Established since 1999, The Millennium Wood Boxes Company has been the leader in quality, best prices, and services in the manufacture of cigar boxes, humidors, wine boxes, gift boxes, and everything related with wooden boxes.  You will find every wood box matches with your needs.

The Millennium Wood Boxes Company owns the mission of fulfilling the expectations of our customers with the presentation of their products by creating exclusive wooden boxes while enhancing their uniqueness, beauty, and charm. Our company produces thousands of wooden boxes of different styles of high quality and diversity every year, where the cigar boxes represent the biggest volume of the production.The production of The Millennium Wood Boxes begins with the carefully selection of solid wood (Spanish cedar) by paying close attention to its quality, texture, and uniformity. The wood then is trimmed and cut according to each boxes’ dimensions, then handcrafted with painstaking precision by experienced artisans applying centuries-old woodworking techniques along with modern technology. Moreover, each box is inspected, packed, and shipped directly from our factory.

You will be pleased to find that each wooden box can be personalized by using several techniques (Deep Print, Silkscreen Print, Hot Foil Stamping, Laser Engraving).

We cordially invite you to browse through this website to learn more about our custom wood boxes hoping that you contact us soon. Your search for exclusive wooden boxes, gift boxes & wood cigar boxes of different styles with high quality & reasonable prices ends here. You will find superb collection of cigar wood boxes & humidors.

Your search for exclusive wooden boxes, gift boxes & wood cigar boxes of different styles with high quality & reasonable prices ends here. You will find superb collection of Cigar Wooden Boxes & humidors at The Millennium Wood Boxes Company.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/quality-crafted-wood-boxes-cigar-wooden-boxes-created-with-modern-technology-1652042.html

IS IT JUST SUPPLIES

OR

AN OPPORTUNITY TO STREAMLINE

AND HELP THE BOTTOM LINE?

Having managed accounts of many sizes, ranging from the organization that spends $2,000 per year to the one that spends upwards of $7 million in office supplies for one of the top office suppliers in the country, I have seen it time and time again.  Dollars are pouring out of your organization’s bottom line unnecessarily.  Often times management is so preoccupied with the day-to-day operations and increased responsibilities that they overlook an easy way to cut some additional costs.  Office Supplies is an area that is often overlooked in the decision-making. For example, where to procure the organization’s supplies is left to an administrative person who may or may not be receiving the best pricing – worse yet, they may be comparing prices on the retail websites of Office Depot, Staples, Office Max and other suppliers thinking they are saving the company money by doing so.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

While many companies do have a business to business (B2B) account with one of the top suppliers, many small and medium businesses continue to purchase supplies at retail prices.  The industry is very competitive and there is a benefit to having a B2B account.  By now, your company should have received at least one phone call or personal visit from a business development manager of one of the big three office suppliers.  How many times have you (or someone in your organization) said that you are happy with your current supplier in the hopes that the sales person on the other side of the telephone will just go away?  Consider this: spending one hour with that person could result in the savings of many hours and dollars in the future.

Lets discuss a few ways in which sometimes these purchases are made, which result in higher expenditures than initially thought.  First, someone in management decides they need to procure a particular product and asks his or her administrative assistant or secretary to find it.  He or she may or may not be specific so the admin just “Googles” the product and pulls up the first one that comes up.  Or, perhaps he or she might just go on line and compare prices for the top three links. They may do this each time they have a need for a product.  A second approach may be that in an office with 100 people, there may be 10 administrative personnel all using different vendors to procure the supplies.  Each may think they are receiving the best value while shopping around on the Internet.  Lets consider the costs associated with these approaches:

