Actual for You - Finance

Franchising Looks Like Easy Money:Want the Truth?
So often I read in business journals some business consultant telling folks that they should franchise their businesses. Well sure franchising looks like easy money but it isn’t at all. Would you like to talk about the truth? Now then it is so unbelievably irresponsible for these media business consultants to advise folks to franchise their businesses when the truth is that the failure rate of those who franchise their businesses and become franchisors is 5:1. I therefore condemn those who recommend this.Now those consultants who do not like this condemnation, I say to you; “Without a little sound and fury out there, no one would ever understand your point and therefore I must speak out in these harsh terms and condemnations.” Now then without some drama my comments would be drowned out the political correctness of the mass media and those self-proclaimed business consultants who advice such a tact. You wannbe business consultants with syndicated columns being the mass media in this instance.Once a business consultant that I talked with, denied the failure rate and told me that I did not know what I was talking about. Yet, I built a franchise company myself started with a bucket of water and sponge at age twelve to a franchisor 180 units in 23 states and four countries and retired at 40 years old. I was not caring if the business consultant cared if my perspective was valuable, as I was concerned about his willy nilly approach and advice to the readers out there who had spent a lifetime building up a successful small business. He was willing to mak

zil shortly and in the coming months expanding into Mexico, China, Russia and India. This is an effort on Microsoft’s part to get a strong footing in the up and coming nations that would eventually be users of their products. They are nurturing a market that they will try to dominate in the years to come.

Since satellite radio was introduced, with Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR) leading the pack, you needed to be plugged in to your home or car stereo system to use it. But XM has changed all that recently as they introduced the world’s first portable XM Radio/MP3 Player portable device, it’s called “XM2go”, no computer is required You will now be able to take your XM radio with you to the gym, on your jog or on the bus or train ride to work. Pioneer is the technology company behind the unit, and the unit is set to work with Napster (NASDAQ: NAPS) and not the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod. So companies that should be looked at are flash memory makers, as this is what drives the unit and not a hard drive. I wonder if Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) will be supplying the chips.

FURIOUS FIVE

This is the Firstof our “Furious Five” companies that we see excelling in their industry in 2006. The company to kick off this weeks “Furious Five” is Gymboree Corp (NASDAQ: GYMB) it trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol GYMB.

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We cannot stress enough that investors need to do their due diligence, call the companies, get the information, consult with your investment advisor and if you do not have one consider getting one. Put the same time into investigating these companies as you do when you go to purchase a new television, it’s only for your protection. When it comes to thinly traded securities stagger your orders or put a limit order in to avoid a run up.

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How To Pratically Turn A $10 Domain Name Into Profits Of Over $10,000 In 4 Months
This is not a fake.I have seen it happen. Wrestling.com was sold last 2 months for a whooping $500,000. This may seem overwhelming crazy.But it isn't. People are making money buying and selling domain names.How is it done?Let us go on a journey.1.If you would make money from domain names,you definitely must know what a domain name means.A domain name is the name of any website you see on the internet. E.g yahoo.com, clickbank.com, 10500weekly.com etc.I guess you would have some domain names with phrases like whereblackpeoplemeet.com, howtoopenausbankaccount.com2.You should now be ready to do alot of research to know the kind of topics most people would be interested in and be able to creatively produce domain names that carry power in them.For instance, when someone discovered how people were searching for how to open a US bank account,he simply registered a domain name (howtoopenausbankaccount.com)To know what people look for most,search the search engines and visit forums to see what people are discussing the most.It has also been discovered that domain names with .com format are usually trhe hottest selling ones folowed by .org, .net, .biz etcThis means that the domain name you are creating must be in .com format if you want a huge yield before going to the next step.3.Get the domain registered at sites like godaddy.com for a very cheap price.4.Get domain brokers to park your domain and sell it for you.Just go to the search engines and search for "domain name brokers." Also make s

It’s Monday May 22, 2006, and it looks like the NYSE Group (NYSE: NYX) has taken the first steps to becoming a truly global market place as they have submitted a $10 billion offer to merge with Euronext. Such a merger would create the first trans-Atlantic stock market, valued at $21 billion. While the Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) has increased their stake in the London Stock Exchange to over 25% which may put them in a position to force a merger with the LSE. The world is getting smaller and the financial markets are right in the middle of it.

