Business Success -- Lessons Learned from Ivanka Trump by Michele Pariza Wacek

Let me begin by saying I was very impressed with Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump's daughter. She spoke at the Dan Kennedy/Bill Glazer Superconference and it was fascinating hearing her take on business. Here are a few nuggets I came away with:

1. You got to really want it. Ivanka is a driven woman. In fact, I would go so far to say she is succeeding despite her father and wealth. She works 3 times as hard as anyone else to prove that she is really is the best person for the job. And she has succeeded.

Now you could say it was easy for her. She has connections, a name, money. However, that's exactly the reason why it's difficult for her. People assume her success is due to her family and not her ability.

She could have thrown in the towel, turned into another Paris. Instead she decided to work 3 times as hard to prove to the world she is just as capable as her father at being successful at business.

My point here is that everyone has obstacles. Even if you can't see them, we all have issues and blocks and obstacles. And we can choose to give in to them or to succeed despite them.

And, we all feel the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Ivanka truly believes her father would fire her if she screws up. (Actually he publically said that in an interview he'd fire his kids if they messed up.) Can you imagine the public embarrassment and humiliation if that actually happened? Sure we can all look at Ivanka and think "oh, she has it so easy." But if she ends up in the middle of a colossal failure, the world will all know about it and talk about it. That's not the case with someone less well known.

This is very common in business (well, in life in general) – people assume someone else's business is a piece of cake while they have to X, Y, Z to contend with. While it's true maybe that person doesn't have X, Y, Z, they do have A, B, C, which are just as difficult in their own way. So the best thing to do is rather than wasting energy on comparisons, focus on making what you have that much better.

2. What's going on with the economy is just a way to make businesses stronger. Okay, she's 28, which means she was an infant during the last big recession. However, she is learning from her father, who not only lived through that recession but nearly went bankrupt. How did her father handle it? He got up every day and did something about it. He didn't let the fact that he owed millions of dollars with no way to pay it back stop him. He got up every day and did something about it.

What are you doing right now? Are you sitting there waiting for the economy to "get better" so you can start making money? Or are you going to start doing something NOW to make that money?

Businesses are still making money right now. People are still buying products and services. You can make money, you just need to be smart about it.

3. Find what you love and do that. Ivanka had been offered a very prestigious job in another company after graduation, but wanted to work in the family business. Her father questioned that decision, which for a long time made her angry. However, he just wanted to make sure she was doing something she loved and not just getting a job in the family business because she thought it was expected of her.

What I liked about this story was what it said about both Donald and Ivanka. Ivanka knew she loved construction and buildings, so she designed her career around doing what she loved. Her father knew how important doing what you love is, and wanted to make sure Ivanka was following in his footsteps. Not his footsteps in the family business but that she truly was doing something she loved.

Are you doing what you love? Or are you doing what is "expected" of you? Think about it. Make sure you really are designing a business you love and that motivates and excites you.


About The Author
Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency. She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business. To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com. Copyright 2009 Michele Pariza Wacek.

The author invites you to visit:
http://www.MichelePW.com

Stimulus Questions No One is Asking by Butch Grimes

Amid the frenzy of homeowners facing foreclosure, potential buyers struggling to obtain loans and banks, lenders and realtors trying to stay afloat, I feel like there are lots of questions that no one is asking! Correction, the regular guy on the street like the real estate professionals I deal with daily are asking. But no one is listening to them or answering their questions.

What Real Estate Professionals Say

Through my weekly radio show, podcast and website at www.WeTalkRealEstate.com, we're hearing the same questions from both professionals in the industry and current and potential homeowners. Here are some of the most common ones:

1. How do you bail out people when 53% of loan modifications are already back in foreclosure within 6 months?

2. If the majority of bad loans come from folks who are pre-qualifying with no income, or no qualifying loans what do you do once they don't qualify?

3. I've got a good FICO score. Why is it taking so long for me to qualify?

FDIC head Sheila Bair has made the argument that modifying loans works, but only if the modifications are meaningful in the first place. Who is making this determination? What are the guidelines? It sure seems like it's still every lender for them self—expect for the fact that we're giving them money and saying, "Do as you see fit!"

