Atricle Dump - Finance

Why It's Important to Find a Niche Market
There's a lot of buzz on the Internet right now, about how to find hidden profit niches.For those new to internet marketing, a profit niche is a specialized segment of an existing market. For instance, if you have a product your're trying to sell concerning dog training, a niche market might be "how to train your Beagle to stop barking." Why is it important to find niche markets you might ask? It all about outselling your competition and building a business.Stop and think about it for a moment. You have to ask yourself why you are even attempting to sell a product over the Internet. The obvious answer is to make money, right? Well, if that's the only goal you have you you are probably doomed to a miserable time spending hours and hours in front of your computer wondering why you aren't seeing any money going into your Pay Pal account.The real answer is that you should be thinking about your long term future. Concentrate putting the steps in place to build a business that has value and, like life in the "bricks and sticks" world, a business that can be sold for a profit at some time down the road. Ok, where is this going?Learning how to successfully find Niche Markets and capitalizing on them is how you will build your business and create value for a possible future sale.Think about this. What is the one thing the wealthiest business people in the world have in common? The answer is they have multiple businesses that they buy and sell; a portfolio so to speak.If you want long term success on the Internet, think about building a core business that does well in it's Niche and then build other businesses with related content that you can use to cross-sell customers from your other websites.Finding those hidden niche markets and capitalizing on them is your road to Internet wealth.Terry Hudson

does not seem to owe a duty to protect a lender's floor plan status, to inform the lender of the fact that the dealer is going to sell, there is a triable issue of fact as to whether or not the factory has a duty to disclose the foreseeability of the dealer going out of trust. Beneficial Commercial Corp. v. Murray Glick Datsun, Inc. 601 F.Supp. 770 S.D.N.Y. 1985).

Procedures for Handling Insurance and Service Contract Monies

Some lenders have experienced staffs, which understand the above issues and problems. In any case, the dealer should be aware of them and should open new trust accounts. The accounts should be opened at a separate bank, in order to avoid any misunderstandings. If the lender wishes to audit these new accounts, that is fair. If a lending officer threatens to penalize the dealer for protecting the customer's money, he or she is being unreasonable and the dealer should ascend the chain of command until reason prevails. If reason does not prevail, the dealer has hard evidence of the lender creating an untenable position, which evidence may prove useful at a later date.

The handling of the premiums for life, accident and health insurance, and for service contracts, does not create a problem, if a routine is established. Always, with respect to insurance premiums, and usually with service contracts, the sale is covered under a security agreement. The lender and dealer should agree that all "time sales" will be restricted to the lender, unless a third party financing company agrees to put the lender's name on the proceeds check, which usually does not happen.

When a time-sale is being arranged, advance approval of the lender is should be required. Subsequently, when the contract is offered to the lender for purchase, the lender should deduct the amount necessary to release the flooring. If the proceeds of sale are insufficient to clear the flooring, the keeper should have already deposited the cash down payment, and/or have taken possession o

Creating High Income Business Opportunities With Affiliate Programs For Beginners: - Part 2
In order to earn a generous amount of income with affiliate programs, one has to put in hard work to promote their program via internet marketing. One will be surprise by the effectiveness of internet marketing and the amount of high income business opportunities it can generate. The following are some ways of how one can promote their program:The first is Article Marketing. It is done by simply writing articles about your affiliate program. Next, submit them to many of the available article submission sites. Other articles sites such as Yahoo or Goggle allows one to sign up for free. Submitting articles can bring scores of traffic to your website through thousands of visitors. This is definitely a way to can help you generate high income business opportunities. The inclusion of a link is allowed from your article to your website. If you are not proficient in writing, there are many programs to help you overcome any shortcomings. Moreover, there are also professional writers who can help you write your articles, but they can be expensive.Forums are also good a way to send traffic to your website without spending money. You can search online by searching “forums” and a “description of your affiliate program”. There are certainly thousands communicating via these specific subjects. When you tap into a forum, get to know those in the community first. Try not to post your link until there is a mutually comfortable connection. Another method of internet marketing is through directories. Directories are not the same as search engines and not as popular as they once were. Still they are the next best thing to searching. They can still have an effect on your search page rankings and results. When you submit your site to a directory, unlike engines it is viewed by actual people. They can still send traffic to your website and assist you in generating business opportunities.Lastly, having a specific

The Necessity of a Keeper

When a lender feels its security is in jeopardy, it frequently places a keeper in the dealership. This action is usually precipitated by the lender losing its "comfort level" with the dealer.

