Financial Tips | Money and Kids

Cashspeak! August 2006 - CASHSPEAK
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8/27/06

I have written about two main types of business families. The first type is comprised of members that all have the same area of expertise, while the other type is comprised of members with different areas of expertise. As I mentioned before, both types are effective depending on what entrepreneurial venture you want to attempt.

However, even if you have already established your business family, there are some extra “services” that will be essential to helping you create your fortune. First, you must possess EXCELLENT networking skills! Do not be afraid of making contacts, meeting new people, and taking a chance. Through networking, my business family member and I obtained a meeting with the Vice President of Restaurant Development with one of the LARGEST hotel corporations in the United States. How do you network? Well, let’s start with the small and work our way to the big. Start small with people you work with, live near, go to school with, and/or associate with. These people are your base level. Think of it as six degrees of separation; you know somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody, who knows somebody, who knows, for example, the President of the United States. Well, maybe not the President, but somebody important, established, and/or looking for a big investment. Next, go BIG! Start with people you have never met. The Internet is a very useful tool for this. Start a webpage, like I did, where you can meet like-minded individuals who are looking to make a lot of money and want to do it now! You will be surprised who you meet and what you will accomplish.

Second, have at least one IDEA person. The fact that we are new entrepreneurs means that we have not yet established ourselves in the financial community. If you have average ideas, you will get below average interest in your ideas. If you have above average ideas, you will get only average interest in your ideas, but if you have EXCELLENT ideas, you will get ABOVE AVERAGE interest in your ideas! Your interest factor will always be a step lower than the idea potential. However, once you have established yourself in the financial community, the sky is the limit!

Last, and most importantly, have a good relationship with a MARKETING COMPANY! I deal exclusively with one that operates out of Las Vegas, Nevada. They have been my backbone in creating interest and networking in my entrepreneurial journey. Will it cost money? The answer is YES, but as the old saying goes, “it takes money to make money!” You have to be willing to make the investment in yourself now, or you will always wonder “what if?” Now is not the time to be “Captain Conservative” with your finances. Does this mean take every chance you can? ABSOLUTELY NOT! As I stated in previous postings, you have to choose carefully when selecting an entrepreneurial venture. However, as I mentioned before, as entrepreneurs, we established long ago that we are willing to take a risk, and what better risk to take then an investment in yourself?

Remember, an investment in yourself is the safest and most prepared investment one can make! As Alexander Graham Bell once said, “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”

8/20/06

by M. Angioni II

This entire time, I have assumed that everyone who visits this site already has an idea of his/her entrepreneurial venture. It has been brought to my attention that many new entrepreneurs have no idea where they want to begin their monetary quest. Many new entrepreneurs are seduced by the idea of being financially secure, closing the “big deals,” and making the “big bucks,” that they listen to every idea and think that they are all good. This can be a COSTLY mistake! We are all here to try to increase our cash-flow and pad our bank accounts, but this cannot be achieved through trying EVRY new idea that is presented or by investing in a product because the creator of said product is a friend or a member of your business family. As new entrepreneurs we have to be EXTRA CAREFUL in where we want to START our financial journey.

Start with what you know! If you are college educated with a B.A., B.S., etc. degree in, for example, English, do NOT dive into a real estate deal because you heard it was a “hot investment.” Start with what you know! Many people lose their saved investment capital on ONE deal because they took someone else’s advice and did not educate themselves on the subject. Recently, this country had a real estate boom. Hasty, hot-tempered, and careless new entrepreneurs lost a lot of money during this boom when they “got in” too late. The economy went down, the stock market tumbled, and interest rates soared! By the time these new entrepreneurs had closed escrow on their so-called investment property, the seller’s market had changed to a buyer’s market, and the dream of “flipping” the property went out the window. The new entrepreneurs were having trouble with making the mortgage payments and as a result had to “dump” the property, hopefully for a break even margin, but most likely, for a loss! DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! Start with what you know! Going back to the example with the new entrepreneur with the B.A. in English; do not jump into an investment, venture, or project that you know nothing about. Play to your strengths! If you have a B.A. in English, why not try to find a literary work to publish. Maybe fund a writer to create a book, novel, novella, short story, play, or other production. The point is, start with what you know!

