10 Things that Keep You from Writing Your Book? and What You Can do About It

9 out of 10 professionals and small business owners have at least one book or information product inside their head, but lack the time and organizational skills to get it out into digital or print form.

You may cringe when you read this list of ten things keeping you from writing your book, because it rings too close to home for you. You may have already written a book or an e-book, or have come close to starting it. It's hard, we know it, and we've been there too. But go ahead and read this list, see if you can identify, and let's discuss a possible solution to the book writing problem.

1. I can't seem to find the time.

2. Every time I sit down to write I go blank.

3. I need an uninterrupted time period to immerse myself.

4. I need clarity on my message, but there's no one to consult with.

5. I don't know where to start or how to organize all the chapters.

6. I'm afraid of losing clients and having my business suffer if I take time away from it to write my book.

7. I agonize over the writing, the grammar, the sentence structure and punctuation.

8. I know what I have to say, just can't put it into written form without losing clarity and impact.

9. I keep thinking about all the time involved in writing the book, and wonder if it will ever bring me the results I want.

10. Once I get it written, I have no idea how to get it formatted, let alone marketed.

Ok, you know why you haven't started writing your book. Do you know why you need to write a book?

Why You Need to Publish a Book

Here are a few reasons why writing and publishing a book is important to you as an independent professional, small business owner, or solo-preneur:

1. Having a book, whether in digital, soft-cover, or hard-cover establishes you as an expert in your field.

2. People buy from people they know and trust; reading your book is one step in creating client confidence and relationship.

3. Once people buy and read your book, they will want more of what you have to offer in the way of services and knowledge. Your book can attract readers into your sphere of potential clients; once they have bought your book, they are ready to buy other services from you.

4. Having a published book is a great marketing tool, and people will actually pay for your expertise.

5. Books are one of the major sources of passive income for professionals; once it is published it can continue to generate sales for you, over the years and while you sleep.

6. If you don't get a book out soon, your competitors will have the edge, because many of them already have one and even two books out.

7. If you are a speaker, they make great bonus gifts and back-of-the-room sales.

8. They provide a platform for you to expose your readers to your mind and your heart, showing not only what you know, but how much you care. You can reveal your deepest philosophies through your writing, as well as your personal stories.

Three Solutions to the Book-Writing Problem

Of course, there is no problem if you've got a lot of money. You just hire a book writer. There are many of them listed at Elance.com. Some professionals do this, especially when they need to get something published fast and there are not a lot of complex issues to put forth. But is this really what you want to do as a professional who has an important message to convey?

Here is a list of solutions:

1. Hire someone to write your book for you (you can always rewrite it in your own voice and add your own stories). When finished, hire a publisher and then a publicist to market it.

2. Hire a writing coach who will walk you through the steps, chapter by chapter (again, for a substantial fee). Then when finished, hire a publisher and a publicist.

3. Bite the bullet, put your business on hold for a few months, and devote your time to just getting it written. You will have to turn it over to a book designer and get it formatted; search for the right publisher such as self-publishing or print-on-demand services, and then market it yourself.

Expensive? Yes, all three solutions are expensive. They each have their advantages and disadvantages.

The Fourth Solution

There is another solution! What if there was a way to help you get your book down in print and ready for formatting in 90 days?

What if you could do this by following a system that organized you chapter by chapter, included testimonials, input from peers, professional editing resources, design and formatting resources at low costs, and only took a half-hour of time per day?

Could you afford to invest that much time and energy out of your busy day? Would it be worth it to you even if it meant an hour a day for 90 days?

If you already have a blog that you use to communicate with readers online, you can use your blog to write your book.

The blog format is perfect for organizing your ideas, chapters and getting feedback from readers.

If you don't have a blog yet, you may wish to create one. They are simple to set up and use (we recommend Typepad.com). It can be used to stay in touch with clients and to write your thoughts in an informal way. A blog is like having a conversation with people interested in your subject or expertise. Once your book is finished and formatted, you can then use your blog to market it. You already have a built in audience, hungry for your content.

