Enterprise Podcast Network

When someone is a “naturalized” citizen, it means that they are legally a citizen of the United States. Naturalization is the process that someone from another country has to go through to become a US citizen. The first step in the process is to apply and be qualified for citizenship in America. 

Once the application is completed, the person must go through an interview, take an English speaking exam and pass a civics test. Once all of those steps are completed and passed, any individual who wants to be a naturalized citizen must take an oath to be loyal to America, and then they are eligible to become a citizen of the United States. The reason that applicants must jump through so many hoops is to ensure that they are serious about being a loyal citizen.

Who is eligible for naturalization?

There are specific eligibility requirements that are set by US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The requirements are:

You must be a minimum of 18 years old

You must be a permanent resident

You must be both physically present and a resident of the US for a minimum of five years prior to completing an application

You must be of “high” moral character

For someone to be considered a resident, there are rules and some exceptions that apply to those who leave the country for an extended period of time. Before you assume that you have the right residency established, it is important to check with an immigration lawyer to know exactly what is expected and what qualifies. The USCIS also has a specific Naturalization Eligibility Worksheet that helps potential applicants learn if they have the necessary requirements to go through the application process. 

If you meet all the requirements, then you can apply to be a naturalized citizen. Since it is not an easy process, the government has many useful online tools to walk you through your portion and responsibility. But sometimes it is best to hire an immigration lawyer to help guide you through the process so that you aren’t wasting your time or efforts.

Completing the application

When you work with your immigration attorney you will need to:

Fill out the Application for Naturalization

Have two different photo IDs that match the standards and regulations outlined by the  immigration office

Have all the documents needed to prove your eligibility

Send in your documents and application, along with fees paid to the Service Center who will be reviewing your application

Fingerprint requirements

As a part of completing the application, fingerprints need to be taken. The immigration office will:

Send you an appointment time telling you when you have to come in to be fingerprinted

You must arrive at the location to have your fingerprints taken

You must have your fingerprints documented

You must supply any additional documents that the immigration office might require

The interview and test

The last step, which is the most extensive and critical, is that you will have to:

Be notified of your scheduled interview appointment

Go to the office at your scheduled time

Bring in the proper identification to verify yourself

Answer any and all questions pertaining to both your background and your application

Take a civics and English test

When all is completed, you will receive a decision as to whether you passed or not and if you can proceed to the next steps.

Taking the Allegiance Oath

If you have been accepted and have completed all the other steps, then you are eligible to finish the last part, which is to take the oath of allegiance. You will:

Be given a ceremony date

Show up on your ceremony date

Turn in your Permanent Resident Card to the proper authorities

Answer all and any questions about the time you have spent since the interview process

Take the official oath of allegiance to complete the process…

Operating aerial lifts has its share of risks to the lives of construction workers including fatalities from tip overs/collapses, falls or electrocutions. There are a number of safety measures however that can significantly reduce the risks associated with these vehicle-mounted aerial platforms used to access aboveground job sites such as utility lines. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, has set aside about 10 key safety guidelines for operating aerial lifts. In this writeup, we provide three main safety measures that you cannot afford to ignore when operating the lifts. 

Get the requisite training and test before you operate aerial lifts 

Employers are under obligation to hire only well trained aerial lift operators, train and test them on the safety procedures before allowing them to operate. However, this is not solely the responsibility of the employer, the operator needs to also do their part to ensure they are well-honed for the task. 

In this regard, it helps to have the new hire demonstrate their mastery before going in the field to operate the equipment. 

Overall, both the employer and the employee should be well versed in the aerial lift operator safety measures. The employer will be able to make the right choice of workers and minimize equipment damage, while employees can remain safe each time they are handing these types of equipment. 

Always wear full protective gear 

Like in any industrial setting, wearing your hard hat will keep your head safe, safety glasses are designed to protect your eyes, steel-toe boots protect your feet in case something falls on them and sturdy gloves keep your hands safe from cuts, burns and even electrical shock. 

You are also required to wear the right clothing and use a restraining belt or body harness with a lanyard attached to the basket or boom. This is important and will prevent you from being ejected or pulled from the basket should anything happen or if you tip over. 

