Simply Junior

If you’re ready to have your best year ever no matter what (as my coach Lisa Nichols say), then your first step is to plan to do something different. Here are 7 things to consider doing differently in 2011 that will help take you to the next level:

Move from reactive to proactive. Work on fine-tuning your marketing plan so that your results improve at each step of the way: Getting people in the door or in your funnel, qualifying leads, the selling process, improving the number of people who buy from you, and customer retention. If you don’t have a plan, then the first place to start is to get one, even if it’s not perfect or not complete. You can always improve, and my coach Ali Brown says when you take the first step, even if it’s a baby one, you’ve made a tremendous amount of progress toward your goal rather than if you just stood still in inertia. 
Look at one part of your marketing and make a small improvement. Readers tell me they like my newsletter, and I plan to make some improvements to the format over the next few weeks. That’s one example of a really small change that I can make in my marketing that will improve it for my readers.
Systematize something that’s worked in the past and repeat it. No need to reinvent the wheel if you’ve found the magic formula. Do the magic formula over and over again, perhaps more often, and you’ll increase your results. For example, if you’re good at convincing people to buy from you once you have them on the phone, find out how to get more qualified prospects on the phone with you.
Listen to your clients and roll out a new service offering that they are asking for. A huge part of the battle for getting new clients is getting people to trust you. Why not leverage the people who already trust you – your current clients – and serve them in a new way. Increasing your revenue per client is a great way to help your clients even more and to boost you bottom line at the same time.
Hone your skill. We spend a lot of time working on our core competency – the service we deliver to clients – and getting better at it. Why not get better at a marketing skill? This could include working on your public speaking skills, writing skills, selling skills, negotiation skills, and a host of other skills that will help you become more effective at representing yourself to potential prospects. Sometimes we forget marketing is a skill we can learn just like math – especially those of us who are reluctant marketers. 
Measure. How do you know something is working unless you measure it? Add procedures to measure your marketing effectiveness at each step in the process; then you can begin to see where you need improvements. These include numbers such as conversion ratios, sales per client, and return on marketing campaign. When you do this you’ll naturally be able to improve your return on investment for your marketing dollars.
Celebrate. Stop for a second when you reach a goal and celebrate all the hard work you did that paid off and got you there. Give yourself a reward, practice gratitude for what you received, and then set your next goal.

Which one of these tips speaks to you the most? Mark your calendar right now to take one step toward working this tip into your business so you can envision a brighter 2011.

The construction of modern day football boots is much more advanced compared with how they used to be manufactured. In the past soccer shoes were very basic and there was only a small amount of difference between the leading manufacturer’s products. The only visible identifying factor was the logo or brand that each manufacturer included on the boot.

The main football boot materials were black leather and plastic. Nowadays sportswear giants have a huge budget to spend on design and development of new soccer shoe designs. Extensive research goes into how improvements can be made by using certain materials. The aim is often to make the boots more lightweight while still providing ample protection for the feet.

The materials that are used on modern boots are often man made and synthetic fibres are commonly used alongside leather. In some cases, synthetic fibres are used instead of leather as this is a much cheaper option for the manufacturer. Synthetic materials also allow ground breaking designs and the famous Adidas predator boot was one such example. Ridges were included on the boot which helped players to swerve the ball. The use of synthetic material in football boots may not be to everyone’s liking but this is considered to be environmentally friendly compared to using leather.

Another major change in design has been the introduction of blades. These are an alternative to the studs which are located on the soles of football boots. Boots are now made with both changeable and moulded blades just like footwear with conventional studs. One criticism of blades is their performance in wet weather conditions and some managers do no approve of their use for this reason.

There has been some recent controversy regarding football injuries. In particular metatarsal injuries seem to be on the increase. Critics of modern football boot design claim that the materials used in the construction of today’s boots do not offer the same level of protection as the boots of old. They claim the footwear is too lightweight with the emphasis on speed rather than strength. Most manufacturers dispute these criticisms and point out that player safety is of paramount importance to them.

Today soccer shoes have become a fashion accessory as well as an essential piece of equipment for all players. Football boots are designed in a variety of bright colours intended to catch the eye and stand out from the crowd. There are still some examples of boots made with black leather although these are in the minority compared to the more extravagant designs.

Tax deductions are not the top priority for most individual real estate investors. They often work out of their home with no employees, other than those on-site at the property. Challenges (aside from tax deductions) include selecting what property to purchase, screening tenants, repairs, managing expenses, obtaining financing, and deciding when to sell. This article addresses tax deductions sometimes over-looked by real estate owners.

Tax deductions reduce taxable income but do not directly reduce taxes. For example, $10,000 in additional tax deductions will generate $3,500 in federal income tax savings ($10,000 X 35%), assuming a 35% federal income tax rate. Since most require a cash expenditure, increasing actual expenses to increase tax deductions is not desirable. Let’s review fine-tuning the depreciation schedule and reclassifying existing expenditures to increase deductions.

