Go to Market in Bicester, Oxfordshire

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If you want to see a fantastic market town in South East England, then go to market in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Easily accessible via motorway from not only London, but also Birmingham and Banbury, it also benefits from excellent rail service to points all over the map, including Oxford, home of the University of Oxford, the oldest institution of its kind in the English-speaking world.

Bicester has an ancient history, going back to the Saxon inhabitants of the 6th century. Its present name has been in use since the mid-17th century, and there are Roman ruins not 2 miles to the southwest of the town. Also, the ruins of an Augustinian priory, built in 1180, can still be viewed in the town's center.

Interesting architecture abounds in and around Bicester. There is a notable medieval church (St. Edburg) and other religious buildings which were standing as far back as 1500. Bicester also has a long and proud military heritage and association, beginning with its use as a Roman fort or outpost. In the Civil War of 1642-1649, it served as the headquarters of the defenders of the British Parliament. Today's British Army also maintains its largest ordnance depot on the outskirts of the town.

The town also has a historic shopping district, which boasts a wide variety of shops and stores, both local and national. Of course, there are many fine pubs, cafes and restaurants to tempt the thirsty and hungry sightseer. Bicester also has a vigorous farmers market.

Oxfordshire County has a large tourism industry to supplement its fame as the home of the world-famous University of Oxford. It has a population of around 635, 000 people and is also known as a welcoming place for biotechnology, motorsports companies, and the Oxford Press publishing house. If you get a chance to tour through Bicester, and Oxford make sure not to pass it up.

For accommodation in Bicester check this list of Bicester hotels.

Going For Virtual Assistant Business

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Since the emergence of the internet, there are a lot of businesses that evolved and one of them is virtual assistant. At first, their main task is involved in marketing but however jobs are becoming more specialized than ever. Virtual assistant or VA is considered as a service provider type of business. Their responsibilities range from secretarial, admin, personal assistant, marketing, correspondence assistant, language tutorial, creative business, real estate, sales assistant and more. Whatever your tasks are, you can achieve them by email, phone, fax and instant messaging.

There are times when your clients would require you at certain time of the day however this is not always the case. Overall, you can work at times when you want. When it comes to the pricing, you can charge per hour or with a fixed fee every month.

If you love the idea of this business, it requires knowledge of the internet. This is after all is a must because the work is based on the internet. You need to know how to interact with clients over the internet. You also need to have a stable internet connection. You also need to have proper equipment like PC, modem, web cams, speakers, mic, headphones and cables so you can easily access the World Wide Web. These would make up the cost of the whole business capital.

You can run your business from your home as long as you adhere to the standard procedure of the company. You need to understand the things that your client wants you to do. In order to get clients, you need to promote your business. It is a good idea if you know your work schedule and your rate. If you do advertising, you will surely have clients all the time. It is a good idea to take advantage of blogs and online ads.

Want to learn more about starting a business then check out Starting a business and find out more about Become Band Instructor

Biotechnological Plants Possess Unlimited Potential For Drug Production

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Biotechnology has left remarkable foot prints in its different fields of application such as agriculture, food addictive industries, etc. But its active involvement in the spheres of medical science has led dramatic changes in the pharmaceutical world. It has made possible to deal with inadvertent situations raised due to the lack of medical incentives and enabled healthcare facilities to provide assistance to patients suffering from health disorders.

Biotechnological plants involve biological process of synthesis and, drugs are extracted from animal and plant species. They are believed to be safe with respect to side-effects of usage of their medications. They employ emerging technologies like genetic engineering, genomics, plant and animal cell-tissue culture, etc. and various sophisticated tools in their manufacturing processes.

These plants address and combine knowledge from several branches of medical science including cell biology, genetics, microbiology, embryology, biochemistry and molecular biology. The acquired comprehensive knowledge and concepts on these fields are utilized in the drug development process. The techniques such as artificial selection, breeding and hybridization are employed to produce quality plants and animals, which can facilitate the improved qualities of pharmaceutical productions.

The active biotechnologically developed pharmaceuticals and drug products occupy a big volume of pharmaceutical market. As they use natural resources and involve easy methods to prepare drugs, the medicines are cost-effective and affordable to poor people. Their significant contributions to the drug discovery has made possible for mankind to save lives from deadly diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, hemophilia, arthritis, hepatitis and cardiovascular disorders.

Biotechnological plants are potent for unlimited drug production. With the advent of new technologies in pathogenesis, these plants are constantly achieving success to solve health disorders and increase the life expectancy of mankind. Though, these require long time to develop medications and huge initial investments, but they facilitate incentives with which all diseases and defects may be treated out successfully.

For more information on Pharmaceutical engineering and to gain idea on new trends followed in Biotechnological Plants please visit the website.

Drop Shipping Can Help You Sell Merchandise Without Stocking Them

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Drop shipping is used by manufacturers and wholesalers as a marketing technique to sell their products at little cost. For the retail sellers, drop shipping is a low cost option to sell products without stocking merchandise. It is thus a win-win situation for both.

