There’s no nice way of putting it, but I was a credit risk; through sins of youth and recession issues out of my hands I was unable to get credit anywhere. The problem this causes is that in the UK it’s difficult to get the most basic bank account in the UK let alone a business bank account. The thing that separated me from getting hold of a surefire profit making business was my poor credit. Some years ago as a self-employed sole trader of a business I was declined a business bank account for every single bank I applied to. Even though five or so years had passed I still knew that my credit history was an issue.

My business was not the straightforward type, it involves me taking money and passing a share to clients, my share (or rather the businesses) sits in a second account as that was what I would pay VAT on. So just to make matters worse, I needed not just one bank account, but two. Both of which I would need a cheque book for and a debit card. In order to operate this sort of business, my accountant suggested I formed a limited company. Any company can become a limited company, it has its pluses and minuses but amongst the pluses are some great tax relief issues that you would not get as a sole trader.

Before applying for bank accounts I did a Google search on the internet for “Business banking with a poor credit history”; the information I found was vast, but as I later discovered almost 90% incorrect. Allsorts of people stated various solutions and ways of going about getting a bank account, it all seemed very alarming, having read this information it started to occur to me that my business dreams were most likely to stay just that.

What I never realised, as did it seems 90% of the people giving information online is that when forming a limited company you are essentially (my words nobody elses) creating a new person, you are making something that has no credit history, no debts. Providing you form the company (I got my accountant to do it and it cost around £400) properly, and are registered with companies’ house you have a pretty much-guaranteed chance of acceptance with any UK bank.

In my meeting with one of the major UK banks (one that I never assumed in a million years I would get an account with) we discussed how the business works, projections for how the business will perform and my requirements. If your not familiar with projecting figures there are a variety of places online you can get guidance with this, but the barebones of the issue is know your business and include all the expenditure you will incur; it does not have to be anything to official just be fully aware of what your talking about. At the end of the meeting I was given not just one bank account, but three, all of which had debit cards and cheque books. The account manager showed me how having three accounts will make my accountancy even clearer.  The whole thing took just over two hours, but to get that guaranteed account at the end was just what I needed.

There were some uncomfortable moments, as different things flagged up and a final message before acceptance appeared “Customer declined any borrowing”.  It’s embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as not being able to open a business that will keep people in jobs.

The double plus side of this is that if you do have poor credit, having a business account shows that you are in fact not so dangerous with money, so a few months down the line if you go to the same bank for a personal bank account you are pretty much guaranteed to get an account, they already know how you handle money, how secure your job is, and will do the best they can to keep you with them.

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If you are selling broken gold, silver or platinum jewellery because it is broken, unfashionable, not to your taste or just because you need the money, you’ll want the best price for the items. Here are some tips to ensure you get the best price for them.

Image via Wikipedia.  This item would be worth far more than its scrap value (see below).  This is gold from Ancient Greece dated circa 1700 BC

Firstly, you should ensure you know the quality of the gold, silver or platinum. What is its carat, how pure is it? A reputable dealer will give you this information by performing a chemical test or just by viewing it if they are experts in their field. This is particularly useful if the items are not properly hallmarked – often jewellery bought outside the US, Canada, New Zealand Australia or UK is not hallmarked. The higher the carat the higher the jewellery’s value it commands.

Secondly, to perform your own evaluation you will need to know the jewellery’s total weight. A jeweller or dealer will help you with this but you should keep in mind that you are under no obligation to sell. See them stating that you are “considering selling”.

Thirdly, you should make yourself aware of the going rates for buying gold, silver, platinum or any other precious metal. You should also check out the prices offered by companies bidding to buy scrap gold form the public. Notice the difference between the two. This gap represents some of the leeway buyers have.

Armed with all the information above you will now be in a position to negotiate the price upwards.

Lastly, if you have broken jewellery, you should consider getting this valued at local jewellers. This is because the item/s might be worth more than their scrap value. For instance, an old gold coin is usually worth more than its scrap value as is antique jewellery.

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Gas to liquids or GTL technology has been around for several decades but has received much more attention in the past few years, thanks to rising crude prices. Using GTL technology, natural gas and coal bed methane  can be converted into longer chain hydrocarbons such as gasoline, diesel and even jet fuel.