While many dealers interpret the placing of a keeper in their dealership as a hostile action on the part of the lender, their reaction is based more upon emotion than logic. The lending officer works for a corporation and the corporation is owned by shareholders. The officer has a duty to the company and to the shareholders to protect their security.

"The act of (a lender) in placing its representatives at the plant of its debtor reflected only the natural instincts, interest and solicitude of any other creditor then in its position, and (the lender) is not on that account alone to be penalized by being declared the principal." Commercial Credit Co. v. L.A. Benson Co., Inc. 184 A. 236, at 240 (Md. 1936).

See too: Cosoff v. Rodman (In re W.T. Grant Co.), 699 F.2d 599 (2d Cir.) cert. denied, at: 104 S.Ct. 89 (1983) where the court said the banks would have been derelict in their duty to their creditors and stockholders if they did not keep a careful watch on the debtor.

The lending officer did not wake up one morning and decide it would be a good idea to put a keeper in the dealership. In the typical case, the dealership had either been experiencing financial difficulties for a period of time, or a series of floor checks revealed the dealer had "sold and unpaid" vehicles of such an unusually high proportion to monthly sales, that the lender classified the vehicles as being sold out of trust. In either situation, a prudent lender must view the dealer from a different perspective.

No one can predict what a person will do under the continued pressure of serious financial difficulties. By the time a lender puts a keeper in a dealership, the burdens the dealer is shouldering have been growing for some time. The dealer usually does not fully comprehend the extent of the strain under which he or she has been functioning; but, when one faces numerous negotiations with creditors, endless days of chasing cash to make payroll and pay bills and does not have enough cash to purchase and keep a good trade, one's judgment becomes clouded. An experienced lender knows that a normally rational person can do most anything when placed under a sufficient amount pressure, for a sufficient amount of time.

When the keeper appears, the dealer rather than being vengeful or hurt should realize the dealership needs professional help and seek it. There are many ways to continue operating a dealership with a keeper and to resolve the situation, re-capitalize the store, or sell the dealership at a fair price, vis-?-vis a fire sale.

In most instances, a keeper is placed in a dealership upon the mutual consent of the dealer and the finance company. At the meeting preceding such an action, it is wise for the parties to identify, agree to and understand the specific duties and corresponding actions, of the keeper.

The Keeper’s Affirmative Duties

Although the primary concern of the keeper lies in the care and custody of the floored vehicles, in most instances the lender also holds a security interest in all or part of the dealership's assets. Consequently, the keeper will want to be and should be aware of the dealer's attitude towards assets other than the floored vehicles and should report to the credit company any indication on the part of the dealer to dispose of any such assets.

The keeper, usually more than one person, will be at the dealership every business day from the time the first employee arrives, until the last employee leaves. The keeper should be responsible for:

(1) The condition, location and security of the pledged assets;

(2) Keeping the vehicles’:
a. Ignition Keys
b. Dealer License Plates
c. MSOs and / or Invoices and other documentation required to transfer title.

