How To Make A Profit With Cat Poop Inventions

Get User Feedback When Designing a Web Site
All About Organic Diet

http://www.litterworks.com/

Brian Turkalo quit a stable, well-paying job as a corporate salesman to deal with his cat’s poop full time — and he couldn’t be happier.

He is the inventor of LitterWorks, an automated system for getting rid of your feline’s feces without needing to scoop them up every other day. Manufactured in Matthews, LitterWorks is celebrating its second anniversary this month, having sold more than 1,000 units online.

The product works as a supplement to the popular LitterMaid (made by another company), which automatically rakes the litterbox after each use. But the LitterMaid must be emptied several times a week.

The LitterMaid sits on top of the LitterWorks, which holds up to two months of used litter and can also include a hood intended to reduce odor. Customers who already have a LitterMaid can purchase Turkalo’s invention separately. He also sells the two products bundled together.

“With our system, the waste passes to a new bag underneath the LitterMaid, so it could fill up for two months and not overflow,” Turkalo said.

[Via - Dane Carlson's Blog]

Small Business Startup Lesson: The Street That Almost Never Was
Making $700,000 A Year By Letting Customers Design Their Own Jewelry
The Problem With Unplanned Growth

Teens and media: a full-time job

Firms find niche finding internships
Best Diet's Recipes

According to a study released this week, Americans aged 13 to 18 spend more than 72 hours a week using electronic media--defined as the Internet, cell phones, television, music and video games. Because teens are known for multitasking, their usage of devices can overlap.

So much technology makes teens feel they are playing a starring role in their own reality TV show, said Jim Taylor, vice chairman of the Harrison Group, which conducted the 2006 Teen Trend study.

"This generation is unique," Taylor said. "Teen life has become a theatrical, self-directed media production."

Read more on news.com.
How Any 13 Year Old Kid Can Become A Millionaire
Is Nature a Marketing Guru?
Justifiable Arrogance

What "The Secret" Means to Solo Entrepreneurs

Mompreneurs® Still Going Strong—10 Years and Counting
Your Way From Diet

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past few months, you've likely heard about the best-selling book, The Secret, and how it offers guidance and personal narratives about creating the life you want. The essential lesson of the book is how individuals attract (and create) the life they want through their thoughts, attitudes, and emotions. (The book's message is both more complex and subtle than this, but that's the telegraphic version of its theme.)

Whether you accept the full metaphysical premise of the project or not, the lessons of The Secret resonate with knowledge that successful entrepreneurs have understood for decades. So, with a tip of the hat to the creators of The Secret, here are seven principles designed to guide you in your solo business. Many are aligned with those presented by the creators of The Secret -- and all are based on my experience of working solo for more than two decades.

#1: Intention rules all.
Successful solo entrepreneurs understand that singleness of purpose is a potent force. There's no room for wishy-washy, "Oh, I'm thinking about having a successful practice," or "It would be really nice to increase my sales this year." Put a stake in the ground and commit. Recall the Goethe quote: "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

#2. Clarity is crucial.
Be specific in your targets. If there's no metric associated with a goal, you can never know your progress. Place specific parameters on what you want to achieve -- number of clients, revenue goals, time frame, percent increase over past performance -- and you'll significantly increase your chances for business success.

Similarly, be clear on what your company will and will not do. Avoid distractions from your central business focus unless you are certain they can generate a direct positive impact on your core competencies. When business challenges arise, it's easy to get tempted by unrelated business opportunities.

#3. Seek the joy.
Chase passion, not profits. If you build your company around your interests, it will sustain you during the inevitable tough times. Also, you'll be a natural salesperson for your products or services, since you believe in them so deeply. Chasing pure financial gain will only sustain you for so long; there must be deeper significance to your work for it to be personally and professionally satisfying. Build on your unique competencies to create a company that generates both money and meaning.

#4. Magnetize your connections.
Like attracts like. Be the type of person you want to associate with, the type of company you would like as a partner. If you're surrounded by negativity, look inside first and recognize its likely source. Successful soloists seek partners and clients who are positive achievers, individuals who are secure in their self-knowledge and in what they can contribute to the world. By focusing on the qualities of ideal clients and partners, you attract positive results in your business.

#5. Take action.
Merely thinking about having a successful company is not enough. Yes, positive mental focus and clarity are crucial, but you must also act. When your intuition gives you a nudge, move. When you sense the opportunity, step forward and seize it. Business success is guided by mental force, but it takes place in the physical realm.

