Virtual real estate investing probably makes you think of a number of things. You might immediately leap to real estate investing being real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans or you may think instead of short sales, bulk reo investing and virtual real estate investing. Likely you also wonder how these things will factor into your life as a real estate investor in the current economy.

There is a lot to learn about real estate investing. The best way to optimize your real estate investing education is to know the basics ahead of time. No matter whether you are interested in short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate or just enhancing your knowledge as a real estate investor, knowing some real estate investing basics will help you succeed. You should review these three real estate investing basics to learn things even some experts do not know:

1. Real estate investing education is a true investment that always has a positive yield. In any real estate deal, there will be thousands of dollars in potential wealth. The knowledge of how to get that wealth is the key to your success. Learning about real estate increases your odds of success when you do a real estate deal. Small investments yield big results when you invest in learning and then implement what you learn.

2. Real estate investing success is possible in any economy. Many people are under the misconception that success is possible in real estate only when the economy is good. In reality, a bad economic situation is not bad for real estate investors. You can often find properties to buy at deep discounts. You might also find deals that simply would not exist in a booming economy. Real estate investing often is what turns the tide for poor economies. When the economy is not thriving, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate can all thrive. You will have the option of saving yourself and possibly others from serious financial difficulties if you know about these types of deals.

3. You do not need lots of your own cash to be a successful real estate investor. You can succeed in real estate investing no matter how much money you have. There are lots of deals that you can use other people’s money to do. If you look like a good investment a private lender may let you use their money. The best way to be a good investment is to know as much as possible about real estate investing. This will help you show people that you are a good investment if they have the money to help you with real estate investing but they do not know how to use it.

A good deal of wealth can be generated with real estate investing. You will be able to create an income no matter what the economy. By using a base of knowledge of real estate investing, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate you can create success for yourself. Knowing the basics of real estate investing will help you succeed as a real estate investor. Knowing some real estate investing basics (beyond what older gurus like Robert Allen teach) and applying them will help you succeed as a real estate investor.

Great real estate investing resources are available at RealEstate.BryanEllis.com.

Virtual real estate investing probably makes you think of a number of things. You might immediately leap to real estate investing being real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans or you may think instead of short sales, bulk reo investing and virtual real estate investing. Likely you also wonder how these things will factor into your life as a real estate investor in the current economy.

There is a lot to learn about real estate investing. The best way to optimize your real estate investing education is to know the basics ahead of time. No matter whether you are interested in short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate or just enhancing your knowledge as a real estate investor, knowing some real estate investing basics will help you succeed. You should review these three real estate investing basics to learn things even some experts do not know:

1. Real estate investing education is a true investment that always has a positive yield. In any real estate deal, there will be thousands of dollars in potential wealth. The knowledge of how to get that wealth is the key to your success. Learning about real estate increases your odds of success when you do a real estate deal. Small investments yield big results when you invest in learning and then implement what you learn.

2. Real estate investing success is possible in any economy. Many people are under the misconception that success is possible in real estate only when the economy is good. In reality, a bad economic situation is not bad for real estate investors. You can often find properties to buy at deep discounts. You might also find deals that simply would not exist in a booming economy. Real estate investing often is what turns the tide for poor economies. When the economy is not thriving, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate can all thrive. You will have the option of saving yourself and possibly others from serious financial difficulties if you know about these types of deals.

3. You do not need lots of your own cash to be a successful real estate investor. You can succeed in real estate investing no matter how much money you have. There are lots of deals that you can use other people’s money to do. If you look like a good investment a private lender may let you use their money. The best way to be a good investment is to know as much as possible about real estate investing. This will help you show people that you are a good investment if they have the money to help you with real estate investing but they do not know how to use it.

A good deal of wealth can be generated with real estate investing. You will be able to create an income no matter what the economy. By using a base of knowledge of real estate investing, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate you can create success for yourself. Knowing the basics of real estate investing will help you succeed as a real estate investor. Knowing some real estate investing basics (beyond what older gurus like Robert Allen teach) and applying them will help you succeed as a real estate investor.

Great real estate investing resources are available at RealEstate.BryanEllis.com.

Virtual real estate investing probably makes you think of a number of things. You might immediately leap to real estate investing being real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans or you may think instead of short sales, bulk reo investing and virtual real estate investing. Likely you also wonder how these things will factor into your life as a real estate investor in the current economy.