To read more about how this system works and how you can benefit, go to this site: http://www.blogtobook.com ? the way you think about writing your book will shift and you'll see it in a whole new light!

Denise Wakeman of Next Level Partnership, and Patsi Krakoff of Customized Newsletter Services, have teamed up to create blogging and marketing services for independent professionals. Their latest program is the Blog to Book Project: How to Use a Blog to Create a Book in 90 Days or Less at http://www.blogtobook.com. You can read and subscribe to their blogs at http://www.buildabetterblog.com

A Simple Guide to Analyzing All Those Web Traffic Ideas - Part 1

There will be a lot of people unhappy about what I am going to reveal in this article. However, I think it is time somebody spoke out about what is happening on this wonderful medium we have come to know as the internet. What I am talking about are the "sharp" practices engaged in by people offering all sorts of dubious marketing plans.

Confusion, deception, hype and downright dishonesty abound on the world wide web (www). I should know. Like tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people before me - I've been caught. And it is highly probable that so many more will continue to be caught in the future unless something is done to stop it.

The www is the new frontier for those who seek to make money from inexperienced people. It's quick, it's easy and it is so impersonal. Specifically, I am talking about the selling of high priced junk information (often referred to as "reports") to unsuspecting customers.

It's almost the perfect robbery.

Newbie website owners beware! There are hundreds of con-artists and specious operators lurking out there in cyber space. They are just waiting to pull you into their clutches.

How do they do it?

OK. What is the one thing that every new website owner has to have? Answer - traffic. Pure and simple. If you don't have traffic, you might as well not even have a website - unless, of course, you just enjoy looking at it yourself.

Your quest for traffic demands that you seek knowledge from those who profess to have it. And that is the root of the problem. It seems that every second website seems to be selling information on how to improve your website. With so many experts, who do you trust?

Oh you can read the sales "blurb" (yeah, I know, my site has "blurb" too. All websites use it) and be wooed by all the so-called "facts" but who is offering the information and does it really work? How do you separate credible information from useless junk? There certainly is plenty of junk out there.

There appears to be an increasing number of self-styled gurus professing to know exactly how to drive that precious traffic right through your site. In fact, if you believe everything they promise, you will need to install a set of traffic lights on your site just to control the massive flow. (Or so they would have you believe!)

Your quest for knowledge can very quickly send your credit card into debt hyper-drive, or, I should say, hyper-dive! Just enter your details and zap - here it comes. It's the answer to all your www dreams. (You wish!)

Let's examine some of the things you need to be vigilant about:

The information you pay for might be:

- widely known among experienced net users - but not by you. If you want to pay for this information it might just be worth it to "fast-track" your education. In other words, you will be paying for fairly basic information but you will learn something from it. In that respect, the information can be good because you can learn from the experience of others. Many "special reports" and "secrets revealed" fall into this category. However, some clearly do not. (PS: What type of credit card do you have?)

- available FREE all over the www. All you have to do is look. "Seek and ye shall find". If you are lazy and you need to be spoon fed then there are any number of hunters out there who will line you up in their sights. The information is probably current and will work but why pay for it when it is so abundantly available at zero cost? (PS: What is your credit card number?)

- "old hat" information. The internet moves at such speed that what worked several years ago or even several months ago now doesn't work at all. This type of information is totally useless and should be avoided. Often this ancient information will even contain broken hyperlinks. Now that's a real turn off. It says so much about the quality of the information being provided. In reality, this type of information is just a collection of worthless old junk, like a shoe with a hole in its sole. (PS: When does your credit card expire?)

- a precursor to spending even more money. This little technique will whet your appetite just enough to entice you to spend lots more money. Some "wealth creation" seminar presenters use this technique. It's just bait for the "real" information which, of course, is far more expensive. "Caveat emptor" - let the buyer beware! (PS: What are the three ID numbers on the back of that credit card of yours?)

