In 1998 I started a small (miserably so) online business and had my first experience with selecting a hosting company. Back then it was really no big deal because mine was way too small a business to have many hosting needs and in those early times there was less competition amongst hosting companies. About all I was concerned about was having adequate storage space. Traffic wasn’t even an issue. Still, I ran into unexpected difficulties and soon learned that even very small businesses have to be concerned with more than just disk space. Support was the detail I hadn’t considered.

That first experience soured me somewhat because I learned that it can be like pulling teeth to get support from a company that doesn’t take this aspect of business seriously. The company I first hosted with turned out to be located in someone’s home — a fact that was never divulged in the advertising. The man was nice enough, and he tried very hard to accommodate me as long as my support questions came about on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., his time. Even then, he did not impress me with his level of expertise.

I have since been through no less than six moves, and until this last one, not one of them were easy to tolerate. If I remember correctly, the second hosting company I tried had a penchant for going offline way too many times, and attempts to get support were frustrating. An eCommerce site cannot afford to be available to customers only on occasion. By this time my business had grown somewhat and I had become very sensitive to this aspect. It was a sour experience and I remained with the company for less than a year.

Next came a well publicized hosting company that had received some good reviews — though I’m still a little suspicious of so-called reviews one finds online — and while the initial move went well, I had ongoing problems with connectivity and, again, a horrible time getting support. For one thing, there was no phone support at all. Everything had to submitted via a support ticket. This is fairly common, I’ve found, and there is nothing inherently wrong with support tickets, unless they are slow to be addressed and there is no alternative route to Support. Also, there was a most obvious language barrier which led me to believe “Support” was located off-shore. I am certainly not racist, but I believe it is mandatory that both parties are able to understand each other for anything constructive to happen. It was ugly.

The next experience was awful, more so than any other, because after a few months of reasonably adequate hosting the company I had moved to simply went out of business, with absolutely no prior warning. This was so bad word spread throughout the Internet and it became a well known debacle.

Skip to my most recent forced move. The host company I have been with for the last three years, I will say, has been a good host. It shall go un-named because I have no malice toward it. I had to move because, as an eCommerce site, I am compelled to show that I am PCI compliant in order to continue accepting credit cards via the Internet. This fairly new security measure is one I applaud, as it goes a long way to giving the buying public the kind of hard and fast security that has been lacking up to now, but because my hosting company was either unable or unwilling to provide a PCI compliant environment I was forced to find a new host. I imagine there are thousands of businesses scrambling to find hosting companies that will meet this need, which is one of the reasons I decided to write this article.

I found TVCnet.com as a result of being referred to them by McAfee Secure, a well known company that provides online businesses with security scanning and certification. They told me TVCnet.com was one of the very few hosting companies they felt comfortable recommending. When I looked at the available packages this hosting firm offers, I have to say I was not blown away. The packages are fairly small, but the pricing is also very affordable. The BIG plus was that they obviously put themselves forward as the leader in striving to be, and stay, PCI compliant for the sake of all their eCommerce customers. I decided to give them a try. My expectations were low until I called the phone number on the TVCnet.com home page . . . and got the owner!

Not only did Jim Walker answer my questions, he did so with candor, amicability and enthusiasm. He did not over sell. In fact he went out of his way to make sure I knew exactly what the company could do and what not to expect. There was precious little of the latter. I didn’t keep him on the phone, he kept me on. For over twenty minutes he spoke with me and would not hang up until he knew every one of my questions and concerns had been answered. Result was that I signed up an hour later, via the online process. Still . . . I knew not to expect an easy transition. There was a shopping cart that had to work, a Linkpoint gateway that had to work, and several other site functions, including installation of my privately owned SSL cert, that had to go well. I crossed my fingers and waited, while Jim and his support team handed everything. I didn’t have to upload a single file. My entire site was moved from the current host to TVC and every script and application was handled with care and concern.

Yes, there were problems. My payment gateway to Linkpoint refused to install properly and I fully expected this to take days to fix. But Jim, himself, stayed at it on into the weekend without interruption until it was done and working flawlessly. We exchanged dozens of emails (less expensive than phone time and email affords a record of the process that can be saved), and all I had to do was provide him with access information to various sources where he knew he could find the information he needed.

