Today there is a lot of uncertainty with regards to the economy and many people finally are realizing that times are different. The age of industry, where a secure job with retirement and a pension were common, has now become the new information age. People have realized that the gov’t and/or their job can no longer provide these kinds of benefits. And with the instability and large dips and peaks in stocks over the past few years, many have already lost 12 years of their hard-earned wealth. Home values are still dropping, foreclosures continue to increase, the employment rate isn’t moving below 9% even with all the injected money and promises and taxes across the board are increasing…No longer can people accept the status quo. No longer are people going to just give their liquid assets to brokers of stocks or real estate firms, or rely on the government’s social security program – “broker” will be the result for most people!People in droves are realizing that they must take control of their future, and more specifically their finances. More and more people are searching for a viable means of creating more cash flow. The issue is people are short on time already and long on commitments. They need to find another income source, but cannot find a job that will shell out the $200 plus per hour they may need to achieve their goals given the time constraints they have. Even if they could find such a job, another job would only magnify the problem described above, further increasing your tax liability, meaning you would actually have to make more income in order to keep pace with what taxes the government’s going to take from you.The good news is, you have choices. Besides getting hired for that magical secure job, besides THAT, what else is possible?One option is investing. If you’re holding onto a large chunk of money – and with today’s low rates and yields it needs to be quite a bit – this is one way. Chances are if you have this kind of money, you’re probably pretty well off already and not relying on an employer or the government anyway. But just for kicks, let us say you needed $10,000/month to cover your living expenses, to pay down some debt maybe and to put aside for savings or tithing, and so on. $10,000/mo is the same as being paid a 12% return on a million dollar investment. That’s just not going to happen for the average investor any time soon in today’s economy – particularly when you take into consideration the government’s portion (taxes). Truthfully, you would need more like ten million dollars invested in order to net $10,000/mo in today’s economy. Therefore not very realistic for the majority…The next option is how most of the world’s richest acquired their wealth: by starting their own business. So let’s look at a few different choices when it comes to business building:Business Building – Option 1:Start a conventional business. You can start a business to design, build and market your product. This too will require a large capital investment up front and financing for start-up businesses is not so easy to get right now, regardless of how good a product you might have. A service-based business may be cheaper to start up but the service sector is shedding jobs and you may have quite a struggle. On top of that, nice of ten businesses fails their 1st year in business. One mindset to have is to just realize this and look to start up 10 businesses. The education would be invaluable and your accumulated wealth by the 10th business – if you even needed to start all 10 – would be among the richest one percent of the U.S..Business Building – Option 2:Buy a Business Franchise (like TCBY Yogurt or KFC). A Franchise is a proven business with pre-developed success structure or system of doing business. In purchasing a franchise, you are buying a cookie-cutter business where you simply follow directions and you are likely to create as much as a multiple six-figure income. The downside again is the initial outlay: some of the most successful franchises will cost $500,000 to $1,000,000 or more just to gain access and the rights to have a franchise with that company. You still have all the other costs of a location, employees, supplies, equipment, et cetera. Banks are more apt to lend money to this type of business structure because of the successful track record these established business models have rather than a new start-up business, but even today that may be hard to obtain. So someone with limited business experience could earn income with a franchise business if they follow the system – and they would have a much, much higher chance of succeeding than with starting up a traditional business – but it’s still too cost prohibitive for the majority.Business Building – Option 3:Home Based Business Work. With a much lower entry cost compared to either business vehicle mentioned above, but still the strength of an an established business model as with the franchise business model, the Home Based Business Work model is often times the best solution for the majority of people wanting to take control and get ahead today. The convenience of being able to work from home and leverage the power of the internet to plug into an existing company’s successful business brings together all the advantages of the above business models with few of the disadvantages. One disadvantage, due to the low cost of entry, is a home business owner has access to the strategies and tools to be successful but must take responsibility to work the business consistently to produce consistent results.One more important advantage the Home Based Business work model has over the others is the ability for Home Based Business work to create lasting residual income – where you are paid over and over for work created once. This does take time to develop, as little as 2-5 years for those serious and committed to their success, though combining internet marketing with the home based business work model in recent years has produced even better results within 12 to 24 months.
