Online Fun and Business

Too many small business websites are impersonal and often times downright boring. What seems to be forgotten on these business websites is that people do business with people. So why don’t we ever talk about the people they’ll be doing business with?

You can easily set yourself apart from your competition by simply talking about yourself and your staff on your website. Who are these people? What do they bring that’s interesting and unique to your organization? What in their background and experience makes them more qualified than anyone else to help your customers?

All of this can be taken one step further by incorporating “Video Business Cards” into your website. A video business card is a short streaming video of someone presenting themselves. For a small business owner it might simply be their elevator speech, or 30 second introduction: “Hi, my name is Bob. I work with XYZ Company and we work with ABC companies who need help with their such and such.”

Imagine how much more real you would become to your website visitors and prospects if they could see YOU introducing yourself on your website? You could even include your video business card in your e-mail introductions to the prospects you’ve not had a chance to meet yet.

People do business with people they know, like and trust. A video business card gives people who you’ve not yet met an opportunity to get to know you and like you before you talk to them!

Scott Ingram is the founder of NetworkInAustin.com, a networking resource for networkers in Austin, Texas who use networking as a business development and marketing strategy. They recently taped Video Business Cards as a member benefit for their premium members. You can learn more about Scott by watching his video or reading his Networking Blog.

This is a very difficult decision for any physician and partially boils down to this or her own personal ideology and comfort level.

Hospital-based physicians will almost always be better off outsourcing because of the office related expenses that they would not otherwise incur. As the owner of medical billing service you may think I’m naturally biased towards outsourcing. I can assure you that this is not the case.

Physicians who are overly controlling, uncomfortable or mis-trusting toward billing services are nearly impossible to administer. I don’t want anything to do with those types of physicians but I completely respect and understand their point of view. Setting all ideology aside I would like to delve into the pros and cons of this difficult and complicated decision.

I am a physician who is very interested in the business aspect of medicine and I do not mind spending my valuable time managing the medical billing aspect of my practice.

Clearly, the best way to do your billing is to do it personally. Obviously, doing it yourself is probably not an option but if you’re willing to spend the time and have the interest I would recommend that you do your own billing. Keep in mind that most billing service owners and certainly our employees have limited medical backgrounds. Physicians who study CPT, regularly attend billing seminars and keep up to date on industry changes are the ultimate medical billing gurus in my view.

I am a physician who has absolutely no time or interest in the medical billing aspect of my practice. I am completely reliant upon my office manager and billing staff.

Unfortunately, most physicians are in this position. Even if they were interested in keeping up with all the changes and elements of medical billing the practical reality is that there is absolutely no time. Let’s face it; time is your most valuable asset. It’s sort of like mowing your own lawn. You’d be way better off financially seeing patients for three hours on Saturday morning. I believe the following information will dramatically help with your decision to outsource your billing or continue to do it yourself and with future decisions in the ever-changing business aspect of medicine.

The pros and cons of outsourcing your medical billing services.

I would like to preface this article with a couple of obvious but important points. If you have a system of controls, keep an open mind about the competence of your office manager, you’ve got an excellent computer system, proper information systems and your office is doing a superb job at collecting your money, then by all means do not make any changes. Conversely if you’re planning to outsource your billing make sure you hire quality firm. I’ll spend some time at the end of this article discussing this further.

Most leading experts agree that it costs about 4.5% of net collections to perform the billing function within a physician’s office. Incidentally, this is close to my actual cost as well.

Theoretically, a billing service should be able collect more money than a physician’s office because it is our core competency. The question is how much more? This is why I focus on how to choose a billing service at the end of this article.

The numbers

A. Lets just do the math in a theoretical model.

We’ll base our numbers on a practice whose total gross receivables are $100,000 per month. Obviously, this is an overly simplistic model designed to quantify the aggregate cost and or opportunity cost of the medical billing component only.

