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Televisions have come a long way since their invention by Philo Taylor Farnsworth in 1928. Today, Liquid Crystal Display sets, known as LCD televisions, are one of the most up to date types of televisions you can purchase. They are competing with other types of televisions, including Projection TV, Light Emitting Diode (LED) televisions, Plasma TV, HDTV, and new Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) television sets.

LCD televisions today are full color televisions sets. They produce images using liquid crystal display technology, which also allows them to be quite a bit thinner and also lighter than the old cathode ray tube sets. The screen displays can be much larger than those allowed by CRT technology. With falling costs of production, the LCD televisions seemed destined to overtake the industry. Other large television formats, such as rear projection television and plasma television are losing market share to the new LCD televisions. There is, however, new competition against LCD televisions by Organic Light Emitting Display televisions and others on the horizon.

LCD televisions work with white light, and filtering that light to display a colored image on the screen. This requires backlighting by cold cathode fluorescent lamps on most sets. Some use LED lighting instead for the white backlighting. LCD technology is inefficient in that most of the light, about 90% of light produced never reaches the viewer as it is used or distracted prior to reaching the viewing screen. They take a lot of power, which adds to the inefficiency and they are similar in power use to the CRT televisions.

This television uses a system of LCD shutters in a grid, which allow different amounts of light to pass by opening and closing the shutters. There is a colored filter with each shutter that removes unnecessary colors, all by the red, green and blues, from the white light passing through the shutter system. These work to form a tiny pixel, and the shade of each color is adjusted by changing the light intensity. There are millions of shutters in a display. Voltage controls turning shutters on or off. The liquid crystals form thin layers that make up thin plates. These plates allow polarization of the light and control of light passing through the shutters. Improvements in technology have addressed some problems with blurring and response times, and the first commercial LCD televisions hit the market in 1988. By 2004, the first 42″ sets were being purchased quickly, and in later years prices dropped. LCD televisions were competitive against plasma sets because they have higher resolutions, and therefore better pictures. By 2007, screen display panel sizes were offered up to 108″ in size.

There was some concern with environment effects of the nitrogen trifluoride used in production of LCD screens, as it is a potent greenhouse gas, but critics point out that actual amounts released to the atmosphere are far less than the perfluorocarbon gas that it replaced. LCD televisions remain popular and comprise a large segment of the commercial television set market.

Matthew Kerridge is an expert within the television industry. If you are looking for cheap lcd televisions please visit http://www.ebuyer.com/

The role of automotive advertising agencies is changing along with the auto industry that they serve. It is important for automotive advertising agencies to educate themselves and their auto dealer clients about their changing roles in a consolidating auto industry that is shifting onto the Internet Super Highway vs. local car rows.

Problems and solution shared at real world venues in the auto industry are having an impact and the slow shift to the new pull/push world of the consumer driven Internet is becoming more obvious. Similarly, a growing number of online social networking communities are also all helping to spread the word and their timing couldn’t be better.

The only constant in the auto industry is change. Of course human nature is also a universal constant, but since that is the fuel that powers most change in the auto industry it must be factored in and considered by automotive advertising agencies who can now look to consumers for the answers.

Radio, T.V. and newspapers are no longer the media of choice for today’s Internet savvy consumers. B2C messages online are filtered out in favor of C2C conversations in social networking communities that now dot the landscape on the World Wide Web. Automotive advertising agencies must reinvent themselves as the resource that auto dealers rely on to navigate them onto the Internet Super Highway because that is where their customers are.

Keeping ahead of new technologies and applications that integrate selling processes between the real and the virtual world showrooms and inserting auto dealers into the conversations that make up the online marketplace must be job one for automotive advertising agencies who wish to serve their auto dealer clients in today’s challenging auto industry. Radio, T.V. and print production has a shrinking role in an automotive advertising agency’s tool box and leveraged online production resources will eliminate them altogether in the near future. Similarly, agency commissions earned from conventional media analysis and placement are being absorbed into the media providers as value added services for their auto dealer advertisers. At the same time, automotive advertising budgets are being shifted to online digital marketing platforms with more verifiable sourced R.O.I. that is far superior to conventional media. The writing is on the virtual wall and automotive advertising agencies must either read it, write it or accept their diminishing value in tomorrow’s auto industry.”

The Internet has empowered consumers to bypass auto dealers and even their most strategically placed marketing message in favor of online information resources that are not dependent on automotive advertising agencies or auto dealers for their content. Initially, third party aggregators captured online auto shoppers attempting to avoid real and virtual world auto dealerships by collecting inventory from hundreds of auto dealers anxious to get their inventory in front of today buyers for new and pre-owned vehicles. Consumers quickly realized the limitations of looking at vehicles in this kind of dealer-centric platform and the technology driven evolution of online marketing platforms soon provided more consumer-centric solutions.

Auto dealers are now able to monetize social media with features that invite car shoppers to share their vehicle selections with their online friends and family to assist them in their car shopping experience. These C2C conversations pushed to Face Book and other social networking communities replace previous unsuccessful attempts by automotive advertising agencies to post B2C messages on the same social media platforms. Automotive advertising agencies need to know about sites that offer a variety of free services and a way to earn a seat at the social media table More relevantly, they need to tell their auto dealer clients about them to justify their agency fees!

