The Complete Guide to Project Management for New Managers and Management Assistants: How to Get Things Done in Less Time

A sobering new statistic indicates that less than half of all projects assigned to management are completed, done correctly, finished on time, and under budget. Project management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources so that projects meet their defined scope, time, and cost constraints.

As a manager or assistant manager, you will be responsible for many projects, and you will be evaluated on their planning, coordination, and control from inception to completion, including meeting their quality requirements on time and within cost. Projects are critical to the success of any business or organization. They are the activities that result in new or changed products and services. They increase sales, improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs, improve the work environment, and result in countless other benefits.

As a manager or assistant manager, you will be evaluated on the success of your project management skills. In this easy-to-read and comprehensive new book, you will learn planning strategies for each phase of project management and for everything from the start-up meeting, to the project’s execution and closure, including its scope and information gathering requirements.

You will learn how to create a project plan, assess its risk, manage multiple projects, manage organization-wide initiatives, implement project management concepts, and schedule, control, and manage contracts. The information in this new book will help you make the most of your time by efficiently handling your workflow. Managing time effectively within your company will serve to deliver projects on time and increase profits and will make you stand out to your supervisors. You can succeed in real-world project management.

The Internet, software, and technology have dramatically changed the way traditional projects have been managed. Online project management software helps your organization share, store, and manage key project information through a central, online location accessible to everyone. There is a complete review of this new technology in this book.

In addition, we spent thousands of hours interviewing, e-mailing, and communicating with hundreds of today’s most successful project management experts. This book contains their secrets and proven successful ideas, including actual case studies. If you are interested in learning hints, strategies, and secrets for implementing highly effective project management skills, then this book is for you.

Please visit our web site http://www.atlantic-pub.com/ .

Cheap Insurance for Your Home, Automobile, Health, & Life:

By several measures, insurance for you, your family, your home, and your car continues to rise at the fastest rate in our history. In 2005 (the latest year data are available), total national health expenditures rose 7.9 percent – more than three times the rate of inflation. Nearly 50 million Americans are uninsured for healthcare. According to Insurance Information Institute projections, the average annual expenditure for auto insurance in 2006 was $851. Millions of drivers have no auto insurance. The average expenditure for homeowners insurance was $729, according to a February 2007 report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

Insurance takes a huge bite out of the average American’s monthly budget, and as stated above, many Americans simply forgo insurance because they consider it out of reach. Shopping for insurance requires more effort than many people want to devote to it. They simply grab the first price they come across or accept routine rate increases when it is important to compare not only the price but also coverage and exclusions among carriers.

In this easy to read and comprehensive new book you will learn hundreds of ways to secure and or reduce your health, automobile, life, and home insurance costs. If you do not have or cannot afford insurance, we will show you how to get it at a price you can afford. The Internet and technology have opened up a great new way to search for low cost insurance services; we will give you the Web sites, tell you what to look for and to look out for.

There is a great deal you can do right now to cut insurance costs. For example, did you know that installing a theft tracking device in your car can save you up to 35% on your auto insurance and that your credit history can dramatically affect your auto insurance premium. Recent studies have shown that more than 90% of insurers use credit information to create an “insurance risk score,” which they then use as a factor to determine your insurance rate. Add a simple home security system to monitor your home, and your insurance rates may be discounted up to 30%, depending upon where you live. Your insurance could end up costing you more if you choose to make monthly payments rather than pay the entire premium annually. Notify your agent if you retire, your children go to school, or you start working from home (when you’re not traveling as much your rates will go down). Have you stopped smoking? Lost weight? Started exercising? All of these efforts can have a dramatic effect on your insurance rates.

Insurance topics covered in this book are How Insurance Works, Insurance Company Rating, National and Local Firms, Auto, Health, and Disability Insurance, along with work sheets and forms to assist you in your search for the best coverage at the lowest price.

Please visit our web site http://www.atlantic-pub.com/ .

Getting Clients and Keeping Clients for Your Service Business: A 30-Day Step-by-Step Plan for Building Your Business

Many books are written on how to attract more business for retail stores or new products, but this is the only book written for the small business service provider. Whether you are an attorney, doctor, accountant, consultant, personal trainer, insurance agent, Web or computer consultant, graphic designer, dentist, landscape or pool caretaker, professional cleaner, wedding planner, tree trimmer, caterer, or pet sitter, this book is for you.

The truth is unless you keep a steady stream of clients coming through your doors, you will never be as successful as you would really like to be. If you’re great at working with clients and you do an excellent job of providing your services, you have the capability to turn your service business into a highly profitable firm, easily.

If you’re like most small business service providers, getting and keeping new clients is hard work and takes up most of your time. And it is a big challenge. Yet this wasn’t the reason you went into business. You went into business to assist your customers and make a financially rewarding business for yourself.

