Why is Customer Loyalty Important to Your Business?

Whether you own a mom and pop corner shop or a worldwide software consultancy, customer loyalty is very valuable to you. Customer loyalty can be loosely defined as the predisposition of any given customer to purchase your goods or services over comparable ones available in the marketplace. When speaking of products (rather than services or the broader classification which includes both) it is often referred to as "brand loyalty." Investing time and energy in promoting customer loyalty should be an integral component of any business' marketing strategy. When business people think of "marketing" in general, they tend to focus on activities targeted at attracting new customers. While expanding your business' customer base is a critical undertaking which you must work towards with clearly defined goals, the importance of retaining existing customers must not be overlooked. Working toward promoting customer loyalty (or brand loyalty) is critical to your goal for many reasons. A few of the most important reasons why customer loyalty is important to your business are outlined below.

Repeat Business

Loyal customers, almost by definition, will purchase your goods or services again and again over time. Depending on what type of business you have and what the sales cycle is like, you may end up selling more to one loyal customer in a year than you might to even 10 first time customers.

Greater Volume

As you build relationships with your loyal customers, it will become increasingly easy to sell to them in higher volumes. This may happen naturally, or you may choose to incentivize the process for your customers. In any case, higher volumes means greater sales, which translates to higher overall profits.

Cross-selling Opportunities

Customers who exhibit brand loyalty have a relationship with your business. They trust you to provide quality products and customer service. This creates a great opportunity to fulfill more of your customers' needs than the traditional ones you currently meet. What does this mean? You can make sales to loyal customers across product lines and so increase your overall sales volume without needing to focus so much on attracting new customers.

Protects You From the Competition

The more loyal your customers tend to be, the safer you will be from the draw of the competition. Establishing strong brand loyalty can make you practically immune to competitive forces. This is especially important in places where new players enter the marketplace often.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Loyal customers can also bring you new customers. Customers that have great relationships with businesses tend to talk about it. Happy and satisfied customers who keep coming back to you are very likely to refer others who may need your product and / or services.

Benefit of the Doubt

Let's face it; things go awry sometimes - even in the best businesses. Sometimes we get an order wrong, do not meet a deadline, or are not able to deliver on promises made to customers. In today's economy, it's even easier for little hiccups such as these an others to take place in business. These types of mistakes can damage your business' reputation in the eyes of a new customer. A scheduling error can make your firm seem disorganized and unreliable. This is a very easy way to lose customers. The good news is, loyal customers are much more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt and / or overlook errors. If you maintain the level of customer service and quality that it takes to achieve brand loyalty in the first place, your customers will be willing to forgive you when bad things happen.

What Is a Taoist Diet?

To truly understand the Taoist diet you have to first understand a little bit about Taoist beliefs. Taoism comes from the core of East Asian and Chinese culture and has roots as deep as 2000 years, although it has only spread to the west in more modern times as people begin to reject materialism for deeper spiritual understanding.

Taoists are egalous humble people that emphasize compassion, humility and moderation - the latter of which is stressed through their minimalistic eating habits.

Although not known for their rule breaking because of their caring non active views, Taoism focuses on the human connection with nature and therefore they do not believe in the rigid and orderly ways of modern society, preferring to follow the natural flow of the Universe. The common Taoist term Yin and Yang reflects to the positive and negative energies of the Universe.

The five colors blind eyes.
The five tones deafen ears.
The five tastes blur tongues.
Fast horses and breathing hunts make minds wild and crazy.
Things rare and expensive make people lose their way.

That's why a sage tends to the belly, not the eye,
always ignores that and changes this.
- Tao Te Ching, Part 12

Historically, the Taoist diet has basically of mainly fresh fruits and vegetables, with little meat and no grain - as they thought during the digestive process demon like creatures would have released from the rotting grain and attempt to eat them from inside out. During more contemporary times, the diet has changed to be primarily based around the acceptance of whole grains, as well as the fresh fruits and vegetables of tradition.

