Hardwood Floor Refinishing - Do It Yourself Tips

If you're lucky enough to find hardwood floors hiding under your tired carpeting, you might feel like covering the wood back up. That's understandable because refinishing the floors yourself seems like an impossible task.Hardwood floors were a common feature in houses until the 1960s. Before that, having wall-to-wall carpet was considered a luxury upgrade. From the 1970s on, most homes had wall-to-wall carpet in nearly every room. However, tastes change, and over the last couple decades, hardwood floors have once again become fashionable and desirable. Oftentimes, when I'm talking with someone about fixing houses, they ask if refinishing hardwood floors is something they can do themselves. Unless the person has a physical reason why they can't do it, I generally say yes. However, I also remind them that redoing hardwood floors takes a great deal of time, sweat, and elbow grease. As a general rule, floors of fifty square feet or less can be sanded by hand, but for any floor larger than that, rent or buy a small orbital sander. Everything necessary for doing it yourself will be available at your local hardware store. You can buy a pretty good electric sander nowadays for less than 0, which can be a good investment, especially if you're planning to work on your home on a regular basis.The first layer to be removed is often a thick wax coating, followed by a coat of either polyurethane or varnish. A heavy duty commercial wax stripper can remove the wax, and then a lacquer thinner or acetone can be wiped on to prepare the wood for the next step. If there are any carpet tacks or pieces of old nails in the wood, remove them first. The remnant of a nail can tear up sandpaper, damage a sanding pad, and do serious damage to the palm of your hand, so check carefully to make sure all remnants of tacks and nails are gone before you begin sanding. Fill all nail holes with a quality wood filler, matching the color as closely as you can, and let it dry. Then you're ready to begin sanding the floor with 220-grit sandpaper, whether by hand or with a sander. When you're done sanding, wipe the entire floor with a damp cloth to remove as much sanding dust as possible. Damp cloths work better than vacuum cleaners. Let the floor dry, and then wipe it again with a tack rag, which is a cloth impregnated with resin to pick up fine dust particles. Again, your local hardware store will have what you need.After the floor is as clean as you can get it, apply three coats of polyurethane with a paint pad, allowing each coat to dry thoroughly, lightly sanding with 220-grit paper, and wiping the floor with a damp cloth and a tack rag between coats. If you prefer an old-fashioned finish, you can use a 50/50 mixture of linseed oil and mineral spirits and then wax the floors with beeswax or paste wax. Take caution with the chemical mixture and the rags because they can catch on fire. You can refinish hardwood floors yourself. It just takes time and effort--and a good set of kneepads wouldn't hurt, either! Once you finish, you'll have a gorgeous floor to be proud of and ready for that next "do it yourself" project--perhaps the next room with hardwood floors. Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Hardwood Floor Refinishing - Do It Yourself Tips

Hardwood Floor Refinishing - Do It Yourself Tips
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Author Jeanette Fisher, America's "Dream Home" Maker, teaches interior design, redesign, and home staging. You can ask her questions on her Amazon blog or see http://www.designpsych.com for free home decorating teleseminars.

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How To Write A Book And Get Published - What You Must Know

Want to write a book? You can. You start writing, and you keep going. At around 80,000 words, you've got yourself a book. Now what? You sell the book to a major publisher, hit the bestseller lists, and order your new cherry-red Ferrari.

That's how writing a book and getting published works. But if you try to follow that process - just sit down and start typing - the chances that you'll sell the book are slim. To sell your book you need to know the kind of book you're writing before you start, and also whether there's an audience for that kind of book. It sounds unfair, but in order to sell your book, you have to prove to the publisher that people will want to read it.

What Kind of Book are You Writing?

How To Write A Book And Get Published - What You Must Know

Most new authors start on their book writing and publishing adventure by reading a book and getting inspired. They don't think about the kind of book they're writing, or who would want to read it.

There are basically two kinds of books: truth and lies, otherwise known as nonfiction and fiction (novels). Some hundred thousand books are published in English each year, both nonfiction and novels. You must know what kind of book you're writing before you start.

