One of its many diverse educational programs, the Medical Assistant program at ACT, includes quality training in emergency medical procedures, CPR and first aid, injections, medical healthcare duties, venipuncture, medical billing and collections, and even minor surgical techniques. The eight-month Medical Assistant Certificate Program enables graduates to earn entry-level positions as medical assistants, medical office managers, and more.

Like bodywork? The nine-month Massage Therapy Certificate Program in massage therapy at ACT provides essential hands-on training and education to candidates pursuing a career as a professional massage therapist. In addition to anatomy, physiology and medical terminology, students are taught a diverse assortment of massage therapy modalities including deep tissue massage, Shiatsu, Swedish massage, sports massage, chair massage, reflexology, therapeutic massage, face and scalp massage, as well as other non-traditional massage therapies.

Another fine academic program at Advanced Career Training is its eight-month Certificate Program in Medical Billing and Insurance Coding. As a fast-growing occupation in the medical industry, ACT promises to deliver comprehensive field skills to those pursuing professions as medical records’ clerks, medical insurance coders and billers, and medical coding specialists, among other related positions. In this course of study, students are introduced to a wide array of necessary skills like word processing, file and records management, medical terminology, code medical procedures and diagnoses, medical coding and billing, insurance claims forms, among others.

In addition to career services (including personal portfolio development, transportation resources, interviewing techniques, and more), should prospective students require financial assistance, Advanced Career Training participates in numerous financial aid programs as well. Whether you’ve recently graduated from high school, or you’re an adult learner ready to make a positive career change in your life, now is the time to explore the many career-oriented courses at ACT today.

Featured School of the Week: ACT (Advanced Career Training)

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If the status of a worker is changed from self employment to employee by the Inland Revenue the amounts paid to that worker would be regarded by the Revenue as not the gross pay but the net pay after deductions of income tax and national insurance. The re-assessment after adding the income tax and both employee and employer national insurance could increase the cost of that worker by more than 50%.

If a workers employment status is determined as incorrect by the tax authority the date at which the employment status was employee rather than self employment would also be determined. Such a status change and the applicable date could be applied several years retrospectively leading to a significant financial burden.

An employer cannot choose the status of a worker as employee or self employed. The status of the worker is dependent upon the rules of engagement and the working practices that ensue. There is also a tendency with long term engagement of self employed workers for circumstances to change and some changes could change the status of that worker from self employment to employee in the view of the tax authority.

The first essential question to be answered by an employer is whether the worker is being engaged under a contract of employment or whose services are being contracted. Due to the potential serious financial consequences of making the wrong decision it is important that the rules of engagement are set out and agreed in writing.

There is no statutory definition of what constitutes a contract of service and what constitutes a contract for services in relation to income tax and national insurance. In the absence of a statutory definition the interpretation of the nature of the relationship is open to debate and previous court judgments.

General rules which would indicate a worker was an employee would include scenarios such as is the work supervised, does someone state when, what and where work is done and how it should be done. Can the worker be moved from one task to another and does the worker work to set hours and paid on a set basis of hourly, weekly or monthly or receive bonuses or overtime payments. The existence of such conditions would indicate employee status not self employment.

There are many other factors which may determine employment status, for example if the worker takes the business vehicle home each day that would indicate employee status. Should the worker provide his own tools and equipment to perform the tasks and bear the costs of doing this then self employment would be indicated but should the employer provide such equipment then workers status is more likely to be interpreted as employee.

Factors which may determine self employment would include the worker using someone else to carry out the tasks at their expense, whether the work contained personal financial risk to the worker, has a fixed price been agreed regardless of time taken to perform the work. Other self employment factors would be if the worker can choose when and how to perform the tasks, whether they also work for other organisations and whether unsatisfactory work has to be corrected in the workers own time and expense.

The conditions under which a worker is engaged may be ambiguous and that can lead to problems as long term self employed workers and the relationship with the employer tends over time to slip into a pattern that might be interpreted as closer to that of an employee rather than self employment. In such circumstances what may have started as self employment may later be interpreted as employment in which case the specter of that workers cost being increased to the business by 50% going back years could become reality.

In all cases where there is doubt over the employment status the final decision becomes one of providing evidence and the weight of evidence for one side or the other. Often individual cases can rest on what may have been regarded as insignificant items at the time. For example granting the worker benefits normally associated with employment such as paid leave and even such items as access to subsidized canteen facilities could weigh the balance in favour of employment.

If an employer has doubts on the status of a worker the rules of engagement should be set out in writing at the outset and clarify the status as employee or self employment. If there is any doubt then the safest practice would be to treat the worker as an employee and deduct income tax and national insurance or engage the worker under the CIS sub contractors rules.

As a rough guide to the financial consequences of making the wrong decision or circumstances changing the status of a worker from self employment to employment without deducting tax and national insurance consider this example.

The worker has performed work for the business for 3 years as self employed and has been paid 25,000 pounds per annum. The normal work pattern is interpreted by the Inland Revenue as that of an employee not self employment.

The Inland Revenue could determine income tax of 5,000 pounds and national insurance of 2,000 pounds should have been deducted plus employer national insurance of a further 2,000 pounds. Over three years the bill for getting the decision wrong could result in an unexpected bill for the employer of 27,000 pounds. For a small business that level of additional cost could be the difference between survival and liquidation.

As one of the most remarkable years in modern economic history comes to an end, what will the next twelve months bring? We asked Shared Services & Outsourcing Network members to give their crystal balls a polish and take a look at the major events, trends, movers and shakers that they believe will make headlines and impact upon practices in 2009. Of course, predicting the future is never easy at the best of times – let alone at a time of such global economic uncertainty. Nevertheless, SSON’s finest have seized their opportunity with aplomb, giving some fascinating insights into how they believe the year ahead will unfold.

Here we present two dozen of the best forecasts from right across the space. How accurate are they? Only time will tell: we’ll take a look in December 2009!

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Peter Allen
MD and Partner, TPI

I expect to see a negative impact on pure labor-arbitrage contracting in 2009, and a slowdown in the establishment of new offshore service relationships. Existing captive offshore operations may be divested as part of broader industry consolidation to create large service bureau capabilities. Conversely, I expect the initiatives of the incoming U.S. presidential administration, coupled with the possible emergence of tax-favorable policies to encourage neutralization of the wage imbalance for certain functions, to fuel increased use of domestic outsourcing. The same sort of market-stimulus actions may be seen in other countries, notably China and Brazil. These market changes will fuel tri-lateral consolidation among India-based service providers, US-based infrastructure providers, and the divested operations of cornerstone client corporations.

Coming out of the recessionary markets in late 2009, we will find a strong global outsourcing industry with four to six large, dominant providers that will provide resiliency to the eco-system that services the needs of major corporations.  Ultimately, that eco-system will service the needs of middle-market buyers as well.

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Fang Lee Cooke
Professor of HRM and Chinese Studies, Manchester Business School

Outsourcing activities will continue to increase in China, particularly in IT and HR outsourcing. IT outsourcing is fueled by the government’s strategic move to enhance its IT outsourcing capacity at gloabl level. By contrast, growth in HR outsourcing is in part due to the sharp increase in the number of labour disputes as a result of the enactment of the controversal Labour Contract Law on 1st January 2008. More and more firms will be relying on external experts to handle their labour disputes and employee benefits and to design their staffing policy to bypass the constraints of labour laws.

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John Gregory
SSC Director, Kellogg’s

Undoubtedly in my mind the main topic for conversation next year will remain the global financial crisis. I expect this to get worse before it gets better. This will drive those companies, previously reluctant to outsource and offshore, to revisit their strategies. I also expect SSOs to be called upon to play a greater role in managing cash and operational risk; we have a key part to play as an early warning system to highlight suppliers and customers struggling to survive in this harsh climate.

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Tim James
Founding Director, sustainableIT

2009 sees the world focus its attention to Copenhagen in December where the world’s nations will thrash out a new deal to combat climate change. This will include aggressive emissions reductions on both developed and developing nations to level off emissions by 2050. 2009 will see the emergence of outsourcing agreements that have an energy or emissions component built into the agreement. This will entail energy or emissions targets which are measured and managed through SLA’s.  The challenge for outsourcers will be to provide the metrics and reporting capabilities to maintain competitive advantage in this new emerging low carbon economy.

Beyond 2009 will see  a new wave of outsourcing as the emergence of carbon taxation will encourage the process of outsourcing with lower carbon taxes being associated with services procured from a third party, known as scope 3 emissions under the greenhouse gas protocols.

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Tom Tunstall
Advisory Liaison, ACS

The worldwide recession will continue well into 2009. Look for government programs to ramp up in a slowing economy as the public sector attempts to fill in the private sector void, which will present an opportunity for outsourcing suppliers serving the federal market. Outsourcing opportunities in healthcare, customer care and transportation will also increase as pressure intensives not only to better manage costs, but to fundamentally restructure. For all types of organizations, developing countries will be good markets for future growth as an alternative to a comparatively moribund US economy.

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Ravichandran Venkataraman
General Manager – Fulfilment & Bangalore Operations, ANZ

The larger or macro trends:

Captives Cash-Out: some captives shared service companies will be sold out to raise cash for the mother ship. While this will be the objective, how many will actually happen will depend on availability of funding/liquidity in the system and expectation of pricing. Buyers will wait and watch to see if lower prices can get got.
BPO service providers funding customers: companies will look at outsourcing work to BPO service providers who can provide them up front cash of future benefits and also fund their costs of outsourcing such as Redundancy Payments, Training, Documentation and Transitions that hit their quarterly results – this, they would like to get billed over the next 3 years – meaning that their costs will be spread over three or more years – so, companies can outsource without their quarterly results being impacted significantly by these increased costs.
Consolidation: there will be consolidation in the industry with larger players trying to buy out existing smaller players with good revenue streams. This will provide for growth.

