CRM is the acronym for Customer Relationship Management. It enables organizations to manage their customers through a reliable process and provides procedures for interacting with those customers. A successful CRM solution to support CRM processes needs more than just installation and integration of CRM software.

A good CRM system includes more than just software. It includes employee training, modifying business processes to reflect customer’s needs and a computer system for the small business CRM software. The IT CRM services enable the business to follow its CRM strategy more intently. CRM services can also negate DX position of additional hardware or CRM software licenses.

The term CRM can describe either the software or the business strategy that is geared towards customers’ needs. CRM is a whole business strategy and not just a software solution application. CRM for small business focuses on the automated process, information gathering/process and self-service. Its purpose is to integrate and automate the customer service process within a business.

A CRM solution can not only manage and run your whole business but it can keep track of things from prospect/client contact tools to billing history and even e-mail management. It will allow you to maintain a customer database that you can access from any computer in your business with password security.

A good integrated CRM solution will offer software that covers both front office and back office solutions the front office is where the data is collected from customers for processing and then it is sent to a database or the back office where it is used to fulfill and support customer orders. Every bit of customer information is stored in the customer database. The back-office portion of the software makes it possible for you to keep track of sales, orders and cancellations. It also allows for web based lead tracking. This allows everyone to know immediately if a lead is lost and why, the source that produced the lead, when a follow-up call or appointment is made, a sale is entered, an installation started and finished, payments received, and services performed.

Some Thoughts First

Don’t take relationships for granted! My experience MAY help you keep your girlfriend (or friend) happy & prevent you from completely pushing her out of your life.

I met my ex at the tail end of the summer outside of a local bar. We went to the car wash, taco bell, and so on … blah blah… She was wearing this boyish, english soccer looking calor shirt. Too funny. Definitely not my type (or little did I know?) Fast Forwarding - We spent the year together building a business & relationship. I treated her terrible and she left.

I FF’ED UP! I miss her & feel complete(ly) incomplete now.

Some spend their entire life searching for their other half, the person they can tolerate as they get old, hairy & ugged up — and never find it. I did. And I lost it just as easily; the only person I could be myself around and the only person I trusted around me. The point is, this type of loss is something you probably want to avoid at all costs. Loss is always a bad feeling but the loss of love is up there with a heroin addiction.

After what I have been through the last 4-5 days (and still going through), I recommend you do NOT take your relationships for granted. I’ve undergone some serious pain and introspection the last week and it hasn’t gotten any better. Let’s just say I was not functioning like I was last year — having the time of my life, hooking up with 26 different women in 1 summer.

I couldn’t believe her parents got involved — and in the middle of our relationship (we are in our mid 20’s . . . so that is a bit unusual to say the least). Not to mention her parents are in the middle of separating. Oh, and her father has the same name as me. I’m sure none of that helped — you know, her Mother is separating from someone at this very moment with someone that has the same name as me!!! She must have loved this. It’s like two best girlfriends breaking up with their boyfriends at once for liberation! LOL.

I think she knows I mean well — in my own way, so I would have hoped for her to come straight-up to me and worked with me. All communication was completely cut-off and her family requested that I never contact her again. I couldn’t even apologize. She broke up with me a month or two ago (of course this is after she spent several months pursuing me to be her boyfriend — nature took its course and slapped me in the face after I gave in) but I felt us drifting away nearly 6 months ago. I wasn’t that “awesome guy” anymore that picked her up – I had lost value through my needy, jealous, mean, consuming, unappreciative ways. . . and I know I’ve changed over this past year. I slept with someone a few days after we broke up and stopped in the middle, got up, grabbed a beer and walked in my backyard. My body & mind just didn’t agree with it. How crazy is that??!

Just 5 days ago now, she left my life completely. I lost the girl I wanted to marry and now I lost my BEST FRIEND – and I can’t even say I’m sorry!!! That just ain’t right!

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My Experiences, Introspection & Tips

This list probably only covers 10% of my experiences but here are some thoughts, things that went wrong and tips regarding the past year & my relationship with my ex. I put the first four at the top intentionally. They probably would have made the most significant impact on keeping a solid relationship.

