Roller Derby was never really a big deal in the US, but has been around forever and was a staple of the early days of television. It was similar in its promotional format to its better known “sports entertainment” cousin, professional wrestling. It was frequently seen in the same bad timeslots on the same low powered UHF TV stations, and it was run by the same loose confederation of promoters and businessmen that characterized the regional territory era of pro wrestling. That’s where the similarity to wrestling ends–it’s storylines made pro wrestling angles look like high drama. While there is a definite history to the sport–great teams like the LA T-Birds and Bay Bombers, and legendary skaters like Ann Calvello it never really stuck in the public consciousness like the pre-Hulk Hogan era of pro wrestling.

When the original purveyors of the sport quit promoting in the early’80s most thought it was dead and gone until a ‘new school’ of roller derby surfaced on cable TV via the A&E reality series Roller Girls. It featured a local, all-girl roller derby league in Austin, Texas and followed the lives of the players on and off the track. While much of the show dwelled in Lifetime style drama about binge drinking and bad relationships, it was the first clue that many had that roller derby had risen from the dead. A sport that had faded into the lowest level of obscurity had been rediscovered and embraced by an eclectic group of young women. They had kept the same essential format, thrown in a healthy dose of burlesque camp and Varga pin-up inspired glamour and made it into their own vibrant subculture. They changed the competitive format and renamed the competitions “bouts” a la MMA or boxing. The result was a compelling mixture of glamour, toughness and athleticism driven by a healthy dose of punk rock “do it yourself” mentality.

Today, roller derby is a full blown worldwide phenomenon. There are hundreds of local roller derby leagues not only in the United States, but Canada, Australia and Europe. Most of the local groups similarly play up the campy retro pin-up/hot rod iconography and everyone involved sure looks like they’re having a good time. Between teams there’s a vibe of good natured competitiveness and camaraderie. In the US, these groups exist under the auspices of a national organization called the Womens Flat Track Derby Association. Las Vegas has the ‘Sin City Roller Girls’, Portland, Oregon the ‘Rose City Rollers” and Seattle the ‘Rat City Rollers’. There are now groups in not only the larger and traditionally “hipper” cities but also smaller communities such as Birmingham, Alabama and Omaha, Nebraska.

This organic rebirth and growth of roller derby is a result of young women taking what essentially was TV time filler and made it into their own distaff ‘action sport’. The roller derby circa 2009 is a matriarchal success story. No one is in it for the money, as these local groups are typically run as non-profit organization. The women involved have recreated this sport, and run it, promote it and compete in it on their own terms.

The new generation rollergirls also pay homage to their sports’ pioneers much in the same way that skateboarders give props to Duane Peters and Tony Alva. Many of the individual group websites have sections devoted to the history of roller derby, and the late Ann Calvello–regarded as the Queen of the original Roller Derby–is revered as something of a patron saint. The Texas Rollergirl group featured in the A&E series has renamed their championship the Calvello Cup.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

Today’s business person is faced with many decisions when it comes to marketing and advertising. How to get started and what media to use in your marketing campaigns are just a couple of the immediate challenges. The reality is that all of the options available will work to one degree or another. The key to your success, regardless of the medium you select, is to differentiate yourself in a manner that appeals to your prospect. When you understand this, you can be successful regardless of your selection.

More often than not, people follow the generally accepted trends and styles. This happens with the clothes we wear (anyone remember Beatle Mania?), the beer we drink (what age are you?) and the way we advertise in say, the Yellow Pages. Try scanning the Yellow Pages and you will see numerous pages of similar looking business card layouts and wording. What happens is we start to subconsciously purge the look-a-likes and carry on until we see something that is out of the ordinary.

