Astounding Words

Have you ever noticed that there is no shortage of people willing to give you advice, whether or not you asked for it? I’ve developed some simple rules about from whom I will accept advice and suggestions. I do not ask for heath advice from people who are sick, I do not ask for financial advice from people who are broke and I do not ask for business advice from people who are not in their own business. Over the years I’ve watched hundreds of people go into a business venture and excitedly tell their family and friends about their new enterprise. Big mistake! How many of your friends and relatives own their own business? Probably few or none.

While they may be well intentioned and have your best interests at heart, their lack of knowledge and their own fears can sabotage your new venture. If you want advice or input about a business, find someone who is successfully running their own business and ask them. Ask several people so you can obtain an objective view. When your choosing mentors or role models, be sure to seek out those people who have been there. Chose people who have “walked the walk” and have succeeded in doing what you want to do.

This applies as much to health, finance, education, relationships and pretty much any area of your life. If you want to be fit and healthy, do not seek advice from someone who is overweight, a smoker, and sick all the time. Find a fit and healthy person and model them. I know this sounds overly simple and obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how many people are listening to and even following the advice of people who do not know what they are talking about.

They are sadly listening to the person who is stuck in a dead-end job telling them why a business idea will not work. They are listening to an overweight, sick person who is telling them that taking vitamins is a waste of money and they are listening to the person who is living paycheck to paycheck telling them how to become wealthy. To ensure your success, make sure your role models are demonstrating in their own lives, the qualities you seek to develop.

© 2004 Jim Donovan PO Box 1147, Buckingham, PA 18912 (215) 794-3826

Jim Donovan is the author of “Handbook to a Happier Life, a motivational speaker and coach. For a no cost bonus product & more, visit http://www.JimDonovan.com

If you had all the information and tools you needed to live your dream life, would you use them? Yes?
Click here ==> http://www.jimdonovan.com/ebookoffer.html

You’ve been arrested on a DUI charge. Now what do you do?
Although most people will recommend that you hire a lawyer to
represent your best interests many people do not do so, often
because of shame and embarrassment. Whether or not you hire a
lawyer can have a big impact on your case so you may want to
think carefully before making a decision. If you do decide to
hire a DUI lawyer there are several things to consider so that
you find the best lawyer possible to represent you.

Because DUI laws vary among each state ( HREF=http://www.duislawyer.com/stateduilaws rel="nofollow">http://www.duislawyer
.com/stateduilaws), hire a lawyer that has expertise with
the laws in the state where you were arrested. Also, hire a
lawyer that specializes in DUI cases. Depending on where you
live you may not be able to find a good lawyer that practices
DUI law exclusively, but look for a lawyer who spends at least
half of his or her time handling DUI cases. It may be tempting
to hire your local lawyer who deals with a veritable buffet of
issues such as DUI’s, divorce, wills, and bankruptcy, etc. but
DUI law is extensive and continually changing so you will likely
be much better hiring a specialist in DUI.

Before you hire a DUI lawyer, or any other type of lawyer, meet
with him or her first. Most lawyers will not charge you to meet
with them while you’re looking for someone to handle your case.
Having a face to face meeting with your lawyer before hiring him
or her is good for both the client and the attorney. You’ll want
to hire someone you feel comfortable working with. A face to
face meeting helps you determine whether or not you feel
comfortable. It also helps the lawyer decide if he or she feels
comfortable working with you and wants to take on your case.

Before going to any consultations with lawyers (and you should
consult with at least two lawyers before making a decision) do
some research. The yellow pages is a good place to look for a
lawyer but remember that the DUI lawyer with the biggest ad is
not necessarily the best lawyer for you to hire. He or she is
just the person with the biggest ad. You want a lawyer with DUI
expertise and experience.

The library is another good place to do research. Your local
library should have a copy of the Martindale Hubbell law
directory. The directory does its best to list every lawyer in
the United States along with his or her area(s) of speciality.
You can search the directory by either location or area of law
each lawyer deals with. The directory is also available online.
People you know can also be a good source of information
regarding a good lawyer.

Create a list of questions you want to ask each lawyer during
the consultation so you can compare each lawyer equally before
deciding who you would like to hire to represent you.

A few questions you may want to have on the list you make are:

1) What percent of the cases you handle are DUI or impaired
driver? (Remember that you want someone who is very familiar
with the current laws in your state.)

