Oregon received $220 million in Hardest Hit Funding from the US Treasury to assist homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure.  The Mortgage Assistance Program is the first of the Hardest Hit programs to be introduced.  Up to 5000 eligible homeowners, who are unemployed (or under-employed), may be able to receive 12 months of mortgage payments of up to $20,000 made on their behalf by the Oregon Homeowner Stabilization Initiative (OHSI).

Interested homeowners should immediately visit www.oregonhomeownerhelp.org to take a basic eligibility screening and begin the online application.  Once the application is submitted online a local service provider will contact homeowners for an intake interview.  The application will only be available until Friday January 14^th, and intake interviews must be completed by January 16^th. 

Following the close of the application period, homeowners will be selected from a random drawing by OHSI to receive assistance. Eligible homeowners must act quickly to receive assistance from this program.

You're like most people if you decided to improve something in your life this year. If getting on top of your finances was what you had in mind, here are 20 helpful tips from Kimberly Freeman of Apprisen Financial Services (formerly Consumer Credit Counseling).

Kimberly suggests that you start by changing just one spending pattern per week, and then put the money you would have spent into a savings account. Kimberly is a professional devoted to helping people bring peace and sanity to their personal finances. She has been a featured guest speaker at MERIT classes. Her office is in Salem and she can be contacted at 503-581-7301.

You can get more information about Apprisen on the web at www.apprisen.com

       "The Purple Cow" by Seth Godin is classic must read for entrepreneurs.  Godin redefines the P's (traditionally product, place, pricing, and promotion) of marketing by adding Purple Cow to the mix.  A purple cow is something that is remarkable by its very nature.  Godin explains that you should not market your business product but your marketing should be embedded in the product itself; essentially, your product should be so remarkable that it sells itself because your devoted fans, which Godin calls "sneezers" will spread the word. The book is filled with examples of Purple Cows. For example, Dutch Boy created a Purple Cow by revolutionizing the paint can by adding a handle and a spout.  Godin argues that traditional marketing methods are a waste of money and that your profits are better spent reinvesting in the product.  Godin encourages business owners to take risks with their products and target niche markets instead of making a bland product that appeals to a large group of people who are already satisfied with their current products.  What are your marketing techniques? Maybe you're on all the social media sites, but aren't seeing a boost in sales.  Perhaps it's time to transfer that time and energy into creating a Purple Cow. You can check out "The Purple Cow" at the SBDC resource library to get some inspiration.  You can also visit Seth Godin's blog for great business insights at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ .