Author: thebluewaveinvestmentgroup

Building Better Business Relationships

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Dexter with JT Foxx and Stedman Graham

Do you have the types of relationships that are beneficial to your career or business? Are you networking with the right people? As you know, Your Network equals your Net Worth!

Here are seven reasons why your success depends far more on those all-important relationships than you realize:

(1) Any entrepreneur will tell you that their greatest asset is their network or circle of influence. It’s where opportunities come from. And when it comes to networking, doing it old school is a major distinguishing factor versus social networking. When you have a personal relationship with someone that creates a level of trust that sets you apart from the virtual hordes on the Internet. People do business with people they trust and know.

(2) Strong relationships make it easier to get information. Information is power. It could be about a major project, a potential customer, a big deal or ways to save money. When it comes to important stuff, you have to give to get, and you’re not going to get anything valuable from somebody who doesn’t have a relationship with you.

(3) Relationships get people through tough times. We’ve learned that, all things being equal, a good personal relationship will help you keep your job, win the business, or gain whatever it is you need. It can make the difference when times are hard. It also means you have someone to lean on. Try leaning on someone you hardly know.

(4) The bigger your business becomes the higher the stakes, the bigger the deals, the more important everything becomes. And that means people have to look you in the eye and feel confident that they know who they are dealing with and that you’ll do what you say you’re going to do.

(5) Companies today are leaner, and that means they have fewer, but stronger relationships. No kidding. It’s the same reason why manufacturers minimize their number of vendors, suppliers and components. Because it’s more cost effective that way. Also, there’s a cost associated with bad business because you didn’t know the person as well as you should have and he failed to meet a commitment. In addition, they understand that building stronger relationships with customers, the create clients for life.

(6) It may be easier than ever to work and communicate virtually, but all that does is level the playing field, meaning there’s nothing that distinguishes your relationship with an individual. There’s no real connection, no real bond, and when push comes to shove, you can’t expect that person to do anything special or to go the extra mile for you.

(7) Building good relationships is important in just about every other country on earth than they are in the U.S. Why that is, I don’t know. It seems as though every culture devotes more time and energy to personal relationships than Americans do. And the more global our markets become, the more important it is to get with the program.

Free Networking Events
If you want to find out how you can build better business relationships then join us at one of our networking events.

Send us an email to get information about these free networking events at:

dexter@thebookoninvesting.com
or
pamela@thebookoninvesting.com.

Visit us at www.thebookoninvesting.com

Sometimes It’s Not Just About The Money!

Dex and Pam
Dexter and Pam

We’ve been talking to you about the importance of having the financial freedom to do what you love, but it is important not to confuse being rich with being happy. A dream life is not just about the money. Most extremely wealthy people will tell you that having lots of money doesn’t automatically guarantee happiness and satisfaction. Those come when money is not the goal but a tool you use to obtain what you really want out of life.

For example, Pamela’s initial goals were best obtained by looking for opportunities to be an active, healthier, more productive member of society. Of course, that involved spending money and doing things for herself, but it also meant doing things for others — which is the very important other end of the spectrum.

Philanthropy has been a huge part of our lives and we’re very involved with our church and local charities. This past Christmas, for example, we rang bells for the Salvation Army and met many kind-hearted individuals while standing in front of Wal-Mart. We have learned that it is important for us to give both money and time to charitable endeavors.

We’ve talked to you about having a dream, setting goals, and wanting more out of life than going to work every day, just trading hours for dollars. Of course there is nothing wrong with that but, if you are like us, you want and can achieve so much more out of life.

We’ve also talked to you about being able to help people, which is the other end of the happiness equation. Investing has given us the opportunity to create the kind of life we want to live.

Now, we want to help others do the same, to realize that relying on a traditional job for financial security (for them and their families) is just not the answer. We all need to work, but it doesn’t have to be the proverbial 9-5. We’re not saying that you need to quit your job today.

What we are saying to you is that while you’re working and have that income, try to create some other kind of business or investment opportunity. Finding financial freedom isn’t going to happen if you are just having a portion of your paycheck going into a savings account or mutual fund. That’s not going to be enough in today’s economy.