2) What do you charge and what is your fee structure? (You’ll
want to know the most you’ll have to pay as well as how much you
have to pay upfront. Many DUI lawyers charge a flat fee, which
is a set amount for your case whether or not it goes to trial.
Some lawyers charge an hourly fee. Others have staggered fee
structures that break things into phases. They may charge a flat
fee up until trial. If the case goes to trial then there’s
another fee to pay. If the entire fee is required upfront but
you are financially unable to pay it all upfront ask if a
payment arrangement can be worked out. It can’t hurt to ask. The
worst answer you can get is “no.”)

3) What costs besides attorney fees will I be responsible for?
(In addition to lawyer fees you may be responsible for things
like court costs and filing fees).

4) Will you be the lawyer handling my case or will someone else
in the firm be the primary lawyer on my case? (This question is
especially important if you are consulting at a firm with
several lawyers. Some people have been very frustrated when they
found out the lawyer they consulted with wasn’t the lawyer who
handled the majority of their case.)

These are just a few of the questions you’ll likely want to ask
before deciding which DUI lawyer you want to hire.

Credit cards come loaded with benefits, rewards and privileges and thus require a good credit rating for card approval. With a Prepaid Visa Cash Card, you can still acquire some of the benefits and rewards offered by credit cards without the need for good credit history.

This stems from the fact that getting approved for a Prepaid Visa Card itself is already a boost to your credit rating. Unlike unsecured credit cards, there are no annual fees or interest rates chargeable to a prepaid debit card. However, there may be application and processing fees involved during the initial usage periods. Also, over the long run, monthly fees for maintenance purposes are also imposed.

Basically, Prepaid Visa cards are debit cards that require the cardholder to make monthly deposits to their card account prior to making purchases with the card. This helps card users avoid the tendency to overspend, and yet provides them with the liberty to bring less cash around.

Prepaid Visa Cards are accepted at stores and facilities which display the Visa logo. Apart from that, the Prepaid Visa Card can also be utilized for online transactions. At the current moment, paychecks can be deposited straight into card account by the employer, reducing the need for costly transaction fees or multiple checking accounts. This feature is also beneficial to parents who wish to transfer funds for their children’s college expenditure, or when direct transfer payment would need to be made. Funds can then be transferred from card to card, through money orders or just with standard deposit slips.

Finally, there is an abundance of Prepaid Visa Cash cards in the market, with most of them equipped with reward-point collection and cash rebates programs. It is also a fact that Visa debit cards dominate the market share by a ratio of 3 to 1 as compared to their closest competitor. With the popularity of the Prepaid Visa Cash card comes the need to pay attention to the issue of security, as there is not much protection provided against unauthorized usage of debit cards.

For more information or to apply for the Prepaid Visa, Eric Wasselman recommends Find Credit Cards.

As business owners we all know that in a ideal world prospects would just pick up the phone and give us an order - but for most of us sales is not like that! Yes it would be utopia however have you considered the difference between order takers and sales professionals? Firstly they are two completely different animals. Lets face facts order takers are less likely to be skilled in sales technique. This includes the ability to easily up sell, cross sell or add on services. Order takers are by there very nature just waiting for the phone to ring and do not work on a pro active basis. If we left everything to the client then so many additional products would never have been sold.

Before I am told that they probably were sold something that they didn’t want, lets examine the motivation for buying. If you were looking at purchasing software to run on a Windows based platform maybe it would be important to ensure that it worked with every release or version of the software. Some companies still have Windows 98 and have not (for whatever reason) upgraded to XP. If this particular prospect came through and presented the company with an order and found out later that the software was incompatible with Windows XP it is my belief that they would have expected the seller to let them know prior to purchase. The same could be said for printers. Imagine an real estate agency that wanted to print thousands of property particulars. If they bought a bottom of the range ink jet printer as opposed to a colour laser they would possibly be feeling cheated when the printer just didn’t meet expectations.

Salespeople are taught (or should be) to manage expectations and recommend appropriate products and services. Money is tight for everyone (I think it always has been) and I believe that nobody is tricked into buying something that they don’t want by some smooth talking sales person. Unfortunately apart form the very basic advice that may be given at the point of purchase most order takers won’t even recognise an opportunity. That could be an expensive mistake if you were considering the value that the prospect brings over the buying cycle. For many companies this is measured in years. A bookstore can attract buyers whose buying pattern is measured in years (say 5 years at 12 purchases per year). A trained salesperson will recognise this and ensure that they are helped with the current order and try to anticipate future buying habits. Some of the big companies on the internet have employed this - when you order a book another window may popup suggesting other books to purchase thus increasing the order value at the point of purchase.