Educate yourself before making an investment. This does not mean that you have to obtain a college degree every time you want to try something new, but this does mean read some literature from some well known authorities on the subject you are interested in, talk to someone who has already “traveled the path” and has experience in your investment interest, and start small before dumping your life savings on a hunch! By simply educating yourself on your investment interest, you can avoid a lot of financial mistakes that will occur by investing on an uneducated guess. Does this mean that your investment risk will be eliminated? Of course not! As entrepreneurs, we decided long ago that we have a high risk tolerance and that we are willing to take that risk in order for the big reward. By educating yourself, you reduce the occurrence and likelihood of a “stupid” mistake. Members of your business family will help here also. For example, one member of my business family is well educated in commercial real estate. Taking a note from the previous paragraph, he would not try to produce a theatrical performance, but he would try to invest in a piece of land that could be developed into a strip-mall. I have real estate experience and as such, my business family would be more likely to listen to my real estate investment idea then they would about my new line of designer clothes. Which brings me to my next point...

Do not be afraid to say NO! As a new entrepreneur, ideas are going to be coming your way through many different channels. You will have some ideas, your business family members will present some, friends and family members will present ideas, colleagues, co-workers, and every other relationship one can have with another human, will present ideas to you. The problem most new entrepreneurs have is saying NO! If you do not like an idea, say so. It does not matter if your spouse presents the idea to you. Let them know whether or not you like the idea. Whatever you do, do not postpone your answer, UNLESS the idea has merit and some details need to be “ironed out” or you want to discuss the proposition with your business family. Accepting a bad project or considering doing a bad idea because the presenter is a friend or family member will lead to lost time and money! As a new entrepreneur we have little time and less money and cannot afford to lose either! Let me make one thing clear, I am not advocating you to be harsh, rash, or rude to a person whose idea you do not like. I am simply saying, do not waste time or money on a bad idea regardless of who presents it. Simply say something to the effect of, “that is not an idea that I am interested in right now.” It is not easy to say “no” but sometimes it has to be done. This situation will arise many times in your entrepreneurial journey and knowing how to decipher good ideas from bad one’s will be one key to you success.

As Alexander Graham Bell once said, "[t]he most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion... It is the man who carefully advances step by step, with his mind becoming wider and wider - and progressively better able to grasp any theme or situation - persevering in what he knows to be practical, and concentrating his thought upon it, who is bound to succeed in the greatest degree."

8/13/06

Each week, or maybe sooner, I will present a small idea or business opportunity that will help you achieve your financial goal. This week, I present the idea of “free money!” Before you get too excited, let me explain. Some of us new entrepreneurs have a little capital lying around in a checking account, low yield savings account, or maybe under our mattress. The point is, while we are creating ideas and investments, the finances that we already have are not working for us or are not working as hard as they could. I suggest that you move your finances to an ING Direct Orange Savings Account. First, ING is not paying me to say this, but I do own an account with them and I am extremely satisfied. Second, your money will work for you while you create projects with your business family. Last, it’s FREE MONEY!

Here are the advantages:

  1. Easy setup. Just go to www.ingdirect.com and click on “open an account.” Follow the on screen directions and you’re done.
  2. 4.35% NO RISK compound interest. This interest rate is one of the highest in the country and has no risk. Are you going to get rich off of it, probably not, but you will make money on your capital while it is not in use.
  3. FDIC insured. Your money, up to $100,000, is insured. This means that if the company should go under, which would result if the American economy crumbled, your money, up to the $100,000, will be returned to you.
  4. If you open an account with $250 or more, ING Direct will give $25.00! That’s it. You get a great interest rate and $25.00 free dollars! The only catch is that an existing ING Direct Account holder has to “invite” you to receive this offer. Fortunately, I am an existing ING Direct account holder. Post you e-mail address at the bottom of my page as a “comment” and put ING next to it. I will respond and get you $25.00 for free!
  5. Your money can be transferred to and from your existing checking account. This means that if you want to make a withdrawal from your ING Orange Savings Account, the money will be wired directly to your checking account, for free, in one business day.
  6. Access to your money. While Certificates of Deposit (CD’s) have greater interest rates, they are set for a fixed term and cannot be withdrawn, unless you want to pay a SUBSTANTIAL penalty, until the CD matures. The maturity date can sometime be as far away as FIVE YEARS!
  7. NO FEES! There are no minimum account fees, no statement fees, no inactivity fees, and no monthly maintenance fees. There are no hidden fees, period!

