According to the Interim Management Association, “Interim Management is the rapid provision of senior executives to manage change or transition”.In simpler terms, an interim manager is a highly experienced and specialized executive whom you can employ in your firm for a short period of time to solve a specific business problem. He is a master project manager and will not only act as a consultant and give you advice, but also solve the problem for you.Let us take a hypothetical example to understand this better.Company X has been performing badly from the past 5 years. It is a family run business and due to the internal politics amongst the family members, the company has lost its competitive edge in the market.To make the situation worse, the Managing Director has suddenly resigned. Now, the Chairman of Company X realizes that the existing management team is inexperienced and incapable of running the company.So, he has two alternatives. He can source and hire an existing senior level executive from another company and employ her on a permanent basis. But finding the right person uses valuable resources. The placement of a new senior staff member may cause further conflict between family members and insecurities in their roles, and they may seek work elsewhere. And worse, if the new executive turns out to be the wrong choice, removing her will be difficult.The much better alternative is to employ an interim manager! Such an executive offers both past experience in short-term troubleshooting and company efficiency, and specialization in the particular field.The Chairman will be able to select from a panel of executives deemed suitable by the recruitment agency, and spend less time and money doing the legwork on his own. Existing employees will feel less threatened by the interim manager because of the limited time he will spend with the company.An interim executive provides the solution to any number of problems in business. They are committed to their role as a short-term staff member and their varied experience in critical situations gives them a strategic advantage when handling new problems.For a layman, it may appear that “interim manager” is just a fancy word for a management consultant. This is not the case! Some of their responsibilities do overlap, but there are very simple – and important – differences between them. Let us investigate this properly.What are the differences between Interim Managers and Management Consultants?There is a vast distinction between them. Although on the surface they appear to be similar roles, their functions are quite distinguishable.Essentially, an interim manager is a management consultant, but a management consultant is not an interim manager.Their core differences are outlined below:
Interim Managers

An interim executive is hired as an independent person on the basis of his or her personal abilities and reputation.
An interim will always try to cut costs and improve company effectiveness to achieve organizational goals as quickly as possible. This will assist in building his or her reputation.
An interim does not only advise on the situation, he or she also implements measures to solve the problem.
An interim reports directly to you, the employer, and not through a third party agency, so you are well informed and there is no conflict of interest.
An interim works with your own team, provided by your company as you see fit.
Interim Managers are usually specialists in their particular fields. Their experience is vast and relates to the particular field that you hire them for.

Management Consultants

A consultant generally works through an agency and is hired on the basis of the agency’s merits more so than his or her own reputation.
A consultant may try to push additional services or “stretch out” the service to increase his or her own revenue or that of the agency.
A consultant does advise on a situation, but will not implement his or her own advice.
A consultant reports back to his or her agency, who then reports to you, costing valuable time and other resources.
A consultant works with the people he or she chooses and brings them into your company instead of adapting to work with the people you already have.
Consultants generally do not specialize in one area, but are a “jack of all trades” in business.
It is clear, then, that an interim manager is able to perform a far more specialized job for your company, using your own resources and reporting only to you. He or she does a “start to finish” job: overseeing the company’s current operations, developing strategies for improvement and then implementing the strategies. A recent survey of 100 senior directors reported that 78 per cent of them feel that interim executives are a better option than management consultants.What this all means is that the interim management industry is beginning to expand. Companies increasingly prefer interims to their consultant counterparts because of the more complete service that they offer.Interim Management TrendsThe interim management industry is a relatively new field. It was borne into the European market in the 1970s and 80s and is projected to grow further in the coming years. It originated in order to be able to provide fast, specialized top management service in times of company and management crisis.For example, at the time of its introduction to the Netherlands in the 1970s, companies were dealing with long terms of notice and high termination payouts. The oil crisis had occurred and industries faced a major setback. As a result, highly skilled and experienced managers were required on an immediate basis in order to rebuilt companies that were failing.And so interim management was born.Similar situations have occurred in other countries in Europe. Over the past 20 years, the size of the market has grown steadily.The interim management market offers different areas of specialization, and these have different rates of demand. All are highly competitive.Areas with the highest demand are schools of Human Resources and Finance & Operations, which account for almost 20 per cent of all assignments. Lesser levels of demand are found in areas including Purchasing, Supply Chain and IT. However, the highest remuneration is for IT and Managing Director/CEO roles.The public sector employs almost 20 per cent more interim managers than the private sector, but there is evidence of a gradual growth in their employment within privately owned companies. Interim mangers are beginning to enjoy an excellent reputation for quick and effective strategic management, and this is contributing to industry awareness.The interim management industry as a whole has experienced excellent growth in the past few years and it is expected that it will continue to grow at an accelerated rate in years to come.What does this mean?Despite its relative youth in the management industry, interim management has grown steadily. There is an excellent opportunity for individuals to become involved in interim management while it is still growing – “on the ground floor”, so to speak. There is basis for thinking that interim managers will begin to take over from management consultants as companies become even further specialized and have even more requirements for quick solutions.Interim management is here to stay!

