Your Baby's Ugly

--> Your Baby's Ugly Your Baby's Ugly...
and you've got bad breath

By Steve Baker

I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that 98% of businesses are small businesses. That bodes well for the entrepreneurial spirit that has made our nation great. The bad news is that 80%, that's right, four out of five new businesses will fail in their first five years.

After years of building my own companies and consulting growing businesses, I've come to the realization that too many business owners can't see their business through an objective eye, which often leads to their demise. It takes an incredible amount of intense drive, determination and a strong ego to breathe life into a business and create products from scratch, but it's also that same ego that won't let a business owner be objective about what their business needs to succeed. The business is up and running at light-speed and management doesn't have the time or willingness to stand back and take a real look at what they have created. They are too close to the problems to see them. Just like a proud parent, they have spent sweat and time creating this "baby," and they refuse to believe that it might be less than perfect.

I call this the "business parent trap." It is in this trap that business owners often create and introduce products that would not test out in the marketplace. There's an attitude of "Hey, it's gotta be great because I thought of it."

I've found that there are usually two basic things wrong with a business: the product (the Baby) and the management (the Breath).

So how do you assess your business? Are your employees going to tell you that you're headed in the wrong direction? Not likely. Occasionally a consultant will
be brought in to review the company's performance in a given area. Unfortunately, when management does bring in a consultant, they often are really looking for affirmation - not straight-forward constructive criticism.
Sadly, some consultants are more than willing to "affirm for a fee."

If you're going to succeed, then someone needs to tell you if your baby's ugly or you've got bad (corporate) breath. So here are some blunt yet truthful thoughts for your business, and perhaps you:

-GET OVER YOURSELF: Know yourself, trust yourself, believe in yourself...then Get Over Yourself. You're really not the smartest person in the world. You built the business and know it better than anyone else, but no one else really cares how much you know.

-SPECTATOR SPORT: Conversation with you should not be a spectator sport for others. Remember that there's a huge difference between listening and merely waiting for your turn to talk. You hired your employees and perhaps a consultant because you assumed they had brains, so let them use them. Ask questions and listen to answers.

-JUST ANOTHER PRODUCT Realize that even though you think that your new product or service is the greatest thing since the flip-top beer can, the world just sees one more product and must be convinced. You created this product and you know every function of it, but customers do not buy functions, they buy only benefits. Whether your product is a high tech internet service or office furniture, you must show how it is uniquely beneficial to your customer. Functionality makes your products work, Benefits make them sell.

-PAPER WEIGHT: If you have the high tech inventive skills to create a product, chances are that you don't have the skills to market and sell it. Many small business owners think that marketing and sales are the simplest part of their business, so it is almost an afterthought. There is only one reason that inferior products outsell better ones; and that is successful marketing. Think of your marketing plan as the complete story book that sells your product. If your story book is a best seller, then your product will be a best seller. Without the right story that will build sales and distribution, your wonderful product is just another paper weight head for a land fill.

-STAND BACK: Your competitors are not all stupid. Guess what? They think their babies are cute too, and they may tell better stories that make them look even better than yours. So stand back and look at yourself and your baby and try to look through the eyes of a disinterested party, because believe it or not, the world is a disinterested party.

Remember, there's an 80% chance that you will not be in business in 5 years. As busy as you are, and successful as you think you are, you must set your ego aside and realize that there are things beyond your control. Successful companies know that the secret to success doesn't lie in knowing everything; it lies in knowing what you don't know, and finding those who do.

I wish you good luck and great success.

Steve Baker is a business advisor who specializes in market development. He founded a company that did $500 million the first year and he was sued for $1.4 Billion. He speak on How to be a Successful Failure, and he is the author of the award winning book, PUSHING WATER UPHILL With A Rake; Memoirs of a Successful Failure. He lives in Colorado where he is an avid poor golfer. He can be reached through his website www.PushingWaterUphill.com

Your Baby's Ugly...and You've Got Bad Breath

--> Your Baby&#39s Ugly...and You&#39ve Got Bad Breath

I&#39ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that 98% of businesses are small businesses. That bodes well for the entrepreneurial spirit that has made our nation great. The bad news is that 80%, that&#39s right, four out of five new businesses will fail in their first five years.

After years of building my own companies and consulting growing businesses, I&#39ve come to the realization that too many business owners can&#39t see their business through an objective eye, which often leads to their demise. It takes an incredible amount of intense drive, determination and a strong ego to breathe life into a business and create products from scratch, but it&#39s also that same ego that won&#39t let a business owner be objective about what their business needs to succeed. The business is up and running at light-speed and management doesn&#39t have the time or willingness to stand back and take a real look at what they have created. They are too close to the problems to see them. Just like a proud parent, they have spent sweat and time creating this "baby," and they refuse to believe that it might be less than perfect.