Lastly remember this, order takers shine when the market is buoyant in a declining market sales people have built solid relationships that they leverage and still make or exceed targets - the choice is yours.

© The Sales Academy 2005.

You may include this article in your ezine or on your website or distribute it to others, provided you include the copyright statement and the bio information tag line found at the end of this article.

Mike Palman, is a Global Master Sales Coach and Author. Mike helps people and businesses do more, do it better and get results that they want. Mike had a successful career in sales for over 25 years and now helps other salespeople get the sales edge. Mike lives in both the UK and South Africa.
For more articles by Mike Palman, visit http://www.thesalesacademy.com

This fun day is observed on 12th or 14th of April. I wonder if anyone knows about the origin of this day. But the idea is beautiful and one must admire the imagination of whoever thought of this day.

What are we supposed to do on this day? Look at the sky! As I write this article, I am seeing two birds flying away in the sky. The sky is light blue in color with little gray near the horizon. There are little or rather no clouds and it is a clear sky. It is about 5 PM in the evening and the sun will be setting in about two hours here. Now I see a pigeon fluttering its wings coming at speed near me and then flying away. Now I see bright sun light opposite my home. The sun was not that brilliant before a minute. I never knew that the sky changes in mood so fast and has so much to offer. Don’t we all ignore the beautiful sky all our life? Most of us reserve observing such things on holidays in distant places. Ever wondered why?

It is our structure of working that prevents us enjoying such beautiful sights as the sky in our daily life. Our work takes away most of our time and the other is spent on household chores or watching television. Sometimes I think why people become so excited to watch the sun on the eclipse day? The sun is there everyday, but we feel totally unconcerned with it, unless it is very hot. Am I right? Same thing with the moon and the stars. How many of us step out on a night only to watch the stars?

Stars are so fascinating. Some of them are so far that it takes light, millions of years to reach us. That means that we are watching the star as it was million of years ago. Some of them are traveling away from us and some are collapsing to become black holes. It must be very dark there, isn’t it? How small all of us are compared to this cosmos.

The sky is lovely during the day and equally lovely at the nights. The birds of all kinds, clouds, the changing colors of the sky, all make it a great panoramic sight during the days and the nights are so peaceful with the moon and the distant stars. The only piece missing is our observation. We have no time to watch and derive joy from the nature that is around us.

CD Mohatta writes for ecards, quizzes, screensavers and wallpapers. The topics of his writings include love, motivation, holidays, life etc. You can download desktop wallpapers, send free ecards and solve fun quizzes.

If you went to AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings to get sober,
you remember the overabundance of coffee and cookies available
(not to mention smoke). At OA (Overeaters Anonymous) meetings
you find a number of people who are coming from other 12-step
meetings, people who originally treated their alcohol or drug
addiction and now find that their eating has become compulsive.
I hear OA people say that they were aware of having a food
problem before having an alcohol problem.

Overweight people with binge-eating disorder are more likely to
have a family history of substance abuse than the general
population. So, what’s going on here, and what needs to be done?
Is it emotionally-based? Physically-based? If you’re in
recovery, or have a family history of addiction, are you
destined to also have a food disorder? If you do have a food
disorder, what should you eat? (The “what should I eat?”
question also plagues the general population!)

The other day I glanced at a book called Fat is not your fate:
outsmart your genes and lose the weight forever, written by
Susan Mitchell and Catherine Christie who are registered
dieticians. I probably would have passed it by - who needs
another book on diet and weight? - except that out of the six
food plans offered, one was devoted to addiction-linked weight
gain.

These authors have looked at genes (our inheritance from our
mother and father) and phenotype (those genes which are
expressed, or “turned on.”) They determined 6 weight
gain-causing phenotypes that also correlate with disease-causing
conditions: addiction, high blood pressure, cardiovascular
problems, diabetes, emotional eating, and hormone imbalance.

The genetic grouping that they call Phenotype A includes binge
eaters, or people who have gained weight after treatment for
alcohol or drug addiction. It also includes former tobacco
users. Genetically, Phenotype A people may have low levels of
the neurotransmitters dopamine or serotonin, or may have too few
receptors for these neurotransmitters in the brain. Therefore
the “feel-good” genes in addictive people don’t work, leaving
them predisposed to find a high in some other way.

