The Basics and Tips of Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is an approach to product marketing communications that does not employ contemporary marketing channels. This absolutely means that deals are done directly between the manufacturers and customers without involving channel intermediaries such as distributors, retailers and wholesalers. It is a strategy commonly employed by electronic manufacturers and banks in dealing with their clients directly. Brands that employ distribution channels target marketing communications towards distributors, retailers and consumers, while directly market brands communicate directly with clients. Direct marketing may employ tools such as direct mail, mobile telemarketing services, and voicemail marketing among others.

Marketing directly has been found to be the most cost effective avenue and form of marketing. By the use of direct mail, telemarketing services, email marketing and leaflets drops, the system allows you to focus on customers with utmost accuracy unlike the majority of marketing techniques. It is distinguished in a number of ways. Firstly, direct mails are sent to clients. This comes in an array of ways including email addresses, web browser cookies and mobile messaging. Secondly, marketing directly aspires to drive a precise call to action. In this case advertisements may give free call lines to clients for information. Careful preparation prior to the approach is however necessary to achieve utmost investment, achieve adequate response rates and to avoid contacting individuals who do not desire receiving a direct mail in direct marketing.

The process of marketing the things directly presents with an array of different approaches. They consist of traditional methods like telemarketing services, mail shots and modern approaches that include mailing lists, mobile messaging and social media. The most appropriate of these approaches will absolutely depend on the customers targeted, the information to be passed across and the response you wish to generate.

For most companies direct mail has proved to be affordable, manageable and therefore mostly employed. These are companies that lack effective and adequate expertise and capital to utilize electronic direct marketing approaches. Direct mails are cost effective and are likely to generate more client responses unlike majority of direct marketing approaches. Direct mail focuses information directly into the hands of the customers that require it. It is therefore very effective once well planned and coupled with high quality mailing list.

It allows you to aim at a specific group of clients especially with the use of direct marketing leads. The use of these leads ensures that you focus your time and energy on the endeavors that matter to your business. They enable you to communicate adequately with clients, increase your sales and to grow your business. Leads in addition allow you to focus the right amount of resources where they are likely to produce results, gauge the success of advertisements and other campaigns, and most importantly to test your marketing. Direct marketing leads since increases the sales of your business to existing clients, builds client loyalty, reestablishs failed customer associations and generates new business ideas.

Marketing is not always a cheap task, but with direct marketing leads where you focus your campaigns on the precise businesses and people owning them, it will definitely pay off. Once you get your leads, make sure that you reach the right customers. You may get your leads from Bressers who will in addition help you reach prospective customers.

Small Business Loan Update - Stimulus Bill Helps Bailout Businesses If They Can not Pay Loans

As we continue to sift dutifully through the over 1,000 pages of the stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), there is one provision that is not getting much attention, but could be very helpful to small businesses. If you are a small business and have received an SBA loan from your local banker, but are having trouble making payments, you can get a "stabilization loan". That's right; finally some bailout money goes into the hands of the small business owner, instead of going down the proverbial deep hole of the stock market or large banks. But do not get too excited. It is limited to very specific instances and is not available for vast majority of business owners.

There are some news articles that boldly claim the SBA will now provide relief if you have an existing business loan and are having trouble making the payments. This is not a true statement and needs to be clarified. As seen in more detail in this article, this is wrong because it applies to troubled loans made in the future, not existing ones.

Here is how it works. Assume you were one of the lucky few that find a bank to make a SBA loan. You proceed on your merry way but run into tough economic times and find it hard to repay. Remember these are not conventional loans but loans from an SBA licensed lender that are guaranteed for default by the US government through the SBA (depending upon the loan, between 50% and 90%). Under the new stimulus bill, the SBA may come to your rescue. You will be able to get a new loan which will pay off the existing balance on extremely favorable terms, buying more time to revitalize your business and get back in the saddle. Sound too good to be true? Well, you be the judge. Here are some of the features:

1. Does not apply to SBA loans taken out before the stimulus bill. As to non-SBA loans, they can be before or after the bill's enactment.

2. Does it apply to SBA guaranteed loans or non-SBA conventional loans as well? We do not know for sure. This statement simply says it applies to a "small business concern that meets the eligibility standards and section 7 (a) of the Small Business Act" (Section 506 (c) of the new Act). That contains pages and pages of requirements which could apply to both types of loans. Based on some of the preliminary reports from the SBA, it appears to apply to both SBA and non-SBA loans.

