Monday, February 21, 2011

Making Money Online Forum




What to do with those coupons that you impulsively bought off of Groupon, Living Social, Ideeli, or any of the many other discounted ‘deal of the day’ sites? Sell ‘em!


That’s right, there’s a site for everything these days, and selling coupons, while initially relegated to online bulletin board sites, such as Craig’s List, have established their own re-sale sites and are open for business.


In case you’re not in the know about these daily deal sites, they provide a great, affordable way to discover what a city has to offer by selling heavily discounted deals for services and products in your area or online - With deals like Living Social’s Amazon price buster, offering a $20 gift card for $10 and surpassing one million gift cards sold, there are sure to be some “miss-buys.” You thought you wanted, or needed it, but in the end it was something you were never going to use.


After doing a little investigation, I came up with several names of deal for “resale” businesses, with a few emerging as the leaders of the pack. DealsGoRound, CoupRecoup, and Lifesta are suddenly making an impact in the market.


Yael Gavish, co-founder of Lifesta, says she saw a need for a forum focused on the aftermarket. She had a friend visiting her in New York, who had purchased a Groupon certificate. Unfortunately, when the friend arrived, they discovered the restaurant was closed for renovations. Her friend was out the money, but the idea was created.


"People buy daily deals and they all work on the impulse buy," explains Yael Gavish of Lifesta.com. "So you think you're definitely going to this, but then, it turns out that 20-40 percent of these daily deals are never really used." Their site has seen a monthly growth of 50 percent, mainly through word of mouth.


A great solution for “buyers remorse” if I ever saw one!


There’s a lot of buzz about small business funding these days. The issue has become a major one not only in the small business community but also among government leaders. It’s certain that finding the funds for your small business venture, especially until cash flow becomes regular, is a challenge every small business owner or entrepreneur faces. If you’re facing this issue, we hope the resources below will help. If there is a creative way you have dealt with this issue yourself, please let us know in the comment section below. We would love to hear.


Basics

Four tips for raising cash. Raising money for your business venture is always a challenge and more so in a challenging economic climate. But tough times shouldn’t stop a determined entrepreneur from getting under way…whether investment is easy to come by or not. Open Forum


Praying for the help of angels. This simple post gives first-time entrepreneurs a detailed overview of the angel investor’s world. But more importantly, it takes a look at why angels invest and the kinds of businesses they prefer to invest in. If you’re seeking investment for your business start-up, it’s best to know what invest are looking for…including angels. The Smart Startup


Policy

U.S. program brings entrepreneurs/investors together. Venture capital investor Brad Feld talks about the newly unveiled Startup America Partnership as proof Washington “gets it” when it comes to promoting entrepreneurship. While we’re sure any program putting entrepreneurs and investors together can’t be all bad, a look at lowering taxes and revisiting the potentially harmful healthcare law would help as much as investment Brad. Feld Thoughts


Startup America boosts funding. Another post celebrates the federal program aiming at putting together entrepreneurs with investors. Here Aneesh Chopra, United States Chief Technology Officer, explains and praises the program. Getting funding to startups has become a major focus of government policy, but how will this translate to the broader small business community? Tech Crunch


Startups

New startup aims at providing capital for small business. A new company is trying to automate the loan process allowing small businesses to get an evaluation then apply for funding online. In essence, On Deck Capital takes the classic business approach of finding a problem and solving it. In this case, the problem is finding a better way to get investment for other small businesses. DealBook


Trends

Groundhog Day predictions. Yes, Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog, made his own predictions for the length of winter and the coming of Spring, but small business experts are making their own predictions too. Here are five small business predictions for Spring from a variety of sources, not surprisingly a few touching upon small business funding and its availability. Business News Daily


Small businesses get more credit card offers. Credit card companies will be making more offers to small businesses, according to recent media reports. But could entrepreneurs be too worried about taking on extra debt to take advantage of this opportunity? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s detailed overview of this new funding option and what it means. Small Business Trends


Resources

A whole new fundraising frontier. Could social media be the next frontier for small business fundraising in the same way that it has been for marketing and networking? Enter Kickstarter and other similar sites that turn to online communities as a way of funding projects. Could it be right for your funding needs? Open Forum


Raising capital: a how-to guide. Putting together funding for a small business has never been easy. Still it can be one of the most important skills an entrepreneur possesses. Still, getting started with the fundraising process for your small business is not rocket science. Here are some basic steps to get you started. Open Forum


News

Is small business funding still plagued by discrimination? A settlement as a result of a discrimination suit filed against the U.S. Small Business Administration has apparently still not resolved the issue of whether the federal agency is bias toward minority applicants for business funding. What’s your take on whether the federal loan program could be impeding investment in small business especially in minority or under-served communities? NYTimes


From Small Business TrendsSmall Business News: Small Business Funding Facts





Northwest <b>News</b>: Amanda Knox movie airs today, to criticism <b>...</b>

Northwest news = a daily roundup of what's making headlines in the Pacific Northwest.

autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Bahrain withdraws opening race

Bahrain Grand Prix organisers have announced that the event will not host the opening round of the 2011 Formula 1 season, after days of uncertainty following unrest in the country.

AOL, Google, The <b>News</b>, &amp; I

Almost everyone uses Google to find out more about news that's happening right now, whether it's tech industry stuff, celebrity breakups, or political revolutions. Unfortunately, the rules Google uses to determine which websites gain ...


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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Help Making Money

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MeFites, my roommate is a mid-twenties free spirit who is a lovely spirit, generous to a fault, but has very little respect for others' things. When she moved in, I set the tone for our household to be one of sharing; I wanted to frequently share my dinners with her. I made it clear that things I own in common areas are fair game (kitchen stuff, etc). I've specified what is mine, what I choose not to share, what is NOT fair game for her use.



I love this roommate, but since the beginning, there has been major boundary crossing. My things go missing. My food, shampoo, mouthwash, household cleaners get used up. Worst of all, when I can't find things, she turns white and tells me they are at "so-and-so's house" and rushes off to get them.



When she ruined my good towels by using them at the school, she said, "Why do you need good towels anyway?! We're so spoiled in this country!" implying I was being selfish and materialistic. Guilting me for expecting my roommate to exercise normal, healthy respect for others' property.



I've had at least four "boundary clarification" talks with her. I have expressed that while I am happy to let her use my things IN OUR HOME, they are NOT to leave the house without my permission. I have clearly stated, "Hey, I am the one who gets to decide whether you use my belongings. You don't get to decide for me."



After a major episode when she lent my sewing box out to one neighbor and our vacuum to another, I set a tangible boundary to keep my things safe and put a lock on my bedroom door. But she STILL is taking things to the school where she works...things she presumes are "No big deal." My grandmother's rolling pin. My only nice set of dinner napkins (both now ruined or gone.) I've told her the next time I find something missing, rent will go up $50 a month for each missing thing (and that's in addition to her replacing what's gone.)



She offers me her food, to use her clothes or hair products, etc. "any time" which is lovely and generous and selfless...buys little presents, has offered to lend me money, helps and cleans up around the house, etc...and I genuinely like her as a person, but I'm really struggling with how to deal with this. In some ways, I feel like I'm dealing with a stubborn, incorrigible, spoiled teenager.



Please note: right now for various reasons, I cannot ask her to move out, so please help me come up with solutions to the situation I'm presently in.



Since being laid off, I have been seriously underemployed and barely paying the bills. I'm starting a new job next month so this stress will lighten soon, but in the last few months with her using up the little I have, it has been very difficult. Knowing she might be sneaking my shampoo and eating the food I bought for myself has been threatening my sense of well-being. I realize deep mistrust has set in.



I've said and done all the constructive things I can think of. But clearly, she doesn't "get it." Healthy boundaries and grownup considerations.



Can anyone help? I'm at my wit's end.
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

web site promotion internet marketing

SEO in the niche of web hosting and domain name registration


In this article we`ll try to generalize our practices in promotion of companies that provide web hosting and domain registration services.