The NAMC Newswire’s “Wall Street to Main Street” segment in its entirety is only available to subscribers. Don’t miss out and Keep in mind that all subscriptions are free and will remain that way. All that you need to do is go to www.namcnewswire.com and add your email address to receive the full segments. We value your privacy and all email addresses are only used for NAMC related items and not shared with any third parties.

We want to give our listeners/readers a voice, so we are going to try something new on “Wall Street to Main Street”. We want to hear from you but not only to ask questions but also to make comments about various companies. We are going to give our listeners/readers a voice on “Wall Street to Main Street” by including their brief outlook on the companies that they may own or follow. This is only extended to those that are subscribers to “Wall Street to Main Street”, so you need to register in order to participate, it’s FREE. All that you need to do is either shoot us out an email using our contact form on our website at www.namcnewswire.com or give us a call toll free at 888-463-9237 between the hours of 6:30pm and 12am EST weekdays. Your question or comment could be a part of the Wall Street to Main Street radio show that is syndicated daily.

Remember that you can always listen to the NAMC Radio on Streetiq.com, the leader in financial podcast. www.streetiq.com and is also available on iTunes.

Political Front

Vietnam is making headway as they are seeking to become part of the World Trade Organization. Their first step is the preparation to sign a trade agreement with the United States in June, this would be a first step in them reaching their goal of joining the World Trade Organization.

Even though Germany and China both agree that a diplomatic resolution must be attained in the Iran uranium enrichment situation, Iran is not open to suggestions. They have adamantly stated that they are not only going to continue the enrichment but they intend to increase it on an industrial level. This just makes a tense situation worse.

The U.S. Attorney General Gonzales has commented that he believes that any journalist that publishes classified information could be prosecuted. What ever happened the First Amendment, if the government begins to dictate what can or cannot be reported on then how can journalist actually be credible?, that’s a question that the people should bring to capital hill.

President Bush is pushing for congress to pass the immigration bill, but many think that the plan may do little or nothing to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border. I guess if there is a will there is a way but it should reduce the attempts.

Movers and Shakers

Some major movers in Fridays trading session included Titanium Metals (NYSE: TIE) which traded up $4.06 to close at $35.05, Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) which traded up $2.43 to close at $21.70, Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) a stock that we have featured on “Wall Street to Main Street” as a stock on the move, it traded up $3.60 to close at $34.95 after a Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) deal was struck, Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) traded up $2.44 to close at $24.58, British Airways (NYSE: BAB) flew upward as it traded up $5.61 to close at $66.16, First Avenue Networks (NASDAQ: FRNS) traded up $2.93 to close at $15.44, Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) another stock that we featured on “Wall Street to Main Street” traded up $6.51 to close at $56.22, Focus Media (NASDAQ: FMCN) which we mentioned may be looking to have a presence in the Untied States and one suitor may be Impart Media Group (OTCBB: IMMG) the stock traded up $7.46 to close at $69.18, Supertex (NASDAQ: SUPX) traded up $3.30 to close at $39.91 and Darwin (AMEX: DR) traded up $2.76 to close at $18.76.

Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

Recent Analyst upgrades include Microchip Technology (NASDAQ: MCHP) which was upgraded to a Buy from a Neutral by UBS, Mattel (NYSE: MAT) was upgraded to an Outperform from a Market Perform by Ryan Beck & Co, United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) was upgraded to a Buy from a Hold by Stifel Nicolaus, Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE: CY) was upgraded to a Buy from a Neutral by UBS and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) was upgraded to an Outperform by Piper Jaffray.

Recent Analyst downgrades include Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) which was downgraded to an Equal Weight from an Overweight by Lehman Brothers, St Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) was downgraded to a Hold from a Buy by Deutsche Bank Securities, American tower (NYSE: AIV) was downgraded to an Outperform from a Buy to a Neutral by Merrill Lynch and Midwest Express (AMEX: MEH) was downgraded to a Market Perform from an Outperform by Raymond James.

Analyst Coverage Initiations include Allegheny Energy (NYSE:AYE) which was initiated with a Hold rating by AG Edwards, Alexandria Real Estate (NYSE: ARE) was initiated with an Under Perform rating by RBC Capital, Embarq (NYSE: EQ) was initiated with a Hold rating by AG Edwards and an Equal Weight rating by Merrill Lynch and Formfactor (NASDAQ: FORM) was initiated with a Buy rating and a $47 price target by Citigroup Investment Research.

Tid Bits

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is exiting stage left from the competitive South Korean market as they have agreed to sell its 16 stores to South Korea's largest discount store chain Shinsegae Co. for 825 billion won, or $882 million. Wal-Mart said the decision to withdraw was part of its global growth strategy.