Let's imagine that you've read a Harry Potter novel, and you're so enthusiastic that you're inspired to write your own children's novel. The words pour out of you; you're on fire. You write and write and write, and the pages pile up on your computer's hard drive.

This is great. While you're writing, ask yourself: "In a bookstore, where would this book of mine be shelved?"

If you're not sure, go to a bookstore and wander around the shelves. Is your book in the nonfiction section? In the children's section? In the romance novel or mystery section?

If you're inspired by Harry Potter, you know you're writing a children's novel. Imagine your book on the shelves, right beside the rows of Harry Potters.

This isn't an idle exercise, or a fantasy. You must know what you're writing, so please visit that bookstore. "What is it?" is the first thing an agent will want to know when you contact her to represent your book. It's also the first thing an editor at a publishing house will want to know.

So, what are you writing? If you don't know, or aren't sure, think about it and visit a bookstore if you need to. You can write a book and get published if you know what you're writing, and who will want to read it.

How To Write A Book And Get Published - What You Must Know
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Discover how YOU can write a book and sell it with Angela Booth’s Just Write a Book Blog at http://www.justwriteabook.com/blog/ Angela helps you with the writing process, and demystifies the publishing trade. Read Angela’s blog, and subscribe to her popular freelance writing ezine, Fab Freelance Writing Ezine at [http://fabfreelancewriting.com/ezine/fab-freelance-writing-ezine.html] Yes, you can become a published author: imagine YOUR book stacked on the shelves in bookstores. If you want to write a book, you can.

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ISBN - What Does it Really Mean?

ISBN = International Standard Book Number

Most small and self-publishers know that an ISBN is a necessary number that identifies their book within the book industry. But what do all those numbers actually mean? Can anyone look at an ISBN and extract any useful information?

Let's consider what the 13 digits in an ISBN mean to the book industry (publishers, wholesalers, distributors, libraries, and retailers).

ISBN - What Does it Really Mean?

First, note that you may encounter two versions of ISBNs -- the ISBN-10 and the ISBN-13. Besides three more digits, what's the difference?

A few years ago, the ISBN folks realized that they would soon exhaust the mathematical possibilities of the 10-digit format. Too many books were being published in too many different formats. The solution was obvious -- expand the format to incorporate more digits. You might think that adding three more digits would increase the available numbers by a factor of 1,000...but you'd be wrong.

It only doubled them.

How could that be? you might wonder.

To answer that question, consider the bar code on the back cover of a book. You will usually find the ISBN printed in human-readable form (i.e., in numerals) just above the bar code. Up until a couple of years ago, that would have been the 10-digit ISBN. Then, during a transition period, it frequently included both the 10- and 13-digit forms of the ISBN. Now, most newly published books will show only the ISBN-13 (although some are still including both). You might also have noticed that there are human-readable numerals sort of embedded along the lower edge of the bar code. Those digits are the ISBN-13...and always have been (even when there was no such thing as an ISBN-13).

In the days of only ISBN-10, a book's bar code with its embedded numerals (technically known as the Bookland EAN, or European Article Number) consisted of the ISBN-10 plus a 978 prefix and, usually, a different final digit.

Now, with the implementation of ISBN-13, the ISBN and the Bookland EAN will be identical, including the final digit.

Confused yet? Hold on. Let's decode an ISBN-13 to help clear things up.

The ISBN-13 and Bookland EAN, consist of five distinct parts:978 or 979 prefix (all this means is that the number refers to a book -- after all, the EAN is used for a lot of other non-book products with their own unique prefixes) Group or country identifier (for books published in the English group -- meaning the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. -- this will a "0" or a "1") Publisher prefix (this can from two to seven digits, depending on the size of the specific block of ISBNs) Title identifier (this is actually the part that is assigned to a specific title, edition, and format published by the publisher identified by the publisher prefix) Check digit (the last digit in the ISBN, always just a single digit, that is calculated using a specific mathematical algorithm and only really matters to computer databases and such -- you don't have to know how to compute it)
Note: To date, nobody has been assigned an ISBN block with the 979 prefix, although R. R. Bowker expects to begin issuing those later this year. Since the ISBN-13 system allows for only two book-prefix possibilities (either 978 or 979), the change to ISBN-13 only doubles the available possibilities. One mystery solved.