We will talk about such questions:



  • Analysis of hosting / domain name registration market and finding potentially advantageous promotion directions;

  • Features of keywords selection in the conditions of SEO-pressure

  • Definition of promotion strategy

  • Methods of getting links

  • Features of different queries groups conversion depending on geography

  • Typical problems that interfere sites conversion and ways of their solution


Market analysis and competitive researches. Finding potentially advantageous promotion directions


First of all, it is necessary to note that a large traffic in the niche of web hosting is deceptive. If you look at Google AdWords Keyword Tool data you will find out the following picture:



In fact, there are about 400-500 visits from the 8th– 9th place for a query “hosting” per month. It`s necessary to consider this and other points while planning hosting project promotion, because information about a large amount of queries in the Google AdWords Keyword Tool is “stuffed” with endless positions checks. As the market of hosting projects and domain name registrars is extremely competitive, you have a great chance to invest money, work and time in promotion of such queries that are stuffed and do not bring traffic and sales, and after all you can incur losses and even remain disappointed in the search promotion at all. The same can be said about domain name registration.



In fact, there are about 500-600 visits from the 5th – 6th place for a query “domain” per month.


That`s why, in our opinion, it`s better to begin promotion of hosting project or domain name registrar with finding active competitors in the search marketing niche and define their strategies.  For this purpose we can recommend a wonderful tool – SemRush.


So, we need to find competitor sites in our niche, which are actively engaged in the Internet marketing. We just type highly competitive query corresponding to the topic in SemRush and find sites that are ranked well for it:



Now we need to make cleaning, i.e., remove irrelevant sites from the list. In this case, obviously, Wikipedia must be removed from the list. After checking a few queries important for you in the same way, we will receive a “crossed” list of sites. Sites from this list have good rankings for many queries in this subject, so they should be examined primarily.


Lets take a site hostgator.com as an example:



The example shows that, firstly, the number of search queries for which the site “hostgator” is shown has an explicit trend to growth. It reflects the efforts made by the owners of this project to increase its visibility in search engines.



After selection of queries that bring maximum traffic to the project according to SemRush, we get an approximate keywords list which can be used to start promotion.


Making the list of necessary keywords, let’s see whether it is a good idea for us to «meddle into a fight» for these keywords. You should consider such factor, as SEO-pressure, for this purpose.


Features of keywords selection in the conditions of SEO-pressure


You can use different tools to estimate a competition for the selected query. A plug-in for FireFox called SeoQuake is one of convenient free instruments.


Let’s type a relevant query interesting for us, e.g., business hosting:



You can see that some strong sites are present in SERP, and some of them have got from several hundreds thousand to millions of backlinks and even more. The competition in SERPs is about to be really strong, so I would like to repeat: you should select a semantic core very carefully. Moreover, there are sometimes artifacts in SERPs, and learning them is possible only from experience. Let’s take the query “ecommerce hosting”. This query is high frequency in subtopic «hosting for ecommerce sites», it has about 12 thousand searches per month in exact match worldwide:



We can see that the trends of search don’t show any sudden jumps or drops.



The target audience for these queries is in the U.S. and UK – the most creditworthy regions in general. However, traffic for such query from the American Google Top5 – Top6 is about 1-3 persons a day, with natural drops on weekends; it gives us about 40 people a month. A conversion rate for these queries is extremely low. Of course, promotion for this queries is acceptable only with the purposes of improving positioning and brand awareness, but as for sales it isn`t effective.


Let`s take a query “reseller web hosting” which has next data from Google KeyWord Tool worldwide, for comparison:




The query brings twice more traffic from the 4th-5th places having twice smaller amount of searches in exact match according to Google KeyWord Tool! Conversion rate of this query is also quite high. At that, Google Insights give the following data:



At the same time the great part of traffic and transactions comes from the U.S. and UK users despite of the fact that the site holds comparable positions also in Google.co.in.


All of these patterns are also true for domain name registrars.


It’s impossible to know this information without experience in promoting a site for such queries or without trying PPC advertising in exact match. There are a lot of keywords like these, so you should constantly monitor all queries in the aggregate estimating of the effectiveness of each one.


You can also “pull out” perspective keywords making the analysis of the backlinks text anchor to sites of competitors who are actively engaged in search marketing. You can use special tools, for example, CS Yazzle or SEO SpyGlass by LinkAssistant, either manually using Yahoo! Site Explorer.



To estimate a real traffic on a query you may also try PPC in exact match.


The following method can be used to estimate keywords efficiency. The initial necessary data is:



  • Position for a keyword;

  • Traffic on it;

  • Estimated number of searches from Google Keyword Tool in the exact and phrase match for the world and top regions;

  • Quantity of page views;

  • Time spent on a site;

  • Bounce rate;

  • Conversion rate.


Microsoft Excel counts a parity of all these factors with the help of formulas and allows realizing efficiency/inefficiency of each keyword visually.



Perspective traffic, quantity of searches per month (data of Google AdwordsKeywordTool) and conversion data for each query are marked with green color. Indicators exceeded the average indicators for the site to the worse are marked with red (bounce rate, number of pages reviews).The percent of conversion which vastly differs to better from the average indicator for the site is marked with yellow color in the last column (Conversion rate).


Using this technique allows tracking the most convertible requests and receiving greater outcome from a client’s site.


Selection of promotion strategy


Based on our experience in promotion of projects in the niche of hosting and domain names registration we can say that the most high-frequency, convertible and competitive queries are in these topics exactly.


Shared vs VPS vs Dedicated


If to compare an earning power of dedicated servers sale (VPS) and earning power of shared hosting sale you will come to the conclusion that in general virtual (Shared) hosting sale is more profitable: one dedicated server sale brings around 200$ of income, at the same time sale of the same server “cutted” on virtual (Shared) hosting allows to earn much more (~100×5$), even with the consideration of the increasing load on a support.


However, traffic in Shared hosting subtopic is much less than in dedicated server subtopic. People interested in such things, according to our observations, come by queries like “cheap hosting”, “cheap web hosting”, and the quantity of such searches is very small because Godaddy and Hostgator take away the lion’s share of these customers, mainly due to type-in traffic.


In this case, it seems to be a good decision to perform promotion in the VPS and Dedicated sector.


Many companies, apparently, have come to the same conclusion: promotion for queries of “shared” group is much easier, than for queries related to dedicated servers.


Specialized kinds of hosting


As we have noted above, low-frequency traffic brings rather small part in general traffic and conversion; therefore, in our opinion, it`s better to begin promotion for high-frequency keywords with addition low – and mid-frequency keywords, which give a great bulk of sales and target traffic on a site. However, if your hosting site sells “exotic ” types of hosting, such as hosting with support of Zen Cart or Django, then such low-frequency, long-tail keywords can justify themself at the initial stages of promotion.


A cost of their promotion to the Top-10 is small, and similar “exotic hosting” is usually searched by people who understand the subject well and thus type long queries in search bars.


Eventually, when the site starts to rank well for competitive queries, it makes sense to “collect” low-frequency “long tail” of queries in subjects, not to miss this small piece of the market.


Also I would like to notice that promotion for keywords like “hosting” and “web hosting” is extremely difficult process due to high competition (though these keywords begin to “sell” beginning from top-20!)


Methods of getting links


The basis of search optimization are at the moment:



  • keyword research;

  • texts and meta tags optimization according to the keywords;

  • adding backlinks with correct “anchors” (with right reference texts).


As we have already noted, hosting sites have a large number of backlinks. How do they receive so many backlinks? This is obvious, that reviews and comments at forums will never help to collect tens thousands of links. Four main methods used in this theme should be picked out. Some of them are typical for other niches and some of them have unusual “boom” exactly in hosting and domain subjects.



  • Link exchange (the proper way)


  • Links buying (the smart way)

  • Getting links through its own affiliate program.