This new book will guide you back to your original goals for going into business while making your life easier. Developing a low-cost proven marketing system doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. This book details the principles and practices of marketing for the professional service business. In 30 days or less, you will be so successful in attracting all the business you will ever need that you can select the clients you want to serve.

This specialized book will demonstrate methodically how to market and promote your services—easily, inexpensively, and most important—profitably. You will learn how to find new business clients quickly and keep existing ones satisfied by selling client based solutions and services by putting technology and low-cost marketing devices into place that take little or no time on your part. You will learn to develop a marketing plan with hundreds of practical marketing ideas to help successful service providers attract new clients and increase business with existing ones.

Please visit our web site http://www.atlantic-pub.com/ .

The Most Important Questions to Ask on Your Next Job Interview: Insider Secrets You Need to Know

You have brushed up on the tough interview questions. You have covered every area of your résumé —including that three month unemployment gap — and you have studied up on the company. But there is one more thing you may not have thought of — some questions you want to ask in your interview. Many prospective employees do not realize, or forget, that the interview process is a two way street.

When the formal interview is over and the interviewer asks if you have any questions, now is the time to distance yourself from the competition. You should be asking questions to determine whether you would be happy in the position or with the company, but you need to ask the right questions. The questions you ask will help show what you can contribute to the organization. They also can help you figure out if you want this job. In this groundbreaking new book you will find over two hundred of the RIGHT kinds of questions to ask. You will be able to stand out from the others competing for the job and gain valuable insight into what working for a company would be like.

Please visit our web site http://www.atlantic-pub.com/ .

The Complete Guide to Writing Effective and Award-Winning Grants: Step-by-Step Instructions — With Companion CD-ROM

Every day federal, state, and local government as well as other organizations including corporations and foundations give out more than a MILLION DOLLARS IN FREE GRANT MONEY. A grant is essentially a gift. It goes to an organization, municipality, business, or individual to enable them to continue conducting their activities or research.

You or your organization may be eligible for millions of dollars in free grant money.

Grant money does not have to be returned or paid back. Unfortunately, many grants are not awarded because of improper filing procedures, and or poorly written proposals, and so literally millions of dollars go unclaimed every year.

Writing a good grant proposal is not easy. Grants are competitive and have strict rules for application. This new book is a complete systematic course with easy to follow instructions in writing an award-winning grant. You will learn from start to finish how to write a grant proposal. The book comes with examples of fully completed proposals on the easy-to-use companion CD-ROM that also contains templates in Word ™ for easy customizing and printing. You will have:

• Step-by-step methods for creating a fundable proposal—from start to finish.
• Access to information and annotated links for hundreds of foundations, state, and federal resources, sample proposals, sample letters, worksheets, and checklists to assist in the proposal-development process.
• Basic steps of preparing a grant proposal.
• Correct organization for your project.

Please visit our web site http://www.atlantic-pub.com/ .

Food Service Management: How to Succeed in the High-Risk Restaurant Business—By Someone Who Did

Many of us have endured a stint in food service, whether it was our first venture into the working world or served as a part-time job strictly for extra income. For the majority of us, there was never any intention of pursuing it as a career. However, the fast pace and interaction with a variety of people delights some, and they develop an enthusiastic attitude toward the business. These people often understand the sound fundamentals of food preparation, appreciate the value of personal service, and possess excellent people skills. But there is much more to the world of food service and food service management. Food Service Management: How to Succeed in the High-Risk Restaurant Business—By Someone Who Did will reveal all the hidden facets of this fast-paced business and show you how to succeed as a food service manager.

The author, Bill Wentz, speaks from experience, making his advice that much more valuable. Wentz truly understands the industry and shares the priceless experiences he had and lessons he learned throughout his career. In this book, you will learn if a food service career is right for you, the many opportunities available in the industry, and where to go for the best training. Food service managers will learn how to predict food costs, how to achieve profit goals, how to conduct recipe cost analysis, and how to realistically price a menu. In addition, this book discusses labor costs and controls, profit and loss statements, accounting systems, inventory, sanitation, and effective communication.

Furthermore, Wentz shares his philosophies regarding ethics, hospitality, and performance. This book will show you how to develop and nurture your relationships with customers and how to keep them coming back to your establishment time after time, as well as how to be an effective manager, how to hire and train employees, how to get results, and how to further your success. The topics of proper kitchen design and layout, time management, and food quality are also covered in this unique book.

Whether you are considering a career in food services or you are already the manager of an establishment, you will certainly find some wisdom in Wentz’s words. Wentz passes on his knowledge in this easy-to-read and entertaining book that not only tells you how to survive in the food service business but also tells you how to be successful.

