Since 1994, I have lived in the south east of Spain, known as the Costa Blanca, the coastal region alongside the Mediterranean sea and the inland area known as the Vega Baja situated in the south of the Alicante province.

The Spanish people are extremely friendly, although like most countries, the bureaucracy can be a pain in rump. The health care system compares very favourably with Great Britain and is miles ahead of America. For those people living here in the Valencia Community and registered on the padron at their local town hall, health care is free. Private health care also costs far less. Residence is a right for European Union citizens and for others a reasonable income, such as a pension or a lump sum, (the amount depending on the location) is sufficient, along with a clean police record.

House purchase is a simple process, although it is necessary to use the services of an abogado (lawyer) to ensure that the property is fully legal and without any debts or embargoes attached to it.

The weather is the main reason that people re-locate or buy a holiday home in Spain. In this area of the Costa Blanca we average 320 completely sunny days per year, with an average Annual temperature 20 centigrade. I have just come in from the garden at 5.30 pm. on the first day in November, where I was basking in the late afternoon sunshine, with a temperature of 21 centigrade. The Costa Blanca has become very cosmopolitan during the last few years, with people coming from all over Europe to enjoy the stress free laid back lifestyle of southern Spain.
On our web sites: www.real-estate-shop-costablanca.com and www.alandres-properties-spain.com

You will find a wealth of information including: descriptions of towns and areas of interest, with maps and photographs. Advice & information pages, a re-sale property price list with photographs and a variety of new developments including golf complexes.

For those people considering moving to another country who are of working age, especially with young families, Spain is NOT the place to go. The children’s education would definitely suffer. Apart from the obvious difficulties in keeping up their studies while learning another language, the Spanish children are beginning to resent so many British children taking up the time of the school staff and bullying has become common. The only alternative is to send the children to a good private school.
With regard to working in Spain, you would need to be fluent in Spanish and possibly German to obtain a good position in an office based or professional post. The social security system is very different to Britain. A contract of one month is usually offered and after three of these the employer must offer an Annual contract, which obliges them to pay the social security of the employee if they dismiss them. This does not exactly encourage employers to take on staff for permanent employment.

In addition it is very difficult to gain employment with any Spanish company (at least that is our experience in the south east of the country) Ex. Pats seem destined to work in bars, clean swimming pools, building work, or sell houses (we worked out recently that for every new dwelling, there is a person trying to sell it). I have never seen a British driver in a Spanish taxi and there are no mini cab licences available in Spain. Spain is great place to retire to or to own a holiday home, but for working it would be best to got Australia or Canada. For those with capital and access to people with a good understanding of the Spanish bureaucracy and of business opportunities, Spain is a good option; the tourists industry, for example guest houses and the maintenance of properties are areas to consider

Alan Gunter: Alandres Properties Spain

Just think of how much money you are spending on cigarettes. $3,
$4, $6 a PACK? That is a lot for one pack of cigarettes. Now,
how many packs do you go through a day? One, two, three, maybe
more?

If you smoked a pack a day, in one year you would spend almost
$2000. Yes, Two Thousand dollars. Over $3600 if you smoked two
packs a day. Sticker shock? What would you do with an “extra”
$2000 dollars. Go on vacation with your family? Get that piece
of jewelery that a loved one has been talking about? Buy a new
wardrobe?

That is only one of the benefits of not smoking. Think of the
health benefits of not smoking. You will breath easier, cough
less, more energy, smaller risk of cancer the list goes on. You
will have whiter teeth and fresher breath, your cloths will not
smell as bad. A better sense of taste and smell will gradually
come back. Your skin will look healthier.

You will make your friends and family safer by not smoking
because they will not breath second hand smoke. Family and
friends will be proud of you for quitting. All the benefits of
quitting are positive and it will be for the better.

Strokes and heart attacks, are things for you to expect if you
keep smoking. There are no benefits to smoking. It makes your
skin wrinkly, makes you smell bad to people that don’t smoke,
shortness of breath, wheezing and coughing not to mention all
that money you spend on it. I have not even talked about future
medical bills. How much will treatments cost? They might not be
covered by your health insurance and cost hundreds or thousands
of dollars.

So take control of your life, health and happiness. Start the
process today!

