Simply Junior

Chat rooms are a common meeting place for people of all ages and interests. While these are usually created for social reasons, many have been created to offer help, support, and information. Now you can find rooms on a variety of topics, including multiple sclerosis chat rooms.

Multiple sclerosis chat rooms can offer support and advice at any stage of the disease. Especially when first diagnosed, people with MS may want to talk to people who truly understand their disease. While friends and family may be supportive, they do not truly realize what it means to be diagnosed with such a condition. Many people do not have the time to physically go to support groups, so these chat rooms offer them understanding and friendship from the comfort of their own home. They offer people a place to go to discuss their fears and concerns. They can say things there that they may not be able or comfortable discussing with other people. They can reach out without worrying how it will affect their friends or family. The anonymity offered by the Internet can be a true comfort.

They also offer a place to share information. You may know about some new research or treatment that someone else has not heard about yet. Someone else may have tips for a good diet. No matter what the topic, you will be able to share information related to MS and learn new things by talking to other people with the disease. This can often be more helpful than just reading about something or hearing it from a doctor. People in a multiple sclerosis chat room can share their own personal experiences, making it more real and easy to understand.

These chat rooms offer all the benefits of any other chat room, but they can provide more as well. They provide a community of people that will be there for you when you need them, whether it is for advice or simply to talk.

Having a good small business plan will ensure that your journey to success is much smoother. All successful business owners know that having an organized, well thought plan is essential to see the results they expect. Even if the business plan doesn’t give the results that you would have thought in the beginning, you can tweak and change different areas of your process to perfect it.

I thought I would go through a step by step guide to what you need for an effective small business plan. Many people try and start a business without any true expectations for the future other then ‘oh this is going to work’. You have to know exactly what “should” happen so that the surprises are less. In most cases surprises in business aren’t positive.

You must have a plan for many different areas of starting a small business. How are you going to fund the start up fees? How do you expect to sell your product/service? How do you expect to pay your employees? How are you going to promote your company effectively? Most importantly and what most business owners don’t think about is where do you want your business to be in 5…10…20 years?

Creating the right small business plan is all about creating effective systems. A system is something that you can use over and over again in different situations to receive expected results. You at least have some idea of what’s going to happen if you have the right systems in place.

The first step to your business plan is knowing exactly how much money it’s going to take to start your company. None of this has to be a professionally written up small business plan that costs thousands and thousands of dollars hiring an “expert”. Take out a piece of paper and write down your plan. The main thing is that you know exactly how you are going to fulfill your dream of being a successful small business owner.

So what are your opening expenses? Here are some questions you need to answer to find out your estimated dollar amount:

How much money does your product or service cost you? How much money will you charge for your service/product? How much money do you require to live for two years with no profit coming in from your business (safety precaution)? How much will it cost for your employees for 2 years? What are your legal fees? What are your CPA fees? How much will getting a physical location cost you (if needed)?

Every business is going to be different so think about anything that you need to spend money on to get it running. The next step you must consider is how are you going to get this start up money. Are you going to go to a bank for a loan? Are you considering finding a partner that can cover the costs with the agreement you can buy out the company later down the road? Do you want to talk with a wealthy family member about your business? Anyway you choose to get the money doesn’t matter.

Having a thorough small business plan is going to help you get that start up money though. As long as you can show the lenders how you plan on getting a return on their investment, you will be set. It doesn’t matter if you have horrible credit or don’t know anybody that will lend you large amounts of money. You can always find a way. Think outside the box!

Alright the next step should be the simplest for you. You want to write down your complete sales funnel for how you plan to sell your product or service. Go through every step you expect a customer to go through to reach your bank account. What are you selling exactly? How are you packaging the items? Are you providing multiple services and products? What do you expect to be your number one seller? What’s your specialty?

Once you have all these areas done, you have to know how you are going to promote your business and keep the business coming in. This seems to be the biggest problem most business owners have. You know everything there is to know about your products/services, but you know nothing about marketing. That’s expected too. Marketing is an expertise in itself.

If you’ve read much of my blog, you know how I preach about smart marketing. Smart marketing is all about spending your hard earned dollar and getting more then you spent in return. In other words, big return on investment (ROI). Every market will be different and different marketing tactics will work in each of them. You have a huge list of options too.

Newspapers, Yellow Pages, Radio, Television Ads Fliers, postcards, promotion coupons Referral programs Internet marketing Email marketing Holding seminars and special events Business to business referral programs

These are just to name a few of the options you have. You can never go wrong working with other local businesses. It’s beneficial for both businesses and can be something that explodes your business quickly. It should definitely be part of every small business plan.

No matter which direction you take your marketing in, remember to always be able to track your marketing method. You always want to know how effective each method is for your business. Don’t spray and pray! In other words, don’t just buy what that marketing salesman is selling you if they can’t show you how many customers you are getting in return.

