Join the Art Business Adventure

At Gallery

2005-11-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

Please welcome David Chandler to the Art Ideas discussions about oil painting. You can read more about David in the closing of this article.

Art Galleries are generally known for art that highlights the natural beauty all around the world. Everyday there are people creating entirely new works of art, and placing them in art galleries all over the world.

The type of art included in a gallery can vary. Art can encompass a wide variety of medium, such as, drawings, paintings, photography, and sculpture, to name a few. The purpose of the art gallery is to show off the work of local and national artists in a way that people will want to purchase them. Many of the artist's works can also be bought as prints. This allows the artist to sell more, while making the price more affordable to people.

Local Art Galleries

Most major cities have wonderful art galleries. If you have never visited an art gallery, you should make a point to do so. You may think that an art gallery is not where you would want to spend the afternoon, but you may be surprised at how interesting an art gallery can be. Check your local phone book for an art gallery near you.

Virtual Art Galleries

If you have Internet access, then you can find an online art gallery, my choice as well. If you can view and possibly order from the comfort of your own home why not. Virtual tours of art galleries are a lot of fun.

As with walk in art galleries, virtual art galleries are also worldwide. Listed below are a few galleries that you can visit online.

o Art Vitam, Miami, Florida o Art of this Century, Paris, France o Art Space/Virginia Miller Galleries, Coral Gables, Florida o Artco Galleria de Arte, Lima, Peru o Casa d'Arte San Lorenzo, Pisa, Italy o Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, Florida o Espace D'Art Yvonamor Palix, Paris, France o Galleria El Museo, Bogot¨¢, Colombia o Galleria Habana, Mexico D.F., Mexico o Galleria de Arte Isabel Aninat, Santiago, Chile

Take the time to experience wonderful works of art at your local art gallery or on the internet. Even if you are not an art enthusiast, the works of fine artists all over the world will impress you.

For more information, visit http://www.artgalleryinfocenter.com

About the Author

David Chandler For your FREE Stock Market Trading Mini Course: "What The Wall Street Hot Shots Won't Tell You!" go to: http://www.stockmarketgenie.com

Steps to Home Business Success

2005-11-09T22:49:00.000-05:00

Please welcome Daegan Smith to the Art Ideas discussions about a home business organization. You can read more about Daegan in the closing of this article.

There we have the Internet. One doesn't have to go to malls for the sake of shopping. You can buy almost anything from the Internet, from food to clothing, from house to real states, from gadgets to cars, et cetera.

But wait! How about business? Could it be possible to conduct business in the Internet specifically home business? The word YES will answer you right in front of your face. Everything is possible with the participation of Internet in the modern business transactions.

But is home business profitable and feasible?

How can one succeed in this so-called Home Business?

I will tour you for a while in my four-step procedures towards a successful home business. Come on now and join me in this business trip.

Are you ready for the ride?

Here are the four-step procedures on how to succeed in this home business:

STEP 1. Recruit First

Why recruit first? Why not do other things? You might be asking again these new set of questions. Don't you worry; you can get the answer from here.

Home business is network marketing. It is composed of uplines and downlines. What are these uplines and downlines? Uplines are independent representatives who recruit another independent representative which he/she will use in the direct selling of goods and services to customers. Simply put, the recruiter is the upline. He/She gets his commission on the sales of the other independent representatives. How about downline? The recruited independent representatives are the downlines. Home business is a commission-based joint effort of uplines and downlines. That is the main reason why both uplines and downlines must work hand-in-glove. Without the other, the whole business force will be paralyzed. It will not function. So what does it mean, both parties share the same level of importance or significance to the group. Can you imagine home business without uplines and downlines? It can't be, right? You're going to have these four (4) "NO" if you do not have recruited independent representatives:

* no income

* no consumption of products and services

* no one to market the products and services

* no one will cater the customers

STEP 2. Maintain Minimum Sales Required

Home business is so simple yet requires careful analysis of the sales income. You can be a mathematician on this part for you have to tally your expenses and revenues. Interesting? This is truly for the number lovers.

Everyday, independent representatives (downlines) market the products and services. So make it a habit to tally the income entering everyday and the expenses leaving every hour. See the difference?

Maintaining the daily income is also a must if not a requirement to keep the business network working and functioning.

STEP 3. Monitor Products and Services Consumption

Check your inventory. There's no much to explain and define here. When I say check your inventory, it means maintaining the minimum stock of products available to avoid having an empty or void stock.

STEP 4. Train your downlines regularly.

In every field, learning is always a requirement. Had you been a teacher, still, you need to study and learn. The thing here is to have a constant training schedule for the downlines. This study proves that a well-instructed downline creates a big difference than the downline with stagnant information in mind. Constant study really pays at the end. Some of the recommended topics are proper customer treatment, how to communicate effectively, business ethics, and so on.

Now that you've reached the end of this article, you are now ready towards establishing a home business career. The formulas are in your hand. The equation is in need of any single term. And that missing term is you.

About the Author

Daegan Smith is the leader of the fastest growing team of successful home business entrepreneurs on the net. Find out how we're creating financial freedom all across the globe and how to get in on the action FREE => http://www.comlev.com

Using online resources to learn how to oil paint

2005-11-01T21:40:00.000-05:00

Please welcome Dakota Caudilla to the Art Ideas discussions about oil painting. You can read more about Dakota in the closing of this article.

Let's admit it, it's not going to be a walk in the park learning the right oil painting techniques online. But if you don't have a lot of time and maybe you don't have the kind of financial resources to learn oil painting techniques by attending classes right now, you can always try to find online resources that will help you adopt the right oil painting techniques.

Nothing can take the place of one-on-one guidance but with in-depth information, useful tools and your own willingness to learn, you'll master the art of oil painting just as quickly as a person who attends oil painting classes for three years. You don't need a certificate to prove that you can paint in oil as well as others, your own portfolio and samples is proof enough. That's the amazing thing about art. Your talent speaks for itself and you don't really need a college or academic body to affirm it for you. Most artistic geniuses of previous generations didn't get the kind of guidance or lessons that some of our artists get today - and look at the number of outstanding artists we have in those times compared to now.

When you're relying on online resources to help you learn the right oil painting techniques, the most important thing is for you to absorb whatever is being said, research words and terms that you do not understand through communities and message boards, and then apply the stuff that you have learnt from those lessons consistently.

So, the steps to learning oil painting through online resources are:- Absorb: read and take in whatever that they're trying to tell you. You don't have a lecturer or a teacher to stand over you and correct your mistakes. That's why your reference to the online resource should be meticulous.

Research: One of the biggest challenges to learning oil painting online is that sometimes you're left in a lurch because no one teaches you all those technical terms that they're spurting out and you're lost. Either research the word through www.wikipedia.com, www.dictionary.com, or go to online communities and post your questions there. Don't be ashamed or shy to ask. The biggest mistake you can make is to hold back and pretend that you know.

Application: Application is the biggest and most important part of learning oil painting through online resources. Keep in mind the things that you have learnt, print it out and file it nicely so that you can be reminded of it later on.

Feedback: This is also called 'humbling' time. Whenever you've learnt something new, copy it into digital format by either scanning it or taking a picture of it, go to an online forum and get feedback from people like you or from professionals. Don't take their feedback or comments personally, instead, take it professionally in your stride. Their comments and feedback will only serve to make your work better the next time round.

About the Author

Dakota Caudilla, journalist, and website builder Dakota Caudilla lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://www.all-arts-and-crafts.com on which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.

Making your home business work

2005-11-01T21:36:00.000-05:00

Please welcome Nial Robbins to the Art Ideas discussions about a home business organization. You can read more about Nial in the closing of this article.

Running your own home based internet business is a piece of cake. Right?

You've probably heard how easy it is to rake in tens of thousands of dollars practically over night, and how you can have all kinds of "free time" and extra cash for traveling and shopping at your favorite store...

Just throw up a web site, add a few affiliate links, post to some forums and presto - you're in the money!

But the reality is this. If you want to succeed in your own home based internet business, whether it's affiliate marketing or selling your own products, you will have to work at making it successful. You have to make it your job to succeed. You must treat it as your job, not as your hobby.

It's great to think that with just a few easy strokes you'll be running on auto-pilot, bringing in loads of cash and then on to the next venture. But without some simple planning and consistent effort you're setting yourself up for failure.

Here are a few tips to help you get started.

STAY ORGANIZED

Set up folders in your email client.

You should set up a folder for each contact and keep important correspondence while deleting what you don't need. If you belong to membership sites that require passwords, keep the "welcome" letters where you can find them.

Set up folders on your desktop.

If you download a lot of software, ebooks or PDF books from specific individuals simply name a folder on your desktop after the author or site owner. Then when you download something you can place it in their folder.

Make your own HTML home page.

For quick and easy access to all your important sites make up an HTML page with hyperlinks to your most frequently used sites along with a brief explanation of each site. Keep it on your desktop for easy access.

STAY FOCUSED

Set aside a specific time for work.

It could be from 7pm-9pm every day or whatever time's good for you. During this time do not get distracted from doing only what needs to be accomplished for your business. Try to use the same time slot every day so you get into a routine and get used to the working mindset. Save the surfing for another time.

Set aside a work space.

Make sure that all your friends and family know that when you're in your work area you're off limits! No one's to bother you.

Finish one task before starting another.

As the old saying goes, "Put one foot in front of the other." Don't start working on something new until the first task is completely finished.

BE CONSISTENT

Work the ideas that "work."

When you find something that works well for you work it hard and get as much out of it as possible. If you're submitting articles to a certain site and they're paying dividends, keep feeding the cycle.

Learn from failure.

Don't get discouraged. Each failure's just a learning process. Use any failure to your advantage by taking the lesson and applying it to your next venture.

Test, test, and more test.

Always test headlines and ad copy. A small change can reap huge rewards.

With these few simple steps you will stay organized, stay focused, be consistent in your efforts and build a solid foundation on which you can build your internet empire!

After all, you are the one who will ultimately determine the success or failure of your business!

NOTE: You have full permission to reprint this article within your website or newsletter as long as you leave the article fully intact and include the "About The Author" resource box. Thanks! :-)

About the Author

Nial Robbins owns the work at home directory website located at: http://www.NDR-HomeBiz.com Come by and visit us today!

Also, be sure to check out our "top pick" work at home opportunity at: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-9525

Framed Art

2005-10-31T17:15:00.000-05:00

Please welcome David Chandler to the Art Ideas discussions about framed art. You can read more about David in the closing of this article.

By displaying framed art in your home or office, you are complimenting any room you place them in. The best aspect of framed art is that it is quick, easy and relatively inexpensive. Framed art is typically purchased to match decor in a person's home. With such a huge selection available these days you are bound to find some that both interests you and will go perfect in your home.

One very common thing is for the artists to allow their work to be transferred into framed prints. Although this is not a new thing, many modern artists go unannounced to the world and this gives them the opportunity to be known. Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, and many other classic artists will live on through their artwork forever. Paintings tend to be more expensive than framed prints.

Building an appreciation for art helps a person to grow. Finding art pieces that you like will come more natural once you have starting looking at art. By appreciating the works that artists create you will start seeing the cultural aspect of life. Showing your admiration through buying of framed artwork can be both delightful and fulfilling.

Purchasing framed art for your home or office is a novel way to decorate. Framed prints are available of nearly every famous painting or photograph. But what piece do you buy? You can start with a neutral wall paint and then add color by placing framed art on the wall and then add some matching throw cushions to your couch. Framed art is relatively inexpensive, giving you the opportunity to change the look whenever you choose to. So consider buying framed artwork for every season or special event.

Framed art is a quick and easy solution to redecorating a room, for two reasons. One - because the selection of artists and prints is enormous. Two - framed art can be a copy of any type of artwork, including paintings, photographs, anything. Framed art is affordable and looks great when they are framed. Art Prints, can come either framed or unframed which can be an advantage when you do not like a frame that one piece of art is in. You can choose to make your framed art any way you wish.

For more information, visit http://www.framedartguide.com

About the Author

David Chandler, The Stock Market Genie For your FREE Stock Market Trading Mini Course: "What The Wall Street Hot Shots Won't Tell You!" go to: http://www.stockmarketgenie.com

Persist in the Right Way to Succeed in your Online Home Business

2005-10-31T16:55:00.000-05:00

Please welcome Arthur to the Art Ideas discussions about a home business. You can read more about Arthur in the closing of this article.

Persistence is one of the most important characteristics of a Business Entrepreneur. Without it, failures will follows. This happens to every business entrepreneur including me.

When you start your own online business, you often get frustrated when you cannot get the desired results that you want. When you checked your web log, not enough website traffics is coming. You have try lots of promotion methods: banner impression, guarantee clicks, exchange links, search engines optimization and many others ways but traffics is not coming as quickly as you want.

That's the problems many online entrepreneur is facing. Quick Results. They want to make money quickly and get frustrated and give up their online business when they cannot see the money coming in FAST. Many forgot how they managed to land into their FIRST job.

We forgot the vast amount of time and money our parents have invested on us on our education before we can eventually land on the desired job that we want. Try counting back in time the number of years you spend on education before ending up on your present job. Don't forget to include those time you spend searching for your job, writing resume and attending interviews.

Likewise, every business take time to build and grow. Your persistence will bear results sooner or later if you continue to persist in the RIGHT WAY. You just have to keep moving FORWARD even if you cannot see the result now.

It is good to invest on a little paper notebook to record what you have done for your online business. Analyze your written log OFFLINE and think about what are the methods that are working and strike out those that are not. Many people never realize that it is better to analyze your problems away from your work desk to allow new ideas to pop out of your mind.

Go for a jog, a swim, a walk around the park, look at the fishes in the pond, visit the zoo just take a break from your normal routines. Have you ever encounter situation where your problems was immediately solved the next day after having a good night sleep.

Sometimes your online promotion might be working but it takes time for the search engine to rank your site, index your contents, count the number of incoming links to your site etc. Don't forget that there are billions of website the search engine database is handling and it will take time before you can see any real results.

Therefore, never stop feeding your website with new contents. Your body need to eat daily so does your website. At least, try to feed your website weekly. Never stop exchanging links and provide a place for others to exchange links with you. Regularly, free a portions of your old articles and submit it to be published into other websites, ezines with your resource box at the bottom.

QUITTER never wins and WINNERS must Persist in order to WIN.

Wishing you success in your Persistence of becoming a Successful Business Entrepreneur.

About the Author

By © Arthur, The Online Internet Home Business Opportunity

http://www.online-internet-home-business-opportunity.com
Most Financially Successful individuals Grow Rich by starting their own business. Application of Knowledge is the line between those who succeed or failed in an Internet Home Business Opportunity.

Buy an Art Reproduction: The Giclee

2005-10-30T11:22:00.000-05:00

Please welcome David Lucht to the Art Ideas discussions about giclee art reproductions. You can read more about David in the closing of this article.

If you have been shopping recently for affordable fine art either online, at art fairs or galleries, you've probably come across the term "giclée". This process can produce lovely and fairly accurate reproductions of fine art, usually at very affordable prices. "Giclée" (pronounced "zhee-CLAY") is a French term referring to the small spray from the ink-jet printer. The emergence of high quality ink-jet printing as the major method for fine art reproduction has brought with it some ethical issues for the artist, and some need for education on the part of the art public.

Currently in the community of artists there is much discussion about the fundamental validity of this medium of graphic reproduction. Many traditional fine art printers argue against presenting the giclée as an art object on the level of other fine print media in the graphics category such as fine art lithography, etching, seriography (silkscreen) and the like. They are correct in stating that these methods of creating original, graphical works are a true fine art, as contrasted with the mechanical and technical reproduction process of giclée. Unfortunately, some artists are blurring the lines in an attempt to sell their reproductions as some version of 'fine art'.

When the two worlds of original art and mechanical reproduction are kept in strict quarantine the ethical issues are not so messy. Problems arise with the various hybrids of manipulated digital prints, some of which tread on very suspect ethical grounds by claiming to be "painted by the artist's own hand". In some cases a forced legitimacy is attempted with rigged names like "original limited editions". Certainly an ink-jet print that has been painted to recreate the same 'tactile quality' and presented as some sort of quasi-original flirts with fraud. And the outrageous price structure of some artists with international franchises that misrepresent giclées in this way as a part of their marketing strategy have to be called to account for a serious ethical lapse. These prints are on the same level as those old mass-produced "texture of real paint" posters that were printed on a paper with simulated impasto brush strokes. But at least with those you still knew that you were dealing with a commercial print.

I'll leave aside other hybrid creations; Photoshop® manipulations, digital collage, multimedia using giclée prints, etc. These types of work need to be analyzed on their own merits, though my bias towards the physicality of traditional media leaves me distinctly chilled in front of most of these pieces born of the computer.

Having said all this, the giclée has its place as reproduction. It is certainly not a work of art, rather an image of a work of art. It is also not necessarily a cheap reproduction. A properly produced, high-end inkjet print using archival inks is a much higher quality, and longer lasting, print than a cheap offset poster.

My view is that the primary issues here are those of education and honesty. The art buyer must understand the precise nature of what they are buying when they select an inkjet print. I think it is correct to state that the artist is in ethical lapse when the giclée is presented as something more than a reproduction. Issues such as documenting the use of archival inks and paper, the size of the print run, must be addressed. They require the artist to care enough, to have the ethical backbone, to provide proper credentials from their printer and stick to strict, clearly visible limits on the size of their editions (this has a direct bearing on the value of each individual print).

While I understand the potential for fraud, art reproduction plays a vital role in extending the reach and impact of original work upon a larger number of potential art appreciators and buyers. My personal experience is that my introduction to the art world proceeded through a very typical process whereby I first met art in textbooks and even (no!) through cheap poster prints on college room walls. The next level involved seeking out the original (in my case finding Picasso's "Blue Guitarist" at the Art Institute of Chicago after having a profound encounter with the image in a textbook) and noting the significantly greater impact that the original work engendered.

This process of developing a greater and more intimate relationship with works of art is natural and frequently involves encounters with these lesser quality reproductions. It can continue if the person so engaged enters the market as an art buyer. Now a new set of issues present themselves, among which are: emotional response, price and quality. Here we find the giclée meeting its most important function (if it is properly presented and understood as a high-quality reproduction) and that is; to bridge the gap between the original work of art (with its sometimes imposing price tag) and the desire to own an image of the original that provides a similar emotional impact. We can't simply say if you can't afford the original you are hereby banished until you can.

My goal as an artist (you can view my work at cowango: Art with Impact) is to engage the public and to provide more opportunities for them to develop a personal relationship with my art. The fact that that relationship may begin with a giclée is of little consequence. Since it is an economically beneficial situation for both the artist and the art buyer, and since it can provide an "entry level" purchase for an art buyer without unlimited resources, and since the properly presented giclée can provide an emotional focus and connection to the original work (and to the artist) that has the potential to proceed to the eventual purchase of an original work, I find it plays an important role.

David Lucht
dlucht@cowango.com

About the Author

David is an artist who has worked in Batik Painting for over fifteen years. His subject matter and media represent his desire to bring scenes from the world to life through what he likes to call "World Batik".

Make time for your home business

2005-10-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

Please welcome Sharon Bray-McPherson to the Art Ideas discussions about a home business. You can read more about Sharon in the closing of this article.

Every day thousands of people join the ranks of home-based business owners without first pondering whether they actually have the time to operate a business successfully.

That's not to say that operating a home business on a part-time basis can't be done successfully. It can... with managed use of your time. But it may mean giving up a few of your favorite pastimes - such as having a couple of beers with the guys on Saturdays or gluing yourself to the TV on Sunday nights to watch Desperate Housewives. If the thought of doing either of those things makes you cringe, you may want to ask yourself how serious you really are about building a successful home business.

If you decide that you are willing to make the sacrifices, the first thing to do is to sit down with pencil and paper and list everything you do each day step-by-step. Take stock of the time you spend doing wasteful, time-consuming things and eliminate all that isn't necessary. After doing so, most people find that they have two to three hours each day that can be utilized in a more constructive or efficient manner.

Efficient time management boils down to planning what you're going to do, and then doing it without backtracking. Start by making a list of the things you want to do tomorrow each evening before you go to bed. Organize your daily errands to take care of as many things as possible in one trip. Not only will you save time you'll also save money on gas. The important thing is to think of time as your most valuable asset, because it is. So organize it accordingly. Decide what has to be done each day and from there it's just a matter of arranging priorities.

Set aside a specific time to do household chores that need to be done and a specific amount of time to devote to them. For instance, just one hour per day devoted to yard work would probably make your lawn the envy of all your neighbors. Whether it's painting your house, fixing leaky faucets or mowing your lawn and trimming shrubs, do one particular job each day and you'll be amazed at your progress.

Once you start listing and planning what you want to do, and then carry out your plans, you'll find that you have more time than you thought you would to devote to your home business.

Finally, and above all else, when organizing your time, don't forget to set aside some time for relaxation. Be sure to schedule time when you and your family can be together. Although it is easy to do when first starting out, do not become so pre-occupied with your business that you exclude other people - particularly your family and friends.

Taking stock of the time you waste each day, and from there, reorganizing your activities is the key. It may not always be easy to do, but you will find that once you get into the habit of setting priorities and following a set pattern to accomplish your daily goals that you will realize greater fulfillment in your business and your personal life.

About the Author

Sharon Bray-McPherson is the owner of E-Commerce Made EZ - specializing in Wholesale, Dropshipping and Online Auctions. Be sure to visit our newly redesigned website and expanded services, including the Wholesale RSS Directory. http://www.go2sbm.com/ecommerce

The life of Joan Miró

2005-10-29T14:39:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Mike McDougall to the Art Ideas discussions about Joan Miro. You can read more about Mike in the closing of this article.

Joan Miró, the legendary Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramist, was born in Barcelona in 1893. Miró's early life was nothing out of the ordinary, at age 14 he enrolled in the "Escuela Superior de Artes Industriales y Bellas Artes" where he studied for three years. After this he took on a job as a clerk In Barcelona but after suffering a nervous breakdown Miró decided that this wasn't the career for him so he returned to his studies, this time at Francesc Gali's "Escuela d'Art" where he studied for a further 3 years up until 1915. Miró's first real breakthrough came when he had an opportunity to display his art in 1917. Local art dealer José Dalman had shown an interest in the young artist's early work and used his studio for the exhibition.

From this point on Miró's career as an artist really took off. He made his first visit to Paris in 1919 and moved there a year later to be part of the artistic community in Montparnasse. It was here as well that he met his fellow countryman Pablo Picasso, for the first time. After this Miró would spend the rest of his life dividing his time between Paris and Montroig back in his native Spain. His first solo show in Paris followed quickly in 1921. Paris was the place to be for a young artist at this time, it allowed Miró to meet many other great artists and in 1924 Miró joined Andre Breton's Surrealist movement. This gave Miró the opportunity to work with fellow surreal artists Andre Masson and Max Ernst and in 1926 he helped Ernst to pioneer his "grattage" technique. Despite his ties with the movement, it has been said that he was always something of an outsider; indeed Breton later went on to say of Miró that he was "the most surrealist of us all". As Miró developed his new style he claimed that he wanted to "assassinate" and "murder" traditional painting techniques.

By the early 1930's Miró's own style was developing and he was starting to get recognised as one of the leading artists of his time. His vibrant colours and almost amoebic shapes are reminiscent of a child's drawings. On the home front, Miró had also been married to Pilar Juncosa in 1929 and this period also saw the arrival of their first daughter in 1931.

Miró was an artist revered for his adaptability and his use of different media. In 1929 he started his first experiments with lithography and his first etchings and sculptures also date from around this period. These different forms of artistic expression would go on to form a huge part of his work and, like his peer Picasso; it would ultimately make him more accessible as an artist.

The 1936, due to the outbreak of the civil war, Miró decided not the return to Spain; he moved his wife and daughter out to join him in Paris. He would not return to his homeland for nearly five years. Miró continued to experiment with new mediums and in 1944 he produced his first ceramics piece. By now his renown was worldwide and he made his first trip to America in 1947. He returned again frequently and had successful one-man shows at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York in 1951 and 1959.

Some of the highlights in Miró's glittering career include receiving the 1954 Venice Biennial printmaking prize, in 1958 he was commissioned to do two murals for the UNESCO building in Paris which won the Guggenheim International Award for and in 1980 he received the Gold Medal of Fine Arts from his sovereign, King Juan-Carlos.