#6. Expect the best.
Automotive entrepreneur Henry Ford stated, "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." Fear and self-doubt erode self-confidence, which is the currency of successful self-employment. Expect great things from yourself and your company, and put forth the effort to build the professional foundation to support your aims. Clients and customers want to do business with companies that are best-in-class. Industry leaders never have second-class expectations of their performance, and they work hard to ensure they deliver first-class results.

#7. Multiply the gratitude.
Give thanks for all that you have, for no matter what your situation, there is much to be grateful for. By focusing on your abundance, you attract more of the same. Appreciation given to customers, clients, partners, vendors, and other business associates strengthens those important ties. Gratitude also lightens your spirit during challenging times, and keeps setbacks in perspective. It allows you to celebrate every day of working solo.

These principles create the foundation for a successful solo business -- and offer an important set of signposts on your journey of self-employment.

Go West, Young Entrepreneur! Is The Valley Better For Software Startups?
Should You Sell Franchises or Build a Chain?
Personalized Baby Blankets

Getting Past Your Business Launch

Prospecting for Network Marketing Diamonds
Useful Healthy Tips

If starting a business were easy, everyone would do it. But they don’t. Only those of you who know deep down inside you're entrepreneurs at heart will ever take these steps--even if you’ve denied that entrepreneurial spirit burning inside you for a long time.

Using that burning desire to grow your business, however, is a far different task from simply lighting it. Most people start with the odds stacked so much against them that it’s difficult for them to fan the fire beyond the first few months or years. Here are a few pieces of advice I can offer to help you keep your new business growing in size and profit:

1. Hire people who are better at the job than you are. It’s a fact that companies are built by people, and the best people build the best and most profitable companies. Put simply, great employees may cost you 20 to 30 percent more in wages, but they can be twice as productive as mediocre employees. Invest in good people.

2. Place high urgency in everything you do. Always do everything you can today. When I started each of my businesses, I'd work constantly until I just had to go eat and sleep. Too many people treat their businesses as nine-to-five jobs. Never put something off until tomorrow if you can do it right now.

3. Get customers coming back. The road to profitability is through repeat business. Too few business owners set themselves up for long-term success. Your business grows when you add regular new customers on top of existing regular customers. Think of it this way: What if every customer you ever got stayed for life? How many regular buyers would you have?

4. Make decisions quickly. New companies don’t have the time or resources to stand still. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf once said to me, “When placed in command, take charge.” He also believes it’s better to make a decision and move than it is to stand still.

5. Deliver more than you promise. If you tell a customer it'll be three days, deliver in two. If you think it'll be two hours, say three hours and surprise them. This is the best form of marketing ever.

6. Price yourself for profit. Don’t ever be the cheapest. You're the little guy; you don’t have economies of scale. Big companies can make up in volume what they lack in margin. You can’t.

7. Never spend a dollar you don’t have to. You don’t need a new desk, you need a cheap desk. Too many new business owners go and buy the best stuff because they think image is important. Listen, when you get profitable, you can have a big mahogany desk. Right now, just get a desk.

8. Set a big vision.Start Small, Finish Big should be the title of your book. Don’t aim to be the best dog trainer in Montana--aim to be the best in the country. Remember, building a business is a 10-year plan, not a one-year plan.

9. Marketing is math. Don’t ever let an advertising sales rep teach you anything about marketing. Reps will say dumb things like, “Half your advertising works and half doesn’t--and you’ll never know which half.” Rubbish. If an ad that costs $100 makes you $100 back in profit, it’s a good ad. One other tip: Image advertising doesn’t make sense when you're not yet profitable.

10. Learn to sell. There's nothing worse than a business owner who isn’t willing to sell--or even learn to sell. No company makes money unless someone sells something, and you can’t just rely on people you hire to do the selling for you. If you want to grow a profitable business, you’ve got to learn sales yourself.

11. It’s simpler than you think. Before most people even go into business, they work it up to be far more complex than it really is. Business is very simple: Sell at a profit and keep at it. Overcomplicating the process won’t help anyone. If your business seems too complex, it probably is--so make it simple and watch yourself succeed.

Remember, you have a lot to learn--and that’s a good thing. You'll make mistakes. Just try to make them small ones at the start. Never bet the ranch on one deal.

---

Brad Sugars is Entrepreneur.com’s Startup Basics columnist and the founder of Action International, a business coaching franchise.

