Category Archives: Communication

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

You started your business and now you are faced with the need of raising capital

1 Comment

piggy bankYou started your business and now you are faced with the need of raising capital to fund your business. There are many ways to fund a start-up or existing business but when you are looking for funding beyond your friends or family you need to have your ducks in a row before you even venture into the world of investors to ask them about money.

Truth to behold is that many business owners to not spend enough time to get their ducks in a row to secure their financing and later just fall back on the old, cost cutting method. Richard Brandon with his post about building a strong reputation had some great input.

You need to be able to build a trusting relationship with the investor and you need to have a favorable reputation. When you have an “I don’t give a dang” reputation it will translate right back into your business. Your personal conduct needs to reflect your business conduct.

You need to find out what the investor is looking for before you run your investment ideas across their table. Brad Sugars in his blog about how to position your startup as a good investment said is best; “Investors are looking for three things: the people behind an idea, the idea itself and an answer to the question: How will I get my money back?” A company either has a great goal and a great team but not a clue how to return the ROI. Or they have a great Idea and a solid understanding on how to return the ROI but don’t have the team support.

Be prepared that the investor will ask you some questions and you better be able to answer them truthfully. Caroline Cummings has put together a great list of possible questions you should be ready to answer in her blog called”10 great questions I never thought investors would ask a startup”.

Come prepared and you might be surprised what could happen.

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

Networking the global sandbox

Leave a comment

We all know, because of the global connectivity, our smaller local sandbox we normally play in has grown to a much bigger global sandbox.

Even so we are all from different Countries, Cities, State and possible speak different languages what we all have in common is the global network we all in some form or fashion belong to. Now reaching and speaking with someone at the other side of the globe has become as easy as using our global connectivity.

No matter how large the sandbox is we play in we will encounter the same type of players locally or globally.

The shy not very outspoken kids who are happy to play in their little corner or the butterfly who jumps from flower to flower and you have a hard time catching unless you sit still hand let the butterfly come your way.  You will find the teacher/educator in the group but there also will be the bullies.

The size of the sandbox has changed we network in but the sandbox rules for networking have not. No matter what type of player you are within the box.

Great networking guidelines to use are outlined in the books Bob Burg has written. Go-Giver is still my personal bible. We all need to realize that is truly not about ourselves, it is about the other individual and The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success from The Go-Giver are a great guide to keep us on the path of success.

When the other individual (maybe you) puts rules and stipulations on giving or receiving it quickly becomes a one way street and you might find quickly that you are globally connected but you don’t accomplish anything.

 

“We must be silent before we can listen. We must listen before we can learn. We must learn before we can prepare. We must prepare before we can serve. We must serve before we can lead.”

–William Arthur Ward

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

Just be yourself

Leave a comment

cat and dogMy new favorite thing to do right now is to listed to audio books and the current one I have devoured is the one by Barbara Concran called “Use What You’ve Got” .

No matter how many memorized sales presentations a business professional resides when meeting with potential clients, and sounds like a robot when residing the presentation will never attract clients. No one likes to work with a dull robot especially when buying or selling a home.

Sure a business professional should be prepared when meeting with current or potential clients but never lose your personal you when residing back the memorized information. No best prepared sales presentation will close a deal when you don’t build a personal and honest relationship with that client and you are not honestly conveying your honest interest to them.

The more you can connect with a client on a personal level the easier it will be to find the right home for them or the more willing that client will be to refer someone to you. I always keep in mind: “You never know who they know I need or should to know” and “Never judge a book by its cover”.

With any presentation you give or any meeting you attend, just be yourself. Don’t try to imitate or copy the person next to you. They might try to copy you!

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

50 / 50 is a losing proposition

4 Comments

Hands touching a globeAfter again reading through the Bob Burg book “The Go-Giver” the “50 / 50 is a losing proposition” line stood out to me for some reason. I realized that a lot of business is conducted under the “you scratch my back and I scratch yours” and all of us constantly “owe” others for the rest of our lives.

Even some networking groups have used the “you scratch my back and I scratch yours” to build their own networking business with this motto and due to the high paying membership it has been good for them but not given the same in return to the members.

To be successful you don’t have to belong to a membership driven networking organization but it does not hurt to network. A Go-Giver is authentic, honest, will never judge a book by its cover, loves people, likes to share resources and information, and receptive to receiving.

When you give you automatically you will receive, it is a natural flow of things. The difference with a go-giver is that it comes more naturally. Go-Giving is for some things they have done since they are small and for others (for most of us) it is learned. You can learn to be a Go-Giver as long as you are open to receive.

During networking meetings you can easily recite your 60 second “elevator” speech to anyone who is willing to listen to you, but what item of value are you bringing to the networking table and willing to give to your “networking partner”?

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

Title Changes that took effect July 1 in Indiana

1 Comment

office_deskMany rules and law changes take effect at the beginning of a month. July 1st was no exception.

One that affects buyers, sellers, and lenders in a real estate transaction that was the change that a Title Company now needs to issue a closing protection letter to a lender, borrower, buyer and seller of the property in all residential real estate transactions in which a title policy is to be issued by the title company or insurance producer and the title company or insurance producer is also acting as a settlement or closing agent.

The possible fee that is charged to each party receiving the benefit of the closing protection letter (CPL) will be payable at closing and needs to be reflected on the HUD-1/Settlement Statement. The Good Faith Estimate (GFE) tolerance requirements under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act may be affected by the new fee as well.

