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Mei 03, 2011

Tips for Choosing a Provider of Online Construction Training

Choosing an online training solution is easier with a bit of expert advice. The following tips should make your decision-making process a little easier.

1. Assess Your Resources. If you've already committed yourself to the idea of online training, you've likely already done some assessment of your resources. If not, evaluate your budget, time, equipment and computer availability to see what you can afford.

2. Conduct a JHA. The next, and most important, step is conducting your own Job Hazard Assessment (JHA). This consists of a safety professional - your safety representative or consultant - visiting the job site, analyzing field worker operations and noting what physical and environmental hazards exist.

A good JHA will identify what particular workers in various positions need to be trained on in order to eliminate or reduce the hazards associated with their job. You'd then want to match up your needs with exactly what the online training company provides.

3. Target Your Specific Needs. Choose an online training provider that can offer you the training topics identified in the JHA or one that has the ability to customize the training to address the unique hazards associated with your particular industry. You should ask, "Is the training offered here specifically geared toward meeting the training requirements set by OSHA or is it just awareness level training?"<
4. Choose 'Deep or Wide'. Also, ask yourself how in depth the training needs to be given the student's level of responsibility for site safety. If you are looking into training for a supervisor or manager, oftentimes you will need more in-depth coverage of that subject matter.

Perhaps you have a supervisor who needs training that qualifies him or her as a "Competent Person" or a worker who simply needs awareness-level training. A "Competent Person" is defined by OSHA as: an individual who, by way of training and/or experience, is knowledgeable of applicable standards, is capable of identifying workplace hazards relating to the specific operation, is designated by the employer, and has authority to take appropriate actions.

5. Track Your Training. From an administrative standpoint you should make sure that the online training provider can track and maintain the student training records. Also, find out if you will have instant access to these records.

Following these tips and doing a bit planning will undoubtedly make finding the right online training provider much easier on you. As with any major purchase, the more research you do the better. Good luck.

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Get the best from guitar playing lessons only at learnguitar

"Gone are the times when someone who wanted to learn the guitar had to adjust their schedule and travel to a class. Today the internet has taken over as the most reliable source of learning guitar from the comforts of one's home. The lessons start with the basics of playing guitar and one can gradually start at their own pace with these lessons. The basic lessons include a step by step guide on different chords, holding the guitar, strings, etc. The lessons then gradually continue with the advanced techniques of playing the guitar in all levels and styles.

One can learn to play either an acoustic guitar or electric guitar or both techniques of playing either style is slightly different. Lernguitar.net can help one master both the techniques. In a space of just two weeks one can start playing the guitar confidently in front of a small family gathering or even a party. One can even imitate the style of their favorite guitar players by learning from the internets top instructors such as Sonya Perricone, Rick Napolitano and Don Lappin. The site contains hundreds of compositions from the world's best guitar artists.
All the lessons are placed in a continuous flow so that you don't get lost in the mix. The site is unlike any other free guitar lessons site where guitar lessons are just posted without caring about the order. The site also shares the secrets of the Pro's which have made them what they are today. One can follow in their footsteps and become a professional guitar playing artist himself by learning through learnguitar.
Next on the list of imparting lessons is learning the tricks of mastering the different scales on the guitar. Mastering scales requires a lot of practice but Learnguitar makes it easy and enjoyable. The best part of the site is that it encourages the learner to try out the different styles with a lot of confidence. One can master more than one style and be good at both of them. Apart from mastering scales, the site also teaches you how to become perfect at playing chords and rhythm. The best part of playing any musical instrument is that if one plays it in the correct manner one gets a lot of confidence and motivation to continue the learning process and this is the sole purpose of Learnguitar.

Apart from techniques one can also concentrate on a particular style of playing the guitar like Jazz, Metal, Country, Funk, Blues and Rock. All the lessons are in the form of easy to read printouts and videos. Learnguitar guarantees that even a beginner who does not know the ABC's of guitar playing will become a pro if they seriously spend time with the video guitar lessons and practices playing the guitar regularly. "

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Thinking of selling your company?

Your decision to sell:

Making the decision to sell your company is a tough one. However, when you decide to do so, make sure it's a priority in your life. A common mistake is when a seller starts the marketing process and it's not a priority, it's becomes obvious to buyers. Unlike a residential real estate transaction, there are only a limited number of buyers for any business. If a buyer walks, many times they will not come back.

Information Gathering:

In my opinion, this is by far the most important aspect to increasing the probability of selling your company for the greatest amount and for the best terms. It is important to remember, if a buyer has cash and is in an acquisition mode, they will find a company to buy whether it is yours or not. Be prepared to present the buyer with all company information in a timely, organized and professional manner. The longer you take to present requested information, the more your company looks unorganized. Why does a buyer want to purchase an unorganized company? When there are problems on the surface there are usually a lot more underneath. Remember 90% of an iceberg is underwater. Buyers have a lot to learn in a short period of time … don't make it difficult for them. If a buyer wants to look at certain information, get it to them in an organized fashion and get it to them quickly!