Getting Past Your Business Launch
This is your life, according to Google
Want To Be An Entrepreneur? Start At Local Library

Why I Wish I Was Born Jewish

Many work at home, miss traffic jams
How To Prevent Weight Gain

I love kosher food. In fact, I’ve always said I shoulda been born Jewish. Not only do they have great food, they’ve got more holidays. Plus, they’ve got great-looking women(!). And anytime I see a religion that uses that much wine in their observations – hey: I’m IN!

But alas, I was born a poor, whitebread Anglo-Saxon protestant straight male. And not when being a straight white male (SWM) came with any perks, either.

Due to a combination of bad luck and poor personal planning, I was born into this fraternity just as it was becoming the one minority group it’s politically correct to despise.

These days, us SWMs get the blame for just about everything – from slavery, to the subjugation of the Indians, to the oppression of the Chinese, to the repression of women, to the rape of the environment, to the heartbreak of psoriasis.

Now, don’t get me wrong: It’s not that I wouldn’t have just loved to have snatched up most of South Dakota for myself when Sitting Bull was taking a potty break …

… But I wasn’t even alive when all that was going on – and that pretty much limited my opportunities to join the party.

Nevertheless, like Cain and Able – who got their prenatal butts unceremoniously tossed out of the Garden of Eden through no fault of their own – us SWMs are now making restitution for the sins of our fathers.

Flick on the boob tube after 7:00 PM, and you’ll be treated to hours of TV shows and commercials portraying us SWMs as blithering idiots, insensitive philistines and beer-swilling buffoons.

Black and Latin guys? They’re cool – or is it “fly?”.

Asian guys? They’re smart.

Women? Capable, sexy, sensitive.

Gay guys? Quirky, gifted, fun.

Lesbians? Hot!

Straight white guys like Homer Simpson, The King of Queens and me? Clueless, oafish, vulgar – or worse: Venal, greedy, conspiratorial, and mindlessly violent.

I swear: It’s getting to the point where just reading the TV Guide listings makes me feel like the caveman in those Geico commercials!

That’s OK though … I’m a big boy and I can take it. You won’t hear any whining from me. Sticks and stones and all that stuff.

It’s that other oppressed minority I’m really starting to worry about –a minority that YOU belong to -- or will soon …

The Evil Rich

Like you, I’ve always tried to make wise choices, to work hard and to manage my money wisely.

So for the last three decades plus, I’ve put in back-breaking hours … suffered through the lean times … scrimped, sacrificed and saved in the good times … and reinvested my profits to hire folks and expand my business.

And lo and behold, it all began to pay off for me back in the early 1980s.

That’s when I committed the ultimate sin: I became officially “rich.”

Now, when I say I got “rich,” I do not mean Jay Rockefeller rich (net worth $200 million). Or Diane Feinstein rich ($50 million). Or Teddy Kennedy rich ($35 million). Or even Nancy Pelosi rich ($13 million).

But about 25 years ago, I crossed the $350,000-per-year income threshold – just enough for the millionaires in Congress to declare me “rich” with a straight face.

Now, as we all know, when Congress wants to discourage a particular behavior, it passes a law that imposes fines on the evil-doers.
The fine for working hard is called the “income tax.”

And, like a couple of Satanic parents, the House and Senate use income taxes to punish us when we’re good and reward us when we’re naughty.

Make dumb choices, squander your opportunities and wind up poor – and not only won’t they fine you, they’ll give you all kinds of free stuff.

Make wise choices, work diligently and become successful – you’d better watch out: Congress is going to fine the bejezus out of you.

When your income passes the $350,000 mark, you graduate into the highest income tax bracket – which entitles you to pay Washington thirty-five cents out of ever dollar you make.

That means in an average 260-day working year, you’ll work 91 days for free – giving the government 100% of the money you earn.

Or, put another way, if you come to work every day at 9:00, everything you earn before 11:48 AM goes to Washington to squander any way it sees fit.

Now, if you’re thinking, “No problem; I’ll just skip that part of the day – show up for work at 11:48 and then keep everything I earn.”

Nice try, no cigar. I already ran that one by my CPA. He just rolled his eyes.

OK … so now, you’re probably thinking: “Jeeze, Clayton, you make a LOT of money every year – quit bitching about a lousy 35% income tax, will ya?”

I’m sorry – didn’t I mention this isn’t about me? It’s about you and your quest to become rich.

