First of all, you need confidence in yourself and your merchandise with clear goals and knowledge of the products you are selling. Only then can you inspire dedication from your staff and a willingness to buy from customers.

Successful business people, no matter what their industry, have been found to share similar traits. Today’s world is no longer satisfied with simply success–we want to know how the successful get to the top. The Russians developed a concept called “anthropomaximology,” in which they try to answer the question of why some individuals outperform others. Through the years I’ve done some anthropomaximology of my own and found there are certain qualities that describe successful business people. Here are a few:

1 They constantly set higher goals Successful business people are mountain climbers who, having climbed one peak, look beyond to the next highest. They are the retailers who send 1,500 mailers to their customers and yield a good turnout of 100. But instead of being satisfied with 100, they ask how they can increase that number to 150 the next time.

For example, Donald Kelley of Kelley Frame and Art Galleries, with locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin, continually tries to improve his e-mail list. “My goal is to collect 150 new e-mail names every month and send out a new e-mail message to this list every two weeks.”

2 They avoid “comfort zones” To a successful person, standing still feels like going backwards. People who stay in their comfort zones do what they did before because it’s “the way we’ve always done it:” They run the same ads, buy the same merchandise in the same way and avoid anything new, different or unusual because they feel they might do something wrong. They blame any lack of business on the weather, the time of the year, the economy–anything except for themselves.

Successful gallery owners attend art shows, read catalogs and visit other galleries in their travels. They are always searching to find unique art exclusive to their galleries. They take control of their own destiny and market their businesses as exciting destinations.

3 They are driven by accomplishments, not money

Successful people follow the theory of Apple Computer’s founder Steve Jobs, who said, “The journey is the reward.” They are customer focused, not product focused. Their thrill is not the ringing of the register but the crowds responding to their mailing. For them, there is no greater high than a line outside the store before the doors open.

4 They solve problems rather than place blame

A telephone pole blocked the view of Ron Bishop’s Canadian gallery. He knew it would be difficult, if not impossible, to have the telephone pole moved. His solution was to paint the pole with an Impressionistic theme. Once it was finished, the local paper came, took a picture and wrote a story about it. “It was great publicity,” said Bishop. “And then the calls started coming, asking, ‘Is it for sale?’”

Successful gallery owners do not waste their time looking at problems and saying, “It’s not our fault” or “Why didn’t we …” They say, “Let’s look at what went wrong and realize it was a learning experience and figure out how we can make it work next time.”

When a customer hears it will take a week or longer to have their art framed, and says, “Sorry, that’s too long,” do you shrug your shoulders and say, “Well, that’s how long it takes.” Or do you think, “Hmmmm, if that’s what the customer wants, how can I solve their problem?”

5 They look at the worst possible scenario

“What’s the worst possible result if we follow this plan?” they ask themselves. Then, knowing that, they decide if the risk-taking is practical.

However, once they make the decision, they proceed with the confidence, knowledge and expertise necessary to make it work.

They understand the most harmful result and then decide if they can live with the outcome. If they can, they move ahead. Confidently.

Galleries that concentrate on one type of art often decide to reach into an unrelated area. Sometimes a gallery will fail in an attempt to broaden their focus, but successful performers understand even defeat is a learning experience.

“Every time I fail,” said Thomas Edison, “I learn something.” He tried 1,114 times to find a filament to stay lit in a bulb. He failed 1,113 times.

6 They rehearse the future as they see it

“I believe our future is a one-stop shop for decorating. In addition to limited-edition prints and posters, we now offer collectibles, gift items and small occasional furniture pieces,” said Christine Knoll of the Art Gallery of Hog Hollow in Chesterfield, Mo.

Successful people move towards the pictures they create in their mind. They can rehearse coming actions or events as they “see” them. They are like chess players who can “feel” the next move of their opponent and have half a dozen responses ready when their time comes to move.

Many successful athletes will say they practice “seeing” themselves winning the race, hitting the home run or scoring the touchdown. They actually visualize a future event which gives them the impetus to achieve the goal.