Undoubtedly Miró was one of the 20th century's finest artists - his legacy lives on today and a huge volume of his work can be seen at the Fundacio Joan Miró in Barcelona, a superb museum that is a fine showcase to this extremely talented man.

About the Author

Mike McDougall has five years experience working as a travel writer and marketeer. He is currenlty working to provide additional content for Babylon-idiomas, a Spanish language school with an excellent presence in Spain and Latin America.

This work is covered by a creative commons licence

Start a Profitable Home-Based Business Now!

2005-10-29T14:35:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Steve Faber to the Art Ideas discussions about a home business. You can read more about Steve in the closing of this article.

So, you want to start a Home Based Business? According to the U.S. census, there are over 700,000 businesses in the United States with no employees, so you're definitely not alone. The best part is that about 20,000 of those businesses had gross receipts of over $1,000,000! That is over a million dollars for a single person, working out of their home. Obviously not every person starting a business is going to make anywhere near that kind of money. You need to have several things to even have a prayer of getting a solid, profitable business going. The type of home based business you are looking for is one that can pay you a very handsome profit, year after year, and allow you to take enough time off to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

So, how do you get such a business started? First, you need a plan, a real, solid business plan. The plan should encompass everything pertaining to your business;

* What type(s) of products or services you are selling

* Who your target market is

* How you will market your chosen products and/or services

* A complete financial plan including: your sources of financing, expected expenses, initial revenue projections (realistic ones)

* What resources you need to begin your business such as: office equipment, finances, vendors, a website, etc.

* Where you expect to be in one year and three years

A business plan is essential for a number of reasons. First, it causes you to think through your business carefully. You can make sure you have covered all your bases and that no details have been missed. Next, it will be a necessity in the event you need to seek financing. Investors will want to see a well thought out business plan.

The first decision you need to make when starting your home based business is: what will you be selling? There are many options. Do you have much needed expertise in a certain industry? If so, you could start a lucrative consulting business. Consultants in certain industries make $100 - $200/hr. Some are paid as a percentage of the money they save the client. That can be extremely profitable. I've personally seen consultants save businesses over a million dollars a month! If you had a fee structure such that you only received 5% of the savings, you would get a $600,000 annual paycheck! That is an abnormal, but by no means an isolated example.

You could start an online store. It is much easier to begin an online store than a bricks n' mortar operation, however you still have a lot of work to do. You'll need to, as with every business, evaluate your target market. Who are you selling to? What types of products will you be selling to your target market? You have distribution and fulfillment decisions to make as well. Will you be using a drop shipper, or will you be stocking products yourself?

Most small internet businesses, except for those that are selling products they produce or source locally, use drop shippers. The advantage to a drop shipper is you never touch or stock the products you sell. They are shipped directly from the fulfillment center to your customer. The advantage is obvious. Your inventory carrying costs are reduced or eliminated completely. You need not have a staff to package and ship your inventory either. The disadvantage to using a drop shipper is that you usually pay a little bit more, 3% - 5% on average, than you would if you used a traditional wholesaler. Many traditional wholesalers have fulfillment departments specifically for e-commerce businesses. You'll have no minimum orders, but possibly a small set up fee, usually less than $100.00. Beware of the many, many fake wholesalers on the Internet. A real wholesaler will typically be used by many online and bricks n' mortar businesses. They will buy directly from the manufacturer or importer of the products. They will not charge you a membership fee or a larger fee to get better pricing. They make their money from selling you products, not from marketing you a price list.

You could sell information products. There are four ways to obtain information products for your business:

* Create the products yourself

* Contract a third party to create them for you

* Purchase resale rights to an existing products

* Sell other's products as an affiliate

Information products are delivered as hard copies of books or other recorded media such as tapes or CD ROMs, or they are downloaded directly to your customer's computer. The download method works very well because you are paid instantly when the product is downloaded if you are selling your own products. If you are selling as an affiliate, you'll typically be paid bi-weekly or monthly. In either case, you need carry no inventory. You can sell the same product over and over again, creating a nice revenue stream. Many successful home based businesses use this approach.

Another very popular home based business is selling other businesses products as an affiliate. This approach has many advantages. You carry no inventory. You are not selling the products yourself, but being paid a commission for sales to customers referred by you. You don't have to deal with many of the headaches and expenses of traditional businesses; returns, customer service and inventory. There are many affiliates making substantial profits every month using affiliate marketing. The disadvantage is that due to low barriers to entry and low risk, there is substantial competition. You have to differentiate your business to be successful.

There are many ways you can join the exciting and profitable world of home based business. You'll free yourself from the problems of the traditional job market and enjoy a whole new life. Make the leap!

About the Author

Steve writes about a multitude of business and finance topics. He has been a principal in several businesses both online and bricks n' mortar, including one that grossed over $1.5 million a year. See The Home Based Business Opportunities Guide for great home business opportunities and valuable information about growing your home based business.

Robert Kiyosaki on Network Marketing: Why now is the best time to change

2005-10-27T16:57:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Robert Koyosaki to the Art Ideas discussions about a home business and network marketing. You can read more about Robert in the closing of this article.

"New York Times best selling author explains why everyone should own a network marketing business."

A friend I flew with in Vietnam called me the other day. He said, "I've been laid off again. What do I do now?"

Jim and I went through flight school and Vietnam together. When we returned to the states, he got a job as a pilot with the airlines and I began building my business. Jim was absolutely in love with his work. He loved flying and the company he worked for. Unfortunately, the company was with Pan American, which for those of you who are old enough to know that Pan Am went out of business, even though it was once the number one airline in America. After five years of taking odd jobs, he finally was rehired by an airline whose name I will not mention, because it is still in business today, but just barely. This is the airline he was laid off from.

"I'm 53 years old." said Jim. "I still have two kids in school. I have nothing saved for retirement. And worst of all, how am I going to find a job that pays me $85,000 a year, especially when all I know is to be a pilot?"

Job Security Is An Obsolete Idea

For those of you who have read my books or come to my seminars, you may know what I think about the idea of job security. I have said it for a year, "Job security is an obsolete idea." The reason I say this is because the issue of job security was the issue for my parents, the World War II generation. My parents grew up in the Depression and to them, just finding a job was a challenge, so when they found one, they clung on to it for dear life. Once they retired, they did not have to worry because the government pension, Social Security and Medicare were there to take care of them once they were through working. We do not have that luxury.

For those born after the WWII generation, job security is not an issue. The reason I say job security is not an issue is because there are plenty of jobs. Always remember that McDonald's is always hiring. I still see help wanted signs everywhere. So the problem is not finding a job. It is long term financial survival. For my friend Jim, a well-educated, highly skilled man, hard working man, the question is, where is he going to find another pilot's job that pays him what he needs when the airlines today, are downsizing? How will he continue to pay his mortgage, pay for his kid's college education, and put enough aside to retire on?

When Jim asked me for advice, I said, "After you find a job, this time why not start a part-time business?"

"What kind of business?" he asked.

"Why not build a network marketing business in your spare time? Why not build something you control and you own?"

"No, no way." He said. "I just want a high paying job. I want to fly again. I'm not interested in network marketing. But thanks for the advice. I'll call you back when I find a new job with another airline. I love flying and that is all I want to do."

Lifetime Job Security Is Over

Jim has not called back. It has been almost three weeks. Obviously, he did not like my advice but for you, I would like to give you the reason I offered him that advice. As I write, President Bush is in China and our military is in Afghanistan. If you cannot see the writing on the wall, let me open your eyes. The days of lifetime job security and your mutual funds going up by 20% per year are over. If you think your mutual funds will carry you after you retire, I think you had best make other plans. Why? Because what has just happened to my pilot friend Jim, will be happening to millions of people. The idea of high paying jobs and pension funds that increase by 20% per year is an obsolete idea. America is at war, battling an invisible enemy, an enemy without a country. On top of that, China is expected to pass the U.S. as a world financial power in less than ten years. It does not take a crystal ball to see that there will be plenty of jobs in America, but fewer and fewer will be high paying. Why? Because the Chinese are smart, hard working, and willing to be paid less... much less.

Jack Welch, the retired CEO of General Electric said recently, "20% to 30% of what is produced in America will soon be produced in China." In other words, in order to compete with China in the world economy, we must produce for less or lose. Highly skilled pilots like my friend Jim needs to work for less, if they want to work. Pilots need to work for less, many other professions will need to work for less and produce more in order to survive. If you have been watching the news, between the stories of Anthrax and President Bush in China, you may have caught a glimpse of Bill Gates and other American business leaders shaking hands with the Chinese. Let me say this, these leaders of American business are not there because they like Chinese food.

Network Marketing Is The Business Of The Future

The reason I suggested that my friend Jim start a network marketing business on the side is because becoming a business owner is a very wise strategy, especially at this time in history. Starting your own business gives back some control over your life. If you think your boss or company can protect you from the geopolitical forces that are at play today, I think you need to rethink that thought. There is an old song that said, "For you better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone, for the times they are changing." Our leaders are in China, not in the war zone. That should tell you how much things are going to change and change soon.

The reason I recommend network marketing is because network marketing is the business of the future. Back in the late 1990's, it was often difficult to talk to people about network marketing when the economy was so strong. It was hard to talk to people about network marketing when their mutual funds were going up by 20% per year. But those days are over. If you ever wanted to get ahead of the curve, now is the time to open your mind and look at this business of the future. Now is the time to talk to people when they too are looking for new answers and new ways to find true long-term financial security.

A network marketing business is one of the asset classes. It is a business. If you work hard and build the business, that business will give you the excess cash to acquire the real estate and stocks that will give you true long term financial security.

...security you can pass on to your loved ones. You can't do that with your job, no matter how secure it is.

My friend Jim the airline pilot is also a casualty of the September 11^th event. The problem is he is not willing to make changes. My prediction is that for employees, who are well educated, well trained and ambitious, the next few years will be tough ones. Why? Because well educated, ambitious, high paid employees are often the first to be downsized and once downsized, they often find it harder to find a job at the pay scale they were used to. In the Industrial Age, if you were well educated, hard working and experienced, you were desirable. In the Information Age, experience and age are liabilities, not assets. So with each passing year, it gets harder to re-enter the job force and find a high paying job in the new economy. As my rich dad often said, "The rules have changed. If you want to do well, change with the rules." Unfortunately, we are in time of crisis. None-the-less, for the brave at heart, now is the time to make changes, changes that will give you life time financial security which is far better than job security.

Network Marketing - It's an Asset, Not a Job

I am sometimes asked, "Why do so few people make it to the top of their network marketing system?" The truth is, the top of the network marketing system is open to everyone — unlike traditional corporate systems, which allow only one person to reach the top of the company. The reason most people do not reach the top is simply because they quit too soon. So, why someone would quit short of the top? Most people join only to make money. If they don't make money in the first few months or years, they become discouraged and quit (and then often bad-mouth the industry!). Others quit and go looking for a company with a better compensation plan, but joining to make a few quick dollars is not the reason to get into the business.

The Two Essential Reasons to Join a Network Marketing Business

Reason number one is to help yourself. Reason number two is to help others. If you join for only one of these two reasons, then the system will not work for you. Reason number one, means that you come to the business primarily to change quadrants — to change from the E (Employee) or the S (Self-employed) quadrant to the B (Business owner) or I (Investor) quadrant. This change is normally very difficult for most people — because of money. The true 'E' or 'S' quadrant person will not work unless it is for money. This is also what causes people to not reach the top of the network marketing system: they want money more than they want to change quadrants. A 'B' quadrant or 'I' quadrant person will also work for money, but in a different way. The 'B' quadrant person works to build or create an asset — in this case, a business system. The 'I' quadrant person invests in the asset or the system. As a 'B' or an 'I', sometimes you don't get paid for years; this, a true 'E' quadrant or 'S' quadrant person will not do. It's not part of their core values. Risk and delayed gratification disturb them emotionally.

Delayed Gratification and Emotional Intelligence

One of the beauties of network marketing is that it focuses on developing your emotional intelligence as well as your business skills. Emotional intelligence is an entirely different matter from academic intelligence. In general, someone with high emotional intelligence will often do better than someone with high academic intelligence but low emotional intelligence. That explains, in part, why some people do well in school but not so well in the real world. The ability to delay gratification is a sign of higher emotional intelligence. In a recent study of emotional intelligence, it was found that people who could delay gratification often led more successful lives than those who could not. This is why the educational system inherent in a good network marketing opportunity is so important. It's the emotional education or emotional intelligence aspect of their programs that I find so valuable for people.

Many people write me and tell me they loved my book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, but I fear that many of them don't get the most important point of the book: Lesson #1, "The rich don't work for money." Once I have built or bought an asset, that asset works hard to make money for me. But I will not work for money — I will work only to build or buy assets. Those assets make me richer and richer, while I work less and less. That is what the rich do. The poor and middle class work hard for money, and then buy liabilities instead of investing in assets.

What Kind of Asset is a Network Marketing Business?

Remember, there are two reasons to be successful in network marketing: to help yourself, and to help others. Reason number one means helping yourself get to the 'B' side of the quadrant. What about reason number two? Remember, there are two reasons to be successful in network marketing: to help yourself, and to help others. Reason number one means helping yourself get to the 'B' side of the quadrant. What about reason number two?

The beauty of most network marketing systems is that you don't really make much money unless you help others leave the 'E' and 'S' quadrants and succeed in the 'B' and 'I' quadrants. If you focus on helping others make this shift, then you will be successful in the business. If you only want to teach yourself to be a 'B' quadrant and 'I' quadrant person, then a true network marketing system won't work for you. You may as well go to a traditional business school, which focuses only on your becoming a 'B' quadrant person.

The beauty of a network marketing business is that your goal is to create assets, which are other 'B's working under you — and their job is to create other 'B's working under them. In traditional business, the focus is for the 'B' to have only 'E's and 'S's working for them.

The type of business I was taught to build is a business with me at the top and 'E's and 'S's at the base. I really don't have room at the top for many other 'B's, which is why in my businesses, I strongly recommend that all my employees look into network marketing as their own part-time business.

The traditional corporate system really is a pyramid, because there are a few 'B's and 'I's near the top, and more 'E's and 'S's at the base. A network marketing system is a reverse pyramid: its primary focus is to bring more and more 'B's to the top.

One type of pyramid, the traditional type, has its base on the ground; the other type has its base in the air. It's a pyramid that pulls you up instead of pushing you down. A network marketing business gives everyone access to what used to be the domain only of the rich.

Robert Kiyosaki's site RichDad.com is the place to begin your journey to financial freedom with access to media, forums, events and more.

The Life and Works of Henri Matisse

2005-10-27T12:43:00.000-04:00

Please welcome David Sasson to the Art Ideas discussions about Henri Matisse. You can read more about David in the closing of this article.

The undisputed leader of the Fauve Group, and regarded as one of the great formative figures in 20th century art, Henri Matisse was a master of the use of color and form to convey emotional expression.

Born on December 31, 1869 in Cateau-Cambresis, in the north of France, Matisse grew up in a middle-class family. Eventually, he studied and began to practice law. However, while recovering from a medical ailment, Matisse began painting and became intrigued by it. Soon, he gave up his law practice and moved to Paris to study art formally.

In 1893, Matisse's work was noticed by Gustav Moreau, an art teacher in Paris. Moreau eventually asked Matisse to join his atelier without requiring an entrance exam. Matisse officially joined Moreau's atelier in 1895. In 1896 and 1897, Matisse first exhibited his work in the Salon de la Société Nationale.

Matisse's early style was a conventional form of naturalism, using many of the elements found in the works of several of the old masters. He also heavily studied more contemporary art, especially that of the impressionists.

Matisse's eventual artistic liberation, in terms of the use of color to render forms and organize spatial planes, came through the influence of French painters Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin and the tragic Dutchman, Vincent van Gogh. Later, he developed his style further after the work of Henri Edmond Cross and Paul Signac, using small strokes of pure pigment to create the strongest visual vibration of intense color.

In 1905, Matisse's liberation was easily shown in several of his commissioned works for Sergey Shchukin, a Moscow industrialist, who frequently bought out Matisse's studios around this time. Shchukin requested that Matisse paint two murals for the grand staircase of his house in Moscow, the Trubetskoy Palace. The themes of the paintings were to be "Dance" and "Music."

One of the paintings that came from Shchukin's assignment was The Dance, or La Danse. Matisse is said to have gotten the idea for this painting in Collioure in 1905 while watching fishermen and peasants on the beach in a circular dance called a sardana. Although the traditional sardana is a rather stately routine, La Danse is a strikingly more intense version. The circle of stamping and twisting represents every motion to be as ancient as the dance itself.

In 1914, war broke out in France. Too old to fight, Matisse was too wise to imagine that his art could interpose itself between history and its victims, and he was too certain of his alms as an artist to change them. Through the war years, Matisse's art grew more and more abstract, as well as more amplified. A good example of his style during this time period can be seen in The Moroccans from 1916.

In 1917, Matisse moved permanently to the South of France. "In order to paint my pictures, I need to remain for several days in the same state of mind, and I do not find this in any atmosphere but that of the Cote d'Azure," he said. He spent most of the rest of his days living in the Hotel Regina in a vast apartment where he was able to have room to create. The elements of his time in his new residence frequently appeared in many of his later paintings. In fact, Matisse once said he wanted his art to have the effect of a good armchair on a tired businessman.

Overall, Matisse's work reflects a number of influences, including stylized forms of the masks and sculpture of African art, the decorative quality of Near Eastern art, the brightness of the French impressionists and the simplified forms of Cézanne and the cubists.

Although he was often bedridden during his last years, he was able to keep himself occupied by creating works of brilliantly colored paper cutouts on canvas called decoupage. Matisse died in 1954 in Nice, having enjoyed international fame and adoration from critics, collectors, and younger painters - something not many artists in history were able to do.

Several other notable works by Matisse include:

Interior with a Violin Case.

Still Life with Oranges.

Blue Nude II.

Red Fish.

GA-003

About the Author

David Sasson has worked in the wall art industry for over 5 years. He now heads OverstockArt.com. OverstockArt.com provides hand-made oil reproductions of paintings by master artists. Acquire magnificent recreations of works by Matisse, Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet and many others today at OverstockArt.com.

Stay Away From Home Business Scams

2005-10-27T12:32:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Thomas Choo to the Art Ideas discussions about a home business. You can read more about Thomas in the closing of this article.

You've seen an ad somewhere, or you've been approached by someone, and it tells of a great work from home opportunity. It was all about various get rich money making system, and you're excited. Finally, you can quit your job!

If you're thinking of working from home by someone else's rules, though, you have to realise that many of the offers out there are scams - Internet business scams, get rich money making system, work from home scams, and others claiming to be scam free work from home. After all, if it was that easy to pay a few dollars and make thousands, wouldn't everyone be doing it by now? Here are the biggest work from scams out there, how to recognise them, say no to them and how to avoid them.

Source of Offer

Where did you see that work from home no scam offer? If you got it in the post, or by email, or saw it on a poster taped around a telephone pole, then I can guarantee you right now that it's not a legitimate offer. If you saw the ad in a newspaper, in a jobs magazine or on a jobs website, then it's a little more likely to be legit - but not much. Always check out any offer, and assume it's a scam until you have iron-clad proof to the contrary.

Envelope Stuffing.

This is the most established work-from-home scam, and no, it's not new, it's been going for decades now. Basically, once you pay your money and sign up free to work from home, you're sent a set of envelopes and ads just like the one you responded to. You might make some money if someone responds to your ad, but eventually there just won't be a market for it any more. Anyway, work from home offers like this are illegal pyramid schemes.

You won't make any money putting letters in envelopes - get over it.

Charging for Supplies.

The practice of charging for supplies is hard to pin down to any one scam - it's the way almost all work-from-home scams work (including the envelope stuffing, above). You'll be asked to make a small "investment" for whatever materials would be needed to do the work, sometimes even for free - and then you'll be sent very shoddy materials that aren't worth anything like what you paid, and you'll find that there's no market for the work anyway.

If anyone asks for money upfront, run. A real company should be willing to deduct any 'fees' from your first pay cheque - if they won't do that for you, then that's because they don't ever plan to pay you. It is their get rich money making system.

Working for Free.

This variation on the work from home scam is common with crafts. You might be asked to work at home making clothes, ornaments or toys. Everything seems legitimate - you've got the free materials without paying out any money, and you're doing the work. Unfortunately for you, when you send the work back, the company will tell you that it didn't meet their 'quality standards', and will refuse to pay you. Then they'll sell on what you made at a profit, and move on to the next sucker.

Never do craft work from home unless you're selling the items yourself. Note that you don't need to be selling to consumers (you could be selling to wholesalers), but you still need to be the one deciding what you make and getting the money.

Home Typing, Medical Billing, and More.

There are lots of work-from-home or internet business scams that involve persuading you that some industry has more work than it can handle, and so has to outsource to people working from home. For example, you might be told that you'd be typing legal documents, or entering medical bills into an electronic database. These scams have one thing in common: they all say that all you need is your computer, and they all then go on to say that you need to buy some 'special software'.

This software might appear to be from a completely unrelated company, but don't be fooled - the whole reason the 'work-from-home' ad was there to begin with was simply as cynical marketing for the software.

As you can see, running a 'home business' that just involves 'working' for one company is a bad idea. You don't know who you're dealing with. Here's the clincher, though: even with entirely legal work-at-home offers that do pay you for your work, you still won't make anywhere near as much as you can with your very own home business. So why bother with them at all?

About the Author

Thomas Choo is the self-styled Internet Entrepreneur specializing in Internet Home Based Business Opportunity. He owns several popular websites. His flagship web site also features quick steps to building niche web sites, as well as a special article series on work from home businesses.

How to understand the investment potential of an artists work

2005-10-22T11:44:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Sian Whitehall to the Art Ideas discussions about the art buying guide. You can read more about Sian in the closing of this article.

An artist's background is important and definitely impacts on the value of their artworks. Most of us understand that an artwork by an established or accomplished artist is worth more than that of an lesser known artist. An investment quality contemporary artwork is usually made by an artist who has specific art education, who has successfully exhibited his or her works and has some gallery placements. Like all material investments, artworks represent both intrinsic value and expected return. For art collectors and investors, knowledge of the artist's educational background and exhibition history gives clues about the success and future success of an artist. To be a successful art investor doesn't require an extensive knowledge or a great eye for art but it will help you to understand in your choices if you are aware of some indicators of an advantageous investment artist.

In term of education, mastering art technical skills and knowledge is currently a desirable educational stepping stone for successful artists. Many aspiring artists acquire an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degree. In earning an advanced degree, students make artwork under the tutelage of working artists who teach both skills and ideas. Formal education in art exposes aspiring artists to peer criticisms and guidance, helps them build connections and relationships that assist them to have their work exhibited as well as having other advantages both for the practical act of making art and in having the skills and forming the relationships to promote that art.

Artists build their careers over time. For any artist to become successful it is necessary to promote their artwork and this is generally done through exhibits. An artist who may be a worthy investment has a mixture of solo or two artist exhibitions roughly every two years in notable galleries. Most favourable artists will also have their art hung in museum exhibitions. A placement of an artwork with a museum is considered a significant achievement. In most cases, particularly with emerging artists - if their education and exhibition history indications are favourable and the artwork is aesthetically pleasing to you, then it is a good investment. Depending on what stage of their career an artist is currently. It may also be informative to look at the auction results of their artworks to see if the value of their artwork is steadily increasing. As a tangible investment, artworks represent both intrinsic value and expected return. As a final rule remember to buy only what you love as every art investment is always going to be partly ornamental and partly investment.

Please accept my invitation to visit http://www.smartartinvestments.com.au to view some fine Australian investment art and learn more about the art of investment.

About the Author

Sian Whitehall is the co creator of Smart Art Investments. A unique website developed for people who are new at looking at art, are interested in Australian art, who are currently or at some time in their lives want to be investors or collectors of art and for people who want to buy art.

The Advantages of Having a Home Business

2005-10-22T11:38:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Jan Wilhelm to the Art Ideas discussions about a home business. You can read more about Jan in the closing of this article.

The most evident advantage of having a home business is that you can be more involved in your family life. I'm not just talking about stay at home Moms. A good deal of the time, the man is the main breadwinner. Often he is away from home most of the week. Today's man values his family life. He wants to help raise his children. Having a "work at home" business allows him to actively participate with the children.