• Don’t have sex with her right away. Get to know her for at LEAST a week, go out to a variety of places, hookup, but no sex. After you have grounded eachother, start having sex.
• Don’t cut off your other girlfriends & don’t stop having sex with other girls. Even if you believe she is the one, don’t start cutting off your current girlfriends and DO NOT stop having sex with them. This will create a roadmap for failure. You quickly lose perspective of the girl you “may” like or love once you lose relativity. To gain relativity, you must always maintain relationships with other girlfriends (including sex). When there are solid commitments (with rings – exchanged), slowly cutoff sex with others.
• Respect & Befriend her family. If you want a long lasting relationship with her, make sure to respect her family. When you come over for dinner, bring a gift, wine, etc… Be polite, shake hands with her parents and call them Mr. and Mrs.
• Respect & Befriend her friends. Especially her best friends. Not only will it strengthen the bond between the two of you, it will give you a place to start when you are having relationship issues or when you want to buy your girlfriend a gift and need some ideas. Invite her friends to your place.
• Don’t cut her off while she’s talking. This is a general rule in life – let people speak. When they are done talking, its your turn. Don’t speak over her. This was a daily F$)(@UP for me, amongst many other things. I would constantly cut her off and never let her finish. Now all I can think about hearing her talk and saying nothing. Ironic?
• Don’t keep her waiting. If shes waiting on you and you believe you may not be ready soon enough, tell her to leave without you. Don’t keep telling her you’ll be ready in 5 minutes and make her wait an hour.
  
• Don’t yell over the little things. Looking back, almost everything I was mean and yelled about could have been completely avoided. Even work related issues, billing, mistakes – none of it really mattered in retrospect. I could have just helped to correct it and it wouldn’t have made one bit of difference. Think before you speak — and I bet you will realize 10 out of 10 times, it is not something to get upset about.
• When you bring other girls out, make it clear who they are. Don’t lie about girls you bring out to hang out with you and your girlfriend, even if it’s a joke – she won’t like it. If you once dated the girls you are bringing out, be straight forward and let your girlfriend know. It may hurt your girlfriend to find out afterwards that you may have been hooking up with that girl as well at one point.
• When shes in your bed, STOP working and hug her! This was one of my biggest mistakes. All I can think about now when I am working at 9:30PM is all of the times I had the most amazing woman in my bed practically begging me to hug & sleep with her, and I chose to work every single time. Before bed, she would wait on me, just to be next to me and hug me, she would play games in a notebook, play on the computer and finally just came back to bed, rolled over and fell asleep. I usually went to bed after she was asleep, passed out, and left her feeling completely unwanted.
• When she cooks you dinner, give her a massage. The best pasta and chicken I’ve ever tasted. Love went into the meals she cooked. If you have a girl that cooks for you, you better thank her when she does and make her feel loved for taking the time to feed you. I was normally the only one (besides my father) who ate her food. She barely ate it !!! and yet, I showed almost no appreciation other than saying, “Thank You”.
• When she scratches your back, scratch hers too! Seems so silly, yet it was probably one of the real deal breakers. Every single day, every single night, she would scratch my head & back. Before bed, she’d make me dinner then scratch my back. I would constantly tell her I would do it another time and never did it! I can’t believe I couldn’t take 5 or 10 minutes to scratch her back and massage her … and make her feel loved.
• Buy her gifts on special occasions (anniversaries) and non-occasions. Listen to what she likes when she talks & buy her gifts, no matter how small. On holidays, make sure you buy her something nice. On occasions, such as anniversaries, give her a gift and take her out dancing. The girl I was with took me to Outback, scratched my back and I fell asleep like a loser. If I could turn back time, I would have planned a mini vacation, taken her to a SPA, gotten her tanned up, fed her, bathed her, and massaged her all night (amongst anything else she requests J). My ex- got me a pimped out jacket, a awesome ring I never wore because I was too lazy and the cutest stuffed animals ever – Dalmatians (her favorite only to her last dog that was put to sleep).
• Wear the gifts she gets you. If she bought you a coat, wear it. If she bought you a ring, wear it. If she makes you a necklace, wear it. If she rips your jeans, wear them every day until they smell bad (but not really — you don’t have to wear it EVERY day. . . but do wear it when you can). Showing her you respect what she gets you even if they aren’t your favorite items is showing her appreciation and it will go a long way.
  