Some of the most interesting, and different, ads that I have seen appear as public service announcements. They have headlines like: Warning! Don’t Even Think of Using a Travel Agent Before Calling FREE Traveler Awareness Hotline! The copy below this ad would offer free advice on how to book the best rate for your next trip. I was scanning the travel section because I was obviously interested in taking a trip and this advertisement, because it was different, caught my eye. To make it really successful it also had an 800 number at the bottom to call for a Free Report. There was no ad sponsor so the whole presentation was non-threatening. I was given a safe way to get information I wanted without having to speak directly to a Travel Agent whose will endeavor to sell me.

This same method can be used regardless of the medium you select for your advertising. It can be Yellow Pages, Business Cards and Val-Pak Coupons. The key is to use the criteria that make it different, interesting and non-threatening. Even though the principles are basic there is a definite knack to this type of marketing.

I have learned of a company, that over the last 12 years, has developed automated systems that allow business people to incorporate any type of marketing and/or advertising into an overall Marketing Strategy. That company is Automated Marketing Solutions or AMS. They differentiate themselves by not only providing solutions, but by educating their clients on the proper techniques to use including how to create the right message by the form of media being used. It doesn’t stop there. AMS provides the capability for a company to place their ENTIRE Marketing Program on Auto-pilot. Once a business marketing program (including voice messages, e-mails, faxes and other broadcast and mail out collateral) is compiled and sequenced, their Lead Management System or LMS provides the unique ability to control and manage the program without any further human interaction.

The benefits to this system include significant time savings on what would otherwise be labor intensive tasks. It also provides consistency in marketing messages. It also means that businesses never need worry about losing customers who misinterpreted your lack of contact for lack of interest. To learn more about Direct Response Marketing and how it can benefit your business, visit Automated Marketing Solutions today. See how quickly and economically you can implement and start benefiting from AMS tested and proven technology and experience.

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There are many ways to use capital without using bank loans, lines of credit and other shady methods like shelf corps and bogus platform scams. If you are truly trying to raise capital for your company here are some simple breakdowns of your options with a quick definition for each one:

 PIPE: Private Investment In Public Equity this is used primarily by mutual funds and private investment firms where they buy discount stock in order to raise capital, there are two types of PIPEs traditional where common and preferred stock is issued at a set cap to raise money for the issuer and a structured pipe issues convertible debt.

 DPO: Direct Public Offering is when you sell equity shares directly to customers, suppliers and employees.

 PPM: Private Placement Memorandum is also known as an offering memorandum takes advantage of Regulation D rule exemptions 504, 505 and 506. This process came into existence with the’33 securities act and popularized in the late’80s, companies can raise money from the public via private placement; there is virtually zero interaction with the SEC after you file form d as long as you stay legal. (most popular form of fund raising).

 IPO: Initial Public Offering: extremely expensive, need SOX 404 audits, must have board of directors, quarterly financial reports to shareholders, report heavily to the SEC and 1 out of every 1000 companies that want an IPO actually qualify. I love participating in these but most companies just can’t qualify for one reason or the other.

 OTCBB: Over the Counter Bulletin Board is an electronic quote system that is the next best thing if you can’t go public via ipo, there is minimal red tape to startups and small businesses and is legitimized by the stringent ongoing reports to the SEC which keeps investor confidence high (these are extremely solid and I suggest this structure to companies when I am hired by their company or legal team as a consultant as a fast, easy way to raise big capital from the public otc)

 Pink Sheet: you can look at pink sheets as the Burger King, while the OTCBB is McDonalds, they are competing otc mechanisms. Pinks sheets are commonly referred to as penny stock and notorious for ‘pump em’ and dump em’ controversies and a lot of crooked people are involved with this platform. This is not a long term process that will allow one’s company to grow, pink sheets companies are typically short lived but it is cheap to set up but not a professional structure that could be upgraded in time to an IPO.

 Reverse Merger: a group funds the filing and creation of a public shell, they then sell that shell to a company that wants to go public, the established company merges it’s entity into the public shell. The sellers retain around 30% equity after they charge an upfront fee of 300k to 1m. 99% of reverse mergers are successful with the merger, but unsuccessful to bring them to trade and the entity basically just fizzles out.