In fact the world’s first commercial passenger jet powered by GTL fuel made from natural gas recently flew from Doha to London.  The  Qatar Airways jet, an Airbus A340-600 aircraft,  was powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 556 engines using gas to liquids derived jet fuel.

Shell produces a new type of jet fuel, called GTL Jet Fuel, which burns with lower sulphur dioxide emissions that can be used to lower air pollution at airports with low air quality such as Hong Kong and Mexico City. The fifty – fifty blend of GLT fuel and conventional jet fuel is being touted as an economically viable and more eco friendly alternative to conventional jet fuel.

There are two main processes used to turn natural gas into more complex fuels such as diesel. The Fischer – Tropsch process and the Mobil process which was developed by the company formerly known as Mobil Oil in the 1970’s.

Most natural gas can be used for gas to liquids conversion however gas that is higher in methane content is preferred.  Gas from unconventional reservoirs such as coal bed methane and shale gas are both rich in methane content and ideal for GTL conversion.

Swimming In Natural Gas

As the price of oil rises, both due to scarcity and the decline of the U.S. dollar, the price on natural gas remains low. There is such an abundance of natural gas in the United States that some companies such as EOG are actually capping newly drilled wells until prices rise. The break even point for companies to make a profit is somewhere in the $4.00 per MMBTU range and as of the writing of this article natural gas is trading at $4.40 per MMBTU or Million British Thermal Units.

The reason for all of this natural gas is the discovery of enormous shale gas reservoirs in the United States and the fact that unlike oil, natural gas is not easily transported around the world. Horizontal drilling, or the process of drilling natural gas wells sideways across an underground reservoir, has unleashed a vast supply of natural gas in the U.S.

Shale gas reservoirs such as the Marcellus shale, the Haynesville shale and newly discovered ones like Eagle Ford shale  in South Texas mean a stable source of natural gas for GTL fuel conversion. The relative stability of natural gas prices may allow refiners to produce gasoline, diesel and jet fuel cheaper from natural gas than from crude oil as refining costs come down.

As GTL conversion refineries become larger and an economy of scale takes over, the price per gallon cost of GTL conversion will drop. The Syntroleum corporation of the United States has reported that their cost of making a barrel of crude from natural gas is somewhere in the $20 per barrel range.

Is GTL Better Than CNG As A Motor Fuel?

GTL or gas to liquids derived fuels can solve  many of the problems associated with using natural gas as a motor fuel. Currently the main problem associated with powering vehicles with CNG or compressed natural gas, is lack of driving range. By concentrating the energy of natural gas in a liquid form, a GTL powered car will have the same range and power as one powered by conventionally derived gasoline. Using GTL also solves the problem of having to install costly CNG conversion kits and tanks in millions of vehicles.

For more about the United States shale gas boom see: The Marcellus Shale Gas Boom

We now have more natural gas than we know what to do with, thanks to a new technology called directional drilling and the discovery of vast reservoirs of natural gas such as the Marcellus shale, Barnett shale, Haynesville shale and Eagle Ford shale.

Experts have estimated that we now have over one hundred years worth of clean natural gas in the United States. Natural gas may one day power our vehicles, trucks, trains and even planes thanks to a technology called “gas to liquids” which enables natural gas to be converted to gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Shale reservoirs have been known about by petroleum companies for decades but never seriously considered as a source of production since traditionally drilled wells could not expose enough of the reservoir to produce any real amount of gas. Directionally drilled horizontal wells can expose thousands of feet of reservoir profile and  increase natural gas production to an economically viable level.

What Kind Of Natural Gas Jobs Are Being Created?

For years the only jobs available in rural areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia were in the coal mining industry. Coal mining left many scars across this rugged land and unfortunately no real lasting economic benefits. Low wages were typically paid by mining companies and profits from production often were invested elsewhere. 

The discovery of one of the biggest natural gas reservoirs on earth, the Marcellus Shale, underneath much of the Northeastern United States may provide more lasting economic benefits. The reason for this is that unlike coal, for which entire mountains are removed, a natural gas well occupies only a small amount of real estate, as little as a couple hundred square feet of area once it is drilled and continue to produce for years. Natural gas wells in the Marcellus shale are predicted to produce for decades before depleting.