The smaller or micro trends:

Productivity but no investment in technology: companies will look towards 20% to 25% productivity increases but with absolutely no investment in technology. This will be through headcount savings and workspace rationalization. Eg. some companies have started 45 hour work week against 40 hours earlier…this is a 12.5% increase in productivity;
Risk Management: increasing risks of bankruptcies will push BPO Companies to diversify their portfolio. Eg. one company in India has been hit by a large exposure to the travel industry and BFSI segment. They are now looking at other industry verticals to reduce impact on revenues.
VCs (Venture Capital Funds) and Private Equity Funds will force additional outsourcing: VCs/PEs with substantial holdings in companies will force companies where they have stakes to reduce costs through outsourcing.

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Gilda Odera
Managing Director, Skyweb Technologies Ltd

The year 2009 is starting off with great uncertainty for many companies in US and Europe.
As the economies in these regions slump even worse, more pressure will mount to cut down operational costs, in order for most companies to remain afloat.

The insecurities created by the unfortunate terrorist attacks in India will force several companies to look for alternative destinations, as backups for their operations.

For a long time, Africa has not been seen to offer this alternative but for some interesting reasons, the year 2009 is opening up for some African countries, specifically South Africa and Kenya.

Several visits will be made by American companies to Kenya to do their due diligence and by Q4 2009, a number of American companies will set up alternative sourcing operations in Kenya. This will send a positive message out for many more who will then realise that, indeed, there are some opportunities to tap into in Africa.

India will of course continue offering high-end services though will be hard hit on volume of work while China will be very hard hit due to the reduced amount of production for their exports to the developed countries. China will intensify their market creation in Africa as a result. Many Indian companies will also diversify and spread their risk by opening up operations in Kenya.

With the global recession, the world will become even flatter in 2009 as more people leave their homes to explore new opportunities in the untapped world out in Africa, especially in Kenya and South Africa, the promising countries in Africa. Many will realise that the news they have been watching or reading in the press about these countries has not accurately presented the great opportunities on the ground and they will all come running to invest in these countries. I see many joint ventures taking place too.

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Riette le Roux
Manager: Relationship Optimisation, PeopleServe (HR Shared Service Centre), Standard Bank

Economists famously tongue-in-the-cheek predict that interest rates will rise and interest rates will fall in 2009.  They just can’t say which one will happen when and by how much.

I think SSCs will be the jewel in the crown of delivering ROI in the tough economic situation that is being experienced world-wide.  I think this will increase the discomfort in models where there are components of service lines translatable into a SSC environment, still within business.  This can potentially strain partner relationships exponentially and even lead to the eventual adaptation of delivery models to rather favour the SSC model.

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Mark Ross
Director, LawScribe

The ongoing financial crises affecting the US and UK will have a devastating impact on major law firms’ revenues in 2009, as their corporate clients look to slash legal department spending. More firms will follow former AmLaw 200 Heller Ehrman and Thelen Reid into dissolution. In order to survive, managing partners will be increasingly forced to critically examine their firms’ archaic and hierarchical, pyramid based, operating structures, and to scrutinize the methodology in which both legal and back office support tasks are resourced, and the specific locations where these tasks are performed. 2009 will witness a major surge in both the centralization of back office support functions within firms’ shared services centers, and the uptake of third party offshore legal outsourcing for an increasing array of routine legal tasks.

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Kit Burden
Head of Technology Sourcing and Commercial Group, DLA Piper

Far from being a “downer” for outsourcing, the economic crisis in 2009 will be a watershed for it, as the paramount requirement to cut costs will remove any vestiges of lingering reluctance of many companies to outsource aspects of their operations, including in particular in relation to various BPO functions such as F&A and HR. At the same time, we’ll continue to see a rise in the use of multi sourcing, whereby services previously assigned to a single supplier will instead be shared about between two, three or more of them, with the customer looking to both maintain a continuous degree of competitive pressure between them, whilst at the same time pressing them to accept new and more extensive governance processes (including service level and credit regimes where all of the service providers share “collective” risk, rather than service levels based solely on their own performance).

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Richard Sarkissian
Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP

In 2009, the world of shared services will split into two camps: those who take shared services to the next level, and those who maintain the status quo, shrink it, or sell it. While many companies recognize shared services’ potential to be a business asset, just as many don’t. Companies that think of their Shared Services Centers (SSCs) simply as an expense item will attempt to cut costs, reduce investments, and even terminate leadership if they believe the heavy lifting is over and that they don’t need expensive talent to run a back-office function. In contrast, companies that view SSCs as a potential business asset will turn their SSC diamond in the rough into a corporate jewel through actions such as expanding its advisory role and using it to drive enterprise cost reduction, improve customer service, and enhance customer retention.

So in 2009, companies with SSCs will show their hand or fold. Indecision will no longer be an option in the face of current economic pressures.