Please visit our web site http://www.atlantic-pub.com/ .

The Online Identity Theft Prevention Kit: Stop Scammers, Hackers, and Identity Thieves from Ruining Your Life

Statistics about identity theft from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are staggering. In 2004 (the last year available), the number of identity theft victims was close to 10 million. Individual Americans lost more than $5 billion dollars, and businesses lost an unbelievable $47.6 billion dollars. The FTC now says that as many as one in every eight adults and one in every four households has been victimized by identity thieves in the past five years. To make matters even worse, if you end up a victim of identity theft, it can take years to clean up the mess.

The FTC defines identity theft as stealing personal information such as your name, credit card number, driver’s license number, or other personal identifying information to commit fraud. The most common identity thefts occur when thieves use your name to apply for services, for credit cards or loans, to buy merchandise or lease equipment such as cars or apartments, and obtain medical care. They can assume your complete identity and live and work under your name, and even commit serious crimes.

A primary goal of hackers and online crooks is to find, uncover, and abuse your personal information, anything that clearly identifies you, such as your name, address, social security number, birth date, family members’ names or friends’ names. Used in combination with other private information, like a bank or credit card account number, your stolen information can be used by an identity thief to open a new credit line, access your bank accounts or even apply for official documents like a driver’s license or passport.

The results for you can be devastating, reaching into every transaction you attempt until you clear your name and credit. Due to bad credit reports, victims of identity theft are often rejected for loan applications, credit of any kind, job opportunities, and housing. Your credit can be ruined overnight. You can even be arrested for crimes you didn’t commit. To avoid being a victim of identity theft, your first rule is to get the knowledge you need to protect yourself before it happens.

The good news is that the chances of online identity theft can be greatly reduced and mostly eliminated by taking the simple, free suggestions as outlined in this new up-to-the-minute book. You will find valuable expertise to evaluate and determine your, your family’s, and your business’s risks. After evaluating the risks, you are provided a detailed plan so that you can take action for prevention now.

We have also outlined a step-by-step program detailing what you can do if you think, or know, that your identity has been stolen. In addition, there are numerous forms and letters that can be used as a template to contact credit agencies, government agencies, credit card companies, banks, and anyone else involved.

Please visit our web site http://www.atlantic-pub.com/ .

The Savvy Business Traveler’s Guide to Customs and Practices in Other Countries: The Dos and Don’ts to Impress Your Host and Make the Sale

So you jump off the plane ready to meet your foreign counterpart and close that big business deal. You are too far away to shake hands so you make a circle with your thumb and forefinger up into the air for all to see, meaning “OKAY!” - to you. There is a problem. We hope you are not in France where it means, “You are a zero,” or in Japan where it is a blatant symbol for money, or in Brazil where it is just plain vulgar.

Avoiding cultural gaffes such as these is critical to success in international business. Lack of familiarity with the business practices, social customs, and etiquette of any country can weaken your firm’s position in the market, prevent it from accomplishing its objectives, and ultimately lead to failure.

There are many nuances in communicating with people in other countries, just as there are in America. This new book will be the next best thing to living in a foreign country. It will introduce you to some of the more important cultural differences, based upon a country-by-country break down following an introduction offering insights from the author’s own world travel experiences. You will find country-specific information about business customs and protocol in fifty nations worldwide. You will understand business culture, successful communication, and social etiquette; what to expect at the dinner table, and how food relates to conducting business. With this book, you can proceed confidently through business deals that involve foreign travel, social contact, and negotiations.

Find out about proper gift-giving, business entertainment, and much more. Some of the cultural pitfalls detailed are stereotypes, personal space, forms of address, demeanor, restroom customs, tipping, social and business visits, greetings and introductions, names and titles, proper manners, proper conversations, business dress, clothing, telephone and computer use, dining, gift giving, smoking, gestures, numbers, calendar dates, time and temperature, holidays, religious information, developing relationships, being on time, and addressing women in business.

Please visit our web site http://www.atlantic-pub.com/ .

The Complete Guide to Investing in Short-Term trading: How to Earn High Rates of Returns Safely

Short-term trading refers to the practice of buying and selling financial instruments within the same trading week or, at most, a few weeks. Short-term traders buy and sell stocks over a few days or weeks in the hope that their stocks will continue climbing in value for the time they own them, making for quick and, often, huge profits. Some of the more commonly traded financial instruments are stocks, stock options, currencies, and futures contracts such as equity index futures, interest rate futures, and commodity futures.

Short-term trading was once the preserve of banks, financial firms, and professional investors. Many traders are bank or investment firms’ employees working in equity investment and fund management. As with many other business segments, the Internet, technology, and legislative changes have opened up this attractive marketplace to a new breed of individual investors and speculators working part-time. You and I can now stand on an even playing field with the largest banks, wealthiest individuals, and trading institutions from the comfort of home.

