Building your Brand, Business & Bottom Line!
Posts tagged success
Business lessons from a decade of Houston Texans football
0501 days
I’m doing this post a little differently. Usually I focus on my personal branding, marketing, recruiting or traffic building tips, but not today. Well, at least not in the strictest sense.
I’ve been a Houston Texans fan since their inception. Before that I was a 49er fan (still am actually). In the past decade there has been a lot of heartache pretty much from the beginning. David Carr was a huge bust, Boselli never played, Don Capers was incompetent, and so on. Then we got Kubiak and it was rough going until now, but what changed? And more importantly, how can all this football stuff help you with your business?
There is a correlation between the Texans’ season this year and building a strong business.
First, you must identify your weaknesses. Texans Head Coach Gary Kubiak was clearly out of his league when he put “friends” in charge of the defense, so he hired Wade Phillips as Defensive Coordinator to pick up the slack. In one year Phillips took a last place defense and made them 2nd overall. Tip: Hire your weakness.
Second, as a business owner you are only as strong as your team. In an effort to strengthen the team, the Texans front office along with the coaching staff brought in Jonathon Joseph and Danieal Manning, and then drafted J.J. Watt. With the added boost to the line, the defense was able to make their mark while building a strong identity. Tip: Anticipate your team’s needs and put the right people in the right place so they can be effective.
Third, because the Texans suffered a significant number of injuries to key players on the team, they had to develop a “next man up” mentality. Mario Williams went out, Danieal Manning went out, Andre Johnson went out (twice), Arian Foster missed a few games, and the team lost both their first and second quarterbacks and had to turn to the third string arm of T.J. Yates. But through it all, they still managed to make franchise history by not only winning the first game of their first playoff appearance, but doing it with a rookie at the helm. Tip: Build a system so others can easily help you (see McDonalds).
Bonus Tips:
Persevere. Things don’t always go the way we plan, but we have to make adjustments and push forward.
Be flexible. When something is not working, do some different. Your objective is still the same – how you get there may change.
At the end of the day if you truly want to win big you must develop a “Never Say Die” attitude and expect the unexpected. Then again if you expect it, its no longer unexpected, but you get the point.
Fighting the evil forces of personal poverty, both yours and mine.
Robert Reed
How to Fix Your Personal Economy
1665 days
The secret to improving your wealth and fixing your personal economy is found in 3 steps. Once you take those steps you will find the prosperity and lifestyle so many only dream of. So let’s get started!
Step 1: Reduce Debt
One of the biggest obstacles that hinders your prosperity is debt. Debt is the #1 cause of bankruptcy, and it disrupts savings and investing. So let’s use a simple but powerful strategy that can help you reduce your debt faster than usual.
This strategy is called “debt stacking” or “snowballing”. It uses the concept of stacking payments to counteract compound interest.
Here’s how it works:
- Make a list of all your debt accounts that have a balance. Do not include accounts that can never be paid off, such as utilities.
- Next, sort them in order from the smallest balance to the largest. Typically, your mortgage would be at the bottom of the list.
- Make the minimum payment on all accounts. This step is very important at this stage.
- When the first account at the top of the list (smallest balance) is paid off, use the payments you were making on that account to add to the next account on the list.
Example: You were making a minimum payment of $30 monthly on the first account and $50 on the second account. When the first account is paid off, add the $30 payment to the second account ($30 + $50 = $80 payment to second account).
Continue down the list until all accounts are paid in full! WOW, you are now debt free!
Note: Any extra money paid should be directed to the account with the lowest balance. Spreading extra money across multiple accounts renders this technique ineffective.
Step 2: Increase Income
There are several different ways you can increase your income, but we will focus on business ownership in this section. There are 3 options to consider when it comes to starting a business. First, you could build a brick and mortar business from the ground up. However, many traditional businesses fail for a great many reasons ranging from insufficient capital to lack of knowledge. But if you have enough capital and know-how, you can be successful.
Second, you can buy a franchise. There is a wide variety of franchises in many sectors of the market and your choices range from restaurants to repair shops. One of the major setbacks to this option is the fact that it may require a huge initial investment, and more often than not there is a reoccurring franchise fee that comes with the privilege of having a recognized brand. Very few people can afford this option, but it is still a good option.
The third option is a home-based business, which is one of the biggest trends in our economy today. There are many businesses to choose from in just about every industry, and the best part is that most can be started for less than $1,000! In some cases you can even get started for less than $500! If you choose the right one, you could have a full support system at your disposal. A home-based business is by far the best option for the average person to make a huge and positive impact on their finances.
Step 3: Reduce Taxes
After you start your home-based business, the advantages really begin. Uncle Sam will help you by allowing you to have some incredible deductions! Any expense you incur because of your business that you would not have incurred if you didn’t have a business is probably deductible.