3. These monies are subject to availability in the funding of Congress. Some think the way we are going with our Federal bailout, we are going to be out of money before the economy we are trying to save.

4. You do not get these monies unless you are a viable business. Boy, you can drive a truck through that phrase. Our friends at the SBA will determine if you are "viable" (imagine how inferior you will be when you have to tell your friends your business was determined by the Federal government to be "non-viable" and on life support).

5. You have to be suffering "immediate financial hardship". So much for holding out making payments because you'd rather use the money for other expansion needs. How many months you have to be delinquent, or how close your foot is to the banana peel of complete business failure, is anyone's guess.

6. It is not certain, and commentators disagree, as to whether the Federal government through the SBA will make the loan from taxpayers' dollars or by private SBA licensed banks. In my opinion it is the latter. It carries a 100% SBA guarantee and I would make no sense if the government itself was making the loan.

7. The loan can not exceed $ 35,000. Presumably the new loan will be "taking out" or refinancing the entire balance on the old one. So if you had a $ 100,000 loan that you have been paying on time for several years but now have a balance of $ 35,000 and are in trouble, boy do we have a program for you. Or you might have a smaller $ 15,000 loan and after a short time need help. The law does not say you have to wait any particular period of time so I guess you could be in default after the first couple of months.

8. You can use it to make up no more than six months of monthly delinquencies.

9. The loan will be for a maximum term of five years.

10. The borrower will pay absolutely no interest for the duration of the loan. Interest can be charged, but it will be subsidized by the Federal government.

11. Here's the great part. If you get one of these loans, you do not have to make any payments for the first year.

12. There are absolutely no upfront fees allowed. Getting such a loan is 100% free (of course you have to pay principal and interest after the one year moratorium).

13. The SBA will decide whether or not collateral is required. In other words, if you have to put liens on your property or residence. My guess is they will lax as to this requirement.

14. You can get these loans until September 30, 2010.

15. Because this is emergency legislation, within 15 days after signing the bill, the SBA has come up with regulations.

Here is a summary of the actual legislative language if you are having trouble getting to sleep:

SEC. 506. BUSINESS STABILIZATION PROGRAM. (a) IN GENERAL- Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall carry out a program to provide loans on a deferred basis to viable (as such term is determined pursuant to regulation by the Administrator of the Small Business Administration) small business concerns that have a qualifying small business loan and are experiencing immediate financial hardship.

(b) ELIGIBLE BORROWER- A small business concern as defined under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 USC 632).

(c) QUALIFYING SMALL BUSINESS LOAN- A loan made to a small business concern that meets the eligibility standards in section 7 (a) of the Small Business Act (15 USC 636 (a)) but shall not include loans guarantees (or loan guarantee) commitments made) by the Administrator prior to the date of enactment of this Act.

(d) LOAN SIZE- Loans guaranteed under this section may not exceed $ 35,000.

(e) PURPOSE- Loans guaranteed under this program will be used to make periodic payment of principal and interest, either in full or in part, on an existing qualifying small business loan for a period of time not to exceed 6 months.

(f) LOAN TERMS- Loans made under this section shall:

(1) carry a 100 percent guaranty; and

(2) have interest fully subsidized for the period of repayment.

(g) REPAYMENT- Repayment for loans made under this section shall--

(1) be amortized over a period of time not to exceed 5 years; and

(2) not begin until 12 months after the final disbursement of funds is made.

(h) COLLATERAL- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration may accept any available collateral, including subordinated liens, to secure loans made under this section.

(i) FEES- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration is prohibited from charging any processing fees, origination fees, application fees, points, brokerage fees, bonus points, prepayment penalties, and other fees that could be charged to a loan applicable for loans under this section.

(j) SUNSET- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall not issue loan guarantees under this section after September 30, 2010.

(k) EMERGENCY RULEMAKING AUTHORITY- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall issue regulations under this section within 15 days after the date of enactment of this section. The notice requirements of section 553 (b) of title 5, United States Code shall not apply to the promulgation of such regulations.