Finding buyers and working towards closing:

Actively finding, qualifying, and communicating with buyers is a full time job. If you are running your company, you need to continue to do so and hire an experienced merger and acquisition professional to sell or merge the company. Just like any task in life, the more you do it, the better you get. I have been involved in over 120 merger and acquisition transactions over the last 10 years and have seen people "on the other side of the table" make the same mistakes over and over. Mistakes can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. There is too much money at stake, and you don't get a second chance.

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Do Definitions Tell You How To Create A Better Business?

When talking to people about what they think is involved in marketing, CRM, ecommerce, direct marketing, web development, web design and graphic design it is quite clear that most people have a confused and jumbled view about what they all are, what they cover, which is most important and which is easiest to understand.

It is nearly always the case that someone understands what is meant by graphic design – not a surprise, perhaps, as it has been around the longest and has it's roots in "old technology". Not only that research has shown that only 7 to 11% of all communication is verbal, the rest being non-verbal as messages can be communicated through "graphical" factors such as gesture; body language or posture; facial expression and eye gaze, clothing, hairstyles, architecture, symbols and graphics. So definitely not a surprise – we are very visual.

It is nearly always the case that people also believe they understand what is meant by web design – though many people blur it with web development. Again, probably not surprising, but, actually, probably not helpful either. Why not? Because if you don't have a real 'definition' for something (definition = clarity and differentiation from other concepts) then you don't know what you are buying. And, guess what, if you don't know what you are buying you can be "ripped off".
So we thought we would be boringly helpful and using Wikipedia and a range of other sources definitions (only so we are not accused of slanting the evidence) try to explain what marketing, CRM, ecommerce, direct marketing, web development, web design and graphic design really are.

We also thought we'd arrange them in what we regard as their order of importance to the success of your business – which is pretty much in reverse order to most people's understanding of what they are and see if anyone can be bothered to read what could be "possibly the most boring and convoluted article ever" and challenge these views.

1. MARKETING: The most widely accepted definition of marketing on a global scale comes from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) in the UK which is the largest marketing body in the world in terms of membership. The definition claims marketing to be the "management process of anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer requirements profitably". Thus, operative marketing involves the processes of market research, new product development, product life cycle management, pricing, channel management as well as promotion……… It is one of the company's management tools to ensure that products and services are developed according to market requirements, and that they are profitable.

2. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) includes the methodologies, technology and capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships. The general purpose of CRM is to enable organizations to better manage their customers through the introduction of reliable systems, processes and procedures. Customer Relationship Management is a corporate level strategy which focuses on creating and maintaining lasting relationships with its customers. Although there are several commercial CRM software packages on the market which support CRM strategy, it is not a technology itself, rather, an holistic change in an organization's philosophy which places emphasis on the customer………. A successful CRM strategy cannot be implemented by simply installing and integrating a software package and will not happen over night. Changes must occur at all levels including policies and processes, front of house customer service, employee training, marketing, systems and information management; all aspects of the business must be reshaped to be customer driven.

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Producing Energy From Geothermal

Geothermal energy is a platform tapping the inherent energy found within the Earth. Her is an overview of how the process works from a practical perspective.

Producing Energy From Geothermal Resources

There are several types of energy used in the world that are considered eco-friendly. These energy types include solar, which harnesses the power of the sun, and hydroelectric, which uses the power of water to generate electricity. One often neglected ecologically sound energy source that should be grouped with the others is geothermal energy. Geothermal energy involves using the Earth's own heat to create energy and warmth to be used by people.

Geothermal energy is so named because it derives from the Greek words for "earth heat", "geo" and "therme". Extreme amounts of heat are generated in the Earth's core, which reaches temperatures of up to 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The Earth's core then transfers heat to the mantle, a crust of rock surrounding the core. This rock liquefies due to the intense heat becoming magma (molten rock). In this magma layer, water collects in columns or reserves. This trapped water, which can be heated to temperatures of about 700 degrees Fahrenheit, is known as a geothermal reservoir. When engineers want to use geothermal energy, they "tap" in to this geothermal water and use the resulting hot water and steam for various purposes.

Geothermal energy plants work by using the steam resulting from tapping into the geothermal water reservoirs to power turbines. These turbines spin producing electricity which can then be used to power industries or even residential areas. The first geothermically engineered power plant was built in Italy in 1904.

These days, roughly 7000 megawatts of electricity is produced by geothermal power plants per year. Geothermal power plants are located in 21 countries throughout the world. In the United States alone, enough geothermal power is generated per year to be the equivalent to the burning of 60 million barrels of oil, to wit, geothermal energy is a major source of power.

Geothermal energy has been used by cultures throughout history for thousands of years. The process used to harness geothermal energy has always been relatively simple compared to that of other energy processes, and the components used are familiar to everyone. The concept of using super hot water from the Earth's magma layers may seem high tech, but once you have tapped into this resource, it is easy to maintain and use as a continual power source.

The best analogy for geothermal energy production is another alternative energy source. It works in the same way as hydropower. Water is used to spin turbines which produce electricity. In the case of geothermal energy, however, the water comes from the internal chambers of the Earth in, most often, the form of steam.

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