Cheap Price Buying Sale

Whether you and your boyfriend have been dating for three months or three years, he deserves to have a wonderful present from you whenever he celebrates his birthday.

New Year Present

Well-thought out gifts are always a great way to show your affection and love for your boyfriend. Some men may not be as open emotionally as women, but your boyfriend surely could not resist giving you a kiss or a hug in exchange of all the time and effort that you put into finding the perfect birthday present for him.

Here are some great and romantic gift ideas to give the most special man in your life on his birthday:

1. Something romantic.

A birthday present does not always have to be something expensive. Be creative in thinking of a romantic birthday gift for your boyfriend. If he has always given you flowers before, why don’t you return the favor by giving him a dozen red roses? It will make him remember you as the only girl who ever gave him roses for his birthday.

A little effort would go a long way, too. Cook him his favorite dish and invite him over for a romantic picnic or dinner. Bake him a birthday cake, invite his friends over and surprise him with a birthday party.

Shower him with love notes, or make his entire day special by giving him a different gift in the morning, noon and at night. Be creative in thinking of something fun, romantic and special to give him a birthday that he is not likely to forget.

2. Something that he wants.

If your special someone is into gadgets, give him that game gadget or music player that he is always talking about. If he is a car enthusiast, get him a great car accessory. Or, rent a sports vehicle or his dream car for him to drive on his birthday. Go out and spend a day indulging in the sport that he just loves.

3. Something naughty.

Glow-in-the-dark boxer shorts are a sure-fire way to tickle his fancy. An intimate yet funny gift will remind him of the intimate moments that you shared together as a couple.

4. Something nice and traditional.

A gift basket with all the things that he likes on one delightful package also makes for a great birthday present for your boyfriend’s birthday. A basket full of chocolates or wine is a wonderful birthday present.

If he is an executive, get him an expensive tie, cute cuff links or a nice wristwatch. Give him a set of his favorite cologne, perfume and aftershave. If he loves sailing, get him an antique compass that he can use.

5. Something that says “I love you.”

You can literally give him an item with the message of how you feel. Give him a keychain for his car and house keys with an engraved message. Even small items like this would make your boyfriend feel special.

Remember that it is not always the cost that counts when giving out presents for your boyfriend on his birthday.

A well-thought out gift that would remind your boyfriend of how special he is to you will send out the right message on his birthday.

Birthday Gift Ideas for Your Boyfriend

Halloween is such fun for kids of all ages, and adults too. Here are some face painting ideas to get you in the Halloween spirit.

New Year Present

Halloween face painting idea 1: pumpkin

A bright orange pumpkin painted on each cheek. Black paint used to paint eyes, nose and mouth. A light grey would be used to show the ridges of the pumpkin as well as its outline.

An alternative would be to do a full face pumpkin with an orange face base (blending a darker orange shade over cheekbones), black triangle shape over the eyes (extending above and below the eye area), a black nose and a large black mouth (need to cover more than just the lips).

Halloween face painting idea 2: skull

A full face design. Has a white face as the base, large black ‘panda’ eyes, black and white vertical stripes on the lips (with the white stripes wider than the black ones) and a trickle of red from one side of the mouth (to indicate blood).

Halloween face painting idea 3: vampire

A full face design. A white face base, bright red lips, fangs coming out of each corner of the lower lip (outline is light grey, fill is white, and tip is red to denote some blood), eye lids are smoky grey (right up to and over eye brows), eye brow then exaggerated with black sweeping strokes.

Halloween face painting idea 4: bat

A full face design. A white face base, bat’s face painted on forehead above the nose (it’s in black with light grey for eyeballs, and for some definition in ears); the bat’s body is painted in black on the nose and ends at the base of the nostrils (use different shadings of black; the bat’s wings extends out from head and body and covers the eyes curving up towards the temple and down the outside of the eye to mid cheek (again use different black shadings and some fine dark grey strokes to paint some definition into the wings); the lips are painted in dark grey with an exaggerated upward curl at the corners.

Halloween Face Painting Ideas

THE CULMINATION

New Year Present

[This article was first published Dec. 14, 2007. It was last updated Oct. 15, 2011. Updates are often, but not always, in brackets.]

The year 2012 marks the time that the world’s old civilization will culminate. This is not to say that the world will be annihilated because the world will go on. In 2012, we will see a dramatic increase in the direct intervention of Jesus Christ as He begins to take control of governments of the world, beginning with the Government of the United States, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Government of the European Community. After Jesus unites His Western forces, He will rally them to destroy end-time Babylon and the Beast who rules over Babylon. Simultaneously, Jesus will use His Two Witnesses to unmask the Beast in front of the world audience. This act will provoke the Beast to murder the Two Witnesses of Jesus in front of a world audience.

In 2012, many Old Testament personages, including Jesus Christ, will continue their ministries in the bodies of the Two Witnesses of Jesus. The resurrected ministries of prophets will proceed to their culminations. I am speaking metaphorically.