Barron’s ran a feature on Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) over the weekend and stated that Yahoo has a massive audience online at a time when advertisers are shifting to online marketing or increasing their online marketing efforts. They also made mention of the fact that Yahoo has been overshadowed by Googles (NASDAQ: GOOG) success and this has led Yahoo to its 52 week low. There is no doubt that Yahoo is cheap at this point, it is definitely a $45 stock disguised as a $29 or $30 stock, but that may not be realized until they show their current efforts adding to their bottom line.

Last Week Home Depot (NYSE: HD) announced that they were looking to acquire a small bank called EnerBank USA from CMS Energy Corp. (NYSE: CMS). This acquisition would allow Home Depot to issue uncollateralized loans to contractors to keep the revenues flowing. This is something similar to what Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is trying to do but on a different scale, you can expect Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) to follow suit in the near future.

And the beat goes on…., more companies are being investigated in the ever growing stock options probe that we continue to hear about. The latest to join the party is KLA-Tencor Corp (NASDAQ: KLAC), they are citing that back in 2001, that’s right they are going back in time on all of these companies, but back in 2001 the cite that KLA-Tencor issued stock options to their top executives twice during the year both at the stocks low point for the first and second half of the year. They also add that the Chairman of KLA, Ken Levy received 10 stock optin grants from 1994-2001 and all preceded recent rises in the stock price. So I think that Levy has a slight problem now. Another added to the list was Boston Communications Group (NASDAQ: BCGI), as they join the likes of Comverse Tech (NASDAQ: CMVT), UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) and others.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is tying in with Lenovo Group to offer pay as you go computer service to those people living in developing countries. They are beta testing “FlexGo”, which is a pay per hour computer use service. They plan on launching this service in Brazil shortly and in the coming months expanding into Mexico, China, Russia and India. This is an effort on Microsoft’s part to get a strong footing in the up and coming nations that would eventually be users of their products. They are nurturing a market that they will try to dominate in the years to come.

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Better than Plenty of Messenger Boys
This morning, the Internet connected me to my friends, although today the News was mostly bad. Firstly, some friends of mine and I are planning to get together tomorrow and I was figuring out what time to meet. I emailed my friends at ten twenty two am, to say ‘Let’s meet at six pm’. At ten thirty five am, one of them emailed me back that he’d been downsized, and so could make it as early as we liked. I emailed my condolences, glad for the speed and ease when connecting with my friends via the Internet. His email at quarter to nine am said nothing about being downsized so he must only have found out about it this morning, less than two hours before he told us.Before telephones and computers came to be, swift communication would have been reserved for only those who could afford to send letters to each other and employ messenger boys. Although on the other hand, before England had telephones I gather the mail service was so efficient that you could send an invitation at breakfast, and expect a letter in response the same day. Even that doesn’t compare with getting an answer in thirteen minutes, and learning about major events in a friend’s life in less than two hours.After receiving that bad News, and then my small consolation of joy at being so connected to my friends, I read more bad News in another friend’s blog and discovered that I’m less connected than I thought. My blogger friend is worried he suffers from depression and might be an alcoholic. According to his blog he can’t talk to his friends about it, including me. I wonder if he knows that

ey are seeking to become part of the World Trade Organization. Their first step is the preparation to sign a trade agreement with the United States in June, this would be a first step in them reaching their goal of joining the World Trade Organization.

Movers and Shakers

Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

Tid Bits

FURIOUS FIVE

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The Measurement of Sales Performance
The measurement of sales performance is an essential part of any business. The success of a company depends on its revenue, which depends on sales. To stay in business, you have to make enough sales that you generate more income than expenses. Sales performance entails more than just how much you sell; it also entails how little you spend on generating sales. For example, if you spend twice as much money marketing a product as you gain from selling it, then you need to improve your sales performance. Since there are so many factors involved in sales performance, the measurement of it also entails more than just measuring how much you sell.A great tool you can use for the measurement of sales performance is sales metrics. These metrics will also help in the creation of goals and incentives. With sales metrics, you can make sure that you place suitable expectations on your sales operations, because the metrics help you set goals that are realistic, logical, and attainable. Otherwise, you may set unrealistic and unattainable expectations, or even worse you may set the goals too low. Metrics can include any measurable aspect of your sales efforts, such as number of phone calls, number of leads, number of hours spent on sales, and so forth. Try to avoid overwhelming your sales department with excessive tracking numbers. Instead, focus on the few metrics of most importance to your business.Another great tool that can assist in the measurement of sales performance is a scorecard. Scorecards are often written on spreadsheets. A scorecard is simply a templat

oned may be looking to have a presence in the Untied States and one suitor may be Impart Media Group (OTCBB: IMMG) the stock traded up $7.46 to close at $69.18, Supertex (NASDAQ: SUPX) traded up $3.30 to close at $39.91 and Darwin (AMEX: DR) traded up $2.76 to close at $18.76.

Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

Tid Bits

FURIOUS FIVE

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Invalid Excuses for Poor Business Results - Rising costs
Note to Northwest Airlines – It’s not about fuel costsFor the first quarter of 2005, Northwest Airlines posted a loss of $458 million. The main reason cited was high fuel costs.Northwest complained that fuel prices surged to $630 million from $450 million for the same time period last year. Let’s start by looking at some numbers. During the first quarter of 2004, Northwest lost $230 million. This means the increase in red ink was $118 million while fuel expenses increased $180 million. Obviously, with fuel expenses higher than the change in red ink, one could make an argument that higher crude is responsible. This argument does not hold up to scrutiny when you consider the entire cost of fuel was only $172 greater than the loss. Also Northwest has stated a penny fuel increase equates to $1.6 million in operating costs. A $458 million loss attributable to increased jet fuel cost would need to cost $2.86/gallon using Northwest calculations. At the end of the first quarter, jet fuel averaged $1.27 cents.Okay, too many numbers, let’s look at it a different way. Based on Northwest’s total fuel bill, if fuel was the reason for the loss, the only way they could have turned a profit would have been to run their planes with only 25% of the fuel actually used. Although this would be a quick fix and return the airlines on paper, if their argument is correct, it would have had a dire effect on reaching each flight’s intended destinations.If this isn’t convincing enough that Northwest’s blame of fuel costs is invalid, consider Southwest

stated that Yahoo has a massive audience online at a time when advertisers are shifting to online marketing or increasing their online marketing efforts. They also made mention of the fact that Yahoo has been overshadowed by Googles (NASDAQ: GOOG) success and this has led Yahoo to its 52 week low. There is no doubt that Yahoo is cheap at this point, it is definitely a $45 stock disguised as a $29 or $30 stock, but that may not be realized until they show their current efforts adding to their bottom line.

FURIOUS FIVE

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The Imporance of Teams
Many start ups require a founding team. It is practically impossible for one person to have a broad enough skill set to start a successful new venture. I am a huge proponent of teams. I am a strong believer in the fact that no person is an island and that it is much better to have a smaller piece of a bigger pie than a large piece of a much smaller pie.So who do you need on your team? Where do you find them? What values and characteristics are most important when forging your team?Who do you need on your team?First thing you need to do is objectively look at yourself and your own skills and abilities and compare that to what you need to start this venture to see where the gaps are. Are you a good sales person? Organizer? Accounting & Finance? Marketing? Researcher? Writer? Speaker? These are just some of the fundamental areas you will most likely need while planning and launching your new venture. It is hard to critically analyze your own skills and abilities so you may need a third party to help you, there are also tests online that evaluate what type of entrepreneur you are and what other types of entrepreneurs you need to add to your team (check out http://www.peoplethatclick.com/).There may also be specific technical roles you need to fill on your team (such as software engineer, website designer, etc.). You need to make the decision in the beginning whether these key roles will be paid positions or are they so critical to your venture’s success that you should be making them a partner.Where do you find t

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Do Brands really die or do they simply fade away? How come we have brand names, which are all the rage and then within a few years the fad fades away? Remember Izod or Alligator Shirts and Socks? Well where are they now? Did you know they are trying to remake themselves and in Europe on their website they now say it is a crocodile?

Currency Forex Trading Platform- The selection of a suitable currency forex trading platform can be an easy task when you base any selection on a checklist of 6 criteria. The trading platform should assist you to eliminate or reduce risk of trading while allowing you to maintain control over your funds in real time. Does your current forex trading platform meets the 6 point selection criteria? Check this article out to see.

Forex currency trading can easily be found nowadays over the internet. If you search the net, there are numerous web sites offering hundreds of investment programs like currency forex trading, real estate, stock trading and many others.

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Actual for You - Wall Street to Main Street: News, Views and Commentary: May 22, 2006

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