Because so many businesses are failing or downsizing, the online business field has become very popular. Whether it is the husband or the wife (often couples work as a team in a home business) there is someone there for the kids. No taking off work if your child is sick. You don't have to ask the boss if you can take off early to see your son's soccer game. You are there. The amount of quality time you can spend with your children will greatly increase.

Many lines in your family budget will decrease when you start working from home. Gas prices have gone sky high! It doesn't take any gas to walk from the bedroom to the home office. Look at the time you will save with no commute. Your clothing budget will probably decrease also. There is no need for expensive dress clothes and shoes when you are working from home. No longer will you feel like you have to go out to lunch with your office mates. Keep that refrigerator stocked with fruits, vegetables and other nutritious items. Not only will you save money, but you will be healthier.

<>You will also save on your taxes. I cannot give advice on this subject since I am not a qualified accountant, but some of the advantages are obvious. Part of your mortgage will become tax deductible if you have a dedicated office area. Of course items that you buy for the business are deductible. Don't be afraid to spend money on advertising your business. It is deductible. If you are serious about your home business, you need the advice of an accountant. You will benefit from it. To me, one of the best reasons to have a home business is that I am my own boss. I have always worked very hard for other people. Sometimes I was rewarded, usually I wasn't.

As my own boss, I will reap all the rewards of my hard work. I won't have to put up with the idiosyncrasies of a boss. I will not have to deal with office politics. I am the boss and I am in charge. The greatest reward I have found in having my own "work at home" business is that I now have so much more confidence in myself. It was really scary starting out, but as I progress, my self-confidence grows. I am learning new things. Who would think a 60 year old would learn HTML so she could redesign her website? I did it! I have learned to network with others in my field. So much can be learned form them. As I grow in knowledge, I will pass it on to those new in the field. I encourage you to investigate the "work at home" industry.

Don't jump on promises of overnight wealth. It doesn't happen. Look for a legitimate, stable opportunity. If you have the dream of working from home, do something about it. Don't just dream, take action. With work and determination, who knows what you will be able to accomplish.

About the Author

Jan Wilhelm has researched many home business opportunities. To make it easy for you she has compiled them in a directory. Visit http://www.ProfitsR4U.com It is easy. All you do is click on the opportunity, read about it and decide if it fits you. There is something there for everyone! Stop wasting time. Pursue your dream. Go to http://www.ProfitsR4U.com today!

Affordable Paintings: Art Prints Buying Guide

2005-10-17T22:19:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Joel Walsh to the Art Ideas discussions about the art buying guide. You can read more about Joel in the closing of this article.

The fastest way to bring beauty and style to a room is to put up prints of beautiful paintings. Here's what you should consider:

Painting Prints Price Range:

Expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $50-$500 for an unframed print--anything less than $50 is likely a poster. You should expect to pay a similar amount to have the print framed--note that many prints are designed to be exhibited without frames.

Before art prints were sold online, the only way to get them was through galleries or museum shops, which had to charge a large markup. Nowadays, art prints rarely cost more than a few hundred dollars, and it is possible to find good-quality prints for under $100. Still, those lower prices generally come on prints that have been put on sale. Expect to pay more for perennial favorites like Van Gogh's "Starry Night".

Selection

There is at least one print of every painting or photograph on display in a museum anywhere. Thanks to the internet, you can find the right art print among the tens of thousands in existence and have it sent to you, regardless of where the original is located. Since websites will let you browse thumbnail images of the artwork, it's easy to find a particular piece even if all you know about it is the name of the artist or even just the time period in which it was created.

Painting Print Media

Prints are available in a variety of print stocks.

Prints vs. Original Paintings

If all you're interested in is a picture to decorate your wall, rather than in collecting, prints are a better value than original paintings. Here's why:

* Expense. Creating an original work of art generally takes weeks. If you had to employ someone for several weeks or several months, how much do you think it would cost at even a modest salary? That's why original artwork generally costs at least thousands of dollars. In order to have a real chance of your work of art having investment value, you need to buy the work of an artist who is moving up in the art market.

* Questionable investment value. Original artwork only has investment value if the price goes up eventually. Very often, the price does not. In short, if you're interested in investing, buy stocks--it's a safer bet. Only buy art because *you* value it.

* Knowledge. You need to be very knowledgeable about what you are doing. Make no mistake: there's plenty of fraud in this business. There is also plenty of wishful thinking on the part of art dealers when it comes to a work's long-term market prospects.

Ready to make your home more beautiful with prints of great paintings? You're already in the right place: the internet has numerous websites offering an unbelievable array of art prints. Start looking now.

About the Author

About the author: Joel Walsh has written a buying guide for art prints at: http://www.a1-paintings.com?%20paintings [Publish this article on your website! Requirement: live link for above URL/web address w/ link text/anchor text: "paintings" OR leave this bracketed message intact.]

Avoiding Common Work at Home Business Pitfalls

2005-10-17T22:07:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Charles Fuchs to the Art Ideas discussions about a home business. You can read more about Charles in the closing of this article.

Not everything works for everyone, everytime, so understanding how to avoid certain work at home business pitfalls can keep you from relying too heavily on methods used by other companies that may not work for you. Know your own business needs to avoid certain work at home business pitfalls that so many other organizations fall into.

First, understand that how and where you advertise make a difference in how effective it will be for your business. One of the most common work at home business pitfalls is to assume that any advertising will work for your business. However, you need to target your advertising to bring in the right consumers. Define your market, and create advertising to target that market.

Another one of the common work at home business pitfalls is to believe if you start a business people will flock to it. Starting and maintaining a business takes a lot of work. You will need to advertise and network to build your work at home business. Making personal contact with potential clients will bring in significantly more business than advertising alone.

Customer service is key to building and maintaining your business. So you want to make sure you treat your clients well. However, another one of the most common work at home business pitfalls is believing that you need to hold onto every business relationship, no matter what. Make sure you weigh out some of your problematic clients with what they are costing you and your business. It is not all about the bottom line, either. If you have a client that is keeping you up at night, you may want to consider breaking off the relationship.

Of the common work at home business pitfalls, believing that if something works, it works for everyone or in every situation will cause your business to have slow to little growth. Yes, you may have done it that way since you started your work at home business, but the method may need to change for your growing business. It is always good to keep an open mind.

You can try, but as your business grows you won't be able to do it all anymore. Starting your business from your home may have been a way to get away from the rat race, another of the common work at home business pitfalls is to try to do it all alone. If something is not your strength or you no longer have the time to complete common tasks, you need to see if it is within your budget to get someone to help you out.

Read the rest of the article here: Avoiding Common Work at Home Business Pitfalls.

Download the Free Work at Home Manual (Free $97 Value!) and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established online marketer who specializes in helping people start their very own Home Based Business. He specializes in showing people the best way to Make Money at Home.

I grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.

About the Author

Secret Home Based Business Opportunities

2005-10-15T00:27:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Randy Wilson to the Art Ideas discussions about a home business. You can read more about Randy in the closing of this article.

Ever wonder what type of Secret Home Based Business Opportunities you could cash in on to be one of those people driving around in Jags and Beemers? Do you ever wonder how those people find the money for those cars?

Are they doctors, lawyers, politicians, CEOs? Some of them are, most certainly. However, many of them have taken advantage of some simple Secret Home Based Business Opportunities that manage to stay under everyone else's radar.

It's a fact that working 9 to 5 makes few people wealthy. It mostly just makes them tired and discouraged. You know that. It may even be why you're reading this.

What you'd love more than anything are some Secret Home Based Business Opportunities you could start to help ease your financial burdens--and hopefully make you rich.

Well, Secret Home Based Business Opportunities may be a lot closer than you think. Hey, they could be as close as your closet. Yes, one of the hottest secret opportunities going is to take your old clothes, coats, handbags, even belts, and sell them. You read that correctly, yes, sell them.

Many consignment shops have opened in the last several years, and they're just begging for high-quality clothing and accessories to stock their store shelves with. You might even consider opening a consignment store of your own.

Children's clothing is an especially good Secret Home Based Business Opportunities that most people don't think of. Fleas market, garage sales and consignment stores are all great ways to take advantage of these secret money making opportunities. If you're buying used clothing to resell, always barter for the cheapest price and resell for a higher one. You'll be amazed at just how profitable this can be.

Your garage or basement is another great place to find Secret Home Based Business Opportunities. Car parts, lawnmowers, hedge clippers, leaf blowers that you have sitting in there after you've upgraded to newer models can easily be resold. And for a lot more money than you think.

Plus, you have the advantage of not having to put out great or, for that matter, any money at all to get started. In fact, you can start this sort of secret home based business right now. You probably won't get rich, at least not right away, but you will be making extra money. And isn't that the real point?

Another thing to think about when searching for secret money making ideas are to consider your hobbies. Do you love to build birdhouses? Dollhouses? Bake cakes, breads, pies, cookies? Or maybe you love to knit or crochet. Sew and embroider clothing. All of these are great secret money making ideas. To tell you the truth, almost any handcrafted or baked items are terrific Secret Home Based Business Opportunities--and at higher profits than you might imagine. Many times, people think that because they know how to do something, everyone else does too. It isn't true, though. But those people do love to buy handcrafted or baked items. Check at local craft stores, flea markets, consignment stores, even online auctions as means of selling your crafts.

As a final idea on where to look for Secret Home Based Business Opportunities, think about services you can offer. Many secret home businesses are available for typists, telemarketers, office assistants, researchers, writers, editors, public relations professionals, event planners, and wedding planners.

This list is just the tip of the iceberg, too. You have skills and knowledge no one else has. Why not turn them into your own Secret Home Based Business Opportunities? The possibilities are endless--and highly profitable.

All it takes is for you to choose from the many secret money making opportunities available, and then create a plan for turning your choice into a secret home business. You won't get rich overnight, but you will be surprised at how quickly your business grows.

Actually, your secret home based business is likely to grow faster and become more profitable than you ever dreamed. In fact, it will probably grow so fast and so profitable that it'll be impossible to keep it a secret for long!

About the Author

Randy has dozens of home based business articles at Home Businesses such as Unusual Business Opportunities.

Twelve Art Marketing Tips

2005-10-15T00:20:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Nita Leland to the Art Ideas discussions about pop art. You can link to Nita's website in the closing of this article.

Marketing for artists isn't all that different from any other kind of marketing. You're simply promoting a product and, along with it, yourself. However, most artists find it hard to sell their own art, let alone go all out and sell themselves, but that's what a collector is buying. You may feel awkward talking about your art process and describing your techniques to non-artists. It seems pushy. Artists often claim they don't want to sell their art because they're just painting for personal satisfaction, but I've met very few who aren't pleased when somebody likes a piece well enough to put hard cash down for it. Once that happens, they usually begin to think about how they can make it happen again.

You may just need a little shove in the right direction. Here are a few tips to get you started. Use these recommendations as a starting point for your art marketing plan.

Do you know what you do?
You must have a clear picture of yourself as an artist. Describe yourself in 25 words or less, for example, "I paint watercolors of wild baby animals and sell originals, prints and notecards at art fairs and in gift shops." If you run on describing four different media and ten assorted subjects, you're in trouble. You need to FOCUS.
What is your goal?
To join the art fair circuit? To sell in a gallery? To have your work in museums? Each of these goals calls for a different approach. But you can't plan your strategy until you know exactly where you're heading. FOCUS! And be realistic about what is actually doable for you.
What is your market?
Be very specific about this. Not just any gallery, but the XYZ Gallery in Roanoke; not just any art fair, but the Navy Pier show in Chicago. And not just any customer, but those interested in wild waterfowl, mammals of the Southwestern desert or baby animals in the wild. Did I mention FOCUS?
What tools do you need?
The basics are business cards and letterhead. They don't have to be fancy, but a logo is nice if you have one--it helps people to remember you. I used to have a Canada goose on my cards and customers frequently recognized me by that image. Indicate what you do (remember #1?) and refer to it on your card: "Watercolors of Wildlife." Once your work is selling, have a brochure, flyers or color postcards printed. Carry a small album with you, showing photographs of your work. (Use only top quality photos for this.) You may eventually want to put up your own web site.
How will you use these tools?
Join art groups and network at art events whenever possible. Pass out cards to everyone within reach, whether you're at an art event or a PTA meeting. Visit trade shows and mingle with other artists and art industry people. Write letters to people you meet in galleries and at art fairs and send out press releases about your shows and activities--on your letterhead. Do community service, offering a free class or demonstrations at the natural history museum or community college. What you do will be noticed.
Start a mailing list.
List everyone you know and everyone you meet. Keep the names on index cards or, better yet, on a database, if you have a computer. Mark the names so you know what their connection is and what their potential is as a possible customer or exhibition sponsor. Keep the list up to date. You'll be glad you have it every time you plan a show or introduce a new painting or print.
Budget your time.
You must allow adequate time for marketing--some say as much as fifty per cent--but don't get so caught up in it that you haven't time to make art. Your art has to come first. Set priorities.
Budget your money.
The money aspect has at least two sides to it. First, you have to make your prices fit your market. Are you near a college campus? You can't expect college students to pay Sotheby's prices for your art, but if they like wildlife, they will buy if you make it affordable. Second, you have to pay for your marketing materials so you can get more customers to buy your work. It's true that word of mouth is your best advertising, but you need to prime the pump. Once you're established, you can adjust your prices upward. But don't stop doing the marketing.
Write out a step-by-step plan for your art events and promotion.
Don't leave anything to chance when planning your exhibit at an art fair, for example. Plan your display, decide how to handle sales, prepare for inclement weather, have handouts ready and plenty of change. Set out a pad to collect names for your mailing list. Give every exhibition or event the same careful attention.
Follow up.
Write notes to customers and show sponsors. Remember their names and they'll remember you. Above all, don't procrastinate.
Be professional.
Once you decide to go for it, do it right. If you're framing your own artwork, do it well with clean, beautifully cut mats and suitable frames. Otherwise, have it done professionally. If you're approaching a gallery, check it out to be sure it's suitable for your work. Don't take your wild baby animals to a gallery that features abstract art. Make a clean presentation with an organized portfolio and don't show up without an appointment.
Review your marketing plan again and again.
Evaluate what you do and refine your program on a regular basis. Look for new opportunities and venues for your art marketing. Success won't usually come overnight, but if you keep at it, your efforts will be rewarded.

For more information on art marketing, check out the listings in the Marketing section of my Links pages and Business section of my books pages.

Buying Pop Art Paintings

2005-10-13T14:09:00.000-04:00

Please welcome J Winter to the Art Ideas discussions about pop art. You can read more about J Winter in the closing of this article.

Contrary to popular belief Pop Art actually started in the UK in the 1950's and not in the USA in the 1960's as most people assume. One phrase espoused by art historians which fairly describes the origins of modern pop art is that pop art was born in England and grew up in America . Now aged well over 50, the good news is that Pop Art is very much alive and kicking and looking very sprightly for its age. In fact, in more recent times there appears to have been something of a renaissance of young pop artists around the globe - again finding its origins in the United Kingdom and, once again, moving west to the USA .

Many small galleries, websites, eBay and even more traditional décor retailers are now featuring a range of affordable pop art paintings. So what's so new about this? Pop Art's been around for a long time hasn't it? Isn't it old school?

Some would argue that the recent and re-explosion of the retail trade in the sale of original Pop Art paintings is the post-modern realisation of Warhol's vision of the role of art within modern society. Warhol's work in democratising art production and ownership were naturally hindered by the physical limitations of the amount of art he could personally produce. This inspired Warhol to set up his Art Factory (a studio production team mainly producing screen prints of Andy's original designs in the earlier years and a fully autonomous art machine in later years).

However, one might argue that Andy Warhol's achievements in canonising pop art, whilst of course outstanding for the work of just one man, didn't fully realise the mandate of a pop/popular post-modern art form in that they were inextricably enmeshed with his personality and artist-as-celebrity status. Industrialist art emancipates art from the modernist notion of the struggling artist working magic in his lonely garret and returns instead to an earlier model of the art studio collective producing art to order.

One might therefore adopt the belief that this earlier pre-renaissance model of art production, rather than being outmoded, tallies more with a post-modern realisation of the role art occupies in society and defies the now archaic modernist notion of the artist as inspired genius. That's why this author contends that we young new breed of Pop Artists have truly democratised art production and ownership - claiming it back from the aficionados and beard-stroking critics who stole art from the people from whom it finds its genesis.

Once was the time that every abode was adorned with original art from the first daubs on cave walls to the highly decorated homes of the Egyptians through to the intensely decorated artefacts of the Celts. Pop art in one sense has reduced art to the mundane (Warhol's Campbell Soup can being an obvious example) and yet, simultaneously, elevated popular culture, media and celebrity itself to the lofty heights of art.

The most encouraging thing about this new-breed of pop artists is the way it offers, at last, real art back to the people at a price every working man or woman can afford - a price dictated by the labour involved in its production only and free from the price hikes that galleries would make in order to preserve it for the very elite.

This is the reason why this author strongly believes that Pop Art, rather than being an historical art movement, is in fact the true future of art - its art for the people, by the people. In fact with the ever consistent growth of the importance of celebrity and popular culture you can certainly expect to see pop art around for a long time yet.

About the Author

J Winter, BA, MA. Art Director. Urban Fine Arts.
Buy Pop Art | Urban Fine Arts

Home Based Business Income Opportunities - Making Them Work

2005-10-13T14:00:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Peter Alderton , again, to the Art Ideas discussions about advantages of a home business. You can read more about Peter in the closing of this article.

The many home based business income opportunities available both online and off will help you bring in extra cash each month. It will take time to build an Internet business and as you gradually gain more experience, you will notice that the monthly checks get higher. With most home based business income opportunities, just setting up a business does not mean you are going to get rich immediately. You have to put the time into building the business one step at a time. That applies to internet home based business income opportunities as well, but it can be faster.

There are many possibilities for setting up a home based business. You do need to have a product that consumers want to buy, just as with a brick and mortar business. You don't need to be a computer Guru to make money with Internet business ideas and it will not cost you a lot of money to get started. Since you work at home on your own time, you don't have the overhead of rent or salaries to pay out. You work for yourself when you have been able to take advantage of good home based business income opportunities and reap the benefits.

You can stock your garage or basement with one or more products that you want to sell through your own website and then when you receive an order you ship it out to the customer. However, this means that your Internet business startup costs will be high. An alternative in Internet business ideas is to process the orders and send them directly to the manufacturer, collect the money from the customer when they pay on your secure site with a credit card. Although this does cut down on the startup costs, with these sorts of home based business income opportunities you do need a merchant account, which means extra monthly fees and restrictions.

Why not avoid all this hassle by simply becoming an affiliate on your website? Becoming an affiliate for a range of products is one of the best internet home based business income opportunities available. You can display a picture of the product, a simple description of it or a detailed article of how the customer can benefit from purchasing it. By availing yourself of free home based business income opportunities offered by affiliate businesses, you just provide a link to the company from your website. The customer clicks on this link and orders directly from the company. This is one of the most used home based Internet business ideas of all and you can do it all from your home, and is one of the best home based business income opportunities.

Start jotting down ideas for products that you know are good and that people want to buy. Search the Internet for affiliates offering free home based business income opportunities for these products and then start building your website. You can have a menu on one side of the page with all kinds of products so that customers can choose the ones they would like more information on. With home based business income opportunities using affiliate marketing, you can give details of your experiences with the products so that those who click on your site will respect your opinion.

There are some great home based business income opportunities available on the net.

About the Author

To download a free copy of Peter's Guide To The Ideal Home Business visit Peter's Website Work From Home Solutions at http://www.work-from-home-solutions.com/ and find out about The Best Home Business and more, including Internet Home Business at http://www.work-from-home-solutions.com/internet-home-business.html

Art Schools, The Artist's Choice!

2005-10-12T01:06:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Linda Emerson to the Art Ideas discussions about options for becoming an artist. You can read more about Linda in the closing of this article.

Is Art School necessary to be a good artist?

Being creative or artistic is truly a gift, a talent. But as with any talent, it needs to be tempered, honed, and optimized. Without proper training, one might never achieve the potential he or she was born with. And to help you hone your talents, you will need a good Art school!

Any educational institution that offers training in the arts may be called an art school.

They may offer vocational, undergraduate, or graduate and even post-graduate courses.

These schools focus their trainings on the visual arts such as illustration, painting, advertising design, graphical arts, photography, sculpture, and other artistic expressions. In the last few years, even game design has become institutionalized. This means that the art of designing game graphics has become serious business.

If the college is accredited it will grant you a Bachelor' degree in Fine Arts or a B. A. in Fine Arts or some other certification and degree.

A successful future in the Arts industry depends on choosing the right school to hone your talents. When choosing an Art school, consider the following factors.

What Can You Benefit from an Art School? You may be tempted to think you will be able to wing it through a career without any formal training. That is possible. However, since industries are constantly looking for professionals who can abide by industry standards, those with Art degrees get a competitive edge. Also, in Arts school you learn from other professionals what these industries expect of their artists. This helps you be more prepared for work with professional companies.

Art school will also benefit your art technique. Your innate talent will benefit from the proven concepts and techniques you can learn here.

Art school also develops in its students a love and appreciation for the different forms of art. It opens to the student new vistas of learning and expressing. Even if only for that reason, Art school would be worth every penny paid to it.

What You Won't Learn at Arts School Art school, however, will not teach you passion and drive. You must have both and mix them with your innate talent and hard work. You have to develop an intimate relationship with your profession to be able to maximize your potential.

Choose a School Different schools have different strengths, find a school that plays to your strengths and has specialization in the field of your choice. Some will have a style of teaching that maximizes your skills. Some will expose you to techniques that will make you twice a better artist than you already are. They key here is for you to know yourself. Know how you learn, what interests you, what your tendencies are. This will help you visualize how you will react when faced with the rigors of school.

Meet New Friends! Do you know that at art school, many of your colleagues will go on to be successful artists? Everyone at your school will have varied skills and different strengths. Use your time as school wisely so that you get to meet these people and learn from them. They could learn a thing or two from you too!

School is an excellent place to build professional relationships. When you all go out into the industry, your connections and friendships will be instrumental to your success.

It would do no harm to start looking at the educational background of your admired artists. Checking out the schools they came from will give an idea of the sort of training these artists went through. From here, you may make decisions as to whether you would like to choose the same school as they did.

The Verdict? Sign Up for an Art School Today Your choice of school is an investment that will last you a lifetime. Proper care and investigation in choosing such is truly important. When you are comfortable with your choice of design school, you can now chart your path towards a successful career.

Art school might be the most important decision you will make. Without proper training, your chances at success are greatly diminished. With Art schools you can be assured of a brighter, more artistic future!

About the Author

For more great art school info check out: http://www.artschoolinsider.com ©Copyright 2005 Linda Emerson - This article may be republished as long as this section is included and all links are left live.

A Home Business Career - Work From Home

2005-10-12T01:01:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Peter Alderton to the Art Ideas discussions about advantages of a home business. You can read more about Peter in the closing of this article.

Having a home business career has become a real possibility with the dawn of the Internet. This brought about the beginning of a new way of life for many people. Instead of struggling to make ends meet with a low paying job, now you can have a business career at home by operating your own Internet business. This is not a difficult task and the cost of getting everything set up is not at all high. You can stay at home, work when you like and dress how you like with a home business career.

Many people shy away from the idea of a home business career because they feel it means door-to-door selling or managing home parties to sell products. With the advances in technology, you can have your own turnkey Internet business with just the click of your mouse. Getting started with this type of Internet home business does mean you have to do a little research to find out what it is that consumers want to buy.

Online shopping makes it possible for you to have an Internet home business career that you operate from home. With the convenience of the online retailers being open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, more and more consumers shop for just about everything they need through the Internet. An online pharmacy, for example, is a very profitable type of turnkey Internet business as is selling hard to find products, such as plus size clothing.

The wealth of information available on the Internet about various turnkey businesses and how you can get started right away is overwhelming. You do need to find a home business career in something that you really love, whether it is jewelry, address labels, or hot tubs. Anything and everything is sold on the Internet and setting up your own website is the first step involved in having your own home business career. You can write articles to lead in to each product and link to another company if you wish to become an affiliate and make money this way. Either way, a turnkey Internet business is profitable.

You do have to be patient because success with a turnkey Internet business does not happen overnight. You do have to build up the website in the search engine rankings so that people looking for the product you sell will find it. In addition to setting up your own home business career with an Internet site, you can have Google ads that pay you every time someone clicks through on one of them. Having a home business career is an excellent way to have more leisure time, but you do have to put in time getting it started.

