It use to be that traveling was affordable and fun. That’s no longer so now that gas is near four dollars per gallon, and over four dollars per gallon in some places. Then when you consider how the dollar is growing weak it’s not a suprise that prices have gone up in the hotel and travel industries, regardless of the official inflation number says. However, business must go on and fortunately there are a many new technologies to help us do business without the expense of travel, like video conferencing.

I and definitely not advocating personal contact isn’t important. Sharing a meal, playing a game of golf, and actually shaking hands are still great ways to build a relationship and close the deal. But that has become a very costly way of doing business. Today there are many ways to stay in touch and connected while actually saving time and not spending a fortune.

It’s just a matter of choosing the best productivity tools for you and avoiding the pit falls. That’s all.

Cell phones, for example, allow you to stay in touch virtually anywhere on the planet, but productivity goes down the drain if you allow yourself to become a slave to them (think of the Crackberry BlackBuried Blackberry addiction of some of your colleagues).

Email is still a terrific way to communicate. However, if you don’t manage you contacts well you may end up spend a lot of time sorting through spam or you’ll risk losing an important message from the spam filter.

Instant messaging (i.e., texting) is great for quick answers and resolving issues. Just don’t let the conversation drag on, or get caught up texting with friends who have a lot of time to waste.

Video Conferencing

Video conferencing using a service like Skype can have the warmth of personal contact and the efficiency of electronic communication. The interplay between you and the people on the other side of the connection is immediate. A video conference can be run on computer anywhere there is a connection.

A video conference ran well provides the same benefits of a face-to-face meeting but much more cost effectively. The current technology allows you to make presentations, provide a seminar (webinar), or have a one-on-one with electronic documents or multimedia, while seeing and interfacing with the other person (people) in real time.

Resources:

• Video Conferencing

Dancing For Profit

Although the national obsession for group exercise has begun to level off, estimates claim 23 million Americans participate in aerobics in health clubs and exercise gyms.

This includes people enrolled in programs run from community facilities, YMCAs, and gyms, to dance studios in shopping malls.

This figure represents 10% of the US population who exercise occasionally, definitely a fraction of what it used to be 10 years ago when the craze was at its peak and America was waking up to the urgent message of the importance of exercise.

NEW MARKETS

The decline of enrollment-based fitness programs has forced many studios to expand their services.

For example, some jazz exercise studios now offer skin care and nutritional counseling. Some offer shiatsu classes.

The biggest problem for any stationary fitness program is being able to organize classes that work around the schedule of its potential clients.

The interest in fitness remains. The market did not dwindle as the figures suggest. The biggest challenge in this industry is identifying new ways to deliver its services to the market.

BUNS OF STEEL

If you are an aspiring exercise entrepreneur, here are three avenues by which you can deliver and sell your services to your market:

1 – CORPORATE CONTRACTS

Many businesses recognize that healthy employees are productive employees, something the Japanese realized decades ago.

You can send instructors to a business location to conduct exercise classes that are subsidized by the employer.

2 – SATELLITE CLASSES

You can lease community or church facilities, recreational centers or school gymnasiums and hold classes for people in that community. Some very large apartment complexes have halls, or function areas, where classes can be held.

3 – VIDEOS

Students who attend your class once can continue the routine on their own time. That’s the convenience video can offer.

Instead of coming to an organized exercise class, people will attend an exercise class in front of their VCRs.

In fact, a video tape can be an excellent add-on product to corporate contracts, satellite classes, or studio classes.

The Prize Is Always Right

Giving away a prize as an incentive to sell a product or solicit a donation is a time-tested marketing ploy that never fails. The only problem is that the market has become oblivious to sweepstakes.

Promoters are giving away the same old prizes time and time again. Without adding anything exciting to the sweepstakes, you might as well offer $10 million or your efforts (or your product or charitable cause) are likely to be ignored.

In this age of mega-million lotteries, the type or value of prizes offered speak the language of the market. If your product is just as good as that of your competition, or if your charity is just as worthy as any other that seeks donations, then you’d better spike your campaign with a sweepstakes that is unique as can be.

THE PRIZE

A few years ago, a church in Daly City, a bedroom community west of San Francisco was planning a fund raising campaign that involved selling “raffle” tickets to the congregation.

The plan was to sell the tickets for around $5 each, and for which one lucky ticket holder could win the grand prize of a brand new Toyota Tercel.

To say the least, the idea was worn out and unimaginative. A friend coordinating the project decided the raffle could be improved, and consulted me on what the fund raising committee can do to make the sweepstakes more attractive.

My suggestion was to give a different prize. Why not give away a business – a store!!!

VIDEO STORE PRIZE

We went to a new strip mall that was being constructed and leased a storefront for $1,100 a month.

Next we ordered signs and shelves and an initial inventory of 1,200 used video tapes for which we spent a total of $15,000.

For under $20,000, we were able to put together the basic framework of an operational video store. We hanged a banner outside that says “You can win this store. Call for info”.

$200 A TICKET

Because the church wanted to raise $25,000, we decided to sell 250 tickets at $200 each – for a total of $50.000.

Out of this amount, $20,000 will pay for the grand prize, $25,000 goes to the church and $5,000 for my friend for organizing the project which lasted for 6 weeks.

To achieve the same results, and using instead an $8,000 car as a prize, it would require the church to 8,000 tickets at $5 each, a much more difficult fund-raiser by comparison.