(3) Being present when the mail is opened;

(4) Taking custody of the cash and checks;

(5) Taking custody of the unused check stock;

(6) Supervising preparation of the bank deposit and agreeing upon whom will make the deposit;

(7) The disposition of proceeds on contracts of sold vehicles, to be sure the money gets to the proper parties;

(8) Arranging for third party finance companies, which purchase the dealer's contracts, to include the lender's name on proceeds checks, or, in the alternative, to refuse to permit the dealer to contract a sale to other finance companies;

(9) Being responsible for protecting the vehicles after the dealership closes; if the vehicles cannot be blocked from exiting the facility, via a fence and "blockers", a security guard should be hired;

(10) Establishing a means of maintaining a running, daily, or semi-daily, inventory control of unsold vehicles. Only one vehicle at a time, for which the lender has not received payment, should leave the dealership, whether of not that vehicle is floored;

(11) Being aware of the activities in the Parts Department and its employees.

Courts have approved of lenders controlling the release of the bank's collateral, depositing all accounts receivable in a special banking account and requiring the counter-signature of the bank's agent for all payments from the special account [Ford v. C.E. Wilson & Co. Inc., 120 F.2d 614 (2d Cir. 1942)], receiving regular reports on the accounts payable activity, receiving estimated weekly expense budgets [Edwards v. Northeastern Bank, 39 N.C. App. 261, 250 S.E. 2d 651 (1979)], proffering advice to the dealer, even coupled with a decision to withhold credit [In re Beverages International, Ltd., 50 Bankr 273 (D. Mass 1985), requiring the debtor to hire a consultant acceptable to the bank in the management and sale of the company, requiring the debtor to implement a lockbox with respect to its receivables and requiring certain individuals to pledge their stock in the debtor, to the bank [In re. Technology for Energy Corp, 56 Bankr. 307 (E.D. Tenn. 1985).

Acts a Keeper Should Not Perform

If the work-out plan ever deteriorates and/or the relationship becomes hostile between the lender and the dealer, or creditors or employees of the dealer, the keeper's will come under the scrutiny of a court. In such a case, those actions could be the beginning of a basis of liability or exoneration for the lender. In order to best protect the lender, the keeper should be aware of the following:

(1) The lender has an affirmative duty not to unnecessarily, maliciously or promiscuously disclose the financial condition of its debtor and any unauthorized disclosure could be a basis for both compensatory and punitive damages. Rubenstein v. South Denver Nat'l Bank, Case No 86CA0840 (Colo. 1988);

(2) Participating in board meetings and exercising decision making authority with respect to the day to day operations of the business could make the lender liable for all of the debts of the debtor. Lurgen, Liability of a Creditor in a Control Relationship With Its Debtor, 67 Marq. Law Review 523 (1984); See too: Restatement (Second) Agency, Section 14-0, Comment "a";

(3) Evidence of personality conflicts with the borrower could support a bad faith claim by the debtor. K.M.C. v. Irving Trust Co., 757 F.2d 752 (6th Cir. 1985)

(4) Making threats which the lender is not prepared to carry-out, may support a fraud action against the lender. State Nat'l Bank of El Paso v. Farah Manufacturing Co. 678 S.W.2d 661 (Tex. App. El Paso 1984).

(5) Misleading a lender who intends to refinance the debtor, as to the debtor's financial condition may result in liability to the third party lender. General Motors Acceptance Corporation v Central National Bank of Mattoon, 773 F.2d 771 (7th Cir. 1985).

Note too: while a factory does not seem to owe a duty to protect a lender's floor plan status, to inform the lender of the fact that the dealer is going to sell, there is a triable issue of fact as to whether or not the factory has a duty to disclose the foreseeability of the dealer going out of trust. Beneficial Commercial Corp. v. Murray Glick Datsun, Inc. 601 F.Supp. 770 S.D.N.Y. 1985).