• Drive her to bars and let her get drunk. Drive her places and let her drink. Be the designated driver. My ex took me everywhere and drove me anywhere. To bars, to train stations, to the airport . . . and I never once took her anywhere. I never just stopped to think, “hey, she does this for everyone – maybe she needs a break”.
• Take her out for her birthday. Plan something special for her birthday. Take her to her favorite restaurant and anywhere she wants. Don’t make her decide – figure it out for her. Bring her breakfast & flowers as soon as she wakes up – or even leave the flowers and a card on her doorstep before she wakes up. Not only did I NOT take her out for her birthday, she got me coffee in the morning, drove to great adventure and I completely ruined the day by ignoring her (yes, literally ignored her the entire day) – because I was jealous of her and her girlfriend. She cried in front of her brother and I lost all credibility with her, her family & my friends.
• Don’t force her to make all of the decisions. Make decisions together and try to make decisions for her. Don’t always rely on her to make decisions. I could never make my mind up about anything. I would constantly nag her to make the decisions and it really got to her, she hated it – yet I ignored it thinking it was not a big deal.
• Be there for her. When she reaches out to you for help, help her. Talk to her family. Comfort her. Just help damnit! LOL … My ex must have asked me for help 1,000 times and I brushed it off my shoulders every time. I’d tell her to just get over it instead of trying to understand what was wrong. Ahhhh. Big mistake.
  
• Don’t discourage her to try new things. If your girl wants to go take some new classes at college, WHY NOT??? What is so bad about that? There is NO experience like a NEW experience and I got so caught-up in my own world that I forgot this. Really, nothing is really an experience unless its new. Let her explore. Encourage her to try new things, take college classes, take yoga, etc… and maybe even buy her tickets to classes without asking her. Find out what she likes & wants to do — then buy her tickets for it. You should do the same, go out, try new things, have fun. Life is short.
  
• Don’t let your family or friends influence you. This one is probably the most common and most difficult to avoid. If family and friends tell you the girl is no good, ignore them. They have no idea what’s going on in most cases. It’s like people who say something isn’t healthy to eat yet they don’t even know the ingredients.

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Screenshot of a text message a girlfriend met 20 minute after meeting my family

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• Don’t let your parents disrespect her. This is a tough one but I advise you do whatever you can to make sure your parents respect the girl as long as she is respectful. I let my father yell at her & he was very nasty with her. I should have spoken up – she deserved that and more. Also, let her stand up for herself even if it’s to your parents.
  
• Introduce her to your friends and strangers as “Your Gorgeous Girlfriend”. I remember being at the gym and some guy was telling me how hard it was for him to get girls. Less than one minute later, me ex walks in to meet me for dinner. I hardly introduced her but now that I’ve had time to think about it, I should have put her on a pedestal and introduced her as “My Gorgeous Girlfriend”
• If she works for you for a month or two for FREE, make her a partner of the business. This one came out of left field. The trend I had been on, I never thought I would meet a girl intelligent or kind enough to work on building a business with me. My ex worked day and night, for free, and I didn’t even make her a partner. She helped me build a semi-successful full time operation from my house, generated thousands of dollars and financial security for the both of us. The entire time she felt she was like a partner, a girlfriend… like a wife, and I didn’t treat her with any respect at all. I should have made her a partner and gave her the respect and ownership she deserved. I gave her a 10% contract and completely insulted her.
• Dont get jealous. If you are anything like me, you’re probably saying, “I’m not the jealous type” . . . and I truly wasn’t. I’d gone through girls like water. This isn’t the first girl (or first 10) that never wanted to speak to me again (LOL) but it is the first I actually care about. My best advice is to set the expectation immediately. Let her know that you are OK with her hanging out with her family and friends. Let her know you want & need space away from her (be sincere — really want space away from her!!) Take that a step further and let her know you are OK with her hooking up or having sex with other guys. When I told her I would accept such behavior, I meant it. I was sincere & this approach has had proven to be successful. This may seem counter intuitive but it works. I made the mistake of caring too much and simply fell off the tracks.
• Until you are married, keep an open relationship. This is another counter intuitive piece of advice. Tell her you need freedom to at least socialize with new people (including women). Letting her see you are desired by other women is a GREAT thing. When you are no longer desired by other women, your woman may desire you less, naturally. Competition is healthy and keeps the relationship strong. Let her see other women want you and that “pre-selection” switch will be turned on forever (credit: Mystery Method) like a flywheel that pushes itself. Part of proving value is proving you are a leader and desired to mate by others.
  