Studying the biochemistry of alcoholism is not new. Many studies
have confirmed the connection between hypoglycemia and
alcoholism, as explained in the book 7 Weeks to Sobriety (1992).
In The Diet Cure (1999), author Julia Ross gave guidelines for
rebalancing body chemistry to end food cravings, weight
problems, and mood swings. This new book, I think, builds upon
these works and helps implement the information in a practical
way that isn’t overwhelming.

What are the guidelines for the Phenotype A Diet?

* Eat 3 meals a day, plus 2 snacks. Each meal and snack contains
protein, carbohydrates, and fat in specified amounts. The book
lists protein sources (which includes dairy products, soy,
legumes, nuts and seeds), carbohydrate sources (certain grain
products, high-fiber cereals, fruits, legumes, vegetables,
flaxseed, wheat germ), and fat sources (such as avocado, olives,
nuts, hummus, and olive oil).

This is a regimen of approximately 50% carbohydrate, 20%
protein, and 30% fat. If the carb level is too low it will
trigger cravings. If the protein intake is cut, you won’t get
the boost in dopamine levels and a feeling of fullness. Without
enough fat, your mood will deteriorate and you’ll trigger
overeating.

* Emphasize certain “focus foods” that are critical to the
plan’s success: caffeine-containing beverages 4 times daily;
protein foods; seafood; walnuts; wheat germ; canola or olive
oil; flaxseed meal; and folate foods (green leafy vegetables,
fruits, other vegetables, and fortified cereals.)

* Take supplements: a multivitamin/mineral, Vitamin C, and
Vitamin E. For depression, add St. John’s wort or SAMe, and
Omega-3 fatty acids. For post alcohol treatment, add milk
thistle and B-complex vitamins.

* Increase your activity and start exercising regularly.

* Keep a food record so you’ll have a way to analyze what kinds
of food you crave, and determine what prompts bingeing or
overeating.

A note on caffeine: The Hypoglycemic Health Association of
Australia recommends eliminating caffeine because, while it
initially raises blood sugar levels and makes you feel good, it
is usually followed by a hypoglycemic dip. The phenotype book,
however, feels that caffeine is helpful in moderation, up to 600
mg per day. Caffeine boosts the production of dopamine, but not
to the same degree as drugs or alcohol. You will need to decide
for yourself.

Are you spending more time trying to get new clients than actually working with them?

If the answer is yes, then these three simple ideas will help you.

First, have you ever asked for something and got something different to what you thought you*d asked for? Or have you ever thought you had asked for something and got a blank expression or worse… just got completely ignored? Or even worse, been half-way through telling someone what you do for a living and had it dawn on you that they have lost interest in you the moment you began to speak. Of course not… that kind of stuff only happens to me… right?

A year or so ago if someone asked me what I did, I*d have gone into my ten-second-elevator speech. Some people were interested and said they*d heard about what I did, some dismissed it and occasionally, I picked up a client.

More recently I began to define myself more clearly. Then I redefined my coaching practice. Then I found a new way of introducing myself. What I found was the more I honed in one specific purpose of my business the more interested people became in me and in what I did.

Here is a quick example for you. A local insurance broker once brokered over 120 policies to ensure they were competitive. Then one day they slashed the policies they sold down to just 26. The result? They increased sales by 40%. By getting specific, really knowing yourself, your product and its purpose in the market place you come over with greater clarity. That clarity brings greater congruency to your message. Congruency gets people to buy from you.

If your business is not getting clients, then pinpoint what you do first then consider my second suggestion.

The day before something big happened in my business life I had coached a client, invoiced my corporate clients and generally tidied my admin. I*m glad that the day had been quiet because the next day a storm of sales hit.

A friend sent a multi-fax to her staff advertising my new workshop. Based on past perceptions of advertising my expectation was a zero to minor response. As you can tell I was mentally unprepared for a deluge of calls. My phone rang all day long. Essentially I filled a workshop in that one day just based on that one advert and within a month I had coached more people than ever before. But what was the secret?

Was it the way the advert sold it too them using slick words and phrases? Certainly not. The secret lay deeper than that.

The secret was this: I now knew clearly what I wanted to do.

I thought I was clear. I was a coach. I coached people. Health, fitness, jobs, relationships, finances… you name it I coached it. What I learned was that, that isn*t enough. The definition had to be clearer than *coach*.