So if you want a home business career an internet home business is a very viable alternative.

About the Author

To download a free copy of Peter's Guide To Home Business visit Peter's Website Work From Home Solutions at http://www.work-from-home-solutions.com/ and find out about The Best Home Business and more, including Internet Home Business at http://www.work-from-home-solutions.com/internet-home-business.html

Art Is For Everyone (or at least it should be!)

2005-10-08T17:38:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Kemal Faruquee to the Art Ideas discussions about art and his art forum. You can read more about Kemal in the closing of this article.

One of the saddest views that I encounter is that art is elitist: an activity for the few. Nothing could be more wrong. Art is for everyone, and the creation of artwork makes people happy. Many people have told me over the years that they don't have any artistic talent. To this I reply, "So what. Neither do I!"

Let's consider an analogy. People take part in many activities that don't produce tangible results: for example, going for a walk through the park. When the walk is finished, there's really not a tangible result. Sure, you reap the salubrious benefits of exercise, but there's nothing left to hold in your hand. One of the unfortunate and implicit aspects of artistic creation is that there's an actual creative manifestation which results.

If you sit down and make a painting, you can bet that after an hour of this activity, you're going to have something. You may be pleased with it, or perhaps you won't be, but there will be a canvas or paper that has paint smeared around on it. You can look at it. Others can look at it. People can make comments, "Isn't that wonderful!"

However, the philosophy that I advocate is that the process is its own reward. The painting that results hardly matters. It's the process of getting from point A to point B. That's what makes the experience worthwhile. Remember the walk through the park analogy? The walk was enjoyable. The walk was its own reward. Well, why shouldn't we look at making a painting in the same manner: it's the actual process of dipping the brush into the water, dabbing the paint, applying the brush to the paper, watching the paint swirl out in subtle rings of various hues. Then, perhaps you start molding the lines into a figurative pattern: the wonder of watching the image appear! The joy of the process!

Afterwards, what does it even matter whether your piece of work is considered meritorious or not? Why should that matter. The experience is like a type of mediation. You draw on the right side of your mind. And, afterwards, if you're anything like me, you may find that your thoughts seem a bit more clear.

Who can deny the benefits of creating artwork when we look at it this way. It's sad that people say things like, "I can't draw," or, "I have no talent." Well, that really doesn't matter. The process is its own reward. If you are interested in this artistic approach and would like to participate in an artist's forum that follows this philosophy, please take a moment to visit Art Plop Artist Forum | Copyright 2005 Kemal Faruquee

About the Author

Kemal Faruquee studied literature at City College and NYU. He currently lives in Pennsylvania where he writes books, makes paintings, develops websites, and runs Art Plop Artist Forum.

Irressistible Advantages Of An Internet Home Business

2005-10-08T17:34:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Michael Richer to the Art Ideas discussions about advantages of a home business. You can read more about Michael in the closing of this article.

Working at home on your internet business is very gratifying. You are now the captain of your ship. You are the one who is steering the wheel. You can use your full creative capacity to bring your business to be a mega success.

The advantages of an internet business is that you don't need a physical location. You don't need to rent or buy a place to start your business. Imagine how much it will cost you to do such thing. It can cost you thousand of dollards per month to have such business.

On the internet you need a location. But it is a domain name, like you know. It can cost between $5 to $25 per year to have an internet domain name. At $25 you can even have free web hosting. So it is really cheap to do business on the internet.

Of course you need a website. You can create one if you have some web development knowledge. Or you can have one free with an affiliate program or other home business opportunity. Or you can have website template for a low investment and some are even free.

On the internet you can advertise for free. This is another benefit of the internet. You can write article like this one and publish it in ezine, website, etc. This is call viral marketing. Or you can advertise for a really low investment, like with overture or Google Adword. You pay only when someone click on your Ad. This is called Pay Per Click. You can have good traffic and good sales using PPC campaign. You can bid as low as 10 cents per click.

With an internet business you don't need no inventory unless you have youre own product that you ship by yourself. Most business opportunity ship the product for you and you keep the profits.

Imagine you don't need to keep an inventory, you don't need a cash register, you don't need credit card processing etc.etc. All this is done for you if you sales for another business opportunity. You don't need employee to train and pay. You don't need to pay for vacation, insurance, benefices etc.

An Internet home business, have many tax advantages. You can deduct your home, spouse and children (if you employ them),busines vacations, cars, and business meals. Plus, any losses you incur can be tax deductible and may even be refunded by your income tax agency.

By working in youre sweet home you don't have to get up at 6 AM in the morning to prepare yourself to go to work. You can start working whenever you want and like you want it. You can work part time like 4 or 5 hours a day and still make a decent income on the internet.

Or you can keep your current job if you are just starting your internet business and make an extra income. Or wait until youre business is running at full speed and you don't need youre job security anymore.

With an internet business you are your own boss. By being your own boss and being able to schedule your own work hours you NOW have the freedom to do what you want when you want to with whom you want at anytime. It's a great feeling to be in control of your own life and do what you want when you want.

You are an internet Entrepreneur NOW. You are the chief of your entreprise. You are the master of your destiny.

Remember your internet business should be treated as a real business. This is your new job. You are the one who takes the decisions for now on. You can manage your time without someone else telling you when you should work and take care of your business.

Starting an internet business have many advantages, but be sure you have the time and effort to give to your internet business so that you'll enjoy the financial and personal freedom you are searching for.

As long as you think positive and focused on your business target you're on the right way to a rich life, which is directed by you and it will lead you to tremendous success.

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About the Author

Michel Richer, The Internet Business Specialist Can Help You Build A Successfull Internet Business That Can Generate Massive Profit !!! So Start Your Own Internet Business for FREE >> Visit Now :: http://hombyz.com/homebusiness.htm

Free Help Starting a Home Business

2005-10-03T17:20:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Michael Law to the Art Ideas discussions about starting your home business. You can read more about Michael in the closing of this article.

Where's the best place to get free help starting your own home business? Would you believe it's the United States Government? The Small Business Administration is one of the best resources available to a new home business owner. A visit to their web site will turn up easy to understand articles about startup costs, calculators that help you figure out your tax responsibility and access to support groups, forums and information that's invaluable to anyone starting up or running a home business. Here are some of the services that you'll find from the SBA.

Free Consultation On Business Plans For New Business Startups

The business plan is one of the most important tools you have. It can help you land loans, attract the attention of investors and leverage existing funds. Your local Small Business Administration office has experienced businessmen who will help you prepare a business plan and offer you other startup advice for your home business - for free.

Free Pre-Certification For Home Business Loans

The Small Business Administration 'guarantees' loans to certain small businesses, including home business ventures. They don't lend you money themselves. Instead, they make a guarantee to the loan company or bank that they'll be repaid if you default on the loan. An SBA businessman will go over your business plan and credit history to help decide if you're a good credit risk. If he thinks your business has a good chance of taking off, the SBA will pre-certify your business for a loan. It's not a guarantee to you that you'll GET a loan, but it's unusual for a business that's been pre-certified by the SBA to have trouble finding funding.

Free Mentoring - Especially For Women

The SBA offers several programs that are meant to help women overcome the unique problems that face a new business startup owned by a woman. Everyone's heard about the old boy's network. Women don't have that option, but they do have roundtable support groups and a matchmaking service offered by the Small Business Association to help them find a mentor already working in their field. The SBA's web site should be one of your first stops if you're a woman looking to start or expand a home business.

Other Free Resources For Home Business Startups

Also on the SBA web site, you'll find the government gateway to bidding on contracts offered by the U.S. government, and the newest postings of contracts, grants and other money that's available to home and other small businesses. You'll also find a wealth of other information, including step-by-step instructions on how to incorporate your business, what your health insurance options are as a self-employed business owner and much, much more.

When you're starting a new home business or looking for a loan to expand one, you need to make use of every possible resource available. The Small Business Administration is one of the most valuable resources that you'll find. For more information on business plans, mentoring, contracts and more, visit the Small Business Administration web site at www.sba.gov. It's all free - the best price for your home business.

About the Author

<>Michael Law is editor at 1steliteworkfromhome.com ( http://1steliteworkfromhome.com ), a Work From Home Directory Resource. 1steliteworkfromhome.com is a resource for anyone looking to find work from home job information and discover ways to work at home.

Practice -- The Art of Selecting Cave Walls to Canvas

2005-10-03T17:14:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Darrell Crow to the Art Ideas discussions about oil paintings. You can read more about Darrell in the closing of this article.

As an oil painting instructor I'm used to all sorts of questions from students learning how to paint on the materials of our illustrious craft. In fact, one of the all time biggies is about what painting surfaces to use for practice and finished products?

As a new oil painting artist, I quickly discovered the great need for alternative painting surfaces. I like using canvas, but mind you, one canvas is not all that expensive, but feeding a new insatiable habit with two, three or even four canvases a day can add up. Man has been in the great search for practice painting surfaces ever since he started doodling on cave walls. Unfortunately, cave walls are in short supply and they're really, really expensive these days.

So what's an artist to do? What are our alternatives? What can I use for practice? What should I use for a final painting project?

So let's just take up with the cave walls and come forward a few years. Oil is a soft and fatty substance. So the requirement is that the painting surface must be harder than oil. The short of it all, you can paint on anything so long as it is harder than oil. You are limited only by your imagination. With that said, you want to use a surface that won't change with the weather (warp) or corrode from the use of oils, solvents and medium. What good does it do, to paint grandma and grandpa and watch the work warp in three months?

Seasoned wood, masonite, canvas board or illustration boards just to name a few, are rigid and great to use as painting surfaces. They used to be the primary painting surfaces until about 500 years ago when canvas was discovered. The most commonly used painting surface today is canvas which must be correctly mounted on a set of stretcher bars which ensures that the entire surface is taut. A good canvas is equally tight and firm throughout. This gives canvas its peculiar feel that's softer and bouncier than wood, cave walls or other rigid surfaces.

As each of us develops our skills and craftsmanship, we get used to the properties of our painting surfaces. We rely on it. We may try many surfaces, but we settle down on what we generally like and become comfortable.

Canvas is popular because its light, rigid, yet elastic at the same time. Canvas can be made from sackcloth (burlap), cotton (most popular), synthetic, a combination of materials or even smooth linen. The texture of the surface of the canvas are rated the their smoothness, known as "tooth." The coarser the surface, the more 'tooth' it is said to have. Canvas are available as economy (rough with lots of tooth), medium, fine (portrait smooth) and smooth linen. Each cloth can be constructed to any quality level. Linen is considered to be the best in quality and therefore sports the heftier price.

A "primed" canvas is one that has been covered with a solid layer of substance that protects the canvas cloth from rotting away because of the acidity and harshness of oils and mediums. In a nutshell, an unprimed canvas will dissolve over the long term from the acidity inherent in oil paints. The next time you're shopping, look at the canvas label. It should mention whether or not the canvas is primed. If there's no mention, than safely assume the canvas is not primed.

Canvases are typically primed with one of the following: 1. Thinned glue that does not affect the color of the canvas. Canvas are typically labeled as either single or double primed, meaning coats of application. The canvas must dry before the next coat is applied. Double primed application is best. 2. A compound of rabbit skin glue and Spanish white or chalk. 3. Acrylic gesso.

It is normal practice for manufacturers to label their canvas as primed, materials used, degree of material mix if any, texture and quality.

As a guideline, think of it in these terms. 1. Economy is great for practice and giving away. 2. Reserve fine for those prized masterpieces. 3. If you're getting paid, go fine. You can do your studies on rough, but for the final masterpiece, make sure its fine.

Wood is an excellent painting surface, however solid wood surfaces are seldom used anymore. Chipboard, made of wood chips and glue pressed tightly is becoming popular. Masonite and plywood are also ideal surfaces for painting since they resist warping and climate changes.

One idea is to take a sheet of masonite rough it up with sandpaper, and then coat with a thin layer of a primer. ( I typically use acrylic or gesso). I'll take a 4'x8' sheet of masonite, prime it, then saw it right down the 8' foot center. Each half would then be sawed again at 18" intervals. This provides you eight (8) 18" x 24" wooden painting boards to use.

The only problem with the above approach is the hard surface. But if you like hard, this is an excellent tip for securing inexpensive painting surfaces.

If you're a die hard canvas person, let me introduce you to canvasette papers. This is canvas paper. In general, papers are unsuitable surfaces for oil painting, because they just simply absorb the oils. However, canvas paper is a very thick paper especially prepared for oils. I therefore use it for practicing. It cuts costs to well under a buck each. I buy a pad of 16"x20" canvas paper and mount them onto a 16"x20" canvas with masking tape or thumbtacks. I paint my heart out, toss or give away and move right onto the next session. I love this approach as I retain the look and feel of canvas throughout my practice session.

A third method is purchasing an economy 24" x 36" canvas and a wallpaper scraper. Paint until you drop, scrape the paint off with the wallpaper scraper, clean with thinner and you're ready to go again. You can always divide your canvas into four equally sized panels with masking tape on the 24" x 36" canvas.

I love the thought of one day creating a masterpiece on cave walls that'll be gazed upon for centuries. Until you're ready for your very own cave wall, try one of these alternative painting surfaces as you learn to paint and let me know how you fare.

About the Author

Darrell Crow is fast becoming one of America's favorite oil painting instructor. With his step-by-step instructions, anyone can learn to oil paint. Guaranteed. Get a free sample of his 2-hour comprehensive Basic Technique of Oil Painting Water video at http://www.darrellcrow.com/videos. Darrell's formal education was in Journalism with little emphasis in art. He is a self-taught artist and studied most popular TV artists.

Sales Techniques for Artists, Crafters, and Small Merchants

2005-09-30T00:22:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Josephine Brooks to the Art Ideas discussions about a business in the art industry. You can read more about Josephine in the closing of this article.

Most merchants today seem to have the attitude that the customer is best left alone until they are ready to make a purchase. Perhaps it's because they don't want to seem pushy, or maybe they don't care if they make a sale, or they just might not know any better. Whatever the reason, any merchant practicing this foolhardy approach is losing business.

Does this sound familiar? A customer walks into your store, craft booth, or gallery. They browse around. You are hiding behind the counter waiting for them to make up their mind and buy something, or you are hiding behind the counter reading a book/magazine, or you are busy talking on the phone to one of your friends. People want to be left alone to shop. Right? Wrong. Everyone will tell you that they want to be left alone when they are shopping, but what they really mean is that they don't want some pushy salesperson trying to shove something they don't want down their throat. However, they do not want to be ignored.

When you ignore a customer they are much, much more likely to walk out the door without purchasing something. So how do you find the appropriate balance? The answer is simple, and it will improve your sales and bring returning, loyal customers back to your shop again and again. It's called the merchandise approach, although it probably goes by many names.

Step 1

Greet the customer as soon as they walk through the door or enter your booth. A simple, "Hi," is sufficient. Don't forget to smile when you do this. Greeting the customer will do two things. For the legitimate customer it acknowledges their presence and therefore established their importance to you. If your customer feels that you value them, good things start to happen. And for the thief you have just deterred them because they know you are aware of them and they will be more likely to go find a less attentive merchant.

Step 2

Back off after greeting the customer, let them browse, but stay aware of them in case they have a question. It is at this point that the inexperienced, but well-meaning salesperson will usually ask, "Can I help you?" Don't do this. The answer is invariably, "No. I'm just looking." And now you've blown your chance to do something worthwhile with those first precious words.

Step 3

By now you've established that you are aware of the customer and are available to them. It's amazing what a simple greeting can do! Perhaps they will ask you a question, which is your chance to get in there and help them out, and potentially make a sale. But if they don't have a question, you may need to nudge things along a little with the merchandise approach. This is a simple sales technique that is very effective. Once they have zeroed in on an item (picked up, touched, or pressed their nose to the glass to get a better look) say something positive about the item they are looking at. "Isn't that a lovely color of pink?" or "This is great for your skin." Since they are already showing an interest in the item, this will usually engage the customer and your conversation will flow from there. It may lead you to discover what they are really after and you can steer them in the right direction, or maybe you will sell that first item. Whatever the case, you have just worked a little magic. You have been helpful without being pushy.

Step 4

Once you have a customer with some merchandise in hand you can try to up-sell. This may not work with every item, but if there is a logical matching and/or enhancing item in your store you should suggest it. For example: your customer is buying a dress, you might suggest some matching jewelry or other accessory. Still, you are being helpful. If they decline, don't worry, ring them up with a smile. If they agree, you're still being helpful and improving your bottom line. Do this frequently enough and you will start to see a huge difference.

Step 5

Thank them for their purchase. This is a good time to try to establish a long-term relationship with your customer. At this point you may ask them to join your mailing list to be notified of upcoming sales or discounts. Or you can go one step further. Let's go back to the dress example. In the course of trying to help your customer you discovered that she loves a particular item, but you don't have anything in her size at the present time. You can ask her if she wants to be notified when you get more of that item. And then, if she agrees, put her name and information on a note card. If you get more in, give her a call. This will build a strong and loyal customer base.

That's all it takes. Simple, effective, easy.

More tips:

1. If you are engaged with another customer, still acknowledge a new person.

2. If you are engaged with another customer and someone wants to check out, don't leave them standing there waiting, let them know you'll be right with them as soon as you are finished.

3. If something looks terrible on a customer, tell them. Do it kindly, "I don't think that's really you, let's try this." They will appreciate your honesty.

4. Don't try to sell them something they don't want. One, "No," is all it should take for you to drop it.

5. Don't chew gum. Nothing looks less professional.

6. Don't wear a hat. Hats cover up part of the face and make you seem untrustworthy.

7. Don't talk on the phone to your friends. Ever. This is the height of poor customer service. The customer should never wait for assistance while you arrange dinner plans.

8. If you are on the phone with a customer, still acknowledge the customer in front of you. Make a judgement call and perhaps put the caller on hold or ask them if you can call them back.

9. Stand, don't sit. If you must sit, be sure you're on a tall stool that places you at nearly the same height as a customer. Standing up from a sitting position seems aggressive.

10. Don't be seen reading a book or magazine.

11. Don't hide behind the counter. Come out onto the floor.

12. Have a clean and neat appearance. How you dress should be in accord with what you are selling, but the big thing is to not smell bad.

13. Take it easy on the perfume. Many people are allergic to perfumes.

Now get out there and start making your customers happy.

About the Author

Josephine Brooks has been an artist and crafter for many years and runs her own lampwork bead business at www.lampworkart.com.

Working From Home - Telemarketing - Do You Have What It Takes?

2005-09-30T00:17:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Elaine Currie to the Art Ideas discussions about home based business issues to consider. You can read more about Elaine in the closing of this article.

More and more people every day are looking for ways of working from home. Working from home has never been so popular and the choice of types of employment seems endless. You might decide to start your own home based business and work long hours to achieve a dream of supporting your family from the profits of the business. Perhaps you simply want a job you can do at home, maybe just for a few hours a week to bring in a little extra money.

Up until a few years ago, work from home opportunities were rare and poorly paid. This type of work from home slavery still exists but technology has caused a dramatic increase in the number of genuine work from home opportunities available, both for the home based business entrepreneur and for the stay at home mom who wants a job she can fit in around the kids' schedule.

If you have a professional qualification such as being a Lawyer or Accountant you can quite easily set up a home based office. If you have a practical qualification such as being a hairdresser, beautician or nail technician you can build up your own mobile business. If you have no particular qualifications but possess a talent for something such as carpentry or sewing or welding, you can make things at home and sell them at craft fairs and art exhibitions. If you have no particular qualifications or talents but possess some imagination and drive, you can carve out your own niche by identifying a need in your community and providing a service to fill it.

If you have no qualifications, no talent, no skills, no imagination, you could become a telemarketer. The only attributes a telemarketer needs are :

1. A phone 2. A friendly manner (optional in some circumstances) 3. The ability to memorise and recite a script 4. The ability to tell lies in a convincing way 5. A conscience on psychopath level 6. An inner radar enabling you to identify the least convenient time to phone people 7. the ability to talk for a long time without pause 8. Tenacity 9. A thick skin.

Recruitment advertising might mislead you by stating that a clear speaking voice is a requirement but I can tell you from experience that this is not so. Provided you can make your scripted speech without being sidetracked by questions from your prospective customer and have no qualms about the size or number of the lies necessary to close a deal, you will easily find employment in the field of telemarketing.

If you think this sounds mean, just think for a moment about telemarketers. You know, the people that make unsolicited phone calls to you when you are in the middle of bathing the baby or having dinner or when you are up a ladder trying to hang wallpaper. You dive for the phone trying not to drop a slippery baby or trying to swallow your food without choking or trying to control the gummy wallpaper that wants to stick to you, the ladder and everything else around you. You manage to pick up the phone without suffering a serious accident and find yourself listening to a complete stranger who wants to sell you something you don't need and don't want.

While the baby howls, your dinner gets cold or the wallpaper dries in creases, this person talks at you relentlessly and seemingly without the need to take a breath. Only when the dripping soap suds or congealing food or the fact that your hand is glued to the phone finally drive you to interrupt, will there be a pause. This pause, however, is nothing more than a brief mini-second's respite before the script is resumed. You won't get the chance to say enough to turn the soliloquy into a conversation. You see, telemarketers are trained to capitalise on the fact that most people are polite. Most people in this situation don't like to interrupt and won't hang up the phone until the caller has finished speaking and goodbyes have been said.

The only ways to end a call from a telemarketer are to agree to purchase whatever he is offering you or to hang up the phone while he is still reciting his script. If you are too polite to hang up, you might as well just agree to purchase right away. There is absolutely no point trying to reason with a telemarketer; if you say you don't want to buy his elephant because you can't stand grey, he will ask you to tell him your favourite colours and then he will swear a solemn oath that the elephant he is offering you is yellow with pink polka dots. A tempting offer! By giving him that tiny bit of information about your personal taste, you have given the telemarketer his hook: he is offering you something in a colour-scheme you said you like, how can you reasonably refuse?

Even though the baby might be blue with cold or the dinner completely solid or the wallpaper glued to your shirt, don't accept the offer. A yellow with pink polka dots elephant might sound like a real novelty and acceptance might seem like a way to end this miserable phone call. The thing here is that, when you receive it, that elephant will be of the grey variety. I don't like to say this but telemarketers lie and, the more incredible the lie is, the more they will protest that the offer they are making you is genuine and too good to be true. Well, they get it half right: it will undoubtedly be too good to be true.

About the Author

Elaine Currie runs a work from home directory at her Plug-in Profit Site at: http://www.Huntingvenus.com You could too.

Home-based Business - The Naked Truth

2005-09-29T00:48:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Andrew Shim to the Art Ideas discussions about home based business issues to consider. You can read more about Andrew in the closing of this article.

Everybody dreams about it - having a leisurely cup of coffee on a lazy morning, enjoying life as your home-based business continues to bring in the big bucks. Well... I hate to burst your bubble, but this home-based business thing is HARD WORK, so before you hang up your tie and high heels, here are a couple of good and bad things to expect.

You write your own paycheck
That's exactly how it is with a home-based business and being your own boss. YOU WRITE YOUR OWN paychecks! How much you earn depends on how hard you work... plus you get to keep ALL the profit. There's NO BOSS to tell you that the company hasn't been doing great so all you're getting is 45 cents as your bonus, while he comes to work the next morning in a bright, shiny new Porsche!

Problem is, you then realize "Hey! Just a minute... I've got to put some aside for that rainy day, retirement fund, vacation, etc, etc. I'm MY OWN BOSS NOW!". So you find the paycheck that you actually write for yourself at the end of the month has a few less zeroes in it! How's that for irony?

It's hard work
Having your own home based business is a lot of hard work. If you're used to taking 30 minute coffee breaks on company time, you're in for a real shock. Assuming you're running a one-man show (which is usually the case for new start-ups), then you're likely to find that there's not enough hours to do all that you want to do, let alone have a leisurely cup of coffee!

The good thing about this is that every ounce of sweat you put into your home business will ultimately yield results. Remember, the pyramids weren't built in a day, but when they were completed, they lasted for generations. That's the way it is with your home-based business. You're working hard to build a better life and future for your family that will probably last long after you're gone.

The buck stops where you are
Whether it's a virus that crashes your computer, an unpaid bill or a customer complaining on the phone, when you own a home-based business, the buck stops where YOU ARE! Every problem becomes YOURS. There is no computer division, accounts department or PR department to blame. It's a bit frightening when you consider that you are the central - and probably the only person - who can keep your business going.