There is a lot to learn about real estate investing. The best way to optimize your real estate investing education is to know the basics ahead of time. No matter whether you are interested in short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate or just enhancing your knowledge as a real estate investor, knowing some real estate investing basics will help you succeed. You should review these three real estate investing basics to learn things even some experts do not know:

1. Real estate investing education is a true investment that always has a positive yield. In any real estate deal, there will be thousands of dollars in potential wealth. The knowledge of how to get that wealth is the key to your success. Learning about real estate increases your odds of success when you do a real estate deal. Small investments yield big results when you invest in learning and then implement what you learn.

2. Real estate investing success is possible in any economy. Many people are under the misconception that success is possible in real estate only when the economy is good. In reality, a bad economic situation is not bad for real estate investors. You can often find properties to buy at deep discounts. You might also find deals that simply would not exist in a booming economy. Real estate investing often is what turns the tide for poor economies. When the economy is not thriving, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate can all thrive. You will have the option of saving yourself and possibly others from serious financial difficulties if you know about these types of deals.

3. You do not need lots of your own cash to be a successful real estate investor. You can succeed in real estate investing no matter how much money you have. There are lots of deals that you can use other people’s money to do. If you look like a good investment a private lender may let you use their money. The best way to be a good investment is to know as much as possible about real estate investing. This will help you show people that you are a good investment if they have the money to help you with real estate investing but they do not know how to use it.

A good deal of wealth can be generated with real estate investing. You will be able to create an income no matter what the economy. By using a base of knowledge of real estate investing, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate you can create success for yourself. Knowing the basics of real estate investing will help you succeed as a real estate investor. Knowing some real estate investing basics (beyond what older gurus like Robert Allen teach) and applying them will help you succeed as a real estate investor.

Great real estate investing resources are available at RealEstate.BryanEllis.com.

Virtual real estate investing probably makes you think of a number of things. You might immediately leap to real estate investing being real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans or you may think instead of short sales, bulk reo investing and virtual real estate investing. Likely you also wonder how these things will factor into your life as a real estate investor in the current economy.

There is a lot to learn about real estate investing. The best way to optimize your real estate investing education is to know the basics ahead of time. No matter whether you are interested in short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate or just enhancing your knowledge as a real estate investor, knowing some real estate investing basics will help you succeed. You should review these three real estate investing basics to learn things even some experts do not know:

1. Real estate investing education is a true investment that always has a positive yield. In any real estate deal, there will be thousands of dollars in potential wealth. The knowledge of how to get that wealth is the key to your success. Learning about real estate increases your odds of success when you do a real estate deal. Small investments yield big results when you invest in learning and then implement what you learn.

2. Real estate investing success is possible in any economy. Many people are under the misconception that success is possible in real estate only when the economy is good. In reality, a bad economic situation is not bad for real estate investors. You can often find properties to buy at deep discounts. You might also find deals that simply would not exist in a booming economy. Real estate investing often is what turns the tide for poor economies. When the economy is not thriving, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate can all thrive. You will have the option of saving yourself and possibly others from serious financial difficulties if you know about these types of deals.

3. You do not need lots of your own cash to be a successful real estate investor. You can succeed in real estate investing no matter how much money you have. There are lots of deals that you can use other people’s money to do. If you look like a good investment a private lender may let you use their money. The best way to be a good investment is to know as much as possible about real estate investing. This will help you show people that you are a good investment if they have the money to help you with real estate investing but they do not know how to use it.

A good deal of wealth can be generated with real estate investing. You will be able to create an income no matter what the economy. By using a base of knowledge of real estate investing, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate you can create success for yourself. Knowing the basics of real estate investing will help you succeed as a real estate investor. Knowing some real estate investing basics (beyond what older gurus like Robert Allen teach) and applying them will help you succeed as a real estate investor.

Great real estate investing resources are available at RealEstate.BryanEllis.com.

Virtual real estate investing probably makes you think of a number of things. You might immediately leap to real estate investing being real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans or you may think instead of short sales, bulk reo investing and virtual real estate investing. Likely you also wonder how these things will factor into your life as a real estate investor in the current economy.

There is a lot to learn about real estate investing. The best way to optimize your real estate investing education is to know the basics ahead of time. No matter whether you are interested in short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate or just enhancing your knowledge as a real estate investor, knowing some real estate investing basics will help you succeed. You should review these three real estate investing basics to learn things even some experts do not know:

1. Real estate investing education is a true investment that always has a positive yield. In any real estate deal, there will be thousands of dollars in potential wealth. The knowledge of how to get that wealth is the key to your success. Learning about real estate increases your odds of success when you do a real estate deal. Small investments yield big results when you invest in learning and then implement what you learn.

