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[S755]Sounds So Good Ashton

by Jack Deal, Jac

Like many others, Joe's dream involved selling his products by e-commerce on the Internet. As we mapped out Joe's strategy we also did some preliminary budgeting, especially for the e-commerce site. I knew a good site could run $5,000 up if designed from the ground up. Many e-commerce services, such as those offered by Yahoo, run from about $30 a month up. Not bad but not much flash. Since Joe was in the design industry, flash was important.

We had even whiteboarded out how he could sell online and each transaction would be automated into QuickBooks and his profit and loss reports. As his profits rose exponentially his biggest concern was how to keep track of his profits. I cautioned Joe about reality but did not want to dampen his dream. It was his passion.

Joe's current business would support him through this transition but his available working capital was limited since he rented a rather large office and production floor. His high overhead was one reason he wanted to sell online. But with limited capital he had to make every dollar he spent work.

When I last spoke with Joe we had pretty much nailed it all down for his new online e-commerce venture and except for some of the marketing collateral, he had a viable plan. I left for another project, Joe to his good fortune and did not hear back from him for several months.

When he called he apologized for not having been up and running. I laughed and said it's his business, not mine so no need to apologize. He said he had the bright idea of going offshore to India to get a cheaper deal on an e-commerce website design. He did contract with an Indian firm for a little less than half what a Silicon Valley e-commerce designer would charge.

Joe paid the full amount by credit card before the work had begun. Mistake number one but for Joe it was 'cheap'; it wasn't even for him a matter of price vs. cost. For almost two months they strung him along but in the end produced nothing and refused to return his money.

What could Joe do? He could file a fraud complaint with his credit card company and they could pursue it through the credit card system. But if in fact the web design company was simply a front, then they will scam all they can and when the law gets too close just shut their scam down and reopen under another name and another merchant account. For Joe to pursue his case in India would probably cost him more than the fraudulent web design fees he paid.

Eventually Joe may get his credit card company to shut down the fraudulent merchant account but these scams are set up to shut down and restart. How do you go after a non-existent company in another country with lax laws? Unfortunately it's a bit late after the fraudulent transaction has occurred.

Joe will recover. He will work extra hard to replace his working capital but the whole scam will prove a costly one. It will set his project back two or three months and in e-commerce time is money.

Joe clearly made several mistakes in trying to save money. Had he only made just an initial payment his loss would not have been so much. Joe was impressed with a fancy website and fancy fake demos. Had he done a bit more research on his scam outsourcer he would have seen the light quicker.

But Joe was a bit greedy and felt he could leverage his investment and get more Return on Investment (ROI). He learned the hard way. There are probably several hundred companies within 20 miles of Joe's factory that could have done the job for him. True, at two or three times the price but the actual cost would be less. Joe's mistake was not taking a little more time and examining a good development plan with a reputable company. This process is commonly known as 'due diligence'.

Joe learned that a great scam is not only too good to be true but a 100% loss.

Nowadays, almost all ads talking about Lasik surgery claim that the surgery is the perfect way around eye glasses and contacts. Having taken a closer look at the surgery, the FDA later criticizes such ads and report that these ads were completely untrue and flat. FDA's subsequent endeavors paved the way for the shutting down of these claims. Therefore, you should be very careful to what you read in newspapers and journals.

All Lasik marketing techniques focus on the idea that the surgery is eyeglass free. Some techniques even show people without their eyeglasses. Then there are some testimonials made by some celebrities advising you to head to a particular Lasik specialist and promised you special gifts such as raffles, free seminars, leaflets, financial encouragements to newcomers and of course promise of an improvement of vision by a factor of 20/20. All these are just a small subset of techniques used by these ads in order to lead to the operation room. There are not concerned about these nonsensical talks.

You should notice that the techniques described in the previous paragraph are perfectly acceptable advertising. However, many of these techniques are strongly disapproved by honest Lasik surgeons as well as notorious organizations and of course the FDA.

Here are the drawbacks of the Lasik surgery: let us consider a clever consumer. He will immediately notice these sweet words aiming at attracting you to only find the right and suitable place to get your surgery done. There is no hint to help you assess hidden information, which is definitely useful, not in the ads. Of course, honest Lasik surgeons will not waste their time explaining you the drawbacks of the surgery at the first meeting, so if you have not done any background reading about the surgery you will not be able to know whether he is frank or not.

Lasik surgery is a very intricate and tricky process that relies on the motion of the following tools: the microkeratome which is a special knife used for surgery purpose only and an excimer laser which is managed by a dedicated computer. The human body encompasses two delicate and intricate organs. The previous two sentences therefore raise concerns about Lasik surgery. The tools may be monitored by faulty components be it in the hardware or in the software. Another possibility is the mistakes made by the surgeon.

There is a need of new rules and laws governing this surgery. Although patients are usually happy with the results of the surgery, others are experiencing serious vision difficulties after the surgery. These problems include halo vision, starbursts as well as poor low-light vision that obviously increase their inability to drive at night. There are some minor cases in which patients are said to be blind after the surgery. This usually occurs when there were some serious mistakes during the process. These types of issues are not noticed immediately after the surgery and they will not be noticed until the nerves and muscles of the eyes are reported unable to cope with the surgery. The percentage of patients not happy with the surgery compared to those who have a successful surgery is definitely not high enough to be ominous. However in order to protect these unhappy people, a new special law was born: Lasik Injury Law.

The main responsible of all these issues is called competition. Because of tight battle between Lasik practitioners, they have to use illegal weapons. These include a poor description of the process, overstatement, euphemism. The reasons are now clear: Lasik tools are costly and also to maintain, of course the surgeon spent a tremendous amount of his time to study the ins and outs of the surgery and they are assisted by well-paid assistants. To meet these costs, Lasik clinics need a minimum number of patients every month and this pressure therefore paves the way for false advertisements.

Article Source : The Advantages Of Advertising

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Both Jack Deal & Paul Moss are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Jack Deal has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Health and Web Development. Jack D. Deal is the owner of Deal Business Consulting in Santa Cruz,California. He can be contacted at jddeal@jddeal.com may be found at. Jack Deal's top article generates over 2240000 views. to your Favourites.

Paul Moss has sinced written about articles on various topics from Family Concerns, Public Relations and Home Management. Discover the difference between lasik surgery as well as common questions on. Paul Moss's top article generates over 9900 views. to your Favourites.