We will see a continuation of the end-time ministries of John the Revelator, Daniel, and Elijah. Those men were to stand up again at the end of time. They will stand up in the bodies of the Two Witnesses of Jesus. Those prophets of old will be embodied in the Two Witnesses of God.

666- DEFEAT OF THE BEAST

The year 2012 marks the time that Jesus directly intervenes to control affairs in the United States and Britain in order to thwart an upcoming Marxist/corporate dictatorship that would have succeeded by 2016.

[Update: A judgment period of 9 years after 2012 will lead up to the destruction of the Beast and Babylon. (The number 9 has Gematriatic meaning of "judgment.") The last 7 years (2015-2021) in this judgment period are the years of the "Great Tribulation." The number 7 has Gematriatic meaning of "complete." Judgment Day would follow in the year 2021 AD. In 2022 AD, Western forces will execute complete judgment on end-time Babylon.]

When the Beast and those who believe in the bestial way of life, murder God’s Two Witnesses, the bestial world will culminate. The Old World of bestial conduct will soon after be annihilated.

The great turnaround of 2012 is associated with the 2012 Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth. This could be understood in the way that prisms and camera lenses work. When the world is focused into a camera lens, it is reduced to nothing. But, out of the other side of the lens the world is projected upside down.

Actually, our present world is upside down. The world that comes after 2012 will be right side up because the Beast and the bestial way of life will be identified. As a result, the world would be determined to destroy of the Beast and Babylon. The world would finally get the picture in a metaphoric sense.

DIAMOND OF QUEEN ELIZABETH

Queen Elizabeth’s diamond in 2012 is such a prism. That was why Freemasons honored her Diamond Jubilee. The Washington Monument was built, in part, as a prophecy of her 2012 Diamond Jubilee. The aluminum cap on the monument represents Queen Elizabeth’s diamond.

Freemasons expressed their prophecies in a calendar. On their calendar, Masons drew a diamond that identified the year of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. Bear in mind that this calendar is 200 years old and probably thousands of years old.

THE GAP

There is a gap between our present world and the New World. This gap represents the 3 days that the Two Witnesses of Jesus would lie dead in the streets. The Two Witnesses of God will stand in the gap between the wrath of God and the world.

RESURRECTION OF TWO WITNESSES

After three days, God’s Two Witnesses will be sparked back to life. They will stand up and shock the world. These two individuals will be the first people to enter into the new world that God is creating. They are the new Adam and Eve, and those who follow them are their spiritual children.

NEW ADAM & EVE

6,000 years prior to these end-time events, the first Adam and Eve had been created. The difference between the first Adam and Eve and the Adam and Eve of our time is that our Adam and Eve will reject the Beast. In the Garden of Eden, the first Adam and Eve submitted to the Beast, whose imposing reptilian body was genetically re-engineered by God to have the form of a lowly dirt-eating snake. The world suffered 6,000 years as a result of the choice of the first Adam and Eve to follow the Beast. Our Two Witnesses will be murdered because they will NOT submit to the Beast in the tree of Babylonian civilization.

You are probably thinking that God’s Two Witnesses are men. This is correct in the sense that they complete the prophetic works of the two prophets, Daniel and John. Remember that God told both those men that they would return to do their work in the end-time? Metaphorically speaking, those two prophets have returned as God’s Two Witnesses.

THE FEMALE LAMB OF PENTECOST

The Two Witnesses of God had been prophesied by animal sacrifices. On the Day of Pentecost, two unblemished lambs were sacrificed. Unlike those male animals that represented Jesus Christ, the lambs of Pentecost were either gender, male or female.

People have had a hard time with the sacrifice of a female animal because they assume that every sacrifice represented the male Jesus Christ. They had no way of knowing that Old Testament Israelites had been acting out the end-time sacrifice, by the Church, of one of God’s Two Witnesses who would be the mother of God’s new world. That lamb would be female. It will be the Church that sacrifices/murders the Two Lambs of God. That is why the female lamb was sacrificed on the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost was the day that the Christian Church was created on.

However, a male lamb could be sacrificed for this lady because she represents a male prophet. This understanding could have been why Leonardo da Vinci portrayed John the Revelator as a woman in his mysterious painting of the Last Supper. Leonardo understood that John’s end-time counterpart would be an end-time Eve, one of God’s Two Witnesses and a female lamb of God.

21-YEAR MINISTRIES

You might ask why you have never heard about God’s Two Witnesses. The answer is that they have been ignored since 1991, when they began their 21-year ministry.

You remember that Elijah was taken to Heaven after he completed his ministry. The ministry of Jesus ended in the midst of a week. However, Jesus would return through His Two Witnesses in order to complete that week. Likewise, Elijah would return. Jesus would complete His week as a prophetic week, which became a span of 7 years rather than 7 days. Jesus would complete the remaining 1260 days of that week of years through His Two Witnesses.

