Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Value of Free Education


It is a sad trait that we humans seem to have developed, in that we do not seem to appreciate the value of something if we acquire it without effort. When we get something for little or no effort we often discredit it, yet on the other hand, we demand that we receive what we do want for nothing in return. This is magnified with money, if we get it without effort, we do not use it wisely, yet when we do not have it, we demand that others give it to us. Does it not make you wonder why we do that? Demand that the rich give up their money that they earned and give it to those who have not earned it. When we do, those who receive it without effort spend foolishly until it is gone and then demand more.

A value or a trait is learned behavior, something that has been taught to us by others. While we can still find those who have a good work ethic, who are willing to work for what they want, it is just as easy to find those who feel that they are owed whatever they want for free. A lesson many people still need to learn is the lesson of persistence; which is self-discipline. The self-discipline that we all require is boiled down into the simple steps of decision, promptness, action and finishing what you started. If you were not taught these when you were young, then you need to learn them now. To become a successful person in this world that self-discipline is what you must have to be able to obtain your desires.

There are countless examples of people who dropped out of school and then regretted it later in life. They did not appreciate school because it was free, now when they have to go back to get a GED they find they have to pay for it, and often times those who have others pay for it drop out from that program too. For some reason these people feel they are owed a living, and do not seem to understand that there is no reality of something for nothing. You have to exchange value for value to get what you desire. You will not be paid if you don't work, you will smell bad if you don't bath, and conversely you will be strong if you exercise. In short, if you have no ambition you will not accomplish anything.

When you get something free, someone paid a price for it, so in theory you should appreciate it, but we don't. In this country, our public school system is fantastic, we spent great sums to build comfortable and safe buildings, hire good teachers, and offer a variety of curriculums, as well as transportation for those who live too far away to walk. Yet the majority of those who we make attend these schools do not appreciate what a great thing they have been given because it is free. Then even those who finished find that they could have done better, and so must now pay to get the knowledge they need when they could have had it before if they would have only realized what they were being given.

This is just the most common example; there are many other examples we could have used to demonstrate the lack of respect people show for things that are given them. As you know knowledge is a great cure for ignorance, and you have just been made aware of a problem that may or may not be affecting your life. If you have been given much, then you should repay that with action on your part to put to good and productive use what you now know. It is very hard to "unlearn" something, and you have just learned that someone else has paid for what you get for free, and the gift that you received should be utilized and valued. You should value them just as if you had earned them, whether it is a free tomato from your neighbor, or a free education, we must learn to accept what we are given and put it to good use.

Ways College Students Can Pay Tuition As Education Costs Continue to Rise


Is anyone interested why college education cost continue to rise at such an alarming rate while the rest of the world is worried about what we we are paying for each gallon for gas? The cost associated have gone up every year as long as I can remember and the rest of the world continues to sit by continuing to let colleges reap the benefits as education cost continue to rise.

The problem may be that the public feels that a college degree is truly not that high. Or maybe the problem is that mainstream America feels that only the rich should be the ones that get a college education because they can afford the high price tag. But the problem is that middle class American's need a college degree in order to make a decent salary to raise a family. And as education cost continue to rise, the middle class dream continues to get harder.

While education cost continue to rise, prospective students need to look for innovative ways to help pay for college education. Here are a few things that prospective students can look into to help pay for their college education or cut the cost.

Work Study Programs
Many colleges utilize work study programs as a means to help students cut tuition cost for their students. the program works by allowing students the option of getting a reduced tuition rate in exchange for minor work around the campus. The student may be required to clean classrooms or stuff envelopes as a means to help cut the tuition rate. this is the way the college saves money by having students do some of the upkeep work and avoid having to hire staff. This is a great way for student to help pay for college education.

Tuition Free Colleges
Tuition free colleges are institutions that pride themselves of helping students get a free education. There are a few colleges that do offer tuition free educational services, but you will need to dig pretty deep to find them. Their enrollment fills up pretty quickly, so you would want to get your application in right away for the next school year. the college can offer tuition free education because they receive a lot of money from former students that donate money back to the school to help the next generation of students. Also students use the work study program to also help keep operation cost down on at the university so that they can continue to offer tuition free education.

