Success through Trials

Thriving Through Trials
By Pre$ton Ely


"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."

- Henry Ford


How fitting for me. The Flip Factor is late.

It's late because my laptop exploded in a ball of fiery flames this morning. I knew today was going to be a challenge even before that happened.

Sure do hope I get all that information out of my laptop somehow. All of it compiled = my life.

I threw my back out doing dips in the gym a couple days ago. Doing dips. Who does that? Needless to say, the pain is pretty annoying.

I woke up yesterday morning with a sprained ankle. You heard me right. Some people wake up with a sore throat. I wake up with a sprained ankle. It hurts SO freakin bad. I literally have NO idea how this happened. I am, however, setting up a video camara in my bedroom to see just what in the he*l REALLY goes on at night while I'm unconscious. I suspect alien activity.

This article that you are currently reading is actually totally completed (albeit on a completely different topic and way funnier)...in a Word doc that is currently in computer hell right now.

I have a very important webinar to do tonight which requires, you guessed it, information from my ex-computer.

Plus I have some other fairly difficult personal things going on in the background.

Why am I vomiting all this stuff on you?

Well it's not to complain, that's for darn sure. Complainers are sissies.

I'm telling you all this because you need to know that I'm smiling as I type this. Literally. I wish you could see me. I am 100% confident that all this stuff will just work itself out. And more importantly, in my eyes, this merely confirms that I am about to become REALLY BIG.

"The night is always darkest before the sunrise."

Are you going through some tough times?

You are merely being prepared for bigger things. Big promotions require big people to handle them. And there is only one way to get big.

Suffer. There is no other way.

So keep your head up. Be of good cheer. Life is good! And good things are right around the corner...

if you believe they are.

P.S.
FYI


.

Watch me Grow

Michael Berrios

Move from 'I Hate' to 'I Love' to Sell

It would be great to wake up every day full of enthusiasm about moving your business forward through the sales process. But there are days when we get tired of sales calls to new prospects and feel as if what we used to love has morphed into a feeling of "I hate to sell."

No need to worry; it's normal. And there's not a top sales producer I know who hasn't gotten into a rut once in a while. It's classically called a "slump." You just have to figure out how to get out of it.

Here are some ways to turn your "I hate selling" days around:

1. Show up. Activity that introduces you to new contacts not only can open up more opportunities for business but also give you that boost of energy that accompanies adding qualified prospects to your pipeline. How many times have you been on your way to a sales meeting or networking event thinking to yourself "this is a waste of my time," only to meet a person who brought you significant business several months later?

2. It's not about you. If you think selling has to do with how well you can talk, then you're missing out on a huge part of your business. After you show up, shut up -- doing so might help you love selling. Every time you're with prospects or customers and they start asking questions about you, answer quickly and then turn it around with questions to get them talking about themselves. Since so many people love talking about themselves, you're in no danger of listening yourself out of a sale. Nobody's ever said, "I don't like her; she listens to me too much!"

3. Attitude is king. Maybe you've heard over and over that attitude is everything. Well, there's a reason for that. When you have a negative attitude people pick up on that, and it's contagious. Every day you wake up, your attitude that day has more to do with your sales success than any other factor.

Let this knowledge influence your choices: Read positive materials and surround yourself with people who drive you and inspire you. A study of top executives determined the four attributes that contributed to their success were knowledge, experience, intelligence and attitude. When the executives were asked to rank them by importance, knowledge, experience, and intelligence together only comprised 7 percent, while attitude determined 93 percent of their success.

4. Plant seeds in the right soil. One of the biggest factors that contribute to your attitude about selling is rejection. The more rejection we experience, the more we feel like what we're selling is of little value or worth. Many times rejection has more to do with whom you're calling on to make a sale. When the person isn't qualified to make the decision or doesn't have a real need for your services, you have to learn to walk away and move on to more worthwhile accounts. Imagine planting seeds in the desert -- it can be very frustrating. If you employ the advice from tip No. 2 above, "It's not about you," you'll know the person you're speaking to and can target questions to determine where your product or service could be of value.

5. Hard work. This is one of the best ways to beat the salesman blues. It makes up for our deficiencies. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

When I was a kid, my friends and I used to dress up for Halloween and go around town with a pillowcase to fill with treats. There was something satisfying about having that pillowcase filled and going back home for another one. Not only was the payoff sweet, but with all that walking we started to learn which homes, streets and sections of town gave out the best treats. So the next year we were working smarter. Massive activity has a way of qualifying situations you would not have known about otherwise.

Nobody said selling was easy, but when you love what you do it gets significantly easier.