The Taoist diet relates the five basic flavors with an element of nature: sweet (earth), salty (water), sour (wood), bitter (fire), spicy (metal). They believe that becoming greedy and putting one flavor on a pedestal above another causes you not to taste at all, so it is important to balance the differences in order to reach internal harmony.

Taoism is all about the natural, and humans being part of nature. One of the most important beliefs is to 'eat only food' - meaning to avoid unnatural man made substances that the body can not process and may contain unbalanced flavors, such as artificial additives, drugs etc. Heavily processed foods that contain little or no nutritional value, such as white flour, sugar and fast food are also considered inedible. These are not things that the body is designed to consume and do not grow from the earth, so are not really natural 'foods' fit for human consumption.

Historical

In much of the classic Taoist literature, a lot of mention is made of the sagacious men of old - or, people who existed in pre-history. Several of the texts talk about them existing only on breath, and not consuming food at all. They lived as they were born and only gained sustenance from the qi or Yin Yang from the Universe.

This practice, known as "Bigu" is sometimes employed within some of the Taoist hermit traditions and mythological ideas, but it's not something that's practical or even safe for modern people, living in normal society to try. Taoists believe that the human state has altered and the ancient state has since fallen, meaning it is perfectly acceptable to eat foods.

The earliest Taoists are believed to have had a diet that reflected this notice of sagacious and enlightened masters from before history - and also before the development of agriculture. Thus in the earliest traditions, grains were not to be consumed by Taoists.

The reasons for this could be many - from health concerns, to a reverence for some mythological, pre-agricultural past, and even other social factors. The minimalist approach is often used to explain it, stating that Taoists live off more than food alone and subconsciously gain energy from the cosmic.

However, as alluded to earlier the reason provided in many of the early texts for not eating grain is to not arouse the "Three Worms".

-The 3 Worms

The early, mythological explanation for abstaining from grain is the 3 worms.

These are literally 3 demonic worms that were said to live in the intestines of human beings that were responsible for the decomposition of your body after death.

Of course, as their goal is to devour your body, it's in their best interest that you die as quickly as possible.

Before death the 3 worms would live in a person's intestines, feeding off the rotten bio-matter being digested.

Therefore, as your intestines digested the grain, the 3 worms would eat the waste that was produced. As they fed on the grains, they would grow stronger, and later be able to feed off the rest of your body, causing you to die more quickly.

Since longevity for continued cultivation is one of the primary goals of many Taoist practices, the object of the diet was to "starve off" the 3 worms, by lowering your intake of grain, or eliminating it completely.

From a modern perspective, it could be that the earliest Daoist simply noted a correlation between caloric intake, and aging, or ill health.

Assuming that a cell has a finite number of possible divisions during it's life cycle, it would be necessary to dramatically slow down the metabolic process in order to slow down the process of cell division.

Another previously mentioned possibility is just the reverence for a pre-civilized, pre-agricultural period in time, where men were married, nor were they engaged in the social activities and games of a surplus food producing culture.

The Third Immortal King told the Emperor:

"You attain the Tao by avoiding all grains. You will never again have to follow the rhythm of the moon and plant or harvest.

"Now, the people of mysterious antiquity, they reached old age because they remained in leisure and never ate any grains."

As the Dayou zhang (Verse of Great Existence) says:

The five grains are chisels cutting life away,
Making the five organs stink and shorten our spans.
Once entered into our stomach,
There's no more chance to live quite long.
To strive for complete avoidance of all death
Keep your intestines free of excrement! "

While many ancient Taoists practiced abstention from grain, this is not absolutely true. There are many accounts of Taoists who ate, or who literally begged for rice.

It may be that grain abstention was more of a purification process, or a sort of fast, leading up to important rituals, ceremonies or rites, like taking long medications, fasting, taking elixirs, and so on.

Modern

In more recent times, the typical diet has radically changed to focus on being PRIMARILY grain based, rather than practicing a total abstention from grain. Although there are some radical people who claim to never eat, they are often ridiculed by the media and later found out to be "starving" for attention rather than being a true ancient style Taoist.