God’s Two Witnesses would also do a 21-year ministry, which would normally end in 2012 AD when they would be age 66 (Jesus was age 33). However, Jesus would use them to CONTINUE His work, and the work of Elijah, through His Two Witnesses.

Elijah had worked to overthrown evil Ahab and an evil son of Ahab. We could identify Ahab and his treacherous wife, Jezebel, with our present-day national leaders. The similarity is obvious.

AGES 33 & 66

God’s Two Witnesses have a ministry that is similar to the ministries of Elijah and Jesus, because they are part of the work of end-time Elijah (God works through more than one person in order to do the end-time work of Elijah). Normally, God’s Two Witnesses would be murdered at age 66, after 21 years of doing their Father’s business. That would be because Jesus was murdered at age 33, after His 21-year ministry. Similarly, Elijah went to Heaven after his ministry. However, Jesus will have CONTINUED His ministry, and the ministry of Elijah, through His Two Witnesses. In a sense, Jesus and Elijah would continue where they left off.

Here is the concept: Jesus who went to Heaven at age 33. His end-time work would return through His Two Witnesses when they reached age 33. Jesus then raised them during the following 33 years, until His Two Witnesses would be age 66 in 2012 AD.

In 2012 AD, Jesus would repeat His ministry through them. In time, Jesus would be executed a second time when the Church executes His Two Witnesses.

The ministry of the prophet Elisha followed the ministry of the prophet Elijah. Jesus would do an end-time work of Elisha after He did an end-time work of Elijah.

The end-time ministry of Elisha would coincide with the 70th week of years that Daniel referred to. That week of years would be the Great Tribulation, 2015 to 2021 AD. Jesus would complete the Great Tribulation as an end-time Elisha.

The last 1260 days of the lives of God’s Two Witnesses would be increasingly intense and their work would culminate with their executions by the Beast who ascends out of the Bottomless Pit of political obscurity.

THE SECOND EXECUTION OF JESUS

It is IMPOSSIBLE for Christians who reject the Two Witnesses of Jesus to receive eternal life, because they will have crucified Jesus a second time. Notice that this warning is in Hebrew 6:6, which has verse numbers of 66. These numbers refer to people who follow the Beast. Those Church members who follow the Beast, rather than the Two Witnesses of Jesus, have fallen away, and have crucified Jesus a second time. They may not crucify Jesus a second time and expect to receive eternal life.

(Hebrew 6:6)… them who have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

Everyone in the world hated Jesus. He had no allies. His friends deserted Him. The religious establishment hated Him more others because He threatened their income and glory.

The ministry of God’s Two Witnesses is described in Revelation 11 as a repetition of the ministry of Jesus Christ in some ways. We would rightly assume that the world establishment would also hate the Two Witnesses of Jesus- and for the same reasons that it hated Jesus.

You might ask why the religious establishment is not carefully listening for God’s Two Witnesses. The truth is that it has no desire to meet God’s Two Witnesses. YOUR religious leader absolutely does not want anything to do with Jesus and His Two Witnesses. Lukewarm religious leaders of the end time are using religion for their financial and egotistical benefits- just as Jesus said that they would be.

Jesus prophesied this very situation in parable. For example, Jesus said that religious leaders would be abusing the children of God. Abuse and exploitation is commonplace today. The homeless live in cardboard boxes outside the mansion gates of millionaire ministers. Poor believers struggle to support the comfortable lifestyles of Church leaders with tithes and offerings that would otherwise pay their bills and feed their children.

In His Book of Revelation, Jesus describes the Whore of Babylon who drinks the lifeblood of the saints out of a Communion cup. This is an apt description of modern-day Televangelists and other millionaire Church leaders. Instead of serving the children of God, ministers have the children of God serving them. This is the opposite of the example that was set by Jesus and His Apostles.

Jesus said in parable that ministers would be so busy with their religious businesses (bringing in money); they would reject Christ’s invitation to His Wedding Feast. Many ministers are millionaires and/or wealthy nowadays. The last thing they want is to be Christ-like because they would need to give up their empires.

Too many ministers live lifestyles that are completely against the teachings of Jesus. It is all too obvious why most religious leaders of today do not want Jesus to actually return. It is all too obvious why lukewarm Laodicean ministers intentionally divert the attention of their lukewarm followers away from God’s Two Witnesses, who, in stark contrast, are dressed in the sackcloth of poverty and humility.

TEMPLE AGAIN DESTROYED

At the time that Jesus came to earth as a human 2,000 years ago; the religious establishment believed that it was to be made into a great kingdom. People of God wanted to be greater than people of the Roman Empire were (talk about class envy). Jesus said that they would not be made into the rich and egotistical kingdom that they desired. So, the Church denounced Jesus as an imposter and murdered Him.

Today, the Church wants to be made into the Kingdom of God. Christians want to be raptured to positions of wealth and power so that they can lord over others. Like Jesus, God’s Two Witnesses will tell them they will not be in God’s Kingdom. Predictably, the Church will denounce them as imposters and murder them. We read in Scripture that God will retaliate against the lukewarm Church, just as He retaliated against the Temple in 70 AD by sending red Roman armies to destroy it. (In the time of Jesus, Babylon was the Roman Empire.)

