Business Cards - Make Them Stand Out

Everyone can utilize business cards as an irreplaceable tool to promote their business. No business will reach success without having a business card to pass out to potential customers or clients. If you have barely met someone, giving them a business card is much easier than hand writing all your contact information.

But most business cards only do half of the marketing job for you. Think about what you do with the all these cards people give you. They usually go into a pile in a drawer. If you are more organized, then maybe they go into a card file. In each of these cases, the business cards just sit there, out of view, and probably out of mind.

Why do not you turn your business card into a marketing vehicle by making your business card visible? Instead of the custom business card, get your contact information printed on something that people might leave in plain sight; something that will remind them of you and your services or products every time they look at it.

These days, your information can be put on to almost anything. Using something like fridge magnets is a good alternative to a standard business card. When people get a fridge magnet, where do they usually put it? It usually ends up in the kitchen, on the fridge. The kitchen is a high traffic area for most families, so your marketing message along with your contact information will be seen frequently throughout each day. Flyer Printing is available for you to get any of your printing needs completed.

Flip through a catalog, and you will see myriad possibilities for alternative business cards. Among the more popular are mouse pads, magnetic calendars, small computer storage keys, and simple executive toys. The key is to provide something that will actually be put to some use, keeping your name visible at all times.

Never forget what happens to the typical business card. It sits in a drawer, not doing any good unless someone takes the time to dig it out. Why would someone bother to look for your business card if they do not remember who you are? It's a wise investment to use a business card format that is more unique, and makes it easier for people to remember who you are.

Project Management - Mingling Technical And Human Skills

A project manager has to use technical and human resource management skills in tandem. It is important for a manager to be able to effectively communicate with people who are often at opposing ends of the process.

Project Management is as much about managing people as much about the job. Companies typically promote people to the supervision positions based on their knowledge of the task and their performance. But project management is about the ability to get the best out of the people. A manager's job is to manage the projects as well as the people working on them.

A manager needs to be well versed in the technical aspects of a job. He should know how to put the pieces together to produce the complete thing. This ability would enable him to come up with the right kind of plan to get the project done. He would be able to take care of the routine technical nuances and guide the team through these. Anyone who has received quality technical training, has enough exposure and possesses analytical skills, can take care of the project part.

However, for being a good manager, one has to supplement the technical skills with soft skills as well. To put it simply, a manager must be able to effectively communicate with people. Now, dealing with people is many times more complicated than dealing with a technical issue. One needs to possess top notch soft skills to excel as manager. You need to communicate with your team members, your seniors and maybe the clients as well. You bought to know how to balance their expectations, which would most likely be at the opposite ends.

If a manager is adept in managing projects but lacks adequate management skills, targets would be met but unwillingly and usually full of errors. An inept manager would fail to motivate employees to work effectively. Employees dissatisfied with their job would not work to the full of their ability, and this would influence the quality of the project. For quality work, it is necessary to keep the employees' dedication levels at the optimum. A manager with top-notch skills would know how to get the job done in the best possible manner.

A manager has to use technical and soft skills in tandem to get the best possible results. If a manager effectively manages projects as well as people, it would churn out peak performance producing the highest quality task. The best approach for a manager would be to manage the projects through people. They need to recognize that manpower is valuable and it needs to be retained and encouraged to get good results.

Typically, project managers are involved in a project fromception to the closing phase. They have to draw a detailed plan regarding the completion of the project. If they make the best use of the available human resources, they would be able to complete the project in a timely and efficient manner. They also need to demonstrate problem solving and decision making skills. They have to make decisions during the execution of the project, some related to the project while some to people associated with it. He must be able to take reasonable decisions after analyzing issues and issues, listing out possible solutions, picking up the best option and implementing it to manage a project.

One can undertake professional project management training courses to hone the skills needed for executing a project. These courses are specifically designed keeping in view the challenges faced by managers at work, thus helping one to develop as a valuable human asset of the company.

