You see the news reports every day. You see the numerous infomercials on the exciting and rewarding career as a pharmacy technician. This career choice is in high demand. Yes you may go to your local drug store, fill out an application, and become a pharmacy tech in no time. Wrong!!! That is the easy way and it’s the less rewarding way to become a pharmacy technician. If you want to go from a pharmacy technician with no credibility to a great pharmacy tech where employers are knocking down your door, you need to follow these steps to achieve the much needed success you desire and deserve.We live in an era where litigation cases have doubled. If you want to protect yourself from these money hungry henchmen, you must educate yourself and stay current on every aspect of your career field. Becoming a pharmacy tech has many benefits, but it also comes with a boat load of responsibility. Over the years, I have seen many organizations formed to protect the consumers and patients from the careless behavior of many health care workers. In order to protect you and get the much needed credibility that you deserve, many states are requiring that an exam is passed to work behind the counter of a pharmacy. So starting off, step number one in becoming a great pharmacy technician is passing the National Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam.Passing the pharmacy technician certification exam places you in an elite group of individuals. You may now practice in states that previously wouldn’t even allow you to apply. This exam goes in depth about many areas of pharmacy. Passing the exam lets employers know that you are competent. There are many areas of pharmacy that you may venture into, but the actual exam covers topics from every area possible. Whether you are going to practice in a retail setting or go for the higher wage and practice in an institutional setting, the exam will cover topics in both areas. If you want to go from good to great, try getting some hands on experience.Passing the certification exam is a start, but I would go a step further and get some type of formal training. Passing an exam gives you the mental knowledge, but getting hands on training puts you in the line of fire. You get to “get your hands dirty” so to speak. I attended a junior college and completed my pharmacy technician training. I received a technical diploma for all my hard work and dedication. Not only did I receive my technical diploma, I got the best hands on training in the form of an externship. There are many training facilities that are forming. When making your decision, only consider schools that are accredited and recognized by the different pharmacy organizations. So you have your certification out the way, you took your formal training at an accredited school for pharmacy, now for the final piece of the puzzle.The final piece of the puzzle is staying up to date on your CE requirements. CE requirements or also known as continuing education credits are credits that Certified Pharmacy Technicians must complete in a timely manner in order to stay in good standing or remain Certified. These CE credits can take the form of online quizzes given by accredited organizations, or it can even be lectures and seminars that are given all across the country. Although these requirements can be completed in a short amount of time, they are normally packed with enormous amounts of information that will be beneficial to the pharmacy tech.So there you have it. Some basic steps to take that can have a huge impact on your career as a pharmacy technician. Don’t be your average pharmacy technician. Go above and beyond on what the everyday pharmacy technician does to get a paycheck. Stand out from the crowd and be different. Take the simple steps to advance your career. Doing this will allow you to reap huge rewards in the near future.
Business Loans In Canada: Financing Solutions Via Alternative Finance & Traditional Funding
Business loans and finance for a business just may have gotten good again? The pursuit of credit and funding of cash flow solutions for your business often seems like an eternal challenge, even in the best of times, let alone any industry or economic crisis. Let’s dig in.
Since the 2008 financial crisis there’s been a lot of change in finance options from lenders for corporate loans. Canadian business owners and financial managers have excess from everything from peer-to-peer company loans, varied alternative finance solutions, as well of course as the traditional financing offered by Canadian chartered banks.
Those online business loans referenced above are popular and arose out of the merchant cash advance programs in the United States. Loans are based on a percentage of your annual sales, typically in the 15-20% range. The loans are certainly expensive but are viewed as easy to obtain by many small businesses, including retailers who sell on a cash or credit card basis.