Jesus wept because He foresaw that red Roman armies would destroy the Temple because it rejected Him. Likewise, God’s Two Witnesses are distressed to foresee that Red armies will destroy the Church because it will have reject them and their life-saving warning about the worship of the Beast. Their profound message is that no Christian who follows the Beast, or is predatorial like beasts are, will receive eternal life. God would destroy those incorrigible members of the Church, just as He had destroyed those incorrigible members of the Temple. Predictably, death awaits predatorial religious leaders and their followers if they no not heed this end-time warning from God through His Two Witnesses.

YOUR ETERNAL LIFE OR ETERNAL DEATH?

The main importance of 2012 as far as you are concerned is that you could begin your 9-year journey to the Rapture.

God’s Two Witnesses have information that could lead to your eternal life. It is the identity and basic character of the Beast. They know his identity because they identified his Mark. The Mark is not 666. God has used 666 as a diversion and a way to seal unwanted people out of understanding. God does not want incorrigible sinners to cheat during their 9-year judgment, 2012 to 2021.

If you humble yourself to learn the identity of the Beast, you could examine his personality, character and behavior. You could compare yourself to him. If you found a match, then you would realize that you would need to change in order to be ready for Judgment Day.

Do not despair because everybody has a match. Your Bible says that, the whole world follows the Beast. However, you may not continue to follow the Beast.

DO YOU WORSHIP THE BEAST?

Yes, you presently follow the Beast, just as Jesus said. However, you could make changes by repenting and altering your mindset and behavior. The first word out of the mouths of men who preached the gospel was REPENT. You must measure yourself against the Beast and make the necessary changes.

In order to assure your success, you need to receive the Spirit of God through baptism. On your own, you cannot change from your bestial state. It is impossible. Only the Holy Spirit can convert you into the Godly state.

After you make the necessary changes, you would no longer follow the Beast. You would be headed toward eternal life as either a resurrected person or a raptured person at the return of Jesus in 2022 AD.

In summation, the year 2012 is the most important year in your life if you desire to have eternal life. If you do not, then it is just another year. Oblivion awaits you at death.

UNSEALED BIBLE PROPHECY IS THE GOLDEN OIL

If you want to stop following the Beast, learn his identity so that you can begin the process of change that leads to eternal life.

In our featured book, there is research that will identify the Beast. It will take you back through 2,000 years of Bible translation history in order to re-discover the original Mark of the Beast. This is the oil of the Two Olive Trees, which true Church leaders are destined to use to enlighten the way to eternal life.

You will reconstruct the Mark of the Beast as you go back through English, Greek and Aramaic. Then you will see the original Mark and the original words that John used to describe the Mark. Those words are not the current words in the King James Bible. And, the Mark was not 666.

Why is it that none have done this before? Simply stated, most people are lazy. There have been very few people who intensely study the Bible as independent researchers. Rather than study, they made up theories about he Beast that are diversionary.

After you learn what the Mark of the Beast is, you will advance through Daniel and Revelation and understand verses of prophecy for the first time. If you do not first learn the identity of the original and real Mark of the Beast, this would be impossible.

COME OUT OF BABYLON NOW!

Daniel and John wrote complementary versions of world history. Their accounts show how the world is like a tree. That tree is Babylon. The whole world has been part of Babylonian culture. Dictatorship is the primary characteristic of Babylon.

God intervened twice in world civilization to set up an alternative to Babylonian culture. The first intervention was at the time of Moses. Through Moses, God set up the Israelite nation with a libertarian form of government. The second and most important intervention by God was the founding of the representative government of the United States. It was originally libertarian.

God is now taking total control of the world through the export of representative governance from the United States and other representative nations. Europe and the USA make up His base of operation.

DEFEAT OF BABYLON

The Battle of Armageddon is the final crushing defeat of Babylonian culture. God will use the military might of Western nations to annihilate the last vestiges of Babylon, including communist and terrorist nations. Some Muslim nations will be severely reduced in population because they have remained dictatorial in government and religion. They hold on to their Babylonian past.

Red China would ultimately be defeated. Marxists in the old Soviet Union will lead their people and their allies to a disastrous confrontation with Europe and the USA. Needless to say, God is on the side of representative government.

On a personal level, God is against individuals who are dictatorial in character. So a weeding process will occur whereby angels will seek out such individuals for death. Remember the parable of the tares. There will be no place for weeds to hide.

Our featured book could allow you to see things in the Bible that you would not see through any other book.

YOUR OPENED EYES

In your Bible, you will be able to identify Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Saddam Hussein, Milosevic, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Gorbachev, Schwarzkopf and other world leaders. You will be able to see events that include the Persian wars and Armageddon. With prophecy calendars, you will be able to see the years that these events were scheduled to occur in.