These wells require production employees called pumpers or gaugers who inspect the wells and verify daily production. A gauger or pumper may take care of twenty or more gas wells. His or her duties may involve checking the level of produced condensate or water in tanks with a hand held gauging tape (hence the name) and doing routine maintenance on gas dehydrators, separators, pumps and other equipment.

In addition to production employees such as gaugers or pumpers shale gas reservoirs create jobs in areas such as pipeline construction and maintenance, trucking, heavy equipment sales and service, accounting and service industries.

The infrastructure that supports a large shale gas field such as the Marcellus shale is vast and complex. To transport the gas via pipeline to market there will be large gas compressor facilities that require round the clock workers such as mechanics and operators.

The Trickle Down Benefits Of Natural Gas Production

In the Bakken shale formation of North Dakota, which is both an oil and gas shale reservoir,  it has been estimated that the number of jobs created by one drilling rig is over two hundred. This is in addition to the rig workers or roughnecks drilling the well.

While the exploration phase of the Marcellus and other shales will create hundreds of jobs the real boom will come in the years to follow as all of the revenue from these wells trickles into the local economy. Most of the royalty money from Marcellus shale wells will be paid to private landowners. These landowners, who may get royalty checks of as much as $30,000 per month from a single well, will spend this money in the community where they live. All of this wealth trickles down to businesses like car dealers, real estate companies, restaurants, home builders, etc. As we have seen in the Dallas – Fort Worth metroplex, where the Barnett shale is being developed, the impact on the community has been dramatic. New schools, roads, hospitals and other infrastructure has been built in the last ten years, thanks to shale gas money.

What The Future Holds For The Marcellus Shale And Other Shale Gas Reservoirs

There are many obstacles to the development of the Marcellus and similar shale gas reservoirs. These include appeasment of environmental and community groups about potential groundwater contamination, noise, sediment runoff from drilling rig sites, etc. These obstacles have been successfully dealt with in the Barnett and Haynesville shale, allowing for their development.  One thing is for certain, and that is in terms of lasting economic impact the Northeast and in fact the entire United States will never be the same once the Marcellus shale is developed. For more on the Marcellus shale see: Marcellus Shale Information Site

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1. Conduct your own market research. 

State and federal governments collect lots of useful data – so do trade associations and local chambers of commerce.  Know your target market and potential costumers.   Find out what they want.  Study the product you intend to offer, and test if it would work out for your target consumers.

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2.  Study the environment – and the competition.

Keep apprised of the legal and technological changes affecting your business.  Watch what rival organizations do and how successful they are.

3. Get involved selectively.

Become a member of the professional and trade associations with real stature in your industry and community.  This will keep your name in circulation.  If appropriate, sponsor a local team or an event related to your field.

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4.  Pay attention to details. 

Do you have a distinctive logo?  Maybe you need a design overhaul; outdated stationery serves as a negative advertisement.

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5.  Use direct mail.

Buy appropriate mailing lists or generate your own.  To distinguish your letters from junk mail, print addresses directly on the envelope, and use first-class stamps instead of metered or low-rate postage.  When using email, do not spam. It devalues the image of your company.

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6.  Toot your own horn where warranted.

Don’t overlook the publicity value of new services, products and employees.  Send brief press releases to local newspapers and trade publications, which are hungry for material.

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A white paper is a business and information technology buzzword that companies are acquiring as their own (buzzword, that is). Highly paid consultants tell companies that they need to write these documents because it will give them the edge over their competition, so they do.

Think of a white paper as a cross between a a marketing brochure and a technical document. Most white papers are written by people just like you, and are presented to Executives. This document plus other white papers on similar topics help them to make informed decisions. So, when you write one, write it simply enough so that Executives can understand and explain to other decision makers, but technical enough to keep the techies happy.

An Executive Summary comes first in this document. If the Execs read nothing else, they’ll read this. This 1-2 paragraph narrative tells the reader what he/she should expect in the paper..Why so short? Consider your audience.

Next comes an introduction and background. This should be 1/2 – 3/4 of a page. Keep it simple and basic. No fluff, just short and sweet.

