Entrepreneurship - The Failure of the Economy Has Brought America Back to Its Roots

By S Koonopakarn

"Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing."

Thomas Alva Edison, American, Inventor & Entrepreneur, (1847-1931)

If the first thing you do when you get home from a hard day's work is to flip on the evening news, it is no wonder to me why we, as a nation, have lost our edge in leading the world economically, technologically, and spiritually. We have lost our way. We were once the nation that was responsible for the creation of the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell, 1876), the automobile assembly line (Henry Ford, 1913), the airplane (Wilbur & Orville Wright, 1903), the light bulb (Thomas Alva Edison, 1879), and even discovered electricity itself. However, there has been a steady decline in American inventiveness that has lead to us to this moment in our collective economic history. Rather than nurturing our greatest asset (creativity) and continuing to lead the world on the strength of our intellectual and creative genius, we have devolved into nothing more than a nation of consumers of foreign products. This is a documented fact that has resulted in an ever growing trade deficit that, unless we drastically change our ways, will keep us in national debt, forever.

For the past few decades, we have only mastered the appearance of being busy. We have given up on all our dreams, found a "comfortable", minimally stimulating job with good pay and "benefits", and turned off our creative brains. Although as children, we imagined, created, composed, and envisioned fantastic solutions to problems we encountered, as adults, we keep busy at our jobs, in front of our idiot boxes, and in our super-sized malls consuming, that we can not even imagine having time to think for ourselves. And in this way, advertisers and big business have us where they want us.

"Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged."

Thomas Alva Edison, American, Inventor & Entrepreneur, (1847-1931)

America still creates and develops the most incredible and cutting-edge intellectual property and products in the world, however it is big business with Wall Street connections that dominates the vast majority of these creations. Huge corporations like Microsoft (with billions of dollars in stockholder and investor money) would acquire all the rights to any potentially promising (or competitive) programs only to impart its corporate brand of mediocrity to it. The eventual result is a product that has been limited in vision and stripped of all its heart and creative passion. This is how we, as mutual fund investors, are subsidizing America's creative failure and promoting our national indebtedness. This is invention in the new, consumer nation of America.

In this new corporate, Wall Street-run state, the inventions to change the world for the better are fewer and further between. And the creators who imagine them, who put their blood, sweat, and tears into them, and who dream of the better world ahead because of their invention are seldom familiar with the ways of business and copyright law and other measures of intellectual property protection. And to them, a few hundred thousand dollars would make a significant and immediate difference in their life. And all too often, the unfortunate end of the story is an idea or invention squandered, a few hundred thousand dollars mismanaged and lost, and an American economy that is incapable of competing against nations that nurture their intellectual talent.

Plenty of creative people hold on to their ideas, however without financial capital, many world-changing ideas die on the vine. Where is the financial support for these ideas that would elevate our economy, as well as, our national pride? Why are we spending billions of dollars bailing out banks and huge corporations that have failed by their own unethical actions without considering that financial support for entrepreneurs and small business, who make up over 50% of the American economy and employ millions more people than big business, would be substantially more effective in keeping our economy from failure? The determining factor was and is that there aren't millions of dollars spent on lobbying for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Bailouts for big business is not the solution for an economy that has been languishing since we have displaced our focus from creating and developing intellectual property and products; it will be the entrepreneurs and small businesses that will power the economy back to strength. However, this can only happen when policy makers create a more supportive environment for entrepreneurs and small businesses. As the credit market continues to be extremely tight despite the big banks being recapitalized by our tax dollars, small businesses, the employers of millions of Americans, suffer to maintain their business operations and pay their employees because of limitations imposed by their big bank creditors. It is a case where those companies who acted selfishly in the first place, were entrusted with tax payer money to act differently-should we really be surprised by their same old selfish actions?

"Be courageous! Have faith! Go Forward!"

Thomas Alva Edison, American, Inventor & Entrepreneur, (1847-1931)

Although all seems like doom and gloom, it is as Thomas Edison said: "Have faith!" Entrepreneurs do not have the luxury of a lot of things, most of all, pessimism. In spite of the concerns of small businesses and entrepreneurs having thus far fallen on deaf ears, this is not enough of a reason for the true entrepreneur to become discouraged. So, I am incredibly encouraged when I see that in this depressed economy, more and more people are seeing and seizing the opportunity. Since the beginning of massive layoffs and the stock market collapsed on the news of the coming recession, there has been an increase in the number of small businesses started. See what happens when creative Americans unplug from their daily "busy work" and have time to dream and imagine again!

