The health and fitness industry is getting ready for a fight. More specifically, personal trainers are getting ready for a few verbal confrontations.

The reason? Fitness and weight loss clients are going to want to take another easy route instead of putting in the hard work required to loss weight and stay healthy. Personal fitness trainers are going to have to be ready to set their clients straight. Another diet pill may soon be marching its way into everyone’s kitchen cupboards.

The health advisory board for the FDA has voted to recommend over-the-counter sales of a weight-loss pill now sold only as a prescription medication.

The drug company GlaxoSmithKline is hoping before the end of this year, customers will be able to buy the fat-blocking pill without a doctor’s prescription. This will be the first over-the-counter diet drug to win approval from the Food & Drug Administration. As a personal trainer, this is obviously something that would be of concern to me.

You see, even if the pill can safely deliver weight loss, no lifestyle changes have been learned. What will happen is limited time weight loss that will return once the pill use has stopped. In essence, it is reverse steroid use. Just like the guys that get big muscles for 12 weeks and then lose it all just as quick, the weight will come back for pill popping dieters. The reason is the lack of knowledge and dedication to do it the slow and right way. The way that takes correctly applied effort.

The good news is that the drug company still needs final FDA approval before it can sell an over-the-counter version of the diet pill orlistat which is now sold by prescription under the brand name Xenical. My concern is not with chronically obese people that are at health risk. Sometimes for sake of life or death, a doctor supervised weight loss program including medication is necessary for short term and meaningful weight loss.

My concern is for the young people and middle aged babyboomers with 30-50 pounds to lose. I’m afraid that there will be confusion between what a Fat Blocker and weight loss pill really do. This over the counter pill will block fat, which does not mean that with this pill you can consume all the chocolate you want. You get fat by eating too many calories. You can block fat, but you still have to watch sugars and other excess calories.

If orlistat gets approval it will be the first weight-loss drug given over-the-counter status. The pharmaceutical company Roche is going to continue to sell Xenical regardless of the outcome from the FDA.

If we could all show a little self control in our diets and get outside to enjoy life the way it is supposed to be enjoyed, we wouldn’t need to put these foreign substances into our bodies.

If you are sitting on the couch, get up. There is plenty of time for rest in the grave. If you can’t stop putting food in your mouth, figure out why the only satisfaction in your life is overfeeding your body and change. Take care of yourself, enjoy life and stop padding the drug company’s wallets.

Ray Burton writes for the Exercise Website. He has trained for Golds Gym, World Health Club and the Canadian Military. Ray enjoys helping people live better lives through his fitness tips newsletter and free medication information section.

Ask most people why they’re in law school, and having graduated from one, I believe they’d reply: “To make a buck, of course!”

Ask most athletes why they have chosen that occupation, and though they too can earn top dollar, I think many would respond, “I love to play!”

But why do people choose to become writers?

Writing is a solitary endeavor; in fact, someone once said it is one of the few that “resists collaboration.” (I’ve tried to tell this to overbearing editors, without much effect.)

Except in those rare conclaves where, under amazing pressure, teams craft nightly comedy skits and monologues for TV, I believe this statement is true.

I’m fairly sure writers are introverts, except of course, when they’re mingling with other writers. If you were a people-person, it would probably drive you nuts to have to regularly lock yourself away just to drive your fingers, relentlessly, into a keyboard.

I think the thing that drives writers to write is the same impulse that is disturbing creative types so much that they feel they just have to paint, or to act, or to sew.

It’s an imperative, a “must-do,” not a “want to do” type of thing.

Perhaps this is why so many of us are willing to earn so little at it, settling for paltry book advances, and penurious bylines, when we could be making the big money and great benefits, sweeping bar coded items through Safeway’s scanners.

So, my question is probably backwards.

Instead of, “Why do people choose to be writers?” we might more profitably ask, “Why does writing choose so many people?”

