When starting a home based business, the first thing people want to know before they invest their time and hard earned money is “Is this a home based business that works?” With so many different home biz ops available on the net, it is hard to tell which ones work and which ones are just a waste of your time and money. In this article I’m going to talk about some things to look for in a home business opportunity to help determine whether or not it’s going to work for you.Two Things To Look For When Looking For A Home Based Business That Works1. The first thing you can look at when searching for a home based business that works is the track record and the start up cost. There are literately hundreds of new home biz opportunities popping up that are very appealing because they have some extremely low start up costs, but they are so new that there is no way of telling whether or not people are actually making money. In addition to that, how much money can you really expect to make in a business opportunity that’s only $25 to start? Chances are you won’t be able to quit your day job.It’s important that you look for an opportunity with a proven track record of people being successful. If you are looking at an opportunity where other people are having success, then the chances of that home business opportunity working for you are already pretty good.2. The second thing you should look at when searching for a home based business that works is whether or not there is a marketing system you can plug into. Out of all the reasons people fail in the home business industry, this is one of the biggest. No matter how great any home biz opp may sound, if doesn’t provide you with a proven marketing system to plug into then chances are it’s not going to work for you.Learning how to effectively market your home business and generate leads on daily basis is the biggest struggle faced by someone who is starting a home based business. Not to say that you can’t learn how to do this on your own because you can, however it will take months, or in some cases even years. If you want a home based business that works, it’s important that you choose an opportunity that is going to provide you with a complete A-Z marketing system.So if you are searching for a home based business that works, look for these two things. Of course there is no way to be 100% certain that any home business is going to work, but if it has a proven track record and provides you with a marketing system, the chances of it working are in your favor.

A legal hold, also referred to as a hold, preservation order, suspension order, freeze notice, hold order, or hold notice, is a notice or communication issued to an organization to preserve all forms of relevant information, as a result of a reasonably anticipated investigations, audit, or lawsuit. A legal hold therefore suspends the normal disposition or processing of records.

The purpose of a legal hold is to prevent spoliation or the loss of information that maybe related or relevant to the anticipated legal proceeding.

Legal Hold and eDiscovery

With today’s technology, organizations use digital data in day to day operations. Though this may seem to be an advantage in doing tasks and in increasing productivity, the reliance on using digital data has caused a rapid growth in electronically stored information (ESI). This has lead to recent amendments in the United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ordering the inclusion of digital data in a legal hold (eDiscovery). The information to be preserved during a legal hold therefore is not only limited to documents in paper form, but also to electronically stored information- from word documents, excel files, email exchanges to images, audio files, website logs, etc.

More and more businesses have started to pay attention to eDiscovery as litigations that required eDiscovery of files have cost industry giants millions of dollars in fines. In the famous Zubulake v. UBS Warburg case, Judge Scheindlin awarded a total of $29M to Laura Zubulake who accused her former employer UBS Warburg, one of the big names in financial firms, for gender discrimination and illegal retaliation. Despite court orders that were issued to preserve all relevant information, it was found out that the employer had willfully deleted relevant emails. The court has also noted that UBS Warburg’s legal counsel was partly responsible for the document destruction because it had failed to locate, preserve, and to timely produce relevant information. Merck & Co., Inc, a pharmaceutical conglomerate, lost $253M in a lawsuit filed by the family of Robert Ernst, a marathon runner who’s cause of death was associated with the long term effects of using Vioxx, a pain reliever manufactured by Merck. The plaintiff’s legal counsel argued that Merck rushed Vioxx to market without proper safety testing to compete with Pfizer Inc.’s Celebrex, then played down potential heart risks. Discovered emails sent by Merck’s chief scientist questioning the efficacy of Vioxx contributed to the outcome of the case. Morgan Stanley, another financial giant, was ordered to pay billionaire financier Ron Perelman more than $1.4B after losing to a case related to Perelman’s 1998 sale of his Coleman camping gear company to Sunbeam. A big factor in the outcome of the case was the inability to produce requested information due to a badly performed eDiscovery.

The Legal Hold Process

A legal hold process is composed of three main requirements.

Hold notification. Once an organization learns that a pending or reasonably anticipated litigation exists, it are obliged to preserve all relevant information. An organization should notify employees of the need to preserve relevant information and should also have a written policy with regards to the legal hold process. Determining the relevance of information to be preserved partly lies with the ability of an organization’s legal counsel and its existing document retention policies.

Segregated repository for ESI. Due to the significant risks associated with deleting, losing, or not having access to electronically stored information, a segregated repository should be utilized to handle ESI.

Ongoing preservation obligation. Once litigation notice is served, all future relevant electronic communication should also be preserved as a part of the legal hold.