Getting a Job
It can be pretty hard for a student to juggle a job and their classes in order to help pay for college education. But the student may want to consider taking on a part-time job to help cut cost. I have even seen some students start their own online business as a means to help pay for college education.

Prospective students will need to do their part to help keep their college debt to a minimum as education cost continue to rise. No college graduate desire to walk away with a degree in hand and over $50,000 of debt that needs to be paid back.

Free Education For International Students


Study abroad scholarship programs have been going on for quite sometime now in some parts of the world. Study abroad scholarship programs came up to help people who don't have money to study abroad. Most of these people don't even have enough money to fund their college studies or university studies in their home countries. But with free education now, most people can get quality education in the best countries of the world.

Recently, the countries that offer free education for international students are so few due to changes in policy. Free tuition schools for foreign students can only be found in some parts of Europe today. Sweden used to be the most popular country in Europe that is very much interested in free education for international students. The government of Sweden has been granting study abroad scholarship for international students for years now. People even started thinking that the free scholarship universities in Sweden would be there forever. It came as a shock to everyone when the news spread that starting from autumn semester 2011, there will not be study abroad scholarship universities for international students in Sweden. Though this policy was not immediately implemented. There was still opportunity for international students to apply for spring semester admission in Sweden on free tuition. After this semester, the policy takes immediate effect.

Though they have tried to help people to study free in their country, this recent policy is simply an eye opener. Other free tuition European countries might as well change their own policy.

These free tuition universities are under the control and influence of the Government. It's strongly recommended that you forward your application right away to these current European free tuition universities. This is because the Government can change their policy anytime and start charging tuition to international students just like that of Sweden. When they do, they don't owe you any explanation because it's their Government. After all, they have been funding tuition themselves for years now. To forward your application right away and beat the deadline, visit: http://freetuitionuniversities.com or http://freeeducationtip.blogspot.com

Friday, October 1, 2010

A Free Society Cannot Survive As a Republic Without a Broad Program of General Education


The English colonists in America undertook the education of the whole people. They believed that they must prepare themselves for a most unique and important role in the unfolding of modern world history. Universal education was considered an indispensable ingredient for this preparation.

The movement for universal education began in New England, in the 1647 the legislature of Massachusetts passed a law requiring every community of 50 families or households to set up a free public grammar school to teach the fundamentals of reading, writing, ciphering, history, geography and Bible study. In addition to this, every township with 100 families or more was also required to set up a secondary school in advanced studies to prepare boys for attendance at Harvard. John Adams said that this program was designed to defuse knowledge generally through the entire body of the people. He Said:

"They made an early provision by law that every town consisting of so many families should always be furnished with a grammar school. They made it a crime for such a town to be destitute of a grammar schoolmaster for a few months, and subjected it to heavy penalty. So that the education of all the ranks of people was made the care and expense of the public, in a manner that I believe has been unknown to any other people, ancient or modern.

The Consequences of these establishments we see and feel every day (written in 1765). A Native of America who cannot read and write is as rare as a comet or an earthquake. It has been observed that we are all of us lawyers, divines, politicians, and philosophers. And I have good authorities to say that all candid foreigners who have passed through this country and conversed freely with all sorts of people here will all say that they have never seen so much knowledge and civility among the common people in any part of the world. Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people. They have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers."

The way that this system was designed made good local school boards very important. Not only did they choose what textbooks would be used, they also chose which teachers they would issue certificates to. It was important that the board have a rotation of officers every three years. And that it was 1/3 that was always being rotated, that way, there were those on the board with experience (2/3 of the board) that could help keep things maintained while the new board members got familiar with the system.

Something that we should note about this time period, is that at this time illiteracy was quite common in Europe among the common people. France, for example, had over 24 million inhabitants, but only 500,000 could actually read and write.