Conversion of search traffic


Let’s look at the comparative analysis of search traffic conversion in various regions (sample of more than 90.000 sales for “domain names” and more than 2000 sales for the “hosting” market):



So, what are your big Internet marketing plans for the New Year? Will you be investing more in social media? Will you start blogging? Will you take a more proactive stance with self-promotion? Whatever your online marketing plans, the end goal is likely to attract more people to your website in the hopes that the influx of new eyes will translate into new customers, new leads and new opportunities for your business. However, you won’t be able to do any of that if your Web site is turning people off, instead of turning them on.


Below are some very common reasons SMB Web sites fail to attract customers and how to avoid falling prey to them.


1. There’s no conversion path in place.


One criticism of many SMB sites is that they don’t include a clear conversion path for their customers. If you want customers to take a certain action, you need to create a funnel intended to guide them to do that. Simply stringing together a number of content pages won’t necessarily put someone on the path to buy. Your conversion path may be as simple as a solitary landing page paired with a call to action, or as complex as an entire microsite. Either way, you are in charge of designing the flow of your website. Creating a clear conversion path not only helps customers feel more comfortable on your site, it also gives you clear data to track so that you can see where people are abandoning, where they’re engaging, etc. The more data you have to act on, the better you can design your site to attract new customers.


2. There’s no sign of life.


Customers are discriminating. You can bet that when they land on your website they’re going to kick the tires a little to see if they can trust you. They’re going to check your copyright date to see if it lists 2011 or 2006. They’re going to look for old statistics or other signs you haven’t taken the time to update your content. They’re going to check your company blog to see how often it’s updated, if you reply to commenters, if people are talking back, etc. They’re going to look for signs that you’ve created a dynamic website, instead of one lying around in stagnant water. Before your customers get there, take a look around yourself. Would you hang out with you?


3. It’s all about you.


Customers don’t head to your site to hear how awesome you are. They’re there because they have a problem they need you to fix or a question they need you to answer. Your website should be designed to help them quickly achieve whatever it is they came for. Too many references to “I” in lieu of “you,” too much sales talk instead of helpful information, and too much of you not addressing their fears/wants/desires will turn people away from your brand, not on to it. Your customers don’t care about you–they care about how you can help them.


4. People can’t find you.


If you’re finding that customers aren’t interacting with your website at all, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.



  1. Is it accessible? With more and more users searching via mobile devices and on the go – is your website mobile accessible? If it’s not, users trying to find you may hit a dead end. There’s nothing worse than trying to find your accountant’s website while on the road and finding out his site only renders in Flash and won’t load on your phone. Not that I’m talking from experience.

  2. Is it properly SEO’d? Have you made it easy for users and search engines to find your content? That means using the right keywords, linking properly, making your site super crawlable for spiders, and staying away from common SMB SEO mistakes.


Sometimes before you can see more traffic, you have to break through the obstacles preventing you from seeing any.


5. There’s no POD.


If you want to attract people, you have to give them more of you. You have to stand out from the crowd and show them something that they’ll want to align themselves with. Take a look at your own site – what are you showing potential customers? I don’t mean the graphics or the videos you choose to incorporate (don’t forget to SEO those, too!), I mean the experience that you’re creating. Are you using your site to set yourself apart, or do you come off like everyone else? Are you talking to customers in their own language or filling your pages up with buzzwords and jargon? The more powerful a POD (point of differentiation) you can create, the better you’ll attract the right customers to your brand.


If you’re finding it difficult to attract leads via your website, it may be time to ask yourself some hard questions. Before you can fix the problem, you first have to identify it. What are some struggles you’ve had attracting new leads? How have you fixed the problems?





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Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.


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What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Lara Logan of CBS <b>News</b> Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine&#39;s Day!

Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.


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What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Lara Logan of CBS <b>News</b> Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine&#39;s Day!

Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.


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What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Lara Logan of CBS <b>News</b> Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine&#39;s Day!

Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.


bench craft company reviews

What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Lara Logan of CBS <b>News</b> Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine&#39;s Day!

Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.


bench craft company reviews

What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Lara Logan of CBS <b>News</b> Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine&#39;s Day!

Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.

















Friday, February 11, 2011

foreclosure

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Houston Foreclosures Texas, 3Bd, 2Ba,  $ 64,000.00 : ForeclosureDataBank.com by ForeclosureDataBank


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Final Fantasy 1, 2 coming to PSN PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Final Fantasy 1, 2 coming to PSN.

Beth Knobel: Why CBS <b>News</b>, and Everyone Else, Needs to Remember <b>...</b>

The future of journalism is bleak: too many journalists are satisfied parroting wire service copy instead of doing original reporting. The problem lies in the two vicious cycles this trend creates.

Nokia and Microsoft form mobile partnership | <b>News</b>

Nokia and Microsoft have announced plans to form a partnership in the mobile space that the companies hope will help it c...


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Houston Foreclosures Texas, 3Bd, 2Ba,  $ 64,000.00 : ForeclosureDataBank.com by ForeclosureDataBank


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Final Fantasy 1, 2 coming to PSN PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Final Fantasy 1, 2 coming to PSN.

Beth Knobel: Why CBS <b>News</b>, and Everyone Else, Needs to Remember <b>...</b>

The future of journalism is bleak: too many journalists are satisfied parroting wire service copy instead of doing original reporting. The problem lies in the two vicious cycles this trend creates.

Nokia and Microsoft form mobile partnership | <b>News</b>

Nokia and Microsoft have announced plans to form a partnership in the mobile space that the companies hope will help it c...


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Final Fantasy 1, 2 coming to PSN PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Final Fantasy 1, 2 coming to PSN.

Beth Knobel: Why CBS <b>News</b>, and Everyone Else, Needs to Remember <b>...</b>

The future of journalism is bleak: too many journalists are satisfied parroting wire service copy instead of doing original reporting. The problem lies in the two vicious cycles this trend creates.

Nokia and Microsoft form mobile partnership | <b>News</b>

Nokia and Microsoft have announced plans to form a partnership in the mobile space that the companies hope will help it c...


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Final Fantasy 1, 2 coming to PSN PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Final Fantasy 1, 2 coming to PSN.

Beth Knobel: Why CBS <b>News</b>, and Everyone Else, Needs to Remember <b>...</b>

The future of journalism is bleak: too many journalists are satisfied parroting wire service copy instead of doing original reporting. The problem lies in the two vicious cycles this trend creates.

Nokia and Microsoft form mobile partnership | <b>News</b>

Nokia and Microsoft have announced plans to form a partnership in the mobile space that the companies hope will help it c...


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Houston Foreclosures Texas, 3Bd, 2Ba,  $ 64,000.00 : ForeclosureDataBank.com by ForeclosureDataBank


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Final Fantasy 1, 2 coming to PSN PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Final Fantasy 1, 2 coming to PSN.

Beth Knobel: Why CBS <b>News</b>, and Everyone Else, Needs to Remember <b>...</b>

The future of journalism is bleak: too many journalists are satisfied parroting wire service copy instead of doing original reporting. The problem lies in the two vicious cycles this trend creates.

Nokia and Microsoft form mobile partnership | <b>News</b>

Nokia and Microsoft have announced plans to form a partnership in the mobile space that the companies hope will help it c...


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If you want to clean foreclosed properties for a living, it is the perfect time to start. Why? According to the 1/4/09 LA Times article, HUD funds to help cities clean up foreclosures, Congress has allocated $4 billion to help clean up the rash of home foreclosures across the country.

The articles states, "Across the country, cities and counties are performing housing triage as they prepare to spend the $4 billion Congress has allocated under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program." This is good news for three reasons for foreclosure cleanup companies.

3 Reasons the Neighborhood Stabilization Program is Good News for Those Who Want to Clean Foreclosed Properties

1. Funds must be spent: Once the government allocates funds for certain purposes, the monies must be spent, or the local municipalities lose those funds. There isn't a government official who's ever been elected who wants to give money back, so city and county officials will be glad to loose the purse strings and spend every penny.