Jim does not know I’m writing this article. I am doing this because, quite simply, I am blown away by the seriously impressive support — no, let’s make that Support with a capitol ‘S’ — that TVCnet.com provided to me. Others need to know about this company. Hopefully, this article will make the road less bumpy for others who are compelled to find PCI compliant hosting, and for anyone with any sort of web site who would like to be hosted by an intelligent, helpful and friendly company.

Sometimes when you are dating, your girlfriend might bring up that she doesn’t feel she is getting enough attention. This many times is a huge source of conflict for couples as one person wants a little bit more time and attention and the other one does not. Find out what you can do if this situation comes up in your relationship when your girlfriend wants more attention.

First of all, don’t assume what she means. You need to talk to her about what she means exactly. You can’t makes assumptions since everyone is different. She might mean she is lacking a certain type of attention. If you don’t know what it is, you will be confused about your efforts to help with the problem.

Include her in everyday things if she feels she wants more time with you. You might think these things are meaningless, but they won’t be to her. Take her grocery shopping. Do laundry with her.

The lack of attention might not be a time issue. She might just want to know how you feel about her from time to time. Send her little messages like a text, email, or even a short phone call to surprise her and make her feel special.

Ask her to be part of the hobbies that you enjoy. Do your best to include her. If you like playing video games, find ones that she might enjoy playing with you. During this time, be sure to continue to talk to her.

Have special things planned for her that she can look forward to. Sometimes she feels a lack of attention as she is not sure when she will be able to see you or spend time with you again. Set up dates or even times to talk that she will be able to think about and look forward to.

Continue to ask how she feels about the issue. This will show that you do really care about what she is feeling.

I often hear from wives who tell me that they don’t think that their husband cares about them anymore. They will often report a husband who just doesn’t seem involved or invested in them or the marriage. Sometimes, when they confront their husband with these suspicions, he will deny that there is anything wrong and the wife will wonder if she’s just imagining things or being paranoid.

I recently heard from a wife who said, in part: “I just don’t think my husband cares about me anymore. He doesn’t bother to come home on time. He drifts in and out after our family has already had dinner. He never listens to me anymore. He’s never there for me or the kids. He seems more interested and involved with his friends than he is with his own family. He never shows me physical affection anymore. When he is around or does spend time with our family, he acts as if he wishes he were somewhere else. But when I confront him about this, he says I expect too much and just love to complain. I don’t want to make things worse between us by arguing with him, but I’m pretty sure he just doesn’t care about me, my happiness, my kids, or this marriage anymore. How do I know if I’m right?”

These are challenging questions. Without talking the husband and having him be completely honest (which didn’t seem likely) most of the conclusions that you draw have to be based on comparing past behaviors with present behaviors and then looking at the big picture. With that said though, there are signs to look for that might indicate that your husband no longer cares as much about you and the marriage. I will discuss those below.

When You Compare His Past Behavior With His Current Behavior, There Is An Obvious And Troubling Difference: Sometimes when wives tell me their husband’s don’t care about them anymore, they admit that he has always shown very little emotion or affection from the beginning. Some men just are not big on being demonstrative about how they feel. But other times, the husband’s behavior has changed very dramatically. And this is when it’s easier to suspect that something is truly wrong.

If you’re dealing with a man who used to show you affection and be very involved in your day to day life and he’s suddenly very distant, cold, and just not interested in what is happening with you, then that’s a substantial red flag. While it doesn’t always have to mean that he doesn’t care about you or the marriage anymore, it can mean that you need to investigate this much more.

Your Challenges And Concerns Are No Longer His Challenges And Concerns: When you love someone and are invested in your marriage, you can’t help feeling empathy with your spouse. Even if you yourself are busy or are dealing with your own issues, your normal inclination is going to be to notice when your spouse is struggling or when something is “off” with them and then try to help or offer support. And, it’s likely that you know them so well that knowing when something is wrong is second nature to you.

So if you’re husband isn’t noticing what is going on with you or doesn’t seem to care, it’s natural to ask yourself why. Because a spouse who is emotionally connected and invested in his marriage is likely to become MORE involved when his spouse faces challenges rather than LESS involved. So if he’s distancing himself from you or if your problems are suddenly “your problems” rather than “our problems” then this can be a tell tale sign that something is drastically wrong.

