ProfitBrite

Making Certificates As a Home-Based Business

Award

Use your scanner and graphics program to combine awards and honors with impressive presentations suitable for framing. Scan the documents and download medal and ribbon images from the Internet.

Haircuts

Talk to barbers and beauty shop owners about offering certificates for a child's first haircut. Giving each child an impressive document suitable for framing creates an incentive for parents to choose that shop or salon over the competition and come back again. Offer a pack of about 20 with the words "My First Haircut" on them. There may be some beauty schools in your area that offer graduates an attractive certificate of completion.

Hotels

As a memento and thank you to their guests, some country inns, hotels, and bed and breakfasts give out a Certificate of Residency, attesting to the fact that the guests spent one night or more at their place. They are rolled up and secured with a ribbon and presented to guests in a small ceremony during dinner on their last night's stay or left on their pillows. You can design these using a photo of the property and your graphics program. To sell this idea, visit local inns, hotels and bed and breakfasts and show samples. You can also send samples by mail to properties outside the area.

Humor

Create humor certificates for sports fanatics, shopping maniacs, people who eat too much, someone with big hair, someone with big feet, and so on.

Pet Birth

Design birth certificates for cats and dogs. Print them out on parchment paper with embossed gold borders and color graphics. There are thousands of pieces of clip art of cats and dogs available online. You can use any word processing program.

Sports

Captains of sports teams sometimes present their team members with a certificate attesting to the day's adventure. You can create specialized certificates for any sport. For entire teams, have a local printer print out a batch of stock certificates on high-quality paper and sell them to your customers in packages of 25 and 50.

Certificates are printed on plain 20 lb. paper unless customers are willing to pay extra for parchment paper.

For a deluxe presentation, have them matted and framed at a local framing ship. Matted certificates always look better than ones without borders.

Affix a gold seal in the corner and design a space for a signature. On the back of every one, stamp your name, address and phone number, so when admirer's see it, they'll know where to get one.

Most certificates are 8.5" x 11", but you can print out any size your computer can handle.

If you want to frame them yourself, you can make your documents either 5" x 7" or 8" x 10". Frames can be purchased at WalMart for $2 each.

If you or someone you know does calligraphy, you can give your documents a more elaborate touch. Calligraphy printed on parchment paper and beautifully framed is the perfect I love you gift.

You can buy stock certificates with fancy borders and use your computer to add the words.

Several graphic programs such as CorelDraw and PrintShop have numerous certificate templates.

Certificates with gold borders on parchment paper are available at any office supply store as are gold seals.

The format and layout of your documents are up to you - the designer. Use your imagination, photographs and lots of clip art.

If you get small orders, you can do the printing yourself on parchment paper with your color printer.

If you get larger orders of more than a dozen or so, you can use a local print shop and add the cost to the customer's order and earn some extra money in the process.

Tanya Michalski is the owner of Story Lady Publications and a publisher of [http://www.publications.yolasite.com]Magazines and other publications. Please feel free to use this article in your newsletters. If you do, please include the resource box too.

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Small Business Document Dumps

In some cases, the "greening" of a business requires major investments in new equipment, tweaking manufacturing procedures and updating internal processes. But one way to make a big impact in your quest to go green is much easier (and cheaper) than you might think. And it all starts at your desk.

Secure Paper Shredding & Scanning - Small Investment, Big Impact

Paper drives businesses. No matter how well the Internet helps you find and use information, there's no way around your paper stack. But managing your documents with a secure document work flow can save your company time and money.

"That sounds really complicated - what the $#&* is a 'secure document work-flow?'

An efficient office runs like a well-oiled machine. But paper clogs the engine. Simply put, a secure document work-flow gives your paper an I.Q. Smart paper means it's working for you; not piling up and waiting to create a compliance issue or chore for an administrative assistant. Don't worry - there's no raining classes or seminars to attend. It's as easy as finding the right document management provider in your area.

Manage the Paper Life Cycle, Not the Process.

