Marketing Strategies

How to Start a Lawn Care Business

Posted on August 18, 2018 by

Starting a lawn care business is not that difficult. Just look at how many young teens are running around with a trailer and some pretty nice equipment. It's not rocket science, but you do need to have some direction. Choosing the right direction takes some knowledge and that is what we are going to give you.

What do I need?

The first thing you need is a desire to start and run a successful business. If your heart is not in it, then you might as well go home. The next thing you need is to write up a business plan for your new venture. This includes coming up with a name for your business, listing your startup expenses, writing a mission statement, and creating a list of short-term and long-term goals. Develop a list of several points that will be key to your success. Finally, you need to lay out the steps you need to take to meet your short-term and long-term goals.

What should I name my business?

Obviously, one of the easiest names to pick is your own, but some people like to get creative and choose names like Razor Lawn Care or Above the Hedge.

What equipment should I get?

This is one of the most important steps to the success of your business. It is the difference between being professional and well … not . You need to get commercial grade equipment if you want to succeed. The amount of use and abuse your equipment is going to have is very substantial. I'm sorry, but Wal-Mart brands are not going to cut it. You need brands like Toro, Husqvarna, and Exmark. To start out with you are going to need a good walk-behind mower, edger, trimmer, and blower. As your business grows you can add a zero-turn radius mower and other equipment as needed.

How do I get clients?

Ok, so you have your business plan, your equipment, and a will to make things work. Now what? Get some clients. Starting out is the toughest time to get clients. The key is to display yourself and your equipment in a professional manner. First impressions are everything. Once you have established yourself, you will not have to work nearly as hard to get more clients. The easiest and cheapest way to get started is to exhaust your circle of influence. That is family members and people that you know. Then you can make some business cards, signs, and flyers. They are not that expensive and you can pass them out pretty easily. If you're still not getting enough clients, then you may need to start going door-to-door. Remember to present yourself and your equipment in the most professional way you can.

What price do I charge?

Pricing is a sticky issue. Nobody has a set formula that is easy to apply. It all depends on your location, competition, customer, and the job. I personally have a $ 25 minimum that I charge for extremely small yards …

How to Make Money – Inflation

Posted on August 17, 2018 by

You learned how to make money, only to have it taken from under your nose by inflation !? What can you do about it? There is a solution.

I've lived in countries where inflation was taken seriously when it got over 10% per month. Yes, per month – not per decade. We've been spoiled in America thinking that 1% per year is a disaster. Maybe not spoiled, just lolled into a false sense of security. We think, "1% is not that bad". But, did you realize that inflation compounds year on year? That means 1% times 1% times 1% grows very quickly and grows into a monster much bigger than 1%. You think it makes no difference? I'm not going to bore you with math, but a couple of decades can destroy your hard-earned savings. You knew that, did not you?

How about a lifetime building up a retirement plan? Over a lifetime, you can go from cars that used to cost a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands. The cars have not gotten a thousand times better – it's the purchasing power of the dollar that has tanked. I'm not here to ruin your day, just warn you that your dream of a safe, secure, comfortable retirement may be just that – a dream. The dream may become a nightmare if your monthly fixed retirement income can not keep pace with the cost of living. Why are there so many bent-over seniors toiling in the supermarkets? It is very, very sad to see this.

Between home, work, and jobs, where would you rather spend your retirement years?

The purpose of this article is not to alarm, but point out that serious action is required to avoid a disaster during your twilight years. Why would it be that we all think we'll never grow old and never die? I can guarantee that we all will die, at a young or old age – it will happen. What if you retire and live on for another forty years?

Infection means you may buy groceries with your retirement today, but go hungry ten or twenty years down the road!

That was the somber news – now for the really bad news.

Our nation is entering into the worst recession in our lifetimes. The employment situation is going to get worse before it gets better – and that may take many years. Did it happen to you that the people who contribute to retirement funds are the people who are working? Pause for thought – fewer and fewer people are working. More and more people are reaching retirement age and living longer. You do not need a math degree to see that, as a nation, we're in trouble. How about higher taxation to make up the difference? Do not think so – though, it can not be totally ruled out.