The workshops I designed now help people discover clarity in who they are, what they do and how they do it. Basically they are designed so people can put real purpose into what they do.

When you mean it, you make things happen!

It*s simple… if you want to spend more time working with clients as opposed to finding them then get clear on who you are, what you do and how you do it.

My third point is about, clarity, clarity, clarity.

When I created clarity I set out with an intention. When I move that intention forward each day I create momentum. Every small action I take each day over a sustained period just builds up, like a giant ball of snow rolling down a mountainside.

Think about this. The best sales people are the best because they are clear on their product. They are also clear on who they are and how they best sell to people. Other sales people, the ones who don*t know their product, and don*t seem congruent are more like confidence tricksters. You can fool some of your prospects, but you can*t fool them all.

Everything we want is out there somewhere. All we have to do is put out the right signals and make the right noises. May I suggest to you that if you are not succeeding getting your business to as many clients, or the right clients, then it is all to do with your clarity and very little to do with anything else.

I*m sure you*ve found what I*ve been talking about isn*t rocket science. There is no whizzy initiative. There is magic though, and that happens when you are completely clear on who and what you are.

• Define who you are - your values, identity and purpose

• Define what you want to offer. Get really specific on what your business is about and make sure it*s congruent with who you are.

• Define who you want as your clients. Their age, employment status, demographics, etc.

With these steps done you should now be able to hone in to your target market and approach your prospective clients communicating clearly that you have designed your service specifically for them.

About The Author

Neil Millar

Unstoppable Life works with business people and executives who are stuck or stopped in career or life. Each month personal development writer and novelist Neil Millar writes inspirational stories, thoughts and tips for our newsletter. Subscribe FREE and we*ll email you the book, Simple Steps to Greater Happiness as a way of saying thank you. Log onto http://www.unstoppablelife.com and click on the subscribe button.

So congratulations! You’ve lost some weight! Now, how do you keep it off?

When you’ve spent weeks or even months striving and sacrificing, you don’t want to have your spirits sink as you see the scale start to go up. For most of us, regardless of our weight loss method, weight regain is a real possibility. But is it inevitable?

Follow these five sure tricks, and your scale will stay put:

If you gain a pound, lose it! People who are successful at maintaining a weight loss weigh themselves at least twice a week. Pick regular times of day, and regular days of the week, to weigh and keep a chart. If you find you’re up a pound or two, follow a healthy and structured food plan until the extra weight comes off again.

Have planned snacks instead of grazing. To combat rampant, spontaneous snacking, plan a couple of balanced snacks every day that you can measure out and enjoy. Be sure to include some protein and complex carbohydrates in your snack. If you feed yourself a bit more frequently, you will be less likely to graze mindlessly.

Balance your treats with healthy choices. You can have an occasional treat, but you can also have an occasional healthy choice. Keep the treat small so that you don’t get a big sugar or unrefined carb “rush.” And if you must eat sugar or an unrefined carb, eat a little protein with it so that your blood sugar doesn’t crash and cause cravings for more of the same.

Admit your trigger foods and avoid them. All you have to do is look at certain foods and you know you’ll eat them. Don’t keep any snack foods in plain site around your house. Put them away. If you find yourself going to the cupboard or refrigerator to peruse the snack items, you’ll need to keep the trigger foods out of your house altogether.

Experiment and use the tools that work for you. Many dieters hate the act of writing down what they eat. Some dislike exercise. Others abhor weighing and measuring their food. Still others will not give up sugar and unrefined carbs. You need to be honest with yourself, though. These tools are proven to work. So, experiment with all the tools available to you and use the ones that work.

Weight regain is not inevitable, but you need to take action to avoid it. Apply these solutions to your life and you will find weight maintenance to be simple and satisfying.

Katie Jay is the director of the National Association for Weight Loss Surgery; a certified life coach, and author of the courageous book, “Dying to Change: My Really Heavy Life Story, How Weight Loss Surgery Gave Me Hope for Living.” For more information on the National Association for Weight Loss Surgery, see http://www.nawls.com

No, You Don’t Know What You Are Selling - Yet!

You know your product, its features and its benefits. You have a well-rounded presentation that explains all of this, complete with visual aids. So why waste a prospect’s time with chitchat? Shouldn’t you launch straight into your presentation?

