Get Your First Customer

The first customer can be the hardest one to get, but these ideas will help you land that first customer quickly and easily.

Typical advice given to new businesses is to give away their services or charge steeply discounted rates in order to get experience and build a customer base. This can work, but it is a dangerous strategy. First, because those first customers may not value your work if they are not paying market rates, and second, because the time you spend working for nothing or next-to-nothing might be used more effectively in marketing to customers who will pay full price.

When you have attracted customers by giving them bargain-basement prices, those customers may not stick around when you try to charge market prices. Plus, bargain seekers can be more demanding that customers paying full price, so you may end up spending more time than you expected providing service.

There are times when it makes sense to work for free or almost free. For example, if you are volunteering for a charity you support, or if you are building your portfolio or making contacts, it can be worthwhile. As a major strategy for getting your first clients, though, it is not your best choice.

Here are some other ways you can find the clients you need to get your business off the ground.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. If you recently left a corporate job, your former employer could be a good prospect for your new business. You understand their business, they know what you can do, and the stage is set for them to become your first customer in your new enterprise.

Get your net working. Contact people you know and tell them about your new business. Let them know you are actively seeking new clients and what you can do for those clients. Do you think it is hard to call people and ask for their business? Get over it, but in the meantime, instead of asking for their business, ask if they know someone who could use your services.

I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. Barter with other businesses for products and services you need through an informal exchange or a barter network. When you barter and get something you truly need in return, it is as good as cash and it is not the same as working for free.

Try it, you’ll like it. Clients may be reluctant to commit to a high-dollar or long-term contract with an unknown and unproven business. Give them a lower-cost way to try you out that compensates you fairly, such as a small project, or give them an out in the contract if you do not meet performance goals.

Get visible. Speak to community and professional organizations. Join the Chamber of Commerce and networking groups. Get active in your professional association. Find ways to get in front of people that can become customers.

May I borrow a cup of customers? When you do not have customers of your own, use the ideas in my article about borrowing customers from other businesses.

Choose the strategies that are the best fit for you and your business, and put them to work. You will have your first clients in no time!

The Power of Pay Per Click

Pay per click advertising has revolutionised the advertising landscape. Never before has there been an advertising medium that allowed you to advertise specifically to your target audience and measure accurately the results of that advertising.

It’s for these reasons alone that any business should seriously consider using pay per click as part of its marketing mix. However many businesses fail to grasp this opportunity properly.

The other compelling reason for using pay per click is that services like Google Adwords will actually allow small business to compete successfully alongside the big companies with deep advertising pockets. This is because Google rewards advertising that is relevant rather than just selling advertising space to the companies prepared to pay more.

Before I explain all this in more detail, let’s just first make sure we all understand what we mean by pay per click.

I’m sure you’ve all seen those adverts down the left hand side of your search results in Google. Those advertisers have bid in an auction to appear on that page whenever the search phrase you used was entered into Google. They will only pay if you click on their advert. They don’t pay anything just to appear. Hence the name pay per click.

Can you imagine paying for newspaper adverts in the basis that you only paid them for each person that was to contact you? There is no way the newspapers could offer that type of service. They simply can’t measure how people react to adverts. This is one of the great benefits of pay per click. You only pay when your advertising successfully brings in potential customers.

Also because you pick the words (called keywords) that you want your adverts to appear for, then you can effectively control who sees your adverts. By carefully choosing keywords you can ensure your adverts are only seen by people who are looking to buy your products.

Imagine the newspaper example again. Do you think newspapers could sell adverting based on only charging you for the newspapers that are read by the people who are specifically looking to buy your product? Not likely. Of course newspapers do have demographics they appeal to and that does give you some targeting for your advertising but it’s not as precisely targeted as pay per click can be.

So already you can see how pay per click makes a lot of sense.

However, what about my point that services like Google Adwords allows you to compete successfully with the big companies? The reason this is so is because they reward advertisers who deliver adverts that meet the needs of the people searching on Google. They assign a quality score for your keywords and your adverts. This quality score is used to decide the minimum bid you need to pay for your advert to appear and it also decides how high up the page you appear. 

So by tailoring your adverts to closely match your keywords you can achieve a good quality score. If your advert then gets more clicks than the average expected for that keyword then Google rewards you by increasing your quality score. Thus you pay even less for your clicks.