How many of these six characteristics are yours? The more you have, the higher degree of probability you will be doing more business next year instead of being one of the thousands of retailers listed in the obituary pages of the local paper’s business news. ABN

Successful Business People:

–Constantly set higher goals

–Avoid “comfort zones”

–Driven by accomplishments, not money

–Solve problems rather than place blame

–Look at the worst possible scenario

–Rehearse the future as they see it

Murray Raphel is one of the nation’s leading marketing experts and author of several business books. Contact him at Raphel Marketing at (802) 751-8802 or E-mail murrav@rapheLcom.

Whilst a growing number of econometric and survey-based studies have been published that focus on the key influences which determine inbound FDI at the national level, relatively few studies exist into the forces which affect the distribution of FDI between UK regions. The aim of this paper is to rectify this omission by seeking to identify and analyse a set of factors that influence the attraction of inbound FDI to UK regions.

Theoretical work by Stopford and Strange (1991) and Dunning (1993) suggests that four main factors determine the national and regional location of FDI by transnational corporations (TNCs). These are: (physical, labour or technological); the search for markets (following customers, suppliers or competitors abroad, seeking increased familiarity with the local business environment or reducing their costs of supplying a foreign market); the search for efficiency (exploiting different factor endowments, cultures, institutional arrangements, economic systems and policies and market structures); and finally the search for strategic assets (enabling them to sustain and advance their international competitive advantages). In addition, national and regional resource endowments; market access and potential; favourable competitive positions; strong consumer demand; and favourable government policies can all help in attracting FDI to specific national and regional locations.

This paper focuses on three main ‘influencers’ of inbound investment: market, resources, and efficiency-seeking FDI. Strategic asset-seeking FDI is excluded from the study, since it proved incapable of measurement using the published UK data available at the time of the preliminary study.

EARLIER STUDIES

Studies carried out in the USA and the UK provide further support for the importance of resources, market and efficiency considerations in determining the distribution of inbound FDI at the regional level. A number of American studies (Bagchi-Sen and Wheeler, 1989; McConnell, 1980; Mandell and Killian, 1974; Arpan and Ricks, 1995) suggest that market-related factors, such as market proximity, population size and growth rates, levels of per capita retail spending and regional infrastructure provision are also found to be of importance in attracting FDI at the regional level. Other studies (Little, 1978; Glickman and Woodward, 1988; Mandell and Killian, 1974 and Arpan and Ricks, 1995) indicate that the location of FDI is especially sensitive to resource-based influences, such as labour availability, wage differentials and educational attainment levels. Efficiencyrelated factors including government aid, state spending levels, regional taxation levels and the level of industrial development in host regions are also significant (see McConnell, 1980; Mandell and Killian, 1974; Arpan and Ricks, 1995).

Studies based on UK regional data provide broad support for these American findings. Market-related influences such as infrastructure investment (Hill and Munday, 1991) and high population density (Billington, 1999) are considered to be significant in attracting inbound FDI to particular UK regions. In terms of resources, Billington (1999) suggests that high unemployment and related labour availability can both exercise a significant positive impact on FDI inflows at the regional level, whilst Collis and Noon (1994) show that high unit wage costs can have the opposite effect. Taylor (1993) and Billington (1999) provide evidence of efficiencyseeking FDI, arguing that preferential assistance to depressed regions and the regional industrial mix both exert a strong influence on the distribution of inbound FDI amongst UK regions. Hill and Munday (1991 and 1992) also find that government regional policy, based on regional preferential assistance and infrastructure spending, can help in attracting FDI towards particular UK regions.

CHANGES IN THE REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF INBOUND FDI

Recent research evidence (Roberts et al, 1988; Collis et al, 1989; Hill and Munday, 1992, Meyer and Qu, 1995) suggests that changes have occurred in the distribution of inbound FDI between UK regions since the early 1970s. The heavy concentration of FDI in the south-eastern core of the UK economy has given way to a more even distribution, in which peripheral regions such as Scotland, Wales and the North of England, and latterly, intermediate regions such as the West Midlands have been increasingly favoured by foreign investors. These findings form the basis for the present study, and for the choice of regions included in it.