And, if you're one of the lucky ones who acted on your desire to clean foreclosed properties, you may just be in line for some foreclosure cleanup contracts, which brings us to the next point.

2. Foreclosure Cleanup Contracts: Local governments like to do business with businesses. They will probably put some type of bidding process in place so that owners of foreclosure cleanup companies can bid on foreclosure cleanup contracts.

This means now is the time to start your foreclosure cleanup business, ie, get licensed, bonded and insured. Most likely, you'll be one of the few "qualified companies" in town who meet all the criteria to bid on any foreclosure cleanup contracts your city/county offers. And, with guaranteed funds in place -- getting paid is not something you'll have to worry about.

3. Catapult Your Business: Most newbies to this business never think beyond their desire to "just" clean foreclosed properties. But, starting out with a government contract can catapult your business to the next level -- almost from the beginning.

Imagine having guaranteed business almost immediately. This exponentially increases your chances of success as a foreclosure cleanup service. The beauty of getting foreclosure cleanup contracts with your local government is that you make contacts that can ensure more business down the road.

Clean Foreclosed Properties: There's Never Been a Better Time to Start

The bottom line is if you want to clean foreclosed properties for a living, now is the best time to start. The government is extremely anxious to start rehabbing foreclosed properties -- and they're putting their money where their mouth is. According to the article mentioned above, "It's [the Neighborhood Stabilization Program] like no other government program I've seen . . . They want to get the money on the streets, fast."

To learn how to clean foreclosed properties for a living -- and get your piece of this $4 billion pie -- log on to http://Start-a-Foreclosure-Cleanup-Business.com.


Tuesday, February 8, 2011

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NFL <b>News</b>: Non-Super Bowl Edition - Blogging The Boys

What's going on around the NFL that's not about the Super Bowl? We take a look at few stories.

Keith Olbermann is Current TV&#39;s new Chief <b>News</b> Officer - From <b>...</b>

Greetings from Keith Olbermann, Chief News Officer of Current Media! And awayyyyyy we go! #FOK.”

International <b>News</b> Channel Euronews to Generate its Own <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

Channel will shift from being client of news agencies to a competitor.



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NFL <b>News</b>: Non-Super Bowl Edition - Blogging The Boys

What's going on around the NFL that's not about the Super Bowl? We take a look at few stories.

Keith Olbermann is Current TV&#39;s new Chief <b>News</b> Officer - From <b>...</b>

Greetings from Keith Olbermann, Chief News Officer of Current Media! And awayyyyyy we go! #FOK.”

International <b>News</b> Channel Euronews to Generate its Own <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

Channel will shift from being client of news agencies to a competitor.



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NFL <b>News</b>: Non-Super Bowl Edition - Blogging The Boys

What's going on around the NFL that's not about the Super Bowl? We take a look at few stories.

Keith Olbermann is Current TV&#39;s new Chief <b>News</b> Officer - From <b>...</b>

Greetings from Keith Olbermann, Chief News Officer of Current Media! And awayyyyyy we go! #FOK.”

International <b>News</b> Channel Euronews to Generate its Own <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

Channel will shift from being client of news agencies to a competitor.



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What's going on around the NFL that's not about the Super Bowl? We take a look at few stories.

Keith Olbermann is Current TV&#39;s new Chief <b>News</b> Officer - From <b>...</b>

Greetings from Keith Olbermann, Chief News Officer of Current Media! And awayyyyyy we go! #FOK.”

International <b>News</b> Channel Euronews to Generate its Own <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

Channel will shift from being client of news agencies to a competitor.



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NFL <b>News</b>: Non-Super Bowl Edition - Blogging The Boys

What's going on around the NFL that's not about the Super Bowl? We take a look at few stories.

Keith Olbermann is Current TV&#39;s new Chief <b>News</b> Officer - From <b>...</b>

Greetings from Keith Olbermann, Chief News Officer of Current Media! And awayyyyyy we go! #FOK.”

International <b>News</b> Channel Euronews to Generate its Own <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

Channel will shift from being client of news agencies to a competitor.



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NFL <b>News</b>: Non-Super Bowl Edition - Blogging The Boys

What's going on around the NFL that's not about the Super Bowl? We take a look at few stories.

Keith Olbermann is Current TV&#39;s new Chief <b>News</b> Officer - From <b>...</b>

Greetings from Keith Olbermann, Chief News Officer of Current Media! And awayyyyyy we go! #FOK.”

International <b>News</b> Channel Euronews to Generate its Own <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

Channel will shift from being client of news agencies to a competitor.


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NFL <b>News</b>: Non-Super Bowl Edition - Blogging The Boys

What's going on around the NFL that's not about the Super Bowl? We take a look at few stories.

Keith Olbermann is Current TV&#39;s new Chief <b>News</b> Officer - From <b>...</b>

Greetings from Keith Olbermann, Chief News Officer of Current Media! And awayyyyyy we go! #FOK.”

International <b>News</b> Channel Euronews to Generate its Own <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

Channel will shift from being client of news agencies to a competitor.



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NFL <b>News</b>: Non-Super Bowl Edition - Blogging The Boys

What's going on around the NFL that's not about the Super Bowl? We take a look at few stories.

Keith Olbermann is Current TV&#39;s new Chief <b>News</b> Officer - From <b>...</b>

Greetings from Keith Olbermann, Chief News Officer of Current Media! And awayyyyyy we go! #FOK.”

International <b>News</b> Channel Euronews to Generate its Own <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

Channel will shift from being client of news agencies to a competitor.



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NFL <b>News</b>: Non-Super Bowl Edition - Blogging The Boys

What's going on around the NFL that's not about the Super Bowl? We take a look at few stories.

Keith Olbermann is Current TV&#39;s new Chief <b>News</b> Officer - From <b>...</b>

Greetings from Keith Olbermann, Chief News Officer of Current Media! And awayyyyyy we go! #FOK.”

International <b>News</b> Channel Euronews to Generate its Own <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

Channel will shift from being client of news agencies to a competitor.



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What's going on around the NFL that's not about the Super Bowl? We take a look at few stories.

Keith Olbermann is Current TV&#39;s new Chief <b>News</b> Officer - From <b>...</b>

Greetings from Keith Olbermann, Chief News Officer of Current Media! And awayyyyyy we go! #FOK.”

International <b>News</b> Channel Euronews to Generate its Own <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

Channel will shift from being client of news agencies to a competitor.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

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Newly 25-year-old Lauren Conrad has spent much of the last few months being trailed by cameras for her next reality project with MTV. Unfortunately, it was confirmed by EW today that the network is not going ahead with the project. MTV's Head of Programming David Janollari commented on the cancellation and said, "We decided not to go ahead with the show. She did do a pilot. There were talks about whether we could somehow manage to put together a special based on that footage but that's also a big question mark based on her interest in that and the finances. We love her! We would love her on our network!" It seems as though they're open to a collaboration in the future, but for now, fans will have to get their LC fix through fashion and books.


Lauren released a statement about the news saying, "We sold a show to MTV, filmed it and are really proud of the final result. MTV felt the subject matter was too high brow for their audience and offered me the opportunity to change the show by incorporating more of my personal life. We agreed going into the project that this show would be an aspirational one, focusing on my career and my goals and not my personal relationships. We delivered the show that we sold and are sorry MTV didn't feel their viewers were savvy enough to appreciate it."


So, tell us — are you sad Lauren's reality series isn't happening?



style="text-align: center;">

/> [style="text-decoration: underline;">Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past four years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

Evan here. As we have been predicted would happen in past posts, a sizzling biglaw US associate lateral hiring boom has arrived in Hong Kong / China for the first quarter ’11. We expect this hiring boom to continue until spring, with hiring being steady afterwards but dropping to more normal levels.