The big companies rarely understand this and they just pay high bid prices. They also tend to bid on practically every keyword that can find and they use the same advert for all these keywords. Savvy internet advertisers can beat them every time.

So I urge you to embrace the power of pay per click.

The 10 Steps Of Crisis Communications

Crisis: Any situation that is threatening or could threaten to harm people or property, seriously interrupt business, damage reputation or negatively impact share value.

Every organization is vulnerable to crises. The days of playing ostrich are gone. You can play, but your stakeholders will not be understanding or forgiving because they've watched what happened with Bridgestone-Firestone, Bill Clinton, Arthur Andersen, Enron, Worldcom, 9-11, The Asian Tsunami Disaster, Hurricane Katrina and Virginia Tech.

If you don't prepare, you WILL take more damage. And when I look at existing "crisis management" plans while conducting a "crisis document audit," what I often find is a failure to address the many communications issues related to crisis/disaster response. Organizations do not understand that, without adequate communications:

• Operational response will break down.
• Stakeholders (internal and external) will not know what is happening and quickly be confused, angry, and negatively reactive.
• The organization will be perceived as inept, at best, and criminally negligent, at worst.

The basic steps of effective crisis communications are not difficult, but they require advance work in order to minimize damage. The slower the response, the more damage is incurred. So if you're serious about crisis preparedness and response, read and implement these 10 steps of crisis communications, the first seven of which can and should be undertaken before any crisis occurs.

The 10 Steps of Crisis Communications

1. Identify Your Crisis Communications Team 

A small team of senior executives should be identified to serve as your organization's Crisis Communications Team. Ideally, the team will be led by the organization's CEO, with the firm's top public relations executive and legal counsel as his or her chief advisers. If your in-house PR executive does not have sufficient crisis communications expertise, he or she may choose to retain an agency or independent consultant with that specialty. Other team members should be the heads of major organization divisions, to include finance, personnel and operations.

Let me say a word about legal counsel. Sometimes, during a crisis, a natural conflict arises between the recommendations of the organization's legal counsel on the one hand, and those of the public relations counsel on the other. While it may be legally prudent not to say anything, this kind of reaction can land the organization in public relations "hot water" that is potentially, as damaging, or even more damaging, than any financial or legal ramification. Fortunately, more and more legal advisors are becoming aware of this fact and are working in close cooperation with public relations counsel. The importance of this understanding cannot be underestimated. Arthur Anderson lost its case and went out of business due to the judgment rendered by the court of public opinion, not the judgment of a court of law.

2. Identify Spokespersons 

Within each team, there should be individuals who are the only ones authorized to speak for the organization in times of crisis. The CEO should be one of those spokespersons, but not necessarily the primary spokesperson. The fact is that some chief executives are brilliant business people but not very effective in-person communicators. The decision about who should speak is made after a crisis breaks — but the pool of potential spokespersons should be identified and trained in advance.

Not only are spokespersons needed for media communications, but for all types and forms of communications, internal and external, including on-camera, at a public meeting, at employee meetings, etc. You really don't want to be making decisions about so many different types of spokespersons while "under fire." 

3. Spokesperson Training 

Two typical quotes from well-intentioned organization executives summarize the reason why your spokespersons should receive professional training in how to speak to the media:

"I talked to that nice reporter for over an hour and he didn't use the most important news about my organization."

"I've done a lot of public speaking. I won't have any trouble at that public hearing."

Regarding the first example, there are a good number of people interviewed by CBS' "60 Minutes" or ABC's "20/20" who thought they knew how to talk to the press. In the second case, most executives who have attended a hostile public hearing have gone home wishing they had been wearing a pair of Depends.

All stakeholders — internal and external — are just as capable of misunderstanding or misinterpreting information about your organization as the media, and it's your responsibility to minimize the chance of that happening.

Spokesperson training teaches you to be prepared, to be ready to respond in a way that optimizes the response of all stakeholders. 

4. Establish Notification Systems 

Remember when the only way to reach someone quickly was by a single phone or fax number, assuming they were there to receive either?

Today, we have to have — immediately at hand — the means to reach our internal and external stakeholders using multiple modalities. Many of us have several phone numbers, more than one email address, and can receive SMS (text) messages or faxes. Instant Messenger programs, either public or proprietary, are also very popular for business and personal use. We can even send audio and video messages via email. Depending on how "techie" we choose to be, all of this type of communication — and more — may be received on or sent by a single device!