In the American colonies, the intention of this education system for the children was so that they could grow up to become well informed citizens through their own diligent self-study. This also explains why the Founders were so well read having had limited formal education. After learning the fundamentals, they went on to develop knowledge through a self-learning process.

This system of education was so wide spread, that by 1831, when Alexis de Tocqueville came to visit the United States, he was amazed. He said that to find a person that was ignorant of the doctrines and evidences of his religion, the history of his country, and the leading features of the Constitution was very rare, a phenomenon.

Education includes Morality and Politics. Alexis also stated that" instruction that enlightens the understanding is not separated from the moral education. The American learns to know the laws by participating in the act of legislation; and he takes a lesson in the forms of government from governing. In the United States, politics are the end and aim of education."

Young children were taught the value of the Constitution, the book was called "Catechism on the Constitution." Early Americans knew that they had a unique and invaluable invention of political science and they were determined to promote it on all levels of education.

Many Early Americans spoke with great eloquence, and this was due to their extensive education in reading the Bible. A great example is Abraham Lincoln, whose great speeches cannot be attributed to a college education since he did not have one. The Founding Fathers felt that the strength of America's moral character came from the studying of the Bible. "The book teaches man his own individual responsibility, his own dignity, and his equality to his fellowman. " One need not go very far today to find a school that has eliminated the Bible reading from their curriculum, nor the removal of curriculum for children of the same caliber as "Catechism on the Constitution." One could also say that this Bible verse says it all,

Hosea 4: 6

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou hast, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the laws of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

For more on this,you can visit www.freeeducationtip.blogspot.com or mosesadeplus@gmail.com

The Role of Education Towards Individuals and Society


If we were to follow Plato, education plays a fundamental role in the construction of a good society. Education helps individual to discover one's self, one's nature and identity that is necessary to be able for one to appropriately participate and do his part properly to maintain harmony in a society.

Every individual is born unique. This uniqueness is his/her identity. It is his/her nature. However this nature needs to be discovered. It needs to be known. This is where education plays its key role. Education is a process by which an individual discover his/her own self. The knowledge of oneself is the knowledge of one's gifts, skills and nature that are very much significant in hi/her relation towards others and eventually to society. Education is a process of self-knowing.

The nature of man is supposed to be what one is doing. Thus, if by nature one is an artist, then he is expected to be doing what artist do and not anything else. However, what we see today is not the case; we have seen people in places where they should not be there. We have seen people who are doing things that they should not supposed to do because by nature they are not supposed to do those things.

The wisdom behind the education's role is when everyone knows himself, his nature, and gift; one is expected to do his nature or his part. When one is doing what he is supposed to do, there would be a complete harmony in society. Just like saying that when everything is in its proper place and performs its respective task, then the whole work is accomplish smoothly and effectively.

Diagnosing present situation, it seems that others want to be beyond their nature. A lot wants to be a nurse not because it is there nature but because of monetary consideration. As a consequence, the welfare of the society is sacrificed. More than that, the self ends up unsatisfied and unfulfilled. For self- fulfillment is beyond material accumulation. It is actually the realization of one's self after the discovery and identification.

Let everybody admit that we are not the same. This means that one could not be somebody else. If you feel that you are very much detach from what you are learning, then change your course even if it would cause some disagreement from the people around you. What matters in education is the fact that it would let you know thyself. And there could be no greater happiness, no greater achievement than knowing thyself. Give justice to yourself, so that you could offer justice and eventually reap justice.

It is then a crucial task for every educational institution to see to it that individuals attain self knowledge or self excellence. The attainment of such determines one's place and role as well as his identity in a society. If this is the case, everything needed in building a good society will follow accordingly.

It is therefore prudent for educational institutions to refrain from any marketing that would encourage individuals to be what s/he is not supposed to be on the basis of potential material accumulation. The balance of demand and supply of labor is determine and is maintain naturally if the inherent role of education is satisfied. Otherwise, there would be imbalance that would result to chaos, struggle and war.