College students’ use of credit cards has recently received increased visibility throughout the media (Hayhoe, 2002). Henry, Weber, and Yarbrough (2001), writing in this Journal, concluded that in addition to credit problems many students do not have a written budget, and of those who do have a budget few young people actually use it. They determined that university students “are vulnerable to financial crisis” (p. 246).

The staggering number of credit cards in circulation exemplifies this crisis, as does the number of cards carried by the average student. Currently, there are 1.3 billion credit cards in circulation, which, when averaged, equals about 12 cards per household (Sullivan, Warren, & Westbrook, 2000). The growth of credit cards on college campuses has tended to minor the credit saturation found in the general public (Xiao, Noring, & Anderson, 1995). More than a decade ago Churaman (1988) reported on college students’ use of consumer credit. It was during this period that the banking industry began permeating the student credit card market in the late 1980′s (Manning, 2000). Churaman reported that in 1985-86 over half of all college students had bank credit cards. This figure has been on the rise as some 70% of all undergraduates at four-year colleges have at least one credit card today.

The increased number and type of credit cards on university campuses has seen an explosive level of growth in the past decade, with most credit card companies targeting college students. What remains still unanswered is what effect credit card circulation among college students has had on the financial attitudes, behaviors, and outcomes of young Americans.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the research originally reported by Henry et al. (2001) by reporting findings from a study that was designed to examine college students’ credit card use behavior and identify the factors associated with credit attitudes. This research also identifies the factors related to college students’ attitudes toward credit cards. Attitude toward credit was assumed to be explained with demographic characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics, background factors, and psychological factors.

Methodology

A survey data collection method was used. Questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected classes offered in the College of Human Sciences of one large university in a southwestern state. From the total of 250 questionnaires that were distributed, 242 questionnaires were returned. The survey instrument included questions regarding debit card usage, credit card usage, attitudes toward credit, financial knowledge, demographic characteristics, and other personal finance attitude and behavior.

Attitude toward credit was measured with nine questions adapted from a study by Awh and Waters (1974). Each item was measured with a 4-point Likert-type-type scale that ranged from strongly agree (4) to strongly disagree (1). A summated index was created for use in the multivariate analyses. Those who had higher scores on the attitude toward credit scale were assumed to have a more positive credit attitude. Possible scores ranged from 9 to 36. The mean score for the respondents was 20.94. The reliability coefficient of the index was .8256 (Table 1).

In this study it was hypothesized that credit card possession and use is most likely influenced by four factors: (a) demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, marital status); (b) socioeconomic factors (e.g., income, education, and other indices of socioeconomic status); (c) background characteristics (e.g., life events, childhood experiences); and (d) psychological characteristics (e.g., locus of control, self-esteem, materialism)(Churaman, 1988; Davies & Lea, 1995; Tokunaga, 1993). A total of five demographic characteristics were examined: Age, gender, ethnic/racial background, marital status, and birth order. Age was measured at the interval level and considered to be a continuous variable. Gender, ethnic/racial background, marital status, and birth order were dummy coded. Those who were male, White/Caucasian, never married, or first and the only child were coded 1, otherwise, all other categories were 0.

Income, housing situation, employment status, and education were included as socioeconomic factors. Student personal income was measured with an interval scale, which ranged from none to above $10,000. Housing situation was dummy coded. Those who lived off-campus were coded 1 (78.5%), otherwise 0. Employment status was also dummy coded. Those who were employed either full or part-time were assigned 1, otherwise 0. Two education measures were used in this study: Academic level and academic major. Academic level was considered an interval level variable: (1) freshman, (2) sophomore, (3) junior, (4) senior, and (5) graduate student. Academic major was dummy coded. Those who were enrolled in a human sciences college (i.e., child development, family studies, food and nutrition, family and consumer sciences education, restaurant and hotel management, merchandising, family financial planning, and interior design) were assigned 1, otherwise 0.

