Top Biz Journal

Did you know that it is possible that your dentist could diagnose a condition known as sleep apnea? You wouldn’t think that a dentist would be asking questions about a condition related to your ability to breathe at night during your sleep. However, sleep apnea commonly goes hand in hand with bruxism. Bruxism is a fancy word for a condition related to grinding your teeth. If your dentist notices that you are grinding your teeth and is aware of the link between bruxism and sleep apnea then he or she may refer you to another specialist to determine if sleep apnea is the cause of your dental problems.

Research indicates that the leading cause of teeth grinding at night is sleep apnea. Research further indicates that treatment for sleep apnea will result in a reduction or elimination of the problems specific to grinding your teeth. This means that if you get a sleep apnea mask or a CPAP machine to treat your underlying condition then you will stop grinding your teeth at night. There are other treatments for teeth grinding (such as wearing a night guard on your teeth) but treating the condition that causes it is the preferred method for eradicating the problem.

Technorati Tags: cpap, sleep apnea mask

Christmas is coming up, and many of us are feeling the pinch of the economy. I know several people who are trying to make money on the side to make the holidays a little more comfortable.

One pretty common way is by buying and selling things such as collectibles and antiques. My mom and I collect books and dolls, and both of us are selling some of the ones we don’t want anymore. Selling gold jewelry for cash is also a possibility — you can often find great pieces at garage sales, thrift stores, and on Craigslist, which you can then resell for a profit on eBay or as scrap gold.

Cleaning and chores are always a good way to make money. For instance, you might offer to shovel your neighbors’ walks for them, or you could take on some house cleaning. Another way you could make money is to babysit, especially as holiday plans keep parents busy. Dog sitting and dog walking are other possibilities. Think of what skills you have and what you could offer to do for other people — there are plenty of tasks that folks don’t like to do, especially when they get busy around the holidays.

Writing is another good way to earn some extra money. If you have skill or training as a writer, you may be able to find some freelance work that will give you a nice income just in time for the holidays. Likewise, if you are a talented amateur photographer, you could offer to do holiday family photos for friends or neighbors — for a small fee, of course.

What other small business ideas can you think of to raise some money this holiday season?

Technorati Tags: dog walking, sell gold jewelry, selling gold jewelry for cash

When you are in the business of offering the same services as five other firms in your small town, you need to take steps to differentiate yourself from your competition.  This is exactly what we did just five short years ago when we started to sell hearing aids in our store.

We started out offering just one brand, Siemens, and the response was very positive.  In fact, sales were up almost 50% the first year and have continued to increase year after year.  It also meant that we created a new job in the community (a hearing specialist) which has made life easier for many of the older residents in town who previously had to drive over an hour to get the same services we offer.

But all good things come to an end and we are no longer the only provider of hearing aids in the community.  In fact, two of our competitors have taken it upon themselves to carry the same models that we carry and they are charging slightly less than we are.

Instead of being afraid of the competition, it has given us the chance to reflect on our own services and find better ways to serve our customers.  So, we are bringing in another five brands of hearing aids to offer our clients a greater selection and I have a hunch that the response will be very positive – I’ll report back with the findings at a later date.

Technorati Tags: Micro Tech, Siemens

One of the most frustrating things that I find with television is that when you want to watch something, usually there is nothing on.  So, you end up changing channels repeatedly until you can find something that you are interested in.  That is exactly what has happened to me tonight.

After watching a program about the possible HGH side effects (which I found very interesting), I really didn’t feel like going to bed.  Seriously, it was only 9 PM and it was just way too early to go to bed – so I needed to find something, or anything to watch.

After nearly twenty flips (I was just about at the point where I was going to get carpal tunnel), I stumbled across a station playing a show called One Tree Hill.  It grabbed my attention, and I really wanted to see what all the hype was about (since a large number of my friends watched the show), and I waited to see what was going to happen.

That was 15 minutes ago.

Needless to say, I think I have found a new show to watch.  Sure, it is in its seventh season, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t buy the boxed sets and watch it from the beginning.  Thankfully tonight’s channel flipping resulted in something good and not a waste of time.

Technorati Tags: HGH side effects

There was a shocking story published online at NY MAG earlier this month. The story was about the way that the economy has affected the people of Greenwich, Connecticut. According to the story, this cute little suburb has seen an increase in the types of social problems that normally affect low-income areas. Unemployment and crime are running rampant is this formerly nice place. The city’s even developed a problem with bugs this year. But the roaches aren’t the worst of the story.

Apparently, the people of Greenwich are trying to find a way to offset the problems caused by the economy’s decline. One popular solution has been for many of these people to dress up in their best clothes and then head to the highway to sell gold jewelry for cash. That’s right; they’re trying to sell gold jewelry to appraisers that are parked at the local hotels just off of the highway. This isn’t the classiest way to sell your gold nor is it the best way to make real money off of your gold jewelry. Haven’t these folks ever heard of the easy and profitable method of selling your gold online?!

At least they’re making an effort to make some cash in these tough times instead of giving in to their financial troubles. You do have to give them some credit for that.