Paper shredding companies are common in metropolitan areas. While not usually a core need in your everyday business operations, Graphics design companies are pretty easy to find. Paper scanning companies, however, can require a little more time to locate. Now imagine having all three services combined into one simple paper life cycle partner. Now you know what a secure document work flow is.

A single source document provider manages the entire life cycle of your litigation documents. Once a document is created, your provider can scan and index it any way you like so it's easy to find. That scan can then be hosted on a secure server that you control, so your desktop computer or other data storage has a back-up that you can access securely over the Internet anytime and anyplace you like. Once your paper document is scanned, your single source provider can shred it in a way that makes it impossible to replicate. After your shreds are collected, the document provider recycles your paper remnants.

When you have access to a local document work flow management provider, your paper works for you. No more piles or cabinets to manage, no worries about document retention concerns, no need to manage multiple vendors. Your rel=nofollow [http://www.copyscan.com/]paper management process just works... like the well-oiled machine your office will resemble. [http://www.recordshred.com]recordSHRED is the secure document and product destruction leader in South Florida. Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, recordSHRED was founded in 2003 and specializes in business and residential shredding services.

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Overlooked Items You Need to Start a Day Care Center

One item that is helpful to have in your day care center is a Georgia Pacific towel dispenser. This piece of equipment is of vital importance for a couple of reasons. First, let's face it, children can make a mess in no time flat. Having a towel dispenser, such as the Georgia Pacific towel dispenser, will make it easier for you to quickly clean up spills or clean off young ones' faces. Second, having a towel dispenser means that the child can get clean whenever he needs to. Kids can spread germs easily, so having these will help safeguard the children even more. Further, the towel dispenser is easy to install and easy to use.

As everyone knows, children love to play. They especially love to color or cut objects out from paper. That is where Astrobright paper comes in. The papers come in a wide variety of bright colors that every child is sure to love. Color options include rocket red, lunar blue, orbit orange, lift-off lemon and celestial blue, just to name a few. In fact, the color names are almost as unique as the colors themselves. Astrobright paper is bright and cheery and seems to have little speckles or sparkles that fly off the page. You can either purchase a package of multi-colored paper or buy a stand alone Astrobright paper color. Either way, the children should have a field day cutting out shapes, coloring or making posters.

Another worthwhile yet overlooked item to have in your day care center is take-out containers. Now, this may seem like an odd thing to have in a day care center, but let's look at why it is noteworthy to have in your center. First, children will be making a number of crafts in your day care center. You'll want to keep them busy and will probably be inside a lot of the time. It goes without saying that you will arrange for them to make a number of crafts out of various products, such as the Astrobright paper just mentioned. When children make a craft item, drawing or poster, they undoubtedly are proud of their creation. As such, they will want to take the special hand-made creation home to show their mothers and fathers. That's where take out containers come in handy. You can place the item in the take out container to ensure that it gets home safe and sound.

There are many obvious things you need to have in your day care center, such as tables and chairs, chalk board and games, items such as a Georgia Pacific towel dispenser are often overlooked. In addition, take out containers come in very handy for that "model airplane" the child made out of Astrobright paper.

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Tips For Learning Good Documentation Practices

While electricity, maintenance and repairs contribute to the bulk of these expenses, most homeowners and small business owners don't realize there's a more costly expense to shredding it yourself: Your identity.

Most home shredding equipment today uses cross-cut blades, which allow for speedy document destruction, but little to no security of your private information. Cross-cut shredders open up possibilities for identity thieves to reconstruct your paper shreds and hijack your credit card numbers, social security numbers, health care information and more. Even junk mail isn't safe from information predators when using a cross-cut shredder.

Shredding companies are growing its clientele of small business owners who abandoned their cross-cut shredding machines in favor of professional document shredding. Shredding companies employ on-site mobile shredding equipment that completely destroys paper, electronic media and product samples at your doorstep. Commercial shredding equipment ensures absolute safety of your information.

Shredding in South Florida, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, where identity theft cases are rising, has led to increased rel=nofollow [http://recordshred.com]document destruction services for homes and businesses. Safeguarding your personal information is best left to professional shredding companies with commercial equipment that can shred your documents in seconds.

