I Dreamed a Dream.......

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living,
So different now from what it seemed...
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed...

This is the last stanza from I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables. It is a song of how as children, people have dreams of how their lives will end up. How they will change the world and make it better for mankind. Astronauts, scientists, teachers.... the list is endless.
With whole lives ahead, dreams are a powerful driving force. But sometimes once on a career path, it is not what it seemed to be. The opportunities are sparse, economic influences have adverse effects, advancements in technology, science, medicine make for dead end careers. Buggy Whip, corset anyone?. Eventually reality sets in and life becomes routine, and hopes and dreams fade to the background.
Job.travel offers opportunities in the travel and hospitality industry. If the dreams of you childhood are no longer achievable, maybe a new career is in order? With job.travel, career paths are numerous and positions across the country with possibilities of worldwide postings. So maybe living in an exotic location is not out of the question.

Finding the Right Audience

In business today, advertising is essential for a new product to get a good start. Even if a product is fantastic, if it is not known, then failure is probably imminent.
Damron Vacations is a recently launched brand catering to the GLBT (gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered) community. In is in partnership with the Damron Guide, which for over 40 years has helped the community with travel information. Items like places to stay, restaurants, club and bars, shopping suggestions. This made travel to an unknown area easier and more enjoyable.
With Damron Vacations, the whole vacation package can be booked. From plane flights to hotels to rental cars. Choosing the destination is all the client needs to do. While Damron Vacations does offer properties that are exclusively gay, there is also an abundance of properties that are gay friendly.
These range from budget minded lodging to 5 and 6 star resorts with all-inclusive options and spas. The cities offered include major gay destinations along with traditional options, London, Rome, Paris to name a few. The experienced agents at Damron Vacations can assist in the planning of your vacation. And currently, there is a promotion of a free Damron Guide with any vacation package booked.
There area variety of Damron Vacation specific options available to its clients. The monthly Tea Cruise in Ft Lauderdale is one of them. On the first Friday of the month, the Musette sets sail for a three hour tour(sound familiar?) along the waterways of the New River and the Intercoastal. This Sunday, 03May, some of the Damron Vacation's staff will be aboard to welcome guests. There will also be a drawing for a free vacation to Cancun for a lucky winner and a friend.
Since the majority of the cruisers will be gay men, and recent studies have shown that even in this economy, gay men still plan to travel, this is a good target audience. The Tea Cruise and the Damron Vacation's give away have been promoted in the local magazines. These local publications are a popular souvenir item for people on vacations in Ft Lauderdale.
Finding the right audience to advertise to is important for cost effectiveness. Spending on ineffective methods or to uninterested parties is counter-productive and is q waste of budgeted funds. So before embarking on a campaign, define your target audience, determine best method, and set realistic goals. If your company has had successful campaigns in the past, rely on the information collected on conversions to help decide current methods.

More good news

Ford lost $1.4 billion in the first quarter and its stock has risen by about $.70 by lunch. Yes, that is a lot of money, but it was less of a loss than expected. New home sales are showing some signs the bottom is near, the decrease for March was less than expected. With the slight improvements and better than expected results the Dow has climbed almost 130 points. Let everyone cross their fingers.
There are still many industries and companies that are teetering on the brink. The most notable are GM and Chrysler. Chrysler only has less than a week to reorganize and join up with Fiat. Gm has an extra month to accomplish a debt/wage restructure. Both these giants of industry are subsisting on federal loans. But the forecast looks very dim for both as they exist right now.
Credit seems to be loosening also. Banks are starting to lend to each other which is good. This inter-bank lending came to a screeching halt last year on the fears that loans would not be repaid. This will allow more credit to be available to consumers. Mr. Obama is also working on abuses by credit card companies and their card holders.
With this bright spot on the horizon, maybe it is time to stat looking for a new job? When the economy is in a tailspin even a bad job is better than no job. Job.travel offers jobs in travel and hospitality across the country. What better time to switch than at the beginning of a trend?