Real estate depreciation is a potent but underutilized source of tax deductions Real estate depreciation schedules are commonly established by just separating land from the improvements. This is analogous to asking a world-class pianist to play a piano which is not tuned and has several keys which are not functioning. The results are just not as good as they should be.

Congress has provided depreciation as a tax deduction to encourage real estate ownership and investment. Numerous court decisions have provided clear guidance for accurately and precisely depreciating real estate. Cost segregation can typically increase real estate depreciation by 50-100% in the first 5-7 years of ownership.

Owners can claim a tax deduction windfall for properties owned more than one year by “catching-up” previously under-reported depreciation. After obtaining a cost segregation report, you can “catch-up” depreciation without filing any amended tax returns.

Another meaningful source of tax deductions is to scrutinize any cash expenditures which are being capitalized. Have minor repairs been capitalized in error? Are there more significant repairs which do not clearly extend the life of a component? Discussing these items with your accountant can yield additional tax deductions Also review items which were capitalized in prior years; can you claim any of them as current year tax deductions?

Child labor can be good when they are your children and you claim a tax deduction. Consult your accountant or CPA but this can generate additional tax deductions of $5,000 per child, upon which they pay no taxes. (If they are feeling generous, they may return the money as a tax-free gift.)

A tax-deductible vacation is an attractive option to make an expenditure deductible. Simply plan a vacation around a business trip for a meeting or seminar. Your airfare and hotel for the business period are deductible. Hotel before or after the business activity and your spouse’s airfare (assuming that your spouse is not involved in business) are not deductible. Half of meals during period with business activity are deductible.

Reviewing personal expenditures can generate additional tax deductions Items used for business such as computer, printer, office supplies, seminars, association dues, and business publications can be deducted. Long distance business phone calls can also be deducted. Self-employed persons can deduct the entire cost of health insurance premiums.

Record keeping for tax deductions does take a modest effort. However, the federal income tax savings make it worth the effort.

Cost segregation produces tax deductions and reduces federal income taxes across the country and in every size market. Below are just a few examples of cities where cost segregation generates meaningful tax deductions.

City:
Las Vegas, NV Boston, MA Tampa, FL Hartford, CT San Francisco, CA Memphis, TN Miami, FL Denver, CO Phoenix, AZ Orlando, FL Boise, ID Chicago, IL El Paso, TX Oxnard, CA Rochester, NY Cincinnati, OH Jackson, MS San Jose, CA Fresno, CA Charleston, SC Omaha, NE Oklahoma City, OK Buffalo, NY Albuquerque, NM San Antonio, TX Charlotte, NC Allentown, PA Austin, TX Baton Rouge, LA Jacksonville, TN

Cost segregation produces tax deductions for virtually all property types, including the following:

Property Type:
Used car lot Research and development Nursing home Lumber storage Truck stop Tennis club Hospital School Movie theatre Lodging

Almost every industry, including the following, can generate cost-efficient tax deductions by using cost segregation.

Industry:
Golf courses and country clubs Textile product mills Nondurable good wholesalers Durable good wholesalers Real estate lesser Electrical component manufacturing Textile mills Laundry facilities Automotive parts distributors Plastic and rubber products manufacturing

A real estate appraisal also known as a property valuation surveyor or land valuer is the practice for evaluating the worth of the real property on ground, usually its market value, value-in-use, insurable value, investment value and liquidation value. These are to be done to know the right value of a property before decisions are made.

A real estate appraisal is highly important to investors. An appraisal is a third party that will come in and decide upon the worth of a property. He will oversee the interior and exterior of the property and other properties in the area and then will proceed to determine how much the property will worth. An appraisal is done for both the buyers and sellers because, while the buyer does not want to overpay for a property, the seller does not want to sell his property for less than its worth. It is highly advisable to buy or sell a property after it has been valued by an appraisal.

Property valuation is performed by an approved or qualified appraiser (also known as estate valuer or land valuer in most countries and in British English as a “valuation surveyor”).

The real estate appraisal is done using various methods such as: cost method, income method, and sales comparison method.

Cost method involves the estimated cost of improvements in the property, value of the land and deterioration factors.

Income method is used to value commercial and investment properties. This approach is generally considered the most applicable valuation technique for income-producing properties.

Sales comparison method compares the sale prices of similar properties that have been sold recently.

Doing a proper appraisal with various methods explained above will help you to know the right value of a property in order not to overpay for a property or sell property for less than it’s worth.

Once you have a budget and you know what you are spending, the next phase is to improve your spending habits. Making your spending more efficient means making your spending in each expense category more efficient, and each expense category has its own techniques of efficiency. By working with each category separately, you can dramatically improve your overall spending efficiency.

Perhaps the largest part of your living expenses category is your food budget, and food spending has its own set of improvements. Since everyone eats, everyone has a food budget. This spending can be improved in several ways, but I want to warn you, there is a certain amount of spending that must occur here. While you can save on your food, you can save even more in other areas. But many people start with saving on the food budget, so let’s cover some of the basics. There are both general and specific techniques of improving your spending on food.

General Techniques

There are four general techniques that can be applied to your food budget and have good results.