You Want To Become A Work At Home Mom -- Here Are Some Things To Watch Out For!

You finally made the decision to become a work at home mom. Congradulations! The choice to work from home is becoming more and more popular for many moms. And for good reason, you can...

* be your own boss

* set your own schedule

* make money

* be home for your kids

Basically you have two choices, You can start your own home based business or you can telecommute for a company that hires remote workers.

As the popularity for finding work at home grows, unfortunately so do the scams offering big financial rewards. Work-at-home con artists have always preyed most upon moms who want to stay at home with their kids, people with low income and few job skills, and those who are looking to get rich quick.

Your first step when searching for a work at home opportunity should be for you to familiarize yourself with whats out there in the way of work at home "jobs" and "opportunities" on the Internet or you may find yourself being conned by work-at-home scam artists. You may also become unwittingly involved in helping them to promote their programs, and helping them to continue their deception.

The key to finding "Real" Work at Home jobs or opportunities is research. I know it's very tempting to fall prey to work-at-home opportunities that offer "easy money". I was a victim myself several years ago when I was a "newbie" to the Internet. Be sure to take the time to learn all that you can about a home employment offer, and about what you'll REALLY need to do to make money in it BEFORE you say yes or you could

Lose your money!

Waste valuable time!

Ruin your reputation!

Or even be a target of legal action!

Here are some common scams to watch out for, sometimes the ads may be worded a bit different- scam artists are very sneaky...

ASSEMBLY WORK AT-HOME: Typical Ad -- "Assembly work at home! Easy money assembling craft items. No experience necessary."

This scheme requires you to invest your money for instructions and materials and many hours of your time to produce items for a company that has promised to buy them. Once you have purchased the supplies and have done the work, the company often decides not to pay you because your work does not meet certain "standards." You are then left with merchandise that is difficult or impossible to sell.

CHAIN LETTER: Typical Ad -- "Make copies of this letter and send them to people whose names we will provide. All you have to do is send us ten dollars for our mailing list and labels. Look at the chart below and see how you will automatically receive thousands in cash return!!!"

The only people who benefit from chain letters are the mysterious few at the top of the chain who constantly change names, addresses, and post office boxes. They may try to impress you by describing themselves as successful professionals who know all about non-existent sections of alleged legal codes.

ENVELOPE STUFFING: Typical Ad -- "$350 Weekly Guaranteed! Stuffing Envelopes at Home!"

When answering such ads, you may not receive what you expected, but instead get instructions on how to place the same kind of ad the advertiser ran in the first place. There are several variations on this type of scheme, all of which require you to spend money on advertising and materials. According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, "In practically all businesses, envelope stuffing has become a highly mechanized operation using sophisticated mass mailing techniques and equipment which eliminates any profit potential for an individual doing this type of work-at-home. The Inspection Service knows of no work-at-home promotion that ever produces income as alleged."

PROCESSING MEDICAL INSURANCE CLAIMS: Typical Ad -- "You can earn from $800 to $1000 weekly processing insurance claims on your home computer for health care professionals such as doctors, dentists chiropractors, and podiatrists. Over 80% of providers need your services. Learn how in one day!"

When you respond to the ad you will be told that you must have this particular software program to perform medical billing work from your home. Prices can range from $50 to $500. The software program consists of not much more than doctor names and addresses and examples of letters that you may use to contact them. Few people who purchase this medical billing business opportunity or software program are never able to find clients, start a business and generate revenues-let alone earn a substantial income and recover their investment. Competition in the medical billing market is fierce and revolves around a number of large and well-established firms. Furthermore, those that are hired as Billers for "real employers" have years of experience.

HOME TYPIST JOBS: Typical Ad -- "Now hiring clerical home typists! Work directly for our company. No experience necessary. No selling. Positions available worldwide."

There are several companies on the internet that advertise the availability of "home employment" through home typist or ad typist "jobs" with their companies. The truth is, you will not be "hired" as an "employee" of the company as their advertising suggests. Instead, you will pay a fee to join and get instructions on how to advertise the same type of ad you answered.