As a concluding remarks let this be an analogy to recapitulate the core points about education. In a military training every individual is taught accordingly. The process of training helps the trainee uncover his or her skills and expertise through series of evaluation and assessment. The area where the trainee excels gives him the idea and proper discernment on what particular branch of armed forces he or she will part of after the training. Thus if one excels in aerial intelligence and aerial war craft operation, it is expected that this one would be part of air force and the like. In the end, success of the armed forces in providing potent security depends on the effective performance shared by the three branches namely marine, navy and air force. Everybody has respective role and place in the realization of goals and dreams.

Make Money Online - Internet Marketing Education


Many people dream that they have a good job, good house, good car, happy family and that they make as much as a doctor or a lawyer.

Do you know how much a successful doctor or lawyer has spent to be a successful doctor or a lawyer? Most probably somewhere between $200,000 and $500,000 and 10 to 20 years in colleges and universities. Ok that's good they make this amount in few years after they start their career so the investment they made is covered and we all need good doctors and lawyers out there.

Now can you imagine that you can make the same money and even much more if you become a successful internet marketer?

All you need is a good education. I am not talking about school or college education, but internet marketing education. And the best place to get good internet marketing education is not any college or university, but the internet. Do you know that if you invest $200,000 and just 6 months of internet marketing education, you probably will be making over $1 Million per month clear profit. Now let's talk more realistic, because I don't believe there are any people willing to invest $200.000 in internet marketing just from the beginning.

However there are many people willing and investing few thousand just to start. For most of them these are just money thrown in the sky, because very soon after they start their internet marketing business, they realize that not only they are not making any profit, but they have to invest more money just to keep their business going. And there is one very simple reason for that. They lack elementary internet marketing education. They jump right in before they are properly prepared. You know that to be a rocket scientist, a doctor, a brick layer, a construction worker, an office worker, a teacher there are prerequisites, things you must learn, before you can be successful, you don't just jump right in unprepared.

The main reason for that is that nobody tells them what they have to do in order to make money. There are thousands of Marketing Programs that promise their members millions of dollars and after you join the program they just tell you to choose a product and start promoting this product and try to convince you that this will make you a tremendous amount of money. Ok this is potentially true, but they do not tell you how to promote this product and at the end you are lost and alone.

There are also other programs that tell you that after you choose a product, you have to promote it by writing articles, creating PPC campaigns, use different social networks, joining forums, creating websites, etc. Ok they are at least a little bit more specific but again they do not tell you how to write those articles and where to publish them, how to start your PPC campaign, how to create your website, how to use the forums and social networks, etc. Eventually the result is disaster, and in this case it is worse then in the first example because if you have decided to start your own PPC campaign without the knowledge and experience you may loose a lot of money without any profit.

My closing thoughts are that it is not worth to start internet marketing if you don't have the knowledge or if you do not have someone to help you and guide you. I am lucky to be a member of the only internet private society that actually teaches you how to start your online business. It offers me for free all possible tools (software), more than 500 hours of video tutorials, 24/7 live phone support and anything else you can imagine supporting my online business. But the most important is that I got my Internet Marketing Education from this society.

This society will tech you how to eventually make six figure a month business on the internet.

If you want to make money online, join the society before it's too late.

www.moneyissue.blogspot.com

Why is Education So Important in Today's Society?


Education is very important. It helps us gain knowledge, information and interpret things correctly. Education teaches us how to lead our lives by mingling in the society and turning out to be good citizens. It makes us capable of interpreting rightly the things perceived. Education teaches us right behavior and makes us civilized people. It forms as a support system to excel in life, to continuously learn and build confidence, to reason everything till every question meets its answer. The conversion of information to knowledge is possible because of education and we also gain intelligence. Higher education influences the economic development of a nation as per the economists.

A person is always judged by good manners he/she has. Education is important as it teaches us to differentiate between good and bad manners and choose the right behavior that cultivates good manners. Good manners are important for kids to develop at a very young age. Kids must learn to be polite, learn telephone etiquette, socialize with other kids and develop values. All this can be taught at home as well as school. Teaching your children good manners creates a foundation for them that will follow them through life.

