Image by drewgstephens via Flickr

Can you imagine, just for a minute… that you are walking down the street and a complete stranger approaches you and holds out a gift for you… the keys to their brand spanking new BMW!

While you are standing there stammering out a surprised ‘thank you’, he stops you and says, “Just a sec, see on that key chain?  It’s got your new house keys.  Oh, and the keys to your new speed boat….”

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Never going to happen… right?
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Why?  Is it a rare thing to find someone giving away something of great value? You bet it is! Are you ready for it? Get ready… because I am going to hand it to you! Not just yet though.  I want to to spend a second just thinking over your last few internet purchases.  Does this sound scarily familiar?

# You spend heaps of money on the latest ‘guru’ offering.

#  Give it a go for a bit, maybe make a couple of dollars back… but get bored.

#  Feel like a bit of a failure because you were told all of these other ‘noobies’ were doing it much better than you….

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No one never realized it before, but you can use your custom greeting cards as a business relationship tool. With jobs going down the drain, and the recession looming, it is getting more and more important to maintain and improve your business relationships through greeting card printing. Your business network can become your safety net and “opportunity generator” as you try to find your next most profitable job or business deal. If you want to know how to use custom greeting cards as a social networking tool, then just follow the tips outlined below.

Give them to officemates – If you already have a few custom greeting cards ready to give, then one of your first targets to improving your business network is your current work-mates or officemates. On special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and other important events, do not forget to give them your custom greeting cards as a mark of friendship. If they get promoted, you can also give them your greeting card as a sign of admiration. By keeping this level of friendship and goodwill with your officemates, you will gain a nice base group of friends that can help you in good times, and more importantly on the bad times as well.    If someone unfortunately gets laid off, or a lot of you get laid off, then your circle of officemates can be your support group during the bad times. They can give you any job opportunities that they may spot, and you can help them with the same. By asking your office friends, and their friends of friends, you can use your office social network to find good opportunities for your career. All of this can be assured because you gave some good will and a custom greeting card when it counted.    Greet the boss – The boss and other higher ups, should also be your target for? social networking. With staff cut backs around the corner, a good impression with your bosses can improve your chances of avoiding the chopping block.

Again by maintaining a good relationship with your superiors while printing and sending them a custom greeting card or two once in a while, can help improve your reputation with them. You will not be considered as just another employment statistic, they will consider you as the person you are (which is hopefully well worth preserving in the company). So don’t forget to greet your boss when it counts with a custom greeting card.    Making friends with colleagues – Your business colleagues are also a good target for improving social relations as well. Your network of business contacts are of course your source of business opportunities and deals. If you send them custom greeting cards on their birthdays, anniversaries, and other important events, you will not appear to them as the run of the mill business contact. You will be considered as a friend that values your relationship not just in business but in real life as well.

As the economic downturn trickles down and hits our lives, it is those real friendships that you can count on in business. If you take care of your business relationships, then you will still have a group of business friends that you can rely on for business opportunities.    There are still many ways on improving your relationships through the use of custom greeting cards. But, as you can see, when you improve your relationships with your business contacts, officemates and bosses, you can form a nice network of friends that can support each other in these bad times. When you work together as a group, you can all share the benefits of good business through good relations.  For comments and inquiries about the article visit  Custom Greeting Cards  and  Greeting Card Printing
Author: Charen Smith
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/improving-business-relations-through-custom-greeting-cards-872332.html

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform and it’s a little different from any other online or social media tool. When people first begin using it, it can seem overwhelming and confusing. How can you really type anything of substance in 140 characters or less?

The first thing I usually advise is that you take some time getting familiar with how it all works. Put up a picture of yourself, find some others to follow, and “tweet” some updates. It may seem a little like you are talking to yourself to do this especially if you are not being followed by anyone else. But it helps to see activity when someone comes upon your page and is making a decision whether to follow you or not.

Once you have observed and participated a little, there are a few things you can do to help you build relationships. Why is that so important? It all goes back to establishing that know, like and trust factor. People like to do business with those they know, like and trust, right? Here are some of the ways to use Twitter to create rapport and get more visibility for your business:

1) Give value. Share links, offer advice and answer questions. I usually suggest a balance of 85% non-promotional tweets to 15% promotional tweets. When you are sharing interesting tidbits, they do not (and should not) be all about your services and offerings. On Twitter, people are looking to learn more about you the person, not just you the business owner. Of course, once they feel that they know you better, they are more willing to eventually buy from you!

2) Engage others. Ask questions, use the @ function to spark conversations and re-tweet others’ messages. This helps people get to know you, but it is also a chance for you to demonstrate your expertise. You don’t need to outright sell in order for others to see that you have something of value to offer them. Before you know it, others will be re-tweeting (sharing) your helpful information with others, leading to more visibility for you.

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by Patrick Gunning

Can a Home Business really make money and Survive a Recession? That’s a question that many people are asking right now, as their bills are piling up and their savings accounts are shrinking.

A lot of people have had the idea of a starting Home Business in the back of their mind for a while, but never acted on it. …And many Experts agree that this is the best time to get into a home business. Not only are the opportunities greater, but so are the benefits.

Now that fears of a Recession or even another Great Depression are on everyone’s mind it might just be an idea worth looking at. Let’s face it, the polls show that most people realize that the government doesn’t have the solution for their concerns about the recession. Their trust in Government and those big corporations is being tested.

The reality is, while the government is busy giving aide to the very companies that got us into this mess, you need answers to the problems you’re facing at home… problems like paying your bills and reducing your debt.

You want to know:

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Give us two minutes of exclusive attention. We have some important and confidential news for you!

They’ve done it. A group of underground marketers have finally cracked the “eBay code” and after dominating eBay for the last few months, they are finally sharing it with the common public.

We would like to introduce you to a new “Software breakthrough” that will enable YOU to build an “autopilot” residual income stream with little or no effort on your part! Once setup, the only time you have to login to your computer is to count your money!

We are asked “what is the fastest and easiest way to make it online?” our answer is almost always eBay.com and why wouldn’t it be? EBay has over 245 million registered users that regularly use the site. This is great news because there is virtually unlimited demand for your quality information products.

If you know exactly what you are doing, eBay presents you with a massive opportunity to generate not only automated income streams but also a highly profitable buyer list and leads. Leads that are worth up to $200 to $400 EACH in some markets like mortgage and insurance! The powerful Auction Acrobat software makes all this possible.

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Do you set your goals every day to reach those dreams you desire to achieve in life?

Are you setting your goals towards targeted passions and abilities? Or are you been slowed down by the endless work load?

When you lose a client or customer do you feel you have achieved very little and taken a step backwards or are you able to get back up, brush yourself off and learn from mistakes and misfortunes?

Here are five goals and dream setting tips.

1.  Start a time planner for daily use.

2.  Write down your short term goals and long term goals.

3.  Use a mind map program to help better plan and achieve your goals.

4.  Make a dream board with visual images of all your current dreams you want to achieve.

5.  Watch the video below on a weekly basis. Whatever your dreams, this video will help set your mind into gear.  Don’t miss the secret messages in this great inspirational video on goals, dreams, achievement and passion no matter the obstacles or distractions business and life can bring.

Look forward to your answers and further tips to achieving dreams and goal setting. What are your thoughts on the video and how it personally inspired you?