Real-World Example: 978-1-934631-21-8

What does that string of numbers tell us?

Right away, you can see the "978" prefix that tells us this is a book. The next digit, the "1" following the first hyphen, says it was published in one of the English group countries. The next set of digits (934631) is the publisher prefix. If you looked up this prefix in one of the industry databases, like Books-in-Print, you would find out that "934631" identifies Slipdown Mountain Publications LLC...and only Slipdown Mountain Publications LLC. Nobody else will ever be issued that specific publisher prefix.

The next set of digits (21) represent one specific title, edition, and format in the block of "934631" publisher-prefix ISBNs. In this case, it is the first edition of my own book Devil in the North Woods and, specifically, the e-book format of that book. No other book will ever use the title identifier "21" with the publisher prefix of "934631" and the group identifier "0." And that's what makes it unique. And what makes sure nobody orders an e-book format for this book when they really wanted the paperback format.

Note: The paperback format of that same book has a different ISBN (in this case 978-0-9746553-1-4, which also has a different publisher prefix since our company owns two different blocks of ISBNs although both point only to us).

And then there's the final, check, digit (8, in this case). The check digit calculation involves applying a mathematical algorithm to all the preceding digits (which is why the check digit for the ISBN-10 format is almost always different than the check digit for the ISBN-13 format of the same basic ISBN). The check digit can also be an "X," which is used if the check digit calculation results in "10."

By knowing the publisher prefix, you can immediately determine the size of that block of ISBNs. Since there are only 13 digits total, and the 978 (or 979 eventually) plus the group identifier always total four digits and the check digit is always a single digit, there are only eight digits left to work with. In the above example, the publisher prefix is six digits, leaving only two digits to assign to specific books and, thus, only 100 possibilities (00-99). Therefore, this represents a block of 100 ISBNs.

Since self-publishers usually buy a block of 10 ISBNs and small publishers typically buy a block 100, anyone who cares can quickly determine the size of your publishing venture. And they can determine that even if you leave out the hyphens...but that's a lengthy subject better suited for a follow-up article.

If the ISBN for your book was assigned by one of the many subsidy publishers (who prefer to call themselves "self-publishing companies" or "POD publishers"), the publisher prefix will clearly designate that subsidy publisher as the publisher-of-record. Which means you did not really self-publish at all, as far as the book industry (trade journals, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, libraries, etc.) is concerned. Having a subsidy publisher listed as your book's publisher is like starting your at-bat with two strikes already counted against you.

And that's probably not the way you want to launch your book's marketing campaign.

ISBN - What Does it Really Mean?
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Walt Shiel is the Managing Partner and Publishing Mentor at Five Rainbows Services for Authors & Publishers, a subsidiary of Slipdown Mountain Publications where he serves as Publisher. Besides offering a full range of affordable publishing solutions, Five Rainbows can tailor a mentoring program to help you achieve your specific goals for your book! And be sure to check out Walt's View From the Publishing Trenches blog.

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Linear Regression Analysis - Interpreting the Intercept in a Regression Model

The intercept (often labeled the constant) is the expected mean value of Y when all X=0.

Start with a regression equation with one predictor, X.

If X sometimes = 0, the intercept is simply the expected mean value of Y at that value.

Linear Regression Analysis - Interpreting the Intercept in a Regression Model

If X never = 0, then the intercept has no intrinsic meaning. In scientific research, the purpose of a regression model is to understand the relationship between predictors and the response.  If so, and if X never = 0, there is no interest in the intercept. It doesn't tell you anything about the relationship between X and Y.

You do need it to calculate predicted values, though.  In market research, there is usually more interest in prediction, so the intercept is more important here.

When X never =0 is one reason for centering X. If you rescale X so that the mean or some other meaningful value = 0 (just subtract a constant from X), now the intercept has a meaning. It's the mean value of Y at the chosen value of X.

If you have dummy variables in  your model, though, the intercept has more meaning.  Dummy coded variables have values of 0 for the reference group and 1 for the comparison group. Since the intercept is the expected mean value when X=0, it is the mean value only for the reference group (when all other X=0).