If you encounter any sort of accident, a full protective equipment can be a huge lifesaver. They can also help minimize room for injuries in cases of minor accidents. 

Bonus: Avoid wearing loose clothing and pull back long hair as both could get caught in various parts of the aerial lift.

Inspect the equipment before using it 

Some of the preventable aerial lift accidents occur because of neglecting to ascertain that everything is in order prior to use. Every type of aerial lift comes with a variety of cords, cables, pulleys and chains that are designed to work together. Always ensure you visually inspect each of these components to ascertain that everything checks out. Anything loose or out of place should be fixed before commencing operations. 

Manufacturers and leading retailers like High Reach 2 also emphasize the need to inspect tires, casters and wheels; as well as setting a solid foundation for safe movement of the aerial lift. Also, just before getting onto the bucket or platform, be sure to test the controls on site to ensure they’re working properly. 

Conclusion 

Operators of aerial lift equipment face a myriad of safety challenges when they are overhead, and no less when they’re on the ground. Nonetheless, observing these safety measures should help mitigate the risks involved in conducting your work high in the air on these fairly small operating platforms.

Michelle Castro, a Business Development Manager at Post Launch where their creative team provides web presence marketing to a host of businesses in Las Vegas, Nevada joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Michelle Castro discuss the following:

* What brought you to marketing and what keeps you interested in the industry?

* Why is web presence so important for a business?

* Why should someone pay a marketing team company like Post Launch to handle their web presence?

* Why should a business start a blog?

* Why should a business owner consult a marketing company before they create a website?

TIP: Check your site speed. Slow sites means you can potentially be losing your target audience.

This lifelong athlete dominated land and sea as both a cross-country and avid swimmer in the mean streets of Monterey Park. Michelle’s favorite author, Ray Bradbury, penned many of her favorite novels in the basement of her alma mater, UCLA. In line with Post Launch’s nerd culture, Michelle is a super fan of Star Wars and Rick and Morty. This nerdy athlete hopes her passion for athletics leads her to work for the Olympics one day. For now, she’s using her research and development skills to find new clients who would benefit from a relationship with Post Launch.

Website: postlaunch.co

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/postlaunchco

Twitter: https://twitter.com/postlaunchco

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A happy and successful life is all about making financial decisions and management. Life insurance is that wise decision that is to be taken early as you never know what the future holds for you. Your savings are your lifeline. Although it is a bit painful, but the fact is that people are dying prematurely and some of them were the sole breadwinner for their family. The family suffers the most in these circumstances and it becomes difficult for them to maintain their standard of living. Therefore, taking an insurance policy is the wisest decision to make for your family. 

Do you think your earning is enough? Or do you think you are too young to have an insurance policy? There are compelling reasons for you to buy a life insurance policy for you and your loved ones. Groth & Associates can advise you about those policies and all the technical issues about getting one.

Look After Your Young Ones

This is probably the most important reason to buy a life insurance and the main factor to keep in mind. For those who do not want to let their families down after they are gone, life insurance is the most useful instrument. It can replace the regular monthly income, provide for children’seducation fees, and give financial security to the family when you may not be with them. They won’t be dependent on someone else for their needs.

Dealing with Loans

Liabilities pile up during periods of crisis and can lead up to heavy debts and loans that are difficult to return without a strict saving plan. Insurance can be the plan your family needs to deal with home loans, car loans, and personal loans. Your family can have a decent amount after a specific period of time to deal with all outstanding loan payments. 

Retirement and Long-Term Goals

You might have a plan to buy a house on your retirement or on the wedding of your child. An insurance policy is the perfect investment option due to its minimized potential risk and reasonable benefit at the end of the term. It can also be your retirement fund as you can get the benefit of a regular monthly income after retainment. You can also call it your pension plan.

Good for Business Owners

If you own a business, an insurance can be a good succession plan. Some insurance policies can be purchased for the security of your business in case of loss or death. You can create a document about who will inherit the business after your death. Some insurance policies also assume responsibility for the running of the business and prevent the surviving partner from buyingyour shares without agreement. It can be a protection plan for the business about which you can ask a financial advisor.