To be an entrepreneur is to be courageous. Not much is truly certain, however here is what is certain-lenders, by definition, will and must lend, and so, that day must come around again. And history has shown us that there is no better investment than the passion and drive of the American entrepreneur.

S Koonopakarn is the CEO and Co-founder of Saintly Assistance Financing & Equities Group, LLC, an Atlanta-based investing and consulting company that specializes in real estate and retirement investments. He has the investment plan that will get you back on track to an early retirement without depending on Social Security and without sacrificing lifestyle. Find more articles and creative investment solutions on his blog here at http://www.SecureYourFutureNews.wordpress.com

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Stock Investing Vs Real Estate Investing Profits

By James Leitz

Both stock investing and real estate investing have the same basic financial objectives. People invest money in both to make money from growth and/or income. Growth through price appreciation (increase in value or market price) is where you really make money, the big bucks. Here we compare the two investment options in terms of profitability and other factors.

Let's talk about a $20,000 out-of-pocket 10-year investment in both investment options investing by traditional standards ... like it has normally been done throughout the past 50 or so years. No unusual economic circumstances, no HEAVY leverage (borrowed money) involved. Now let's look at both investment options.

Stock investing: The stock investment is $20,000 invested in a no-load S&P 500 Index fund which tracks the performance of the stock market. Over the long term the stock market has returned 10% a year. This is our assumed return, plain and simple.

Real estate investing: Here you buy a house in Middle America USA for $100,000, putting down $20,000, the traditional 20%. You average 3% a year in price appreciation. You rent it out to maintain an even cash flow. In other words, your rental income covers your mortgage payments, all repairs and maintenance, fees, taxes and so on. Plus, to keep it simple we assume that what you have paid off on your mortgage is absorbed by other expenses over the 10 years. So, if you were to sell after 10 years we will say that you still owe the bank $80,000. Sorry, this investment option is not so plain and simple to describe.

Let's compare the profitability of these investment options.

Stock investing produced yearly average returns of 10%. Over 10 years $20,000 grows to $51,875 when compounded at 10%.

Real estate investing produced average yearly gains of 3% on $100,000. Growing at 3% a year the value of your house grows to $134,392 in 10 years. We are assuming that you still owe the bank $80,000, so the net value of your investment is $54,392. In reality you would owe less with a conventional mortgage. On the other hand this difference could easily be offset if extraordinary costs were incurred over the 10-year period.

You had $20,000 of your own money invested to make money. The score after 10 years: Stock investing grew your money to $51,875 and real estate got you to $54,392 under our traditional assumptions. In terms of profitability there wasn't much difference.

But you and I both know that when you invest money to make money your success really depends on how well you know and play the game ... no matter what arena you invest money in. For example, if you are good at selecting, improving, managing and financing real estate properties you can do much better than the above example.

You can also make over 10% a year in stock investing if you know how to invest in the stock market. The problem for most folks is that they don't know how to invest in stocks, they are uninformed. Hence, stock investing for most folks is risky business.

On the other hand, TRADITIONALLY (not so in 2007-2009) many people are comfortable with real estate investing because they are familiar with real estate (they see it every day and likely grew up in a house). Real estate properties have historically gone up in value without many violent downswings. The stock market usually experiences a downturn (bear market) every few years.

Other basic differences in our two investment options follow.

Real estate properties require active management, and lack good liquidity as an investment. Selling a property can be costly and time consuming. On the other hand, real estate investing has traditionally been a good way to invest money and make it grow without taking much risk. Various investing techniques can be employed to enhance profits ... financial leverage being among them.

Stocks offer high liquidity, meaning that you can sell a stock investment quickly and easily with low costs. No active management is involved; you just buy or sell over the phone or on your computer. On the other hand, you are inviting trouble if you try to make money here and haven't spent time learning how to invest in stocks. Risk is always a factor when investing in stocks, especially if you are uninformed.

A retired financial planner, James Leitz has an MBA (finance) and 35 years of investing experience. For 20 years he advised individual investors, working directly with them helping them to reach their financial goals.

