1. David, what's with this Wizard theme... this isn't a site for fun 'n games is it?

Glad you asked! This site and my other special sites are for serious internet business and management. They will provide you with a TON of USEFUL and HELPFUL information, resources and valuable products.

Unlike the entertainment complex located a bit south and east of here, which also features wizards and a kingdom, this one is based on a different kind of magic. When you download and install new software programs and do other tasks at your computer, there are really a lot of technical steps going on in the background. Microsoft and others developed wizards to do much of this dirty work for you... they make life simple and convenient. My sites will try to help you like that.

But... I love my work... so you won't mind if we have a bit of fun along the way, I hope! [TOP]

In just a few moments I'll take you on a tour of this site, then a tour of the Wizards Kingdom - as soon as I show you why the Wizards Kingdom is here at all! And at the end of the tour, I'll have a special gift for you!

Why the Wizards Kingdom Was Created

The internet is all about information - producing it, finding it, distributing it.

Before the internet, when you dealt with a professional some of what you paid for was simply the information relevant to his or her expertise. And some of the payment was for their help in applying their knowledge - either they solved your problem by doing something for you, or they helped and guided you.

But we are changing. We demand a more proactive role in our lives... 

we don't just rely on the doctor to give us a technical explanation of some condition - we go online and research it, we study it, we see what different opinions there might be;

we don't just wait to visit the dentist when we ache - we go in regularly for preventative treatment and information about how to care for our teeth before we have a problem;

we are more likely to consult with our attorney before doing something, hoping to head off problems later;

we don't just take a shoe box of paper into our accountant in April - we go out and buy or download for free a bookkeeping package and tax return package and we try to do our own books and taxes...
 

Has that killed off the professions? Hardly! We still have a shortage of doctors, dentists and accountants are still around, and there are more attorneys than ever! But there is a profound change in how professionals serve their clients. Now, much more of the basic information can be provided in a fast and economical manner through a web site. Email and the telephone help to supplement this.

Bottom line is that the Wizards Kingdom is about providing you with information. Some of it will be sold, most of it is FREE. All of it will be USEFUL and HELPFUL. [TOP]

Tour This Site

This is the "home base" in the Wizards Kingdom. At this site you will be able to learn about the rest of the Kingdom, and how to navigate throughout it.

And you will have a chance to meet me. Behind the About Me tab you'll find some pictures and information. In a meeting or interview, we would spend a few minutes at the beginning "getting to know" each other. I hope this provides something similar.

In my travels around the Web, I have sometimes found interesting stops and thought "I wonder who is behind this?" So, for those of you who are a bit curious, and for those who like a sense of just whom they are dealing with, I have some insights for you.

All my sites have some common features that I hope you will find helpful.

Along the left hand side of each page are two drop down boxes for Navigation. In the first, select whatever page on that site you would like to go to. Across the bottom are text links - click to go directly to that page. Each page of each site has them.

Each page has a search index that relates to that site. It is updated every time the site is changed. 

Each page has one or more areas where you can email me - usually an email tab on the left and a Just Ask link at the bottom. If you have questions, comments, suggestions, criticisms... please let me know. If I were contacting you as a financial consultant or your accountant, I would not charge for an initial consultation, and there would always be calls where I don't charge.

The 'Resources and Links' button will take you to a section that I have divided into two.

Resources is the page where I list other sites on the internet that I think are of interest. Whenever possible, the name will be in blue and underlined indicating that it is dynamically linked. If you click on the name, it will take you to that address in a separate browser page.
Affiliates is the page where I display the banners and links to other businesses with whom I have an affiliate relationship. One of the most prevalent features of doing business on the web (eCommerce!) is that sites exchange links and help to promote each other. Most sites seem to stick these banners on most pages. I find it annoying so am experimenting with keeping them together. I would appreciate hearing whether you like this or not!

And effective September 6, I am involved in a major new Affiliate tool - visit my site at Affiliate Showcase.
[http://www.AffiliateShowcase.com/?15245]

Products and Services will contain articles, write-ups, product descriptions. You are invited and encouraged to copy any articles! Whether they are mine or someone else's, they contain reproduction rights. The only thing that I ask is that you respect the authorship and reproduce them intact, which includes the author's permission/credit box. ("Give credit where credit is due." )

Further on eCommerce... I have made a decision to conduct all business online. That means that any product you buy or any information you order will be delivered for downloading electronically. You will always receive email instructions for the downloading right after the transaction is processed. 

I did a lot of research before selecting the merchant and processor for online credit card transactions. My processor is Authorize Net - one of the largest and best established processors. When you order and pay by credit card, your card information never comes to me or my computer. It is encrypted and dealt with through SSL technology by the processors. Every item will have a clearly indicated return policy / guarantee.

My sites will be changing continually as I add material. In order to keep in touch with you, each site will have an invitation for you to sign-up to receive a newsletter or reports pertaining to that site. Signing up is known as "opting in" since it is permission for me to contact you periodically. There will be a Privacy Policy with each invitation, but the basis of it is this: 1. I will NEVER give your contact information to anyone else for any reason; 2. if you "opt out", you will be removed from my permission list immediately.

I am a professional accountant with my MBA. I have been involved for my entire career with management, mostly financial, some latterly in IT Project Management, so...

Financial Management Wizards is the place to go for information about financial management.

The foundation is bookkeeping and accounting and financial statements and management reporting. [After all, these are the tools with which managers and owners and investors measure businesses - and make decisions like investing, lending and paying bonuses!].

The approach is practical. You'll learn tricks and secrets about managing receivables, about controlling inventory turnover, how to look at leasing versus buying assets, sources of financing; you'll learn some questions to ask your accounting staff to know if they are doing ALL of their job, properly.

The organization is modular. This helps you to get  to what you need quickly.

A new internet entrepreneur operating a home based business will want to know how to set up a simple bookkeeping system - you can do it with or without computer help!

A small business owner probably wants to get out from under expensive accounting bills - but wants better information - and FASTER. You'll get ideas and tips!

If you own - or work for! - a family business, you might be dealing with another whole set of problems. I work closely with an organization specializing in family business management problems. They can be solved!

A divisional or line manager in a larger corporation, you might have had P&L responsibility for years, but you can never seem to get from Finance and Accounting the information YOU need when YOU NEED IT. They always have excuses and resort to technical mumbo jumbo. Pick up some hints about how to work around them and get what you need.

Contractor? Do you really understand how billings affect cash flow but the contract and costs affect revenue and profit? Do you know the lucrative game general contractors play to make money at the expense of their subs? I'll reveal some SECRETS!

Planning? Yikes! Where do I start? Strategic plan. Long term plan. Annual plan. Operating plan. Cash flow plan. Budget. Capital plan. Marketing Plan. Personnel plan.

Business Plan! No, I didn't forget it - like Barry Morse used to say on television "Don't leave home without it!" 

You'll find help for all of these, starting with what they should cover and how to approach building them so that you can finish before the end of the year!

The information industry is a growing market and in today's computer literate marketplace, software is in huge demand. Realizing that information marketing is the perfect at-home business and to help entrepreneurs that are just starting their own business, Wizard Publishers will include, with the purchase of two of its products, a complete set of print ready sales and marketing materials. This includes a FREE professionally created Web site and additional info software programs.

Project Management Wizard
"apply PM best practices to ALL your activities"

• Planning
• Scheduling
• Controlling
• Project KickStart versus Microsoft Project
• Problem resolution [a.k.a "firefighting"]
• Issue Tracking

All of the sites are hosted on our ISP - Webquarry - and are basically developed and maintained with the help of Netscape Composer.[TOP]

As a CFO, I worked for family businesses. As a practicing accountant, most of my clients were family businesses. In Atlanta, I have been associated with The Family Business Institute, Inc., a leading consulting firm that pioneered the multi-discipline approach to family businss consulting.

As a Principal, I have had the role of Web master and am proud of the two sites we have developed in the process of bringing consulting into the online world. 

Family-Business-Experts is our information site, geared to pre-selling services and is focused for search engine optimization. We are ranked above 450,000 on Alexa!

FamilyBusinessExperts is our "brochure" or sales site that plays a support role to the information site.

For the technically-curious... 

F-B-E is developed and maintained using Site Sell's SiteBuildIt! - an incredible package of services that is about to become "THE operating system for SOHO/Small Businesses" [TOP]

eCommerce and Online Business Services

Two sites, also developed with the power of SiteBuildIt! are just starting to come online in mid-2002...each to let us focus more narrowly on certain market niches.

Starting-Online-Business

Work-At-Home-Home-Business

[TOP]

OK!! That's the tour! [TOP]

I promised you a special gift... and here it is!

A Beginner's Guide to Starting a High-Income Business on the Internet
 

Some serious food for thought
 

AND some FUN

     AND it's FREE!!

To download this eBook with our compliments, just Click Here
[Windows; 985k]

Enjoy!!  [TOP]