Business And Advertising Are Connected In Many Ways

We all as business owners want to have more and more customers in our contacts for encountering a profit profit in exchange of the services and products offered by us. But not all customers come to the business just by roaming around, they have to be called and attracted by the products. This is when advertising plays its role by making sure that the product reaches the hands of the person who needs it.

Advertising is the marketing communication that is used for the promotion and selling of a product or service that is offered by a business. Many people access Fresno advertising to achieve varied goals and companies use these ads in divers media for their benefit through many means. In case of a new product launch, it can serve as the pathway towards a larger market, making more and more people aware of the product. The advertisement should be focused on a common problem encountered by people and how your product or service serves as a solution to that particular problem.

One can use this effective means to inform the market about the product and illustrate how the product looks like. Commercial ads seek to generate increased consumption of their product or service by showing the pros inherited with it. Fresno advertising is frequently used for the purpose to show the dramatic product breakthroughs by aggressively highlighting their products. Virtually any medium can be used for the purpose of advertisement and the choice of medium is based basically on the type of product, target audience, popularity of the medium and etc.

The market is analyzed by the advertising agency to understand whether the product or service offered is fit and has all the credentials that will help it to stand in the competition. Customers will never get to know about the product if there is no promotion and advertisement, he / she will not include the product in the decision making process due to this advertising Can be both powerful and magical, selling the dreams to the people of the society . The economy also prospers with advertising and allows the people to be aware of the several choices present as well as available to them.

In present market scenario, advertising is crucial and is needed to invite more and more people to use the product in order to quench their thirst. It works as a guide book telling what to buy and what not.

Budget Friendly Contract Smartphones for Youngsters

If you appreciate technology then Smartphones are designed specifically for you! Magnifying popularity of smartphones compared to the contemporary one clearly state the growing craze of technology among youngsters. However, the greater the computing and connectivity features, the pricey the gadget. Yet there is a way! The online mobile phone deals are coming like that revolution which is making normal mobile users fall in love with as they are not only affordable but are accompanied by attractive gifts. With a perfect understating of the demands great new deals are set each day.

When one thinks of having a Smartphones it's advised to purchase online which provide a huge collection of such hi-tech gadgets to choose from. A comprehensive study reveals that due to the demand of smartphones every leading brand today is busy in manufacturing the most sophisticated gadget of all. Based on studies, Blackberry is on the top of these types of mobile phones. Most of these smartphones fall in the business category.

Apple and Nokia Smartphones are also very famous. A huge collection of Nokia smartphones boasts about the 5 mp to 12 mp camera, zippy internet connectivity due to 3G, Wi-Fi and HSDPA. Such phones present today come with various offers and deals that can really amaze. You may also go for looking into the deals of LG Smartphone. They are not only great in looks but will surprise you with an extensive feature list. With them you will be able to enjoy this hi-tech journey successfully.

Other brands in this league are Sony Ericsson and Samsung. The best part of buying a smartphone online is the opportunity to make a proper comparison of prices and services. Your comparative study will enable you to get the most successful deal. It enables you to understand who offers the best service in cheapest price.

Smartphones are very in demand. All the famous brands that offer such elegant masterpiece smartphones are available online and one can easily purchase them via online booking. Go, Flaunt in style your latest smartphone and make people around you jealous.

Top 7 Hard Rock And Heavy Metal Guitar Tunings

There are many different guitar tunings that are used in Rock and Metal music coupled standard tuning. Guitar players in these genres like to use these tunings because they give a heavier and darker sound to their music.

Some of the more popular tunings used are Dropped D, Dropped C, Dropped B, E Flat, D, C and open G. Here are the descriptions of how the strings should be tuned and some of the bands that use them.

Dropped D tuning:

E ---------- 1st string

B ------------ 2nd string

G ------------ 3rd string

D ---------- 4th string

A ---------- 5th string

D ---------- 6th string (thickest)

This tuning enables power chords to be played with a single finger on the lowest three strings and produces a dark sound with it. If you're music does not fit together with this dark sound, you can place a capo on the 2nd fret and can still easily play power chords.