Jim is the author of a complete investor guide, Invest Informed, designed for average investors or would-be investors of all levels of financial background and experience. To learn more about investments and investing and his new financial guide go to http://www.investinformed.com

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Analyzing Your Business

By Jennifer Cools

Starting your own business is perhaps one of the hardest things you have to do. Most individuals want to have their own company so that they would not have to work for others. Yet, you have to prepare yourself for the countless problems you will encounter while building it and maintaining it. Before starting the business, you have to make sure that you have attainable goals. Being able to make your business grow is another undertaking you have to surpass. You have to have the heart that you will make this business a success no matter what.

Not because you are the boss or owner of the company, it means that you will not take time in getting to know how the internal workings of the business it. Everyone in the organization is important so you have to make sure that you hear each out. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of every department enables you to know which needs to work harder. For example, when you see that the marketing department is not doing a good job implementing their strategies, you might want to interfere with it and give them a head's up.

Knowing these things would help you assess the business itself whether it is growing or not. This also gives you a bigger picture of what is happening in the company that you started. Making changes will surely come but you also have to look closely whether it would do you good or better postpone it for a few more months or years. In addition, when you see that there is a new trend or tool related to your field, you could ask your staff to check whether the business would be able to use it or not. Evaluation is necessary in everything you do. You should not trust your instincts at times especially if what you want to try is relatively new.

In each evaluation, honesty is also important because if you do not tell the truth, the business may cease to exist. You have to work with facts here to know what is going on. By merely lying, you are putting not only yourself but also the whole company in jeopardy. Be responsible enough to communicate with your staff and ask them if there are any troubles. Everyone commits mistakes and it takes plenty of guts to do that. However, think of this as something positive since you are telling the flaws and they would do something about it.

Analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (S.W.O.T.), enables the business to become stronger and more efficient. You too would be able to improve the areas that need improvement. As for the well-off areas, you would also have time to assess what else you could do to maintain their stature. The S.W.O.T. analysis is one of the best things you could ever do for your company. Everything you need to know is possible with the aforementioned kind of analysis. You would surely be able to make your company a better one after this.

For more tips and information about article marketing and startrankingnow, please check out our website at http://www.startrankingnow.com.

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Stocks Vs Real Estate - The 4 Ways You Can Multiply Your Money Faster & More Securely in Real Estate

By S Koonopakarn

Between stocks and real estate, most investors tend to stick to one type of investment or the other, depending on what they are comfortable with. But the only issues that should matter when considering an investment is what kind of "true" return on investment can I get verses what is my risk to earn that return. Hands down, real estate is far superior to stocks in terms of both high ROI and security.

Before we begin this discussion, it is important that I point out the major mistake made by just about every other writer who has ever written on this subject; in every comparison of stocks to real estate, either the Dow or S&P values are used as the basis of measuring stocks' performance, however it is rarely mentioned that the Dow is a select sample group of only 30 stocks and that the original companies of the Dow are not the same as the present companies that make up the Dow Jones. Recently General Motors (GM), along with government bailed out Citigroup, were dropped from the Dow because they both fell below $5/share, and they were replaced by Cisco Systems ($20/share) and Travelers ($40/share). The real estate equivalent of this would be to choose a portfolio of properties in the beginning and then removing a poorly-performing shack from the collection and replacing it's valuation with a stronger performing Trump Tower. Such a practice makes it impossible to truly measure the performance of the stock market, however it is clear that whatever gains can be measured are "slightly" inflated, if not completely overstated.

Now that we understand the shortcomings of prior comparative analyses, we will choose to use the S&P 500, despite the previous discussion, with the understanding that this provides a slight advantage to stocks, for we will show that real estate is still superior, even in a comparison favoring stocks. There is an abundance of circumstantial evidence all around us for this fact. The most significant and lucrative investment most people make is their primary residence. 85 to 90% of the wealthiest individuals in the world built and hold their wealth in real estate.

What specific ways does investing in apartments and rental properties help us multiply our money faster? There are 4 major ways:

1. Appreciation. This the gross increase in valuation of the asset. When the stock price increases to a higher value or likewise, when a house increases in value, appreciation is the profit from this change in valuation. Of course, a decrease in value is also possible in both types of assets, and the result of this is negative appreciation. This is the aspect that is most often focused on by previous comparisons. However, despite being the most important income with investing in stocks, appreciation is the least important of the ways of making money in real estate. Individuals who focus on appreciation in real estate are not investors, but speculators, many of whom were the hardest hit because of the burst of the housing bubble.