The modern Taoist diet essentially follows the basic yin-yang and 5 elements theory, and treats heavily upon un-processed whole grains, fresh vegetables (particularlyly root vegetables) and very little meat.

It is important that vegetables are eaten in the right seasons and are either steamed or stir fried. Boiling takes out the natural goodness. Fruits tend to be dried or baked and eating tropical fruits is frowned upon as unbalancing the five flavors due to their strong, often citrus tastes. It is also important that they are seasonal, and free of any man made intervention.

Typically, all red and blue meats, including pork, rabbit, snails and the like, should be avoided. Poultry and game birds are OK to eat, as well as fish. However, fish and other seafood should only be eaten once a week because of their high Yin quantity. Some fish like salmon, shark, swordfish and mackerel, which are highly Yin should be completely avoided.

Consuming alcohol, caffeine and chewing / smoking tobacco is frowned upon because of their refined nature.

The Modern Taoist relations on moderation in their eating habits, and should try to avoid consuming anything too pungent (garlic, ginger, onions, etc,) and stay away from as many preservatives as possible.

Differences Between Taoist And Modern Western Diets

In the west, the life style and dietary habits have contributed to the dramatic rise in such problems as heart disease, obesity, stress, cancer, arthritis and so on.

The emphasis has moved away from the initial prevention (by eating naturally and healthily) towards drugs and surgery. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure however. Why try to fight a disease once it has taken root, when with some simple guidelines we can avoid it in the first place?

Taoists believe that what is primary importance is natural health, not doctors and medicines, and this can best be achieved through eating natural foods. Remember that the body regenerates itself, the skin tissue and organs take about 2-3 years, even the bones are replaced after seven years, and it is all built from what goes into your mouth.

Nature can do its work but only if given the right tools. Ideally natural foods have been grown organically without the use of artificial fertilizers, chemicals or pesticides.

The Modern Taoist diet, in contrast to the modern western diet is:

Low Fat
High Energy
Vitamin and mineral enriched
Easy for the body to digest
Unrefined and processed

This means daily western items like bread and milk, which we think are perfectly healthy are considered almost toxic to strict Taoists. Instead rice and soya milk is used as a replacement and skimmed milk is generally accepted.

The "Ground Up" Approach

Qigong: returns to the set of Taoist exercises used to maintain and move with the qi (energy of the universe). Methods include meditation and focused physical movements. This helps to maintain physical and mental health.

Generally, in many types of Taoist Qigong, energy is drawn from the earth, upward. Similarly, the concept of "rooting" is the base of tai chi and many of the Chinese and Taoist martial arts, so historically, and within the Taoist context of power, from the ground up was thought of as the best way to get vital energy from food.

As with Taoist Qigong, Taoist diet also generally stresses a "ground up" approach to the consumption of vegetables. That is, that plants should be consumed in high percentage of total diet, especially those below ground (root vegetables) as opposed to those higher up, eg an apple.

The main reason for this was that the earth bound vegetables have more energy and the ability to deliver more qi to the body. Yams, all types of root crops, potatoes, carrots, turnips to name a few, were thought to deliver good earth energy, which helped the spleen (immune system) become stronger, and made jing qi more "rooted."

After the earth bound plants, greens like cabbages, bok choy, spinach, and so on, which were often pickled or preserved for winter use.

Next came the higher crops - peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, etc, which were used to deliver good energy, but in smaller proportions.

How You Can Learn to Give Your Credit Report a New Look and Raise Your Score

There's nothing like having a new beginning. I'm pretty sure you more inclined to answer in the affirmative if I asked if you'd love to have another chance at life and being born all over again. Impossible? Well, I'm not a creation or evolution expert that I should know, so let's leave that for some other discussion. But I know there are a few things that get second chances in life and one of these is your credit report.