Current Aggregate Billing Expenses

In-house expense

Total gross revenue $100,000

Current billing expense $4,500

(4.5%) —————

Net Revenue $95,500

Outsourced Billing Expense

Total gross revenue $100.000

Current billing service exp. $7,000

(7.0% net collections) —————

Net Revenue $93,000

Net cost increase with outsourcing = $2,500.00

As you can see in this,” all things being equal” theoretical model your practice would incur a $2,500 decrease in net revenue with the implementation of a billing outsource strategy. Keep in mind that this model does not address other less tangible issues such as your reduced payroll, computer expenses, ect. In reality the net cost could be substantially less than $2,500. Many physicians will perceive this as a small price to pay while others will consider it to be cost prohibitive.

5% theoretical increase in gross revenue with outsourced billing

Total gross revenue $105,000 (5% increase)

Billing service expense $7,350

(7% net collections) —————-

Net revenue $97,650

$95,500 - $97,650 = $2,150.00 increase in net revenue.

As you can see from this model with a 5% increase in collections your net revenue will increase $2,150.00 with the added expense of the billing service. Keep in mind that a 5% increase in gross collections is actually quite conservative and should easily be obtainable by quality billing service.

Intangibles

B. A billing service should be able to provide you with a substantial reduction in your day-to-day aggravations such as practice management software issues, fewer employees, hassle of hiring competent employees, less health insurance, less training, ECT..ect. Conversely you will however lose some control over your practice. If the billing service does not collect more money your expenses will increase. It’s up to you to determine whether or not the increased expense is offset by decreased aggravation.

security

C. A billing service should be able to increase your security levels by creating a system of checks and balances. As a former police officer I can assure you that crime statistics indicate most embezzlement/fraud/theft occurs from within. During an investigation a store manager for Sears and Roebuck Co. once told me,” our customers take it out piecemeal but our employees take it out in wheel barrels” This logic also applies to a doctor’s office. A billing service can provide an extra layer of protection because there is a system of independent checks and balances. Typically billing services are fairly large businesses with strict internal controls. My organization Medi-Bill Inc. Operates internally similar to a banking institution with the way we handle funds. It is highly unlikely that the ownership of a reputable medical billing firm would risk the consequences of committing fraud against a client.

Conversely, the issue once again boils down to control. Many physicians are understandably quite unsettled at having their checks and correspondence mailed directly to the billing service. Further compounding this dilemma is,” what will happen to the checks and correspondence after the billing service agreement is terminated?”(Again, we will discuss alternatives to this at the end of the article)

Technology

D. State-of-the-art practice management software is an extremely expensive investment. If you’ve already invested in a high quality computer system I do not believe outsourcing your billing would make much sense financially unless your computer vendor is charging outrageous support fees. If you’re considering purchasing a computer system or a medical record management system my favorite vendor who we’ve been working with for over 15 years is Office Management Solutions (OMS) based in Tampa Florida. The owner’s name is John Peake and he is by far the most honest and reputable computer vendor I have ever worked with. OMS can be reached at 813-963-5582 or www.oms-online.com.

If you need to update your system, purchase a new system or your support fees are getting out of hand this may be an opportune time to consider outsourcing your medical billing services.

Financial security

F. Many physicians, for obvious reasons do not want their office managers/staffers to have any in-depth knowledge of how much money the practice is making. A reputable and properly run billing service can create this level of financial security. The best case scenario is for your staffers to only see your expenses and have only a limited understanding of the revenue being generated. This can also be accomplished internally by making and recording your own deposits. If you’re going to do your own billing I must emphasize the importance of financial security. You must create a system of financial security. If you don’t have the time to personally open your mail and make the deposits you are definitely a candidate for outsourcing. Many banks offer a “lockbox” where you can direct your checks and correspondence. Bank lockbox services are generally quite pricey. They usually charge about .25 per copy. You may also opt to take out your own P.O. Box located adjacent to your billing company. This way you still maintain control of your checks and correspondence.

