August 2008-The U.S. unemployment rate rose to the highest level in more than four years as employers cut jobs again in July, increasing the threat of a deeper economic slowdown.

Payrolls fell by 51,000, less than forecast, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The jobless rate rose to 5.7 percent, from 5.5 percent the prior month.

The last time unemployment climbed so much in three months was at the end of the last U.S. recession in 2001. Payroll cuts combined with decreasing property values, stricter lending rules and near-record energy prices to send consumer confidence levels close to the weakest in 16 years in July.

September 2008-Tens of thousands Wall Street brokers loose their jobs as the US mortgage and lending institutions collapse under the weight of billions of dollars of under performing mortgage securities or assets.

October 2008-The US Senate votes to pass a 700 Billion dollar bailout of the US credit or floundering mortgage markets. This is the largest bailout out of US financial companies and the entire banking system.

November 2008-What or who is next is the big question facing not only US residents, but people from across the globe are bracing for a global recession. Will you be ready? What is your exist strategy if you suddenly lost or was laid off from your job as a result of the global recession?

Well, look no further than your computer. I am talking about the home based business opportunity. There are literally thousands of home based business opportunities, from data processing, billing, sales, and freelancing, direst selling opportunities to consulting.

With a home based business, you are sure to find an opportunity that suits your background, knowledge and expertise.

Home based business is a 427 billion dollar a year industry. That is more than the pharmaceutical industry, food industry and consumer goods industry combined. Why? Because the sheer number of people in business working for themselves. The extremely low start up costs, flexible hours and the internet are fueling the growth for home based businesses. About 170 million people in the USA alone, enjoy the benefits and flexibility of working from home.

 The fastest growing segment of the home based business is the direct selling approach. In direct selling or direct sales, the middle man or wholesaler is eliminated and those savings are passed on to the consumer.

 Direct Selling is the sale of a consumer product or service, person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location. These products and services are marketed to customers by independent salespeople. Depending on the company, the salespeople may be called distributors, representatives, consultants or various other titles. Products are sold primarily through in-home product demonstrations, parties and one-on-one selling.

Direct selling has had a bad name and is not widely accept yet in the US as it is in many foreign countries. We all knew someone at one time or another tried to sell us some vitamins, lotions, potions and pills over the years.

Many non reputable companies over the years have resorted to high pressure sales tactics, fraudulent product, over priced merchandise or income potential by purchasing and stocking one’s garage full un-saleable or worthless products in hopes of becoming rich quick, sometimes over night.

Well, unfortunately, some of these businesses still exist, or try to exist before the federal government shuts them down as illegal pyramid schemes. Anyone considering a direct selling business should do their home work carefully, before shelling out a single dollar to a direct selling company.

There are also many great direct selling companies that offer great name brand products, new or unique products and legitimate home based business opportunities. Many offer products that we currently use in our own households or businesses, such as home and business phone service, internet services, home security, health and beauty items and the list goes on, almost forever.

There are 5 important items to look for in a good direct selling company or any home based business opportunity:

1. Training and support

To succed in any direct selling business, you must have the proper training and support.You need to constantly feed your mind with company sponsored training through conference calls, supplied training courses and videos.

2. Duplicatable system

Some direct selling businesses will teach you a recruiting system that is not duplicatable, for one reason or another. For example, their recruiting methods may be too expensive. They may involve marketing skills like selling on the phone, which is not easy for most people. If a system is not duplicatable, you won’t be able to grow your downline quickly.

3. Valuable product

Look for a direct selling company that provides a product with value. Find a product that people would buy regardless of the business opportunity. Customers will continually buy a product if it provides them with value.

4. Reliability and stability

It is important to find a direct selling business that is reliable and stable. Companies that have been around for a while are more likely to stay for even longer. Working with an established direct selling company can build you a solid long-term income.

5. Excellent compensation

The compensation plan of the direct selling company should enable you to reach your income goals. If the payout plan is on the low end, you cannot expect to build a huge residual income in a reasonable period of time. Make sure you can understand the compensation plan, so that you can explain it to others who inquire about it.

Anyone can do it.There are no required levels of education, experience, financial resources or physical condition.

People of all ages and from all backgrounds have succeeded in direct selling.

Direct sellers are independent contractors. You’re your own boss, which means you can:

People like to shop through direct selling.According to recent surveys, 74 percent of Americans have purchased goods or services through direct sales. That’s more than the number who have purchased through television shopping and on-line computer services combined. People value the products available through direct selling and 45 percent of Americans want to buy from direct sellers.

Direct selling is a growing industry.Sales in the U.S. have more than doubled in the last decade to more than $30 billion and are now more than $100 billion worldwide.

People from literally all walks of life, of all ages, are successful in direct sales. About 75 percent of those working in direct sales are women, 10 percent are African American, six percent are Latino and three percent are Asian, Native American or other. Many people start part-time, and later leave their other careers when direct selling becomes more lucrative.