The advent of the internet has opened up novel vistas for doing business. As per a survey, India will have around 500 million internet users by 2017. This creates a fascinating opportunity for businesses to sell their services and products to a growing population of internet users.The internet has brought along with it newer ways of marketing. Obviously, traditional marketing or outbound marketing methodologies that use TV and radio ads, banners, hoardings and print ads in newspapers, magazines, brochures and other marketing collateral, do not work on the internet.Inbound or online marketing, is marketing on the internet or in the digital sphere. It takes into consideration things like page rankings in search engine searches, advertising on search engines, banner ads on other websites, marketing on social media, etc. These marketing campaigns are highly focused and target exactly the audience that a particular business wants to serve ads to.The need to market products and services on the internet has given rise to a new industry – the internet marketing industry. Digital marketing companies in India provide comprehensive digital marketing services for businesses. They usually employ a specialist team of domain experts in search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing (SMM) and social media optimization (SMO).A recent survey noted that 34% of the companies surveyed had an integrated digital marketing strategy and 16% companies said that they use internet marketing on and off. A staggering 50% of the respondents said that they do not have a defined strategy for internet marketing. These numbers suggest that there are still businesses that have not been exposed to the awesome capabilities and powers of internet-based marketing.It is imperative for Indian businesses, in particular, in this age to realize the importance of having an integrated internet marketing strategy if they wish to survive in a highly frenzied and competitive market. Without the help of Digital Marketing Services, they fall short of creating a strategy and face the dangers of seeing themselves become directionless. They will never know their online market share, their current market share will be gained by existing and start-up competitors and they will never have a powerful online proposition.A Digital Marketing Company in India can help businesses harness the power of a robust web-based marketing strategy. The use of novel platforms like the social media can be a game changer as more and more people are using them to engage with brands. It is an excellent place to gain followers, engage with them and serve them relevant and helpful content. Once they become loyal brand followers, targeted ads are served to them to convert them into customers.Online marketing is the present and the future. Businesses staying away do so at their own risk. It’s worthwhile to climb on to the digital bandwagon while the time is right.

