Five Steps to Finding the Best Educational Consultant for Your Student

If you type the phrase “Educational Consultant” into Google, you will get over eight million results. That’s a pretty daunting place to start a search when you need to find the best individual to help your student achieve success. Whether you’re looking for a consultant to help you navigate the maze of special education requirements and Individualized Education Plans or you’re a student from another country trying to find the best college in the United States for your field of study, a good educational consultant can be the difference between success and frustration.

So, once you’ve narrowed down your selection from eight million to a few consultants that you are considering, how do you make that final decision?

Below are five things to consider when trying to find the right consultant.

Licensed Education Psychologist

A licensed educational psychologist is typically a master’s level practitioner who is licensed by the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS). This is a license that is unique to California. The requirement for an LEP is a master’s degree and proof of 3 years of working in the educational system. When you find that someone is a licensed educational psychologist, you know that they have the experience and education to handle the multitude of challenges you may be faced with during the consultation process.

Experience Working With Schools and Individuals

Working with your student’s school is a critical part of most issues that require involvement from an educational consultant. Seeing that this is such an important part of the overall process, it’s best to find a consultant who has worked in schools as a counselor or school psychologist. When you are researching or interviewing a consultant, ask them whether they have this type of experience. If they do it means that they most likely have in-depth familiarity of all steps of the process from both sides of the equation, what tests and assessments are best, what schools look for in certain situations, etc.

Experience in area of need/specialty – (admissions, IEP, Special Education, etc.)

One of the first questions you should ask a prospective consultant is: “Can you give us an overview of your experience dealing with __________________?” Then you can ask them to take through the process step-by-step so you can get an understanding of what you’re up against. This will serve two purposes: 1.) it will educate you to the process; and 2.) it will give you some insight into the consultant’s true understanding of how things will play out. If they can take you through the milestones off the top of their head without hesitation, it usually means it’s not their first rodeo.

Knowledge of Testing/Assessments

Whether you’re trying to get into a top US college or you need to find out if your student qualifies for special educational accommodations under state or Federal laws, assessments are a large part of the process. Sometimes the consultant will be administering these assessments and other times they will be reviewing the results of assessments administered by someone else. You want to make sure that your consultant knows the testing scenarios for your particular area of need backward and forward. To determine this, ask them to describe the testing procedures and briefly explain what each test is trying to determine.

Good Chemistry with Your Student

Make sure the consultant and your student have a good enough relationship to be able to make continual progress. They don’t have to be best friends, but you want to make sure the relationship is strong enough that your student will feel comfortable sharing information about their educational limitations and frustrations. Open communication with your consultant is important to a successful outcome. Ask your student what he/she thought of the consultant during the initial meeting.

There are a lot of excellent consultants available for a variety of educational challenges. The above list is by no means exhaustive, but it can help you quickly identify consultants who are experienced, knowledgeable and have the disposition to work well with your student throughout the process.

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10 Reasons To Use The Leverage Of Internet For Your Home Based Business

“If you want to become rich, you need to work less and earn more. In order to do that, you employ some form of leverage” says Robert Kyiosaki’s rich dad. One form of leverage that MUST NOT be ignored in our time is the internet. Any home based business that wants, not only to survive but also prosper should engage the use of this tool

It is barely five months since I employed this wonderful tool and I have gained a lot. Before then, I use to chase my friends and relations around to join my networking business. It got to a point where they were running away from me. Some were not responding to my calls or emails. I even got embarrassed and wanted to quit the home based business. Then, I searched the internet…

The word leverage, in a broad definition, simply means the ability to do more with less. In such a competitive world, one needs tools that will require little input but accomplish a lot. The following are the reasons why I recommend Internet for your home business:

1. Access to a worldwide audience-More than 1.9 billion people use the internet (June 30, 2010. Internetworldststats). Your business cannot afford to ignore such number of users!

2. Gain an edge over traditional business experts-Business is all about people and sales. A new business owner with little knowledge of what the business entails but has internet presence will sell more than the traditional guru, who knows it all but has access to fewer people.