The answer is to find a way to make money from your passion. What is it that you want? What are your dreams? What is your WHY?

We have several coaches who help us fulfill our dreams. One of those coaches is Connie Ragen Green. Connie is such an inspirational person! She decided after many years of teaching and working a second job as a real estate broker to start an on-line marketing business. In a few short years she was making a 6 figure income from her efforts.

I have personally met and talked to Connie and participated in her training programs. If you want to enhance your career, jump start your new business, or take your current business to the next level follow the link at the end of this post for the FREE Super Summer Giveaway (it’s available year round) to get some outstanding free information!
Super Summer Giveaway

That’s right the information is FREE! Connie will help you start to see the possibilities!!

Book Launch in London

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London: Big Ben at night

We just returned from London where we launched “The Book on Investing” www.thebookoninvesting.com in the U.K. at The Ultimate Author Bootcamp www.theultimateauthorbootcamp.com.

You should have been there! You could have met the many interesting and exciting people in London like we did. Perhaps you would have enjoyed the wonderful sights and sounds of Christmas as you visited the Winter Festival in Hyde Park or shopped on Regent Street or Sloane Square!!!

Have you ever dreamed of visiting London? Perhaps you dream of owning a bigger house or creating wealth for you and your family. I challenge you to dream big and to launch the life that you want live!

Making Your Dreams Come True
Dreams won’t necessarily come true on their own, although you’d be surprised how often clarifying what you want and focusing your thinking on something is enough to make it happen. There will be lots of new things to learn and tasks to be accomplished, so it is important to establish specific goals, with deadlines, and then take the necessary actions to meet or exceed your own expectations.
Perhaps you are one of those people who absolutely hate deadlines. Do they fill you with dread and create a level of anxiety that keeps you from doing anything at all? Not to worry, when set properly a deadline is your friend in that it motivates you to move forward and provide a wonderful, satisfying measure of success.

Our early experience summarizes what we’re talking about perfectly — we had a dream, a plan, and a set of goals. Critically, we continued to take the actions needed. Now, we are fulfilling an entirely new set of big and wonderful dreams.

This process is definitely not as monumental as it sounds. By laying out a plan for yourself and continually setting attainable goals, you can have outstanding success also.

If you are interested in finding out more about a successful goal attaining system that can help you achieve your goals go to our website www.thebookoninvesting.com to get a copy of the book.

Your Network Equals your Net Worth!

Does it seem to you that there never seems to be enough time to get everything done. Why is that? I don’t know. But I do know that, in an era of social networking, telecommuting, and virtual meetings, when it comes to business, the one thing that often gets sacrificed is developing relationships.

That’s a big mistake.

If you want to get anywhere in your business, one of the worst things you can do is just focus on being in the business and work, work, and more work to the exclusion of building relationships and widen your circle of influence.

Success today is all about building relationships. It is vitally important to build solid relationships with the people you work with, customers, clients, stakeholders — everyone in your immediate business circle.

And I’m not just talking about working relationships; I’m talking about your personal relationships with these people, where you break through the workplace persona people use for whatever reason and actually connect with the human being beneath.

Just to be clear, this isn’t about wasting people’s time. That’s a bad idea because, as I said before, that’s the one precious commodity that nobody has enough of these days. But if you do it right — if you’re genuine, open and sensitive to people’s boundaries — you’ll do fine.

Recently I attended a fabulous networking event in Chicago, Mega Partnering IV, sponsored by one of my business coaches, J.T. Foxx. Hundreds of the country’s top business owners and leaders attended. One of the general themes for this event was that your network equals your net worth. In other words, there is a direct correlation between the people that you associate with and your net worth. So, logic dictates that if you want to increase your net worth, then you should start to build relationships with higher net worth people. Remember, your network equals your net worth!
If you are interested in expanding your network and increasing your net worth, I would highly recommend that you join me in Dallas, May 4-6 for Mega Partnering V. Seats are limited, but I am able to invite a few friends. If you would like an invitation go to: https://foxx.infusionsoft.com/go/mega5prime/dextermontgomery

To learn more about building business relationships and increasing your net worth, go to www.thebookoninvesting.com.