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Peter Moller
Principal, Deloitte MCS Ltd

2009 is likely to be the year of the SSC captive spin-off. A number of companies that have built in-house SSCs will sell them to BPO providers as part of multi-year outsourcing contracts. Several of these deals have already happened, and we expect this trend to accelerate in 2009 for a number of reasons:

BPO providers are becoming increasingly capable as well as typically more productive and cost-effective than captive SSCs.
BPO providers that still lack global delivery capabilities and/or blue-chip credentials will be receptive to buying near- or off-shore captive centers.
Selling a captive SSO can be a way for a company to realize cash in the current credit-restricted environment.

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Richard Klingshirn
Executive Managing Director, ACS Learning Services

Despite the current challenges in the economy and the short- and long-term implications, companies will still be addressing many business demands such as globalization, M&A, divestitures, etc. In addition, companies in the financial services and other industries will be facing new realities brought on by increased regulation and oversight. As companies plan for 2009, how can they best maximize key investments in learning and human capital while reducing cost of human capital management operations? Outsourcing learning services enables retention of a competitive workforce at lower cost of operation – which may be the difference between success and failure. Critical to this model is selecting an outsourcing partner that understands your industry, and how to centralize, reorganize and rationalize training initiatives and infrastructure. As a result, organizations can reach further, make more effective acquisitions, remain compliant, and ensure that all employees understand and practice core company values.

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Hans Jansen
Vice President, Multinational Sales, ADP

Getting ready for the next phase: generally, this [challenging economic] phase is expected to last 12 to 18 months. After that we hope to see a new phase of growth and investments. During the upcoming period, organizations need to survive and to prepare and streamline themselves so that they are ready for growth and investment decisions once the market is bullish again.

Flexible benefits: As one can expect that gross salaries will only slightly increase, if not decrease, the need increases to provide tax-friendly compensation or benefits that cost less for the employer but mean more to the employee. Providing such benefits is a major opportunity to present yourself as an employer of choice, while saving money or without increasing costs.

Fixed costs become variable: It is generally expected that there will be more fluctuations in the workforce related to winning, losing or shrinking business; major lay-offs, growth in low-cost areas, and decreases in high-cost countries. Thus, the support organization should be flexible and costs should be variable…the organization should not be stuck with high fixed costs. The cost factor is, and will continue to be, a major driver for outsourcing deals.

Engineering costs: The need for projects to reduce costs is high. However, there is no budget for a typical “first the costs, than the benefits” project. BPO vendors will be expected to engineer implementation fees to balance them with projected savings.

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Fran Morton
HR Transformation and Learning Outsourcing Consultant

I believe there are some really exciting times on the way in 2009:

technology advances and SaaS will make a true best-of-breed outsourcing strategy feasible
learning outsourcing (true LBPO) will be on the upswing. Reluctant industries, especially financial services, are finally getting it that there are excellent full-service learning providers out there.

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Luc Bossaert
Executive Vice President, HR Business Consulting, NorthgateArinso

Comprehensive view of the workforce: in a time of downsizing, it’s not just about reducing headcount. Today more than ever, companies must balance headcount reduction with a strategy for nurturing talent and retaining high-quality, skilled staff who’ll be critical when recovery starts again.  HR should assist, more than ever, in providing analytics and workforce data to support the business in making the right decisions around talent.

The HR service delivery puzzle: economic conditions encourage the search for new, flexible HR service delivery models. We expect companies to be increasingly looking at piecemeal outsourcing. Rather than selecting a single service delivery model across all HR processes, companies will be combining different delivery options. For example, a company might combine comprehensive outsourcing (BPO) for HR administration, managed service for payroll, OnDemand delivery for talent management, and bespoke RPO assignments to deal with sudden local hiring needs. We expect the rise of OnDemand models in 2009, as they will bridge the gap between BPO and on-premise (in-house) software solutions, balancing control over process with cost control (Opex instead of Capex).

Getting the basics right before moving into talent management: Companies are increasingly investing in stand-alone talent management systems, without getting the basics of HR data right. Rather than striving for islands of talent management functionality in a sea of disconnected, incorrect and dated data, companies should instead invest in getting their act together on HR data, in order to be able to drive higher ROI when they invest in talent management. Good HR data will leverage the investment in any of the talent management processes.

The importance of the user interface for driving adoption of e-HR: e-HR/ESS/MSS is a great way to drive down cost in HR service delivery, and employees are increasingly ready to perform a maximum of transactions via the web. Great adoption, however, requires a great user interface and minimal hurdles/clicks to do a transaction. Getting a spotless user interface into place is a key requirement, especially with users who are getting used to RIA (rich internet applications), Google-simplicity, and iPhone-like interfaces.

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Ray Matteson
Director of Learning Operations, Raytheon Professional Services

The impact of the global economic situations in all markets has caused a consolidation within numerous industries, forcing some out of the market altogether. Those that remain will look for ways to reduce all costs, including training. They will look at vendors who not only offer training at a reduced cost from what they can do internally, but also have a proven solution that align learning with their goals and will positively impact their bottom line.

