Category Archives: commitment

commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Team work, tips

What type of Boss are you?

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newspaperHaving been on both sides of the fence during my work career I recently stopped and contemplated about what type of boss I am.

Reading a lot of articles from different sources I came across an article that was posted in the Fox Small Business Center called “10 things great bosses do” and used their list to see where I am standing.

The 10 trades they listed were:

  • Holding yourself accountable
  • Don’t be full of surprises
  • Be prepared to fix things
  • Know and have a feel for your business
  • Get the job done
  • Manage effectively in every direction.
  • Be able to make quick and informed decisions, even when they are not popular
  • Be effective not productive and stay flexible.
  • Live for your job by being engaged, empowered, driven, and self-motivated
  • Make sure you keep your sense of humor, have humility, empathy and learn about your own limitations and fallibility.

 

Looking at this list I can see I still have room for improvement on the other hand I can personally see how far I have come.

 

In matter to grow a business we have to be willing to grow ourselves.

commitment, Communication, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Team work, tips

Who has your back while you are out?

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SoHands touching a globemetimes there comes a time where you will be out of your office for an extended period of time. Is it maybe for business, pleasure, family or health related reasons.  This goes for anyone who is employed or self-employed alike. Sometime we all just need to take a break.

During the time you are absent especially when you are employed you know that your employer will make sure that your position is covered and when something arises during your absent that it is going to be covered and it will be taken care off.

How about the individuals who are self-employed? You do need a break and you do need to take time off, even when it is for a few days.

Who has your back while you are out?

 

Here are several Ideas and tips to make sure you can take a few days off and hopefully relax for a few days.

 

  • Inform your customers that you will be away and give them a contact person in your absence.
  • Give the contact person full authorization to pull any needed information in a possibility that one of the clients does need anything while you are out.
  • For potential call in’s make sure you have that contact personal name and number available on your voice mail or to the answering service you might using.
  • When you self-employed and you are part of an office like with real estate. Make sure the office knows who to contact while you are out.

Keep in mind, even when you are self-employed you need to have a team around to support you !

 TEAM

T- Together

E- Everyone

A- Achieves

M- More

buying, commitment, education, planning, Team work, tips

Which is better? Mortgage Pre-Approval or Pre-Qualification letter?

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office_desk

 

This is a question I am constantly asked by buyer and sellers alike and when it comes the time to make an offer on a home I always suggested to my buyers to have a pre-approval letter ready and not a pre-qualification letter before we even start looking at a home.

 

There are some key differences between a pre-approval and a pre-qualification.

Pre-qualification is most of the time done over the phone or online by answering simple questions about the income and credit rating of the potential borrower. Many times the lender will not ask for any qualifying documentations of income and spending.

The pre-qualification is a determination on whether the prospective loan applicant would likely qualify for credit under a lender’s programs and standards, or a determination on the amount of credit the prospective applicant would likely qualify for.

Usually a lender will give a determination of pre-qualification usually with in less than 48 hours

On the other hand the pre-approval can take a little longer and it is more complete.

Lender will ask at the time of application for the last 2 years income tax returns, bank statements, W2’s, etc. You also will be asked about employment and you will have to agree to have a credit report ran. Pending on your personal income, willingness and ability to have a down payment and past credit history it could take up to 4 weeks for you to receive an answer. When approved the lender is willing to give borrower a mortgage commitment letter because the loan has already been submitted to underwriting and they are only waiting for you to find your dream home.

Difference between Pre-Approval and Pre-Qualification:

Pre-approval

Conditional approval given within 48 hours (average)

Borrower needs to issue following items after an offer on a home is accepted:

•             W2’s
•             2 Years Tax return
•             Bank Statement
•             Employment verification
•             Pay stubs
•             Additional documentation if needed maybe due to name change, self-employment etc.

Home possible needs to pass following inspections:

•             Home inspection
•             Acceptable title insurance binder
•             Certification of clear termite inspections
•             Other inspection based on area

Pre-qualification

Conditional approval given within 4 weeks (average)

Borrower needs to issue following items after an offer on a home is accepted:

•             No change in the applicant’s financial condition or creditworthiness prior to closing.