In each instance, the staffer may spend a few hours per week just researching product and “finding the best price.”  What is not often taken into account is the time spent in research.  Consider this, the salary for an entry level administrative assistance is between about $34k and $43k  making the average of these about $18.61 per hour in the Fairfax, VA area*.  So, the admin, who just spent one hour trying to save you $5.00 on a blue widget, just cost you $18.61 (multiply this by x number of admins and x number of times each of them surfs the Web to find a better price on a blue widget – and perhaps getting sidetracked to social networking sites for a “quick visit”).  The costs of this practice don’t stop there, however. There is the price of the various invoices that now need to be processed by your accounting department or person.   Let’s figure your organization receives x number of invoices per month, including multiple invoices for office supplies, technology, coffee, copy and print jobs and other categories.  How much time does it take an accounting person to key in the invoice into the system, wait for it to be verified, then wait for approval from another person?  Once approved, a check request needs to be done and then the line item may come up at the end of the month in account reconciliation. Consider the time of an accounting clerk who earns between about $30k and $37k per year in Fairfax, VA* or about $16 per hour.  An added hour for a product where a person thought he or she was saving getting the best price is not adding up.  What is the solution?

The solution is to find a vendor that can meet most of your needs in a particular line of business.  For example, an office supplier should also be able to provide your organization with coffee, break room supplies, copy and print services, technology items, furniture, cleaning and break room supplies.  By consolidating the spend for all of these categories, you will have more purchasing power with a single vendor, who may now be willing to offer you better pricing up front.  Contact your office supplier; provide it with a usage report for all of the items you’ve bought in the past year (or quarter or month), and let them do the legwork for you.  Then, implement a system that is followed by all purchasers making the procurement process uniform and consistent – preferably with one vendor, where possible.  The change needs to be enforced from the top down in order to prevent rogue spend or time wasted by employees “saving” the organization money with the effect mentioned above.  Enforcement can be done electronically via an approval process where the manager or designee can approve, modify or reject the orders for that group with the click of a mouse.

Consolidating vendors and implementing a system with a “sole provider” will help your organization’s bottom line in the long run.  Why pay retail when you can have a pricing schedule based on the items your organization procures? While you may spend a couple of hours of your time upfront doing this, it will result in savings as it greatly reduces the soft costs associated with having multiple vendors, as well as your spend given that you should be able to negotiate better terms with a business account.  Even if you have a business account, it will not hurt you to invite the representative of your main supplier to do a business review of your account and guide you in ways to improve efficiencies in their respective lines of business.

* www.salary.com

Francisco Jaramillo has over 20 years of working experience. After his Honorable Discharge from the US Air Force in 1995.
In 2002, Francisco begun his retail career in the corporate Headquarters of a fortune 200 office supplies company, then located in Del Ray Beach, FL - as the company’s sole litigation and compliance paralegal. Once he received his MBA from the University of Miami in 2004, he opted for the business side and relocated his family to Northern Virginia to join the company’s Business Solutions Division as an Account Manager, where he has been promoted several times.

Francisco has been a speaker in several events and was invited by the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to judge their Business Plan Competition.

In his personal life, Francisco enjoys playing golf with his wife and daughter, reading and traveling.

Contact information:

franjaja@gmail.com

561-212-2919

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/is-it-just-supplies-or-an-opportunity-to-streamline-and-help-the-bottom-line-1650319.html

Bush Industries is a small family company that was started in 1959, and has grown into an international contender in the ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture market; with headquarters in North America and Europe. Though they have a variety of furniture lines, besides home furniture, one of their best known segments is Bush office furniture.

Bush has received many awards over the last dozen years, including among others: One of the 200 Best Small Companies in America by Forbes Magazine for 1996/1997, President’s “E” Award of Excellence in Exporting by the Secretary of Commerce on behalf of the President of the United States of America in 1997, and Pinnacle Design Achievement Award by the American Society of Furniture Designers in the Home Office category in 1997 and a finalist in 1998, 1999, and 2000 and won the Home Entertainment Category in 2004. Many of these design awards they have won with good reason and it is easily seen in their business furniture.

A couple of years ago, Bush office furniture came out with a new line of business furniture that reflects why they are an industry leader. It is called “Office in an Hour” which is streamlined business furniture with a target market of small businesses with 10 - 99 employees. Many businesses this size are growing and busy and do not have a lot of time to adjust their office as they expand. Here are four advantages to “Office in an Hour.”