Real Estate Investing So Easy A Child Can Do It

Today I read a very interesting story from Florida that has made the national headlines.  A 14 year old girl from Port Charlotte, Florida, took her earnings from selling items on Craigslist and invested her money in real estate.

Willow Tufano, who earned $6,000 from selling items on Craigslist, decided not to use her earnings to buy depreciable assets such as video games or other toys. Instead she decided to make her money work for her. She took the first steps toward securing her financial future by purchasing a house that she could rent.

By partnering with her mother, she was able to purchase a$100,000 property being sold as a short sale for $12,000. With a little sweat equity, she turned that property into a positive cash flowing investment. Not only is the property cash flowing, she has built-in equity in the property.  

Willow’s mother says that her daughter is always thinking, “How can I skin the cat differently?”  Willow even helped the new tenants find a free bed and mattress.

Let’s analyze what this 14 year old was able to accomplish.

  1. First, she is a natural entrepreneur. She started an internet business that allowed her to raise capital and build net worth.
  2. Once she had some capital to invest, she looked for a deal that would give her leverage and give her the greatest return on investment.
  3. She researched an found an opportunity in real estate where she could buy the property with little or no money down and maximize her profit potential.
  4. With the help of her mentor and coach (her mother), she was able to negotiate a deal with the bank to purchase the property for pennies on the dollar.
  5. She partnered with another higher net worth individual (her mother), to leverage her investment and minimize the risk to capital.
  6. She bought into a real estate deal with instant positive cash flow.
  7. She also bought into a deal that provides instant equity in which she can use to purchase other investments
  8. She was able to add value to other people’s lives by helping them achieve their goals of having a decent and safe place to live.

I applaud Willow and others like her because she has taken action to secure her financial future.  At the young age of 14, she already understands and has learned how to raise capital, look for and negotiate deals, calculate return on investment, invest for cash flow, use leverage to maximize investment, invest in equity, and form partnerships. She has also learned about the importance of having a coach and mentor to accomplish her financial goals and that by helping others, you actually help yourself.

The question becomes, why aren’t more people doing this? I mean, if a child can understand and do this, why not more Americans?

I think it all goes back to the lack of financial literacy in our society today.  You see, our educational system is still teaching us to work for someone instead of us working for ourselves.  We are programmed to use the old business model of work in a job, pay taxes, live and save what is left. The new business model says that you become a business owner, live on the efforts of others and pay taxes on what left. This is the business model that the wealthiest 1% in this country uses.

We need to get back to common sense when it come to money and investing. I am sure that Willow absorbed every bit of information that her parents were saying about investing around the dinner table.  

Look out for Willow.  She is destined to become the next Warren Buffet or Donald Trump.

For more information on becoming The Savvy InvestorTM ,like Willow, go to www.thebookoninvesting.com.

More information for The Savvy Investor

 INVESTING BASICS FOR MAKING REAL ESTATE DEALS COME TO YOU

Do you have real estate deals coming to you? To have real estate deals coming to you, you will need to let people know that you are in business by placing ads in the newspaper, placing ads on the Internet, and placing bandit signs on the street. Placing ads on the Internet may be your first consideration because it’s free.

Using the Internet for advertising is much more cost effective than any other advertising media. Despite the Internet being more cost effective, you still need to learn how to target your market. On the other hand, placing ads in the newspaper and posting signs on the street will cost more than using the Internet, but placing ads in the newspaper and posting signs on the street, may be easier to target a specific area and market.

Regardless of the advertising method(s) you select, people will see your ad and call you. The people who do not call, you will have to find them.

  INVESTING BASICS FOR FINDING REAL ESTATE DEALS ON YOUR OWN

Finding the people who do not call you can be accomplished by making calls to all the ads in the newspaper, all the ads on the Internet, and all the “We Buy houses” signs you see on the street. Making all these calls will serve two purposes:

1) to inquire about potential real estate deals, and
2) to let the other person know you are looking for real estate deals.

Calling the ads in the newspaper and on the Internet is a good way to introduce oneself to other investors and owners interested in selling their houses. Calling the “We Buy Houses” ads and signs will introduce you to other investors. Contacting other investors will also let you know if they have any houses for sale and what type of houses they are interested in buying. Those first few calls can be stressful.  Just remember to use The Savvy InvestorTM  Interview Format of fact, goal, and challenge type questions to qualify a potential dream team member.

