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| Sunday, 15-Jan-2012 03:31 |
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Tips For Inflatables Business
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There are all sorts of tips that you'll read online about how to make sure that your inflatables company is profitable. You'll find tips on advertising, tips on how to purchase the perfect inflatable jumper , and even tips on how much you should charge. But none of these tips will help you to make your company more profitable if you don't have a good understanding of what customer service is and how to do it properly. Now Y&G gives you some tips help your business.
Customer Service
Customer service, on paper, sounds simple. It's just the act of making sure that all of the clients that you're dealing with are given service that exceeds their expectations from the start of your business together to the end of your business, and even beyond. While it's simple to say “I'm going to give my customers great customer service”, it's a great deal more difficult to put into action, especially if you've never had to deal with customer service before and haven't had the opportunity to build up the proper skills.
When you own an inflatable jumpers business, the inflatable jumpers that you rent out, and the cost to rent them, is only about 50% of your business. The other 50% comes from you. No customer is going to rent inflatable jumpers from you if they find that you're rude and uncooperative. What they want is to be treated the way that any client should expect to be treated - with respect and care.
Difficult Customers
So what do you do when you're working with difficult customers? Unfortunately every business owner will, at one point in time or another, have to deal with a difficult client or two. How do you handle these customers? First it's always best to let them get out what they have to say. Don't try to cut them off, and listen to everything that they're saying. Many times if you simply let a client vent their frustrations out on you, they'll wind up being in a much more reasonable frame of mind. Always listen to your customers and then, once they've vented, ask them what they would like you to do to help fix whatever the issue is. Many times you can reach a compromise much easier than you may believe.
Remember: customer service isn't something that you should do, it's something that you have to do if you want to make sure that your inflatable jumpers business is one that succeeds.
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| Tuesday, 9-Nov-2010 02:18 |
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Pearl Jewelry - The Story of Pearl Hunters
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As long as pearl jewelry have been known to people, they have been a highly sought commodity for their beauty. It's only in recent times however that the industry has taken the hunt for the perfect pearl to a whole different level. Today, the shiny orbs that we see on in display in jewelry stores have actually almost always been grown in farms.
That's a far cry from the dangerous extraction and collection methods used before the invention of modern technology. In the past, not more than 100 years ago, the only way to retrieve pearls was by diving in lakes, floods and the ocean to pick them up, one at the time. The unfortunate divers who'se job it was to do this, were often poor and lured by the relative large sums they could get. The diver would sometimes have to dive as deep as 100 feet on one single breath of air. In order to preserve air and to stay submerged the longest, the divers would hold on to heavy stones on the way down.
Naturally, this dangerous activity was reserved for the desperate or the powerless - in many cases slaves or extremely poor peasents. Today, this method is all but obsolete in most places of the world. The cheaper cultured pearls have become popular and are many times the only pearls available to the consumer.
There are however still a few isolated areas that practice this old art of pearl diving. Some of the finest natural pearl speciments come from the gulf of Bahrain. Here, divers still risk their health to retrieve what are considered the top of the crop in the world. In fact, Bahrain wants no part of the sale of cultured pearls, banned from trade. Bahrain is one of the few places on earth that does an active job in trying to preserve the natural habitat and waters from pollution.
It's an interesting story and one that continues to fascinate buyers around the world. Somehow, the beauty of the pearl grows when it's been retrieved from the depth of the ocean.
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| Tuesday, 9-Nov-2010 02:14 |
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Buying Pearl Jewelry Without Being Ripped Off
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Buying pearl jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether you're considering a gift of pearl jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn the terms used in the industry. Here's some information to help you get the best quality pearl jewelry for your money, whether you're shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.
Pearls
Natural or real pearls are made by oysters and other mollusks. Cultured pearls also are grown by mollusks, but with human intervention; that is, an irritant introduced into the shells causes a pearl to grow. Imitation pearls are man-made with glass, plastic, or organic materials.
