Category Archives: education

Communication, education, Inspiration, planning, tips

Spring break but not for burglars

March 23, 2013 Bettina Settles 2 Comments

Here we have another spring break. Suitcases are packed and the air is full of excitement and anticipation of the trip to the fun and the sun. Burglars are as exited for your to go on spring break only for a totally other reason.

Within the United States, one in every thirty-six homes will be burglarized with an average loss of $1,675 per break-in.

During all of the spring break excitement have you take some precautions to minimize the possible risk of being burglarized?

Hold the mail and newspaper
Put lights on timers and set timer to different times of the day
Leave the TV or radio on for noise
Make sure all the doors ,windows and garage doors are locked and secure
Have the blinds closed so no one can peek into the windows
When you have an alarm system make sure it is armed
Have your exterior light on light sensors
Ask someone you trust to take out your trash and pull back in your trash can for and after trash day
You might consider hiring a house sitter for a while
Do you have a written inventory of your household items, including all of the serial numbers of your electronic items? Just in case…..

Is this a guarantee to 100% prevent a burglary. No …but we can make sure we have done everything we can on our end to make sure that no one knows you left the home and it is unattended.

education, Inspiration, planning, Team work

Standing at the crossroads

March 19, 2013 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

This year has been already a roller coaster ride of ups, downs and sideways movements and again I am standing in a fork of a road.

I am actually very excited while looking at the fork in the road that has been presented to me this time. The hardest decision will be what road to take. Any of the roads I will take will be just fine and that is the exiting part.

At this time I actually feel like a kid in the candy store.

Overwhelmed by all of the goodies that are presented to me and having mom in the background urging you to make a decision. This time that mom voice in the back has been silenced and time for a decision has time and will come later.

Anyone who was standing at the fork in the road knows what I mean with the mom voice in the back.

There comes a time where it is ok to listen to and do what the mom voice tells you to do. Sometimes there are times where the voice has to be silenced and you have to reach deep to discover your own voice and passion, compare of doing what you think feels right or everybody expects you to do.

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

Think outside the box

March 5, 2013 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

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.

Communication, education, Inspiration, planning

Transition

February 28, 2013 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

Watching a historical moment unfold, for the Catholic Church, today on TV! I was thinking back on the day of his election and placement as head of the Catholic Church 8 years ago and I am amazed on how peaceful any transition has been over the centuries.

My first thought moved to the small word: Transition

We could learn a great string from the transitions in the past. Many of the heads of states or Companies transitions are not as piece full and fluent.

We in our personal and business life have many transitions we face on a regular basis. Some of the obvious once are birth, graduation, marriage, death, divorce, job change just to name a few obvious once.

How well do we deal with any transition is all up to us, our personal preparation and attitude we bring to the table. Any transition is emotional no matter how good we prepare and it is ok to have emotions.

My favorite saying is: “We are humans and not robots.”

I ran across a great article from the CharmingHealth.com called the “Transition Phases During Life and emotional imbalance” where I found some great Ideas and tips on how to deal with life’s transitions we all have to face.

Now you are asking what this would have to do with our business life.

I am thinking a lot.

When we are not prepared ourselves to deal with the life’s little emotions that might come our way how can we help our contractors we hired or employees we have with their emotional crutches they keep.

buying, commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, planning

Are you ready to hit your personal reset button?

February 19, 2013 Bettina Settles 3 Comments

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:

Pay off your credit cards, house and toys.
Save for your emergency fund and when you have kids start their college fund if needed
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?

February 16, 2013 Bettina Settles 6 Comments

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.

February 15, 2013 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

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.

commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, Team work

Every problem has am opportunity

February 12, 2013 Bettina Settles 1 Comment

Inside of every problem lies an opportunity. “Robert Kiyosaki”

Many focus on the “but I can’t” rather looking at an issue or challenge as an opportunity to stretch their wings and taking a new path maybe one less traveled. We should see the issue as a new challenge that needs to be concord to see what is on the other side and not view it as a road block to where we want to go.

When we cannot climb over it let’s find a way around it.

A simple example is when I see a vacant home in the area. This vacant home begs to be listed and when I would just focus on the “but I can’t” side of my brain I would just give up finding the homeowner after a few tries.

My more adventurous side of the brain will not give up that easy and many times I do track down the homeowner who left their property vacant and I do get to list and sell the home.

When I would have listen to my “I can’t do it” side of me I never would have found the homeowner and never either listed and sold the home but also would have never met this homeowner who can be a great referral source for me in the future too.

So …quit listed to your “I can’t do it” side of the brain and get your more adventurous side of the brain in gear and moving forward. You never know what you will find at the end.

Communication, education, Inspiration, Team work, tips

“Do you have workers or believers?”

February 1, 2013 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

Stood out to me as I read an article in the IBJ under the Small Business Matters blog titled Preaching to the choir could be good strategy.

Is our internal and external staff truly satisfied? It is not the leadership it is a satisfied staff that will be the crucial part of a business success. No matter how many money rain dances the leadership does when the Indians are not happy noting will be accomplished.

Is the business as healthy from the inside as you make it appear on the outside or does it have bald spot under all the hair? Is everybody in the same board rowing into the same direction or do you have some who do not understand the your goal and vision and do you have an internal tug-of war going on.

Did you clearly communicate your vision your culture to your organization? Did you include others but the normal decision maker to create your goal and vision or did you just use the “normal” handful to help with the decision making.

When we don’t market our vision to our internal and external staffs who can you expect them to sell it for you?

commitment, Communication, education, Team work, tips

I am an EXPERT in ….

January 31, 2013 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

I see this line on so many things from blogs, business cards, emails signatures and I am wondering if the person who added the line truly is an EXPERT.

An EXPERT is having, involving, or displaying special skill or knowledge derived from training or experience and EXPERT’S have a prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in a particular field.

Reading this I wonder how many of the EXPERTS out there have the prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in the field they are claiming to be an EXPERT in.

I will use myself as an example.

I have been selling real state now for over 15 years including short sales. I am by no means an EXPERT in short sales or real estate. I have experience in selling real estate of any kind, but by no means do I consider myself an EXPERT.

Every day I am learning more and more about my field and I still have a lot to learn.

I am daily doing research in this area to attempt to understand the relation between cognitive structures and processes of real estate in any form. I have gotten better but still not considering myself as an EXPERT.

When I hear anyone call themselves an EXPERT this quote comes in mind:

Experts always know everything but the fine points. When I took my citizenship exams, no one there knew how the White House came to be called the White House. “ Hedy Lamarr “