19 October 2011 0 Comments

How Not to Write a Business Book

It would indeed take a much longer article to describe all the things I tried did not work to write a book, it is interesting to note some of the many mistakes I made that others might see as opportunities to move faster.

Hopefully this will avoid other traps in similar projects. Here’s an example: Many speakers will tell you that simply dictate 10 hours worth of material on a tape and then you hire a writer to turn for a small fee, this material into a finished book. Maybe so, if your message is pleased with your humble beginnings and how positive thinking will be a success.

I tried this approach to book several ideas. In any case, I found an intelligent people, industrious, who wrote much better than me. I armed the writer with a book project and invited the writer to interview me, until he or she had enough material. We recorded the interviews and transcribed them. The authors even have a floppy material transcribed, so they could simply amend the interviews, if that was enough for them.

M talented staff did their best. They worked hard. She wrote a lot of material. They asked many good questions. But they could not produce the manuscripts, which captured the essence, sought to describe what we do. I spent a few hours long and arduous process and the use of such cooperation is not easy. It was obvious that I am writing the material more quickly than I to someone else who would then declare in writing.

When people first learn about the project for all forms of speed improvement of 20 times, they often react like Peter Drucker chip: some CEOs want to win this perspective and penetrates huge benefits , his business practices.

I spent many years writing to CEOs who have had such a reputation, we did visit was CEO of the orientations and presentations to groups of senior officers. I remember one such visit, when I was very confident that we feel have the green light.

To make things easier, I offered to work free of charge to do. The offer will be won me the reaction that everyone in the room prefer to go home five minutes earlier each night to spend, and only five minutes on the learning and use of practical problem solving that we had created.

Why? I am sure that the organizational response to the organization, which varies rejected us. Our overall impression was that people were overwhelmed and fearful of losing their jobs. The steady reduction of U.S. organizations for some time, and there were not many people left who have nothing else to fight to escape a fire close another.

A little known fact that many executives, the great reputation for the installation of new ideas have been so often, after these ideas had for 20 or 30 years. In addition, executive pay has reached the moon. would, through a combination of more emphasis on stock options and bonus opportunities for higher returns, a group of senior managers could earn in five years, more than a comparable group two decades earlier in the life deserves.

Most leaders do not plan to stay around even longer than it took to make money with their big salaries. Something like this project needs people who wanted to improve for many years of pleasure.

Marketing people will tell you that you directed to sell all the ideas, the media. Just write press releases, following up with authors, publishers and producers, and you will be overwhelmed by the demands of your idea. It was not my experience. Lest we went about it in the wrong direction, we have sought help in pursuing this path.

Marketer ideas seemed Underwhelmed by our project. An organization is unbeatable in this area. I spent months calling every day, someone tries to talk to us. Finally, a sales representative organization that reminded me by saying they were busy but agreed that the CEO of the organization to discuss the project for 15 minutes by telephone three months in the future. All right.

On the appointed day, there was a snowstorm in the city the CEO. The CEO does not in the office in time for our scheduled call. I tried to move to the next six months. O never another location. And one of the promising avenues for marketing and I was writing was to help you.

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18 October 2011 0 Comments

Music Business Book for Beginners

Memphis, TN (Articlesbase) April 4, 2008 – in the right direction – A Beginner’s Guide To create a label (3rd Edition) by Samuel D. Gilleylen, ISBN 0972304207 #; Future Mix Publications.

The days of record deal Major label is everything. talents more and more to discover earn their living by selling their own “free contract” CDs, music downloads, merchandise and so the inclusion of emerging artists of today, not only with traditional methods of success as independent but also use the Internet to promote and distribute their own products. However, it is always important for the traditional way of understanding the music business because the Internet opens up other legal issues between an aspiring artist foresight and other facilities. This book helps you in the traditional way to understand the independent music industry operates. In collaboration with other important information in this book contains basic information such as: How many songs copyright, music publishing and mechanical rights, the creation of radio advertising, creation of distribution Independent music stores, a list of business contacts in the music and legal institutions that can help new musicians. There is even a checklist on the back of the book to help readers on the way!

