Casual Articles - Business

E-Fit- The Latest Technology For Perfect Fit
IntroductionBefore some years there was no concept of readymade garments only custom made clothes were there. In economically backward families, the women of the family use to stitch the garments, and families from upper class get garments stitched by the tailors. The professional fit of the garment itself suggested the class differentiation.But now-a-days sewing clothes at home have become more of a hobby and leisure activity and people prefer readymade garments and tailor made clothes. Buying ready-to-wear garments has become more economical than getting the clothes custom stitched. Since specially made clothes require more money and time as the tailor has to individually take measurements, do the designing and stitch garments.The major breakthrough in garment manufacturing came during the starting of 20th century. The tailors instead of making customized clothes for their customers, began to grade the sizes, i.e. a set of standard sizes that would suit maximum numb

What is My Calling?
“What is my calling?” Do any of us really have complete clarity about our life calling? Even those of us with the knowingness we must teach, write or sing may often ask, “What direction am I to go, now?” How do we answer these soulful questions?Richard Bolles, author of “What Color is My Parachute?” and the granddaddy of the employment industry says, when people are asked what they would like to do they often respond with “I don’t know.” Bolles maintains this is because people interpret the question to be “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?”This question is too big, too daunting, immobilizing people. Instead, remind yourself that the career journey is much like driving a car in the fog. Sign posts arrive at the crossroads and we can reach our destination despite the fog. Instead of worrying ourselves with not having the answer to our career/path questions (that perhaps, can only be revealed as we grow into them) what if we simply looked for the slender threads?<

While extended stay guests have long been part of the hotel industry, the purpose-built segment has exploded in North America and particularly in the US within the last ten years. This has been a hotel developer's nirvana. Who wouldn't have been attracted to the segment?

Depending on whose figures you rely on, extended stay guests make up about six to ten percent of the overall traveling public and a greater percentage of the industry's sold room nights. Yet even today, extended stay rooms make up about less than ten percent of the North American total hotel room count. Even though this segment of the industry has experienced great growth by the adding of new brands and creating new price/quality tiers it still can not be ignored. Higher occupancies than any industry segment; and the highest profit margins in the industry are likely factors for this continuing trend.

Jack DeBoer is generally credited with creating the extended stay concept in the 1970s with the Residence Inn brand (sold several times over and now part of Marriott International). He has since created several other successful extended stay brands and is now on his fourth. Residence Inn by Marriott is now the largest extended stay brand boasting over 350 properties.

Several factors are important to the extended stay lodging product. Suites should include cooking facilities at least a microwave oven and two-burner stovetop and outfitted with related kitchen service ware (pots, pans glasses, dishes, etc.). Restaurants are out and hospitality centers for guests to enjoy complimentary breakfasts and evening social hours along with the social interaction highly prized by extended stay guests. Meeting rooms are out and exercise facilities, business centers and new office spaces for a beefed-up sales team are in. Unique direct selling methods are employed to reach extended stay guests and their decision-makers. Visit the author on-line at www.shgonline.com

Staffing models and operational procedures from the front of the house to the heart of the house are changed to meet the needs of long-term guests. Media advertising is stopped. Staff is energized for the new high levels of guest contact. Bus tours, conference and group business is put on the back burner to focus on guests staying at least five nights.

The lure of higher occupancies and better bottom lines brought about by these extended stay guests has created a rush by some transient, full-service and select-service hotel owners and operators to get on the extended stay bandwagon. However, these hotels, adding a small refrigerator here and a 30-night rate there are not usually fully prepared to meet the needs of the segment's guests and may not ultimately create satisfied customers. A complete commitment to the philosophical, physical plant and long-term guest focus is necessary for success. Success can be achieved through a dedicated purpose-built product

Questions For The Entrepreneur To Be
Entrepreneurial e-gnorancePart 1: Questions for the entrepreneur to beIf you are an entrepreneur starting out, or have been around the block for some time but are yet to hit on the jackpot, you might be missing out some of the cornerstones of doing busingg through the new age media, the internet. Ask yourself the following questions and in seeking out answers to the, you may find the magic touch that could propel you to the success that drives you everyday.What are you going to sell?It is not true that anyone can sell anything. I for example could never operate a cookies business because i would end up munching them all up before they saw the light of day. On the other hand I have been selling my writing for years now and i will keep doing it for as long as there is paper and pen. The point I am trying to get across is that you need to know what you are best qualified to sell, and more importantly, to know why anyone would buy from you and not somewhere else. I

ough this segment of the industry has experienced great growth by the adding of new brands and creating new price/quality tiers it still can not be ignored. Higher occupancies than any industry segment; and the highest profit margins in the industry are likely factors for this continuing trend.

Fundraising Donation Request Letters Must Tell Great Stories (Three Samples)
If your fundraising letter doesn't tell a great story, it's not a fundraising letter. It's a memo. Direct mail fundraising is all about storytelling.If you want your direct mail donors to respond to your letters in greater numbers and with larger gifts, learn the craft of storytelling. Learn how to write human-interest stories that inspire, motivate and move your donors—to give.As a gospel preacher and one-time university instructor, I've learned over the years that the safest way to make your point stick is to tell a story. As UK fundraising consultant Ken Burnett observes in his book, The Zen of Fundraising, fundraisers should tell stories because "we have some of the best stories in the world and the best reasons of all for telling them."Jesus Christ revealed complicated truths about God's character, God's prophetic plan for the ages, and moral absolutes by telling parables. The Prodigal Son. The Good Samaritan. Turn the other

by Marriott is now the largest extended stay brand boasting over 350 properties.