Chapter 15 of Information Nation Warrior: Information Management Compliance Boot Camp (Randolph A. Kahn, ESQ and Barclay T. Blair) discusses what organizations should include in developing a Legal Hold process: A policy specifically for the legal department to provide a Legal Hold notice to the rest of the organizations’ employees, an outline and updated training program for employee responsibilities and preservation procedures, a standardized method for providing the Legal Hold notice to employees, a statement from organization leader or training manuals that emphasizes the organization’s commitment to records and information management compliance, and to make sure that employees are following these policies.

Small Business Survival: Wage War on the Competition with New Marketing Ideas

In these difficult economic times, small businesses are closing their doors everyday. But there are a wealth of low-cost or free marketing possibilities still available to aid small business owners.

The low-price offers of big retailers like Target and Walmart on items from clothing to electronics in an effort to dominate the market has forced countless small local retailers to shut down. When small businesses lose the competitive battle against these massive companies, hard-working entrepreneurs lose their shirts and irreplaceable establishments are lost by local communities. I live in a remote community of 10,000 people and I have certainly experienced this. It has been a terrible blow to watch people I know suffer. Our community has lost many businesses near-and-dear to our hearts and we are left with few shopping options.

So, how is a small business to make its mark n these difficult times?

Business owners who run a physical business location are fighting an uphill battle, particularly if they offer anything which is sold by corporate giants. To carve out their own niche in the marketplace, they need to be well-versed in their product or service, endeavor to be unique in their approach while delivering the finest customer service to attract and retain customers. Certainly a massive undertaking, but one that will pay off.

Determine what your large competitors don’t offer: that’s where you, as the small business entrepreneur, can find your niche, or your targeted segment of the marketplace.

1. It is clear when visiting chain stores that they do not place value on customer service.
2. Every location looks the same.
3. If they don’t carry what you want, there is nothing they can or will do to help you.

Find a better way to serve the market in at least 2 and possibly 3 of these ares.

1. Provide the FINEST service possible to your customers. Always keep an employee available in the store or at the register to answer questions. Hire friendly and courteous people to answer incoming calls. Try your best to learn the names of your frequent customers and address them by their name. That’s a great way to endear yourself and your business to your customers and will encourage shopper loyalty!

2. Make your location a destination-a pleasant place to visit. Paint a mural inside. Provide free water and cups. If you are in the food business, hand out samples. Isn’t it fun to visit Trader Joes to taste the new food they are sampling each day? Setup a comfortable sitting area for people to relax who have come along with their friends to the store. Set aside a little area of the sales floor for a kids corner with toys and possibly a TV or DVD playing. If your customers’ children are being entertained, they will spend more time at the store and visit your business more often. I personally have chosen to shop at a specific store because my children enjoyed coming and I could look forward to a half hour of uninterrupted alone time to concentrate on what I wanted to buy!

3. You are hopefully in the business you are in because you are excited about your product or service and interested in helping others learn more about it. Make yourself available to your customers. Give them tips and suggestions. Display signs that say “if you can’t find what you need, let us know and we’ll order it for you.” Now there is something Walmart and Target can’t provide. A personal touch.

How Google & The Web Can Expand Your Reach

1. Google is pulling out all the stops to entice small local establishments to develop an internet presence. Sign up to be listed on the Google Local service. If you serve a very specific market niche, your website can jump to the top of the search page for Your Town and your exact product or service. Just this easy-to-execute, low-cost marketing strategy can attract plenty of new shoppers.

2. For a minimal cost, get listed on local directories and your city’s Chamber of Commerce website.

3. Try getting connected to Angie’s List.

4. Make sure your business is listed on Yelp with stellar reviews! Yelp has a great reputation among consumers and is a trusted source for finding local business options. Place a link to your website on Yelp and provide directions so those searching on Yelp can find your location. Ask your loyal customers to write a glowing review for your business. You can even create a promotion or coupon that you email to customers when they write a Yelp review for you.

5. Setting up a website and keeping it updated is not hard to do or cost-prohibitive. These days, a professional-looking WordPress page can be created in just a few hours. The only expenses include monthly hosting fees and purchasing a domain name. You can use GoDaddy or NameCheap for these services.

6. Once you have your domain and site setup, another way to generate income is through affiliate marketing and adding Google AdWords to your site.

7. Your company can build an email list by placing an opt-in box on your site. Use the email list to send promotions, special offers and coupons to your customers. This will promote good will and increase customer loyalty.

8. Get online visitors, or traffic. To establish a stronghold on the top of the search engines, you need to get a high-ranking and then stay highly ranked so online surfers will come across your website when searching for your particular niche. Some of the factors for staying at the top of Google and other search engines include: the online age of the site, the total backlinks to your site, the price and relevance of your offerings and how often you update the site’s content.

A small business website needs to pride itself in top-notch customer service and relevant and up-to-date information. A successful business website must position itself as a unique brand online similar to a local business. The common thread in the above marketing ideas for small business is that they all promote what is known as attraction marketing.