Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. is the most widely known company that offers legal expense plans. There are other company’s but Pre-Paid Legal Services is the oldest. They have been in business since the early 70′s.

I was sold a prepaid legal membership two years ago by a friend. The way he explained the membership to me was that it was a life events legal plan. This meant that Pre-Paid Legal’s membership is designed to keep customers out of legal trouble before it gets too big. Prepaid legal offer’s a range of services from legal consultation, letters and phone calls on your behalf, contract and document reviews, wills, power of attorney’s, moving traffic violations, lawsuits, audit’s, and will’s.

When I got my membership I didn’t have a will and I was too afraid to try to fill it out myself without an attorney so that part of the membership was a plus. I also liked the fact that I had help with speeding tickets. There are a lot of speed traps in South Carolina where I reside so that part of the membership gave me peace of mind.

However, I think the most POWERFUL part of PrePaid Legals membership is legal consultation. For a measly $17.00 a month I have an entire law firm on retainer for legal advice. If I need to speak to a tax attorney, real estate attorney, family law attorney, criminal attorney, etc. I can talk with them without worrying about being billed.

I run a small business and need access to advice throughout the year. The business consultation I have received has saved me loads of time and money.

$17.00 x 12 months = $204.00 a year.

Is a Prepaid Legal membership a ripoff? That all depends on how you view your membership.

There are exclusions to PrePaid’s memberships that will not give you FREE coverage for some of the most popular legal problems. “Divorce”, “Child Custody”, “Bankruptcy”, and “Drugs and Alchohol”. Customers can still get help they are just offered a discount of 25%. This is where you see the most complaints to a Pre-Paid Legal membership. They are either oversold on how to use the membership or they believe they should have all their legal problems covered FREE of charge for $204.00 a year.

Friends, this is planet earth. This is not middle earth.

There is NO way a law firm can do everything for you for free.

To date my Pre-paid legal membership has saved me over $500.00 and in just two years of service. My attorney’s have also saved me time off my job for traffic violations and having to go to court.

Product creation in Internet marketing is getting stiffer and stiffer nowadays owing to tough competition between Internet-based businesses. Putting up a new product requires plenty of brainpower and finances along with an ability to take risk. With that, even if you have the product well-set already, you have to position it strategically in the Internet landscape for others to notice. You should get the interest of Web users and turn them to actual customers. Aside from the usual physical products, many different products that thrive well on Internet marketing include E-books, membership sites, and video lectures.

The long and difficult process of product creation begins with ideas. They are easy to get – compared to the effort that comes with analyzing the market for that idea. Before the idea turns to a product, businesses often spend money, even amounting to millions of dollars, to ensure the success of the new product that emerges from an idea. Businesses undertake many types of market research and surveys before releasing their products to the public. Now, you may think that because your business is small, you can’t afford research or you don’t have to do research; you can and you should. The Internet allows you to disseminate materials needed for your market study to many people at once without your having to spend a cent.

It is a common maxim in business: Look at your destination first before mapping out your journey. So what are the goals you intend to accomplish with your product creation ventures? The everyday travails of your business may make you forget the end in sight. On the other hand, prepare to entertain new developments that come to your mind in your product creation. Your conception of a product may have started this way, but a few tweaks here and there along with some market research results and it ends up another way. Take it as the result of a creative process, not as a failure to reach your goal. After all, your product creation activities are intertwined with a long-term goal that you should strive to sustain at your utmost: profit generation. So if your less profitable initial idea evolves to a more profitable product, be thankful!

With your product made up already, start doing some aggressive Internet marketing. A product purchase typically comes after more than five times a customer is exposed to an informative call-to-buy message. Thus it is important to get the contact details, like the e-mail address, of potential customers who are on the brink of a sale. Use the results of your market research to determine the demographics to which you should concentrate your marketing efforts.

With consistent product creation, you can make an inventory of your products that you can market in due time. Just keep making products – the moment you succeed in making and marketing a product, customers are surely wanting more from you, so give it to them. Keep them on your side through constant product creation.

When you are running a home based business, you will have just you, your computer and your home. You will not have a boss and there is no one to watch out what you are doing. It is not that home based business is easy. Just like your boss, you have to be committed to your work and develop your own business. Working from home gives you the advantage of utilizing your skills to the fullest because you know what you are good at. Even at your home, you will have problems to face. However, the greatest advantage with home based business is that you can take a break whenever you want if you have to find solutions to your problems. This freedom must be exploited in a proper manner for running a home based business.If you have found a niche, target market and business goals, it is easy to setup your home based business. Getting profits from your business is the main reason behind starting your own business and to achieve this goal, you have to know how to run your business successfully. The following tips will help you to run your business in a well organized manner.1.    Be prepared to spend a lot of hours working for your business. Many home business owners fail because they assume that they can work less if they have their own business. You may have to spend about 60-70 hours every week to run your business smoothly.2.    Schedule your day properly. You have to come up with a to-do list for the tasks to be completed for your day. You have to schedule all the business tasks on your own depending on the priority of the task. There is no one to dictate you what should be done and hence, only with proper planning, you can run the business successfully.3.    Try to develop all the skills required by your business. To be your own boss, you have to play the roles of all employees in your home based business. Sales, marketing, financing, and other business departments require different types of skills. You have to become the jack of all trades to execute your business tasks even though you have hired persons to complete those tasks.4.    Network with your peers and try to develop your business network. You have to get clients, service providers and leads for your business. This is possible only when you interconnect with others. You should find other home based business owners through online and offline means to stay connected.5.    Stay motivated. The most important thing about running your own business is to keep your energy levels up all the time. You will have some bad days and you may have spoiled moods. Your family members may sneak in and disturb you during your work time. Despite all the distractions and business issues, you have to keep yourself motivated. You can definitely feel proud about yourself because you are a business owner. Reward yourself from time to time and celebrate small successes which will keep your spirits high.