3. Build a brand name-This leverage enables you to brand your name or business name. People get to know you and what your business offers. Trust is built and some of them eventually convert to customers.

4. To network-Home based business is all about connections with other people. Internet helps you to connect with people within your niche, giving you access to current waves in the industry. Also, you are able to promote your business and services through the social networks to larger targeted audience.

5. Provide 24-7 hour service-Web pages serve both the clients/customers and potential clients/customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without a physical presence. (Even when you are on holidays!) It can customize information to match needs and collect important information that will put you ahead of the competition before they get into the office.

6. Easy and quick access to your customers-The leverage of internet makes it possible to reach your customers faster, through the use of emails, websites, etc. They have access to all information they need concerning your product. Furthermore, new updates are easily communicated back to them.

7. Cost and time efficiency-The cost and time of running your business is reduced with the use of internet. For instance, the cost and time of reaching one person can be used for millions. Also, the cost and time of answering frequently asked questions are reduced when the answers are posted on the web pages.

8. To reach targeted audience-There is no need for trial and error on who to sell your product or service. Since the web has several good search engines, people who want what your business offers will be able to find you.

9. To avoid losing your friends and relations-No goose chase anymore! Your friends and relations won’t be afraid to relate with you since you won’t be bugging them with your business.

10. More sales, more money-This leverage with 1.9 billion internet users affords you more leads, more sales and certainly more money.

In conclusion, using this leverage is ideal for your home based business in this world of heavy competition. Take massive action today and engage this incredible tool and be on your way to a most successful business. What other reasons do you have for using internet for your home business?

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Home Based Businesses For Under $100 – Affiliate Marketing

For this particular article, the title should’ve been “FREE Home Based Businesses”… but oh well, we’ll just leave it as it is.Affiliate marketing happens to be the ONLY home based business opportunity that you can start literally with ZERO start up capital. (And if you’ve been doing your research, you should already know that starting a home business online usually comes at some sort of price.)It doesn’t cost you anything to sign up with an affiliate program, and if you know what you’re doing, it doesn’t cost you anything to market your program either… so literally any money that you make from affiliate sales will go directly to your pocket. But before I start going off on how much money you can make promoting affiliate programs – and I can talk about that ALL day – let me give you a break-down of how affiliate marketing actually works. (That is… if you don’t already know)The would-be affiliate – you – goes to any one of the thousands of affiliate networks that are available online and signs up with them for free. Once you’ve signed up, you get your very own affiliate link that you can use to promote that particular program. And from that point on, all you have to do is send traffic to your affiliate link. That’s it. The sales letter has already been written for you, the merchant account and shopping cart have already been set up for you, and the product has already been created.If you were going to do all of those things yourself, you have no idea how much time, money, and effort you would need to put in to set it all up. We’re talking $1000′s of your personal money invested, and hundreds upon hundreds of hours of work put in. Not to mention all the headache that comes along with taking care of your own customer service.So the simple fact that it’s been all done for you should be a very powerful motivator to choose affiliate marketing as your home based business. But if that’s not enough, there is just one last piece of info that I want to share with you about affiliate programs. (This will blow your socks off). For a very long time, the only way that you could get paid through affiliate programs was on a “one sale, one commission” basis. That means that any sale you made, you’d get paid the initial commission due to you, and that was it.If the product creator made any follow-up sales to that particular prospect… you wouldn’t get a DIME of it. But what I’m seeing a lot more now-a-days is how program owners are starting to pay their affiliates on a continuity based comp plan. Continuity means that the product is delivered through a monthly subscription… and every month, the buyer is charged another $17, $27, or $47 for that month’s subscription.So this means that if you refer a sale to that particular affiliate program, you’ll get paid EVERY MONTH that the subscriber stays with that program. Pretty cool, huh?So promoting continuity based affiliate programs will allow you to make PASSIVE INCOME from your home based business… and if you can get paid without having to do any extra work, wouldn’t that be the ideal lifestyle that we’re ALL trying to go after? And now for your action step… Visit one or all of the affiliate networks below. (And I recommend that you go to Google and search for more “affiliate programs” that you can join).Sign up with the network of your choice and start reviewing some of its products that you can promote. Once you’ve picked the product, do a Google search for “free traffic generation” and use some of the hundreds of ideas that will be presented to you.Here are some of the most popular affiliate networks:

ClickBank

Commission Junction

Amazon

Target
There are a LOT more out there and I highly recommend that you look for them.

