Are You Working Too Hard?
I interview people of interest for magazines and other publications – but first, I delve into their background, read other articles that have been written about them, go through their website, have photos sent to me in advance and study them for what they reveal. Then, I carefully formulate the interview questions, do the interview, write the article and secure the photos.Recently, after hearing this, my son turned to me and said, “You are working too hard.”"Ask them the following," he said. "Do you like apples? Then, when you’ve hooked them, ask them not to think, just answer,Chinese or Pizza? Cheesecake or Pie? Cat or Dog? Rain jacket or Umbrella?"I laughed. Vanity Fair does a credible job of making these interviews fascinating for their one page back issue interviews. When Sumner Redstone was asked, “How would you like to die?” His response was, “I would not like it at all.”My son’s joke made me think; are we all working too hard? And, for wha

Why Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Should
As the owner or an employee of a small-to medium-sized business, you might have never thought about media monitoring. Maybe you are not even sure what exactly is meant by this and have thus ignored it so far. But you should take some time to get acquainted with the concept of media monitoring. For companies of every size, it is a crucial tool for market success.When you monitor the media, you basically look for all the information that is beeing published about your company in different media formats like newspapers and magazines. But what is the benefit you get from this search process? Do you only end up with a waggon load of data or can this scanning give your company the cutting edge?The answer is yes, it can. It is not something only big firms with large public relation staffs do benefit from, but every organisation or company. It can accomplish a variety of tasks including control how and how often your company is being portrayed in publicfollow-up

A Winning Marketing Plan To Attract Customers and Beat The Competition - Part 2
Key Areas Your Marketing Plan Should EntailYour marketing plan should outline the following elements: Purpose and Mission Situation Analysis (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats) Unique Selling Proposition and Positioning Statement Strategy (place, product, price, promotion) Sales Forecast Implementation (roles, responsibilities, time lines) Performance Analysis (to evaluate the success of the marketing plan) Commit To An Action PlanYour plan of action should be concise and to the point. Exactly how and when will the information you have organized be initiated?Plot it out in specific detail, clearly indicating tools, techniques and strategies to be used to realize each objective. Delegate responsibilities for each task and outline tactics for each stage of your plan.Your plan for marketing success must have a firm date for completion.Put It In Writingnise our own and each other's positions in the life cycle, and become aware that we have the means and ability to provide the care and environment necessary for our continued survival and prosperity. We nurture and care for our small children, and accept and encourage their ability to stand on their own two feet as part of their journey towards the day they will become are fully self-supporting. In due course, they will care for us when we become old, and in turn will one day be supported by their own children.

And so to software. A product's life cycle is not much different from our own, yet despite our ability to cater for our own changing needs, many of us are quite oblivious to the needs of our products and software as time goes on. The concept of the Product Life Cycle is a simple one, and allows you to see where your product stands at any one time, and to assess what circumstances lie ahead, by providing the information that you need in order to react accordingly. In much the same way that we do not wait for a child`s teenage years before starting their education, or for an older person to become so frail that they are unable to care for themselves, we should not wait for the negative points in a product's life cycle to be so obvious that it is too late to respond effectively.

There are four stages in the Product Life Cycle each with their own recognisable symptoms, threats and opportunities, all of which should be addressed individually.

The Early Days

Firstly, the Introduction stage.

f-supporting. In due course, they will care for us when we become old, and in turn will one day be supported by their own children.

And so to software. A product's life cycle is not much different from our own, yet despite our ability to cater for our own changing needs, many of us are quite oblivious to the needs of our products and software as time goes on. The concept of the Product Life Cycle is a simple one, and allows you to see where your product stands at any one time, and to assess what circumstances lie ahead, by providing the information that you need in order to react accordingly. In much the same way that we do not wait for a child`s teenage years before starting their education, or for an older person to become so frail that they are unable to care for themselves, we should not wait for the negative points in a product's life cycle to be so obvious that it is too late to respond effectively.

There are four stages in the Product Life Cycle each with their own recognisable symptoms, threats and opportunities, all of which should be addressed individually.

The Early Days

Firstly, the Introduction stage.

e Product Life Cycle is a simple one, and allows you to see where your product stands at any one time, and to assess what circumstances lie ahead, by providing the information that you need in order to react accordingly. In much the same way that we do not wait for a child`s teenage years before starting their education, or for an older person to become so frail that they are unable to care for themselves, we should not wait for the negative points in a product's life cycle to be so obvious that it is too late to respond effectively.

There are four stages in the Product Life Cycle each with their own recognisable symptoms, threats and opportunities, all of which should be addressed individually.

The Early Days

Firstly, the Introduction stage.

to care for themselves, we should not wait for the negative points in a product's life cycle to be so obvious that it is too late to respond effectively.

There are four stages in the Product Life Cycle each with their own recognisable symptoms, threats and opportunities, all of which should be addressed individually.

The Early Days

Firstly, the Introduction stage. When a new product is introduced to the market, the initial impact is usually very slight, and spotting any emerging patterns is often close to impossible. You're likely to enter the market with only the barest of ripples, let alone a splash. There are exceptions to this. Large advertising budgets, hype, pre-launch public interest and new technologies may all increase the initial visibility of a product's launch. Yet even a high-visibility campaign will take time for customers to learn that a product is available, and time for a significant demand to build up and become apparent. For most of us, even with the most stringent of marketing budgets, viable profits at this stage are unlikely, and the possibility of actual short-term loss a very real one.

So how long should this stage last? The answer is almost impossible to estimate with any degree of accuracy, as there are so many variables involved. So much depends on the market demand for the software, the marketing budget, visibility and so on.The basic strategy at this stage is simply to get the product "out there", and draw as much attention to it as is possible.

Growing Up

Next in the product's life cycle is the Growth stage. If all goes according to plan, this stage should be easy to recognise both in terms of sales and profits. But the risk is that many companies will simply sit back and enjoy the ride and the success. Absolutely not! The growth cycle is the time to aggressively seek-out new opportunities, and to gain as much of the market sha