A “perfect storm” has developed, causing many US and UK firms in Hong Kong / China to have multiple US corporate / cap markets urgent openings at one time now.

A lot of these top firms in Hong Kong / China have been understaffed since late 2009. When the global recession went into full swing in late 2008, the downturn had started to seriously affect biglaw deal flow in China (about a year after negative effects were felt in US and other Western markets), with IPOs coming to a stop. There was misguided concern at the time that because China had some dependence on US exports for its economy to be fully fueled, China would be heading into a bubble-busting down turn, even much worse than what was taking place in the US. However, in mid-’09, deal flow in China was booming again, fueled in large part by China’s own consumer economy expanding rapidly. This was no surprise to many of us who have observed China for several years. After all, 2009 was the year that China over took the US in new cars purchased annually, China overtook India in gold purchased annually, and the Asia Pacific Region overtook North America in daily commercial flights. id="more-55522">

But much of the world was skeptical the boom could continue more than a short time (dramatic bubble-busting predictions sold newspapers and perhaps made some Westerners feel better about themselves) and thus senior firm management at many firms were reluctant to invest heavily with new hires in China, especially considering the recession in West. With the worst recession of our lifetime in full swing, most US firms were on a global hiring freeze and trying to avoid more layoffs, rather than trying to hire laterals for China. The feeling was also that if there was a need to staff up on some deals in China, it could be done by sending over associates not busy in US, at least temporarily, which was a band-aid on what was becoming an understaffing problem. Further, it was just bad internal politics back them for a partner at a US firm in Asia or elsewhere to try to pressure their management for lateral hires because of the big push in ’09 to keep down costs and try to salvage profit numbers (to help recruit and retain partners) in the midst of a major recession.

By late ’09, some firms which had been in global hiring freeze started to make exceptions in China and allowed a hire here or there. In the first half of ’10, this trend continued. By the second half of ’10, it was a bit easier for top firms to get the green light from their global management to make more hires in China, but all during ’10, many of their associates in Hong Kong and the mainland were being heavily recruited by banks, firms and other entities, due to being in full scale boom that showed no signs of slowing down (for the most part).

Also, from late ’09 through today there have been some key Hong Kong local cap markets / corporate group acquisitions by top US firms. This has been a relatively new trend and global firm managements put a lot of focus on bringing in these groups. In order to have a local Hong Kong practice, foreign firms in Hong Kong must have an office with 50% or more of their total attorneys Hong Kong qualified. This numbers ratio issue, as well as the expensive investment firms were making on Hong Kong local practices, kept a number of firms from having the full green light to hire US associates in Hong Kong / China.

During the past 18 months there have been a number of events or predicted events that many economists predicted would fantastically derail China’s boom economy (selling more newspapers of course in the process), but China has blown through each hurdle and all the while giving global firm managements more confidence to fully invest in hiring in China. In mid ’10, the crisis in Greece and the EU caused the world markets to fall, including in Asia, and the thought amongst people we met with in Hong Kong / China at the time was that IPOs might finally slow down for a while, that China would push through the ABC deal and then things may be flat for a while. There was concern for a few weeks, but soon after deal flow continued to boom as never before.

In fact ’10 was the biggest year ever for IPOs in Hong Kong / China. No one expects this level of deal flow to continue at quite this pace even if the general boom continues for years. Also, IPO work is becoming more commoditized, with pressure on rates, it is not likely that top firms will get top rates for this work at boom deal flow levels indefinitely (there will still be a ton of this work, but firms will have to also diversify more into other corporate areas), even if the boom continues. However, because things have been so hot and now for more than 18 months and show no signs of slowing down throughout ’11 and into ‘12, global firm management at firms have caved in to their China partners requests for full green light to make US associate and other attorney hires. Another factor in this full green light happening at most firms is because it is natural to make such decisions at or near the end of a calendar or fiscal year and also firms realize many of their peers are doing same.

So we now have a situation where US partners in Hong Kong / China have been understaffed for 18 months, at some times badly understaffed, while they have been pitching global firm management for many months to allow more hires, and all of the sudden there is a full green light.

We know of some top firms, for example, in which US partners in Hong Kong / China had to, as recently as November ’10, jump through hoops for weeks to get clearance to give an offer letter to a US associate they verbally offered. Some of these same firms in December ‘10 and January ’11 are suddenly being given the green light by management to hire as many as 10 US associates in Hong Kong / China.

US partners in Hong Kong / China are finding out quickly though that while they had for two years the luxury of always being able to interview and hire the perfect candidate on paper, the native Chinese cap markets mid-level from a top 5 NYC firm for example, because they constantly had a roster of 5+ of such candidates, nowadays suddenly they are having to scramble to recruit these candidates, who are quickly coming off the market and not only receiving offers left and right, but also turning them down (can only join one firm after all).

Thus, there is some constructive panic going on in US biglaw hiring circles in Hong Kong / China and top firms are going to have to drop their selectivity somewhat. The top tier firms will make concessions on practice fit before they make concessions on academics. The 2ndtier firms typically are quicker to make concessions on academics before practice fit. Most firms are still going after fluent Mandarin speakers (or in many cases Korean speakers) but the pressure on the market is causing more “English only is ok” to pop up.

Also, keep in mind that if you happen to be native Chinese and at a top NYC firm and give notice this quarter due to a lateral move to Hong Kong / China, your firm may pull out all the stops to convince you to rescind your offer acceptance (even if you accepted the offer months ago and your new firm gave you flexibility with start date and is counting on you to join them). Such efforts will include a big show with senior partners, including in many cases the firm chairman or global practice head, stopping by your office to convince you to not worry about your new position and just transfer with them. Suddenly transfer requests that were turned down or put off indefinitely become instantly approved, with talk of you being the star of your class, with realistic shot at partner down the road, and that the firm will try to give you your specific practice preference in Hong Kong / China, even if you don’t want to help staff the IPO deals booming through. It may sound comical, but it is happening at some firms. Try to keep things in perspective.

Why will this sizzling hiring boom, which we feel for this quarter will be stronger than ’07, only last some months? Well, once the understaffed US practices in Hong Kong / China quickly reach critical mass, take care of their understaffing problem of the past 18 months as quickly as possible, hiring will naturally level off. As deal flow continues at boom levels, there will of course be plenty of US associate openings in Hong Kong / China, but not multiple openings at the majority of firms, and not 5 to 10 openings at once at some top firms.


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The State <b>News</b> :: Spartans dismantled in Wisconsin, 82-56

For the first time in Tom Izzo's 16 years as the MSU men's basketball team head coach, the Spartans suffered their second consecutive 20-point loss Sunday, losing to Wisconsin, 82-56, in Madison, Wisc. The Badgers (17-5 overall, ...

Breaking <b>news</b>: Bar Rafaeli enters Big Brother house in Israel

Big Brother Israel, now airing it's third season, saw a special guest enter the house - world renowned Victoria's Secret model and Leo's main squeeze, Bar.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/6/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.


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Newly 25-year-old Lauren Conrad has spent much of the last few months being trailed by cameras for her next reality project with MTV. Unfortunately, it was confirmed by EW today that the network is not going ahead with the project. MTV's Head of Programming David Janollari commented on the cancellation and said, "We decided not to go ahead with the show. She did do a pilot. There were talks about whether we could somehow manage to put together a special based on that footage but that's also a big question mark based on her interest in that and the finances. We love her! We would love her on our network!" It seems as though they're open to a collaboration in the future, but for now, fans will have to get their LC fix through fashion and books.


Lauren released a statement about the news saying, "We sold a show to MTV, filmed it and are really proud of the final result. MTV felt the subject matter was too high brow for their audience and offered me the opportunity to change the show by incorporating more of my personal life. We agreed going into the project that this show would be an aspirational one, focusing on my career and my goals and not my personal relationships. We delivered the show that we sold and are sorry MTV didn't feel their viewers were savvy enough to appreciate it."