The next section is the “what is the project?” section. Describe the solution or product. This will probably be the largest section. Keep it under five pages.

The final section should answer the question, “what do you want me to do about it?” What action point do you need the reader to take in order  to follow through with this project?

There you have it. If you include all of those things, you should have a decent paper. The goal is to keep the white paper to under 10 pages.

Of course, this creates an inherent conflict of interest. For instance, let’s say the markets really look dismal—unemployment is running rampant, inflation is flaring, and terrorist attacks in our country are a distinct possibility. For the foreseeable future, there seems no feasible way to make a decent return on an investment.  In a logical world, what would you do with your money? If you are like many folks, you’d sit on the sidelines with your money held tight in your hand, waiting until the picture cleared.  Okay for you—after all, you have your money already. But the poor brokerage firm is in a pretty fix: unless they buy and sell constantly, there’s no revenue (“commissions”) coming in.  Can you imagine a financial company sitting on the sidelines until the storm passes in—say—six months or so?  No commissions for six months? That means no dividend checks for the shareholders of the brokerage. No dividend checks means that the president of the company is . . . well, toast. Fired!  But he won’t go out alone: branch managers (the ramrods who push the brokers to sell more, earn more) also are . . . replaced. But before they go, they fire the “underperforming” brokers. Chaos reigns: bearing torches and pitchforks, out-of-work brokers and financial advisors riot in the streets . . . nations fall . . . civilization collapses .

A horrific picture and one that no respectable broker could in good conscience allow (that is, if the aforementioned broker actually has a conscience). Hence, regardless of the financial prospects—and however much it may cost you, the investor—the brokerages must soldier on and collect those commissions.  Remember this the next time you see one of those TV commercials proclaiming how hard the brokerage houses work for you.

So how do you this. I believe the first thing you must do is hire people who are motivated by the opportunity to grow and take on more responsibilities. You must recruit and hire people who have the characteristics and the desire for future advancement. Many companies have a checklist of characteristics they look for when interviewing. Many times these characteristics are suggested by current employees. Most often the #1 characteristic current employees say they want in an employee their company hires is a positive attitude. So an applicant who can’t even muster a positive attitude during the interview is automatically cut from the prospect list.

The key to recruiting the type of person that fits your checklist of characteristics requires you to develop good open ended questions that will give you the information about the candidate that you’re looking for. Questions such as ‘what would you like to be doing three years from now?’ Or, ‘tell me about a conflict you had in the past and how did you handle it?’ Open ended questions should encourage the prospect to talk. If the person doesn’t talk, or doesn’t say much when she does, this is most likely a ‘red flag’. If the applicant can’t come up with answers to these questions you probably shouldn’t consider making a job offer.

You should also consider a formal leadership development curriculum. Employees can apply for acceptance to this training. You want to develop those people who want to be developed. Interviewing the employees who apply to determine their worthiness is a must. It’s best to limit membership and bring other employees onto the program as openings occur.  This will give you a continuous pool of high potential employees who have some knowledge of what the next step on the corporate ladder entails. I don’t advocate sending employees to training programs unless you have a detailed understanding of what they will be taught. If you don’t, it is possible the content and direction of the training isn’t aligned with your corporate philosophy. Having your training department or hiring an independent consultant to do the training in house allows you to audit this training and making sure it matches your expectations.

The last and most important aspect of this program is to utilize this pool of people when openings occur. This will give credibility to your leadership program. Obviously there will be some positions where you have to recruit from outside, but these should be few and far between.

A program such as this can be a valuable recruiting tool that certainly will help you attract and retain high quality prospects. Many good companies have recruiting brochures that place a high emphasis on their opportunities for advancement.

If it’s done right, the investment in a program such as this will have a high percent return on your investment in ways far beyond simply having people ready for advancement.

Jim Doyle

Dues-  When you join BNI, you are becoming a servant of Ivan Misner, BNI’s founder.  He founded BNI over 20 years ago in California and he spread it like wildfire internationally.  That is good for him, no doubt.  Therefore, the dues for BNI go to Ivan Misner.  In the United States, the dues are about $400 per year plus an application fee of about $100.  My local group has dues of just $50 per six months; they stay in the local area.  The dues are only there to defray small administrative costs of the group and the fee to the hotel that houses the meetings. 