Some bands that use Dropped D tuning are:

Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, Godsmack, Led Zepplin, Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Silverchair, Soundgarden and Velvet Revolver.

Dropped C tuning:

D ---------- 1st string

A ---------- 2nd string

F ---------- 3rd string

C ---------- 4th string

G ---------------- 5th string

C ---------------- 6th string (thickest)

Dropped C tuning is the Dropped D with each string lowered one whole step. Dropped C tuning produces a very low and heavy sound and is used by many of the new Heavy Metal bands.

Some bands that use Dropped C tuning are:

30 Seconds to Mars, Atreyu, Buckethead, Bullet for My Valentine, Children of Bodom, Godsmack, Bad Religion, Metallica, Mudvayne, POD, Papa Roach, Rammstein, Shadows Fall, System of a Down, Three Days Grace and Ozzy Osbourne.

Dropped B tuning:

C # ---------- 1st string

G # ---------- 2nd string

E ---------- 3rd string

B 4th string

F # --------- 5th string

B 6th string (thickest)

This tuning will need heavier gauge strings to be effective. Also you might have to widen the string grooves as well as adjust the tension in the neck of your guitar.

Some bands that use Dropped B tuning are:

Audioslave, Limp Bizkit, Machine Head, Mudvayne, Slipknot and Stone Sour.

Eb tuning:

Eb --------- 1st string

Bb --------- 2nd string

Gb --------- 3rd string

Db --------- 4th string

Ab --------- 5th string

Eb --------- 6th string (thickest)

This tuning is Standard tuning turned down a half step. There are a few reasons that bands use this tuning instead of Standard tuning. One reason is to sound heavier by using heavy gauge strings. By tuning down a half step it is easier to bend these heavy gauged strings. Another reason why some bands use this tuning is to compliment the lead singers voice.

Bands that use Eb tuning are:

Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Dream Theater, Guns N 'Roses, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, Megadeth, Metallica, Motorhead, Nirvana, Poison, Slayer, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stone Sour, Van Halen, Weezer and Yngwie Malmsteen.

D tuning:

D ---------- 1st string

A ---------- 2nd string

F ---------- 3rd string

C ---------- 4th string

G ---------------- 5th string

D ---------- 6th string (thickest)

D tuning is also known as whole step down tuning and as you have probably already guessed, it's Standard tuning tuned down a whole step. D tuning has been used mainly in Heavy Metal music.

Bands that have used D tuning are:

Alice in Chains, The Beatles, Bullet For My Valentine, Bob Dylan, Children of Bodom, Dream Theater, Guns N 'Roses, Motley Crue, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Racer X and Soundgarden.

C tuning:

C ------------ 1st string

G ------------ 2nd string

Eb --------- 3rd string

Bb --------- 4th string

F ---------- 5th string

C ---------------- 6th string (thickest)

C tuning also produces a low sound that is mostly used by Hard Rock and Metal bands. The tuning is 2 whole steps below Standard tuning, which gives it a heavy sound but still contains the same intervals as Standard tuning.

Bands that have used C tuning are:

Atreyu, Black Sabbath, Bullet For My Valentine, Deftones, Dream Theater, Jimi Hendrix, POD, Queens of the Stone Age, Slipknot, Steve Vai and The Who.

G tuning:

D ---------- 1st string

B ------------ 2nd string

G ------------ 3rd string

D ---------- 4th string

G ---------------- 5th string

D ---------- 6th string (thickest)

Other than the Drop D tuning, G Tuning is one of the most popular alternative guitar tunings.

Some bands that have used G tuning are:

The Rolling Stones, The Black Crowes, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd and Pearl Jam.

These are just some of the alternate guitar tunings that are available to you to experiment with. Play around with them and see which tunings fit your style of music.

Netiquette Rules - 10 Best Rules for Email Etiquette

Netiquette, or email etiquette, is about the manners we use on the Internet. Cyberspace has its own culture, and has developed its own rules. Without knowing netiquette, you may commit some social blunders, or offend someone without meaning to.