So, tell us — are you sad Lauren's reality series isn't happening?



style="text-align: center;">

/> [style="text-decoration: underline;">Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past four years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

Evan here. As we have been predicted would happen in past posts, a sizzling biglaw US associate lateral hiring boom has arrived in Hong Kong / China for the first quarter ’11. We expect this hiring boom to continue until spring, with hiring being steady afterwards but dropping to more normal levels.

A “perfect storm” has developed, causing many US and UK firms in Hong Kong / China to have multiple US corporate / cap markets urgent openings at one time now.

A lot of these top firms in Hong Kong / China have been understaffed since late 2009. When the global recession went into full swing in late 2008, the downturn had started to seriously affect biglaw deal flow in China (about a year after negative effects were felt in US and other Western markets), with IPOs coming to a stop. There was misguided concern at the time that because China had some dependence on US exports for its economy to be fully fueled, China would be heading into a bubble-busting down turn, even much worse than what was taking place in the US. However, in mid-’09, deal flow in China was booming again, fueled in large part by China’s own consumer economy expanding rapidly. This was no surprise to many of us who have observed China for several years. After all, 2009 was the year that China over took the US in new cars purchased annually, China overtook India in gold purchased annually, and the Asia Pacific Region overtook North America in daily commercial flights. id="more-55522">

But much of the world was skeptical the boom could continue more than a short time (dramatic bubble-busting predictions sold newspapers and perhaps made some Westerners feel better about themselves) and thus senior firm management at many firms were reluctant to invest heavily with new hires in China, especially considering the recession in West. With the worst recession of our lifetime in full swing, most US firms were on a global hiring freeze and trying to avoid more layoffs, rather than trying to hire laterals for China. The feeling was also that if there was a need to staff up on some deals in China, it could be done by sending over associates not busy in US, at least temporarily, which was a band-aid on what was becoming an understaffing problem. Further, it was just bad internal politics back them for a partner at a US firm in Asia or elsewhere to try to pressure their management for lateral hires because of the big push in ’09 to keep down costs and try to salvage profit numbers (to help recruit and retain partners) in the midst of a major recession.

By late ’09, some firms which had been in global hiring freeze started to make exceptions in China and allowed a hire here or there. In the first half of ’10, this trend continued. By the second half of ’10, it was a bit easier for top firms to get the green light from their global management to make more hires in China, but all during ’10, many of their associates in Hong Kong and the mainland were being heavily recruited by banks, firms and other entities, due to being in full scale boom that showed no signs of slowing down (for the most part).

Also, from late ’09 through today there have been some key Hong Kong local cap markets / corporate group acquisitions by top US firms. This has been a relatively new trend and global firm managements put a lot of focus on bringing in these groups. In order to have a local Hong Kong practice, foreign firms in Hong Kong must have an office with 50% or more of their total attorneys Hong Kong qualified. This numbers ratio issue, as well as the expensive investment firms were making on Hong Kong local practices, kept a number of firms from having the full green light to hire US associates in Hong Kong / China.

During the past 18 months there have been a number of events or predicted events that many economists predicted would fantastically derail China’s boom economy (selling more newspapers of course in the process), but China has blown through each hurdle and all the while giving global firm managements more confidence to fully invest in hiring in China. In mid ’10, the crisis in Greece and the EU caused the world markets to fall, including in Asia, and the thought amongst people we met with in Hong Kong / China at the time was that IPOs might finally slow down for a while, that China would push through the ABC deal and then things may be flat for a while. There was concern for a few weeks, but soon after deal flow continued to boom as never before.

In fact ’10 was the biggest year ever for IPOs in Hong Kong / China. No one expects this level of deal flow to continue at quite this pace even if the general boom continues for years. Also, IPO work is becoming more commoditized, with pressure on rates, it is not likely that top firms will get top rates for this work at boom deal flow levels indefinitely (there will still be a ton of this work, but firms will have to also diversify more into other corporate areas), even if the boom continues. However, because things have been so hot and now for more than 18 months and show no signs of slowing down throughout ’11 and into ‘12, global firm management at firms have caved in to their China partners requests for full green light to make US associate and other attorney hires. Another factor in this full green light happening at most firms is because it is natural to make such decisions at or near the end of a calendar or fiscal year and also firms realize many of their peers are doing same.

So we now have a situation where US partners in Hong Kong / China have been understaffed for 18 months, at some times badly understaffed, while they have been pitching global firm management for many months to allow more hires, and all of the sudden there is a full green light.

We know of some top firms, for example, in which US partners in Hong Kong / China had to, as recently as November ’10, jump through hoops for weeks to get clearance to give an offer letter to a US associate they verbally offered. Some of these same firms in December ‘10 and January ’11 are suddenly being given the green light by management to hire as many as 10 US associates in Hong Kong / China.

US partners in Hong Kong / China are finding out quickly though that while they had for two years the luxury of always being able to interview and hire the perfect candidate on paper, the native Chinese cap markets mid-level from a top 5 NYC firm for example, because they constantly had a roster of 5+ of such candidates, nowadays suddenly they are having to scramble to recruit these candidates, who are quickly coming off the market and not only receiving offers left and right, but also turning them down (can only join one firm after all).

Thus, there is some constructive panic going on in US biglaw hiring circles in Hong Kong / China and top firms are going to have to drop their selectivity somewhat. The top tier firms will make concessions on practice fit before they make concessions on academics. The 2ndtier firms typically are quicker to make concessions on academics before practice fit. Most firms are still going after fluent Mandarin speakers (or in many cases Korean speakers) but the pressure on the market is causing more “English only is ok” to pop up.

Also, keep in mind that if you happen to be native Chinese and at a top NYC firm and give notice this quarter due to a lateral move to Hong Kong / China, your firm may pull out all the stops to convince you to rescind your offer acceptance (even if you accepted the offer months ago and your new firm gave you flexibility with start date and is counting on you to join them). Such efforts will include a big show with senior partners, including in many cases the firm chairman or global practice head, stopping by your office to convince you to not worry about your new position and just transfer with them. Suddenly transfer requests that were turned down or put off indefinitely become instantly approved, with talk of you being the star of your class, with realistic shot at partner down the road, and that the firm will try to give you your specific practice preference in Hong Kong / China, even if you don’t want to help staff the IPO deals booming through. It may sound comical, but it is happening at some firms. Try to keep things in perspective.

Why will this sizzling hiring boom, which we feel for this quarter will be stronger than ’07, only last some months? Well, once the understaffed US practices in Hong Kong / China quickly reach critical mass, take care of their understaffing problem of the past 18 months as quickly as possible, hiring will naturally level off. As deal flow continues at boom levels, there will of course be plenty of US associate openings in Hong Kong / China, but not multiple openings at the majority of firms, and not 5 to 10 openings at once at some top firms.


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The State <b>News</b> :: Spartans dismantled in Wisconsin, 82-56

For the first time in Tom Izzo's 16 years as the MSU men's basketball team head coach, the Spartans suffered their second consecutive 20-point loss Sunday, losing to Wisconsin, 82-56, in Madison, Wisc. The Badgers (17-5 overall, ...

Breaking <b>news</b>: Bar Rafaeli enters Big Brother house in Israel

Big Brother Israel, now airing it's third season, saw a special guest enter the house - world renowned Victoria's Secret model and Leo's main squeeze, Bar.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/6/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.


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MABUHAY ALLIANCE HOST THE 6TH ANNUAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE by mabuhayalliance


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The State <b>News</b> :: Spartans dismantled in Wisconsin, 82-56

For the first time in Tom Izzo's 16 years as the MSU men's basketball team head coach, the Spartans suffered their second consecutive 20-point loss Sunday, losing to Wisconsin, 82-56, in Madison, Wisc. The Badgers (17-5 overall, ...