Easy if You are Younger

Youth is a carefree period. You think you have so much to do and also have time to accomplish your goals. But you should think of an insurance policy as priority at this stage. It can be your emergency fund or a long-term plan. It is also cheaper when you are young because as you get older you need to consider other large expenses as well. The money saved during good times becomes a very comfortable financial cushion in later years. This way you can also save more every year until your retirement. Whether you are single or have dependents, think about insurance as a sensible and practical solution.

You are Forced to Save Something

If you have money with you, you may spend it somewhere. An insurance policy forces you to save some cash annually in the form of insurance premiums. You can adjust the premium monthly or annually as per your income and living standards. 

It Gives Peace of Mind

Unavoidable life incidents can be depressing, but an insurance policy allows some comfort and peace of mind. It is relaxing to know that your insurance policy will help you in difficult times and will allow your family to avoid …

If you are charged with a DUI in Manitoba, it is a very serious offense that can be met with severe consequences. The good news is that even if you are facing DUI charges, it does not automatically mean that you will be found guilty. 

Even if you were tested and your blood alcohol concentration is 0.08 percent or more, there is still a way to defend against a DUI conviction. The best way to beat a DUI charge is to find a DUI Manitoba lawyer who can build a winning defense. Likely, they will use one of the seven defenses to DUI that have a proven track record.

1. The “last drink” defense

If you are pulled over and have your blood alcohol content (BAC) tested, even if you test over 0.08 percent, you can try to use the defense that you just left the bar and you drank your last drink quickly as not to waste it, which was why your BAC was abnormally high. It is a crime to drive with a BAC of 0.08 percent, but it isn’t a crime to have alcohol in your stomach or on your breath.

So, if you were tested at 0.08 percent, and you just left the bar, then there is the chance that your breath tests will be inaccurate. Since the alcohol may not have had enough time to hit your bloodstream, your BAC could have been inaccurate, meaning that you were wrongfully charged.

2.  Delayed BAC test

You can use the a delayed BAC test defense if you were stopped without being tested for a long time. Since alcohol takes some time to hit your bloodstream, if your BAC isn’t immediately tested, you could end up testing higher later on. This means that you might not have been legally impaired when you were driving, but due to the delay in your test, you gradually became more intoxicated. In other words: you might not have been drunk driving at all. 

3. The indicia impaired contradiction

If there was more than one police officer at the arrest and the description of what they witnessed as signs of your impairment are different than another officer’s, their testimony can be called into question. 

If there are verbal or written contradictions between the statements of the arresting officers about the events of the scene, then it might be the key to a winning defense.

4. You weren’t behind the wheel

If you are in an accident or are caught beside a car and presumed have been the driver, you may be able to claim that the officer could not positively ID you as being the one who was driving the car. If you were not the driver of the car, you could have your charges dismissed.

To prove that you are guilty of a DUI, the officer would not only have to prove that you were intoxicated, but would also have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were the one behind the wheel.

5. You weren’t served the proper certificate

The Crown will typically rely on something called the Certificate of Qualified Technician to prove that your BAC level was correct. To use your BAC level in court, the Crown would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were served a certificate properly. If they can’t, then you can use that as your defense against DUI charges.

6. No right to counsel at the scene

Since it is your right to be represented while being questioned for a crime, if your attorney was not present to give you advice on your case when you were tested and questioned roadside, the argument can be made that you were not given your right to counsel. If this argument is granted, any evidence that law officers collect at the scene become inadmissible in court, including any tests. 

7. The officer is not specifically trained to operate an ASD

If, on the stand, the officer who administered the breathalyzer cannot tell the judge the procedure for properly administering BAC tests, then you can challenge the effectiveness of their testing abilities and how accurate they are. If they are…

Moving across the country can be an exciting time whether the place you’re moving to is your first grown-up apartment or it’s the house of your dreams. The thought of starting a new life and exploring new places to eat, shop, and hang out is very encouraging for someone who is about to undergo the hassle of moving. Before you start celebrating this new phase in your life, there are a few things that you need to take care of so that the moving process goes smoothly as planned. Don’t forget about changing your address and informing everyone you know that you are moving. Here are some tips on how you can effectively change your address when you are moving across the country.