Creating your small business plan with all of these areas covered is a great start to having a successful business. You can go in deeper and deeper to have an even more effective plan and you should, but this is a great start for anyone. Once you have the plan, you just have to follow it step by step. It makes your job so much easier. You have too much to worry about already. There is no reason to have to constantly be wondering…’what am I going to do now?’ You need to know what you’re doing beforehand.

Investing in real estate can be very expensive. Investors are expected to put down a larger amount when purchasing a property than do people who purchase a home to live in it. If you purchase a $100,000 house, you may have to put down $20,000 to purchase the property AND this does not include closing costs, taxes or insurance. Then you may have to spend money on top of this in order to get a property ready to be rented out. Investing can be very expensive which is why many people cannot afford to enter the business. The smartest move you could make is to get a partner.

A partner will have many advantages if you are investing in real estate. A partner can pay for ½ of the down payment costs and the rehab costs. This allows both of you to purchase a property with ½ of the money that you would have needed if you purchased the property by yourself. If you are short on funds a partner can be a great way to help in getting started in investing in real estate.

A partner will give you an extra set of eyes and a level of experience that they bring to the table. They are able to give input on how repairs should be done or how to handle collections of rents. Your partner may have a better idea on how to handle an issue that you would have had by yourself. A partner provides a shoulder to lean on when times are difficult. 

A partner will also help in completing the workload. Sometimes you may need to be at the property at a designated time period in order to meet with contractors or other workers. If you are out of town for business or for vacation, then your partner could be available to meet with the contractor. You could swap off with your partner and have assigned weeks in which one of you is responsible for handling all repairs during the week. 

Having a partner can have many advantages. The biggest challenge is finding a partner that has the right temperament and has a compatible personality that you can work with. If you are not able to get along then your partnership will end in failure.

Many people have become millionaires by investing in real estate than through any other form of investment. The reason real estate has paved the way to riches for so many people are because there are so many different ways to become rich. Here are 4 ways to become wealthy as a real estate investor.

The best way to become rich as a real estate investor is to purchase properties at below market value. This allows you to have immediate equity in the difference between market value and your purchase price. If you hold the property for a long time, you are also able to reap the benefits of the appreciation in the home’s value. So how do you find a property at below market value? Here are 4 ways to find under priced properties. 

#1 – Dirty Houses

When you drive down a street, you immediately recognize the one house that has not been taken care of. It may have grass that has not been cut or there are visible signs that repairs have not been made to the exterior of the property. Houses that are in bad shape are referred to as dirty houses. Most homeowners do not want to purchase a property that needs an extensive amount of work. As an investor you can usually purchase these properties at below market value.

#2 – Distressed Sales

Sometimes homeowners are forced in a situation in which they need to quickly sell their property. In exchange for a quick sale they will usually sell the property at way below market value. Anyone going through a divorce, bankruptcy, job loss or relocation is a great source for quick sale.

#3 – Expired Listings

Sometimes homeowners try to sell their property but they are not able to find a buyer. They will usually have a set period of time that they have given to their real estate agent in which to list their property. If their property has not sold at the end of the listing period, it is called an expired listing. The homeowners want to sell their property but are unable. If you contact the owner you might be able to purchase their property at a discounted price.

#4 – Death

When a family member passes away, the family may inherit a home that they do not want. This is especially true if the heirs live out of town. Deaths are listed in the newspaper. You can read through these listings and contact the executor of the estate to see if the heirs are willing to sell. Usually the heirs do not know the value of the property and might be willing to sell it to you at below market value.

The Roth 401(k) plan is becoming a more popular retirement plan option offered by employers. This has become the foundation for many people’s retirement plan. Unlike a traditional 401(k) plan where contributions are made pre-taxed, contributions to a Roth 401(k) plan are made after tax. The benefit, however, is that if the account is open five years and the taxpayer is over age 59½, then all of the distributions are income-tax free.

For 2010, the maximum contribution to a Roth 401(k) plan is $16,500. For taxpayers over the age of 50, an additional $5,500 is allowed as a “catch up” contribution. This amount can be put into a 401(k) plan, a Roth 401(k) plan or any combination of the two.

Why would participating in a Roth 401(k) plan make sense for you?

* If you thought your income tax bracket was going to be higher in retirement.
* Younger people will have many years of tax-free growth and can accumulate a significant amount of money.

There is a phase out for Roth IRA’s based on your Adjusted Gross Income. In 2011 it is as follows:

* Single: $107,000-$122,000
* Married Filing Joint: $169,000-$179,000

What if your employer doesn’t offer a Roth 401(k) plan?

Have a conversation with them and see if they would be willing to adopt this plan. There may be some administrative costs, so not all employers will want to participate. If your employer offers a match, first of all, be grateful. The match, however, will need to be made to the 401(k) plan and not the Roth 401(k) plan.

Action Item: Find out if your employer offers a Roth 401(k) plan. If so, review the items above to determine if this retirement plan makes sense in your situation.