It is absolutely essential, pre-crisis, to establish notification systems that will allow you to rapidly reach your stakeholders using multiple modalities. The Virginia Tech catastrophe, where email was the sole means of alerting students initially, proves that using any single modality can make a crisis worse. Some of us may be on email constantly, others not so. Some of us receive our cellphone calls or messages quickly, some not. If you use more than one modality to reach your stakeholders, the chances are much greater that the message will go through.

For a long time, those of us in crisis management relied on the old-fashioned "phone tree" and teams of callers to track people down. But today there is technology — offered by multiple vendors and also available for purchase — that can be set up to automatically start contacting all stakeholders in your pre-established database and keep trying to reach them until they confirm (e.g., by pressing a certain number on a phone keypad) that the message has been received. Technology that you can trigger with a single call or email.

5. Identify and Know Your Stakeholders

Who are the internal and external stakeholders that matter to your organization? I consider employees to be your most important audience, because every employee is a PR representative and crisis manager for your organization whether you want them to be or not! But, ultimately, all stakeholders will be talking about you to others not on your contact list, so it's up to you to ensure that they receive the messages you would like them to repeat elsewhere.

6. Anticipate Crises 

If you're being proactive and preparing for crises, gather your Crisis Communications Team for long brainstorming sessions on all the potential crises which can occur at your organization. 

There are at least two immediate benefits to this exercise: 

• You may realize that some of the situations are preventable by simply modifying existing methods of operation.
• You can begin to think about possible responses, about best case/worst case scenarios, etc. Better now than when under the pressure of an actual crisis.

In some cases, of course, you know that a crisis will occur because you're planning to create it — e.g., to lay off employees, or to make a major acquisition. Then, you can proceed with steps 8-10 below, even before the crisis occurs. 

There is a more formal method of gathering this information that I call a "vulnerability audit," about whichinformation is available here. 

7. Develop Holding Statements

While full message development must await the outbreak of an actual crisis, "holding statements" — messages designed for use immediately after a crisis breaks — can be developed in advance to be used for a wide variety of scenarios to which the organization is perceived to be vulnerable, based on the assessment you conducted in Step 6 of this process. An example of holding statements by a hotel chain with properties hit by a natural disaster — before the organization headquarters has any hard factual information — might be: 

"We have implemented our crisis response plan, which places the highest priority on the health and safety of our guests and staff."

"Our hearts and minds are with those who are in harm's way, and we hope that they are well."

"We will be supplying additional information when it is available and posting it on our website."

The organization's Crisis Communications Team should regularly review holding statements to determine if they require revision and/or whether statements for other scenarios should be developed.

8. Assess the Crisis Situation 

Reacting without adequate information is a classic "shoot first and ask questions afterwards" situation in which you could be the primary victim. But if you've done all of the above first, it's a "simple" matter of having the Crisis Communications Team on the receiving end of information coming in from your communications "tree," ensuring that the right type of information is being provided so that you can proceed with determining the appropriate response. 

Assessing the crisis situation is, therefore, the first crisis communications step you can't take in advance. But if you haven't prepared in advance, your reaction will be delayed by the time it takes your in-house staff or quickly-hired consultants to run through steps 1 to 7. Furthermore, a hastily created crisis communications strategy and team are never as efficient as those planned and rehearsed in advance. 

9. Identify Key Messages 

With holding statements available as a starting point, the Crisis Communications Team must continue developing the crisis-specific messages required for any given situation. The team already knows, categorically, what type of information its stakeholders are looking for. What should those stakeholders know about this crisis? Keep it simple — have no more than three main messages for all stakeholders and, as necessary, some audience-specific messages for individual groups of stakeholders. 

10. Riding Out the Storm 

No matter what the nature of a crisis...no matter whether it's good news or bad...no matter how carefully you've prepared and responded...some of your stakeholders are not going to react the way you want them to. This can be immensely frustrating. What do you do? 

• Take a deep breath.
• Take an objective look at the reaction(s) in question. Is it your fault, or their unique interpretation?
• Decide if another communication to those stakeholders is likely to change their impression for the better.
• Decide if another communication to those stakeholders could make the situation worse.
• If, after considering these factors, you think it's still worth more communication, then take your best shot!