The real question is whether a private bank will loan under this program. Unfortunately, few will do so because the statute very clearly states that no fees whatever can be charged, and how can a bank make any money if they loan under those circumstances. Sure, they might make money in the secondary market, but that is discharged up, so they basically are asked to make a loan out of the goodness of their heart. On a other hand, it carries a first ever 100% government guarantee so the bank's know they will be receiving interest and will have no possibility of losing a single dime. Maybe this will work after all.

But there is something else that would be of interest to a bank. In a way, this is a form of Federal bailout going directly to small community banks. They have on their books loans that are in default and they could easily jump at the chance of being able to bail them out with this program. Especially if they had not been the participants of the first TARP monies. Contrary to public sentiment, most of them did not receive any money. But again, this might not apply to that community bank. Since they typically package and sell their loans within three to six months, it probably would not even be in default at that point. It would be in the hands of the secondary market investor.

So is this good or bad for small businesses? Frankly, it's good to see that some bailout money is working its way toward small businesses, but most of them would rather have a loan in the first place, as opposed help when in default. Unfortunately, this will have a limited application.

Would not it be better if we simply expanded our small business programs so more businesses could get loans? How about the SBA creating a secondary market for small business loans? I have a novel idea: for the moment forget about defaults, and concentrate on making business loans available to start-ups or existing businesses wanting to expand.

How about having a program that can pay off high interest credit card balances? There is hardly a business out there that has not been financing themselves lately through credit cards, simply because banks are not making loans. It is not unusual for people to have $ 50,000 plus on their credit cards, just to stay afloat. Talk about saving high interest. You can imagine how much cash flow this would give a small business.

We should applaud Congress for doing their best under short notice to come up with this plan. Sure this is a form of welcome bailout for small businesses, but I believe it misses the mark as to the majority of the 27 million business owners that are simply looking for a loan they can repay, as opposed to a handout.

Reliable Carpet Cleaning Services - What Does It Involve

Owing to the woolen material used to make it, carpets are great magnets for dust and dirt. If there are kids and pets around the house, the need to clean your carpet is higher and more frequent. The collection of pet fur and food and color stains give the impression of poor cleanliness and hygiene habits. Not only this, a dirty carpet can be a source of serious allergies.

Regular vacuuming does help to keep your carpet clean; however, you will also need a professional clean up once a while. Here's what professional carpet cleaning services involve.

There are many types of carpet cleaning. All the methods start with a thorough vacuuming. It is to extract the dust from your carpet or rug so as to make the other methods more effective. This method is called the dry cleaning method. The dry cleaning method also makes use of special cleaning powders. They are designed to attract the dirt almost as soon as they are applied. After the powder is applied and allowed to do its work, the carpet is thoroughly vacuumed.

Shampooing is the second method. Like dry cleaning, it is a kind of pretreatment. The carpet is sprayed with a cleaning solution or a shampoo. It is worked into the carpet with a machine and then extracted by vacuuming. These solutions are formulated with cleaning agents that remove dirt and stains from carpet fibers. They also contain deodorizes and brighteners that improve the look and smell of your carpet. Although effective, shampooing does not do a full-proof job as some dirt and microbes still remain behind.

The steam cleaning process is a hot water extraction process. It is considered the most effective of all carpet cleaning methods. The process employs heavy duty equipment to inject a solution of hot water and detergent into the rug or carpet. The dirt mixes up with the chemicals and is then extracted using high pressure machines. In case of steam cleaning for carpets it is important to make sure that all the moisture is removed. If moisture is left behind, it will lead to mold growth. Mold will not only destroy your carpet, but also emanates a foul odor and could give rise to allergies. Depending on how dirty your carpet is, the professional might also use the foam cleaning method; it's a blend of dry cleaning and shampooing.

Besides these carpet cleaning solutions, there are other add-one services you can opt for by paying an extra charge. The first is applying deodorizers for that fresh clean smell. You can also use a carpet sealant. This solution seals the top layer of the carpet and prevents straining. It also preserves the colors of the fabric and keeps it from fading.

Thus, there are different methods of cleaning a carpet and a professional carpet cleaning service will offer most of them. You should choose a method that is designed for your carpet material. If you are not familiar what to use, speak to professional carpet cleaners. The cost of cleaning depends on the type of carpet cleaning service you opt for.

