One of the reasons I enjoy working with Photoshop is that I could never learn all the bells and whistles the program has too offer, so I find it exciting when I learn a faster and better way to compete a task.

The latest version has a few gems that definitely will speed up those tiresome everyday jobs.

Patch Tool:

When you're using the Patch Tool to patch a source area, you get a live preview of the area that you're going to replace. This gives you more control over how your selection will align with the destination. Also, the Patch Tool now has a “Transparent” check box in the options bar, which lets you ignore areas of relatively flat colour when blending.

Obviously, the best way to avoid having to chase clients for money is to make sure you do business with organizations that pay their bills regularly. But there will be times when you are in the position of having to “persuade” the customer to pay up.

Characteristics of Effective Collection Letters:

• ‑Ensure key details such as goods purchased, payment terms and payment options are clearly presented. This will minimize misunderstandings and ambiguities.

Every aspect of your professional life (as well as your personal life) is affected by the result of a negotiation at one time or another. In fact, most people spend the majority of each working day engaging in one type of negotiation or another. It makes good sense, therefore, to learn how to negotiate well so as to generate as many Win-Win outcomes as is feasible.

Good negotiations ultimately end up strengthening and building the communication process between people rather than detracting from that.

This month I would like to focus our attention on viruses and spyware. You may be unaware of their presence but the growing impact of these “malwares” have been wreaking havoc on the Windows platform, adding to the list of problems associated with computing. If you visit the Internet, you may inadvertently install unauthorized software on your computer.

There are several versions of spyware and malware that can be secretly installed on your computer. These applications gather information about your surfing habits such as recording the sites you visit, your keystrokes, passwords, etc. When a connection to the Internet becomes available, this information if then transmitted back to their source.

Are you sick of hearing about taxes yet? Here's a little secret: springtime brings full employment for accountants and tax preparers because it's tax time! There are lots of individuals grinding away to make sure their clients pay the taxes they owe. The problem is, they are not necessarily ensuring that their clients pay the least amount of tax… and that could cost you.

This problem is actually easy to solve and it starts with you, the client. You have a perception of how things ought to be. However, reality may actually bear no resemblance to that perception and that is where many people get trapped. They make assumptions based on inadequate knowledge and experience, and subsequently make decisions based on information which may, in fact, be 'out to lunch'.

The Lord of the Rings is not only a masterpiece of entertainment; it is loaded with lessons that are applicable to everyday living. While Frodo's journey appeared to be an unplanned excursion with impromptu decision-making, there were many patterns of leadership and implementation that worked together to bring about the journey's success.

Managing a printing business is also a journey. Here are ten principles of marketing and business development that you can use to enhance your business adventure.

There are three myths with regard to all salespeople. The quicker you can debunk them, the better your sales team will perform.

Myth #1

Just because your salespeople have all the information about your company's products or services and have been selling them for several years does not mean that they remember all of the information. Furthermore, on top of not remembering all of what they were taught, most sales training programs consist of 80% product training and 20% people skills while ironically, success in sales depends on 80% people skills and 20% on product or service orientation.

What would your life look like if you had no fear? What kinds of things would you do if you lived from a frame of reference that your thoughts literally could form your world? How brightly would your light shine if you stepped out of the limitations that are keeping you small and stretched yourself well past your comfort zone into the place that you know, deep within, you are meant to be?

Authentic leadership does not come from your title or from the size of your paycheck. Instead leadership comes from your being and the person that you are.

Here are 10 things that authentic leaders do on a regular basis:

OAQP's upcoming Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, April 21st will include a facilitated discussion on the state of the industry, its effects on members and how OAQP can help its membership. We want to hear from you on which services and what direction OAQP should take in the coming year.

To promote a lively discussion at the AGM, let's review a few industry forecasts. For example, Print Outlook, the annual NPES Economic and Political Forecasting Conference held in Washington last December 2003, explored ways to prosper in a time of limited market growth and increasing competition. According to conference observers Stephen Aranoff and Robert FitzPatrick, while the industry is in transition they believe that   print is still a growth opportunity if, and only if, companies can understand the forces that will affect profitable growth in the future and are prepared to make the changes necessary in product offerings and business process to align themselves more closely with customer requirements. This will also identify the potential for value-added customer requirements before customers themselves ask for them.

If you are new to using a scanner – or perhaps not so new – the process of getting an acceptable scan is sometimes a total mystery. No matter how great the scans may appear on the monitor, unless one develops an understanding of the underlying concepts and principles of the operation, you may never get the final result you're trying to achieve.

Often, a properly scanned image will look much better than an image scanned carelessly at twice the resolution.   This tutorial emphasizes a quality of data approach to film scanning over quantity (resolution).  

Case studies on applying the latest digital technologies enticed over 200 print technology aficionados to the 12th Annual GATF Tech Alert Conference in Pittsburgh, February 8-10. The keynote address highlighted printing application that the most innovative printers will look forward to capitalizing on.

“I believe that the printing industry has an opportunity to capture new revenue streams from the soon to be created printed electronics market,” said Dr. Daniel Gamota, Senior Manager of the Organic and Molecular New Products Department at the Motorola Advanced Technology Center. He expects conventional printers to be the key resource in assisting to roll out inexpensive organic transistors manufactured into a variety of traditional printed products.

Many business owners dream of the day their sons or daughters will follow in their footsteps and assume control of the business. The owner has spent years, maybe even decades, building up the company. He or she is convinced it should, and will, remain in the family.

As a business intermediary – someone who sells a business on behalf of the owner – I see this kind of "succession planning" frequently. On the surface, it sounds very simple and natural, but the reality is much more complex.

(Part two of a three part series)

An example of how a trend creates business opportunities is the pizza industry. Back in the early 1960s, pizza was primarily a snack food eaten in a restaurant. But by the 70s, consumers were picking up pizza to eat at home and pizza delivery took off. As its popularity grew, competition increased and so did the marketing hype. Pizza is now available in every shape, size and convenience. Each time we ate a pizza we unwittingly participated in growing the trend, which is just a small slice of the enormous fast food trend.

The pizza trend didn't appear overnight nor was it the result of a savvy entrepreneur who envisioned the whole process. The trend built momentum as it went through stages of innovation, awareness creation and market adoption.