"It Can't Happen To Me" 

When a healthy organization's CEO or CFO looks at the cost of preparing a crisis communications plan, either a heavy investment of in-house time or retention of an outside professional for a substantial fee, it is tempting for them to fantasize "it can't happen to me" or "if it happens to me, we can handle it relatively easily." 

Hopefully, that type of ostrich-playing is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Yet I know that thousands of organizations hit by Hurricane Katrina will have, when all is said and done, suffered far more damage than would have occurred with a fully developed crisis communications plan in place. This has also been painfully true for scores of clients I have served over the past 25 years. Even the best crisis management professional is playing catch up — with more damage occurring all the time — when the organization has no crisis communications infrastructure already in place. 

The Last Word — For Now 

I would like to believe that organizations worldwide are finally "getting it" about crisis preparedness, whether we're talking about crisis communications, disaster response or business continuity. Certainly client demand for advance preparation has increased dramatically in the past half-decade, at least for my consultancy. But I fear that there is, in fact, little change in what I have said in the past, that 95 percent of American organizations remain either completely unprepared or significantly under-prepared for crises. And my colleagues overseas report little better, and sometimes worse statistics. 

Choose to be part of the prepared minority. Your stakeholders will appreciate it!

Home Equity Loans

There are periods in one’s life when home equity loans come in handy. Consider this situation:

• You have a house that’s worth $250,000.00;
• You built equity in that house worth $130,000.00 (this means you’ve paid $130,000.00 of the $250,000.00 original mortgage amount leaving you with a $120,000 outstanding balance);
• Somewhere along the line, your basement developed problems and has to be renovated because the heating and cooling systems are not working efficiently and some walls and columns have to be knocked down. Total cost is $25,000.00;
• At the same time, your son decides to go to med school and will be needing financial help outside of his scholarship funds. Estimates are that for nine years he will need at least $75,000.00;
• The combined total of the basement and your son’s education comes to $100,000.00

What are your options?

• You can sell your house and let the buyer repair the basement himself;
• Tell your son to give up his dreams of becoming a doctor and be a landscape artist instead;
• Sell your wife’s art collection which should fetch about $150,000.00. That should neatly cover your basement and your son’s aspirations, plus have leftover cash to possibly finance a trip;
• Request the credit card company to increase your limit to $125,000.00;
• Since your son is going away to university, rent his bedroom out;
• Borrow $100,000.00 from friends and family;
• Take a second job; your wife can do the same;
• Write a novel and hope it tops the bestsellers list;
• A friend suggested speaking to your bank about a home equity loan.

Which option seems to be the most attractive to you? Your heart would bleed if you sell the house (it’s a great asset and will serve you well when retirement comes around). Your son might resent you the rest of his life if you don’t help him become a doctor (besides in your old age, you could use a doctor in the house). Your wife has worked hard to build up her art collection and there’s the possibility that she’d rather divorce you than sell her most precious possession.

Requesting your credit card company to up your limit to $125,000.00 means you could be paying through your nose on interest charges alone. Renting your son’s bedroom out is a worthwhile option to consider, except he’s made it clear that he intends to come home during the holidays and may need to live with you after med school just to get his finances straight.

Taking a second job would only generate stress which in turn could elevate your blood pressure. Writing a novel? You never fancied yourself a writer because you always had a secretary who did your correspondence for you. Even your Valentine cards to your wife are written by your secretary…so it looks like that the…

Home Equity Loan is One of Your Best Options

Anyone who looks at your situation and knows about home equity loans will readily say the same thing. Home equity loans are one of the best bets around for a homeowner who has built equity in his house and needs some cash.

Millions of homeowners who experience a financial crunch at some point in their lives have asked their banks for home equity loans that will help them weather a monetary crisis. If you need money for major renovations, help your children with their education, pay for assisted living facilities for your aging parents, or just to consolidate various loans in your portfolio, home equity loans are the smart way to go.

Why don’t you speak to your lending officer today? You might be surprised at how much money you can borrow at very low rates. Home equity loans are popular because of their low rates. The reason the rates are low is the bank knows they can get to your house as collateral should you default.