A Delectable Treat With Bundt Cakes

If you have the intention to make this birthday special, then Bundt Cakes can be the right choice for the celebration. The cakes are finely made so that you can really get the pleasure of the scrumptious taste of the item. One bite and you would just fall in love with the cake. The creamy delicacies can make other occasions special as well. You can even have a wonderful wedding and anniversary with Bundt Cakes. Popularly known as desert cakes, they can be happily served at the end of the meals. The sweet delight is wonderfully overstated with several sweetening ingredients to give your tongue a real treat with the cake.

Falling in Love with the Cake

Bundt Cakes are baked in Bundt pans and this fact makes the cake special and different from the rest. The baking process is exceptional and it is done with care to help the cake acquire the real taste. The crazy taste of the cake will attract you most towards the stuff. One bite and you would just sway in celebration sojourn. The cake is best to look at. The colorful appearance of the cake is a real attraction to watch. When displayed, you can feel the sensation happening. The 'creamy munch' entices you to serve yourself with another!

The Creamy Taste

Bundt Cakes come with stupendous creamy fills. If you want to make the cake at home then you have to keep notice of the fact that the ingredients are well mixed. Things are blended in the right way so that you can derive the most pleasurable taste at the end. You can even order cakes online. Once you place the order, the item would be served at your doorstep right away. When grouping the ingredients, or blending the flavors, you have to do things right to safeguard the good taste of the pie.

The Things Required While Making the Cake

Once you have a party at home or at office, and you feel that making such bulk cakes at home is not done, you can at once order cakes online. This is sure to put an end to your hassles. However, for smaller get-together you can decide to make the cake at home. For the purpose you can start collecting a list of required ingredients. You should have granulated sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, flour, melted, chocolate, eggs, chocolate baking bar, melted butter, vanilla extract, thick whipping cream, a pinch of salt and vegetable oil. Mind it, an omission in any one of the ingredients can spoil the taste of the Bundt Cakes.

Making of the Cake can be Made Easy

The recipes for Bundt Cakes have grown quite popular down the years. The cake is baked in intricate pans. The baking process is special. They add a good taste to the item. Once you have prepared the cake you can store it for long. The ingredients are just perfect for long time restoration. The pan should be perfectly greased or else the cake can stick to the pan. Place the cake just at the middle of the pan.

Choosing the Right Leather Work Gloves

Comfort, dexterity, durability, flexibility, protection, and cost are the key considerations when choosing leather gloves for a specific job environment or as a general purpose work glove. A comparison of leather work glove material options, pattern variations, styles and applications will help you choose the most suitable glove.

Glove Leather Types and Quality

The type and quality of leather used are significant considerations in choosing leather work gloves. Gloves are manufactured primarily in cowhide, pigskin, goatskin, and deerskin, each offering unique characteristics specific to the animal.

Cowhide leather is one of the most rugged and economical leathers used to manufacture gloves due to its availability, comfort, and durability. Specifically, cowhide is good for dexterity, durability, pliability, abrasion resistance, and puncture resistance. Cowhide is also very good in keeping hands warm, but is limited in the leather's breathability. Cowhide dries stiff when it gets wet, becoming hard and losing its flexibility.

Pigskin leather is a soft and supple leather that is more porous, which makes a glove that is comfortable and resistant to moisture, but not quite as warm as cowhide. High lanolin content keeps this leather soft which does not dry out and crack after repeatedly getting wet. Pigskin is an economical alternative to cowhide, offering more dexterity and breathability with superior pliability. Pigskin leather is the most durable and provides the greatest abrasion resistance of cowhide, goatskin, and deerskin.

Goatskin leather has the highest natural lanolin content, which makes a very soft and flexible glove that retains its pliability after getting wet. Goatskin offers the improved dexterity, pliability, and breathability of pigskin over cowhide, but does not offer the durability. Abrasion and puncture resistance are about the same as cowhide, while goatskin does not provide as much protection from the cold as cowhide.

Deerskin leather is extremely soft and supple offering very good dexterity and excellent pliability. Deerskin gloves do not stiffen after getting wet repeatedly and form to the hand over time. Their flexibility also causes them to easily lose their shape with rough wear. Deerskin gloves are the best for comfort, but sacrifice durability, abrasion and puncture resistance. Deerskin glove breathability is limited, like cowhide, and they provide less protection from the cold, similar to goatskin and pigskin gloves.