• Please her sexually. Ask her & find out what she likes. I’d rather not even get into this but you get the idea. I did the absolute opposite. I never asked what she wanted once. Find out what your girl likes and how she likes it & DO IT!
• Don’t look at her nasty when you are both naked. You probably have no clue what this means because I might have been the only guy to do this. I have a phobia of being naked and seeing naked bodies, even my own. I would look at my ex with a disgusting face when we were both naked. You don’t have to throw a party every time you are naked but avoid making her feel uncomfortable (& concentrate on making her feel comfortable).
• Don’t make her feel like she is unoriginal. Not sure why I did this? I would constantly ask her if she copied something she said or did from a friend and make her feel like she had no original thoughts. But why??? 99% of what we say and do are because I learned it from somewhere else. So why did say anything at all?
  
• Don’t guilt her about ANYTHING, including going out with other people. Sometimes when you love someone, you just don’t want to be without them. Giving each other space is healthy and a necessity for all relationships. Once again, in retrospect, there were times I would have also loved that space to be alone or with friends but I was scared of what would happen if I wasn’t around her.
• TRUST HER. Trust in a relationship is give and take. If you don’t trust her, she won’t have a reason to make you trust her.
• Lastly & Most Important. Pay attention to the signs she gives you & always try to gain her perspective. This is the hardest one for me to write about because there were so many signs and I missed every single one. She begged me to come over, spend time with her parents and friends. She invited me to dinners. She wanted to vacation. She wanted to eat at new restaurants. She wanted to go do different things. She started distancing herself on the weekends until I never saw her anymore Friday through Sunday. She always seemed to be “happier” or just generally happy around others, her friends & family — and much less around me. She would act different around me and different with her friends. She started lieing about little things, where she is going, who she is going out with. I quickly went from someone she seemed to want more than anything in the world, to someone she had to free herself from, block my emails, block my messages, change her phone numbers, etc… I was always so busy in my own perspective – thinking, “so what? We fought, I was mean, I didn’t respect it – we can get over it” . . . that I never took her perspective and saw how poor my behavior became. I went through most of the relationship thinking none of my actions affected hers. I thought not scratching her back, not appreciating her, not hanging out at her house, not doing ANYTHING for her …….was the right way to act in a relationship – it wasn’t, it just got worse until she had no energy left in her body for me. I also didn’t have much of a family life, so I was not really sure how I was supposed to act around family outside of my own. Still, I am a grown up and none of this is an excuse for what has been done.

Pay attention to her & put yourself in her shoes.

She is WORTH IT!

Or …. find out for yourself — You’ll be walking around your house carrying the stuffed monkey you bought for her on Valentines Day. Trust me — it’s not worth it!!!

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I wasn’t always a jerk!

…. But…. don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t ALWAYS a jerk. Here is a partial screenshot of a birthday card I made my ex:

And that’s not all. I educated & motivated her. I tried to show her its OK to move on and not get stuck in the “college” mode just because every single one of her friends was in college, partying and acting like “a college kid”. She admitted to being a follower and I tried to show her she didn’t have to follow anyone anymore …she could divert and start down a new path in her life, a new chapter.

She learned to work hard and was great at it. I introduced her to jogging — the one thing I kept close to my heart and never did with women because it was mine. . . I shared that special activity with her and she could never see how important it was or how much it meant to me when we jogged together. She even started jogging with everyone else BUT me as time passed (similar to how she started doing EVERYTHING with everyone else but me) — after all of the good I know I did, I am left with the short end of the stick. And that being the #1 reason I never wanted a serious girl in the first place.

