Where to begin from

Smart Phones under Rs.10000

2011-11-29T09:25:00.001-08:00

Samsung Galaxy Y S5360

Currently priced at Rs 7,000, the Samsung Galaxy Y has Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS with 830 MHz ARMv6 processor, 290 MB RAM and a 2MP camera. Galaxy Y comes with a 3 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, Samsung's TouchWiz user interface and multi touch function. It has 180 MB internal memory which can be expanded by up to 32 GB. Other features include WiFi b/g/n with hotspot, Bluetooth v3.0 A2DP, a 1200 mAh battery, 3G and A-GPS.

LG Optimus Net P690

Currently priced as low as Rs 9,999 now. The Optimus Net comes with a 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen with accelerometer and proximity sensor for better gaming. It has an Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system powered by an 800 MHz Qualcomm processor. This is only the second handset to feature Android 2.3 with above 800 MHz processor. Its other features include a 3.15 megapixel camera, 32 GB expandable memory, WiFi b/g/n, WiFi Hotspot, DLNA capability, Li-ion 1500 mAh battery, A-GPS support etc.

Nokia E5

There are many more Nokia handsets within the Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 price bracket, such as Nokia C series X series phones, this E series is priced at Rs 9,000, Nokia E5 runs Symbian S 60 operating system on an ARM 11 600 MHz processor. Nokia E5 has the best in the industry 5 megapixel camera with flash, 32 GB expandable memory slot, 2.36 inch display, 1200 mAh battery, A-GPS, Nokia Maps, Bluetooth, WiFi b/g etc.

Micromax A70

Very reasonable price of Rs 7,600, Micromax A70 3G comes with Android 2.2 Froyo operating system and a 600 MHz ARMv6 Qualcomm processor. Its 3.2 touchscreen is a capacitive one that supports multi touch input. A70 is the only handset in this list to feature dual cameras — a 5 megapixel camera at the back and a front facing VGA one. Other noted features of Micromax A70 include a 1450 mAh battery, 32 GB expandable memory option, WiFi b/g with hotspot feature and Bluetooth.

Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman

It is priced at Rs 6,250, and is the cheapest phone in the list. As the name signifies, its key feature is its Walkman. Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman comes with a Zappin key to search music. When pressed, the Zappin key opens a preview of the next track and lets you decide whether it is a favourite you want to listen to or not. A Karaoke function also enables the vocal track from any song to be lowered instantly so you can sing along. Though it's the only phone in this list to run on a Java operating system, it has a decent specification list with 3 inch scratch resistance display, 256 MB internal memory expandable memory up to 32 GB, WiFi, Bluetooth, 1000 mAh battery and 3.15 megapixel back camera.

தமிழ் வளர்ப்போம் - பேஸ்புக்கில் தமிழில் பெயர் மாற்றும் வழி

2011-11-12T22:45:00.001-08:00

1. Goto Google Tamil Translate -> Type your name in English and press SPACE

2. It converts your name into tamil

3. Facebook -> Home -> Account Settings

4. Name: Edit

5. Copy and Paste your name from Google Translate website into the name settings text box, do not forget to enter password and click save changes.

E-Challan Initiative by Chennai Traffic Police

2011-11-12T09:37:00.001-08:00

I see many funny posts about singara Chennai, how its traffic system is and about Chennai City Traffic Police (CCTP). When we make fun of them, we should also appreciate their efforts. It does not reach public completely, because of very less awareness, let it start from literate people.

The e-challan system has proved so successful that the investment cost of Rs.2.83 crore was recovered in just four months. The CCTP's monthly average fine collection until June was around Rs.70 lakh a month. This works out to Rs.2.8 crore for four months. But, in the four months since the launch of the system, the fine collected has been over Rs.5.8 crore.

The money raised through fine goes back to the road-user. We use the money to instal traffic signals, temporary barricades, and road markings. CCTP have started a facebook page, CCTP Facebook Page where they post regular updates of traffic diversion, they also take complaints, post details of income/expenditure and many more.

The system helps trace past violations and previous offenders with ease. Since the software is pre-programmed with specific fine amounts for each offence, there is little chance of corruption as long as offenders insist on an e-challan. Everything is incorporated in the bill itself. If it's a 'no parking' offence, earlier some officials could get around Rs.200, but now they can't do that because it's all incorporated in the machine. If it is no parking, the fine is Rs 100.

In case of any complaints with regard to the misuse of the devices by field officials, public can call 28521323 or sms to 9003130103. They are also planning for spot credit card payment of fine.

Writing in the visitor's book at the Anna Salai police station, Jayalalithaa wrote: "This technology driven initiative of the Chennai city police will go a long way towards better enforcement of traffic rules. The utility of these systems depends on the persons who handle them. The police, as law enforcement agents, should always strive to fulfill the aspirations of the people by serving them effectively."

Google announces Photography Contest

2011-11-10T10:03:00.001-08:00

Wow friends, great chance to share your views with the world. Google announces Photography contest, with no entrance fee, wonderful news ah... a photography portfolio of 8 photos can be submitted. they have limited only one entry per person, subsequent entries will be rejected.

Eligibility Rules - More Details

18 years or older on the submission date
Should be enrolled for undergraduate or graduate in a reputed university
Not a resident of Brazil, Quebec, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Syria, North Korea, Sudan, Libya, Liberia, Zimbabwe, or Myanmar (Burma)

Contest Period - November 10, 2011 - January 31, 2012

Categories - More Details

Me, Food, Travel, Fashion, Sound/Silence, Action, Street, Sport, Night, Point of View

Prize Details - More Details

100 entries selected as Semi-finalists will get Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone
10 individuals selected as Finalists will receive an invitation to exhibit his or her Photographs at Saatchi Gallery, London for 7 weeks. Prize includes round-trip airfare for each Finalist and 1 guest to London, UK with 3 nights hotel accomodation and meal cost of US$200 per day per person
Grand Prize will receive a 7-day trip for a photo shoot with a professional photographer at a place to be mutually agreed with Sponsor and the Grand Prize Winner.

Now what are you waiting for, Enter the Contest and Submit your photos to win.

Microstock - Earn Money from photos

2011-11-05T04:36:00.000-07:00

Taking Digital photos has almost become a habit for everyone nowdays. All of us have a digital camera or mobile camera. Technology has changed so much, that people started buying mobiles having camera as one criteria. Nokia N8 is giving 12MP camera along with its mobile, Samsung Galaxy, iPhone providing 8MP camera.

Early days taking photos included a cost for buying film roll, but now photos does not cost even a penny, so everyone of us take photos whenever we want and at some point, when you turn back, its piled up with loads of personal photos, we do click some unusual events, and lot more, but did anyone of us thought What to do with these photos? Will they make something sensible for us? Can it be sold and made money?