2. Depreciation. This refers to an estimation of the "loss" of valuation of investment real estate as a result of deterioration or obsolescence. The wear and tear is not tabulated from a list of specific damages, but rather takes the cost of the asset and spreads this cost over the legally estimated useful "lifetime" of the asset, 27.5 years in the case of residential property. When running your real estate investing as a business, this tax deduction can be huge, along with tax-deductable expenses, in offsetting income and legally decreasing your tax liability. There is no equivalent to this in offsetting capital gains from stock income.


3. Amortization. This refers to the building of equity in a property as the mortgage on it is paid off over time. This is another way of expressing the advantage of leverage in investing in real estate-the ability to buy an asset with only 3 to 25% of the purchase price and pay the rest off over time, preferably using the asset's own income, is unheard of in the world of stocks.


4. Cash Flow. This has to be the sweetest money from your real estate investment; after all expenses, this is what is left over to go straight into your hip pocket. This is analogous to stock dividends, however the company in which you hold stock has the ultimate decision as to whether they will offer you a dividend, and they can change this decision without consulting minor stockholders. A properly structured real estate investment will provide positive cash flow FOREVER. And, again, if you run your investment as a business, this passive income will not be subject to self-employment tax.

About the only clear advantage that stocks have demonstrated over real estate is the relatively greater liquidity that is provided by having a ready market of buyers. However, the knowledgeable and experienced real estate investor understands this, and the investor builds a list of buyers and recruits real estate agents and brokers onto his or her team for this very reason. Even in a tough market, as exists today, investors are able to move property and maintain liquidity.

In addition, the clear and widely acknowledged advantage that real estate investments have over stocks-the ability to leverage your money and credit to buy the asset and the tax advantages and other streams of income benefiting owners of rental properties-are often greatly underestimated and understated. The accumulated tax savings and other hidden income streams when added up is a more than significant amount of money; all the annual tax write-offs translates into more money to leverage and reinvest into more income-producing real estate, and this cycle of reinvesting is the process that will multiply your investment money at a rate that the best stock can never hope to keep up with.

S Koonopakarn is the CEO and Cofounder of Saintly Assistance Financing & Equities Group, LLC, an Atlanta-based investing and consulting company that specializes in real estate and retirement investments. He has the investment plan that will get you back on track to an early retirement without depending on Social Security and without sacrificing lifestyle.

Find more articles and creative investment solutions on his blog at http://www.SecureYourFutureNews.wordpress.com.

And coming soon, we will be relaunching the Saintly Assistance Financing & Equities Group LLC Website at http://www.S-A-F-EGroupLLC.com.

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The Two-Word Secret Weapon to Effective Leadership

By Stephanie Robey

Performance. Management.

"Performance Management" is a term coined by Dr. Aubrey Daniels in the late 1970s to describe a technology for managing, both behavior, and results, the two critical elements of what is known as performance. As an entrepreneur and a leader it is critical in your business.

Performance Management includes goal setting and motivation. It means being 100% clear on what you want. It also includes "encouragement" and "rewards and consequences". It is the single thing that can spur people on to greater accomplishments while strengthening their skills. Read that last sentence again.

What does this mean to you as a leader?

1. Constantly communicate your performance expectations
2. Set realistic but stretch goals. (This means, if you already make $1000 per week, set your goal to $2000.)
3. Be forgiving, but be aggressive. (Something's just won't work and accept it.)

WL Gore & Assoc, makers of GoreTex, the versatile and durable fabric used in outdoor products like tents and rain gear is an excellent example. When the company started, money was tight. The engineers had been working on an experiment and ended up wasting $1000 of material. They were devastated.

Mr. Gore walked in and saw the engineers with their long defeated faces and asked what's wrong? After listening, Mr. Gore simply responded, "well, try again tomorrow."

You see, Mr. Gore knew some day that the $1000 was simply an "investment" in creativity and down the road it would look minuscule. He was a true leader and understood the power of motivation and de-motivation and the importance of staying the course.

