One of the top reasons that people learn English is so that they can get a better job and a higher paying job.

It’s obvious that having a good vocabulary, good Email writing skills, and general communication skills would be of great help in any international workplace, but what about having an American Accent?  Is it important?

The truth is that it is important.  No boss will say that if your accent improves, then you will make more money, but this is an indirect and subtle truth.  If people think you sound like an American, they will naturally trust you more, consider you more international, and more competent in business.  It will also make it seem that your English is better than it is, even if all you are doing is learning to make it sound closer to that of a typical American.

Many adults fear they can’t improve their accent.  There are many accent reduction courses on the market and many don’t work.

With the right attitude and the right program, however, you can be sure to learn fantastic American accent in 30 days.  It might not be absolutely perfect, but it will make you sound like you have been living in the US or Canada for at least 20 years.

Try this Online Training Course for the American Accent.  You can follow along with the video lessons.  You’ll notice a huge improvement in less than a week.  You will be shocked at how good your pronunciation becomes after 30 days.  It’s fun too.  Just try it and see.

Improving your English speaking ability is important but it’s still under rated.  Most English tests still focus on writing and grammar.  When you think about it though, it’s face to face meetings that are everything.   A lot of business is about building relationships and the only way you can really do that is to speak with people.  If you can speak to someone else, you can possibly build a friendship and understand them.  Like it or not, today’s business world runs in English.

This is a business English site and a lot of what is written here will be about business strategies.

I’m working on a “bestin2012″ website where I’m going to be talking about the best of everything in 2012.  There are a lot of google searches for this kind of thing and I’m trying to think of creative ways to turn this into a business.

I did some research and a lot of people search the internet for the best in some given year.   It makes sense and advertisers and brands would love to be a part of that.  I’m going to be doing lot’s of research on a lot of different products so that I can rank high for many of these kinds of searches.  I think it makes a lot of sense and we’ll have to wait and see what happens.  The site has just started but I’m going to be doing a lot of writing in there for the world’s best of everything.  It might be interesting for you to learn about new products and I’ll share with you some of the business side of things.

I recommend that if you want a “side job” which means something other than your normal work, look into making money on the internet.  It’s not easy at first but possible if you spend a few years working towards your goals.  The key is not to get upset and tricked by all the people trying to sell these fake “easy

If you want to impress your future boss or anyone looking to hire you, there is something you can work on that is much better than a resume or a CV in today’s world.

Why not get it so that your name appears “first” when someone searches for it on Google or some other search Engine that is mainly used in your country.  It takes some work to do this, but it may not be as difficult as you think.  If someone can “Google” you and read a lot about you on a well designed WordPress template, people will naturally be impressed.  It seems like you are unique and almost famous.  There is something magical about this process.

So many people are “old school thinkers” in their advice for how to get a good job.  Show someone how to find you on the internet and it’ll impress them a lot.  It will also show that you are very unique and can think outside the box for a change.

Andrew Best, me, just started working on this and I’m still not where I’d like to be, but it’s only a matter of time.  I know that in a few months max I’ll be at the top.  I’ll do it through writing my honest thoughts and posting them in places I think people might want to see them.  I’m not looking for a new job at all, but I do want to start marketing myself and my “personal brand”.  I’ve seen how important this is and I want people to remember Andrew Best as the world’s top marketer.  If that will be true, I need to get people to know who I am.  It can create celebrity status with people you meet.  Linked in is also very good for this but getting your own website is better.  The best of all is to combine both.  Get a good Linked In profile and put a link to your own website on there.

This is the best site on the internet in 2012 for ESL beginners and teachers of ESL beginners.  You can find so much free information that is amazing to use in the classroom and for personal study.

The reason that I’m writing about this here is because I want to talk about the business of a new idea I have.  I know that a lot of people search for the best of something in any given year.  I’m going to try to find all the best and coolest stuff on hundreds or thousands of different topics for the upcoming year.  A lot of web traffic means a lot of eyeballs on a website.  A lot of eyeballs can mean money.  There are lots of ways to make money online and advertising is one of them.  That’s what keeps this website free. It’s not easy but it’s worth it if you have the patience to keep trying.  It’s something that may interest you in a side business.

I’ll let you know what’s going on with my side business and I think you might find the website useful too.  I’m going to be doing a lot of research for the best of everything in a lot of different categories.  You might want to bookmark the site and keep up with it so you can learn some cool new stuff too.  I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going.  It might give you some business ideas of your own for you to make money in 2012.

Here is the site:  The Best of Everything for the Year 2012

The world of international business is very interesting and quite complicated.  There are no clear rules saying that everyone must speak English like native English speakers, but somehow, we all know that it helps.

English is clearly the language of business and most CEO’s of large companies are native English speakers.  I was just at a big business Conference in China.  Most of the people spoke English as a second language but the entire conference was in English.

This conference was in a 5 star hotel and cost the company about 250 000 USD to prepare.  It was very important.   The people in the conference were doing a lot of networking.  I noticed that some of the more successful business people were more fluent in English.  They were not necessarily the more intelligent people, but they could make everyone understand their point.