E-MAIL/ORDER PROCESSORS - This may also be advertised as "Clerical Workers Needed" When you answer this ad you will be asked to submit a payment anywhere from $10 - $50 for application and/or processing fee and shipping and handling for the software they tell you is necessary to complete the required work. What you get is a letter with instuctions on how and where to place the same kind of ad you answered and a 3x5 floppy with useless work-at-home jobs, a mixture of computer-related work such as word processing or data entry and the same old envelope-stuffing and home crafts scams. You are instructed to copy the letter and floppy and send this to people who answer your ad.

Real legitimate work at home jobs do exist...you just have to know where to look and what to watch out for to avoid being scammed. So what can you do to protect yourself while still seeking out work-at-home opportunities?

Steer Clear of Starter Fees.

When searching for a telecommuting job remember...Legitimate EMPLOYERS will NOT ask you for money (not for software, not for an application or processing fee, nothing)--REMEMBER don't pay someone to work for them! Legitimate Employers Pay You!

Beware of Big Promises.

Be suspicious of any job description promising overnight success or using phrases like "effortless," "no experience required," "easy money," "hidden job market," "make money fast," or "earn hundreds or thousands a week." Believe me, there is no such thing as easy! Work is Work. Your success will depend on the amount of time and effort you put in to it. If it sounds too good to be true, chances are it's a scam.

Do a Background Check.

Before getting involved with any work-from-home opportunity or job resource, type in the company's name on various search engines to view anything that may have been written about it. Good or Bad

Then check out the company with watchdog agencies such as:

The Better Business Bureau

Scambusters

National Fraud Information Center

Web Assured (click on its "Watch List" to view complaints about various companies.)

So remember, to avoid losing any of your hard-earned money, be sure to take the time to learn all that you can about a home employment offer, and about what you'll REALLY need to do to make money in it BEFORE you say yes.

Kim Miller is a work at home mom and knows what it's like to scammed. She invites you to visit her website [http://www.wahmoms.net] - a site to help moms find work at home success!

Want to Become a Repo Man? Here Are the Repossession Laws You Need to Know

If you've thought about becoming a repo man or repossession agent, it's crucial you know your state's repossession laws, first.  Otherwise, you can make dangerous and costly mistakes that can cost you your career - or even land you in jail!

Here are some of the state laws and licensing requirements you must know about...

First - Do You Need a State License to Become a Repo Man?

Most states don't regulate repossession businesses.  However, California, Louisiana and Florida do. 

Even if your state doesn't regulate repo businesses, you'll likely need to get a license to operate as a private investigator or collection agency.

The best way to know for sure is to contact your state's Secretary of State (or similarly named) to determine your state's repossession laws.

Second - You'll Need Adequate Insurance and Bonding

Insurance and bonding protects your business, should a repossessed car get damaged - or if you repossess the wrong car!  And, most states require you carry adequate insurance and bonding before you can get a business license.

Keep in mind, however, that insurance companies are in business to make money.  They won't insure a rookie repo agent unless they're confident he or she is responsible.

That's why it's crucial to invest in the best repossession training and repossession tools, so you prove that you're competent and professional.

Look up the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) to find an agent to insure your repo business.

Third - You'll Need to Get a Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

To get a CDL, you'll need to have a clean driving record for the last two years (no major traffic convictions or license suspensions.)  You'll also need to take an exam to get your commercial license.

Contact your state's Department of Motor Vehicles for more information on obtaining your CDL.

Fourth - You'll Probably Need to Notify the Police Before You Repossess A Car

Since you're legally stealing a car in the dark of night, you may need to tell the police:
Where you're repossessing a vehicle from
What the car looks like (and it's license plate number)
What date/time the repossession will likely take place
It's best to contact the police departments in the cities you intend to repossess cars in to determine their requirements (or preferences.)

The key is to thoroughly educate yourself about your state's repossession laws - as well as federal debt collection and private investigation laws.  That way, you can feel confident you and your business are protected when you repossess cars.

Learn how you can earn a living in the auto repossession business.

Click here to find out how you can become a repo man - even if you don't have a tow truck...

Ireland Shoots To Become Shared Services Center Of Europe

Ireland isn't going to be the next Calcutta or Mumbai. It isn't trying to be the back office customer care contact center Mecca of the Western world. Which is probably just as well.

What it does want to do is build its position as a leading European provider of the next business stage up from contact centers - contact center plus, if you like - offering serious technical support and a whole range of services way beyond giving simple solutions to straightforward customer inquiries. Some are operated by outsourced suppliers but most in Ireland are managed by the companies they serve.

