Meebo

My daughter showed me this awesome new web based chat called Meebo! It's like a web based Trillion. IT's AWESOME!! You've gotta check it out when you get a chance. www.Meebo.com.

Outlook 2007 Video Tutorials

I have been a die hard web based mail application user for the past several years. Up until this evening. There is an awesome Outlook Add-On program called Polite Mail that I NEED to use for my email marketing campaigns - so that means back to Outlook.

Thing is, it's Outlook 2007 and I haven't used it since 2003. I found some awesome FREE tutorials on the Microsoft site - and for those of you who are in a pinch and need to learn too, here's the link:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/CR100654581033.aspx

The Next Internet Millionaire

I know, sounds pretty cheesy, BUT it is a great show. You can watch it online www.NextInternetMillionaire.com

Warning: Very addictive!

Hiring work at home customer service reps.

I'm working with a hiring manager whom is preparing for a huge hiring surge of 500 home based customer service agents. These are inbound calls, and the companies in which you will receive calls for are Fortune 500 companies.

If you have Call Center experience, or relevant experience and are wanting to break into telecommuting / working from home , please submit your resume' to Jobs@PhillyRussell.com. Growth potential is available with the company.

Position Details:

Location: Your home / telecommute (high speed internet required)
Pay: $9.25 / hr
Hours: Full time or Part time
Employment Type: W-2 (Employee, not Independent contractor)

To Apply: Submit resume to : Jobs@PhillyRussell.com

(Refer to this blog post when applying please)

Sorry for the long delay in posts.

I sincerely apologize for the long delay in blog posts. I got so caught up in work I neglected my blogging. Work has been extremely busy for the last several months, but on the bright side I've received a promotion I've worked very hard for - and there are some awesome new things in the works. Things are going well :-)

I've not given up on Real Estate Investing or Internet Marketing. Actually I had the opportunity to use my Internet Marketing skills for my employer and it turned out really well. We are getting plenty of resume' submissions for the available positions which enables us to find better qualified candidates. Win-win.

Speaking of internet marketing, I just found something interesting in my inbox. It's online casting call for the first ever internet reality tv show called "The Next Internet Millionaire". Go here to read the deets.

Well, until my next post (which will be much sooner than 4 months away) - take care :-)

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4-8 year olds. WHAT DOES LOVE MEAN??

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could
have imagined. See what you think:

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and
paint her toenails anymore.

So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his
hands got arthritis too. That's love."



"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Rebecca- age 8

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving
cologne and they go out and smell each other."
Karl - age 5

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a
sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of
kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"
Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop
opening presents and listen."
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a
friend who you hate,"
Nikka - age 6
(We need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it
everyday."
Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are
still friends even after they know each other so well."
Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I
looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and
smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
Cindy - age 8



Clare - age 6
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he
is handsomer than *Brad Pitt *."


Chris - age 7
"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him
alone all day."

Lauren - age 4
"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little
stars come out of you." (what an image)

Karen - age 7
"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if
you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."

Jessica - age 8
And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked
about a contest he was asked to judge.

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child .

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was
an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old
gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little
boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry"

Eight years of purely blissful hell and paradise.

Marriage. It's byfar the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. It has parenthood beat, but not by much. Today is our Eighth wedding anniversary. It's been tough, but we've made it - and that's what counts. We're still going strong, and we'll continue to do so because we're both too stubborn to quit. Here's to our first eight years, and hopefully another 50 or 60 more to come.

Okay - you have to buy the book / or check it out at your library & read it yourself now :)

I am done making posts out the "The ABC's of Real Estate Investing" - you NEED to get it and read it yourself. That is, if it is truly your dream to obtain real and lasting wealth ; -)

Myth # 6 You Want to Do It but Don't Really Have the Time

This really comes down to choices and priorities. There is always time to do the things we need to do like go to work every day, mow the lawn, feed the dog. OFten there isn't time to do the things we really want to do. Learn to speak a second language, build a bookcase, or volunteer in the community. There is a difference between need and want. We'll often do what we need and put off what we want. Unfortunately our wants are what truly enrich our lives.