You can either sell your photos, monetize your photos with advertising or submit your photos to sites that will share advertising revenue with you. Here comes the list of options to make money from our photosStock Photography is a concept where we upload our photos. Instead of hiring a professional photographer, a buyer licenses an image and the user uploaded is paid a commission.

shutterstock - It's free to contribute and you'll earn $0.25 to $28.00 per image download
dreamstime - Download images for as low as Rs. 10.98/image, commission to contributor
fotolia - Download images for as low as $0.75/image or $0.16/subscription, commission to contributor
iStockphoto - Free images to download
123RF - Download images for as low as $0.21/image, commission to contributor
BIGSTOCK - Download images for as low as $0.99/image, commission to contributor
YAY - Print images for as low as $1.40/image, commission to contributor
Veer - Free images to download
CANSTOCKPHOTO - Download images for as low as $0.40/image, commission to contributor
panthermedia - Download images for as low as € 1/image, commission to contributor

Coffee or Tea ? Switch to Healthy Alternative

2011-11-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

70% of human beings wake up with a cup of coffee or tea, but did we think whether it is healthy? The caffine content, the aroma addicts us to have it more, simply like a alcohol. We should be thinking and switch to a alternative drink every day to be fit and healthy, because health is one thing which we cannot buy in this world, one good example is Steve Jobs, who is capable of buying anything and everything, but not his health. Some of herbal drink which we can make a habit daily and their vitamin values are

Hibiscus Rosa-senensis(sembaruthi): Three hibiscus petals boiled and filtered like coffee, add some lemon juice with honey and drink it like Tea. If taken regularly for 40days, reduces heart attack and increases heart strength, reduces stress.

Cassia auriculata (avaram poo) is proven to control and reduce blood sugar levels. It rejuvenates the body and reduce blood sugar levels drastically. Avarampoo can be cool dried, powdered and used as a tea which helps to rejuvenate and cure diabetes.

Boil few tender Mango leaves in water and washing mouth with this water, reduces tooth ache. Taking half teaspoon of ground powder of Mango leaves dried in shade with water 2 or 3 times a day stops dysentery.

Water boiled with basil leaves (Thulasi) can be taken as drink in case of sore throat. This water can also be used as a gargle. It reduces blood cholestrol. Basil (Thulasi) has strengthening effect on the kidney. In case of renal stone the juice of basil leaves and honey, if taken regularly for 6 months it removes kidney stone via urine.

For menstruation delay, take ½ teaspoon finely ground cinnamon (dalchini) every night along with 1 cup milk. Powder 1 teaspoon dried mint (pudina) leaves and take with 1 teaspoon honey, thrice daily. Kills intestine germs, clean blood, cleans blood vessels, good for gastric problems

Guava is a rich source of vitamin C, guava's vitamin C content is 5x more than that of an orange, carotenoids, potassium, phosphorus, calcium and iron. If you have chicken pox, drinking 4 cups of guava tea will make the chicken pox heal faster and the skin will have less scarring.

Stay healthy.......

Start Sugarcane business - Business Idea

2011-10-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Initially it might sound very small, but clear and well planned Sugarcane business is a major profit earning business in India. Let us first look into the requirements for this business

SPACE

Small Level - 3 x 3 sqft space, it can be either a table also
Medium Level - 5 x 5 sqft space
Max Level - 10 x 10 sqft space

EQUIPMENT

Manual: Fully manual requires man drilled gear based grinding machine. This requires hard effort to rotate the wheel on its side to extract the juice. Operating cost is very less, no electricity, no fuel, requires very less maintenance of lubrication at times. Machine looks as in the left side.

Automatic: This is advance version of manual, this is operated by either electric motor or diesel engine to rotate the gear wheel, which reduces the hard effort of rotating, Using Diesel engine is the most popularly used in all the places, because of its low initial investment on engine.

Recent years this engine has advanced its level in hygiene and healthier aspects, people are concentrating more on flavors, cleanliness, but as this goes high, the initial investment also goes up. An automatic gear operated machine costs Rs.60,000, another version of the machine, is with instant chiller, has a pipe with 10C, so when juice pass through that pipe, gets chilled immediately, which cost Rs.1,20,000.

This seems to be a huge investment, but when properly planned and worked out can be recovered in 3 months time.

Sample Estimation of Sugarcane Juice:

1.Cost of sugarcane Rs.4/- per Kg. One Kg will give 600ml of Juice.
2.Labour cost will be Rs.150/- per day for cleaning the sugar cane and running the crusher.
3.Disposable cup Varies from 60 Paise to 90 Paise. – Good quality at bulk rate will be 0.65 pasie
4.Lime and Ginger 25 Paisa.
5.Power charges will be two unit per 200 glass of juice (200 X 250ml glass = 50 Litters of juice)
6.Interest on cost of crusher – 18% interest on Investment – Hence per day Rs.23/- only.
7.Rent for the place. Rs 2000/- per month approximate – Hence per day Rs.80/- approximate.
8.Maintenance cost is Rs.200/- per month approximate. (320 Gear oil 0.5 Litter and 100 grams of grease)
9.Depreciation: At 20% per annum – Hence per day Rs.27/- only

Fixed Expenses: PER DAY
Interest – Rs.23/-
Rent - Rs.80/-
Depreciation: Rs.27/-
Power Charges – Rs20/-
Wages Rs.150/-
Others. Rs. 15/-
----------
Total Rs.315/- per day for sale of 100 Glass Juice = Per glass Rs. 3.00 approximate.
-----------
Cost of Sugarcane Rs. 1.80
Disposable cup Rs. 0.65
Lemon/Zinger/(Pepper/Masala powder etc Rs. 0.25
Rent/Labor etc Rs. 3.15
______________
Total Cost of Juice per Glass Rs.5.85
______________
Average Selling Price of Sugarcane juice of 250ml glass each will be Rs.10.00 approximate per glass to any level depending on the area and nature of service and ambience provided.

Real Life Entrepreneur

Now coming to the main section of the article, a real life entrepreneur, Cane-o-la, a banglore based sugarcane juice organisation, which focuses on selling varied flavors of sugarcane juice in a hygiene way, they have grown to en extent, which you will know when you understand their company turnover is 4 Crores, sounds surprising isn't it, but truth. Go through their website http://cane-o-la.com/, to learn more about them.

Contact me at bsathish78@gmail.com for further help and guidance, I have few research papers on starting this business, including business partners, loan arrangement etc.

Create Movie DVD - Free

2011-10-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

Anywhere in the world people are crazy about movies. Each people is different and they have their own favorite movies, which force them to buy their own copy of movie DVD and have their collection. But do you even know, movies are no more a paid entity in this world, it has become free, atleast for personal use as far as I know.

Let me tell you how I used to store my collection, since am in India, I mention the cost in rupees. A normal movie DVD in India costs from Rs.30 - Rs.100 depends on the quality or how soon you try to purchase, but most of them do not know the actual cost of the DVD is Rs.8, Since the download of a movie varies based on the bandwidth, its advisable to use torrent software, so we can break the download in between and continue later.