If you try to break into the independent music industry, you need this book. Here is a mine of information for those who know little or nothing about the music business. Promote, market and sell your own songs or CDs with this knowledge independently. A hot book for artists songwriter recording budding solo instrumentalists and music producers bedroom! Warning: If you already know everything about the business of independent music, this book is not for you. This book is for all the major chain bookstores, shops musical instruments and public libraries (USA and Canada) by Baker & Taylor Books! This book can be ordered online for $ 19 (free shipping) when you visit our website: www. FutureMix. biz

13 October 2011 0 Comments

How and Why to Start a Business Book Club

book clubs have raged in recent years gewesen.Fueled part by Oprah and others, the concept of reading einesBuch and meeting others who read the same book hatgeworden “cool again”. The reasons

found them useful include: – a great way to have a meaningful conversation. – a way to have the reading habit (I need to read the book for help before the meeting!). to P – a way to form a community – have to bind an excellent reason sammelnmit others. – A way to get something to learn in a playful way. For all these reasons and more that the same book clubs, and I encourage schlageUnternehmen. You may want Startinnerhalb or your organization may prefer a bauenunter to colleagues outside of work. Anyway Artikelwird this overview of the key will help you a successful event or a unique club long term. 1 market the idea. If you aufgeregtKonzept about it, use your influence and knowledge of your concept Zielgruppedas on the market. Even if your goal is to build einerlangfristige “Club”. Do not the market like this – which requires a commitment auchgroß for many people. You try ermutigenMenschen try something new, something that takes time to read their sowohlzu and participate. Instead they asked that the commitment einelangfristiges, encourage them to read a book, then einmalsie see the pleasure and value, you need to dependence. 2 Get a commitment. If you people verkauftVergewissern the idea yourself, you win a commitment to participate. The people who commit sindwirklich read two things: the book, and come after “the meeting”. After all, if nobody comes to the meeting, (oderkommt without much reading the book) you will not vielein interview! 3 Start small . indicate the number of people, the liberal arts, be integrated with the feeling well. Experience shows that if people Siehaben 4-5 dedicated, you’ll have a erfolgreicheErlebnis. More is okay, but do not habenjeder in the organization or any person to a given level of participating states to help them prosper. 4 Easy Start. Not everyone is an avid reader. To select einenBuch, to sell an easy start in the form of theme and Länge.Die selection of a new book of 450 pages you are interested in probably the best place nichtder. Remember that the value of the book club experience more than the book you read, but dieGespräche and ideas to stimulate healing. 5 make it fun. is eating a part of your marketing Anstrengungen.Zu have. Decorate the room, invitations, reminders, etc. einemThema stimulated by the book. Make the event itself etwasdass encourage people at a time, and create a people so buzzandere want the next concert. 6 have a role as mediator. B Someone must seinErleichterung responsible for maintenance. About the facilitator to maintain normal roles as any other person involved Bedürfnisseein prepared some questions that are designed to stimulierenGespräch. 7th

facilitate easy. The moderator should not lead erleichtertaber. Remember that when you type, the participation sindund involved with people in conversation. nichtzu Leave a conference. 8 keep the group in question. Beyond the group of involvement in the conversation itself, have Eingangin next meeting time, configurations, presenters, and all books vielleichtvor. When people feel involved, they mehrinvestiert in the success of the next event and beyond. I have helped organizations to consider how to start your dieseGruppen and facilitated these discussions. Although wirsprach have the benefits that can be acquired by individuals dieTeilnahme in these groups can werdengroßen organizational benefits. To invest in a book for each person, organizations can impressive entertainment, development and improvement of relations tiefprofessionelle.

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16 September 2011 0 Comments

Finding a Great Audio Book Download

The internet has added a whole new level of success to many industries, including the audio book download industry. Because anybody with an internet connection and a computer can easily get a wide selection of MP3 books, the sales and popularity of this niche has only increased over the years. This industry has been especially useful for business people who travel frequently and families who go on long trips often with their children. The audio book industry has something to suit the needs of any book lover.