See, despite what Washington and the media tell you, high taxes never hurt the truly rich.

Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, George Sorros and all the millionaires in Congress already have their money. Ditto for corporate CEOs, with their hundred-million-dollar bonuses … Hollywood celebs with their $20 million-a-picture deals … or trust-fund babies with their bazillion-dollar inheritances.

Not only are these folks already set for life, they can afford armies of high-priced tax accountants to shrink their tax bills down near-zero.

On the other hand, high taxes do hurt folks who can’t get a job because their prospective employers just sent their salary to Washington.

But most of all …

High taxes hurt people like you:
Folks working to become rich.

Making good money each year is one thing. Building long-term wealth and saving for retirement while putting kids through college … caring for elderly parents … and flushing more than a third of your income down the Congressional crapper is quite another.

Especially since that 35% federal income tax bite is just the beginning. If you’re self-employed, Uncle Sam wants another 15% to cover your Social Security and Medicare premiums – and depending where you live, you could also get slammed for as much as 9.5% in state income taxes.

That’s 59.5% of your income confiscated before you ever see it – enough to shrink the $350,000 income that just made you “rich” down to $141,750.

Sure – you’ll have deductions at tax time and they’ll help plump up your refund. But the government isn’t through with you yet – not by a long shot.

You’re going to have to spend a bunch of what you still have on “extravagant” things like food, shelter, clothing, transportation – and of course, energy.

And guess what? You’ll have to pay state sales taxes of 5%, 6%, 7% or more on most of those things.

Then, there are the annual taxes on stuff you already own – like your cars and your house: Depending on where you live, that’s good for another multi-thousand-dollar yearly expense.

Plus, everything you buy has huge taxes tucked away in the price you pay for them.

Take that new car for example:

Every company involved in supplying the iron to make the steel … the oil to make the plastics and all the other raw materials …

Every company that used those raw materials to produce finished parts …

Every company that transported those finished parts to the factory for assembly and the factory itself …

The company that transported the finished car to the dealership and the dealership itself …

… Every one of those companies is paying taxes out the wazzoo: Property taxes … matching FICA contributions … sales taxes on everything they buy … taxes on their profits …

… And each of those taxes is cheerfully passed on to you -- included in the price you paid for that car.

So how much does all that cost you every year? I don’t think anyone knows for sure – but a few years ago, the National Taxpayer’s Union estimated that the average new car would cost 66% less if all those taxes could be removed from the sticker.

So let’s recap: Up to 60% of the money you earn is confiscated before you see it – for federal and state income taxes and FICA payments ...

… And when you spend the rest, up to 66% of that money winds up in a politician’s hands, too.

Do the math and you’ll see: Government is already costing you somewhere around 75% of what we earn each year.

That $350,000 would spend like $1.4 million if there were no taxes.

Thanks to taxes, it spends more like $87,500.

And don’t even think about getting me started on how the massive budget deficits Washington’s running slash the spending power of that eighty-seven grand by 30% to 50% every decade or so!

Now – you ready for the kicker?

THEY WANT MORE!

Rather than tell all-time pork king Senator Robert C. Byrd that the world has enough bridges named after his sorry ass – and delivering the same message to the 535 other pork barrel barons and baronesses on Capitol Hill …

… Congress is threatening to levy even larger fines on you for earning more than $350,000 per year – which (finally!) brings me to the points I set out to make in the first place …

Point #1:
Profits Live at the Intersection
of Need and Emotion

Despite the fact that April 15th is bearing down on us like a run-away train, only a minority of Americans have any idea of the enormity of the shellacking they’re about to receive.

In one of the slickest, sleaziest marketing ploys of all time, the government has convinced them that April 15 is a good thing. After all -- it means they’re about to get their tax refunds!

You know: The money the government’s been forcibly borrowing from them all year long without paying interest on it?

But most of the rest -- tens of millions of business owners … entrepreneurs … investors … and the senior citizens who make up the majority of our prospects for health products … are aware of what’s going on … and most of them are royally pissed off.

THINK: How can you tie your product to your prospect’s indignation … frustration … and his desire to win even a small victory over Washington pick-pockets?

I’m often amazed at how few of my clients think about this when planning promotions to their customers.

See, when I design customer file strategies for a client, I try to avoid “one-size-fits-all” promotions like the plague.

Instead, I focus on two far more effective types of promotions:

1. Horizontal promotions: Highly personal promotions that go to customers who have something in common: A birthday, an anniversary, a product preference, for example.