Here, staff are dealing with the entire internal communications system for vast, multi-national operations. They are handling not only traditional Helpdesk calls, but providing technical support to their own staff and business-to-business, dealing with HR issues like recruitment and sick leave, payroll systems, company accounts as well as in-company communications about policy and strategy, staff and customer information and the intranet function.

In its now sophisticated telecoms sector, Ireland boasts 66 contact centres for a range of companies that include 3Com, American Airlines, AOL, Dell, eBay, GE Insurance, Google, Hewlett Packard, IBM, MBNA, Oracle, Starwood Hotels, Symantec and Xerox - and that's just an arbitrary sample.

These centres - Europeans call them Shared Services Centres, but most Americans will be more familiar with the term Managed Services - are where Ireland sees its growth potential, though the Irish have no intention of turning their backs on ordinary contact center investments serving banking and catalog customers for example.

Technology is changing the product. Just answering the phone isn't enough these days. To be successful, the centers need to serve the world in a host of functions.

A Customer Backlash May Boost Ireland's Efforts

A recent survey of 1,000 UK adults by contact center industry analysts ContactBabel found that 142 had switched supplier because their existing one used an offshore service, while three in four said they felt more negatively towards their supplier if they used offshore agents.

Steve Morrell, principal analyst at ContactBabel said in the report: "If UK businesses do not address the concerns of their customers, the level of customer defection will increase and their profits will decline further. "

Therein lies a problem - and for Ireland, an opportunity. In India, university graduates, attracted by the prestige of contact center jobs, earn perhaps ten times the average wage but still cost their employers only a tenth of a European or US-based operation.

Hypothetically, that means a typical bank with 12 million customers and revenues of $400 per customer each year would save over $17 million by replacing 1,000 of its expensive call centre staff with 1,000 in India. The downside is that same hypothetical bank would need only about one per cent of its customers to defect to another bank in protest to have lost all those savings instantly.

"Ireland is the only native English-speaking member of the Eurozone," points out Brendan Haplin, International Media Manager at the IDA, the Irish government agency which seeks inward investment from around the globe. "Ireland offers a first class advanced telecommunications infrastructure that includes vital bandwidth and hosting capacity, and we back this all with solid IDA support, both financial and practical."

The Appeal? Language and Low Taxes?

The landscape in Ireland - corporate and cultural - has attracted far more than its fair share of not only European but US business as well. "Ireland has changed radically from 10 or 20 years ago," Haplin says. "We now have between 60 and 70 shared services centers that are multi-lingual, pan-European and trans-Atlantic."

We're talking about major companies the size and scale of IBM or Dell. On the whole, these organisations are extremely happy with the quality of staff, the quality of life and the delivery of service they have found in Ireland. They bring in selected technical experts from the States and then use locally selected personnel to develop and expand the skills base.

These big operators are evidence of success, not only because they stay there but because they can point to significant cost reduction, increased efficiencies, better quality customer service and a real drive in sales which ultimately delivers better returns to shareholders.

Ireland, adds Haplin, offers an appealing package, complete with low corporate tax of just 12.5% It works hard to minimise bureaucracy and instead to engineer a low-risk, quick start-up, high-performance knowledge economy. "We have a well developed environment for call center and shared services operations because we have all the basic ingredients in place: the skills and knowledge, the experience and availability of IT-literate and multi-lingual staff and the global strategic fit that provides facilities for companies to 'follow the sun' on a 24-hour model."

A Population Increase Bodes Well for Employers

While Ireland may merit a spot on a company's shortlist of potential offshore locations today, what about tomorrow? Will the right talent - an enough of it - be available? According to Dr William Harris, Director General of the Science Foundation of Ireland, the answer is a resounding 'yes.' "The key element in creating knowledge is intangible assets such as expertise, insight, talent, passion, imagination and persistence.

"Investing in such abilities, we believe, is the best predictor of success Ireland could have," Harris adds. "Ireland has a wealth of young talent ready to make science and engineering the next great wave of Irish innovation."

Ireland is one of very few European countries showing an increase in its population, and some 260,000 people, 12.6% of the total workforce, are employed in business services. While the population of workers declines in other countries, boding real problems up ahead, Ireland looks to growing a youthful talent pool on a par with that of the US.