Can You Achieve Financial Freedom Using the Internet?
What would you do with a million dollars? Buy your dream house? Retire, invest, and never work another day in your life? Go on a dream vacation? What if you could work from your home for a few hours a day and have money pouring into your bank account; enough to become financially independent for life. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, for the most part you're right.We've all seen the ads for get rich quick schemes. The internet is full of them running the gamut from do-it-yourself real estate ventures to stock market investing to internet marketing. They all have one thing in common; a self-proclaimed guru that's willing to show you how to earn millions if you just buy their secret book. I can tell you right now that 99.9% of these people are total frauds. You may have even fallen prey to one of these scam artists, selling you their latest "work at home" program. I know I have. I've spent years and thousands of dollars looking for a golden opportunity. I've bought into

office spaces for a beefed-up sales team are in. Unique direct selling methods are employed to reach extended stay guests and their decision-makers. Visit the author on-line at www.shgonline.com

The Many Benefits of Franchising
Franchising is practiced in many business establishments today. With franchising, the franchisor generally licenses its trademarks and business modus operandi to the franchisee. This is done in exchange of a recurring payment from the franchisee which may be a percentage of gross sales or gross profits and annual fees. Businesses working as franchise arrangement are referred to as chain store, franchise or franchise outlet.The advantage of franchising lies in the fact that the franchisor is still in command of the financial part of the business. The franchisee only pays the franchising fees and other commitments while the assets are controlled by the company. Moreover, with franchising, the franchisor provides trained employees for the franchise. In fact, if required, they will also provide the necessary training to the employees, wherein the franchisees save in training costs.When entering into a franchise agreement, it is necessary for the franchisee to pay some capital am

cies and better bottom lines brought about by these extended stay guests has created a rush by some transient, full-service and select-service hotel owners and operators to get on the extended stay bandwagon. However, these hotels, adding a small refrigerator here and a 30-night rate there are not usually fully prepared to meet the needs of the segment's guests and may not ultimately create satisfied customers. A complete commitment to the philosophical, physical plant and long-term guest focus is necessary for success. Success can be achieved through a dedicated purpose-built product or by converting a facility designed for long-term living, such as apartments and condominiums, into extended stay hotels. Hotel operators that jump into the fray without the know-how or physical plant to support them will find themselves up against several problems.

Owners' and operators' knowledge of the extended stay segment is crucial to their success. Unlike transient hotels, extended stay operations cannot count on their brand's reservation system to produce high volume of room nights or the brand's identity to pull guests off the street. Good market conditions will not put extended stay guests in the beds. Even though extended stay hotels can look, and in many ways feel, like any other hotel, the operational differences behind the scenes are vast. The most difficult philosophical change involves letting go of the bird-in-the-hand theory that is the basis of most hotels' yield management principles. This advance booking mentality is not conducive to the long-term guests' booking and travel patterns. Not only must operators abandon previous ideas about yield management, they must embrace and enact the upside down yield management principles that often make an extended stay hotel successful, including holding a certain number of rooms from sale until all possible extended stay guests are booked, and only then releasing any remaining inventory to non-extended stay guests.

In addition, managing an extended stay hotel's inventory restrictions and sell-through availability is vital to remove the usual market conditions of the daily occupancy peeks and valleys that could hinder an extended stay hotel's success. Complete knowledge of the extended stay guest's travel patterns is necessary to make these critical and profit impacting decisions.

The most important area of expertise is perhaps the most central to the success of extended stay hotels. It is the very unglamorous, specialized and tedious selling process practiced to attract guests and the decision-makers. No national trade shows to attend; no glamorous FAM trips; and very few three-hour lunches with reservation makers attempting to curry the favor of their phone calls.

It is also important for an operator to understand which operational procedures must change to better accommodate the extended stay guest. Operators who are not prepared to ded

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Each year, in the Dallas area, a fairly large number of homeowners and business owners use a Dallas cleaning service. Are you one of those individuals? If not, there is a good chance that you will be in the future, maybe. However, when it comes to hiring the services of a Dallas cleaning service, there are many individuals who are unsure as to whether not they need to hire professional assistance. If you are one of those individuals, you are urged to examine the common signs.

Real Estate investing is easy and fortunes are made in a simple manner. For example, and investor decides that a desert area will eventually become an industrial development. He purchases a number of acres at a very low price. If his guess turns out to be correct, ten years later he sells the land hundred times more than what he paid for it.This can happen in any part of the country and is not an exceptional case.

Are you opening a dollar store? If so don’t fall into the trap of forgetting that the merchandise you buy is not for you. Rather, the merchandise that you buy to resell is for you customers. In fact, the better the job that you do of making sure you understand exactly what those customers desire, the more successful your store will become.

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