This is especially important to consider when the dummy coded predictor is included in an interaction term.  Say for example that X1 is a continuous variable centered at its mean.  X2 is a dummy coded predictor, and the model contains an interaction term for X1*X2.

The B value for the intercept is the mean value of X1 only for the reference group.  The mean value of X1 for the comparison group is the intercept plus the coefficient for X2.

Linear Regression Analysis - Interpreting the Intercept in a Regression Model
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And now I would like to invite you to learn more about interpreting regression coefficients, including centered predictors, interactions, and more, in one of my FREE monthly Analysis Factor Teleseminars: "Interpreting Linear Regression Coefficients: A Walk Through Output." Visit http://www.analysisfactor.com/learning/teletraining4.html to get started today.

© 2008 Karen Grace-Martin â€" Statistical Consultant and founder of The Analysis Factor

Karen Grace-Martin has helped social science researchers practice statistics for 9 years, as a statistical consultant at Cornell University and at The Analysis Factor. She knows the kinds of resources and support that researchers need to practice statistics confidently, accurately, and efficiently, no matter what their statistical background. To get answers, advice, and a list of resources to help you learn and apply appropriate statistics to your data, visit http://www.analysisfactor.com

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Glossary of Common Accounting Terms

Bling Lingo made simple

Today...again...I was scratching my head over an accounting mess, for which the owner had paid a bookkeeper many dollars over many years. How did it happen? If you don't know the basics, you are a sitting duck, my friend. You know, accountants do it on purpose. They use weird words to make you think that they are smarter than you are. To keep you in the dark. Or, the less nasty ones just don't know better.

Good accountants and bookkeepers want you to learn the lingo. They want to help you make the bling, baby! So, read and learn. Keep this glossary handy as you work with your professional money managers. Use it to begin your journey to financial literacy!

Glossary of Common Accounting Terms

Bling Lingo - Glossary of common Accounting Terms...

ACCOUNTING EQUATION: The Balance Sheet is based on the basic accounting equation. That is:

Assets = Equities.

Equity of the company can be held by someone other than the owner. That is called a liability. Because we usually have some liabilities, the accounting equation is usually written...

Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity.

ACCOUNTS: Business activities cause increases and decreases in your assets, liabilities and equity. Your accounting system records these activities in accounts. A number of accounts are needed to summarize the increases and decreases in each asset, liability and owner's equity account on the Balance Sheet and of each revenue and expense that appears on the Income Statement. You can have a few accounts or hundreds, depending on the kind of detailed information you need to run your business.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE: Also called A/P. These are bills that your business owes to the government or your suppliers. If you have 'bought' it, but haven't paid for it yet (like when you buy 'on account') you create an account payable. These are found in the liability section of the Balance Sheet.

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Also called A/R. When you sell something to someone, and they don't pay you that minute, you create an account receivable. This is the amount of money your customers owe you for products and services that they bought from you...but haven't paid for yet. Accounts receivable are found in the current assets section of the Balance Sheet.

ACCRUAL BASIS ACCOUNTING: With accrual basis accounting, you 'account for' expenses and sales at the time the transaction occurs. This is the most accurate way of accounting for your business activities. If you sell something to Mrs. Fernwicky today, you would record the sale as of today, even if she plans on paying you in two months. If you buy some paint today, you account for it today, even if you will pay for it next month when the supply house statement comes. Cash basis accounting records the sale when the cash is received and the expense when the check goes out. Not as accurate a picture of what is happening at you company.

ASSETS: The 'stuff' the company owns. Anything of value - cash, accounts receivable, trucks, inventory, land. Current assets are those that could be converted into cash easily. (Officially, within a year's time.) The most current of current assets is cash, of course. Accounts receivable will be converted to cash as soon as the customer pays, hopefully within a month. So, accounts receivable are current assets. So is inventory.

Fixed assets are those things that you wouldn't want to convert into cash for operating money. For instance, you don't want to sell your building to cover the supply house bill. Assets are listed, in order of liquidity (how close it is to cash) on the Balance Sheet.

BALANCE SHEET: The Balance Sheet reflects the financial condition of the company on a specific date. The basic accounting formula is the basis for the Balance Sheet:

Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity

The Balance Sheet doesn't start over. It is the cumulative score from day one of the business to the time the report is created.

