I’ve enjoyed many of the recordings of Chinese classical music I’ve been able to hear.

This one is no exception, but is not at the top of the list either.

The basic concept was to center this collection around the theme of bamboo. The title is not meant just as a poetic image, but to really describe the contents.

All the tracks are related to bamboo, from “Heart Touching Sound of Bamboo” to “Bamboo Singing in the Moonlight.”

Also, the wind instruments used are made of bamboo, and there are ten kinds used here: di, xiao, sheng, Chinese panpipes, guan-zi, ba-wu, kou-xian, lu-sheng, bamboo leaf and hu-lu-si. Some of these are traditionally Chinese and others come from other ethnic groups.

The two most common are the Chinese bamboo flutes, the di and xiao.

The di is very common and popular in Chinese music. It resembles a flute. It comes in two common varieties: the bang-di which is soothing and soft and the qu-di which has a strong, high-pitched sound.

The xiao (or dong-xiao) is usually made of purple bamboo, yellow withered bamboo or white bamboo. Its sound is soft and pitched low, and it’s commonly used in concerts.

The sheng is very old, dating back to the early years of Chinese civilization. It’s basically a collection of bamboo flutes of different lengths bound together.

Bamboo is closely related to music in Chinese. They use the phrase “si zhu” — silk and bamboo — to refer to music and musical instruments.

It’d be interesting to know when this music was produced. The small pamphlet included with the CD is little help. One of the producers is old enough to have graduated from college in 1962. Then he went to study music at Fujiang’s College of Art – and there his bio stops. During the Cultural Revolution did he spend ten years on a pig farm learning from the peasants? Is this music officially sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party as it was during Mao’s lifetime? We’re not told.

The other producer, however, is listed as having some credits connected to Buddhism, so that implies this is a post-Mao product (though the current regime is not friendly toward any religion).

The flaw in this collection is that all the tracks are aiming at producing a mood reflecting the peace and quiet of a bamboo grove. They are slow and sedate. Beautiful in themselves, taken by one by one, but after a while you start to crave some variety, some contrast.

This is a good CD to play when you just want to lie down and space out. It’s not going to make you start dancing, but it’s more compelling than the usual New Age stuff people buy.

Prepare to be soothed if not particularly entertained.

Many insurance agencies have not yet formalized their lead scoring system. This is a worthwhile endeavor for all agencies, and one which should be revisited every year, while tracking the return on investment of their marketing programs.

What is lead scoring? It is a methodology used to rank prospects against a scale, and then assign a value to determine interest level and distribution. For example, let’s say a trucking insurance lead appointment arrives at your agency. This lead is with an owner of 15 power units, they use company drivers, and they are unhappy with their carrier. Perhaps your lead scoring system falls on a 1 to 10 scale, and this lead is scored an 8. What might receive a higher score? And what types of leads are outside of profile, and what score would they receive? Perhaps prospects need to score an 8 to appear on your producer scorecards.

Is the lead distributed to producers by territory? Does your lead handling process vary by type of lead, product or prospect? For example, are commercial leads separated by large and small business, by industry or product? Are benefit leads parsed by groups over and under 50? And does your agency have a tracking system in place to determine how many leads showed for the appointment, moved into the pipeline, received quotes and ultimately convert into new business?

Salespeople, sales managers, producers and other business people often refer to prospects in vague terms such as: new, warm, hot, cold, likely, qualified, etc. These terms do little to better understand a sales pipeline or convey likelihood of purchase to other members of the team. Agencies can consider creating a simple prospect scorecard to resolve this issue and quantify their lead scoring. Formalizing lead scoring offers benefits such as:

Helps Producers create ideal attributes to form a buyer persona
Creates a simple numeric system to leverage your buyer persona
Assigns numeric values to rank your best prospects
Creates a simple qualification acronym to determine likelihood to close

What should be included in a prospect scorecard?

Use a prospect scorecard to quantify your approach to pipeline building. Some attributes of your ideal client might include revenue, growth rate, client type (business or consumer) and market niche. For example, are you targeting companies with $5m to $10m in revenue? Are your best prospects fast-growing firms, trucking companies, manufacturers or consumers?

If you’re selling to consumers, are they high net worth, middle-income, millennials or senior citizens? Are your prospects in a specific niche market such as banking, insurance, biotech, consulting, education, etc.? Create a scorecard with your ideal attributes and a customized qualification abbreviation to help you determine if you’re selling to an in-profile prospect.

Insurance agencies and brokers seeking to get to the next level with their insurance marketing and lead generation, but lacking the internal resources to achieve their marketing goals, can reach out to a proficient insurance agency marketing firm.

Start A Home Business And Get In The Black The Next Day

This is that wonderful time of year when the frost starts to thaw, flowers begin to bloom and everyone is either doing their taxes, finishing them,or fretting about said taxes. And possibly contemplating a revolution.

It’s no secret that in today’s economy, countless numbers of people are tying t find ways to make more money and quickly. The best way to make money fast is by starting a home based business; therefore it might come as a shock to some when I say it is possible to profit immediately when you start a home based business simply by applying some techniques to shield more of your hard-earned income from taxes instead keep it in your pockets.