I tried to listen, I tried to give her a gift on her birthday she would believe was thoughtful, I tried to give her a bonus check at dinner to show her my appreciation, I tried to leave her little notes basically saying … “dude, I appreciate you, I love you”, I tried to give her a pony, but I suppose she thought I was perfect and all of the bad I did countered all of the good.

Bottom Line is: I miss her. I miss her breaking my toaster. I miss her breaking my bed & crying about it . . .feeling like anything she touches breaks — because I was there to hug her and let her know its OK, it’s not a big deal.

She motivated me to work hard, wake up every day happy . . . she even motivated me to learn to swim, without knowing it, after spending the last 20 years not knowing how to swim. She isn’t perfect either & has flaws like everyone else. She didn’t trust herself or her instincts. She would constantly look to outward, others and follow their direction. I still accepted her for who she is because NO ONE is perfect.

The one takeaway here is that I gave her way too much power in the end — almost begging her to work with me and telling her I love her. That was a big mistake. It completely was like playing tug of war and just letting go of the rope. The right thing & hardest thing to do would to have been to just let her go first …. and free myself from her. I’m still not sure how things got so crazy! For the first few months I was pulling my hair out and interviewed several new girls to take her spot. All I had to do was find someone & let her go! None of this would have happened BUT I am glad it did. No matter who had the power, no matter who was right and who was wrong, no matter if human nature took over and made her feel the more I wanted her, the less attracted she was to me ………. I fell in love & that is awesome.

It’s a shame to think after all that we’ve been through, I have to think of her like every other girl I met at a bar that I hooked up with and then just faded away…..& completely forgotten about — so sad, really.

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The Magic Gift

I’d constantly refer to this magic gift I bought for her but never gave it to her. I couldn’t find the right time to finish it up because I was so damn busy.

I call this gift, “the first step” because its the first step to any real commitment I’ve ever made. “The First Step - M & C” …engraved within that was so close to being complete (conceptually) and my buddies at liquidators enjoyed lending me a creative hand. This ring was to symbolize my love & commitment to someone other than myself for the first time.

Not to mention I bought her something else months ago that I also never gave her …

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Moving on…

While every situation is unique, getting a girl back is the same as getting her in the first place. You are either the one pushing or pulling. If she broke up with you, agree with it and thank her for it! The toughest part about most relationships (in my experience) is that breakups happen over and over. People that date tend to break up and get back together. Breaking up and getting back together gets harder usually for only one party involved with each breakup (how many times do you hear about mutual breakups?). BUT sometimes, breaking up can be a good thing — giving you time to think, time to miss each other and inevitably make your relationship stronger. . .if you are both strong enough to make it full circle & back to each other, that is.

After reading the above, it’s hard to disagree that this is beyond the typical breakup but what would life be like without such an experience?

Moving on & forward is rough. . . especially because we aren’t doing it together.

Halloween used to be just for the kids to dress up. Not anymore. It is a chance for adults to be kids again. They dress up during the day for work and then they dress up for the evening parties. The problem adults, face just like the kids, is choosing their costumes. But for the adults it’s not the same type of choice. For adults it is, “Do I choose a sexy costume or do I choose a scary custom?”

Typically, young ladies when they dress up sexy can be thought of as a player or a tramp. Yet, on Halloween it makes no difference. They can dress up sexy and look hot without being worried about being classified. In fact, young adults in college are known to buy more costumes and any other adult group.

Do not get me wrong, older adults are also dressing sexy just like the younger crowd. A typical adult costume purchaser is usually married with young children. And they are usually young mothers who are trying to rekindle the spark in their merit. Young adults are usually trying to re-create that feeling they had in their youth.

Halloween is one of those times of the year that is fun for everyone, no matter how old you are. Sexy Halloween costumes come in all sizes from 0 to size 26. Now the type of costume men usually by his usually the rude or hilarious at. While women were usually choose the cheerleader, vamp or scantily clad witch. There are many Halloween accessories to go along with these adult costumes such as glamorous makeup, long wigs and even spiked heels that give women a chance to dress up and act sexy without any guilt.