If you've not done it properly in the past, the fact that you're breathing is good enough as a right to increase your score. Taking lessons on how you can challenge credit bureaus to investigate accounts that do not belong to you, or accounts that have expired will give you a new lease of life, financially!

There are two ways to do this and I'll tell you that towards the conclusion of this piece. But first, pick up the three versions of your file. You can get this at annualcreditreport dot com, a website that allows you to get all three versions of your file at once - Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. Bear in mind that the law enables you to get only one free copy a year.

Move on to a next phase of scanning thoroughly through your files ensuring that your eyes do not miss any negative account. Found any?

Negative accounts are like bugs, they eat out your financial life and score gradually and will cause problems sooner or later. Remember that some bad accounts have the potency to even drag you down instantly ... Gather the ammo in your arsenal and begin a process of challenging negative and mistaken information on your file with the relevant bureau by using a dispute letter to correspond with the bureau .

Like I mentioned earlier, you can use either of two options to repair your file and give your score a raise: do-it-yourself method, or the services of a credit repair agency.

8 Key Training Principles for Fitness and Sports Training

The 8 Training Principles are research-based guidelines that can help you accelerate your training progress and optimize your results. Knowing how to apply these principles gives you an educated basis on which you can make informed decisions about designing your fitness or sports training program. The principles can also help you evaluate the merits of fitness equipment and personal training services.

All of the principles complement each other. For best results, they should be applied in concert through every phase of training.

1. Principle of Specific suggests that your body will make adjustments according to the type of training you perform and in the very same muscles that you exercise. How you train determines what you get .

This principle guides you in designing your fitness training program. If your goal is to improve your overall level of fitness, you would devise a well-rounded program that builds both endurance and overall body strength. If you want to build the size of your biceps, you would increase weight loads on bicep curls and related exercises.

2. The Principle of Overload implications that you must continuously increase training loads as your body adapts over time. Because your body builds and adjusts to your existing training regimen, you must gradually and systematically increase your work load for continued improvement.

A generally accepted guideline for weight training is to increase resistance not more than 10% per week. You can also use percentages of your maximum or estimated maximum level of performance and work out within a training training zone of about 60-85% of maximum. As your maximum performance improvements, your training loads will increase, as well.

3. The Principle of Recovery assets that you must get adequate rest between workouts in order to recuperate. How much rest you need depends upon your training program, level of fitness, diet, and other factors.

Typically, if you perform a total body weight workout three days per week, rest at least 48 hours between sessions. You can perform cardio more frequently and on successful days of the week.

Over time, too little recovery can result in signs of overtraining. Excessively long periods of recovery time can result in a detraining effect.

4. The Principle of Reversibility refers to the loss of fitness that results after you stop training. In time, you will revert back to your pre-training condition. The biological principle of use and disuse underlies this principle. Simply stated, If you do not use it, you lose it.

While adequate recovery time is essential, taking long breaks results in detraining effects that may be noticeable within a few weeks. Significant levels of fitness are lost over longer periods. Only about 10% of strength is lost 8 weeks after training stops, but 30-40% of endurance is lost in the same time period.

The Principle of Reversibility does not apply to skills. The effects of stopping practice of motor skills, such as weight training exercises and sport skills, are very different. Coordination appears to store in long-term motor memory and remains near perfect for decades. A skill once learned is never forgotten .

5. The Principle of Variations implies that you should consistently change aspects of your workouts. Training variations should always occur within ranges that are aligned with your training directions and goals. Varying exercises, sets, reps, intensity, volume, and duration, for example, prevents boredom and promotes more consistent improvement over time. A well-planned training program set up in phases offers built-in variety to workouts, and also prevents overtraining.

6. The Principle of Transfer suggests that exercise activities can improve the performance of other skills with common elements, such as sport skills, work tasks, or other exercises. For example, performing explosive squats can improve the vertical jump due to their common movement qualities. But dead lifting would not transfer well to marathon swimming due to their very dissimilar movement qualities.