Choose any demographic or psychographic you wish – sex, age, buying frequency or recency, average purchase, largest purchase, cumulative purchase – whatever.

Then, craft a promotion and a special offer just for the folks who match that criteria. Let them know why they’ve been selected for this honor.

Then, sit back and watch your response go through the roof.

2. Vertical promotions: These are the direct mail and e-mail promotions I send to the entire file – but they’re not promotions you could have sent them anytime.

Each of these vertical promotions is sent to the entire file to commemorate something we’re all experiencing together.

It could, for example be designed to help them deal with a situation that’s currently in the news.

Or, it could be keyed to a specific date – like the New Year … Valentine’s Day … Halloween … Thanksgiving … Christmas … George Birthington’s Washday …

… OR, the two most crucial times in a taxpayer’s financial life: December 31 and April 15.

Craft special promotions that connect with your prospects’ dominant emotions at these times, and I guarantee it: Your response will soar.

Point #2:
Never Forget How Powerful
Envy Can Be

Millions of Americans dream about success. They fantasize about life as a successful entrepreneur … a rich celebrity … or even a lucky lottery winner.

And yet many of those same people just voted for politicians who freely admit they intend to raise taxes on successful people.

I wonder how many of those voters really connected the dots. How many realized that when their dreams of success come true, the vote they just cast will cost them tens of thousands of dollars every year – maybe even hundreds of thousands – for the rest of their natural lives?

Why would a sane person daydream of getting rich one minute and then vote for folks who promise to tax him to death when he becomes rich the next?

Simple: Envy is a powerful emotion. And emotion trumps reason every time.

THINK: How can you harness your prospect’s envy of folks who are richer, healthier, younger, luckier, better looking to get his attention and readership and to make a sale?

That’s the idea behind the entire mutual fund industry – it goes something like this:

“Until now, only the super-rich could afford to own every stock traded on the Dow Jones Industrial average. Only the rich could enjoy the enhanced profit potential and safety that kind of diversification can give you.

“That’s just not fair, and it’s just not right. That’s why we created the XYZ mutual fund – to give you the same “unfair” advantage that the super-rich think is their birthright.”

Powerful stuff!

Point #3:
Getting TRULY Rich Is Your Only Defense

“Reach for the stars,” the wise man said; “You may not catch one, but you won’t wind up with a fistful of mud, either.”

Learn to think big. The bigger, the better. Whatever your financial goals are now, double them. And then double them again.

After all – since they’re swiping up to 75% of your money, it follows you’ll need four times more to live the live you deserve.

So work smart. Work hard. Most of all, never give up.

As the Romans were (supposedly) fond of saying, “Illegitimi non-carborundum” – don’t let the bastards grind you down.

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace, www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/

How To Make 22 Million Dollars A Year From A Clubbing Website
Financing Your Mompreneur Business
How To Make Money Creating Corporate Theme Songs

Upstart Aims to Soup Up

Garden Office
Daily Healthy Tips

From The Wall Street Journal Online

Instant ramen noodles, long hawked as a cheap, quick food for college kids and others with lean budgets, are going gourmet.

Last fall, Union Foods Newcorp. of Irvine, Calif., launched several ramen-noodle products, including Gourmet Snack Noodles Soup and Mamma Mia microwaveable noodles, that are low in sodium, have no monosodium glutamate and no trans fats. The company also is pushing new noodle lines infused with vegetables, as well as ones with spices and sauces that appeal to different ethnic tastes.

Union Foods, one of the smallest players in the ramen-noodle market with an estimated 5% market share according to the company, is betting that its souped-up noodles will differentiate its offerings and help it better compete with larger rivals, Nissin Foods (USA) Co. and Maruchan Inc., at a time when growth has stagnated in the dried-soup foods category.

The company is hoping to lure, among others, people who once feasted on ramen noodles in their youth but are now looking for a healthier alternative. To that end, Union Foods hopes to eventually use its healthier -- and more expensive -- products to shift away from lower-cost retailers and into higher-end stores like those of Whole Foods Markets Inc., which specialize in more healthful fare.

"There's been such a view that ramen is really low-end stuff, and we don't believe that our products should be in that low-end market," says Victor Sim, chief executive of Solafide Inc., a private-equity firm that acquired Union Foods in June 2005.