We're heading fast into an era of bigger government. The Reagan years of "smaller government is better" are over. Bigger government is …

Expert Advice For Helping Your Home Business

Posted on August 16, 2018 by

Every year, millions of American adults discover the pleasures and successes of owning and operating their own business from the comfort of their own home. Whether you are already employed full-time or part-time, the role of a home business owner is highly flexible and can be adjusted to accommodate any existing schedule. These tips and tricks offer excellent insight into the world of home business.

When preparing tax statements for your home business, do not put down any discounts that you feel you can not uphold. If you can not prove it on paper in your tax file, you certainly will not be able to prove it with a tax auditor breathing down your neck. If it does not feel right, do not take it.

When you are in the hiring process, do your research. Poor employees can turn a successful fledgling business into a flop, so be sure that you hire reliable people with the skills needed to help your company grow.

Attracting clients to your home business is integral to its success. Social media because of its popularity can be a critical medium for advertising and marketing your business. Your business should have its Social Media feed. You can also find creative ways to market your business on websites like Reddit and Digg. Finally, since you are working from home and likely using the same computers for both personal and business use, make sure to keep the accounts separate!

Do not be afraid to ask for help with your home business. Asking for help shows that you are strong enough to realize that you can not solve every problem. Asking about what you do not know is a great way to learn what you need to learn. By asking people intelligent questions, you will get the help you need.

Figure out what you will name your business and set up a website relevant to your business name. It's easier than you may think to have your own website and you can get your own domain name for as low as $ 9. You can also expand your business with a website.

If you plan on selling products from your home business online, you must be sure to choose a good merchant account. A merchant account will enable you to accept credit card payments both online and offline. A top-of-the-line merchant account should have totally secure transactions, be able to be integrated into your shopping cart software, and should deposit payments to your bank account in a timely manner.

Take the time to showcase your knowledge of your product to others. Write online articles and put your contact information in them. Search for seminars that you can participate in and think of other opportunities to become involved. The reputation of your home business will increase the more you put yourself out there.

As you have no doubt discovered from reading this article, starting up and succeeding at your own home business is a potentially lucrative opportunity that can be …

Free Anonymous Online Health Insurance Quote Tips

Posted on August 15, 2018 by

Before you search for any more quotes, read right through to the end and you will be glad you did.

1. No two health insurance quotes are ever the same. This is because people that request a quote are unique and comes with their own health needs. So don’t look at the one made for your colleague.

2. Before you ask for a quote, make sure that the agent or broker is licensed to sell and provide insurance.

3. Do not be fooled, everyone is claims to offer their service at the best affordable price. Do compare rates from a number from a number of companies.

4. There is no one best health insurance quote. Request multiple quotes and compare several health insurance quotes from different sources.

5. Search online for the best possible quotes. This is the best place to start your search.

6. Make sure you ask as many questions as possible to unveil and kind of sugar coating.

7. It must be free and must not come with any obligations.

8. There is no need for the agent to come to your home or office to bother you. If they insist on this, skip them and look for another one.

9. It should not take long to get a quote. Give them 24 hours max and if they don’t get back to you – do what I do, move on!

10. The quote must clearly explain and list all deductible options – the deductible to be paid before funds are released.

11. Must clearly state all Out-of-Pocket costs. This will depend on the level of health insurance coverage.

12. Must mention something about covering the doctor’s charges.

13. Must have something about the price of the doctor’s medicine.

14. Must make sure you understand the terms of the contract before signing on the dotted line.

15. Check if the service does not have any unnecessary extra features that will cost you.

16. It must clearly state all managed care plans offered – if there are any.

17. Don’t be pressurized into signing – not until you know the offer meets your expectation. These things can get costly and may lead to lapses with your premium contributions.

18. It should have an unhandled exception.

19. Make sure it provides coverage for wellness plans and preventive medicine.

20. Must have a good after sale support system. The broker who produced a quote for you should always be accessible and not refer you to other parties unknown to you.

21. Must clearly state the amount of premium required.…

UBS Financial Services – What Do They Do?