Because natural pearls are very rare, most pearls used in jewelry are either cultured or imitation pearls. Cultured pearls, because they are made by oysters or mollusks, usually are more expensive than imitation pears. A cultured pearl's value is largely based on its size, usually stated in millimeters, and the quality of its nacre coating, which give it luster. Jewelers should tell your if the pearls are cultured or imitation. Some black, bronze, gold, purple, blue and orange pearls, whether natural or cultured, occur that way in nature; some, however, are dyed through various processes. Jewelers should tell you whether the colored pearls are naturally colored, dyed or irradiated.
Clams, oysters, mussels and many other mollusks with limy shells are known to produce pearls. But very few kinds yield gem pearls of jeweler's quality. The pearl is an abnormal growth of mother-of-pearl, or nacre, imbedded in the soft bodies of these shellfish. It is built up, layer upon layer, in the same way as nacre is added to the lining of the growing shell and always has the same color and luster. For example, over the country, hundreds of good-sized pearls are found each year in the oysters we eat. Unfortunately these have no commercial value regardless of whether they have been cooked or not because they are dull opaque white or purple like the shell of the parent oyster. In recent times almost all pearls of gem quality come from the oriental pearl oyster which has a bright shimmering translucent nacre.
A pearl starts growing when some irritating foreign substance such as a sand grain, bit of mud, parasite or other object becomes lodged in the shell-producing gland called the mantle. Pearls formed in the soft flesh where nacre can be added on all sides are most likely to be spherical and the most highly prized. By far the great majority are flattened or variously distorted and have little value. Size, color, luster and freedom from flaws are other essential qualities. Unlike other gems, such as diamonds, pearls have an average life of only about 50 years. In time the small amount of water in a pearl's make-up is lost and its surface cracks. Because they are mostly lime, necklaces which are worn often are injured by the acid secretions of the human skin.
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| Tuesday, 10-Nov-2009 08:45 |
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There is no question more
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Monday's deadly crashes involving US helicopters in Afghanistan highlight the extent to which American forces depend on helicopters for travel throughout that vast, mountainous country.
Depending on the model, US copters are flying in Afghanistan and Iraq three to five times more than they would in pearl jewelry peacetime. That may be indicative of how hard American units are using all their large pieces of equipment, from cargo aircraft to armored mine-resistant vehicles.
"We're flying the rotors off helicopters in Afghanistan," says Stephen Biddle, senior fellow for defense policy at the pearl jewelry Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington.
Helicopter crashes killed 14 US personnel on Monday, making it the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan in more than four years.
In the country's west, a US helicopter went down after leaving the scene of a firefight, killing seven troops and three Drug Enforcement Administration agents.
The personnel had been involved in an antinarcotics operation, according to a military spokesman, who added that hostile action was not the likely cause of the crash, as the helicopter was not taking fire when it took off.
Separately, two US Marine helicopters collided in flight over the southern province of Helmand, killing four American troops and wounding two more.
Helicopters are at a premium in biwa pearl today's wars, according to US officials. Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, American copters have flown more than 3 million flight hours, pointed out Lt. Gen. Stephen M. Speakes, deputy chief of staff of the Army, in an appearance before the biwa pearl House Armed Services Committee earlier this year.
Yet mission-capable rates for Army aircraft have met or exceeded their 75 percent standard, said Speakes.
Given the heavy usage, the Pentagon budget for 2010 has penciled in a $500 million increase to field and sustain more helicopters. Budget documents call the increase necessary because copters are "a capability that is in urgent demand in Afghanistan."
The focus of any new resources would be in recruiting and training more Army helicopter crews, according to the budget documents, "because the principal limitation on helicopter capacity is a shortage in maintenance crews and pilots rather than a lack of airframes."
The trouble with helicopters is that they are a scarce resource that is in demand everywhere, says Mr. Biddle of akoya pearl CFR.