Education is important because it equips us with all that is needed to make our dreams come true. When we opt for higher education or masters, we need to choose the specialization field of our interest and talents. Most leading courses allow you to study all areas for the first year and to choose a specialization in your second year when you have more exposure and knowledge about these fields. The technical and analytical skills can be well explored in the area of one's interest.

Economic Development and higher education influences the economic development of a nation or a state. Economists hypothesize that the higher education industry is an important part of economic growth and the well being of the nation. The notion that an investment in education and human capital promotes economic growth can be traced to Adam Smith (1776), the Scottish philosopher in his famous study of what constitutes the "wealth of nations", the modern history sourcebook.

Raise Your Boat Through Education and Help Society

A rising tide raises all boats. Whether you agree specifically with that or not, that is the idea behind the belief that improvements in a society come from improving the individual elements of a society, and it is the idea behind President Obama's belief in the education system. Specifically, President Obama is looking to help single mothers improve their education and careers. One way he has sought to do this is to increase the amount of money that is available through Pell Grants.

Pell Grants are "free money" that enables you to continue your education. They are grants, not loans - that means they do not have to be repaid. Once your education is complete, so is your commitment. There are no education loans hanging over your head. Pell Grants are a way for the lower-income citizens of our society to acquire more education, with the belief that society as a whole benefits when its individual citizens are better educated.

There are others organizations with the same ultimate hope within the educational field that provide grants and scholarships for majors in their field of study.This can include, for instance, grants from the National Science and Mathematics Association for students specializing in science and math, or education grants for students majoring in the field of education.

The federal government also provides supplemental grants. Even better, if you graduated after 2005, there are even more specific grants to aid you.Contact your local college's financial aid office to find out about even more available help. You can also get a $10,000 scholarship simply by registering. It is free and can be done online, so do it now !

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Importance of Communication Skills in Life and Career


Communication skills are the 'be all and end all' of any successful relationship or career path. It doesn't matter if you are extremely knowledgeable about a particular topic. Unless you have the ability to relate it to others so that they understand exactly what you are trying to communicate, you will not find that knowledge useful.

Career:

One needs exceptional communication skills to prosper in each and every aspect of one's life. Imagine you're a software developer and wish to become the Project Manager, you need communication skills. The higher in the echelon of corporate ladder you wish to climb, the better you need to have the ability to grasp what the client wants and how you can convey your opinions to them. The higher you go, the more visible you become in the success hierarchy, hence the better spoken you need to become.

Irrespective of whether you work on a part time or full time, blue collar or white collar job, communication skills are the key to be an achiever.

Relationships:

In relationships, communication is the key. No alliance, be it friendship, family love, or life mate love can withstand lack of proper communication. It is the quintessential part of our existence.

If you love someone, you say it to them. You need to be able to express yourself the way you want others to understand you. It's exceedingly imperative, hence, to work on building your communication skills.

It is not difficult to be a good communicator. You just need to be clear about what you want the others to understand. Don't let your thoughts cloud each other or overlap each other. Be clear in your concepts.

Remember these points before saying something important:

1) Are you clear as to what you wish to make the other person understand?

2) Get the thoughts cleared in your mind.

3) Talk simply and enunciate.

4) Observe the other person's reaction. Do they comprehend what you're saying?

5) Do you feel they're in agreement with your views on the matter? If not, you might have to change the way you put across that point.

6) Always remember this: you need to talk so that the other person feels it's a beneficial thing for them, or that you're agreeing with them.

7) If you're disagreeing with someone, start off with "I completely agree, but..." or "I understand what you're trying to say, but there's another thing I'd like to add...". You don't need to necessarily agree with them, but saying things like these will make them feel you're not opposing their viewpoint.

8) Be sure of your viewpoint, but try to understand the other person's perspective too.

9) Try to say the other person's name once in a while during the conversation -"You have a good point there, Mr. Arnold." People like hearing their name, it makes them feel included, so it puts you in their good books and they try to see your point of view too.