Contacting other investors is also a good way to develop your buyers list. Knowing what other investors are looking for will help you when it comes time for you to sell the property you have acquired.
To find out more about making the real estate deals come to you go to www.thebookoninvesting.com.

New Program for Underwater Homeowners Set to launch in Two Weeks

The federal government is set to launch a revised Home Affordable Refinance Program in mid March. This program expands the opportunities for homeowners who are underwater to refinance their homes, if they meet detailed eligibility requirements.  The revised program comes with streamlined underwriting: no requirements for physicial appraisals in many cases, speedy processing, and the elimination of many expensive fees that have been previously imposed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.  For more information about the process and to determine eligibility go to the following websites:  www.freddiemac.com and www.fanniemae.com

 

The Book On Investing — Federal Government Housing Policy: Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan

A critical part of the Obama Administration’s broad strategy to help the millions of homeowners still struggling to pay their mortgages avoid foreclosure,  stabilize the housing market, and improve the nation’s overall economy is the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan

One part of that plan is the Making Home Affordable program.  This is an official program of the Departments of Treasury & Housing and Urban Development.  The Making Home Affordable program offers a number of mortgage reduction relief programs for individual homeowners.  

If you’re not unemployed, but you’re still struggling to make your mortgage payments, you may be eligible for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

If you’re not behind on your mortgage payments but have been unable to get traditional refinancing, you may be eligible to refinance through MHA’s Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP)

More information on the Making Home Affordable program can be found at www.makinghomeaffordable.gov    

Each month HUD and the Department of Treasury release the Housing Scorecard-a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market.  Data in December 2011, released January 9, 2012 show some subtle improvement in the housing market as compared to the same period in 2010.  However the data underscore the fragility of the overall housing market as the outlook for stabilizing the market remains mixed.  Home prices showed a slight dip from the November 2011 and remain below levels from a year ago. 

The Housing Scorecard can be found at www.hud.gov/scorecard.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE SAVVY INVESTOR?  You should stay abreast of the latest government policies and market trends.  It will make you more knowledgable in your dealings with real estate buyers and sellers.

Home Ownership Costs Are Rising Despite Record Low Mortgage Interest Rates!

Did you know that earlier  this week 30- year mortgage rates hit a new historic low, averaging at  3.89 percent for fixed rates loans, according to weekly survey data released Thursday by Freddie Mac. Other news from Washington, will make it more expensive for new homeowners despite the low-interest rates.  During the end of the year fight between Congress and the President over the extension of the payroll tax cut, several mortgage financing benefits disappeared.  One of them, the ability of many home buyers and homeowners to write off the premiums they pay for mortgage insurance, could ratchet up the costs of homeownership this year.   This change in the law took place on January 1, along with the expiration of 58 other tax code benefits that Congress failed to renew, such as credits for home energy improvements, credits for energy-efficient houses and deductions for state and local sales tax payments.    The elimination of this tax deduction will hit many low-down payment conventional loans  originated since 2007, plus almost all new loans where the down payment is less than 20 percent.

For families with low to moderate income the ability to find an affordable place to rent is also becoming tougher.  As you probably know for the past three decades family income have grown at a much slower pace than the cost of owning or renting housing.  This situation means that  families with low and moderate incomes must spend an ever-growing portion of their family income on rent.  As the cost of construction of affordable housing has gone up, the incomes of low and moderate income families has stayed flat.  The third factor contributing to the shortage in supply of affordable housing:  the greatly reduced availability and size of public subsidies to cover the gap between what housing costs and what people can pay.   Because of changes since 1980 in our  public policy regarding subsidizing low and moderate housing, we can only expect the current situation in the United States to stay the same or to get worse in the foreseeable future.

What does this mean for the real estate investor? You must continue to evaluate each deal and determine which ones fit into your overall strategy and risk profile.  Knowing about the overall financial and housing markets  and changing government housing policies helps make you a SAVVY INVESTOR. To find out more about becoming a SAVVY INVESTOR go to www.thebookoninvesting.com.