A Book You Really Need to Read
OK, I want to be clear on this one, I mean you really need to read this book whether you are a salesman or not. I just finished reviewing it and I think it can help anyone that wants more out of life in the way of wealth and simply in the way of happiness. This book was authored by award winning salesmen and entrepreneurs Neil Franklin and Jack Spirko.
They call the book, the definitive book on how to sell and I think they are spot on. It is just that they don’t just teach you how to sell in regard to product as a professional sales person, they also teach you the philosopy of effectively selling yourselves in all walks of life. Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book,
“Deep inside you exists another person. That person has the knowledge, expertise, experience, and wisdom to guide you throughout your life. It’s the real you. We use the term real because most of us live our lives as actors, fulfilling various life roles as we have been conditioned to do so since leaving the innocence of childhood“
This book is indeed deep and even a tiny bit spiritual but it is actually very easy to read and understand. I am going to read it again because like most books that are really deep you get more each time you read through it. Here is another quote that might make that a bit more clear,
“As the child matures, the programming by parents and society continues. Now this young adult has to get admitted into a competitive university, get his first job, or possibly ask for a raise if underpaid. The sad part is that at age five, he would have known exactly what to do and would have asked fearlessly.”
Again I highly recommend you have a look at picking up a copy of this book, it is one I can honestly say is worth far more then the cost. Spend just a bit of time learning to adapt some of these principals to your life and indeed the return of investment will be huge. You can even preview and read the first 12 pages of the book at this link.
~ Cost Cutter
Filed under Business & Marketing | Comments (3)Protected: The easiest way to make money online
Selling products of services online
In my site philosophy I explain in commandments 4 and 5 that I think every person today should be to some degree “self employed” and have some business of their own. Today the easiest way to make that happen is to make your money with internet marketing and one of the best things you can sell are either software that is down-loadable or informational products that can also be downloaded. With that all you need to do is create the product and market it, there is no inventory, no shipping, no real expenses.
To do it right though one thing you will definitely need though is ecommerce software or what is commonly referred to as an online shopping cart. I was recently asked to check out a site called AmeriCommerce which provides the tools to do this. I found there software is very easy to integrate and quite robust at the starting price of only 39 Dollars a month and if you need help with integration or even some help with web design they can provide that as well.
I like this platform for a few reasons
- Easy integrations with Google Check Out and PayPal
- Very stable platform that is simple but also robust for power applications as well
- It is search engine friendly
- Offers a ton of features
- Tracks your ROI (return of investment)
- Allows you to set up affiliates programs
- And a ton more
So check out AmeriCommerce if you need a good shopping cart program and the best news is they offer a 14 day free trial with every program so you can be sure of their quality of service before spending any money, for that they make my list of recommended sites.
Filed under Business & Marketing | Comment (1)Great advice on finding great wine
I personally love a nice glass of wine but being a bit of a tight wad I don’t like to over pay for it. So I was really happy to find a website called 10 Dollar Wine that specializes in reviewing and recommending inexpensive wine. Now at first I was a bit skeptical of the name of this site, I mean “10 Dollar Wine” does not conjure up images of great wines.
Well I held back my skepticism and gave the site a shot, that was a good move. As the name of the site suggests they are all about bottles of wine that cost ten dollars a bottle or less. I actually found they do review some wines that are in the 12-15 dollar range as well.
Each wine is rated on a unique scale that is as follows,
- Highest Recommendation
- Highly Recommended
- Recommended
- Good
- Acceptable
- Not Recommended
You can view the entire explanation of their wine rating system for more information. Each review compares the wine to other similar wines, tells you who would like or dislike it based on other tastes and gives some food paring ideas. To me the most valuable advices it they tell you if they would buy the wine again and if they would keep any in their wine rack.
After reading some reviews I realized I have tried many of these wines and tended to agree with much of what they had to say. I have to say this is a great site for finding and saving money on great low cost wines. I like to enjoy the finer things in life like wines with out paying to much. Now here is the best part this site apart from some advertising is informational only. Most of these wines can be found in grocery stores, wine shops etc. They really aren’t selling anything, just great free advice. Put this one in your book marks and join their mailing list.
Filed under Business & Marketing | Comment (1)Establish your expertise by self publishing
If you are in business today, especially if you are in the online information business, doing public presentations or perhaps consulting then being seen as an expert can really increase your chances of success. One thing that can really help you be seen as an expert in your industry is to be an author of a book. Now I mean a real honest book that you can touch and feel not an eBook. eBooks are great for selling information but they certainly don’t carry the clout you get from publishing a hard copy book.
The problem in the past is to self publish was expensive and quite risky. Often you had to order 1000 copies or more and this led many early self publishers to end up with a closet full of books that never sold. All that has changed today with something called “print on demand” technology. Just as it sounds basically every time an book is order it is individually printed and shipped. This makes publishing low cost, low risk and open to anyone that want to take the time and effort to write a book.