Procedures for Handling Insurance and Service Contract Monies

The Future of Creative Advertising: In Search of the Next Million Dollar Idea
On Friday, the 26th of August, the concept of the Million Dollar Home Page appeared and it revolutionized online advertising forever. The concept, created by Alex Tew, was simple, for one dollar you can purchase one pixel and there will only be one million pixels available. A minimum purchase is a 100 pixel block, which will link back to whichever website you specify. At the beginning it was not clear it would work, but amazingly it did. It came out of nowhere and became unbelievable successful within a span of few months. Once the website had reached the awaited million dollar mark, the number of sites that copied the idea would almost match that amount. Scattering all over the World Wide Web, none of these duplicate sites proved to be successful as they all began to fail miserably. Some sites would be a simple twist on the idea, and others would be a direct duplicate with a different name. Regardless, it remained clear that no one would find the same success and the hope for another site to reap the same outcome became bleak. Was it simply a fad, or was it just a matter of time before new, and more exciting and innovative ideas would appear?It was mid March, seven months after Alex Tew’s creation, when the next big idea began to appear on the Internet. The game is different this time, but focuses strictly on innovative advertising. The idea of Take the Spot (www.takethespot.com), imagined and created by Pratik Naik, began to be gain popularity all over the Internet. It has already been proclaimed as the next Million Dollar idea. Rightfully so, Take the Spot’s growth has already been staggering within the first ten days of opening. Receiving over thousands of hits and hundreds of dollars, the website is off to a phenomenal start.We had the pleasure to interview Mr. Naik and asked him to tell us more about his inspiration for the creation of this idea, “I wanted to create a source of advertising t

does not fully comprehend the extent of the strain under which he or she has been functioning; but, when one faces numerous negotiations with creditors, endless days of chasing cash to make payroll and pay bills and does not have enough cash to purchase and keep a good trade, one's judgment becomes clouded. An experienced lender knows that a normally rational person can do most anything when placed under a sufficient amount pressure, for a sufficient amount of time.

The Keeper’s Affirmative Duties

The keeper, usually more than one person, will be at the dealership every business day from the time the first employee arrives, until the last employee leaves. The keeper should be responsible for:

(1) The condition, location and security of the pledged assets;

(2) Keeping the vehicles’:
a. Ignition Keys
b. Dealer License Plates
c. MSOs and / or Invoices and other documentation required to transfer title.

(3) Being present when the mail is opened;

(4) Taking custody of the cash and checks;

(5) Taking custody of the unused check stock;

(6) Supervising preparation of the bank deposit and agreeing upon whom will make the deposit;

(7) The disposition of proceeds on contracts of sold vehicles, to be sure the money gets to the proper parties;

(11) Being aware of the activities in the Parts Department and its employees.

Acts a Keeper Should Not Perform

(3) Evidence of personality conflicts with the borrower could support a bad faith claim by the debtor. K.M.C. v. Irving Trust Co., 757 F.2d 752 (6th Cir. 1985)

Procedures for Handling Insurance and Service Contract Monies

The Advertising That Sells
Why do we hate advertising? Because it is intrusive, importunate, sometimes vulgar. Everyone will give their own reasons. But you see what a contradiction – without advertising there are no sales. That is true. People may keep on telling you that they can’t stand advertising and never read adverts and advertising copies. But they are lying to themselves. Advertising texts work better than ever and keep on boosting the sales rates. However we should note that poor advertising text won’t make a sale. So before creating your first advertising masterpiece you should know some basic rules. Ideally advertisements should be attractive to catch the customer’s attention and useful to make the customer buy the product. Usually appealing images are used for attracting the clients’ attention. Images will never force the people to spend their money on your product. But words will.Let’s see how to make words earn money for you. Every advertising opens with a headline or a title. So it is the starting point of your seducing the customer. The title serves a very important purpose to grab the readers’ attention and make them read on up to the end of the advertising message. Do not experiment with the headlines: your attempts to make it memorable or show your literature talent may turn into collapse, as the reader’s won’t understand you. A better alternative is to offer a kind of promise in the headline using simple and clear language. Some psychologists recommend using special words – signals (“free”, “New “ ) to attract the reader’s attention in your headings.The subtitle is another step to get the customer involved. It connects the headline with the main body of the copy.Surely it is the body that makes people buy from you. Here you fulfill the promises given in the headline. Emotionally rich advertising text is equivalent of the selling text. Because you manage to appeal to clients’ emotions, it is 95% gua

) Being present when the mail is opened;

(4) Taking custody of the cash and checks;

(5) Taking custody of the unused check stock;

(6) Supervising preparation of the bank deposit and agreeing upon whom will make the deposit;

(7) The disposition of proceeds on contracts of sold vehicles, to be sure the money gets to the proper parties;

(11) Being aware of the activities in the Parts Department and its employees.