With the wide selection available online, the audio book download industry is surely going to have something you will find interesting. Business books make up a considerable part of the audio book industry. You can find a wide array of business categories with a large number of titles in each category just by surfing the internet. When you find one you like, you can get an MP3 download in a matter of minutes. You can even find lectures and motivational materials that you can download and listen to as well as tips for a successful business.


Audio book downloads are available through many companies and websites. One of the most popular places to get your MP3 books is through Audible. Users can download digital recordings of their favorite books for a cost that is less than buying the actual book. With thousands of available titles, users are certain to find something that fits their preferences while expanding their reading perspectives. Internet users can also download their favorite audio book free from popular sites like free-books and freeclassicaudiobooks, as well as other sites that are non-profit.


Besides convenience, the audio book download industry provides other services to customers to encourage them to explore other possibilities. Many websites offer a subscription service where subscribers can buy or rent an audio book the same way others rent videos from their local video store. With a membership, you have unlimited access to thousands of audio books. At simplyaudiobooks, the cost of membership includes the shipping charges and late fees so you just pay a low monthly rate to enjoy your favorite books. You can listen to a wider selection of books to expose yourself to ones you might have otherwise missed by utilizing a low-cost subscription service.


Audio books serve a variety of purposes for today’s busy lifestyle. With the popularity of portable media players combined with easy downloads from a number of websites, seeing people walk around while listening to a favorite book is becoming more common. In addition to renting or buying your favorite book, free ones are also available on a few websites that are more educational and informative in nature. Whatever your preferences, chances are there is an audio book download to satisfy your needs and a website that can provide it.

11 September 2011 0 Comments

Finding The Best Audio Book Download Deal

The internet has added a whole new dimension for many industries to explore, expand into and monetise, including the audio book download market. These days anyone with an internet connection and a computer or laptop has easy access to a wide selection of MP3 audio books. An increase in sales and popularity for this niche ensures it will be here for many years to com. This type of online service has been especially useful for business people who travel frequently, commuters and families looking for something to occupy the children on long trips.

The audio book market has something to suit the needs of any book lover. With the vast selection available online, the audio book download market is sure to have something that will suit just about anyones needs or taste. Business books make up a significant part of the audio book market. You can find a vast array of business categories with a large number of titles in each category just by surfing the internet. When you find one you like, all you have to do is download the mp3 or wma digital file and your ready to go. Other interesting and helpful resources like motivational materials and expert authors writing on such topics as, “establishing a successful business,” are readily available.

Audio book downloads are made available to the consumer through hundreds of online stores and websites. An increasingly popular online store to obtain your MP3 audio books is Simply Listen Audiobooks. Consumers can download digital recordings of their favorite topic or author at prices that are less than purchasing the actual paper book itself. Apart from saving money the more eco-conscious amongst us will be happy in the knowledge that they are also helping the planet by not contributing to the mass tree felling programs that are going on in many parts of the world.

These online digital libraries usually stock thousands of titles with the vast majority of the best authors and subjects readily available. As a result users are certain to find something that fits their preferences while providing the opportunity to expand their horizons. If this is something that you think you may find interesting or useful but want to try the free option before laying down your hard cash, then try some of the free audio book downloads first.

Most of the first generation online audio book stores are still subscription based or membership based services. But these days you can get access to a huge number of top quality audio books without the imposition of having to join a club or pay a monthly membership fee. Most of the new wave of online audio book stores offer the same advantages and do so without the customer being tied down to purchasing from one place because of a recurring membership fee.

Some of the advantages include: being able to pick and choose the stores you download from; choosing to buy when you want; choosing to buy as many or as few titles you want; no postage costs; no late fees; instant downloads providing instant access 24 hrs a day 365 days a year. Which of course means you no longer have to depend on the postal service for delivery.

With the frantic lifestyles we we lead in today’s society, the audio book market provides a valuable service for book lovers and the busy professional alike. MP3 players, ipods and compact discs along with the convenience of the internet make it possible to listen to just about any book you want at almost any time.