Leather types are further classified by cuts or splits which offer different levels of quality.

Full-Grain leather, also called top-grain leather, refers to the finest raw material including the outer waterproof skin which provides a thicker, more durable glove with greater abrasion and puncture resistance.

Split leather is obtained by splitting the rougher interior side of the skin (drop split) from the supportive outer part (grain) yielding a softer and more pliable glove with greater dexterity. Split leather can be divided into 3 types, depending upon which part of the animal the hide is cut:

• Side split leather is made by splitting the hide in half along the backbone and is the most durable and uniform split because of its high fiber density.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Shoulder split leather is taken from the neck and shoulder area of the animal and provides abrasion resistance in a more economical grade of leather.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Belly split leather is cut from the underside or belly of the animal and is less consistent in texture and appearance, but the most economical split leather.

Leather Work Glove Linings

Obviously, the lining of the glove is a big factor in hand comfort with a variety of options from no lining to synthetic and natural materials. The most popular leather work glove lining options are listed below:

• 3M Thinsulate utilizes extremely small fibers of polyester to provide one of the most effective insulation linings without the bulk of natural materials. Manufactured by 3M, it is breathable and retains its exceptional insulating ability in damp conditions.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Pile is synthetic wool that is very popular due to its low cost and similarity to wool.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Thermal linings are manufactured by creating a first layer overlapped by a second layer of material creating a heat insulation pocket between the layers.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Fleece is soft bulky napped cotton with a deep pile and is one of the most common glove liners.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Foam lining features a layer of foam insulation between cotton fleeced jersey and a layer of interlocked cotton.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Thermo lined gloves are thermal gloves with waterproof linings.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Wool linings are odor resistant and provide excellent warmth, even when wet.

Leather Work Glove Patterns

The most common construction for leather work glove styles is the Gunn pattern, but the Clute pattern offers an economical alternative:

Gunn pattern is manufactured with fully wrapped fingers and thumbs, while the palm side is a separate glove pattern which is sewn at the base of the middle two fingers. This cut allows flexibility with the seam at the natural crease of the fingers and the seamless back affords greater comfort. The finger seams being away from the work area help the glove to last longer.

Clute pattern refers to gloves with a roomy comfortable fit and seams along every finger and the thumb, down the back of the glove. The palm and bottom of the fingers is covered with one piece of material and no seams on the palm side of the glove.

Leather Work Glove Cuffs

Leather work gloves are available in a wide range of cuffs. Hemmed cuffs offer medium wrist protection; shirred and knit wrists prevent debris from getting into the glove, and safety and gauntlet cuffs offer maximum wrist and forearm protection:

• Rolled hem or turned cuffs feature a narrowly rolled hem and create a very finished and clean look.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Hemmed cuffs may use color-coded fabric to hem the cuff of the glove.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Knit Wrist cuffs provide a snug fit to prevent debris or liquids from getting inside the glove.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Shirred cuffs use elastic to gather the glove around the wrist when worn, but not as tightly as the knit wrist.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Safety cuffs provide a higher degree of wrist and arm protection with large 2 1/2" cuffs. Safety cuffs are manufactured from a variety of materials and include: rubberized, plasticized, starched, denim, leather, and canvas cuffs.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Gauntlet cuffs are a larger form of the safety cuff and provide the highest level of wrist and arm protection with large 4 1/2" cuffs.

Leather Work Glove Thumb Types

Work gloves are manufactured using one of the following thumb types:

• Keystone thumb is a type of thumb stitched separately to conform to the natural position of the thumb. The keystone thumb offers the greatest flexibility and comfort.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Wing thumb is manufactured with the thumb angled diagonally across the palm to improve comfort and natural movement without a seam between the thumb and palm area.
  
  
  
  
  
  







• Straight thumb is manufactured with the thumb lying vertically straight from the wrist and is good for gripping.