Collection agencies

G. Many billing services own or have affiliate relationships with collection agencies. You’ll most definitely want to avoid this situation. Make sure your billing service provides you with a monthly report containing proper information on delinquent accounts enabling your office manager to properly send the information to a collection agency of your choice. In my opinion billing services that own collection agencies or establish close affiliate relationships with them are unethical and should be avoided at all cost. Even though it is nearly impossible to find a collection agency that does not have relationships with medical billing services the point I’m trying to make is to be sure that your billing service is independent and you have the freedom to select a collection agency of your choice. This relationship presents a scenario whereby the billing service can simply go after the easy to collect accounts and allow the more difficult but still collectible ones to slip into the hands of a collection agency who obviously charge a much higher percentage of collections. Again, it’s easy to see how a billing service can facilitate or erode your sense of control. The most reputable collection agency I’ve dealt with is a company called Collection Information Bureau (CIB). I’ve been doing business with them for years and they have never attempted to establish an affiliate relationship with my company. CIB can be reached at 1-800-231-3514, contact sandy Lopez.

Different types of billing services

There are three different types of billing services.

* Fee per claim

* 50/50

* Full service

Fee per claim billing services charge a flat rate per claim. The fees generally range between $1.25 to $5.00 per claim depending upon the services provided.

Advantages:

· May be helpful to a brand-new practice who is not fully implemented a computer system or is still trying to decide whether to outsource.

· Practices with old or outdated computer systems

· Relatively inexpensive cost per claim

· Excellent for practices who have a problem with only one particular payer group such as Medicare or payers that require electronic claims submission

· Physicians planning to retire within one year

· Highly flexible

· Low-volume practices

· less employees

Disadvantages:

* Expensive for high-volume practices

* Poor integrity of accounts receivable

* Lack of information systems

* Lack of control

50/50

50/50 billing services install computer terminal/terminals in your office. The billing service performs part of the billing process while your office performs the other. As you can probably tell from my list of disadvantages this is in my opinion the least desirable type of billing service.

Advantages:

· Less expensive than full-service billing services

· Avoid the purchase of practice management software

· Creates a system of checks and balances

· less employees

Disadvantages:

* High set up fees

* Low accountability from the billing service

* Lack of control

* Communication Problems(all collection problems will be blamed upon your office)

* Your staff will still probably wind up doing most of the work

* Completely reliant upon the Internet

* Loss of data

* HIPPA issues

Full-service

Advantages:

· completely remove the billing process from your office

· symbiotic relationship

· avoid expensive computer system

· system of checks and balances

· less employees

Disadvantages:

· expensive

· loss of control

· patient relations

· collection agency relationships

Should I outsource my billing checklist: If you answer yes to most of the following questions then you should probably consider outsourcing?

· Is your overall collection rate declining?

· Is your accounts receivable too high?

· Are you experiencing an increased number of denied claims?

· Is your overall frustration level regarding your billing/business office very high?

· Are you facing a major capital investment in new hardware or software?

· Are your computer support fees to high?

· Are you having a difficult time keeping or hiring experienced billing staff?

· Are you spending too much time on the business aspect of medicine?

· Are you concerned that your staff or office manager has knowledge of your income?

· Are you completely reliant upon your office manager?

· Are you planning to expand your practice?

· Do you believe that your practices cost structure is too high?

· Do you have several employees performing tasks that could be handled by a single more experienced manager?

· Is your computer system obsolete?

· Are hardware, software, and information technology disrupting the operation of your practice?

How do I select a billing service?

1. The service should fit or complement the size of your actual practice. Try to get a basic idea of the size of the firm. A solo practice will most likely have greater success with a small to medium-sized billing firm. Obviously, a solo family practitioner would probably not be very well served by a publicly traded firm.

2. Avoid long-term binding contracts. You should be free to terminate your agreement any time within 30 days written notice. The agreement should clearly specify what each side will do for the other. Make sure the agreement assures that upon termination you’ll receive a highly detailed account receivable report [listed by individual patient] .