CASH FLOW: The movement and timing of money, in and out of the business. In addition to the Balance Sheet and the Income Statement, you may want to report the flow of cash through your business. Your company could be profitable but 'cash poor' and unable to pay your bills. Not good!

A cash flow statement helps keep you aware of how much cash came and went for any period of time. A cash flow projection would be an educated guess at what the cash flow situation will be for the future.

Suppose you want to buy a new truck with cash. But that purchase will empty the bank account and leave you without any cash for payroll! For cash flow reasons, you might choose to buy a truck on payments instead.

CHART OF ACCOUNTS: A complete listing of every account in your accounting system. Every transaction in your business needs to be recorded, so that you can keep track of things. Think of the chart of accounts as the peg board on which you hang the business activities.

CREDIT: A credit is used in Double-Entry accounting to increase a liability or an equity account. A credit will decrease an asset account. For every credit there is a debit. These are the two balancing components of every journal entry. Credits and debits keep the basic accounting equation (Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity) in balance as you record business activities.

DEBIT: A debit is used in Double-Entry accounting to increase an asset account. A debit will decrease a liability or an equity account. For every debit there is a credit.

DIRECT COSTS: Also called cost of goods sold, cost of sales or job site expenses. These are expenses that include labor costs and materials. These expenses can be directly tracked to a specific job. If the job didn't happen, the direct costs wouldn't have been incurred. (Compare direct cost with indirect costs to get a better understanding of the term.) Direct costs are found on the Income Statement, right below the income accounts.

Income - Direct Costs = Gross Margin.

DOUBLE-ENTRY ACCOUNTING: An accounting system used to keep track of business activities. Double-Entry accounting maintains the Balance Sheet: Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity. When dollars are recorded in one account, they must be accounted for in another account in such a way that the activity is well documented and the Balance Sheet stays in balance.

You may not need to be an expert in Double-Entry accounting, but the person who is responsible for creating the financial statements better get pretty good at it. If that is you, go back through the book and focus on the 'gray' sheets. Study the examples and see how the Double-Entry method acts as a check and balance of your books.

Remember the law of the universe...what goes around, comes around. This is the essence of Double-Entry accounting.

EQUITY: Funds that have been supplied to the company to get the 'stuff'. Equities show ownership of the assets or claims against the assets. If someone other than the owner has claims on the assets, it is called a liability.

Total Assets - Total Liabilities = Net Equity

This is another way of stating the basic accounting equation that emphasizes how much of the assets you own. Net equity is also called net worth.

EXPENSE: Also called costs. Expenses are decreases in equity. These are dollars paid out to suppliers, vendors, Uncle Sam, employees, charities, etc. Remember to pay bills thankfully, because it takes money to make money. Expenses are listed on the Income Statement. They should be split into two categories, direct costs and indirect costs. The basic equation for the Income Statement is:

Revenues - Expenses = Profit

(You'll see a profit if there are more revenues than expenses!...or a loss, if expenses are more than revenues.)

Remember, all costs need to be included in your selling price. The customer pays for everything. In exchange, you give the customer your services. What a deal!

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: refer to the Balance Sheet and the Income Statement. The Balance Sheet is a report that shows the financial condition of the company. The Income Statement (also called the Profit and Loss statement or the 'P&L') is the profit performance summary.

Financial Statements can include the supporting documents like cash flow reports, accounts receivable reports, transaction register, etc. Any report that measures the movement of money in your company.

Financial Statements are what the bank wants to see before it loans you money. The IRS insists that you share the score with them, and asks for your Financial Statements every year.

GENERAL LEDGER: Once upon a time, accounting systems were kept in a book that listed the increases and decreases in all the accounts of the company. That book was called the general ledger. Today, you probably have a computerized accounting system. Still, the general ledger is a collection of all Balance Sheet and Income Statement accounts...all the assets, liabilities and equity. It is the report that shows ALL the activity in the company. Often this listing is called a detail trial balance on the report menu of your accounting program. The detail trial balance is my favorite report when I am trying to find a mistake, or make sure that we have entered information in the right accounts.