Other technology driven applications automotive advertising agencies need to tell their auto dealer clients about that will allow them to sell more vehicles and service for less money and with less staff include dealer hosted personal web sites for their staff, dashboard tools that integrates telephone and SMS text messaging for more comprehensive and cost effective follow up, automated video production platforms that converts the pictures on an auto dealer’s website pushed onto the search engines with Facebook applications that allow an auto dealer to display their entire inventory on a non-offensive tab within the customers Face Book page, customer interaction platforms that allow online shoppers to initiate a two way video conversation from within an auto dealer’s website that can accommodate a turnkey online transaction without having to drop the glass wall that empowers online shoppers to move forward in the negotiation process and appraisal tools which provide site visitors with NADA sourced values for their trade-in while selecting suitable vehicles from the auto dealers online inventory to find a car to replace the one that they are selling.

Any one of these new online conversion and marketing tools can develop a superior R.O.I. to even the best written and placed conventional automotive advertising messages and/or online digital marketing campaigns. These technology driven solutions and their importance to automotive advertising agencies are needed to justify their agency fees to their auto dealer clients in today’s consolidating auto industry. Many automotive advertising agencies still operate under the assumption that if they bring enough bodies to the front door then they have earned their fees. In today’s consolidating auto industry; not so much!

Reduced sales volume and profit margins coupled with increased expenses demand that automotive advertising agencies must increase their areas of responsibility to include internal selling processes using systems to increase efficiencies across all departments in an auto dealership in both their brick and mortar facilities and their newly developing virtual showrooms. You have to be in it to win it and for the foreseeable future the game is being played on the World Wide Web. The most active lanes on the Internet Super Highway are those that lead to social networking communities that share information between automotive advertising agencies and auto dealers as much as they do for their customers.

Philip Zelinger is a former auto dealer principal with an earned reputation as a nationally recognized automotive advertising expert specializing in the technology sector. His philosophy that a rising tide floats all boats motivates him to listen and learn so he can presume to teach. To that end, Philip shares best practices on the respected automotive advertising resource networking portal — http://AdAgencyOnline.Net — as well as the blog talk radio station featured on the site — WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time — http://blogtalkradio.com/adagencyonline.

For a complimentary consultation on your automotive advertising needs, or to share your wisdom and insights with the online automotive advertising community hosted by Ad Agency Online, L.L.C.. vist the portal and contact Philip Zelinger directly. To quote Philip, “Help is only a click away because — after all, what are friends for!”

The percentage of US households owning a pet has risen from 56% in 1988 to 62% in 2008, according to the figures provided by the American Pet Products Association or APPA. The growth in the number of households is accompanied by increased spending on pet supplies and other items. The US households are expected to spend $50.84 billion on their pets in 2011. This amount includes expenditure on food items, supplies, over the counter medicines, vet care, cost of purchasing and grooming pets. Taking care of a pet involves expenditure on buying a wide range of pet supplies which includes foods, clothes, medicines etc.

Need for Pet Supplies

Pets are just like any other family member and need a lot of supplies which include food items, medicines, clothes or houses, shampoos and soaps for washing etc. Every pet owner likes to provide the best of supplies to his/her pet. This means buying the best quality of food and other products to ensure that the pet remains healthy and grows according to its age. The best way to buy good quality pet supplies is to get in touch with specialized pharmacies that deal in household products.

According to statistics quoted by the he American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the average cost of basic food, supplies, medical care and training for a dog or a cat is $700 to $875 annually. You can buy good quality pet supplies at discounted prices from varied online pharmacies that focus on selling supplies of all types and all price ranges.

Types of Pet Supplies

Whether you have a cat or a dog or horse or any other animal as household, you will need to buy certain basic essential food and other items on a regular basis. In addition products that help you to groom and train your pets are also essential. Several types of innovative supplies are available in the market and are aimed at making it easier to take good care of your pet.

While some pet supplies are common to all animals, there are others which are specific to certain animals. supplies can be generally categorized into:

• Training products
• Grooming products
• Essential food items
• Feeding and Water containers
• Cleaning products
• Food supplements
• Pet Carriers and Houses
• Pet Toys and Beds
• Health Care products
• Books and CDs on grooming pets
• Pet Clothes and Collars

Apart from these pet supplies, you are bound to spend on vet visits and pet medicines to treat some common allergies and infections. Medicines to treat common problems like fever, itchiness, hair loss, ticks, cancer, rabies, dysentery, tumors, worms etc can be treated by buying branded or generic medicines from a pet pharmacy.

Buying pet supplies from a specialized shop or pharmacy is highly beneficial because their staff can advise you about the right type of products. You can also check about the usefulness or the efficacy of a household product chosen by you. These pharmacies also guide you about the dosage and the right procedure to use a medicine or a treatment for your pet.

You can save your spending on pets by buying pet supplies from an established supplier of pet products and veterinary medications. The best way to get great deals on these supplies is by ordering online.

You’ve probably read the previous piece on North Indian breads. This article focuses on North Indian cooking, which includes cooking style, spices used, terminology and some common foods.