There is no question more of them would be useful in Afghanistan. But other sorts of military resources, such as more ground troops, might be useful, as well. Given limited manpower, it is a akoya pearl difficult trade-off to set priorities.
Blizzards, high winds, and the high altitudes of Afghanistan have all played havoc with helicopter equipment. But in some ways, US helicopter flight perhaps has been easier than commanders expected.
That is because the military threat to the helicopters has been "relatively modest," Biddle says.
When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, they were bedeviled by hand-held US Stinger antiaircraft missiles fired by the Afghan mujahideen. Today, the Taliban do not appear to have a similar ground-to-air capability.
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| Tuesday, 10-Nov-2009 08:39 |
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"The view of the department
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Two weeks ago, the new vice chancellor of the University of Free State called for the school to reinstate four white students who were kicked out after making a racist video in which they forced black staffers to
pearl jewelry eat food that was apparently laced with urine. Criminal charges against the pearl jewelry four students remain, but Vice Chancellor Jonathan Jansen – himself a black South African – said that the University of Free State as an institution was as much to blame for these students' behavior as the individual students were themselves, and needed to transform itself into an institution that encouraged understanding.
"To dismiss the video as a product of four bad apples is too easy an explanation. This video-recording was preceded by a long series of racial incidents protesting racial integration, especially in the residences of the university," Professor Jansen said in a speech at the University of Free State in Bloemfontein. (See full speech here.) "I have spent many nights in tears regretting what we – yes, we – did to the five black workers of the University of Free State. This institution begs your forgiveness."
Many white South Africans welcomed Mr. Jansen's speech as a sign of reconciliation, in the mold of Nobel peace prize laureates President Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu. Many blacks – and much of the leadership of the ruling African National Congress party – attacked the speech as naive and not tough enough on the racism that persists even 15 years after the biwa pearl fall of the white-dominated apartheid government. All of this raises troubling questions about how much has actually changed in racial attitudes in South Africa, and what it will take to bring both reconciliation and social change to segments of society that, seemingly, are not quite ready to change.
Pressure for vice chancellor
"It's quite possible that [Jansen] needed a tradeoff, since he is a black vice chancellor operating in a racist environment," says Aubrey Matshiqi, a political analyst at the Center for Policy Studies in Johannesburg. "He has to give the environment something so that the environment will give him space to carry out reforms."
"But I'm not persuaded by his logic, that the four students are products of their environment," Mr. Matshiqi adds. "If you take that logic to biwa pearl its conclusion, then there are many criminals who should not be in jail, because they are victims of their environment."
That the video taken at Reitz Men's residence caused such an uproar is not surprising. To have four relatively comfortable white college boys humiliating five black house cleaners and have it called humor served as a reminder that many white South Africans simply haven't changed their attitudes toward their black fellow citizens, who make up 80 percent of the country's population. Under apartheid, such attitudes of racial superiority were used as a justification to impose white rule on the country – and to impose it with force.
When the video first broadcast, the four university students defended their video as a form of harmless satire, and political commentary on what they saw as the forced integration of their university. But the video caused an uproar, far beyond the Free State. The five black cleaning staffers soon became causes célèbres of the vast South African underclass which has benefited little from 15 years of political freedom.
Jansen speech renews old debate
Now, Professor Jansen's speech – an attempt to akoya pearl make peace on his campus – has reignited the debate.
"The view of the department of higher education and training is that we cannot allow victims of racism to be unconditional unilateral forgivers," said Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande. "This would constitute a superficial trade off which further impugns the dignity of the victims and is akoya pearl unfortunately an apology for the perpetrators of racism."
The cleaning staffers, too, say they oppose the decision to readmit the four white men. "We are pained by the dropping of the charges," four of the five cleaning staffers said in a statement. "We are totally not satisfied by what Jansen said, because he took decisions without consulting us."
But the social transformation of South African society, from a racist white-dominated one to a racially plural and tolerant one, "is much bigger than Jansen," says Mr. Matshiqi. "It will continue as slowly as it is going now, and it will continue [to be] as difficult as it is, so I'm not concerned about what happens with Jansen or the University of Free State."