[SIDEBAR] The Irish Landscape: Poised To Compete

Ireland has changed and changed dramatically. Gone are those sad depictions of lovelorn girls waving their tearful goodbyes to men who were set for a life in the New Worlds of America or Australia? They'd make their fortunes and return to build a castle and raise a family in Kilkenny.

In the last couple of decades the Celtic Tiger has been thrusting its way through the jungles of the world economy. He's getting plumper, healthier and more voracious with every paw print he makes.

The Environment Is Hospitable

The quality of life is a fabulous balance of stunning scenery and great leisure options. Golf courses, angling, cycling, camping, hiking and finding deserted bays along the rugged coastline are just a few possibilities to ponder.

Real estate is cheap (except in central Dublin) and land plentiful. Gasoline is about half the price it is in the UK and corporate tax of 12.5% sits alongside the US's 39.5% or the UK's 30% Though Value Added Tax runs at 21 per cent, it won't have much of an impact on companies whose profits are based on export outside the EU and the government has simplified the paperwork. If 85 per cent of your goods or services are for export, then you will be exempted, so you don't have to fill in forms to reclaim VAT.

The Irish are renowned - and rightly - for their warm welcome, and that extends not only to a pint of Guinness with a passing stranger but to those who have come to stay longer.

Unlike some of their European neighbours, the Irish don't resent the arrival of migrant workers but welcome them with open arms as a real and useful addition to the native skills base.

Location and Politics Provide a Counterbalance

Air travel is reasonable but needs more development. The main airport is close to Dublin and offers about 100 direct destinations worldwide. There is a second international airport at Shannon and smaller mostly short-haul facilities at Cork, Belfast and Londonderry. Most international flights are out of Dublin or Shannon.

In terms of moving goods, ferry services are strong but the distance from mainland Europe makes them slow. Although a crossing from Dublin to Holyhead on the Welsh coast is less than two hours, Normandy is 19 hours away. From Belfast and Larne in the north, there are faster crossings to Scotland and England.

A long history of a sluggish, agricultural economy meant Ireland was slow to move into the 20th, never mind the 21st, century. Outside of a few main cities, it remains a wonderfully unspoilt but also under-developed rural society.

Ireland came into the European Union with Objective One status, meaning that its under-developed economic state entitled it to a whole package of major infrastructure grants to help it move forward rapidly. Its heavy rural culture saw the benefits of the Common Agricultural Policy, instantly enabling farmers to access guaranteed markets and guaranteed prices for their produce, even if a lot of it did end up dumped on butter mountains and in milk lakes. Almost half of the EU's entire 44.5 billion Euro budget is spent on agricultural subsidies of one kind or another.

The maze of minor country roads lend Ireland much of its charm but aren't much use for heavy lorries carrying large loads of produce to marketplaces across the world. European Union money helped extend a main road and motorway infrastructure that was essential for economic growth.

All of this helped encourage new investors from other countries to set up facilities in Ireland. The government encouraged them with appealing packages that drew in the likes of Dell, Xerox, Baxter International, Hertz and a host of others before they even got onto contact centers.

But all that Eurozone assistance has gone now. The surge of the Celtic Tiger, the reality of economic growth, has forced Ireland to move from being subsidised by the European Union to being a subsidy provider to other emerging nations, including some of the 10 new countries whose joining has taken the European bloc to 25 in total.

Maggie Stanfield is a national and international business journalist with extensive knowledge of customer services provision around the world. Contact her at: maggie@writtenwords.eu

Healthcare Reform - Why Not Having a Public Option Will Reduce Your Chances to Become a Homeowner

"Whether or not the public option is part of healthcare reform" is how President Obama began his answer to a healthcare reform question. The manner in which he answered that question struck a central nerve in the healthcare debate, as many of the leading voices, of the Obama administration seemed to be threatening to abandon the public option, for expanding health insurance coverage.

Making sure every American has access to high quality healthcare, is one of the most important challenges of our time. With the number of uninsured Americans is growing, skyrocketing premiums and more people are being denied coverage every day. A better healthcare system is essential to rebuilding the economy. The President has said, that he wants to make healthcare work for the people and for businesses, not just for the insurance companies and the drug companies. And in my opinion, he is right it should work for everybody. The operative word here is everybody.