I call this the "business parent trap." It is in this trap that business owners often create and introduce products that would not test out in the marketplace. There&#39s an attitude of "Hey, it&#39s gotta be great because I thought of it."

I&#39ve found that there are usually two basic things wrong with a business: the product (the Baby) and the management (the Breath).

So how do you assess your business? Are your employees going to tell you that you&#39re headed in the wrong direction? Not likely. Occasionally a consultant will be brought in to review the company&#39s performance in a given area. Unfortunately, when management does bring in a consultant, they often are really looking for affirmation - not straight-forward constructive criticism. Sadly, some consultants are more than willing to "affirm for a fee."

If you&#39re going to succeed, then someone needs to tell you if your baby&#39s ugly or you&#39ve got bad (corporate) breath. So here are some blunt yet truthful thoughts for your business, and perhaps you:

- GET OVER YOURSELF: Know yourself, trust yourself, believe in yourself...then Get Over Yourself. You&#39re really not the smartest person in the world. You built the business and know it better than anyone else, but no one else really cares how much you know.

- SPECTATOR SPORT: Conversation with you should not be a spectator sport for others. Remember that there&#39s a huge difference between listening and merely waiting for your turn to talk. You hired your employees and perhaps a consultant because you assumed they had brains, so let them use them. Ask questions and listen to answers.

- JUST ANOTHER PRODUCT Realize that even though you think that your new product or service is the greatest thing since the flip-top beer can, the world just sees one more product and must be convinced. You created this product and you know every function of it, but customers do not buy functions, they buy only benefits. Whether your product is a high tech internet service or office furniture, you must show how it is uniquely beneficial to your customer. Functionality makes your products work, Benefits make them sell.

- PAPER WEIGHT: If you have the high tech inventive skills to create a product, chances are that you don&#39t have the skills to market and sell it. Many small business owners think that marketing and sales are the simplest part of their business, so it is almost an afterthought. There is only one reason that inferior products outsell better ones; and that is successful marketing. Think of your marketing plan as the complete story book that sells your product. If your story book is a best seller, then your product will be a best seller. Without the right story that will build sales and distribution, your wonderful product is just another paper weight head for a land fill.

- STAND BACK: Your competitors are not all stupid. Guess what? They think their babies are cute too, and they may tell better stories that make them look even better than yours. So stand back and look at yourself and your baby and try to look through the eyes of a disinterested party, because believe it or not, the world is a disinterested party.

Remember, there&#39s an 80% chance that you will not be in business in 5 years. As busy as you are, and successful as you think you are, you must set your ego aside and realize that there are things beyond your control. Successful companies know that the secret to success doesn&#39t lie in knowing everything; it lies in knowing what you don&#39t know, and finding those who do.

I wish you good luck and great success.

Copyright 2005 Steve Baker

About Steve: Steve Baker is a business advisor who has founded successful start-up companies and specializes in market development. He founded a company that did $500 million the first year and he was sued for $1.4 Billion. He speak on How to be a Successful Failure, and he is the author of the award winning book, PUSHING WATER UPHILL With A Rake; Memoirs of a Successful Failure. He lives in Colorado where he is an avid poor golfer. He can be reached through his website www.PushingWaterUphill.com

White Noise for Baby Stops Colic Crying Fast

--> White Noise for Baby Stops Colic Crying Fast

It's true. Colic is MUCH harder on the parent than the infant. My daughter survived six months of colic unscathed. My husband and I are a different story. We have deep psychological scars that send us scurrying for the nearest exist every time we hear a baby cry.

As parents, we were newbies. We had never even changed a diaper when we brought our bundle of joy home from the hospital. I had heard a few horror stories about babies with colic, but never thought in a million years I would be the proud owner of a colic baby. So, imagine our horror, when on about our third week of parenting, our daughter started screaming every day around dinnertime. And, I'm talking blood-curdling, "I'm-in-severe-pain" sort of screaming. Screaming that lasted four hours and drove everyone in the household to tears.

We thought for sure something was horribly wrong.

A doctor appointment later, I was assured that my daughter was fine, and she probably just had "a little colic." Not to worry, that the colic would pass within a "couple of months".

Yeah, right. Define a "couple of months".

Those of you who have a baby with "a little colic" know there is no such thing. Experiencing a colic episode is extremely traumatic. You feel helpless, angry and frustrated when everything you try to stop the crying fails miserably. You feel like you're a bad parent or that your baby hates you. But, don't despair. Empower yourself! There are tons of strategies, tricks and products out there to help you deal with a colicky baby.

A guaranteed colic-buster we used time and time again was white noise. "What is white noise?" you might ask. Good question. Here goes.

White noise is the full spectrum of sound frequencies a human ear can hear combined together all at once. Huh?