Home Based Business Vs Traditional Business

There are many home based businesses available to people who have the desire to work from home. However, the number of them that require a large investment of time and money are high while there are only a select few online business opportunities a person can work from home which require a small investment and little or no risk.People who are interested in starting a business, whether it is a home based business, an online business or a traditional brick and mortar operation do so in order to earn money and make a profit.Profit is money a business earns above and beyond the money it spends for salaries and other expenses. Business people make profits by taking risks. Risk is the chance an entrepreneur takes of losing time and money on a business that may not prove profitable. A loss occurs when a businesses’ cost and expenses are higher than its revenues.With a traditional business there are lots of expenses involved, including over-head and salaries and the business owner’s risk is very great. That is why a large percentage of businesses fail after a few short years.However with a few of the online home based businesses anyone can begin building a dependable and solid income with a small amount of money or capital and little or no risk whatsoever. Age and education don’t matter.So with the right online business opportunity a person has the chance to take control of his or her life and gain freedom from working a regular job. There are only a few legitimate home based business opportunities available today with unlimited earning potential that are designed with the average citizen in mind.One online business focuses on selling internet addresses or domain names, which is a booming industry. Industry experts forecast that more than 500 million domains will be registered in the next ten years. In fact, reliable sources from companies like Intel are predicting that every personal computer in the future will have its own domain name.

Home Based Business Tips – The Importance of a Mentor to a Successful Online Home Based Business

Are you one of the many today who are considering starting a successful online home based business but are fed up with all the misleading information scattered all over the internet? If yes, then you’ll this article might be of good use to you. The truth is, there are thousands of people out there who put out over-hyped ebooks, guides, and videos (on daily basis) in other to get you and others to buy from them. These people couldn’t care less if you succeed or not and are willing to go any length to make a sale.On the other hand, there are a a handful of successful and genuine marketers who are willing to take you by the hand and teach you exactly how they themselves have managed to build their own successful online home based business. These are the people you should be looking for and, believe me, they are not that hard to find among all the chaos surrounding the “online home business” world. How do you find them you say? Well, before I answer that, let me bring to your attention the importance of finding someone, a genuine mentor, who is willing to teach you his exact secret strategies without holding back. It is no doubt that who you learn your marketing techniques from in your early days of setup will determine how fast your online home  based business succeeds and how much time you take to become a pro yourself.To emphasize more on that statement, if you are fortunate enough to find a genuine mentor who is willing to hold you by the hand, or let you watch over his shoulder, while showing you the exact step-by-step methods both himself and others have used to succeed online then, your business will be thriving within months of setup because the learning curve will be less steep. On the contrary, if you are not lucky enough to find the good mentor like that described earlier, then your chances of making it out of the rat race is very slim and you will spend months, or even year, trying and testing guides that leads to no results. This way, you may end up spending loads of money and time with the end result being information overload and stress. Ok, now to answer the question asked earlier. Finding a good mentor is easy but can be tricky and risky at times. Basically, you need to trust your instincts through all the process. One way to do this is to search the Clickbank.com marketplace for “home based business opportunities”. You will find in there a number of products claiming they will show you exactly how to set up an online home based business in no time. Look for the highest ranked ones in that category and read through their sales pages. Then, ask yourself, is it convincing enough or is the creator just hyping their product? Do they provide step-by-step guides and videos (as videos make learning easy)? Also, ask, is the business module realistic enough and does it fit into what you want to build your home business around? If you answer yes to most of these questions then it is more than likely that is the one for you.It should now be clear how important a mentor is to any business and  who you learn from will determine how long it will take for you or anyone to build a successful online home based business. So, be very careful when buying a guide because, in so doing, you are picking who teaches you what and determining how much time your business will need to succeed.