Currently, three house committees have passed healthcare legislation, which includes a strong public option. These government-run insurance plans are designed, to encourage choice and competition in the marketplace. However, the public option has been the focal point, used by critics who say the overhaul of healthcare, would amount to a government takeover of healthcare. And nothing could be farther from the truth.

If we took a second to honestly look at and discuss what this debate is really about and let everybody see it for what it is. This whole discussion boils down to, those who have and those who don't have (insurance). On one side, providing you have a good job, that provides health insurance coverage, you feel there is no reason, you should have to face a possible tax increase, to help someone else who isn't as fortunate as you. On the other side are the self-employed, small business owners and those workers who work for a company, which can afford a good or any health insurance plan.

In deciding which direct you feel is the best way to deal with this issue, here is some additional information that you may not be aware of.

A couple of years ago the GAO (Government Accounting Office) produced a report that stated, taxpayers currently pay for an estimated 50% of all healthcare costs in America. This means the way things are currently, if you are receiving healthcare coverage through your employer, you are paying for your own health insurance as well as helping to pay for nearly half of the nation's healthcare costs.

Recently Families USA, a North Carolina consumer advocacy group, released a report showing how healthcare costs impacted the residents of the state, of North Carolina. Their report stated the cost of buying health insurance, for a North Carolina family increased more than five times faster, than income since the start of the decade. Since the year 2000, healthcare costs have doubled, yet income has increased only 18%. Insurance costs have risen from $6,650 to almost $13,100. The figure includes worker and employer payments for health care. The report says median earnings rose by 18 percent, from $23,100 to $27,330 in the same period.

Additionally, the middleclass is shrinking, in the near future more and more people are going to be classified as poor, as reported in Time Magazine, Economists View and numerous government reports. Worries about the middle class vanishing, shrinking, or otherwise dwindling are hardly new. The 2010 federal budget request addresses concerns that the middle class may be shrinking. It says: "Some Americans have not been able to keep up, falling out of the middle class and into poverty"; "the ladder into the middle class and beyond has become harder and harder to climb"; and warns that without high-quality schools, there is no way to "strengthen the middle class." In fact, it is believed 80% of a middle class Americans who are currently leaving the middle class, are ending up being classified as the poor.

What effect will this have on housing and homeownership? The answer to that question can be found in the remnants of a very recent historical event, Hurricane Katrina.

According to the US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, Hurricane Katrina severely interrupted the Gulf Coast oil industry. As a result, gas prices suddenly and dramatically increased substantially. With incomes not rising as fast many families found themselves facing financial difficulties, as the increasing fuel costs shattered the family budget. This forced many families to have to choose between having to pay for their rent or mortgage, food, healthcare and driving back and forth to work. In order to compensate their budgetary imbalances many families placed themselves in further debt with the use of credit cards.

During the spring of 2008 this process was repeated as oil speculators drove the price of oil to $143 a barrel, as result the cost of fuel doubled on consumers.

With healthcare rising at rate that's five times faster, than income it is just a matter of before the costs of one accident or illness will be able to wipe out an average American family, leaving them financially destitute.

Again you may be asking, what does this have to do with housing? What does that mean to you, the person trying to purchase their first home or the homeowner needing to consolidate their existing debt?

First, it means without healthcare reform, in the not to distant future it is going to be more difficult to obtain mortgage financing. With healthcare costs increasing so dramatically and eating up more and more of the family's budget, it means that people will have less money to put towards housing and it will become more difficult to save, meaning, it will be more difficult to come up with the money needed for their down-payments.

Without healthcare reform, it seems that health insurance pays less and less of the medical bill, even though premiums keep going up and up. Therefore, you can expect the number of medical collections and medical judgments to increase. This will have devastating affects on credit scores, driving them below the minimum acceptable credit score needed to buy a house. Medical judgments, just as all other judgments must be paid off, before a person can obtain a mortgage. This could increase the amount of money some people will need to complete their transaction, at a time when it is already difficult to save, and it will prevent otherwise qualified people, from being able to obtain a mortgage altogether. That also means less people to buy homes, a longer buyer's market and lower home prices.

Secondly, if people have less discretionary money to spend, they will spend less, and if people are not spending employment and the economy are negatively affected. Here is the effect of that. In order to coax people into spending more companies must reduce prices, which thereby reduces their profit margins, which will make companies less stable and more vulnerable to failure. If your company fails, I don't care if you were the Director of HR, Vice President of Production or the Senior Vice President of Marketing, if you don't have a job, if don't have a company sponsored insurance plan and you will need and you will want insurance, you'll want that public option, also.

And finally, we have to start realizing nothing operates in a vacuum anymore. Every action or inaction has consequences. Healthcare affects employment, employment affects homeownership, homeownership affects retail sales, retail sales affect company profits, company profits affect a company's ability to provide healthcare benefits. Everything is interconnected.

Greg Luchey is a licensed mortgage professional and loan originator in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, a liability management advisor specializing in mortgage planning, the owner of The Strategic Homeownership Center and branch owner of Christensen Financial's South Carolina mortgage brokerage office, radio commentator and author.

Why You Must Have Effective Systems to Become Successful in the Insurance Or Financial Profession

When you consistently deliver exceptional service to your clients that meets or exceeds their expectations, they'll become your advocates and buy from you for years to come. The key word is "consistently." This means you must do it every time a client does business with you.

Most agents have a hard time just meeting their clients' expectations, let alone exceeding them. And for the few who actually do meet their clients' expectations, they don't (or don't know how to) do it consistently.

For example, one time they may meet their clients' expectations. Another time they may fall short. The third time they may exceed them. The fourth time they may meet them. The fifth time they may fall short again. And this cycle repeats itself.

Guess what negative effect this inconsistency will have on your clients?

Inconsistency will ruin your credibility and drive your clients crazy, forcing them to stop buying from you!

In your experience, I'm sure you've dined at restaurants where they served inconsistent food quality or rendered inconsistent service, or both, haven't you?

Didn't this inconsistency in quality or service annoy you somewhat (or maybe even a lot) because you didn't know what to expect the next time you go to that particular restaurant? Perhaps, to avoid getting disappointed again, you may have stopped patronizing that restaurant completely, right?

Unfortunately, this situation is not unique to the restaurant industry. I bet you have discontinued doing business completely with some other organizations because of their inconsistency in quality, service, or both, haven't you?

Guess what?

Your own clients would do the same thing.

That's right, when receiving inconsistent quality or service, or both, from you or your agency, many or all of them will stop doing business with you... sometimes forever!

The question you may be asking right now is...

"How Do I Consistently Meet My Clients' Expectations?"

Well, you do this by setting up systems in your business.

In short, a system is a way of doing things by following a set of rules or procedures that produces predictable and consistent results every time.

To put it another way...

A System Allows You To Consistently Deliver A Minimum Standard Or Level Of Performance!

After you've set up a system or a series of systems to at least meet your clients' expectations, you'll be able to deliver a great level of service every time they do business with you.

Let me now share with you a business that operates on incredible systems to help you fully understand the importance and appreciate the enormous benefits that systems can provide.

Have you been to McDonald's lately?

Here's a multi-billion dollar international business operated, efficiently and profitably, by a bunch of teenagers who are no more intelligent or disciplined than the teenage children you know.

Have you ever wondered how these kids could prepare food that tastes exactly the same and provide the same level of service every single time - regardless of which McDonald's restaurant you go to, whether in California, New York, England, Australia, or Japan?

The answer is, you guessed it, they have SYSTEMS to perform the various activities in their business. And because these systems work so well, any teenager can operate them and the results will be the same every time.

Whenever you go to a McDonald's restaurant, you always know what to expect. In other words, what the food is going to taste like and what kind of service you'll get.

Here's what's so amazing about McDonald's. Although the food isn't the absolute best, everyday, in the United States alone, more than twenty-three million people eat at McDonald's.

So, if the food is not that good (and the prices are not much cheaper than the other restaurants in the area, some of which may offer better food), why do so many people eat at McDonald's every day?

The main reason is McDonald's offers their customers a very important benefit that most other restaurants don't.

Can you guess what it is?

You're right, if you said...

Control!

Because their customers get consistent quality of food and service each time they visit McDonald's, they feel like they're in control.

Can the same thing be said about your agency?

Whenever clients do business with you, do they feel like they're in control of the situation?