In the past, the closing protection letter (CPL) was customarily issued in Indiana to lenders. Now the Indiana Legislature recently enacted Senate Enrolled Act 370 requiring the mandatory issuance of a closing protection letter (CPL) in residential real estate transactions for a fee. It is still voluntarily for Commercial Transactions. Indiana is one of nineteen (19) states that have enacted the mandatory closing protection letter (CPL) for residential real estate transactions legislation.

The protection provided by the closing protection letter (CPL) is separate from the coverage provided under a traditional title insurance policy. The closing protection letter (CPL) provides a party with protection against theft or misappropriation of settlement funds and failure of the settlement or closing agent to comply with written closing instructions to the extent that these matters relate to the status of title to or the validity, enforceability and priority of the lien of the mortgage on a party’s interest in property.

Here is a link to the full text of the new Indiana law and the Indiana Department of Insurance (IDOI) bulletin.

buying, Communication, education, Short sale, Team work, tips

Mortgage fraud affects all of us

Leave a comment

piggy bankJust opening the email this morning and again I read about another Real Estate “ring” that was broken up. This time this ring was apparently helping individuals who would not qualify for mortgage relief by showing them on how to falsify their income, employment, and assets to qualify for mortgage relief.

The heat is being turned on any type of mortgage fraught by calling the lender to task. Lenders themselves now have created and fine tuning on proactively detecting, spotting and preventing fraught.

Bad news for the fraudsters!

Also not to hot news for any borrower who is looking to borrow money at this time. Now every loan, proof of income and employment is being scrutinized, checked, double checked and triple checked. The mortgage approval process has moved from taking in some cases from 4 to 8 weeks and in some cases to 12 weeks especially when the loan is an insured loan.

In short!

When you are looking to buy a home anytime soon make sure you first get a mortgage approval not a pre-qualification before looking at homes. This will make the home buying process a lot less stressful and you will make the process a lot more enjoy full.

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

Define your target market to reach your goal.

1 Comment

We all have goals, personal or in business and for us to be able to reach our goals we need to define and narrow down our target market.

At many networking events I am finding that many individuals are falling in to the trap of using the words like “anybody who”, “anybody with”, or “somebody who”
to define their target market. All what they do is give a generality of their target and never give a specific target for the listener to work with.

A specific target market could be a specific person within a company you would like to meet and introduced too or a specific portion of our society like women over 40, new college graduates, recently retired military personal. This will help your listeners to hone in on what you are exactly looking for and it is much easier for them to find just that person.

You also need to educate your audiences on what you exactly you are doing and what to look for when reaching your target market. Give them specific speaking points to help them sell you and your services specifically.

When you are more specific, narrow down your target market and educate your audience you will reach your business or personal goal a lot quicker.

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

Is your goal a goal or just a dream?

1 Comment

dream“I see you at the top”, is one of my favorite lines from Zig Zigglar and I look at it every time I feel I am stuck or think I don’t get anywhere

Where is the “top”? What defines the “top”? Will it be the vacation of a lifetime, the large house with ocean view or a trip around the world? Only you can define what “I see you at the top”, means to you.

After you defined your personal “top” you need to plan on how to get to your personal ”top”. Without a plan your personal “top” is just a dream and not a goal.

Most of just don’t pack the bags on Friday morning and go on a vacation on Friday afternoon. We need to plan a little before we do that. This goes the same for our business. We have a business goal, write down the goal and separate the goal into smaller action steps we are going to take for us to be able to reach our goal.

Plan the plan, work the plan and reach your personal “top” or goal. When you don’t plan for your goal your goal will be just a dream and not a goal you are going to reach.

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

Are you staying true to yourself and your goals?

2 Comments

Something Richard Branson said in one of his postings about the Entrepreneurs’ he admires stood out to me and gave me a quick aha moment ” It’s never a bad idea to have a role model or to seek advice from someone you respect — just don’t let it stop you from being yourself. Originality is key.”

You can always looks for others for Ideas and inspiration.  Don’t let past failures take you off course and make certain you stay true to yourself and your personal vision on where you would like to go.

Don’t try to become someone else.

One example I can think of is a Billiard/Pool Player I know. For many years this good player who could easily be a great player has been trying to copy the playing style of a great Billiard/Pool Player for many years. This pool player practiced for years the style of this other player and he never saw the success and result he was hoping for. Only as he came back to himself and found his true self playing style again he always had and practiced and refined it he started to see the success he had been hoping for.

Who do you admire and look up too?

Watch them, follow them, read what they have to say but don’t try to become them.

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

Demand of rental units are still at an all-time high

Leave a comment

apartmentI had a blog coming over my desk that reminded me about a phone call I had this week alone with several housing authority agents who are working with section 8 and low income housing clients.

Most of the housing agents are scrambling to find enough affordable housing for families who need them and anytime there is an available unit they have more than enough applicants to fill them within less than a few days. During the conversation I mentioned that investors I was working with are looking to make homes available to the low income sector and asking them what and where their greatest need is. Most of them did not even let me not even finish my question. Each and every one of them told me they can fill housing with 1 bedroom as easily as homes with 4 or more bedrooms within a few days.

The other wall the housing authority runs into is the availability of fund for the families who need them. Many areas now have a lottery for the money the families need and the families need to count on the luck of the draw to receive money to help them. Now with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHA) pledging to decrease the flow of money into multifamily housing by 10 percent this year, it will put a huge damper on the multifamily housing market in a very short period of time.