He’s Already Explored (Or Is Trying On) His Exit Plan: Usually the first thing that wives notice when their marriage is in trouble is their husband’s lack of presence and I mean this both literally and figuratively. Not only will he not be around anymore, but when he is, he isn’t really there. Now, there are times when a husband can’t help having to work late or to work extra hours. Sometimes, he might have an issue or obligation with his extended family or others who might be close to him. All of this is understandable.

But usually what you’ll see when your husband no longer cares about his marriage is that he really has no legitimate reason to be gone as much as he is and he also has no legitimate excuse for his emotional distance (although he may try to give you one.) You may notice him trying on a new lifestyle or he may be making his friends his new extended family.

If My Husband No Longer Cares About Me, Does This Mean My Marriage Is Automatically Over?: Many times, when I discuss this topic with wives, they begin to panic as soon as they see that some of these signs apply to them. They worry that as soon as their husband stops caring, then there is nothing that they can do to save the marriage.

This isn’t always the case. Sometimes, a husband distances himself or checks out emotionally as the result of an unresolved issue in your marriage or an unresolved issue within him. It’s sort of a defense mechanism or sometimes it is a reaction to frustration. But, there are times that you can address and fix these issues and find that your husband will begin to act like he actually cares and is invested once again. This is not at all uncommon. Just one example is disgruntled spouses checking out of their marriage, cheating or doing something else that they regret, and then later realizing that they stupidly risked what was truly important to them because they saw things in the wrong way at the time.

The point is, people’s perceptions and feelings change as their situation changes. So if your husband’s feelings (or lack of feelings) stem from a problem or situation, fixing the issues that exist will often address the feelings as well.

If you are thinking about divorce or are in the midst of a divorce and are worried about how the divorce might affect your children, you can take action now to help ease the transition for them.

The term “divorce” is simply a legal term for dissolving the marriage. What tends to negatively affect your child’s emotional well-being is actually the amount of conflict and hostility present in the household before and during a divorce. I know this all too well as an adult child of divorce and from experience with representing many clients over the years.

Here are the top 5 ways you can take control now to help your child:

#5: Schedule regular times for your child to spend quality time with the other parent. It is generally a good idea for you and your co-parent to agree as soon as possible on a regular parenting time schedule so that your child has the opportunity to spend one-on-one quality time with each of you. This can help ease the transitional adjustment for your child.

#4: Seek guidance from a reputable and competent family counselor. This is especially important if your child is suddenly doing poorly in school, having trouble in social situations, or experiencing any change in his or her eating or sleeping patterns. It is also a good idea to check in with your child’s teachers about any sudden changes in behavior at school. You can obtain referrals to reputable family counselors from family members, friends, colleagues, and especially your child’s pediatrician, school guidance counselors, and teachers. There are also programs, such as Rainbows, that may be available directly through your child’s school, as well as local support groups that deal directly with children and divorce.

#3: Do not talk to your child about the details of your divorce or any of the legal proceedings. No matter how emotionally mature you feel your child is, she is not your confidante. You should address your legal issues directly with your attorney, not your child.

#2: Do not bad-mouth the other parent to your child under any circumstances. Understandably, you might have negative feelings about the other parent during this time. It is important to be aware, however, that mental health experts have found that children generally tend to identify with both parents and when one parent talks badly about the other, children in turn can feel badly about themselves. Therefore, try to point out positive qualities about the other parent to your child, particularly if your child voices negative feelings about the other parent to you. In general, you have a responsibility to your child to foster and encourage a relationship between your child and her other parent.

And the Number One thing you can do for your child is:

#1: Love your child unconditionally and make it clear to him. He needs to know that is the one thing that will never change!

Our culture is notoriously neglectful when it comes to teaching about loss and change. In a day and age in which technology rules, the meaning and importance of dealing with the aftermath of massive changes is left to pure chance.

In particular, the death of a loved one is a universal experience. Everyone grieves, if they have any sort of emotional investment in the person who died. Given the fact that loss is a continuous and ongoing part of life (we grieve for many losses other than the death of a loved one), taking the taboo off of expressing emotion and openly grieving, is essential. It would eliminate much unnecessary suffering.