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Home Based Business Ideas – Online or Offline? What Home Based Business Idea Can You Think of?

Home Based Business Ideas, there are so many to choose from. You have ideas of what you would like to do in business but are not sure where to start or if it is the right thing to do. Here is a brief look of what you could start doing today.Starting with offline home based business ideas, a lawn service is great to go with. All you need is a truck and a push mower or a riding lawn mower along with a weed eater. A lot of elderly people can’t mow their lawns or even disabled people will need help. Some people just do not have time anymore or just do not like mowing period.It is easy to place an ad for your services free on Craigslist, bulletin boards at the grocery stores, laundry mats, and restaurants for your home based business idea. Get cheap business cards made up from Vista Print.You can use your car to get started until you can get a truck or even use your van if you have one to start your home based business idea. Just be very reasonable about your prices you would charge on the amount of time it would take you to mow and trim the weeds. You can also offer a clean up service with your home based business to give you additional money for your business. Maybe trash needs to be dumped or cleaning up brush from the property.If you would rather try something online, learn how to do surveys or paid emails for a home based business idea. A lot of people do surveys for a living full time. There is plenty to sign up for. Just do not do ones that charge you or are full of trial offers or ads. The true ones will have you fill out your information and things you like to do including the brands.Your information is never sold but is used for the company to invite you to participate in the survey about a new product or service. In this home based business, you will get an email and just go do a survey and see if you qualify. If you qualify, then you will have money pending in your account.Each survey company has minimums when to cash out. In this home based business idea, you can also earn points for gift cards you could use for Christmas gifts or receiving personal items you can earn. Another great thing about surveys is if you get invited to an online participation or focus group. There is big money if you qualify for one of those!Along with surveys in this business from home add paid email as an easy way for money. It is much slower, but if you take a few companies and cash out only once a year, you would be amazed of how fast something can add up!Now, it is time to use these home based business ideas and go make yourself some money you can plug into another wealth system and grow to become infinitely wealthy.

Finding Honest, Ethical and Legitimate Home Based Business Opportunities

Given the current state of our economy, millions of people are now looking for legitimate home based business opportunities that they can affordably run to replace their lost income or to make sufficient money to look after their families.Legitimate home based business opportunities- An honest observation!In home based business, any person can run a proven or a new business without spending tons of cash. Everybody wants to try a home based business that is immediately successful, but in reality only legitimate home based businesses work and prove beneficial for entrepreneurs. Therefore, your success lies in finding the legitimate home based business opportunities that are suitable to you so that you can immediately start making money without wasting your time and money.Let’s have a close look at some of the best home based business opportunities:1. Affiliate marketing-This is one of the best home based business opportunity where you won’t have to invest anything to earn good money on consistent basis. Millions of online businesses are interested in selling their services or products, and you can help them in getting the customers by doing Internet marketing for them. You will get a commission on every sale made due to your efforts.There are many affiliate marketing networks where you can find thousands of products and services. Best thing about these networks is that you can join them for free, and they pay you on regular basis when you promote the chosen companies.2. Virtual Assistant- If you have good typing skills, and have proficiency in MS Word, Excel and related software, you can offer your services to small and medium business. Best thing about this home based business is that you can work for many companies and earn extra cash instead of getting tied with just one employer.3. Tutoring- It you possess a degree and necessary experience and skills, you can offer tutoring to students worldwide. Today even elderly are interested in learning about computers and the Internet, and there is wide scope of selling your expertise once you start in this business. In fact, there are many tutoring websites that will pay you good money if you work for them.4. MLM business- You can research and choose a promising MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) company that promises good commission and promote them using the power of the Internet.5. Home Daycare Center-This is definitely one of the best legitimate home based business opportunities where you can generate good income for yourself right from the start. If you love being with kids and helping them, you can help busy couples with the daily care of their kids. Though you may need licensing in many communities, but it is not difficult to obtain.6. Selling art/jewelry/craft online-All those who have creative bent of mind and have proficiency in making art, craft or jewelry can sell it to online buyers. You can research on eBay and Amazon to see huge range of crafts and jewelry that is on offer.7. Catering-If you can prepare wide range of dishes, then you can easily start your catering business. There is help available to you on the Internet and you can easily launch your catering business. Though you may face few new customers who are rude or demanding, but you should be deft in handling them if you want to make a mark in this business.There are many more legitimate home based business opportunities and many of them may be more suitable for your skill level and expertise. So you need to research on what is on offer and choose the most appropriate business opportunity to earn good cash on consistent basis every month.I am absolutely sure, what I am going to share with you, will be so much more, than all the normal hype that is out there. You will learn how to make money online, even during the worst recession in US history. You are literally minutes away from gaining FREE instant access to the most powerful internet income program that exists online today.