1. It comes in a couple of different configurations: straight workstation, L-shaped and U-shaped workstations. So you can choose a style that will work best for what your business needs. There are then additional pieces that can be added as needed: such as a reception gallery shelf or a storage and accessory kit that includes a lockable 3-drawer file cabinet on casters that fits under any of the desks, a hutch for storage and a pencil and paper holder.
2. The Bush office furniture “Office in an Hour” is looks good and is well made. It is manufactured out of quality, imported MDF with a scratch resistant and durable melamine surface in a beautiful cherry finish. All pieces have metal supports and adjustable legs for uneven surfaces. The panels are cushioned and also metal framed. The line fully meets ANSI/BIFMA standards. Plus, they were designed with input from small business owners and procurement agents to make sure this business line had the features most needed and wanted.
3. They are affordable with a price point for a small office on a budget. Buy what you need now, and as your business grows, you can easily add additional workstations. The back wall of one station forms the third wall of the previous one.
4. As the name indicates, each unit really can be assembled in an hour. This is easily accomplished for a couple of different reasons. First, it ships already partially assembled (accessory cabinet and hutch ship full assembled), with some hardware already pre-installed. Also, Bush office furniture packages each unit in an easy to open carton with all components packed in the order of assembly.

I have seen the Bush office furniture “Office in an Hour” series set up in a small and growing business. It is very nice looking, very easy to assemble and can easily be added to as your business grows. If you are looking to furnish a small office, this is one line by Bush office furniture that you should seriously consider.

MJ is a freelance writer for Clickshops, Inc. where you can find a great selection of Bush office furniture for your small business at www.businessofficefurniture.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/4-benefits-of-office-in-an-hour-by-bush-office-furniture-1647380.html

Around 80% of startups close down within their first year of operation. While some of these go down simply because of part time involvement of the founders, lack of persistence and fizzling out of passion, a large percentage go down during their transition from a Startup(Micro) phase to a Small Business phase. A business can aim for the long term only when the owners have vision and concentrate on building a value system based on THRILL – Trust, Honesty, Respect, Innovation, Loyalty and Love. Since most of these are subjective, many businesses don’t believe in writing them down or have policies to define the role of THRILL in their company. But a closer look at each of these factors tells us how important it is for each one of these to be a part of your day to day business activities if you are seriously looking at building a company that grows consistently.

Trust:
If your customers don’t trust you, they are going to buy from someone else – no matter how good you think you are. If your employees don’t trust you, they are going to treat your customers badly. If your vendors don’t trust you, they are not going to extend any credit to you. So trust is a factor that forms the basic foundation pillar of pretty much everything that is your business. So how does this trust develop?

Honesty:
If you , the owner of the business, think that you are going to get away with treating people with anything that is not totally honest, you will just be fooling yourself. Not being honest is sooner or later going to land you as the owner in the shoes of someone like Dick Fuld of Lehman Brothers, Ken Lay of Enron or Ramalinga Raju of Satyam Computers. If you don’t do what you said you will, you are going to shake up the integrity of the business. Sooner or later, your employees are going to follow suit and it is going to lead to nothing but degradation of the culture within the company. Honesty and fearlessness go hand in hand. A simple example of this is telling your client that you have not clearly understood the exact requirements for the second time in a row instead of feeling embarrassed to ask again and working with half an understanding. Or not letting your customer know that you are not going to be able to deliver in time. Committing fake product features. Sometimes, this may lead to some short term profit, but it is going to cost you heavily in the long term. Dishonest behavior is almost always going to create a communication gap, reduce trust and boost corruption Being diplomatic may seem to be a simpler affair most of the times, but it is honesty and straight forward attitude that’s going to hold the company together in the long run.

