If you are thinking of getting out of the rat race and starting your own business then you need to make sure that you get all the information you need before you head out. You need to make sure that you do all you can to boost your chances of success. The purpose of this article is to share with you three pieces of home-based business advice that can help you boost your chances of success.You need to make sure that you follow these three tips and I guarantee you that you will be more successful. You need to make sure that you:Have a separate business workspace- When you are starting your own home-based business you need to set up your own workspace. You need to make sure that it is separate from your home life. If you don’t have a separate workspace chances are that you will find yourself easily distracted by household chores. You need to make sure that you have your own home office or at least a desk with a computer and a filing cabinet.Continuously work to further educate yourself- You need to make sure that you work to constantly improve and educate yourself. Society and business are constantly changing. You do not necessarily need to complete formal courses but you can take a lot of online ecourse to improve yourself. At a very minimum you need to have a basic education in Search Engine Optimisation as well as other online marketing techniques. The internet is a very cost effective tool to market your business whether it is an online or offline business.Be realistic about your skills and chances of business success- Starting a home-based business is not as simple as buying in to a get rich quick scheme, not having to do anything and making a fortune. Running a home-based business requires time and effort. Also, some home-based business opportunities require more skills than others. For example, if you are not good at mathematics you probably don’t want to start a business such as a bookkeeping business. Also, if you are not confident with your writing then you will probably not get a job writing for other people. (Having said that, you need to further educate yourself so that you can put together your own basic article.)

Now is better than ever to start a home based business. With the reality of a dwindling economy looming over us, more and more people are turning toward alternative means of providing an income for themselves and their families. Consequently, this has created a boom in the home based business industry. Unlike before, wherein, home based business’s served as supplement to a family’s household income- home based business’s have now become a replacement. It is very important to educate and protect yourself on the pros and cons of the industry and to research potential opportunities thoroughly. Below I am going to share some helpful tips worth considering prior to making any commitments so you can avoid scams.1. Fees – If the company you are interested in is charging for their information, compare and contrast with other companies. What are they charging? Are there any hidden fees? What exactly is it your paying for? Unfortunately, people have been victims to scams and have lost money by not asking themselves these questions. Protect yourself and your potential investment.2. Realistic Expectations – Some companies use misleading advertising and promise unrealistic achievements in order to grow their company. Always be on the look out for this. Once again, question the promises they are making, research for feedback. You want to be sure what they saying really is true.3. Investigate – If you have several companies that you are considering, conduct a thorough analysis of each. Compare and contrast. Internet searches of the company name will surely provide any feedback positive or negative from consumers who have had first hand experience.By considering the tips mentioned above you are protecting yourself, your investment and your family. With the exorbitant amount of home based business opportunities out there it is important you find a right fit. Research, compare and contrast, ask questions. Always be prepared.

Almost everyone is searching for a legitimate home based business opportunity so they can make money from home. It’s a fact, right. Especially in these challenging economic times.Whether you are a mom who just wants to stay home with the kids and earn income from home, or maybe you hate your lousy job and want to quit so you can work from home, or you just lost your job and need to earn money from home to survive, or maybe you’re a retiree who needs extra income to supplement your meager Social Security checks.Don’t you wish you could discover a legitimate home business that would allow you to live richly, doing what you love from home?I thought you would say “Yes”. But, what are the best home business opportunities for you to consider?If you wanted me to list ten really good ones for you, I would list them like this because I believe there is only one Top Home Based Business Opportunity:
Information Marketing
Information Marketing
Information Marketing
Information Marketing
6. 7. 8. 9. And 10. All the same. Well, you get the picture. I am convinced there is only one “Best” home based business opportunity, not 10. And that best opportunity is marketing information to people who need and want it. This business, sometimes called info marketing or infopreneuring, is one of the best for taking advantage of the marketing power of the internet.Do you want to start a profitable internet business? Then, market information. About 80% of the people searching on Google or other search engines are looking for information. Sure, sometimes they are looking for free info. But, people will also pay well for information that saves them time and money, helps them earn money, or that solves a problem they are desperate to have fixed.For example, if you have black mold in your basement, and you’re trying to sell your house, you will be happy to pay someone to tell you how to get rid of that nasty mold quickly and safely.Information marketing is the Top Home Based Business Opportunity because:
Profits are extremely high compared to most other businesses, up to 90% of sales.
The business is easy to set up and operate, especially if you choose an information topic you have a passion for that meets the needs of a profitable market.
It’s a real business where you will be providing information of real value to people happy to give you their money in exchange for your products. Not a MLM or envelope stuffing scheme.
Once the business is set up and running you can have more time than ever to spend with your family, or for vacations, hobbies, and activities you love.
It’s a perfect business to make use of the internet as a marketing channel. You can profit heavily with website, blog, and e-mail marketing.
You can be competitive with unique information products. Even big companies can’t run over you because you put your own special slant on your information based on your knowledge, experience, and personality.
You don’t have to bet the farm or sell your first-born to finance the business. You can run inexpensive tests to see if your ideas will work before you expand to maximize your success. You can start small and build a thriving business with a very low investment.So, what are you waiting for? Forget about all those other so-called “home business opportunities” that waste your time and money. Get started on your own home based information marketing business today.

