buy the option back than the premium he received when he originally sold it.

Many option writers simply get exercised out of the Stock and then immediately re-buy more of the same or another stock and simply write more call options against them.

The buyer of an option has no obligations at all - either either sells his option later at a profit or a loss, or exercises it if the stock price is in-the-money at expiry and he can make a profit.

The vast majority of options are held until expiration and simply decay in price until there is no point in the hapless buyer selling them. Very few options are actually exercised by the buyer. The vast major expend worthless.

Having said all this, lets look at an example of how to use options to gain leverage to a Stock price movement when the trend does go in our favor ...

For this example we will use MSFT as the underlying security. Let's assum MSFT is trading for $ 24.50 a share and it is early January. We are bullish on this Stock and based on our technical analysis we think that it will go to $ 27.50 within two months.

In this example, we will ignore Brokerage costs, but they do have an effect on the percentage returns. The prices and price moves of the Stock and the options are hypothetical - they are intended as a guide only.

Buying 1000 physical shares will cost $ 24,500 and if we sell our position at $ 27.50 a share, we will make a profit of $ 3,000 or a 12% return on our capital. We will have $ 24,500 at risk if we take this position for a potential of 12% or $ 3,000 profit.

Instead of using cash to buy the physical Stock, we can buy 10 call options with an expiration that is at least three months into the future and a strike price that is close to current price of the underlying security.

10 contracts represent 1000 shares of the stock, a call option is bullish, three months until expire gives us some time for a quick move, and buying an option with a strike price that is close to the current price of MSFT allows us to get the full potential of the intrinsic value.

We buy 10 MSFT $ 22.50 April Call options. These options are currently selling for $ 2.80 and they are in the money.

$ 24.50 (the current price of the Stock) minus $ 22.50 (the strike price) is $ 2.00, which is our Intrinsic value. $ 2.80 (the option premium) minus $ 2.00 (the Intrinsic value) gives us $ 0.80, which is the Time value.

If the price rallies to $ 27.50, as we believe it will, the intrinsic value of these same options at that point will be $ 5.00 ($ 27.50 - $ 22.50). That means that if the Stock gets to $ 27.50 a share, our option premium would be at least $ 5.00 plus a small amount of time value, depending on the remaining time until expiration.

Ten option contracts will cost us $ 2,800 ($ 280 times 100) and if MSFT goes to $ 27,500, we could sell our option contracts for at least $ 5,000 ($ 500 by 10 contracts), maybe more.

We will have $ 2,800 at risk if we take this position, rather than the full price of the Stock ($ 24,500) for a potential of 80% or $ 2,200 profit, plus whatever time value is left in the option, probably another $ 100.

Our options buying strategy cave us a much larger percentage profit with a much smaller potential risk. Do not forget that, for us as the buyer, these options will expire worthless if not sold or exercised by the expiration date.

The option seller or writer simply has to sit back and wait until expiry to see if he is going to be exercised. If the Stock price is below the strike price at expiration, it keeps the premium and can write another option over the same Stock.

If the Stock price is above the strike price, he will most likely be exercised and will have to sell his shares if he does not exit the position by buying his options back on the open market (quite often at a higher price than he originally sold them for).

The downside of buying the option over the physical Stock is that if you bought the Stock itself, even if the price had not moved, you would still own it, but by buying the option, if the price does not move in the desired direction , you lose part of your trading capital.

To make options trading work, the undering security must move fairly quickly in the direction you expect, or you will lose money at an ever increasing rate as the expiration date draws nearer.

As you can see, options strategies can offer much higher percentage returns with less risk for the same trade. The majority of your cash is still safely in your trading account rather than being exposed to the market.

This is just one example of using options trading to increase your Stock Market returns. There are many more strategies and ways to use options and I encourage you to explore them further.

All options expire worthless if they are not in-the-money at expiration, so the buyer must close out or exercise his position on or before the expiration date or he will lose the entire premium.

The time value portion of the option premium decreases periodically until expiration date. The closer to expire, the faster the time value decreases, as there is less time for the option to move in the desired direction for the buyer.

For buyers, top traders advise never to hold an option with less than 30 days to expire due to the exponential rise in time decay during this period.