Home equity products are packaged so that borrowers can avail of a privileged low rate without access restrictions to credit when needed. Plus the bank won’t dictate how you are to use your money. That’s entirely your decision. Some banks can lend you as much as 75%-80% of the appraised value of your house, and even up to 90% if you take out mortgage insurance against default.

Be careful: banking terminology can be confusing to first time borrowers. There is a difference between a home loan and a home equity loan. Don’t confuse your banker by telling him you need a home loan when in fact it is a home equity loan you need. A home loan is a loan you apply for to purchase a house. A home equity loan is a loan you borrow against the equity you’ve built in your house, assuming you have built equity. We don’t think it is possible to apply for a home equity loan right on the day you moved to your new house, because you haven’t paid enough into the mortgage. If you have a $100,000 house and you’ve already paid some $20,000.00, then it might be possible to ask your banker for a home equity loan if necessary (although we think this is still a fairly low amount). Since the amount you can borrow is calculated on the basis of the appraised value of your house, your banker might be willing to offer you a home equity loan even with only $20,000.00 equity.

It pays to shop around for home equity loans. You need not take one out with your original mortgage lender. If you can find one with flexible terms and conditions, then go for it. Read the fine print though. And please, don’t get carried away. People who come upon a large amount of money suddenly dream bigger. Instead of the basement renovation that they originally took out the home equity loan for, they throw in a cruise and a car. Your banker will definitely not object – the money is yours and you can do anything with it – but that money is still a debt. Make that DEBT!

Home Equity Loans not the Same as Home Equity Lines of Credit

It is also important to know the distinction between a home equity loan and a home equity line of credit (HELOC). A report said that about 7 million Americans applied for home equity loans in the past year. But the needs of those 7 million are not all the same. Your needs could be unique so think about the pros and cons before you sign those loan documents.

A home equity loan and a home equity line of credit are like second mortgages; the main difference being that in a home equity loan, you receive one lump sum. In a home equity line of credit you get a line of credit that you can tap whenever the needs occur. Another difference is that the interest rates may vary. For the first type, you may get a fixed interest rate but when you take into account fees and closing costs, the “low” interest rate you thought you were getting may not be that low after all. Home equity lines of credit are usually not subject to hefty fees or closing costs but your interest rate is variable, which means you have to go with the flow – otherwise known as the prime rate.

We reiterate: read the fine print. This is critical especially if you are applying for a home equity loan and the original mortgage isn’t paid in full yet. You’ll come across legalities such as subordination clauses that you should clarify with your lender.

The Debt Crisis

Before and after the recession in the U.S. and all over the world, everyone would have noticed two important changes. One was unemployment and the other was price rise. We should have observed that petroleum and its byproducts shot up like never before and this created a chain reaction to the prices of all other commodities mainly due to transportation.
Unemployment and layoffs again contributed to change in the style of functioning of Banks and establishments. Banks indeed still have not recovered fully and are reluctant to help people in debt. Even today many are laid off. People who have associated with more than 10 years of committed and dedicated work are now unemployed. This has led to debts and many of them are not able to find a new job hence diving deep into debt.
Some families have sold their mortgaged homes, cars and other assets just to get out of debt. It has turned into a crisis now. So, the debt crisis is here to stay and needs to be addressed in a proper way among people through "Debt Management". This subject has not been seriously taught in schools or collages and now, one has to learn this all by himself or take the help of a debt consultant, a financial advisor or a counselor.
When someone is in debt, or owes money to someone else it is becomes such a burden and is sometimes virtually painful. It also brings someone to a desperate situation, which leads to family break up, discontinuing education/school. It has even driven people to the extent of leaving the country from the fear of harassment by the creditors, bill collectors and the rules of the bank.
Throughout this article you may have observed the debt crisis that invariably affects hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. If yes, then what is the solution? If you are in a similar position what would you do to come out of the debt crisis?
There are indeed lot of ways to come out of debt, by taking action yourself and by gaining knowledge about Debt and its management. Lot of books and articles are available but in most cases it has to be dealt with some expert help.
Some of them go for debt consolidation, some of them go for debt relief, and some of them even go to the extent of declaring bankruptcy. They have not taken the decision hastily, but wisely. Even then for many who have overcome debt, it is a miserable experience. They have learnt a lesson and will ensure that they will never get into debt again. That's why this article is called, the debt crisis.