In many ways the world isn’t fair but I strongly believe that it’s much better to study how the world really is instead of how we wish it was.  If you want to improve in business, you need to do all that you can to learn western culture and at least an English style that is similar to native speakers.  You will make more friends and get more job opportunities with this approach.  I’ve seen it in the real world.  I know this is how it works.  Here is an interesting post about how to speak like a native speaker.  I think it will benefit you in many ways.

I was at Starbucks today having a coffee.

The company has done an amazing job in Shanghai over the past few years.  I remember, only a few short years ago, almost no one was in there.  Chinese people didn’t drink that much coffee in those days.  Now, there are more Starbucks stores than ever and they are “packed”.  If a place is “packed” it means that it’s really crowded and no room for more people.

I noticed today that they did something interesting.  They changed their famous logo.  It isn’t a huge change but it doesn’t say “Starbucks Coffee” anymore.  It actually doesn’t say anything.  It’s just a picture.  I’m very curious to see how it will do in the future because the “brand” is so much a part of the company.  Most people don’t know the difference between good coffee and bad coffee.  They do know that “Starbucks” is somehow “cool” and it’s good enough to make people want it.  I read that the logo change was so that the company can “diversify”.  That means they can start to sell more than just coffee.  They already sell tea and some snacks.  Some investors think it is a good idea for this change and other investors think that it’s too risky and question, “why would someone want to mess with a good thing?”  I don’t know enough about it so I’ll just wait and see what happens.

I hope you come here often to learn about business.  I’ll make as many, hopefully useful, posts as I can to help you learn business English.

I’m also starting another blog for improving spoken English.

Check it out.  I really think it will help you improve.

There is a huge market for English as a second language and a lot of money to be made.  Unfortunately, this fact invites a lot of businesses into the market that offer poor quality courses in all areas of English.  Competition doesn’t always bring high quality.  Often it brings good marketers and sales people.  I don’t want to mention any particular names, but some of the top English teaching schools in the world offer really terrible lessons.  Teachers aren’t paid that much money compared with other industries, so many foreign teachers are of low quality.  Also, most students buy mainly on brand image and a good “sales pitch” rather than focusing on quality.

The reason for this is simple:  Students don’t know how good a school really is.  They see advertisements, they read reviews (which are often fake) and they see what the school looks like.  Some of the more expensive schools have a nice looking brand, attractive staff, high quality computers, but a very poor program.  At first glance, everything looks great, but finally when it’s too late, the student realizes that they’ve wasted their money.

They might tell some friends about how bad their experience was, but the school can still make money by finding new students and repeating the process over and over with new advertisements and a slightly different “sales pitch”.  This makes sense from a business perspective but it leaves the world uneducated in English.  The reason I’m writing about this is that it’s important to understand how true this is and make use good judgement before buying anything.

I’ve spent years searching for the best English learning programs and I’d like to recommend the Best Online Spoken English Course I’ve seen.  It’s an amazing price and it will help your speaking and your understanding of international business.

Business English is not only a language but also a type of international culture.  It’s a kind of world culture you need to understand if you want to seriously succeed in the world of International business.

International Business English is basically the way the world communicates when doing business.  Grammar and showing off with high level vocabulary is not necessary.  The most important part of this world is understanding how to relate to people and make your point short and clear to other people.  Business English is about getting the job done and it’s not about anything else.  Understanding others and being understood is the whole key.

One interesting tip that you might not have thought of is that using a simpler version of English might actually be better than a more advanced one.  You should of course learn all the advanced stuff yourself, but don’t forget that you will be dealing a lot with other people who don’t speak English well.  Even if your English is perfect, you need to take into account the level of English that other people have.  If you write or speak at a higher level than they can understand, you are wasting your time, their time, and most importantly, losing the business deal.

International Business English is a high level yet simple form of communication.  It’s direct, polite, and to the point.

If you are serious about succeeding internationally, you should check out:

International Business English

There is an English saying that says, “In life there is no such thing as a free lunch”.  That means that even free things have some “hidden cost” in them.

If your phone company offers you a “free phone” it’s not really free.  They are making money from the services they charge and give you the phone to get more customers.  The good news is that as a consumer you can often take advantage of good free business information on PDF.

The “trade off” is that you need to provide your email so that the company can later try to sell you stuff.  If you don’t like the emails, you can always block them anyway.  Some companies are good, some aren’t.  It’s life and you need to take a chance.

If you have a good feeling about some company, you might want to consider giving your email to see what kind of offers they have.  If the website looks bad or your don’t like the writing style, you should think twice and be careful.  If you do like what is being said, then you might want to give your email in exchange for the “free” gift.  If you are learning English as a second language you will be able to find many different Ebooks on the subject.  If you are learning vocabulary or general business English, I can recommend a site that gives a great “free” gift and won’t sell your email or bother you much.