In my opinion this is a fantastic marriage of new technology and services that everyone from the youngest to the oldest can definitely benefit from in some way, shape or form.

30 August 2011 0 Comments

Online Book Keeping and Online Accounting Processes

You may be wondering why a business owner would need online bookkeeping services.  Just a few reasons are as follows:

 



A need for a better cash flow
Regular profit and loss reports
Better stock control
Monitoring payments to creditors
Staff to work on other profit making projects rather than the time consuming bookkeeping tasks
Focused on customers and sales areas

 

Online book keeping services are now rapidly catching on and the world is becoming a shrinking marketplace.  If you are able to be amongst the first ones to dip their toes in the water, you will be one of the most successful companies to capitalize on this service when it starts to really catch on.

 

Next question would now be how online book keeping work.  Online book keeping places source documents in web-based applications to permit bookkeepers to have access to them anytime, anywhere so they can work on the documents remotely so as to update business books.  Basically, a company scans their business documents and uploads them regularly to an online bookkeeping application.  This technology is now being used by employees who are usually mobile in sending their expense receipts to get reimbursed quickly and by companies with multiple branches but with centralized accounting department.

 

A step by step process is being followed:

 



Sales and expenses invoices and other documents are sent by email, file upload, fax or mail
All sent information are automatically converted to electronic format and stored in client’s secure personal filing cabinet to allow access to the information at any time
Accountants view the secure documents to complete your business’ bookkeeping/accounting/payroll tasks everyday
Completed work statements may be viewed as a PDF file for easier printing

 

Online book keeping eliminates guess work in regards to business operations allowing business owners to make confident future plans on how to improve their business and adding to business prospects.  A regular monthly update on business standing will be provided to you.  It is the easiest way to keep a regular monitoring system of how well your business is doing and how fast it’s growing by providing you a simple way to check profitability.  It also gives you a heads up on issues before they balloon into big problems.

 

After identifying the importance on online book keeping, the choosing of an online accounting service provider should come next.  Net-Accounting provide a vast range of accounting services.  Whether it be processing financial statements or finalizing the payroll or payments to creditors, Net-Accounting can assist your company.  Net-Accounting provide quality accounting service to all their clients, no matter the size.  Complete security and privacy are assured.  With the staff’s combined experience and expertise in accountancy, clients are rest assured that their business will receive only professional, friendly and confidential service at all times.

 

Net-Accounting offers consultations to discuss particular business needs.  Daily management of your business is made far easier and cost effective with online book keeping.

25 August 2011 0 Comments

Why Write a Book?

Why write a book?

Books deliver instant credibility both to the author and to their message. Having an MBA or PhD is great; however, putting the word “author” in front of your name is similar to using the letters PhD. You are no longer Jay Conrad Levinson; you are “Author Jay Conrad Levinson.”

Books give you a platform to stand on. They help you to establish credibility, demonstrate thought leadership and generate leads.

On-demand book publishing can quickly and easily help companies drive sales through thought leadership. Books can share both your vision and how your products and services help customers reach that vision. You will quickly have a platform to stand-on. Your book will open doors to speaking events as well as generate new leads. Every person who buys or receives your book is a potential customer.

Many companies have had significant success with books. Folks from IBM, BEA, Dell, and Siebel, to name a few, will tell you that books were an efficient and powerful tool they used to open doors and establish thought leadership. Mark Bauhaus, X-SVP SOA Software from Sun Microsystems has the following thoughts from a book his team put together:

“In the heat of the dot-com boom, my Sun Consulting Team wrote a book describing our collected methodology & experience in ‘dot-comming’ companys’ IT infrastructure.

The book was before its time in laying out how to bullet-proof XSP and ECommerce infrastructure for super-scale, strong security, and new world agility. ‘Dot-Com and Beyond’ was distributed worldwide and became required reading for many IT Architects and CIO’s.

Having the book in hand accelerated our sales cycle by weeks & provided instant credibility when we competed against less experienced consulting firms.”