By: Barry Farber, www.entrepreneur.com

WE BUY HOUSES

877-WE BUY 10

Weekend Sales Tips

Resist In-Your-Face Dressing

The dot-com revolution brought with it a new dress code as young millionaires with more money than style decreed suits were dead and ties were an abomination. It was the birth of "in-your-face" dressing that said, "I make so much money I don't have to dress to impress anyone."

Such arrogance foretold of mass bankruptcies in later years. And it also sabotages sales, a vital point for any Realtor.

Nevertheless, money talks, and the fashion victims listened and followed.

Casual Friday became de rigueur, even in the most conservative establishments. Once-formal bankers, investment brokers and lawyers now loosened up on Fridays. In time, it became a bother to dress formally and "business casual" and "corporate casual" were born. This attire soon looked more like "corporate casualty," since it could not quite be defined and was sorely abused.

The recent successor to business casual is the "in-your-face" dressing that announces, "I'm so hip and with-it that I don't have to wear a boring business suit or a tie." These professionals are commonly seen in a black silk Armani t-shirt and expensive sport jacket. For women, the look consists of suggestive attire, chandelier earrings and too much makeup. There are problems other than the in-your-face message that this look sends.

For one thing, it easily creates the impression that you are "slick," and may be headed for Las Vegas instead of the office. Some females have even observed that this look in a man can sometimes give the impression of being a womanizer. In either case, credibility goes down dramatically. And if you have a slim build, something else happens. Normally when a sport jacket is worn with a shirt and a tie, these garments fill out the neck area of the jacket so that it doesn't pull away from the shirt at the neck -- a real no-no if you want to look polished and professional. However, with a thin t-shirt, very often the jacket may not fit snugly at the neck, causing the neck to look frail or weak.

Other in-your-face looks include inappropriate ties that suggest, "I'm so successful that I can wear Mickey Mouse or baby pink ties to a client meeting."

Or, women may refuse to wear makeup or proper business attire to the office.

Beware of this stance. Menswear designer Joseph Abboud recently booted two investment bankers out of his New York office because they were not wearing ties. Abboud said, "They blew it because they offended me by being too casual." Ultimately, casual attire suggests a casual attitude. However, in-your-face attire suggests a smug attitude, which most people resent.

When a person of the stature and power of Donald Trump takes an in-your-face stance and wears a pink tie in New York City, it sends the false signal that such a tie must be a Power Tie. It is not; not even in Palm Beach or other cities in the Deep South where pastel ties are popular and accepted. Pastel ties are for the country club or dining out with friends. In real "power" situations, like sales, they cause a man to look less powerful.

Of course, powerful men often live by the credo, "Do as I say, not as I do."

In other words, for them, power trumps decorum. Unfortunately, copycats of this in-your-face dressing who do not live in the Deep South risk having their credibility decreased.

True professionals know instinctively that in order to be taken seriously, a serious appearance is required. They dress to impress, even though this attitude may be more subliminal than conscious. Most people make an effort when calling on an important client because they know it affects the outcome. Their attitude is positive, and their appearance should also be positive.

We had a brief foray into madness with the dot-com revolution, and during that time monsters were created in the working environment. Outraged employees protest today that they don't want to return to formal business attire. They love corporate casual and simply do not want to be bothered with dressing up again. It is still arrogant and in-your-face to think that your comfort is more important than your client's attitude toward you.

"Gen Y" female employees wonder why they are not permitted to wear their suggestive club attire to the office. Satin and lacy stretch camisoles fall into an entirely different category than in-your-face attire. Pop stars spawned this look, and what young business professionals forget is that they are not pop stars. They are business professionals who must represent their company and their profession in a businesslike manner.

A recent university study concluded that females who wear suggestive attire to the office lose all credibility when they are in management positions.

Only females in lower positions with little hope of promotion were not judged negatively in suggestive attire. If women are informed of the negativity of suggestive attire and refuse to change, it would be as in-your-face as a baby pink Mickey Mouse tie.

By: Sandy Dumont, www.remonline.com

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Six Steps to Generating Free Real Estate Leads on Craigslist

After years of trial and error using Craigslist I finally created a system for consistently generating quality real estate leads for my business, and I've decided to share the steps in this article.

Step 1: Create An Account.

This is the easiest step by far, but is critical to getting the best results and to track those results as well. All you need to do is go to Craigslist.com and click on the login button, then on the next page -- if you don't already have an account -- you'll click on the area that says "Don't already have an account." Just fill in your information, name and email, and you'll be sent an email to confirm. Once you receive the email, click on the link in there and, voila, you have an account you can start to use.