- Steering you to other sites offering "fixits." This is something like point 4 above, except the information provider suggests you go to a third party (a "friend" - more on this in Part 2) to purchase more programs or more specific information. Often these recommended sites can offer expensive or time consuming programs. (PS: Now, just press submit.)

- credible and/or valuable. This is information of the best kind. Usually it will contain "cutting edge" ideas that are currently working on the www. However, your ability to source this information from the many traps above will range from difficult to almost impossible.The biggest trick used by con-artist "gurus" is their ability to "dress up" the information they are offering to make it look like something new or different. It's a bit like the old pyramid selling schemes that do the rounds with monotonous regularity (or the letter offering you millions of dollars from Nigeria just for giving them your bank details! Can you imagine anybody doing that? Well, plenty do!) Plenty buy the "dress-ups" too. Same old information, different name.

Another thing you need to be aware of is the amount of "fluff" or packing that surrounds the real subject matter. Often there can be several pages on the main idea and several dozen pages of near useless information to make it appear bigger.

I recently purchased a report of just 19 pages. It contained just one dubious idea that could have been presented adequately on about half an A4 sized page. The rest of it was pure packing and completely useless twaddle. The cost? I hate to admit it - $39.95 US. Ouch!

I have even heard of some training manuals on offer claiming that they contain five hundred pages (plus) of "cutting edge" information. You would think that represents a lot of information. It was certainly advertised as a "definitive" web-building and traffic steering "master" tutorial. I later learned (from another source) that the pages are only printed on about one-third of the available space and that the font size would be very beneficial for extremely sight impaired readers. That makes it a very expensive tutorial. I'm pleased to say that I didn't buy that one.

You need to be wary of these things.

Part 2 of this article contains further hints which will enable you to detect whether an offer of increased website traffic will be worthy of purchase or not.

If you enjoyed Part 1, don't miss Part 2.

Part 1 and Part 2 of this article are covered by copyright. However, both parts may be freely used providing there are no changes whatsoever to the content and the following resource box remains intact.

PS: If you think this information might help a friend from falling prey to these dubious practices you can send them a copy of this article (or any related parts) or direct them to the website URL above. Let's get the word out and put a stop to this.

About the author: Gary Simpson is the author of eight books covering a diverse range of subjects such as self esteem, affirmations, self defense, finance and much more. His articles appear all over the web. Gary's email address is budo@iinet.net.au. Click here to go to his Motivation & Self Esteem for Success website where you can receive his "Zenspirational Thoughts" plus an immediate FREE copy of his highly acclaimed, life-changing e-book "The Power of Choice."

Drop the Negations

What really binds us to any negative emotional state in which we find ourselves suffering is this: choice.

Freedom from negative behavior and thoughts must begin with your recognition that you are voluntarily serving that which puts your own emotional and spiritual peace at risk. Notice the use of the word voluntarily. You voluntarily choose to serve that which diminishes your own well-being and psycho-spiritual health. When we adopt a negative attitude, we are boxing with ourselves. We are undermining our own emotional health. It is a personal vendetta against ourselves that negates our chances for happiness.

If you want to stop allowing yourself to be sucked down into the quicksand of negativity, there are some things you must do beginning with taking note of how often you disable yourself with your own negative thoughts.

It is important to realize that when we think an adverse thought we bury it even deeper into our consciousness. It is a lot like being in quicksand. If you squirm in it, you will sink deeper. The same is true with negativity, if you keep thinking it (which is tantamount to squirming); it will become more deeply entrenched in your consciousness. In other words, we pave the way for it to become an even stronger actuality in our life. Negative thoughts, words and attitude arouse negative and unhappy moods and actions. When the mind is negative, poisons are released into the spirit, which cause more unhappiness and negativity. Negative thinking is the way to frustration, disappointment, failure and ultimate despair.

I recall a young woman who had given a workshop presentation. When she reviewed the feedback she received from participants, she was stunned that someone had written about how awful she was. The person even utilized a few expletives and emphasized that he would never attend another workshop where she was scheduled to present. She was devastated and vowed to never give another presentation. How unfortunate.