3. Ask for references and call the other providers!

4. Inquire/investigate the actual owner of the company. Ask to speak with the owner directly.

5. Avoid firms who offer too many different types of service. Medical billing is a very highly specialized field. Companies who offer, collection agency services, payroll, financial consulting, tax consulting, malpractice insurance, marketing services etc. etc. are not in my view focused enough on what they’re there to do. Collect your money!

6. Ask other physicians. Keep open mind about this one because physicians who are happy with their billing company do not necessarily want them to grow and generally like to keep a low profile on this issue.

7. Is the billing service for sale? Try to ascertain whether or not the firm has recently been sold. In your contract/agreement you should request to be notified within 30 days of the pending sale. In my experience billing services are constantly being bought and sold. Sometimes the acquisition is a positive thing but quite often the merger/acquisition can be very detrimental. You should at least be notified and given ample time to make a proper decision on whether you’ll stay with the new firm or select another.

8. Where will your checks and correspondence be mailed? This delicate and important issue need not be as complicated as it appears. Many physicians for obvious reasons are reluctant to allow checks and correspondence to be forwarded directly to their billing service. Some reputable, high-quality billing services will not even provide services to clients who insist upon having the checks and correspondence mailed to them directly. I’d like to spend a few moments on this important issue and explain the ramifications of exactly where your checks and correspondence will be mailed. Maintaining the integrity of your accounts receivable is crucial! If your office routinely fails to properly mail copies of checks and correspondence to your billing company your practice could be in grave danger of losing control of the accounts receivable. If your account receivable is to maintain any semblance of financial integrity it is crucial that billing service employees do not spend valuable time and effort following up on claims that have already paid and not properly forwarded to them. Understandably, your service may even look upon this as an intentional effort to reduce their commissions. Again, bank lock boxes provide a sound alternative to this dilemma. Some practices solve this problem by directing all checks and correspondence to a P.O. Box keeping EOB’s separate from other corporate mail. The checks and correspondence are mailed to the billing service,” unopened” biweekly. This is an excellent compromise and creates a system of control. There are many other possible options but the important point to remember is that ONE entity must be completely responsible for the validity and integrity of your EOB’s.

9. Make sure all checks and correspondence are issued under your tax identification number and made payable to you! Make sure your contract/agreement specifies that the billing service will not countersign or attempt to countersign your checks and correspondence.

David J. Duncan

President and CEO

www.usemedibill.com

Mr. Duncan is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University with a B.A in Finance and is the original founder of Medi-Bill Inc. He also has an extensive law enforcement background and is a former police officer with the City of Fort Lauderdale. Mr. Duncan’s reputation for honesty and integrity is well known throughout the medical community. During his career, Mr. Duncan has provided billing, financial and practice management services to physicians and medical practices in a variety of specialties throughout the country. He has extensive experience with, managed-care, hospital contract negotiations, data integration and practice management.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at david@usemedibill.com

There will always be challenges whether one decides to fish either in the river or in the open sea. The important thing to remember is to have patience waiting for the fish and doing the best to catch it when it appears.

To be able to fish, a person would need to get a fishing license since this is requirement by law and the regulations regarding fishing varies from one state to the other.

Getting the right equipment for fishing is also an important factor in making that experience a memorable one. Using the wrong kind of fishing line or one that is made of poor quality will cause many problems such as tangles and lost fish.

There are 4 kinds available in the market. These are monofilament, braided, fused and fluororcarbon.

The Monofilament fishing line is the most popular of the four since it has been around for a very long time. It also works well in different fishing conditions. The problem with this line is that it has “memory.” This means that it has a tendency to keep to a certain shape if stored for some time. If a person does not fish often, it is best to purchase a line that is not very long and it is advisable to change it every time one goes out fishing.