Acts a Keeper Should Not Perform

(3) Evidence of personality conflicts with the borrower could support a bad faith claim by the debtor. K.M.C. v. Irving Trust Co., 757 F.2d 752 (6th Cir. 1985)

Procedures for Handling Insurance and Service Contract Monies

You Can Create Your Own Job If...
Tired of working for someone else and believe you've got what it takes to create your own job?Maybe you can become your own boss by starting your own business.You can create your own job if:=> One: You believe in your products and servicesYou must believe in your products and services enough to be able to sell them consistently.You must be passionate, but at the same time develop acceptance. Passionate enough to put your heart and soul into your work, and into your marketing, and at the same time, accept that it will take time to develop your niche, and that until your business is established, you may be making less money than you could if you were working for someone else.=> Two: You can work harder for yourself than you would for someone elseWhen you create your own job, you get to do it all. You're in charge.A lot of the work that happens in a business is invisible to you if you work for someone else. The invisible chores include a multitude of tasks, such as keeping the computer system functioning, getting material printed, placing Yellow Pages ads, and returning phone calls. All this stuff takes time and energy.When it's all up to you, you have to decide what's important for you to be doing right now. You need a list of what must get done today, this week, and next week, and you need to keep up to date, even if it means working on Saturday and Sunday.=> Three: You're constantly learningWhen you work for someone else, your employer trains you so that you can do your job effectively. When you've created your own job, your training is up to you.Learning needs to be fun for you. You must see it as an investment in yourself. The Internet is a blessing, and you'll find many training packages online. You don’t even need to leave the house to learn something new.=> Four: You can ignore setbacksStuff happens. Your co

g certain individuals to pledge their stock in the debtor, to the bank [In re. Technology for Energy Corp, 56 Bankr. 307 (E.D. Tenn. 1985).

Acts a Keeper Should Not Perform

(3) Evidence of personality conflicts with the borrower could support a bad faith claim by the debtor. K.M.C. v. Irving Trust Co., 757 F.2d 752 (6th Cir. 1985)

Procedures for Handling Insurance and Service Contract Monies

In Direct Mail Donation Request Letters, Ask, Ask, Ask
Did you hear about the couple that won the Irish Sweepstakes?The husband enters the kitchen one morning and kisses his wife. “Darling,” he announces, “we just won The Irish Sweepstakes, so we did. ?5 million! But what are we going to do with all the begging letters?”His wife replies: “Keep send them.”Paddy knew, as all professional direct mail fundraisers know, that the secret to success in raising money through the mail is repetition. You need to ask often, often during the year and often in your letters.Each appeal letter you write should ask for a gift more than once, for a number of reasons.Your donors are busy. Your donors skim their mail, including your appeals. I hate to admit that, seeing as how I make my living writing fundraising letters. I am distressed to know that so many readers don’t relish every word I write. But then I don’t read everything that enters my mailbox either. I skim as well.For the skimming donor you need to get to the point quickly. Particularly in a multi-page letter, you need to tell the donor that you are writing to ask for a gift. Don’t make your donor hunt through your letter page after page to discover your agenda. Say early on, preferably “above the fold,” why you are writing.Then repeat the ask somewhere else in your letter, so that skimming readers, if they miss your ask in one place, will spot it in another.Your donors are distracted. While they’re reading your letter they’re also preparing a grocery shopping list in their head, or checking their email, or watching CNN. So you need to make sure they hear you when you ask for the gift. So ask more than once.I recommend that you ask at least three times in a two-page letter. Once on page one. Again on page two,

Procedures for Handling Insurance and Service Contract Monies

The proceeds of sale, in excess of the flooring, are given to the keeper, who supervises the deposit of the service contract and insurance monies to the trust account and the mailing of the premiums to the appropriate insurance companies. If possible, the pay-off for the traded vehicle is also made from the general account of the dealership.