Posted on August 14, 2018 by

UBS Financial Services is a global company that provides a full range of financial services to individual clients and companies all over the world. In an increasingly globalized world economy that the kind of international expertise that UBS Financial Services can offer is a distinct advantage to all types of client that need to manage their wealth. UBS offers a service that reflects the global nature of financial markets.

UBS Financial Services has offices on every continent. It operates in Switzerland, the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. If even this comprehensive network does not put you near a branch of UBS Financial Services you can use the banking online service. UBS Financial Services online banking offers the convenience of making decisions from the comfort of your own home and provides the same range of wealth management and investment services.

Individual customers can benefit from a complete range of financial services. UBS Financial Services offers annuities,401K plans, securities, mutual funds, fund management, wealth management, life and health insurance programs and trust funds. In addition UBS Financial Services can provide an attorney network, Roth IRA accounts, estate planning, account management, retirement distribution analysis, educational funds and fund management and lines of credit. In other word UBS Financial Services offers all the services you would expect to find in a worldwide financial service.

For businesses of all sizes UBS Financial Services offers a comprehensive range of services. UBS Financial Services can provide a customized package consisting of employee stock ownership management, retirement services, corporate cash management, consulting and a global expansion option. Whatever size of business you run UBS Financial Services has something to offer.

If your business already operates globally then UBS Financial services can offer specialized services including rates and currency calculators, equities, fixed income, investment options and help with employee benefit and retirement packages

Non-profit agencies can benefit from UBS Financial Services because the company is sensitive to the specialist needs of this sector. UBS Financial Services is aware of the regulations that effect the disbursement of funds in the non-profit sector. Government agencies, banks and other other lending agencies work with UBS Financial Services enabling the company to develop a unique expertise in this field that can benefit large or small non-profit agencies.

UBS Financial Services operates a specialised online trading system that allows the client to input trades directly. A client who needs advice can work with a financial advisor to develop a portfolio of investments using the expert knowledge of UBS Financial Services. Both companies and individuals can take advantage of this service. This can be done in one of two ways. A brokerage account can have a flat rate fee on each trade or can be charged on the assets in the account. An individual or company that have a high number of trades will benefit from the second type of fee structure if they keep an steady balance in their asset account.…

The Three Components of Financial Planning

Posted on August 13, 2018 by

A financial plan has different levels and its purpose is to ensure the security/safety and growth of the person. There are three levels in the financial plans. These are the safe and secure plan, the comfortable plan and the rich plan. The meaning and relevance is evident from the terminologies.

The Safe and secure plan has three components:

the protection component

the savings component

the growth component

The protection component consists of the basic car and home insurance, liability umbrella, disability and health insurance. This also includes life insurance. In case the person has a family, all these should make sure the family is able to do whatever they want to do regardless of whoever dies or gets disabled. The person should focus on strategy and not products. For instance, if a person wants to buy life insurance, he should focus on how he is interacting with the insurance company and things like that, rather than on the product. Almost all the insurance companies offer the same products. So, wasting a lot of time choosing between the different insurance companies is not necessary.

The second component in the safe and secure plan is the growth component. This necessitates putting away three to six months of expenses in a very safe and secure account. This is very important to ensure that the family will continue to live, if a person stops to earn. A lot of families suffer when the person earning the income becomes disabled or dies. Keeping away money that can cover the family expenses for sometime is the solution for these problems. Benefits offered by the hiring company should also be looked up. This can take different forms. Retirement plans should also be considered since we have to consider it as a saving plan. It is a great accumulator of money as there is some discipline in that you can’t spend the money.

The third component of the safe and secure financial plan is the growth component. This is where the real wealth gets built. This might start with putting a little bit of money in stock account or mutual funds depending on the financial capacity of the person. This component is also the transition from the safe and secure plan to the comfortable plan.…

What is Financial Management Rate of Return (FMMR)?

Posted on August 12, 2018 by

Financial management rate of return (or FMRR) is a return conceived (at least I think it was) by the Commercial Investment Real Estate Institute (CIREI) and is taught to those who seek the CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) designation.