Check out this free Business English PDF

A lot of people get a bit “lazy” when sending documents.  If you want to impress someone in a business setting, go the extra mile and make a PDF of the same material.  The content won’t be any “better” but it will appear better if you send it in PDF form.  It appears that you spent more time doing the research and it makes the document appear more valuable.

There are many programs that convert regular text documents to PDF files and they are easy to find online.

This is just a psychological phenomenon that really works well in the real world.  In English, we have a saying, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”.  It means basically that we should judge the inside content instead of the pretty packaging.  The interesting thing is, however, that no matter how hard we try, we can’t help ourselves.  We judge things on appearance whether we like it or not.  I sold a lot more stuff on one website just by changing the design.  It made people take the website more seriously.  This is the same idea here.

The truth is that often better content really IS available in PDF form.  I’ve made several free ones to help people with their English speaking.  I’m going to point you to one article that I wrote and feel free to follow the links and download the free material that I’m sure you’ll find helpful.

Spoken English PDF

The better your spoken English is, the more job opportunities you will have.  This may sound obvious but there are more reasons for this than you may think.  If you can speak English well, it means that you can communicate with people from all over the world.  Your understanding of the world will be broadened because you will be exposed to a lot more things and ideas.  A lot of business is about understanding more than your competitors.  If you can understand English and your own native language, you will be at a huge advantage to other people in your country.  Of course, English alone isn’t enough but it’s a really good start.  If you can speak and read a little then with the right study method you are probably only 4 months away from amazing English and a whole new life ahead of you making a lot more money.  Once you learn spoken English, no one can ever take this skill away from you and you will never regret the decision to start studying now.  There are some great ways to learn online and here is a great site to do it.

How to Improve Spoken English

The world is changing at a faster pace than ever before.  As a business person, it’s important to recognize these trends and take advantage of them.   Like it or not, the wealth gap will be very large for a long time and there will be a lot of winners and a lot of losers.   Why not learn what you can to be one of the winners?

Here are some important trends to take advantage of:

1.  Technology will continue to change and evolve rapidly.  There is no reason why this should stop.  New Energy and communications like the internet and other wireless stuff will continue to dominate.  The health care sector should also see large changes and innovation because there will be a wealthy aging population in need of solutions to their health issues.

2.  Learning English and thinking globally in terms of business is a very important thing to do.  All the big companies in the world are moving around the globe and opening up new markets.  They all communicate in English and you need to learn it well and quickly to survive and make a lot of money.  It doesn’t take long to learn English if you have the right method.  Here is an excellent program that a lot of smart business people use:  Learn English Fast

3.  Think flexibly.  The days are gone where you can get a job in a company and just wait 35 years till retirement.  Industries change all the time and it’s very important to embrace that change instead of trying to resist it.  Don’t be afraid to change jobs a few times and build up a bunch of knowledge in different industries.  It will make you very unique and valuable.  Do the things that most other people aren’t doing.  You will have many more options that way and can get a much better paying job if you have many unique experiences you can bring together.

Teaching business English is pretty much the top of the line in terms of ESL teaching. If you get a good position, the class can be quite fun and interesting. The money is usually the best in the business too.

The question is what to teach them? I’ve got years of experience teaching business English and making lesson plans for my students. Sometimes the lessons were great, other times they were a total failure. Through trial and error, I realized that most of these students really just want to know how to talk with foreigners and understand the culture. A lot of business terms are international and they are easy to learn from a dictionary. It’s the lack of knowledge about culture and the slang that makes these adults shy and nervous in business settings. Vocabulary is less of a concern than many students think.

I’ve made a bunch of cultural lesson plans (Over 100) about several different topics. Some are about business and some just about life in general in the western world. They are all designed to get the students thinking and talking in English. You can cater these lessons to your own style of teaching and you will save a lot of time and energy. These lessons are fun to talk about and make the class time fly by. Check them out and let me know what you think.

Adult ESL Lesson Plans

The ability to predict International trends early can lead to huge successes in business.  Business is so much easier if you are one of the first players in a market.  There is some luck involved for sure, but it’s possible to take an educated guess.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.  Right now is September 2010.  Apple has launched the Ipad this year and sold over 3 million of them in the first 80 days.  Some of the forecasts are saying they expect to sell 28 million in 2011.  Apple sells a lot of stuff internationally and there is no reason I can think of that the Ipad won’t do well in Asia and the rest of the world.  There is a lot more disposable income in China and the growing middle class will be buying Ipads.  It is a status symbol as much as a practical tool.

Now, what can you do with an Ipad?  ESL English language learning is one possibility.  If someone has enough money to buy an Ipad, they should also have enough money to pay for English lessons.  It just makes common sense.  They probably have a credit card and know how to use the internet.  Just the fact that someone in China owns an Ipad, should tell you some other things about this person.  The same thing is true with other countries.

The point is even though it’s not popular now, it very well could be in the future.  Not many companies are even trying to do anything so if you believe in this, now is a good time to start.   So many people make the mistake of waiting until an idea is already proven to be successful before they try it.  By that time there is so much competition and it’s too late.