Montessori Education In Africa and Asia
Montessori Education in Africa
Africa, massive in size with a plethora of cultures, languages, landscapes and history is a continent with uneven education systems. Montessori education has adapted throughout the continent to aid in providing education to communities, both urban and rural. For example, Ms. Deborah McCracken founded the Olive Branch for Children in Tanzania to help provide education to orphans in the Mbeya region. The majority of the orphans are such because they were born to AIDS victims and many were born infected. The school not only provides a Montessori education, but also aids in community development and provides medical care to the children and local residents. McCracken does not just provide courses for children. She has also integrated programs for the community utilizing Montessori Methodology and informal education to better develop self-sustaining projects within the region.
Further south in Zimbabwe Karen Madsen-Barton started the Nhimbe Maaya Preschool for children aged 3 to 6 years old with a similar concept. Not only is education provided for children, there is a large emphasis for sustainable development within the community. Interestingly, in the Nhimbe Magaya Preschool there is a greater emphasis on the use of Shona music, indigenous to this area of Africa. Madsen-Barton has used this music as an inspiration for the environment set up for children and uses the local music as a tool for education wherever possible.
Montessori Education in Asia
Asia is another vast continent rich in culture, topography, languages and history. Montessori schools have spread across Asia creating heart-warming tales of success in war torn communities of Afghanistan, the poor communities of India, the refugees of Burma.
Afghanistan has become a poster child for war and conflict over the past decade, but as a result of conflict, many small and effective projects have been funded to benefit the locals, especially on the education front. The House of Flowers was build in 2002 by MEPO (The Medical, Educational and Peace Organization) a small non-profit organization. This Montessori school and orphanage serves children aged 6 to 13 years of age and has blossomed a number of success stories in child development. The co-founders are now planning to expand their vision into larger orphanages in Kabul where children are in dire need of a nurturing environment that can positively influence their academic, social, behavioral and psychological achievements.
In the country of Bhutan, the Montessori Method seems to be effective in its most pure form as the country not only has a GNP, but also a GHP, or Gross National Happiness monitor. In an education system that focuses more on social interaction, fairness and justice, it only seems natural that the Montessori school would be extremely successful- and that it has been. Even in the most competitive of societies such as Japan, Montessori education has been very successful.
MLM Home Based Business – Generating Leads You Require
One of the biggest challenges for any MLM home-based business has nothing to do with selling products. The chief hurdle that any MLM home-based business generally faces involves building a successful down line. Just how will you find the entrepreneurs who are interested in becoming a part of your MLM home-based business team?Prior to you rushing & begin trying to produce leads for your MLM home-based business, you require a plan. It is not sufficient to tell people on surface value what is your MLM home based business and the company’s products and expect them to sign and join you. You have to know whatever you can about your MLM distribution business, products, and compensation plan in order for you to answer any of the questions that your MLM prospects might have.The more you know and more comfortable you are with your presentation, the easier it is to ignite people eagerness to become a part of your MLM home based business. Not understanding the needs to all their doubts and giving ambiguous answers is likely to cause your MLM prospects to mistrust you and your MLM home based business. Make sure you have a follow up plan after you have generated your leads & start making follow up contacts with them as study has shown that it takes up to seven contacts before people take an action of any type, no matter whether they are buying your product or else signing up for your MLM home based business opportunity.When you know your MLM home based business inside and out, you are ready to begin generating MLM leads. One of the first places to shortlist is from your networks of friends and personal acquaintances. Make a list of everybody you know.You will likely be surprised by how long this list is, and people you know are good place to begin looking for like minded individuals who are keen to start a business for themselves. Many times, even though your friends and acquaintances may not be interested in your MLM home based business themselves, they may refer you and provide you the names of people whom they know may be interested in your MLM home based business opportunity.If they do not refer anybody involuntarily, simply ask them politely for any referrals whom they can think of. You will never know who are may be interested in your MLM home based business you own and you will not know unless you ask.