No, you shouldn’t, and here’s why. No matter how good it is, your generic presentation casts your product or service as a commodity, not as a solution to the particular customer. Customers don’t care about your products; they care about their own problems and opportunities. They want to know that you understand their problems before you start talking about how your wares can “solve” them.

You think you have a cool product presentation? So does every competitor you’ve got.

When salespeople understand their customer’s needs before presenting their products, the presentation can be tailored to hit specific hot buttons. This also avoids many objections that commonly arise later in the sales cycle.

To find out “what to sell,” you need to exercise good questioning skills and gather information about the customer. The things you want to know fall into four categories:

Need: Ask open-ended questions to uncover problems and opportunities likely to be addressed by your products and service. Examples: “What is the biggest problem with the current method you’re using?” “What are the consequences of not solving this problem?”

Company Issues: What is the customer’s company or department trying to accomplish with this buying decision and why is it important? “What goals has your company set regarding this?” “What will it mean to the company if you are successful?”

Personal Issues: What’s at stake for the customer himself/herself - professionally or personally? “What will it mean to you if these goals are achieved?”

Money Issues: Find out about the budget that exists for the purchase or how the expenditure would be justified. “What kind of budget have you established for this project?” Or, “What areas would you look at to justify a purchase like this?”

Once you know this, you are in a position to present your product as a solution, not just one more alternative in a sea of commodities. Instead of a classic data dump, your presentation now can be aimed at specific needs that this customer actually cares about.

In The Field:

Why do so many salespeople launch straight into their product presentations before investigating their customers’ needs? Usually it’s because they’re flying by the seat of their pants. They lack a strategic framework to follow throughout the entire sales cycle. Sadly, delivering a canned presentation is all they really know how to do.

An account executive with Delta Industrial in Minneapolis, MN, recently summed up the advantages of adopting a coherent, unified, step-by-step approach to the sales process. “The most important thing the Action Selling Sales Training has done for me,” he said, “is to really make me think and strategize about what I am trying to accomplish in every sales call in order to move the process forward.”

Duane Sparks is chairman and founder of The Sales Board, a Minneapolis-based sales training company that has trained and certified more than 200,000 salespeople in the system and skills of Action Selling. He has personally facilitated more than 300 Action Selling training sessions.

In a 30-year career as a salesperson and sales manager, Duane has sold products ranging from office equipment to insurance. He was the top salesperson at every company he ever worked for. He developed Action Selling Sales Training while owner of one of the largest computer marketers in the United States. Even in the roaring computer business of the 1980’s, his company grew six times faster than the industry norm, differentiating itself not by the products offered but by the way it sold them. Duane founded The Sales Board in 1990 to teach the skills of Action Selling to others.

Contact The Sales Board for more sales information or sales training that’s been documented and research-proven to help you sell more! 1-800-232-3485

The Ragdoll cat breed consists of a variety of medium to long hair cats. Ragdoll cats are famous for their placid temperaments as well as their affectionate nature. Ragdolls are the most easy going and gentle cat you can own. These cats are not aggressive and should only be kept indoors. They do not have fighting instincts so they will not defend themselves when provoked.

The term “Ragdoll” comes from the way they go totally limp when picked up. The breed originated in California back in the 1960s. The first Ragdoll was a cat named Josephine. There are many myths regarding the history of Ragdoll cats; for instance, one account claims Ragdoll cats were left on earth by an alien race. Many of these wild claims were made by the breed’s founder and are still passed around today.

Ragdoll cats are bred selectively for certain characteristics. These selective traits include size, characteristic limpness when picked up, as well as their easy going nature. The breed was created from a mixture of Birman, Persian, and Burmese cats. The Ragdoll breed has been imitated by other breeds such as the Ragamuffin; however, many of these competing breeds are not recognized by cat registries as there is little differentiating them from Ragdoll cats.

Ragdoll Cats come in a variety of patterns and colors. The pointed patterns fall into three categories: mitted, bicolor, and colorpoint. The varieties of colors are lilac, seal, blue, and chocolate. Additionally there are several nonstandard color offerings such as red and lynx point. A typical Ragdoll takes 2 years to fully mature; adult males weigh between 15 to 20 pounds. Female cats weigh in at 9 to 13 pounds. Ragdoll cats are the largest domestic cat and make excellent pets.

Louie Latour is a Ragdoll cat enthusiast and founder of the site Ragdoll Cats which was established in 2005 to promote the Ragdoll cat breed. To learn more about this unusual cat visit: http://www.ragdollcats.info