You could also learn personal information about God’s Two Witnesses, which includes the day that Gabriel first visited them in 1991. Gabriel describes the merciless beatings that Satan has given them in his attempt to prevent their upcoming ministry.

Forefather prophecy calendars are natural complements to our books about God’s Two Witnesses. Our calendars give dates, while our books tell you what will happen and why it will happen.

GOD & YOU- INTIMATE FRIENDS

The why part is an examination of the very heart and mind of God Himself. You could have a very personal understanding of God, whom you are a replicate of. You could know how the brain of God works. You could know how the emotions of God work. If you need a father figure, why not take on the attributes of God the Father?

WHEN WILL ARMAGEDDON HAPPEN?

After you learn what and why of 6,000 years of world civilization, you will need to know when end-time events will occur. This is the value of our prophecy calendars. They give dates. You do not want to be in a city that has ICBM’s aimed at it.

I hope this article has given you a panoramic view of end-time years that includes the year 2012. I hope that you see the spiritual significance of upcoming events that have been prophesied for thousands of years.

2012 Will Be The Year Civilization Changes Forever

New lawn care business owners are constantly writing me and asking how they can gain new clients. When responding to these questions, I like to give specific examples a lawn care business owner could do today or tomorrow to help them achieve their goals. Here is a specific example of how one lawn care business owner marketed his business and gained over 50 new lawn care customers in less than 5 months.

New Year Present

Recently on our lawn care business forum, a new member Egreen wrote and said “This is my first season in business. Last winter I called several businesses ex. gas stations,7-11 small shopping centers in my area and explained to the manager that I was NOT trying to sell them anything. I told them I was considering a lawn care business and was taking a survey about their current lawn care service provider. This allowed me to build a rapport with the business owner. I asked who serviced their property, how often, how much they charged and if they were happy with the service provided. Before hanging up I told them if I considered opening shop I would call them and let them know how it was going.

These phone calls allowed me to gather a lot of information from them that they may not have told me otherwise. When I did open shop I called each one back and explained to them who I was and that I could service their lawn and property. I could also solve the problems they had with their current lawn care provider and I could save them a few dollars. I landed 11 out of 12 commercial accounts!”

Now any lawn care business owner that has been around for a few seasons knows the return they will make on many marketing strategies. For instance passing out lawn care service flyers in your neighborhood may help you get a 2 to 3 % response. But can you imagine landing 11 out of 12 accounts you targeted? That is an amazing response!

We asked Egreen further detailed questions to really hammer down the steps in his successful lawn care marketing process. He responded by saying “When I called the potential clients, I just took a spiral notebook and took notes. Everyone felt free to tell me most things because I told them up front I wasn’t trying to sell them anything. The most common complaints I heard were that the last lawn care company didn’t do a good enough job trimming.”

Now this is very insightful information, but I immediately thought even with this information, it would be difficult to land these commercial lawn care account because I was certain there would be lawn care contracts involved that wouldn’t be up for renewal until the end of the year. To my surprise, after talking further with Egreen he said “The lawn care contracts allowed 30 days written notice to cancel. That was fine with me because I had to prepare myself anyway. When I was ready to present my estimate, I was able to beat the competition’s price by a few dollars but I had the information that they told me in the past ex. Bad job trimming. This allowed me to go into detail about how well I trim all areas. I learned not to sell price but sell the quality of work.”

Now once these accounts were landed, what was the chance Egreen and his lawn care business would fall into the same trap the previous lawn care business owners did. The trap being a lack of communication. There was a disconnect between what the customer wanted and what the lawn care service company was providing. So I then asked Egreen if he was handling his communication with his new clients differently than the previous lawn company. He responded by saying “I call my residential and commercial accounts about once a month and ask them how we are doing. I explain that I would rather have them tell me if I’m doing something wrong (regardless of how small the problem) than not have a happy customer. I feel this personal touch is better. This is my first year in this business, I started about five months ago and I have 53 residential and small commercial accounts. The biggest lesson I think is to make them feel that they have a friend in the business. They will hopefully be a little more loyal. I do get word of mouth calls also. I also walk door to door and tell the customer I was in the area giving an estimate to a neighbor and since I was in the neighborhood I wanted to stop by. I mention what I do and point something out like an unedged sidewalk and explain the clean look of an edge job.”

Can you imagine that! In only 5 months in the lawn care business, Egreen has been able to land 53 new lawn care customers! Talk about being a lawn care marketing machine. There is no stopping him. I do hope this story will help your lawn care business grow and flourish. If you are just starting out or if you have been in business for years, we can all learn from Egreen and his success story. Pick up the phone and talk to people. Reach out to your customers and gain their feedback. Let them feel you are their friend in the lawn care business and you will grow. If you would like to read more success stories, visit our lawn care business forum at http://www.gophersoftware.com.

Read our free e-book, Be A Lawn Care Business Rebel, learn and grow your lawn care business. Also available for free download, hundreds of green industry lawn care logo templates, flyers, door hangers, web templates, lawn care business contracts as well as our 30 day trial of Gopher Lawn Care Billing & Scheduling Business Software. Go to http://www.getgopher.com. Don’t forget to watch our Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business show GopherHaul.