Starting in real estate with the concept of lead generation will put you miles ahead of your competition. Most real estate professionals start with the idea that if you just have a few key relationships in place you will experience tremendous success. While relationships certainly are important a solid lead generation plan is essential when you want to close business each and every month.

Getting high quality real estate leads isn’t something that will happen with only 10 minutes of work, but when you put just a little bit of planning in you can have a consistent flow of people contacting you each and every day. Here are some tips to focus on for generating leads every day.

Focus on Lead Generation – When you focus on lead generation you won’t send any marketing out that is just “branding”. Branding ads waste money and won’t generate leads. Keeping your focus on leads will ensure that any marketing you do (online, print, etc) will have the focus on generating calls and leads. This focus may seem odd to those around you in the real estate community and that’s OK. Many times in real estate it is suggested that you have to “introduce yourself to the community” or “get the word out” but that just wastes money. Keep the focus on what will generate leads each and every day.
Investing – Leads will rarely come free. Investing some capital into your real estate business will help you to get leads at a much faster rate. A good rule of thumb to stick to is spending no more than 7% of a standard commission on your advertising. Every 7% you spend should generate 1 transaction. Sticking to the 7% rule will keep more money in your pocket and make your marketing work harder for you. Anything that isn’t generating leads for just 7% of a commission will have to be cut.
Marketing Strategy – I am a big fan of an online real estate marketing strategy, but it’s not for every agent. Having a plan in place for your real estate lead generation activities will make it easier. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just know what steps you are going to take to generate leads. This may mean having more than 1 system to generate leads for you. Top real estate coaches around the country recommend having 4 marketing systems to generate leads for you. Each system must adhere to the 7% rule and must generate at least 2 transactions a month. The systems involved with your marketing strategy can be varied (i.e. websites, blog, postcards, magazine ads, etc.) but just ensure that each of them are generating enough leads for you to close 2 transactions per month, per system.
With just the above three steps you will be able to start getting real estate leads [http://www.onlinerealestatesuccess.com/products_lead_system.shtml]. Remember, your plan doesn’t have to be complicated; it just has to have enough steps so you can see where you need to take action. Keeping your focus on generating real estate leads (and making sure it’s cheap) will have you closing transactions each and every month.

Jamey Bridges is one of the coaches and founders of the Online Real Estate Success program. The Online Real Estate Success systems allow real estate professionals to discover the techniques they need to succeed with their online marketing efforts.

All aspects of real estate marketing online and conversion are covered from Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click to Social Networking. Training programs are designed to help agents understand what is needed, apply the methods, and see results each and every month. He and his twin brother even developed a free ebook so real estate professionals can get started in the world of online marketing quickly.

What Is Offshore Investment?

Offshore investment refers to a wide variety of investment strategies that take advantage of tax benefits offered outside of an investor’s home country.

There is no scarcity of money-marketplace, bond and equity assets offered by trustworthy offshore investment companies that are fiscally sound, time-tested and, most importantly, legal.

What Is Offshore?

Offshore explains the repositioning by an entity of a trade process from one countryside to another, typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes. Even state governments make use of offshore investment. More recently, off shoring has been associated primarily with the sourcing of technical and administrative services supporting domestic and global operations from outside the home country, by means of internal (captive) or external (outsourcing) delivery models.

“Offshore ” is usually to portray a country where there are also no taxes or low taxes for foreign persons either individual or commercial.

It is a truth that offshore investment havens have crafted a unique legally recognized and tax free climate for overseas individuals and businesses. They offer specifically to them. More than half the world’s assets exist in such asset havens.

Monetary privacy, a steady legal environment and realistic rulings are the trademark of these jurisdictions.

When we converse about offshore investment financial companies, the term invokes up an image of enormous, shadowy monetary monoliths, investing funds without any transparency.