Respect:
To a certain extent, honest behavior can be embedded into the business through policies – but respect is one factor that is born within the organization and must seep through from the owners to the management and finally to the employees. You cannot treat your employees rudely and expect them to be sweet and caring to your customers. In your absence, your employees are going to treat customers just the way you treat them. You are going to command respect only if you give respect. And a culture of respect is born only when the owners lead with example. If you come across a company where the employees are frowning all the time, check their immediate bosses or the owners, most often than not, that’s where the root of the problem is going to be. Dedication and passion come from people who feel good about themselves and have a high level of self respect which comes from being treated with respect all the time. This also applies to the quality of the product/service you deliver. If the employees observe that you are sloppy and not worried about the quality of the final delivered product, they are going to nurture the same attitude.

Innovation:
Innovation is basically trying the same thing in a different and more efficient way for better results and a higher level of excellence. Anyone who says that this is the best way to do something and there is no need to look for alternatives, is giving an open invitation to competitors to come and screw their business. Change is essential because companies who don’t adopt change are going to be stagnant and are bound to be hit by competition. If you, as the owner are not prepared to adopt change and do not encourage people to go through some apparently unpleasant changes for the future of the company, you are just going to keep digging into unsuccessful rut for years. The entire American car industry had to learn this lesson of innovation the hard way when Japanese car makers started taking them apart. Businesses that show the willingness to embrace change during difficult times are the ones who are vibrant and show sustained growth. It is companies who are continuously finding better ways to market, manage HR, log in accounts, handle cash flow, and are striving hard to consistently achieve excellence in every aspect, who come through sailing smoothly through thick and thin. And for those who don’t believe in measuring and improving continuously, sooner or later, they are sure to go out of business or just stay a mediocre business that keeps dragging along for years.

Loyalty :
Loyalty is an automatic effect of the points discussed above and is the cause for amazing level of faith, increase in productivity and gain in competitive advantage. Loyalty within the company is going to lead to high levels of morale which naturally results in low absenteeism, higher levels of dedication and smoothening out of day to day operations. A growing business means that the owner has to move out of the day to day operations and concentrate on the business rather than stay in the business. Responsibilities can be easily delegated if the level of loyalty in the organization is high. Any owner caught up in the daily activities is just going to find himself doing a mundane job and not running a business. And unless loyalty is developed within the company, delegation is always going to be a tough task.

Love:
If we have a look at the most influential business leaders like Sam Walton of Walmart, Richard Branson of Virgin, Dhirubhai Ambani of Reliance Industries, Steve Jobs of Apple Inc (after his return to Apple), Narayan Murthy of Infosys etc., one thing that we observe is their ability to lead with love. They command so much love that there are people whom they have inspired to sacrifice their whole life for their mentor’s ideals. A more precise way to look at this is to look at so many smart people who don’t step ahead as influential leaders. You can be exceedingly smart, but unless the smartness is backed with the instinct of doing something good, you are going to be just momentarily impressive to people. Crude smartness starts to stink after a while unless it is backed with the willingness to do some good. And this is good for anyone who is running a company with 5 employees or 5Mn employees.

Anyone approaching employees, customers and vendors with anything that is less than the 6 points of THRILL is not looking forward to a long term relationship with either one of them. Try judging businesses on the scale of THRILL and you will find that the ones who score high are the ones who have the ability to achieve excellence and sustained growth and more importantly, higher levels of overall happiness throughout the business. After all, isn’t happiness what we all are seeking!

Rahul is the managing partner at Ensemble Consultants Inc – a web2.0, CRM and BPM software development company based in Illinois, with their main development center in Pune,India. Interests include Indian politics, world economy , travel & business and mocking on current affairs. Currently based in Melbourne and establishing base for 2 of our products : EC24×7.com – end to end web solutions for SMB’s and Surecents.com – custom CRM for small businesses.
He writes on 2 blogs :rahulrane.wordpress.com - for business and web2.0 &
www.arerelax.blogspot.com - for politics and economy.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/only-businesses-that-thrill-win-in-the-long-term-1644363.html

The improvement of Information Communication Technology (ICT) is very fast now days, especially Internet. People can use Internet whenever they wish, 24 hours a day, seven days a week without stopping. People around the world enjoy using Internet, including people in Indonesia . We can access a lot of information and data from Internet. People can learn and find every think easily from search engine, as Google, MSN, yahoo and others. But people in Indonesia are not as lucky as others people in the world. Indonesia has Digital Divide problem, especially for rural people, because of lack infrastructure, high cost internet access and human resources problem.