2. Real estate investing success is possible in any economy. Many people are under the misconception that success is possible in real estate only when the economy is good. In reality, a bad economic situation is not bad for real estate investors. You can often find properties to buy at deep discounts. You might also find deals that simply would not exist in a booming economy. Real estate investing often is what turns the tide for poor economies. When the economy is not thriving, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate can all thrive. You will have the option of saving yourself and possibly others from serious financial difficulties if you know about these types of deals.

3. You do not need lots of your own cash to be a successful real estate investor. You can succeed in real estate investing no matter how much money you have. There are lots of deals that you can use other people’s money to do. If you look like a good investment a private lender may let you use their money. The best way to be a good investment is to know as much as possible about real estate investing. This will help you show people that you are a good investment if they have the money to help you with real estate investing but they do not know how to use it.

A good deal of wealth can be generated with real estate investing. You will be able to create an income no matter what the economy. By using a base of knowledge of real estate investing, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate you can create success for yourself. Knowing the basics of real estate investing will help you succeed as a real estate investor. Knowing some real estate investing basics (beyond what older gurus like Robert Allen teach) and applying them will help you succeed as a real estate investor.

Great real estate investing resources are available at RealEstate.BryanEllis.com.

Click here for a video that explains the risk of non-PCI compliance

Background on PCI & Credit Card Security

For many years now, both restaurant owners and their diners have been enjoying the convenience of accepting and using credit and debit cards. However, given the high and rapid increase cost and frequency of credit fraud, the major card brands such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB have taken steps to safeguard all stakeholders.

IBM invented the magnetic stripe on credit cards in 1968 and became the industry standard. Since the track data is easy to read and duplicate on the mag stripe, the card brands, the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council built a set of standards protect cardholder data, and it begins with the directive: ‘Don’t store track data.’

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Standards

The three-pronged approach that the PCI Security Standards Council took to protect consumers, merchants/restaurateurs and banks:

• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard or PCI DSS ‐ covers all entities that store, process, or transmit cardholder data: Merchants, restaurateurs, service providers, processors, etc.

Deadline for Compliance: Month of January 2007 (deadlines are long passed)

What it Means – All restaurateurs (in spite of size) is required to complete and submit a PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire annually to their Acquiring Bank.

• Payment Application Data Security Standard or PA-DSS ‐ involves all applications used to store, process, or transmit cardholder data as part of authorization or settlement. (Point of Sale (POS) application developers)

Deadlines for Compliance:

Oct. 1, 2008 ‐ Only the software that is compliant with the new payment application security standards must be used by agents, merchants and payment processors.

Oct. 1, 2009 ‐ All merchants will be required to start terminating the use of any non-compliant payment applications that they might still have in their environments.

July 1, 2010 ‐ Mandates the use of only those payment applications that support the new standards.

What this Means – After these deadlines, merchants/restaurateurs that are still using a non-PA DSS-validated application, they automatically fail the PCI assessment and will lose their ability to accept credit cards.

• Pin Entry Devices (PED) Standard – covers all PEDs and is aimed at ensuring that the cardholder’s PIN, including any sensitive information such as resident keys, are protected consistently at a PIN acceptance device.

Deadline for Compliance:

Jan. 1, 2004 ‐ All newly purchased Point-of-Sale (POS) PIN Entry Devices must have passed testing by a Visa recognized laboratory and been approved by Visa.

July 1, 2010 ‐ Mandates that every POS PEDs must pass and get approved by PCI SSC from one of its recognized laboratories.

What this Means ‐ Merchants/restaurant owners have 2 years to replace older, un-approved PEDs.

The Do’s With Payment Card Industry (PCI)

• Make sure you have a routine vulnerability scan for your POS systems.

• You must do a security awareness training for your staff.

• Make system access audits.

• System activity logs should be monitored.

• Access privileges must be removed for separated employees.

• Do install software patches.

• When it comes to any threats, be serious – have an incident response plan in place.

The Don’ts of Payment Card Industry (PCI)

• Whole credit card numbers should not be stored or archived.

• Don’t transmit credit card information unencrypted.

• With PCI, it is not about making you compliant with the standards – it’s about keeping you and your customers protected.