Create A Contact List

The first thing to do is to create a contact list. Create different categories according to type and need. For instance, electricity, water, telephone, cable, internet, and trash all belong to the utility service provider category.  On the other hand, you can combine the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) into one type. Banks, lenders, and investment managers go together.

Add Task to Your Moving Timeframe

Once you have created a list of all the people and agencies that need to know about your change of address, then you can figure out how you are going to contact all of them efficiently. Informing your service providers of the address change may take precedence over some of your friends and subscription companies which you can do even after the move. Any letters that are actionable or contains personal private information such as bank or credit card statements, insurance claims and contracts should be sent to your new address without any hassle or delay to avoid any breach of information. If you think that you don’t have enough time to contact each agency within the timeframe, you can use the USPS change of address online as a one-stop service to inform interested parties about your new address.

Contact Your Service Providers

You probably need to contact your utility service providers two to three weeks in advance so that they can update their systems accordingly. During your first day in your new place, you want to be comfortable as much as possible. And that means having electricity to cook and clean water to drink and wash up. It will be more exhausting if you are unpacking things during a winter season without a working heater inside the house. It is a lot better if all your utilities are working on day one.

Update Government Agencies and Financial Institutions

Don’t wait until after a few weeks or a month before you inform the IRS or the Social Security Administration that you have moved to a new place. Your address is part of your identification and must always contain the correct information. If you own a car, you should also update your insurance company and the Department of Motor Vehicles of your new address. Call your bank account manager to update your home and billing address.

Contact Everyone Else

Subscription companies, schools administrator, physician, your manager, and friends do not need to be informed before moving. You can tell them a few days after you have moved or once you’re settled in. If you are moving on your own and have a lot of tasks to do, it is better to compartmentalize and prioritize so that you don’t miss anything.

Adam Morris, CEO at Redstage Worldwide, a global eCommerce Agency specializing in developing transformative customer experiences joins eCommerce Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Adam Morris discuss the following:

* What does the B2B eCommerce market look like and why is B2B super hot right now?

* How is B2B eCommerce different from traditional online retail?

* What are the main roadblocks for companies going digital?

* I’ve seen a lot about Redstage & Transformative B2B eCommerce, what is that exactly?

* For companies thinking about going digital, how does Redstage’s process help companies achieve positive digital transformation?

As a digital entrepreneur, Adam Morris has been working alongside Anthony Latona (Redstage’s CMO) since college. The duo co-founded several businesses together over the years, most recently Redstage, which started in 2008. As Morris recalls, “All of our businesses revolved around online commerce, and we’ve had a knack for being ahead of the Internet business curve. Redstage is an eCommerce agency that specializes in web design, development, strategy and support for B2B and B2C clients all over the world. As part of the Fulcrum Family of companies, we have over 700 employees on 5 continents. For the past 10 years we’ve been transforming companies through eCommerce, now focusing primarily on Magento and Shopify. With B2B eCommerce set to explode before the end of the decade, we’re ready to take on the biggest challenges facing the world’s largest companies – especially when it comes to tackling the transition to digital, something we’re quite good at.”

Website: www.Redstage.com

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Redstage

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/redstage

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Addiction can be like riding a rollercoaster you can never get off, at least not without leaping while it’s traveling at 100 mph. No matter the addiction, drugs, alcohol, eating, gambling, and so on, if you get in too deep, there may be nothing you can do about it before your addiction wreaks havoc on both your personal and professional life. 

The key? Gaining control over your addiction before it takes control of you. Here are a few ways to stop an addiction before it’s too late, whether it’s your own or someone else’s.