Taking your company public is actually quite simple and inexpensive when you have the right consultant putting the structure together for you. There are countless ways to raise capital quickly and easily. It’s important that you understand your options before you waste time entering into the red tape infested banking system for a loan.

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The Indianapolis Colts, finding their offense shut down by a relentless Jacksonville Jaguars attack, fought back in kind. The often maligned Indy stop unit matched the ferocity of their Jaguars counterparts play for play, and one touchdown pass from Peyton Manning proved to be enough to earn victory by a 14-12 margin in the NFL season opener for both teams. The victory was Manning’s 118th in a Colts uniform, tying the legendary Johnny Unitas for the franchise lead.

NFL sports betting enthusiasts who took the Jaguars as +6 road underdogs were rewarded with the pointspread cover. Indianapolis dropped to 11-16 ATS over the past three years when favored. The 26 combined points went well UNDER the posted total of 45. Despite their reputation as an offensive juggernaut, the Colts have actually trended to the UNDER over the past three seasons, with 19 UNDERs in their past 35 lined games.

After the contest, Manning displayed his characteristic humility when asked about tying the franchise mark for wins and particularly comparisons to the iconic Unitas:

“I’ve never felt comfortable with comparisons with him. I think he’s kind of in his own category. But I am proud of those wins.”

Manning was more concerned about the welfare of receiver Anthony Gonzalez:

“I askedRashean Matthis what happened and he said, ‘I didn’t even touch him . He has worked so hard in the offseason, I just hope it’s not a season-ending injury.”

Colts coach Jim Caldwell won his first game at the helm of an NFL team, and was pleased with the effort of the defense:

“Obviously, the defense played well and came up big at the end. We thought it would be a grind, and it was. I think our team certainly played tough, played hard, played with a lot of energy.”

Jacksonville wasnt overly discouraged after the contest either, pleased with the intensity and their effectiveness in shutting down one of the NFLs best offenses. Maurice Jones-Drew gave props to the Indy defense after the game:

“They just did a great job in the red zone stifling our offense. My hat’s off to them. But we have to learn how to finish.”

Quarterback David Garrard also gave credit to the tenacity of the Indy pass rush:

“I thought, ‘Here we go again, we have a great chance. You love to be in that situation. We were trying to get the ball to Maurice, but you’ve got to slow those pass rushers down. We did what we could do.”

The Jaguars will open their 2009 NFL home slate on Sunday as they host the Arizona Cardinals. Theyll travel to Houston for a game against the Texans the following week. The Colts will head to south Florida for a game against the Miami Dolphins on Monday night.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance sports writer and noted authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and World Cup betting sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Chocolate Blues produced by Shelly Rice is the answer for you if you have you been looking for a way to get in front of a few hundred or even a thousand like-minded professionals who may have an interest in your product or service. Its also great if you are in a place in life that you are looking for a new opportunity to spend your free time developing. Chocolate Blues is also a great place to be around the truly motivated entrepreneurs in your community.

Chocolate Blues focuses on the real business to business networking that propels businesses to the next level. It is not the typical trade show or networking event. Included in the event is live blues music, free chocolate, open networking, vendors, networking games, door prizes, brainstorming circles, breakout sessions and a giant business card exchange. This event is one of the largest, and definitely most productive local networking events in the country.

The environment is energizing, entertaining, and relaxed enough to have solid conversations about your opportunity with like-minded individuals that are motivated to improve their businesses and yours. The participants have a great chance to walk around and discover potential partnerships, explore new opportunities, and understand the hottest trends. The brainstorming from the connections made is worth the visit as a guest or a vendor.

If you are looking to promote your business then you definitely want to take advantage of the vendor opportunity. The costs are very low compared to the benefit of the event. Chocolate Blues attracts the decision makers from many industries. The attendance varies around the country but is typically around 1,000-1,500 professionals.