I will tell you the way to get these DVD for as low as Rs.8, follow the steps below to get DVDs for this cost

Step 1: Open GOOGLE and search for your favourite movie download links, some tips for keywords are, I am using ROBOT as example

Sample keywords: ROBOT 2011 hq torrent, ROBOT DVD5 torrent, ROBOT Untouched torrent

Step 2: Click on the links provided and see the screenshot provided to verify the picture quality. some may be TC print, some camera print, the most clear print is always got from DVD Ripped print

Step 3: Download the torrent and save to your local machine

Step 4: Open any torrent software, I use BitTorrent and open the downloaded torrent to start download of the file

Step 5: Once the download is completed, the movie is in AVI, MP4, VOB or any other media format.

Step 6: When the movie is in VOB format, its directly played in TV through DVD player. but other formats are not recognized by most of old DVD players, so you have convert the movie into VOB format (how to convert is in Step 7).

Step 7: Nero Vision Express is the software I use to convert the AVI, MP4 movies into VOB format. Nero Vision Express is available for free trial all over internet, easily downloadable.

Step 8: Attach the movie file into Nero Vision Express and burn to the blank DVD, which finally is 100% playable by all DVD players.

Enjoy watching your favorite movies.

Free 3D Building Plans

2011-10-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Builders, Engineers, Architects, Contractors, Individuals... everyone has their dream of building own house. In this technological world most of the things come for free, and with internet, people provide free services for passion across the globe. My passion is to build a marvelous house, hope that comes very soon for me :) until then to keep my passion up, am providing 3D perspective view of your blue prints. Most interesting is I do not charge for drawing 3D perspective view, its absolutely free and completely for my passion.

Please leave a comment or send email to bsathish78@gmail.com and avail free service. I live in Chennai, Tamilnadu, so I can provide in office service also, again absolutely free :) I can give training for your staffs either online or in person for your future projects, which is also free :)Sample 3D perspective blue print plans

Begin Dipped and Molded Candle Making Business

2011-09-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

The candle making business demand is still very much valuable in several places around the globe. Candle making is an ancient technique with significant uses, which still makes it a promising business venture.

I. Materials:
Paraffin wax granules (P75.00/kg.)
Polyethylene wax* (P180.00/kg.)
Crystal wax (P192.00/kg.)
Gel wax (P270.00/kg.)
Dyes (P60.00/pk.)
Separator (petroleum jelly, cooking oil, liquid soap, etc.) Nylon wick (P36.00/pk.)
Bamboo sticks (P30.00/bundle)
Scent (P85.00 to P360.00/bottle)

II. General Procedure
1. Prepare the waxes. For every Kg of paraffin wax, add 100 grams of polyethylene wax and 30 to 50 grams of crystal wax. If the paraffin wax is in a slab form, break it first into small pieces.
2. Heat the wax in a container other than the dipping tube. The safest way is to use a double boiler. If without a double boiler, heat the wax slowly in a pouring pot or saucepan.
3. Wax is completely melted if the liquid is clear and the bottom of the container is seen. DO NOT BURN WAX (indicated by smoky fumes and brown coloration).
4. Remove from heat source and transfer contents into another container either in dipping tube or metal cup with spout. Add dye and scent (optional). The wax is now ready for dipping and/or molding.

A. DIPPED CANDLES (Oldest and simplest way of making candles)
1. Cut wick(s) into several inches longer than the desired candle length.
2. If you wish to dip several candles at the same time, tie the wicks 2 to 3 inches apart on a rod or a hoop.
3. Dip the wick into the melted wax. Withdraw the wick and pull on the other end to make it taut. Dip the wick again after the first layer of wax hardens.4. Continue dipping the candles until it reaches the desired thickness. Allow each layer of wax to cool and harden after every dipping.
5. To make the bottoms of the dipped candles flat and smooth, heat a metal spatula over a gas flame or electric burner. Rub the candle bottoms against hot metal surface, melting away until the bottoms are flat.

B. MOLDED CANDLES (Molders can be purchased, made or found).
1. Prepare mold to release candle by applying the inside of the molder with a thin layer of separator.
2. Prepare the wick. The size of the wick depends on the size of the candle. The wick is usually placed in the mold before the wax is poured. However, certain candles require that the wick be inserted after the candle is made. This is done by piercing a wick hole in the candle with a hot ice pick.
3. Hold mold in a slanting position. Pour hot wax from pot to metal cup with spout, then, from cup slowly into the mold.
4. Cool mold by placing it in a pail with cold water. Hold down with a heavy object.
5. After cooling, notice that portion about the wick recedes. Puncture and pour wax into the cavity until filled.
6. Cool the mold again. After the wax has set, remove mold from water. Pull wick gently to release the candle. Trim excess wick.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
1. Always have a fire extinguisher within reach.
2. Never use water to extinguish a wax fire. Liquid wax behaves much the same way as oil, and therefore needs to be treated like an oil fire.
3. NEVER LEAVE MELTING WAX UNATTENDED.
4. Constantly monitor the temperature of the wax. If wax reaches the flash point, then the vapors produced are extremely flammable. The flash point of wax is typically above 300° F. Never let wax exceed 250° F.
5. Always use a double boiler. A double boiler helps distribute heat and prevents dangerous temperatures. Never melt wax directly on your stove.
6. Use an electric heat source if possible. If, by accident, the wax reaches the flash point, vapors may find a flame and become ignited on an electric heat source. Any open flame such as that found on a gas stove, will ignite wax vapors.
7. Always use a thermometer to monitor the wax temperatures. Put it on your list of things to get before you start making candles.

III. Business Registration Requirements

B-22, Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai-600032
Tel: 22501451 Fax: 22500860
Email: tfsc@tanstiafnf.com

Flat/Apartment Resale - Second hand

2011-07-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

People call it in different ways, second-hand flat, flat resale, apartment resale etc etc How does one go about scrutinising the title deed records while acquiring a second-hand flat? Here is a checklist which should be verified before proceeding with buying a resale flat or apartment.

You can get a list of second hand flats or aparment in http://classifieds.sulekha.com/search/chennai/second-hand-flat.htm

1. The flow of title as I have described in these columns.

2. If the flow of title is in order, then, you need to check if your present vendor has the following: a. Registered Sale Deed in respect of undivided share in the land b. Construction Agreement (or sometimes called Builders Agreement) under which the flat is constructed.

3. If the flat is assessed to property tax and if property tax is paid up to date.

4. For a completion certificate from CMDA.

5. For a CMDA-approved plan. Check for deviations.

6. If there are deviations, see what has been done. In most cases, you will be given a copy of an application for regularisation together with a receipt to show payment of fees to the CMDA. This will not do. There have been several regularisation schemes promoted by the Government. Barring the first, all the others have been stayed by the High Court, and the CMDA is currently restrained from processing any regularisation applications. There is no certainty whatsoever that the courts will hold these subsequent regularisation schemes to be valid. If they are held to be invalid, your dream flat could quickly be turned into a pile of rubble.

7. The nature of the deviation. If the deviation is total, or if your proposed flat is on an unauthorised floor, then, I can only recommend that you drop the idea. Of course, if you are the type of person who doesn't mind risky transactions, it is your choice and you are free to do so.

8. Scrutinise the originals of all documents. They will normally be with the Flat Owners' Association. Check the Bye Laws of the Association and see if your vendor has any dues to the Association. 9. If the flat has proper electricity, water and sewerage connections. Check to ensure that all these utilities are paid up to date.