Having taken several courses at CIREI, I do know at least that they promote the FMRR return and teach how to calculate it. And given that I have never heard the term used elsewhere, I’ll simply give them the credit for the financial management rate of return with the reservation that I might be mistaken and that it might actually have originated elsewhere.

Fair enough.

Okay, so what exactly is a financial management rate of return, what does it signify exactly, and how do you compute it?

The idea behind the return is that investors often are confronted with selecting among alternate investments which IRR (internal rate of return) doesn’t adequately provide, therefore it became necessary to introduce this return so investors can make par basis comparisons between investments (i.e., apples-to-apples).

The basic components of FMRR (according to CIREI) are based upon the notion that real estate investors seek to maximize their long-term wealth and as a result must account for positive after-tax cash flows.

In other words, if an investor is collecting one thousand dollars a month from a particular rental property after financing and taxes are evaluated it can be assumed that those funds would not be buried under a mattress. That the investor would instead option to deposit a portion in the bank and collect what the institute calls a “safe rate”, and in turn reinvest certain minimum amounts in excess of those funds in some other “run of the mill” investment and collect after-tax yields in what they term as a “reinvestment rate”.

As a disclaimer, CIREI adds that the funds placed in a “safe rate” account are assumed to be highly liquid and can be withdrawn on a moments notice without loss of either principal or interest, and the funds yielding the “reinvestment rate” are those that would not be needed to meet other cash requirements of the property.

The computation for FMRR is highly complex. In fact, other than my own real estate investment software, I’ve never seen any other software solution tackle it. Here’s how it works in concept.

After-tax cash flows for any particular investment are projected out over some number of years on an annual EOY (end of year) basis. Any negative cash flows get discounted back at the safe rate until they are removed by prior positive cash flows (where possible) and positive cash flows (if any exist) are compounded forward at the reinvestment rate.

Let’s assume that we want to compute the financial management rate of return based upon the cash flows we expect starting EOY 0 (our initial investment) through EOY 6 (when we expect to sell the property).

If at the EOY 2 a positive cash flow of $50,000 is expected and a negative cash flow of $60,000 …

Financial Advisor – What to Look For When Picking One

Posted on August 11, 2018 by

A financial advisor will help you make the right decisions regarding your present and future financial condition. You do, however, need to make sure you have the right person doing the advising or they can lead you in the wrong direction and cause you to lose everything.

It is a fact that most people will need the help of a financial expert at some point in their life. You will need their assistance with retirement plans, finances, investments, insurance, estate planning, or your income taxes.

When you use a financial advisor, they are able to guide you through all of the rules, regulations, and the complicated federal and state laws. It is through their recommendations that you are able to make your plans more solid. You know that you are on the right track when your advisor tells you so and advises you on how to keep everything going in the right direction.

Even a person who is not on the right track can benefit from what a financial advisor has to offer. As a matter of fact, these individuals can go from being “down and out” to landing on their feet and establishing a stable financial future.

Choosing the right financial advisor

The financial services industry is offering more and more services to individuals. Rather than just providing advice, the service range is much broader. This means the first thing you need to know when looking for advice is what service you want to take advantage of. Financial advisors come in different forms. They come as investment advisors, financial consultants, investment consultants, or another title suggesting the same. No matter their title, they all state that they offer the best financial services available.

It is up to you to find out whether or not the claims that they offer the best financial services are true or not. Here are the steps you need to take to find the best financial advisor for you:

Compile a list of advisors you want to check out. You can check your local telephone book or do a search online. You can also locate financial advisors through an Internet search.

Make an appointment with each company you are interested in. This hour of consultation may be free or it could cost you up to $150 or more. The time should be spent with you telling the financial advisor what you want. Be sure to be prepared by having your net worth, a statement of your income, and what your goals are. Preparation can keep you from having to pay out a large sum of money for the advisor’s time.

Confirm what the financial advisor’s fees are. Ask how they are paid, how much they charge, etc. Those such as tax advisors and estate planners may request to be paid by the hour, while others may be paid through commissions they earn when facilitating stock trades.