However, I was taken aback at how many people who start a home based business don’t take full advantage of the assets that this sort of opportunity presents. In fact, the minute you start a home based business opportunity, you become privy to a number of benefits you didn’t have available before. Even if you’re not making any money in your business, if you apply proper techniques available to a business owner, you will be saving money you otherwise would parted with to Uncle Sam. ( Or whatever uncle is in charge of your respective government. )

But maybe not as many

Now when you elect to start a home based business there are of course some elements you need to examine first:

The type of business: is it something you can succeed in, and believe you can enjoy?
What kinds of new skills will you need to develop for this business, and will you have either someone or a quality system to help you develop those skills necessary to thrive?
What is the leadership like of the home based business opportunity you decide to join? What is their reputation?
Research the history of the company and whether other people are finding success with whatever system or endeavor you decide to explore. There are an incredible number of “programs” on the internet that promise one they can work 15 minutes a day and bank huge amounts for doing nothing. Be careful when you come across these types of opportunities because the majority are affiliate products designed to make money for the person marketing the program, not necessarily for the buyer. Some of them may work, when it comes time for you to start a home based business you just need to do your due diligence.
A quick note for when you’re doing your research about starting a home based business: when you research a business and find the word “scam” frequently appear in the search engines, don’t let this immediately deter you: continue to do your due diligence and explore why exactly someone is saying that opportunity is a “scam”. the reason is many marketers target other businesses, hoping to leach traffic off one opportunity onto their own by catching people’s attention who don’t know better. In the old days, one could trust what they found on the internet; you have to be much more careful now. Measure once, cut twice, that is the carpenter’s rule of thumb and one you should heed when you decide to start a home based business. You want to be able to enter with confidence and excitement.

One caveat before I proceed: everything that follows is simply a suggestion and I highly suggest you stay within your limits and do not exaggerate any of your tax deductions. The IRS is hurting right now just as many citizens are- and would just love for you to finagle with your taxes and invite an audit. ( In fact, there is an entire departments of the IRS that have been mobilized over the last couple of years simply to pore over older tax records in the hope of finding past discrepancies that they can then fine someone for.) So don’t invite the wolf in and you should be fine.

He’ll come and knock on your door…

Start a Home Based Business and Profit Immediately

Some of the items you can profit from once you start a home based business:

Office rent-This is one everyone should know and use but I’m including it because like I mentioned before, a lot of people overlook these benefits. Even if you’re using a spare bedroom, you can take your office space and ( the size of the bedroom or a percentage of your house-don’t go overboard with this and claim like ” All of my house is an office because I work in every part of it!” or anything, this won’t fly with the IRS. There are ways to use tax laws to your advantage but not abuse them. )Typically you can deduct somewhere around $1.75 per square foot, so if you have an office that is only 120 square feet, you can deduct around $210. But that’s every month.

Computer-You are allowed to write off around $25,000 annually for equipment and business assets, so a new computer, printer, fax, modem, etc. all fit into this category.

Health Insurance- medical, dental, and even disability. Smart.

Start-Up Expenses and Marketing- business cards, the expenses of joining, and if you enter into network marketing,( one of the best forms of home based business) you can even deduct the PRODUCT as well.

Meals-you have to eat right? And sometimes have business lunches. A word of caution with this one: don’t overuse it by claiming an inordinate amount of meals eaten were business related. When traveling one can only write off 50 % of meal costs as well.

Telephone- this is only related to a separate business line, not your regular home phone; but you can write that second line off, along with internet too.

Auto -It is important to keep good records with this one, but when you start a home based business you are allowed an monthly auto allowance according to how many miles each month the car is driven. Right now I believe it is allowable to around 50 cents/mile currently for all miles you’ve used that go toward business purposes. It is up to you to determine exactly what those are, -but can include meetings, meals, and…

Travel- one can deduct half their meals, plus lodging and transportation. Foreign travel is a bit different, but basically is three quarters of the trip is spent on business, you are good to go.

Subscriptions-these of course have to be related to your type of business- magazines, business clubs, and even college courses can be deductible if they fit the right description, meaning they can further your business.

Retirement plans-This one could be an article unto itself, so perhaps it is best saved for another time. But basically refers to setting up and contributing to a tax beneficial 401k or IRA.

Other benefits include a cafeteria plan, dependent care, and if you elect to start a corporation ( which you can do for less than 500 bucks and as little as 145) you can also get a lower tax rate for your business and the income you generate through it. )

So the lower tax rate and many of the other benefits one can apply from the moment they start a home business even part time are obviously a huge boon. If your business is more mature, you may want to look into an S or LLC. It’s wise to consult with someone that knows your situation for any final decision, because ultimately you want your corporation to work for you.

Start A Home Business And Never Lose.

Starting a successful home venture consists of 2 aspects, and while you can find plenty more on my site about the various ways to achieve this- they are…

1) Cash flow

2) Leads- which are basically people interested in your business, no matter what your particular business consists of.