Providers need to work on building their global footprint to support companies in outsourcing arrangements, especially in emerging or opportunity markets such as South America, Eastern Europe, Russia, China, South Africa, and the Middle East.

2009 could hold several different scenarios based on an organization’s situation:

Companies shedding more costs (opportunities for more deals from current clients)
Bigger deals (as companies look to hand everything over)
Re-negotiations to drive costs out of current contracts

Non-traditional training methods (e.g. new technologies, innovation, etc.) will continue to drive costs out of outsourcing agreements

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Richard Wierszycki
Finance BPO Lead, Akzo Nobel

Until the full impact of the current economic uncertainty is fully understood, most businesses will adopt more cautious, pragmatic strategies in 2009. There is likely to be continued pressure on margins across all areas of the business. Despite some easing of input prices, for many businesses this will inevitably keep pressure on, among other things, labor costs. Shared services will continue to offer opportunities in this area, but also in consolidation and longer-term transformation benefits, especially if linked to ERP initiatives. This strategic rationale should not be changed by the current economic conditions, although some companies will inevitably look to delay capital expenditure and non-customer facing projects. Overall, the trading outlook for 2009 looks challenging, but the best companies will continue to make the right strategic decisions with a view to the medium- to long-term.

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Emer O’Kelly
Director, Triagen Ltd (formerly European Finance Director, Avid Technology Europe Ltd)

I have to hope that in 2009, the short-termism will eventually reduce and at least the braver companies will take the opportunity to strengthen their position in one of several ways, including: 1) restructure or transform against the backdrop of either having to or facing less opposition than before; and 2) upgrade the managers/staff they have as more good candidates become available though no fault of their own. For example, a partner at a well-known audit firm tells me they expect to recruit top-of-the-class graduates who might normally have bypassed the professional firms and have gone straight for investment banking positions (for example), which will simply not be there in 2009.

Once the market appears to have bottomed out, there should be a wave of activity as investors try to grab the best bargains. There is currently some work going on by investors evaluating targets they might acquire, but they won’t commit to invest until the market does bottom out.

In all of this, there is potentially great benefit to be had from using truly value-adding professionals, be they interim or consulting, as businesses kick-start back into action.

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Craig Ackerman
Vice President, HMSHost

Employing technology to further streamline processes and improve controls. Our plans: implement OCR capture to automate line item coding and invoice entry in accounts payable; implement p-card statement workflow and approval process; and implement an exception-based process for sales audit and reconciliation.

Profitably growing the role of shared services within the organization. Our plans: insource additional business functions, and apply a structured approach for process improvement and streamlining.

Preparing associates for planned job reductions. Our plans: tailor an associate development program to job finding, interview preparation, resume writing and enhancing technical skills.

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George Penton
ERP Solution Management for Shared Services, SAP America

In 2009, managing the financial supply chain will continue to be more difficult and there is inevitably much greater risk associated with the evaluation and disbursement of credit, longer collection cycles and disbursement of cash as customers and vendors struggle through this economy. Shared services centers must react accordingly. Now more than ever, SSCs will need to further improve the quality of business processes while decreasing the cost of delivery. Financial shared services centers are receiving more attention than ever before, and this economic downtown is a huge opportunity to make the SSC even more valuable. Because of this, shared services leadership must fully examine how they can continue to streamline the order-to-cash and procure-to-pay processes, work to introduce new technologies and further automate their shared services centers’ financial processes to save money, make processes transparent and simplify standardization through the automation of business processes.

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Michael Hyltoft
Director of Shared Services, Speedy Hire

If I look at Speedy Hire and some of the other new SSCs I know are being established (all +100 FTEs), my view is that 2009 is going to be about three key things: cost, cost and cost. We can put in all the nice words about better customer service, increased control and value-add, but for the majority of 2009, for start-ups it will be a cost cutting game. Can you deliver a SSC with minimal cost/optimal benefits having little or no P&L impact in Year 1 and positive in Year 2?

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Brian D. Smith
Partner and Managing Director, Financial Services, TPI

In 2009, companies will look to achieve a nimble service delivery structure that can deliver short-term savings to the buy-side without totally disrupting sell-side economics. Others will look to go beyond labor arbitrage savings by moving offshore services to outcome-based pricing. In addition, the changing risk profile of many offshore destinations may present business continuity challenges. This will offer the opportunity to leverage a country’s local resources instead of extensive travel, which will ultimately reduce costs and mitigate travel risk. Finally, as domestic costs may fall due to the current economic climate in the United States, opportunities or incentives may emerge to leverage low-cost domestic locations.

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James Creelman
Author of Next Generation HR Shared Services: how to take customer service, efficiency and savings to a new level (Business Intelligence 2008)

Organizations looking to launch, or expand, shared services in 2009 face an interesting conflict that will be a challenge to resolve. We know that shared services, especially when offshored, present compelling financial cost saving opportunities, and this will sit well with under-pressure C-suite executives. However, as the recession bites and unemployment grows, there will be increasing hostility to offshoring as it takes away precious jobs. C-suite executives will not like the negative publicity that might come with their moving work overseas, and will need to develop strategies to overcome this.