Braided fishing lines are the strongest of the 4 available. These lines don’t stretch and are quite easy to see since the woven nature of the line makes it float. The bad part about this line is also about its strength that causes abrasions on other things like one’s hands, the fishing rod and the line that guides the reel. As such, one should have the right hardware around when using it.

Fused fishing lines are similar to braided fishing lines. The only difference is in the manufacturing process where fused lines are glued together with a coating applied over it instead of woven. This makes fused fishing lines share some of the difficulties with braided fishing lines such as making it difficult to cut without a sharp knife or scissors, its tendency to slide around a bit on the reel spool and its visibility to fish which will make catching fish a bit challenging.

Fluorocarbon fishing lines are getting more popular these days since fish are not able to see it in the water.

Download your free fishing tips guide now. Lots of great tips and techniques to improve your fishing. http://www.secretfishingtips.com/freeguide.html

Wow, another great day of trading, and we missed 90% of it. We took our short at 1.9000, which we called yesterday, and closed it for a 40 pip profit right before the release of news at 7:30 EST.

From that point on, we waited and watched. We did not go short the second time we hit 1.9000, unfortunately, but many of our aggressive traders did. They played the very common “over reaction strategy” that happens when there is a news release.

Now, here’s the part that kind of sucks…we didn’t make a trade for the whole way down to 1.8800. That’s 200 pips that we had to wait through in order to get to our support level of interest.

We had the chance to go long at 1.8820, but we sat it out because news had just come out and we like to wait a bit before jumping back in after a news release.

There was another chance to long around 1.8800 again later on, but we generally are not in front of the screen in the afternoon. However, I don’t think that we would have taken that trade anyway. I’ll assume that we wouldn’t have. This makes me feel better about missing that kind of move…ha ha.

So, let’s get to tonight’s trading.

We have to admit that we are very confused. With the recent activity, a nice resistance level has formed at 1.8900. It’s one that we are going to watch very closely.

One fear is that it will be tough to find a stop level above there to protect our trade. There really doesn’t seem to be anything all the way up to 1.9000.

On the other hand, we are going to leave our support level at the mid 1.8700’s. So far, that level has held very well and hopefully we’ll have the chance to get in there again and catch another great trade.

On a VERY IMPORTANT note! Although we don’t really focus on fundamental analysis, we try to be aware of potential risks due to volatility because of news. Tomorrow is loaded with news. Starting as early as 7:30 am EST and going right through to 10:45 am EST.

Now, not all news releases are the same, but the more there are within a few hour span the more important they become. People get into the mode of reacting to the news and then over react to even the smallest piece of news.

That being said, we will be ultra conservative tonight. Also, we will close all of our trades prior to the 7:30 am EST news release.

Past that, we won’t put in a trade again till after 11:00 am EST. At that point we will reevaluate the charts of Cable and find new trading levels (they might actually be the same ones we spoke about in this newsletter).

Truth is, we have had a great week of trading. We’ve made 360 pips, which far surpasses our weekly goals, and we are not looking forward to giving any of it back.

This, too, gets factored in to our conservatism for tomorrow.

We find these support and resistance levels using a set of technical indicators and other variables that we have found to be most successful for us. We use several other indicators and a variety of technical analysis techniques to enter and exit all of our trades. Every trader will have a different combination of indicators that makes the most sense to them. Learn how to develop your own successful Forex Trading style with our Elite Forex Trading Course or Forex Seminar.

Eddie’s Trading Tools:
Forex Seminar | Forex Trading Course | Forex Trading Blog

Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics, eEnterprise has very long, about 12 years customization & integration history. In earlier 1990th – the customization tool was mostly Great Plains Dexterity, later on when Great Plains was successfully moved to MS SQL Server 6.5, 7.0 and 2000 – we see more historical custom projects done in SQL stored procedures and front ends coded in VB in Visual Studio 6.0. This was probably wise and natural choice in that time (around 1997-2001), but if you consider Microsoft move to .Net platform and reshaping its own programming environments (ADO, OLE, VB, etc) – you would nowadays rather be nervous relying on VB 6.0 custom front end, calling stored procs via ADO. Let’s consider your options:

