Goal Setting for the New Year

It amazes me every year I sit down around this time to come up with a list of New Year’s resolutions that I know I probably won’t keep.  Why do I do it?  I probably do it for the fun of it and to see if I can keep with any of the resolutions that I had made by year’s end.  At least I give myself an entire year to keep the resolutions I had come up with. To think of it, I have never really checked to see if I had done any of the resolutions. 

Since my early 20’s I have been reading self-help books to improve my self confidence and other areas of my life.  Many of the self-help gurus have always said to set goals for yourself.  In order to achieve your goals set them with realistic expectations in short range instead of long range.  The next step is to review your goals every 3 months to see if you are staying on track.  If not, reflect on what is working and what is not working for you.  Write new goals down while making them more realistic. Maybe, some of your goals were not as realistic as you thought they were.  I know my goals this year are different from last year and the year before.  The only exception for me is the one goal that could be construed as the same, is the goal of finishing school with a Masters degree this year compared with a Bachelors degree last year. 

Goal setting is not an easy task to do.  I have yet to sit down and really list at least 10 goals for the next 3 months.  I am still in the process of getting my house set up since I moved in 3 months ago and now I have my daughters 14^th birthday surprise party to get ready for.  I just want to wish everyone good luck in your goals and let this year be a more productive, prosperous, and a healthy, safe New Year.

What are you waiting for?

This past month Congress extended the first-time homebuyer program and added current homeowners to the mix until April 30th. What are you waiting for? Mortgage interest rates are at the lowest since 2003. Are you going to be the one to squeeze your purchase closing to the settlement table at the very last minute? I have seen it so many times where last minute snags have caused the settlement to be pushed back or completely canceled. When things can go wrong do go wrong. Housing prices are at an all time low. The best real estate deals are found during the winter months. Are you keeping an eye open for that great low priced property? Sorry to inform you, but unless you know or knew the owner of the property, that property doesn’t really exist except if you are looking at foreclosed properties. Beware and be cautious of foreclosed homes. Many are in such disrepair they require extensive repairs. We just had a young couple, who found out the repairs needed to make the home livable, exceeded the market value. However, there is a special loan program through FHA called the 203k rehab loan. Yes, you can borrow money, at low rates, to fix the property to make it livable again. The problem is the property may not appraise for the loan amount after the property is rehabbed. There might have not been enough houses that have sold in the past 6 months or within the 1 mile radius. Have I put a damper on your plans? I hope not. Start looking for the house you want. Take plenty of notes of what you like about the homes you see and what you don’t like about it. Tell your real estate professional what you liked the most out of all the houses. I am sure they will be able to find your perfect home or at least get close to it. Frustrated yet? I know I would be. That is why I look for professional mortgage advisors. They know what is available and have key contacts with real estate professionals. Allied Mortgage Group is the company employs professional mortgage advisors and is knowledgable about real estate. They keep abreast of what is happening in the marketplace.

Apply online for the mortgage at http://www.loansbyallied.com/Apply_now.

Starting a business in a recession

Everyday on the news there is more bad news about the economy. The stock market is down. Homes are in foreclosure. Major companies laying off more than half the workforce. What should a person do if he wants to open a business during these times? Wait?
I think not. This is the best time to open up a business. Why wait for the good times. Your window of opportunity may go away during the good times. Start now. Look at the competition. What are they doing? What are they not doing? I know one thing they are probably not doing is marketing. Today many companies and small businesses have pulled back on marketing to the masses. They even have stopped marketing to their existing client base. Why? They are afraid to spend the money thinking that the return is not worth the little profit they could make. What utter nonsense!
When starting a business the marketing account should be more than 75% of your total expenditure. In good times the account should be half that. Today, you need to market more and harder than the competition. You need to get brand recognition and grab attention. Besides spending do some free marketing. Send out press releases on a monthly basis. Become friendly with reporters that cover your topic
(Keith Ferrazi). Put yourself on social networks but please do not over do it. Once a day is good enough. Not a million zillion times per hour either. Every day market the business at different times. Anyone who calls your business or visits an email address from that visitor should be asked for. Get a web site that really has the personality of your business. Hire a professional if you do not know how to put a site together. It is that important. Consumers today will look at the Internet before going to a store just to make sure that business has what they need. Do not give away the store either. Pricing yourself too low can mean death.
How many have business plans? In the business plans there should be a marketing strategy plan. Do you have one? If not, why not? Put together a strategy that makes sense not go overboard. It is great to want to do all media but for a start-up it just does not make sense to put out a million dollars for that :30 second TV ad. If you were to get financing for the business the bank would bulk at giving you the loan just on that. Make sure within the marketing plan you have a SWOT Analysis. This describes your strengths, weaknesses, your threats(competition) and opportunities (other markets not looked at by the competition).