Breaking <b>news</b>: Bar Rafaeli enters Big Brother house in Israel

Big Brother Israel, now airing it's third season, saw a special guest enter the house - world renowned Victoria's Secret model and Leo's main squeeze, Bar.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/6/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.


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Newly 25-year-old Lauren Conrad has spent much of the last few months being trailed by cameras for her next reality project with MTV. Unfortunately, it was confirmed by EW today that the network is not going ahead with the project. MTV's Head of Programming David Janollari commented on the cancellation and said, "We decided not to go ahead with the show. She did do a pilot. There were talks about whether we could somehow manage to put together a special based on that footage but that's also a big question mark based on her interest in that and the finances. We love her! We would love her on our network!" It seems as though they're open to a collaboration in the future, but for now, fans will have to get their LC fix through fashion and books.


Lauren released a statement about the news saying, "We sold a show to MTV, filmed it and are really proud of the final result. MTV felt the subject matter was too high brow for their audience and offered me the opportunity to change the show by incorporating more of my personal life. We agreed going into the project that this show would be an aspirational one, focusing on my career and my goals and not my personal relationships. We delivered the show that we sold and are sorry MTV didn't feel their viewers were savvy enough to appreciate it."


So, tell us — are you sad Lauren's reality series isn't happening?



style="text-align: center;">

/> [style="text-decoration: underline;">Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past four years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

Evan here. As we have been predicted would happen in past posts, a sizzling biglaw US associate lateral hiring boom has arrived in Hong Kong / China for the first quarter ’11. We expect this hiring boom to continue until spring, with hiring being steady afterwards but dropping to more normal levels.

A “perfect storm” has developed, causing many US and UK firms in Hong Kong / China to have multiple US corporate / cap markets urgent openings at one time now.

A lot of these top firms in Hong Kong / China have been understaffed since late 2009. When the global recession went into full swing in late 2008, the downturn had started to seriously affect biglaw deal flow in China (about a year after negative effects were felt in US and other Western markets), with IPOs coming to a stop. There was misguided concern at the time that because China had some dependence on US exports for its economy to be fully fueled, China would be heading into a bubble-busting down turn, even much worse than what was taking place in the US. However, in mid-’09, deal flow in China was booming again, fueled in large part by China’s own consumer economy expanding rapidly. This was no surprise to many of us who have observed China for several years. After all, 2009 was the year that China over took the US in new cars purchased annually, China overtook India in gold purchased annually, and the Asia Pacific Region overtook North America in daily commercial flights. id="more-55522">

But much of the world was skeptical the boom could continue more than a short time (dramatic bubble-busting predictions sold newspapers and perhaps made some Westerners feel better about themselves) and thus senior firm management at many firms were reluctant to invest heavily with new hires in China, especially considering the recession in West. With the worst recession of our lifetime in full swing, most US firms were on a global hiring freeze and trying to avoid more layoffs, rather than trying to hire laterals for China. The feeling was also that if there was a need to staff up on some deals in China, it could be done by sending over associates not busy in US, at least temporarily, which was a band-aid on what was becoming an understaffing problem. Further, it was just bad internal politics back them for a partner at a US firm in Asia or elsewhere to try to pressure their management for lateral hires because of the big push in ’09 to keep down costs and try to salvage profit numbers (to help recruit and retain partners) in the midst of a major recession.

By late ’09, some firms which had been in global hiring freeze started to make exceptions in China and allowed a hire here or there. In the first half of ’10, this trend continued. By the second half of ’10, it was a bit easier for top firms to get the green light from their global management to make more hires in China, but all during ’10, many of their associates in Hong Kong and the mainland were being heavily recruited by banks, firms and other entities, due to being in full scale boom that showed no signs of slowing down (for the most part).

Also, from late ’09 through today there have been some key Hong Kong local cap markets / corporate group acquisitions by top US firms. This has been a relatively new trend and global firm managements put a lot of focus on bringing in these groups. In order to have a local Hong Kong practice, foreign firms in Hong Kong must have an office with 50% or more of their total attorneys Hong Kong qualified. This numbers ratio issue, as well as the expensive investment firms were making on Hong Kong local practices, kept a number of firms from having the full green light to hire US associates in Hong Kong / China.

During the past 18 months there have been a number of events or predicted events that many economists predicted would fantastically derail China’s boom economy (selling more newspapers of course in the process), but China has blown through each hurdle and all the while giving global firm managements more confidence to fully invest in hiring in China. In mid ’10, the crisis in Greece and the EU caused the world markets to fall, including in Asia, and the thought amongst people we met with in Hong Kong / China at the time was that IPOs might finally slow down for a while, that China would push through the ABC deal and then things may be flat for a while. There was concern for a few weeks, but soon after deal flow continued to boom as never before.

In fact ’10 was the biggest year ever for IPOs in Hong Kong / China. No one expects this level of deal flow to continue at quite this pace even if the general boom continues for years. Also, IPO work is becoming more commoditized, with pressure on rates, it is not likely that top firms will get top rates for this work at boom deal flow levels indefinitely (there will still be a ton of this work, but firms will have to also diversify more into other corporate areas), even if the boom continues. However, because things have been so hot and now for more than 18 months and show no signs of slowing down throughout ’11 and into ‘12, global firm management at firms have caved in to their China partners requests for full green light to make US associate and other attorney hires. Another factor in this full green light happening at most firms is because it is natural to make such decisions at or near the end of a calendar or fiscal year and also firms realize many of their peers are doing same.

So we now have a situation where US partners in Hong Kong / China have been understaffed for 18 months, at some times badly understaffed, while they have been pitching global firm management for many months to allow more hires, and all of the sudden there is a full green light.

We know of some top firms, for example, in which US partners in Hong Kong / China had to, as recently as November ’10, jump through hoops for weeks to get clearance to give an offer letter to a US associate they verbally offered. Some of these same firms in December ‘10 and January ’11 are suddenly being given the green light by management to hire as many as 10 US associates in Hong Kong / China.

US partners in Hong Kong / China are finding out quickly though that while they had for two years the luxury of always being able to interview and hire the perfect candidate on paper, the native Chinese cap markets mid-level from a top 5 NYC firm for example, because they constantly had a roster of 5+ of such candidates, nowadays suddenly they are having to scramble to recruit these candidates, who are quickly coming off the market and not only receiving offers left and right, but also turning them down (can only join one firm after all).

Thus, there is some constructive panic going on in US biglaw hiring circles in Hong Kong / China and top firms are going to have to drop their selectivity somewhat. The top tier firms will make concessions on practice fit before they make concessions on academics. The 2ndtier firms typically are quicker to make concessions on academics before practice fit. Most firms are still going after fluent Mandarin speakers (or in many cases Korean speakers) but the pressure on the market is causing more “English only is ok” to pop up.

Also, keep in mind that if you happen to be native Chinese and at a top NYC firm and give notice this quarter due to a lateral move to Hong Kong / China, your firm may pull out all the stops to convince you to rescind your offer acceptance (even if you accepted the offer months ago and your new firm gave you flexibility with start date and is counting on you to join them). Such efforts will include a big show with senior partners, including in many cases the firm chairman or global practice head, stopping by your office to convince you to not worry about your new position and just transfer with them. Suddenly transfer requests that were turned down or put off indefinitely become instantly approved, with talk of you being the star of your class, with realistic shot at partner down the road, and that the firm will try to give you your specific practice preference in Hong Kong / China, even if you don’t want to help staff the IPO deals booming through. It may sound comical, but it is happening at some firms. Try to keep things in perspective.

Why will this sizzling hiring boom, which we feel for this quarter will be stronger than ’07, only last some months? Well, once the understaffed US practices in Hong Kong / China quickly reach critical mass, take care of their understaffing problem of the past 18 months as quickly as possible, hiring will naturally level off. As deal flow continues at boom levels, there will of course be plenty of US associate openings in Hong Kong / China, but not multiple openings at the majority of firms, and not 5 to 10 openings at once at some top firms.