Cost Effectiveness

With the economy still sludging along, it seems that maybe the bottom has been reached. No major layoffs have been announced, banks are reporting profits, the stock market has had a few good rallies. Hopefully all good signs.
Consumer spending is still on hold though showing signs of life. Housing has shown some rebounds, but at lower prices compared to last year. Maybe real estate was artificially inflated? This is not the first land bubble, they happen once the memories of the last one fade or just move to a new section of the country. Want a real bubble? Tulipmania swept through Holland and single bulbs were valued as much as a house.
For companies riding the turbulent economy, cost cutting and savings is paramount to survival. Big press was given to the business junkets of the large banks receiving federal aid to stay afloat. Business in convention cities has dried up, Las Vegas is a prime example. Many companies have canceled meetings, having a 'sales' meeting in Sin City after laying off 2,000 is not good for public relations. Expenditures for operations are under review also. Cutting back on frivolous items, shopping around for a better cost advantage, unnecessary items are no longer even discussed.
Advertising is usually one of the first casualties of budget cuts, but is this a wise choice? If a company and its products cannot be found or are not publicized, how will potential customers find them? The Internet is one course of action. Large corporations have an army of web developers to design and maintain their websites. But what about the home based businesses that do not have a large budget?
2Go Media is an excellent choice. With a 2Go Media package, a company's presence will immediately be seen on the web. A SEO hosted website, directory listings, Internet ad placement and search abilities are just some of the benefits. All this for less than $1.50 a day. Website templates are provided that can be customized, and technical help is provided if needed. Even with expenditures being closely monitored, a 2Go Media Internet marketing package will set the stage for your business as the economy rebounds.

The Art of Communication

Communication, what is it? The exchange of ideas, thoughts or feelings between two or more people seems to encompass the essence. People interacting with each other through various means to convey a thought.
These means have evolved over the centuries. American Indians used smoke signals to broadcast a message for miles. Some native cultures use drums to communicate with the next village. Even animals have forms of communication, wolves howling, birds chirping, and the most interesting, whales singing. Spoken languages led to the creation of alphabets and written language.
In the late 1800's there was the development of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell. In March of 1876, he uttered the words... Mr Watson, come here. I want to see you. This simple phrase transformed the world. Soon telephones became common place in homes, trans-Atlantic cables were laid, the world was becoming smaller. Further development led to the demise of the operator, the rotary phone, then the push button. Satellites transmitted the signals and long cables under the oceans were no longer needed.
Then came beepers and portable phones. The first of these phones were large and cumbersome and had short battery life. With the advances in technology, portable phones can now easily fit in a pocket and are capable of many functions. Besides calls, these little hand held computers can send test messages anywhere in the world.
The same can be said of writing a letter. Matching stamps, stationery and envelopes made it a kind of formal event. Thank you cards were had written for gifts. Christmas cards along with birthday cards were mailed. Now emails have replaced most of theses.
With all the advances made in methods of communication, is the world better? Yes and no. Easy access to friends and relatives miles away is great, especially with a camera equipped computer. Being able to chat with relatives in Europe for free makes it easy and affordable. But there is also a down side, too much electronic connection, can lead to sensory overload. People texting in the middle of a personal conversation, driving while talking or texting, social networking sites. Is a constant connection that important?
Maybe a break is needed? Leave the cell phone home and relax. Future Vacations can book a vacation to an all-inclusive resort, where the only reason to pick up the phone is to book a spa treatment. A Mediterranean cruise to see the wonders of the ancient world is a great escape. Experiencing buildings from hundreds to thousands of years old, makes you wonder why you have a wall crack in a three year old condo. But if the idea of getting away from it all appeals to you, contact Future Vacations and disconnect from the wireless rat race.

More Networking

With the proliferation of social websites such as twitter, my space and facebook, it seems that getting one's self or business out to the public is getting easier and easier. Some pages have extremely large followers.
There are facebook pages and/or groups for the various products I have mentioned in my blogs. 2Go Media, job.travel, Damron Vacations each have their own followings. And while these social pages do create interest, to me they seem to have become more of a popularity contest than a source of information. The recent contest between Ashton Kutcher and CNN is a prime example. If I'm looking for news, I go to CNN.com, not twitter. If I was a teenage girl then I would follow Ashton no matter where he went.
I do have a twitter account and rarely go on it. Maybe the people in my group, I just do not find very interesting, since I do not know who they are. The few people that I know in there, I keep in contact with through email. Another possibility is that I do not like text messages. I need glasses to read only and do not usually carry my glasses with me.
Networking in person is more of my preferences. Last week I attended a Mack Mixer at a local restaurant's bar. It was attended by about 60-70 people from a multitude of careers. I showed up early and left fliers for both 2Go Media and Damron Vacations around the venue. Hopefully the exposure will drum up some business for both, though the Damron promotion was for a Tea Cruise with the chance of winning a Cancun trip.
The most important thing is getting people to recognize a name or a product. With the technological savvy population, on line exposure is essential, but face to face is still important also. People will use products they associate with people that they trust.