In a business plan you need to describe your management team or board of directors. Since you are a start-up that might not be possible. Utilize web sites like LinkedIn for advisors. There are plenty of people, like myself, that want to be a part of something that could be the next MicroSoft or Apple. Good luck and have fun at it.

The frustrations of a career search

In the last year and six months I have been attending the University of Phoenix to obtain my Bachelors degree in Management and Administration.  June is fast approaching when I graduate with my new degree.  Yes, I am on the 26+ year plan.  It was funny when I was younger joking around about it. Today it is much more serious.  My grade point average is 3.25.  By-the-time I finish school it should be closer to a 3.5.  In July I start with the Masters program with the emphasis on Marketing.

I have had many jobs that included restaurants, movie theaters, travel agency wholesalers, acting (Entertainment),  computer programming (RPG), and mortgage brokers.  I even started my own businesses while I was in college the first time around.  It was a discount bread and cake store featuring Pepperidge Farm products.  It failed in the 6 months that I had the store.  It was all about location.  The last business I tried to start was a marketing company.  It died before I could even get any clients.  I had absolutely no money behind me.  I was going on a dream and hoped that employees would be willing to work for free for just a month or 2.  Yea right.  I guess that is now biting me in the butt.  My last employer like so many past employers owe me a paycheck.

I have tried to do things right. It seems the more I try the more I get bit.  Now I am trying to change my profession again for the last and final time.  I want to get into an advertising agency or an entertainment company.  I am getting frustrated that the only positions that these companies are hiring for are the positions I cannot do.  I am highly creative and probably too smart for my own good.  I like to know everything there is to know about the industry I work in.   Is that wrong?

Job searching on Monster, Career Builder, Hot Jobs! and other sites seems like I am trying to find a needle in a haystack.  Why can’t these employers see that I am that valuable employee who is loyal and is willing to learn everything?   Do I scare them?  I am  not looking to take anyone’s job away.  I can compliment any team. I am a team player.  I am enthusiastic, highly motivated, and have many life experiences.  Or are they really discriminating about my age?  Yes, I just did the discrimination card.   I am in my mid 40’s.  My mind is like a 20 year old. Always thinking and creating.  Am I asking for too much?  What is too much?  Before I think about salary I see what expenses I have or will have in the future then I check with Salary.com.  I am not far off on what I ask for.  I am usually under or in the mid range.  I should not have to apologize for my expenses.  My expenses are like most divorced fathers who pay child support, have a car payment, have to pay rent or a mortgage, buy food and clothes, pay utilities and cell phone (my cell phone is shut off right now).   I listen to the experts on what your resume should look like.  I even have a professionally written cover letter that I found on Monster.  What is frustrating is that my best friend is searching for a job too.  Her resume looks like a 2 year old put it together and her cover letter is just a paragraph long.  Nothing special.  She gets more interviews and calls then I get.  I don’t understand this.  I try to follow up on each submission.  All I get is we will get back with you.  To me is ” we don’t want you, go away.”

These are my frustrations.  Please don’t tell me I am not doing the searches properly.  I know my skills, strengths, and weaknesses.  I focus on my weaknesses to make them my strengths.