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| Tuesday, 10-Nov-2009 08:37 |
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It was news because – for those
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So, by now you know that President Obama golfed with a [GASP!] woman yesterday. We told you about it here.
But why would a golf game with Melody Barnes – his chief domestic policy advisor – be newsworthy? Was it because right before she pearl jewelry faced a pearl jewelry critical putt, he yelled out “Noonan!”
Although that would be a great news story – no.
No girls allowed
It was news because – for those of you keeping score – up until yesterday, all of his golf partners have been men. And this past week, there was also criticism that Obama only plays basketball with male counterparts. We told you about that here.
Even last March, Obama was criticized for not being an equal opportunity NCAA basketball bracket filler-outer.
Who cares? Many of you said that. One visitor yesterday commented: “How about reporting news, not things nobody cares about? Who gives a damn about who golfs with who?”
Networking
Others, however, say that it’s important for the president to be more inclusive. And the sporting events represent a chance to network with the president. Therefore, they say, it’s only fair that the president expand his chromosomal outreach.
So, at 1pm yesterday, Obama and Barnes (with two other guys filling out their foursome) played 18 holes at the biwa pearl Fort Belvoir golf course just outside of Washington, DC.
Coincidental that Barnes played yesterday? Or an attempt to get the media off of the topic? After all, it was the weekend after an NBC reporter put the president on the spot about his male-only basketball games and the New York Times ran an article on the same topic yesterday.
It was just a game
It crossed the mind of one reporter this afternoon during the press briefing on Air Force One. And, as you would expect, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the thought of biwa pearl it being anything except a golf game. Ever. Period.
Here’s the exchange:
Q Robert, what was behind the akoya pearl decision to have Melody Barnes play golf with the President yesterday? Was it in any way related to the –
MR. GIBBS: To play golf.
Q So it was not –
MR. GIBBS: And I’m told help the akoya pearl President take some money from fellow golfers.
Q So it was not a response to criticism at all of –
MR. GIBBS: No. She’s just a good golfer.
Simmer down
So there, conspiracists! Take that!
We still like the Caddyshack scenario though…
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| Tuesday, 10-Nov-2009 08:36 |
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In the Colgan crash
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A commercial airline overshoots its destination by 150 miles? Have you ever heard of such a thing? Well, yes actually.
Investigators are probing the mystery of how Northwest Airlines Flight 188 overshot Minneapolis by so far on Wednesday night. But the incident joins other recent cases that have drawn attention to pearl jewelry issues of pearl jewelry flight-crew professionalism and alertness on US airlines.
The prominent examples include:
•Last year, two pilots for "go!", a subsidiary of Mesa Airlines, fell asleep during a mid-morning flight from Honolulu to Hilo, Hawaii. Traffic controllers finally got through to the pilots, and the plane landed safely.
•Continental Connection Flight 3407, a flight operated by Colgan Air, crashed near Buffalo in February, killing 49 passengers and one person on the ground. Crew fatigue, distracting banter in the cockpit, and lack of training or experience may have played roles in the crash, along with wintry weather.
•Pinnacle Airlines Flight 4712 skidded off a runway in Traverse City, Mich., in April 2007. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the crew shouldn't have tried to land. The captain was making his fifth landing on a short airstrip that day, according to the Associated Press, and had been working for biwa pearl 14 hours in mostly bad weather.
And, according to AP, the NTSB has linked crew fatigue to at least 10 US airliner accidents (and 260 fatalities) since 1990.
For years, the Federal Aviation Administration has considered updating old rules on fatigue prevention, but efforts stalled amid differing views from constituencies such as pilots unions.
Since the Colgan Air crash, the biwa pearl FAA has tried to put the matter on a fast track, along with other safety issues such as a heightened focus on professionalism in the cockpit. But the agency's rulemaking efforts are still in process.