If you're worried about making the wrong decisions, let me put your mind at ease - YOU WILL! You ARE going to make wrong business decisions, but don't let it discourage you though, because even big-wig CEOs make mistakes. Will there be tough times? DEFINITELY. Tough times bring out the best in people and every mess you get INTO and OUT OF, makes you a better person - smarter, tougher and more resilient. After you've gone through a couple of ups and downs, you'll get into the groove and go with the flow - that's the way it is with business and that's the way it is with life in general.

Different type of benefits
If you're like me, you've probably grown accustomed to (and taken for granted) the many benefits of a regular nine-to-five job - free medical and dental, vacations, paid training, coffee breaks and the occasional business lunches.

I found that for me at least, running a home-based business has given me priceless benefits. Tops on the list would probably be the fact I'm closer to my family. In addition to taking care my websites and running our home catering business with my wife, I'm also the official driver, handyman and maid all rolled up into one. Even though it gets totally crazy sometimes, I love that I'm always there for my kids. Oh, they still make it a point to drive me up the wall everyday, but I'd rather be driven up the wall by them than by my maniacal ex-boss.

The Naked Truth
OK, here's THE NAKED TRUTH about having your own home-based business - YOU SET THE RULES, YOU CALL THE SHOTS. That means you can do things anyway you want, from your working hours to your filing system to what you wear (or don't wear!) at work. Careful though... when you set lousy rules, you'll end up with a lousy system, a lousy business and worse, a lousy reputation. In the end, it's going to hurt that paycheck that YOU write for yourself every month. Just because it's a home-based business doesn't mean that you can throw professionalism out the window. In fact, an even higher level of professionalism may be required because you're operating independently and competing with established companies.

Of course how much flexibility you enjoy depends on what kind of home business you're running. Since my mornings are spent taking care of my websites and writing, I don't physically interact with people much, so I do have the liberty of working in my bathrobe or anything else I choose (I leave it to your imagination). While lost in cyberspace, I also have the liberty of snacking anytime I want, which accounts for my growing waistline. Then in the evenings, when my wife and I are busy with our catering business, I'm definitely fully clothed, complete with my tidy apron and smiling my best smile as we take care of our customers.

So What Now?
There you have it folks, my run-down of some of the basic stuff you can expect when you start a home-based business. You may earn less and have to give up some status for the first couple of years, but when you consider the big picture and take into account all the other intangible benefits, there's nothing quite like being your own boss! As your business grows, you'll be writing yourself bigger and fatter paychecks. Then, you can sit down to that leisurely cup of coffee, enjoying a lazy morning, while your home-based business brings in the big bucks! Care to hang up your tie and heels, anyone?

About the Author

Andrew Shim is the owner and editor of PositiveMoneyIdeas.com a website which offers FREE IDEAS for those interested in starting their own freelance or home based business and PositiveTones.com , a FREE resource website for Positive Living.

Using Art Prints With A Minimalist Home Decor

2005-09-29T00:45:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Joel Walsh to the Art Ideas discussions about home decorating ideas with art prints. You can read more about Joel in the closing of this article.

Most decorators traditionally recommend a minimalist décor for many spaces, particularly small spaces such as apartments and guest houses. Unfortunately, many people believe that this means that the walls should be kept completely bare for a minimalist décor to work. Aren't pictures too flashy for a minimalist décor?

Art Prints: Perfect Complement to a Minimalist Decor

In a word: no, pictures are not too flashy to use with a minimalist décor. In a few more words: art prints are not too flashy for a minimalist décor, as long as you select your prints carefully. In fact, in rooms with minimalist decor, art prints add character and highlight the fact that the decor really is minimalist and not just neglected.

The trick with choosing art prints carefully is just to pick one print, or pick a few prints on a highly related subject or in a similar style, preferably all by the same artist. In a room with minimalist décor, the prints will easily get more attention than anything else in the room, so you want to be careful that the prints do not conflict with each other. An obvious example: if you really like Monet's paintings of water lilies, you could get several prints each of a different Monet painting of water lilies.

There is a special concern if your décor is not just minimalist but strikingly modernist (for instance, lots of simple furniture with clear angles or curves rather than carved woodwork). In a room with a particularly modernist décor, prints that are from an earlier era might seem out of place. Go with prints that were created more or less in the era in which your furniture was designed, or in which your furniture's design was most popular.

Obviously, there is a lot of room for personal judgment as to what goes with what, since modernist anything always was designed not to look as though it belonged to a particular period of time. It can be even more confusing if your modernist-looking furniture was really just designed to look spare in a general way rather than to hark to a particular school of design. In those cases, just try to go for something that looks like it matches, sticking to prints of artworks that are modern but that are not immediately recognizable as belonging to a specific decade.

If your furniture leans toward the 1950s and 60s style of modernism (the kind of playful curves that would be at home in a room with a sunburst clock on the wall), try prints of the work of a period artist such as Jackson Pollack. If your décor's modernism leans toward the seventies or eighties (e.g., glass-topped coffee tables and very spare design, you might be better off with Jasper Johns than Jackson Pollack.

Choosing Art Prints for Rooms with Multiple Colors

* Minimal does not necessarily mean subdued. Just look at the vibrant paintings of modern artist Mondrian, such as "Broadway Boogie Woogie", composed entirely of interlocking rectangles, square, triangles, and circles. If you'd like to keep your décor simple even with a striking color scheme, art prints can actually help. Here's why:

* Art prints pull together disparate colors in a room. A print gallery or website will be able to recommend the best art print based on the colors in your room. Some sites even have search engines that match a room's color scheme with appropriate art prints.

* When the furnishings in a room attract attention art prints make sure the walls provide visual interest, too, so the eye is not pulled relentlessly downward toward the furniture or rugs. Of course, you have to be careful not to give people a headache. As a rule of thumb, the more riotous the play of colors on the ground, the more orderly the play of colors on the walls should be. If the vibrant colors of your furnishings tend to swirl together, lend the room calm with artwork that takes those colors and presents them in neat lines and blocks.

* Art prints make it clear that your colorful décor is a well-rhymed composition, not just a loud burst of color. Visitors to your pad who see a blue couch, red end tables, and yellow lamps might well wonder what you were thinking--until they see a print of "Broadway Boogie Woogie," or other artwork that shows how these disparate colors really do belong together.

* In the end, there is beauty in the simplicity of a room with a minimalist interior design, and there is beauty in the art that takes the same simple approach. If you keep that fact in mind when choosing artwork for your minimalist room, you can make sure your décor is more than minimally beautiful.

About the Author

Joel Walsh has written a buying guide for art prints at: http://www.a1-paintings.com

Faux Painting Techniques

2005-09-28T00:34:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Julie Lohmeier to the Art Ideas discussions about art painting techniques. You can read more about Julie in the closing of this article.

In the last 10 years, faux painting techniques have gone from obscure to popular, from the realm of professionals to do-it-yourself projects. These techniques are not difficult although they can be time consuming (what decorating or remodeling project isn't though) and require quick hands.

Called "faux" painting because these techniques mimic or create a false look of stone, texture, leather, and more, you will find that the styles fall into one of two types: additive or subtractive. Additive (also called positive) techniques simply mean that you add color onto the wall. Sponging is the most common of this type. Conversely, subtractive (also referred to as negative) techniques means you take paint off after it has been applied. Ragging is a common subtractive technique. Most negative techniques use glazes and require that you move quickly before the glaze dries.

When it comes to glazes, there are two types: latex (water based) or oil based. Latex is by far easier since it cleans up with soap and water, but oil based glazes provide longer working times and generally provide a harder, more durable finish. However, for do-it-yourselfers, I recommend latex glazes and working in small areas at a time. I have also seen solutions that you can add to the glaze to lengthen the working time. For your first glazing job, you may well want to consider using this additive available at finer paint supply stores.

Here are the various type of faux painting techniques:

Sponging: Probably the easiest method, you apply paint to a wall with a natural sea sponge. It provides a richly textured look. In addition to good looks, it's a simple way to camouflage an uneven or repaired crack wall. Use a couple of colors over the base paint to add greater depth. Be bold or subtle; it's up to you. You can use glaze or paint just as easily with this technique. I've seen this done in a negative manner, but it is most commonly performed as a positive method.

Ragging/Rag rolling: Typically a negative technique, you paint a tinted glaze over the base painted walls. The glaze should be tinted darker than the base coat, keeping in the same color family as the glaze allows some color through it as well. Either use a wadded up dry rag or twist a rag into a cylinder. Then dab or roll the rags to remove the glaze. You can use one or two colors over the base coat. You may also do this in a positive method like sponging for a softer look and texture.

Color Washing: In this additive technique, you apply the tinted glaze mixture over the base coat using a circular motion as if you were washing the wall. Use rags for a very soft look or a natural sea sponge for a more textured appearance.

Strié: Create a historical and aged texture to the wall, with this negative method. Roll tinted glaze over the base coat, then use a wall paper brush to make fine lines from top to bottom. The glaze should be darker than the base coat to allow the lighter base to show through the fine lines.

Striping: The only difficult part of this positive technique is getting your stripes straight. Be sure to use a level or drop a plumb line. Tape off your stripes, then paint every other one with glaze. If you use a bold color, you do not need to tint the glaze to get a delightful two-tone effect. For softer colors, you may wish to slightly darken the glaze although it is not necessary. This technique may also be combined with color washing as you color wash the stripes for more interest and texture. Of course, for a more dramatic look, you can use paint in complementary or various colors.

Dry Brushing: This is a positive method in which you use a small amount of paint on a brush in herringbone patterns to create the texture. You will need tow or three colors to achieve the best results.

Frottage: Using plastic sheets for this negative method, tinted glaze is applied over the base coat and then plastic sheets are applied and smoothed over the glaze. Once the wall is done, the plastic sheets are removed for a marbling effect.

Faux finishes can provide interest and texture to your rooms - and less expensively than wall paper. While you may need to block out a full day to do the work, by the end of the day, you can sit back and admire the rich, luxurious look of your new room.

About the Author

Julie Lohmeier is the veteran of numerous home remodeling and building projects and has seen the entire spectrum of home improvement. She shares her remodeling tips, home decorating ideas, and other various rants at http://www.myhomeredux.com?FAUX_GO.

6-Figures Per Year Is Easy When You Prepare For Success

2005-09-28T00:27:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Nick Bramble to the Art Ideas discussions about home based business success. You can read more about him in the closing of this article.

Time to hit the books!

Seriously......

Just like a Doctor or Lawyer has to study to be successful in their field, a person looking to be successful in a home business must do the same.

If you do not treat your business as exactly that, it will be hard to be very successful.

The closer you get to being an expert in all realms of a home based business, the more success you will achieve.

Remember.......you are accountable for your business. Do not rely on others to do things for you. Get out and make things happen for yourself.

Here are some great ways to help yourself become an expert:

Forums

When you find the business that is right for you, use the forums as a place to go for advice, ideas, etc. There are a ton of posts here that have been really helpful to myself and many others. Learn from what other people are doing.

Books

There is a ton of literature out there, so I wont even begin to make a list. But, keep this in mind when trying to pick out a book. To be highly successful, you need to be well rounded. You will want literature on all things from getting yourself into the right mindset to learning how to market. This takes time, but the knowledge gained will pay off in the end.

Do What They Do!

Simply put......find others in your business, or that are having the type of success you want to have and do what they do. This may be the best advice I ever received. If you align yourself with the right people, or study the processes of those you want to be like, success comes so much easier.

Take advantage of training calls

This is a close second for me to the one above. Sometimes they are even one in the same. Those that are doing the training calls for your business are most likely having great success. They are offering a great service to you. They are teaching you to do what they do without you even having to ask. You should be on every training call you can with your business. You never know when they will drop the next tip or idea that sets your business off.

Live and taped seminars

Live seminars can be costly, but the rewards could be huge for you. It's just another way that you can learn from the best and do what they do. A great substitute for live conferences are tapes/dvd's/cd's, etc. There are a ton of valuable audio programs out. One speaker that I always love to listen to and that has great ideas is Jim Rohn.

Magazines/publications

Like books, there are many. A few that I enjoy are:

"Home Business Advertiser" "The Network Marketing Business Journal" "Networking Times"

There are always great articles in these that can help with your personal and business development.

A few things to keep in mind:

-Be responsible for your own business. Don't expect anyone to do anything for you. Go get the things you want. Studying success will bring you closer to achieving success.

-Set goals and outlines of what you want to do daily and do them. At the end of the day, evaluate what you did and did not do. This keeps you accountable for your business.

-Acquiring knowledge is an ongoing process. Add tools, books, time, etc into your time and financial plans and continue to feed your mind with all things that will take you forward.

-Remember that any knowledge you gain through your studies is worthless unless you put it into action. All the knowledge in the world will not make you successful. Implementing this knowledge into a game plan will.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope that it has helped you in some way.

Get out there and make success happen!

About the Author

Copyright © Nick Bramble has been marketing home business programs successfully for 8 years. He enjoys spending time helping others learn to work from home and realize their financial dreams. For more information on Nick and his success, please visit:

http://details.wecloseallsales.com

Convincing your family members you want to work from home

2005-09-27T12:04:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Marsha Maung to the Art Ideas discussions about working from home. You can read more about her in the closing of this article.

It's a difficult ride if you want to work from home and yet, the most important people in your life are against the work at home concept. It's a dream to you but it can be a nightmare for people who care for you. The whole idea of not having a stable income makes them worry about you, so, don't blame them. For all you know, you're terribly confident that your plan will work and you know you can commit to your new work at home business...you know that but THEY don't.

The first step you will need to take to help your family members accept your work at home decision is to understand how they feel. I know, I know, this is a time when you want others to understand you and accept your decision. You're tired of working for someone else and want to have the freedom of spending time with your family and friends, instead of lounging around in the office day in and day out. And here I am, telling you that you should understand the very people who are opposing you?

This is not a secret but think of it like some kind of a psychological plan. ever heard of the term 'reverse psychology'? Ok, you're required to use this and let me tell you this...it works like a charm! If you do this right, you will convince your family members that working at home is the best option for you.

Say things like, 'I know you care for me, love me and want what is best for me....', 'I understand what you're saying...', or 'You're absolutely right in saying that, I can't say you're wrong'. When you're talking to them in a non-attack way, they will back down and bring down their fences. This is an amazing way to help your family members accept your work-at-home decision. It's true, my own family members were not to keen on me wasting my law degree to start a work at home business either - to them, I am wasting my degree, wasting my talents and wasting my energy. And they don't want to see me suffer, be disappointed and face financial problems. Being parents, they want what is best for me and in their eyes, working at home is NOT the best moneymaking opportunity. Over the years, I have finally opened my parents' eyes to the working at home concept. They finally accepted it that I communicate with clients from all over the world and that I am being paid for the work that I do and that my income is comfortable.

As for the spouse, this is a little bit trickier. You see, in 2-income families, if one person wants to start working from home, the other spouse would have to be prepared to give up more of his or her income to cover for the stuff that is supposed to be covered by the now-working-at-home spouse. At least during the first few months of the business, that is. I mean, for 3 to 6 months after working from home, you'll have to expect to dig into your savings or the spouse would have to cover for expenses, so, naturally, he or she would be a little bit disgruntled with the fact. They're not being selfish - they're trying to deal with you breaking out of the comfort zone. Everyone, including you, hates that. So, don't expect your spouse to welcome the idea of working from home with wide open arms. There's bound to be some skepticism.

And skepticism from your loved ones is good too because it will keep you on your toes and you're feet remains firmly planted on the ground. So, the best thing to do with your spouse is to discuss the idea with him or her, sit down and plan the finances. For example, dig into your savings to cover for contribution to expenses, working part-time, telecommuting, cut down on expenses, selling the extra car, remortgaging, etc. Find a way and a plan to ease the discomfort for your spouse. Make sure he or she has nothing to complain about your working at home decision. It's incredibly difficult to accept, trust me, if you're not the one who wants to work from home. If you're on the other side of the fence, everything looks so bleak and uncertain.

Break through their barrier not with force, but with gentle compromising and understanding. Then, you'll get their full support for your work at home business.

About the Author

Marsha Maung is a freelance graphic designer and copy writer who works from home. She designs apparel and premium items at http://www.allmomstuff.com and is the author of "Raising little magicians", and the popular "The Lance in freelancing". More information can be found at http://www.creativejooz.com

The Art Of Selecting Your Home's Art

2005-09-27T12:03:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Sandy Knoll to the Art Ideas discussions about art for the home. You can read more about Sandy in the closing of this article.

Art should be personal. Selecting pieces that you really love should not be influenced by the color of the carpet or your couch. To really make a statement, art should be chosen based on it's own merits.

You have just moved into a new home. Perhaps it's your first real home that you plan to invest time and money into decorating and styling. You are eagerly looking for ideas to help make your home comfortable and beautiful.

You have just been looking through a magazine for decorating ideas and admire a gorgeous home that highlighted the owner's fantastic art collection. You realize that the bare walls in your home create an emptiness that is crying out for attention.

With this sudden urge to fill them up, what are you going to choose for art?

It is not hard to find art - whether you choose originals or reproductions. The variety and diversity of styles is enormous, so where do you begin in making your selection?

Try to purchase art as you would any other piece of furnishing that you plan to have for years. You want to select pieces that you will love and appreciate for a long time - whether you keep your couch or not.

When you admire artwork in a gallery or even in a fantastically decorated home you will notice that it is the art that sets the tone, not the other way around. Artwork should be featured, and not chosen to compliment it's surroundings.

You will likely find that you are drawn to works that are in colors or themes that suit your home anyway. If you do like traditional decorating styles, it is quite likely that you will been drawn to more traditional styles of artwork as well. The same is true of more modern or contemporary tastes.

Talking to a gallery owner or interior decorator, you may also find them able to give you suggestions on how the artwork could best be appreciated. Using picture lights to illuminate the artwork will add enormously to it's appeal as well as to the mood of a room.

Your artwork will make a significant statement about you personally. It is well worth your efforts to select pieces one at a time and choose art that truly reflects you instead of filling your walls with mediocre work that you will tire of quickly. By making thoughtful choices and viewing each piece as an investment, you will always find a special place for your art in any home.

About the Author

Sandy Knoll is the webmistress of http://www.frloghomes.com and is a real fan of log homes and everything that they represent. If you have a site related to homes, email her about exchanging links: sandy@frloghomes.com with "exchange links" in the subject line.

What Is Network Marketing?

2005-09-26T00:29:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Karen Martin to the Art Ideas discussions about working from home. You can read more about her in the closing of this article.

To begin with, the concept behind network marketing is simple. Sharing - through product or business philosophy - is the basis of network marketing.

Network marketing is a multi-billion pound industry involving millions of independent business people around the globe. Large companies like Gillette, Colgate-Palmolive, Kleeneze Europe, AT&T and others, have all turned to network marketing because of the very real edge it gives them in both domestic and international marketing.

Network marketing is a 'BIG' small business, which offers everyone, with or without business experience, the opportunity to start and run a home-based business that works. It is the last frontier where 'the little guy', (people like you and me) can make it BIG.

NETWORK MARKETINGVsTRADITIONAL MARKETING

The traditional way of marketing products is to move them from a manufacturer through a network of middlemen. National Wholesalers, regional wholesalers, Cash & Carry warehouses, retailers, - the 'middlemen' - all add their 'valueless' percentage to the price of the product.
By the time the product or service reaches you, the end user, you're not only paying for the product, but a percentage of the price for each and every middleman in the network.

In network marketing there are no middlemen. Instead of paying them, a network marketing company will pay you for whatever amount of product you cause to be 'moved'.

As a sole individual operating alone, the amount of product or service provision you could 'move' from your own efforts, would be relatively small. In network marketing however, the amount you 'caused' to be moved indirectly could be huge.

Here then is the essence of a network marketing compensation plan. For not only will you be compensated for the product or service provision you personally cause to be moved from your own direct efforts, you will also receive indirect compensation for the product or service provision that your 'organisation' 'causes' to be moved.

YOUR 'ORGANISATION'

To be successful in network marketing you will need to build an 'organisation'. That is to say you will need to 'share' the benefits of both the products/service provision and the business opportunity with others. In network marketing this is referred to as your 'downline'.
The 'serious' money to be had in network marketing is to be had from what is termed as 'over-ride' commissions from the 'movement' of product or service provision from the 'downline' your 'sponsor' will help you to build.(In network marketing it is the responsibility of your introducing 'sponsor' to help you build your 'downline'.)

All you need to do initially to build a 'downline' is to 'share' with others the information about the products or service provision and the business opportunity on offer.

Theoretically, if after 'sharing' the information with others and you subsequently attracted just five SERIOUSindividuals who decided to join you in your network marketing business - for illustration purposes only - your 'downline' could equate to the following after five levels of geometric growth:

You
You sponsor just 5 SERIOUS people into your business.
Your level 1/ 5

They duplicate your efforts and each sponsor 5 SERIOUS people.
Your level 2/ 25

These 16 duplicate your efforts and each sponsor 5 SERIOUS people.
Your level 3/ 125

These 125 duplicate your efforts and each sponsor 5 SERIOUS people.
A little arithmetic will tell you that's theoretically a total of 3,905 people on your fifth level.

AN UNLIMITED INCOME POTENTIAL

Imagine the power of a business-building plan that would pay you an agreed 'over-ride' commission on each product or service provision 'moved' by each and every one of those 3,905 potential distributors in your downline. Network marketing then is about a LOT of people 'moving' a little product. The more people you introduce, the greater your income potential. Notice that I said SERIOUS people. You may find that you have to introduce 20, 30 or even 50 new distributors before you find a person who Gets SERIOUS about the business.

If you want to toss aside the potential earnings on offer as being ridiculous or impossible - DON'T. I personally have met people who are earning £5,000 to £50,000 per month (yes per month) from network marketing for part-time effort. Though the majority of networkers earn hundreds rather than many thousands per month, (most working part-time) it must be understood then that if you are to make serious income, you must put in serious effort. No free lunches here! The professionals in Network Marketing (those that earn HUGE incomes) recognise that to become successfulyou must "go through the numbers". That is, sort through lots and lots of people until you find those people who get SERIOUS about the business.

There are two prongs to earning in Network marketing. First, is, of course, building a ´down line´. But remember, a large organization of people who do NOTHING other than sponsoring others, earns NOTHING!

Second is, BALANCE and CONSISTENCY. Spend some time building your organization yes, but also spend time PROMOTING your products/services to others and use the products/services yourself!

SO HOW DO YOU CONVINCE PEOPLE TO JOIN YOUR BUSINESS?

The simple answer is you don't. You want those who convince themselves. If they are truly looking for a way to become successful, then they'll come to you to go after it. The key to achieving success in network marketing is not to be had by convincing people, but by helping those (SERIOUS) people who want to become successful themselves.

WHERE DO I FIND PEOPLE TO JOIN ME IN MY BUSINESS

As it has been estimated that 20% of the UK working population - that's approximately 6 million people - would be interested in starting their own business, the marketplace in the UK alone is truly enormous. With a recent MORI poll indicating that 50% of 16 - 25 year olds were interested in starting their own business, the marketplace is actually growing.

One of the most important things to recognise is that the most precious resource available to you is in the new blood - the millions of business opportunity seekers who are not presently involved in networking. For it is there that you will find the success stories of tomorrow for your downline organisation.

The impact of the Internet on network marketing will be absolutelyHUGE.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT COMPANY

In any successful business it is the quality of the product or service that is being offered that is the single most important aspect for its success.

The most lucrative compensation plan in the world will NOT provide you with an on-going residual income if the product or service doesn't provide tangible value and benefits for yourself and your customers.

Provide a product or service that people need, want, coupled with a business opportunity they are willing to tell their friends about and you can build yourself a business empire in network marketing!

TIPS FOR THE TOP?

Tip# 1/ If you're already involved in a network marketing programe and you're being 'sold' primarily on the benefits of the compensation plan with the product or service being offered as a secondary consideration, then read the above paragraph again and MOVE to a company whose products or services 'move'.

Tip# 2/ Ask yourself this important question: Is the network marketing programme I'm considering joining one that I'm willing to share with my friends and family? The comment "I don't want my friends and family to know what I'm doing, l want to become successful first - then I'll introduce them!!" is almost legendary in network marketing. (A comment oftimes made by failed networkers who had no real belief in the company or the products they were promoting in the first place!) If you immediately feel comfortable with the prospect of letting your neighbours, your friends and your family know about the network programme you're considering joining, have belief in the company and its products/service provision, have confidence in your introducing sponsor, then you have probably chosen the right company to work with.