For sellers, it is usually most profitable to write options that have 30 days or less to expire, due to this same time dece effect ... the buyer of these options has the odds stacked against them and will require a large price movement in his desired direction to make a profit - remember, the vast majority of options expire worthless - so this is the side of these instruments the wealthually find themselves on - just a thought ...

There are many other intricacies of options trading that investors and traders should be aware of. This article is only an introduction to options trading and there is a lot more information for you to learn.

For a more in-depth look at the various Options strategies available, visit AcornTrader.com.

This page has a series of articles on options trading and outlines some of the strategies merchants can use to profit from these extremely flexible vehicles.

We encourage you to study these instruments carefully if you decide to trade them. Then use the trend trading strategies outlined in these stories and articles to position yourself on the right side of the market - whether as a buyer or a seller.

To Your Trading Success,

Making Money Online With a Forex Trading System

In this article I will discuss making money online, Forex trading, and software related to Forex trading. Both good and bad. As well as cover some other things. Although there are a lot of systems out there, more importantly scams, there's not quite as many as there are online get rich quick schemes and ponzi schemes in general. There are still hundreds if not thousands of scams that directly refer to Forex Currency Trading. These scams come in various formats but often get the record set straight on them quickly, however a few others somehow escape the negative publicity and go for years and hit unsuspecting profit seekers where it hurts the most daily. The problem with Forex is that so much seems too good to be true, and a lot of stuff is, but it's also true that many people have made millions and some are not really all that smart at it. You can profit from the right robot.

The first thing I would like to discuss is the topic of sales pages, that common pitch page that a lot of products use and you often think it's gone too far or it must be a scam just by looking at it. But when you think real hard about it, over half the time this is not actually the case ... These sales pages are so long and packed with information since they are commonly advertised on the web and it is more or less business strategy, as opposed to anything reflecting the product. Certain sellers force you to use pitch pages, they need a specific landing page and it makes things much easier for sales transactions.

So rather than guide you through a structured web site with more details through various sections; they often use this pitch page and they generally pack it with information and a ton of hard selling. This has proven to be the trend and it's gotten harder and harder for some EAs to market their software without these types of pitch pages. It is often the case with digital products and or / stuff you can order online. When it comes to these make-money-online and Forex sites they often have a lot of flash to them and obviously many things to draw customers in. In reality it's not much different from any other form of advertising, most certainly not the likes of gambling, and so forth. They need to have some sort of appeal and be competitive. My conclusion is that even if it looks like it could be a scam, do your homework anyway and it may not be. It just depends. Some things are signs, but in my opinion web design and hard selling are not direct signs of a scam. Although in the Forex Market something to hope for would be charts and proof.

With regards to the surveys and other things, it amounts to filling out spam for pennies pretty much, data entry is the same and much more annoying than even the most desperate realize. It also makes you look bad if you tell your friends. You still have to spend time to make any real money, not prizes, and some also require a credit card number on file, and they text you and stuff too. Let's be honest, it sucks. It's bottom of the barrel work that just is not worth it. It's for the ultra-lazy. The kind of human being who for example might get scammed by a Forex system. Not a serious adult who is looking to profit from investment and extend their savings, along with make more money in general.

I once tried a clicking service just to see if I actually could make money, on the popular moneytec forum it was this highly recommended thing by a bunch of lazy work at home users, but I bought into it at the time, and, no joke I signed up and they told me it would be easy and they would make it easy to visit 1000 sites or whatever they have you visit for 15 cents. So I clicked a link and it just starting loading every 2 seconds, it was awfully slow, I waited 15 minutes and that was only like 25 sites, i got a virus after, and i closed it fast. I abandoned the 15 cents for it and thought instantly that these poor souls who do this are a whole helluva lot more desperate than I am. I do not belong in these sort of slums of the internet. This is the first time I have ever written about it. During that several years ago before I started trading Forex I also wrote a few surveys and never got paid once. I have marketed online to some success but mainly my success has been through Forex Trading. That's why I do not need to work a real job and can sit around doing stuff like this all day. Publishing is very important to me. Once something you write online get indexed by a major search engine like Google, chances are that it will be there for a very long time. I find that important anyway ...