The problem in this scenario is not with the negative feedback the presenter received. Rather, it is with how the presenter chose to interpret it. She had at least five options (probably more). One, ignore it. Two, consider it humorous and dismiss it. Three, accept it as a right of opinion and nothing more. Four, reflect upon her presentation to assess if there were areas that needed improvement. Or, as she apparently did, internalize the negative into her consciousness, thereby setting herself up for defeat and self-pity.

And, in so doing, she is misusing and subverting the only creative power there is; that vital, dynamic substance in us, that God-given power which lies innate in every man, the power to speak it into being. God spoke existence into being.

When you talk negatively about yourself or to yourself, you bring into being that which you speak. Your own self-defeating, negative, pessimistic thinking will make you a self-defeating, negative, pessimistic individual. And, whether you realize it or not, you attract what you think. That is to say, if you think negative, you will attract the universal negative force into your life. If you think self-defeat you will attract all the forces of self defeat.

This is why negative people tend to "hang out" together. They feed on each other's negativity as it grows within each of them. Suffering with chronic negativity, they distort their spiritual image and become their own victims. They willingly and voluntarily victimize themselves. How sad.

Most people are not aware of how negative they really are. Throughout the course of normal conversation, they bombard themselves with negative talk. Even people who are aware of the power of their words seem to miss some of the most commonly used derogatory comments that are made towards themselves and/or others in the course of normal conversation.

All negative assumptions about our lives are a painful prophecy made up by that deep inner part of us that not only want us to see ourselves as failures but, once having convinced us of it, actually cause the undesired outcome. You see what I mean? These negative assumptions that pop up in us about ourselves, others, the world; that darken our aspirations for a higher, more fulfilling life, are much like the beauty of fire emanating from burning logs in the fireplace. The fire has no power over us unless we voluntarily choose to stick our hand into it.

Spiritually, you loose your sense of connectedness, as you flounder around searching for the answers as to what went wrong, how could it have been done differently? Why did I behave like that? Why did the other party behave like that? What's wrong with me? All those questions you fling around at no-one in particular vowing never to be hurt, or caught off guard, or to give your trust again, and in so doing you deny your very soul. You infect your spiritual self, that part of you that has always had a higher view of life; that part of you that knows that there is a tomorrow and a future.

Drop the negations. We have no room for this type of foolishness in our lives. Allowing negatives to define your life is an insult to your integrity and dignity as a human being. Negativity is your worst enemy. It is important that you understand this. You must fight against the enemy for you own survival's sake. You must reject all negative thoughts that would control you. You have no other options. Survivor or victim, the choice is yours.

Take conscious control of your self-talk. The things you say to yourself in your mind, as well as the meaning you attribute to events in your life, combine to create the reality you end up living. Stop seeing the worst in yourself and in everything that happens to you. Stopping negative thinking is vital. It is our thoughts and expectations that shape and produce what we become and the quality of our lives is a direct result of them.

Learn to be comfortable with yourself. That is, accept yourself.

Allow the light of God to remove all the dark and negative conditions from your consciousness. From the wonderful place within, perceive the glory of the all encompassing Energy and your oneness with His living, never-ceasing flow of love in this uplifted consciousness which transcends and obliterates every adversity in the outer world.

The power of thought is man's greatest gift from God, and it is one of our greatest blessings: the mind and spirit can at any time change its thought. Instead of thinking negative, debilitating thoughts, lift up your mind and think wonderful thoughts. Recall the words of the apostle Paul:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable; if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Philippians 4:8.

Think of the powers within you. You have the power to not only believe but to choose your beliefs. This glorious power of mental choice, of absolute freedom is your point of connectedness with God's power. With this power, you can mold and form your every thought, endeavor, and purpose as an individual. And guess what? You can use the potency of your own thoughts to improve every phase of your human condition or you can choose not to use it in this manner.