Repairs and replacement costs for home shredders are prohibitive when considering the convenience of calling on a local shredder that specializes in destroying paper, hard drives, corporate samples and a variety of materials you wouldn't want to hand over to dumpster divers or sophisticated corporate identity thieves in search of your information.

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Paper Quilled Earrings

2. Get a blogshop started. A simple one with a simple background and features is good enough. You don't have to get fanciful backgrounds or overly sophisticated, graphically designed layouts, sometimes simple and clean is what draws customers.

You can try LiveJournalor Blogspot. They're very user-friendly. For more tech-savvy individuals, WordPress is a good choice. I use Blogspot and LiveJournal. (:

3. Once you've got a blogshop up, you're now motivated to start posting! So this encourages you to start planning on a few things. (note: these steps are specifically for paper quilled earrings and accessories, but they can be applied as a model for other things you sell too.)

a. Make a list of items you're selling. For instance, paper quilled earrings are a specialty. So if you're just focusing on this craft as an accessory business, come up with various shapes and designs( e.g. birds, dolphins, flowers, bees etc.)

b. Remember that it's best to have tried out these designs by trial and error and make sure you have the ability to make what you state on your website. Don't be overly ambitious and put up "dolphin paper quilled earrings" for sale only to realise later on that you are having difficulty producing a pair of it!

c. Always take clear and close-up shots of your designs. I'm not a big fan of photoshop for advertising products. If your products on screen look better than the actual product, you tend to lose credibility fast. So always make sure your final product matches the product shown on screen! ( Save photoshop for your personal photos on Facebook or other pictures, just try as far as possible not to use it to touch up or airbrush your on screen products - people tend to get carried away and overdo it!)

d. have an excel sheet with all the cost prices of your raw materials typed out and saved. For instance, paper quilled earrings require some basic tools such as:

- pliers
- fish-hook earwires
- jumprings
-beads
- paper filigree
- PVC or other adhesive glue
- headpins

and many additional tools. You can go online to find out more about paperquilling techniques or simply visit your local library / bookstore and borrow a picture book that teaches you step by step.

e. once the total cost price of each pair of paper quilled earrings has been calculated, you can now set your selling price. Usually, for new blogshops, you always try to sell as cheap as possible without making a loss as you're trying to build a customer base first, and profit should not be a major priority at the start of a business. So having a 150% selling price is good enough.

f. Last part of your planning is deciding on how payment and delivery is going to be made. PayPal?Interbank transfer? Meet-ups? Mailing/postage services? All these are important. See which mode of payment is most convenient and comfortable for you. Many people use PayPal, but remember your customer base. If it's mostly students, then PayPal is not feasible as many do not own credit cards yet, so maybe interbank transfers are better. For deliveries, postage is a great way to get the item to your customer as it saves you travelling time.

g. It is important to do your homework! Check out other blogshops that are selling the same niche product as you and use the successful ones as a benchmark for your quality and standard of service and sales. It is important to be original as far as possible, after all, being creative is the fun part of doing business and copying your competitors' designs does not reflect well on you as an individual as well as on your creativity!

h. Once you have made your prototypes, taken photos, posted them up and listed the prices as well, you can come up with a list of people you want to show this blogshop too. Facebook is a great way to connect with your network of family and friends! You can create a Facebook group specifically for your blogshop and get family and friends to join it, so every time you update it, they will be informed too! Try other networking sites too, like MySpace, Twitter etc..

That's all from me! If you do have any additional queries, feel free to add in comments!

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Recycle Paper - An Easy Way To Get Rid Of Weeds

No chemical or expensive weed control and you can still get rid of those undesirable plants. Another big advantage of employing paper for controlling weed is that they decay and ultimately become a part of soil. The big question is where you can find that much paper?

Many people are not using newspapers anymore. You can get loads of free newspapers just by placing ads in some local Craigslist. As for shredded paper you can contact some offices or other sources. Also, saving flyers from your mail can make a good source of free paper.