What Deductions May Be Allowed
The cost of starting up your business, promotional materials, product samples, internet access, fax lines, lead lists, website fees, printing costs, briefcases, laptops, business cards, and home office furnishings all can be 100% deductible if they are used 100% for business.
The benefits of owning a home-based business doesn’t stop there. There are also car allowances if you keep good logs of the primary purposes of your trips.
Did I mention healthcare costs can also be tax deductible? Well, they can be!
The fact is Uncle Sam wants to help you run your own home-based business and will provide you with the deductions you need to help you lower your taxes. In fact, there are so many deductions you could actually start your business for FREE, depending on your start up costs and eligible deductions! ***Please see a tax professional to get more detailed information.
What are you waiting for? Every day you delay in starting your own business you are throwing away money in overpaid taxes. The only way to stop it legally is to start your own business now!
Fighting the evil forces of poverty – both yours and mine!
Robert Reed
The Mark of An Entrepreneur
0721 days
Most of us understand just how bad the economy has been over the last few years. We’ve had issues with higher food costs, increased gas prices, skyrocketing energy rates, and a shrinking
economy. But the worst issue of all is the loss of jobs.
In these tough economic times we can either rise to the challenge or be crushed under the pressure. My biggest concern has been how others have and continue to react to the current conditions in general and the struggling job market in particular.
There have been two primary reactions to the poor job market: (1) acquiring a second job, and (2) going back to school for an additional or advanced degree. Now, I’m all for higher education, BUT the problem with both of these responses is that neither of them addresses the problem…lack of jobs.
Consider this for a moment. If there are too few jobs, how does getting a second job solve the problem? Moreover, how does acquiring a degree help you get a job that may not be available? Aren’t there others out there with the same degree you are trying to get that are struggling in this very job market? Of course there are. Do you have 4 years to wait? Maybe. Does adding more debt solve your problem? Probably not.
So it becomes pretty clear that the solution to a lack of jobs is …Job Creation.
Enter the Age of the Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs are born out of crisis and are by nature problem solvers. The “crisis” could be personal, or they could strive to solve a problem bigger than themselves. But make no mistake, effective entrepreneurs are indeed problem solvers. As for job creation being a solution to a poor job market, think about the effects one successful business owner can have on the market.
If you start a business and you plan for it to become successful, you will require the assistance of others – either as staff members or consultants.
For instance, you may need a bookkeeper or accountant, or you may need a lawyer at least to form your business entity. You may also need staff members to do paperwork, filing, customer service support, etc. But it does not end there. Consider professional services such as marketing and advertising companies, joint ventures, associations, suppliers and vendors. All of these people would generate an income because of a successful business. Now imagine thousands of successful businesses!
The truth of the matter is that entrepreneurship is the heart of an economy. Simply look at any nation with a struggling economy and you will find that free enterprise is on life support. Is it the solution to end all of our woes? No. There are many challenges that face our economy and it will take strong, smart, moral and financially literate leaders to solve them but it is up to the entrepreneur to relieve financial strife whenever and wherever possible.
“Fighting the evil forces of poverty – both yours and mine.”
Robert E Reed
How To Build Your Financial Ark
0875 days
How To Build Your Financial Ark
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last three years you probably know that we have been and still are experiencing some economic turmoil. During this same time frame, the hottest industry has been precious metals. Gold and silver in particular have gone from $800 an ounce to $1,400 an ounce and $14 an ounce to $30 an ounce, respectively.
You may have also seen TV ads offering to give you cash for your gold. Have you wondered why they are doing this? And what about some renown financial minds stockpiling gold and silver while recommending you and I do the same? Not to mention countries like China buying boatloads of gold and silver as well as other precious metals. What do you think it all means?
What they all have in common is that they are building financial arks in preparation for the economic storm ahead. Are you?
There are some simple strategies you can utilize to build your own financial ark.
3 step plan to building a financial ark
The foundation should start with information and financial education. Information is stats, trends, regulations, graphs, etc., while financial education is what you will need in order to understand the information you receive.
You can use the next 3 steps to build an ark that can weather the upcoming financial storm (pun totally intended).
Step 1. Join a network marketing company, preferably a gold and silver MLM. Why? Because you will be positioning yourself in the hottest industry today. Can you imagine building and preserving wealth at the same time?!
Step 2. Buy both collector grade gold and silver as well as bullion. Why both? You ask great questions! Graded gold and silver are the kinds you can make a residual income with. Bullion is the money of kings and will be cheaper while being an awesome way of preserving your wealth with the weakening of the dollar.
Step 3. Help others do the same. It comes down to the words of the great motivator Zig Ziglar: You can have what you want if you help enough people get what they want. This is essential to building your wealth. You could do it on your own but you know as well as I do that it will take much longer. Truth is, wealth-building is a team sport.
And there you have it. A 3 step strategy to help you take advantage of one of the largest transfers of wealth since the Great Depression. Are you ready?
“Fighting the evil forces of personal poverty – both yours and mine.”
Robert Reed