Home possible needs to pass following inspections:

•             Home inspection
•             Acceptable title insurance binder
•             Certification of clear termite inspections
•             Other inspection based on area or lender

commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Team work

Growing personal and in your business needs a plan

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We all have heard the saying “when it is not written down it is not going to happen” or the other “ make a plan, write down the plan and execute the plan” but how many of us are sometimes shooting from the “hip” and shoot at an unidentified target and miss.

Some of the plan for any company should also be company grows through personal and income. All of this should have a plan that is clear and well laid out with a certain goal in mind.

For instance a home based business could have the goal of moving into an office space within 5 years.

Here is the goal and now you need to put the action steps into place to achieve the goal.  You might have to identify coaches, mentors, or advisors you need to consult to achieve your goal. Make sure everything is written down and easy accessible to yourself for a frequent check on how you are doing.

You might have a partner who checks on you to find out if you are still on track or if you have strayed from your path.

Part of the goal should be also the internal grows of your internal sales force and I found that the article by Chris Simone titled 5 tips to building an inside sales force gave great Ideas as a recruiter or business owner on how to tackle the sales force growth.

I always said that any grows is a team sport and there is no “I” in Team and have written about this in a blog post called “TEAMWORK…a lost art?”

commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, planning, tips

Are women businesses less credit worthy?

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I don’t think so but it appears we are losing some ground.

Catching up on reading news clippings I have collected and I ran across another eye opening article about a study from Biz2Credit posted in the Bloomberg Business Week. Biz2Creidt analyzed 14,000 loams and found out that women-owned companies were 15 percent to 20 percent less likely to be approved for small business loans within the first 6 months of 2012.

They put some of the blame on the type of business a woman is planning on opening. Most of the women part of the loans they looked at where planning on opening a retail location, which normally does not have a lot of ROI and higher expenses.

Did you know that U.S. government contracts to women- owned small businesses dropped for the second consecutive year, declining at a faster rate than awards to their male counterparts?

Sure there is less contractual work to give out and the competition has increased and the government never focused very strongly on women owned businesses. It does not help that the government has a 5% cap on work given to women and minority businesses.

I am hearing the cap will be raised but I am not sure if the hiring manager will get the message to the same time.

Several things we can do as women:

  • Before you open any business, do your homework.
  • When you want to be rewarded a government contract. Educated yourself and take offered training that is for free or low cost in many cases.
commitment, Communication, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Team work

Planning for the next stage

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Just had an interesting article called “When I Hire You, I’m Hiring Your Mentors’ Judgment” written by Adam Bryant and he interviewed Ilene Gordon, CEO of Ingredion for this article come over my desk and it hit home.

Standing at the crossroads I can see that I have to tackle what I do with a team and see it as a project and count on that Plan A might fall through and Plan B, C or D needs to be in place and to have someone I could lean on and consult with when the Plans are falling apart.

Needless to say I don’t have my team in place and that is the first thing I need to get back into place. A team I can consult with and who knows me better than I do. What I already have is a potential target list of companies I am considering to contact to work with as an independent contractor.

I can see now that I have put the cart in front of the horses. I need to get my horses into place first.

That hard part will be….who to ask and where to start….

Looking in my tickle file of articles I have kept over the years I came across and article written by John Warrillow titled “How to Pick a Mentor: Take a Cue From Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt” that gave me some great tips.

Here comes the challenge to find the individuals who do or have done successfully what I would like to do in the future.

commitment, education, Inspiration, planning, Team work, tips

Think outside the box

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How many times do I hear individuals voicing their concern about not being able to “get anywhere” either in their personal or business life?

In this fast pace world we are in it sometimes feels like that we are taking two steps forward and three steps back.

Most of us never take the time to celebrate or see the small successes we had. In some cases some of us just don’t see the tree from the forest and maybe overlooking some of the small or large opportunities that are presented to us.  There are also some who have been given the “big opportunity” and the mindset has set in that there are set for “life” and don’t have to look outside the box any longer for new opportunities.