Know If You’re at Increased Risk of Addiction

They say that knowledge is power, so it’s vital to know if you’re displaying signs of an addiction or at an increased risk of developing an addiction. According to the Center on Addiction, there is a multitude of risk factors of addiction for people at various stages of the lifecycle. For mid- to late-twenties adulthood, the stress of balancing work with having a family can put them at risk of developing an addiction. Middle-aged individuals may also be at risk of addiction if they have financial or social stress in their lives, such as a divorce or having to care for an aging parent. You should also know that substance abuse, including drinking and smoking, is more common if tried before the age of 18. 

Understanding that you may be at a higher risk of developing an addiction can be the first step in getting ahead of your problem and overcoming it.

Don’t Put Your Career First

If you feel yourself slipping into an addiction that’s slowly starting to control your life, you need to make fighting that addiction a priority over your career. You’ve no doubt worked hard to get to where you are, so you’ll be understandably hesitant to put it on the back burner. You may also have a family to support, and we all have bills to pay, both of which make it difficult to set everything aside to seek inpatient treatment for your addition. But if you don’t make your health a priority, your addiction will eventually have a negative impact on your career (if it doesn’t already). Laws exist specific to protect people who get treatment for addiction from termination. 

You may also be able to find an alcohol rehab clinic or drug treatment centre that will allow you to continue working while receiving treatment.

Be Honest with Yourself

For most people, maintaining an addiction is an exercise in lying, and not just to other people, but to oneself as well. If you get deep enough into your addiction, you’ll do things you might later regret just to keep it from being interrupted. 

Part of getting a hold of your addiction is turning over a new leaf of honesty, first with yourself and then with everyone around you. In an effort to be more honest, try keeping a journal of your thoughts. Don’t think too much about it: just put a pen in your hand and let your stream of consciousness take over as you describe your daily activities and actions. After a few entries, read and reflect on what you wrote; it should help give you an honest look at the state of your life and how your addiction is playing a role. The point of honesty is helping you realize you have a problem so you can seek help for it. 

But before any of that can happen, you need to be honest with yourself about your problem.

Have a Firm Plan in Place

It’s not enough to say that you’re going to stop your addiction; if it were, it wouldn’t be an addiction. If you’re going to break it, you need to have a concrete plan for what you’re going to do instead of indulging your addiction. When you feel that urge to drink or smoke or gamble, what exactly are you going to do? Is there a specific place for you to go or a particular activity for you to do that will help you relax and fight off your urges? Do you need to call someone to help you? 

When th…

Are you a budding “mompreneur?” Moms are busy people, the responsibilities of raising a family consumes a significant portion of your time. With so much to take care of, is it possible for moms to run a business and handle the pressures of motherhood?

If you’re a mom who’s just started a company, find some inspiration from these 6 stay-at-home moms that broke the boundaries of conventional business and achieved their goal of becoming successful “mompreneurs”. 

1.    Corporate Mom Dropouts – Founded by Lucinda Cross

Finding the time to balance business and family is the most challenging part of being a mompreneur. If you’re not careful, the pressures of business can ruin your relationships at home. Lucinda Cross saw this problem as an opportunity and founded a company on it. 

Today, “corporate mom dropouts” is a wildly successful business that focuses on rebuilding the relationships between moms in business and their kids. Lucinda published her book, “Corporate Mom Dropouts,” in 2009 and hasn’t looked back since.

2.    Buzzy – Founded by Dr. Amy Baxter

Is your kid scared of needles? This phobia is common among children, and Dr. Amy Baxter decided to create a business model that catered to ease this fear. Buzzy, is a toy used to entertain kids receiving shots. 

The product takes their mind off the brief moment of pain by attracting their attention to a cartoon bee during the administration of medications. The company received a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, and the rest is history.

3.    Baby Einstein – Founded by Julie Aigner-Clark

This series of books and videos, created by Julie Aigner-Clark, teach kids about art, poetry, music, and language. From humble beginnings in the basement of their family home, the business grew to astronomical heights. The Disney Corporation acquired the company for the tidy sum of $20 million, making Baby Einstein an outstanding success for Julie and her family.