North Indian cooking is nearly always quite spicy and uses a large number of spices in any given dish. The terms used for various dishes are normally descriptive of the food itself like Jeera Aloo for instance, which literally translates to ‘Cumin seed Potatoes’. Like most cultures there are also some misleading names like ‘Butter Chicken’, which is actually marinated chicken cooked in a tandoor and served in smooth, tomato gravy and doesn’t contain any butter. There are also terms which aren’t related to the food in question, like Pulao, which is rice cooked with spices and vegetables. The term sabzi (sub-zee) is used quite liberally when describing nearly any dry, vegetable preparation. The same applies to the term dal, which is used for most types of lentils. The term tari (tuh-ree) denotes gravy and is suffixed to the name of a dish when it has gravy.

In these days of fusion food, it is difficult to pin down a set of spices that a given region can claim. However, traditionally, north Indian cooking uses the following spices and herbs:

• Cumin seed (Jeera)
• Ajowan or (Ajwain)
• Red Chili Powder I – Flavor over color (Lal Mirch)
• Red Chili Powder II – Color over flavor (Degi Mirch or Kashmiri Mirch)
• Turmeric Powder (Haldi)
• Dried Mango Powder (Aamchur)
• Coriander Seeds (Sabat Dhania)
• Coriander Powder (Dhania)
• Fresh Coriander Leaves (Hara Dhania)
• Green Cardamom (Choti Elaichi)
• Black Cardamom (Badi Elaichi)
• Cinnamon (Dalchini)
• Garam Masala – A set mixture of spices – roasted cumin, cinnamon, cloves, caraway seeds, nutmeg (and/or mace) and green cardamom seed or black cardamom pods. The composition of Garam Masala changes from region to region.
• Dried Fenugreek Leaves (Kasuri Methi)
• Black Mustard Seeds (Rai)

This list is by no means complete – there are many more spices used in every day North Indian cooking – the purpose of this article however is to provide a feel for North Indian cooking.

Different spices are used in different situations, in different ways. The flavor and characteristics of spices change if you’re dry roasting them, frying them, adding them before simmering to cook or after cooking.

Our first foray into traditional North Indian cooking could start with a simple vegetable preparation, which we could either call Aloo ki Sabzi (‘Vegetable Preparation of Potatoes’) or Jeera Aloo (Cumin seed Flavored Potatoes).

Cumin Seed Potatoes / Jeera Aloo

Ingredients

- 3 Large Baking Potatoes

-One onion, chopped fine

-1 tsp Cumin seed

-1 tsp Turmeric Powder

-1 tsp Chili Powder

-1 tsp Coriander Powder

-1 tsp Dried Mango Powder

-Salt to taste

-Chopped fresh coriander for garnishing

-Oil for frying

Method

First peel your potatoes, dice and then boil in lightly salted water. Then drain and let cool. Heat oil in your pan and add the cumin seed. After 2 – 3 seconds of crackling, add the onions and fry, stirring lightly for about a minute on low heat. Now add all the spices, except the dried mango powder and mix well. Throw in the potatoes, which should be nice and firm now and toss well, so the onion-spice mixture coats the potatoes all over. Simmer for about 5 – 7 minutes. Finally, add the dried mango powder and toss the potatoes on high heat, till there’s a thick, spicy sludge adhering to the potatoes. Garnish with the fresh, chopped coriander prior to serving.

These can be served with Rotis, filled in toasted sandwiches or just eaten as is for a snack.

As you can see, this everyday dish uses 5 different spices and one herb. There are some traditional dishes that use up to 30 different spices! These are now (in most part) a thing of the past and cooked only on very special occasions.

As an example, let’s say we’d like to try our hand at cooking a simple north Indian dish without a recipe, simply going by the style. Obviously we’ll need some north Indian spices, the most common of which are Jeera (cumin seed), Haldi (turmeric powder), Namak (salt) and Mirch (chili powder). The first step, in nearly every dish is to fry onions as it is a staple in north Indian cooking. When pink/transparent, we add some spices and fry some more. This gives us a thick sauce to which we can add a little water if we wish. This sauce will coat the vegetables or meat we’ll add later. Here’s a simple example.

Onion and Tomato Sabzi / Pyaaz Tamatar ki Sabzi

Ingredients

-3 Large tomatoes, chopped roughly

-Two Onions, chopped roughly

-2 large cloves of garlic, finely sliced

-1 tsp Cumin seed

-1 tsp Turmeric Powder

-1 tsp Dried Mango Powder

-1 tsp Chili Powder

-Salt to taste

-Oil for frying

Method

The process is really quite simple – we heat a little oil, add the onions, fry a little, add the garlic and continue frying till the onions are pink or translucent. Then we add the rest of the spices except the dried mango powder, mix well and finally toss in the tomatoes. The dried mango powder goes in at the end.

One major feature of Indian cooking is that vegetables are rarely left crisp or crunchy. They’re nearly always cooked till they’re very soft. This isn’t very good for the nutrition content of the veggies and I’d recommend cooking them till they’re just done and still have a bit of bite left.

The pan will be kept on a simmer for 5 – 10 minutes, till the tomatoes are cooked through. Finally we stir in the dried mango powder and it’s ready to eat! This dish is usually eaten with Rotis.

As you can see, the pattern is similar – fry onions (if using), spices, toss in vegetables, nuke them (or not) and serve. Now that we have an idea of the basics involved, let’s get on to the secrets!