Tip# 3/ Don't be impatient by expecting things to happen overnight! Building a moderately productive downline in any network marketing programme takes TIME - many months not many weeks.

Tip# 4/ Read tip 3 again and avoid like the plague any company which suggests otherwise or does not require you to invest in the development of a distributor base. If your prospective sponsor in the network marketing programme you're being invited to join doesn't stipulate that it takes TIME to build a significantly productive downline then it's not a business your being invited to join but a game - and one you're bound to lose!

Tip# 5/ If you want to dine with the classes - deal in products or services wanted by the masses!
If you have tried Network Marketing before and failed, you probably chose the wrong company,
the wrong sponsor, or the wrong product.

IS NETWORK MARKETING FOR YOU?

A message from the Prime Minister theRt. Hon. Tony Blair MP to the Direct SellingAssociation.
" I'm delighted to offer my support to the Direct SellingAssociation and point out to you how big a part direct selling is of our domestic market in the sale of goods and services. We've got something like 13% of the entire home shopping market done by direct selling, almost half a million people are involved in direct selling and 40,000 of those are doing it full time...It also shows how, in a changing economy and changing labour market, there are great new opportunities out there.

I want to say to you that this is a good thing to be involved in and that we, as a Government recognise the tremendous contribution that people who are taking up direct selling opportunities can make to the overall prosperity of the economy. So it is well worth doing, well worth being involved in and I wish those of you who are engaged in it, the very best for the future."
The above is the text of a video message given to members of the Direct Selling Association on the occasion of the DSA's Annual Conference held at Hinckley Leicestershire on 5-6 May 1999. (http://www.dsa.org.uk)

TO SUM UP

Network marketing isn't for everybody. While some people swear by network marketing, others simply swear! (Read tip No. 3 again to find out why). To succeed in network marketing you will need determination, commitment, enthusiasm and most importantly - a burning desire for success. If you believe you have those qualities get back to the person who provided you with this information TODAY.

If you've enjoyed this article, please be sure to forward it to a friend.

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Karen Martin is the Sub Editor of 'The Internet Affiliates Resources Directory' where subscribers have the opportunity to have their Affiliate programs promoted absolutely free and on a permanent basis. To get the details & Free sample subscription send a Blank email to: bizzyman@auto-responder.co.uk Unsubscribe with one click. You have my full permission to 'Steal' the above article which may be freely distributed in your E-zine, on your web site or in your e-book provided this entire resource box is kept intact. If featured a sample copy of your E-Zine would be appreciated. Thank you.
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Smart Art Investments - Not Just A Pretty Picture!

2005-09-26T00:24:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Sian Whitehall to the Art Ideas discussions about art collecting. You can read more about Sian in the closing of this article.

There was a time when I would have never considered buying original artworks for my home let alone for investment. To expensive! To complicated! When it comes to collecting art most people feel inadequate or intimidated. I thought art collecting meant having specialised knowledge and spending a great deal of money on world famous artists. Isn’t art just for people with lots of money?

It's true that people of wealth do invest in art. It's one way they increase their wealth. But fortunately you don't have to start off wealthy to enjoy art or make money from it. You don't have to be an expert on art to collect art. Anyone can become a successful art collector.
Like me, you most likely already have some type of art hanging on your walls. You chose your art because it suits your décor or you just liked the look of it. The painting you have may even have been expensive. But wouldn’t it be great if just hanging art on your walls offered more than just a pretty picture. It makes a lot more sense to buy originals to invest in that could become very valuable some day. Even modest investments in art can be very profitable.

Rule number one is you don't always have to spend a lot to get a lot. A lot of beautiful art is very affordable. Australia has some very impressive, well respected and profitable artists. Australian art is becoming ever increasingly popular on an international scale. Starting with a purchase of a known Australian artist that is already making profits on the second hand market is a wise choice. If you feel unsure about investing in a certain work of art, do some research about the artist. Most artists and online galleries will provide you with some background information which as a collector you will want to preserve along with your art purchases.

Rule number two, if you are serious about buying investment art read up on the various styles and art forms. Perhaps you have always been attracted to impressionism but you didn't know it was called 'impressionism'. This can help you when searching for a certain style.

Rule number three consider the calibre of artist you are going to investment in. Emerging or relatively unknown artists can be very profitable investments but hold more risk. It’s wise to learn as much as you can about the artist before you purchase. This is where the internet can be a very helpful tool. All kinds of information is available at the click of the mouse.

Rule number four - buy what you love! Can you see yourself enjoying it for years to come? This is an important consideration when you are buying art or anything else for that matter. Whether it becomes a priceless work or not, you will have the satisfaction of having chosen and enjoyed something you really like.

Most importantly, you can become a successful art collector and investor. Don't stand still! Don't procrastinate! Go out and start searching for art that is right for you. Everyone has to start somewhere! I can speak from experience and say that learning about art and investing is rewarding intellectually, aesthetically and financially.

Sian Whitehall
http://www.smartartinvestments.com.au

10 Ways for a WAHM to Have a Successful Day!

2005-09-25T00:05:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Catherine Witcher to the Art Ideas discussions about working from home. You can read more about her in the closing of this article.

10. Pick one task that MUST get done and accomplish it First! Be sure this is not a multi step task such as submit my advertisement to 100 sites, that could take all day. You want this one task to be something accomplished immediately so when the day falls off track due to your toddler helping themselves to the permanent markers, you know you've gotten something productive done in your business.

9. Take a 10 minute break EVERY hour. You wouldn't believe how happy your kids will be when you take 10 minutes to fully devote to them. Set up a new game or activity, color, play tag. Get them on a roll. Your next 50 minutes of working will be filled with laughter.

8. Make snacks FUN! Nobody likes graham crackers in a bowl everyday. A little effort into snacks can bring smiles. How about strawberries cut on a plate, cool whip with drizzled chocolate syrup. Takes less than 5 minutes and your children will WANT to sit at the table.

7. Use the Crockpot. During morning snack time, while the kids are at the table with their fancy snack. Throw some meat in the crockpot, add some spices, put the veggies on the table or in the crock. Dinner will be ready in 15 minutes after your long day working at home.

6. Let's get Physical. Don't forget kids have a ton of energy and you need to help them use it up. During your 10 minute breaks, be sure at least 3 of those are physically tiring activities. Besides you'll get your 30 minutes of exercise in for the day!

5. Use a Timer. This is both for you and the kids. A large kitchen timer that counts down 50 minutes at a time. Even the littlest of toddlers will recognize the beep and realize it's Mommy time! You can set it again for 10 minutes which will remind you and your children its time for Mommy's work. This will keep your day flowing without losing track.

4. Take One day OFF a week. Places such as museums and zoos are less crowded during the week. Take the day off, pack the kids a lunch and GO! You'll be refreshed and more productive the next day. You won't believe how many new ideas you can come up with when you walk away from the computer for more than a minute. Plus, your kids will probably go to bed early from the outing, you'll be able to check your emails in peace.

3. Don't forget your Friends. We have many different roles to play once we become Mommy. Most of the time we forget to be a friend to our peers. Not just our other Mommy friends that we met because of our kids, but the friends that we don't talk to all the time or make playdates with. Call the friend that you only see once and a while. Have lunch and an adult conversation.

2. Take Time for Yourself It's o.k. to read a book that doesn't talk about marketing strategies. Spend 10 extra minutes in the shower and actually dry off before you get dressed. Instead of making everyone's favorite dinner, order out your favorite meal. You'll be a better person to everyone when you take time for yourself.

1. Remember why You Choose To Stay Home! When your frustration level is increasing, you can't get anything done, your toddler just hit delete on the article you were writing and the dog is barking....enjoy it. This is why you are home. Step away from your work, take a deep breath, take time to get the house rythym back and then worry about work. You're home to love your kids when they need it most, take advantage of the opportunity to handle challenging times, this is why you're a WAHM!

About the Author

Catherine Whitcher, M.Ed has been a successful WAHM for many years. Contact Catherine: support@yourhomebusinessinfo.com

Giclee Printing - A True Fine Art Print Process?

2005-09-25T00:02:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Steve Feasey to the Art Ideas discussions about giclee art reproductions. You can read more about her in the closing of this article.

The association of giclee printing with its conceptual cousin - inkjet printing - has led some people to question the validity of this printing medium as a true fine art system. To address this, I think that it is first important to look at the history of fine art printmaking and see if giclee printing fulfil the parameters set out therein.

Fine art printmaking has traditionally been based on the concept of creating a master plate - known as the matrix - from the original and using this to reproduce a predetermined number of 'editions' of the original artwork. Historically, the matrix was then destroyed by the artist, producing a set of truly limited edition prints. The more traditional printing techniques such as etching, lithography and linocut have evolved into art forms themselves and required a huge degree of expertise to reproduce the original to the artist's precise demands.

Nowadays, the production of a printing matrix is no longer necessary as the high quality scanning techniques employed by printing companies results in a perfect facsimile of the original painting or photograph. Giclee printing offers incredibly high degrees of fidelity and richness of colour when compared to other 'traditional' printing methods and because no screen or other mechanical device is used, there is no visible dot pattern. The expertise that is employed involves the careful monitoring of the colour system through the use of colour profiling techniques and the understanding of the colourspace that the machine operates within.

The print-on-demand nature of the printing process enables photographers and artists to maintain full control over the artistic integrity of their work which, coupled with the proven archival permanence of giclee prints (when coupled with specifically designed output media and inks) ensures that the artist's work will be enjoyed for decades. Naturally, the understanding between the artist and their customers that the edition is truly limited must be maintained. The matrix is no longer destroyed, but the original scanned file must be deleted or removed from circulation upon reaching the defined number of released editions, but this has always been the case and the advent of giclee printing has no impact on this mutual understanding.

Giclee printing is indeed a fine art printing technique and one that is truly liberating for photographers and artists wishing to share their work with the widest possible audience whilst achieving a quality that was hitherto unobtainable without huge expense.

About the Author

Steve Feasey is a co-director at Iconic Imaging Ltd, a company specialising in canvas prints and fine art printing for artists and photographers. For more information on the giclee print services they provide, visit http://www.iconicimaging.co.uk

Work from home job? Business? How do you decide?

2005-09-24T00:43:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Stephanie Foster to the Art Ideas discussions about working from home. You can read more about her in the closing of this article.

It's a big decision to stay home with your family, rather than continue in a traditional job outside the home. There are many choices you must make if you decide to work from home, and many pitfalls to avoid.

The first things to look at are your skills and interests. Working from home is in some ways more difficult than working outside the home (but more fun, since you don't have to leave your children), so do what you love if at all possible.

Next, decide if you are interested in a job or a business. You will need to consider the hours you want to work as well. Many jobs need you during traditional business hours; others allow you to work your own. Likewise, many home businesses need regular hours, others, such as party plans, require a great deal of evening and weekend work.

Consider how much money you can invest. If you want a work at home job, you should not have to pay to get the job itself, but some do have other investments required. For example, in addition to running my website, I do medical transcription. This required that I get appropriate reference books, and I rent a Dictaphone from my employer. Do not pay to get the job under any circumstance. Just remember that you wouldn't pay for a traditional outside the home job. Businesses, on the other hand, often require some sort of investment, depending on the kind of business. Some may even have monthly costs, such as for websites or supplies. Know what you can afford.

Think about how much interaction with other people you want. If you're not interested in telling everyone you meet about what you do, a business may not be for you, particularly if you have to sell things in person.

Take a look around your home and figure out what you can use for office space. You will need a place you can keep all your business supplies and work in relative peace. Remember, if you take a job taking calls, most employers require that you not have children yelling in the background. Even if you can have your kids around, you will get more done in a peaceful environment.

Become familiar with the various resources to determine if an opportunity is legitimate. Some good ones are http://www.wahm.com, http://www.homewiththekids.com, http://www.ripoffreport.com, http://www.bbb.org, and http://www.ftc.gov.

Find out if you need to take any special classes for your job. Once again using medical transcription as an example, I had to study for months in order to be qualified for this job. Good medical transcription courses can run from several hundred to a few thousand dollars.

Talk to your family about your plans. Make sure you will have their support. A lack of support is an easy way to fail.

If you choose a business, you will have to decide whether to strike out on your own or join an existing one. There are many excellent opportunities either way. You can join a party plan and have regular time away from your family, which many work from home parents need or sell products or services online.

Be aware of any legal issues facing your home job or business. Some cities still do not allow home businesses, and you may have to ask for a variance. Many will require some sort of license, depending on the kind of business you are starting. Check with your local city hall.

Whatever you decide to do in the end, whether work a home job or a business, make sure to network with other work at home parents. They will understand the issues you are dealing with even if what they are doing is different.

About the Author

Stephanie Foster is the owner of Home with the Kids, a resource that knows that there's more to staying home with your family than just business. From money saving tips to parenting and marriage tips, to work at home jobs and businesses, you can get information and support here. You can visit the site at http://www.homewiththekids.com.

Buying an Art Reproduction: The Giclee

2005-09-24T00:39:00.000-04:00

Please welcome David Lucht to the Art Ideas discussions about art reproductions with the giclee process. You can read more about him in the closing of this article.

David Lucht
dlucht@cowango.com

About the Author

Work at Home Job vs. Work at Home Business

2005-09-23T00:18:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Susanne Myers to the Art Ideas discussions about Home Based Business . You can read more about him in the closing of this article.

One way or another you have come to the conclusion that the daily commute to corporate America just isn't going to cut it anymore. Or maybe, you have already been able to stay home with your kids for a while, but now need some extra income.

One way or another, you have decided its about time to become a work at home mom or WAHM.

This is an exciting journey and there are many decisions to make along the way.

One of the first decisions you are going to have to make is whether you would be better off with a work at home job or a work at home business. Either one of them could be the right fit for you, so let's take a moment to explore the advantages as well as the disadvantages of each.

Let's start with a work at home job. There are lots of options out there and some of the advantages and disadvantages may not apply to some of them, but in general you'll find the following. Hands down the greatest advantage of a job is that you'll receive a regular paycheck. If you put 40 hours of work in, you know you'll get paid for those 40 hours. With most WAH Jobs you can also count on getting about the same amount of hours. It allows you to plan your day and week around your work schedule easily. You do not need any upfront investment. Please stay away from work at home jobs that ask you for any type of fee. They are scams. Don't waist your time and money. The last advantage of a job I would like to mention is that you'll get instant rewards with a job. You work one week, you'll get paid the next. No need to keep yourself motivated to keep working. You'll be rewarded by your paycheck at the end of the week.

Now don't run out and get a job quite yet. There is a backside to all this as well. You will still have a boss that tells you what to do. You can also lose a job on a moments notice. You are not building any residual income that would allow you to slow down after you put some time into it. Unless you are putting money into a 401K, you won't get paid once you stop working. A job also allows you less flexibility. Your boss and colleagues are depending on you work.

This being said, lets move on to a work at home business. Yes, just the idea of it seems daunting, but there are thousands of work at home moms, that start profitable businesses every year. With some planning and determination you can do the same if you choose to do so. Many of us have grown up in households of jobholders. A business seems to be this scary, risky entity. It really isn't though and there are so many great resources on this site and elsewhere that will guide you along the way. Take a good look at the advantages and disadvantages of owning your own business and make a decision on the facts and what you think would work best for you and your family. Please do not let fear make this decision for you.

Lets take a look at the advantages of a WAH business. You are going to be your own boss. You call the shots. This gives you a large amount of freedom on how you run your business, how you treat your customers etc. It also allows you a large amount of flexibility. If you'd rather work on your website today instead of writing a sales copy, go for it. As long as you keep things balanced and get everything done that needs attention, you can allow yourself a lot of flexibility. You can also move at your own pace. There isn't anybody (other than your bank account) that you are slowing down if you decide to spend the day at the park with your kids instead of taking inventory. You are also the one that determines how much you make. The harder you work, and the better you get at this, the more money you will make. At a job you get an hourly wage or a salary that's reviewed about once year. With a business it is up to you to generate as much income as you would like. Your own business also allows you to change with times as your interests or markets change. You may start out as the owner of a dating site, but then become much more interested in wedding planning.

Don't get me wrong, owning a business does have its disadvantages as well. You usually have to invest at least a small amount of money and most definitely a lot of time upfront. This is not an instant reward kind of thing. You may be working for months without seeing much of a monetary reward. You'll have to be prepared to live without much of a paycheck for a while. If you are currently working, you may want to consider keeping your job for a while and building your business in your spare time.

No matter what you decide, I would like to congratulate you for taking the first steps to becoming a work at home mom. Always keep in mind that the reason you are doing all this is to be able to spend more time with your kids, to get them out of daycare, to bring home a check to help with expenses or whatever else your reason may be. It isn't always going to be easy to balance family life and work life, particularly when they start happening in the same house. But keep the reason why you are doing this in mind and you'll get through it. And don't forget to have some fun along the way.

About the Author

About the author: Susanne is a partner of www.WAHMWannabe.com, the one-stop online WAHM shop. WAHMWannabe offers home business comparison, business tools, work-at-home related articles, a unique WAHM marketplace, message boards, and a whole lot more. Be sure to stop by and check out what's new, as WAHM resources are added constantly!

Making the Connection: Customer Relationships That Build Your Business

2005-09-23T00:14:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Kathy Gulrich to the Art Ideas discussions about Art and Home Based Business . You can read more about him in the closing of this article.

Have you ever wondered why you often find a coupon tucked inside your cereal box, or get invited to a customer preview sale at your favorite department store? Those companies know that their existing customers are the best - and most profitable - customers they'll ever have. So it's not surprising that they'll do whatever they can to keep these customers happy and coming back again and again.

Believe it or not, the same concept holds true for your art career. While you don't want to ignore potential customers, you'll find that when you pay a little more attention to the customers and collectors you already have, it will really pay off - in increased sales and profits for your art business. The following 10 practical strategies will get you started.

1 - Understand how and why your customers buy art

Put yourself in your customers' shoes. What's in it for them when they purchase your art? Maybe they feel great about owning a piece of original artwork. Or they're happy to support an emerging artist. Perhaps they're looking forward to showing their new painting to friends. Start listening to your customers and asking questions, and you'll learn a lot - fast.

Don't underestimate the power of being an art collector yourself. You'll know firsthand how your collectors feel when they purchase your work, and you'll be a great role model for them. Even better, you'll be supporting other artists.

2 - Make the first purchase a fabulous experience

When you sell a piece of artwork, remember that it's also an exciting event for your customers. So let them be excited about their purchase. Accept any compliments graciously. Then share something personal that lets them know that you're excited about the sale, too. Tell them how the sale is meaningful to you: It's your first; your first to someone in New Jersey; your first in this series, or your last one like this. A positive connection now can pay off for years to come.

3 - Be businesslike in everything you do

Treat your art as a business, and treat your customers in a businesslike manner. Be meticulous about meeting deadlines and keeping appointments. Always provide the materials or information you promised - complete, and on time. And remember to thank your collectors personally when they attend one of your shows or support you in any way. A quick note or an e-mail will be appreciated, and remembered.

In addition, be businesslike when you price your artwork. Keep your pricing consistent: from the gallery to your studio, and from city to city. And stick to your prices no matter what; never discount your work.

Naturally, it makes sense to present yourself in a professional manner every time you show someone your work. That said, never try to be someone you're not. Let your personality come through, and you'll be the best businessperson you can be: you.

4 - Make it easy for your customers to purchase more of your work

I was at a friend's house recently and admired a beautiful hand-made journal she'd purchased at a local craft fair. Thinking it would make a perfect gift for another friend, I asked for the artist's name. When she didn't remember, we looked inside the journal and discovered the artist's name and phone number were nowhere to be found. The result? He or she lost a sale.

Put your contact information on everything that leaves your studio: letterhead, invitations, show announcements, note cards, etc. Affix a personalized label on the back of each painting that includes your name, plus your e-mail address or Web site.

And send your new collectors home with an "Artist Pack": a professional-looking folder with your business card, resume, artist statement, bio, articles about you and by you, and so on. Youíll be amazed at how often your customers will share it with their friends and associates.

5 - Ask for another sale

When liquid shampoo first came out, it gave consumers a convenient and easy way to wash their hair. "Lather and rinse," the label said. But shampoo sales really took off when just one word was added. Your shampoo bottle now says, "Lather, rinse, and repeat if desired."

Repeat sales can revolutionize your business, too. So display your work in your home and studio where visitors will see it. And when customers are making a purchase, be bold: Ask them if they'd like to purchase a second (or third) piece. Ask your collectors for referrals to another collector, or to a shop or gallery where they think your work might fit in. Or suggest a commissioned piece you'd like to do for them. The key here is to ask for the sale.

6 - Upgrade your customers

Another way to increase your income is to upgrade your customers to a more profitable product ("deluxe" shampoo for color treated hair, for example). It's really pretty easy, once you get the hang of it. Here are some upgrade ideas that have worked well for my clients:

• Encourage your customers who ordinarily buy giclee reproductions to purchase an original painting.

• Introduce your existing customers to some of your more expensive or larger pieces of art.

• If you have collectors who so far have bought only your sketches or drawings, suggest they purchase one of your paintings next time.

7 - Cross-sell your customers

Cross-selling is simply selling your customers something different from - but related to - what they're already buying. Think back to the shampoo example. Wouldn't it be relatively easy to cross-sell hair conditioner to someone who already uses shampoo?

Now take a look at your own artwork. Cross-selling might mean selling a piece of your pottery to one of your painting customers, selling a painting to one of your sculpture collectors, or suggesting your art note cards as an add-on sale when a customer stops by to pick up his pet portrait. Be imaginative, and you can increase both sales and profits.

8 - Get to know your customers and collectors

Remember that your customers are people first, customers second. Take your relationships beyond "business" and build personal relationships, as well. If appropriate, invite them to social gatherings, send a holiday card or drop them a postcard from your favorite vacation spot.

When you're chatting with your collectors, make it a habit to listen for important dates and occasions. Then remember their very special occasions with an artwork gift. Imagine having a small piece of your artwork forever connected in your collectors' minds with their 50th anniversary, the birth of their first child or grandchild, or their son's graduation from medical school. Sometimes a little goes a very long way.

9 - Let your customers get to know you - and your art

Don't you just love it when you get to watch another artist at work and see for yourself how they do what they do? You're not alone.

Almost all art collectors are curious about how you create. So it makes good business sense to find ways to share your process with them. You might invite them to an informal demo. Show them photographs of the location that inspired you. Or even let them try the process themselves. Take the time to show your customers what makes you and your art unique.

Customers who understand how you apply your paint, why you use those strange-looking long brushes, or how you get so many layers of color onto your canvas are not only educated about what you do - they're interested in what you do. And that will translate into more sales, and more referrals.

10 - Build strong, ongoing relationships with your collectors

Don't be shy about asking your customers for advice and input, whether it's on how you showcase or hang your work, or on new projects or techniques you're trying out. Do it one-on-one, or host a studio open house (notice I did not say "studio sale") to find out what they think.

And when you've just finished a new series or collection, or you're ready to hang a new gallery show, invite your best customers to your studio for a special preview of your new work. They'll love it.

Most importantly, be yourself with your customers and collectors. Yes, you may meet a collector or two who wants to be dazzled by art double-talk and rhetoric. Most collectors, however, will want to get to know the real you. They'll love hearing about your feelings about your artwork, some of your artistic quirks - and even some of the mistake youíve made.

Once customers and collectors really connect with you and your work, they'll be back for more. And that's good for every artist's business.

About the Author

Best-selling author and coach Kathy Gulrich helps clients get from 'idea' to 'action' to 'results' more quickly, and more easily - whether they're looking to write a book, develop a new product, or market their product or business.

In a nutshell, Kathy is all about taking action - and getting exceptional results. Learn more at http://www.smARTbusinessCoaching.com

Wanted: corporate clients: it's bigger than big. In fact, corporate art can be the key to financial survival in the art business

2005-09-22T01:19:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Klint Calaghan . You can read more about him in the closing of this discussion. Discussion about art and business, which we look into at Art Ideas.

For many artists, galleries and publishers, corporate art is a significant source of income. However, such sales don't just happen by chance. In fact, in the increasingly competitive game of art sales, corporate art buyers are highly coveted.

For those willing to put forth the extra effort to locate such clients, the reward is likely to be an opportunity to sell a tremendous amount of original and limited edition art to one client. And in the increasingly competitive game of art sales, this could be the difference between financial success and financial ruin.