Netiquette rules are based on common sense and respect, but since email is so quick, we often forget that we are still using a form of written communication.

Netiquette or e-mail etiquette 10 best rules are:

1. Imagine your message on a billboard. Anything you send can be forwarded, saved and printed by people it was never intended for. Never send anything that will reflect badly on you or anyone else.

2. Remember that company emails are company property. Emails sent from your workplace can be monitored by people between the sender and reader, and are technically company property.

3. Avoid offensive comments. Anything obscene, libelous, offensive or racist does not belong in a company email, even as a joke.

4. Keep your message Cool. Email messages can easily be misinterpreted because we do not have the tone of voice or body language to give us further cues. Using multiple explanation points, emoticons, and words in all capital letters can be interpreted as emotional language.

5. Be careful about forwarding messages. If you are not sure if the original sender would want to forward the message, do not do it.

6. Do not expect an answer right away. Email messages may be delivered quickly, but your recipient may not read it right away.

7. Do not sacrifice accuracy for efficiency. Do not send sloppy, unedited email. Experts say that for every grammar mistake in an email, there's an average of three spelling mistakes. While the odd spelling mistake is overlooked, when your readers have to break communication to decipher a word or message, at best, you'll look slopping, if not allowerate. At worst, they may stop reading.

8. Include the message thread. Keep the original message for a record of your conversation. However, when sending a new message to the same person, start a new thread with a new subject line.

9. Do not type in all CAPS. It's perceived as YELLING. However, do not write with only small letters, as this is perceived as your lazy, because it makes it more difficult for people to read.

10. Write clear, organized messages, with a subject line that gives sufficient information for the reader to file it and find it later.

I invite you to use these netiquette rules and tips when you send email.

Configuring a Site-to-Site VPN Between Two Cisco Routers

A site-to-site virtual private network (VPN) allows you to maintain a secure "always-on" connection between two physically separate sites using an existing non-secure network such as the public Internet. Traffic between the two sites is transmitted over an encrypted tunnel to prevent snooping or other types of data attacks.

This configuration requires an IOS software image that supports cryptography. The one used in the examples is c870-advipservicesk9-mz.124-15.T6.bin.

There are several protocols used in creating the VPN including protocols used for a key exchange between the peers, those used to encrypt the tunnel, and hashing technologies which produce message digests.

VPN Protocols

IPSec: Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) is a suite of protocols that are used to secure IP communications. IPSec involves both key changes and tunnel encryption. You can think of IPSec as a framework for implementing security. When creating an IPSec VPN, you can choose from a variety of security technologies to implement the tunnel.

ISAKMP (IKE): Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP) provides a means for authenticating the peers in a secure communication. It typically uses Internet Key Exchange (IKE), but other technologies can also be used. Public keys or a pre-shared key are used to authenticate the parties to the communication.

MD5: Message-Digest algorithm 5 (MD5) is an often used, but partly insecure cryptographic hash function with a 128-bit hash value. A cryptographic hash function is a way of taking an arbitrary block of data and returning a fixed-size bit string, the hash value based on the original block of data. The hashing process is designed so that a change to the data will also change the hash value. The hash value is also called the message digest.

SHA: Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) is a set of cryptographic hash functions designed by the National Security Agency (NSA). The three SHA algorithms are structured differently and are distinguished as SHA-0, SHA-1, and SHA-2. SHA-1 is a commonly used used hashing algorithm with a standard key length of 160 bits.

ESP: Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) is a member of the IPsec protocol suite that provides origin authenticity, integrity, and confidentiality protection of packets. ESP also supports encryption-only and authentication-only configurations, but using encryption without authentication is strongly discouraged because it is insecure. Unlike the other IPsec protocol, Authentication Header (AH), ESP does not protect the IP packet header. This difference makes ESP preferred for use in a Network Address Translation configuration. ESP operates directly on top of IP, using IP protocol number 50.

DES: The Data Encryption Standard (DES) provides 56-bit encryption. It is no longer considered a secure protocol because its short key-length makes it vulnerable to brute-force attacks.

