Just because English isn’t your first language doesn’t mean you should be unable to get into the best MBA programs out there. It’s possible to master the GMAT, scoring well enough to get into some of the top MBA programs, even if you are a non-native English speaker.

To do so, however, is going to require some hard work. You’re going to need to work harder than a native English speaker if you want to do well. You’ll need to be more committed about your studies, and you’re going to need to be more systematic, focusing your energies on those areas that are the weakest.

Here are the top 5 tips non-native English speakers can use when taking the GMAT:

1.     Know where you’re starting from. Download the official practice GMAT tests, and do a couple of mock GMAT exams. This will help you get an idea of where you’re at, and how much ground you need to cover. It will also help you know which areas to focus on.

2.     Master English Idioms. Idioms are conventional English constructions that don’t follow normal grammatical rules but must be used in a specific way. For example, the phrase “fascinated by” doesn’t follow normal grammatical rules, but it’s still the correct usage of the idiom. Get a list of common GMAT idioms and commit them to memory.

3.     Don’t focus only on the verbal section of the GMAT. While chances are pretty good that’s where you’re going to need the most help, you want to do well enough on the quantitative section of the GMAT so that your overall score doesn’t suffer. Don’t study the verbal component to the exclusion of the quantitative, even if you do focus most of your study energy in that area.

4.     Study to the test, not your everyday conversations with English speakers. The fact of the matter is that native English speakers often break the rules of the English language. Your casual conversations with native English speakers are going to take a very different form than the verbal component of the GMAT. Try to differentiate strongly between the two.

5.     When you’re taking the GMAT, focus on what you know, not intuition. You actually have one advantage over native English speakers. You haven’t had a lifetime of exposure to incorrect usage from various people in your life. Master the rules, memorize the idioms, and then go with what you know on the test, not with what you may feel.

Lite

PRODUCT NAME has a full suite of features that’s sufficient for most businesses. With PRODUCT NAME Lite, a single registered user will:

• See how your business is performing
• View critical revenue, gross margin, expense and profit data
• Look ahead 12 months into your business’ future
• Check leading indicators
• Set your own financial goals
• Know where you’ve been and where you’re going.

Use PRODUCT NAME Lite for 30 days before you’re charged. There’s no long-term commitment. Cancel within that 30-day period and you won’t be charged. No cancellation fee, no hassle, no problem.

Standard

PRODUCT NAME Standard unleashes the full potential of your business, giving multiple users an even more accurate picture of the company’s performance. The Standard version provides all of the benefits of the Lite version, plus features:

• Multiple user accounts, controlled by the owner
• COGS and gross margin detail
• Drill-down feature on P&L statements and Balance Sheets
• Line-of-business and consolidated views, including both goals and indices
• Analysis of staffing costs and contributions
• 12-month forecasting power
• 2 years of your business history

PRODUCT NAME Standard takes the essential features of the Lite version and makes them accessible in greater detail to more users. If you like PRODUCT NAME Lite, you’re going to be thrilled with Standard.

Is your business ready for a disaster?

The fact of the matter is even a small business can lose hundreds, if not thousands of dollars when disaster strikes. Whether it’s a dramatic and devastating occurrence like an earthquake or a frequent danger like a power outage, a disaster can literally cripple your core business.

Whether you’re operating in Fallujah, Iraq or Falls City, Nebraska, disaster recovery preparation is integral to your business’ success and longevity.

A Tale of Two Recoveries: Kobe, Japan

On January 17, 1995, the western portion of Japan was hit by a massive earthquake, registering a 7.2 magnitude on the Richter scale. This was the most destructive one to ever hit the region. The port city of Kobe found itself with 400,000 people homeless, 30,000 injured, and 5,250 dead. 88,000 buildings were destroyed.

On January 18, 1995, hundreds of thousands of people fled Kobe on bicycles, in cars and on foot.

This earthquake had a huge economic impact, felt halfway around the world. The $100 billion in damages caused shipping containers to gather at docks in California, as businesses looked for another port through which to ship their goods. Nearly a third of all Japanese trade passed through Kobe, which was also a significant relay port for Korea and China.