10. Check to ensure that the flat has rainwater harvesting mechanisms in place.

11. Ensure that the flat promoter retains no residual interest over common areas, terrace, and so on.

You will have noted that the most serious concern spelt out above is with regard to deviations and regularisation.

If you have very serious doubts or desire any clarifications, you can always approach the officials at CMDA.

Buy Cheap Provisions in Chennai

2011-05-14T04:31:00.000-07:00

This time am with ideas of buying best and cheap provisions for personal home purpose. Did anyone thought why big giants are pondering into FMCG products and start supermarket. Major players like Reliance, More, Food World, Nilgiris and who not... every one are into supermarket. Simple reason, they procure goods centrally from manufacturer and distribute, which makes their purchase cost at down the earth prices and gain more in FMCG goods.
All these supermarkets play well by giving promotional offers, attractive gifts, reward points, membership cards, discounts, but anybody thought how they make profit out of this? simple the MRP mentioned in the goods are the maximum and they sell at this price, which is 5%-20% more than the actual purchase price.

We have many retail shops who sell the same FMCG product, same brand, same weight, but at a different price, less price than MRP. How can that be possible for them? How do they make profit out of that? Very simple, they do not expect 20% profit instead they look for minimal profit.

As a resident of chennai, I have explored many provision stores in and around chennai and looks like we have to be more careful in spending our hard earned money. Am sure government cannot take any action on this, atleast let us be careful in this.

Below given example is from my own experience an am not urging you to take up my steps. But if you find this article useful, do reply to me with your comments.

Every month I purchase the below items in Jeyachandran Stores (near Tnagar railway station) and this is what I save. The price listed below are as of 14-Apr-2011.

GRB Udhayam Ghee (MRP: 180) - Rs.158, almost 15% less
Udhayam Dhall - 10% less than MRP, Example Rs.80 Udhayam Thoor Dhall is only Rs.72
Pediasure - 15% less
Soap, Paste, Washing Powder, Detergents, Provisions - everything is 10% less than MRP
Oil - 5% less than MRP

Readers please note, this shop is in the most crowded part of TNagar and 80% of the people do not wish to visit and buy from here. Again purchase ONLY branded products from here.

Till now I was promoting Jeyachandran, now more about the wholesale market in Chennai. Parrys or George Town are the places where you get all products in wholesale price, i.e., very very less. but problem is you have to travel a long distance and the money you save is spent for Auto or Bike or any other mode you travel.

So readers, start thinking and start saving... Happy Saving :)

Buy Air Conditioner - Chennai

2011-05-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Summer has started and everyone in Chennai are sweating, sweating, sweating in litres :), I myself is not an exception. All over chennai there are offers like "AC Summer Sale", "Beat the heat", "AC Mela" blah blah. I wanted to buy a 1.5 ton AC and started exploring the whole chennai market, where I could get a good deal.

In this market, the retailers have various schemes to attract public. Its our job, to be careful in buying an air conditioner. Am not techy guy to explain the features of air-conditioner. Doesnt matter what model, what capacity you buy, go for the best deal. Things you should notice when it comes to price tag are

1. Air conditioner price

2. Stablizer price - Premier B2B costs Rs.2500

3. Installation Charges - this is not more than Rs.650. All dealers are cheating customers charging about Rs.750-Rs.1000. LG certified installation comes at Rs.650, so if your retailer charges more, do not hesitate to bargain him for this rate. Most of the retailers, manufacturers offer free installation or they include this amount along with air conditioner price

4. Outdoor unit angle cost - this angle is not more than Rs.500 in local market. If any retailer charges more than this amount, tell them you will buy this angle and do not agree for a big amount of Rs.750.

5. Delivery Charges - this is maximum Rs.100 and most of the dealers/retailers offer free delivery if its a big showroom

Last but not least, check for 0% finance option (documentation charges extra). I would suggest to opt for 0% finance rather than paying full cash. A simple calculation, assume your AC costs Rs.25000. If you go for finance, you pay (2500*10Months)+Rs.250(documentation) = Rs.25250 at the end of 10th month, Invest this 25000 in fixed deposit for 10months and to minimum you will get Rs.27000 (2000 extra) at the end of 10th month.

Small comparison between the big showrooms I know in Chennai

Rathna Fan House - I would say, they are the cheapest in chennai for any brand, any model, any capacity

Vasanth & Co, Viveks - Both are almost 5-10% higher than Rathna fan house, but Vivek has good customer service compared to Vasanth & Co

Shahs - They tell the same price as Rathna Fan house (few hunderds extra), but the trick here is they change whooping Rs.800-Rs.1000 for installation charges

e-Zone - I would say, they have the highest price, almost Rs.3000 extra for a Rs.25000 AC compared to Rathna fan house

YourStory.In - Where Entrepreneurs meet

2010-12-23T05:07:00.000-08:00

Wow, that's the word I should use, for describing my feelings, when I found the website YourStory.in. How could such a website can be thought of, when everyone else thinks of starting some or the way innovation business, Shradha Sharma thought of starting a website, which will be a bank of stories about entrepreneurs and their new ventures.

The difficulties she faced were partly of her own making. She decided not to chase entrepreneurs who have made it big, but only those on the fringes. And then, she wanted to open the web pages for start-ups in social, rural and environment sectors, not just those in the technology sector. And, worst of all, she decided not to charge the fledgling entrepreneurs.

YourStory.in started around 2years back is now having 47,000 registered members and three lakh readers. She recieved the Villgro Journalist of the Year 2010 Award and a NASSCOM award recently. Every day, Shradha has at least seven to eight stories that have to be translated, cleaned, rewritten and readied for publication.

YourStory.in not only contain stories about entrepreneurs, but also has sections to exchange business ideas, discuss on forums, postings of experts and lot more. She has also partnered with Microsoft BizSpark, CNBC TV18 Young Turks.

Great effort by Shardha Sharma on YourStory.in. Am sure all young Entrepreneurs are benefited by this website.

Where to Buy Sell Old Books

2010-07-02T23:29:00.000-07:00

Now, time for students from various majors start their new semester. Good and they will surely look for books for this semester. Its been obvious that book rates are high and many cannot afford buying books. Many of them lend it through libraries who charge nominal rates. Those who want to buy books for their future reference find it difficult or there may be chances that publisher has stopped publishing that book and students find it difficult to buy those books. Ultimately they start photocopying books. Lets go to the real topic, It was quite interesting for me, when I found this website which was real helpful to buy old books or even sell old books

http://www.buyselloldbooks.com/

http://www.indianusedbooks.com/

http://bookscouter.com/

http://www.weberbooks.com/selling/selling.htm

Laptops between 20,000 to 30,000

2010-07-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

Recently, we’ve been getting queries as to what one should buy; a netbook or a laptop, from a budget point of view. Well, both these devices serve different purposes, while netbooks are mainly meant for basic computing on the go, laptops are capable of doing more than just chat, email, casual Internet surfing and such. Even the most entry-level laptop is much more powerful than a standard netbook. Unlike netbooks, laptops are more comfortable to work on, in terms of ergonomics. Laptops are better at handling demanding applications like designing suites, multimedia, video playback and such. But netbooks tend to become sluggish even with multiple tabs during heavy Internet browsing, let alone multitasking and heavy applications. However, this fact is also about to change soon when netbooks with Nvidia’s Ion platform and dual-core Intel Atom processors take the market with storm.