Advantages

There are many reasons why people like investments in offshore:

1. Tax Reduction

Many nations, recognized as tax havens, offer tax inducements to overseas investors through an offshore investment. The positive tax rates in an offshore investment possible country are intended to encourage a vigorous offshore investment atmosphere that magnetizes outside wealth. For tiny countries like Mauritius and Seychelles, with only a few reserves and a small population, offshore depositors dramatically increased their economic activity.

Offshore investment occurs when offshore depositors outline a company in an overseas country. The corporation acts as a shield for the investors’ financial credits, shielding them from the higher tax load that would be acquired in their home nation.

Because the corporation does not engage in local operations, little or no tax is enforced on the offshore investment company. Many overseas companies also benefit from tax-exempt category when they put in in U.S. markets. As such, making ventures through overseas corporations can clutch a distinct benefit over making investments as an individual.

2. Confidentiality

Numerous offshore investment jurisdictions have confidentiality legislation which creates it is an unlawful offense for any worker of the financial services commerce to disclose possession or other information about their clients or their dealings.

But in the examples where unlawful proceedings can be proved, identities are being disclosed. Thus the Know Your Client due diligence documents are becoming just more complex.

Disadvantages

The main drawbacks are those of costs along with ease.

Many investors like to be capable to meet up and speak to the person setting up their incorporation of offshore investment companies and traveling to the tax haven costs funds.

In a number of nations you are taxed on your universal revenue, so not disclosing offshore investment returns is illegal. In other countries having offshore accounts are unlawful for individuals but authorizations can be obtained from companies.

Several banks in offshore jurisdictions need smallest amount in investments of US$ 100,000 and higher, or to possess assets locally.

The kinds of offshore investment companies usually existing are:

Trusts
Resident Offshore Company
International Business Company
Protected Cell Company
These types of companies also exist.

E.g.: Many mutual funds and hedge funds whose investors favor ‘ off shore country’ ventures.

But for average financiers like us too can form offshore companies of relatively small size to fulfill our most everyday needs. Or we can put in, via our off shore investment expert, into offshore companies to own investments in special funds.

There are various uses:

Trading Companies
Professional Services Companies
Shipping Companies
Investment Companies
Intellectual Property & Royalty Companies
Property Owning Companies
Asset Protection Companies
Holding Companies
Dot Com Companies
Employment Companies
Trading Companies

Import/Export and general trading company’s activities are also compatible with the structure of offshore investment companies. The offshore investment company acquires orders from the supplier and has the goods distributed directly to the customer.

It does the invoicing to the customer and saves the difference in a tax free country. E.g. Products from China to Kenya could be invoiced by a Seychelles or RAK offshore incorporation and the revenues retained there.

Individuals utilize offshore investment companies to acquire mutual funds, shares, property, bonds, jewelry and precious metals. Sometimes they will also apply these companies to trade in currency, equities and or bonds. The wealthy will also have diversified offshore investment companies for different division of possessions; for different countries or by different categories of investments.

The diversification evades the risk. But also in cases where capital increases taxes are levied, e.g. in property or equity, sometimes it is cheaper to sell the company rather than the individual asset itself.

Professional Services Companies

Individuals, e.g. counselors, IT experts, engineers, designers, writers and performers working outside their local country can gain momentously from using an offshore investment business. The offshore investment business demonstrates the individual as a company worker and gets a fee for the services rendered by the ‘employee’ [possessor]. This fee is received and saved tax free. The person can then receive the imbursement as he or she hopes to minimize their taxes.

Shipping Companies

The utilization of offshore investment companies to possess or license commercial ships and pleasure craft is very familiar internationally. Shipping companies mount up earnings in tax liberated offshore jurisdictions and, if every ship is placed in a separate offshore investment company, it can get hold of considerable asset security by isolating liabilities of each individual craft.

Investment Companies

Individuals make use of offshore venture companies to then buy mutual funds, shares, bonds, property, jewelry and expensive metals. Sometimes they will also use these companies to operate in currencies, equities and or bonds either via the internet or through managed funds run by banks and financial institutions. The wealthy will also have diversified offshore investment companies for dissimilar class of assets; for different countries or by different varieties of investments.

The diversification evades the threat. But also in cases where assets gain taxes are levied, e.g. in goods or equity, sometimes it is economical to sell the company rather than the individual asset itself.

Intellectual Property & Royalty Companies

Offshore investment companies are being seen as vehicles to own Intellectual Property and royalties received for software, technology rights, music, literature, patents, trademarks and copyrights, franchising, and brands. These companies are in the type of trusts or foundations.