The Cooking Methods (by Naheed)

Secret 1: Bhuno well.

This is an extremely important process and involves frying spices to extract most of their flavor. Remember not to overheat the oil (unless it is mustard oil, which has to be heated till it emits some smoke & does not froth when something is put in it). If dry powdered masala is being used, the oil should not be hot as the dry spices will burn. Some amount of water must be added if you feel the spices may burn. When making the masala, use onion paste along with ginger & garlic to which you will add other spices as required.

For meat however, the method is quite different. This is the last process for cooking meat in quite a few cases, or the process just before adding water to make the gravy. It is believed the real flavor of meat develops only if you devote upward of 10 minutes to this process. Meat releases some of its own fat which mixes with the spices and then the oil cooks the meat and helps the meat absorb the mixed flavors of the spices. How long to do so, is a question that has no fixed answer. As a guideline, stop when either the meat becomes too tender or the gravy becomes completely dry, or your guests start to get very restless. You will also notice that the meat & gravy tend to stick to the vessel if you do not stir them constantly. If they do, scrape it off; and if the gravy gets too dry, add yoghurt or water.

Secret 2: Bagharna

This is a simple process and is called Chaukna in Hindi. Here dry spices are added to hot oil and this concoction is added to a dish (e.g. Dal). Although a simple process, do not burn the spices. In fact it is advised that once you have added the spices, remove the vessel from the fire.

Secret 3: Dum Cooking

This is the art of slow cooking. It enables individual flavors to intermingle properly. This is also the method used for the last few minutes when cooking rice or biryani. In the old days, when food was cooked on coal or wood, the only way was to raise the distance between the flame & the vessel, or put the vessel in the dying embers, seal the lid of the dish with flour & put a few embers of coal on top of the lid. In dum cooking, it is essential the fire be at its lowest and the food will therefore take a while before it’s done. Rest assured that your patience will be amply rewarded. Thankfully modern cooking presents us with newer methods and one of the easiest is to put the whole vessel in an oven. If you do not have one, put a griddle (tawa) on the flame & then put the vessel on it. Also note that dum cooking meat will make the ingredients (meat, vegetables) exude the moisture or water within. A word of caution here: Try not to use a pressure cooker or the meat will not turn out right.

Secret 4: Frying

Simple you’d say. Well, yes it is. However, there are two types of frying. One is frying to cook and the other one to brown. For deep frying it is essential that there be sufficient oil to cover the item. For browning, the oil can be less but must be at a low temperature.

Secret 5: Using earthenware

Not only is earthenware cheap in India but it was also the first form of disposable crockery. Most desserts in India were traditionally served either on banana leaves or in earthenware crockery. Some of the better known five star restaurants in India still use earthenware. If you’ve noticed, tea at Indian railway stations is still served in earthenware glasses. Not only is it environmentally friendly, a special earthy flavor permeates the tea, which no cooking method can simulate.

Secret 6: Kewda Water

Kewda is the derivative of a desert plant with very fragrant leaves. The essential oil of this is heavily diluted in water which is used as a perfuming agent for food. Typically used in Firni and Zarda among other desserts and has no parallel.

The Ingredients

Secret 1: Dahi or Yoghurt

This is a wonder ingredient. Yoghurt lends a light buttery flavor to the creation as well as a light creamy consistency. For example, it is the base for some dishes like Rizala where the original flavor of yoghurt is completely transformed. Yoghurt when cooked transforms in taste to lightly sour and gives the gravy a creamy texture. All in all, it is an essential item. In a few dishes, it may be substituted by tomato puree but then the final result will be slightly different. Did you know vegetables cooked in yoghurt retain their shape? In fact in Dumpukth Fish, it is the yoghurt that preserves the shape of the fish. Also, at times if you have mistakenly added extra salt, add a splash of whisked yoghurt and cook for a while.

Secret 2: Onions

This is an essential ingredient in a lot of dishes and is commonly used for salads. A handy tip on handling onions is to remove the outer dry skin, cut in half and wash thoroughly to prevent your eyes from watering. Onions lend a sweetish flavor to cooking and are a common masala base. However when fried then mixed, the taste is totally different. So when the recipe says “fry onions”, you’d better fry them.

Secret 3: Cumin

There are two types of cumin seeds. The common white cumin seeds which are cheap are used mainly in vegetarian dishes. They are more often than not fried to get their flavor out. Sometimes as in a raita, they are dry roasted on a tawa and then ground. However, the more expensive black cumin seeds or Shah Jeera as they are commonly known as, are quite different in taste and flavor. The two are rarely substituted. Most restaurants substitute them in rice preparations, but then, what you get is something totally different.

Final Recipe

Now that we have quite a good idea of what’s involved in North Indian cooking, perhaps a slightly complex recipe is in order – Nihari. This is definitely not one of the dishes that one finds on the menu of five star restaurants. This is one of the dishes eaten with a lot of passion by all. In fact to have Nihari one must have the zest to wake up before dawn because it is a very hot meal and in most places where it is served, the service is over by 9am. It is a delectable broth of meat, cooked over a slow fire, mostly overnight and eaten in the early hours of the morning with a tandoori roti and an assortment of fresh herbs accompanied by loads of lemon. The meat is fulfilling and the broth is had as a refreshing and a rather hot soup. The other reason why one has it as a breakfast meal and that too only in winter is because it makes you feel very thirsty and rather warm. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.