4.    Carissa Rose – Founded by Carissa Brown

The best business ideas come from recognizing market niches not yet exploited by big business. This fact rings true in the case of Carissa Brown and her fashion label, Carissa Rose. The label designs clothes for full-figured women that struggle to find garments in their size. A full-time mom, Carissa worked on the business in her spare time, and persistence paid off. Today, Carissa Rose is an international brand, and the company employs her kids. 

5.    Bella Tunno – Michelle Tunno Buelow

When Michelle Buelow fell pregnant, she took a salary cut of 50% to stay at home with her newborn. Michelle quickly discovered that she struggled to make ends meet by making clothes and accessories for her baby, such as changing pads, from cheap items. 

Friends saw her ideas and wanted her to make them some for their kids as well. Bella capitalized on the concept and turned her small home business into a going concern that produces more than $1 million of turnover every year.

6.    What’s up for Kids – Cathy Alessandra

This tale of persistence will inspire any aspiring mompreneur. Cathy started her first newsletter “What’s up for kids,” in 1995, back when there was a lack of literature for kid’s events. After printing her first thousand copies, she ran into numerous stumbling blocks on the way to building an empire. Today, “What’s up for kids” is a 32-page publication with advertising revenues and a monthly circulation of over 20,000 copies.

The Final Thought

All it takes to make a success of a home business is tenacity and persistence, along with the drive and passion for making your dreams a reality. On your way to establishing your empire, take advice from mentors, create compelling marketing campaigns and use stylish mailers to build your brand and achieve success. Keep pushing for y…

Funerals and traditional burials have been around for as long as recorded history. A way to say goodbye and honor loved ones, funerals might vary from one to the next. Although individualized, there are still certain rituals that are considered standard. The traditional ritual of a funeral was created when the world was much less connected.

Due to the changing face of society in America, families have become less centralized and don’t always live in the same region, as was the norm in the past. That means when someone dies, not everyone who wishes to be present at the funeral can be. This is making people reconsider tradition when it comes to burial arrangements and causing them to opt to do things slightly differently to accommodate for changing nuclear families. 

Since people have become much savvier and proficient at doing things on their own, it begs the question of whether or not funeral homes might be a thing of the past. With so many options for memorial ceremonies or life celebrations, are traditional funeral homes likely to be out of business in the future? The answer is no.

The little secret that not many people know until they encounter the death of a loved one is that funeral homes do much more than hold traditional wake ceremonies. They offer legal services and take care of all aspects of death and burial. With so many things to take care of, there is little likelihood that they will not be a thing of the past anytime soon. 

Keep reading to find out six interesting things that keep funeral homes relevant and important.

1.  Provision of emotional support

Losing a loved one can be overwhelming to family members. Often, funeral homes are more than just a business. They employ people who have an understanding of how to deal with grieving family members and loved ones. They also help people through the acceptance process by allowing for viewing of the body of a deceased person.

Sometimes people have a hard time accepting death until they see it in person. By displaying the body, there is more permanence to someone’s death, and it helps people to move forward.

2.  Commiseration

A Winnipeg funeral home is the place where a family and the community can come together to talk about someone who has passed and share experiences and stories together. Getting through grief is a process that is much easier on loved ones when they have a place to gather together to lean on and support one another. This isn’t always possible in personal spaces, which is why funeral homes are the perfect space.

3.  Announcement of death

The funeral home is responsible for notifying people in the community–as well as outside of it–of the passing of an individual. They take care of the death notice and making death announcements on forums so that anyone who knew and loved the deceased is aware that they are gone and knows how to respond.

4.  Planning guidance

When you are grief-stricken and overwhelmed, it is difficult to think straight, little less plan something as involved as a funeral or a memorial service. Regardless if you choose cremation or traditional burial, there are many steps that need to be taken care of. A funeral home is responsible for making sure everything is done on time so that the family can heal.

5.  Organizing legal documents

A funeral home helps individuals dealing with the death of a loved one by assisting with the legalities involved. Being responsible for filing the death certificate and other legal forms, funeral homes take care of many legal matters so that the family members can focus on the grieving process and getting through the funeral instead of worrying about paperwork.

6.  Organizing little details

If you haven’t ever organized a funeral before, it is easy to forget about things like flowers, memorial cards or any …