Step 2: Pick Your Campaign.

Here is what I mean by picking a campaign. If you are going to generate leads on Craigslist you need to do it with a purpose. You need to choose the kinds of leads that you are looking to work with. Here are some ideas: foreclosure buyers, lease option buyers, apartment building buyers, luxury home buyers, first time home buyers, or buyers in a particular school district; you get the idea.

Step 3: Create Your Campaign

This step can be a little time consuming (really only 30-60 minutes), but the good thing is that once you are done, it's done for good. You may want to go back from time to time and tweak, but most of the work is complete. Here is how to create a campaign for Craigslist lead generation.

Once you have picked your campaign you need to create several different ads to post and generate traffic. Craigslist doesn't allow you to post the same ad over and over, so you'll need several different posting titles and posting descriptions (you'll also want variations for the location and price boxes as well). By creating different titles and posts it allows you post frequently; that enables you to consistently drive traffic to your landing page or squeeze page (never send the traffic to your main web page) or to email or call you.

Step 4: Implementation -- Posting Your Ads

Here is where the rubber meets the road. Now that you have your campaigns created you need to start posting. I recommend to post twice daily during the week and at least once a day on the weekends. You will want to be posting when there is a lot of traffic to Craigslist; the way their site works is that the longer your ad is up the farther down the page it goes. So you probably don't want to post at 5 in the morning as it's not likely that many home buyers are surfing Craigslist at that time.

It is critical to be consistent posting your ads. This literally takes just a couple minutes a day, but it will become one of those things that after some time becomes a bore to do. If you really can't stay diligent with it, have your assistant -- if you have one -- do them for you; or you could even hire one of your kids to do it. I know I am stating the obvious here, but if you don't post you won't get leads, so make sure you stay consistent!

Step 5: Follow Up

Here is where it starts to get exciting. Depending on the information you collect from the leads, you may be able to follow up in several ways. If you are just collecting name and email, obviously that means your only form of follow up will be through email. If you are collecting phone numbers, which I would recommend, then you can make phone calls. If you are able to collect full contact info including address, I would highly recommend sending a sales piece, ideally a sales letter enticing them to work with you as a client.

Your follow up must also be consistent and scripted. If you are offering a free list of homes, whether they be fixer uppers or foreclosures etc, make sure you are regularly sending out the list. For example, in my business I send free lists to my leads every Thursday morning. This does several things: keeps me on a schedule and creates an expectation from the buyers that they'll be getting their new list each Thursday. In order to get maximum response from your list you need to make different offers to them. Here are some ideas for offers you can be making to get them to raise their hand to work with you: teleseminars, homes tours, group open houses, live seminars, etc.

Step 6: Track & Improve

The last step is the least glamorous, but might be the most important of all. You need to be tracking your ads and results from the start. If you don't track you'll have no idea what's working and what isn't. Here are some of the things you need to track: which ads are getting the most response, how well your landing page is converting, how many leads you are getting daily, how many leads turn to clients, how many leads open your emails, and much more. Now this part of the business isn't much fun, but you can only improve what you track; if you aren't tracking this information you have no way of improving your results.

By: Josh Schoenly, www.realtown.com

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http://www.mbnyproperties.com

Real Estate Twitter Tips

"Speed kills ... except for real estate." -- Anonymous

People are using Twitter to share their experiences. That's hardly a secret anymore. They are also using it for "crowdsourcing," posing questions and problems to a group of people.

They are hoping for a quick and useful reply. They tweet (post on Twitter) for advice. They tweet for referrals. They tweet for real estate advice. Yes, they tweet that they are looking for homes -- and for Realtors. No kidding.

So, how do you find these folks?

Here are some tools to help real estate professionals find them quickly and with little effort.

1. DemandSpot is a Twitter real estate search tool designed to help folks find buyers (and sellers). Simply enter a geographic area, a search radius of up to 200 miles, and select a real estate keyword from a list. DemandSpot will return tweets that contain those keywords, together with the link to the person who tweeted it.

Here is a result I found in the New York area, searching under the "condo" keyword: "Looking to buy a condo in NYC area (sic) anyone have any contacts or suggestions?"

Once you locate a person requesting help on Twitter you can engage that individual. Since that person reached out on Twitter, you have their permission to offer help.

A tip: Read the profile and Twitter stream of the person who is seeking help to get a sense of who they are. Then decide how to engage them. Add a link to your LinkedIn or Facebook profile so that person can, in turn, get a sense of you.

DemandSpot has certain limitations. You cannot choose your own keywords, and you cannot subscribe to updates. DemandSpot also wants you to contact the person through them. (To identify and contact the person directly, however, you can click "All Recent Updates.")

