The Napoleon Hill classic, Think and Grow Rich, has continued to pose a challenge for readers ever since its publication in 1937. Hill claims to have implanted his secret to gaining wealth within the pages of the book in such a was that is is ‘hidden’ whilst it also remains in plain view. Actually, the secret is in two separate parts. The first part, he talks about openly, however, the second part is not at all so obvious.

When I first read the book myself, over twenty years ago, I can say that I was probably not ready to receive the secret. Needless to say, I didnt. However, many years later, I was motivated to reread the book and, still, the secret did not leap out of its pages and stand before me as the author suggested it would when the time was right.

I began to search the internet to see what other people had to say about Hills secret; and I found many people who claimed to know it too. Some wanted to sell the secret and some gave their interpretation of it, but I found that almost no two versions of the secret were the same. So I began to think, for a while, that there was no secret at all; and later still, that the secret was that there is no secret.

However, at one stage, I had quite an insight. I remembered that Hill had said that people like William Wrigley Jr., John Wanamaker and William Jennings had all used the secret to become wealthy. So I figured that one way of finding out the secret for certain would be to work out what it was that they all did in common. Sadly, this line of investigation turned out to be completely fruitless.

A friend of mine told me that he thought the secret was entirely subjective. He said that people had to figure it out for themselves; and that, he said, was why Hill had not specified anything in particular. In the end, the secret boiled down to pretty-much anything the individual believed it to be.

One day, however, it just came to me almost completely out-of-the-blue. Just as Hill had said, it leaped off-the-page, metaphorically, and stood before me. I knew, intuitively, that I was right as soon as the secret struck me; and I also knew at last why Hill had not just openly revealed it in the first place. So, will the secret make me rich?

Well, I began using the secret immediately; and I plan to use it in a more direct way in a project I have coming up in the near future. However, I can report that the use of the secret is indeed having a positive effect on the results I am getting right now, so I am convinced that I finally do have the real secret.

We have a nice little book on the subject that you can download completely free if you would like more information on the secret. Get it today and start putting it to use: your life will never be the same again.

Technorati Tags: abundance, getting rich, Law of Attraction, Making Money, napoleon hill, personal development, prosperity, secret, self improvement, success, think and grow rich

It has now been two years since the launch of ITIL (R) Version 3, the new version of best practice guidance for service management from the OGC (Office of Government Commerce). For these past two years, the administrators of the new qualifications scheme (APMG), together with examination institutes and training providers, have been busy getting the new ITIL Expert qualification off the ground.

But the whole thing could be dead in the water before it has even got going properly according to the most recently published figures for ITIL training. It seems that whilst the foundation course is popular for version 3, the more advanced training courses have been rather slow to take-off.

The large number of courses now required to be completed and corresponding examinations to be passed in order to obtain the expert qualification may, to a large extent, be responsible for the low demand at the intermediate level. The older V2 Service Sanager certificate could be completed, start to finish, in only 13 days whereas the new ITIL Expert qualification would now take up to 27 days to finish.

The new scheme, with its existing three levels of training – and a future fourth level planned – may be good for examination institutes and training providers, but is it really what the market wants? Well, at present, people seem to be voting with their feet, so to speak, by simply not attending the intermediate courses.

Also, whilst the old V2 qualifications scheme is still running, it makes little sense for people to pursue the new route to the professional qualification when you can also get it through the V2 route simply by doing a bridging course at the end. And this track is not only cheaper, but quicker and more convenient for most people.

Although the new scheme is still in its infancy, APMG really need to begin addressing the issues early. This means closing-down the old V2 scheme as a matter of priority if they are really committed to getting version 3 rolling.

Technorati Tags: best practice, Business, guidance, itil, itil v3, itsmf, ogc, project management, service management, tso

Birthday parties are something the just about every parent will give their child. It used to be that a birthday party was simply a cake some ice cream, a poster of a donkey and all the kids in the neighborhood. Today, that has all changed. If fact it just would not be a birthday party with out renting a bounce house.

If you are in the bounce house rental business or are thinking about getting into the business, the good news is that it is really taking off, and you can generate a very lucrative income with little effort.

A bounce house rental business can very easily be a home-based business, and that can be a good thing. With so many companies laying off workers, it is hard to put your trust and financial security in the hands of these companies. Many parents really would rather stay home and work then to shuffle the kids to daycare anyway.

It is a simple business to get started in. You can begin with just one unit that will run you about $2,000.00 for a commercial grade bounce house. You will want to make sure you have insurance, but after that, you are ready to rent out your product and start turning a profit.

You probably already know people who have kids and birthday parties. If you are a parent, your kids can be a great source in finding kids who will be having birthday parties. To get started, you could offer a couple of parents a really good deal on your bounce house rental. In exchange, ask them to spread the word. Word of mouth is great for business.

Many families will also have more than one birthday child in any given year so you can start to build relationships, and repeat business. As you grow your business, you can start to accumulate more and more bounce house inflatables and always be in a position to offer a new experience.

With all of the choices in styles and functions of the inflatable units, you will be able to offer your customers so much more than just a bounce house. These inflatable units also come as a water slide or an obstacle course. You can then offer your clients a water park, or turn the party games into a challenging obstacle course race to the finish.

Some inflatable unit will include the bounce house, the water slide and the obstacle course all in just one unit. They also come in many different themes. For example, you could offer the racetrack theme, the princess castle theme, the jungle safari theme the all American sports theme just to name a few.

A Bounce house is really lucrative but with the added activities of other types of inflatables, your business will bounce even higher and you will stay ahead of your competition.

Your customers will come back to you over and over again when you are in a position to offer the different styles and activities. So get creative and set yourself apart.

There is so much opportunity for growth in the bounce house rental business due to the new products always coming out. So if you only start out with one, keep an eye on the future, because you will expand.

Technorati Tags: birthday parties, bounce house, Business, home based business, inflatables, water slide