8A
STRICTLY BUSINESS/ The Charlotte Post
Thursday, May 22, 1997
1
Woods is new AMEX pitchman
Continued from page 8A
Express, Woods noted yesterday
that his multiethnic heritage fit
in well with a company that sells
its credit cards and financial ser
vices around the world. He
described himself “an ethnically
global person” and said he wants
to align himself with products
and services that are marketed
internationally.
“We’ve never seen a combina
tion of all of his qualities in an
athlete ever,” gushes Seth
Matlins, a senior vice president of
ProServ Inc., a sports marketing
firm based in Arlington, Va.
“Sociologically, he is quite the
embodiment of the American
melting pot. He transcends the
boundaries of his game, geo
graphically, demographically”
and in a psychological sense.
“Michael Jordan is a phenome
non, but he is not what Tiger
Woods is.”
Indeed, Woods’ marketplace
may be the entire world. Golf,
said Tbm George, a senior vice
president at the marketing firm
Advantage International in
McLean, Va., is one of the few
sports (along with tennis and soc
cer) in which athletes play
around the globe and whose
superstars are known outside
their own countries.
Woods’ all-American image
appears to be so solid that there
was virtually no fallout from a
magazine interview last month in
which he was quoted telling jokes
about lesbians. His public image
suffered little, too, when Woods
declined to accept President
Clinton’s invitation several weeks
ago to appear at Shea Stadium to
commemorate the official 50th
anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s
entry into major league baseball.
Barring an unexpected decline
in Woods’ golfing talents, sports
marketing experts say the
biggest danger for him may be
overexposure.
So far, there doesn’t appear to
be any danger of that. Woods’
endorsement deals are carefully
arranged by the golfer himself
and his father, Earl Woods, with
advice from Cleveland-based
International Management
Group, whose clients include
Jack Nicklaus and other athletes.
“I have already established a
brand plan as to who I am,” the
yoimger Woods said in his news
conference Monday. He said he
will be selective about which com
panies he wUl work with, and
wants to be “promoted correctly...
as to how I want to be perceived.”
American Express ads featur
ing Woods won’t begin until the
third quarter of the year. His deal
with the company is worth less
than his Nike contract principally
because Woods will commit less
time to promoting the company.
American Express, for example,
won’t get to have its name embla
zoned on Woods’ clothes, as Nike
does.
Woods said he put a moratori-
lun on taking new endorsements
last year after signing with Nike
and joining the Professional
Golfers’ Association tour. “I have
now adjusted myself (to the tour)
emd am now seeking other
(endorsement) opportunities,” he
said.
Sports marketers say Woods’
next big score may be a fast-food,
soft-drink or automotive compa
ny, the three most lucrative cate
gories for celebrity endorsers
after athletic-shoe companies.
Credit cards
Continued from page 8A
insurance and legal and medical
assistance.
No fee, rebate
Credit cards are a good way to
make shopping a pleasure. But
there are a couple of ways cred
it cards can help you save
money too. First, look for a no-
fee, low-interest card. Although
it is hard to find this winning
combination, there are a few
cards that offer low enough
interest rates on your balance to
more than make up for their
aimual fees.
Interest rates start at the
current prime rate and go as
high as 22 percent and annual
fees can go as high as $98.
Another way to save money
with your credit card, especially
if you charge large amounts and-
pay off quickly, is to find a card
that offers a rebate. Make siue
the card has no annual fee, and
watch out for high interest
rates. If you don’t pay off your
card balance promptly, the
interest you’ll pay can eat up the
advantage of the rebate.
CHARLES ROSS hosts the
radio program, “Your Personal
Finance,” and author of “Your
CommonSense Guide to
Personal Financial Planning.”
Info Check on prospective employees
By Winfied B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
You need personnel informa
tion on a perspective employee
but you don’t want to make a
bunch of phone calls to make
background checks. What do
you do? Simple. Surf the inter
net, find www.infochk.com and
you’re job is done.
TTiat’s the site for Info Check
Inc., the first fully-automated
pre-employment screening
company. “We have a fully
interactive web site,” said J.
Kenneth White Jr., executive
vice president of Info Check.
“(The site) has the ability to
receive, dispense, process and
send information in an auto
mated format. We are the only
company in the that does this.”
Information can be entered
from any location worldwide.
The company has access to
1,500 researchers around the
country which gather informa
tion from any county in the
United States. That informa
tion can be downloaded into
any existing personnel file. The
system is paperless.
Information is entered in the
system by the client, eliminat
ing duplication which lowers
the chance for error. The web’s
always open so the site never
shuts down. It can handle up to
1,000 requests per minute.
Clients receive the requested
information within 72 hours.
Info Check can do 66 different
types of background checks. It
also sends out birthday cards.
«“I get excited just talking
about it,” White said. Anyone
can view the web site but only
clients with a specific pin num
ber can enter information. All
data is protected by two meth
ods of encryption - FSL and
digital certificate, the latter
which helps track down hack
ers who try to invade the sys
tem.
The web site opened in
February. Info Check has 10
clients with 20 pending. Two of
perspective clients are Fortune
500 companies and are expect
ed to be closed sometime this
month. Each client pays a flat
fee of $17 for each search.
White got the idea when he
worked for N.C. Search, which
is similar to Info Check, minus
the automation. “People would
fax stuff and it would get mis
placed,” he said. “People would
call and lines would be busy.