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There are several self employment possibilities all around, which neither requires investments nor needs an individual to work under anyone else’s authorities. Self employment is sensible enough owing to the fact that it allows individuals to review his/her specific talents and accordingly work in the preferred fields. One can not only earn a great deal of money working under the lifestyle that best suits him/her but also add as supplement income that allows him/her the financial independence and stability to even consider a new venture. Through positive approach and right kind of efforts one can get self employed my merely investing the appropriate amount of energy and time required to meet up that end.

There are various ideas of making money through self employment. Publishing an e-book online or reflecting on hobbies or work experiences and even opting for a niche market to sell products online can be some great options. According to specific hobbies like gardening, cooking, cleaning, blogging, and thousands of other alternatives available, one can get self employed by working in his/her preferred area of expertise. The chances of progress and consequent success depend largely on analyzing the particular field of action in which one is best compatible working with. Therefore self employment can prove prolific only when an individual has a comprehensive and distinctive knowledge about his/her abilities.

Starting a business can be a great option for self employment with proper planning and adequate investments. But keeping an eye over the number of instances of failure of the business start-ups due to lack of experience and infrastructures over the years, it can be demonstrated that it is rather a wise decision to buy any small business through classifieds with suggestions from the local bankers than to invest on a new business. Whether it is buying a business or consulting a franchise, serious investments of time money and energy is associated accompanied by potential risk while considering business as a self employment option.

Freedom of time and money and realization of the accomplishments associated with self employment increases satisfaction level of any individual thereby broadening the path of success in future. Though apparently self employment might seem to be quite simple and easily achievable sort of a thing, but in reality it is quite difficult, because self employment requires an individual to be proficiently skilled and have considerable experiences that he/she might not have developed working under anyone else. The concept of working for oneself is therefore not that effortless as being the boss of his/her own call for individual to deal with huge responsibilities single-handed.

Networking is not a new age phenomenon. The Western world came to know about Indian spices through networking. Trade between the Indus valley civilization and Mesopotamia can be attributed to networking.

The rise of the Internet saw the traditional avatar of networking donning new clothes. While traditional networking allowed making contacts via our acquaintances, online networking allows us to contact people with whom we share something in common. For e.g., online networking allows you to contact someone who shares the same hobby as you or is engaged in the same profession. You can directly approach the person on your own.

Business and social networking sites are changing the way of searching and finding the latest vacancies that exist. More and more people are logging into the virtual world and making appropriate connections to land that dream job. According to COM Score Media Matrix social networking site MySpace.com registered record 50 million visitors in May. It also grew by 318% between February 2005 to February 2006.

Thus, business and social networking sites are witnessing a phenomenal growth rate. But how are business and social networking sites changing the way we find jobs? Social networking makes sure that you are among the first who gets the whiff of the latest job posted. Networking allows the easy and free flow of information. It also makes sure that the information is forwarded at a lightning speed. For e.g. you are a resident of Kentucky looking out for a job as a paralegal. You comb the local newspapers, swamp innumerable law firms with your resumes and make sure that your profile is visible on all job sites that you can possibly think of. And the result- you are still looking for a job. And then a miracle takes place. You are registered with one of the social networking sites. Among your many contacts is an acquaintance with whom you have befriended just because you both are diehard fans of the LA Lakers. He knows about your quest for a job. One day he mails you that his sister’s brother-in-law has a vacancy- they are a legal firm who are in need of a paralegal. Two days later, you are going out for what will be the first day of work. This is the power of online networking.

Business networking sites allow you to get in touch with high-end executives and business professionals. It is often noticed that many times jobs are not advertised. They are filled in through recommendation and referrals. Business networking sites allow you to get in touch with people who are directly involved in the decision making process. Many business-networking sites allow one to paste profile and get connected to people who share the same skill or who are employed in the same profession. These connections can be successfully harnessed to get a job.

Networking also helps one stay in tune with the demands of the industry. For e.g. you are software engineers, currently working on .net platform. You are a member of a social and business-networking site. A high school friend of yours, [with whom you got reconnected through a social networking site] who is also a recruitment consultant informs you that nowadays the focus has started shifting to Java. An IT expert in your business-networking site confirms this fact. Now, you can start upgrading your skill set, so that you can get a bigger pay packet.

Many networking sites also offer offline events. Attending such events is a good way to create new relationships with people who can help you in further career advancements. Networking sites also give an opportunity to contact people who can answer career related queries.

Some networking sites also give opportunity for people to write endorsements about those with whom they have worked. This recommendation can be used for getting better job opportunities. Also there are many business-networking sites that focus on a particular field, industry or profession. Making connections with people who are from the same industry or profession allows one to remain aware of the latest job vacancies; trends and changes taking place in the job market that will help to steal march over others. This is because online networking lets one foster relationship with innumerable people and who can say, when one of them will help us strike gold?