7. The Principle of Individualization suggests that fitness training programs should be adjusted for personal differences, such as abilities, skills, gender, experience, motivation, past injuries, and physical condition. While general principals and best practices are good guides, each person's unique qualities must be part of the exercise equation. There is no one size fits all training program.

8. The Principle of Balance is a broad concept that operates at different levels of healthy living. It suggests that you must maintain the right mix of exercise, diet, and healthy behaviors. Falling out of balance may cause a variety of conditions (eg, anemia, obesity) that affect health and fitness. In short, it suggests all things in moderation .

If you go to extremes to lose weight or build fitness too quickly, your body will soon respond. You could experience symptoms of overtraining until you achieve a healthy training balance that works for you.

For fitness training, balance also applies to muscles. If opposing muscles (eg, hamstrings and quadriceps in the upper legs) are not strengthened in the right proportions, injuries can result. Muscle imbalances also contribute to tendinitis and postural deviations.

Keep these 8 Training Principles in mind as you design and carry out your fitness training program. They can help you make wise exercise decisions so you can achieve your goals more quickly with less wasted effort.

Money - Are You Making Money to Spend Frivolously?

Do you make money and spend it quickly? Take this very short quiz here to see if you are an impulse spender. Please answer these questions truthfully:

1.) Do you live from paycheck to paycheck?

2.) Are you surprised each month when your credit card bill arrives at how much more you charged than you thought you had?

3.) Is your closet jammed with clothes you do not wear or wear infrequently?

4.) Is you home or apartment cluttered, with items you rarely use?

5.) Do you have jewelry or other body ornaments that are collecting dust?

If the answer to ANY of these questions was "yes", I suggest you wait a full minute, at the minimum, and think about what you might buy, before making any purchases. If the answer to ALL of these questions was "yes", the stores love you and turn on the sale lights when they see you coming. Wait 5 minutes, at the minimum, and think about what you might buy, before making any purchases.

Always put away a portion of your check into savings. Budgeting and setting money goals will help tremendously. Set a limit and budget on how much you will spend monthly on necessities, such as food, transportation and shelter and luxuries, such as another pair of black dress shoes.

Impulse spending will not only put a strain on your finances but your relationships, as well. To overcome the problem, the first thing to do is learn to separate your needs from your wants. One "want", we splurged on for the children was a popular Nintendo game set. However, this was only after monthly needs and savings had been satisfied.

Advertisers blitz us hawking their products at us 24/7. Again, one trick is to give yourself a cooling-off period before you buy anything that you have not planned for.

Becoming an all cash buyer could help you tremendously. We tend to spend less when we are spending cash. Become methodical with your spending. Account for every dollar. Once you have cultured better habits for your spending, you can go back to using credit cards, if you want to. It takes at lease 30 days to change a habit.

Take it from one who know firsthand, impulsive spending is not good. It can easily destroy your finances, if you allow it to. It can be a terrible addiction, like sugar or food, and just like a food or sugar addiction, it can be cured, with some amount of smart work. Please do not take your impulsive spending lightly. Put together a plan, TODAY, to stop it. Both your wallet and your relationships will thank you for it.

Fractions and Rational Numbers - What is the Difference?

Most of us go through years of school math courses and still are confused about some basic things. For example: Why can not you divide by zero? Why is .999 ... equal to 1, and not a bit less?

There are loads of these kinds of questions, that would not be a cause of frustration at all, if they were taught reasonably and clearly.

Unfortunately most of these things are supposed to be covered in elementary school, and most elementary school teachers do not have a good understanding of basic math concepts. Instead they are supposedly to teach just a collection of "skills."

One of the simplest concepts that is usually left inadequately explained is the difference between fractions and rational numbers. Let's see if we can clear it up now.

A fraction is a number that expresses part of a whole as a quotient of integers (where the denominator is not zero).

A rational number is a number that can be expressed as a quotient of integers (where the denominator is not zero), or as a repeating or terminating decimal. Every fraction fits the first part of that definition. Therefore, every fraction is a rational number.