Big Business at Boutique Hotels

A major new player in the world of corporate art is the boutique hotel--high-end, luxury accommodations that cater to their clientele's every whim, including the desire for beautiful surroundings. That is where fine art comes in. A bevy of high-end hotels have partnered with artists, galleries and museums to feature extravagant art on the walls of their lobbies, restaurants, bars and guest rooms to complete the experience.

The Hudson Hotel in New York's Upper West Side, for example, was designed by Philippe Starck and features a hand-painted ceiling by world-renowned artist Francesco Clemente in the downstairs Hudson Bar, as well as original photography by Jean Baptiste Mondino in another lounge area. Each room features rotating art and photography exhibits, as well as light boxes with original art by Clemente. Art is at the heart of every aspect of the hotel.

Two other major Manhattan hotels that have made room for art are the Soho Grand and the Tribeca Grand. Both are located downtown and have made art a priority. In fact, the Soho Grand has its own gallery space that features a changing exhibition schedule, highlighting mainly local artists. (This month's cover features an inset photograph by Nat Finkelstein, on view at the Soho Grand Hotel.) Tommy Saleh, director of hospitality at the hotel, says, "We usually like to choose art with a local angle--a local artist or photographer where the subject is Soho, and the art chosen usually has a similar aesthetic sensibility to the hotel."

In San Francisco, the Hotel des Arts, located at the crossroads of Union Square, the Financial district and the Chinatown Gate, has made art an interactive experience. Over the past few months, some of the world's most promising emerging artists have been painting their own signature rooms, allowing guests to get a floor-to-ceiling artistic experience.

Another San Francisco hotel enlisted the help of prominent marine artist, Wyland, to design one of its "celebrity rooms"--hotel rooms that are completely immersed in the world of the celebrity of choice. In the Wyland suite, for example, the artist submerges guests in the sea, with hand-picked lithographs and furniture from his collection, along with a salt-water aquarium with tropical plants and colorful fish.

Indeed, the relationship between the corporate and art world is becoming closer than it ever has been, and not just in the world of luxury hotels. The savvy art dealer can recognize the opportunity for lucrative corporate art relationships virtually everywhere.

"We define a corporate art client in our field mainly as a hospitality account" explains Tony Barrett, director of sales for Bentley Publishing Group in Walnut Creek, CA. "That is, someone who supplies art to hotels, vacation properties, restaurants, corporate offices and healthcare facilities." These are all venues that are in constant need of artwork, often with rotating collections that change several times a year. Making the right connections with businesses such as these can make a huge difference in the bottom line of any art business.

"The primary benefits of dealing with the corporate art world are varied" says Joseph Garcia, president of New Era Publishing in Austin, TX. "Corporate buyers tend to be more educated in current trends and usually know what they are looking for in terms of styles and colors. Plus, the corporate buyer is more committed to your company and the relationships can last indefinitely if nurtured properly."

Observations from the Field

New Era Publishing is one of the fastest-growing art publishers in the United States. The entire business was built around the corporate art world. "Although we now work with clients of all types, the majority of our revenue is still derived from the corporate and commercial sector, which includes hospitality" says New Era's Garcia.

For Garcia and New Era, a "corporate client" is any business that is sourcing art for resale or placement in a corporate or commercial environment, as opposed to a residential setting. "Typically, the client is a corporate art consultant, a designer or a purchasing agent ... other times it's an actual owner of a building or hotel," he explains.

Garcia says that while it's not particularly difficult to sell into the corporate sector, a dealer should be willing to do a lot of legwork and carry a very large amount of artwork. He also stressed the importance of knowing popular trends in medium, style and size for the corporate arena. "Photography is always popular in the corporate world as long as it is regionalized," he says. "The popular styles are colorful abstracts, landscapes and anything contemporary."

As for preferred sizes, Garcia said it can vary greatly, but oversized imagery and a series of four to 10 works are often desirable in office corridors.

Additionally, Garcia pointed out that selling to a corporate art consultant or decision-maker requires a slightly different approach than one would take with a more typical client in the gallery setting. "You will need to become more of a business person and less of an art person;' he advises.

Bentley Publishing Group (BPG) is made up of five publishing companies and focuses entirely on open edition prints and posters--the current line is made up of more than 15,000 prints. Director Tony Barrett says the corporate art market is one of the areas where publishers and dealers can really see sales rise. "The corporate art market is one of the major areas of growth in the art market at present." Barrett explains, "After the events of Sept. 11, corporate art sales were a little static, but that has reversed and it is now quite a high-growth area"

One of the challenges of selling art to the corporate market that Bentley Gallery has specifically tried to predict and counter is that of sensory overload. "Selling art to the corporate client is a very presentation-based task," Barrett explains. "Here at BPG, we have invested heavily in catalogs and a free Web site program to help designers make the most of our large range of prints."

The Bentley system is designed to help corporate art clients and designers narrow the field. "In many ways having too much art in the market can make it difficult for a designer to pinpoint exactly what the customer needs and to keep them focused. Our systems allow the designer to choose a narrow range of artwork and to obtain custom catalogs that present just that selected artwork?"

Regarding trends in the industry, Barrett has found that demand for contemporary and abstract images has continued to grow for Bentley's corporate clients. However, Barrett cautions, "One thing to remember when forecasting trends is that the average span for corporate art is shorter than that for private collections. Most projects are designed to last five years?"

Daniel Deljou, president of Deljou Art Group in Atlanta, estimates that more than 50 percent of his business is done directly with corporate clients. Deljou Art Group is a publishing company that provides limited edition prints, original artwork, and sculpture to U.S. and international clients. Deljou says he loves working with corporations because "for one, they are the biggest buyers of art. Not selling to them [means] missing an entire portion of the marketplace. Plus, they have a budget for art and are not as price conscious as your average individual art buyer. And best of all, they are a repeat customer?"

Deljou also has experienced a specific pattern in the art acquisition that happens in a typical office setting. "There are different types of art for the different parts of the corporate setting" he explains. "For example, originals are mostly used in public areas, such as lobbies, conference rooms, and executive offices, while limited editions are used for hallways and junior employee offices, and posters for break rooms and bathrooms."

Deljou advises other galleries and publishers considering entering the corporate art market to take this into account. "It is your job as an art dealer to advise them of the importance of special types of art for different areas;' he says. "That is the difference between a successful art consultant/dealer and the rest:"

Deljou also pointed out that opportunities for making great contacts are as close as the new office spaces that are opening up in your community. And they're just a phone call away.

Getting Started

To break into corporate art, first consider the common-sense advice. Garcia advises dealers to subscribe to the local business journal and start looking for companies that are expanding and moving into your area. "No company wants empty walls, or worse yet, outdated, ugly art on their walls," he says.

Garcia also suggests contacting the local chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (www.asid.org), as well as local corporate furnishing providers. "Most importantly, get on the telephone and make some phone calls" he says.

Barrett adds that "Trade shows are always a good place to make lasting corporate contacts. The HD (Hospitality Design) Expo held in Las Vegas at the end of May is an excellent show, for example?"

Experts also stress the importance of making a connection with "corporate art consultants." The title is open to a great deal of interpretation, and can describe everyone from an administrative assistant with a passion for art, to the acquisitions director for a large pharmaceutical company. Often, the corporate art buyer will stop in your gallery or will introduce themselves at a trade show. Experts also stress the importance of going that extra mile and inviting corporate art buyers to have coffee or lunch in order to get a better idea of the projects that they're working on. That extra step could mean all the difference in starting a valuable relationship that lasts for years.

Many corporations in the new economy are successful in part because of their commitment to beautiful design and style. For these groups, an office without a thoughtful and appropriate art collection would be unthinkable. The corporate art client is a considerable portion of the art market to consider when creating your business model.

As Deljou explains, "One of the most important things to consider is the fact that if you own a gallery, you have a set overhead. When one caters to the corporate art market, you are concentrating on additional business that does not walk into your gallery. In most cases, it is over and above your normal sales. That could make a difference between making it in the art business or not."

For reprints of this article, call 800-867-9285, ext. 5503.

SOURCES

* New Era Publishing, 888-928-3910, www.newrapublishing.com

* Bentley Publishing Group, 800-227-1666, www.bentleypublishinggroup.com

* Deljou Art Group, 800-237-4638, www.deljourtgroup.com

* American Society of Interior Designers, 202-546-3480,www.asid.org

* Hospitality Design Expo, 866-693-1007, 301-694-5243,www.hdexpo.com

* The Color Marketing Group, 703-329-8500, www.colormarketing.org

Hospitality Design Expo

Players in the corporate art field also need to stay on top of the latest trends in the industry and attend the most important, "in-the-know" trade shows. One of the most influential shows in the field is the Hospitality Design Expo and Conference (HD), held each May in Las Vegas (www.hdexpo.com).

With accredited courses, seminars, networking events, award programs and an expansive show floor that features hospitality products, HD is an event for sharing ideas, learning and networking. Show attendees include more than I0,000 key leaders from across the United States and around the world in the hospitality design industry, from interior designers and architects to consultants, developers and owners, all of whom are excellent potential art buying contacts. Several leading publishers actually exhibit at the show in search of potential corporate art clients.

Contract Color Trends

For galleries and publishers who cater to the corporate art market, staying on top of the latest trends in color for interiors is vital. The Color Marketing Group (CMG), www.colormarketing.org), founded in 1962, is a not-for-profit, international association of 1,300 color designers involved in the use of color as it applies to the profitable marketing of goods and services. CMG's major focus is to identify the direction of color and design trends. CMG members then"translate"that information into salable colors for manufactured products. In 2006, the contract color trends embrace "uplifting color" (CMG defines contract color as color embraced by industries including Health Care, Hospitality/Entertainment, Retail, Institutional/Public Spaces and Office.)The 2006 contract colors include:

Mill Valley--A botanical blue-based green.

Trench Coat--An architectural color reminiscent of tumbled stones.

Golden Eye--A fashion-driven color reminiscent of saris and Chinese silks.

"Creamy" Hollandaise--A brighter yellow that is not too toned and not too clean.

My Blue Heaven--A water-based clear, serene blue.

Bayview--Tranquil blue green that complements browns, golds and pinks.

Franciscan Fog--A mysterious purple gray.

Snappy--A copper-based orange.

Santa Claya--An indiscreet blush of color that infuses ordinary beige.

Sweet Melon--Coral pink color that is likened to fresh fruit.

Rubaline--Regal, jewel-toned magenta.

Margherita--High-tech yellow with rejuvenating green influence.

Tokyo Green--An under-30s urban international green.

Blue Bling--European influenced, invigorating blue honest.

Luv-ender--A magical and playful red-influenced periwinkle.

Beep-Beep--A vivid, bright, energetic true yellow.

Simply Pink--A usable retro influenced color that is neither blue--nor orange-based, simply pink.

--K.C.
Klint Callaghan

Working from Home – A Blessing or a Curse?

2005-09-22T00:59:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Kathy Paauw . You can read more about her in the closing of this discussion. Discussion about considerations when working from you. Something we review at Art Ideas.

"It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."
--Anonymous

If you are among the increasing number of individuals who work from home, you know that it has some wonderful benefits – no traffic and parking hassles, no office politics to drag you down, nobody looking over your shoulder, you can wear your house slippers to work, and you can set flexible work hours. But these same great benefits come with drawbacks – a sense of isolation, no external pressure to keep you motivated and on task, and no limit to your work hours. In essence, if you are not careful you can easily find yourself “at work” all the time.

With some good planning, it is possible to reap the benefits and reduce the drawbacks of working from a home office. Here are 10 tips to help:

1. Begin with the big picture in mind. Clarify what needs to happen in the next three years in order for you to feel like your life has progressed in the way that you want it to.

2. Plan and organize your week so you are focused on your priorities – both professional AND personal ones. Do you find yourself putting things off that are important to you because you have so many urgent tasks that need your attention? Do you look back at the end of the day with regret and wish that you had spent your time focusing on more important things ... such as time with your family, time for self-care, or time to work on an important project that has no deadline? Being technically proficient in your business or profession will only get you so far … especially if your life gets out of balance in the process.

We are all accustomed to making appointments with other people, but not necessarily with ourselves. Because most of us tend to focus on that which is urgent, we tend to put off activities that are important but have no deadline. Schedule “protected time” -- time during the day when you let calls go into voice mail and you don’t check email -- so you can concentrate on activities that are important but not urgent.

W. Clement Stone once said, "No matter how carefully you plan your goals, they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto." If interruptions in your home office make it difficult to concentrate, consider going somewhere else to work on important projects requiring concentration.

Be clear about how you choose to structure your week.

* How much free time do you choose to spend away from work?
* How much time do you choose to spend delivering the primary product or service you provide? Are you available evenings and weekends?
* How much time do you choose to spend doing the support activities important to your work?

All of these activities affect each other. If you neglect support activities (returning phone calls, responding to email, follow-up, filing, etc.), things will start slipping through the cracks. Then it becomes difficult to take free time to relax and rejuvenate. Without free time, the quality of what you deliver will suffer. It becomes a viscious cycle!

3. Limit the number of places you post reminders of activities requiring your attention. I recommend that you check these three places daily:

* Your tickler file -- visit http://www.orgcoach.net/products/ticklerpic.html for more information about how to set this up.
* Your contact management program (such as ACT or Outlook) – This can contain your scheduled appointments with others, as well as your scheduled appointments with yourself and reminders for follow-up with others.
* E-mail – Flag the items you need to come back to and do something with.

4. Create a Perhaps List . Most people have stashes of lists in multiple places – several legal pads containing to-do lists, sticky notes plastered on the computer monitor, the wall, the desktop, etc. Instead of writing these ideas down in multiple places, collect all of them in one place. Visit: http://www.orgcoach.net/perhaps.html to see a sample Perhaps List.

5. Schedule 10-15 minutes at the end of each workday to organize your work space and review your plans for tomorrow. Psychologists have found that we enjoy our non-work hours much more when we leave the office with an organized desk and a plan for the following day. This is also a good time to check your tickler file for the next day so you can begin mentally preparing for what needs your attention tomorrow.

6. Schedule time with other people. Working from a home office can be isolating. If you need more human contact, build in opportunities that will help you feel more connected to others. Join a service club or networking group, or treat yourself to having lunch or playing a sport once a week with a friend, colleague, or client…whatever it takes to feel more connected.

7. Schedule weekly “admin” time to tend to routine activities that you know need to be done regularly – filing, checking email, returning phone calls, invoicing, paying bills, etc. Although these activities are important, they are generally not urgent…but if they get neglected long enough they will become urgent when you cannot find something you need or a bill does not get paid by the due date.

NOTE: Not all hours are created equal. Pay attention to your own body rhythms. Schedule your “high brain” activities (things requiring creativity, for example) during your best time of day, and schedule the “low brain” activities (the auto pilot stuff) during your low energy time of the day.

8. Say NO to activities that are not important to you. If you need a reminder of what to say YES to, consider using a daily checklist and a PageUp Copy Holder that can hold your checklist upright (see photo at http://www.orgcoach.net/products/tickle.html#pageup) so it does not get buried on your desk.

9. Trim the F.A.T. – File, Act, Toss. When you open the mail, immediately make a decision to either FILE away for future reference, ACT on it, or TOSS it. Visit: http://www.orgcoach.net/trimthefat.html to learn more about this process, or participate in our fr*ee Buried in Paper teleclasses held monthly.

10. Create a filing system which will enable you to find things quickly, no matter where you filed it. The number one reason people pile instead of file is a fear of never finding it again. You're invited to participate in a fr*ee monthly Find Anything in 5 Seconds teleclass where we'll show you how you can file your papers so you’ll find them in 5 seconds or less.

For more information on our Teleclasses visit:
http://www.orgcoach.net/teleclasses.html

Wouldn't you love to stumble upon a secret library of ideas to help you de-clutter your life so you can focus on what's most important? Kathy Paauw offers simple, yet powerful ideas, on how to manage your time, space, and thoughts for a more productive and fulfilling life. Visit http://www.orgcoach.net .

Understanding Art

2005-09-20T02:08:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Redi Zartey . You can read more about him in the closing of this discussion. Discussion about art and philosophy, which we look into at Art Ideas.

Art is anything that people add to their 'output' which is not functionally necessary and is other than the default properties of that output. The word "art" has been derived from the Latin word 'ars', which, loosely translated, means "arrangement" or "to arrange". This is the only universal definition of art, that whatever it is was at some point arranged in some way. There are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its etymological roots. This word comes from the Greek technic meaning art.

Art and science are usually treated diagonally opposite to each other. While science means some phenomenon resulting in truth, which is universal and objective in nature. In other words, science findings can be repeated under the same set of circumstances anywhere in the world at any given point of time. Same cannot be said of art. Art, on the other hand is purely subjective in nature. Take for example, a painting - while one calls it a masterpiece, same feelings cannot be expected from other individual.

Art can roughly be divided into two, namely philosophical art and aesthetic art. The philosophical type of art involves human figures for some purposive actions. In other words, philosophical art depicts human condition or it is the conceptual frame of mind of the artist.

Aesthetic art, on the other hand, shows the perceived frame of mind. Two examples will help illustrate these two points of view - a Mona Lisa painting is philosophical art, while a demon being killed by a super human is aesthetic. These two categories are also called classical and modern art respectively.

There are other ways of classifying art - major among them being architecture, design, painting, music, drawing, literature, performing art, etc. While these have been (and still are) traditional forms of art performed by human kind, newer forms of art have emerged with the advent of technology. Some of the later era art forms are games, animation, movie, computer art, shooting, etc.

Two of the most researched areas of interest to artists, critiques and archeologists has been the art movement (or art history) and art school.

An art movement is a typical style or tendency in art with a specific common philosophy, followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time (ranging from a few months to years or decades). Art school is any educational institute offering education to its students on various forms of art.

Birth of art gave rise to another group of individuals - art critics. Art critics study and evaluate a piece of art. Its main purpose is to rationalize the evaluation of art, and ridding of any personal opinion affecting the work of art. Art criticism today deploys systematic and formal methods to evaluate the piece of art.

Museums are known to nurture and store work of arts across the world. Early era museums were patronized by the then kings and emperors. Today these are maintained by governments or private trusts with or without public money. Three major museum institutes are British Museum, Museum of Modern Art, New York and Galerie des Offices in France.

Understanding art in its totality is almost an impossible task for a human being. There are over 3,600 terms in art to be understood. And these are not definitive in nature. Art is when you are free to redefine these.

<>About The Author
Redi Zartey is the owner of Art Diz which is a premier resource for art information.For more information, go to http://www.artdiz.com or by e-mail at redi@artdiz.com

Diversify your home based business

2005-09-20T01:51:00.000-04:00

Over the past three months I have become intrigued with network marketing businesses. I thought I would share with you my latest thoughts and perhaps you may find these to help you too. There are more bad stories than good when it comes to network marketing businesses, but only because of poor business planning not to mention illegal, fraudulent situations as well.

That does not make network marketing businesses bad. If you have encountered bad situations, think of it like a stock. If your stock goes down or you find that it is not earning as expected, you sell the stock and move along to another stock. Accept that you may have made a mistake in your decisions or you may have been mis-lead by the prospectus, but would you really stop buying stocks?

Network marketing businesses are just that. They are a business. You are the sales person and if you want an income you have to sell the product, the business and maintain your clients. Your clients are your down line and as in any business in order for your clients to keep buying you will need to educate, support and maintain the relationship. Without the education, support and maintenance of the relationship you can count on your clients leaving.

Equally, your method of marketing to secure clients, or leads, must be diversified as in any traditional business. Marketing is not just a matter of buying leads and calling. Take for instance my International Galleries (IGI) business, which has some very interesting methods to secure clients described within the below.

Off-Line

Business Partners

Can you sell your product or business offline through other business partners? While I cannot speak for your particular business, with IGI we have the ability of reaching out to local frame stores. Since we are in the art industry, everyone from a homeowner to businesses fill their walls with paintings. The frame shop not only can refer retail sales, earn 5%, but also the client they referred will need to have the paintings framed and will most likely go back to the same frame-shop. (If you didn’t know, IGI paintings are shipped securely in a tube with certificate).

Cold Market (Purchase Leads)

You have to include the possibility of purchasing leads of individuals seeking a home based business or secondary income. It is one of the methods. Yes, these are indeed cold calls.

Warm Market (friends, family, business associates, and local market)

Reach out to people whose lives you have touched. If you truly believe in your business and they trust you, consider approaching these folks to engage in your business. Hold a seminar is a local coffee shop and put a ad in the local paper.

On-Line

Website (landing page)

Many network marketing businesses provide you with your own website; however, this website usually cannot be modified and you have no control on how to best market this website. Create a Landing Page! It’s a website at a different location, under a different domain name. Consider free website hosting companies on the web. Your landing page will give you control on how to market, what to say and allow you to still point your prospects to your company site.

The company site tends to lack direction, explain why and contact methods from prospects are not very reliable. Besides we are trying to build a business of longevity with full retention of our “clients”, which requires more than merely a company website for education and support.

General Internet Marketing

I will not go into all the various types of online marketing methods, only to say they must all be engaged in order to drive traffic to your landing page or company website.

I certainly hope the information above helps everyone perceive their network marketing business a little differently. It is a business, treat it that way!

For those of you contemplating IGI as a business possibility, please contact me be e-mail or by telephone at (248) 568-2241. I think you will find the art industry quite lucrative with broad possibilities to earn income. You can visit our business website at www.artideas4u.com.

Relationship Marketing and Your Home Based Business

2005-09-19T02:02:00.000-04:00

Please welcome to Charles Fuchs with a very good article for home based businesses. You can read more about Charles in the closing of this discussion. We believe you will find the information as we did at Art Ideas.

Many entrepreneurs just starting out say that their one biggest fear is selling their business to others. In today’s relationship marketing focus, much has been said about building the relationship that the sales side of this style of marketing has become a taboo in business owners’ minds. However, you have a home based business to make money, and so developing a balance between both sides of the relationship marketing style will help you effectively build your business.

In being able to develop your sales approach, you must also know exactly what you are doing with your home based business. If you cannot articulate your business to others, then relationship marketing will do you know good. You have to know how your home based business is going to be able to help the consumer meet his or her needs. It is absolutely imperative that you list “making a profit” as one of your purposes. Trying to make a profit is not a sin, it is a necessity to stay in business, so no one should fault you for it as long as you are making a profit by honest means. And in relationship marketing, you promote your business through the relationship to enhance trust, so being honest is important.

Also, you need to be businesslike and professional when building your business through relationship marketing. The relationship side of this marketing style does not mean that your clients have to be your best friends, just that you need to develop a rapport with them that promotes communication – business communication. Other relationships could develop, but the relationship must start off as businesslike so that the sales side of relationship marketing is not compromised.

Your actions should always be in accordance with your business’s best interests, too. Ask yourself that question when making decisions. In relationship marketing, you may believe that doing something special for a client will enhance your business and building that relationship and future sales. However, the act could be seen by the client as more of a personal favor. Always weigh the benefits of the action for your business before making a decision. Despite your ability to develop the sale through relationship marketing, though, understand that some clients will try to use the relationship to manipulate or take advantage of you. So always ask yourself the question before making any decisions

In the end, the most important part of relationship marketing is that it allows you to be honest and direct with your clients. If you have developed the relationship well, they will appreciate your truthfulness, and you will feel more positive and confident about selling your services.

Read the rest of the article here: Relationship Marketing and Your Home Based Business.

Download the Free Quick Start Workbook (Free $97 Value!) and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

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Toilets in Modern Art

2005-09-19T01:47:00.000-04:00

Please welcome the writers of ContentClix. You can read more about them in the closing of this discussion. Discussions about the art industry are absolutely necessary, which we look into at Art Ideas.

Travelers tend to frequently take the cleanliness of toilets as indicative of how civilised a country might be. Modern artists pretty much do the same thing. Defining a "threshold of civilization" by means of a toilet pot is however by no means simple. Neither is it likely to lead to a conclusive, once and for all outcome. On the contrary. When we are faced with a toilet pot as the focal point for debate, arguments rich of historic content emerge. Arguments that we realise we digested somehow only as and when we enter into the debate.