Technorati Tags: sell gold jewelry, sell gold jewelry for cash

Is your business wheelchair accessible? If not, you may be in violation of the law.

Basically, any business where customers come to you, such as a brick-and-mortar store, needs to be set up so that handicapped people in wheelchairs can enter and get around inside. If you have an office for an ecommerce business, though, this law doesn’t apply to you — only if your business requires that customers to come to you.

So what types of things do you need to do? Well, for one thing, you need to be sure that you provide designated handicapped parking spaces near the entrance to your building. Handicapped parking spaces need to have enough clearance on either side so that wheel chair lifts can operate.

Also, you will need to ensure that wheelchairs can get into your building. This means that if you have sidewalks with curbs, or stairs that go up to the door, you’ll need to install ramps with gradual inclines so that someone can wheel their wheelchair up to the door.

It also means that inside, there needs to be enough clearance for a wheelchair to navigate. This means plenty of clearance between pieces of furniture, wide aisles, etc.

Finally, don’t forget about the restrooms — you will need to ensure that you provide sinks and hand dryers that are low enough for someone in a wheelchair to reach, and you’ll need to be sure at least one stall is wheelchair accessible.

It is important to be sure that your business meets these requirements, otherwise you could be fined!

Technorati Tags: stairlifts, wheel chair lifts, wheelchair accessible

You can improve your business by doing more advertising and marketing. One of the best investments into marketing for many businesses is the investment in mailing lists. Mailing lists allow you to target the types of people who will be likely to respond to your marketing efforts. This means that mailing lists provide a good return for the money that you spend to do the marketing.

Before you buy mailing lists, you really need to think about the type of mailing lists that you want to buy. There are many specialty and niche mailing lists. The trick is to purchase those that are going to be best-suited to what your business needs. To do this, you need to think about your customer demographics.

Who are the people who spend the most money with your business? Let’s say that you’re a portrait photographer. You probably make a lot of money off of photographing weddings or high school senior portraits. You would want to buy specialty mailing lists that target these types of people (either brides-to-be or families with high school age students). By choosing the right mailing lists, you’ll increase the success of your direct marketing. The more effective your marketing campaign, the better it was to spend your money on it in the first place.

Technorati Tags: buy mailing lists, customer demographics

Most of us are destined to reach only a certain height. I’m not talking figuratively; I’m talking about the literal height to which we grow. This is determined by genetics. However, there are things that parents can do to make sure that their children grow as tall as they possibly can.

Some of the things that you can do to make sure your children grow to their full height include:

• Provide adequate nutrition. Speak with your child’s pediatrician early on about the right nutrition for your kid. Good nutrition is going to keep your child healthy and help him to grow to his tallest height.
• Set and enforce bedtimes. Children’s bodies need to produce human growth hormone. This happens best during sleep. Make sure your kids get enough rest so they can grow tall.
• Exercise. Kids need to rest at night but they need to be active during the day. They should get a lot of exercise. This includes stretching and jumping exercises which keep the child limber and help him to grow as tall as possible.

These tips are for healthy kids. If your child has a condition which is keeping him short then additional measures may need to be taken. (For example, hgh supplements may be necessary.) Make sure your child’s pediatrician monitors all of his growth.

Technorati Tags: hgh supplements, human growth hormone

My sister is a great listener. She is the kind of person that you can call at any hour of the day or night because she’ll be there to hear whatever you have to say. She’ll ask all of the right questions, remain engaged and never judge what you say. It’s a great trait and one that I’ve often envied since I’m a much better talker than I am a listener. But I’ve also seen how she can take the art of listening just a little bit too far. She gets overshadowed a lot by other people because she never speaks up. People know that she’s a great listener but that’s the only thing that they know about her.

I noticed this at a party that we went to a few months back. She got cornered by some guy who worked at a document imaging service. He was going on and on about his work and my sister was nodding politely. When I approached, he was droning on about how he doesn’t like his company’s networked scanning system providers. There’s nothing wrong with this except that my sister wasn’t interested in it. And more importantly, there were a bunch of artists and creative types at the party that she was interested in meeting. I rescued her and made the introductions and she had a much better time. I hope she learns to speak up a little bit more for herself in the years to come.

Technorati Tags: document imaging service, networked scanning system providers

One of my fondest memories of being a Boy Scout was that we went on a number of field trips.  Some of these were to regular places where anyone can visit such as museums, nature trails and campsites.  But there were also some trips that we were able to go where you needed special privileges to visit, such as the tour that we had of the inside of a dam.  I vowed that I would give the kids I lead the same opportunities some day when I was a leader too.

That day has finally come, and I am enjoying my first year as a Boy Scout leader.  I really have wanted to give the youth the same memories that I had as a child, so we have been trying to line up some tours for them.

So far, the only company to respond has been Actuality Films, and we are going to get the opportunity to try our hands at being a film and video cameraman for the day while we create our own short feature film.  We will be doing this just two weeks from now and it promises to be a fun trip.

We are also planning the camping trips that we will be taking this year, and we should have that finalized soon.  It looks like this year should be full of adventure – I just hope that it is as good as I remember.

Technorati Tags: Actuality Films, film and video cameraman