About Microbrewers

Production limits

• According to U.S. regulations, a brewery can be classified as a microbrewery if it makes up to but no more than 15,000 barrels of beer per year. However, some do produce a greater number than that, though it is not statistically significant, since they used to qualify and have been grandfathered in as their production increased. A true microbrewery will be charged at a lower tax rate than its larger beer producing brethren, so it can be a sought-after classification.

Specialty beers

• Most microbreweries produce boutique or "specialty beers" that are not available from the larger companies. These could be beers made especially for the holiday season or from ingredients that celebrate the local heritage where the beer is made. For example, a microbrewery in Oregon offers Obsidian Stout. This brew is designed with a dark color that is made to look like a volcanic rock found in the area. National breweries, such as Sam Adams, also offer similar products. But these are known as "craft beers" so they are not confused with microbrews.

Beer festivals

• Most all the entrants you see at local beer festivals will be microbreweries. This is one of the ways they look to seek recognition and set themselves apart--and to increase their sales of course. With the variety of flavors and local color that these businesses offer, national brews would not stand a chance. And, of course, if the festival is sponsored by a microbrewery, they often are not allowed to enter.

Brew pubs

• Microbreweries are often attached to brewpubs. Brewpubs are restaurants that manufacture and sell their own beer to patrons. Often the restaurant will have the word "brewery" or "taphouse" in its name. This is often the initial way for a brewery to gain clientele for its product. Later, the management may consider local distribution options.

Limited distribution

• If a microbrewery does work with a distributor, it is usually local or regional. When a national company notices that a microbrewery is very popular, it may offer to buy the brewery and start selling its beers nationally. Of course, this is the end of its microbrewery status, but it may maintain some of the composition and color that made it unique in the first place.

 

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Creating Life Insurance Leads

Most life insurance agents work on a commission based on the aggregate value of premiums sold. In order to maintain income sources, life insurance agents must constantly market and find new prospects who want or need insurance. This is a standard part of daily business that keeps a pipeline, especially since large life insurance policies may take weeks, even months to close the deal and get paid on. Life insurance agents have the option of buying leads or creating leads through existing customers and local marketing.

Suggestions

1. Ask for referrals from existing customers by offering to review their policies and ask if they know anyone who may need a " free insurance review." Those who are already happily doing business with you are your greatest advocate for service and integrity with life insurance.
2. Hold a seminar at a local hotel, chamber of commerce event or senior center and keep a guest registry. Most insurance carriers have pre-approved seminars and will help sponsor the event to help you gain community exposure. Seminars help you get recognition as an expert in your field.
3. Write articles for community publications, large or small. Keep your topics pertaining to contemporary insurance issues and use your by-line as a way to let readers know you are an insurance agent in the area with a website or email contact.
4. Network with financial planners, estate planning attorneys, tax advisers and stock brokers. These individuals often have a complete financial picture of their clients and are excellent resources to create a mutually beneficial relationship.
5. Learn more about new insurance products to open up more sales opportunities even within your existing book of business. You may have sold clients life insurance but they may also need long-term care.
6. Buy leads from a business lead generator. You can find many resources online for lead generation that claim to be qualified leads with prospects interested in life insurance. Business.com and LeadBot.com are two resources for insurance agents.

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How to Find Insurance Leads Online

The Internet is a great place to get insurance leads. The Internet operates even while you are sleeping, so you can set up a little form for interested parties to fill out. When they do, their information is captured and sent to you. You now have a lead.

Suggestions

1. Compile your list of leads onto a spreadsheet in Excel or a similar program. Print out a sheet of them every day and give each individual a call. If not interested, then cross off that name. You can delete it later; just work with your sheet for now. If people aren't home, leave a message and write yourself a note next to that name. If you talk to them and they are interested, you can set up a meeting time or you can send them more information in the mail. If you are working from home and they are far away, you may have to wait for them to sign the papers and send them back. Call each lead about three times before crossing that lead off the list. Make sure you use Comcast or a service like it that gives you free long distance, or your phone bill will be huge.
2. Set up an auto responder. This is an automated system that will send out messages instantly to your leads. To set it up, you must type out a series of emails that your potential leads will get every couple of days for as long as you desire. Each email should be different but should always contain your contact information. In one email introduce your company. In another discuss the benefits your leads can expect to find if they sign with you. In another talk about the most common questions and give the answers. You can even use one email to let the leads get to know you personally. Talk about your family and why you got involved in the insurance business. A really good and reliable auto responder is GetResponse. The link is provided for you below.
3. Send out information packets. People are more likely to open their mail when they have some time to sit down and think. They may also get some of their questions answered in your packet, which will help them make a better decision about contacting you for further assistance in getting the insurance. Make sure the information packet has all of your contact information in it.
4. Invite your leads to an online chat. You can use Yahoo!, Gmail or any other site that allows you to chat for free. It's easy to sign up, and you can invite your leads to feel free to chat with you online. Make sure you give them instructions on how to sign up and what your chat name is so that they can initiate a chat with you. This is the same as talking live on a telephone and gives you a chance to get to know the lead a little better. People are free to talk to you about their concerns, and they can also let you know what kind of plan they are looking for.