• Upgrade to .Net. As natural it might sound and look, however it might not be feasible. The reason is - .Net is the whole revolution to Windows object model (or its introduction, somewhat more revolutionary, than J2EE/EJB/Java). Your old VB code is not object oriented in the sense of .Net and majority of technologies are now obsolete or in phase out mode

• Move Front End to Web Application. Or recreate simplified version as VB.Net or C#.Net web project. If you think your stored procedures are still capable to do the job at the data manipulation level, you can redesign front end as web application. This is preferred way for now, however as business owner you may not like the idea to redo it.

• Complications. You might have additional complications, such as tiered design, when your presentation layer is separated from business layer (or physically these two layers sit on different computers). Then, somebody should carefully analyze and design the upgrade path for both. Unfortunately business logic level may deploy third party vendors logic, and these flourishing ISV of late 1990th might be now out of business

• Integrations. If your Great Plains is integrated with Unix, Oracle, DB 2, Lotus Domino, Siebel or other third party application – you need to consider synchronous upgrade for integrated applications to avoid retuning integration piece twice.

• Reporting. Since version 6.0, Great Plains is very conservative to tables structure changes, so if your reporting was done in 1999 or later – more likely you are out of trouble and should use it as it is.

Happy customizing! You can always appeal to us to help you with your system. Give as a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Microsoft CRM, Navision, Microsoft RMS, Microsoft Business Portal customization company, serving clients in Chicago, Boston, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Toronto, Montreal, Brazil, Mexico, UK, Australia, Canada, UK, Europe, Russia an having small offices in multiple states and internationally.

The offers to make money as you spend money are quite enticing to the modern consumer. With a cash back credit card, you can earn percentages that can reap rewards at the end of the year. So to choose the best cash back credit card for you, here are some questions that you will want to ask.

1. What counts toward the cash back?

While it might seem that any purchase or addition to the overall cash back credit card balance would reap rewards, this is not generally the case. Many times, balance transfers and cash advances do not contribute to the percentage back. If you think that you will be using the cash back credit card for those purposes, you’ll want to see if you will be rewarded or not.

2. How much cash back are you receiving?

Of course, if you’re looking for a cash back credit card, you’ll want to choose the one with the highest amount of percentage that you can get back. And the cards vary widely in this respect. Look at several cash back credit card companies to see if one seems particularly high.

3. Can you increase your cash back?

Besides increasing the overall balance and contributing to the cash back, some cash back credit card companies also encourage customers to frequent certain retailers to get a larger cash back amount. If you already go to these establishments, these cash back credit card companies might work out better for you.

4. How can you redeem the cash back?

When you’re using a cash back credit card, you want to be able to get your rewards as frequently as possible. There used to be a time when you had to wait until the end of a twelve month cycle to receive the benefits, but it has changed. Some companies are now allowing customers to redeem their cash back as payments against their balance or to contribute to a charity as frequently as certain amounts are accrued.

5. What are the fees?

As with all credit cards, you’ll want to be sure that the cash back credit card you sign up for doesn’t charge a large fee that actually upsets any rewards that you might be receiving. Try to find a cash back credit card that doesn’t make you pay for your cash back.

With a cash back credit card, you can earn a little money as you spend for things that you already need.

Beth Derkowitz recommends Find Credit Cards for finding the best cash back credit card for you.

Pipes. Guns. Bazookas.

Take your pick. Grab your weapon of choice.

This common weight room jargon refers to the muscle that separates your elbows from your shoulders, those bulging beauties known as your biceps.

Although biceps are considered a small muscle group, smaller than say the chest, legs, or back, their importance within a hard-core bodybuilder’s physique is undeniable. The double-bi pose is among a bodybuilder’s favorite.

Of course, before you go carving them into oblivion, it is most imperative to amass the mass on your arms. You cannot shape what you don’t have.