We can start reversing the trend by helping our children balance the negative cultural view about grief. What can we teach them, and some adults, about the universal response to the loss of something valued? Here are five concepts to be developed and discussed with them.

1. Grief and suffering are inevitable. Everybody has to deal with massive changes in their lives since everything constantly changes and ends. No one likes to dwell on this fact of life. Likewise, the fact that suffering is bound to occur and must be faced, is consistently sidestepped. But change and suffering do cycle into and out of life, and should not be considered anything other than a condition of human existence.

2. Grief (the internal process) and the way we mourn (the external process) is highly individual. No two people respond to loss in the same way. The reason is that no two people have an identical emotional investment or relationship with the person who died or the object of loss. This is critical to understand in families. Grief and mourning naturally will differ.

3. The entire process of loss, grief, and adaptation to a new environment without the person or object of loss, is natural. Grief is a normal human response, not in any way, shape, or forms a sign of weakness. We are built to release the emotions we generate by expressing them through the grief process. It is healthy to grieve our losses, and it takes much time and patience to do so.

4. Grief is a response to love. We are made to love and help each other. Love is the most powerful force in dealing with life in all its manifestations. It is particularly painful to have a loved one no longer physically present and when that person dies a part of us dies. However, love lives on; it never dies (something every child should learn). Grief automatically flows from our love, although its outward expression cannot fully capture the love it represents. Choosing to love means choosing to grieve; they are very much intertwined.

5. Grief teaches us much about life and about ourselves. We learn the importance of appreciating quality interpersonal relationships, helping others, understanding the way we express our feelings, and how to go about reinvesting in life. We often learn to view the world in a new way. Grieving is a developmental experience because we learn many things, not the least of which is to appreciate the little things in life.

Take the above five concepts, and using the terminology that best fits your listeners, help them to understand the normalcy of sadness and the healing path of love. Be willing to cry in front of children when it is normal to do so given the situation. We can become positive grief models for the young and in doing so save them much unnecessary suffering.

Are you looking for methods on how to make a girl dream about you? You have read the right article here, we will talk about Dream Telepathy.

Dream Telepathy is definitely an amazing application to make use of. Similar to some other application, it really works best once you comprehend how to make use of it properly.

Dream Telepathy is a type of communication making use of psychic power. Once you learn the tactics to send out telepathic messages by means of dreams, then you can definitely cast your personal love spells and deliver it to the woman you desire, and make her dream of you.

When people attempt to utilize Dream Telepathy, they have to work on themselves first. If not, they will unintentionally convey their very own inadequacy and neediness to those people they make an effort to influence. The truth is, you cannot gain an unfair advantage on other people without needing to put in any kind of hard work.

It is possible to make use of Dream Telepathy to take benefit from others. However, you will need to learn some basic skill first.

To start with, you must learn how to build rapport with the subject subconsciously, if not you will not be capable of persuading them, even with the use of dream telepathy approaches. Therefore, you have got to be capable of getting rapport with the subject at the subconscious mind.

Right after you’ve created good rapport with the girl, you may then begin to plant any kind of emotions and feelings inside their mind through dreams. It may seem simple, but these will require your focus and strong perception to set it to perform. It is likely to make a woman to love you when you have learned and mastered the techniques.

What does an old Russian joke have to do with getting new business?

Did you increase your business in the past 12 months? Don’t discriminate between more new clients or old clients spending more money–count the increase either way. If you didn’t, you really should be asking yourself why not.

Yes, I know–it all started with the Internet implosion. Then came terrorist attacks. Next, the global recession. And after that a war that threatened to destabilize the worldwide political structures for peace and harmony. Who knows what’s next, but the fact is, none of these “cataclysmic” events has really mattered.

How can I say such a thing? Because for most of us, several more clients or a few additional transactions can turn a mediocre year into a great one. And large scale macro-level trauma and transition don’t really impact our micro-level ability to find that next client or do the next deal. The only place those macro-things matter is in your head, but– for good or for bad–what happens in your head tends to powerfully affect what happens in your business.

Yefim, a Latvian émigré who worked for me years ago told a joke (if you can call it that) from the old Soviet Union. He said, “What’s the difference between an American and a Russian?” “The American expects things to get better, and the Russian hopes they don’t get worse.” Well, after a year or two of lackluster, even dismal, business, you’re probably getting more like the Russian: not sure if things can ever get better. And you’re questioning whether you can expend any resources to do anything about it.