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Tips For Ensuring Quality Investment Property Management

You will have heard educators say that ‘property investing’ should be treated as a business and that is so true. There is one aspect of owning investment properties that needs special attention and that is the area of property management. After all the looking after a property is the process of looking after your growing wealth.

I have heard investors say, “the property was a in a real state, it was unkempt, there was damage to walls and the gardens had not been looked after at all… ”

The point is that a property investor needs to ensure that even if they have contracted a property manager that they are getting reports from their property manager and are aware of what is happening at the property at all times. It would be nice to think that you could contract a property management team and sit back and relax, but the reality is not quite so real.

What I mean by that is that the investor needs to make sure that they are kept informed at all times about the state of the property and if an absentee owner, then digital photos should be sent with every inspection.

Where I live property inspections are carried out every 3 months, but that will depend on the management laws where your property is located.

As a property investor ensure that you are getting up-to-date and detailed reports on the property and on the finances of the property on a regular basis. You don’t want to hear 6 months later that you have a problem.

Appointing a Property Manager

Before appointing a property manager make enquiries in the area and find out the services that are being offered, at what cost they are being offered and also get some feedback from local sources if at all possible.

When signing your property management over to a company, make sure that the property management forms are filled out and signed by both parties. Make sure that you clearly list your requirements regarding the let, such as costs to be paid by the tenant, whether they can have pets and other requirements you may consider important.

Maintenance and repairs

Properties should be kept in a habitable condition at all times. Not only will your tenants appreciate a well maintained property, but when ‘repairs’ are left to become ‘replacements’ then the whole exercise can become very expensive.

It is a well known fact that, in most cases, if tenants are given respect by the landlord they will reciprocate and give respect to the landlord and the property.

Self-managed properties

Some property investors prefer to manage their properties but this can be a problematic area if laws and regulations are not adhered to. If you choose to self-manage your properties then ensure that you know the rules and regulations so that you do not end up in the court unnecessarily.

Understand which forms need to be filled out and signed, and the times that certain forms need to be handed out if required due to the particular circumstances, such as late rent or property damage.

As mentioned earlier, make sure that all responsibility is taken with caring for and managing your investment properties. Good property management helps grow your wealth and when a property is in good order you will have a better chance of borrowing against the equity to continue building an investment property portfolio.

Where to Invest Money When the Sky Is Falling

Most of us know where to invest money in good times, but when it looks like the sky might be falling, knowing where to invest money and how to invest it becomes a puzzle. In 2014 and 2015 good investments might be hard to find, especially if yesterday’s good investments like stocks and bonds tank. This is not a prediction, but rather a “heads up.” You can’t prepare if you’re not aware, so let’s take a closer look at the sky.

We all know that safe choices like money market funds and bank savings accounts don’t look like good investments for 2014 because they pay peanuts. But what if the sky starts falling: either interest rates ignite and/or the stock market tanks? Either way or both… where to invest money is the question of the day. Safe choices will look like good investments for parking money that must be safe.