Tips

• Make sure you are organized and using a software program that can help you keep track of your leads.
• Make sure the leads you have acquired are not on the "do not call list," or you could get a big fine for calling someone who is on that list.

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Tips for Starting Your Own Community Health Clinic

Community health clinics provide valuable medical services to people in the community who are uninsured or under-insured and have few or no other choices for health care. Participants may be homeless, and many live on or below the federal poverty level. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 33 percent of patients in 2009 were children. Community health clinics are generally operated by nonprofit organizations or as nonprofit arms of for-profit health care facilities. Starting a community health clinic is extremely challenging, as it requires significant funding, professional staffing and involves medical liability. To be successful in setting up a facility, you must complete extensive groundwork from which to build your idea.

Suggestions

1. Seek help from the federal Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Primary Health Care. They assist appropriate organizations with the grant funding necessary to open community health clinics. Consult with professionals in the health care service provision field to get their advice, input and assistance. Obtain status as a "Federally Qualified Health Center" to maximize grant opportunities and provide treatment through Medicare and Medicaid.
2. Determine the specific sector of the population the health center will serve. This will determine the types of grant funding for which the center will be eligible. For example, specific patient populations include the homeless; low-income residents of a specific geographic location; migrant and seasonal farm workers; and residents of public housing, such as housing complexes for senior citizens.
3. Learn the specific federal regulations with which the health center must comply. Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations pertains to public welfare and the specific regulations grant-funded health centers must adhere to. These include financial and program management; property standards; procurement processes; reports and record-keeping.
4. Research the community where you hope to open the clinic. Examine the demographic and health status indicators within the community to prove the need for the health clinic; your perception of local need might not reflect the true need. There might already be service providers in the community, and if there are not, there might be a good reason for that. Speak with local grassroots organizations such as the Salvation Army, food banks, homeless shelters and government agencies to gain insight.
5. Find community support for your health clinic. It is important for local government agencies, existing health care providers, nonprofit organizations and businesses in the community to support the clinic.
6. Develop a strategic planning group to assist you in developing your strategic plan, timelines and benchmarks. You will need a group of enthusiastic individuals who can bring skills to the group, such as accountants, attorneys, fundraisers, marketing professionals, government officials and communications specialists.
7. Assess the spatial needs of your clinic, given the services you will provide. You will need a waiting area, consulting and treatment rooms and secure areas for administrative staff and record storage. The property you seek must be easily accessible to the community by walking or public transportation.
   The property you find might require significant refurbishment to turn it in to the facility you need and to bring it up to federal, state and local building and health and safety code standards.

   
   
8. Develop a comprehensive business plan in addition to your strategic plan. You will need the business plan if you hope to seek other grant opportunities, philanthropic donors and loans.

   
   
9. Move forward only if your business plan and financial planning projections give a positive indication your idea is viable.

   
   

Tip

• Starting a health clinic is complex and time-consuming. You might find it is more practical to assist an existing health clinic to expand and grow their services.

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How to Respond to An Employee Evaluation

It's common practice in large and mid-sized companies to have employees fill out a self-evaluation as part of their annual review. It usually includes questions on qualities such as attitude, accountability, communication, teamwork and problem-solving. Completing an evaluation can be a tricky. You want to strike a positive tone and make yourself look good without going over the top or boasting. It's also vital to be constructive about the company for which you work.