If you have already lost your job or want to secure your OWN financial freedom before you are a victim of the global recession, look no further than your computer for a great job or business opportunity through direct selling.

I have been involved in direct selling for years, and after doing my home work, I found my fortune with a company called Fortune High Tech Marketing. View my direct selling opportunity at Fortune Hi Tech Marketing at http://www.time4fortune.com or our blog at http://time4fortune.blogspot.com

Outsourcing – that is to send the work of your company overseas seem to be be scourge of our times . It may seem that everything we buy now seems to come from “somewhere else”. Nothing seems to be made in the good old USA anymore. The concern is that although the goods are inexpensive and “so reasonable” at your local big box store, the question is – in the future will your grandchildren have an income to afford anything at all?
Many businesses are now in a position of choosing for their own survival whether or not to outsource? It’s either get on the bandwagon or have no business or employees whatsoever. The concept is that something of something is better than nothing of anything or nothing whatsoever.
Consumers it seems are somewhat some sighted or even fickle. When it comes to price comparisons even good old Levy Straus jeans could not compete with cheaper imports. Quality like anything, even with perceived prestige items has their price points. Now even Levy jeans are made offshore – and a lot of American workers lost their jobs.
Outsourcing can be said to be the practice of using outside firms to handle work that was normally performed within a company. It used to be that work might have been outsourced by American companies to other companies within the US to reduce costs or get things done in a hurry during rush time periods. Often outside firms did not have the same cost constraints – either on workers wages, or other costs such as property or factory costs, and could as such do the job cheaper. In other cases, the hands were just not available at head office or factory for specific work to be pumped out – hence the work might be contracted out elsewhere. In the case of smaller firms they may not have had the resources, staff or equipment for certain tasks. Overall, outsourcing could get products or components of products produced at less overall costs with minimal investment or reduced management effort and time. Overall in these situations outsourcing was a wise choice.
The difference now is that the outsourced work is being half way around the world – perhaps in Asia – China and Vietnam for example , or in the case of services – such as your banking , travel or computer tech support services – India.
Still outsourcing is not an all or nothing choice. On top of that with fuel price increases the rules are going to change overall yet again.
The basic rule is that for simple and mundane, routine tasks outsourcing makes sense. For example why a highly trained and certified accountant valuable time and energy should be applied to completing routine tax returns. His or her time is better spent than to complete these mundane tasks during the spring time tax rush. Better that these tasks be performed off shore. Sure levels of quality and consistency must be maintained. Such systems and procedures are now fairly standard. The highly trained accountant can apply his skills to better ends – analysis of customer’s accounts on an ongoing basis, and then recommending specific courses of actions as well as specific products and investments. This way the client is better served and serviced throughout the year with the business and tax supported in a superior, ongoing and timely manner.
The rules of outsourcing are fluid and are changing once again with increases in the price of fuel and transportation. For example manufacturing in Asia was based on lower wages. Products or components are shipped between a numbers of widely scattered places of production. Then the completed products or components were shipped long distances from Asia by container ship to America. With the increased costs of oil and transportation the mix has changed where the American suppliers, who are closer to home, and often to raw materials, are in a much more competitive situation than before.
Services provided over communication lines, whether they be via telephone lines or the internet currently fall out of this mix, so they are not affected.
In the end outsourcing is neither good nor bad. It’s not a case of does a company outsource 100 or not. The answer is obtained via analysis. What are current market trends? What makes sense? What should be outsourced and what not? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each particular firm and business? It’s no longer an all or non choice when it comes to outsourcing.

The slogan has been, “It’s the economy stupid”. All we have heard about is the great economic team that Obama has been putting together. The focus has been 100% on domestic needs. And guess what! That’s exactly what George Bush thought when he was sworn into office on January 20, 2001. But his presidency would be forever changed a few months later. Could Barack’s future be altered as well?  

Gunmen have opened fire at a number of sites in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), killing at least 78 people and injuring about 200 more. Police said shooting was continuing and that the incidents were co-ordinated terrorist attacks. Gunmen had taken hostages at two hotels, they said. At least seven sites have been targeted across India’s financial capital.  

Not again!

There has been a wave of bombings in Indian cities in recent months which has left scores of people dead. Most of the attacks have been blamed on Muslim militants, although police have also arrested suspected Hindu extremists. Terroris wears many masks and goes by many names: non of them good. And the latest news hasn’t been limited to “over there” by any means. Meanwhile back here in the USA-

Federal authorities are warning police of a possible terror plot against the New York City subway and train systems during the holiday season, prompting local officials to beef up security at stations. An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press says the FBI has received a “plausible but unsubstantiated” report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system.

A person briefed on the matter said the threat may also be directed at the passenger rail lines running through New York, such as Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road, which are particularly busy with Thanksgiving holiday travelers. A U.S. counterterror official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to do so publicly, said senior government officials have been briefed because the FBI very recently received credible information about possible attacks over the holiday season, and authorities are particularly concerned about this long holiday weekend.

While we’re busy keeping an eye on the Dow, we need not take our other eye off the terrorists.