That was a problem. I was frus
trated. I talked to my dad
about it. I told him I think this
could be done better.”
White’s father, Kenneth Sr,
encouraged him to seek fund
ing, which was done by the
Greensboro Chamber of
Commerce through the
Venture Capital Fund estab
lished by the national chamber
to fund minority businesses or
businesses with unusual con
cepts. White’s business fit both
categories.
White, a 1992 graduate of
UNC Greensboro, has high
hopes for the company. He’s
projecting $1 million the first
Money Management
Deductions for moving
By Amanda Danchi
SPECIAL TO THE POST
If moving up the corporate
ladder means moving to anoth
er location. Uncle Sam can help
offset your expenses, provided
you meet certain requirements.
The ' North Carolina
Association of CPAs explains
that taxpayers who are
employees as well as those who
are self-employed may be able
to claim a tax deduction for
some of the non-reimbursed
job-related moving expenses.
Here’s how to determine if you
qualify.
Distance and employment
The first step in qualifying for
the deduction involves a dis
tance test. Tb meet this test,
the location of your new job
must be at least 50 miles far
ther from your old principal
residence than the distance
between your previous job and
your old residence. For exam
ple, if the distance between
your former job and your old
residence was 10 miles, the dis
tance between your new job
and your old home must be at
least 60 miles. If you had no
former place of work, the dis
tance from the old residence to
the new principal place of work
must be at least 50 miles.
In addition to satisfying the
distance test, you also must
meet a full-time work require
ment at the new location. The
requirement differs depending
on whether you are an employ
ee or self employed. If you are
an employee, you meet the full
time work requirement if you
work at least 39 weeks during
the 12-month period after relo
cating. Those weeks need not
be consecutive, and you need
not work for the same employ
er for all of those 39 weeks.
If your employer transfers
you to a new location, or if you
are laid off for some reason
other than willful misconduct,
you’re still eligible to deduct
your own moving expenses.
Likewise, missing work due to
circumstances beyond your
High-tech business techniques
By Pierre Clark
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
Are you wondering how to
turn your home-based business
into a high-tech powerhouse?
Just because you are operating
your business from home does
n't mean you can’t operate and
market your business like the
biggest Fortune 500 corpora
tion. Using today’s powerful
high-tech equipment and soft
ware, you can energize your
marketing efforts with results
second to none.
In this column well share
some high-tech secrets success
ful business owners are using
to make hundreds of thousands
of dollars right from their
home-based offices. The key
component in your tool kit: One
of today’s high-powered desk
top computer systems which
can operate as everything from
a label generator to a Web site.
Even the least expensive of
today’s multimedia computers
features a Pentium processor,
multi gigabyte hard drive, CD-
ROM drive, high-speed
modem, high-resolution moni
tor and high density floppy
drive.
Add a sound card, speakers,
microphone, and the appropri
ate software, and you’ve got a
system that can operate as a
communications center for
voice mail, faxing, and e-meul.
'There are literally thousands
year and hopes to add 20
clients annually. With help
from The Carolinas Minority
Development Councils and pro
curement manager Toby
Williams, that shouldn’t be a
problem.
“We want to be the No. 1
internet services provider,”
White said. “We do what other
companies could do before, but
not at this quality level. You
should see what we’ve thought
up next.”
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History Lectures
• Rites of Passage Training
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control, such as illness, strikes,
or natural disasters doesn’t
affect your ability to satisfy the
time requirement. You also are
exempted from the 39-week
full-time work requirement if
you become disabled or die.
The requirement for self-
employed workers is more
stringent. You must work full
time in the general area of your
new principal workplace for at
least 39 weeks during the first
12 months and a total of at
least 78 weeks during the 24-
month period after relocating.
If you are married and file a
joint return, either you or your
spouse may satisfy the full
time 39 week or 78-week work
requirement. However, you
cannot satisfy the requirement
by combining the number of
weeks you work and the num
ber of weeks your spouse
works.
BUSINESS BANKING SERVICES
There’s one final hurdle: to
qualify for the moving expense
deduction, your relocation
must have occurred near the
time you started work at the
new job location. A move that
takes place wij;hin one year of
starting your job would gener
ally qualify.
of Windows-based software
packages on the market, and
for less than $300, you can buy
a suite of software which gives
you, in addition to word pro
cessing, spreadsheet and data
base capacities, presentation
graphics design features, voice
mail, e-mail and Internet
access capacities. All the major
“Office” suites from Microsoft,
Lotus/IBM and Corel have tele
com capacities and allow you to
directly access the Internet.
Minimally, you can use the
database software in your
office suite to catalogue all
your potential clients. Most
database software packages
will generate labels and form
letters from your database of
names.
SELF
DETERMINATION
A one-room office, a personal computer,
and a hard-working dream. That’s often the
modest beginnings for millions of men and
women who are becoming their own bosses.
At First Citizens, we’re supporting this
new breed of American entrepreneurs with
simple, flexible, affordable Business Banking
Services that grow with you - like three
different checking accounts tailored to
small business.
EQUAL HOUSING LF UER
As you grow, we'll be here with essentials.
Like retirement plans. Services like credit
card transaction processing. Loans to help
you expand.
Call or visit your nearest First Citizens
today. When your two employees have
become 200 and your dream has become
a shining example for others,
we’ll be proud to have been
there from the very start. W pj
Citizens
bank
a udj) ucuj
ft
You’re Always First.