Here are a couple of biceps-blasting exercises designed to load up those guns for the big showdown:

ALTERNATING DUMBBELL CURLS: You can do these either standing upright or sitting on a bench. Take a pair of dumbbells of considerable weight and hold them at your sides so that your palms are facing your legs and your thumbs are facing outward. Slowly curl one arm toward your torso, turning your arm in so that your palm is facing upward. Squeeze your biceps during the contraction. As you slowly lower the weight toward the floor, your other arm should begin curling the weight toward your torso, repeating the motion. Do 3 sets of 10 reps on each arm.

STRAIGHT-BAR CURLS: Take a straight barbell and load it up with considerable weight, holding it in your hands with your palms facing upward. Have your hands at shoulder width as you lock your elbows into your sides. Slowly curl the bar toward your torso, squeezing the biceps during the range of motion. Hold at the contraction for a beat, then slowly lower the weight toward the starting position, as you concentrate solely on the negative movement. Visualize your biceps tearing up with each repetition. Repeat the process, cranking out 3 sets of 10 reps.

Of course, your gains will be minimal without the use of effective form. Do not swing your back or move your elbows during the range of motion.

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1.Set your business up to accept as many forms of payment as you
can. PayPal, personal checks, cashiers checks, both domestic and
International money orders, International bank transfers, etc.
Every additional payment option you add will increase your
customer base.

2.Don’t exclude buyers from foreign countries or with free email
accounts like Hotmail or AOL. Ultimately, you are only hurting
yourself. In some categories the best buyers are located in a
different country than you are.

3.Keep your ads simple. If you confuse buyers, they will either
by-pass your offerings, or leave you negative feedback because
they read something into your ad that you never meant to be
there.

4.Don’t attempt to increase your profits by a few dollars by
charging excessive postage. Buyers are not stupid. They realize
what you are trying to do and most will avoid your auctions like
the plague.

5.Give your customers all the facts to bid intelligently. Don’t
tell them you will figure out what the postage will be after the
auction ends. Tell them in your ad what class postage you use
and what the actual amount will be.

6.Don’t discriminate against buyers who don’t have a perfect
feedback record. As long as you have good business procedures in
place (such as waiting an appropriate period of time for checks
to clear), there is no need to look downward at buyers whose
reputation might have been damaged just because they got a bad
deal. It happens to everyone and someday it will happen to you.

7.Don’t discriminate against buyers who have little or no
feedback. Remember, you were in the same position at one time.
Once you have been in business for a while you’ll learn that a
buyer with little or no feedback is no more likely to screw you
than one with a shooting star.

8.Don’t make customers jump through hoops in order to buy from
you. Just because you had a bad experience with one buyer, that
doesn’t mean you should threaten everyone else in advance. Doing
so won’t hurt your customers, but it will hurt your business.

9.If you are selling collectibles, antiques, or anything else
that warrants it, show lots and lots of good sized, clear and
crisp pictures. If you don’t want to pay an online auction site
for use of their web space then use the free web space provided
by your Internet service provider. Buyers make critical buying
decisions based upon what they see and pictures are the cheapest
way possible to insure that you will have a happy buyer. The
more pictures you include, the more your business will thrive.

10.Offer a money back guarantee. Be prepared to take an
occasional loss on some items. You will encounter far more
serious buyers who won’t bid unless you have a guarantee than
you will people who are intentionally trying to take advantage
of you.

11.Be prepared to take a loss to make a buyer happy. If a buyer
didn’t receive his purchase, even if he chose not to purchase
insurance, be prepared to return his money. You will get more
repeat and honest buyers than you will cheaters.

12.Leave feedback in the correct sequence. When the buyer pays
you and his payment is good, leave them positive feedback
immediately. Don’t become one of the angry sellers who practice
feedback blackmail.

13.If you must leave negative feedback for a buyer, make it
brief and to the point. Future buyers will read your comments
regarding the sale and they perceive you as honest and mature.
If you engage in name-calling, swearing, or derogatory remarks,
you will be seen as immature and this will scare off potential
bidders.