Drop Shipping Explained

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  No Merchandise Stocking: Unlike the traditional retailers, the retail seller under a drop shipping arrangement does not stock the merchandise. Instead, the drop ship retailer passes on all orders received to the wholesaler or manufacturer.



• 
  Shipments under Your Name: The wholesaler or manufacturer then ships the order directly to the customer indicated by the drop ship retailer. This might be done in a way to make the shipment seem to have come from the retailer. Private labeling or attaching a customized packing slip with the retailer's name, address, contact details and logo might be used to achieve this end.



• 
  Profits & Payments: The drop ship retailer sells at a price higher than the wholesale price. The margin between the retail and wholesale prices constitute the drop ship retailer's earnings. While the customer pays the retailer, the latter pays the wholesaler as agreed in the drop shipping contract.

How Does the Drop Ship Retailer Sell?

The drop ship retailer can use different methods to sell the merchandise. Some of these are outlined below:

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  Online Promotions: The drop ship seller might put up a website with product sales copy and then promote that site using Web Site Promotion techniques. The retailer can also conduct Email Marketing Campaigns to sell the merchandise.


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  Online Auctions: The seller might list the items at online auction sites like eBay and profit from the difference between the bid price and his costs (wholesale price plus listing/promotional costs).


• 
  Offline Promotion: The seller might keep a few samples to show to prospective customers and pass customer orders to the manufacturer/wholesaler. Alternatively, the retailer can conduct a direct marketing campaign using a product brochure or other promotional material.

Whatever approach (or combination of approaches) the drop ship retailer uses, the selling prices and volumes must be sufficient to recover the amounts paid to the supplier plus the marketing costs. It is hence important for the drop ship retailer to be a good marketer.

Drop Shipping Success

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  Marketing Skill: You have to organize convincing sales copy that will appeal to your customers. You will then have to promote your business to bring your offer to numerous prospective customers to achieve sales volumes.


• 
  Product Selection: Even the best marketers would find it tough to achieve sales and volumes if they are selling something that large numbers of other sellers are selling in the same market. So you will have to select a product that has less competition, say, a niche product.


• 
  Drop Shipper Selection: You will have to locate genuine drop shippers - wholesalers or manufacturers - instead of working with another retailer who is masquerading as a drop ship wholesaler.


• 
  Drop Shipper Quality: You will also have to select a drop shipper who is conscious of product quality and customer care. Otherwise, you might be flooded with complaints from your customers.

So proceed carefully, fully aware of the above success requirements.

Gopinathan has several decades of business experience and now focuses on publishing the Emerging Technologies Magazine that explores the business opportunities offered by emerging technologies such as nanotechnology, biotechnology and information technology, and also on providing small business mentoring services through his personal website tgopinathan.com

Small Business Ideas & Goals

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When you're setting goals for your small business ideas, you really create your future in advance. You write down your goals, and mentally prepare yourself to do what ever it takes to realize them.

The first step is to define your goal. You have to get clarity of :

• Exactly what you want



• When you want it



• Why you want it

Now, there you have your goal. And it's very important that you make it detailed and specified.If you're not absolutely clear about what your goal is, you can't commit to it.

It will not be enough to keep your small business goal in your head. You have to write it down, try to make a picture with words, the more vivid your goal is the more effective it will be.

When you create your goal, you have to be realistic. Is it possible to make it work and come true? You must really believe that you can reach it. You must have faith in your goal. If you think or believe that you can't realize your small business ideas, that will be self fulfilling.

You must have faith in yourself. You must have faith in your goals. You must know deep inside that you can accomplish your small business ideas and your goals.

You need to determine what your goals are gonna cost you, what are your goals worth? How important are your goals? Do you want, do you need or would it be nice achieve them?

To be able to reach your goals you must make them a burning desire. You need to feel that you must achieve your small business goals. No matter what, you have to get your goals.

If you can create that state of mind, your subconscious mind will help you to make your goals a reality. It will give you ideas and show you the actions you have to take.

Divide your long term goal into several short term goals. That will help you to gain motivation as you achieve your short term goals one by one. You will build momentum with each accomplished goal.

Anytime you do reach your short term goals, you need to reward yourself. This will build your self esteem and you will start picture yourself as a person who can achieve any goal.

• Write down you goals as specified as possible



• Determine what you have to do to accomplish them



• Develop a strong believe in yourself and your goals



• Take action, step by step

Realize your small business ideas, and get your burning desires.

Ove Nordkvist has created the web site www.small-biz-ideas.net which is an invaluable resource for small business start up. There are lots of free tools and e-books downloadable. Visit www.small-biz-ideas.net/small-business-ideas-goals.html to learn more about small business ideas, goals and motivation.

The Next Productivity Breakthrough

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As companies claw their way out of the doldrums of The Great Recession the time is rapidly approaching to prepare for the next wave of growth. Traditionally, this means ramping up the hiring process, investing in new technology, or a combination of both. As we attempt to catch the upswing out of the trough of the most recent business cycle, many enlightened companies are looking in another direction to increase their productivity and capacity. They're looking inside of their companies for the resources they'll need to drive growth in the coming years.