Okay, again in layman's terms. Have you ever been in a crowd full of people, for example, at a sporting event? Everyone is talking at the same time. You can't decipher every single conversation, but you do hear the roar of the crowd (it happens to make me sleepy). That is white noise. Oh, yeah, I get it now!

Now, do me a favor. Put your hands over your ears and listen. Do you hear a roaring? What you are hearing is the white noise your own body produces within. The same noise your baby heard for 40 weeks or so while in the womb.

So, for a second, imagine you are a baby in the womb. You've spent most of your existence in a place warm and dark, where you were well fed and had no distracting noises, lights or outside stimuli. Then suddenly, you burst on the scene and have a whole big world to absorb. The stimuli eventually stresses you out, and since you can't communicate very well, the only way you know how to blow off steam is to cry and cry and cry some more. This is the latest scientific explanation of the cause of colic. Your baby is over-stimulated throughout the course of the day. To relieve stress, they cry uncontrollably for several hours. Oh, man.

So what can you do as a parent?

Recreate for your baby the feeling of being in the womb. Lower lights, reduce visual stimuli, swaddle the baby and turn on some white noise. Babies seem to be positively effected by the noise frequency of a hair dryer, clothes dryer and vacuum cleaner.

Unbelievably enough, this works! When I first heard about this theory, I was extremely skeptical. But out of desperation one day, I pulled out the vacuum cleaner and plugged it in. It was like turning off a water faucet. Immediately, our baby quit screaming. If you unplugged the vacuum, she started screaming again. It was weird. But, it worked.

Wait, though! Don't just plug in your vacuum cleaner and run it for several hours. The noise decibels will damage your baby's hearing. You need to be able to control the volume of the white noise your baby is hearing.

White noise downloads and white noise CD's are available for purchase almost everywhere. Just go on Yahoo! or MSN and do a search for "white noise baby". For just a few dollars, your baby can have the comfort of white noise, and you can have your sanity back.

When Your Baby Arrives

--> When Your Baby Arrives

Welcoming a newborn baby into the family is always a joyful occasion especially for first-time parents. The nine months of waiting has finally come to an end. How heart-warming it is to hear that first cry. Your baby has arrived!

When it's time to bring your newborn baby home, the excitement continues from the hospital to your home. Relatives and friends come over to adore your newborn. What an exciting time!

Soon the initial excitement subsides and reality strikes! It's time to think about providing the best baby care you can for your newborn. There are so many things that need to be done. And, especially if you're a first-time parent, there are so many things you wish you knew on how to provide the best baby care possible for your infant.

You and your family will have a lot of adjusting to do especially during the first few days after your baby have come home. All of a sudden, there is a new member in the family. Daily routines will be affected. Life will not be the same again.

If you have other children at home, you may have to deal with sibling jealousy as your newborn seems to have robbed them of all the attention they used to get. The best way to handle that is to get your children involved with baby care. Depending on their ages and abilities, you may want to get them to help out with diaper changing, feeding, holding the baby, and other appropriate activities. Once they realized that their contributions are valued, their feelings of jealousy will disappear.

As a new mother, you may have to deal with 'baby blues'. Your body is undergoing major physical changes after the birth of your baby. This may cause you to feel sad and depressed. These feelings are perfectly normal and should go away after several weeks. However, if you find that these feelings are getting more and more intense and are affecting your ability to care for yourself and your family, you should consult your doctor. You may be suffering from a condition of postpartum depression.

Parenting has its ups and downs, challenges and rewards. It's a long road ahead raising a new baby up to its adulthood. It'll be wise to learn as much as possible on how to raise healthy and happy kids. The more knowledge and skills you have, the better parent you'll become. It is an investment in their lives and yours.

What Baby Chicks Can Teach You About Handling Your Prospects

--> What Baby Chicks Can Teach You About Handling Your Prospects The best way to chase your prospects away is to show
them that you really need them! This may appear
strange at first but truth is sometimes stranger than
fiction.

I've seen this repeatedly in cases where my website
visitors would sometimes ask for some clarification on
my offers. I noticed after a while that 99% of those
who inquired by email or phone never made the purchase.
Frankly, this was quite puzzling to me.

First I thought that maybe my heavy Caribbean accent
drove them away. But then again what of my emails? I
doubt that you can hear an accent through the written
word.

Then I recalled the saying:

"Follow love and it will flee,
Flee from love and it will follow thee."

You see, sometimes you can appear so desperate to make
the sale that you drive the customer away. The
prospect senses this in your voice and `persuasive'
emails and they shy away. It's a strange human
phenomenon that people like to buy but they don't like
to be `sold'. The customer frequently wants to feel as
though he is in control of the buying process.

Nobody wants to know that they were pressured into
making any decision and this includes buying. This is
where the whole psychology of offering your products in
different colors and versions comes in - you are giving
the customer a choice.