The following tools overcome these limitations:

2. Twitter search engines: Twitter Search; GeoChirp; Monitter.

Twitter Search: Simply enter search terms you think will locate people tweeting for real estate help. Some search-term suggestions include: "anyone know a Realtor?" "looking for real estate agent," or "house hunting" (very popular). Tweets will be returned in the results with the search terms highlighted.

This is my favorite Twitter search engine because it's fast. It has an advanced search feature that lets you tailor your searches and include locations. The best part is you can get a "Feed for this query" via RSS (really simple syndication) to receive future tweets that meet your search criteria.

Tip: Even if you don't get instant results on your search, subscribe to the search. Anytime a person tweets the search phrase in the future, it will be sent to your feed reader. As an example, a recent search of "anyone know Realtor in Arlington?" located a very similar Twitter post.

GeoChirp is a location-based Twitter search engine. Enter a location, a search radius up to 50 miles, and a keyword or keyword phrase. GeoChirp lets you "Subscribe to this search" to have future tweets delivered to you.

Monitter is also a location-based Twitter search tool that allows you to expand the search radius to 100 miles. I like Monitter because you can enter many search queries at one time. Monitter displays the tweets in separate columns and continues to update them in real time. The only negative is that the search results can be fuzzy.

Monitter, like GeoChirp, lets you subscribe to search updates via RSS feed.

Tweetlister lets you tweet your real estate listings to Twitter. You can schedule the listing tweet time and frequency. Each listing links to its own detail page with a broker/agent profile. The tweets go to your designated Twitter account. Tweetlister also provides the number of clicks on your listings.

I know what you're thinking (and put down that straightjacket) -- it's "unsocial" to tweet your listings. It may be. But I think there may be a way to do it without being regarded as a "Spamapotamus."

Set up a separate account on Twitter to use with Tweetlister. Pick a name with market keywords, such as "Newest Miami condos for sale." In the profile, tell folks you are using this dedicated account solely to tweet the newest listings in your market area. Link to your property-search page. Use hashtags to identify a neighborhood or building, such as: #southbeach or #trumptower.

Promote this "twitter alert for new listings" tool on your blog or Web site with a link to the account.

Some folks may choose to follow this Twitter feed for new listing because they will not have to disclose their e-mail address (as e-mail registration can scare away some from listings alerts).

Give these tools a "twy." Hopefully, they will make it easier for you to connect with clients on Twitter.

By: Joseph Ferrara, www.inman.com

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877-WE BUY 10

Meltdown Gives Consumers a New Money Mindset

If the Great Recession has taught people one thing, it's this: They need to take charge of their finances. It's a lesson plenty are heeding. People are saving more and spending less. The personal savings rate has risen to more than 4 percent after sinking to near zero in the months before last fall's meltdown. The number of people getting financial counseling is 3.2 million, double the amount two years ago.

In ways big and small -- from scrutinizing their bills and joining credit unions to scaling back weddings and college plans -- people are finding creative ways to deal with the worst recession in a generation. In short, there's a quiet revolution taking place in the way people save, borrow and spend that represents a retreat from old habits, and the first steps toward new ones.

Saving

For years, the traditional savings account has been a quaint relic of the past. There were just too many other things to do with our money -- and most involved spending it. Home improvements, and, for many, a second home; a second car and then a third; overseas vacations. The list went on. Saving meant putting money in a 401(k), and many didn't put as much into those as they could. Then the market plunged and the value of those accounts fell with it.

Now, many people are reassessing their approach to socking money away.

While personal income is down slightly since the recession officially began in late 2007, the personal savings rate is rising. In 2007 the savings rate stood at 1.7 percent of after-tax income. That climbed to 2.7 percent in 2008, and in July -- the most recent data available -- hit 4.2 percent. As people fear losing their jobs, they will save more: Economists expect the savings rate to top 6 percent in coming months if unemployment, which was 9.7 percent in August, continues to rise.

But people are still saving less than they did in the last major recession in 1982. Back then, the savings rate was 10.9 percent when certificates of deposit were earning more than 12 percent.

These days, it's difficult to earn much on savings. Most bank money-market accounts offer a return of less than 2 percent, and even long-term certificates of deposit offer little more than 2 percent.

Reducing credit card debt can be one of the quickest ways to save. With credit card companies charging more than 13 percent on average -- and up to 30 percent for people with poor credit -- reducing or eliminating that monthly payment will save money.