Tax Time Already

It seems like only last week it was January 1st. A new month, a new year, and here it is, a fourth of the year has past, spring has sprung and tastes of summer have happened in Ft Lauderdale. Where has the time gone and what has happened.
Foremost, it seems the economy has started to revive, though slowly. House sales are increasing, but at lower prices than in the past. But if a house was vastly over-valued and the price is readjusting to a normal range, is that bad? People caught up in the buy/flip/sell process have been caught, but then whose fault is it? It is hard to feel sorry for people that tried to get rich and were greedy. If something seems too good to be true, then it usually is.
The stock market is slowly coming back. Wells Fargo reported better than expect results this past week which spurred a rally on Wall Street. Now if it can only continue. Lack luster results has the Dow about even for the day. Stagnating is better than falling.
The auto industry is still suffering. GM and Chrysler may not make it in their present forms. Both are having a hard time restructuring their debt and wages issues. Ford is holding on and doesn't want any aid. Let's hope the demand increases.
The true recovery of the economy will start with the common people. When the average American feels comfortable, they will go out and start treating themselves to dinner, buy a car, renovate, or maybe buy a new house. It will take a few good economic reports to spur spending.
Small business will start to add more employees as business increases. For people in the travel industry there is 2Go Media, a new Internet marketing solution package. A unique .travel domain name, SEO hosted website, RSS feeds of your deals to over 100,000 .travel domains among other benefits. A cost effective price of $499 a year, and this rate is guaranteed for 3 years. Exposure on the web is vital in today's business environment. 2Go Media provides an easy cost effective way to make a business' presence on the web make an impact.

Networking 101

The idea behind networking is to get an item out in front of people that can utilize it. The item can be a person, a product, service, etc. The most important thing is to make sure the audience is the target market.
Over the weekend, I attended the CLIA 3sixty Trade Show at the Ft Lauderdale Convention Center. The show is the largest of its kind featuring the major cruise lines, suppliers and affiliated companies. Travel professionals attend for credits toward CLIA certification by attending classroom instruction on the various aspects of the cruise industry. Over 2,000 people attended this year's conference, ship inspections and trade show. These professionals represented agents from large firms to home based agents working for a host agency.
Some host agencies do offer a website to their home based agents. These sites are usually very basic and have very few options for modification. They are also linked to the host agency's main website and designated by being a sub-directory or just an additional page. This makes individuality and ease of locating on the web, very difficult.
2Go Media and .travel both had booths for the trade show. 2Go Media offers a one stop Internet Marketing Solutions package for the travel professional, business owner or real estate professional. A top level .travel domain name, SEO hosted website, email addresses, search.travel, and a listing in the city directory of your choice, are just a few inclusions of the package. A great way to increase your on line presence.

Is it over?

More recent economic news seems to point to the economy having reached bottom, or at least close to it. Factory orders rose, car sales were down, but not as much as expected, home sales though still at lower prices have begun to creep up. Maybe the banks are finally lending the money the government gave them? The economy can only hope.
With these glimmers of hope, companies will be more inclined to start hiring. The large unemployment problem will not be solved overnight, but with demand for goods increasing, laid off workers will be recalled. With more money coming into households, budgets will increase slowly for more luxury items. Dining out will return to a family's routine, and then vacations. Pent up frustration brought on by belt tightening will slowly be relieved through splurges.
These additional expenditures will cause hotels and restaurants to increase their staffs. More patrons require more employees. It will be a trickle down effect that will help restore employment levels.
Job.travel offers jobs in travel and hospitality. The positions offered can start a career in a new industry that might possibly lead to an overseas posting. The opportunities are endless with a multi-national firm. If you have been the victim of a lay off or just in the mood to change your job career path, try job.travel, a new start could be a website away.