14.Always be friendly and answer any questions from potential
bidders quickly. Remember, you were new once also.

15.Have an About Me page and include a picture of yourself.
People will find it easier to trust you if they can see you and
know a little bit about you.

All of us are familiar with the pyramids of Egypt. These magnificent structures have stood for thousands of years, withstanding extreme heat and other factors that would bring down an ordinary structure.

When we look at these pyramids, we instinctively look toward the peak. We tend to do the same with the Cisco Learning Pyramid. If you’re not familiar with this, Cisco uses a pyramid to illustrate how the CCIE is at the peak of the Cisco certification structure, with the CCNP in the middle and the CCNA at the bottom.

I’m often asked how to become a CCIE. My response is always “Become a master CCNA and a master CCNP first”. That answer is often followed by a puzzled look, as though I’ve mentioned some new kind of Cisco certification. But that’s not it at all.

The reason the pyramids of Egypt are so strong, and the reason they have lasted for thousands of years, is that their foundations are so strong. It’s not the well-built peak that allows such a building to last it’s the foundation.

The same can be said for your Cisco certification studies. As a CCNA candidate, you may not even be thinking about the CCIE yet (although I hope you will!). You may be looking ahead toward the CCNP. You must realize, though, that the skills you will learn in your CCNP and CCIE studies are built upon the studies you do for your CCNA.

Indeed, your CCNA studies are the most important studies of your career.

Let me repeat that. Your CCNA studies are the most important studies of your career.

Look at some of the topics you’ll have to master for your CCNP and CCIE, such as OSPF and using binary math. You cannot understand how the many types of OSPF networks work unless you understand how OSPF works in the first place. And how can you possibly use wildcard masks, access control lists, and the many other applications of binary math you’ll encounter in your CCNP and CCIE studies if you don’t get that fundamental understanding of binary at the CCNA level?

I know we work in a field where our customers tend to want things done yesterday. I know that it’s hard not to be in a hurry when you’re studying for your CCNA - I’ve been there! Keep in mind, though, that when you’re studying for your CCNA, you’re not just studying for a certification exam - you’re building the foundation for the rest of your Cisco certifications and the rest of your career.

To your success,

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. Video courses and training, binary and subnetting help, and corporate training are also available. Pass the CCNA exam with Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933!

Malpractice suits are filed in cases pertaining to negligent treatment of animals. It is generally expected of a veterinarian to live up to a special standard of efficiency and competence. If a veterinarian fails to treat an animal pursuant to the standard of care provided by other professionals specializing in the field of veterinary science, he or she ends up committing malpractice, better known as veterinary malpractice. For instance, when the pet dog is not given a certain vaccine which is the standard of care offered by every other similar professional at a time when the pet’s condition is deteriorating, the veterinarian commits a malpractice.

The owner of the pet often approaches a skilled and competent veterinarian based on the reputation made by him or her in that geographical location. These vets are also licensed by the State Licensing Board. When the service pursuant doesn’t seem to recover, the owner has the right to take a second or third opinion. But in case the animal succumbs to the treatment, the owner of the pet can take action against the veterinarian.

Animal laws and procedures are different in every state. Not only this, but often the case filed helps to recover only the market value of the pet as pets are seen as a property like household goods. But changes are being made in some state laws to recognize the special bonding between the pet and its owner.

Normally the owner of the pet animal will try to reach a compromise with the veterinarian. In other cases, the owner of the pet registers a complaint with the State License Board that issues license and supervises the veterinarians. The board takes necessary action as revealed through their review and investigation of the case. The owner of the pet may even file suit against the veterinarian or the veterinary hospital - even though the case may be expensive and time consuming. Such checks on the veterinarian practices will also help to curb the possible veterinary malpractice.

Malpractice provides detailed information about malpractice, legal malpractice and more. Malpractice is affiliated with Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyers.