Sending Money to Family in a Foreign Country

Many people move from developing countries to the United States and Europe in hopes of better financial opportunities. As they start to accumulate wealth, they make remittances to their families back home. A remittance is a specific term for a foreign worker who makes a money transfer to his country of origin. This practice is a growing trend that plays a large part in the economic development and prosperity of many countries. The act of sending money to support a family member can be traced as far back as the 19th century. European countries such as Spain, Ireland and Italy were dependent on money transfers from their expatriates around the globe. In fact, up until 1946, Spain counted on remittances for 21 percent of their total national income. Interestingly, in England the flow of capital was in the opposite direction of today's money transfers; instead of sending cash back to a home country, funds were sent from England to its distant colonies. Today the majority of remittances are sent from the United States to three major regions: Asia, Latin America and Africa. In Asia the top recipient countries are: 

• India
• Philippines
• China

The largest recipient of funds in Asia is India, with over 55 billion USD received in 2010 alone. Latin America is another region that is dependent on money transfers from the United States as a major source of its GDP. Some of the top recipient countries in this area are: 

• Mexico
• Honduras
• El Salvador
• Haiti

Haiti counts on money transfers to make up over 30% of its GDP, rendering it the most remittance dependent country in Latin America. There are about 30 million African Adults living in countries outside of their continent with the potential of sending money back home. Statistics from the World Bank show that the top recipients in Africa are: 

• Nigeria
• Sudan
• Kenya

Out of these countries, Nigeria collects the highest amount, with over 10 billion USD received in 2010 alone. The large amount of remittances has given rise to many vendors who provide money transfer services. In the past you had to go to a bank in order to send the money. Today there are a growing number of internet sites that offer money transfer services online. These provide a quick, safe, and easy alternative to the in person approach. Average costs range between 5 and 10 dollars for every 1K USD sent. Regardless of the method or region, money remittances allow for the sharing of prosperity across the globe.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6258334

How To Get Niche Specific In Your Business

Are you operating in a niche in your business? If not, then you're probably paying way too much on advertising. You see you can get far better results than what you're getting now if you get niche specific with your target audience. For example, if you own an auto repair car shop, you can raise your prices and earn more by going into a niche. So instead of servicing all kinds of vehicles, consider servicing Honda's and change the theme of your business.

Why would you earn more by going into a niche like this? Well the answer should be obvious. You see the prospects that you would be focusing on will perceive you as the go-to guy in your niche. People who own Honda's want their cars to be serviced by someone who knows what they're doing. They will think that you have serviced hundreds of Honda's, so the skill of repairing their Honda shouldn't even be an option.

I didn't figure this out until I came upon the conclusion that I'm making less money in my business than rivals of mine. Once I discovered that they were servicing a different set of customers in my niche, I immediately hopped on the bandwagon and started servicing a group of different customers also. This did wonders in my business, and I think it will do the same for you too.

So how can you focus on a specific group of people in your niche? Well, one way to learn how to do it is by looking at lawyer TV ads. Instead of being a general lawyer, these people are targeting different sets of prospects. One lawyer is targeting on the job injuries; another lawyer is targeting people with mesothelioma; and another lawyer is targeting car accident injuries. This is just being smart. These lawyers can send their prices through the roof simply because their marketing message is tied to a more specific group of people.

You should to figure out ways to do the same thing also. I'm confident that you can get even more niche specific in your business. And it's important that you do so because as long as you operate in a general, huge market.... you're destined to go out of business sooner rather than later.

So can you come up with any ideas on how to go into a niche in your business? The first step involves totally changing the theme of your business. If you think that this will take a long time, then believe it or not, you won't. The first step is revising all of your ads and other marketing pieces.

Once you have changed your ads, you may want to consider revamping your place of business. If you own a bakery, you could turn your business into a cupcake shop. You could be the number place in town, (or in the state) - that provides excellent cupcakes at low prices.

You can get creative with your approach, but the goal is to position all of your products and services in a way that seems like the obvious answer to your prospects. Take you time on changing the theme of your business and you will be good to go.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6249101