Contract Cleaners - A Guide for Business Part 2
In the first part of this article I put forward 7 questions that I believed were important to ask of your potential cleaning company. In this article I will explain the relevance of the first two questions and the answers you get to you as a business. What is your staff turnover? When the top 150 Cleaning Companies in the UK were asked this question the answer came back as 73%. That means that within a 12 month period 73% of their cleaning staff have left and been replaced. What is the relevance of this figure to you? If the figure you get back is higher than about 25% it is likely that if you engage this firm then you are unlikely to have the same cleaners for very long. You will have a constant stream of new cleaners. This is not good for building up a working relationship or continuity. Worse still might be the answer ‘I don’t know exactly’ because this probably means they are trying to avoid giving you an insight into the correct figure. They can of course lie! Do you provide verifiable training? Cleaners might simply be hired to cover a particular clean, shown what to do and left to get on with it. Verifiable means that the company has a recognised training scheme which is documented and you can see the date and times training of your staff has taken place. Is training necessary? You might think not. Everybody should know how to clean because we all do it! Commercial cleaning is not like cleaning at home. The cleaner has a time limit in which tasks must be completed. They must be trained in how to carry out those tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible. Secondly not all the tasks will be assigned to every cleaning slot. Some tasks might for example be designated as weekly in the cleaning schedule or even monthly, for example cob webbing. However the staff must be trained that if they see a cobweb they remove it then and there and not wait until the schedule allows them t

How To Start A Website
Sometimes it may seem everybody but you has a website. And although that’s not entirely true, it is true that more and more people everyday are putting up their website on the world wide web. If you want to learn how to start a website, then this article will show you how to get started.The first thing you need is a domain name. A domain name is the name you see in the address bar, such as google.com. google.com is a domain name. You will want to visit a domain registrar (you can find any number of registrars with a quick google search) and find a domain you like that is not already in use.When you have registered your domain name, then you will want to setup a web hosting account. Once again, you can use the services of google to find the best web hosting company for your purposes.The next step is the most exciting step. Unlike a few years ago, you no longer have to know HTML code to be able to create a website. Today you can use any of the numerous wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) web editors. With a wysiwyg editor you can create a website as easy as writing a letter in Microsoft Word.You can also find a huge amount of free web templates available on the Internet. Simply search for free templates, find one you like, open it up in your new wysiwyg editor and customize it with your personalized content or articles.The final step is to take your finished product and upload it to your web space with an ftp program. FTP programs are easy to use and easy to find, just make use of google again and find one that will do the job for you.Once your site goes live, your friends will be asking you how to start a website.

Store Card Versus Credit Card - Which Should You Choose?
Store cards and credit cards have their advantages and disadvantages, but which is best for you. In this article we point out some basics to help you take control of your spending.Store CardsDo you have a store card? How many do you have? Do you know how much you are spending on each?Store cards are a great idea if you use them properly, but they can cause huge amounts of personal financial damage if you don’t take control.When you are offered a store card here a few things to bear in mind:1. Get very clear on what the offer is exactly. Most stores will offer a card with a promotional deal – say 10% off any purchases that day and for the next week. So what exactly is the offer and how long does it last?2. Sometimes store cards are heavily pushed during a sale. Again, what’s the offer – for example, do you get 10% off sale items too?3. What are the privileges you get as a store card holder? Do you get a discount every time you shop? Do you get reward points of some kind? Do you get special preview events for new ranges? And what are the details – how many points, how many previews a year?4. How much credit are they offering you? And can you handle it – or will it make you feel like a kid in a candy store?5. What are the repayment terms exactly? What’s the minimum repayment? What’s the APR – during the offer period and after the offer period?6. Are you bothered? It’s easy to take up what seems like a great offer with no effort on your part. But remember you would probably have bought the things you are buying even if there was no store card being waved in your face. Do you really want another piece of plastic, another debt?7. Can you get the things you want cheaper elsewhere anyway? Most things you usually can do.8. Can you pay for the things you want using your credit card? Credit cards usually have a much lower APR than store cards – so unl