But even though every fraction is a rational number, not every rational number is a fraction.

Why? Consider this:

Every integer (all the whole numbers, including zero, and their negatives ....- 3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3 ...) is a rational number , because it can be expressed as a quotient of integers, as in the case of 4 = 8/2 or 1 = 3/3 or -3 = 3 / -1 and so on. So integers such as 4 or 1 can be expressed as the quotient of integers.

But an integer is not a fraction . 4 is an integer, but it is not a fraction. 4 is not expressed as the quotient of integers. The difference here is in the wording.

A fraction is a number that expresses part of a whole. An integer does not express a part. It only expresses a whole number.

A rational number is a number that can be expressed as a quotient of integers, or as part of a whole, but fraction is a number that is (must be) expressed as a quotient of integers, or as part of a whole - there is a difference. The difference is subtle, but it is real.

There are slightly different variations of the definition of a fraction, including, "A fraction is the ratio of two whole numbers, or to put it simply, one whole number divided by another whole number."

That definition also shows that an integer is not a fraction, because an integer is not a ratio. It can be expressed as a ratio, but it is not a ratio in itself; it can be divided by another whole number, but it i s not being divided.

In a nutshell, the fractions are a subset of the rational numbers. The rational numbers contain the integers, and fragments do not.

Owed Back Wages? Call Employment Law Firms Today!

Nearly nine million Americans lost their jobs during the Great Recession and its aftermath. Those who were fortunately enough to stay off the employment line were expected to work longer hours, often for the same, or even less, pay. Few complained. Most felt blessed they had a job to go to at all. But a funny thing happened when the recession ended. Instead of rewarding them for their hard work and dedication during those difficult times, most bosses continued to push their undersized staffs just as hard. Workers are finally fighting back in court with the help of employment law firms.

A Recent Trend

The number of American workers who are currently suing employers under federal and state wage-and-hour laws reached a record high in 2014. Although each case is different, the major bone of content is that American businesses have benefited from increased productivity, while most employees have not. In the overwhelming majority of these cases, the worker sues to recover the overtime wages to which they are legally entitled.

The Law

Businesses are required to pay time-and-a-half the regular rate to most employees who put in over 40 hours per week. It does not matter if they are part-time, full-time, temporary, or salaried employees. However, because they do not want to pay these additional wages, some bosses misrepresent the extent of state and federal rules regarding overtime pay. They might, for example, ask their employees to work off the clock or beg them to do them a personal favor by staying late.

Most workers were willing to do their bosses these favors when times were tight, but not any longer. They now want the money to which they are legally entitled. While some bosses agree to pay these back wages as soon as they hear from employment law firms, others play defense.

Who Is Entitled?

All hourly workers, no matter their job title, description, or immigration status, are entitled to overtime pay. Executives and other white-collar workers may be exempted from this rule if they are managers or administrators who are expected to work long hours and are compensated accordingly with higher annual salies. Other employees with hours that are difficult to track, such as sales reps and technology workers, may have a hard time claiming overtime or may not be entitled to it at all.

The Bottom Line

US productivity, or output per labor hour, rose by four percent in 2010, which was the largest increase in recent memory. That was a full year after the Great Recession ended! In other words, instead of hiring additional employees, bosses continued to squeeze more output from their undersized staffs. The practice continues to this day. Technology giant Oracle recently agreed to pay $ 35 million in overtime pay to workers it had intentionally misclassified as administrators!

Labor Practices

As we mentioned, not every employee is entitled to overtime pay. To find out if you are eligible for additional remuneration, contact reputable employment law firms ASAP. Lawyers at these firms specialize in this growing area of ​​legal practice and know local and federal labor laws inside and out.

What To Look For

A simple web search will return an impressive list of employment law firms in your area. Do not simply select the first name on the page. Take your time and visit their websites. If you like what you see, give them a ring. Most reputable attorneys offer free initial consultations and only get paid if you receive the money that is owed you.