For example, when you tell them you'll get back to them within 24 hours, do you actually reply to them within the time promised? Or, when customers ask two of your employees the same question about a claim, will both of your staff members give them the same answer? Or, if one of the things you do to make your clients feel special is to send them a birthday card on their birthday, then does each one of your clients get a birthday card every year?

If you answered, "no" to any of these questions, it means you don't have effective systems in place to provide your clients with control.

Why is it so important for your clients (and also for you and me) to have control or to feel like they're in control?

Well, in this beautiful world of ours, there are so many things that simply don't work the way we want them to. Most people are experiencing a lot of discomfort and frustration in their daily lives. There are so many things that are out of their control.

Let me share with you some examples:

How do you feel when you go to a restaurant where you have to wait for over an hour when the hostess told you it would only take about fifteen minutes?

Out Of Control!

How do you feel when the mechanic told you your car would be ready by noon but it wasn't when you got there?

Out Of Control!

How do you feel when your medical bill is twice as much as the amount you were quoted?

Out Of Control!

How do you feel when someone cuts you off?

Out Of Control!

How do you feel when your daughter tells you she's going to drop out of college?

Out Of Control!

How do you feel when an employee calls in sick on the day you're leaving for your vacation?

Out Of Control!

How do you feel when the rental car you reserved at the airport was given to someone else and there was no more available?

Out Of Control!

How do you feel when the check your customer promised to send two weeks ago, arrived two months later?

Out Of Control!

How do you feel when you were put on hold for five minutes when you were told, "Just a second?"

Out Of Control!

And how do you feel when you were transferred to another person after you've just been on hold for five minutes?

Out Of Control!

As you can see, there are so many situations that can make you feel "out of control."

The same thing is true with your clients. So if they're going to give you their hard-earned money, they expect to be in control of the situation.

Because your clients rarely get to experience the feeling of being in control from other agents or businesses, it'll make you stand head and shoulders above everyone else!

They'll be so pleased if they always get consistent and predictable results, which meet or better yet, exceed their expectations each time they do business with you.

Also, after you've set up effective systems in your business, you'll be able to produce consistent and predictable results every time.

To maximize your profits and to create a business that will allow you to work the number of hours you want, you need to systematize your daily activities, so they're done the same way every time.

If you want to build your million-dollar agency or practice, you must set up effective systems to perform the following functions:

1. Answer the phone.

2. Greet clients.

3. Process policies.

4. Provide quotes.

5. Follow up on quotes.

6. Resolve customer complaints.

7. Hire, train, evaluate, and compensate employees.

8. Submit proposals to your carriers.

9. Process claims.

10. Collect premiums.

11. Manage cash flow.

12. Build rewarding relationships with your carriers.

13. Thank clients for their business.

14. Astonish your clients several times a year.

15. Renew policies.

16. Sell multiple policies.

17. Track marketing campaigns.

18. Get an abundance of qualified leads.

19. Turn prospects into customers.

20. Convert customers into clients.

21. Transform clients into advocates.

22. Nurture clients.

23. Obtain referrals regularly.

Effective systems have made McDonald's the most profitable and successful restaurant chain in the world. And efficient systems can make your agency or practice one of the most profitable and successful insurance operations in the nation.

Ken Varga was in the insurance business for 33 years and created an agency that had 459,182 policyholders. He sold his business in 2001 for more than $100 million. He's written a book called, "How To Make A Fortune In The Insurance Profession," which shows insurance agents and financial advisors how to build their million-dollar agency or practice in record time. Best of all, you can get it absolutely free.

Check out what some agents and advisors have said about his strategies and systems...

"One idea alone has helped me make an extra $93,400.00 in new commissions, both from cross-selling additional products and generating new referrals!" ~ Walter Dobrowolski, San Marcos, CA

"I doubled my insurance production last year thanks to your strategies." ~ Barbara Boyce, Dallas, TX

"I've had your program for about two and a half years. And during this period, my income has more than doubled." ~ Mark Brady, Roseburg, OR

"Bring in about 10 new clients a week." ~ Ron Martinez, Aurora, CO

This is the greatest insurance selling program I have seen and used in 10 years of being in the business! Very client centered! My financial agency's retention rate is over 97%." ~ Andy Zurbuch, Bloomington, IN

Get Varga's free book and take your business to the next level fast.