GROSS PROFIT: This is how much money you have left after you have subtracted the direct costs from the selling price.

Income - Direct Costs = Gross Profit. When this is expressed as a percentage, it is call Gross Margin.

This is a good number to scrutinize each month, and to track in terms of percentage to total sales over the course of time. The higher the better with gross margin! You need to have enough money left at this point to pay all your indirect costs and still end up with a profit.

INCOME STATEMENT: also called the Profit and Loss Statement, or P&L, or Statement of Operations. This is a report that shows the changes in the equity of the company as a result of business operations. It lists the income (or revenues, or sales), subtracts the expenses and shows you the profit J! (Or loss L.) This report covers a period of time and summarizes the money in and the money out.

The Income Statement is like a magnifying glass that shows the detail of activities that cause changes in the equity section of the Balance Sheet.

INDIRECT COST: Also called overhead or operating expenses. These expenses are indirectly related to the services you provide to customers. Indirect costs include office salaries, rent, advertising, telephone, utilities...costs to keep a 'roof overhead'. Every cost that is not a direct cost is an indirect cost. Indirect costs do not go away when sales drop off.

INVENTORY: Also called stock. These are materials that you purchase with the intent to sell, but you haven't sold them yet. Inventory is found on the balance sheet under assets. It is considered a current asset because you will convert it into cash as soon as you sell it. Beware of turning cash into inventory. You may run out of cash. Work with your suppliers to keep inventory SMALL.

JOURNAL: This is the diary of your business. It keeps track of business activities chronologically. Each business activity is recorded as a journal entry. The Double-Entry will list the debit account and the credit account for each transaction on the day that it occurred. In your reports menu in your accounting system, the journal entries are listed in the transaction register.

LIABILITIES: Like equities, these are sources of assets - how you got the 'stuff'. These are claims against assets by someone other than the owner. This is what the company owes! Notes payable, taxes payable and loans are liabilities. Liabilities are categorized as current liabilities (need to pay off within a year's time, like payroll taxes) or long term liabilities (pay-back time is more than a year, like your building mortgage).

MONEY: Also called moola, scratch, gold, coins, cash, change, chicken feed, green stuff, BLING, etc. Money is the form we use to exchange energy, goods and services for other energy, goods and services. Used to buy things that you need or want. Beats trading for chickens in the global marketplace.

Money in and of itself is neither good or bad. I want you to make lots of it, and do great things with it!

NET INCOME: Also called net profit, net earnings, current earnings or bottom line. (No wonder accounting is confusing - look at all those words that mean the same thing!)

After you have subtracted ALL expenses (including taxes) from revenues, you are left with net income. The word net means basic, fundamental. This is a very important item on the income statement because it tells you how much money is left after business operations. Think of net income like the score of a single basketball game in a series. Net income tells you if you won or lost, and by how much, for a given period of time.

By the way, if net income is a negative number, it's called a loss. You want to avoid those. The net income is reflected on the Balance Sheet in the equity section, under current earnings (or net profit). Net income results in an increase in owner's equity. A loss results in a decrease in owner's equity.

RETAINED EARNINGS: The amount of net income earned and retained by the business. If net income is like the score after a single basketball game, retained earnings is the lifetime statistic. Retained earnings is found in the equity section of the Balance Sheet. It keeps track of how much of the total owner's equity was earned and retained by the business versus how much capital has been invested from the owners (paid-in capital).

Each month, the net profits are reflected in the Balance Sheet as current earnings. At the end of the year, current earnings are added to the retained earnings account.

Glossary of Common Accounting Terms
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Ellen Rohr is the President and Founder of Bare Bones Biz, a business training and consulting company that teaches clients how to turn big ideas into successful businesses. Rohr is the successful author of numerous business basics books, including: Where Did the Money Go? - Accounting Basics for the Business Owner Who Hates Numbers and How Much Should I Charge? - Pricing Basics for Making Money Doing What You Love.

Ready to make more money? Go to http://www.barebonesbiz.com NOW and sign up to receive the latest information on our FREE monthly Teleseminars, Biz Exposes and New Bare Bones Biz Products.

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