Being the owner of a contracting company can feel overwhelming, frustrating, and downright life draining, particularly when you're working more hours than there are in a day. You'd delegate more to others, but you worry they won't follow through, or do the job as well as you would. You want to charge more-heck, you need to charge more-but you're afraid you'll lose your shirt to the competition. You're bleeding money, but don't know precisely how to fix the problem, where to begin. Actually, even if you knew where to begin, where would you find the time to make critical changes? Help is here in the form of a doable, step-by-step guide that will put money in your pocket, and more time and fun in your day. Learn how to: - Keep your finger on the critical pulse points that drive success - Depend on your employees to take ownership - Close more deals while charging more money - Develop an air of confidence that magnetizes potential customers - Manage the project scope and stop the profit bleed of cost overruns If you can't remember the last time you took a vacation or watched your kids' soccer game, or the last time you reviewed your balance sheet with a sense of pride and excitement, this book is for you.

In order to succeed in a construction business you have to be able to mark up the price of your jobs to cover overhead expenses and make a decent profit. The problem is how much to mark it up. You don't want to lose jobs because you charge too much, and you don't want to work for free because you've charged too little. If you know how much to mark up you can apply it to your job costs and arrive at the right sales price for your work. This book gives you the background and the calculations necessary to easily figure the markup that is right for your business. Includes a CD-ROM with forms and checklists for your use.

Unternehmen in allen Branchen haben mit Billig-Konkurrenten zu kämpfen. Um jedoch eine wirtschaftlich verträgliche Gewinnspanne zu erhalten, können Unternehmen ihre Preise nicht endlos senken, sondern müssen einen Weg finden, ihr Produkt trotz des höheren Preises zu verkaufen. Dieses Buch ist ein praktischer Ratgeber, der Ihnen mit vielen cleveren Verkaufstaktiken zeigt, wie Sie Ihre Billig-Konkurrenten umsatzmäßig schlagen können. Er erklärt u.a., warum der Preis nicht das allein entscheidende Kriterium für einen Kunden ist, ein bestimmtes Produkt zu kaufen; wie man ein gutes Customer Service Programm aufbaut; wie man die Argumente von Kunden entkräftet, die sich für Billig-Produkte entscheiden und wie man einen angemessenen Preis für das jeweilige Produkt festsetzt. Mit einer Vielzahl von Beispielen und Situationen aus der Praxis, die Verkäufern anschaulich zeigen, wie sie jedes Produkt - unabhängig vom Preis - erfolgreich verkaufen können.

Analytics of Life provides the reader with a broad overview of the field of data analytics and artificial intelligence. It provides the layperson an understanding of the various stages of artificial intelligence, the risks and powerful benefits. And it provides a way to look at big data and machine learning that enables us to make the most of this exciting new realm of technology in our day-to-day jobs and our small businesses. Questions you can find answers* * What is artificial intelligence (AI)? * What is the difference between AI, machine learning and data analytics? * Which jobs AI will replace, which jobs are safe from data analytics revolution? * Why data analytics is the best career move? * How can I apply data analytics in my job or small business? Who is this book for? * Managers and business professionals * Marketers, product managers, and business strategists * Entrepreneurs, founders and startups team members * Consultants, advisors and educators * Almost anybody who has an interest in the future According to an article by Cade Metz in The New York Times, "Researchers say computer systems are learning from lots and lots of digitized books and news articles that could bake old attitudes into new technology." Oxford University professor Nick Bostrom argues that if machine brains surpassed human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become extremely powerful - possibly beyond our control. MIT professor Max Tegmark describes and illuminates the recent, ground-breaking advances in Artificial Intelligence and how it might overtake human intelligence. As Oxford University economist Daniel Susskind points out, technological progress could bring about unprecedented prosperity, solving one of humanity's oldest problems: how to make sure that everyone has enough to live on. Distinguished AI researcher and professor of computer science at UC Berkeley, Russell Stuart suggests that we can rebuild AI on a new foundation, according to which machines are designed to be inherently uncertain about the human preferences they are required to satisfy. Industry experts claim that AI will have a negative impact on blue-collar jobs, but Mert predicts that Americans and Europeans will experience a strong impact on white-collar jobs as well. And Mert also provides research results and a clear description of which jobs will be affected and how soon, which jobs could be enhanced with AI. Analytics of Life also provides solutions and insight into some of the most profound changes to come in human history.

Managing Your Scarcest Resources Business leaders know that the key to competitive success is smart management of scarce resources. That's why companies allocate their financial capital so carefully. But capital today is cheap and abundant, no longer a source of advantage. The truly scarce resources now are the time, the talent, and the energy of the people in your organization--resources that are too often squandered. There's plenty of advice about how to manage them, but most of it focuses on individual actions. What's really needed are organizational solutions that can unleash a company's full productive power and enable it to outpace competitors. Building off of the popular Harvard Business Review article "Your Scarcest Resource," Michael Mankins and Eric Garton, Bain & Company experts in organizational design and effectiveness, present new research into how you can liberate people's time, talent, and energy and unleash your organization's productive power. They identify the specific causes of organizational drag--the collection of institutional factors that slow things down, decrease output, and drain people's energy--and then offer a pragmatic framework for how managers can overcome it. With practical advice for using the framework and in-depth examples of how the best companies manage their people's time, talent, and energy with as much discipline as they do their financial capital, this book shows managers how to create a virtuous circle of high performance.

A Tea Reader contains a selection of stories that cover the spectrum of life. This anthology shares the ways that tea has changed lives through personal, intimate stories. Read of deep family moments, conquered heartbreak, and peace found in the face of loss. A Tea Reader includes stories from all types of tea people: people brought up in the tea tradition, those newly discovering it, classic writings from long-ago tea lovers and those making tea a career. Together these tales create a new image of a tea drinker. They show that tea is not simply something you drink, but it also provides quiet moments for making important decisions, a catalyst for conversation, and the energy we sometimes need to operate in our lives. The stories found in A Tea Reader cover the spectrum of life, such as the development of new friendships, beginning new careers, taking dream journeys, and essentially sharing the deep moments of life with friends and families. Whether you are a tea lover or not, here you will discover stories that speak to you and inspire you. Sit down, grab a cup, and read on.