Nihari

Ingredients

• 1 kg Nihari meat (or any other meat that’s available)
• 250 grams Onions, sliced
• 3/4 cup Ghee
• 2 tbsp ginger paste
• 2 tbsp garlic paste
• 2 tbsp dry roasted chickpea flour
• 1/2 – 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp Coriander powder
• 1/4tsp Turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

Spice mixture

Grind together the following:1/4 tsp. dried ginger, 1/4 tsp. mace, 1/2 tsp. fennel, 1/2 tsp. white cumin seeds, 2 large cardamom, 4 small cardamoms, 4 cloves, 6 black pepper seeds

Preparation

Preparation time 30 minutes | Cooking time 2-3 hours

• Add 2/3rd of the onions in moderately hot oil and when the onion goes soft add ginger & garlic paste along with ground coriander and turmeric powder and let it fry for about 3-4 minutes or until the oil comes on top again.
• Add the meat and cook over slow fire. The meat will let out its own water.
• When it is semi cooked, add the chick pea flour to 2 cups of water and leave the broth to cook over very slow fire for at least 45 minutes.
• The slower you cook the more flavors you will draw out.
• Keep the pot covered but no pressure cookers please.
• When the meat is as tender as it can get, add the spice mixture along with the leftover onions.

On a parting note, while cooking methods remain largely consistent and typical, knowing the spices will help tremendously. So while you’re cooking go on and add that sprinkle of black mustard seeds to hot oil and watch them crackle or throw in some curry leaves and savor the change in flavors!

Sid Khullar has written nearly 400 articles on food, cooking and other related subjects on Chef at Large. He welcomes recipe and photo contributions and is always looking to meet people passionate about the culinary arts.

Fashion designers help create the billions of clothing articles, shoes, and accessories purchased every year by consumers. Fashion designers working for apparel wholesalers or manufacturers create designs for the mass market. Fashion designers are the people who create the elegant, whimsical, fun, silly, and often expensive clothes we see parading down runways twice a year. Fashion designers design and create clothing and accessories for men, women and children. Some high-fashion designers are self-employed and design for individual clients. Other high-fashion designers cater to specialty stores or high-fashion department stores.

Fashion

Fashion design is the applied art dedicated to the design of clothing and lifestyle accessories created within the cultural and social influences of a specific time. Fashion designers have brought about a storm in this glamour world with their commendably fabulous variety. Fashion industry has always welcomed new talent giving rise to the budding stars of tomorrow. While all articles of clothing from any time period are studied by academics as costume design, only clothing created after 1858 could be considered as fashion design.

Before the former draper set up his maison couture (fashion house) in Paris, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses, and high fashion descended from that worn at royal courts. Throughout the early 20th century, practically all high fashion originated in Paris, and to a lesser extent London. At this time in fashion history the division between haute couture and ready-to-wear was not sharply defined.

Designers

Designers know they have this power, and will continue to use it to influence global fashions throughout the eras. These designers create original garments, as well as those that follow established fashion trends. Most fashion designers, however, work for apparel manufacturers, creating designs of men’s, women’s, and children’s fashions for the mass market. Designer brands which have a ‘name’ as their brand such as Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren are likely to be designed by a team of individual designers under the direction of a designer director. Thus, the tradition of designers sketching out garment designs instead of presenting completed garments on models to customers began as an economy.

Popular Western styles were adopted all over the world, and many designers from outside of the West had a profound impact on fashion. Currently, modern fashion has seen a reference to technology such as designers Hussein Chalayan and Miuccia Prada who have introduced industrial textiles and modern technology into their fall collections. Mass market designers generally adapt the trends set by the famous names in fashion. Increasingly, many modern high-end designers are now beginning to turn to mass market retailers to produce lower-priced merchandise, and to broaden their customer base. Perhaps most importantly, designers use their imaginations to come up with new ideas.

There are a number of well known fashion design schools worldwide. Most fashion design courses last for three years. As well as teaching students about the artistic and technical side of the subject, some courses include a year working in the fashion industry, to give students a taste of commercial fashion design. Others offer the chance to visit fashion houses abroad.

Trishia Lopez is a successful Webmaster and publisher of www.TheFashionGurus.com. She provides more information about Fashion and fashion issues that you can research in your pajamas on her website.

If you are thinking of starting a new business, or if you are just about to take the plunge, you will know that there is a lot that you have to do. Here are a few things to think about and do, before you dive straight into running your new business.

Trading Entity

One of the first things to consider is what type of legal entity you intend to use. Often people just start and don’t consider what business structure they need until later on. If you have any doubts I recommend you talk it through with your accountant or solicitor.

The basic types of business are a sole trader, a partnership, a limited company or a limited liability partnership. Whilst in some cases the structure can be changed relatively easily, it makes sense to give it some thought before you start. You should also think about your exit plans at this stage, as this may affect your choice of trading structure.

A sole trader is just that. You set up in business on your own. The business is no more than an extension of you in many ways, certainly as far as your finances go. This by far the easiest option for a lot of people, as there is less administration, but it can also be lonely. If you set up on your own look for ways to meet up with other business owners on a regular basis.