Most of all, we had a kind of textbook to use during engagements to train our clients on best practices. I estimate that using the book for education and sales doubled our prospect stream & resulted in tens of millions of dollars in incremental business. A well-crafted book of expertise dramatically enhances credibility!”

Books lead directly to increased revenue:

• A typical consultant will make 3x in indirect revenue for every dollar they make on book sales

According to a survey1 of 200 business-book authors who have been published between 1974 and 2006, “96% said they did realize a significant positive impact on their businesses from writing a book and would recommend the practice.”

When was the last time you dumped a new book in the trash can?”

Books are better than business cards. They are:

• More powerful than white papers

• The best tchotchke you can give at a conference

• An item that makes it to the book shelf vs. the circular file

“It’s a gift. It’s a guide. It’s a chance to tell the whole story in a way that white papers only hope to achieve. It can take the time to tell the story instead of the bullet points and it’s a tchotchke that people will not throw out — a book has intrinsic value.” says Jim Sterne, President, Web

Analytics Association

It is the best marketing tool you can add to your marketing mix! Imagine having a trusted third-party (e.g. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders.com and other physical/online bookstores) supply a powerful marketing message that will get your prospects to think or to act. Books are the tool that delivers that message and the infrastructure is already setup for the trusted third-party to deliver it.

Why wait? Start writing or having your book ghost written today.

About the Author: Mitchell Levy is CEO and publisher at Quick2Publish (http://Quick2Publish.com). He’s helps thousands of individuals succeed in business and thoroughly enjoys spending the time and effort to make sure that you succeed as well.

1. Survey conducted by the Wellesley Hills Group and sent to 1,000 U.S. authors of business

books published between 1974 and 2006 and reported by Business Week: http://www.businessweek.

com/smallbiz/content/apr2006/sb20060412_511385.htm

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28 July 2011 0 Comments

Busy With No Time To Read a Book?

For most of us who are business people, we love to improve our business acumen via reading and taking courses, but we lack the time to do so.


This is where audio books have come to play a very important role in our lives.


As a business person, you can now use the amazing value inherent in listening to audio books. You won’t have to worry about not having the time or will to flip through the pages of a book.


With an audio book you can enjoy the same value of any business book when preparing to go to work in the morning, when commuting to and from work, etc.


If you are at a loss for the specific business audio books to go for, below are 6 of some of the best that any business person should listen to:


1. E-Myth Mastery by Michael E. Gerber


Michael E. Gerber, the world’s leading small business guru and bestselling author of the phenomenally successful The E-Myth Revisited, presents the next big step in entrepreneurial management and leadership with E-Myth Mastery. This audiobook presents a practical, real-world program that can be implemented in real-time in your business.


Gerber shows that most businesses fail because of a crisis of vision that creates an inevitable cloud of misdirected activity. Presenting practical exercises to help small business owners recover their vision and passion, he clears a path for getting back to the basic disciplines for business success. The E-Myth credo — Don’t work IN your business, work ON it — is spelled out here in the seven essential disciplines followed by every leader of a world-class enterprise. Each discipline provides the leadership keys for unlocking success in the critical areas of business development:


E-Myth Mastery is the ultimate business development program that will help you recover your passion and turn your company into a world-class operation — a turn-key machine for the money and satisfaction that only a successful entrepreneur can enjoy. Get started today!


2. How to win friends and influence people – by Dale Carnegie


I don’t know about you, but the most important aspect of my business is PEOPLE. For almost every endeavor of life, especially business, we need people to keep the business going.


Not just the people that bring us sales, but also the people that make the sales possible. To be able to succeed at this, we all need to know “how to win friends and influence people”.


That’s why this incredible book by Dale Carnegie is a “must have” for any person in business.


With the power of the information contained in this book, you can learn, not just how to influence people so that they bring in more sales for your business, but most importantly how to win your friends and staff that help you make the sales possible.


Now in audio book format, you can enjoy this book from the comfort of your car while commuting to and from your job.