Relations With China
As far as I am concerened, the leaders of China are not now and never will be our friends or allies. The leaders of China do not care about anything other than amassing power and destroying their enemies and since everyone not Chinese is their enemy they feel that it is their duty to someday rule the world. As far as they are concerened the United States is the largest hurdle to their attaining their dreams, therefore the first thing that they have to do is destroy us. They are not currently capable of defeating us militarily so they have decided to attempt to defeat us economically and so far they are doing a fairly good job at it. They are not our trading partner, they are our trading enemy and they are currently trading us into the ground.Shock of shocks, today I was reading the op-ed section of the paper and found myself agreeing with the author about American relations with China and the VIP treatment Chinese President Hu is recieving in this country. Both of us agreed that President Hu does not deserve such treatment. My shock was, I was agreeing with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. I never agree with her.Her article stated in part "TODAY, PRESIDENT Bush will roll out the red carpet for Chinese President Hu Jintao, a leader whose government brutally crushes freedom, democracy and the religious expression of the Chinese and Tibetan people. Hu will receive the best welcome U.S. taxpayer money can buy, including full military honors and a 21-gun salute.This is the same regime that provides military technologies to countries that threaten international security, including Iran and North Korea. The same regime that threatens Taiwan with a military attack, detains and tortures Chinese people for expressing their political and religious beliefs and arrests Tibetans for carrying a picture of the Dalai Lama.While open dialogue is essential, many of us on both sides of the aisle in Congress oppose the celebratory nature

Why Factoring is Necessary in the Trucking Industry
You suddenly find that your business is in a cash squeeze. You started your small trucking company with five units and a lot of industry experience. Things started out well, with revenues per mile on an upward trend, and an addition of two units the first year. But the expense pressure of higher fuel costs, driver settlements, permits, insurance, and repairs have begun taking its toll. Add to the mix some uncollectable accounts and your margins begin to suffer.Tightening cash flow even further is the credit you are extending to your customers. Take a look at your accounts receivable aging schedule and you’ll likely see many accounts over 30 days. You are not getting paid for delivering your end of the deal in a timely manner and as a result, you are providing the use of your money to your customer for free. Unfortunately, you can’t defer payroll, fuel, and other expenses for thirty or more days.Should you adopt a COD payment policy? How about adding a service charge to all accounts over 30 days and vehemently sticking to it? Neither of these solutions is advisable, because you will probably lose customers right and left. You are in a highly competitive industry and other companies would jump at the chance to acquire new customers by offering them the credit that you won’t.There is a service that can provide a safety net for your company and allows you to convert freight bills into instant cash flow within 24 hours. Better yet, this service only costs pennies on the dollar. This service is called invoice factoring.Although not widely known among entrepreneurs, factoring has been a useful financing tool for centuries. Manufacturers, distributors, service providers (such as trucking companies) use factoring to stabilize their cash flow. In 2005, factoring volume exceeded $112 billion, and has grown every year since 1984.Facto

Are You Being Displaced By Technology
Would you like to advance your knowledge in Information Technology (IT)? If you are, I believed that you have already found out more information about them. But do be extra careful that you should only consider those schools that are accredited. University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is one of such schools that award a Master of Science in Information System and is fully accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. UMBC is recognized as one of the top research universities in the nation. Completing a graduate program with them will certainly give you an added advantage over your peers.The completely online program is designed for professionals working in the IT field who want to advance their career. The schools welcome those into the program with or without prior experience or education in information systems.The program covers three levels. In Level 1, you will have to take fundamental subject such as introduction to information systems. In Level 2, you will have to take the core courses will cover management information system, networks, database management systems and structured systems analysis and design. In Level 3, which is the Advanced Courses, you will have to complete at least six courses choosing from Interaction Design, Enterprise-Wide Computing, Project Management Operations, Health Informatics and Electronic Commerce, Computer and Network Security and Capstone Project. As you can see from the curriculum, the course has covered a wide spectrum of areas.As IT advances every day in a rapid manner, what was known to be the best six months ago may not be applicable today. Similarly, the knowledge and skills you have acquired before may not be relevant today as well. In order for you to keep pace with the relentless changes in the IT environment, you will need to upgrade your existing knowledge and skills. This can be done through attending confere