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Many people do not believe that your height has anything to do with your success in life, yet you should realize that it indeed does. Studies have shown this time and time again. Human height in the present period does have great advantages as to upward mobility. Now if you are not a tall person, that’s okay because there are downsides also.

Tall people generally do not live as long as shorter folks and there are medical studies to prove this. Many medical researchers believe it has to do with the heart having to work extra hard to pump all that blood from your toes to your head. After a while as one ages it becomes increasingly more difficult.

Never the less the taller you are the better chances you will make more money in your job and have better upward mobility in society and work and it makes sense that in sports tallness is a positive attribute; that is to say basketball, football and other sports, as there is an obvious advantage to height.

But you ask your self why does it help people at work, in negotiation or upward mobility in society, politics or just getting ahead? Well I have many theories on this actually. For instance someone who intimidates others often gets their way more and people are less likely to attack them, thus less drag on their life and they can propel their forward momentum easier. Tall people do not need to intimidate as much, as taller people often automatically intimidate people who are shorter without even knowing it.

Shorter people need to exert themselves more to move forward and thus there are other traits, which are developed. Some of these traits are offensive and tend to make them less likely to have as many people join their team. So if you are short, kill them with kindness and recruit taller friends to your inner circle and you should be all right. Anyway think on this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Hook up the two of people’s topmost leisure actvities and you’ll display a phenomenon known as a sportsbook wagers web site. So what could ever be more inventive… If you envisage a gathering of sports buddies cheering over a given favored local team, and always lays are arranged matching the noise. So keen to get a bit of the action, bystanders regularly try to conjecture who is the likeliest to win the impending fight. All of this is set to turn into a friendly little fight known as sportsbook wagers web site.

Enjoy the best vegas online sports betting games in the world at this top site.

Ok, so it can seem addiction prone, but on the contrary – sportsbook wagers is essentially simply an amusement and of forging bonds with one’s fellow sports fans. You can bet a any minor budget of boodle and nonetheless enjoy yourself. Looking further, here are a few basics to get going sportsbook wagers.

To place that bet, I would advise you call on a sportsbook wagers web site, which is a place that offers sportsbook wagers web site. In the USA, you can find no less than four states where to do sportsbook wagers lawfully, but semi-legally you may attempt it just about anywhere provided you hunt out a bookie and you’re a legal adult. On the list of sports activities you can bet your money on are pro in parallel with college basketball plus football, pro baseball, pro hockey, in parallel with bets on both horse and dog racing. You may choose to bet on the overall results of a game, when any given contestant will be defeated, and even if a coin toss in a game will come out either heads or tails.

The bookies confide in their figures to help you guess which team you feel is the likeliest to win. First of all, there is the spread, meaning points lead tallied to the weaker club that is assumed to be defeated by a defined number points. Self-Evidently, this constitutes the sportsbook company’s acknowledged way of offering fair antes for a Sports Book. E.g., a gambler could bet money on a contestor that is assumed to be defeated and and nonetheless make money on that bet provided the club does actually lose by a defined number of points.

You can see plenty of so many different systems of stakes, the straight bets being the most prevalent in sportsbook wagers.

So why don’t you just give it a go, and entertain yourself all at once… Simply determine that you won’t get overwhelmed and spend your total retirement fund on a conceit! For you’ll probably end up unhappy about it till the end of your days!

1. He asked me to marry him yesterday, and I’m the happiest person on earth, but I know I need to get going if I want the perfect wedding! What do I do?

Oh, enjoy the feeling first; he’ll only ask you to marry him once. In fact, be selfish; keep it private first for a while, your little secret. It won’t last, but savor the intimacy of having that knowledge just between you and him.

But do go out with him or by yourself and enjoy the fun of looking at wedding things and dreaming. Check out wedding bands, think together about what you’d like, and dream about your perfect wedding. This period is not only tons of fun, but also gives you most of your best ideas, the ones that will shape your wedding, and in many ways your marriage.

2. So when do I tell everyone? And how? Should I just flash the ring?

Tell your parents first. If you tend to be emotional, tell them one at a time. You can even ask your fiancé to do it for you. And do everything you can to tell them in person. Sometimes distance and finances precludes this; if you really can’t get back to tell them (for instance, if you’re stationed overseas in the military or you’re chained to a rock somewhere), you can call them and tell them. Never do it with an email.

The bride should get the opportunity to tell her parents and family first, but forgive your fiancé if he gets so excited he can’t help calling his parents first. It’s understandable; he’s marrying you! After telling your parents, inviting all your friends to lunch and casually flashing the ring is acceptable, and lots of fun when they scramble over chairs and wrestle over your finger.

3. What kind of wedding should I consider?

There’s a fantasy wedding in every woman’s, and even every little girl’s, head. After all, weddings and beauty pageants are the only time non-princesses have a legitimate reason to wear a tiara (though I never let that stop me).

Don’t worry about money or practicality right now. What kind of wedding have you always wanted? Do you dream of marrying in the cathedral in your home town? On the beach in Hawaii? In a hot air balloon? With huskies on the frozen tundra’s of Alaska? It’s your wedding, and you can be as creative or traditional as you want.

After the wedding you want, you should think about intimacy. Lots of guests, or just your parents? Should it be formal, should it be religious? Will you have to blend two religions in your ceremony? If you have a question you’re afraid to ask your fiancé, ask it now.

Your wedding is personal, and yours. It should reflect the two of you, not anyone else.

4. Okay, I want to marry with my whole family and eighty friends in Hawaii. How do I pay for it?

This, alas, is where fantasy meets reality. You won’t be able to afford the elaborate perfect wedding unless you’re independently wealthy.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t have something really close to it. Work out a preliminary budget. It’ll help you prioritize your wants. You really want to marry on the beach, but you don’t care if Aunt Millie is there? Maybe you can just marry on the North Carolina shore two hundred miles away. You don’t have to put everyone up in a hotel, only the wedding party. And carpools and roommates can be wonderful things.

What you should NOT do is go into heavy debt. Light debt is okay. A little debt can be paid off quickly after the wedding. But you don’t want to be paying for your perfect wedding years into the future!

5. When should I start planning for my perfect wedding?

Once you have a date set and a venue chosen, book the reception hall and church immediately. Some venues book fast. But the rest of your wedding can probably wait a little while. If you’re having a large wedding, allow at least a year. For smaller weddings, six months should be adequate. Allowing plenty of time to plan is in your best interests; a well-planned wedding is a non-stressful wedding.

Lesley-Ann Graham runs WeddingTrix.com – a valuable wedding planning resource with articles, tips and advice to help you plan your perfect wedding. The Bride, Groom, Best Man, Bridesmaids and Groomsmen can find it all at http://www.WeddingTrix.com

Are you planning to start a new business? Or are you considering expanding your current business and require a bank loan or investment from outsiders?

If you are going to look for an investment of capital it is quite likely that you will be required to have a business plan. If you are starting a business, despite the work involved, a business plan can prepare you for the obstacles ahead and help ensure your success.

A business plan is something that many small businesses fail to create, however, many business owners are adamant that having a written business plan is one of the keys to their present success. Creating a business plan forces you to contemplate possible obstacles to your business and prepares you to find solutions that will help you to overcome them.

To find investors or get a bank loan, they will want to see that you have the experience or resources to run the business. They will want to see your projected income as well as your suggested repayment plan already laid out. Taking the time to do this is not only important for them, but it gives you a measuring tool to verify if your business is growing properly. You can gage your success on how close to the plan your business has actually performed. Perhaps you’ll do worse, or perhaps you’ll do better, either way it helps you determine how well your business is getting on.

If you have never seen a business plan before you may be concerned that is is too difficult a proposition for you to manage on your own.

While there are services available where you can hire someone to write a business plan for you, depending on your needs it may be wise to familiarize yourself with a business plan’s layout. This will not only help you to provide the necessary information, but may encourage you to try your own hand at it.

There’s a free tool at www.bdc.ca which will assist you in creating a business plan. Some of the topics you will be required to explain are your Market, Customer, Competition, Marketing Plan, Research & Development along with financial forecasts. You may consider hiring someone to help you with your financial sheets after completing the written part of the Business Plan.

Your Business Plan will become your guide and silent business partner – indicating where you need to improve and helping you stay one step ahead of your competition. Make it a priority to have this crucial road map for your business.

Hans Hasselfors is a successful business entrepreneur and internet marketing consultant. Get the net working for you. Join a community of like-minded authors and publishers and make your living online. Become a member of our article directory. www.SubmitYourNewArticle.com

At one time in my life I was buying 7-8 Houses a month, fixing them up and then reselling them. Then I got the bright Idea that if I can buy and sell 7-8 a month, I can buy and sell 80. This was a choice that eventually led me to bankruptcy. This has not been that long ago. Twice in my life I have made a lot of money and then took on a large growth spurt and got a large learning experience in business failure. The last one resulted in bankruptcy.

It is hard when things are going well to not be seduced by more is better. When you have something working for you, it is easy to become overconfident and start to think of multiplying it. As with most things in life, you want to be sure when you take on something, that you complete it. Pumping up the volume, puts you at risk of not having the structures and being set up to deliver on what you are committed to. You naturally encounter problems that were not present on a smaller scale.

It is hard when things are going well to not be seduced by more is better. I had to learn personally that pride goeth before the fall. The bottom line is that there are always good deals in Real Estate! I say measure your success one house at a time. Buy investor property, fix it up, resell it, rent, do a lease-option, but do it one house at a time.

Multiple Purchases?

One of the most common mistakes I see in business is where investors come into the business and think they need to do multiple houses at a time. Try this on: Try doubling the cost you think it will take to fix the property, doubling the time you think it will take to rehab the property and figure your holding costs doubled (insurance, mortgage payments, taxes, lights, gas, rehab cost).

Great deals in Real Estate don’t come in houses fixed and ready to sell. The great buys come from houses that need work. If you are just getting started, stick to cosmetic rehabs (paint and carpet), Don’t take on major rehabs. It will take time to develop rehab crew. The most successful people I see in Real Estate do one house at a time. Failures are great, if you look at them and ask what action was missing that would have made a difference?

Hard money lenders?

One pitfall is using very expensive money. For years I ran a business financed on money from Real Estate Investors who are called hard money lenders. They look at collateral and loan money based on receiving interest can be 18% or higher when you figure in the closing costs. When you get multiple properties in this condition, you will have interest payments that are going to be double and triple what conventional financing is in Real Estate.

Now combine this with the common lie we tell ourselves that we can repair the house and put it back on the market for sale or rent in a short time. Your overhead will rise because you will need a staff to manage and rehab everything. Can you see this is a recipe for disaster for everyone? Now if you are doing one house at a time, your overhead will probably stay very low, with very little staff. Therefore you have limited your expenditure of time, money and aggravation.

At one time, my overhead was in excess of $50,000.00 per month. I had to depend on other people to do everything, including checking the work. A hundred percent of the monies I was making went paying down my debts and I kept telling myself I would turn it around tomorrow. I found myself with houses that were not finished and houses being lost in foreclosure and for taxes. That left me a very motivated seller and bankruptcy was looming large. With my overhead still there, I attempted to wholesale deals. I decided I would no longer find, repair and resell homes. Instead I would find great buys and sell them to other investors.

Basically, I started my business over. It takes a great amount of time to cultivate a list of investors interested in buying deals. This business is built on the concept you can borrow you way out of debt, but it just does not work. You have family, friends, and business associates that may get hurt or destroyed. I’m not saying this to tell you a sad story, but rather in the hopes that by sharing it, someone else can avoid the pain of my mistakes. Take from this what you can learn for yourself. I am 53 years old and starting over. I now have the knowledge to build a business with the proper foundation. I teach Real Estate Investing class now that look for pitfalls and what is needed to do a successful deal one at a time.

My advice to you on handling real estate transactions is:

Use Title Companies

What can happen to you when you fail to get title insurance? We had a participant in one of our seminars, who purchased a house to fix it up. He invested over $40,000 into the home in both repairs and purchase price. When he went to refinance, he found out the person he purchased the house from was not in the chain of title. In other words, he did not have a clear title. Whenever you purchase a home, always close through a title company with title insurance on the property. Title insurance is protection that insures the borrower or lender that they get the property with marketable title. They will only insure the property for the purchase price or for the amount of the mortgage.

Use a reputable lender

Interview lenders. Go to Real Estate Investor Clubs to find out from other investors which companies are doing the best job. Are you at risk when you use a lender that wants to cross collateralize loans or wants personal guarantees? One lender I know will get one-two year mortgages and demand a right to lien all the properties you own to procure the loan you are getting. Just beware, if you are buying the property to fix up and resell, there are things that you don’t always plan on like: twice as much rehab cost as you planned for, longer marketing time than you initially thought, resulting in added holding costs, or maybe the market moves the wrong direction and you can’t sell the property, so you rent it.

Now one of your other properties or even your personal residence needs to be refinanced. You now have a lien showing against the property. Now what do you do? Think before you jump. If you have purchased the property right, you should be able to borrow money based on the equity of that property – not you’re home and other properties.

This same lender will ask for a personal guarantee signed by you, your wife and your partner. This personal guarantee allows his mortgage company to lien anything the partner and wife own. Not only that, but this particular lender demands that you use a Title Company he owns. Now when you want to sell another one of your houses and this same cross collateral loan will show up on any property you are selling. Now you are faced with using his title company or he won’t release his loan. Beware of putting yourself in a situation where you are using a person who controls the lending, title work, the appraiser and the Real Estate Company.

Do you think, if you had your title work placed with a company the Lender had ownership in, you might run into a problem getting the documents released or have a clean closing at the same title company? Why risk letting human emotions drive a stake into your deals? Keep an arms length distance within your dealings. If you are selling homes or wholesaling property, let the buyer find his own lender and make sure you get an independent title company. Make sure there is not a conflict of interest in the title company, mortgage company, and real estate company. Keep the integrity in the deal. I am sure there are title companies, real estate companies, and mortgage companies, where there is common ownership that run very good businesses and can separate the conflicts of interests and profit centers. However, to protect yourself, make sure you receive proper disclosure of common ownership. You can always look at the volume of business they are doing in each business and check with the state of Michigan Licensing Dept. for any complaints against the firm.

In the 25 years that Ralph Maupin (also known as Mark) has been working with real estate, he has purchased over 2,600 single family homes and many multi family properties. He is a member of commercial MLS at a national level including the Real Estate Land Institute.
http://www.megaeveningevent.com

Today we are discussing a somewhat advanced strategy for you to use after you have been in the creative real estate investing business for a while. I call this “Rehab, Refinance, and Cash Out”. This strategy can lead to true long term wealth and financial independence. This works very well in a buyers market like Memphis where prices have been quite flat for some time. You need to use this to augment your wholesaling for immediate income and retailing for bigger short term profits. Rehab, Refinance and Cash Out is a long term wealth building strategy and will be something you will be glad you did as it is a long term buy and hold strategy, and those are the strategies that lead to true wealth accumulation and financial independence. Let me explain how this works. You find a good middle to low end 3 bedroom home that you are able to buy from an out of state owner or other motivated seller that needs a little work and you buy at 60% of after repaired value. You buy the house using a hard money lender like http://www.pleaseclose.com/memphistrading and do your fix up and have a property management firm manage the property and put a renter in the house. The hard money lender will typically loan you up to 65% of the after repaired value to purchase the house which you use to buy the house and then repair it. Now that the home is repaired you obtain an investor friendly mortgage and cash out by refinancing at 80-90% of after repaired retail value and you should be doing this with properties where this strategy gives you back at least $10,000 at the refinance that you can use in your business any way you need. Do not use this money to live on, use it solely to grow your real estate business. Once you have done this strategy on 10 homes you should be able to keep finding better and better deals because you can close quickly as you have cash in hand to make things happen. More cash equals better deals and more opportunities.

By the time you repeat this strategy 20 times you should have at least $200,000 cash plus about $200,000 equity and 20 homes giving you at least $2000 per month positive cash flow whether you decide to work this month or not since you have a property management company handling things for you. With average annual rent increases, within five years that $2,000 a month should grow to $4,000 a month. In 30 years you should have $2 to 3 million plus in paid off real estate. It’s a good solid long term strategy to add to your immediate selling from wholesaling, retailing and lease options that the extra $200,000 in cash will help grow tremendously.

The rent minus the management fees and all loan and other costs must leave you with positive cash flow or this strategy should be avoided. If you cannot cash out on the property I don’t recommend holding it long term as you want to be able to use your best mortgages to cash out.

You can purchase using http://www.pleaseclose.com/memphistrading if your Equifax credit score is above 550(which is bad credit) or you have a co-borrower who has an Equifax score over 550. A good investor friendly mortgage company will give you good rates if you are at 660 middle score or above and the very best rates if your middle score is 720 or above. Your first 10 investor mortgages in your name and 10 in your spouses name are the easiest to qualify and get the best deals. After those you really need a good investor mortgage company to work with. Take the time to find the real investor friendly mortgage companies that can help you get loans for 100 properties and not just the first ten and let them have the easy ones and the tougher ones. I do recommend having more than one good lender available though, but stick to the ones that specialize in investor loans. Find out from other investors who the most investor friendly mortgage companies are to use to refinance the repaired home.

I do not advocate becoming a landlord as I do not believe this is a valuable usage of your time and energy. I highly recommend asking around and finding a good property management company that will charge you 10% or less to start out with and gradually lower that % as you add more and more properties.

I feel this is an advanced strategy as you won’t see any cash in your pocket from this strategy for 4-6 months after you find the deal which is a long time to work and not see any pay. If you are wholesaling and making consistent money each month then it shouldn’t matter. This strategy will magnify the profits you make in your investing business in ways you might not have imagined. This strategy is a natural progression from wholesaling as you are already helping others find these kinds of deals, now you will be able to get the cash out typical of probably 2 wholesale deals, just paid slower, and at the same time building a nice future nest egg.

Ask around and you’ll find lots of people that spend a lot of their time looking for good deals. And, face it, good deals can be found everywhere: yard sales, wholesale warehouses, flea markets,… and of course at online auctions. eBay is the biggest and most popular online auction site: as millions of auctions are constantly going on, you’ll most certainly find the stuff you want. But, question is, can you get it for a reasonable price? Certainly you do. If you’re lucky … and smart!

To make sure you’re getting a good deal on eBay, it’s important you do a little research before you start placing bids.

Step 1: Get as much information about the item as you can
Read the auction, every word of it. This way you minimize the risk on disappointment later. What is the seller telling you about authenticity, about guarantee, and of course, about the condition of the item? Remember to also read between the lines: maybe the seller left something out on purpose. It’s very important to get as much information as you can, before you place a bid. Do you want to know more about an item than what you’re told, do not hesitate to ask the seller. eBay provided an ‘ask the seller a question’-link in the right menu of every auction page.

Step 2: Pay attention to shipping details and return policy
Underneath the description of an item, sellers (usually) add shipping details. Read them carefully. Check out how long it will take for the seller to ship your item after your payment has cleared. You don’t want your present to arrive 2 weeks after your mother’s birthday! Even more important, is the information about the shipping costs. For most items, the buyer pays for them, so you need to watch out for sellers that try to charge you more than the actual shipping and handling costs are. This to avoid paying a fortune for an item that was a good deal on itself.