You should always request an “ADV form.” Each financial advisor that is legitimate and manages over $25 million in …

Entry Level Financial Analyst – 7 Surefire Ways to Land the Job

Posted on August 10, 2018 by

Entry level financial analyst positions can be very competitive, especially in today's economy. However, just like with any other positions, there are always a few things that you can do in order to get the job that you are applying for.

Here are a few tips that you can do in order to get yourself an entry level financial analyst job:

1. Connections are important. Just like with any other positions, having a connection is very important in trying to get a job inside any company. Try to think of some family, friends, or associates that you might know who work for a company who could possibly be seeking for an entry level financial analyst position.

2. Fix your resume and cover letter. The first thing that employers look at is the candidate's resume and cover letter. No matter how smart or experienced you are, you may not be able to get yourself an interview if the employer is not impressed with your resume.

3. Be confident. Once you have finally gotten yourself an interview with an employer, do not blow it with your fear and insecurities. Be confident in yourself, because that confidence will somehow show during the interview process. If you are scared and insecure, your employer will see through that and will be turned off by you.

4. Dress for success. This can sound like a small factor, but believe that this is one of the most important things that employers look at during an interview. If you are dressed like a successful person during the interview, your employer is going to see you as a successful employee, and that gives you a better chance of being hired.

5. Show some personality. Nobody wants to hire a robot. Employers look for candidates who have an excellent personality who can get along with the other employees.

6. The future of the company. During the interview process, show your future employer that you are interested in the company's future, and that a few years from now, you are still a part of the company. Nobody wants to waste time and money, hiring someone who is going to leave after a few months.

7. Last but not the least, differentiate yourself. You want to leave an impression that can last for a while. You want to be the candidate that your future employer is thinking of even after interviewing a few of the other candidates. Show that you are different, and your employer is going to appreciate and remember you.

Good luck on your search, and I hope that these tips above can help you find the entry level financial analyst job that you have been looking for! …

Financial Advisor Jobs – How to Grow Your Practice Through Referrals

Posted on August 9, 2018 by

If you're in a financial advisor career, you're probably like I was when I was a financial advisor with American Express: always seeking to increase client acquisition.

If that's you, read on for one of my client acquisition strategies that worked amazingly well.

The key to growing your financial planning practice chock is full of affluent clients is to get clients by REFERRAL from existing clients.

This is by far the easiest, least expensive and fun way to grow a financial planning practice. Most financial advisors simply ask their clients for referrals. Then, the client says something like "I do not know of anyone right off the top of my head, but I'll keep you in mind."

Not the answer you're looking for.

I used a simple strategy that will get you more referrals than you could ever be able to handle (which is a good problem).

I call it INSERTION. I inserted myself into my client's lives. Insertion is a powerful strategy, because it does double duty – it cements the relationships you have with your existing clients, while exposing you to all their friends and family.

And the INSERTION strategy is easy to implement. It takes 3 things:

1. To be warm, outgoing and friendly.

2. Let your clients know you are open to coming to their life events (weddings, funerals, etc.). You can do this very subtly, by suggestion, not by outright asking.

3. Go to the events you're invited to by your clients, with an eye out for gaining more clients. Be balanced here. You're not at the event to have a good time and hang out, but you're not there to shove your business card in everyone's face either. Be mindful to have an enjoyable time, while letting the people at your table – and the people that you'll connect with at the event – how you know the host or hostess. When their friends and family find out you are the host's financial advisor, they'll ask more questions if they want info.

Do not give them information overload! Have a short, compelling elevator speech ready, and slip them a card. Ask them for their card also. Then tell them you will contact them on Monday morning to chat more.

Be casual, professional, and engaging.

And above all, remember that the event is about your client, not about you getting more clients. That just happens as a very nice side effect.

The more you hang out where your affluent clients are hanging out, the deer into their circles you will be able to insert yourself, which means soon you'll be doing business with many of their friends and family.

The INSERTION method works. I used it for years, and had fun doing it! And more importantly, provided a great value and service to my clients, their friends, families and associates. …