Health Tips for a Better Life

I will start this article addressing the builders who may read this and who have already taken offense from the summary above.  The guidance detailed is not to insinuate that builders who operate with a deposit method are of poor quality or are corrupt in any way.

However with over 20 years experience in the construction industry, including the tender and negotiation of small building projects, I have personally found that this is not an advisable practice, to pay for any service prior to receiving at least some part of the work.

Always remember that you employ your builder.  Do you get paid in advance at work?

Below are some of the quotes that I have heard builders say to request money prior to commencing on site.  Also listed are some responses to use to prevent the situation and negotiations stalling.  A builder may have worked like this throughout his career and may take a little convincing to see things from you view point.

We need a deposit to purchase materials. - All builders who have been in business and have a good credit rating will have a trade account at their local builders merchants.  Most offer 30 days credit.  Your builder can work on site for a whole month prior to paying for any materials used.

A deposit is needed to ensure you are committed to proceeding. – At the stage of talking to builders you have already spent money having plans drawn, spending money with the local council to apply for planning permission and / or building regulations approval.  This is evidence enough that you are serious in you proposals.

Deposits are required to book us in.- It’s not a perfect word and being self employed and having jobs cancel weeks or even days before can be extremely poor for business.  However, that is the nature of being self employed.  There are no guarantees and sometimes, the unforseen happens.  If a builder has provided you with a realistic competitive quotation for the works, and can start on the agreed date, then he should take you on you word that the project will proceed.

Clients have held monies at the end of a job previously, we now obtain money upfront.

- Again that this the world of business.  Everyone gets bad payers.  Is it fair to take it out on you?  More importantly though, was there a reason money was withheld?

Although there are probably dozens of variations they are all based around the four main reasons above.  It is a much better alternative to agree a schedule of equal payments .  This doesn’t have to be complicated and is very easy to cover in a single letter of appointment at the start of the works.  Then each party knows where they are.

A typical example of an extension would be to pay 3 equal payments at the completion of each of the following stages:

i.  Foundations, floor slab and all drains.

ii. Enclosed shell, (building secure, window and doors fitted, roof completed with guttering and rainwater pipes)

iii.Entire project completed.

The size of the project and size of the construction company must be taken into consideration with the regards to the number of payments which both helps the builder with cashflow and risk, while also gives security to the employer.

When employer and builder disagree on site it is more often than not, related to money.  Follow the advice above which ensures a fair system for both, document it at the beginning of the work and it will remain an easy point of reference for all during the project.

With one week left for CAT 2011 to start, the questions regarding last moment preparation does not seem to cease. Rather, they keep on increasing. In the ongoing series of Live Expert Chat on preparation strategy for the last lap of CAT 2011, we are receiving an array of questions on varied topics. The last Live Expert Chat, which was conducted on Friday, October 14, 2011, saw Saumya Jain, Academic Head & VA expert of Career Launcher answering all the questions posed by the CAT 2011 takers at the AskMBAUniverse.com Live Expert Chat.

Read on to know the question types and the answers offered by the expert Saumya Jain.

Q: Sumit: Ma’am I want to discuss my weakness in attempting questions in the mocks. When I start attempting I try three to four time of one question and waste time.

I want accuracy. How to tackle this?

A: Practice various kinds of questions from your fundamental books. This will help you identify your strong and weak areas. In mocks and actual tests, attempt questions from your strong areas first. Leave the questions you are not comfortable with for later.

Q: Pratap: What would be your advice for us regarding the paper solving technique? Shall we first solve on paper and tick the answer or directly answer?

A: This depends on your level of comfort with the type of question. If you are sure of your answer then you can directly tick the correct option.

Q: Janu Patel: Hardly 20 days are left for Cat. How can I increase my speed in DI? How should I prepare? I am confused whether to pay heed to Quant or Verbal or Reasoning.

A: Practice different sets and get familiar with tricks to solve DI sets. Practice more and more mock tests.

Q: Jay: There are 14 days left for my test. What should be my schedule now? Also please give me some tips.

A: Eat and sleep well. Practice mock tests. It will help if you take your mock tests in the same time slot as your CAT slot. This means, if your CATslot is at 10:30 am, take tests everyday at 10:30 am.

Q: Nathan: How to cope with the anxiety level? Even if my preparation is good, I get nervous before the exam which affects my performance. I need your advice.

A: If you have given your best in preparation, then you don’t have to worry. Eat and sleep well. Relax.

Q: Divya: I am solving questions but sometimes for some questions I am not getting the way to solve. I am skipping them and moving on. Can you help me out?

A: Revise fundamentals again and practice tricks to solve various kinds of questions.

Q: Sanchit: How important is your reading speed for the Reading Comprehension questions? Is such speed really required and necessary to do well?

A: Reading speed is not very important. Comprehension is important. Go back to the passage again and eliminate options in order to improve accuracy.

Q: Aman: What are the major mistakes that are generally made in a computer based exam? How many mocks are sufficient before exam? Any specific strategy to attempt the paper?

A: You should practice at least 15 to 20 mocks before the actual paper. This will ensure that you don’t make any silly mistake like submitting a section before time etc.

Q: Rajadyuti: What should be the strategy for VA in next 15 days to maximize the score?

A: For VA, practice questions from verbal logic like –Para jumbles, Para completions, etc. Also do questions on common confusables and word usage.

Q: Rajadyuti: How to tackle the inference based questions?

A: Inference based questions demand good comprehension skills. Read the question carefully. For each option, go back to the passage, check and eliminate.

UPCOMING LIVE EXPERT CHATS

Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 5 pm onwards with Uday Mehta,CAT 2010 100 percentiler and first year student of IIM Calcutta.

Professional degrees help people to surge ahead of their peers in career. But unfortunately professional degrees are costly requires time and hence cannot be pursued even if you really wish to. Some cannot afford it because of the huge cost involved and some because of the time required. Everyone cannot manage to leave their work in between to pursue a professional degree as their monthly salary is probably what gets their family going.

Even if you can manage the time and have the necessary financial backing to pursue a professional course, sometime the institute of your choice remains a distant dream. It may be in another country and you cannot relocate or cannot afford the extra cost of moving and leaving in another country. But all this problems have been overcome with the world becoming a smaller place after the advent of the Internet.

With the help of distant learning courses all the above problems can be overcome without having to compromise even on a single factor.

Professional subjects like psychology degree courses too can be studied through online or distant learning programs. All you need to do is take the help of the Internet and the search engines to find suitable as well as reputed institutes or universities that offer an online degree or distant learning course in psychology, apply to them, possibly appear for an online entrance examination and get ready to receive your desired degree sitting at home. Even an UK MBA course is possible in this method which would have been impossible otherwise. Such online psychology degree courses or even an UK MBA distant course costs much less than any full time regular course such that you would not need to stress yourself worrying about financing your studies.

The best thing about the online or distant psychology degree courses or UK MBA is that you would not have to leave your present engagements to pursue them. You can continue whatever it is you are doing while studying for your psychology degree courses or UK MBA at your convenient spare time. The course materials will be sent to you over e-mail or by general post, you can study them at your own time, from the comforts of your own home, appear for online tests when you are ready and get your degree just like that. The time required for such online or distance courses is much lesser than any full time regular course and costs much lesser too. But the value of these courses if done from a good and reputed university or institute is same as any full time regular course.

If you have an institute or university of your choice just find out if they offer your selected subject but if you are applying to a random place make sure you have all the necessary information before making any sorts of payments. Hence soar ahead in your career with the professional degrees without compromising on anything and leave your peers far behind in the race.
 

Have you been considering a career in the exciting alternative decorating field of Interior Redesign? If so, there are several important questions to ask your potential trainer.

First and foremost is…

Does the training provide a certificate or certification?

The difference being, many instructors will hand out a “certificate” after the student has been involved with several other people in rearranging a handful of rooms. It doesn’t really mean much and is hardly worth the paper it is written on. A “certification” usually requires the student pass some sort of testing procedure to indicate they are knowledgeable in the said field. This means much more.

Will there be actual client contact?

This is very important for the interior redesign student. To observe the instructor interacting with a client is a great learning experience and vital to everyone starting in the business. Not only does the student obtain valuable insight to the process of interior redesign but they get caught up in the excitement of the project reveal!

How many redesign projects will be completed during training?

I learned that the IRIS standard of professionalism in FIVE! This hardly seems like enough but it seemingly is the standard to become a professional. Be wary of instructors that offer less than this as it may be difficult for to join future affiliations to add to your credibility.

What is included in the training and what additional purchases will be needed?

Most instructors include a manual and offer ongoing support. If they offer monthly or quarterly meetings, this is hardly useful if you live out of the instructor’s home state. Some do offer teleconferences and web meetings that can be accessed from anywhere. Ask if the course includes any tools…especially business forms and information about starting your own business. Factor into your cost of tuition these additional purchases.

I would like to mention the tuition factor. After researching this alternative decorating field of interior redesign, I discovered that there are no checks and balances. Most training centers are in it only for the money and do not even require testing of their students. Moving around furniture for a few days does not a professional make.

Buyers beware when choosing an instructor in this field.

SAP is provided by SAP AG Germany which is on of the most renowned producers of business software. ERP software is becoming more and more popular between entrepreneurs of all types because it automates business processes and it makes them more efficient. The benefits of correctly implementing an ERP system are obvious and more and more business owners decide to do this. In this case, the need for ERP consultants is constantly increasing and those knowing how to use ERP software are in great demand on the work force market. People interested in giving a boost to their career or in improving their professional skills look for SAP courses more than ever.

Since good news travel fast, employees have heard about the opportunities an SAP course might provide for their career and about the fact that employers are looking for ERP consultants and have decided to go for such a course. Training institutions have also speculated the profit they would make from offering SAP courses and there is no major city where you won’t find at least one provider of SAP courses. SAP fees vary of course from institution to institution and sometimes the difference is considerable. Nevertheless, the quality of those courses also varies depending on who’s providing them.

Because there are many modules available in an SAP course, the course fees will depend on how many modules you wish to attend. When deciding on what module to take, people usually consider their previous experience. Those who work in accounting, for instance, go for the accounting module, while marketing people find it more advantageous to take the sales and distribution module. SAP courses for one module can range between 10,000 rupees to 35,000 rupees.

Although the difference might seem huge at a first glance and you might wondering why to pay 25.000 rupees more for the same thing, don’t forget to do a little research and to make sure that the institution providing the course is a reputable one. Quality should not be compromised for the money because after all the reason for taking this course is to know how to use ERP software and to be able to work with it efficiently. Reputable and experienced training institutions will offer more expensive SAP courses in most of the cases, but this might also be because the learning process is qualitative and they have the best teachers available.

SAP course fees are indeed varying, but the duration of a module is pretty much standardized and it usually lasts 45 days.