So, you want to start a home based business. Well, you are certainly not alone. Millions of individuals scour the internet every month searching for legitimate home based businesses with the dream of making it big and leaving their jobs. Every day, someone is thinking, “There must be a better way,” or “Please help me quit my job,” or “I want to work from home.”Today, many people are afraid. They are fearful of their economic futures, and the term, “This Economy” is spoken everywhere, and not in a positive light. What this means is that there are a lot of people struggling to make ends meet. Many are hoping for an economic miracle. Others have decided to start a home based business to help improve their situation.Before you act on the impulse to start a home based business, there are a few things to consider. Let’s examine two major “red flags” indicating that you are NOT ready to venture into the world of the home based business entrepreneur – and what you can do to change the situation.Red Flag #1: You feel desperate. You don’t make enough money. Perhaps you hate your job, and you’ll do anything to leave your current job situation. Or, you may be afraid you are about to lose your job.Why this indicates that you are not ready: If you are feeling desperate and miserable, this is not a good time to start a home based business because you will carry that feeling of desperation into your search for a legitimate home based business opportunity. And instead of calmly weighing the pros and cons of various serious and profitable opportunities, You will be more likely to act out of desperation, falling for “get rich quick” scams – probably more than one – and spending your already hard-earned money on something that you feel will be a quick fix to your situation – that “magic bullet” that, frankly, does not exist.How to change the situation: The first thing to do is calm yourself, and look at where the feelings of desperation come from. What can you change in your own attitude to make your job more bearable while you search for a profitable home based business? Instead of feeling angry and desperate, can you teach yourself to see the positive in your situation?For example, if you already have a job – even if it’s not a great job – you could be thankful that you have a source of income that can help you save up for the right opportunity. You could sit yourself down and take full responsibility for where you are – after all, you made the decisions that led you to where you are now, and you can now make decisions to take another direction, if you choose. Just do it rationally, and without emotion. Release your feelings of desperation and hate – those feelings are not who you are. You are a lot bigger than that! There are plenty of places online to learn the techniques that can help you change your own outlook. Use search terms like “self development resources” or “self development techniques,” etc.Red Flag #2: You are broke. You have debts you cannot pay, and you think that if only you could start a home based business, that this will cure everything.Why this indicates that you are not ready: I don’t care whether you think you’ve found the Holy Grail of home based businesses. If you are already in deep debt, you will go further into debt. Why? Because being in business for yourself costs money. Even if you have a paying job, and just want to start something on the side to help pay your debts, if you are unable to stay current with your payments, you will not be able to get the credit or financing that you might need to get your home based business off the ground.Running a business costs far more than the “5 to 10 hours per week” that so many business opportunities tout as being all that’s necessary to succeed. Scheduling your time commitment is only one part of the equation. You need to schedule your money commitment (aka “budget”) too.How to change the situation: First of all, understand at the get-go that if you intend to start a home based business, you WILL need to spend money.Stop searching for “free home based business opportunities,” or “easy home based business,” and get real.You don’t get anything for nothing. Ever.So, before you decide to jump into a home based business, decide how much you can save for your start up costs which will undoubtedly include advertising, website hosting fees, months of carrying your business before the search engines begin to recognize you, and qualified buyers begin to find and visit your website.If you are truly passionate about starting a home based business, then you will do what it takes to pay down your debts and begin to formulate a logical plan to undertake a serious home based business venture.Until that day, you are not ready.Depending on the type of home based business opportunity you are looking at, you can probably find others who are already active in the opportunity what type of budget is necessary to maintain the effort until you begin to earn profits.Finally, you may be saying, “But, I really AM passionate about starting a home based business! Where can I get the money?”This oft-asked question has a relatively simple answer – but unless you have the strength, determination, and self-discipline to do this, you won’t do it.And this is where the rubber meets the road.Here is the answer (drum roll please): Sell your stuff. Get rid of it. Sell on eBay. Sell on CraigsList. Have a yard sale – have more than one yard sale. Just sell your stuff.Most people have far more stuff than they need. Do you REALLY need 10 pairs of shoes? How about that (Heaven forbid), that “Wii” you just had to have? How about your collection of collectible bears, NASCAR, purses, Goth skulls, or electronic do-dads?How badly do you want to start a home based business? How badly do you want success? Sell the TV – or at least one of them (it’s a huge time waster anyway).Sell the 4×4 SUV that you really don’t need to begin with. If you have kids, get them on board with you – kids are great dreamers and the thought of better stuff might nudge them in the right direction.What else can you do? Stop spending needlessly. Buy your clothes from thrift stores instead of the department store for a while. One person we know plans “treasure hunting” trips to thrift stores with her kids – it has become a fun game, not a deprivation. Do you really need that new handbag? Do you really need that piece of jewelry? Brand name versus generic? And on, and on…If the last few paragraphs offend you, and you cannot bear to 1) part with your stuff and/or 2) stop buying more stuff in order to realize a dream, then you are not passionate about starting a serious home based business opportunity. That’s just the way it is.But… If you felt your heart begin to pound just a little when you thought about possibilities instead of limitations, if you felt hope instead of desperation, faith instead of fear – then, my friend, you WILL find a way – not only to START a home based business, but SUCCEED.Copyright (c) 2009 Kathleen Tremblay