Wall Street’s traditional answer to where to invest money: put about 60% into stocks with about 40% in bonds holding a cash reserve on the sidelines. Problem: in 2014 and 2015 losses in stocks may not be offset by gains in bonds… as was the case for the last 30 years or so. If interest rates soar from today’s record-low levels, neither stocks nor bonds look like good investments.

For over 30 years interest rates were falling and bonds were generally good investments. With today’s ridiculously low rates (created by our government to stimulate the economy) a rebound in interest rates is in the cards (as the government unwinds its stimulus). When that happens, bonds will no longer be where to invest money for higher interest income with relative safety. Bonds are NOT good investments when rates go up; they lose money. That’s the way it works. How to invest in bonds in 2014 and 2015 if rates take off: lighten up and opt for safety.

Stocks had been very good investments five years running as the year 2014 began. This was at least in part due to government stimulus and cheap money. In a sense, stocks were where to invest money because nothing looked cheap except for money (short term interest rates were set at about one-tenth of one percent). With a gain of over 150% in five years, the downside risk in the stock market is mounting. This begs the question of how to invest money in stocks if the sky starts to look ominous.

Remember that the stock market is actually a market of stocks, which means that the vast majority of stocks get hit when the market crumbles – but at least a few will be good investments. And the best way to find good investments in a bad market is to watch the price action. For example, as the market climbed 30% in 2013, some gold stocks were down about 50% by early 2014. If you don’t know how to invest in or how to pick a specific gold stock… you might want to know where to invest money to get a piece of this action. The answer is to invest money in gold funds and let them pick the gold stocks for you.

The bottom line is that in 2014 and 2015 investors face an uphill battle, because both stocks and bonds look pricey. That presents a new challenge to today’s investor in search of where to invest money. We are facing uncharted waters in this modern electronic world, where no one really knows how to invest or where to find good investments for the future. This includes the big investors like life insurance companies and pension funds.

My suggestion is to take some profits in your stocks and bonds, because the tide will turn eventually if not in 2014 or 2015. Then you’ll have a cash reserve, so you can take advantage of the situation as the skies darkens. Smart investors are always in search of where to invest money next, especially when a change of trend is in the cards. At such times, yesterday’s underperforming sectors or industries often become today’s good investments.

How To Succeed At Online Product Creation The Easy Way

Product creation could be a frightening subject for a lot of Internet marketers to face. Some folks who get in the game with the intention of making a full time income are completely ignorant as to how an online business operates. One of the most profitable ways to create online cash is by creating a product that others are happy to pay for.

Product creation is legitimate method of generating money through internet marketing but many entrepreneurs get it wrong. They start by imitating their Internet marketing gurus by creating information products on Internet marketing in hopes of getting rich the way their heroes did. The problem is that they usually don’t know what they are doing and enter a highly competitive niche with very little marketing experience or connections.

Here are a few tips for effective product creation that may help you get on the right track:
Start by finding a profitable niche with low to moderate competition. If you conduct some rudimentary market research and keyword research, you’ll find many opportunities in areas that will surprise you. Amazon and eBay are two great places to brainstorm for product ideas.

Developing Your Product does not have to be a difficult project. You can find experts in the right field for your niche and pay them to write the material while an artist designs the packaging and website or blog. You can outsource the entire product creation part of the project after you conduct the research and testing to ensure profitability.

Sales and marketing strategies should be created while developing the product and learning about the market. Some experienced marketers use pay per click to drive traffic to their offer page; some folks outsource the entire marketing campaign to affiliates through ClickBank or other affiliate programs.

Product creation does not need to be hard, particularly when the merchandise is electronic. E-books, videos, audio and multi-media products sell very well. They are distributed immediately to customers electronically. Once you have a good feel for a niche market, try to service your customers with associated products and upgrades. If you want to earn money online through product creation, you must understand supply and demand. The majority of new online marketers fail miserably because they go after highly competitive markets or forget to research their chosen niche properly. You have to create your products according to the needs, wants and desires of the prospective customers.

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