Wow! I just spent 4 days in Cleveland, Ohio with Dan Kennedy. His 7 Figure Academy was quite the eye opener. This work shop was not for the faint of heart. Dan has said a number of times that people making 7 figures do things differently than most of us. Here are just a few things that are different from what I do (at least for now!)
1.      You must be a leader
2.      It must be about you
3.      Make your business about marketing you
4.      You must be a category  of one
5.      You must be official (Professional)
6.      You must advertise yourself first and always must be in the "you business"
7.      Must change from the doer to the marketer
8.      Tell your story over and over
9.      To get 7 figures you must deal with PAIN
10.You must target people who can pay you. Period.
11.You must be diligent with your time.
This is only a very minute sample of the program. The biggest take away I got was I must be ruthless with my time. And it can't wait. I'll need to get started on that NOW.
If you want more information go to:

 

 

Now let's spend a few minutes on marketing your business:
How much time do you really spend on your customers?
Do you know who your customer is?
Do you know where they come from?
How do they find you? Internet, direct Mail, paper, radio?
Do you know how much your customers spend with you?
Do you know their age?
Do you know their income brackets?
As the economy is still in a recession people have cut back on spending. It's more important now than ever to know which customers can afford your products and services. If you can't answer the questions above you can be assured you are wasting money advertising to people who cannot afford you.
Take some time to evaluate the above questions. Take a hard look at your business and make the hard changes that you know you need to. Good luck!!
 
 

 REAL ESTATE

 

  

"Which states had the highest foreclosure rates?

 

June 2009
 

 

As you can see the top 4 stayed the same and the rest just shuffled around a bit. But the foreclosure issue is still around. Until banks start to either work short sales faster or increase the amount of foreclosures they take to the courthouse steps, the residential real estate market in the above areas will continue to decline.
Bottom line is most, not all, investors are afraid to jump into a market because they are afraid they will get stuck with a house they cannot sell. And home owners that would like to sell can't, because the market keeps dropping. It's a never-ending circle.

In my  

 opinion two things must happen 1) the federal government must stop putting in moratoriums that stop or restrict foreclosures and 2) banks need to move forward with negotiations on repo and short sales with integrity and purpose instead of just going through the process half-heartedly.
The next wave of foreclosures is just around the corner and I believe it will be in the commercial market. Quite a few of the properties will need to refinance and the money or credit, and the value is not there. The only options will be a commercial short sale or foreclosure.
The coming commercial market meltdown may be a prime opportunity for the investors who start to plan now. I will be putting together groups to buy prime commercial or apartment properties in the near future.  
I believe an opportunity like this only comes once in a life time so you must be ready. You need to evaluate where you are and where you want to be in the next 2 -4 years. Take a hard look at your real estate business: is it where you want to be? If not what are you willing to do to change it?