As Union Foods' experience shows, small companies can find it difficult to compete in a niche market when their products become commoditized and the industry is dominated by one or two large, low-cost producers. And while launching a new product line is a way for companies to differentiate themselves, the move is fraught with uncertainty. In tweaking its products and marketing message to make an impact on the industry -- and make a profit -- Union Foods will have to walk the fine line of capitalizing on its traditions while promoting what's new.

"I think the challenge...is finding a balance in retaining taste and retaining affinity to your consumers and offering them a better product and making them feel better about their choices," says Debra Joester, president and chief executive of Joester Loria Group, a New York-based licensing and branding firm. She says the name change to snack noodles with no reference to ramen could alienate some consumers.

Quick and Cheap

Instant ramen noodles -- which typically come in a cup or a square package that costs 10 cents to 50 cents a pop -- is well entrenched as a cheap, quick meal: just add hot water, some packaged ingredients and let it sit for three minutes. But it's also known for being chock-full of savory but unhealthful ingredients, such as trans fats, sodium and monosodium glutamate, or MSG.

The U.S. is the world's fourth-largest consumer of ramen noodles, with 3.9 billion packages sold in 2005, according to the Japan-based International Ramen Manufacturers Association. China is No. 1. But U.S. ramen sales have been sliding due to the explosive growth of ready-to-serve soups that are more convenient for consumers.

In comparison to those ready-to-serve and condensed soups, sales also have been hurt by ramen noodles' "limited palette" of popular flavors -- beef, chicken and shrimp -- according to a report by Mintel International Group, a consumer research firm. Until recently, instant ramen noodles hadn't changed significantly since they were created in Japan in 1958 by Momofuku Ando, the recently deceased founder and chairman of Nissin Food Products Ltd., a market leader in the ramen category.

At Union Foods, though, big change is under way -- which the company hopes will boost sales. The company says it broke even last year, with revenue of $20 million to $25 million. Mr. Sim expects 2007 revenue to climb to $25 million to $30 million, with $5 million to $10 million in profit.

In addition to taking the unhealthy ingredients out of its noodles, Union Foods is putting good stuff into a more diversified line of products. For instance, it's injecting noodles with vegetables like spinach and beets. It offers a line of "picante," or spicy, noodles called Enchilosa, and came out in October with a higher-end product called Fiesta that comes in a biodegradable container, not the traditional Styrofoam. Both target Hispanic consumers.

Union Foods also launched in December an Asian-market product called Dae Jang Gum, which uses a spice based on kimchi, a traditional Korean dish of spicy pickled vegetables such as napa cabbage. And its new Mamma Mia Spinach Noodles with Alfredo Sauce is packaged in a biodegradable cornstarch and paper container.

All this new goodness is going to cost consumers, though: $2.50 to $2.99 each, compared with 10 to 50 cents for its original ramen noodles, which the company still sells.

Small Steps

Mr. Sim says his ultimate goal is to attract interest from high-end food retailers like Whole Foods of Austin, Texas, and Trader Joe's Co., Monrovia, Calif. He says the company is in the early stages of sending them samples.

But a healthier approach alone may not be enough to garner the attention of these stores. The fact that Union Foods had never had a product to appeal to them will make it much harder to persuade those stores to carry the new ramen line.

So far, Union Foods has made some inroads in the healthy market. Mark Trotter, chief executive of YoNaturals Inc., a San Diego-based maker of vending machines that serve healthy items, plans to soon put the new ramen noodles in his hot-meals vending machines where people have access to microwaves and hot water, including corporate campuses.

For now, though, Union Foods is banking on traditional outlets to drive business. In November, the 7-Eleven Inc. chain of convenience stores began selling the Gourmet Snack Noodles and Enchilosa lines. The Fiesta line and Mamma Mia Mac Cheese should be available by June.

Union Foods isn't alone in its healthful push, however. Late last year, Nissin Foods (USA) of Gardena, Calif., introduced its Noodle Soup premium product featuring air-dried pasta with large chunks of vegetables such as broccoli, carrots and celery. It also added a Souper Meal, a larger version of Nissin's popular Cup of Noodles, with thicker noodles and richer broth, and Chow Mein, a Chinese-style stir-fried noodles microwaveable package. Prices range from 99 cents to $1.49.

"Everybody's been hungry for something new," says Matt Talle, national sales manager at Nissin Foods (USA).

SEO Basics - Good Link, Bad Link
Landing Media Placement for Your Product
Top 25 Personal Finance Myths