The belief that ink and gloss in newspaper is toxic to plants is not always true. There are currently some dyes made that are eco-friendly and not toxic to plants. Even if the dyes can have some potential risks you are not using amounts that can really harm the plant. To employ newspaper for controlling weed, you first have to excavate all weeds and unwanted plants out of the area where you would do planting. Next up is stuffing five layers of newspaper and biodegradable mulch.

In case you are recycling shredded paper for controlling weeds, it is a good idea to dampen it a little first. This makes it easy for you to cover all bare spots with shredded paper. After laying paper or some cardboard material, start piling shredded paper two inches in depth and dump other layers of paper along with other sort of mulch.

As for cardboard boxes, they can easily be obtained from a grocery store or as leftover packaging material. It works best when you have a bigger patch. Also you do not need to get rid of grass as cardboard is sufficiently thick enough to kill it.

For top results, you must employ two beds of cardboard. Outlay the first bed, somewhat crisscrossing the fragments, then place the second coat, so that they wrap the overlapped ends, just like you place bricks. In case, you are planting within soil just beneath the cardboard, start cutting holes before that. After that you can start piling in the mulch and other organic matter. When the cardboard is present, it is sufficient to kill anything beneath it so that it never resurfaces again, and eventually become part of the soil.

By recycling these eco-friendly materials within your garden, you can control weeds and enrich the soil of your garden. You will have a perfect advantage when recycling paper under the soil of your garden. This way you can also reduce the amount of paper going in landfills. It is a fact that paper does not get decomposed in landfills as easily as it can decompose in your garden.

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Making Your Business From Home Work - How Can You Have A Paperless Office?

With all the gadgets of the modern world at your disposal such as scanners and multi-function printers you can turn all your paper documents and filing into a digital filing cabinet. By this method you can prevent you and your office from being buried under a mountain of paper. Digital filing is great if you only have a small office; you can get thousands of documents on one CD alone, or even millions of documents on your hard disk.

If you go down the digital filing route though you need to be extra vigilant, if you store important backup documents and you do not keep the originals then a reliable backup system is vital. Computers just like any other hardware do break down, imagine your entire filing system going in a flash, it doesn't bear thinking about. Think of it as your electronic insurance, back everything up; ideally it is best to back up on a separate device such as an external hard disk.

To get the documents on your computer in the first place you will need two things; a scanner and the correct software. Virtually all scanners come with the software designed to scan and store any documents. Some software even lets you save scanned documents and images to an editable Word document. Often these programs can also convert the document into a PDF file, which are known to be tricky to edit at all.

A lot of people still like the idea of traditional filing systems taking up most of the office, this is fine but the cost and man hours involved in this modern world in my view is not worth it. I would always advise that you do keep copies of any important documents such as contracts; certificates of birth etc but you do need to keep all other paper to a minimum. It is a wonderful feeling be able to locate a document on your hard drive in seconds then printing off rather than having to route around in a huge metal filing cabinet.

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How to Organize Your First Home Office in a Good Way

1. If you have a large space, it is better for you to make the private area for you and the work area for your staff. The division of room will give you more privacy so you can take benefits from it and you can do anything you like inside without getting any kind of disturbance.

2. Organizing the use of printer and computer is the next thing you need to consider. In this case, you have to put them at the place that is easy to reach so you will not gain difficulty in using them. Besides, you must handle the cables very well so you can be sure that the cables are safe. If you would like to find the best one for your needs, you can choose a laptop because it is easy to move and bring so you can use it anytime and anywhere.

3. Besides, you can consider the use of scanner, copier, and also paper cutter for your home office. The presence of those machines is meant to support you in doing your business so you will be able to work well without getting any kind of difficulties. In purchasing those machines, you must be sure that those are needed so you will not make any mistake that can make you feel sorry. Also, you can choose a machine that has multifunction that will save more space and money.

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Ways to Go Green With Your Home Office

Furnishing & Decorating Your Office

To furnish your office consider shopping for second-hand furniture so you can save it from a landfill. Craigs List, eBay, yard sales, moving sales, your local paper, and second-hand shops are great places to look.

If you're purchasing new, look for furniture that will last and not need replaced quickly.

For decor you can use recycled and re-purposed items. If you repaint, use a low-VOC paint to reduce your exposure to dangerous fumes.