Below are few budget laptops, a few of which might already be owned by some of you and some might be new. All laptops in this list fall under the Rs 30,000 price bracket, and most of them can perform the daily computing tasks seamlessly. Let’s take a quick look at them and see which one bags the ‘best pick’ title.

Samsung R522 Price: Rs 26,250 Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300, 2.1 Ghz RAM: 3 GB DDR2 HDD: 320GB Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth DVD-Writer Screen: 14-inch HD Operating System: Windows Vista Home Basic
Samsung R528-DA01IN Price: Rs 24,000 Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4400, 2.2 GHz RAM: 2 GB DDR3 HDD: 250 GB Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth DVD-Writer Screen: 15.6-inch HD Operating System: DOS
Samsung R528-DA03IN Price: 27,750 Processor: Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo T6600, 2.2 GHz RAM: 2 GB DDR3 HDD: 250 GB Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth DVD-Writer Screen: 15.6-inch HD Operating System: DOS
Lenovo G550 Price: 26,750 Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4400, 2.2 GHz Graphics: Intel GMA X4500 HD RAM: 3 GB DDR2 HDD: 320 GB Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth DVD-Writer Screen: 15.6-inch HD Operating System: DOS
Lenovo G450 Price: 26,500 Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4400, 2.2 GHz Graphics: Intel GMA X4500 HD RAM: 3 GB DDR3 HDD: 320 GB Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth DVD-Writer Screen: 14-inch HD Operating System: DOS
Dell Inspiron 14 Price: 30,000 Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4400, 2.2 GHz Graphics: Intel GMA X4500 HD RAM: 2 GB DDR2 HDD: 250 GB Connectivity: 10/100 Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth DVD-Writer Screen: 14-inch HD Operating System: DOS
Acer Aspire 4736z Price: 25,750 Motherboard: Intel GL40 Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core, 2.2 Ghz Memory: 3 GB DDR3 HDD: 320GB Screen: 14.1-inch HD Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium

You’ll notice that none of these laptops feature Intel’s new Core series of processors, such as the entry-level Intel Core i3 variants. If you spend a couple of thousands more than 30K, there are a few Core i3 laptops available across brands, but let’s leave that for another post when we choose a slightly higher budget. In the mean while, let us know which one of these suits you best.

Each brand is known for some special trait, for instance, Lenovo laptops are popular amongst business personnel, they are rugged, and simple to look at. Samsung laptops are stylish and Acer Aspire laptops are known for the value for money they offer. Sony, with their new Vaio E-series of laptops have come into the Rs 35,000 price range , but I guess that it’s going to be a while before their laptops come under the 30K bracket. Nonetheless it’s a great start.

Solely considering the hardware and the overall package of all these laptops, we’d say that the Aspire Aspire 4736z is the best pick at Rs 29,500. We would have chosen the Samsung R528 over this one because of its better processor. But the Acer Aspire 4736z ships preloaded with the latest Windows operating system, while the others are still offering either Windows Vista or Free DOS.

On that note, we’d like to know as to how many of you prefer to buy a laptop without a paid OS. The pre-loaded licensed Windows on laptops adds to the cost of the machine, which means if you already have a licensed Windows copy, then you can buy a laptop either with Linux or Free-DOS. For instance, our best pick, the Aspire 4736z, is also available with Linux, and is priced at merely Rs 25,750.

Quick Note: All the prices listed above are approximate.

Herbal Products Manufacturing

2010-03-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

Now we are with a whole new set of business, more related towards herbal and natural products. Budget of this business has a wide variety. If anyone has done their course on ayurvedic or siddha medicine can draft a good business plan, which will aid them getting a bank loan and start their business.

Any business you do requires well marketing and hard work getting clients or customers. A mix of hard work and good marketing will surely reap good results. I have listed the various kinds of business related to herbal products, their project cost.

Profile Name	Salient Application	Project Cost	Fixed Capital	Working Capital Margin	Break Even Point	Estimated Rate of Return
PERIWINKLE	It contains alkaloid Alstonine which has ability to reduce blood pressure.	Rs.10.9 lakhs	Rs.8.1 lakhs	1.28 lakhs	71%	4.36 lakhs
PLANTATION AND EXTRACTION OF AMLA	Amla is a very rich source of Vitamin C and has very high medicinal value.	Rs.39.42 lakhs	Rs.29.72 lakhs	3.12 lakhs	65%	9.39 lakhs
PLANTATION AND EXTRACTION OF ASHWAGANDHA	Used for treatment of rheumatism, gout, hypertension Project .	Rs.69.42 lakhs	Rs.56.24 lakhs	0.25 lakhs	36%	62.91 lacs
PLANTATION AND EXTRACTION OF GUGGUL	Anti-inflammatory agent.	Rs.28.85 lakhs	Rs.44.65 lakhs	Rs.16.69 lakhs	48%	45.18 lacs
SAFED MUSALI	Herbal drug formulations.	22.8 lakhs	38.2 lakhs	10.72 lakhs	45%	42.21 lacs
SENNA	Senna is used as a purgative drug.	58.73 lakhs	40.49 lakhs	4.91 lakhs	50%	23.72 lacs
VALLARAI TONIC	Memory tonic.	34.87 lakhs	25.14 lakhs	5.81 lakhs	62%	10.88 lacs
FAIRNESS CREAM	Cosmetics Proposed capacity200 kgm per day,	Rs.65.87 lakhs	Rs.25.28 lakhs	Rs.42.21 lakhs	48%	49.62 lacs
HERBAL COSMETICS	Herbal cosmetic products are used for beauty care, hair care, body care.	64.87 lakhs	25.65 lakhs	33.49 lakhs	34%	111.85 ac
HERBAL EXTRACTS	Herbal Extracts has its application in Cosmetics, Food and Pharmaceutical industry.	66.42 lakhs	48.66 lakhs	8.47 lakhs	51%	32.85 lacs
HERBAL HAIR OIL	Hair oils are combination of oils and suitable perfumes.	18.73 lakhs	12.86 lakhs	2.25 lakhs	66%	6.35 lakhs
HERBAL SHAMPOO	It is used to Cleanse hair and scalp.	80.41 lakhs	56.34 lakhs	12.78 lakhs	42%	55.21 lakh
HERBAL SHIKKAI	It is used to Cleanse hair and scalp.	28.18 lakhs	13.81 lakhs	5.51 lakhs	51%	15.27 lacs
HERBAL SOAPS	Cosmetics	39.28 lakhs,	35.77 lakhs	2.18 lakhs	65%	8.76 lakhs
JOJOBA OIL	Jojoba Oil has versatile industrial uses.	47.42 lakhs	32.64 lakhs	3.87 lakhs	44%	27.92 lacs
NANNARI	Health drink.	30.07 lakhs	30.88 lakhs	2.60 lakhs	62%	8.63 lakhs
NATURAL VANILLA	Flavour	19.35 lakhs	66.65 lakhs	7.90 lakhs	44%	32.72 lakh

All the best for your new venture.