Kobe TI Semiconductor

There was one plant, in particular, that faces a serious disaster recovery issue. The Kobe Texas Instruments Semiconductor plant, located around 30 miles North of the city, was dramatically affected by the earthquake. The plant manufactured DRAM for Texas Instruments. The plant was a critical piece in Texas Instrument’s business process, and disruption of service at this plant would have a ripple effect on TI operations around the globe.

Within minutes of the earthquake, the manager at the Worldwide Command Center for Texas Instruments in Dallas was notified that communications to the plant were down. The Worldwide Command Center, along with the Dallas-based IS&S team would need to provide disaster recovery support for the Kobe plant.

The plant would need that support from Dallas. While there weren’t any injuries to plant personnel and there wasn’t any structural damage, there was an impact. Some of the production equipment had shifted, and computer processing support was interrupted.

By noon on the 17^th, a Kobe TI Recovery Team was formed. The team began forming and executing disaster recovery processes almost immediately.

The team identified an available surplus IBM 3090-600 processor set out from its home at the Miho computer center, where it was sitting idle after a Christmas upgrade. Computer center tapes and DASD were shipped to Miho, where they were loaded onto the surplus mainframe. Within 48 hours, the Dallas team produced a recovery script and began to run it.

By the third day, January 19, 1995, the Kobe operating system and data were loaded on the mainframe, and it arrived in Kobe. By the next day, all of the equipment at the Kobe plant had been recalibrated, and the plant was ready for the mainframe installation.

On the fifth day, the final tap backup was restored. The factory was in operation, and the recovery team began the process of restoring applications to the exact point they were interrupted. By doing so, they were able to capture every necessary data point they needed, and saved the plant more than $8 million in production that would have to have been scrapped.

Not everyone was as prepared for this disaster as Kobe TI Semiconductor, however.

The Hyogo Prefecture

The response of the governmental agencies in Kobe stand as a stark contrast to the response of Texas Instruments. Four hours passed before the governor of the region (known as the Hyogo Prefecture) asked for help from the Japanese Defense Forces, just around the time that the TI disaster recovery team was being assembled in Dallas.

It was five more hours before the JDF responded, and it was two days later before they arrived in full numbers in Kobe. This was at the time the new TI mainframe was receiving its mainframe software installation.

Teams of doctors were detained at the Kobe airport, on paperwork complications. 50,000 blankets, which were shipped to Kobe from the United States, were delayed for two days while waiting for permission. The same was true for other emergency supplies. 60 countries offered help to Japan, but only 20 of those offers were accepted.

Many companies, in most cases companies that were based in Japan, experienced a loss of production that lasted for weeks, and a loss of data that cost millions. More than 1,700 computer systems were affected by the Kobe earthquake, and while most of the computer equipment that was damaged was repaired or replaced within a matter of days, volumes of data were lost forever.

The Prime Minister of Japan admitted later that the horrific governmental response to the Kobe earthquake was due, primarily, to two factors: complex bureaucracy and a lack of planning.

HOW TO USE THIS EBOOK

The stories and information in this eBook are included for a singular purpose: to help you make sure your business is ready for a disaster. While many of the specific details may be vastly different from your small business, the guiding principles are the same.

Your business is in danger. You may not be located on a fault line. You may not have to worry about bullets zinging through your windows or IEDs exploding outside your door. But those dramatic situations belie the very real disasters faced by businesses.

A recent survey of businesses tallied the causes for activating a disaster recovery plan. There were over 600 cases of disaster recovery. Here are the most common causes:

• Power Outage 91 cases
• Hardware error 77 cases
• Fire 63 cases
• Flood 58 cases
• Earthquake 53 cases
• Hurricane 52 cases
• Software Error 44 cases
• Bombing 39 cases
• Snow or Wind Storm 38 cases
• Network Failure 23 cases
• Contamination 11 cases
• Burst Pipe 9 cases
• Forced Evacuation 7 cases
• HVAC Failure 7 cases

Here are some more disaster-recovery facts that may startle you:

• Each year, U.S. businesses lose more than $12 billion due to data loss.
• Nine out of Ten businesses that experience a prolonged and significant data loss file for bankruptcy within one year.
• 93% of companies that lost their data center for 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. Half filed for bankruptcy immediately.
• Just one hour of downtime costs half of all companies more than $50,000.
• Most companies consider their survival at risk when they experience 72 hours or less of computer downtime.