A partnership is two or more people working together, your liabilities are similar to those of a sole trader, though bear in mind that usually all partners are responsible for the actions of the others.

If you set up in partnership you should have some kind of agreement defining what the shares are and who gets what in the way of drawings and distributions. This will also cover what happens in the event of a major disagreement, or if one partner leaves for any reason.

Trading as a limited company can have many benefits, in particular it means that the business is a separate entity from you. This means that your liability is limited to the amount of share capital you have in the business. There may also be tax savings depending on your circumstances, but you should never make your decision based solely on tax implications.

There are more costs involved and often more red tape than with a sole trader or partnership. A company has to file various forms as well as its accounts with Companies House, and there is a cost involved in doing this, as well as in preparing the information.

A limited liability partnership is like a cross between a partnership and a limited company. It has a set up like a partnership, but the limited liability of a company. It must file records with Companies House in a similar way that a Limited Company would.

There are many areas to consider when deciding what trading structure is best for you. These include among others, the tax implications, your own financial situation – pensions, mortgage etc, whether you need a vehicle, what type of business you are setting up, whether there is a property involved, or a requirement for a property, how many people are setting up the business and what relationships are required.

The best thing to do is talk it over with your advisors and make an informed decision. What you are aiming to do is find a balance between the various issues that works for you.

If you start as a sole trader or partnership, you can always change into a limited company later on.

Tax

You need to make sure that your business complies with the (extensive) tax and information filing requirements imposed on you. If you don’t you will almost certainly incur problems, and financial penalties.

When you set up in business you have to register with the Inland Revenue for tax and National Insurance. If you will have staff you need to register for PAYE as well.

If you don’t register within the first three months you will be liable to a penalty of £100.

You don’t actually have to pay your tax until after the year end when you start, but for sole traders and partners National Insurance is paid weekly (or monthly) with a further one off payment at the end of the year once you reach a minimum level of profit.

If you have staff your PAYE must be paid every month and you will have various forms and returns to complete at the end of the tax year (mostly in May)

http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/

If you have already appointed your accountant they may do the registrations for you.

VAT

As with tax you also need to be aware of the requirements surrounding VAT.

You don’t have to register for VAT straight away, but it maybe worthwhile doing so. You have to register when your turnover reaches the registration threshold – £56,000 in 2003/04, unless you are in an exempt industry.

You can voluntarily register for VAT from day 1 (unless exempt). http://www.hmce.gov.uk/

Accountant

Find a good accountant, not someone who will just do your tax return at the end of the year but someone who is proactive and forward thinking. Ask around, get recommendations and interview a few. Make sure you like the person / firm and are happy to work with them. (See “10 Things To Ask Your Accountant”)

Banking

Open a bank account. Keep all your business transactions separate from your personal ones. You will find it much easier to manage – your accountant will like it too! Some people do actually just use their personal account. As with everything else in your business it makes sense to keep it all separate from your personal affairs – even if you are a sole trader working at home.

So find yourself a bank and a decent bank manager, and open a new account for the business. Or probably two or three. Have a current account and at least one savings account. This makes it easier to manage your money. Have one savings account for tax and VAT. Every month transfer the amount you owe for VAT, PAYE and taxes into this account and leave it there until the payment is due. That way you never have to worry about how to pay these important bills. If you are the kind of business that receives money in advance from clients or deposits, it is also a good idea to hold this in a separate account. Just transfer it into your main account as you do the work.

Where to work

Decide where you are going to work. You have many choices – at home, in an office, in a warehouse, near to customers, out of town….. What is right for you and your business? Deciding where to base yourself may depend on many factors. Unless you are starting some kind of retail business or need something like a warehouse, you really can be where you want to these days.

Firstly do you have to be in a certain place? And I mean have to as in a shop must be on the high street, rather than you think you ought to be based somewhere for the prestige, or because everyone else in your industry is there. Do you need to be next to a transport link, either for deliveries, access to a distribution network or because you service those industries that do?

Do you need a smart office? Very unlikely I suspect whatever you might think about “image” etc. You can rent a room for important meetings. Remember, you can create the perception of a large company even if you work in a box room at home. You can have virtual everything now, smart address, telephone, fax, assistant…….. so don’t go into an office you can’t afford because of the way it will make you look.

Working at home may not be an option if other family members will be there, for example if you have young children and you need to be on the telephone for a large part of your day, this will not be practical unless you can shut yourself away. Wherever you work you need to consider the image you project and children (or pets) being noisy in the background isn’t professional – however much you love them!

You may also want to consider proximity to others. If you need to be out and about a lot it may be worth being reasonably central to keep your travelling costs and time down.

Working at home will almost certainly be the cheapest option, and is very common these days.

You may wish to think about serviced offices. These are rented offices with full backup support, such as reception, telephone answering, copying, secretarial, meeting rooms and so on. They can be ideal for new businesses, but they don’t come cheap. And watch the extras, with the bigger names you can double your bill with extras quite easily. The advantage is that they can be taken very short term – a month at a time, and the additional facilities. You can be on your own but have full office support. The downside is the cost, and most of them offer a virtual service to businesses, so you can work at home and still get all the upside without the big bill. And no one else will know the difference.