A leading international research and consulting firm that has been tracking employee engagement levels for a decade indicates less than thirty percent of a typical company's employees are fully engaged with their employer. A fully engaged employee is a person that shows up with passion and maintains a strong emotional and intellectual connection with their employer. The other seventy-one percent? Well, a typical company can anticipate well over fifty percent of their associates are not emotionally engaged with their company. In effect, they're sleepwalking through most of their day, going along to get along. About a sixth of an organization's associates are actually working at cross purpose with their fellow associates and the company, actively destroying the value others are trying to create. In fact, our own internal research indicates a typical American company is only enjoying a return on investment on approximately forty-three percent of their payroll dollars. And that is giving the sleepwalkers in the company the benefit of the doubt that they're contributing value half of the time they're at work (additional independent research actually supports this figure). In addition, a report by the AP this winter indicated forty-five percent of employees were dissatisfied with their jobs.

In today's highly dynamic, global economy, intellectual property is the driver of value creation in business. Whether a company is engaged in biotechnology, information technology, telecommunications, health care, or professional services, human beings and their intellectual contributions are the raw material for production. If we go back a generation, how many manufacturing concerns would accept a fifty-seven percent scrap rate on raw materials used in their factories? That's exactly what is happening in many companies today! Employee disengagement is a crisis which is eroding many firm's competitive capabilities. In crisis, however, lies opportunity.

The solution lies in re-engaging the sleepwalkers. Very few people show up to work everyday wanting to fail, but a sizable percentage of the American workforce has been conditioned not to take risks, to do just enough to get by, and to keep their heads down lest they risk having them lopped off in the next reorganization or merger frenzy. These employees can, however, be re-engaged and emerge as passionate, contributing associates. I've experienced this firsthand, and it can be done in surprisingly short order!

The solution resides in the hands of leadership. Research indicates the only statistically significant difference between inspirational leadership and mediocre management is authentically caring about your people. By aligning the genuine welfare of associates in balance with performance, remarkable and rapid shifts in employee engagement begin to emerge. Through open, authentic, and continuous two-way communication, the introduction of Professional Development Plans, and through the simple expression of gratitude and appreciation, a disengaged workforce can show dramatic signs of improvement in a few short months. And this is where the productivity breakthrough emerges!

Companies can proactively sidestep the cost of employee turnover, training new employees, and the productivity lags associated with expanding the workforce by simply engaging the trained, experienced workforce that is already in place. Imagine the impact on the bottom line when companies experience a fifty, seventy-five, or even one hundred percent increase in productivity without increasing payroll! This is the opportunity that is laying quietly just beneath the surface; the hidden workforce yearning for inspiration and engagement.

Terry Murray is a professional coach and business executive with twenty-five years of progressive experience in strategic development, executive leadership, and the deployment of highly profitable business teams. His executive leadership with Fortune 1000 and start-up companies has directly contributed more than $1 billion in market capitalization growth throughout his career.

Terry is the founder and president of Performance Transformation, LLC a Professional Coaching and Strategic Development firm focused on igniting breakthrough performance through the authentic engagement and development of human talent. The company's evidence-based programs and philosophical approach employs their proprietary Adaptive Coaching Process™. He has just completed his first book, "Business Dharma ~ Engaging the Mind,Heart, & Spirit for Transformational Performance".

For more information please contact us at breakthrough@performtransform.com or visit is at http://www.leadership-eq.com.

Understanding Business Credit Cards

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Although business and personal credit cards are relatively similar in terms of general purpose, business credit cards also have a number of additional features which allow businesses to keep control and track of company expenditure.

Business cards are a great way to take care of everyday business expenses without the need to carry cheques or petty cash. A business credit card is issued in the name of a business and the debt is the responsibility of the company and not the individual using the card.

Company spending is channeled through a single account and management are provided with reports which include itemized listings of purchases. Controls can be used to limit the amount each authorized person can spend and restrictions can be put in place to prevent misuse such as cash withdrawals from ATM's. Simple features like these give business owners the peace of mind they need when it comes to one of the most important parts of a business - the cash flow.

Just like personal cards there are a number of options to choose from including low rate company credit cards, cards with large rewards and credit cards with interest free periods. Business Credit Cards may also come with complimentary features such as insurance and banking discounts.

Company cards are usually cheaper than cheques, more secure than carrying large sums of cash and provide separation of business and personal expenses. In our increasingly cashless society, they can also help save time and money with everything from online shopping and bill payment to corporate hospitality.

When it comes to choosing a business credit card, find a credit card which complements your business needs. Don't be afraid to shop around for the best deal or negotiate with your bank for a better deal. By evaluating and understanding your monthly expenses and business requirements, you will be able to determine a card which best suits your business needs and gives you the flexibility and control you deserve.

Credit Card King - http://www.creditcardking.com.au - Australia's leading credit card comparison site.