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MABUHAY ALLIANCE HOST THE 6TH ANNUAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE by mabuhayalliance


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The State <b>News</b> :: Spartans dismantled in Wisconsin, 82-56

For the first time in Tom Izzo's 16 years as the MSU men's basketball team head coach, the Spartans suffered their second consecutive 20-point loss Sunday, losing to Wisconsin, 82-56, in Madison, Wisc. The Badgers (17-5 overall, ...

Breaking <b>news</b>: Bar Rafaeli enters Big Brother house in Israel

Big Brother Israel, now airing it's third season, saw a special guest enter the house - world renowned Victoria's Secret model and Leo's main squeeze, Bar.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/6/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.


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MABUHAY ALLIANCE HOST THE 6TH ANNUAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE by mabuhayalliance


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The State <b>News</b> :: Spartans dismantled in Wisconsin, 82-56

For the first time in Tom Izzo's 16 years as the MSU men's basketball team head coach, the Spartans suffered their second consecutive 20-point loss Sunday, losing to Wisconsin, 82-56, in Madison, Wisc. The Badgers (17-5 overall, ...

Breaking <b>news</b>: Bar Rafaeli enters Big Brother house in Israel

Big Brother Israel, now airing it's third season, saw a special guest enter the house - world renowned Victoria's Secret model and Leo's main squeeze, Bar.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/6/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.


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The State <b>News</b> :: Spartans dismantled in Wisconsin, 82-56

For the first time in Tom Izzo's 16 years as the MSU men's basketball team head coach, the Spartans suffered their second consecutive 20-point loss Sunday, losing to Wisconsin, 82-56, in Madison, Wisc. The Badgers (17-5 overall, ...

Breaking <b>news</b>: Bar Rafaeli enters Big Brother house in Israel

Big Brother Israel, now airing it's third season, saw a special guest enter the house - world renowned Victoria's Secret model and Leo's main squeeze, Bar.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/6/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.


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The State <b>News</b> :: Spartans dismantled in Wisconsin, 82-56

For the first time in Tom Izzo's 16 years as the MSU men's basketball team head coach, the Spartans suffered their second consecutive 20-point loss Sunday, losing to Wisconsin, 82-56, in Madison, Wisc. The Badgers (17-5 overall, ...

Breaking <b>news</b>: Bar Rafaeli enters Big Brother house in Israel

Big Brother Israel, now airing it's third season, saw a special guest enter the house - world renowned Victoria's Secret model and Leo's main squeeze, Bar.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/6/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.


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benchcraft company portland or

MABUHAY ALLIANCE HOST THE 6TH ANNUAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE by mabuhayalliance


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The State <b>News</b> :: Spartans dismantled in Wisconsin, 82-56

For the first time in Tom Izzo's 16 years as the MSU men's basketball team head coach, the Spartans suffered their second consecutive 20-point loss Sunday, losing to Wisconsin, 82-56, in Madison, Wisc. The Badgers (17-5 overall, ...

Breaking <b>news</b>: Bar Rafaeli enters Big Brother house in Israel

Big Brother Israel, now airing it's third season, saw a special guest enter the house - world renowned Victoria's Secret model and Leo's main squeeze, Bar.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/6/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.


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Because we are freelance writers we're self-employed, and this means we are responsible for paying our own taxes. In order to pay your taxes, the first thing you should learn is how to manage your finances and expenses. The information that follows is based on my research and personal experience only. Therefore, if you're unsure about something, check with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) for more information.

When you earn income for your writing, make sure that you keep track of everything you earn. You can keep track with invoices that you send out to your clients. Once the invoice is paid, mark it as paid and record the date as well. If your client does not want an invoice, because they send their own, just make one for your own records. Then, when payment arrives from that client, you will have their invoice (save it too).

By now you should already have a filing cabinet for your important records and documents. In your filing cabinet, if you haven't already, you need to place a folder for all your invoices. The folder I currently have for my finances is labeled 2006 freelance payment records. When a new year begins, you'll want to add a new folder for that year's payment records. Having a folder for each year's records keeps you from having a bunch of years in one folder.

Other than keeping invoices, you will also want to keep track of your earnings by creating a table with your favorite word processing program. This table can then be printed out so you can keep it by your desk to add your earnings to. Or, you can save it and update it as needed. If you save the table on your hard drive, make sure to also create a back-up copy every time you update it. My table includes six columns: date (date I was paid), for (name of company I did the work for), description (what I wrote for them), paid (the total I was paid), Paypal fee (how much Paypal took out, if any), and total earnings (my earnings after the Paypal fees. Let me explain the Paypal fee: I don't know exactly how this works, however, since Paypal keeps a part of my earnings its not mine, and so I figure I shouldn't have to pay taxes on something that isn't mine. The reason given is why I deduct Paypal's fee from what I was paid. There are also times when some companies don't use Paypal, and in this case, they pay me by check or money order. If I'm not paid through Paypal, I just place N/A in the Paypal fee field on my table. You can always add more or fewer columns to your table (create yours to meet your needs). I also title my table freelance earnings for 2006.

Because we are self-employed this means we must take our own taxes out of what we earn. I went to a tax consultant in my hometown and asked her how much I should take out of my earnings, and she told me 15%. So, to be on the safe side, take 15% out of all your earnings and keep it back so that you don't spend it. The 15% that you put back will be used to pay your quarterly taxes when they come due. From what I've researched, I found out that you don't have to pay quarterly taxes until you've at least earned $1000. Once you've earned $1000, you'll want to begin paying quarterly taxes immediately to avoid any penalties from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).

At the end of each year, when you are required to file your taxes, you will also be able to deduct for any expenses that you've spent on your writing business. There are many types of things you can claim on your taxes, and as long as the items you bought had to do with your writing business, you can claim them. Some of the things we writers can claim are: mileage for any travel we have done that related to a writing job, any equipment bought for writing (laptop, computer, printer, fax, digital camera, etc.), telephone expenses for interviews and etc., supplies (printer paper, ink cartridges, etc.), charitable contributions, writing related books we've bought, advertising expenses, insurance expenses, travel expenses, postage expenses and more; see the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) Web site for more information.

Now that you have an idea of the expenses you can claim, here are a few tips for managing those expenses:

1. Keep receipts of everything related to your writing business.

2. Keep a record of the cost of those expenses and what they were for. Again, like when you manage your finances, create a table to help you manage your expenses as well. Your table could include three columns: purchase date (date you made the purchase), amount spent (how much you paid), what (the name of what you bought) and for (what the item, service or etc. was bought for).

3. File all your receipts in a folder labeled writing expense receipts or something similar.

Now, go manage your finances and expenses so that you don't get into trouble with "Uncle Sam."



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The State <b>News</b> :: Spartans dismantled in Wisconsin, 82-56

For the first time in Tom Izzo's 16 years as the MSU men's basketball team head coach, the Spartans suffered their second consecutive 20-point loss Sunday, losing to Wisconsin, 82-56, in Madison, Wisc. The Badgers (17-5 overall, ...

Breaking <b>news</b>: Bar Rafaeli enters Big Brother house in Israel

Big Brother Israel, now airing it's third season, saw a special guest enter the house - world renowned Victoria's Secret model and Leo's main squeeze, Bar.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/6/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.


big seminar 14

The State <b>News</b> :: Spartans dismantled in Wisconsin, 82-56

For the first time in Tom Izzo's 16 years as the MSU men's basketball team head coach, the Spartans suffered their second consecutive 20-point loss Sunday, losing to Wisconsin, 82-56, in Madison, Wisc. The Badgers (17-5 overall, ...

Breaking <b>news</b>: Bar Rafaeli enters Big Brother house in Israel

Big Brother Israel, now airing it's third season, saw a special guest enter the house - world renowned Victoria's Secret model and Leo's main squeeze, Bar.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/6/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.


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