If you think eBay is just about bobblehead dolls and Pez dispensers, think again. While $2.2 billion worth of goods in collectibles were sold on eBay in 2004, antiques and collectibles ranked only No. 6 among eBay’s sales categories. The five highest were: automobiles and auto supplies ($11.1 billion); consumer electronics ($3-5 billion); computers ($3.0 billion); clothes and accessories ($2.9 billion); and books, movies and music ($2.4 billion).

Real people are making big bucks on eBay–and thousands have even reached PowerSeller status by maintaining at least $1,000 per month in sales for three consecutive months. Case in point: Angle Cash, 37, a stay-at-home mom who started selling on eBay nearly six years ago because it was “something I could do and watch the kids at the same time.” Today, her Kennesaw, Georgia, company, Cashco1000 Inc. (www. cashco1000.com), sells thousands of home-decoration and other items each month on eBay and expects to break $500,000 in sales on eBay this year.

Even owners of existing businesses have found success on eBay by using it as an adjunct to their brick-and-mortar operations. Dan Morphy, 33, runs the Adamstown Antique Gallery (www. aagal.com), a 10,000-square-foot antiques mall in Denver, Pennsylvania. After a few successful eBay auctions, he started offering the antiques vendors who rent space in his gallery the opportunity to sell five items a month on eBay, at no charge other than out-of-pocket expenses. Within two years, Morphy not only had a full gallery of dealers, but was also listing 700 pieces a month and had exceeded $2.5 million in eBay sales.

If you dream of building your own eBay business, it’s easier than you think. We’ve distilled what you need to know into five basic steps.

Step 1: Register Your Business

Getting set up as an eBay seller is a simple process that takes just a few minutes. You’ll be required to provide your name, address, e-mail and phone number, as well as a credit card number and your checking account information. This information is used to confirm your identity–which protects the integrity of eBay’s operation–and to collect auction fees.

Since every eBay business is a retail business, you should also register your business with federal, state and local tax authorities and consider forming a corporation or an LLC to protect you against legal liability. (For more legal issues you should know about before you start, go to www. entrepreneur.com/ebay/legaltips.)

Most eBay sellers are also encouraged to open an account with PayPal, an online payment service owned by eBay that enables buyers to pay you by credit card or by debiting their checking accounts, without you having to obtain merchant card accounts.

Step 2: Find Stuff to Sell

This can be the biggest challenge in setting up an eBay business. Keep these points in mind:

* PICK THE RIGHT PRODUCT. Select something you’ll enjoy selling and that stands a good chance of making a profit. Avoid merchandise you know absolutely nothing about, that’s difficult to describe in a short paragraph, that won’t photograph well or that’s tricky to ship without damage.

* CONSIDER COST AND SALE PRICE. “Buyers and sellers on eBay set the price–you don’t,” says Melissa Sands, 35, who started selling on eBay in 1999 to help her husband, a comic-book dealer, get rid of excess inventory. Today, Sands runs Sands-o-Time (www. sands-o-time.com), an eBay store selling pottery, porcelain, glass, silver, costume jewelry and more with sales averaging $8,000 to $12,000 per month. Before you buy anything, find out what other similar items have sold for on eBay and ask yourself if there’s a good chance you will make money.

* SELL RELATED MERCHANDISE. “If you make it easy for people to buy something, they will want to buy more from you–and you have to have related merchandise in stock,” advises Cash. “So, for example, if you’re selling collectibles, you should also carry the display racks, books and other accessories those particular collectors will want to have.”

* MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH STORAGE SPACE FOR YOUR MERCHANDISE. Don’t start ordering pallets of large items if your basement or garage is small, or if your front door isn’t big enough to squeeze the crates through.

* LEARN HOW TO PACK AND SHIP GOODS. Calculating shipping costs properly is also important. To help you with this, eBay, FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service all offer shipping calculators on their websites. Buyers really hate it if they think you’re gouging them on the shipping and handling fees.