Many business-networking sites also post jobs on their sites. So, you get one more online option to look out for jobs, i.e. in addition to the job portals. Online networking also helps you to build relationships before you can actually ask for a job. And that too without facing the recruiter. It is always better to break the ice in the virtual world before meeting in the real world. This is particularly beneficial to people who are somewhat apprehensive about talking to strangers.

Many of the recruiters also use networking sites for finding out potential employees. In an interview, there is always a chance of the candidate lying about his capabilities, though, the availability of sophisticated software and the various developments taking place in the HR field makes it very easy for the recruiter to spot the lies. In an online networking site, the relationship is established and trust is built over a period. Hence, the recruiter is able to decide the true capabilities of a person. This is also perhaps the reason why more and more recruiters are choosing the ‘networking’ way instead of posting jobs online.

Business and networking sites are thus revolutionizing the way people are getting jobs. More and more people are becoming aware of the power and benefits of online networking. Online methods should be judiciously combined with traditional methods to make sure that you do bag that coveted job.

Employees have their social security and medicare taxes withheld from their paychecks as the FICA withholdings, (Federal Insurance Contributions Act).   You, as a self-employed person, have to pay these taxes yourself at tax time.  (Also note that tax time comes up four times a year through estimated tax payments for the self-employed.)

It is crucial for you to remember that the self-employment tax is altogether separate from your federal income tax.  

Who must pay?
Generally, you are required to pay SE tax and file Schedule SE (Form 1040) if either of the following applies.
* If your net earnings from self-employment were 0 or more.
* If you work for a church or a qualified church-controlled organization (other than as a minister or member of a religious order) that elected an exemption from social security and Medicare taxes, you are subject to SE tax if you receive 8.28 or more in wages from the church or organization.

How do I do this?
You determine your self-employment tax at the same time as you determine your income tax.  Your self-employment taxes are computed on Schedule SE which is then brought on to your Form 1040. Any amount you owe for self-employment tax is added to your personal tax liability for the current year and is paid to the IRS.

Also remember that the self-employment tax is to be included on your estimated income tax filings four times per year.  If you anticipate earning a profit for a year, you should pay both your estimated income taxes, and your estimated self-employment tax combined.

Self-employment tax rate.
The self-employment tax rate is 15.3%. The rate is made up of two parts: 12.4% for social security, and 2.9% for Medicare.

Maximum earnings subject to the self-employment tax.
Only the first 6,800 of your combined wages, tips, and net earnings is subject to any combination of the 12.4% social security portion of the self employment tax.

All your combined wages, tips, and net earnings are subject to any combination of the 2.9% Medicare part of self employment tax.

If you are also an employee.
If you are an employee, and self-employed in your own business venture, you are still required to pay a self-employment tax.  The social security and medicare taxes on your employee earnings are taken care of just like always with the FICA withholding on your paycheck.  

However, you must pay these taxes on that portion of your net income derived from your own business.  

Self-employment tax deduction.
You can deduct one-half of your self employment tax in calculating your adjusted gross income.  This deduction only bears upon your income tax.  It does not affect either your net earnings from self-employment or your self employment tax.

Self-employed workers can deduct 100% of the costs of the health insurance premiums from their income taxes.  However, the self-employed cannot deduct any of the costs of health insurance when calculating their self-employment tax liability.

More Information.
Of course the IRS has more information on this if you care to check it out.  The Schedule SE can be found here  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sse.pdf  Instructions are found here http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sse.pdf

Please Note:
I am not an attorney, nor am I a CPA.  I simply need to know things, so I do some research, and then share what I’ve learned so that others may also benefit.  My aim is to provide an overview, or a place to start your own investigations.  Please be aware that tax laws can and do change from year to year.  For actual bona fide tax advice please seek out a tax attorney.

The report offers quantification and forecasting of revenue opportunities for consumer usage of cloud technologies, for all major revenue categories, on a global basis including all regions and 20 leading national markets. It analyzes the impact of drivers and inhibitors to cloud technology uptake, and assesses competitive landscape development and commercial implications.

Key Features of this report

• Defines and demystifies the meaning of ‘the consumer cloud’.
• Uniquely detailed and comprehensive revenue analysis of market conditions and future outlook
• Uniquely granular look at revenue opportunities globally, for six regions and 20 leading national markets
• Business implication analysis for all stakeholders as competitors
• Analysis of factors supporting and inhibiting the adoption of cloud enabled apps by consumers

Key Benefits of this report

• Access a uniquely comprehensive and detailed, but realistic and well sourced view of current and potential markets
• Gain a unique planning tool country by country, region by region
• Assess your business’ position in the emerging new competitive landscape
• Understand the drivers and inhibitors that will impact your market
• Identify successful consumer cloud business strategies for the period 2010-2018

Highlights from this report

Consumer cloud revenues are predicted to grow at a CAGR of 24.5% between 2010 and 2018, reaching .4bn by the end of the forecast period.
By 2018, mobile applications will account for .5bn, or just under 46% of all consumer cloud services revenues (up from 31 % in 2010).
Companies such as Microsoft and Apple have a significant opportunity to transfer their desktop dominance to the cloud. Firms such as Google and Facebook cannot succeed independently and will need to adopt partner or merger strategies.