The investment real estate business is something you should want to do and may even need to do. It's work. To be truly successful, especially in the beginning, you will be involved in the day-to-day activities of finding and evaluating property, negotiating deals, overseeing contract repair work, possibly even managing the property once it's yours. I can honestly say, I find the business rewarding, fun, and because of that, it's profitable.

I fell victim to the myth of not having enough time myself, and I take full blame. Sharon Lechter and Robert Kiyosaki asked me to write this book two years ago. Finally I embraced the idea and actually started wanting to get it done. But wanting was not enough. What got me going was a do-it-or-else deadline. That got my attention and made me realize I needed to get disciplined and write the book. That's what got the book done.

If you don't have the time to begin your real estate investment business, maybe in your mind, you don't really need to do it. Maybe you simply want to do it, and "want" alone may not be enough to get you started. AFter all, if you work during the week at another job, you will have to search for and evaluate property on the weekends. YOu'll need to make phone calls when you can during the week or in the evenings. There's always a way to make your dreams come true...as long as they are truly your dreams.

Myth # 5 You Need a Great Deal of Confidence

Myth # 5: You Need a Great Deal of Confidence (The ABC's of Real Estate Investing by Ken Elroy)

Not true. People understimate themselves all the time. They listen to that little voice of self-doubt that whispers and sometimes shouts in their brain telling them all the reasons why they can't do something, why they shouldn't even try. I believe there are two voices: the voice of reason, and the voice of self-doubt. The voice of reason is common sense; the voice of self-doubt is your past leading your future.

I made a conscious decision not to let my past dictate my future. I grew up in an average middle-class home. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, in my estimation, there's everything right with that. I worked for what I got. I learned solid values. A good deal of that came from my parents. My father was not particularly entrepreneurial until later in his career. Hardowrking, yes, but not entrepreneurial. He worked for the same company for most of his career and earned a stable living that supported our middle-class lifestyle. It was a good life for me, my brother, and two sisters.

When I got out of college I followed my dad's footsteps and got a job. But while in that job, I began to meet people - people who showed me their entrepreneurial ways. They became my mentors, and from them I became entrepreneurial. Then I combined the innate values I received from my parents and my own newfound entrepreneurial spirit and I became whole.

Nothing in my upbringing would have prepared me for what I'm doing now. And yet everything did. I believe it is up to each of us to let go of memories and the scars of unsupportive fathers, ultra-critical mothers, ridiculing friends, and teachers who labeled us from the first day of school. Everybody has had negative influences in their lives and every one of us will have lots more. Look at Hollywood. What's a celebrity profile on E! without the struggles, without the strife? Everyone must rise from challenging situations - that's what successful people do. They decide to get beyond their past, whatever it may be. I've chosen to accept my past, learn from it, copy what was good, and realize the bad stuff only makes me stronger.

Real estate investing is a business where you will need to draw on your strength. My advice is not only to look for strength in all that is good in your life, but also to use th ehard times for what they are: character-building experiences. And contrary to what most people think, we can never have enough character. That's my soapbox on confidence and character. The rest of this book is dedicated to building your property investment business.

Learning SOO much with Rich Dad's ABC's of Real Estate Investing!

Yep - that's right. Learning A LOT about Real Estate Investing with the Rich Dad Series book 'The ABC's of Real Estate Investing' by Ken Elroy!

Example: I seriously thought the No Money Down and Flipping techniques were great ways of gaining wealth in Real Estate Investing (also referred to as REI). Not so! It's a myth!

Myth # 3: You Can "Flip" Your Way to Success or Get Rich Quick with No Money Down

Many people think that flipping property, in other words buying it and quickly turning around and selling it for more than you paid for it, is the way to grow wealth. The people who believe strongly in this have been lucky enough to make money this way. But in my opinion, this is like day trading in the stock market. It isn't easy, and it is very risky.

