Business Generation

I have been preaching the enormous benefit of an emergency fund for the better part of two years now. I started a very small one when I was in college, and with the exception of when we purchased our car, it has been steadily growing for a couple of years. There’s an amazing sense of safety and peace that I get whenever things get a little tight, just because I know that the emergency fund is there to cover me. As I’ve always said, things come up, and when they do, it is far better to use cash that you’ve saved rather than dip into your credit line to pay for life’s unexpected emergencies.

So it came to pass that our wonderful landlords sold their house, and the new owners don’t want tenants. Gah! We absolutely love the place that we have, and are devastated that we are going to have to leave it. Adding to

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PROVIDENCE – Providence’s debt earned a C+ and ranked No. 49 among 100 U.S. cities’ to be “in the red,” according to Men’sHealth.com.

In order to calculate its “American Cities With the Most Debt,” the publication looked at personal bankruptcy rates (FDIC); average credit scores, debt, late payments, and credit usage (Experian); percentage of homes facing foreclosure (RealtyTrac); percentage of homeowners and renters who spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing (U.S. Census); and average 401(k) contributions (BrightScope).

The most in-debt city, at No. 100, was Las Vegas.

“Have you heard about the new high-stakes game in Vegas? It’s a gamble called ‘living there.’ The economic downturn has been more like a flaming nosedive for the citizens of Sin City. Things are so bad, in

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New small business owners often run into the problem of how to get the word out about their product or service without spending a lot of money. Even experienced small business owners run across this problem when cash flow for the month ebbs.

What can you do to make the most of your marketing and still get ways to reach your customers? It can take a bit of creativity and cleverness to develop a marketing strategy on a shoestring budget – but it can be done!

Below we present five popular ways you can effectively promote your business without a lot of money. So without further ado…

1. Effective Email Campaigns

   One of the most cost effective marketing strategies that has the most impact are email campaigns. Dir

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It has been reported recently that repossession numbers have increased by 15 percent in the UK, with the first quarter of this year reflecting the first quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2009. According to officials repossession figures have been in decline for the past five quarters. However, a range of factors has now seen this figure increase with many officials stating that it is likely to continue increase over the course of this year.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders released these figures, and it is officials from the CML that believe the number of repossessions will continue to soar over the coming year. In the three months to the end of March 9,100 property were taken back by lenders and it is predicted by the CML that this could rise to as many as 40,000 or more over the course of this year. Some people are coping at present simply because of the base interest rate being at its rock bottom low of just 0.5 percent.

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It’s overwhelming. It’s overloaded. Sometimes it’s just flat out too much! It’s the information age and we have answers, tips, advice and thinly veiled marketing pitches for the latest “this-that-and-the-other” coming at us from every direction.  And sometimes we love it. Because (if the marketing department did their job right) we hope that this miracle product will make our business as profitable as we dreamed.

Online Marketing

But when it comes to online marketing (and information in general), we just need the truth about what works and what doesn’t. And the truth is there is no miracle product for our business – meaning that while there are great things on the market, nothing eliminates the strategy work that the small business owner is responsible for.

So how do we get a handle on online marketing? I suggest we start at the heart of the matter and work our way out. In fact, Mike Blu

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I don’t know about you, but when the weather begins to turn, even just a little bit, and the days are longer and brighter, my entire being shifts from hibernation mode into let’s-go-out-and-enjoy-life-mode. Especially for the Canucks among us, who have endured the arduous winter and have come out alive to tell about it, the emergence of mild weather can be quite mood booster. And with a boosted mood, I personally enjoy spending, perhaps more than I should. If you’re the same way, here are a few tips to curb the inevitable summer expenses.

1. Vacation time is upon us. Plan, plan, plan.

So if you plan on taking a vacation, there is no better time than now to start cementing all your trip plans. As an avid traveller, I’ve messed up financially multiple times, and I can say without hesitation that the worst mistake you can make in terms of money and vacation is not planning properly several months in advance. Determi

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