Short-term trading can provide you with very high and secure rate of return ‑ as high as 12%, 18%, 24%, or even 300%. If performed correctly, short-term trading can far outpace all other investment techniques. The key is to know how to perform this process correctly.

This all sounds great, but what is the catch? There really is none, except you must know what you are doing! This groundbreaking and exhaustively researched new book will provide everything you need to know to get you started generating high-investment returns with low risk from start to finish.

In this easy to read and comprehensive new book you will learn how to set up your online account, how to choose the correct software to use in trading, how to get started in short-term trading, how to invest in short-term stocks, evaluate performance, and handle fees and taxes. This book delves into trading tactics for swing trading, position trading, leveraging the stock market, selling short, and pinpointing entry, exits, and targets for your trades. You will pick up the language of a trader so that you recognize candlestick patterns, advancing and declining issues and volume, call options, and put options. You will know how to find the very best stocks every day, how to read and prosper with stock charts, how to use the New York Stock Exchange tick indicator and trading index (TRIN), the Commodity Channel Index (CCI), the moving average convergence/divergence (MACD), the Dow 30-Day Moving Average. As you read this book, the mysteries of short-term trading will unfold so that you can double or even triple your investment – all while avoiding the common traps and pitfalls.

In addition, we took the extra effort and spent an unprecedented amount of time researching, interviewing, e-mailing, and communicating with hundreds of today’s most successful investors. Aside from learning the basics of mutual fund trading you will be privy to their secrets and proven successful ideas.

Instruction is great, but advice from experts is even better, and the experts chronicled in this book are earning millions. If you are interested in learning essentially everything there is to know about short-term investing as well as hundreds of hints, tricks, and tips on how to earn enormous profits in short-term investing while controlling your investments, then this book is for you.

Please visit our web site http://www.atlantic-pub.com/ .

How to Open and Operate a Financially Successful Child Care Service (With Companion CD-ROM)

Because parents must work outside the home, there will always be a demand for childcare. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 64 percent of married-couple families, both husband and wife work outside the home. There are nearly 12 million children under the age of five in child care each week in the United States.

With concerns about quality child care, the trend is to move away from large operations and turn to the small services located close by work or home. This increase in small day care operations creates a huge opportunity for someone who loves children and wants to create a business dedicated to taking care of them.

A child care service makes an ideal home based or part-time business. Start-up costs are low. You do not need an office. You do not need any costly special equipment. All you need to get started is an approved facility and a desire to succeed. Here is the manual you need to be successful in this highly profitable segment of the service industry.

This superb manual will arm you with everything, including a sample business plan, forms, contracts; worksheets and checklists for planning, opening, and running day-to-day operations; plus dozens of other valuable, time-saving tools of the trade that no child care provider should be without.

You will learn about

Accounting and Bookkeeping Procedures

Accreditations

Achieving Your Goals and Objectives

Activity Programs

Admission Guidelines

Auditing

Basic Cost Control Systems

Child Behavior Issues

Choosing the Right Equipment and Toys

Choosing Your Company Name

CPR and Other Training

Credit from Suppliers

Educational Supplies

Equipment

Fees Charged

Financial Issues

Food Service Pros and Cons

Generating High Profile Public Relations and Publicity

Health and Safety Issues

Hiring and Keeping a Qualified Professional Staff

Holiday Policies

Hours

Insurance

Investors

IRS Requirements

Late Pickups

Laundry Issues

Legal Requirements and Structure

Location

Low and No Cost Ways to Satisfy Customers and Build Sales

Low Cost Marketing Ideas

Management of Your Operation and Finances

Managing and Training Employees

Market

Marketing of Your Business

Outside Funding

Parental Relationships

Pricing Formulas,

Promotion and Crisis Management

Purchasing an Existing Child-Care Service

Records and Reporting

Release of Children to Adults

Sales and Marketing Techniques

Sample Floor Plans and Diagrams

SBA Financing

Services Offered

Setting Up Computer Systems to Save Time and Money

Setting Up Your Office

Special Need Clients

Staffing

Successful Budgeting and Profit Planning Development

Successful Food and Beverage Management

Transportation Service Pros and Cons

The manual delivers literally hundreds of innovative ways to set up, operate, and manage your child care business. Learn new ways to make your operation run smoother and increase performance. In addition, operators will appreciate this book as a valuable resource and reference in their daily activities and as a source of ready-to-use forms, Web sites, and operating and cost cutting ideas. The Companion CD-ROM contains all the forms in the book as well as a sample business plan you can adapt for your own use.

Please visit our web site http://www.atlantic-pub.com/ .