Property Owning Companies

Owning property in an offshore investment company saves you the funds gains taxes that may be levied at the occasion of the property’s deal, which are avoided by selling the business instead of the property. Other significant benefits are the authorized prevention of inheritance and other transfer taxes.

Mainly, in some countries, e.g. Islamic ones, inheritance is via Shariah regulation and not your determination. So an offshore possession will make sure that the assets owned outside the country need not be distributed according to Shariah Law.

Asset Protection Companies

It is estimated that a professional in the US can be expected to be sued every 3 years! And that more than 90% of the worlds lawsuits are filed in the US.

Amazing statistics!

If you have an income or assets of more than US$ 100,000, you should seriously consider offshore investment companies!

Most offshore jurisdictions require that for a lawsuit, a lawyer must be hired and paid up front before a suit can be filed, thus keeping frivolous lawsuits away. Often a substantial bank bond has to be placed by the government, to even implement a lawsuit. It can also (take years of waiting) to get into court in some offshore investment jurisdictions.

If you have substantial liquid assets you should consider a Trust which would own the offshore company. This will provide a greater degree of protection, at the least expense.

However, we should remember that this structure is for asset protection, not for tax savings and so that the focus should be maintained.

Holding Companies

Offshore investment companies can also be used to own and fund operating companies in different countries. They could also be joint venture partners or the ‘promoter’ of publicly quoted companies. Mauritius is well suited as a country for investing companies because of its favorable double tax treaties.

Dot Com Companies

The internet has made the cost of business entry very low and consequently the legal protection of the company’s assets, both physical and intellectual, that much easier. Dot Com companies now use this flexibility to develop different software projects in different offshore investment companies to invite different investors and to keep the flexibility of raising funds separately for different projects depending on the project’s success. Both Mauritius and Seychelles have Protected Cell Company [PCC] structures available for just this kind of need.

Then there is the possibility of receiving your funds earned on the web into an offshore company’s bank account. Would that be of interest to you?

Employment Companies

Multinational companies use offshore investment companies to employ expatriate staff who are deployed in different tax jurisdictions around the world. To facilitate transfers, reduce the employee’s taxes and administer benefits easily an offshore company employment is preferred. Working on assignments throughout the world.

1.0 Background

Globalization has brought tremendous changes in the global business arena and the BPOs and later LPOs are the direct offshoot of it. LPOs have come into being in India and elsewhere in the world primarily to cater to the clients of US and other developed nations as far as the legal processes are concerned to not only provide quality service but also to reduce the legal costs. In the past decade or so, a good number of LPOs have opened their businesses in India and in the light of rising legal costs and in order to find a workable solution to it we need to examine the issue in detail.

1.1 A Few Illustrations

Cisco’s Systems Inc., is a company that sells networking products, routing and switching systems. The company has a total legal spending that amounts to a little over one-third of 1% of company revenue, with non-litigation expenses running at about 0.16%. Measured in terms of dollars, Cisco’s 170-member lawyer department spends $38 million internally and $80 million a year on outside counsel. The $32.8 billion company has 51,000 employees spanning across 80 countries. (Leslie A. Gordon in GC California Magazine Published in their website http://www.law.com.) Microsoft managed to reduce its legal costs for the last fiscal year but still the company is involved in lot more litigation matters in Europe (Todd Bishop in P-I reporter). It would be an interesting scenario to collect the info pertaining to each US Company’s annual spending on the legal costs. It will certainly not please those who manage the companies, not in the least the shareholders.

2.0 Existing Arrangements

There are certain existing arrangements in place to deal with the issue of legal costs. The arrangements include in-house counsel department for every company. The in-house counsel takes care of all the legal matters pertaining to the company he works for and he also depends on outside counsels for the same. It would be appropriate if we understand the roles played by the in-house counsels and outside counsels vis-à-vis the legal costs.

2.1 In-house Counsels

The American Bar Association developed a model rule on foreign legal consultants (FLCs) in 1993. FLCs offer legal advice on international law and the law of the countries in which they are qualified to practice if they meet certain requirements. American Bar Association recently endorsed recommendations of its Commission based on Multijurisdictional Practice (“MJP Commission”) including revisions to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (“Model Rules”) regarding unauthorized practice, jurisdiction to discipline out-of-state lawyers, and choice of law rules governing multistate representation. These revisions are currently being examined and awaiting for the implementation. U.S.lawyers, seeking to increase their opportunities to offer their services overseas for liberalization of admission requirements under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) including both inbound and outbound of trade of U.S In August 2006, the Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (“the Committee”) which published a Formal Opinion stating attorneys could ethically contract out legal support services abroad.