How To Get 50 New Customers For Your Lawn Care Business

The definition of motivation is to give reason, incentive, enthusiasm, or interest that causes a specific action or certain behavior. Motivation is present in every life function. Simple acts such as eating are motivated by hunger. Education is motivated by desire for knowledge. Motivators can be anything from reward to coercion.

New Year Present

There are two main kinds of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is internal. It occurs when people are compelled to do something out of pleasure, importance, or desire. Extrinsic motivation occurs when external factors compel the person to do something. However, there are many theories and labels that serve as sub tittles to the definition of motivation. For example: “I will give you a candy bar if you clean your room.” This is an example of reward motivation.

A common place that we see the need to apply motivation, is in the work place. In the work force, we can see motivation play a key role in leadership success. A person unable to grasp motivation and apply it, will not become or stay a leader. It is critical that anyone seeking to lead or motivate understand “Howletts Hierarchy of Work Motivators.”

Salary, benefits, working conditions, supervision, policy, safety, security, affiliation, and relationships are all externally motivated needs. These are the first three levels of “Howletts Hierarchy” When these needs are achieved, the person moves up to level four and then five. However, if levels one through three are not met, the person becomes dissatisfied with their job. When satisfaction is not found, the person becomes less productive and eventually quits or is fired. Achievement, advancement, recognition, growth, responsibility, and job nature are internal motivators. These are the last two levels of “Howletts Hierarchy.” They occur when the person motivates themselves (after external motivation needs are met.) An employer or leader that meets the needs on the “Howletts Hierarchy” will see motivated employees and see productivity increase. Understanding the definition of motivation, and then applying it, is one of the most prevalent challenges facing employers and supervisors. Companies often spend thousands of dollars each year hiring outside firms just to give motivation seminars.

Another place motivation plays a key role is in education. A teacher that implements motivational techniques will see an increased participation, effort, and higher grades. Part of the teachers job is to provide an environment that is motivationally charged. This environment accounts for students who lack their own internal motivation. One of the first places people begin to set goals for themselves is in school. Ask any adult: “What is the main thing that motivates you.” Their answer will most likely be goals. Even the simplest things in life are the result of goal setting. A person may say, “I want to save 300.00 for a new T.V.” Well, that is a goal. School is where we are most likely to learn the correlation between goals, and the definition of motivation. That correlation is what breeds success.

So, as you can see, motivation is what propels life. It plays a major role in nearly everything we do. Without motivation, we would simply not care about outcomes, means, accomplishment, education, success, failure, employment, etc.. Then, what would be the point?

Definition of Motivation

White gold is routinely alloyed down with nickel. Nickel causes allergic reactions in a lot of people.

It’s probably showing up now, because your ring was plated in rhodium (the whitest member of the platinum family) when you bought it. This is normal, as white gold always has a little warmth to it, so it is almost always plated in rhodium.

New Year Present

The rhodium has worn off. The white gold, alloyed with nickel is in direct contact with your skin. You are reacting to the nickel. One easy solution is to bring the ring in to the jeweler where you purchased it and have it replated with rhodium. Or, you could trade the ring in for a white gold ring that does NOT contain nickel, a palladium ring or a platinum ring.

The metal rhodium is essentially inert to the skin, hypoallergenic, no reaction. What the reaction could be is a basic metals reaction and that SHOULD NOT be happening if the rings have a real rhodium plate.

My suggestion? Contact QVC and tell them of the problem. They should either give your money back or replace the item with one with a real rhodium plate!

Green is a reaction generally to base metals, such as copper, etc., which are either preplate(done beneath the rhodium on metals like silver) or part of the the meatal alloy the ring is made of.

Either the plate is not rhodium or is a poor job at plating. QVC owes you an answer on this one and your may use my answer when you contact them if you want.

Without seeing the ring and actually examining it, I can say little about the ring itself.

“Temporary Fix. Recommended for you to Try:

Rhodium is a hard and durable white metal. Most white gold is given a quick plated layer of rhodium when brand new or when repaired.

This thin layer of rhodium gives the metal a whiter look. Rhodium is also a metal that does not react with the skin. A local jeweler should easily be able to refinish, buff up nicely and rhodium plate your ring. The look is good. The advantage to you is the rhodium provided a safety layer between the nickel in the ring and your sensitive skin! The rhodium works very well when the plating is done correctly. You can expect the rhodium to wear off in time but you should get 6mos to a year of wear before the ring should be plated with rhodium again. We often do this service for ladies who love white gold earrings but have problems. With yellow gold problems, we plate the parts touching the skin and it works until the rhodium eventually wears away.”

Is your ring white gold? If so, the rhodium plating by a local jeweler should ease the problem immensely and the surface will last a fair amount of time before redoing is needed. If the ring is yellow, there are likely environmental issues here, including swimming pool chemicals and salty air(if living near the ocean).