The first toilet to make its way into the art world was pushed to its rightful place by means of a trick, which is, if you think about it, the only way to do it. Toilets are embarrassing, not shocking. If an artist manages to outshock the embarrassment he's likely succeeded in getting the specator to the point where he is transferring his emotions to the spectator's mind, not merely associations of excrement. The spectator would never make this adjustment if he wasn't somehow confronted however. So in 1917, Marcel Duchamp, stagemanaged a necessary coup both on the public and the art world itself when he, under the pseudonym "Richard Mutt", purchased a porcelyn urinal, scribbled, or rather ‘splashed' the pseudonym on it, placed it on a pedestal and entered it as a sculpture in an exhibition organized by the New York Society of Independent Artists. The piece was rejected by the jury without discussion as ‘no work of art by any definition'.

It took a few decades, but this act was eventually confirmed as the birth of concept art, even though the artist might have never meant anything more than to show what art had become. He resigned himself to doing nothing. Many of his ‘ready made' art objects have been stolen or destroyed and resistence in society to anything Duchamp was seizeably big. It was only until the 1960s -since the rise of the Concept Art movement- that the concept of ready made art became an accepted art form.

In the magazine ‘The Blind Man', Duchamp defended his toilet on the basis of him chosing an ordinary article of life, and placing it so that its useful significance disappeared under a new title and point of view. Creating a new thought for that object made it into art. "Whether Mr. Mutt with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He chose," Duchamp argued.

At this present day the debate has evolved some more and now there's regular debate about whether art is actually not so valid if it doesn't boast at least some degree of placid vulgarity. The Russians Ilya and Emilia Kabakov might offer some ideas. These two Russians are the undoubted king and queen of out-of-all-proportion installation art that deals with the bleak side of Russian everyday life. Many of their works are represented in the collections of many of the world's major museums. In 1992, they too created a toilet work. ‘The Toilet in the Corner' is an exact replica of a Soviet toilet provincial style for an exhibition in Germany's Kassel, named Documenta. The massive installation was built outside the exhibition building in the German city just like they would have been in provincial Soviet Russia. The toilet marked an important point in the Kabakovs' careers, who had lived outside Russia for a number of years when they made the toilet installation.

The work was inspired by the collapse of the Soviet Union, which to the artists minds demanded an embracing of the genre ‘total installation'. This is the first work in which Ilya Kabakov encompassed an entire range of personal memories and reproduced them. His toilet shows shabby walls of white lime, covered by obscene graffiti in which toilets without any doors are placed. They epitomize the Russian idea of civilisation even more because they were communal, just like ordinary people's residences. People believe that in exile, Ilya Kabakov's work has become more unified and total.

Kabakov and his wife created more than 200 installations in a number of different countries. They are concept artists closely associated with the Russian NOMA group and steer clear of producing pop art, a strong contemporary art movement in Russia. Kabakov does not want his work to look as if it could be included in an advertisement. He has chosen to focus on the ordinary everyday life in an old fashioned effort to chronicle its bleakness. "Too banal and insignificant to be recorded anywhere else, and made taboo not because of their potential political explosiveness, but because of their sheer ordinariness, their all-too-human scale", as one writer puts it. The Toilet in the Corner is now on permanent display in the State Hermitage.

One Belgian, Jan de Pooter, also more or less a contemporary concept artist, is also driven by the urge to document. He has made an inventory of the collapsing public urinals of his home town Antwerp. He also made a portable urinal and christened it "pisse-partout". It is a portable device that allows one to have a pee at any place in complete serenity... In creating his ‘urinal art', De Pooter isn't the first to draw public attention to the public conveniences in the city. They even derive their official name "Vespassiennes" from the Roman emperor Vespacianus who lived in 68 AD. On this ruler's list levying taxes on public toilets throughout his empire came after building the Colloseum, ending Nero's misgovernment and persecuting the Jews. When he got complaints about it he used the famous words: (pecunia) non olet! Money does not smell. Which has stood the test of time.

About The Author:

This article was brought to you by the writers at www.contentClix.com. We are based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and create tailormade webcontent, sales copy, articles, features, news, brochures. Contact us on writers@contentclix.com.

Visual Literacy

2005-09-18T17:44:00.000-04:00

Please welcome to Dan Cooper with a very good article for visual art. You can read more about Dan in the closing of this discussion. We believe the content is very pertinent and one that requires attention when working with limited edition giclee art as we do at Art Ideas.

A wealthy woman was visiting the studio of the artist Henri Matisse. Stopping in front of one painting of a young woman, she asked, "Mr. Matisse, isnít the arm on this girl too long?"

"Madame," replied the artist, "that is not a girl. That is a painting!"

Visual art is a form of communication with its own language. No matter how realistic a painting may be, it is not the thing it portrays but an arrangement of paint on a flat surface. In that sense, all art is abstract and has its own rules of expression. Just as a book is made up of letters combined into words, sentences, paragraphs, stories, feelings and ideas, there can be many levels to an artwork. If someone gave you a great book in a foreign language, it would mean little to you. The same can be true with paintings-- realistic or abstract-- if you have not learned how to "read" them.

There are two ways of using our eyes. The most common way is utilitarian-- labeling and categorizing things, people and experiences. We ignore visual details, seeing things in the world only as symbols for their place in our plans, and goals. Life is hectic and our vision is reduced in the service of getting things done.

The other way is aesthetic, which is looking for the sake of inspiration and enjoyment in the present moment. The value of art actually comes from its uselessness. It asks us to "be" in a world that prizes doing, and encourages an open and curious outlook. Visual art allows an instant grasp of the whole picture, then unfolds as we discover the interplay of the parts.

The appreciation of art is more than an elite pursuit for leisure time-- it can be a renewable source of everyday inspiration and enjoyment that enriches the rest of our lives. Unlike reading, visual literacy is not part of our education. When we don't understand the language, we're unsure about trusting our experience, and vulnerable to the opinions and motives of the marketplace.

Life offers us a visual feast, but usually we just eat the menu. Many of us are uncomfortable after a few minutes looking at a work of art, but by staying beyond those first moments, your mind can shift gears and begin to understand deeper levels, to let the painting speak to you in its own silent language. It strengthens your intuition and changes the way you see even the most ordinary things. This new way of looking may be awkward at first, but like learning to read, it soon becomes natural and automatic.

Here are some pointers that can develop your visual literacy and artistic appreciation:

Pick a painting that has stood the test of time, and spend fifteen minutes with it. A reproduction in a book is fine for starters. Look at it and notice your first reaction.

Is there a center of interest? How does the rest of the painting help focus attention there? Look at the whole and the parts to see how they work together. (Try turning it upside down and sideways.)

Now look for shapes, and notice how their size and placement make up the composition. Is it balanced and stable, or asymmetrical and active?

See the patterns of light and dark. (Squinting helps with this.)

Lines have direction and movement, and are also the boundaries of shapes. Are they straight or curved? Sharp or soft? Vertical, horizontal, or diagonal?

Colors carry feeling. Is there a dominant color, or contrasting colors? Overall, would you say the colors are "warm" or "cool?"

Focus in on similarities, differences and contrast of all types throughout the artwork. Just as in poetry, shapes, colors and textures can "rhyme."

Ask yourself, what is this painting about?

A painting can be a snack, a dessert, or a full meal with wine and good conversation. Paintings that particularly attract you can act like a mirror to help you understand yourself, and lead you to see the world anew. The great abstract expressionist, Hans Hofmann, called this quest a "Search for the Real." Try it out and see what you can find.

About The Author:

Daniel A. Cooper is an award-winning internationally-acclaimed artist whose work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States and abroad for twenty-five years. His paintings and giclee prints grace many private and corporate collections, including AT&T, Merrill Lynch, and Wells Fargo Bank. Art Pictorial Magazine (Tokyo) praised his "meticulous, pristine and masterful craftsmanship that communicates a deep love of the subjects chosen." His "meta-realist" style is appreciated for its blend of strong composition and luminous color revealing influences from Claude Monet to Andrew Wyeth. Cooper was educated at Harvard University, majoring in Fine Arts, and studied at the Art Students' League and the Boston Museum School. He lives in Northern California, and is the creator of "E-Painting of the Week," a free email service. To sign up, go to www.dancooperart.com

10 Essential Criteria For Choosing Your Target Market

2005-09-18T17:14:00.000-04:00

Please welcome to Tessa Stowe with a very good article for home based businesses. You can read more about Tessa in the closing of this discussion. We believe the content is very pertinent and one that we subscribe to at Art Ideas.

A specific group of people you will focus on selling your services to is your target market. This is not to be confused with the problem you will be solving for this group.

Why choose a target market? You need to decide exactly who your audience is before you sell your services. Deciding on your target market lays a critical foundation for your business. When you get clear about who your target market is, you will:

* know where to focus your selling and marketing efforts.

* know where to focus your research efforts. You want to intimately understand your market: the problems they have and the language they speak. The greater your level of understanding the more magnetic you will become.

Your target market will determine your income and success. Choose the wrong one and you will waste a lot of time and money with very little results.

Whatever target market -TM- you choose, check to see that it meets the following 10 essential criteria:

1. Your TM has a big problem. They think about it all the time, it keeps them awake at night.

2. Your TM wants the problem solved. The impact and cost of the problem is big enough that they will act to solve it (some people have problems they are quite happy to live with!).

3. You can easily find your TM. Do they belong to associations? Are there conferences for this target market? Are there publications? Where do they hangout? If it's not easy to find your target market, it will cost you a lot of money to find them.

4. Your TM has money to spend. No point having a terrific service if your target market hasn't the money to pay for it. I know this sounds basic but it's often overlooked.

5. Your TM has a history of paying to have this problem solved. You want to focus on a target market where there is a proven track record of problems and people paying to solve them. A good sign is if your competitors are selling similar services to the target market.

6. There's enough of your TM out there to sustain a business. How many people or businesses are in your target market? Realistically how many will become your clients and what will that be worth to you? Is that enough?

7. You enjoy working with your TM. Think about what types of people are in your target market and visualize being with them day in and day out. How does that feel? Will you feel energized or drained at the end of the day? Remember, you are also in business to enjoy yourself so make sure you will enjoy working with this target market.

8. You have a passion for helping and serving this TM. Passion is an essential ingredient for selling your services.

9. You have valuable expertise and experience you can offer. Your target market will want to buy from people who are experts in their field. Think about what specific expertise and experience you can offer your target market.

10. Your TM fits with your ultimate lifestyle package. What hours do you want to work? Where do you want to work? How do you want to work? Does this fit in with your target market? Ensure that working with your target market will enable you to live the kind of life you want to live.

Once you have found your target market, the next step is to refine it even further. Decide on the profile of your ideal client. What sort of person are they? Decide on their demographics and psychographics. Demographics are the basic facts like age, gender, income, location, etc. Psychographics are their characteristics, values etc. This will enable you to focus even more.

The clearer you are about who you want to do business with, the more you will attract exactly the clientele you're looking for. You will then need your Sales Conversation skills to convert them to clients.

(c) 2005, Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation Pty Ltd. You are welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to tessa@salesconversation.com.

About The Author:

Tessa Stowe works with self employed professionals who are struggling to sell their Services. To learn more about this and to sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.salesconversation.com NOTE: You are welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to tessa@salesconversation.com.

Giclee Frequently Asked Questions

2005-09-14T01:12:00.000-04:00

Giclee Frequently Asked Questions

Giclee paintings have given the ability for artists to reproduce their original paintings with extreme high quality and reach out to a broader audience with the same piece. Each piece is printed in limited edition so as to not de-value the reproductions or the originals. Here we will review some questions about these types of paintings.

Q: What are there significant quality differences between these types of prints?

A: In terms of resolution, a giclee print has the highest resolution and color range.

Giclee printmaking offers one of the highest degrees of accuracy and richness of color available in any reproductions technique. Giclee printmaking provides a luminosity and brilliance that represents the artist's original work better than any reproduction technique available today.

A Serigraph is created when paint is 'pushed' through a silkscreen onto paper or canvas. A different screen is used for each color in the print, and this results in a print with great color density and many qualities of the original piece in terms of color saturation. This process also adds some texture to the final product.

A Lithograph is the least manually intensive reproduction technique, and in turn, is not as expensive as a serigraph or giclee. Although images can have a high resolution, and excellent appearance, they will not have the same degree of color fastness, resolution or color density as a serigraph or giclee.

Q: Why do Giclee prints have serial numbers?

A: The serial number is used to indicate that a limited edition has been signed and numbered by the artist himself/herself.

Q: Will the value of a limited edition increase like other collector's items?

A: Being limited in number, demand for certain limited edition prints can be greater than the number of reproductions produced for the edition. Once an edition is sold out from the publisher, which means that the print is no longer available from the publisher, but they may still be available from an authorized dealer, the prints are considered to be on the Secondary Market. This means that the print can be bought and sold by any dealer or individual, often above issue price, depending on supply and demand.

Q: What is meant by the term 'Archival' and 'acid-free'?

A: Paper or canvas treated to neutralize its natural acidity in order to protect fine art and photographic prints from discoloration and deterioration.

Q: Why does it take longer to get my Limited Edition print than it does to get a poster?

A: Each limited edition is ordered from the publisher upon immediate demand. Therefore, we must take shipping time into account. In the event that you choose to have your limited edition print frame then you must also allow time to custom frame your print to your exact specifications.

Q: What is an Artist's Proof, or what does A/P mean?

A: A small group of prints set aside from an edition for an artist's or printer's use. Typically some of the first prints pulled from a limited edition of prints, they are marked as an A.P. and [sometimes] left unnumbered. Artist's proofs generally draw a higher price than other impressions.

Q: Why are Limited Edition prints so much more expensive?

A: The premium price of limited editions is a function of the limited supply of each product, and the exceptionally high quality of these prints. Typically, the more manually intensive the process is, the more each limited edition print will cost.

Q: What is a Limited Edition?

A: A limited edition is a series of identical prints, which are limited to a one-time printing of a certain number of pieces. The artist determines the size of the edition, and usually signs and numbers each individual piece.

here are some reseources on the above information sources:
www.xtremetropicals.com/Xdebbiegiclee.html

Come join the art adventure at http://www.artideas4u.com and learn how you can have a business with limited edition quality canvas giclee paintings.

What are Giclee Paintings?

2005-09-14T01:06:00.000-04:00

About Giclee Printing

Giclee (zhee-klay) - The French word "giclée" is a feminine noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The word may have been derived from the French verb "gicler" meaning "to squirt".

The term “giclee print" denotes an elevation in printmaking technology. Images are generated from high resolution digital scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The giclee printing process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction.

Giclee prints are created typically using professional 8-Color to 12-Color ink-jet printers. Among the manufacturers of these printers are vanguards such as Epson, MacDermid Colorspan, & Hewlett-Packard. These modern technology printers are capable of producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and photographic markets. Giclee prints are sometimes mistakenly referred to as Iris prints, which are 4-Color ink-jet prints from a printer pioneered in the late 1970s by Iris Graphics. The power of modern computers is harnessed to drive and control each combination, of colour, shade, hue, value and density of the ink via four or eight nozzles.

This can produce a combination of up to 1024 basic chromatic changes, which makes possible of over four million color combinations of highly saturated, non-toxic, water based ink. Since no half-tone screens are used in Giclee printing, the prints have a higher resolution than lithographs. The intense saturation of the Giclee printing system renders a dynamic color range is greater than serigraphy.

The apparent resolution of the digital print is 1800 dots per square inch, which is higher than a traditional lithographic print and has a wider color gamut than serigraphy. Giclee prints render deep, saturated colors and have a beautiful painterly quality that retains minute detail, subtle tints and blends.

Giclee prints are advantageous to artists who do not find it feasible to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce their art as needed, or on-demand. Once an image is digitally archived, additional reproductions can be made with minimal effort and reasonable cost. The prohibitive up-front cost of mass production for an edition is eliminated. Archived files will not deteriorate in quality as negatives and film inherently does. Another tremendous advantage of giclee printing is that digital images can be reproduced to almost any size and onto various media, giving the artist the ability to customize prints for a specific client.

The quality of the giclee print rivals traditional silver-halide and gelatin printing processes and is commonly found in museums, art galleries, and photographic galleries.

Ten years ago Giclees had a hard time being accepted by the general art buying public as "legitimate" art. Today, Giclee Prints have gained wide acceptance and "legitimacy", and are now shown in museums and galleries throughout the world.

Numerous examples of giclee prints can be found in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Chelsea Galleries. Recent auctions of giclee prints have fetched $10,800 for Annie Leibovitz, $9,600 for Chuck Close, and $22,800 for Wolfgang Tillmans (April 23/24 2004, Photographs, New York, Phillips de Pury & Company.)

The Giclée printing process is environmentally safe since the inks are water-based and the paper is archival and acid-free. Thus, a Giclée must be treated as fine art and placed away from direct sunlight, even though we use extra long-life Archival UV-Safe Pigmented Inks.

here are some reseources on the above information sources:
home.att.net/~tgparker/gicle/sub/WHATIS-giclee-printing-LFNRTPRNT.html

www.gicleeprint.net/abtgclee.asp

Come join the art adventure at http://www.artideas4u.com and learn how you can have a business with limited edition quality canvas giclee paintings.

Are you an Employee or Entrepreneur?

2005-09-13T23:52:00.000-04:00

I came across the below story and I could not help but think but to share this with everyone. You might find this story quite interesting. It is adapted from an audio segment by Robert Kiyosaki, best selling author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and allows us to ponder whether a home based business is right for us as an individual. Home based businesses are not for everyone.

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A Spring Runs Dry

The story is told of a spring that ran dry in a small mountain village. The leaders gathered to determine how they would supply the village with clean water. There was another spring and reservoir about a mile away but was too far for the villagers to travel.

One of the men volunteered to solve the problem by carrying water into the village himself each morning for a set fee. Since the need for water was clear, the leaders agreed to the offer and determined a fair price for each bucket of water delivered.

Early the next morning the "bucket carrier" arose and began transporting water. It was hard work but he was pleased with the immediate pay for his efforts. He awoke each day and hurriedly carried water. The more he delivered, the higher the pay.

As time went on, he began to think there had to be a better way. So, he designed buckets that could hold more water and were easier to carry. He bought better shoes and discovered a quicker route between the reservoir and the village.

The problem was, despite all his improvements, the bucket carrier still had to get up each day to carry water.

A Better Solution?

Some time later, another villager came forward with an offer to supply water. He planned to build a pipeline from the reservoir to the village.

The leaders were skeptical but eventually agreed to the competing plan, especially since the new proposal would cost the villagers less for the same amount of water. So, while the bucket carrier continued his daily routine, the second man began work on the pipeline.

The digging was tedious through the treacherous mountain terrain. The necessary tools and materials proved costly but he continued his work diligently for many months.

Finally, the "pipeline builder" installed the last piece of pipe and ceremoniously opened the valve while a crowd gathered. Everyone cheered as they watched clean water flow into the village cistern.

How Things Changed!

The following day the two men's worlds changed dramatically.

The bucket carrier had to lower his prices significantly to temain competitive. He worked harder and yet found himself worrying about losing his job.

The pipeline builder, however, began enjoying the fruit of his labor. He stopped working long days and began enjoying the income his venture generated. He found the pipeline required minimal maintenance, so he was free to spend his days fishing the mountain streams and enjoying time with his kids.

Years Later

Many years later, after both men had died, the pipeline was still an integral part of village life and the pipeline builder's children continued to enjoy the benefits of a father's entrepreneurial spirit.

Observations...

Bucket Carrier
Description: Employee - Has a job
Income Type: Linear Income
Effort: Constant
Implications Time Poverty
Reward: Immediate gratification (paycheck)
Examples: Construction worker, Doctor, Secretary, Lawyer, etc.

Pipeline Builder
Description: Entrepreneur - Owns a system
Income Type: Residual Income
Effort: Intensive early with minimal later
Implications: Time Freedom
Reward: Delayed Gratification (fees for service or royalties)
Examples: Author, Inventor, Artist, Musician, Business Owner, Entrepreneur, etc.

Consider building a pipeline...

It doesn't matter how efficient you are at "carrying water" (your job). Nor does it matter the size of your paycheck. Going to work tomorrow, next week and ten years from now will still be the prerequisite to collecting a paycheck....only a paycheck.

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I hope everyone enjoyed this story. It certainly makes the mind ponder how we approach our income now-a-days. We certainly have significant number of options and the technology allows us the flexibility to be entrepreneurs from the comfort of our home.

Thanks for your time and come join us at http://www.artideas4u.com

Reasons why home based businesses fail

2005-09-13T23:28:00.000-04:00

I was thinking about why home based businesses do not always find their successes. My thought here is not to say that home based businesses are not a good idea - I for one am engaged in a home based business. Instead, I was thinking about ways to help identify how to avoid failures in home based businesses. Can we actually insure success if we follow some logical first steps?

Three reasons tend to come to mind.

1. Expectations are set to high by a representative

2. Lack of Training, Education and Support by the company or representative.

3. Individual entering into the business is actually a "employee" not an "entrepreneur".

The third one is probably more important than the other two. If you have never owned a business and have always relied upon someone else giving you a paycheck, then the transition to business owner can be difficult if you are not prepared. Having to "sell" your business product or service and realizing how much work has to be done upfront can be overwhelming at first.

No question, if you can overcome the initial obstacles and stay focused you will see rewards later. This becomes the second realization of owning your own business is the amount of time it takes before you start seeing the rewards.

Another big problem is marketing is communication. Most marketers online do not communicate with their affiliates, resellers and distributors. If you are having a hard time making any money online, try following these few rules:

1. Build your communication network

2. Utilize all your resources within your business

3. Build a marketing stronghold using #1 and #2.

Not everything is the individual though. Many companies have representatives that oversell their business. In most cases the representative is a "Loose Cannon" and is saying things against company policy. You have to do your research about the company, the business, the products. Contact the company directly to get your information. Talk to others (3 - 5) that are in the business and get the different perspectives too.

Once you understand the process of owning a business and you have done your research about the company, make sure you understand the support structure. Will be you be trained, educated and supported by the company and its existing members? Without a support structure it will be very difficult to gain success completely on your own.

If anyone has some other thoughts, please add them. I'm sure we can come up with more ways to set expectations and avoid failures.

Come visit us at http://www.artideas4u.com

Have you found a good home business?

2005-09-13T23:15:00.000-04:00

There are so many “opportunities” on the internet, and it’s challenging to see the clear difference. There are many opportunities that can provide quick cash, but no lasting future. There are also some that are outright scams. Many have just started so you have no way of knowing whether they’ll be around tomorrow …while others have a track record you can check.

Why do we want to earn our livelihood from home? Of course we want to spend more time with our family. Spend more time at home and have the flexibility of tending to both our work and home chores. Be able to attend all school activities, go on field trips and be with your children during the summer vacation months. Is it possible to achieve this? Absolutely!

We have to break out of the old thought process of getting an education, go to college, get a job and retire. How about after college we work from home, tend to our family with an unlimited earning potential?

Work from home opportunities are in abundance. You have to do your homework about each and find out about the company, the products and the services. One thing we can tell you, almost all of the businesses you will find sell a consumable product or a service. In both cases your money is spent and the only way to recover the funds to earn a living is to depend upon others to continue to consume or use the service.

Another pit-fall of many of the work from home opportunities is the “system” built by the company does not have a support structure. They do not have the appropriate infrastructure in the headquarter offices and those with whom you joined do not have the time to educate and support you either. And, the later occurs because they, too, are spinning their wheels hurrying to spend more money to depend on others to spend their money on a consumable or service.

An important aspect to consider is how much of the consumable product or service do you have to sell to make a comfortable living? Many large corporations have the support structure, have a reputable product, a solid business, but you will find having to sell thousands to reach your financial goals. Ask yourself if you want to earn $1000 working 8 hours or $100 working 8 hours? The answer is obvious, therefore, take a look at your financial goals and determine what it will take to reach that goal with your work at home business.

Growing trends in work at home businesses are those that are not a product or a service, but an appreciating asset. A merchandise that will allow you to earn an income when the merchandise is purchased, again when others are purchasing throughout the entire network through a rewards program and then lastly when the merchandise appreciates in value to sell. Merchandise that is an appreciating asset, by definition is something of limited production. Demand is high and availability is low. The value of the item appreciates.

These types of work at home businesses make a secondary market available for the sale of the products. Equally, because the merchandise is of limited edition and an appreciating asset, you will find that you will be able to diversify your business into other market sectors without having to only depend upon other work at home individuals to reach your financial goals.

Have you found such a business? Come Join the Art Adventure with us at http://www.artideas4u.com