One of the best Book Publishers for the would be self publishing author is called Author House. They offer a exceptional array of services to help new authors get started and with just a bit of effort anyone can become a published author today. It definitely takes some effort to write a book but the reward is usually well worth it. Thanks to new services like Author House it is an option for more people today then ever. For move information visit their website for more information at www.authorhouse.com
Filed under Business & Marketing | Comment (1)Pay the right price for you home
This post is not about setting your budget for a mortgage, taxes, insurance, etc. That is a number you need to come up with before you start even looking for a home. You need to determine what you can afford then follow this golden rule, SPEND LESS then you can afford.
What this post will do is help you find the right home for the right price with in your means. So let’s begin.
First, write down what you want this includes,
- What area you want to live in
- Your price range
- Bedrooms, Bathrooms, Garage, etc
The typical things you are looking for in a home.
Second, start to form your own idea of what is available in your area. Cruise over to Realtor.com and search properties. Drive the neighborhoods you are interested in and get prices on the houses with signs in their yards. Do your home work before you speak to a realtor. Visit new model homes, get pricing on everything. Learn what homes are like just above and below your target budget. If you are going to spend about 150K, then look at homes in the 90-250K range. Learn your market before you even think about spending a penny. Take as long as you need to do this well. Write down homes you could see yourself buying and see how long they take to sell at their price point.
Third, call a few different real estate agents (get referrals if you can). Talk to at least three, tell them exactly what type of home you want to buy, the neighborhoods you want to look it and the schools you want, etc. Be very specific. Tell the agent that you know about the phrase, “buyers are liars” and find it offensive! (I will explain buyers are liars at the end of this article). Then ask the agent what price range you should expect to have to pay to get that type of home.
In other words DO NOT let your agent start the whole interview by asking you what you can afford, you tell an agent you have a 125-150K budget and odds are you will find yourself in a 160K home! Remember you now know your market and you should get a number back from your agent that matches what you already know. Many times the number is much higher and this tells you that your agent is NOT LISTENING TO YOU, they are not understanding you. In many instances they are therefore not right for you.
Never let your agent call the shots control the relationship from the get go. They are experts, they are supposed to know more then you your preshopping will tell you if that is the case. Just because they know more then you does not mean they know what you want. Never let an agent say crap to you like, “you don’t what this” or “you really need to consider paying a bit more”. My accountant knows more then me, my financial advisors do to. Yet they work for me and are employed at my pleasure, I do not let them forget it.
Your agent may want you to sign a buyers agent contract. Never sign one that forces you to buy a home via them, one that protects you from going direct to the seller is fine. So is one that requires that if you buy a house they show you that your work with them on it but stay away from those that want a 180 day exclusive agreements. Explain you will be fair, that you want the right place for the right place and will give them the time they need to get the job done. Yet be clear they work for you and reserve the right to fire them at any time.
Fourth, choose the agent you get along with best that was at least close to the price range you expected to hear when you answered the question. Now take your maximum budget (lets call it 150K but it could be anything based on where you live and your income level, etc) and cut it by 10%! So that would in our example mean down to 135K and now your mission is to find a home that compares well with others selling at 150K. You can ALMOST always do this. Not in every market and not all the time but in most instances you can always find a deal like this.
Fifth, when you find the home you want to buy make your offer at least 10% below the asking price. So on this 135K home you now offer about 123K! All the seller can do is say no, you can always offer more, what do you think is going to happen? Do you think they might be so offended as to raise the price to 180? The only risk is someone else will buy the home. So what you must be willing to walk away from any deal. Most times when you low ball at precisely 10% the agent on the other end “gets it”, they generaly counter offer in the middle some where, you just might get that home worth 150 that is listed at 135 for 130.
There are always deals
Such deals are possible and in fact anyone can get one! I have done it on the last three homes I purchased. I bought one for just 84K and sold it for 109K just two years later with no improvements other then a deck. I bought another for 135 that was appraised at 159 and sold in three years later for a few pennies under 200K.
My latest find was a house easily worth 170 that was listed for 139 and I paid get this 120! How come, the listing agent was an idiot! The home had a second living area, a huge yard (1/3rd of an acre average lots are 1/10th), and a home office. The listing agent listed the house as a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage home, brick and vinyl. Nothing more! The guy should have been shot but it was my gain, we offered 115 they countered at 120 and I jumped on it.
The owners were days from having to start paying a second mortgage and I got the place for a song. Honestly there wasn’t another house with all of this going for it under 200K with in 10 miles of it but the buyer had to sell. The house was on a culdesac so it got no drive by traffic and the agent clearly blew the marketing.
So there you go a blueprint for finding the best deal on a home. Will it work in those white hot markets where houses sell in 24 hours? Not usually but generally just outside of those areas there are deals just waiting to be had. Be flexible, consider your options and spend LESS then you can afford. With a little work you can really get a great deal and build a solid investment from day one. Just remember real estate is not a game, you are not in it to be nice or make friends or even help people. You have to be tough, stand your ground and walk away if you need to.
Filed under Personal & Home | Comment (0)