Whether or not you’re operating in a hot spot, and whether or not you’re one of the world’s most dangerous companies, you are vulnerable. Prepare for disaster today so you can survive tomorrow.

CHAPTER ONE: DANGER ZONES

When you think about the hot spots in the world today, it’s easy to get caught up in the headlines. Reports of armed conflicts, suicide bombers and explosive roadside devices seem to make headlines every day. When you hear about such things, you probably don’t immediately think “disaster recovery.”

Still, disaster recovery is a top priority for companies operating in hot spots like Afghanistan and Iraq. After the physical security of their personnel and property, disaster recovery is a major concern. If a business is going to operate in those parts of the world, they must have an effective way to continue their business operations in the event that something unfortunate happens.

What are some of the major risks for companies operating in these danger zones? They can be summed up in three general categories: the physical safety of systems, the secure transmission of data and the risk of singular facilities. In addition, small businesses in particular run certain risks when they operate in hot spots around the world.

The physical safety of systems

When a company operates in a danger zone, they almost immediately become a target. Revolutionary forces in Iraq, for example, very often target U.S. and other Western companies doing business in Iraq.

In many ways, the war carried on by these revolutionaries isn’t a war only against the military occupying their country; it is an all-out battle against the principles of commerce and capitalism, represented by companies doing business in these countries.

There are a number of threats to the physical safety of systems for companies operating in danger zones. IEDs, for example, may target independent contractors as much as they might target soldiers.

Companies have faced other physical threats, too, ranging from rocket fire to targeting by snipers. These oppositional forces don’t only target the personnel of these companies operating in danger zones, either. They often target the facilities, as well as any mobile equipment that the company might be using.

The secure transmission of data

When you’re operating in a hot spot, you don’t only have to worry about snipers and bombs, however. You’re also vulnerable to cyber attacks.

While you may not usually associate hacking with terrorists, the fact of the matter is that many revolutionary organizations have utilized technology to try to disrupt companies operating in these danger zones. From cell phone hacking to denial of service attacks, companies operating in hot spots have faced many threats and problems along the way.

There have been specific recorded incidents of these kinds of attacks. One company, which provides contract personnel used in the rebuilding of Iraq’s oil facilities, was brought almost to a crawl in 2005 when an Al Qaeda group was able to capture one of their cell phones and utilize it for nefarious purposes.

Another company, which helps to coordinate relief efforts between private groups, such as the Red Cross, and the U.S. Military, found itself unable to locate three truckloads of emergency medical supplies after then convoy’s communication systems were disrupted. While the supplies were eventually recovered and the personnel safe, the situation was extremely tense while the company was powerless in communicating with their offsite crew.

These incidents barely scratch the surface. From cell phone service blocking devices to the infiltration of computer systems and destruction of valuable data,  companies operating in hot spots have seen more than their fair share of cyber terrorism and the nefarious use of technology.

The risk of singular facilities

Many of the companies that choose to operate in the world’s danger zones are startup companies or small contractors. As such, they many not initially have the capital needed to create a situation where they have redundant operations. When a company operates in a hot spot with singular facilities, they are particularly at risk.

Since 2003, it is estimated that more than 45 companies operating in Iraq have closed, primarily due to attacks from opposition forces. This number is not especially surprising, as a single well-placed attack can take out an entire business, leaving the business with little left to do than pack up and go home.

Companies know, when they first enter a hot spot, that there are some specific risks involved. They also known that, if they can make it through, the situation can become especially lucrative, as well.

Unfortunately, the majority of companies operating in hot spots possess only a singular facility. There is no redundancy built into their business processes, and there is no fallback position for them to take in the event that the worst happens.

Case study: Equipment Express

Equipment Express was a startup company founded by Jeffery Ake in his garage in Indiana. Ake traveled the world to promote the equipment he’d designed to bottle water. In 2005, Ake brought his company to Iraq to work on a project.

In April 2005, Ake was seen on Al Jazeera TV in captivity. Two captors held assault rifles above Ake’s head. He had been kidnapped. Tragically, Jeffrey Ake has not been seen since.

After Ake’s kidnapping, his company struggled. Without Ake at the helm, the company’s sales dried up. In just 18 months after he disappeared, Ake’s company was more than one million dollars in debt. The company was liquidated.