Indian Entrepreneurs in US

2010-03-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Out of the public listed companies in USA 1/4th of the ventures are started in the past 15 years founded by immigrant entrepreneurs, according to American Made Magazine.

The current market capitalization of these firms exceeds $500 billion, and they employ more than 220,000 people in the U.S. and 400,000 internationally. Immigrants have had the greatest impact in the fields of IT, life sciences, and particularly in the high-tech manufacturing sector, where 40% of publicly traded, venture-backed firms operating in the U.S. today were founded by immigrants.

Indian immigrants typically come from middle-class families, and they tend to be college graduates, many with particular expertise in science, engineering, or technology. They come to the United States to get graduate degrees and they are under a lot of pressure to see if they can take care of their parents and families back home.

The wealth in India is still controlled by a small percentage of the people in the country, so even if their parents are educated people, they may work in low-paying, civil service jobs. There is no way it is possible to break the entrenched social system and the cultural barriers over there. When an immigrant reaches US and sees that so many opportunities exist, he becomes quite ambitious.

The Indus Entrepreneurs is a networking association originally started by Indian entrepreneurs and engineers in Silicon Valley in 1992. The focus is on business development, support, providing education for future entrepreneurs, and giving back to the community.

It really has helped create energy, synergy, and a social system for Asian Indian immigrants and other entrepreneurs. They have 10,000 members in nine countries now, including England, South Africa, and Israel, and they're going beyond technology into other industries.

Start Juice Shop

2010-03-21T02:19:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for an idea on what business you can start easily, a juice bar is one idea you can seriously consider. With more and more people becoming health conscious, a juice business is timely. Today, the popular obsession with dropping pounds and losing inches certainly feeds into the health food trends that fuel juice bar popularity. But the health food industry has also benefited from another recent concept, that of organics.

Every herb has its faithfuls who claim for it almost magical qualities. Mint has its after-dinner fame as a breath freshener and a digestive aid; ginseng is one of the latest in a long line of alleged energy boosters and anti-aging supplements; garlic is supposed to aid the immune system; ginger has been said to possess aphrodisiac properties.

Each fruit and vegetable, too, has accrued its own collection of anecdotes and testimonials. What child hasn’t been told that carrots will help him see in the dark, or that an apple a day will keep the doctor away? Who hasn’t heard that Popeye is strong to the finish because he eats his spinach?

In modern times, speed and efficiency are joint rulers of an ever more fast-paced world. For a person on the go, a tall cup of mixed juices spiked with nutritive powders is the ideal meal. Like coffee and soda, it can be consumed in the car without taking one’s other hand off the steering wheel and endangering one's self and others.

But unlike those beverages, juice is part of a balanced breakfast. It could be said, tongue in cheek, to balance even better than breakfast, since unlike a plate of toast and scrambled eggs it can be sealed up with a lid and straw and enjoyed safe from spills. And with all the supplements available at your local juice bar, that tall cup of fruit and vegetable squeezings can be a balanced breakfast.

For entrepreneurs who put health above anything else, starting a juice bar is probably one of the fastest and the most lucrative businesses out there. It can be added to an existing business or simply started independently.

Juice Business Structure

You can start a juice business entirely on your own. It would help if you have an experience about juice preparation from working in a juice bar, but this is not necessary. You can also buy an existing business, or get a franchise. Franchising will cost a little bit more, though. If you have an existing food business, you can incorporate a juice business into it.

Juice Bar Menu

You don’t have to be a nutritionist or obtain a degree related to health to know that fruits and vegetables are good for the body. You can sell a variety of juices from apples, carrots, oranges, bananas, celery, melons and other fruits and vegetables. You can purchase juice wholesale from fruits and vegetable juice manufacturers or distributor or you can do the juicing onsite. You can even do both at the same time. Get juices wholesale. You can add vitamins and health supplements, for example, those that are known for their immunity boosting or antioxidizing effects. You can sell juices in several cup sizes starting at a price of Rs.10.

Juice Bar Location

You can open at any place that is frequented by people such as tourist attractions, a kiosk in a mall, office building, airport, hotels, schools, beach areas, public markets, health clubs, and fitness clubs. Vending from a cart is another option you can take.

Juice Bar Startup Cost and Profit

Your startup cost will depend on how much you are spending for equipment (juicers and coolers), rent, advertising and getting the necessary license and permit. Your profit will depend on your total sales minus the cost of your ingredients and overhead. It could be several times your capital after awhile when you’ve mastered the operation. Adding other items such as sandwiches in your menu can help boost profit.

Start Beauty Parlor or Salon

2010-03-07T22:41:00.000-08:00

A beauty salon or beauty parlor deals with cosmetic treatments for men and women. Nowdays beauty salon also contains hair salons and spas. Beauty salons provides more generalized services related to skin health, facial aesthetic, foot care, aromatherapy, — even meditation, oxygen therapy, mud baths, and innumerable other services, but hair salon provides only hair treatment.

Facials, Massage, Manicure, Pedicure, Waxing, Threading

Hairdresser washing a woman's hair

A hair salon is a place where one goes to get the hair cut, as well as styled, highlighted or coloured. Salons are in various business forms from sole traders, branches of salons or large franchise owned salon chains. Some larger chains offer their own brand of salon products.

The term spa salon refers to a salon where spa treatments are done. Spa treatments are also offered in some beauty salons. Treatments may include holistic theraphy or Reiki.

Cholayil Sanjeevanam	Rs. 5,00,000 - Rs. 10,00,000	Health and Fitness
CLARA INTERNATIONAL	Rs. 5,00,000 - Rs. 10,00,000	Health and Fitness
Clipso Beauty Aesthetic School	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000	Education
Lakme India	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000	Beauty and Hair Salons
NET PLANET INFOTECH SOLUTIONS	Rs. 5,00,000 - Rs. 10,00,000	Business Services
Shahnaz Ayurveda	Rs. 5,00,000 - Rs. 10,00,000	Beauty and Hair Salons
Sharkey's Cuts for Kids	Rs. 25,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000	Retail

Start Coffee Shop

2010-03-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

Coffee shop is one of the most popular business ideas, young entrepreneurs adopt. In the recent 10year period, there has been many foriegn vendors have established their presence in India. A coffee shop is not just coffee, but a variety of food and beverages, which is a quick snac for customers.

The average coffee shop sells about 5,00,000 worth of coffee in a year. 52% of Indians drink coffee daily. 15% of Indians buy minimum a cup of coffee every day. 63% of Indians buy a cup of coffee occasionally – this number is increasing at the rate of 3-4% per year. It is better if you are expertise in coffee brewing, its best to start your own coffee shop otherwise you can opt for coffee shop franchise. Now the question "Choose Franchise or not" comes to mind, actually both have their own pros and cons.