3DES: Three DES was designed to overcome the limitations and weaknesses of DES by using three different 56-bit keys in a encrypting, decrypting, and re-encrypting operation. 3DES keys are 168 bits in length. When using 3DES, the data is first encrypted with one 56-bit key, then decrypted with a different 56-bit key, the output of which is then re-encrypted with a third 56-bit key.

AES: The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) was designed as a replacement for DES and 3DES. It is available in varying key lengths and is generally considered to be about six times faster than 3DES.

HMAC: The Hashing Message Authentication Code (HMAC) is a type of message authentication code (MAC). HMAC is calculated using a specific algorithm involving a cryptographic hash function in combination with a secret key.

Configuring a Site-to-Site VPN

The process of configuring a site-to-site VPN involves several steps:

Phase One configuration involves configuring the key exchange. This process uses ISAKMP to identify the hashing algorithm and authentication method. It is also one of two places where you must identify the peer at the opposite end of the tunnel. In this example, we chose SHA as the hashing algorithm due to its more robust nature, including its 160-bit key. The key "vpnkey" must be identical on both ends of the tunnel. The address "192.168.16.105" is the outside interface of the router at the opposite end of the tunnel.

Sample phase one configuration:

tukwila (config) #crypto isakmp policy 10
tukwila (config-isakmp) #hash sha
tukwila (config-isakmp) #authentication pre-share
tukwila (config-isakmp) #crypto isakmp key vpnkey address 192.168.16.105

Phase Two configuration involves configuring the encrypted tunnel. In Phase Two configuration, you create and name a transform set which identifies the encrypting protocols used to create the secure tunnel. You must also create a crypto map in which you identify the peer at the opposite end of the tunnel, specify the transform-set to be used, and specify which access control list will identify permitted traffic flows. In this example, we chose AES due to its heightened security and enhanced performance. The statement "set peer 192.168.16.25" identifies the outside interface of the router at the opposite end of the tunnel. The statement "set transform-set vpnset" tells the router to use the parameters specified in the transform-set vpnset in this tunnel. The "match address 100" statement is used to associate the tunnel with access-list 100 which will be defined later.

Sample phase two configuration:

tukwila (config) #crypto ipsec transform-set vpnset esp-aes esp-sha-hmac
tukwila (cfg-crypto-trans) #exit
tukwila (config) #crypto map vpnset 10 ipsec-isakmp
% NOTE: This new crypto map will remain disabled until a peer
and a valid access list have been configured.
tukwila (config-crypto-map) #set peer 192.168.16.105
tukwila (config-crypto-map) #set transform-set vpnset
tukwila (config-crypto-map) #match address 100

The crypto map must be applied to your outside interface (in this example, interface FastEthernet 4):

tukwila (config) #int f4
tukwila (config-if) #crypto map vpnset

You must create an access control list to explicitly allow traffic from the router's inside LAN across the tunnel to the other router's inside LAN (in this example, the router tukwila's inside LAN network address is 10.10.10.0/24 and the other router's inside LAN network address is 10.20.0.0/24):

tukwila (config) # access-list 100 permit ip 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 10.20.0.0 0.0.0.255

(For more information about the syntax of access-control lists, see my other articles on creating and managing Cisco router access-control lists.)

You must also create a default gateway (also known as the "gateway of last resort"). In this example, the default gateway is at 192.168.16.1:

tukwila (config) #ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.16.1

Verifying VPN Connections

The following two commands can be used to verify VPN connections:

Router # show crypto ipsec sa
This command displays the settings used by the current Security Associations (SAs).

Router # show crypto isakmp sa
This command displays current IKE Security Associations.

Troubleshooting VPN Connections

After confirming physical connectivity, audit both ends of the VPN connection to ensure that mirror each other.

Use debugging to analyze VPN connection difficulties:

Router # debug crypto isakmp
This command allows you to observe Phase 1 ISAKMP negotiations.

Router # debug crypto ipsec
This command allows you to observe Phase 2 IPSec negotiations.

Copyright (c) 2008 Don R. Crawley