Alternatively if you cannot or choose not to work at home and serviced offices aren’t for you then you will be looking at rented offices or warehouse space. Unless you have funds to buy.

Some Quick Tips

Write your Business Plan. It may sound obvious, but lots of people don’t do it. There are lots of places where you can find free help and advice, just do a search on the internet, or ask your business advisor.

Make sure you know how you are going to finance your new business. Have you plans to survive the first 3-6 months whatever happens?

Research your market. Make sure there is demand, do people want what you have to sell?

Read The E-Myth Revisited By Michael E Gerber. It has to be THE book for new business owners.

Get a domain name the same as your business name or one that describes what you do. Having a free email address just screams out “small home business” even if you’re not!

Read further tips in “10 Things To Do Before You Start Your Business”

Sign up for Start Up 101 – an eprogramme for new business owners

Julia McDaid is a business coach and author, specialising in helping business start-ups. For more information on these issues or on coaching for new business owners, see http://www.startupright.co.uk or enrol on Julia’s unique Start Up 101 ecourse, where you can go into each question in a lot more depth. Julia also publishes a free ezine ‘Secrets of the Successful Entrepreneur’ – to sign up just send an email to ezine@startupright.co.uk

What I am going to teach you here is the fact that there is a physical reason for our feeling frightened when put into a position to speak in public. That reason is our body’s perception that speaking in front of others is a “threatening situation” that demands the over-creation of adrenalin. And it is the over-creation of adrenalin that gives us our symptoms of feeling frightened.

Here’s the Good News on managing speech anxiety – I can tell you exactly how to control the over-creation of adrenalin within 15 minutes of you having to stand up to give a speech. I am going to inform you of a doctor-prescribed, safe, inexpensive and non-addictive pill (medication) that will eliminate your symptoms of fear almost instantaneously. Therefore, I can show you how to speak in public without the symptoms of feeling frightened. And if you can “speak in public without the symptoms of feeling frightened ” guess what – YOU CAN SPEAK IN PUBLIC”! Since the pill is a doctor-prescribed medication, not an over-the-counter medication, you will have an opportunity to discuss it with your doctor to confirm that it is safe for you to take. But I can assure you – it is perfectly safe for the vast majority of us. This may sound too easy, but believe me once you learn the physical reason for your speech anxiety or stage fright , you will be able to speak in public better than you’ve ever thought possible.

Let me also say this up-front – The information I present here will help those with a moderate to serious fear of speaking in public, as well as give “an edge” to those who do not really fear public speaking, but just want to improve their performance . Those that have used this information successfully have included many in business who must routinely give presentations , show business folks who want to be able to deliver the best performance possible and those who just join an organization and must participate in large meetings once in a while. The symptoms of fear that I will explain how to control are identical to all of us. The only thing that separates us in terms of public speaking is the severity of those symptoms and how we’re able to control them.

One more thing – you do not have to take the medication I will recommend here forever. It is only necessary during the period of time that you are re-training your brain to understand that speaking in public is not a threatening situation and therefore it doesn’t have to create an over-abundance of adrenaline in order to survive THEREFORE, THE MEDICATION IS REALLY A “TRAINING AID”, NOT A “CRUTCH”.

Speaking in public is the No. 1 fear of Americans. It surpasses our fear of losing our jobs, losing our relationships and, believe it or not, people write in surveys they fear public speaking even more than death (although I suspect that given a true life and death situation, they could muster the courage to give a little speech).

Because speaking in public opens the opportunity for us to be judged by others in a very personal way more so than any other activity we do in life. And it is this fear of being judged that creates anxiety that can be paralyzing at times. Simply put, many of us have a fear of looking foolish, of being laughed at, of making a mistake, of being vulnerable.

That was exactly my problem. For many years my fear of speaking in public kept me from advancement in my company because even though I was very competent in my field (in fact, more competent than many of my peers), I was perceived as not being as competent as those that could speak more authoritatively than I. It got so bad I had difficulty participating effectively in large meetings where I was an expert in the discussion area. I had to do something or my career, and my life for that matter, was going to be mediocre, at best and, at worst, a dismal failure.

My background was research and so I began to investigate the causes of my inordinate fear to speak in public.

Simply put – what I found changed my life forever and it will change yours too.

BackGround

When it comes to public speaking, there are several categories of people:

About 5% of the population do not fear speaking in public at all and actually look forward to it in many cases.

Another 10% are apprehensive to speak in public, but do not have a real fear of it.

However, the vast majority of us (about 80%) have a mild to serious fear of speaking in public; we don’t do it unless we have to and we tend to minimize the opportunities to speak in public if at all possible;

Then there are about 5% of us that have an excessive and almost debilitating fear of speaking in public.

I should admit to you now that I have a serious, and at times, excessive fear of public speaking

and am therefore in the “gray” zone between the 80% and 5% categories. Therefore, I know from

experience what I am going to teach you will help the vast majority of everyone who has a fear of standing up and speaking in public. In addition, this information will also help those who do not really fear public speaking, but just want to give a better performance.

Where Does Our Fear Come From?