No money down is another way of saying that the property is 100% finances. That means a much larger part, if not all, of your cash flow is going toward the monthly payment. In no-money down deals, you'll be paying higher interest rates because there is greater risk to the lender, have higher loan costs, and have virtually no money to improve the proeprty or even repair it should something break. With this model, you are banking on the property appreciating to make money rather than improving the operations of the property and making money through cash flow. Let's hope the market is high-flying and that you time it perfectly becuase you'll be banking on external factors being just right. Appreciation, as you'll see in great detail later, is only in your control when you've improved cash flow. In this scenario you have none!

As you might have guessed, I don't believe in zero dollars down, and I don't believe in flipping property. Even in the example where I personally put no cash down on the $9 million apartment building in Sun City, we as an investment team put $2 million down. I believe that buying and holding income-generating assets like rental properties is how you build wealth. You may say, "But I need the capital gain - the additional equity I've made on this property to buy a second bigger rental property with more units. That means I have to sell the first one." In my experience this just isn't true. What you need need is a second investment deal that makes sense that you can bring to investors. They will help you raise the down payment on the second property and you will reward them as the investment makes money.

We recently finished construction of a 208-unit property located in Goodyear, Arizona, which cost us $13.8 million to build. Upon completion it appraised for $16.3 million. We have received numerous offers to sell this property and brokers were standing in line for the listing. As tempting as it was to walk away after two year's worth with $2.5 million in cash, we did not sell it. The problem is one of taxation. Had we taken the $2.5 million gain, we would have been forced to place that money back in the market to avoid a pretty hefty tax bill. Sure we had appreciation, but we also had what is known as a "taxable event." Imagine the tax bill of 30% on a $2.5 million gain. That's an unnecessary $750,000 tax payment.

If you want the money out, you don't need to sell. You refinance the property and pull out what equity you can. There is no taxable event, and you are not forced to put the money into another investment. In the case of the 208-unit property, we will refinance and we will use the equity that we pulled out of the property to pay back our invesors with interest. It's a great system and best of all you still own the peroperty, you continue to receive cash flow from the building in the form of rent, and as the building appreciates, you can refinance and take the gain - tax free - again. That's the money that you can use for other deals and it's what I do every day.

Property 95% of the time is going to become more valuable, not less valuable as the years pass. Especially if you follow the methods in this book that teach you to buy property right so you can afford the necessary improvements that will revitalize the neighborhood and make it a better home for residents. All that adds value and it makes sense to ride the wave of appreciation long term.

UGH!

For those of you who don't know - I am a wahm (work at home mom), and I am a Supervisor. I enjoy what I do, and I enjoy helping Moms work at home. Recently we had to let someone go for poor performance. It was a pretty tough decision, and not one that is easy to make in any case. It was just something that had to be done...

The sad part is, this person had been given ample opportunity to turn it around. Turns out - this person had two other work at home jobs on the side, and was trying to fit it all into their schedule. How's that for up-front and honest?! There were certain instances where I had really gone to bat for this person, when their job was on the line and I stood up for them and saved the day. When they were let go, they sent me horrible emails and instant messages. As if it were MY fault they were terminated...even though they were completely dishonest and blatantly lied about their "excuses" when they were really trying to juggle three work at home jobs.

I just don't get it.... why would you hoard jobs like that - when there are so many people out there who are trying desperately to work from home? People who are willing and able to do a GOOD job, and take pride in what they do.... Some people's greed really annoys me!

Samsung Recruiter's Blog

Dennis's blog (THE Recruiter for Samsung) - Very interesting.

http://recruitersdumpingground.blogspot.com/

Jim Stroud Podcasts

I am learning the art of Recruiting and have come acrossed Jim Stroud. He has some very interested and insightful podcasts, and I wanted to share.

http://www.getapodcast.com/podcast1407.aspx?hi=jim