PCI’s Effect on Restaurateurs

Given consumers’ expectation of omnipresent acceptance of credit and debit cards, restaurateurs’ validation that they are protecting their customers’ personal information is good for business:

Reputation / Image

In any competitive business – a restaurateur does not want to be named in the media as the place were card data was stolen.

Protects Ability to Accept Credit / Debit Card Payments – neglecting the rules and/or a breach can jeopardize a restaurateur’s ability to accept credit/debit payments. In many cases, credit/debit payments account for 80% to 90% of transactions. Losing your restaurant’s ability to accept credit/debit cards can reduce your customers.

The Effects of State Privacy Laws

A breach that discloses individual’s credit card info with any of the 40+ States governed by the privacy laws may experience double impact on the side of the merchant/restaurateur. Being off-side with the Payment Card Industry will result in fines and litigation costs. Being off-side with State Privacy Laws is a criminal action with potentially more serious consequences.

Complying / Security Strategy

• By making sure you’re using only PA‐DSS or PABP validated POS systems

• Ensuring that you use approved PEDs

• Have regular security awareness training for your staff – particularly supervisors

• Do background checks on anyone that has administrative access to your system

• Have your staff sign a ‘Confidentiality Agreement’

• If you’re not sure how to complete the PCI Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), you can always ask

• If you experience gaps in the PCI compliance, develop a realistic plan to straighten it out

• Maintain mature controls to sustain compliance

• Access controls

• Always have double factor for system and device management

• Strong passwords and secure password storage

• Keep monitoring system activities for potential attacks and record evidences

• Controlling your wireless access points

• Maintain secure configuration

• Segment networks

• Maintain an Incident Response Plan and Test It

• Testing and auditing the cardholder environment

It may be a discouraging task on your first try but when everything else is in place, ongoing PCI compliance is not an expensive undertaking. Besides, it’s a good practice for businesses to protect the sensitive information that your customers entrust with you.

Do You Have Any Questions?

For more information and advice on this topic you can quickly contact a Restaurant POS professional serving your area at www.POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article writes for POS-For-Restaurants.com – a VP of Customer Relations with over 20 years experience in the restaurant point of sale industry.

When you think of virtual real estate investing, a number of things may come to mind. You might immediately leap to real estate investing being real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans or you may think instead of short sales, bulk reo investing and virtual real estate investing. You probably also wonder how these things play out in real estate investors’ life in the current economy.

You will need to know a lot about real estate investing. To get the most out of real estate investing education, be familiar with basic information ahead of time. Short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate and general real estate investor abilities all are improved by knowing some basics of real estate investing. Check out these three real estate investing tenets that many experts do not fully know:

1. You will always end up with a positive yield when you invest in real estate investing education. You can create thousands of dollars in potential wealth with each real estate deal. The knowledge of how to get that wealth is the key to your success. Learning about real estate increases your odds of success when you do a real estate deal. A small investment in your education can yield big results when you implement your learning.

2. Any economy allows for success in real estate investing. Many people think (wrongly) that you can only succeed in real estate when the economy booms. In fact a bad economy is not a bad economy for real estate investors. You can often buy properties at deep discounts. You could also locate deals that would not exist in a booming economy. Poor economies can turn based on active real estate investing. Short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate all thrive when the economy is less than thriving. Knowing how to do these deals can create wealth for you and save others from major financial difficulties.

3. You do not need to have a great deal of money if you want to be a successful real estate investor. You can succeed in the real estate investing arena no matter how much money you are working with. Many types of deals enable you to use other people’s money to do them. If you are a good investment private lenders may let you use their money. An investor who is a good investment knows as much as they can when it comes to real estate investing. This will enable you to show people who have money for real estate investing but may not know how to use it that you are a good investment.

Real estate investing is a good way to generate a great deal of wealth. You can create income regardless of the economy. You can create success for yourself using knowledge of real estate investing, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate. Knowing the basics of real estate investing will help you succeed as a real estate investor. Knowing some real estate investing basics (beyond what older gurus like Robert Allen teach) and applying them will help you succeed as a real estate investor.

Great real estate investing resources are available at RealEstate.BryanEllis.com.

Are you the type of person who feels that there are not enough hours in the day for you to complete all of your daily tasks and duties? This article gives free tips on how to manage your time in a more constructive and successful way.

Set a to do list

I now set myself a to do list which helps me to plan my time better. I have a priority list, which is the tasks which are the most important for me to complete. These are the tasks that I will tackle first, as a priority if you like. These are also the jobs that I really must complete before the close of play.