This, of course, is a hard question to answer. For many of us the cause of a moderate to serious fear of speaking in public cannot be associated with anything in particular in our childhood. However for others, it can be traced back to a particular incident that has triggered the symptoms felt when faced with the necessity to speak in public. Some of us can vividly remember a particular incident in our lives where we became very self-conscious and embarrassed for some reason in front of a crowd of people. Often this incident occurred as far back as elementary school when our self-worth and self esteem were just beginning to develop and may not relate to actually speaking in public at all.

For instance, if we were in a situation where we stood embarrassed in front of our schoolmates without saying a word,— that could be it. Even though we were not speaking in public, our brains perceived our fear just standing there in front of other people as we thought that we looked foolish and/or scared. In a nutshell – what happens to some of us during this type of incident is our brain links our intense negative feelings with merely standing in front of other people as they look at us. It almost sounds silly that deep fears that control us as adults often have such trivial moments of creation in childhood. Often they last only a minute, but it is a minute that can last a lifetime. I’m sure the people who initiated these terrible incidents in our lives so many years ago never think back to them or to us for that matter. They have no idea what they said or did during that incident had such a profound and lasting effect on us.

Our fears may only be “in our head” but that’s enough to make us react as we do to speaking in public and other anxiety-prone situations. I’m sure you already realize – it’s pretty difficult to change what’s “in our head” even if we can figure out why it’s “in our head” to begin with and why we react as we do to perceived “threatening situations” such as speaking in public.

Luckily for us, understanding the true source of our fear doesn’t really matter. For some reason our brains have created a connection/link between standing up in front of people and speaking with a “threatening situation” of intense vulnerability.

And let me say this now – our fears are completely independent of our intelligence. In fact, I believe those with higher IQ’s may actually be more susceptible to fears brought about by childhood events than those of lower intelligence.

Realistically, a deep-seeded fear may not be “curable” (in the clinical sense of the word). This is because it is a result of our genetic makeup and our external & internal conditioning which is a result of one or more of those incidents I mentioned that created our feelings of anxiety in the first place. But, as I’ll explain in a moment – you do not have to cure your fear; you need only to cure the symptoms of that fear in order to be able to function without fear.

GOOD NEWS & BAD NEWS

First, the Bad News!

For those of us with a serious fear of speaking in public our minds create what I’ll call a “malfunction” of our natural defense system. It is our natural defense system that identifies a “threatening situation” that may confront us and creates the “fight or flight” response in our bodies. For us, when put into a position to speak in public our body’s natural “fight or flight” response initiates the over-creation of adrenaline because we perceive speaking in public as a very serious “threatening situation.”

Therefore, the bad news in this discussion is the fact that our minds cause our bodies to create exorbitant amounts of adrenaline completely out of our control. And it is adrenaline that creates all of the symptoms that make us look and feel frightened.

This understanding that it is the over-creation of adrenaline that creates my symptoms exactly at the time when I must speak in public was the key to finding a cure to my speech anxiety. And I promise you – it is the key for you as well.

It doesn’t matter why we react as we do to speaking in public and it doesn’t matter if we remember a particular incident that triggered our anxiety or not. Since our fear is not based on an actual threat to us, we need only eliminate the symptoms of that fear to gain back our self-confidence and function as if we don’t have fear. Intellectually, we know there is nothing really to fear when we speak in public, but our bodies act as if there is and it’s completely out of our control.

Without the symptoms of fear we can speak in public in a more thoughtful and relaxed manner than we ever thought possible. And if we can speak in public in a relaxed manner, guess what – WE CAN SPEAK IN PUBLIC!! PERIOD Really, it’s just that simple.

Now, the Really Good News!

The symptoms of fear of speaking in public are curable specifically at the time you’re put in a position to speak in public by taking a doctor-prescribed, safe, inexpensive and non-addictive medication. As I will explain, this medication allows us to control the cause of our symptoms exactly at the time when they are getting out of control. Therefore, what I am going to teach you will help those of us who have to routinely give presentations for our careers, those who need to only give several speeches a lifetime for wedding toasts, funerals, and the like, as well as those in show business who must be relaxed and confident enough to focus on their performance.

Here’s why -

As I mentioned, it is adrenaline that creates our symptoms of fear and anxiety completely out of our control. But what if you could control the adrenaline your body creates- then you would be in control!! That is what my research discovered and that is what I can show you how to do – control the adrenaline your body creates by taking a safe, inexpensive and non-addictive medication. And once I show you, you can do it anytime you want, on demand – just 15 minutes before a speaking engagement or performance.

Do I Have to Take the Medication Forever?

No you don’t and here’s why – Taking the medication during public speaking engagements over a period of time, allows the brain to re-think how it feels about speaking in public. With the medication, each public speaking event will increase your confidence as you realize you don’t look or feel frightened. Your brain will eventually understand that public speaking is not the threatening situation that it has assumed. The medication can make it much easier to transition through the period of fearing to speak in public and being confident to speak in public. Because of this, the medication should not be considered a “crutch”, but rather a “training aid” that will allow you to re-train your brain to understand that speaking in public does not require an overabundance of adrenaline in order to survive.

My Web site not only further elaborates on this subject but for a small fee you can instantly download the information to give to your doctor so he can help you be confident when speaking in public. http://www.speechanxietycure.com/