Last week I had the privilege of spending some quality time with a dear friend. Unfortunately we live on opposite sides of the world, so we do not spend a lot of time together, but when we do get together it is an uplifting experience.

Paul, and his wife Glenys, have just finished moving into a beautiful new dream home that they have built. It was the first time that I had seen it, and after showing me through the house we went outside and looked out over their land. Paul pointed out where the large spa pool would be, and how there would be a lake over there, where the Monet bridge would be, and how the paths would be laid out.

I recalled how when we had last met, almost a year before, Paul told me that they had found a piece of land and bought it, and they were going to build their new dream home, a Quaker barn on it. He had described to me how it would look, what it would be made of, and especially how his new workshop would be laid out, and now he had just shown me through the actual completed building.

It reminded me of something I first heard from Jim Rohn, many years ago. Jim said something to the effect that humans were the only species that could start something after it was finished. What did he mean by that? He meant that we could completely build something in our mind before
we started physically building it.

So how does this relate to time management? Imagine if someone had visited Paul when he was just starting to build the house. All the materials are there on his land, and the visitor asked Paul what he was building. Imagine Paul had answered that he didn’t really know, but he would just see
what it turned into when it was finished. Do you think that Paul would now be living in his dream home? I very much doubt it.

But many of us live our lives by just seeing how it turns out. We would never just collect up some building materials and start putting them together and see how it turns out. But we do get up in the morning, do whatever we are in the habit of doing during the day, and then go back to bed, and
repeat the process day after day. We build our lives by taking whatever comes to us each day, and putting it together to see what it turns out to be.

Consider how much more productive it would be if we didn’t get up in the morning until we had decided what we would build with our day. We would usually move ourselves a step closer to our goals each day, in spite of what the day threw at us.

When we are born, we all start out exactly the same, with essentially the same potential. From then on we use that potential differently, and achieve different results. By understanding how and why we achieve different results, we can take control of our results from this day on, and change the whole direction of our lives.

The ‘Power of the Mind’ training gives a deeper understanding of how we can establish worthwhile and meaningful goals, and then move toward achieving them day by day. Go to
http://www.mypowerfulmind.com/page/page/1819535.htm to find out more.

Tony McGlinn runs personal development programs, writes and is a personal coach and consultant. You can visit him and subscribe to his newsletter at http://www.mypowerfulmind.com/page/page/1653324.htm

Closing the sale, that mystical, elusive, magical moment when your sales presentation climaxes and the “Tipping Point” is reached, is really just the beginning. Your relationship with your new customer will grow from here. Or will it? That, my friend, is up to you.

Getting the order is great! Getting paid is even better! Enjoying the benefits of a new, long-term customer relationship is priceless. As political strategist James Carville would say, “It’s the relationship stupid.” This new, fledgling relationship must be cultured and grown like any other. Careful attention and concern must be administered. Time and attention must be invested and cultivated for all to benefit.

In this day and age, most customers assume quality, they assume quick delivery, they assume a competitive price, but they demand proper attention. Your level of customer service must be finely tuned so that the efforts made by you and your company are perceived to be quite individualized and properly applied. Customers may forgive errors, but they will not forgive lack of attention. Mistakes, properly and quickly addressed usually will not hinder the relationship, even if a compromise is required, but if you forget about them after you receive that order, it may be the “kiss of death” for the relationship. You will be vulnerable to the next salesperson that comes along to court that customer.

How do you pay proper attention to your customer? The answer varies by industry and needs, but there is a baseline which I believe to be a common denominator among most customers. At the very least, include each customer contact in your newsletter or ezine list. Ask your inside customer service personnel to make a quick monthly or quarterly phone call “just checking in” on the pulse of their general satisfaction. Send a customer survey annually requesting their input on your customer service performance. Send a regular, personalized email announcing some new product or service that they might be interested in learning more about. Mail a copy of a news story or clipping from a newspaper or industry publication where your customer or contact has been featured. Include a short note complimenting them.

If you really want to separate yourself from the other competitive companies and salespersons, send a short, personalized, hand written “thank you” card or note after receipt of the order. This effort almost never happens and you will be remembered for it.

The close of the order is indeed the opening of the door to your long-term relationship with your new customer. Treat them well, never forget them, be attentive to their needs and keep asking for additional opportunities to be of service and you will have a profitable, growing, long-term customer relationship.