3. It’s not the big that eat the small… it’s the fast that eat the slow – by Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton


In today’s business, one of the single most common words that we need to embrace is “CHANGE”. In this era where what was the latest yesterday is no longer the latest today, we need to constantly be ready to embrace change.


This audio book by Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton, provides you with all of the information on how to keep your company afloat, despite the ever-changing nature of business today.


Asserting that the fastest organizations in the world today will be those that will thrive, this audio book shows you how to make your company or business among the fastest, using the power of commerce, deployment of resources and good management of people.


4. Management Challenges for the 21st Century – by Peter F. Drucker


When it comes to business management and leadership, one name stands tall in any gathering of experts. That name is Peter F. Drucker.


Being an expert of the industry and writing about it for a staggering 80 years, Drucker is not just talking from theory. He has been there and done that, when it comes to business and management.


This audio book thoroughly examines how business people can handle the management challenges that the 21st century ushers.


5. Jack: Straight from the Gut – by Jack Welch


There’s no denying the fact that Jack Welch is one of the world’s most successful CEOs ever.


In this powerful thought-provoking audio book, he tells his story detailing how you can follow his steps to become one of the most successful persons in your career today.


6. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap – by Jim Collins


You can’t argue with the fact that “without the techniques and strategies, no company or business can excel beyond a few days, weeks or even months”.


Businesses and companies that have stood the test of time for many years know what to do and they have done it right.


Jim Collins took the time to conduct extensive researches into how and what companies did to maintain success for many long years, while their counterparts failed within a few months or years of starting up.


The power of the information contained within this audio book can help any business person to succeed.


These 5 audio books can do a lot for your business and career if you take the time to listen to them, and apply what you will learn therein to your business and career.

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13 July 2011 0 Comments

Want a New Career Challenge? Try Writing a How-to or Self-help Book

If you’re a business professional and you’re ready to try something new, think about writing a business book. Writing a book about your expertise in a specific industry or even business in general is an excellent way to expand your business and branch out into speaking and consulting. It lets you try something new, but you don’t have to completely abandon the field you’re in.

The Booming How-To Market

How-to books are very popular—there’s always one or two on the bestseller list—and many people like reading books to learn more about their own industry, learn about industries that are new to them, find ways to advance their careers, and figure out how to deal with difficult business situations, like having a boss or a co-worker that they don’t get along with. Some people read nothing but how-to and self-help books. With thousands of topics to write about and a growing interest in self-improvement, your possibilities are endless!

Modern Printing Technology Makes Publishing Easy

In the past, publishing your own business book was expensive and time consuming because getting book ready to print and finding a reliable, inexpensive printer required lots of research and work. Plus, self-publishers had to guess how many copies they were going to need.

But these days you can offer print-on-demand copies of your book, which means the book isn’t printed until someone buys it. Or you can offer your business book in a downloadable PDF format so that printing costs are avoided altogether and people can start reading your book immediately after buying it.

Get Industry-Specific

If you have years of experience in one particular industry, then you can write a business book that describes the steps that you took to be successful in that industry and the mistakes you learned from along the way. You can help people who are just starting out to overcome the learning curve, and learn how to follow your steps themselves so that they can achieve the same kind of success that you did.

Plus, many companies looking for ways to save money use well-written industry-specific business books as training materials. You could even offer to customize certain parts of your business book to meet the specific needs of a company if they buy a set number of books.

Writing a Book is Easier Than You Think

The writing task is often overwhelming to people, but you can start small. Books don’t have to be extremely long to be popular. You can write a short, fifty- to 100-page e-book about some aspect of business that you have a lot of experience in and test the market by selling it directly on the web. You can also use an e-book format to write business books for specific businesses, like training manuals or other how-to books or guides.

What Are You Waiting For?

Writing a book not only allows you to try something new, but if you are creative in how you write the book and how you market the book, the venture can be very profitable. If you’re ready to move on and try a different career but you don’t want to start over in a new industry, take the experience and credentials that you have and try writing about that industry instead of just participating in it. You will get a chance to branch out, do something different, and still use all the years of experience that you have built up.

