Joy Olivia Miller

Archive for July, 2011

Did you know that somewhere around 50% of all websites have one or more of the following problems?

* typing errors

* spelling mistakes

* grammatical problems

* punctuation problems.

Wow! A whopping 50%!

Hard to believe??

No, I don’t think it is.

In my daily business life I briefly skim or read anywhere up to hundreds of web pages, brochures, flyers, business cards and emails per day.

I’m lucky – I’ve got a *proofreader’s eye* [I'll give it back soon - haha] which means that mistakes like those mentioned above just JUMP OFF THE PAGE and draw my attention to them.

I can’t help myself – I’m a wordsmith, a lover of words, and despite all those years at school with my eyes rolling back in my head with boredom during the English class, the information somehow seeped into my brain and it stuck.

Now I’m one of those people who wants to correct the mistakes on restaurant menus, much to the horror of my friends and biz associates. I used to carry a red pen [to make corrections...:o>] but I’ve been banned from doing that.

How many times have I seen this doozy, in print, on websites and on big signs and billboards outside stores:

*For all your stationary needs, visit Blahblahblah Company!*

See how they spelt *stationAry*, with an *a*??

Don’t they know this means *standing still, not moving* when spelt this way??

Obviously not. So how to remember HOW to spell it? I have a little saying which I learnt as a child:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

E is for ENVELOPE.

A is for APPLE.

StationEry with an E for Envelope.

StationAry with an A for Apple.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The thinking behind this is that an apple sits still, so therefore is *stationAry*, and an Envelope is one piece of *stationEry* with an E. For more info, visit my website and click the link for Stationery.

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YOUR / YOU’RE / YORE

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If you want to say, *Your shoes are lovely.*, use YOUR.

If you want to say, *You’re late!!*, use YOU’RE, which is the shortened version of YOU ARE.

If you want to talk about historical times, you might say, *In days of yore, there were no motor vehicles.*, and use YORE.

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COMMON BOOBOOS ONLINE TODAY!

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1. I see this one all the time, and spotted this on a top affiliate website:

==> One of the biggest mistakes I see affiliates making everyday is that **their** building a short-term business

The word **their** in the sentence above is used incorrectly.

It SHOULD be written as **they’re**, which is the shortened version of **they are**.

* * * * * * * * *

2. On a recruitment site I spotted the following:

==> Currently we have a number of temporary **vacancy’s**.

WRONG! No need for an apostrophe in the sentence above!

The word **vacancy’s** should be written as **vacancies**, which is the plural form of the word vacancy.

To put an apostrophe at the end of the word and add an *s* means you want to show ownership of something… so ask yourself, *What do the vacancies OWN?*. Of course they own zip, nada, nothing… so DON’T use an apostrophe here.

* * * * * * * * *

3. On the same recruitment site I spotted this:

==> If you happen to be a Secretary or Administrator with 3-5+ years of experience and **your** looking to make your next move…

The word **your** in the sentence above is used incorrectly.
It SHOULD be written as **you’re**, which is the shortened version of **you are**.

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The key to avoiding these glaring errors is as follows:

* admit you might be tired or you might have read your text too many times to be able to notice any problems

* admit that spelling and grammar might not be your best skills

* acknowledge that you want your text, document, website etc to be the BEST IT CAN BE

* ask one or more friends or associates to read the text for you – reading something with a fresh *eye* can quickly spot mistakes

* * * * * * * * *

What’s the BIGGEST
PROOFREADING BOOBOO?

People proofread the small print,
the regular text and FORGET to
proof the MAJOR HEADINGS.

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What should be proofread?

* business cards – I wish I had a dollar for every one I’ve seen with a typo on it

* contracts

* documents

* letters

* website content

* website links [quite often a typo will send a visitor into cyberspace]

* a series of autoresponders, or email course

* newsletters – online AND offline

* ebooks, especially as these will be around for many many years to come

* any document which will reflect on you or your business, in any way.

* * * * * * * * *

WHAT’S WORSE
THAN MAKING
TYPOS & ERRORS?

Not being able to see
them in the first place.

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COULD THIS BE YOU?

You’ve launched your website, you’ve done a great job… and you didn’t ask anyone to help you proofread your site, just to give you an opinion. You’re wondering why you’re not getting any clients, and no-one is signing up for your newsletter. What on earth could be the problem? Ahhhhhhh… some kind soul finally emails you to tell you they were offended by a phrase on your home page. Yikes! This could have been avoided!!

Sometimes when we work on something for such a long time, we are immune to it in many ways – when we read over text again and again, we can’t see the mistakes.

Let someone with a fresh eye do this for you.