Key questions answered by this report

• What exactly is the consumer cloud? Is it simply a ‘myth’?
• What is the revenue opportunity presented by consumer use of cloud technologies?
• What are the geographic splits involved?
• How will new supply chains develop as a result of the rise of cloud computing?
• How fast will adoption and revenue growth really be, given drivers and inhibitors?
• What are the market opportunities in consumer services such as email, storage, VoIP, mobile apps, social networking and gaming, and music?
• Which companies are dominating the consumer cloud space?
• Which consumer cloud business strategies will be successful in the period 2010-2018?

To know more about this report & to buy a copy please visit :
http://www.visionshopsters.com/product/10397/Consumers-and-the-Cloud-Quantifying-and-exploiting-the-consumer-cloud-market-opportunity-2010-2018.html

Contact us:

Visionshopsters
Ph : 91-22-40583020
Email: marketing@visionshopsters.com
Website : www.visionshopsters.com

 Event Jobs Online

 The great thing about Event-Jobs.Net is that it operates solely online. This allows us to advertise vacancies a matter of minutes after they are presented t us. This means that the jobs you find at our site are not likely to be advertised anywhere else, at least when they are first posted. This means that readers of Event-Jobs.Net can get the jump on other applicants and this could help them to become more successful than other candidates.

We even allow you to upload your CV to our website, so that you can always be prepare should a vacancy come along that you would like to apply for. The vacancies we advertise are all in the events sector too, so you will have no trouble in finding the kinds of jobs you are looking for in abundance – something which can be a problem when job searching on a general job site. In fact, at the time of writing this, we have more than 700 UK events jobs on offer at our site, so there are plenty of opportunities when you job search with Event-Jobs.Net.

  

Cost Effective

When you advertise a job vacancy online it is also, very often a much more cost effective way of doing so than taking out ads in local or national newspapers and magazines and as it can potentially be viewed by many times more people than any print advertisement would be, this means that it is even more cost effective too.

General or Specialist

There are two main types of job board and these are specialist or general boards. Specialist job boards are job boards which cater to a certain industry, advertising jobs from only that industry and they can be useful if you are advertising a very specialist role, however, general jobs boards are usually the best solution for advertising any job vacancy you wish. This is because your vacancy will be viewed by the maximum number of people possible and many of them may have the skills you are looking for even if they have worked in a different industry previously.

When you hear the word “coach”, what comes first into your mind? Do you picture a basketball team with a man/woman shouting out directions? Or perhaps a football team with a man/woman pacing to and fro and calling out the names of the players?

Coaching is no longer reserved to sports teams. It is now one of the key concepts in leadership and career management. Why is coaching popular?

Coaching is a solution-focused approach and recognized discipline used in people development to help clients articulate their dreams, desires and aspirations, clarify their mission, purpose and goals. It is a unique form of helping people to build self confidence realise your true potential through a process of uncovering and eliminating limiting thinking patterns and behaviours in your life. This is achieved by empowering individuals with specific tools and scientifically tested techniques that work.

Coaching is one of the six emotional leadership styles proposed by Daniel Goleman. Moreover, it is a behaviour or role that leaders enforce in the context of situational leadership.

Coaching builds up confidence and competence.

Individual career coaching is an example of situational leadership. It aims to mentor one-on-one building up the your confidence by affirming good performance and increase competence by helping the individual assess his/her strengths and weaknesses towards career planning and professional development.

Coaching promotes individual and team excellence.

Excellence is a product of habitual good practice. The regularity of meetings and constructive feedback is important in establishing habits. Coaching sessions constantly highlight and expose individuals’ strengths and direct focus on actions linked directly with developing his/her excellence.

Coaching develops high commitment to goals.

Coaching helps you to balance the attainment of immediate targets with long-term goals towards the vision of an organization you work for or you own. As mentioned earlier, with the alignment of personal goals with organizational or team goals, personal interests are kept in check. By constantly communicating the vision through formal and informal conversations, the individual is inspired and motivated. Setting short-term team career goals aligned and making an action plan to attain these goals helps sustain the increased motivation and commitment to the long-term broad goal.

Coaching produces valuable leaders.

Leadership by example is important in coaching. A coaching leader loses credibility when he/she cannot practice what he/she preaches. This means that a coaching leader should be well organized, highly competent is his/her field, communicates openly and encourages feedback.  By vicarious and purposive learning, coached individuals catch the same good practices and attitudes from the coaching leader, turning them into coaching leaders themselves. If the individual experiences good coaching, he/she is most likely to do the same things when entrusted with formal leadership roles.

For more information on different types of coaching and its benefits for both, individuals and business, go to www.aleksandracichuta.com

If you are interested in great ideas on how to build successful and fulfilled career follow www.aleksandracichuta.blogspot.com