Whenever you choose negatively, you are denying and burying the elixir of life and joy that is your free gift from the Source of all life and joy. Nothing compares to the great awakening to the power within. You have the power to express yourself in all types of creative ways, and succeed. You also have the power to express yourself in self-defeating ways, and to fail. Change the character of your thoughts. Shift your center of attention, altar your way of thinking about yourself and others.

What are negative thoughts other than self torment? No one else can hear them nor be harmed by them. Remember, what really binds us to any negative emotional state in which we find ourselves suffering is this: choice. Make the choice to drop the negations.

Wishing you champagne and caviar thoughts!

Saundra L. Washington, an ordained clergywoman and social worker, has practiced concurrently in the fields of social work and ministry for almost three decades. She is the Founder of AMEN Ministries, http://www.clergyservices4u.org and the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow, Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances, Homilies that Teach.

Are You a Sales Professional?

Many sellers like to describe themselves as professionals, but what is it that makes a seller a professional?

Professional sellers conduct themselves in such a way that buyers respect and trust them. Professional sellers work with buyers, they don't sell to them.

Many surveys and studies have been conducted asking buyers what traits they value most in sellers. This information is invaluable for those who truly want to be toward the top of the sales profession.

The list below shows the traits buyers say they want to see in sellers. For some sellers, these come very naturally, while for others perhaps it's a constant struggle to exhibit these traits.

Nearly all the traits can be summed up in one word - professional.

Are you a professional?

Traits Buyers Like

Honest. Buyers want sellers to be honest with them. Give your prospects credit for being intelligent people who know that no product or service is without faults. Be forthcoming with those faults and at all other times.

• More often than not, buyers will find out the truth - if they already haven't figured it out.

Knowledgeable. Make it a goal to know your products and services - and how they address customer needs - far better than your potential buyers. You should know the industry which you serve better than any of your competitors.

• Most companies do not train their salespeople enough to meet these objectives, so you must constantly take the initiative to learn these things on your own.

Organized. For meetings with buyers, make sure you have a valid business reason and are properly prepared.

• Whenever possible, provide a proposed agenda in writing to your buying counterparts. Do it several days before the meeting to allow them time for input/feedback.

Punctual. Buyers expect sellers to be on time, even if they - the buyers - are not.

• "My last appointment ran long" or "traffic was really bad" may be valid excuses on occasion, but there is no excuse for not letting the buyer know if you'll be more than a few minutes late.

Solution-oriented. "Think outside the box," may be an overused phrase, but buyers want sellers who can provide creative ways to solve their problems.

• Talk to your current customers to identify creative solutions they used in conjunction with your products or services that you can share with prospects.

Prompt. Return calls and emails the same day whenever possible and always within 24 hours.

• According to one expert, the current expected response time to an email is now four hours.

Follow-through. Strive to always meet or exceed timeframes in which you've promised to provide information or other items to buyers. Exceed their expectations by providing the information more quickly than the promised timeframe. If you will not be able to meet the promised timeframe, let your buyers know as soon as possible.

• Don't make the mistake of thinking buyers will forget about your promises - they won't.

Empathetic. Buyers want salespeople who genuinely care about their personal and professional needs and goals.

• The ability to identify buyers' personal wins is just as important, if not more important, than identifying business wins.

Traits Buyers Don't Like

While it is critical to understand what traits buyers want to see in sellers, it is just as important to know what traits they don't enjoy. The list below shows what organizational buyers don't want sellers to be:

One word describes most of these traits - unprofessional.

Are you viewed as unprofessional by your buyers? In most situations, they surely won't tell you. What they will tell you is that your price was higher, the other company was a better "fit," or the other guys had a better solution.

Are those your problems, or are you unprofessional?

Unprepared. While you may like to think your buyers' worlds revolve around decisions involving your products and services, most times they do not. Unless they are in purchasing, buyers are paid to perform a specific task or function, not to meet with sales representatives.