* * * * * * * * *

STOP mistakes BEFORE
they are a problem

* * * * * * * * *

Unproofed websites
show unprofessional
regard. Don’t get
caught out – ask
someone to proof
your site today!

* * * * * * * * *

The main thing to understand is that not everyone is great at everything. You’re probably great at selling your product or service – that doesn’t mean you have to be great at proofreading too.

Let someone else do that for you – whether it’s a friend, business associate or professional proofreader, do yourself a favor and let your words BE THE BEST THAT THEY CAN BE.

The biggest problem with financial trouble is that you do not have control over your own finances. There is nothing worse than worrying about where the next bit of money is going to come from. Most of the headache and pain is caused by prioritising which bills to pay including mortgage/rent or even working out if there is enough money for a small holiday. The recent recession caused by the world’s banks have compounded the financial stresses for many people.

The credit crunch

The credit crunch has changed the lives of so many people. It has taken away jobs from people. Many homes have been lost, causing so many people to be homeless. The credit crunch has also caused many people to consider their job position, especially in this current economic climate. The fear of redundancy can also lead to worry, which is a very common human emotion.

What happens if you become redundant?

Many households have a single source of income. Losing your job means losing the only source of income. When you’ve been made redundant or you’re struggling with debt, feeling low or anxious is a normal response. Over time this can affect your self-esteem and the financial situation, which in turn can lead to emotional problems such as stress and anxiety. This can also lead to a feeling of powerlessness. The feeling of being powerless is one of the worst human conditions to be encountered and experienced.

Coping with Financial difficulties

Coping with financial difficulties may mean making painful sacrifices. If you are a parent then it can make you feel that this is not good enough. This can make us bitter and angry with the world and the government.

Coping with financial difficulties means coping with various different pressures, sensations and emotions. There are ways to cope which can dull the impact of its effects. If you are currently having financial difficulties and worried then you remember that are millions of people that are also worried. Remember not to give up hope. Keep on believing in yourself and believe that you are strong enough to come through it.

So how do you get started claiming a daycare tax deduction? You have your own children to take care of, but for some reason you’ve decided to help other parent’s out and take care of theirs too. You’ve decided to run a daycare out of your home. There is some good news in this, because of this you can apply for a daycare tax deduction on your taxes. Following are a few suggestions that should help you get started.

A good thing to know is that there are certain qualifiers to really be considered a daycare in the sense that will qualify you for the daycare tax deduction. In order to properly qualify you must be correctly certified or have valid exemptions. Obviously if you do not have these or your license has been revoked or rejected for any reason you are no longer qualified for this exemption and cannot legally apply for this tax exemption.

Of course there are also a few factors that you need to know before calculating how much you can correctly deduct and use in qualifying for a daycare tax exemption. Anything related to the facility, in this instance your house that you used to run the daycare could be included. However, in order to calculate this properly you need to figure out what portion you use for business and what is used for living expenses. In this way you can use a portion of the amount you pay on your general bills, such as electricity, that may be employed in running your daycare. Only the amount used when running the daycare can be used to qualify for the day care tax exemption.

Also included in expenses that can be claimed are any food you may use to feed the children or any employees. In fact you can deduct 100% of the employees meals and use this as part of the calculation for the daycare tax deduction. Of course this is only their salary or wages don’t already have a food allowance included. There needs to be careful records in order to use these amounts for the day care tax deduction. It may be easier to keep a standard rate for all meals and snacks provided as part of the daycare. You can use this up to three snacks a day, beverages and three meals, but you cannot include any non-food items used to prepare the meal.

Therefore, in the end, not all is bad when it comes to running a daycare out of your home. By taking advantage of the daycare tax deduction you are gaining many benefits from running the daycare out of your personal residence. In addition, with careful calculations and a little extra work, you can make the daycare tax deduction work the best for you as it possibly can. So good luck!

Personal finance has always been one of the crucial aspects of success of an individual. Execution of one’s personal finance budget often requires discipline and perseverance. Many people obtain assistance from professionals such as accountants, financial planners, investment advisers, and lawyers.There is also personal financial software to help with your financial budgeting which saves a lot of money  and certainly your time.

Financial budgeting is the key to unlock your monetary success as well as your means of reaching your goals and dreams. Everyone wants to pay all their bills on time. Successful debt and asset supervision is the starting place for good credit. Unless you have unlimited funds to spend however you wish, the place to start is with good personal budgeting skills.

