Investing in Gold

A couple of days ago, I was watching the news on the stock market. It was a day after the US credit rating fell, which naturally affected Asian markets as well.

Then a discussion on how to invest money wisely followed. How to invest in stocks was among the topics.

In one of the tickers, it flashed that gold prices went up. This got me to thinking that investing in gold like investing in jewelry is also a safer alternative. Gold seldom depreciates, if it ever does, actually. The demand and supply for gold is in such a way that merits its high price.

In fact, a family friend who owns some shares in a copper-gold facility is on the verge now of selling its shares by the billions in dollars! That despite the crisis in the market, ok?

So, I think investing in gold at this time is very sound.

A website calledGold Coins Gain gives a free gold guide to visitors and help them gold investing information, where to get gold bullion coins and other precious metals. If you’re seriously considering going into investments in gold, check out their site.

Tips on Marketing Your Event Hire and Event Services to Hotels

If you are managing an event hire or party hire company, getting the most business out of hotels can do a lot for your business. Some hotels will even use some event management companies exclusively if they are extremely impressed with their skills and techniques. Hotels are a very good source of business because they hold many events themselves, and they are often the location for many other guest’s events. Getting recommended when someone else is booking space in a hotel, or being presented as the exclusive events management and hire for a particular hotel, could be a huge source of income. Here we look at some strategies to build your event hire and event management company business through hotels.

• Presentation. Being in the events business, you should already know the importance of presenting yourself to clients. Each hotel may have its own personality, and adjusting your presentation each time is probably advised.
• Online Marketing. Getting your message out with online marketing can be very effective. Most top hotels are using social media to market themselves, and you should join in the conversation. Remember not to be selling yourself, but to use your skills and knowledge to add valuable content for their online viewers. By doing this, you will raise the profile of your business and also benefit their business and online users and guests – a great way to get attention.
• Networking. Physical face-to-face networking is always the best way to get to know, the people you need to know, in business. Industry and hotels events and activities should be the focus of your marketing drive. Again, you don’t want to be selling yourself hard when you meet the right people. You should know the people you are looking to meet, and when you do, present yourself in a friendly and professional way.
• Portfolio. Building a portfolio is always important. You should be producing the best audio and visual materials for your social networking and self-promotion. It is often the quality of a presentation that defines the perceived quality of any company. If you don’t have the skills to produce your own in-house materials, outsource where necessary.
• Define Your Services. It is important to define what services you offer. Simply stating you are an event management company is just not enough. Event planners and clients may need a range of services, from managed equipment hire and operation, audio and visual production, marketing, online marketing and PR. They may also need help with speech writing, for example. Breaking up and clearly defining your skills and tools is very important to show you have a composite solution for any potential guest.

Event marketing is all about people. How you manage your own personal relationships will be the key to getting more business. The industry is competitive, and it is the managers who have the best and highest number of relationships with decision makers, who prove to be the best.

Business Best Practice: Be fussy about who does your business computer services

There are computer services and computer services. Some provide excellent, fast service and some provide “service with a sneer”, sticking clients on a line to wait for results. The fact is that no business can afford downtime, and the best computer services provide fast, efficient service when you need it.

The really good news for businesses is that service standards for IT are improving, daily. The days of waiting for service when someone feels like providing it are long gone, too. Business computer services these days are fully professional and not only make appointments, they keep them. This is an extremely competitive industry, and quality is the key to success for the computer service firms.

What to look for in a business computer service

There are some basic standards you can apply to make your hunt for good computer support a lot easier:

• Business-friendly costs – Rates are competitive, standardized and quoted upfront. There’s no guesswork involved, and no “surprises” in the billing.
• Full range of repairs services – This is critical. You need a computer repair service that can provide comprehensive support and deal with all the issues.
• Network and server services – These services can be invaluable in shutting down a range of issues which can cause crashes and data problems.
• Remote diagnostic services – The service people can find problems offsite, and in many cases even fix them remotely. This is an extremely efficient operational approach, saving hours of time.
• Staff training – If you know how much staff IT training costs, you will appreciate the value of a relationship between your service people and your staff, and the good communications and support relationship this generates.
• Mobile network support and service – Everybody has an “office in your pocket”, and these networks are crucial to business efficiency in the various mobile business modes.

Checking out computer service firms

Your basic criteria will create a good short list of possible computer support options. The next stage is direct contact. It’s a good idea to talk to your possible service providers and get an idea of their service quality. Most importantly, it’s a way of checking out their efficiency in dealing with customer inquiries.

You can use a checklist for your contact:

1. Was the reception service quick and efficient?
2. Is the firm’s “new business” contact a good communicator?
3. Does the service understand your needs and answer your questions clearly?
4. Does the service suggest options and otherwise suggest it can do more?
5. Was the contact able to provide good background information to advertised services?