Shelly Rice does an excellent job putting on this event, as she understands that the vendors are looking for highly qualified participants along with strategic partnership and networking opportunities. Shelly has achieved this goal along with making it a fun and entertaining atmosphere. Her 21 years experience has led to making the Chocolate Blues event one of the best in the country. Recent expansion has led to events in Dallas, Austin, Iowa, Louisville, and others. I am especially excited about the upcoming Indianapolis and Fort Wayne events since I live in Indianapolis.

Be sure to bring plenty of business cards, fliers, educational information, and anything that will leave the participants remembering you once the event ends. The key to these events is to make a solid impression on anyone you meet, give them something valuable to think about, and have a followup topic to discuss in the upcoming days. Set up appointments when you are there! Don’t leave it as “I will call you later” if you can get them scheduled now. Take advantage of these networking events to grow your business!

To learn more about Chocolate Blues click here. Matt Javit, founder of Joebots.com, builds brands! Get your free 3-part training course to jump-start your growth online and build an income out of our passion.

You need to instill a sense of urgency in the members of your sales force. This is the winning formula in order to help achieve the sales that you want. Why? This is because having this will allow your team to close more deals. They should also be able to attend to all your prospect clients’ need in a timely and efficient manner in order for them to buy your products and/or services.

If you are reading this, there is a big chance that you are not really successful in achieving what you need your sales team to accomplish. Why is this so?

First off, you need to examine your sales force. Check out the different capacities of its members. You need to make sure you zero in on the people who do not exactly have the sense of urgency that you need and make sure you do something about them, otherwise, their complacency will, eventually, take over the whole team.

After gauging the capacities of the members of your sales team, you should then pinpoint who among them are the best performers. This is important so that you can distribute your leads amongst them properly. This will ensure that no lead will ever go stale. A lead distribution system will be able to help you in this aspect.

Once you have a lead distribution system in place, you will be able to achieve the sense of urgency that you need to instill in your sales team. How? By simply being able to achieve the following automatically:

1. Distributing hot leads to the best people in your sales team.

2. Helping you properly categorize the leads that you’re getting.

3. If needed, redistributing your leads.

4. Making sure that the progress on each of your leads is properly tracked so that all the members of your sales team will know what transpired in each interaction.

5. Allowing you to prioritize prospects.

6. Tagging the leads that need to be followed-up.

7. Tracking the needs of your customers.

8. Maintaining a high level of customer service.

When you invest in a lead distribution system, you will be given the assurance that all your hot prospects are processed properly. Without one, a large percentage of your leads will go to waste. You should not allow this to happen.

You can achieve wonders in your conversion rate once you have lead distribution systems in place. They are very powerful tools, but then, you should make sure that you do not take the people in your sales team for granted since they are the ones who have the power to make it or break it. Make sure you take good care of them and always make it a point to instill in them the sense of urgency that you need them to have to make sure you achieve the revenues of your dreams.

Having the right lead distribution software in place will allow your business to grow exponentially. Visit Instant Leads today for a free consultation on how lead capture page software will be able to help you.

Many companies have a unique service or product but either lacks the capital or know-how to go public. Going public slams open the doors to massive global capital possibilities and massive partnering and strategic growth capabilities. A financially broke company should never try to go public to raise money to stay afloat as you’ll only attract the fee based predatory consultants who make their money on individual fee oriented services without the ability to bring it all together in a turn-key solution so in the end there is no accountability.

The prototypical company that will succeed in going public is either a profitable and mature company or a start-up with contracts in place for capitalization and patented and/or proprietary technology or systems that give it a massive edge over competitors. The decision to go public should be based in the desire for rapid growth and capitalization. The qualities of a company that will succeed on the public forum is one with a solid executive staff, experienced board of directors and a service that is recession proof (Yeah I know, what business is recession proof?), and finished with the actual developmental stage with a solid product or service and identified partners and distribution sources.