Chemicals will often build up in a microscopic way and lead to skin reactions or smudges. Salty air can lead to a build up of residue which will cause smudges or even some sensitive skin reactions. For yellow gold, the solution is difficult but involves either avoiding the environmental issues or cleaning the ring quite often(every couple of days) with a good gentle scrub with a gentle dish detergent and rinsing well.

Allergic Reaction to Nickel Alloyed White Gold Jewelry

“Tis the season to be jolly!” A great attitude is easy to have when you design your gifts with a lot of thought and don’t allow the experience take you to the cleaners.

One of the traditions I like at this time of year is remembering all the people that were there for me this past year. Especially those that didn’t receive anything in return for it — in the smallest or largest way.

Meaningful gift giving does not have to be expensive. In fact, some of the most precious gifts are the ones that cost very little, but mean a great deal because of the time and effort it took to select, or create, and mail.

Here are eight ideas I have used over the last few years. You can use these as Christmas gifts; add them to your “leave-behind” marketing package, a referral thank you, or “thanks for helping me” gift.

It does make a difference if your logo or advertising information is on the gift. It does affect the perceived value on their part and can make a difference in your relationship. Make the choice to add your information or leave it off with their perception in mind. Remember, marketing is all perception and not product or service.

1. Purchase discontinued note card sets from Hallmark and other card shops during the year. If you call and ask your nearest store as to the time of year when they discount “previous season” items, they will gladly tell you. You can save from 50% to 75% on these items.

2. Create a logo candy jar. You can purchase candy jars with different seasonal markings. Then create a stencil with your company logo or web site address (I prefer the web site address). You can buy the stencil supplies and the empty candy jars at your local craft store like MJ Design, Michaels, or online. They sometimes have the mailing boxes to match. Add a bow with your business card. Keep the jar nice so they want to keep it out in the open for that season. Jars for the Easter season are great with the miniature eggs in them and are not likely to get completing jars from other suppliers. After dinner mints are great for the contents. If you return frequently, bring a refill with you.

3. Give a business journal. Borders and Barnes and Noble have all sorts of sizes and designs. For business journals or marketing journals, I usually buy the 8 ½ x 11 size (usually under ) at Borders and then I write three or four marketing ideas in the journal that specifically apply to them.

4. Give a gift they can take home to their child(ren). Most business or marketing gifts are for everyone at the company or for them. Sometimes giving without a “marketing angle” attached increases the impact. Especially if you remember their child’s birthday.

5. Create a family cookbook with 10 or so of your favorite (or personal family) recipes. Add your contact information on the back. Use the software, Clickbook (www.clickbook.com) to transfer it from your word processing software into a real nice booklet fast and easy.

6. Give them a subscription to one of the favorite magazines. I love writer’s magazines and writing, so receiving something I am so passionate about along with the gift of learning is perfect for me. If you get two, call the company and turn it into a two-year subscription. You can add to your card this idea if they already have a subscription. Do they have a hobby? Do they have a goal or working on a particular project? There are tons of magazines out there. You can also add to the card a list of web sites they can find more information on the topic. You can send a card with the subscription information in it separately so they know to expect it and to contact you if they don’t receive it.

7. If you have great penmanship or creative on the computer, buy blank note cards and add their name on the front of the each card, like “From the desk of…” “A personal note from…” The fact that you took the time always makes an impact. Want to add a little more? Place a stamp on each envelope for them.

8. If they have a home office and you are into crafts, cross-stitch a wall calendar holder. It has a hook, nice border that shows past the large calendar size and business card sewn in with a place for them to hang their favorite wall calendar or you can send them a calendar with it the first year.

It is normal to value the gift to the value of the client/customer. You can just send everyone the same gift or you can match the gift value to the value you received from him or her.

Don’t forget your bartering exchanges or the people that just “opened your doors.”

New Year Present

Creative, Inexpensive, and BIG Value Marketing Gift Ideas

These days gift wrapping is still an art. There are lots of creative ideas freely available on the Internet, and a huge choice of wrapping products ranging from budget, to luxury through to eco-friendly. Anyone can make a gift look special.

New Year Present

Over the years of many birthdays and Christmases my Mum and I have always tried to think of new and creative ways to wrap our gifts. From this we have developed a few hard and fast rules to make a gift look fantastic.

If you are anything like me, trying to stick two edges of paper together with traditional tape normally ends up with either two fingers stuck together or one finger stuck to the present normally resulting in a bit of a tatty mess! We discovered double sided tape a few years ago and have not looked back. By using this tape it’s possible to stick the two edges of paper together nice and neatly without any tape showing for a really professional finish.

Ribbon is widely used to decorate a gift, but we have found that using wired ribbon works the best for creating stunning bows. The wired ribbon allows you to sculpt the bow exactly as you want it without it going flat. There are many types of bows that can be created using this ribbon, and even roses can be formed by wrapping the ribbon round itself for a different effect.