Being a good communicator is a mandatory requirement in today's scenario. Be it life or love, you need to be able to express your feelings or opinions lucidly. Remember the tips given above, and communicating your thoughts will become a cinch.

'Communication is not only the essence of being human, but also a vital property of life.' - John A. Piece

Setting the Correct Tone in Training


Have you ever made a bad first impression with your training group? Providing a positive environment condusive to learning is your top priority. But, it can all go wrong.

The next question is: What sort of atmosphere do you want to create? Formal; informal; serious; light-hearted?

Clearly much will depend on the nature of what is being taught.

Public Speaking and self-development course should best be delivered in a friendly and supportive environment.

Clinical procedures or material with legal implications needs a more fixed, and formal environment.

To produce the correct learning environment, the trainer has two suggested tools at hand: (i.) His or her own demeanour and attitude (ii.) The physical layout of the room.

Focussing primarily here on (i.), the trainer can greatly influence his learning environment by tone of voice, physical demeanour and also by dress.

As a participant, coming into a room where the trainer is wearing jeans and a T shirt, there is going be very different expectations to entering a room where a trainer is wearing a business suit.

Therefore, it's absolutely vital that we ensure we are dressed appropriately. For male trainers, whether they choose to wear a tie will also have an effect. As a rule of thumb, if unsure how to dress, it will always be better to dress too formally rather than under-dress. If you arrive at a session and the delegates are dressed informally, without ties for example, then it's simply a case of stepping out of the room and removing your tie - and everything is fine. On the other hand, you may look a bit silly putting a tie on in front of everyone if you have arrived under-dressed! (I suppose it is better to give an impression of being over-prepared rather than under-prepared!)

In truth, as a 'teacher', your students would possibly expect you to be more formally dressed than they are. You should also consider your personal and natural style of delivery which has a major impact on your students. Because of my nature, soft and somewhat unassuming, I never believed that I came across in severe manner. In the initial days of my training practice, a more formal dress code helped me produce an increased level of authority. On the other hand, I was aware of colleagues whose natural communication style was already fairly strong and authoritarian and so it helped them sometimes to dress down a little to remove some of their sharp edges.

So the key to pitching your training at the right level is to establish what sort of environment you need to establish to help your participants learn best. And then decide what you need to focus on, based on your own natural style and attributes, your appearance and attitude, to bring that environment into being.

The College of Public Speaking offers a BTEC level 4 accredited by Edexcel. This unique course is an ideal and inexpensive opportunity for indiviuals to get their foot on the training ladder. Workshops are run regularly in London and the South-East and welcome enquiries from around the country and abroad. For more details, please follow the following link: Training Qualification
Train the Trainer

Creating Characters That Readers Can Relate to - Keep it Real


Creating characters is an essential part of writing fiction. If you want to have characters that seem real to your readers-characters they can relate to, a certain amount of effort must go into their personalities.

Of course the best source of realism is yourself. It isn't a matter of simply placing yourself inside the story. That would be extremely boring to you and probably to your readers as well. Take one aspect of yourself-your interest in gardens, your ability to play the guitar, your love for Chinese food-and amplify it. Give this facet of your personality to your character as a side-characteristic. A standard-issue detective will have a much more realistic presence if one of these personal quirks becomes part of the detective's own preferences. An intense version of the quirk helps to draw your character in stark lines-making that person much more effective and memorable.

Using other people is an option. It might be someone you know well or someone you glimpse as they enter a building. Both have been sources of famous characters. If you use someone you know, it is often recommended you don't use the whole person. Make a composite of two or three different people. This way your character ends up being unique. You also avoid any awkward encounters if your friends recognize themselves in your story. Pulling from the personalities that surround you can make your characters far more real.

Give your characters legitimate motivations. Real people do things for real reasons. If your protagonist suddenly wants to ignore all warnings and enter a house, give your protagonist a real reason. Don't resort to "I just know that this is what I need to do." Many professional and successful writers resort to this, but nevertheless it is an indication of only one thing-bad writing. Don't use convenient bursts of unexplained intuition to move your characters through your story. Give them a real reason to go into that house.