When you believe the world is going to hell in a hand- basket, not taking steps to improve your business seems natural. You expect that clients and prospects will say no to even your best proposition. After a while you simply stop trying.

Thinking about more business starts with thinking such a thing is possible–nay, probable–but if you’ve read this far you still may be a believer. And if you think increasing your business is possible–despite what’s reported on the evening news–then it is time to get busy. No more excuses. Not the weather. Not the season–I don’t care if it is Summer or Christmas or Ramadan. Not even the economy.

So what’s the good news? In 1966, Richard Farina wrote a book called “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me.” Feel that way? Great, because making a difference is going to be easy. You’ve probably been dormant so long, any improvement will look simply marvelous.

Here’s the secret.

There are only three ways to grow your business: you can find new clients, you can have your clients buy from you more often, and you can have clients–old and new–buy more each time.

“You mean that’s it?”

Listen closely, grasshopper. This little formula can yield great insight into how to approach your business right away–if you let it. Want help? Answer the following questions.

What ways are you currently using to find new clients now? Go ahead–make a list, even if it’s only in your head. Are those ways working? (No–probably not, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this.) Are they the same ones you were using a year ago? (Shame on you–they weren’t working a year ago, why should they work better now?)

What new products or services have you introduced in the past six months to help your current clients? (You haven’t– no one’s spending any money.) Of course not, they already have all the stuff you sell they think they need.

What new combinations of products, or products and services, or subscriptions, or renewable services, or… It boggles the mind how many ways there are to increase the value of each individual purchase. How many of these new offers have you made to your prospects and clients in the past six months? (I’m not even going to wait for your answer.)

If you meditate on each of these questions like a Zen Koan– you will assuredly invent at least two–and perhaps many– new ways to increase your business.

Of course, these aren’t the only things you can do, but they are a great start.

Can’t come up with any ideas? Let your clients do the work for you–after all, it’s in their own best interests. Do a survey–call up 10 or 20 and find out what they need from you that they can’t get. Even simpler–use one of the online survey tools like surveymonkey.com or zoomerang.com.

While you’re at it, you may want to insure that your core product still makes sense. After all–clients aren’t buying it like they used to. That can only mean a few things– either you’re doing a bad job telling people why they want it, or they just don’t want it.

Both of these problems can be fixed, but it’s important to make sure you’re fixing the right one. If you fix your marketing and tell people about something no one really wants you’re just wasting money. On the other hand, if your products really are right for the market, but you’re not communicating effectively–you might end up changing your products unnecessarily.

I hope you realize from this simple exercise how easy it is to quickly begin generating new and increased business. Just ask yourself good questions and invent some good answers. After all, that’s what thinking is.

Then take those thoughts and put a few into action.

–PL

© Paul Lemberg. All rights reserved

Reprint rights freely given. We ask that you keep all links live and all content the same.

How to Select a Personal Injury Attorney

While there are many factors that affect whether a client wins or loses a personal injury case, or affect the level of the settlement, selecting the right personal injury attorney makes the most difference in winning the case. So, how should one go about selecting a personal injury attorney who will get the best results, and the best settlement, for the case?

Most personal injury attorneys have free consultation. You, the client, should use the consultation not only to have the attorney assess your case, but also to interview the attorney to make sure your case will get the attention it deserves. The first indication as to whether you and your case will get the attorney’s full and undivided attention is how you are treated during the free consultation. Obviously, you should expect to discuss the case with an attorney, not with a paralegal, or other members of the attorney’s staff. After all, you are not hiring a paralegal; you are hiring an attorney to understand your case, research the facts of the case, research the law and win your case for you. You want to be able to talk to the attorney first hand, not through intermediaries.

Once you meet with the attorney, outline your case and answer whatever questions the attorney may have. You should then ask the following basic questions. The answers that you get should determine the level of comfort you have regarding the level of attention that the attorney will give you and your case:

1. Who will be handling and researching your case. Is that person an attorney or a member of the staff?

2. If your case goes to trial, will the attorney be fully involved in the litigation or would he outsource the litigation without any involvement?