Energy Smart Appliances and Lighting

Shop for computers and other electronics which are EPA Energy Star and/or EPEAT certified.

For lighting try to incorporate as much natural light as possible. Set your desk up by a nice large window. If you're remodeling consider a skylight. Not only is it better for you but it will lower your energy usage (and your electric bill).

Always turn off lights and equipment when not in use.

You can also check with your local electric company to see if they offer free energy audits. Many electric companies will come to your home or office and help you identify ways to improve your energy efficiency.

Choose Recycled and Sustainable Supplies

When you purchase paper, stationary, filing materials and other supplies, choose ones that are recycled and made from sustainable sources.

Instead of using a fax machine that requires thermal paper that's chemically treated and can't be recycled, opt for a plain paper fax machine or go digital with a service like eFax that allows you to send and receive faxes through your computer.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

The familiar saying, "Reduce, reuse and recycle" applies in your home office, too. Use less when you can. Think before you print something out. Save your scrap paper and let your kids color on the other side of it. Recycle what you can. Choose refillable pens and ink cartridges.

Eliminate Toxic Chemicals

Instead of chemical air fresheners and cleaners, use natural alternatives. Keep live plants in your office to help clean the air. Use a reed diffuser and essential oils to scent your space instead of chemical air fresheners. Open your windows and let in the fresh air.

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Michelle Shaeffer has been a work at home mom for more than 10 years and loves to share the tips and strategies she's learned to help other entrepreneurs and small business owners.

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Get Paid To Deliver

For deliveries in your area you should check the job pages of your local papers as well as websites like Gumtree and Craiglist and your job centre to find out what's available.
Pick up some free local newspapers and contact them directly. They might be able to put you in touch with the distribution agent.
Try asking local takeaways and taxi firms if they need any help.
Hunt out demand from smaller businesses in your local area; you'll be surprised how many use leaflets to advertise.
For a paper round, get in touch with your local newsagent directly, or with the paper itself.
Check out some national companies who produce the leaflets, chances are they'll need people to distribute them in your local area. For London and the Home Counties, try Letterbox Distribution. Have a look on Mailbox Nationwide for jobs all over the country and for nationwide leafleting and promotional opportunities check out Powergirls.
For deliveries of nationwide publications such as the Yellow Pages, have a look on the Deya website. They list the dates and areas in which work is available on the site, and can provide you with a wide variety of opportunities because they're a big company.

You need to be realistic about this; you're not going to make a fortune by any stretch. You can be paid by how many items you deliver, or how many rounds you undertake.

Clearly delivering bigger catalogues will make you more money, but you have to have a car in order to deliver them.
Some companies will pay you for your time rather than how many you deliver, so you can expect to be on, or just above the minimum wage (currently �5.80 per hour) in these instances.
Paper rounds will probably earn you less for your time; you can expect about �15 a week for approximately three or four hours of work. Be aware though that this does vary depending on who you deliver for.

Be clever

Try to avoid leafleting schemes where you are paid by commission only. This relies on the company making money from something you delivered and could leave you dishearteningly - having done hours of work - without recompense.
Unfortunately some leafleting schemes are scams, so be careful. Just make sure whoever you are working for is a reputable company, and if anything seems dodgy stay well away from it.
Be sneaky and double your earnings! If you manage to get two rounds in the same area at once you can do all the delivering at the same time, but be paid twice from two separate companies.
If you're a new mum why not bring your baby along - you can be flexible and deliver at the best times for you. You could also put the buggy to good use by putting your leaflets in it!
If your kids want to be all grown up and have a job of their own, why not suggest they do a round as well? They'll earn themselves a bit of money and you can still keep an eye on them.
If you choose a paper round, you can usually expect a bit more money if the paper also contains separate advertising leaflets, so try to find papers that you know use these (usually the local free press).

Jasmine Birtles is the founder of the money-making and money-saving website http://www.moneymagpie.com

Jasmine earns her living as a finance journalist, expert, TV presenter and is author of 38 books including the latest, "Beat the Banks!"

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