The above process, while time consuming, is necessary. The parties should appreciate the understanding, patience and cooperation needed from each other in order to make the operation run smoothly. If either the keeper, or the dealer, has a problem working with the other, the problem should be discussed with the keeper's superior and resolved, or a new keeper assigned.

Procedures for Handling Payroll Monies

With respect to payroll monies, the dealership should continue with separate payroll account and the lender should agree to permit a payroll large enough for sufficient personnel to run the dealership in order to complete whatever stage of the work-out plan the parties have reached. If the dealership is winding-down sufficient payroll should be allowed for a "skeleton crew" to prepare the dealership for sale, or closing. Equipment will have to be guarded and maintained. Secretarial and accounting work will have to be completed. With respect to sales people, although they do fall within the minimum wage laws, they only get paid a commission if they make a sale and, if they do, they probably will have sold the asset for more money than the lender would get at an auction. The source of funds to cover the dealership operations is discussed in the next section.

Commissioned Salespeople

As mentioned, the commissioned salesperson gets paid a commission if and only if a contract for the sale of a vehicle cashes. They represent the best means of obtaining full value for the lender's security. Consequently, the lender, regardless of its security interest, would probably be wise to subordinate its interest to the extent necessary for the sales people to earn a reasonable commission.

Closing a dealership is covered in another article. At this point, it is enough to mention that a lender, liquidating foreclosed vehicles, would have to deduct transportation, insurance, storage and auction fees from the forced liquidation sales prices of any vehicles it sold, before receiving any monies itself. Therefore, the amount of a salesperson's commission for selling vehicles, net of the foreclosure costs, would appear to be a good investment, on the part of the lender.

An interesting question arises as to whether or not the lender has an implied duty, knowing the sales people are liquidating the inventory for the benefit of the lender, to inform the sales people that it, the lender, intends to keep all of the gross profit from the sale; and, further, if the lender, knowing it does not intend to allow the sales people to be reimbursed for their efforts, says nothing, do the sales people have an action against the lender?

In any event, the payment of employees (salaried or commissioned) should be made by the dealer from a separate payroll account. The account should be funded under the supervision of the keeper, but the lender's employees should not participate in distributing the funds. Note: Participation in distributing the company payroll could make the lender liable for taxes. 26 USC 3505 and 6672.

Division of the Discretionary Income

Vehicle Income

If a lender maintains a security interest in the dealer's vehicle inventory and if the dealership has collected and spent money for vehicles which have been sold, without reimbursing the lender for those vehicles, then the dealership's gross profits from all future vehicle sales should be applied to reduce the number of sold and unpaid units. The cash profits from such sales should be applied immediately to the lender's debt, such as vehicle gross profit, finance and insurance commissions and service contract profits. Factory rebate money and incentive monies should be assigned to the lender and applied to the borrower's debt only upon receipt of the actual cash.

Service Department Income

Unless the dealership is averaging a 100% service absorption rate of its fixed overhead expense, which is unlikely, trying to operate a dealership on the service department's income will be difficult, if not impossible. If the lender is unable or unwilling to allow these monies to be applied to the general operating fund of the dealership, it means the lender has decided to close the dealership, whether it believes so or not.

The service department monies include gross profits from parts, service, labor and the body shop, if the dealership has one. The percentage of all fixed overhead expenses covered by this profit reflects the dealership's absorption rate.

If the dealership is being sold or closed, these monies should be used to complete the payrolls necessary to accomplish an orderly transition or liquidation.

As always, consult with a qualified attorney whenever dealing with out of trust situations.

For additional information on this and other automobile dealership subject matters, go to: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Pico

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