3. Will the attorney be your contact at the attorney’s office? If so, will he be available during office hours as well as after hours? Would he give you access to his direct telephone, including his cellular phone?

It is a fact that at the offices of some personal injury attorneys, clients come in contact with paralegals and other office staff but never with an attorney. If the attorney responds that his “competent” staff will give their full attention to your case, get a clue. If the attorney is reluctant to give you his cellular number to contact him anytime you have a concern, get another clue.

Many of my clients have confided in me that the reason why they have not selected other attorneys before knocking on my door was the fact that they could not talk to an attorney. They were able to talk to a paralegal or other staff, but not the attorney.

If you are not able to talk to a personal injury attorney during the consultation, or if you do not feel comfortable that your case will be getting the full, undivided attention of the personal injury attorney, find another attorney. There are many good attorneys out there who are anxious to give you and your case their full, undivided attention.

Ramzy Ladah

Las Vegas Personal Injury, LLC

http://www.ladahlaw.com

At first glance a person with an industrial piercing may seem like a non-conformist, angry with the world and generally rebellious. But if that is what you see, you couldn’t be further from the truth. I have spoke to dozens of people that wear industrial piercing jewelry. Here are the surprising similarities in their personalities that may surprise you.

If there is one thing that we need to learn, and I certainly have over the years, is that one should not judge a book by the cover. The same goes for judging people base on their looks or what they wear or how they wear their jewelry.

I conducted a not so very scientific experiment recently and talked to dozens of people that went through what is quite possibly the most painful type of body piercing possible, industrial piercing.

I wanted to learn if there was something common about this type of person and their personalities. Here is what I found out.

Industrial piercing is a version of body piercing where two holes are pierced in a person’s ear. A single straight piece of jewelry connects the two piercings.

There are quite a few different variations to this type of piercing. They vary primarily on where the piercing takes place in the ear.

Most of these people are very proud of what they have done. It is a painful procedure and takes quite a long time to heal.

These people are interested in trying new things and not afraid to take chances. Given two roads to travel they more often will opt for the path that is non-traditional and steer away from conformity. They, for the most part, prefer new vs. old in terms of fashion and do not want to blend in. They are proud of their uniqueness.

There generally is strong right brain level of activity going on with these people and they quite often have the need to express themselves in creative ways like music or artistry.

They are quite often deep thinkers with strong opinions and much to contribute in conversations.

Depending on the type of jewelry they may wear it says something about them as a person or their mood for that day. Bright colored acrylics boast self confidence. Gold and silver make a statement of pride in achievement. Stainless steel industrial jewelry speaks of sensibility and practicality.

It’s amazing what you can learn from people when you take the time to talk to them!

So the next time you see someone with an industrial piercing, or anything that may be a little different than the norm, be careful not to pre-judge.

For a healthy, happy life and a great source of energy, banana potassium is very important. Bananas are great tropical fruit that has a great source of minerals, vitamin, and protein. It has the capacity of preventing and healing various infections and diseases. It can act as a great diet food due to the calorie content. It can also satisfy people who love sweet products due to the glucose contents.

It is very essential to have a banana as a daily fruit in your diet. Among many fruits, banana is also important as it has a lot of potassium. Potassium is an element which is essential for keeping the blood pressure normal. It also helps in proper functioning of the heart.

Research has found an average banana has an amount of potassium varying from 450 milligrams to 467 milligrams. It has only one milligram of sodium. Apart from bananas, potassium is also present in milk, meats, vegetables and fruits. If you have one banana per day, then you are preventing yourself from atherosclerosis and also from high blood pressure.

A research done on more than 40,000 American men for more than four years showed how a proper diet affects blood pressure. It was found that people who had diet of foods that were high in cereal fiber, magnesium, and rich in potassium had a much less chance of stroke.

The ‘Archives of Internal Medicine’ has points to prove that people who eat foods high in potassium and fiber like bananas, have a much less risk in developing any heart disease. The potassium-enriched fruit of banana also have the capacity of providing cardiovascular benefits.

Potassium can also increase the health of bones. Banana potassium has the capacity of counteracting the increasing loss of urinary calcium. Such loss is caused by the diets high in salt. This can lead to thinning of the bones at a very fast rate.