Mid-FEB 2010, Implement a Stress Test!

Much has been said about ‘Stress Tests’ in the financial industry and I’m here to tell you the same practice is needed in our businesses and in personal planning. 

A  Stress Test is easy to perform and can be a great way to frighten yourself into action.

The test is simply a way of seeing how you would respond to a certain set of eventualities. 

When I was in the Marine Corps we practiced war games so we’d be ready in case we actually had to defend our nation, thank God we did because, #@$% happens.

We’d go through exercises to prepare and we’d evaluate our preparedness.

Are you prepared for 2010?

This Stress Tests may help you plan for the next 10 months and beyond.

Scenario#1. What would happen if your income dipped 40% in the next 11 months?

Are you prepared? 

Most folks are not and if you are not don’t worry. Simply begin preparing now. You might say, ‘Well that will never happen’ but it happens every day. People lose their jobs, have health issues, cars break down, kids go off to college, roofs need replacing, etc..These are, for most people,  treated as emergencies rather than expected eventualities so having an emergency fund and a sinking fund in place is essential to managing your finances, business and personal.

Are you prepared?

What is your plan?

People often talk in terms of ‘emergency’ or ‘crisis’ when, in fact, most so-called emergencies are very predictable.  We simply don’t prepare for the expected we ‘wish’ bad things away but the “unexpected” is only unexpected if you’ve spend you time ignoring the inevitable rather than preparing for the eventuality.

#@$% happens, as they say. So prepared for #@#$ to happen, because it will.

This is life and life happens, prepared or not.

Step 1. Determine how much you need to pay your bills-your monthly expenses.

Step 2. Save 3 to 6 months in an Emergency fund and put it in a money market account–NOTE, this is not an investment so don’t put it in the stock market and it is to be used for emergencies ONLY.

Step 3. Set up a Sinking Fund. Corporations have them. They are also known as contingency funds and are simply a pool of money set aside regularly to cover known eventual needs like car replacement, phone replacement, computer replacement, etc..  We all know we’ll have to replace a roof, so save for it, monthly. We all know we have to replace the car, so save for it monthly. We all know that are kids are going to need clothes and Christmas gifts, so save for it,  monthly

Step 4. When the ‘eventality’ comes and they will, resources will be available to meet them.

Then, so-called, Emergencies will sting less, trust me.

Read more here…

7 Keys to Business in 2009 (and the Missing 57%)

The National Association of Realtors immediate past president, Dick Gaylord, gives 7 Keys to Boosting Your Business in 2009. (But he doesn’t talk about the missing 57% – we do.)

1. Get Out There!
2. Pause for a Reality Check
3. Get a Fresh Perspective
4. Place a Bid
5. Foolproof Financing
6. Brush Up on New Laws
7. Get Referrals

At 12 minutes in, he talks about 43% of buyers choosing their agent via a referral. Even though 43% is a lot and having a system that delivers steady referrals is important, 57% IS EVEN BIGGER! And a huge portion of that 57% is going to be comprised of buyers that are ‘referral-less’ and shopping for homes online.

In this current housing debacle, many agents that relied mainly on referrals, are dying on the vine. Our ALG real estate lead system can help you tap into that 57% automatically and consistently – delivering leads straight to your email inbox EVERYDAY.

Here’s some proof  and what a recent client had to say:

“I signed up to be a Rockstar on Tuesday 7 April, since then I have written the following contracts:

April 12th 385K
April 20th 285K
April 20th 140K
April 21st 257K

I have a client coming in on April 23rd to finalize a 550K contract and I have scheduled appointments with 9 clients between May 5th and May 23rd which will translate into approximately 2 million in total sales.

I am currently receiving 200 leads a month but will sign up for at least 400 within the next 2 months after I properly train a couple buyer agents to handle the referrals I will hand out.  …my investment is has turned into clients worth 105K in AGC in less than 2 weeks.  Needless to say, I’m ecstatic.”

Brian Nadrowski
Century 21 United
San Antonio Texas

You can read about our ALG lead system here.