• Always prepare for your meeting. This includes the appropriate research, written agenda (when feasible), written questions, and goals and objectives for the meeting. In the first few minutes of the meeting, review this information, along with the expected results or payoff for the buyer.

Uninformed. In many industries, the bar has been raised significantly on how much buyers know about your products and services. Before a sales call, meeting, or presentation, anticipate the questions you'll be asked - and have the answers and/or information at hand.

• If you cannot confidently answer a question, say you don't know and give a specific process and timeframe for providing the answer.

Aggressive. While aggressiveness may be touted by many sales experts and managers as a necessary trait for sales, buyers don't like overly aggressive sellers. In many situations, overly aggressive behavior can be construed as desperate, and buyers don't like to purchase from sellers who are desperate for business.

• Buyers may also believe that aggressive sellers are not interested in their needs and care only about generating a commission.

An interrupter. There still may be a few industries where it is appropriate to show up without an appointment, but most professional sellers generate new business by setting appointments. It's funny to read stories where a sales representative "won the business" because he just decided to "show up" and ask to see the CEO.

• While a few of these stories may be true, there are many more untold stories where the CEO (or more likely an assistant) asked the sales rep to leave and never come back.

A talker. This is another sales expert and manager favorite. "You've got to hire people who can tell a good story or joke and develop rapport with customers." That bus left long ago. Selling is much more about asking good questions and listening.

• Many sellers have the 80/20 rule backward - they are talking 80% of the time and listening only 20%.

Undependable. Buyers don't like to work with sellers who do not follow through and do what they have committed to doing.

• If you're guilty of being undependable, figure out if you're over-promising or under-delivering - or both.

Powerless. Buyers don't like to work with sellers who do not have the power or influence to make decisions on their own. If you consistently go to your superiors or to other departments for approval, buyers will quickly lose respect for you as a seller.

• Professional sellers view themselves as the CEO for their relationships with buyers. They have the power to get things done for the benefit of their buyers.

A deflector. This is a seller who deflects the blame for problems that arise to external forces. Buyers don't like sellers who won't accept responsibility for customer satisfaction.

• Professional sellers are willing to be accountable to their buyers.

To be a professional salesperson, conduct yourself as a professional. Your buyers will like it when you do - and you'll be more successful.

Robert Reed is a consultant, speaker and president of TrustBuild. TrustBuild offers the Trust Seal Program to identify and differentiate trustworthy sales professionals from traditional competitors. Sealholders are provided with easy-to-use tools and information to help them break through the buyer "trust barrier" to gain a competitive edge and win more sales. Visit TrustBuild.com to learn more about the Trust Seal Program for trustworthy sales professionals.

Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization ? A Perfect Marriage

Pay per click or search engine optimization, which one should you use? Many view PPC marketing as a colossal waste of money while others disdain search engine optimization. In reality, the two marketing strategies form a perfect marriage.

Pay-Per-Click - PPC

PPC marketing is a love it or hate platform. For the "love it" crowd, PPC marketing is a way to get instant exposure and feedback on site designs. In a matter of minutes, you can start receiving traffic and adjusting your site to convert the traffic at the best rate possible. For those in the "hate it" crowd, bids are to high and one never knows how may of the clicks are fake and worthless.

Search Engine Optimization ? SEO

As with PPC, seo marketing has its proponents and detractors. Those who love it look at the free traffic and glorious profitability of a site that converts the traffic at a decent rate. Detractors view seo as an unnecessary waste of time since it can take a year or more to get high rankings, particularly on Google. Detractors also argue that high listings are subject to changes in the search engine ranking process, which means you can lose your rankings.

So, who is right? In truth, both sides make accurate arguments. PPC is expensive and click fraud is a monstrous problem. Seo produces free traffic, but it takes along time to get to the top and rankings are subject to the whims of search engine ranking changes. The truth, of course, is both marketing platforms should be used whenever possible.