American Conference Institute (ACI) announced to hold an LPO Summit at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York on January 16 and17, 2008 to develop global legal support strategies, identify negotiating outsourcing contracts, and to optimize ongoing relationship

2.2 Problems and Challenges

Both the risks and exposures an in-house counsel faces are pronouncedly greater in comparison with the other lawyers as the in-house counsels are concurrently encumbered with the task of providing valuable legal advice while ensuring compliance to the law. In-house counsels face this daunting task in a scenario where the activities of the company are inherently interconnected with the legal tasks at hand. To top it all, in-house attorneys were confronted with a myriad of potential exposures. These legal tangles include $307 of SOX; backdating stock options; new Rules of Federal Civil Procedures regarding electronically stored information; the McNulty Memorandum; Federal Rules of Evidence 502; liability to outside third parties; investigating boardroom leaks; and multi-jurisdictional practice and licensing.

2.3 Outside Counsels

Similarly, in-house lawyers are increasingly asking the law firms on hire to submit estimated budgets so they can trim down the costs of legal work especially when defending themselves against lawsuits. Companies have long asked for budgets from their lawyers for business transactions and for more conventional types of legal work. But with pressure mounting on them to report higher earnings, the in-house lawyers must now monitor their legal expenditures and they want their outside counsel to follow the suit as well.

The “2007 ACC/Serengeti managing outside counsel survey report” (www.serengetilaw.com) shows an average increase of 5.3% in the billing rates by outside counsel during the period from 2002 to 2007.

Billing issues have always been a war zone between the in-house and outside counsels. The popular “hourly billing” method comes with its own disadvantages. It often impacts legal costs negatively as it lays more emphasis on the delivery of the work rather than on the qualitative aspect which can eventually have an adverse effect on client relationship.

2.4 Some Key Challenges

The Legal Service Act 2007 of UK, permits legal out sourcing, is a boon t. Indian law graduates who can easily cope with England Legal work. The WTO in July 1998 noted a combined net trade balance for the U.S. and the U.K., the two largest exporters of legal services.

With associate lawyers in the US carrying a price tag of $225 per hour in their first year and $450 an hour in their eighth year. It was only a matter of time before law firms sought to outsource some of their countries like India, where the lawyers need to pay a price of 10 to 15% of that of US lawyers and a turnaround time of 24 hours for outsourced work. Legal Services Off shoring (LSO) which is an in-house legal departments or organizations offshore legal work from areas where it is costly to perform in United States or Europe is decreasing rapidly and on the other end in Indian services on high demand.

Criminal defense specialist and former Assistant United States Attorney Jay Ethington assure that “There is no difference between Indian and American advocates. The quality of work is the same”.

Outsourcing legal work to India is beneficial to western countries due to

3.0 What ails legal costs?

Despite taking all kinds of measures the ailment of over-expenditure continues in a company. Corporate entities, in-house counsels
and outside counsels, all seem to be caught in an escalating web of legal budget.

Budgets are the chief pointers to know whether in-house and outside counsels are thrashing out strategic issues and activity levels in a fruitful manner before litigation starts. They also act as parameters against which progress of the team and the expenses while handling complex legal questions and issues faced by it can be gauzed.

In a study conducted by Inside Counsel in its 17th Annual Survey of General Counsel (Published in the July 2006 issue of InsideCounsel), some 407 in-house counsels and 131 law firms felt that most of the friction between law firms and their in-house counsels can be attributed to the costs. Undeniably, when it comes to fiscal matters, the perceptions of the two groups could hardly be more divergent. 52% of in-house counsels identified ‘reduction of costs’ as the most significant thing law firms could do to develop their rapport with in-house counsel.

3.1 An interesting study

A study carried out by ACCA (now renamed ACC) has shown that despite taking measures, cost controls are failing to cut overall legal spending. The ACC survey shows that in-house counsel relies heavily on outside counsel in key areas such as litigation (69%), intellectual property (45%) and employment (45%). And as salaries for junior law firm associates continue to spiral upward, along with hourly billing rates for associates and partners alike, general counsel must manage with increasing legal fees.

The Way Out!

The only viable and durable solution on the horizon appears to be legal outsourcing which is more beneficial to the US and other western companies not only in the short run but also over a period of time.

4.0 A Few Issues!

Certain issues came up after the legal process outsourcing has begun in India and elsewhere in the world. Certain myths are also doing the rounds and it would be a mistake to attribute them to unbiased minds alone. In the light of newer issues let’s examine them as objectively as we can.