The dangers inherent in small business

Like many small businesses, Equipment Express rose and fell with its owner’s fate. When Ake went missing, the business had nothing in place that would allow them to recover.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a contingency most small businesses can plan for. When your company’s founder and owner goes off the map, it’s not likely that the company will last much longer.

Still, the fate of Jeffrey Ake’s idea managed to live on. In 2007 Teresa Mago, who had worked with Ake, and a partner, Jim Kyle, purchased the business’s assets for an undisclosed sum and launched a venture called Liquid Packaging Solutions. They hired most of Ake’s former staff and moved into a vacant plant in LaPorte, Indiana.

The new company teams with original equipment manufacturers to serve customers in the cosmetics, cleaning-chemicals, and food and beverage industries; sales are around $5 million. The start-up’s success is obviously bittersweet. “In the end,” Mago says, “Liquid Packaging Solutions was able to come about from the groundwork Jeff Ake laid.”

Planning for the worst-case scenario

In the process of thinking about disaster recovery, there are some important questions to ask. For example, any company entering a danger zone has to think about the following:

• What is the worst thing that can happen to a business operating in a danger zone?
• What are the real risks involved?
• What systems are mission critical?
• What happens to those systems in the event of a physical assault?
• Are those systems vulnerable to information attacks?
• In the event of a disaster, what data can be rebuilt manually?
• What data can never be replaced?
• Which systems or processes would most be vulnerable in a singular facility?
• What options are available for creating redundant systems or processes?
• If disaster strikes, how will the company proceed?
• Will a single disaster wipe out the entire company?

The real-world risk in hot spots are severe and total. An entire district or region can be destroyed almost overnight. In some cases, the destruction can be so widespread that there is no business left to recover. Even a pullback or an evacuation in a hot spot can eventually become a permanent withdrawal. Disaster recovery planning has to address each and every one of these aspects if it is to be effective.

Growth can be a scary thing for a small business. In my field, I know plenty of freelance writers who prefer to think of themselves as exactly that – freelance writers – rather than small businesses. Running a small business can be scary, especially when you think about expanding. A large number of small businesses never grow beyond their single, sole proprietor employee.

Not that this is a bad thing. Some businesses aren’t especially conducive to additional help. I’d argue, however, that these are few and far between. Most small businesses, if they want to grow, are going to need to bring on some additional help at some point.

But, where do you start? Here are some common options:

• You can hire someone on a seasonal or part-time basis to handle your bookkeeping and taxes, but I don’t really consider that hiring an employee. You’re contracting for a service in that scenario. Same goes for hiring copywriters like us.
• Many small businesses start by hiring an office assistant who can field phone calls, handle scheduling and make sure that the bookkeeper gets all of the information he needs. This can be a good move, especially if organization isn’t your strong suit.
• You can hire another worker to do what you do. This frees you up to do administrative tasks, as well as sales.
• Hire a salesperson. Just because you’re good at what you do and believe in the product doesn’t mean you can effectively sell it. Bringing on someone to serve as a paid advocate for your business will pay for itself almost instantly – assuming the salesperson is good at what she does.

In my estimation, it’s that last one that should really be your first priority. Not every business can benefit from a salesperson, but most can. Once you’ve got more sales, you have more revenue. Once you have more revenue, you can begin to think about hiring an office assistant, more workers, and, eventually, a manager to do what you do while you spend your winters in Cancun.

So, what does a professional copywriter do for you?

He helps you send the right message.

Specifically, he tells your potential customers about your product or service and about how their lives will be improved if they choose your small business. He does this in three ways:

1. Benefit-Rich Copy

In many cases, your average consumer isn’t nearly as concerned with the inner workings of your business as they are with how your product or service can help them. Benefit-rich copy can be difficult to master, but it has a huge payoff. In many instances, it takes the impartial eye of the professional copywriter to truly identify those benefits for your potential customers.

2. Crystal Clear Copy

The final area in which a professional copywriter excels is in providing copy that clearly communicates. This is especially useful when talking about the features of your product or service. While most potential customers are interested in what your product or service can do for them, some need to know the technical details. The professional copywriter provides those details in the clearest way possible. Whether it’s simply explaining the unique design of your product or whether it’s describing the process in which you provide your service, the professional copywriter can do it.