Marketing Marriage

Every site is unique, but most should combine PPC and seo marketing as part of an overall internet marketing strategy. When starting out, the PPC campaign is critical for getting immediate traffic and tweaking the site to maximize conversions. At the same time, a seo campaign should be undertaken. As the site rises in search results, the PPC campaign should be fazed out for the relevant high listings.

PPC and seo marketing are not mutually exclusive. When married together as part of an overall marketing strategy, both platforms will deliver the goods.

Halstatt Pires is with http://www.marketingtitan.com - an Internet marketing and advertising company in San Diego, California.

Secret Of Your Genuis Child

Here is a top secret to make your child genius or ot recognise his geniusness, it is as follows Graphology for Child development.:- Graphology is the science of understanding the human mind through person's handwriting. When a person writes, the signal in the form of letters get decoded / printed on the paper by the fingers. Graphology aims at understanding & interpreting these signals through the writing. Using this we can know a persons mind so the thoughts, character and behavior.

Every child's mind is programmed in the childhood by the influence of the male and female images in the child's life usually the parents. By the help of graphology Parents can understand their children in a better perspective & will come to know there strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, Skills way of thinking, health & influence of their parents on him and can mould them to enhance their hidden skills for becoming better loving responsible individuals of tomorrow.

Career Selection for child :-

Graphology (handwriting analysis) can help you & your child in selecting the right career (E.g. Engineering ? Electronic, telecom, Civil, Mechanical, Robotics, Medical, Art, Drama, Music, Etc) as per the interest, abilities, skills, creativity & expertise of a child.

It is also helpful to sharpen his creativity & intellect.

Requires no tests :- Handwriting analysis (Graphology) doesn't require any IQ tests / personality tests / assessment tests. Only thing requires is the pen & paper.

It helps in understanding & removing the mental blocks & removal of key aspects of failure ? Procrastination, Indecision, lack of Persistence, self-deceit, ego dominance, etc. to achieve greater personal & professional success.

My graphology (handwriting analysis) research basically focuses on thought process of a child coz a single thought can make throughout changes in personality and character.

What you think ?, What your Child think (+ve or ?ve) ? Which is the eminent trait that you don't know but it is affecting your child? There is too much can be written on this topic, to know everything ? experience it. (Pls visit - http://www.brendynamics.com/gr ) Moral is graphology can make bright improvements in his personality (Personal, Social, Physical, Sexual, Intellectual, Spiritual, Etc.)

Because every child is born Genius, There is no PROBLEM CHILD ; Its our inability to recognize their inner instinct. Always remember - A Loving emotionally responsive parent will invoke positive, cooperative, loving responses form the child.

Visit - http://www.brendynamics.com/gr

Nilesh Gore

About Author Name : NIlesh B Gore Profession : Graphologist(Hndwriting Analyst) & SW. Eng. Email : ng411002@rediffmail.com Web : http://www.brendynamics.com/gr Country : India, Bhusaval, Ms Copyrights : ? Nilesh B Gore.

Affordable Drugs: Saving Money by Splitting Pills

One of the least appreciated cost-savers in medical treatment is the simple act of splitting pills. Suppose you're a U.S. citizen with depression who needs to take Lexapro brand of escitalopram oxalate, a commonly prescribed antidepressant, at a typical starting dose of 10 milligrams (mg) per day. Let's figure out how much your treatment will cost, both by month and by day.

For purposes of illustration I'll use prices shown online at drugstore.com. If you buy thirty Lexapro 10-mg tablets (which is how the prescription is usually written) it will cost you $70.15 per month or $2.34 per day to get treated. But what if you buy Lexapro 20-mg tablets and take a half-pill each day? Medically, this treatment is the same. But look what happens to unit prices. Thirty Lexapro 20-mg tablets cost $69.99. We need just 10 mg per day, so we split the 20-mg tablets in half to make our 10-mg doses. (The tablets are even scored to make this easy.) In this case it costs you just $35.00 per month or $1.17 per day to get treated. Your daily price just dropped by half!