If you answered “No” to any of these questions, move on to the next contact. Don’t waste your time with people that can’t even manage to get a competent person on the phone to get new business.

If you answered “Yes” to all the questions, you’ve probably found your computer support.

Summer Means RoadTrip

I love taking roadtrips. Who doesn’t? During roadtrips, you can do two things that you love doing at one time: travel and  eat.

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went to Boracay via Kalibo. Naturally, from Kalibo we had to take a van to Caticlan. We were all excited about the roadtrip ahead. We already had food with us from chips to McDonald’s burgers, anyway.

These are a few of the shots I was able to take during the trip from Kalibo to Caticlan:

My nephew shared that when you cross a bridge, at the foot of the bridge, you hold your breath and make a wish. Then you breathe out at the end of the bridge. We passed by a couple of bridges after so we did just that.

We had fun during that roadtrip. You, too, can do the roadtrip this summer and make it more fun by bringing along your favorite McDonad’s fare.

Bringing Water Nature at Home

In recent years, homes have been embracing Zen interior design. Incorporating Zen in your interiors frees up your home from clutter and achieves a calm, clear, and pure atmosphere. And it can really be relaxing.

That is what I’m planning to do with the interiors of my house soon. I want it to become a haven where I can relax after a long day’s work. As I was researching, I found out that these are some of the things that I need to achieve that Zen.

• pebbles
• a piece of driftwood
• a flower
• a picture of a waterfall
• a seascape

I always find water to be relaxing and refreshing like most of you, I’m sure. And good thing, I can get fountains and set them up at home, and not just pictures of a waterfall. I am pleasantly surprised that there are even ready-to-install water walls, and an assortment of water fountain designs that I can choose from. Or I can also get wall fountain showcase which already include pebbles and sycamore springs.

I have also seen other homes with outdoor fountains, and they also achieve the same effect. It gives your whole house that close-to-nature effect.

I’m excited already to get on with this project actually.

Celebrate Christmas with the Delifrance Gift Collection!

Thinking of what to give your friends and family members this Christmas? Delifrance has the answer. Delifrance has now a gift collection and party packages you can choose from.

For more info, check out Delifrance website.

Going Into the T-shirt Business

My high school batch is hosting the school’s homecoming this December and one of the things we are preparing for our custom t-shirts that we’re going to wear during the event.

We are lucky that we have an artist for a classmate. He actually has many art posters and have done some ornaments. He designed our shirts and are now ready for printing.

While we were looking for shirts, shirt designs, a thought came up to me that this t-shirt business is quite interesting. I might go into this business one of these days because of the following reasons:

1. Designing a custom t-shirt is fun. It brings out my creative juices.
2. Being surrounded by pure cotton cloth is super cool.
3. ROI seems easy to achieve.

What do you think?

Decorating an Office

We are moving to a new office address soon, so for weeks now, we have been looking for suppliers to furnish our new office. We found a supplier for the workstations, but we wanted to check out stores the other pieces of furniture.

Last Friday, my office mate and I went to an upholstery store to check out blinds and rugs. We needed vertical blinds for the veranda and blinds for some windows. We wanted to get area rugs for our receiving area.

Luckily, we found a store that was on sale and so we were able to get cheap rugs but of good quality.

With the good finds, we are really excited to move in already. We believe that a nice office will also yield a good working environment.

Delifrance Introduces Plate of the Day!

If you’re tired of your usual meals, head for Delifrance and check out their Plate of the Day, your daily gourmet value meal. The choices are:

Fish Pomodoro

Tuna Mayo & Spaghetti Carbonara

Now available at the following Delifrance cafés:
Mall of Asia, Valero, Philippine Heart Center, C5 Libis, and Alabang Town Center

Check out www.delifrance.com.ph for the Café Directory.

Delifrance Introduces Chicken Bourbon Sandwich

The word bourbon reminds me of my father who likes to drink whiskey. Bourbon is from a fermented mash containing not less than 51 percent corn in addition to malt and rye.

More trivia:

bourbon
type of American corn whiskey, 1846, from Bourbon County, Kentucky, where it first was made, supposedly in 1789. Bourbon County was organized 1785, one of the nine established by the Virginia legislature before Kentucky became a state. The name reflects the fondness felt in the United States for the French royal family, and especially Louis XVI, in gratitude for the essential support he had given to the rebel colonists. [Source]

So I guess it’s safe to say that this flavor will be on Delifrance‘s Chicken Bourbon Sandwich. Must be yummy, don’t you think?

Why don’t you check it out?