No Long-term Advantage to Current Loan Modifications

Where is the consistency? Where is there any meaningful interaction between the banks, the mortgage insurers, the lender, the credit scoring organizations, and (how's this for a novel idea?) the real estate professionals like myself? Between the time I spend working in my own business and the time spent with callers to my various shows and those on my social networking site at www.WeTalk247.com, I can honestly say I've got my finger on the pulse of the real estate economy.

I've got clients with mega-high FICO scores who are waiting for months to get qualified! Yet, others are pre-qualifying with no income, don't end up getting the loan in the end, and we've just wasted time. So who wants that empty house now? The banks sure don't want them!

Why Loan Modifications End in Default

When modifications don't truly reduce payment- chances are good they will end in default! Since there are no standards of mandates for lenders in modifying loans, here is what we are ending up with.

Most home loan modifications:

- Result in higher payments

- Offer unaffordable terms that desperate homeowners accept

- Increase loan balances due to added fees and unpaid interest, or

- Leave homeowners owing more than the price of their home

Frankly, there is plenty of blame here for everyone: CEOs, banks, businesses and homeowners. The truth regarding homeowners who "didn't know what they were getting into" is usually that they just heard what they wanted to hear. They wanted loan approval and a home. They didn't look at possible interest rate adjustments and future ability to pay.

As a real estate professional, I go out of my way to educate my clients, and so do most of my peers. But you can't make folks hear what they don't want to hear. It's given my profession a bad rap.

Here's the bottom line. Until these huge issues are addresses, the loan modifications won't have the long terms results desired. About half will continue to end in default.

Those of us in the industry every day have a perspective that no seems to be listening to. In order to solve these problems loan modifications need to be deep, realistic and long term. Want to know what else needs to be done? Dare to listen to the callers on my show. We've got some practical solutions for homeowners, real estate professionals and everyone currently affected.

Are you listening?

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency show that nearly 55% of loan modifications end up in default within 6 months.

How to Maintain Your Income Stream If You Are Laid Off? by Nicole Reebi

How to Maintain Your Income Stream If You Are Laid Off?

The world has entered into a recession, many corporations and companies had announced their job cutting news. If you are an employee for any of the companies that have plan to reduce their company's headcounts; then, your job will not be guaranteed. The question is how you are going to maintain your income stream just in case you are being laid off and unable to find a new job due to the job opportunities have been cutting down tremendously by most companies. It's time for you to think of setting up a second income source.

If you are thinking of getting a part-time job from other company, and go to work after your day job, then you probably will have a hard time find one in today's recession situation. Then, what other ways to source for income if you can't find a part-time job?

What if you create one for yourself? There are a few ways to make your own business without the need to investment a lot of money. By using the advantages of internet and online business features that allow you to work from home, here are the 2 common ways of earning money online:

1. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a business model that enables you to make money online without the need to have your own product. There are many online merchants looking for marketing outsourcing. They make their products available for online freelance agents, called affiliates who will be given commission based on their sales. You can set up a website to sell a few selected affiliate products. Your role as an affiliate is to drive web traffic to your website or directly to merchant's website through a unique link that will identify you as the affiliate who makes the sale.

Affiliate marketing has been a good income source for many people either as the part-time job or a full-time income. You may consider to set up a second income source through affiliate marketing while you still with your day job. Invest some time and efforts to make it successful; it can become your main income source just in case you are being laid off.

2. Set up an online store

Unlike traditional business, you don't need to invest a lot of money to have your own business on internet. You can choose to become your own boss by opening an online store to sell physical or downloadable products. In addition, you don't need to own a product for an online business. There is a business called dropshipping where you can easily find the products you are interested in selling at your online store; buy it at wholesale price and sell it at retail price at your online store. Under the dropshipping business model, dropshippers will sell you their product at wholesale price for individual item and they will deliver the ordered items to your customers on your behalf.