If you realistically have a chance at going and staying public you’ll attract consulting firms and/or broker dealers and market makers and many times law firms that focus on taking companies public in return for minor upfront fees and a solid equity position. Be careful not to sign on with a company that does not offer a ‘one stop shop’ or turn-key solutions which includes everything if you are going to be paying an upfront fee and equity. Many solid firms will ask for both fee and equity compensation and it’s worth it if they are truly capable of delivering a full range of services.

You should have a polite yet rigorous interview process with the firm before signing on. The ideal situation for a company going public is to partner with a consulting firm or broker dealer who offers absolutely everything you will need to succeed in the pre-IPO and post-IPO market. Expect to pay a fee for corporate structuring, business plan, private placement memorandum and Direct Public Offering to the firms database of investors (if they do not offer an introduction service to investors you should not take them seriously as a full service consulting firm as they are only offering you a sandwich without the bread).

Parts that a consulting firm will partner on if they can truly take your company public from A to Z is the initial Direct Public Offering to an in house group of investors who will invest the capital needed to pay for the audit (though many times this will have to come out of your pocket even if you team of with the best firms in the business), S1 filing and comments, SEC and FINRA approval and ultimately to the point where a market maker or broker dealer is selling your securities to the public. Sometimes it’s good to just hire a company that is strictly fee based for your ‘going public’ ambitions but be prepared to pay hefty fees. If you are a solid corporation with a realistic chance at going public, you’ll be able to tell by the tone that consulting firms have with you when you engage them in the initial phone consultation. If you’re ready to go public, a proper consultant will be able to identify your position in the market place to fill in the blanks.

Go Public with Reverse Merger , call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183 or Call Us For Strategic Alliances We Can Make Massive Growth Happen For Your Company

Everyone acknowledges the label belonging to the hungry artist? Well, that picture may shortly become a question in the past. The Internet offers afforded new options pertaining to creative individuals.

Straight away, you have a system to share with you your own imaginative work with the rest of the earth. You’ll be capable to utilize the distinct at home business possibilities obtainable to artists. Locate a gallery or salesroom and change them to show your artwork. Perhaps you’ll still tried to market at localized park or along side sidewalk in promoting your artwork through that technique.

Whenever you make a new work, you’ll be able to easily earn online digital graphic of it to the site. With the addition of a shopping cart on your web site, marketing your works by yourself without appointing a man.

With the Internet, many revolutionaries at your home business chances have come about. You are able to lay out up your own personal Internet site which will serve as your personal digital art gallery.

Whenever you build a new work, it is possible to easily see electronic digital picture of it to the site. With the addition of a shopping cart for your website, marketing your works online is the sure way of having a deal without utilizing a man.

To support your financial needs while waiting to become a successful artist, you could try additional in the home business opportunities. You could look into the possibility of marketing art-related merchandises as an associate vendor.

Get together your personal web site that sells products such as posters, different art prints, letter paper items and artistic creation supplies. Alternately, you may release a blog or World Wide Internet news sheet and compose critiques of creative person artistic creation exhibits and dissimilar products affiliated with your field of fine art.

Undertake something fashionable in your household, so that you can support your artistic initiatives. And this technique can live your authentic passion while supporting yourself without going out of your house.

Business minded and knowledgeable Ethan O. Tanner explains the various selections of marketing artwork the determining factors in homework artist for online business with low cost prices.

Sports betting futures wagers can be an entertaining and profitable investment, but there are a number of pitfalls. These are some things to avoid:

Search for the best price: A common mistake is to assume that the price on a specific futures wager position will be the same at every sportsbook. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, you’ll often see a greater degree of difference between futures prices from book to book than any other form of bet. This is because that books aren’t as worried about what price other outfits are offering as they are about keeping their own financial position balanced.

In a competitive field, don’t obsess with picking the winner: This may sound like a strange concept, but once you understand the theory behind it it makes perfect sense. In a large field–the NCAA basketball tournament is a perfect example–the top few favorites are invariably priced at odds that are less than the ‘true odds’ of them winning. On the other hand, there are always teams that fly ‘under the radar’ available at higher prices that present a betting overlay.