Leather Work Glove Styles

Leather work gloves can be divided into three basic style groups:

Leather driving gloves or drivers are one of the most rugged and comfortable work gloves made, featuring flexibility and abrasion, puncture, moisture, and heat resistance. Leather drivers are excellent in a variety of applications, including equipment operation, such as farm, construction, tractor-trailers, and forklifts. Leather drivers are also ideal for general purpose work environments requiring greater dexterity and flexibility, such as material handling, general industrial work, stamping, packaging, fabricating, lumber industry, chainsaw operation, automotive, mining, furniture industry, pipe fitting, assembly and other medium to heavy duty industrial applications.

Leather palm gloves are one of the most popular and widely used work gloves because of their lower cost, abundance, and ability to handle a wide variety of general industry work applications, such as agricultural, automotive, gardening, construction, landscaping, parks and recreation, large material handling, oil rigging, refinery work, and other heavy industrial environments.

Welding gloves or welders are a very heavy duty superior heat resistant leather work glove providing hand protection from metal splashes, flames, sparks and ultraviolet radiation for applications in welding, molten metal, and foundries.

Choosing the right leather work glove for you or your workers is simply a matter of understanding your options and their benefits. Leather work gloves offer durability, dexterity, flexibility, comfort and protection in a wide range of quality and costs to accommodate virtually every industrial job setting.

Online Surveys For Money - How to Spot a Fraud From a Mile Away

If you are looking for online surveys for money but want to avoid running into fraudulent survey companies, then take notice of these handy tips that will assist you in hooking up with the best online surveys for money websites on the World Wide Web:

# 1 - Does the survey company have a good reputation? You can simply do a search for reviews on the company online and should seek out feedback from other people who actually work with the service and take surveys. Try using resources such as Yahoo Answers, in order to avoid typical "fake reviews" written by the company themselves.

# 2 - Look for contact information. Legitimate survey companies will place their contact information in a very easy to identify area of ​​their website. Consider sending them an email with a comment or question just to make sure that the email account is legitimate. Contact them via phone in order to determine the number is working. This is a great way to find and spot fraudulent websites.

# 3 - Perhaps one of the best things you can do is read the survey companies "Terms And Conditions." Look at the pay structure of the website to ensure that they actually pay out in cash as opposed to in "rewards." Some websites that claim to pay out in money actually only give you prizes or reward points.

These three simple tips are the easiest ways to go about separating the shady survey companies from the legitimate survey opportunities. If you want to find online surveys for money, then you should always keep these tips in mind when surveying potential survey companies.

Driving Test Mistakes List and Info on How to Prepare for - AND PASS - Your Road Exam

Do you want to be able to drive a car, and go anywhere in the world? In order to get this type of freedom, you're going to have to go through a driver's test first. For most people, it isn't easy. You don't have to be most people though. You can be one of the 50% or so of examinees who pass on the first try.

Already taken it and failed? Don't worry - you can get a second chance... and third... and fourth... the great thing about the driving exam is that you can keep starting over again until you finally pass. If you are worried about feeling embarrassed in front of your friends and family, just don't tell go around telling them that you plan on taking it. Nobody other than your parents and driving teacher have to know. If you're an adult yourself, nobody other than you and the person who is helping you practice need to know.

As long as you know how to drive safely and avoid making mistakes, you should be able to pass.

Here are some mistakes that you must avoid making if you want to get your license.

• Going well over the speed limit.







• Going too slow even though the road conditions and weather are fine.







• Failing to check your blindspot and mirrors regularly.







• Bumping into something, be it another vehicle, curb, bicycle, etc.







• Not being able to demonstrate good, firm (yet smooth) steering control.







• Not being observant enough while driving.







• Not being observant enough when attempting to park, or pull out of a parking space.







• Failing to actually STOP at a STOP sign - don't just roll past it.







• Being confused at when and where to turn, and hesitating for too long when it is your turn to go.







• Pressing down on the brakes too hard. You're supposed to brake smoothly, unless something happens and you have to come to a sudden halt. Even then, you should still be careful.

You don't want to simply become a good enough driver to pass the test; that isn't enough. You should strive to become a defensive driver who always knows what to do in order to ensure the safety of yourself, your passengers, and other vehicles on the road.

The only way you're going to become a safe driver is to learn everything you can and practice. Get out there and learn how to drive as safely as possible. Remember: don't tell anyone when you plan on taking the test if you are afraid of being embarrassed. It will help you to feel less stressful.