3. Master-Crafted Copy

In your small business, you know what works. You know how to provide your service or make your product better than anyone. Unfortunately, just because you’re an extremely talented and smart person doesn’t mean you magically know how to effectively craft copy. Copywriters (the good ones at least) are masters of language.

Take, for example, the local bagel shop here in my home town of Bay City, Michigan. Now, I know the owner. He’s an extremely intelligent, well-educated man. Yet this is what I saw on his sign the week after he installed his credit card machine:

Credit Cards Taken

Obviously, he isn’t suggesting his business will steal your credit card, and folks know that. But the simple ambiguity creates a negative response on the part of potential customers, even if they don’t realize it. Even this three-word advertisement could have benefited from a professional copywriter.

So, are you sending the right message? If not, contact us today and we’ll boost your business with benefit-rich, crystal clear and master-crafted copy.

If your local small business website isn’t helping your business grow, something isn’t right. In most cases, you’re just not using a model that works well for your target audience, your geographic location or your field. For most folks, it’s a process of trial-and-error to figure out exactly what a website can do for you and how. Many local small businesses just give up along the way out of frustration.

Choosing the right online presence for your business is key. Here are the three most common online business models for local small businesses:

1. Online sales.

Some businesses can sell their products or services online just as well as they can offline. A good example of this is the secondhand shopkeeper who decides to create a website in order to feature certain items he has on an online auction site like eBay. That shopkeeper may soon find that he’s selling as much via his website as he is via his storefront.

On the other hand, some businesses don’t work as well with this model. If you’re in a service field, for example, you’ve got a tougher battle with this model. The same holds true for folks in an extremely competitive field. Often, they can’t compete with online prices and they can’t provide their value added product or service online.

2. Informational reserve.

Other local small business websites provide a way for the business to provide data to potential customers. A restaurant might post their hours, their daily specials and maybe even their entire menu on their website. This kind of online business model is roughly equivalent to brand awareness. Some of the kinds of information provided may include:

• Contact information
• Product or service information
• Hours
• Location
• Company profile

Any business can benefit from this kind of online business model, but the payoff is often not worth the cost. In a rural area where there are three restaurants, having a website isn’t going to increase your brand recognition significantly. In the middle of Manhattan, however, it can be very helpful.

3. Customer interaction.

The final online business model for local small businesses is one in which the business is able to connect and interact with their customers. This model may include social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, or it may include blogs, newsletters or even forums. This kind of website provides an avenue for the small business to build relationships with their customers, which ultimately leads to increased sales.

This model relies on a great deal of time and effort from the business. You need to respond to customer comments, and you need to actively be adding value to the customer’s online experience. This model works well for small businesses whose products revolve around the personality of the business owner, such as for musicians or authors. Service businesses can benefit from this model, too. Other businesses, especially those that rely on high volume, won’t benefit as much from this model.

The right mix

Of course, it isn’t always this cut and dried. Many businesses incorporate elements from all three online business models for their local small business. The trick is figuring out which ones work best for you, and from there determining what percentage of your marketing resources you want to devote to each.

Now, to be sure, that argument is not without merit. Product or service knowledge and belief in those products or services are key to writing good sales copy. However, there are things that a copywriter provides that the small business owner doesn’t automatically have. These include:

• Sales copy writing experience. You see, over the years a professional copywriter writes a lot of copy. We at Composing Business have learned what works and what doesn’t. We know what kinds of techniques are likely to make a visitor to your webpage click on your product or service link, and what kinds of techniques are likely to make them navigate away from your page. As with most fields, there are some things you have to learn by doing.
• A working knowledge of sales psychology. Now, we’re not in the business of “tricking” people into buying your products or services. The fact of the matter is that, unless we have some faith in you or your offerings, we’re not going to do business with you to begin with. We believe your product or service stands on its own merits. However, there are specific tactics we’ll use to make your sales copy more pleasing to the brain, whether or not the reader realizes it. From things like paragraph size to the “rule of odds and tens,” we give your sales copy a boost that you may not know how to provide.
• Format-specific sales copy. The sales copy we provide for a print brochure is vastly different from a website sales page, for example. We tailor your sales copy to whatever medium you intend to deliver it in.

In short, an experienced sales copy writer like the folks here at Composing Business bring specialized knowledge to your sales copy. That specialized knowledge will:

• Engender confidence from your target audience
• Create rapport with your customers
• Reflect your business’ commitment to quality
• Accentuate your own unique selling proposition
• Spread brand awareness

And most important, good sales copy will

Increase your sales!