Town people with enough education can access information easily compare with rural people with limited education, so that impact to economy improvement in their life. Town people tend to have better economy than rural people.

Indonesia Government is sure that Information Communication Technology(ICT) can help their people from poverty and gain better economy. The Government said that people can improve their talent and skill through getting much information and access many opportunities.

The Indonesia Government has been creating Master Plan and doing every think for recovery the Digital Divide problem, as building and improving Palapa Ring, making regulation, decrease cost Internet access through policy, Ringing Village, Internet go to village, Internet go to School, Sub District on line program and Government e services.

Although the user of Internet in Indonesia have not been booming yet, but it must improve for the future. See the data of the Internet user in Indonesia , 25 millions ( 10,5 % population ), with dominant user from teenager ( age between 15 – 19 years old ). They always use services as, email 59 %, search networking 58 %, source from Department of Communication and Information Indonesia )

Indonesia dreaming to build and improving Cyber City , have to solve the Digital Divide problem. Solving the problem is not only search engine 56 %, news on line 49 %, blog 36 %, on line game 35 %. ( Data Government responsibility only, but the private sector and stage holders participation is important also. The Regencies and Municipality also take a part in this problem, as creating mobile car with Internet facility visits rural village, building ICT with people participation, free hot spot, Telecenter in rural village and others.

Government is sure through many breakthrough can make rural people getting education, skill and talent.

Others business sectors that can help to overcome this problem is Internet Café. Internet Café is improvement business for internet access business for people. The business usually build in town, near to campus, school and others facility business. New beginners in internet Café business are afraid to build the business in rural area, cause of lack infrastructure and lack of customers, but there are few considerations that the new beginners must not be afraid to start the Internet café business in rural area,

There are Pre Elementary school , Elementary school, Junior high school and Senior high School had been built by Government and Private sector. They need a lot of content from Internet for their study, including their Teachers. They are new potential customers.

The implementation of e Government tend to be better. There are many public services to implement on line, as Public Complain on line, Identity card register on line, License business register on line and others e government services.

The improvement of Industry Center for Small Medium Enterprises in rural area. They begin to know how to make promotion on the net.

The new Internet Café business, better combine with others similar business, printer services, typing computer services, training computer, and photo copy. To avoid failure business when the Internet Customers seldom come.

Give free training to people in order to get the new customers. Impossible the people come to Internet Café without knowing what the Internet is ? Trying to work together with Sub District Government or Women organization for free training. They are potential customers future.

Join the Internet Business Cafe Association in your area. Give suggestion to Association in order to work together with Government. So Government can campaign to people about the advantage and un advantage using internet.

Knowing culture in the village is better than nothing. Try to make commitment, not give porno video service and block all porno sites in order to make good image to rural people. Creating the good image that Internet can change their quality of life.

What is the link between Internet Café and Cyber City ? As if there is no link at all, but the entrepreneur of Internet café as private sector have much contribution for people around the Internet café, to change and improve the quality of people live, as talent, skill, human resource.

Erny Setyawati
is freelance on line writer and the writer of Bali Global Market Ezine,
http://www.baliglobalmarket.com. She is interested in writing article about
tourism, business on line, affiliate program, cooking recipes and handy craft
and every think in life. She suggests visiting her tourism website before making
decision to travel around the world. Please click free here : http://www.baliglobalmarket.com/goaround.htm
If you have problems to write article or sales letter for your business promotion,
contact her at erny@baliglobalmarket.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/the-functions-of-internet-caf-for-building-cyber-city-1637984.html