I suggest that you check everything out for yourself. www.ingdirect.com is the website. Make free money and make your money work hard for you!

As the old saying goes, “two heads are better than one.” This holds the most truth in business ventures. New entrepreneurs are just starting their financial journey. Most of us have only a small amount of capital, but enough ideas to run an advertising firm for years. Some of us can make the entrepreneurial leap on our own, but most of us need a little help and support in order to make our dreams a financial reality.

The business family is your group of similarly motivated individuals that help make ideas become realized. The reason it is called a family is because you MUST be able to trust the group you help assemble. Business partners can sometimes be untrustworthy or might only be out to achieve their own ambitions. One key to success is to be able to decipher between the two.

Your business family is your most trusted group of associates that you can look to for support, help, motivation, finances, and/or ideas. In order to prevent any power struggles in the group, no one person should be designated as the “leader.” Instead, when an idea is introduced to the group by one member of the business family, the member that created the idea should be the one dictating the direction of the project. If two people think of the idea, then the development of the idea should be split into two parts.

Keep in mind that there is no minimum of maximum number of members of your business family. There are two ways to organize the members of your business family. First, your business family can compose of members that share the same area of expertise. For example, if you create a business family with members who all have a comprehensive understanding of the real estate market, your entrepreneurial venture should probably be in real estate investment and/or development. The other way to create a business family is with members who all have different areas of education. For example, my business family, consisting of three members, including myself, have high levels of education in the law, real estate, engineering, management, economics, and food. This wide range of education gives us many options as to our entrepreneurial journey. Either organizational way is fine and can lead to mounds of success.

Just a few last points to remember:
1. Your business family must be comprised of your most trusted associates and must be more than mere “business partners;”
2. The person that created the idea takes the lead for that project. There is no fixed leader in your business family;
3. There is no minimum nor maximum amount of people that can comprise a business family, and people can join or leave as the group changes and/or becomes successful;
4. Two ways exists to form the business family and both ways are equally effective; and
5. Your business family is your foundation on which to build your entrepreneurial empire.

Remember to have fun and build your dreams into financial reality. As Dr. David M. Burns once said, “Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life.”

8/6/06

We are young, old, and middle-aged. We are all genders, religions, ethnicities, and nationalities. Everything about us is different, except for one primary goal we all share...to become filthy rich!
This is the beginning of the journey that we will all share together. Every week, for as long as this blog runs, information, education, ideas, tips, and motivation will be shared by myself and by all members of this blog in order to accomplish the goal of financial security. Let me clarify something first. This is not a "get-rich-quick" blog, this is not your typical infomercial "follow-my-plan-and-you-will-be-rich" blog, and this is most definitely NOT a "buy-my-product-and-become-rich" blog. This is a forum of idea sharing and education that will create new business ideas, new networking contacts, and new financial goals!
Let me tell you about myself. I am a second year law student, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Administration, and am a licensed real estate agent. I work for a law firm where I create corporations for clients. I also engage in contractual law and estate planning. Now let me tell you what I am not. I am not a millionaire, I am not a real estate mogul, and I have not written five New York Times Bestsellers. I am a new entrepreneur like everyone else here.
So, you might be thinking, "Why am I going to waste my time listening to this guy if he has not made the money yet?" I say to that, the operative word is "yet." A member of my business family and I are currently involved in, and met with the vice president of restaurant development for a MAJOR Las Vegas hotel corporation; a real estate development project with two members of my business family; and more than one "product line" ideas. Does these experiences give me some kind of edge over another new entrepreneur? Maybe and maybe not. That is the point of this EXPERIENCE! To learn from each other, develop with each other, and brainstorm with each other in order to make a reality of the dreams we all share.
Every week a new posting will be written by myself and other guest writers from my business family. As time passes, we will each gain insight and ideas to help from each other create millions of dollars.
I ENCOURAGE others to post their opinions, successes, failures, applicable information, etc. on the site, this way when we all come back, we will see what will develop.
As Anna Pavlova once said, "To follow, without halt, one aim: There's the secret of success."