One of the best things you can do for you characters to make them more real is to not make them perfectly good or perfectly bad. Real people usually have a little of both. Good people have shortcomings. Bad people have admirable traits. If your characters are purely one or the other, they have a tendency to be caricatures or even worse-melodramatic. Inevitably, they will be less interesting if they do not have conflicting facets.

You want characters that seem real. If your readers are going to relate to your protagonist, you have to research yourself and the people around you. But also give your characters genuine motivation and genuine flaws. All of these things can bring your characters to life. These are what can make your readers feel like they are reading about real people.

Is an Avalanche of Self Doubt Threatening Your Creativity?


The chicken and the egg...

If you have no speaking career at this stage, maybe a great book will catapult your speaking career forward? Or maybe you need to develop your speaking career further first and then do a book. If you have already started to invest in getting yourself geared up to become a pro-speaker, then a really good book will certainly help you in this area. If you have some great concepts, passion for your beliefs, and a history of success behind you, then you need to get yourself out there already presenting your ideas and knowledge, writing articles, and establishing a presence for your brand in the market place. You don't have to wait for a book to be able to do that.

You'll need to decide if you want to invest in literature as a tool for promoting your speaking career. The Return on Investment in a book is not measurable... Simply because you have not yet committed to doing anything with it, and because the payoff most likely won't be in sales of the book itself, but more from other things, such as speaker fees increasing, more exposure by media as an expert in your field, or increased enquiry for your consulting services.

The best case scenario is this: You make your book happen (write, edit, produce it etc), put some serious effort into promoting it and you get a lot of people talking about it. The Public Relations required to launch it well could mean an additional investment of anything from $200 - $20,000 - depending on so many variables.

Once your book is on the market and you have some build-up of publicity around it, then your speaker services become more in demand, and your fees can increase accordingly. Authors definitely can command a higher fee than a speaker or consultant who is unpublished.

You could use one book successfully to launch yourself onto the world market if you (as a speaker) and it (the book) are good enough and determined enough to make that happen. You can also drive bargains with corporate business sponsors to get their endorsements and sponsorship funding to help really offset the costs and spin it into a major deal worth thousands... ie, Employment and Manufacturers Associations, Chambers of Commerce, business development agencies, private companies from within your industry - if they love it, this could easily happen.

Note - This is NOT an overnight success thing - in fact most overnight success stories are at least 1000 nights in the making.

Worst case scenario is this: You make the book happen, spend $20,000 on getting it to market etc, and you sell 530 copies*, give several hundred away, get a handful of low-medium paid speaking engagements out of it, and then decide to move on and write or speak about something completely different. For your investment, you end up with some reasonable interest in your ideas, and it ultimately leads to a fantastic job offer by someone who notices how amazing you are at what ever you do. In 5 years time, you still have a few boxes of books sitting on your garage floor, but have enjoyed some really interesting experiences during your career as an author.

*500 copies sold would give you roughly half of your investment back... not great ROI, but like I said, you have to decide what your expectations are of this book.

Don't go into this assuming you will make lots of money... most likely you wont. Or if you do, it could take 2 - 3 years to cover your costs.

On the up side, a great example of the success of one of our authors is how he managed to tap into the financial market players, got an agreement by one very large company to take 5000 copies on release, with their name and endorsement note in the book, which more than covered the cost of the entire exercise. In the process, this early success catapulted him to the attention of other companies and media who all started to sit up and pay attention BIG TIME. John has done some heavy pushing of his book at the market he's targeting... he's aiming to sell 10,000 in it's first year, and I'm quite expecting that he will do it too.

Getting a second opinion If you have a book already written, but are unsure of whether or not it really will set the world on fire - put it in front of a few people... you can easily do that. You can also spend some time in the bookstores locally and see what else is out there that comes close to your book content and concept. You really do need to do this. However you also need to decide what's in your heart, where this is likely to take you and how much are you prepared to work at making it brilliant.

Maria Carlton is an award winning business operator, brand communications expert for SMEs and international bestselling author and speaker. Her books and seminars make people think, take action and move forward easily. Maria is also founder and CEO of Maruki Books - specialising in assisting professional experts to create and market non-fiction books.

Top 6 Healthy Writing Tips


Your article writing skill is an art a combination of thoughts and ideas written or type written on paper. Being a writer, to be effective in writing you must be at your best to capture and hold the interest of your readers, continuously satisfying their appetite. Consider your readers as your listening audience attentively listening to what you have to sayA, your writing presentation should actually be the same as if you were verbalizing your speech, the only difference is your conversation is in a written format in oppose to being audible.

1. From experience the first thing about writing which appeals to a reader is the title of the article, once that sparks the interest your message is sent and curiosity sets in, the result will begin immediate handling of your material which quite often ended up becoming the possession of the curious reader. The power of your title page should be your strongest and foremost focus in article writing. Capturing the attention of your reading audience is essential to get your message across, weather you are writing a book posting an ad or drafting an email, the stronger your headline appeal, or you title page is the more readers you will attract.

2. You must harness your creative ability which will motivate your writing skills as you create your own writing pattern which will become your unique brand in delivering to your reading audience quality articles they will want to become part of their library collection for reference. Creative writing is all about the subject of your choice that you choose to write about for whatever reason the subject may appeal to you, and the message you intend to send in writing, whatever the subject you should be comfortable to write about it and should have sufficient knowledge about the subject to convey enough facts to benefit your readers. If your story is based on facts you should do your diligence to write facts and not a combination of facts and fictions.

3. Build your vocabulary to have a reservoir of word flow to easily complement each other in rhyming what you have to say creatively; a strong vocabulary is like tapping into a word power box for the most suitable words to polish your sentences and shine your paragraphs to reflect a vivid picture of your story. It is the power of your words which will captivate the mind of your readers to have them reading gradually digesting the juices from the material in your article. Each paragraph will create an anxiety to get to the next to see what its content is, in the same time creating an appreciation in the mind like as refreshment to the reader.

4. Keep a secondary reminder in form of a notebook, a diary, or your daily journal in addition to your word vocabulary from which you will from time to time retrieve thoughts you were fascinated with, may be from looking at a scenery, a landscape or from some attractive colorful foliage in Autumn, or some beautiful flowering plant in summer. As a writer you will discover that the art of writing is developed by the things you see, hear, and imagine, these impulses insight your writing motor skills to express yourself in literature you may revisit in form of reading to reminis a point or time of inspiration.

5. Refreshing yourself to write effective articles should be a regular practice as a writer, this prevents boredom and allows your mind to recreate its thoughts by shifting its focus briefly to something else; e.g. I walked out to my garden and began to admire the full bloom of my "Rose of Sharon" in Lilly white dabbed with pink streaks in the center of each bloom, the plant is deliberately groomed round to tastefully allow the fullness of the blooms to cover over the green leaves to reflect a blanket of Lilly white, this and the full blooming Hydrangea plant were the most refreshing to look at and to smell the petals, I return to my writing fully refreshed.

6. Your work station be it fixed, make it comfortable and professional for your writing purpose, finding your references should be easy, create labeled files you can quickly access when needed, I recommend printed backups as well in the event your desktop sustain a crash or come under malicious attack be organized. You may also have a portable workstation you move about with, in form of a laptop organize your files giving them relevant names to relate to your article to easily retrieve those notes, keep your fiction and nonfiction ideas in separate files at all times use note pad for more precise notes.

Lucilda Evans is a certified graduate from the Toronto school of business in legal terminology and office practices, a certified public speaker and licensed level2 IFB in the Insurance Industry. Art and Fashions designs has been her life long passion, the combination of these skills resulted in the creation of her original line of multicultural dolls, designed for the pleasure of doll lovers and the safety of young children as her contribution to the world.