One of the biggest challenges facing IT managers today is reducing capital expenditures in IT. It’s not the 1990s anymore; there is more and more pressure on IT management to justify their costs to a sometimes-apathetic senior management. Add to this the increasing familiarity that senior management have with IT issues in general, and you can find yourself being constantly pressured to get costs down, both in terms of lowering ongoing costs and reducing capital expenditures.

Fortunately, there are some ways you can help contain costs and reduce capital expenditures in IT:

Review Your Portfolio

Take a look at all of the applications used in your organization. Identify the ones that are underutilized, ones that are duplicative and ones that may be absent altogether. Create an extensive list of applications, users and owners across the entire organization. This portfolio review will help you to be able to prioritize capital expenditures going forward, and it will also identify places where the organization has multiple apps that perform essentially identical tasks.

Review and Renegotiate Contracts

For many organizations, contracts are a large portion of your IT budget. Maintenance and support services are necessary and important, but you need to get a handle on them. Figure out where they exist – even outside of the IT department – and identify places where you can leverage savings or save on licensing.

Once you know where your contracts are, you can begin to renegotiate. Create a situation where vendors can compete to lower costs while getting rid of overlapping applications at the same time. Consider lengthening contracts to give you cost savings.

Analyze and Prioritize Projects

Take a strategic look at projects. Use a consistent prioritization approach. Break down projects into strategic points that can benefit the organization in the immediate future, rather than the entire project implementation which can take years.

Part of this process involves determining where benefits can occur and how fast. The quicker you deliver benefits to the company, the lower the overall cost and the more justified the expenditures.

Manage Lifecycle

Older IT systems have higher costs in terms of maintenance and retaining inefficient hardware and software. Take a look at older systems, and analyze the true cost of keeping legacy equipment. In many cases, systems beyond their lifecycle serve only as something of a security blanket for a department. In many cases, the data in those systems can be retained offline through ERM or imaging. In other cases, the data can be converted to an SQL database with query tools. Getting rid of legacy equipment will get rid of operating costs, maintenance costs and may even save money on the electricity bill.

Analyze Return

As more and more IT projects come under closer scrutiny, linking those projects to specific organizational objectives and/or financial returns is important. Look at project goals, and define measurable outcomes. Find ways that new projects can actually ,save the company money free up organization resources or promote a company’s overall strategies. If a project can’t do these things, it should be reconsidered.

For a successful business meal, it’s not enough for you to show up in your Mercedes. One of the hallmarks of a successful CEO in the social setting is the ability to handle ordering and drinking wine. Believe it or not, some clients are watching to see how comfortable you are with wine, and will consider your ability to handle wine as a reflection of your character.

Here are a few things you can keep in mind that will be sure to impress at your next business meal:

Pay attention to your guests.

Ask whether your guests have any interest in wine. If the answer is distant or your guest seems uninterested, she probably doesn’t know or care much about wine. If she answers in a specific fashion, such as naming her favorite wine, express an interest in that wine and order it if it is available and appropriate for the meal.

Make the server your ally.

Ask for help in a subtle way. When you receive the wine list ask “is there anything of special interest I ought to know about?” or “have you tasted anything lately that’s distinctive?” Both of these statements imply that you know something about wine, and that you’re asking the server to fine-tune your selection process with his knowledge of the particular wine list.

Handle red wines carefully.

Expensive red wines should age at least six years. This rule applies especially to French Burgundy, Bordeaux and Rhone Valley wines, as well as Italian triple crown winners and Spanish Vega Sicilia Unico wines. Ask that older red wine be decanted, and ask for the larger red wine glasses. Both of these procedures add flavor to the wine.

Know how much to spend.

Wine is another part of the meal, not just a beverage. Don’t order the most expensive wine on the list or you may seem pretentious. Order wine that is priced about the equivalent of the full meal for a single person. If the average meal price is $100, then you’ll want to spend $100 for the wine to go with the meal. This demonstrates that you care about quality, but aren’t foolish with company money.

When you’re courting an important client or meeting with significant people in your business, make sure your car stands out as much as your knowledge about wine. Bring your Mercedes in to MYCLIENT for routine maintenance and to make sure it’s in top condition.