Step 3: payment details
Find out which payment methods the seller accepts. Does he want you to pay by bank transfer, cheque, credit card, …? Mostly, payments through PayPal are preferred. PayPal is an eBay company that enables people to send and receive online payments safely, easily and quickly.

Step 4: check prices
Before you place a bid, surf the web looking for prices available from online and offline sources. You wouldn’t be the first to find out afterwards you would have paid almost half if you had gone to the shop around the corner….

Step 5: get to know the seller
Learn more about the seller. Every eBay member has a profile in the Feedback Forum. This profile has basic information about the member and a list of feedback left by their trading partners from previous transactions. To see a member’s full feedback profile, click the number in parentheses next to their User ID. Be sure to take a good look at it. Unfortunately, there are numerous of dishonest people out there! You can find out a lot about the trustworthiness of a seller by reading what their past customers or sellers have to say!

Following these guidelines, you definitely optimize your chances on finding a good deal on eBay. In fact, these same steps will also help you to protect yourself. Online auctions are a lot of fun, but you need to stay alert. To avoid becoming a victim of online fraud, you better do your bit of research before you place any bids.

Mieke Janssens is the webmaster of LookieLookies Retro Webshop – www.lookielookies.be
Get The Complete eBay Package now: www.lookielookies.be/download/ebaypackage.html

The Arts and Crafts era began in England during the late 1800’s. Simple clean designs and individual craftsmanship that employed aspects of nature were the main characteristics of this design period. This new movement was in direct contrast to the mass production of products that was made possible by the industrial revolution. This new art, (Art Nouveau in French) was also many ways a relief from the lavishly ornate designs of the Victorian era which preceded.

The industrial revolution had dehumanized the process of manufacturing especially as it relates to home decor products. It broke down the work process into various components by processes called the “division of labor”. Workers were able to work on only a portion of a complete product. The Arts and Crafts movement was a rebuttal of this dehumanizing process as it was concerned specifically with the human element of a person creating an entire product from start to finish.

The architect Augustus Pugin (1812-1852) was one of the first outspoken leaders in speaking against the dehumanizing aspect of the industrial revolution. He was followed by other proponents of these ideas: John Ruskin (1819-1900), William Morris (1834-1896) and Phillip Webb. Morris was the most popular name associated with this movement.

This new style of art spread throughout Europe and was named Art Nouveau (new art) by the French. Each country and region had its own styles and variations of this new art movement.

During the late 1800’s, America was basically importing its artistic and home furnishings designs from England and Europe. Colonial and Shaker designs were the only truly American styles at that time. Gustav Stickley’s simple and clean furniture designs exemplified the Arts and Crafts style in America.

There were a number of remarkable lamp companies of that period. Their products are very collectible and highly sought after today. Many of these collectible Arts and Crafts Lamps or Art Nouveau Lamps that sold for $ 15 – $ 25 in the 1920’s may now sell for many $ 1,000’s and much more.

Some of the lamp companies which are representative of the Arts and Crafts or Art Nouveau era are:

Tiffany
Handel
Pairpoint
Duffner & Kimberly
Edward Miller
Bradley and Hubbard
Pittsburg
Moe Bridges
Chicago Mosaic
Cincinnati Iron Works
Classique
Consolidated
DIrk Van Erp
Aladdin
Daum Nancy
Jefferson
Rockwood Pottery

Roycroft
Wilkinson
Lightolier
Jeanette
Phoenix

About the Author:

Since 1979 Jim Hoyle has owned and operated Lamp Outlet – North Carolina’s Most Exclusive Unique Table Lamps, Floor Lamps and Antique Lamps. If you would like to share information about any lamp, lamp company or lighting in general, or if you have any comments or questions, you can contact Jim at junguljim@bellsouth.net. His company’s website is http://www.hoylelamps.com