Suggestions

1. Give yourself plenty of time to complete the evaluation thoughtfully. Don't wait till 10 minutes before it's due to fill it out. Set aside an hour one day to draft your answers, and then come back to the evaluation another day to revise and complete it.
2. Read through the entire evaluation paper so that you have an idea of the scope of the questions as a whole.
3. Brainstorm and list several examples of concrete achievements that you made during the year that you can use to illustrate some of your answers.
4. Write down a list of qualities or job objectives that you particularly want to project when you complete the evaluation.
5. Draft your individual answers before filling in the form and then read them through before making a final copy. This is especially important if the evaluation is a paper document rather than an electronic form.
6. Read each question carefully, and if it has several elements, or asks for a list of qualities, be sure to address each part in your answer.
7. Be honest about weaknesses or mistakes, but discuss them in terms of the ways you are striving to improve, or steps the company could take to help you in your professional development.
8. Be specific. For example, if you want to highlight your productivity, indicate that with numbers related to your work product.
9. Be constructive. This is especially important in questions that relate to the company's treatment of you or the company's provision of tools and services. If you have improvements you would like your superiors to consider, it's best to couch them in helpful, positive terms that solve problems rather than highlighting weaknesses.

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How to Pass Your Employee Evaluation

An employee evaluation is a tool used by employers to assess the performance of each employee. This evaluation is typically done on a yearly basis, and most employers use a scoring method for each duty performed by the employee. Employee evaluations are typically associated with an employee's yearly salary increase and should be taken seriously. To pass your employee evaluation, you should consider your performance throughout the year.

Suggestions

1. Understand your job description and responsibilities. Job descriptions are developed and revised collaboratively by human resources and your supervisor to give a standard of performance for your job, and are used to evaluate your performance. If you do not have a copy of your job description, ask your supervisor for an updated copy. From time to time, review your job description and responsibilities to ensure you're accomplishing all the duties listed. If you have taken on additional responsibilities not currently listed on your job description, add those responsibilities and inform your supervisor of those additional duties during your review.
2. Record all of your accomplishments that add value, improve processes or increase revenue for your employer. Any improvements in your job responsibilities that may increase your employer's profitability should be noted and addressed during your evaluation. This can include any reports you've created to assist your supervisor with her responsibilities, or any suggestions you've made and were considered to improve the overall function of your job and how the organization operates.
3. Keep correspondence from your supervisor related to your achievements in your job. This should be included in your employee evaluation. If the correspondence was sent via a memo or email in regards to your performance, whether good or derogatory, it should be kept on file to be looked at during your evaluation. Derogatory performance should be noted because you may have improved your performance during your evaluation period. Good performance should be noted because it shows you are willing to do what it takes to reach your employer's goals.
4. Listen carefully and give feedback during your evaluation. Your supervisor will explain the evaluation and go over each section with you. If you have any questions--ask. If you do not agree with an assessment your supervisor made, ask for examples for clarification. Provide examples of your achievements to your supervisor. Almost everyone will have areas for improvement in their job, but by being engaged during your evaluation, your supervisor will see you're a dedicated employee. Your supervisor is also more likely to change an evaluation if you understand, listen and provide examples that show you achieved what your expectations were for your job responsibilities.
5. Ask for a copy of your evaluation for your records. Your employee evaluation is added to your permanent employee records. Use it as a tool to improve your performance, which will improve your next evaluation.

Tips

• If you feel your evaluation was unfair, contact your human resources representative to discuss your evaluation in more detail.
• Never expect a perfect evaluation. There is always room for improvement.

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How to Get A Patent

If you have a unique idea, a specially designed plant or even an improvement or creation of new technology, then you need to patent it. A patent gives you legal protection from anyone who tries to copy your new idea. This is vital if you wish to prevent the wrong people from making money from your revolutionary breakthrough.

Suggestions

1. Determine what kind of patent you will be applying for; this is important for the paperwork you need. Your choices are design, plant or utility. Plant is easy; it means you created a new plant or plant hybrid. Design is more ornamental, and everything else falls into the category of utility. If you still aren't sure, your best bet is just to assume it is a utility patent.
2. Decide if you can file the patent electronically. Electronic is by far the easiest method, and since the paperwork is the same, you might as well use that method if you can. Patents for some items can still not be done online, so check the list to see if yours is one of those. You will also need someone who is authorized to file it electronically, generally a lawyer.
3. Fill out the paperwork for your patent; this is a large amount of paperwork and can include drawings or even samples. You might also need to provide documentation for how you came up with the idea.
4. Submit the paperwork through your chosen method; this will require a government-mandated filing fee. The amount of the fee is dependent on the type of patent, but it can become quite costly.
5. Wait for the government to make a decision on your application. This can take a while, so be patient. Also, sometimes the patent is rejected; either because the application was incomplete or because it infringes on someone else's patent.
6. Update your patent as needed. Some patents have a limited life, so they must be continually updated if you don't want your patent to expire. If your patent expires, you lose all of the legal protection it afforded you.

Tip

• Make sure you check to see if someone already has a patent for your idea, design or plant.

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