Isn't that amazing? And it's not just an isolated example. If you do a similar analysis for many other drugs, you'll find that taking half of a double-strength pill costs substantially less than taking all of a regular-strength pill. Or another way of saying this is that the cost of a month's treatment is driven more by the number of pills involved than by the total number of milligrams taken.

Is this an accident of pricing? Should we be whispering about this? Is this pulling something over on the drug companies? Hardly. If you think that multi-billion-dollar companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange make pricing mistakes, then I've got some choice swamp-land in Florida I'd love to sell you.

So why would drug companies create these pricing mismatches (read: opportunities)? To understand this, let's walk through two prescribing scenarios. First, suppose a doctor is prescribing Lexapro to a patient who is lucky enough to have drug insurance. The patient pays a predetermined co-payment for each month's worth of medication, so he or she has the exact same out-of-pocket expense whichever way the prescription is written. So will the doctor write for thirty 10-mg pills or fifteen 20-mg pills?

Your guess is probably right-the prescription will be written for the larger number of lower-strength pills. The retailer and the drug company will get full price. They're happy. The patient doesn't need to break tablets in half and the doctor doesn't need to take time to explain why pills have to be broken, so they're happy. What's not to like? The only loser is the insurance company. Do the doctor or the patient care? (Let's see, how many favors has the insurance company done for the doctor and patient lately?)

Now here's the second prescribing scenario. Joe Workingman has no drug insurance and has to shell out cash to pay for the full price of medication. The doctor feels that 10 mg daily of Lexapro is needed. This time, the doctor prescribes fifteen Lexapro 20-mg pills per month, instructing the patient to take a half-pill per day. Medically, there is no loss of efficacy. The patient is pleased to pay less money. The doctor is a hero for being thoughtful and clever. Because the doctor still prescribed the same product, the drug company is happy. (The drug company would rather get half their price than nothing. Besides, they've already priced this scenario into their drug.)

So the drug company wins either way, particularly if they're competing against a similar product made by another company that the doctor might choose instead. In fact, all it takes for everyone to be happy is a breakable tablet. Admittedly, some pills are difficult to break in half (but not excessively difficult, or else the drug company wouldn't capture the low-end market). This is where pill-cutters come in handy. Every drugstore has them. They're cheap because they're made out of nothing more than plastic and razor blades. They're better at splitting pills than your thumbs or a paring-knife because they break pills more evenly, and the pieces don't go skittering across the counter.

In the author's practice there are some pill-splitting overachievers who even manage to break quadruple-strength pills into quarters. Imagine the savings in doing that.

In fact, the only obstacle to saving the patient money is if the drug company puts their product into capsules, because capsules can't be split. Would a drug company do such a mean-spirited thing? You betcha.

Lexapro was the sixth so-called serotonin-reuptake-blocker to come on the market, so it had to compete with all the earlier drugs in its class. But the first serotonin-reuptake-blocker to come on the market had first-mover advantage and was able to retain market-share even after the competing products arrived. This first-mover was the world-famous Prozac brand of fluoxetine, made by the Eli Lilly Company.

So what did Lilly do after competing products appeared? They stone-walled the consumer by never ever putting their product into anything other than a capsule. Moreover, for the entire time their product was still patent-protected, they never produced a higher-strength capsule. So if you needed a higher dose of Prozac, you had the honor of paying for two or three capsules per day. Why did they choose such a consumer-unfriendly approach? Because they could. (Everyone now turn toward Indianapolis and wave to the nice people at Lilly.)

My medical students look at me strangely when I start talking about publicly traded companies and market forces while I'm supposed to be teaching them about medicine. But the way I look at it, if you don't understand market forces, then you'll never understand why things in medicine are the way they are.

(C) 2005 by Gary Cordingley

Gary Cordingley, MD, PhD, is a clinical neurologist, teacher and researcher who works in Athens, Ohio. For more health-related articles see his website at: http://www.cordingleyneurology.com