Daniel Sitter, author of the highly anticipated book, Superior Selling Skills and the popular, award-winning e-book, Learning For Profit, has extensive experience in sales, training, marketing and personal development over a successful 25 year career.

http://www.learningforprofit.com

The research in support of dietary omega-3 fatty acids (such as in fish oils) continues to flood the scientific literature. This is perfectly predictable given our genetic roots. In the wild, eating natural raw foods, we would be consuming large amounts of omega-3 fatty acids daily. But today, on processed, grain-based diets, we get little.

Instead, we have dramatically increased the consumption of omega-6 fatty acids. Although these too are essential in the diet, their excess results in a pro-inflammatory response that lies at the base of a mix of modern degenerative diseases such as arthritis, autoimmunities and heart disease. The natural diet should have a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 of about 1:1, but today is more like 20 or 30 to 1! See a problem?

Certain fish, algae, some vegetables, grass-fed meats, wild meats, high omega-3 eggs, seeds such as flax and supplements help. Variety is always important. Any food may contain toxins, so varying the diet gives the body an opportunity to detoxify.

For example, fish can contain the toxins methyl mercury and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), both by-products of our industrial age that gravitate into water. These are lipophilic (fat loving) and thus are present in fish oils and then tend to accumulate in our fat depots when consumed. This is a consideration for dieters since the lipophilic toxins in fat stores that are being rapidly melted away can flood the body, potentially creating a toxic shock. (Not an excuse to not lose weight here, just a caution on radical weight loss or repeated yo-yo dieting.)

This is also of particular concern for pregnant and nursing moms since these toxins can transfer to and accumulate in the fetus, increasing the risk of abnormalities, disease and weakness.

Increasing the amount of omega-3s is not easy and requires a purposeful shift in dietary habits. Official dietary agencies are recommending about 0.65g/day of omega-3s (EPA, DHA) for pregnant and lactating women, and about 1g for people with cardiovascular risk. (These are conservative. In the wild we would naturally consume much more.) To obtain the 1g/day level, 210g of canned light tuna in oil would need to be consumed or about 50g of farmed Atlantic Salmon. Fish type is important, with the cold-water species having the highest concentrations of omega-3s.

Other fish such as tilefish, swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tuna steaks increase the risk of mercury exposure. One can estimate that PCB intake parallels fish consumption.

Omega-3 dietary supplements vary widely in omega-3 content, ranging from 50% to 150% of label claims. Supplements can as well contain mercury and PCBs. Omega-3s are very fragile and can easily convert to toxins themselves when exposed to heat, light, air and water so supplements should be chosen carefully and stored properly.

My feeling is the risk from the toxins is less than the risk of not increasing omega-3s in the diet. For example, the concentration of PCBs in supplements ranges from 2% to 43% of recommended safe levels. If fish are eaten as the main source of omega-3s, variety is what will decrease the risk.

The wise course is to follow the Optimal Health Program, which will help you return to your dietary roots, including, wild-type foods, raw and fresh as much as possible and appropriately designed supplements. Shop for high omega-3 food options and keep your intake of antioxidants high to protect these fragile oils when they are consumed. Supplements should be chosen carefully, be oxidant protected, properly packaged in light- and oxygen-barrier packaging, and kept frozen until consumed.

In the end, omega-3s are not a new scientific discovery. They are just part of the diet we are genetically programmed to eat. If we had not veered from that design in our eating habits, the omega-3 “discovery” would be meaningless. This is yet another lesson that paying attention to our natural design provides the best hope for prevention and optimal health.

Dr. Wysong is a former veterinary clinician and surgeon, college instructor in human anatomy, physiology and the origin of life, inventor of numerous medical, surgical, nutritional, athletic and fitness products and devices, research director for the present company by his name and founder of the philanthropic Wysong Institute. He is author of The Creation-Evolution Controversy now in its eleventh printing, a new two volume set on philosophy for living entitled Thinking Matters: 1-Living Life… As If Thinking Matters; 2-The Big Questions…As If Thinking Matters, several books on nutrition, prevention and health for people and animals and over 15 years of monthly health newsletters. He may be contacted at Wysong@Wysong.net and a free subscription to his e-Health Letter is available at http://www.wysong.net