A franchise offers many advantages like prebuilt advertising, promoting, procurement, reciepes, pricing, location, ambience etc. The master company promotes the product, inturn your shop benefits publicity, but you have to make a substantial financial investment in the startup, and pay an annual licensing fee for your coffee shop to use the franchise name and logos. The fee you pay varies from 6-11% of your revenues for advertising and royalty fees each year. When you opt for franchise, you are sure working on a proven concept, and benefit from experience of a successful business.

The average costs of opening a franchise coffee shop include 100,000 to 3000,000 in construction costs. Coffee shops which offer franchise and their rough estimates are

Barnie's Coffee Expansion Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
BOOK CAFÉ Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 25,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000
Brewberrys hospitality pvt ltd Franchise	Brew Funs, Brew Smiles, Brew Coffee	Rs. 5,00,000 - Rs. 10,00,000
CAFE COFEE DAY FRANCHISE	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 50,00,000 to Rs. 10 Million
CHICKING Franchise	Fast Food	Rs. 25,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000
Chipmunk's Playland & Cafe Franchise	Entertainment and Leisure	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
Chokhi Dhani Franchise	Entertainment and Leisure	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
COFFEE DAY XPRESS Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 50,00,000 to Rs. 10 Million
CONNAUGHT PLAZARESTAURANTS Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 25,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000
Crazy Noodles Franchise	Food and Beverage	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
Crepeteria Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 1,00,000 - Rs. 5,00,000
DIXY PANBAN CHICKEN Franchise	Fast Food	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
Dosa Plaza Franchise	Fast Food	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
Food Factory Express Franchise	Fast Food	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
Go! Chaatzz Franchise	Food and Beverage	Rs. 5,00,000 - Rs. 10,00,000
Goli Vada Pav Franchise	Fast Food	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
Kaati Zone	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
KIC FOOD PRODUCTS Franchise	Fast Food	Rs. 25,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000
KWALITY WALLS Franchise	Food and Beverage	Rs. 5,00,000 - Rs. 10,00,000
LITTLE ITALY Franchise	Food and Beverage	Rs. 25,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000
Motimahal Delux Management Services Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 25,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000
Nescafe Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 25,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000
Papa John's Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 25,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000
Ruby Tuesday Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 10 Million +
SAGAR RATNA Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
YO CHINA (MOODS HOSPITALITY) Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000
YOKO SIZZLERS Franchise	Restaurant and Cafe Shop	Rs. 10,00,000 - Rs. 25,00,000

Home Based Business - Where to begin from

2010-02-19T01:31:00.000-08:00

Everyone want to start their own business, but what is stopping them? it could be financial constraints, business ideas, time constraints, resource constraints... it could be anything. In this current world, where everything has become online and with very cheap internet, you can start doing business from you home with very low investment and good profit. There are many ways listed below to do home based business.

Learn Saxaphone - Music Class

2010-02-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

The saxophone (sax) is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841. Its costly compared to other instruments. Chennai is proud to have the greatest sax player Kadri Gopalnath. Many of them want to learn sax, but they do not know where it is taught. I have listed some of the sax coaching places in Chennai

MADRAS SYMPHONY #12,first street,thiruvalluvar nagar,kilkattalai, Chennai-117 9941902699
Rhema Music Cultural Centre No.1, Spartan Avenue, Mogappair , Chennai 26560289
Rock & Rock Light Music Orchestra 83, Near Grand Residence Hotel, Arcot Road, Porur, Chennai - 600116 -66424892
Jeevalaya 28 A, Near R C M Schoolm 9th Street Lazer Nagar, Avadi +(91)-(44)-66245948
Lakshman Sruthi Musicals Pvt Ltd Ashok Nagar,Chennai-600083
Musee Musicals Pvt Ltd Mount Road, Chennai-600002
Elyon School Of Music Kilpauk, Chennai-600010
Carnatica Interactive Music Solutions Pvt Ltd Nungambakkam, Chennai-600034
Issai Aalayam Chrompet, Chennai-600044
Maithri Vidhya Kandhram Music School Saligramam, Chennai-600093
Shridi Sairam Musical Instruments Store Besant Nagar, Chennai-600090
Laya's Centre of Fine Arts 9940628808, 9940268808
Srishti’s Carnatica 13, Krishnabai Street, I Floor Gokulam Colony, T. Nagar, Chennai 17 42124130, 9444018270
Natyacharays School of Music & Dance New-16, Old-12A, 2nd Street Sakthi Nagar, Choolaimedu, Chennai Ph: 23741154,9884455286

Hotel business - Where to begin from

2010-02-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

Hotels are the hot business in this computerized world. Although there are many hotels in the city, we still do not get seat when we enter into. So anyone who wants to start small eat-out can consider starting a hotel at small level and then develop big. I have listed some of the things which you need to consider when you start a hotel. QUALITY and SATISFACTION are the two mantras which you should keep hearing when you are in this hotel business.

There are 3 ways you can start a business,

Buy existing business - In this option you have to more careful. Analyze why its being sold, check for its reputation in the surroundings and bargain for best price.

Franchise - In this option, there are both ups and downs. You have to pay a big amount to get the setup ready as mentioned by the parent company. Every year you have to renew the franchise license. Advantage is the brand will be known to customers and you can gain their confidence easily.

Start from SCRATCH - This option is real real hard, which needs proper planning. The requirements will be

a) Location and Opportunity Choose the correct location for your hotel. Choose a place where there is hotel, who are not fulfilling all customer needs. If there are great hotels in the neighborhood, it will be hard for you to attract customers even if you charge less price. Research the location for about a month, learn customer requirement, look for items which are not available in near by places.

b) Strategy Ask the question "why my hotel?" within yourself, which will give you an strategy. There are different customers you have to attract, families with kids, couples, businesspeople, tourists? A good combination of amenities, atmosphere, location, and services will attract your customers. You might have to forgo certain customer target markets in order to make your service offering perfect for your most desired customers.

c) Planning Sit down and write down answer the questions listed below

What is your product or service?
State your company's goals and objectives.
Marketing Plan
How will your company differ from your competitors?
Who your customers are?
Who is your market?
How long will this market need your product?
What are the characteristics of your average customer?
Who is your competition?
What competitive advantage do you have over your competitors?
What is the best way you plan to sell your product or service?
How will you sell your product or service?
How will you promote and market your product or service?
Who are the employees of your business?
What are their credentials?
How does the business make money?
How do you price your product or service?
what inventory, raw materials and supplies the business uses.
List your supplies and supplier.
How easy or difficult is it to obtain supplies?
Are their prices steady and dependable?
State all of your business licenses.
How will you finance your business?
How will you manage your finances and what needs to be financed.
Where will your finances come from?

4) Fundraising Assuming you do not have this money, you will need to seek bank loans. As you will be working with considerable assets, dependable and experienced legal and accounting help is a must as you create deals with investors.

5) Hospitality Mindset Finally, you must have a sense of how you want your guests to be treated.

Post your requirements in comments and I will give my suggestion from my experience.