1 June 2011 0 Comments

Anyone Can Sell Photos Online With This Photography Business Book

It is a myth that trade online digital photography course is only for citizens of the United States. Our photo book explains how business can be from Alaska to Australia, a successful photography business.

First, I would say that this is not true, but I must add that the typical consumer of photographs of the United States are due to the large number of Internet users and strong demand from advertisers and Marketing for images of objects, animals, scenes, and many other items not listed in the United States. If you are a simple Google search of images of the diversity of topics they will be photographed and seen on sale. Although you can see a wide variety please pay special attention to image quality will never be accepted as a photograph on the spot, only because the quality is bad. You can also determine the amounts to be charged, what is important, before submitting your image as you want, make sure that sufficient quantities. Be careful when you resize your image that you could cause the quality of your image to lose, to be rejected. The distinction between poor quality compared to quality is not that big of a jump, but simple errors are corrected before the need to actually submit your image for sale. This section is for sale in great depth in the book photography company that helps you, as high quality images is discussed. Ideally, pictures were not altered with image editing programs like Photoshop. Although these programs are for resizing and cropping you quality every time you lose, and great to work with the photo. The goal is to take the perfect shot, without any editing. The best thing about this is that it can be done by anyone, anywhere. You only need an Internet connection, a digital camera, a computer and an Internet connection. Combine high quality with an interesting theme and soon you can sit and look to increase your bank account.

29 May 2011 0 Comments

Jeff Olson’s Book, “the Slight Edge” – a Totally Biased Review

Why did I title this a “biased review”? Because this information is strictly my opinion, assumptions, and reactions to what Jeff has written.

Jeff’s book really made a positive impact on me even though I have read many network marketing, MLM, personal development, and home based business books over the years. This book will challenge your attitudes toward your life, current thinking, and philosophy. Reading this book, it’s really about your life, what you can do for it, and what you can do with it.

With simplistic accuracy, Jeff points out the steps one can take to obtain control of several aspects of one’s life. This includes impacting directly on one’s relationships, spiritual, financial, and health attitudes and beliefs about what one can and can not really control to improve these areas.

The key premise of this entire book is promoting the philosophy and concept of “The Slight Edge” just what it is and how it can affect our lives. Practicing the slight edge in the performance of your everyday activities either has it working for you or against you; brushing your teeth, as an example. If you skip it today is that easy? Yes. Will it make a difference today? No. Over time, will it make a difference? Yes. There in lies the key. Simple daily decisions may either impact you in the long term in a negative, not brushing your teeth, or a positive, any cavities and good gums, manner. The key concept is very simple but can have dramatic effects on one’s life. Agreed? I mean, do you get it?

Jeff presents several situations where you might improve your life and the positive results in easily understood steps and concepts to incorporate into your daily actions. One that particularly struck me was his effective and simplistic way of developing and making obtainable goals in life. His explanation of having a plan to start but not the same plan for the finish, really hits home as I always think of a plan from start to finish without adjustments. It doesn’t exist. Plans are a living entity that must always be reviewed and adjusted, in his words, “plan, do, review.”

His presentations on developing workable goals included the concept of thinking big, envision success, keep the process simple, stick to the basics, and start. Just the starting of a project, being as important if not more important, than the planning. It’s the actions of taking the first step in the direction of your goal that make the difference between “doing” and “deciding to do.” For greater success, double your failure rate. I love this as it is classic grassroots logic. How many times have you heard this or even personally experienced the benefits of “doubling your failure rate?”

All in all, I would highly recommend this book to everybody who is living life today. “The Slight Edge” application of principals and philosophies is far reaching to all people on all levels. Have the personal experience of having Jeff sitting across the table with a cup of coffee and talking only to you as that is the manner in which this book is presented and it’s a fast read. What a positive experience. Take the opportunity to read this book and don’t miss out. It could very well change your life.