If I manage to work through all of these tasks, I then start on my second list. This is a list of other important tasks which need to be completed as soon as possible but which do not particularly have to be finished today.

I then have my final list which is work that needs to be completed, however there is no immediate rush to finish them.

If at the end of the day I have certain tasks left on any of the lists, they then are added to the lists of the following day.

I have various businesses to do with helping people to obtain cheap calls, one which is offering a cheap hotel deals service and I also offer advice about becoming a foster carer. A to do list enables me to get the most out of my day.

Take a break

I have to admit that I have previously been the type of person who would rush to accomplish a given task and I was also quite hard on myself by kind of forcing myself to continue without any breaks whatsover until the job had been completed. This I have come to realise is a big mistake. I am not sure about you however I am only able to fully concentrate for a fairly small period of time. If I just continue to work, the quality of this work will soon drop as my brain becomes tired and weary.

Do not rush

I was so keen to move onto the next task and therefore would find myself rushing to finish. What I found was that this would lead me to making lots of silly errors. After making right the wrongs I could then continue on with my day however I would have lost a lot of time which could have been better spent etc. I now work at a speed I am comfortable with. I still make errors which of course is part of life, however there are now far fewer of these.

OEE measures the overall efficiency of a piece of equipment or that of a whole manufacturing plant. OEE makes a large effect towards the productivity of a plant.  Use of software systems frequently benefits the OEE score by up to 20% in as little as the first year.  It has been proven that optimising the OEE of only one percent enables a significant variation in the production capacity and savings in the unit cost of the manufactured product.

The OEE score consists of 3 elements: Availability (A), Performance (P) and Quality (Q).

• Availability is the % of uptime of each manufacturing or plant asset
• Performance is the % throughput against a target
• Quality is the % of scrap.

Multiplying A x P x Q gives the the OEE score.

OEE to drive Productivity in as a Management Tool

Overall Equipment Effectiveness is valuable as a measurement for directors of manufacturing.  The formula itself is simple, it can be {extremely, highly} complicated to calculate in real world cases.  Hence, specialist OEE software are required to acquire the data from each part of the plant and make the OEE calculation speedily.  It is important these systems are of a modular structure to give it maximum flexibility and allow it to fit with existing plant and data capture facilities and ERP system.

Once the data has been acquired and analysed, it is only of benefit if it can be converted into reports that are easy to understand.  OEE software from the leading players provides a range of reports that can be adapted and analyzed to enable the user to find what they are focused on.

OEE is becoming as the corner stone of lean manufacturing. via continuous improvements a production line can become more energy efficient, improve efficiency and reduce management finger-pointing as well as uncover and control risk.  All production managers must understand the theory and practical implementation of Overall Equipment Effectiveness and how it fits into the lean manufacturing philosophy as a key force for productivity improvements.

A number of things likely come to mind when you think of real estate investing. You likely leap to real estate investing as real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans, and then you may expand to thinking of short sales, bulk reo investing or virtual real estate investing. Likely you also wonder how these things will factor into your life as a real estate investor in the current economy.

There is a lot to learn about real estate investing. Getting the most out of real estate investing education involves being familiar with basic RE info. Whether your target is short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate or improving real estate investor abilities, you need to know some real estate investing basics. Here are three real estate investing basics that even some experts do not really know:

1. Real estate investing education is a true investment that always has a positive yield. In any real estate deal, there will be thousands of dollars in potential wealth. Knowing how to get that wealth is the key to success. When you know about real estate your odds of success increase with each real estate deal. A small investment in your education can yield big results when you implement your learning.

2. You can succeed in real estate investing in any economy. Lots of people believe that real estate success is only possible in a booming economy. In fact a bad economy is not a bad economy for real estate investors. You frequently can get properties at deep discounts. Also, you might find deals that simply could not exist in a booming economy. Real estate investing often is what turns the tide for poor economies. When an economy is less than thriving, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate can prosper. You can save yourself and others from major financial woes if you know how to do these deals.

3. A lot of money is not vital to your success as a real estate investor. You can make a success of real estate investing no matter how much or little money you have. There are a lot of deals that you can do with other people’s money. Private lenders will lend you their money if they think you are a good investment. A good investment will know as much as they can about real estate investing. This will help you show people that you are a good investment if they have the money to help you with real estate investing but they do not know how to use it.

Real estate investing is a good way to generate a great deal of wealth. You can create a good income no matter what the state of the economy. You can create success for yourself using knowledge of real estate investing, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate. Knowing real estate investing basics will help you succeed as a real estate investor.