Depending on your firm’s circumstances and your ability to truly understand the different choices available to firms searching for SME COMMERCIAL FINANCE options. Those small to medium sized companies ( the definition of ‘ small business ‘ certainly varies as to what is small – often defined as businesses with less than 500 employees! )
How then do we create our road map for external financing techniques and solutions? A simpler way to look at it is to categorize these different financing options under:
Debt / Loans
Asset Based Financing
Alternative Hybrid type solutions
Many top experts maintain that the alternative financing solutions currently available to your firm, in fact are on par with Canadian chartered bank financing when it comes to a full spectrum of funding. The alternative lender is typically a private commercial finance company with a niche in one of the various asset finance areas
If there is one significant trend that’s ‘ sticking ‘it’s Asset Based Finance. The ability of firms to obtain funding via assets such as accounts receivable, inventory and fixed assets with no major emphasis on balance sheet structure and profits and cash flow ( those three elements drive bank financing approval in no small measure ) is the key to success in ABL ( Asset Based Lending ).
Factoring, aka ‘ Receivable Finance ‘ is the other huge driver in trade finance in Canada. In some cases, it’s the only way for firms to be able to sell and finance clients in other geographies/countries.
The rise of ‘ online finance ‘ also can’t be diminished. Whether it’s accessing ‘ crowdfunding’ or sourcing working capital term loans, the technological pace continues at what seems a feverish pace. One only has to read a business daily such as the Globe & Mail or Financial Post to understand the challenge of small business accessing business capital.
Business owners/financial mgrs often find their company at a ‘ turning point ‘ in their history – that time when financing is needed or opportunities and risks can’t be taken. While putting or getting new equity in the business is often impossible, the reality is that the majority of businesses with SME commercial finance needs aren’t, shall we say, ‘ suited’ to this type of funding and capital raising. Business loan interest rates vary with non-traditional financing but offer more flexibility and ease of access to capital.
We’re also the first to remind clients that they should not forget govt solutions in business capital. Two of the best programs are the GovernmentSmall Business Loan Canada (maximum availability = $ 1,000,000.00) as well as the SR&ED program which allows business owners to recapture R&D capital costs. Sred credits can also be financed once they are filed.
Those latter two finance alternatives are often very well suited to business start up loans. We should not forget that asset finance, often called ‘ ABL ‘ by those Bay Street guys, can even be used as a loan to buy a business.
If you’re looking to get the right balance of liquidity and risk coupled with the flexibility to grow your business seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor with a track record of business finance success who can assist you with your funding needs.
Reasons Why SMS Marketing Is Better Than Any Other Mode of Marketing
SMS Marketing is better than any other mode of marketing? This might seem like a hot topic among marketers all around the world. Most of the marketing mediums have been available since decades, but the widespread of mobile devices has definitely changed the way every marketer treat these options in the marketing plans.SMS Marketing is known to come as a reliable option to reach out to end users with precise and targeted messages. Mentioned below is a complied data that compares SMS marketing with the other modes of marketing to give you an overview of their current standing as an effective marketing tool.1) Open Rate- Open Rate of SMS Marketing – 90%- Open Rate of other modes of marketing – 30 to 35%These numbers do not leave anything for us to debate on as your customer is bound to read your message sent via SMS.2) Quantity matters- Number of text messages; the lesser, the better- Number of emails or ads, the more the betterWe do not need to think about this twice. Just think about how you treat your messages and emails. If you keep receiving an email from the same address, there is a probability you might just open it once. With messages, nobody is tolerant towards unnecessary disturbance. The point of a text message is just to give out the required information in a precise manner and that’s what people expect from marketing messages.3) Nature of Campaign/SMSThe nature of the message is very vital for text messages and any other mode of marketing. For instance, if you have an offer or discount to offer to your customers, SMS Marketing is the perfect mode. No other medium of marketing will create an impact as text messages when discounts and offers are considered.4) Click – Through – Rate- The CTR of SMS Marketing – 40%- The CTR of other modes of marketing – 7 to 10%The reason why every marketer is taking SMS Marketing seriously is because of the wide penetration of mobile phones in the market. Mobile phones are affordable and within everybody’s reach and so are the data packages.And so, the possibility of the end-user opening the link sent via message, provided it is of their given interests, is much higher now than ever.Regardless to say, an SMS will always find a way in your customer’s inbox. Finally, it is safe to say that SMS marketing is a more effective tool than any other. Have you tried it yet?