New Food Pyramid

There are now two food pyramids. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) changed the food pyramid in spring 2005 because they wanted to convey a better example of how to eat healthier. The pyramid is based on the best available scientific facts concerning links between diet and good health. This new food pyramid addresses flaws in the original USDA food pyramid and offers better up to date information allowing people to better follow guidelines concerning what they should eat.
Below is a picture of both the old and new food pyramids.
 

Understanding the food pyramid: You should center your diet around the foods at the base of the food pyramid, and eat less of the foods at the top. If you're watching your weight then you should concentrate on eating the minimum number of recommended daily servings. If you are looking to gain extra weight, eat the maximum number of servings.
You may also be interested in seeing how many calories you burn during certain activities How to Count and Calculate Calories
 
Picture of the old food pyramid

Old food pyramid picture

How much is one serving? Milk products group: 1 cup about 8 oz. of milk or yogurt 2 slices of cheese, 1/8" thick (1 1/2 oz.) 2 cups of cottage cheese 1 1/2 cups of ice milk, ice cream or frozen yogurt Meat group: 2 oz. to 3 oz. of cooked lean meat, poultry, fish 2 eggs 7 oz. tofu 1 cup cooked legumes or dried beans or peas 4 tablespoons peanut butter 1/2 cup nuts or seeds Vegetables: 1/2 cup cooked vegetables 1/2 cup raw chopped vegetables 1 cup raw leafy vegetables 1/2 to 3/4 cup vegetable juice Fruits: 1 whole medium fruit (about 1 cup) 1/4 cup dried fruit 1/2 cup canned fruit 1/2 to 3/4 cup fruit juice Bread and Cereals: 1 slice bread 1 medium muffin 1/2 hot dog bun or hamburger bun 1/2 bagel or english muffin 4 small crackers 1 tortilla 1 cup cold cereal 1/2 cup cooked cereal 1/2 cup rice 1/2 cup pasta

 

How many servings of each per day should you eat?
Foods	Women - Children - Elderly	Teenage girls - Active Females - Males	Teenage boys - Active Males
Calorie level	Aprox. 1,600	Aprox. 2,200	Aprox. 2,800
MILK Group Products	2 to 4	2 to 4	2 to 4
MEAT Group	2	2	3
VEGETABLE Group	3	4	5
FRUIT Group	2	3	4
BREAD and Cereals	6	9	11
Total Fat in grams	36 to 53	49 to 73	62 to 93

HOW DO I POSSIBLY EAT ALL THOSE FRUITS & VEGETABLES ? 

 

Picture of the new food pyramid

The New Food Pyramid is a tool to educate people to eat a more balanced diet from a greater variety of food portions without counting calories. The USDA has now expanded the four food groups to six groups and expanded the number of servings to meet the calorie needs of most people.

Healthy Balance Diet Plan

Overview

Eating healthy ensures weight loss that is sustainable and less likely to be regained. According to the American Heart Association, eating a healthy diet can add years to your life as well as enhance the overall quality.

Benefits

Help Guide suggests that eating a healthy and balanced diet means more than just losing weight. It helps to sustain energy and reduce risk of developing such diseases as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. It provides you with the daily nutrition needed to feel good. By eating a healthy diet, your mood can improve and your thoughts may become clearer.

Considerations

To implement a healthy diet plan, start off slowly and be patient with yourself. Moderation is always key, according to Help Guide. Serve smaller portions and begin to make changes slowly. Every change your make in your diet is significant. Take time to chew your food and eat with others. Cook at home. Begin to listen to your body and eat smaller meals throughout the day.

Basics

The American Heart Association recommends eating a variety of nutritious foods every day. Eat whole grains, legumes, fresh vegetables and fruits. Some whole grain choices include brown rice, millet, barley and quinoa. Dark leafy greens and root vegetables are mineral-rich. Eat lean proteins, such as broiled fish, nuts or beans. Fish like salmon, sardines or herring provides the body with much needed essential fatty acids. Take a whole food vitamin daily and drink plenty of water.

Foods to Avoid

Avoid sodas and processed foods, as well as saturated fats, which can be found in red meat and whole milk dairy products. Keep refined sugars in moderation. Help Guide says that sugars can make energy levels rise and fall and can cause depression. Limit sodium to 2,300 mg per day. Processed foods, restaurant and fast foods often contain too much sodium