All the best for your business.

Government complaints

2010-02-05T05:45:00.000-08:00

In the recent years, Tamilnadu government has gone online in almost all its departments. The most useful one is the online bill payment facility for all the taxes government collect. The website where you can pay tax are in my other blog Pay Bill Online - Where to begin from

Now coming back to our topic, does Tamilnadu government give us any website where we can post our complaints? Yes they do give us the facility. I do not know if they really read all the complaints posted and resolve them, but atleast they have taken measure to get the complaints, good start.

The list of goverment departments and the website for complaints are

1. Metro Water - http://www.chennaimetrowater.tn.nic.in/onlinetxt.htm

2. Civil Supplies and consumer protection -

http://wserver1.tn.nic.in:9022/ccs_consumers/jsp/complaint_detail_menu.jsp

http://wserver1.tn.nic.in:9022/ccs_consumers/jsp/public_grievance.jsp

3. Police - http://www.tnpolice.gov.in/mailcomplaint.php

4. State Transport - http://stahelpline.tn.nic.in/

5. Aavin Milk - http://www.aavinmilk.com/complaint.html

6. Electricity Board - http://www.tnebnet.org/ccms/

7. File Petition - http://www.tn.gov.in/services/GDP/index.asp

8. Corporation of Chennai - http://210.212.62.123/pgr/citizen/BeforeReg.do

Pay Bill Online - Where to begin from

2010-02-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

World is reaching a point where you sit in front of your computer to do 90% of your work. This has changed life drastically which has both advantages and disadvantages. One major relief for us is online bill payment and ECS. This online bill payment relieved us from standing in big queues to pay our bills.

As we know, private organization adopt to modernization very soon, so this online bill payment comes as one feature for private organization. You cannot see a private organization which does not have online payment option. Real surprise is TamilNadu government transformed most of its division to have online payment feature.

What is online payment: This is an option where you can login to your banking website, check for bill payment and pay your bills directly from bank account. This is real fast and one big advantage is your payment is recorded and noone can question you for arrears.

Governemnt Department and website for various services are listed below. There are about 150 services which TamilNadu goverment offers through online to avoid queue and easy maintainability, so make use of them to the fullest extent

http://www.tn.gov.in/services.html
http://www.tn.gov.in/services2.html
http://india.gov.in/howdo/service_list.php?state=TN

Avoid Queues, Save Time :)

Start Internet Cafe - Where to beginfrom

2010-02-05T01:29:00.000-08:00

When you say Internet Cafe, its not only providing service for browsing, but it means a lot. There are many failures and many successes in this business, most important thing is to learn business pattern from successful cybercafes and also learn why some of them failed.

Self Planning
If you are well planned to start your business, then great. You only have to organize your thoughts, project expense to be bared, financial capital, project adequate running cost, sketch down month by month progress of how the business would run. If you think all these requires a great amount of time, then you have to shift to Internet Cafe Franchise

Franchises
Franchises already have a business model to run your internet cafe. Its more important from whom you take franchise, they should be well recognized and already reached to public. They have set of rules and plans which you should follow. The only disadvantage is you end up paying a little more amount for setting up your business but at the same time, you gain recognition and you pull customers from day 1.

Some checklist to consider before you start your internet cafe business.

Choose correct location, interior like furniture, wall decorations, and design for your Cafe should be appealing.
Choose correct location, interior like furniture, wall decorations, and design for your Cafe should be appealing.
You can offer branded Food & beverage services, coffee counter
Determine what to charge for computer time Type of computer equipment to purchase.
Check if you can provide WiFi network otherwise even wired network is also fine, but remember WiFi or wired, it should work most efficiently for an Internet Cafe.
Check best deals for peripheral equipment: printers, photocopying, faxing, scanners, telephone services & more
Offer fee internet classes which will attract elder people
Issue pamphlets on browsing, basic computer classes
Issue free teaching for making calls to foreign countries
Make money with computer LAN and Internet gaming Video conferencing, digital camera services, Resume services

All the best for starting your business.

Buying house - Where to begin from

2010-01-28T04:24:00.000-08:00

Buying a house is the real dream for almost 99% of the citizen. either it be a flat or independant house or bunglow or villa or anything, everyone has thought of buying one out of his hard earned money :) and this post is for those who want to buy it for the first time (ofcourse in India).

Step 1: Pre-approved loan - If you have enough money to buy house, then you can skip this step. otherwise go to an reputed housing finance company and submit your documents for a pre-approval of house loan. This way you not only get to know your eligibility, but you also get an option for legal opinion for unlimited property. Many banks / housing finance institutions charge 0.5% to 1% of the loan amount as processing charge. ofcourse I bargained for a fixed sum of Rs.10,000+service tax. Once you get a preapproved loan, it is valid for 1yr and if you dont find a house within a year, you can renew the approval for another 6months with a minimal service charge.

Step 2: Property Search - If you want to buy an

Apartment, you can visit reputed builder and check if they have any tieup with banks or housing finance institutions, so you can avail loan from them.

Individual house, then check for the below documents like, Encumbrance Certificate (EC), Sale Deed, Parent Sale Deed, Approval from CMDA/MMDA/DTCP etc, Corporation Tax book, Electricity book, patta, chitta, plan approval, water tax book from the seller

Approved Plot, then check for EC, Approval from CMDA/MMDA/DTCP , Sale deed for purchase of the land, Plan layout, layout should have ample public space provided for library, school, playground, park, road, community hall

Finally check if government has any proposed project coming in that area like railway line, road extension, overbridge etc which could affect the propety

Step 3: Price fix - Go to the neighbouring places and enquire about the prevailing prices and come to an average price of that area. If you have survey number, you can go to www.tnreginet.net/igr/guideline_value.htm and get the current guideline value of the land. Ofcourse actual market rate is almost double or triple the guideline value. If you have old building less than 30yrs, then calculate Rs.500 per sq.ft. of the total built up area, if new building calculate Rs.1200 per sq.ft of the built up area. Doing all these will give you an approximate rate for which you can buy that property. Bargain with the seller and fix the price

Step 4: Document verification - Get a photocopy of all the above said documents and submit it to the bank for legal advice and how much they can offer you for the property. Banks do a legal opinion and technical verification on the property and advice you to get any missing documents.

Step 5: Sale Agreement - prepare a sale agreement for 10% of the actual amount, pay the 10% amount in DD to the seller and get the sale agreement signed in all pages.

Step 6: Loan Approval - Submit the sale agreement in the bank and get the your loan approval for the remaining amount, which bank will provide a DD on the date of registration at sub-registrar office.

Step 7: Sale Deed - Get hold of a document writer and prepare the sale deed, and a quotation from them on how much stamp paper to be brought, how much registration fees to be paid, on whose name DD has to be taken.

Step 8: Registration - Once everything is ready, you can register your property

Ofcourse all these require personal experience when you go directly. This post is just to know the process and get a feel of it, because something is better than nothing, so get to know little about the process and then start with this. This is purely from my experience of buying a house :) there could be many other challenges coming on the way, ofcourse life is full of challenges.