In more theoretical terms, the ‘true odds’ of a Duke or similar top team winning the tournament are almost always higher than the price offered. Think of it this way–say we’re betting Duke to win the national title at 2/1. This means that the Blue Devils would have to win more than 33% of the time to break even. So lets say, for the sake of argument, that we could play the tournament over 100 times. Would Duke come out on top more than 33 of these times? If not, they represent a poor value. Let’s say that they win 30 of 100 times. This means that any price under +333 or thereabouts is a poor wagering value.

Note that the more competitive the market, the more difficult it is to find good value on a favorite. In a smaller field, or in a field with one dominant competitor it can be easier. For example, say the UFC were to have a tournament involving heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and three male figure skaters. Even if Lesnar was slightly injured, or not at the top of his game he’d essentially have a 100% chance of beating the smaller, effeminate men who are untrained to fight. If a book installed Lesnar as a -1000 favorite in this spot, it could still be considered a good value. It’s never easy to risk a lot to win a little, but from strictly a mathematical standpoint it makes sense.

Don’t get seduced by big underdogs: Sports betting is not a place to make the “big killing”. It may happen occasionally, but more often it doesn’t. While a sports book might offer a huge price on a cellar dwelling team to win the World Series, the big payback does not mean its a good value. On a practical level, there’s probably nothing wrong with throwing a few bucks on a wager like this with a huge payback if the impossible occurs. My only problem with this is that making too many bets like this just perpetuates bad sports betting habits. If you’re strictly a recreational player, no big deal. If you aspire to bet professionally, or at least want to pursue it with some degree of seriousness I’ve always maintained that you need to develop discipline that’s not situational. In other words, if you want to be a serious sports bettor you need to approach it with a consistent level of seriousness at all times. If you want to chase a huge, life altering jackpot go to Las Vegas and play the Megabucks slots or buy a Powerball ticket.

Wagering value is just as important at the bottom of the barrel as it is at the top. Just because you’re getting a huge potential payback on a big dog doesn’t make it a good value. Make sure that the payback you’re getting presents an overlay situation–even on a huge underdog.

Don’t waste your money on ridiculous prop bets: Occasionally sports books offer ridiculous bets to get press or to be funny. For example, a book once offered odds on Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Bruce Willis all hopping into bed together and releasing a video tape of the proceedings. You’d no doubt get a huge payback were this to happen, but the ‘true odds’ of such an event transpiring far exceeded even a big potential payback.

Ross Everett is a respected freelance writer who covers travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and deep sea diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

At your fingertips are tools that will allow you to generate network marketing-MLM-home business leads through internet marketing and social media. You can use all kinds of great tricks and techniques that have been developed online in order to generate the most leads. Below are a few of these techniques.

First, write up a plan before you start. You need to make sure you learn every step thoroughly before you begin. Be prepared for anything to go wrong, just in case.

You can create your own website. Make one that basically sells your business products. Make it look professional, friendly, and appealing to any future leads you will generate. You need to make absolutely certain that the people reading your website will know that your are offering a unique product, someone they will be able to trust.

When someone emails you from your website, make sure they get a quick response by using an autoresponder for email. If set up correctly, it can do wonders in winning prospective customers and will make them want to talk to you more.

Write some articles. Visit an article directory and write some articles that people will see and want to read. Make sure you stay within your area of expertise and write as many articles per day as you can while still working on everything else. Articles generate a huge amount of traffic, so they are great for helping your website reach the top of the search engines. Try to write them in an informative and interesting way in order to generate leads.

Write a blog. You can sign up for nearly any blog site for free. Update your blog every day with articles and eventually you will generate traffic to it naturally. Then link each article post to your website and get more traffic to it. This takes a while, but it is worth it.

While you can generate leads in more than just a few ways, these are the methods that have been proven to work and are used by almost everyone. All it takes is some dedication from you.

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