You don't need to quit your day job to start an online business. In fact, you can do it in parallel and work it out for a success. The income from online store can replace your main income just in case you have lost your job due to being laid off.

Summary

Under the bad economy situation where companies are looking for potential cost cutting and headcounts reduction, no job is guaranteed. As a working individual, you need to start to think of how to maintain your income stream if you are hit by the recession wave. Internet can be the best source to set up an income online and be the back up income stream while you are still with your day job.

The Obama stimulus plan - economic analysis: Part 2

www.cascadecreativeproductions.com / Interview with Joel Magnuson author of "Mindful Economics: How the U.S. Economy Works, Why It Matters, and How It Could Be Different"

The Obama stimulus plan - economic analysis: Part 1

www.cascadecreativeproductions.com / Interview with Joel Magnuson, author of "Mindful Economics: How the U.S. Economy Works, Why It Matters, and How It Could Be Different"

Denzel Washington

Denzel sits down with Ed Gordon to discuss his new movie, American Gangster

Arts: The Passing of a Pop Icon - NYTimes.com/Video

Michael Jackson, the legendary singer, songwriter and dancer, died in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Michael jackson live superbowl 1

The greatest performer ever

Interview with Michael Cheney from Adsense Videos

Interview
with Michael Cheney from AdSense Videos

Q. So what made
you get started with AdSense?

A. I
was looking for a way to monetize some of my websites. AdSense
is such an easy thing to get started with the eye for it would
be a great way to start earning more money without actually putting
into much more effort. I think as soon as you see the first earnings
coming into your account you get addicted to AdSense. I know is
what happened to me and since then I've just spent time working
out how to earn more and more each day.

Q. How much do
you make with AdSense?

A. Some days I can earn
close to $1000 and others it's less than that. But it all comes
down to how much time and effort you devote to creating a quality
site that people like visiting. AdSense is not what my business
is based on by any means - but it is a great way to earn revenue
almost on autopilot.

Q. What is the
biggest mistake people making with AdSense?

A. Probably
the biggest mistake people make is thinking the AdSense earnings
are easy to achieve. It is very easy to get started but as I learned
it takes a lot of effort to increase your earnings. I got really
downhearted whenever I would log in to my account to see that
I had only made a few dollars. And that's when I decided to spend
months and months of my time learning everything I could about
AdSense.

I basically buried myself
away and devoured every single piece of AdSense information I
could find. I ran thousands of AdSense tests and started to see
a dramatic effect on my click through ratio and therefore on my
earnings.

This is why I'd decided
to record the videos - because I knew that it would help people
who were in my position to also increase their earnings. I've
read an absolute ton of AdSense e-book's but they take so long
to go through and always seem to keep information back.

With AdSense Videos I
knew that I had to tell the story exactly as it is and actually
show people and lead them by the hand through the exact techniques
that I use to generate large earnings from AdSense.

Q. In your videos
you show people how to increase their AdSense earnings - can you
give us a taster of this advice?

A. I
don't want to give away my biggest secrets as you can understand!
But some of the more basic things that you can do to increase
your revenues include using ads that blend in rather than stand
out from your content. Flat out the worst thing you can do with
an AdSense ad is make it look like the standard Google ad. What
you need to realise is that you will get more clicks if your ad
actually appears part of your site rather than something that's
just been dropped into the page.

Q. What would
you recommend that someone do right now to increase their AdSense
earnings?

A. I've
created a totally free AdSense minicourse that people can go through
to learn some of my techniques. It takes you through the four
cornerstone principles that I've used to build up my AdSense empire.
You can check it out, as well as all the AdSense Videos, here:


CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEOS

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Michael Jackson Thriller
© 1982 MJJ Productions Inc.

Michael Jackson Dead At 50: "R.I.P."

One Word... "Legend" "Which Michael Jackson song is Your ALL TIME FAV?"

Economics forecaster, Ed Leamer, provides analysis of the financial crisis - Part 1 of 2

Professor Ed Leamer, Director of UCLA Anderson Forecast, speaks about his expectations for the current financial crisis. Ed Leamer was a guest of the United States Studies Centre in March 2009.