There are other ways you can make money online without Forex Trading, though sadly it is often below the barrel work; boring data entry, filling out surveys for pennies, to name a couple of the more common ones. If you're into making web sites you may also advertise on one of your sites or a network of sites, and for that you need fresh content and you need to get traffic, which is way harder than one might think. You can sell products as an affiliate, although you need to find your niche and work very hard at it, it becomes a time consuming job for some people and no matter what you're likely to going to need to invest in something no matter what you do. Whether it's Forex, Web Design, Advertising or whatever it is or a combination of things, most importantly it takes time and ability to adapt your passion. Although you still have much more freedom, affiliate marketing online is very crowded and has been for years. You can also use a revenue-share article and / or video submission service in hopes of being one of the few who can actually earn a living at it. Though that is not for everyone. If you've got four young children and only have an extra hour or two a day to pull in some extra income you most likely do not have time to play a Martha Stewart like figure. Most people do not.

Forex Trading on the other hand is more convenient in the sense that it is an extremely profitable investment opportunity given the right expert adviser, to advise your trade and supply signals, generally to guide you. That is option one. You need a broker. It's way easier than you think and in the Forex industry not as big of a word as you might think, easy to get and you do not gotta meet them in person or anything. It's an online thing.

There are many options to trade Forex, one of the most common would be the use of automated Forex platforms and Forex robots, all automated Forex trading in general. There is nothing wrong with it. This is where expert advisers come in, EAs for short. These are the Forex experts as I mentioned above who supply your trades and information to you. They pretty much tell you what to do. Some are much better than others. Some are not out to supply signals at all and simply selling their software to make profit from that end. Proper automated Forex software oftens runs on the metatrader 4 Forex trading platform, or at least the more popular ones do. Your EA software is like plug-in software for it. I'd actually be wrong to say all EAs use it, but many of the ones I have experience with use the Metatrader 4 Platform and I prefer it.

The other way to trade Forex is to study the market, find all the relevant information you need, take a very long time of a few months to several years to learn something, only to have it blow up as you were still too inexperienced to do something with your strategy when the market changed. Strategy is a very important element of online Forex trading but not just having a strategy, it's about having enough strategies and being able to adapt properly with the market. This is why a lot of people fail without popular EAs, because the EA is usually a well-trained trader and your common trader can not provide himself with signals even half as good and a lot less consistently. The well known EAs are usually like 15 year traders and so forth who studied the market like a school subject and make extra money on the side by selling there signals too you, or software which grants them.

A lot of Forex EAs today simply do not have that sort strategy or ability to adapt with the market ... So not making them scams, but just not prepared for the long haul in general. I have a lot of experience with failed systems and systems that worked for just a little while. I have others that work to this day but I am always seeking new ones. I can review several including one I use now however that has already been done a few times over.

If you're looking for the cross between really learning Forex and just really having to learn complicated signals and software I'd suggest Forex Fap Turbo. The downside of this is you often need to buy extra stuff to learn it and some of it is useless. All of this for pretty decent software but it takes way more time and skill and not something I was happy with. I requested and received my refund for the software and some other software related to it, as it was just not for me and the only people i heard reviewing and bragging about it were a lot more educated before they tried it than I was. I was not ready then, am not ready now. Although it's a well reviewed Forex system and not a scam, I've provided a lot of help, but there are too many of the same, some are forex advertisements so that's not a lot of help. It also brings up a lot of the Fap Turbo related software that is not even the direct software and you gotta buy it separately. So it's a lot of hassle even more than some typical investments that are not related to Forex.

I have also tried automoney and several other Forex robots and automated Forex platforms. I have found that many of these automated Forex systems are a dime a dozen and send you through far too many loops to get the desired results. If they do not eat your entire investment ... Some systems do not have stops and you have to do too much often, others are slow, and sometimes the EA is simply just not your sort of teacher and you get lost sometimes. ..Some EAs will simply sniff you out and then screw you over in the end. This is why it's important to watch for signs of proof either by service trial or physical proof before making your purchase of expensive Forex software.

I have also used Forex Assassin, the eToro Forex trading platform and Forex Harvester but nothing really significant has come up from any of those systems for me.