Financial planners used to advise consumers to save enough money to cover their expenses for three months. When the worst of the recession hit, Laurie Siebert of Valley National Advisers in Bethlehem, Pa., already was advising clients to boost their emergency savings to six months. Now, she's urging them to save enough to cover a full year of expenses because credit lines and job security aren't guaranteed.

One big reason to save more now: Homeowners can't depend on rising property values to refinance their mortgages to help cover household expenses.

People are flocking to bank and money management Web sites to compare interest rates and share advice. Traffic to personal financial management Web sites, where users can analyze their saving and spending, has soared. The largest site, Mint.com, saw traffic grow from 200,000 visitors a month in January of last year to more than 1 million a month this year.

Smart consumers treat their savings as an expense and set aside their savings before paying other bills. When the bills are paid off, they shift that money into a savings account.

And if you're not participating in your company's 401(k), start now. If you are and don't save as much as you can, increase your monthly contribution. Remember that you can borrow money to help send your kids to college, but there aren't any loans for retirees.

Borrowing

Credit isn't as easy to get anymore, so people are getting creative to find new sources of funds.

Bank loan balances declined by 4.6 percent for the year ending in June. But credit union loan balances rose by 4.5 percent, according to industry associations. Credit unions, which are nonprofits and weren't as tangled in subprime mortgages, are in better shape to make consumer loans.

Borrowers also have begun to explore less-traditional options. The credit crunch helped fuel the growth of what's called peer-to-peer lending, in which companies enable individuals to make loans to one another. One of these startups, The Lending Club, issued 446 loans worth $4.3 million in August alone. That's more than eight times the $488,600 in loans the company issued the same month two years earlier. Virgin Money, which facilitates loans between family members and friends, saw its loan volume more than double to $425 million in June from $200 million in October 2007.

Though new options have emerged, the subprime mortgage crisis laid bare the reality that easy credit can be dangerous. Over the past year, the government stepped in with tighter regulations and is now considering a new consumer agency to protect people from shady mortgage lenders, abusive credit card fees and other risky financial products.

Many cardholders, meanwhile, have been surprised to see their credit limits cut. Credit card companies slashed limits for 58 million cardholders, or about a third of consumers, in the 12 months ending in April, according to a report issued last month by FICO, the company that produces the most widely known credit scores. A majority of the cardholders had good credit scores when the cuts were made.

Gloria Womelduff says Chase recently lowered her limit to $7,500 from $10,000, even though she says she's never late on payments and always pays more than the minimum. "I'm as squeaky clean as you can get," says Womelduff, 56, a hospital research coordinator in Kansas City, Mo.

New credit card regulations should mean that fewer consumers are caught by surprise. In the months ahead, revamped billing statements will calculate the interest cost of making only minimum payments and show how long it would take to pay off the balance. For many, both numbers may be a shock.

The statements aren't required until February, but borrowing has already grown more prudent. The Federal Reserve says revolving credit -- made up primarily of credit cards -- declined by $6.1 billion, or 8.1 percent on an annualized basis, in July. That was part of a record $21.6 billion retreat in overall borrowing.

There are some things consumers can do to protect their credit: They can pay bills on time and review their credit report at least once a year. Plus, whenever they're using credit, they can factor the cost of the loan into the budget, weighing whether the money spent on interest could be better used elsewhere.

Spending

People are saving more and cutting their debts. But at some point, they'll start spending more. Businesses big and small hope so. What's emerging so far, though, is a more prudent consumer.

The use of coupons soared 19 percent in the first six months of this year vs the first half of 2008. People are reading bills more closely, looking for mistakes and to identify unused services that can be eliminated. Legions have sought help online. BillShrink.com allows users to compare the cost of cell phone plans and credit cards, based on actual usage. Visits to the site have grown more than tenfold since the start of the year and hit 650,000 in August.

The changing behavior can be seen in other ways:

” Two years ago, the average amount spent on a wedding was $28,000, according to the Wedding Report, a market research company in Tucson, Ariz. Last year's average: $21,800. The second quarter of this year: $16,550 -- 42 percent below the 2007 average.

While enrollment numbers aren't yet available, public colleges reported a 14 percent spike in applications last spring, suggesting some students and their families are shifting from private schools so they can spend less.

How to spend wisely hasn't changed because of the Great Recession. The rules were just ignored during the good times. They start with creating a budget to project income and expenses and guide spending. They examine the financial plan each month to find ways to cut back -- whether services that aren't needed or fees that can be avoided.

Smart consumers also take advantage of all employee benefits; use a flexible spending account, when available, to pay for child and health care costs; and they review insurance policies to make sure they're only paying for what they need.

By: Candice Choi and Eileen Aj Connelly, www.aps.com

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