In the Colgan crash, and one in Lexington, Ky., crews violated "sterile cockpit" rules, requiring that officers not chit-chat during takeoffs or landings, according to recent congressional testimony by FAA administrator Randolph Babbitt.
Current rules on fatigue require that pilots not fly more than 8 hours in a day, or work more than 16 hours including time on the ground. But they don't take into account the varied experiences of pilots.
An eight hour shift on short routes might include eight takeoffs and landings, for example, a much more stressful day than piloting a cross-country flight. Similarly, some crews work late at night or have long commutes by air before going on duty.
New FAA rules, under review in draft form, are expected to akoya pearl address such issues. Fatigue issues have also surfaced as a safety concern in other transportation fields, including trucking and railroads.
The Northwest Airlines incident this week, which ended with a safe (but late) landing in Minneapolis, could bring other issues to the fore, depending on where the investigation leads.
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed an air safety bill backed by Rep. Jerry Costello (D) of Illinois. It includes provisions to establish pilot mentoring programs, boost training requirements for pilots, and create a pilot records database so airlines have access to a akoya pearl pilot's comprehensive track record.
Despite the signs that more progress is needed, the air travel industry has remained generally very safe. The fatality rate has been declining in each of the past three decades, according to the Air Transport Association.
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| Tuesday, 10-Nov-2009 08:31 |
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At the hearing last month
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This week's Northwest Airlines pilots isn't the first to overshoot its landing in the past couple of years ¨C a fact that raises a wider question for air safety: Are regulators also falling down on the job?
The Minneapolis incident comes as members of Congress have been pressing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to pearl jewelry set rules on pilot fatigue and professionalism in the cockpit.
FAA administrator Randolph Babbitt recently told lawmakers that his agency is working as fast as it can. "We just set a three-minute mile" in putting together draft regulations, he told a House subcommittee on aviation last month.
But questions about cockpit safety are recurring ones for the nation's airlines, not something fresh on the FAA radar screen.
The Minneapolis case is notable because a major carrier, not a small regional airline, is involved. And the incident has garnered national attention for its eye-popping details. Flight 188 from San Diego overshot its pearl jewelry destination by 150 miles on Wednesday night, as flight controllers tried in vain to contact the crew for more than an hour.
The plane was flying over Eau Claire, Wis., and the Air National Guard had put fighter jets on alert to possibly intercept the plane, by the time it finally turned around for a safe landing of its 144 passengers at Minneapolis, according to news reports.
"The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness," according to a statement released by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is biwa pearl investigating the incident. The plane's black box was brought to Washington Friday, but the cockpit recorder is an older model that contains only the last 30 minutes of conversation, according to reports.
Some aviation experts express doubt about the biwa pearl plausibility of the initial explanation from the flight crew. At the very least, it would be unprofessional to engage in an argument when a plane is nearing its destination. The pilots, who have been temporarily suspended, will be interviewed next week.
Whether the explanation lies in bickering, sleepy pilots, or something else, the incident has raised new concerns about professional conduct in the skies.
The incident is not an isolated case. In 2008, sleeping pilots overshot their destination on a flight from Honolulu to Hilo, Hawaii, but then landed safely. In fatal crash of a Colgan Air flight near Buffalo, N.Y., earlier this year, both fatigue and unprofessional banter in the cockpit may have played a role.
At the hearing last month on akoya pearl Capitol Hill, some lawmakers voiced frustration that new regulations are not yet in place.
"We need things to be done now," said Rep. Laura Richardson (D) of California. "We have people like myself and many people here in this room who are traveling every single day."
In the case of fatigue, virtually all parties agree that new rules are needed to bring 50-year-old regulations up to date. On the wider issue of akoya pearl professional behavior, much can be achieved through better monitoring of flight crews, mentoring programs, and enforcing existing codes of conduct. But this too may require a strong effort by the FAA, safety experts say, not just voluntary actions by the airlines.
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