Here are some helpful tips in creating your personal finance budget:

Create a personal household budget which includes all your monthly and yearly bills. You must also include your spending money, savings goals, and retirement funding. It doesn’t matter how much money you make, it’s how you spend it. A personal and household budget will help you make payments on time, provided you follow the plan. Aim for your housing expenses to be about 33% of your income. If that is not possible, cut some expenses or look to at ways you can make more money. Follow a debt management program. Your debt may overtake your income and then you are forced to make late payments on bills or no payments at all because you don’t have the money. This becomes expense and can topple you over. A total debt payment (which ideally should be zero!) shouldn’t exceed 30%.  If it does, look to consolidate and chop ups some store cards with high interest. You can’t just spend money and hope you have enough for your bills. You must spend within a budget. Use personal financial software to save you time and accounting fees. The software will ask the same questions that a personal finance advisor asks, without charging you a high hourly rate, during a financial planning interview. Everything is already put in to the software so you don’t have to start from scratch or think too much.

A strong and stable financial situation has always been the short route towards a sound and independent financial situation. Maintaining control over your personal finance enables you to maintain control over more aspects in your live than just money and it all starts with having a good budget and sticking to it.

Being a soldier in the past has received benefits from the government. However, many veterans are suffering from credit card debt and most of them are having a hard time settling their financial standings. If you are a veteran or if you are concerned for one, then do not fret. The government offers financial assistance in form of government relief and financial grants.

While it is hard to think that men who are trained to be organized and who plan a few steps ahead get into a mess such as overdue credit card debts, a few good men do have problems with their finances after they retire from the service. While debt settlement may seem to be a popular choice among people, veterans can get funding from other sources. Here are a few government financial assistance options that can help settle or reduce debt for our veterans.

The Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance Program is designed to help veterans and their dependents to continue and finish college education. College education is expensive and this program provides opportunities for veterans to save money that they can use for other immediate priorities, including overdue debts accumulated by excessive spending.

If you are a veteran who suffered from a disability while in active services or was made worse by military service, then you can apply for a VA Disability Compensation. This government financial relief can help you with several finances. Depending on the severity of your disability, the government will also provide extra funding in addition to your regular benefits. This extra funding can be used to settle or reduce debt.

There are numerous financial assistance programs being offered by the government to people who have given their lives to military service. This funding, though not purposely created to eliminate credit card debt, can be channeled for such aim.

It may seem unbelievable that the federal government has installed a debt consolidation program to assist students after they have completed their studies. This debt consolidation has its advantages over private consolidation loans, but there are points to consider before making knowledgeable decisions regarding a government debt consolidation program.

Debt Consolidation Benefits

Many students leave academia with a considerable debt burden. The burden may consist of credit card debt, student loans, personal loans, and obligations to financial instruments they used while attending school. All this debt to all those lenders can become a budgetary nightmare. With a debt consolidation loan a financial life can become a lot easier. It will pay off all the various creditors, leaving the former student with one payment, to one creditor, in one amount, at one time of the month, at one interest rate, and often with a payment far less than the sum of the various debts. Managing a budget on those first paychecks should become a lot less difficult.

Government Debt Consolidation Details

The Federal Family Education Loans and other government direct loan programs have covered debt consolidation for students. These loans are labeled as secured. As such, these loans are available at interest rates much lower than found on the private lender market. Sometimes it can put a smudge on an individual’s credit history. These loans will actually help former students regarding their credit reports. Be aware that not all consolidation programs have any intercourse with credit reporting agencies. This should be one of the first questions a prospective borrower should ask when approaching an agency.

Check Backgrounds and Credentials

As with any program involving finances, debt, and even the anxiety that can result concerning those issues, there are less than honest entities out there that offer consolidation loans. They may have the look and feel of a federally backed program, but they are anything but. Because people who are dealing with debt may be quite anxious, in their effort to fix their problem they are often blinded to reality. These businesses can cost in terms of higher interest rates and even not properly paying off creditors that is a paramount part of any debt consolidation program. Make sure the agency you are working with is indeed a part of the federal government program.

Government Debt Consolidation Loans Interest Rates

While drawing up the contracts, a fixed interest rate is imposed. If a former student or other candidate is combining loans of different types and rates, a weighted average calculation will be considered which is based on current interest rates and the various rates of the loans themselves.

Casting a Wide Net

Usually the amount of indebtedness should be over $10,000. And student debt is not the only debt that can be rolled into a federal debt consolidation loan. Federal government debt consolidation programs work by taking the total sum of all your credit cards, medical bills, student loans, automotive loans, and other debts, and paying them off in full. Many websites exist which can guide the prospective borrower through the application process and helping you understand the financial terms and government regulations. You may even qualify for debt negotiation. That means that a credit counselor will approach your lenders and try to lower the overall amount of the loan before consolidation which will save you considerable money on down the line. Government debt consolidation loans have been the lifelines for many former students and other citizens.