Zig Ziglar has a great quote: A lot of people quit looking for work as soon as they find a job.

Now other will tell me….but the economy is bad, the area we are in struggles…..let me throw another one of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes out to you.

I’ve always taught that a poor economy is the best opportunity for salespeople because the naysayers and grumblers have already given up, leaving more territory, more opportunities to be successful than in a good economy when virtually all salespeople are out there, giving it their best.

Now how to we get past the brain freeze and start again thinking outside the box?

Let me throw two more Zig Ziglar quotes at you:

I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.

buying, commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, planning

Are you ready to hit your personal reset button?

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Within the recent years many of us have taken the road many traveled. Some would call it we failed and others would say we just took a detour to the goals we would like to reach.

Denis Waitley said it best:

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”  Denis Waitley (American motivational Speaker and Author of self-help books. b.1933)

I took my personal detour and had decided to hit my personal reset button and take my personal detour. During my scenic travels I have learned a lot what I now can utilize in my daily Real Estate business.

The Real Estate market is starting to return to a new “normal” and is ready for the buyers who have hit their personal reset button a while back and now are ready to buy for their personal investments. This market is best for the investor who is a cash buyer at this time. Who has either has personal experience in rehabbing properties or has the cash flow to hire a contractor to help with the rehab.

Sure, currently the interest rate for a mortgage is low right, but why are you wanting your investment to pay someone else but you? I mentioned this in my blog called “Are your investments paying you or do your pay for them?”

There will be always good deals in real estate even later, when you are not at the point to pay cash for any investment you would like to buy today.

Here are some Ideas on how to get you to the point to pay cash for a real estate investment:

  1. Pay off your credit cards, house and toys.
  2. Save for your emergency fund and when you have kids start their college fund if needed
  3. Start saving for your investments plus keep the repairs and upkeep and other expenses like taxes insurance in mind when creating the fund.

Will you have your bills paid and your funds in place over night? No!!! This will take time and a bit of personal sacrifices.

commitment, Communication, education, organizing, planning

Are you prepared for the unexpected?

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Had a moment the other morning to watch the news and low and behold they had a flash mob wedding because it was Valentines. In short for the once who don’t know what the flash mob wedding is. The wedding is about an hour after the proposal.

Immediately my thoughts when to how prepared would I be when I would have the unexpected sprung on me.

My mind wondered over to the subject personal or business property or information loss.

Sure I carry insurance for both personal and business and I have all of the information backed-up triple times to prevent information loss but what else do I have missing? Do I truly know what I own and what items I have in my house?

Is the emergency plan for personal and businesses good enough or did I miss some important information? Do I have this information stored in a secure place and who will have access?

Thinking about all of this could drive you crazy.

This reminds me about the “Are you ready for a disaster?” Blog post and I am not sure if I truly took my own advice. I maybe should take the advice of Cindy Hartman with Hartman Inventory, LLC she posted in her ”Be prepared for the next cat!’ Blog or from FEMA as they have outlined in their “Are you ready?” guide.

Mother Nature may be forgiving this year, or next year, but eventually she’s going to come around and whack you. You’ve got to be prepared. “Geraldo Rivera”

commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, Team work, tips

You never know what will motivate you.

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Just taking a few minutes to read some of the posts on the  Affiliated Women International (AWI) – The Connection Station and Linda Fitzgerald’s post about “Beware advice givers” reminds me of the post I have written about “ I m and expert…”

How many time have we ran into the “experts” in a field or to the handful of individuals who love to give their unsolicited active about something.

Two quotes come in mind.

A quote from Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

Advice is like snow – the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper in sinks into the mind.

And the other one is from Denis Waitley:

Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience.

How well put by both of them.

What has this now to do with motivation?

Simple….. Samuel Taylor Coleridge tells me that when I want to give advice to be very selective on what and how much I am saying and Denis Waitley reminds me never to call myself an “expert” because an “expert” has most likely stopped learning and is ready for the “rocking chair”.

That alone is motivation enough to never stop moving.