H. Halloween adult parties get more and more popular and women are dressing to attract attention at office parties. Businesswomen will usually let their hair down, buy a glamour wig, dress to show off their femininity because they normally are reserved and wear suits to work. Halloween is the perfect opportunity to dress for fantasy and seduction without feeling promiscuous or silly for anyone.

Enjoy Halloween fun!

Crafters need to reduce, reuse and recycle too! That old pair of low rise jeans can be put to good use by the craft are in your house. Old denim can be used to make a large variety of projects and usable crafts. I’m going to tell you how to make a pocket that is very simple and useful.

First you will need to cut the back pockets off an old pair of low rise denims. Make sure that you cut through the seat of the jeans all round the hip pocket. If you would like to create fringe make sure that when you cut that you cut approximately 4-5 inches below the pocket. This will give you added material at the bottom of the pocket. To make the fringe will cut that for each strip in 1/4″ wide strips up to the bottom of the pocket. Then simply wash it to trigger the fraying.

Now at the inseam from one of the legs of the jeans and attach it to the back of the pocket. This will become your shoulder strap. Of course, if you prefer you can use decorative cording instead. At the very top of the pocket you will need to insert the snap so that your pocket can be securely closed. If you have access to a stud machine, use studs to fold over the flap at the top of the pocket on the backside.

Of course, you could attach a shorter strap and hang this on the wall double beanie babies, small toys, and your keys or just about anything you can think of. You can use fabric paints, beads, more fabric for appliqués and many other ways that you can decorate the pocket. This is a fantastic dinner for a child or a preteen.

Now if you are really feeling crafty, you could always go to the next size up your denim pocket. For this pocket or better yet pouch you cut the legs off those old lowrise jeans and then you cut through the crotch. Now you have what looks like a skirt. Lay it flat and trim the material so that is straight across. Turn it inside out so that you are looking at the wrong side denim (the side that is whiter). So the bottom edge together. I would recommend double stitching to make sure that it holds.

Now, just as with the smaller pocket, cut the inseam out of one of the legs or you can use decorative cording. You can even use both. Threaded through the belt loops and tie a knot. You now have a whole string out with pockets on the outside. An alternative to do this is to put snaps in the waistband of your old lowrise jeans and sew the inseam or decorative cording at each hip for your shoulders for.

This is a great gift for a young teen, as they can decorate it themselves using fabric paints, beads, more fabric, and appliqué, there are all kinds of ways you can decorate your denim pouch.

Try making a few of the pockets and hang them together on a wall, back of a door or anywhere. When the small pockets are hung together they have a great effect. The denim pouch makes a good accessory for a young teenage girl.

Denim can be used for many projects. It is just one of many great ways to recycle old lo rise jeans.

Aspirin is no exception what caused comes to treatment failures as with any drug. Some people may not respond to the anti-coagulant action of aspirin, which means the drug will not protect you against cardiovascular events despite its regular use.Aspirin resistance has two possible explanations according to Professor Szczeklik. High levels of blood cholesterol can promote coagulation itself. In patients with high cholesterol levels, aspirin in normal doses has hardly any anti-clotting effects, whereas treatment with a statin significantly reduces blood clotting. aspirin will exert anti-coagulant effects only when blood cholesterol is in the ‘normal’ range in patients with coronary heart disease.

The reason for aspirin resistance may be in a patient’s genetic makeup. Patients carrying one particular gene are resistant to the anticoagulant action of aspirin and are at risk or acute coronary events. So knowing your cholesterol and staying on top of it is a key part of taking charge of your cardiovascular health. The CardioChek Self-Test System gives you the ability to determine your cholesterol, any time, any place with a small drop of blood from a finger stick.

A direct LDL cholesterol test for use at point-of-care by physicians, pharmacies, and other healthcare professionals. This breakthrough in direct LDL testing eliminates the need for patients to fast prior to testing and wait for test results from a laboratory. The new direct LDL test from PTS provides results in about two minutes at point-of-care, giving physicians immediate information to identify at-risk patients and, if required, issue prescriptions for cholesterol-lowering medication or suggest lifestyle changes.