Some Forex marketers, EAs and employees in general and so forth are so wicked that they monitor new "Forex" related domain registration and somehow get your email address and solicit you ... So you have to be aware that in the Forex market as far as Forex expert advisers go, there is a lot of them competing to get your money. You are sincerely seeking the ones who are also looking to have a solid reputation and actually provide you with profitable trades, your EAs # 1 objective should be successfully trading Forex and not selling their software. This is another thing that makes the simple "pitch page" easy for EAs with very little maintenance, on that end of things. The software should be and often is a side venture for Forex experts who can actually profit from their knowledge of the market and have the means to market themselves ... Can anyone create automated software and sell it? Probably not, I think it's a bit of a stretch but then again it depends if you even get software, or whatever, most systems that are fully developed and have good features but do not work - were more than likely meant to work at some point.

I have read up on quite a few of the most popular Forex review sites like Forex Peace Army and many other well known ones, and to me they all pretty much point towards the same complicated software and their voters are already experts investing 10s of thousands already and they barely feel some of their losses. They switch around a lot; nothing turns out to be solid in the end. The reviews on sites like that most likely got started through advertising. Too many people get to review their own systems on Forex sites like that, etc. You never know who the reviewer is. Searching for automated Forex software reviews is almost impossible nowdays since they all say pretty much the same thing and are mostly positive ...

I have read up on many "free Forex signal" reports on the web and I also participate actively on various Forex forums and other Forex related sites. I often find with these particular Forex signals at least my impression is that you get someone looking to be a mentor of some sort for you, they are usually shady and turn out to be lacking when you need them the most. These guys are usually empty handed. They are trying to freelance or whatever so that they can supply systems and build a name for themselves, but the problem is that these are the guys who after so many followers do create a commercial system and then extremely end up failing, their the failed EA newbies to some extent and you want an EA who is an accomplished Forex expert.

One should consider it much better and safer to use an established system that is known to work, and not the work of an aspiring EA, or even worse, somebody who does not have those credentials at all and are just trying to stuff their ego . I have not enjoyed the free Forex signals and find it more like looting through them then finding anything that productive, not much is there or else all the Forex signals would have to be free and would be for everyone, all the best Forex signals would be free. At least that is my concept. I do not want a rookie EA telling me what to do, since the trend in the Forex market nowdays is most definitely for more popular and well established EAs to sell systems, mostly automated software. That is one thing I do not understand, who these people are that clog up the forums with nonsense and think they can compete in the market with actual successful Forex EAs who really know how to trade.

How much you want to trade really depends on you. If you're a Forex starter you need to have a good EA for starters, and while I can not hand pick one for you, I can provide at least one review since I have spent time on the subject, in this article off- site to an excellent EA which i have tried and complies with several of my standards. I feel it is an excellent resource for people like me at least who gets lost on the big stuff. There are many fish in the sea.

Thank You Note Examples For Employment Reference Letters

Do you need a few well-written thank you note examples for a letter of reference? You do if someone has recently written, or will write one for you in the near future.

In fact, most every person will need one--at some point in time--from a current or former mentor, instructor, employer or supervisor.

These letters, if well-written, require painstaking effort. Certainly, the gracious soul who agrees to take on such a task deserves a heartfelt thank you.

Below, you'll find several thank you note examples that you can use to show your appreciation for an excellent letter of reference.

Thank you for writing such a glowing recommendation letter for me. I could not have asked for more favorable comments. Your letter paved the way for several interviews and a subsequent job offer three weeks later from _________________ Corporation, where I wanted most to work.

I appreciate the time that you invested in writing such a detailed letter. I know that it will have a significant impact on my life for years to come.

Sincerely,

Though I have not yet found a suitable position, I am confident that your excellent letter of reference will help me to secure it once I do. If I can ever return the favor, please do not hesitate to ask me.

Best regards,

I just wanted to let you know that I have recently landed a position with ___________________ Corporation. I want to tell you how grateful I am for your assistance in this process. Without your strong recommendation, it would have been much more difficult to get a foot in the door with such a great company. I hope you will join us for a little celebration dinner next Friday evening.

Thanks again, and I look forward to seeing you next week.

Sincerely,

It was very thoughtful of you to write a letter of recommendation for me. I appreciate the thought and effort you put into it. Your words made a profound impact on the hiring manager, and helped to distinguish me from the other applicants.

Thank you for playing such a significant role in the success of my job search. If I can be of any assistance to you in the near future, please let me know.

Regards,