It’s only too late if you don’t start now

Barbara Sher – from her book title

Many people lament what they could have done, without realizing they can still do it.  Sadly the same things that kept them from doing it before keep them from doing it now.  Yet it is never to late to change and have a better life.

I haven’t read the book but it sounds interesting.  Buy it from Amazon and let me know what you think.

More great quotes here.

Happy investing

Ned

How You Say it Makes All the Difference

The short video below shows the incredible power of words.  How you say something can make as much difference as what you say.  Often you can gradually get someone to come around to your point of view by being creative in how you present your message.  Politicians were the first to call it “spin”.  The funny thing is most politicians aren’t very good at it.

The ability to communicate effectively is one of the most important business skills you can have.  Real estate, is a people business. Yes you need to know the numbers but you can’t do a deal without dealing with people; sellers, buyers, agents, lenders etc.  Most real estate deals are made not found. They are negotiated.  The multiple list service doesn’t have  check boxes for positive cash flow, owner financing, or no money down. 

Five Keys to Communicating Effectively

• Think about how to say it. The most natural sales people spend a LOT of  time thinking about and rehearsing what they say. That is exactly why they sound natural.
• Study sales, read some books or take some courses on selling.
• Using fewer words is usually better than more words
• Talk in terms of benefits for the other person. Use the words you, your, and yours; more than I, me, or mine
• Read the quotes on my blog. You’ll learn how some of the greatest minds get their point across.

One Minute and  45 Seconds on the Power of Words

A beautiful and powerful message.  Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or share it via your favorite social network.

Happy investing,

Ned

Quote of the Day

Most people don’t surround their self with people who challenge them; they surround their self with those who give them permission to stay the same, and then wonder why their life never improves.

Richard Flint

So who do you hang out with?  It has been said that your income will be the average of the 5 people you hang out with most.  If you are reading this blog it is probably because you want to earn more money and live a better lifestyle.  Don’t let those around you hold you back.

There are no failures – only successes and lessons

Victor Cheng, Escaping the Employment Trap

The quote above is a great way to keep a positive attitude when things are not going as planned.  Do you take the time to learn the lesson when things don’t go as well as expected?  Whether you have a success or a disappointment you should do an “After Action Report” to reinforce what you did right and learn what you could do better in the future.

Happy investing  – Ned

Quote of the day

You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction

I am not sure who to attribute this one too. One of my mastermind group members and friend, Chuck Bauman, posted this quote on Facebook.  I don’t know if it is his quote or form someone else, but it’s worth repeating here.

With the start of the major league baseball season, a simple success formula recently heard comes to mind.  It uses baseball words, but contains plenty of success wisdom.

Which do you think is more important, a home run or a single base hit?  Most of us would choose a home run – even a “grand slam” home run.  Most of us were also brought up to believe that someday our “ship would come in” – that all of our success or wealth or whatever would arrive at once, in one grand port call.

Funny thing is – more ball games are won with base hits than with home runs.  Most ships arrive slowly in port – guided by tiny tugboats – and only after having navigated the wide oceans through a series of thousands of minor navigational corrections.

Yes! Big wins and successful journeys occur most often as the result of daily decisions – not life-altering, once-a-year, mega-decisions.   Want to lose weight?  It won’t happen because you vow on January 1 to do it.  It will be the result of your daily decision to walk, run, or work out.  Want excellent health?  Your daily, even moment-by-moment, decisions to ingest only healthy foods and avoid junk are the ones that will win the day.

The same holds true for your success in business.  While a master plan at the beginning of the year is important, it’s really the steps taken each day that produce the results.  As you face each of the very small daily decisions, be careful to make only the right choices.  By day’s end they’ll add up to valuable progress both on and off the field.

This is a guest post by Brian Gormley of Cornerstone Properties and Financial Services LLC.   If you like this post go to his website and sign up for his “morning coffee”  to get weekly inspirational e-mails.

Quote of the Day

“Do what you do so well that people can’t resist telling others about you.”

- Walt Disney

I love this quote from Walt Disney.  What a great way to make your business grow.  Today the social media marketers would call it “Going Viral.”   Seth Godin calls it “Being Remarkable.”   His entire book Purple Cow, is about this very concept.

Today it seems most people and businesses do a poor job with customer service. The irony is this makes it easy to stand out from the crowd, yet so few take the opportunity to do it.

“You can’t run away. You can only repeat what you don’t want to face.”

Richard Flint – From his morning minute video

We often have tough issues in out lives that we don’t want to face. Our logical side knows we need to deal with the issue, but our emotional side holds us back because it will be uncomfortable. But if we don’t face it today, we will repeat the uncomfortable emotions every day until the issue is resolved.

How do you know the most important thing you should do today?  It is often the very issue you want to avoid and procrastinate.  While the task we dread may not be important in and of itself, it is the energy drain it causes that makes it important. Dealing with tough issues immediately is a great habit to have.  Unless and until, you deal with them, they continue to be an energy drain. Don’t just do it today, make it the first thing you do. The rest of the day will be a piece of cake.

To your success,
Ned

I found this video from the Secret on a blog I read, I’m Just Sharing. It’s not about real estate but Mitch the author does have articles about business and marketing.   The video was so inspiring to me I had to share it here.

I am working on a vision for my life and honestly I am a little stuck.  I found some of the phrases in the video really hit home and I quickly added them to my vision.  One that really says what I want my life to be is “I live with Passion and Purpose. ”

Let me know what you think, leave a comment.  If you really like it tweet it, stumble it or otherwise spread the word.

The name of the book is a play on words.  We’ve all heard of a “Go Getter”, a person who aggressively goes out  to get what he or she wants.  Being a  “Go Getter” is considered a positive trait. The point of the book however is that giving or being a “Go Giver” is a better way to get more out of life.

The book is written in the style of a parable, similar to Who Moved My Cheese?, The One Minute Manager, or Fish!.  In this story a man meets a mentor who introduces him to other people who each teach him one  lesson. There are five lessons.  I won’t give them away but you can already figure from the name that point is you get more from giving and sharing than from putting your own interest first.

This was a fun read.   How fast I get through a book is an key indicator to me how good the book is.  If it is interesting and chock full of good information, then I am anxious to get back to it and read more.  I finished this in two days which must be a record for me.  I recommend this book.

Who should read this book?

There will be three types of people who read the book. The first type will love it because it reinforces what they already believe. That is where I fall. I know these principals to be true from my own experiences. The book is a reminder to use these concepts regularly. It is easy to get out of the habit of what we already know we should do. This book is an enjoyable reminder.

The second type is someone who is open minded but hasn’t yet learned or doesn’t yet fully understand these lessons.  If this is you, you have the most to gain from reading this book.  You will relate to the hero of the story as he learns and applies these lessons

The third type of person is the cynic who simply won’t believe this works. That’s OK, you don’t have to believe in it, for these truths to work in your life.  Sadly most cynics wont apply the lessons and they will never learn that it really does work. But if you are a hard core cynic, I challenge you to read this and apply it’s lessons.

Buy it here at a great price from Amazon The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea

Happy reading,

Ned