17 May 2011 0 Comments

Tax Lien Investing Book Review

Recently one of my clients asked me what I thought about a book on tax lien investing. The book that he asked me about is one that I do recommend on my web site. The name of the book is Profit by Investing in Tax Liens, by Larry Loftis. The problem with books about investing in tax liens and tax deeds is that every state is very different and there is no book in print that I’m aware of that does justice to every state in the U.S. My goal in this article is to give you a short review of some of the books that I’m familiar with and point out the pros and cons of each one.

Let’s start with the book already mentioned, Profit by Investing in Tax Liens by Larry Loftis. Mr. Loftis is an attorney in Florida, and I do find that the best books on tax lien investing are written by lawyers that are also tax lien investors. Mr. Loftis has personally purchased tax liens in nine states and the District of Columbia. In addition he has also either attended tax sales or bid on over-counter liens or deeds in four other states. He or a member of his staff has either interviewed or spoken with tax sale officials from all 50 states. This is probably the most comprehensive and accurate book on the market that I am aware of. It’s great for anyone that is just getting started in tax lien or tax deed investing and wants to know the basics. The drawback is that for some states there is very little information given. As I said earlier, there is no one book that does justice to every state. What I like about this book is that the author didn’t just look up the state statutes in each state (even though he is a lawyer), but contacted county tax offices in every state to find out what actually takes place. I give this one two thumbs up for beginners and one thumb up for experienced investors in tax lien investing.

Another book written by an attorney is The 16% Solution, by Joel S. Moskowitz. Though this book is written by an attorney, it was first published back in 1992, and last copyrighted in 1994, more than 10 years before Profit by Investing in Tax Liens. What I like about this book is that it does not attempt to cover both tax lien and tax deed investing but concentrates on only tax lien investing. As little as four years ago, this was the only book that I could find in print on tax lien investing. Even then, though, this book was already outdated. Not only does each state have different rules when it comes to tax lien and tax deed investing, but these laws and procedures are constantly changing. This book is still good to read and have in your library, but only as an introduction to tax lien investing. Any state specific information is outdated (it doesn’t give too much state specific information anyway), and any contact information is probably no good. I give this book one thumb up for beginners, no thumbs up for experienced investors in tax lien investing.

I’ve heard that the state of New Jersey is the second most popular state for tax lien investing. I don’t know if that’s still true, but I do know that NJ has the most complicated law and procedures for tax lien investing. It is also one of the most profitable and most competitive states to invest in. Until 2005, there was no book in print that discussed tax lien investing in New Jersey accurately. That’s the year that Tax Liens: The Complete Guide to Investing in New Jersey Tax Liens, by Michael Pellegrino, was published. Mr. Pellgrino isn’t just an attorney in New Jersey; he’s an attorney that specializes in tax liens. He specializes in tax lien foreclosures and related litigation, so he really knows the ins and outs of tax lien investing in New Jersey. Although this book doesn’t cover everything for the experienced investor, it does cover what you need to know to get started with tax lien investing in New Jersey. What I love about this book is that it concentrates on tax lien investing in one state, thus it covers what happens in that state more thoroughly than any of the other books about tax liens. This is a must have for anyone that is thinking of investing in New Jersey tax liens and a good reference for experienced investors in that state. I give this book two thumbs up, for both beginning and experienced investors in New Jersey.

When I first started investing a few years ago there was only one book in print about tax lien investing. Today there are several. There are more available than were mentioned here in this article. I want to caution you before you purchase other books that are written on this subject. There is only one other author I know of that I would recommend even though I haven’t read her books. That author is Lillian Villanova and the reason that I would recommend her books is that I know she is an experienced tax lien investor. In fact, I believe that she makes her living with tax liens; she is experienced in more than one state, and has taught others how to invest in tax liens. This is important because there are a few people out there writing books on tax lien investing that have limited experience. They buy a couple of tax liens, do a little research and then write a book. This is not the kind of advice or knowledge that you need in order to buy profitable tax liens. You want to learn from a real expert, who knows what the pitfalls are and can steer you away from them. Maybe that’s why all of the books that I recommend on my web site are written by attorneys.