Happy NEW YEAR!!!!! I hope you rang in the New Year with your loved ones and I pray that you had a wonderful time doing it. As the New Year approaches, how do you plan to take your business to new heights? Will you cut out unproductive products, services, and marketing tactics? Will you finally have set hours? Will you advertise more and where? Will you hire extra help so you can concentrate on more important tasks? What ever your goals are, make...more
It's early January as I sit down to research and write this newsletter. I launch my web browser, surf over to MSN.com, surprised to find the feature article displaying a picture of Santa Claus with the caption "It's not too late to have your presents arrive on time." Somebody's been procrastinating - either Bill Gates or me (maybe I didn't refresh my browser). Or maybe my computer is trying to give me the hint to stop procrastinating and set...more
What does it mean to refinance? Why would someone want to refinance? There are many cases when a person would refinance. When we use the term refinance, we are typically referring to a loan such as a car or house loan. It may also be a business loan. For the purpose of this article, we are going to discuss the home loan but most of the same rules of refinancing apply to other types of loans as well. Refinancing your home can be defined as the process of applying for a new mortgage, and using the money you receive to close out your older mortgage. Many homeowners already take full advantage of this, because they are sometimes able to find a mortgage loan at a better interest rate. With the help of this, they can pay off their mortgage much sooner, and ultimately have a lower amount to pay back. Because a refinance plan essentially amounts to taking out a new mortgage and closing out the former mortgage, the steps involved resemble those involved in taking out your original mortgage. It is important to bear in mind therefore that the process will likely involve at least some of the same expenses, because of this. But considering the vast amount of money that refinancing can save you,...more
It's the time of year when calendars crowd out the books and magazines in bookstores and are even on sale at reduced prices. But there's a special kind of calendar that all good public relations professionals use - the editorial calendar. According to Shannon Cherry, using editorial calendars is one of the most effective, yet most overlooked tool...more
Ok, you say, I know I need a budget, but how do I prepare one? The most common budget period is one year, but this can vary depending on whether or not your business has seasonal or cyclical fluctuations. For example if you run a Christmas decorations shop, or a costume shop your business is going to peak during certain times of the year. The...more
For those of you who were not psychology majors the "psyche" is someone's mind. What motivates them. What are they thinking. How can you better understand them. All of which is important to those of us in lease purchasing. In fact, it is important to any business person. The ability to know what motivates your customer, how your customer thinks, and tapping into their "psyche" is what makes some businesses successful and why others fail. For those of us in lease purchasing when we make our calls we find out what motivates our sellers. We ask pointed questions to determine why they are selling their home. We build rapport with that seller. By the end of our telephone call we have an insight into what that particular sellers' wants and needs are. Sometimes you need to educate the seller. For those of us in lease purchasing we can explain the various advantages of lease purchasing. The advantages we emphasize will be determined by that particular sellers' psyche. We can find out what is in a seller's psyche by how she or he has answered the questions that we have asked them. Their answers to our questions is what gives us a pretty good feel for that seller. In general, of course, a...more
Got a huge need for publicity and a tiny publicity budget? You don't need to have a Madison Avenue-sized advertising budget to make your name known. Here are five ideas to help you promote your company:1. Write a column. Go to a local paper, no...more
Are you ever frustrated or hesitant when you talk to prospective customers because you can't readily explain why they should come to you rather than go to your competitors? Sure, you might have your 30-second elevator speech, but then they ask you...more
What is a portfolio and do I really need one? A portfolio is simply a group of investments held by an investor. It's a very carefully chosen selection of businesses and generally, yes; it's a good idea to have one. Let look at it this way. Imagine...more
If you don't have much Blackjack experience, it can be daunting stepping up to the tables for a game. You can, however, hide the fact of your inexperience very simply by remembering these straightforward rules. (Note - the rules of BlackJack will...more
Investing in the stock market is not purchasing a stock at 25 dollars a share, hoping it will go to 35 so you can sell it, then hoping it will drop back to 25 so you can buy it back, so that you can sell it again at 35, and so on and so forth. In my...more
Part One in a Five Part SeriesImagine what a professional football team would be like without a regimen of practice drills? Now take away their playbook and player statistics. What you have in this extreme scenario are highly talented (and perhaps...more