Meetings and attendance policy-  Of course, you have to spend time to make the connections and build the relationships.  However, BNI allows just three “cuts”, absences over a six month period.  This is even stricter than ABA law school suggested attendance policy of 80% which would amount to five “cuts” per six months.  If you miss a meeting, you better have a substitute.  If you miss that fourth meeting, no matter how good a member you have been, you’re out of there.  In addition, the meetings are 90 minutes; it becomes a two hour commitment with travel.  With my new group, we meet just for one hour and only twice a month.  If you have to miss a meeting, you can get another member (not allowed in BNI) to speak in your stead.  There is no cut policy.  I am an attorney and I have had to miss some meetings because of court.  No excuse shy of death is valid for missing a BNI meeting.  The excessively strict attendance policy discourages small outfits from joining. 

Every lead is checked-  BNI, as I discussed in one of my earlier articles, forces people to write bogus referrals if they do not have a legitimate one.  These referrals are usually not checked as only one or two referrals are checked at every meeting.  However, in my new group, every lead-referral is checked at the following meeting to verify that people are sending good referrals to each other.  There is no pressure to put bogus referrals in my local group; on the contrary, you need to put in a good referral in the basket or nothing. 

BNI is for some people.  However, it is not good as the hype is.  Proceed carefully if you are going to spend your money and time in BNI. 

If you earn money online, then you must have a PayPal account. Many companies that pay only through PayPal. PayPal is a quick way to send and receive payments online. PayPal has more than 100 million accounts in 190 countries is available. Opening a PayPal account is free. You can register for a PayPal account at paypal.com

Free PayPal account:

If you earn money online, then you must have a PayPal account. Many companies that pay only through PayPal. PayPal is a quick way to send and receive payments online. PayPal has more than 100 million customer accounts and does business in 190 countries. Opening a PayPal account is free. You can register for a PayPal account at paypal.com. You can receive money from your PayPal account. With PayPal, you can all pay with an e-mail address. There are three types of PayPal account. Personal, Premier and Business.

Sufficient for most people a PayPal account. You can send and receive money for free with a personal account. The disadvantage of a personal account there is a deadline for the receipt of $ 500 per month and can use credit cards to get through the transaction. There are fees for receiving funds into a residential and business customer. You can update your personal account for personal pro account at any time. There is no deadline for the receipt of funds into a residential and business customers, and may also receive credit card transactions are financed.

A PayPal account, start-ups have a lower transaction costs, to prevent fraud. To increase the limit, you should check your account with a credit card. If you do not have a credit card, you can check your card account with the safety net. You can fund your PayPal account with a U.S. bank account or credit card. You should check your credit card before you can use to send money. You can make money from your PayPal account, cherub, or with your credit card or bank account. For the indigenous peoples’ money to your bank account in India. It is the cost just 50 rupees for amounts up to 7000 Rs and is free for most of 7000th

 Steps to Free PayPal account creation:
In an attempt to help beginner’s blogs, here is a 1-2-3 steps on the application and

 Create a PayPal account.
1. Go to http://www.paypal.com. Always type “https” in your browser to ensure you will be redirected in the right direction, not a fake PayPal site. Click the “Register” button and select your country and language. Fill out the Personal Choice Account, Premier or Business. We recommend the establishment of a Premier account so you can receive payments by credit card. Once done, fill the necessary information and nothing else.

2. The next step is to your PayPal account so sure that you can withdraw your money. You can still pay well that difficult to receive not verify your account to mind, but you can never retire. Check your PayPal account, enter your credit card, Visa or debit card. Your card should be) a history of transactions (withdrawal or deposit, or deny your credit card PayPal.

3. Once you have your 16-digit Visa / credit card / debit card entered will automatically use the PayPal extension program to be included. Wait until you get the number of papers in the transaction card. If you his number EXPOSED, log into your PayPal account to complete the test.
Can I use my credit card to another person / VISA card? Absolutely not. You can use your own credit card or Visa. If you do not buy a PayPal VCC.