People are becoming increasingly creative, and many use ribbon to tie additional decoration to their gifts. These can include baubles at Christmas, herbs and spices, flowers and even pasta! You can be as creative as you want.

Eco-friendly wrapping has certainly become more popular over recent years. Eco-friendly used to be associated with drab, colorless wrapping products but there is lots of choice available. Stockists of handmade papers from India can offer a wide range of eco-friendly products which include colored silk papers, papers with flower petals embedded and eco-friendly ribbon for bows. From my experience, the eco-friendly ranges are now just as popular as the traditional wrapping products.

Gift wrapping has always been traditionally associated with women, with men having (maybe an undeserved) a reputation of not really being bothered. However, this is a trend that may be changing. Our website, which sells wrapping products, has received 35% of its orders from men which is a higher figure than we were expecting when we launched the site. It seems men too now are starting to care about the presentation of their gifts!

For more tips, tricks and products on gift wrapping, go to the wrapping ideas page on Funky Wrapping.

Gift Wrapping Tips and Trends

Sometimes it can be really hard to find the best Christmas present for your grandparents and elderly loved ones, but it doesn’t really have to be that difficult! In this article we’ll be discussing Christmas gift ideas for grandparents in 2010, and how to choose a good gift.

New Year Present

Picking a Good Gift

Think about the giftee’s preferences, what they like and dislike, their tastes, and if they will get angry if you don’t spend much or spend too much on their gifts. Everyone is different, but it’s not hard to put together a thoughtful gift for an older person!

Wellness – Healthy Gifts of Anti-Aging

Giving the gift of wellness never goes out of style. Another great idea for Christmas gift ideas for grandparents 2010 is giving your elderly loved ones the gift of health and wellness. You can get them a gym membership for a new kick in life, classes in new skills (it’s been shown that keeping socially active keeps us happier!) and even an energy pendant to help jump start the next chapter in their lives.

A good gift of wellness might be energy jewelry. It doesn’t require a heavy commitment like a gym membership might, and is easier on someone who is just starting back into exercising. But how do they work, and how could they help an older person?

The energy in energy pendants is positive separated from negative, and this gives it the unique property to repel and even change negative energies into something beneficial for you. It fights one kind of energy, EMF or electromagnetic fields and frequencies; this kind of radiation is safe for people in low amounts but when you deal with so much of it on a daily basis you get a harmful cumulative effect.

Some of the awesome benefits that people who’ve used them are:

First of course, the neutralization of electromagnetic fields and frequencies, helping to prevent disease and other illnesses that come from the disruption of your body’s natural balance.

They increase the amount of sleep you get at night, and help prevent bothersome restlessness.

Relief from insomnia, increased mental awareness, focus and also memory.

Other than these benefits, it’s also a beautiful piece of jewelry that comes in a variety of shapes, styles, and materials. There’s something to fit any one. No matter what you give your elderly loved one, there are plenty of Christmas gift ideas for grandparents 2010. Happy holidays!

Christmas Gift Ideas for Grandparents 2010

One of the highlights of Chinese New Year are firecrackers that beautifully light up the sky. Families also enjoy the deafening pop-pop-pops of the firecrackers. Firecrackers are called “pau jeun” in Chinese, meaning exploding bamboo. Pau jeun are burned at home, for work, or for public displays. Firecrackers are used for worship and for celebration. This is why the pau jeun brings a meaning of joy or upliftment for the Chinese. Chinese New Year is also about joy and upliftment, so the pau jeun is used to celebrate it.

New Year Present

Firecrackers are widely used during Chinese New Year because it is believed the bright lights and the noise can scare away evil spirits like Nian. It was believed that Nian is a monster that would awake only during the Lunar New Year and would devour men and animals in its path. People used to light a pile of bamboos on Chinese New Year to scare away Nian. When gun powder was invented, it was added to the bamboos, causing loud bangs. With Nian and the other evil spirits scared off, it is believed that prosperity, good health and happy relationships will fill the year.

The modern day firecrackers now are tubular, similar to the shape of the bamboo. Chinese firecrackers in the US come in assorted sizes and shapes. The most common firecrackers used during the Chinese New Year are the red tubes 1 ½ inches long and are braided together with string, wrapped in transparent paper. A bundle is usually tied with 16 or 50 tubes per pack.

Common brands of Chinese New Year Firecrackers are Black Cat, Red Devil, China Doll, Mighty Mite and Zebra. Stronger versions used for public display are several ropes of firecrackers, topped with a box that can equal 15,000 sticks of fire power. These are suspended on poles high up in the air so the crowd can better see the wonderful colors contrast against the night sky.

In the urban areas of China, it is prohibited to light up fire crackers privately for everybody’s safety. One can usually see firecracker displays only during Chinese New Year and special days. However, in rural China where there is bigger space, children may buy and play with the different firecrackers available; thus one can hear the familiar pop-pop-pop all through out the Spring Festival.

Chinese New Year Firecrackers