So here is a typical email that I would get from a
prospect:

Hi Ray,

I was just at your website and think that I like your
ebook. I've been burnt before by some useless junk
that I've bought on the web. So I have some questions
that I hope you don't mind answering. (Questions about
the product follow ...)

You seem to be an honest person but I just want to know
if you'll really refund my money if I didn't like your
ebook. If I don't hear from you then I would just go
and purchase another product. No hard feelings.

Signed,

Prospect.

Now, originally an email like this would get me into
high gear in `defending' my product and listing all the
virtues that were already stated on the sales site. As
I mentioned before I often never heard from these
customers anymore and so I had wasted my time trying to
close the sale.

Sometimes I would just ignore these letters as I had
labeled these people as just `doubters' or `freebie
seekers' who would not have made a purchase anyway.
This was until I got a really harsh anonymous email
that blatantly accused me of just trying to trick
people out of their money. Me? I take the time to
return shopping carts to their storage area in the
parking lot - you can't get any more honest than that!

Anyway, after recovering from this `e-blow' I replied
to the email suggesting that the sender did NOT make
the purchase. In fact I insisted that he saved his
money so he'll not be ripped off. I was not fully
prepared for the reaction. He wrote back this time
giving his name and said that he was only `joking'.
Needless to say he bought the ebook.

Some Copywriters refer to this technique as
"Intimidation". If you act as though you do not really
care about the sale you're more likely to make the
sale! This is because you immediately place the
prospect on the defensive.

So what do baby chickens have to do with all this? You
see I've learned from handling baby chickens that if
you squeeze too tightly you can suffocate the little
feather bundles. Yet at the same time, if you open
your hands fully they will jump out. You have to
master the art of `not too tight but not too loose
either'.

If you parade the fact that you don't need your
prospects you're holding them too loosely. But if you
chase them down and keep pounding at them with emails
or phone calls then you can suffocate the purchasing
life out of them. A balance must be struck and only
experience will teach you that balance.

At first I was too aggressive and they ran away. Then
I simply ignored these prospects as just plain losers.
Finally I found the middle ground and it simply said;
"I want you but I don't need you."

When you think about it, gaining a new customer isn't
too different from winning the heart of your one true
love. If you're too aggressive and send very expensive
gifts for every occasion your lovebird will likely be
scared away. Just skip some phone calls from your
usual schedule and you'll have her wondering (that's
another word for `thinking') about you.

And trust me, it works just as well with your prospects
as it does with your potential life partner. I know ...
I've been happily married now for 8 years and counting!

Ray Edwards can provide you with a FREE professional
critique of your website and so increase your
conversion rate. Your website is your 'salesman in
print' and you'll be shocked to discover how small
changes can make a big difference in your bottom line.
Check it out now:
http://yourwebsiteconversion.com?site=ez

Welcome an Adopted Baby into the Family with an Adoption Bab

--> Welcome an Adopted Baby into the Family with an Adoption Bab

The addition of a new child to a family is a wonderous occasion! An adopted baby is just as much a miracle as any other and should be celebrated as such.

And all babies need "stuff", even an adopted child, so having an adoption baby shower for this child is not only acceptable, but necessary.

There are some differences you should consider when attempting to plan this a baby shower for adoption. You will need to know the age of the adopted child first of all. Some couples may have adopted a baby, but others may have adopted a toddler or older child.

You will also want to find out if the family wants to celebrate the baby shower for adoption before or after the baby/child is adopted.

For infants, the
basic necessities, such as diapers, clothing, feeding items, and nursery d

Weaning A Baby

--> Weaning A Baby

The best time to wean your baby onto solid food is at about age 6 months. This is because your baby's mouth will start to change around that time to help her cope with the transition. Another guide is to start when baby doubles in weight.

Before then your baby's digestive system and kidneys are able to cope only with breastmilk and formula. But don't leave it too late as baby may find it difficult to adapt to swallowing food, and she will need a balanced varied diet.

What You Will Need

• Bibs - and plenty of them! At first she will spit out more than she swallows and feeding will be very messy.


• Unbreakable bowls and spoons.


• Lidded containers for storing the food.


• A food processor. You could manage with a fork and a sieve, but the one thing you won't have plenty of is time, so a blender will make life easier.
You don't need a high chair, not at this stage anyway. Baby won't be able to hold her head up until about age 12 months, so feed her while she is in your lap or in a seat that supports her head. Foods To Try And Some To Avoid
• Baby rice is usually the first solid for babies, it has a low protein content and is unlikely to cause an allergic reaction. Mix with milk (expressed breast milk or formula) to make the rice easier to swallow. Rice also has the advantage that it can be mixed with both vegetables and fruit, so after a few days, mix in a little pur