As an entrepreneur, understand the importance of keeping it positive, staying the course, and seeing the big picture. It'll show up as results not just to the bottom line but also in the lives of those you lead.

Don't manage anyone, but do set the bar high for expectations. Mr. Gore understood that his engineers were just "in the game." He brought the perspective that they were all in it to "win," and to simply try again tomorrow. Do this with your own business and watch what happens.

Performance + Management = Success.

Steph Robey, Internet and Home Based Business Entrepreneur

Stephanie Robey has 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She's started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com. You can meet her at http://www.MeetStephAndDave.com - her current Internet venture.

For a FREE 7-Day Video BootCamp: Self Employed And Rich, go to http://www.SelfEmployedAndRich.com?t=ezines

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Ten Challenges to Successful Self Employment

By Andrew Cox

Being your own boss is so tempting! No more working for the Man. No more politics. Total control over everything. Time to smell the roses. Time to capitalize on all those experiences and skills that you have acquired.

What follows are ten areas of challenge that face everyone looking to make a successful leap from working for an organization to working for themselves. Successful people have stepped up to these challenges and made them work for them.

In the questions that make up the ten challenges there are no right or wrong answers. But each one requires some real thought and decision making. Being your own boss is not for everyone, and every year lots of people find that out. And lots of other people hit the ground running and never look back. Use the ten challenges to decide, commit and prepare so you never have to look back.

First - Motive - Why are you thinking of doing this? What makes working for yourself so attractive? If the answers are based on opportunities to build on what you've already done - as the next step in a career path - as a sound use of resources - that's good. If your answers are focused on a negative - a bad boss, a bad job, a bad career, or anything else that is based on getting away from something, think twice.

Second - Commitment - Are you ready to make the commitment to be successful? What represents success - to you? How good have you been on commitment so far? How passionate are you about what you plan to do? In an organization it's fairly easy to ration your commitment and effort and do what needs to be done to survive. When you are on your own that just doesn't work. You gotta be totally committed . Commitment and passion go together. A friend - a corporate person - once described the condition of the self employed as "the servitude of the self employed." It's servitude only if you're not totally committed and passionate about what you do.

Third - Business - What business will you be in? What value do you bring to the marketplace? Can you express your value to a stranger in thirty seconds? Many people feel they know where they are going and don't need to write it down. That's a mistake. A business plan doesn't have to be a long, complicated document. But it should be a legitimate plan that answers those questions. For many people working in companies the switch from having the prestige of the organization behind them to being a Lone Ranger is tough. You have to know, behave and promote what you do - and state it in ways that have people asking you "How do you do that.?"

Fourth - Customers - Who are you going to sell to - and who's gonna want to buy? What is going to be your market? How are you going to market what you do? Do you have contacts in your profession or industry that can help you hit the ground with that first sale? It's tempting to think of everyone as a prospect, but that's a trap. If everyone is a potential customer, the truth is that no one is a prospect. Be very careful of "business opportunities" that have high entry costs and paint a picture of the whole world as your prospective market. Defining and focusing on a niche is a must.

Fifth - Preparation and Credibility - How prepared and what " chops" do you bring to the table? How have you prepared and what does your target market demand of the successfully self employed? What certifications, product relationships, technical skills, references do you bring to the table?. How does your Summary of Experience and Qualifications read?

Sixth - Critical Personal Skills - What are your influence skills? How are you going to shift from being an authority in an organization to being an influencer in your own business? How will you work with very little leverage? How good are you at asking - asking for work, for meetings, for the business? Do you have the personal discipline to work hard with no one looking over your shoulder?

Seventh - People Network - What are your relationship skills and abilities? Who is in your network. How big is your file of names of people? How big and diverse is your Universe of people? Are you comfortable asking for referrals? How good are you at reaching out for help, relationships, partnerships, associations?

Eight - Baggage - How much mental and behavioral baggage do you have to throw away in order to be successful on your own? What are the things that have to change ? No admin, no HR, Accounting, or PR staff support. The old days of budgets as the barometer of success are over. Not making mistakes as the way to success? Not when you're on your own. All of us carry a set of assumptions built on our experiences. Being conscious of how those assumptions may get in the way of success is critical to change and growth.

Ninth - Sales and Marketing and Business Development - How are you going to deal with going from being in demand in an organization to looking for work? Within organizations work and opportunities go to the most effective people The most effective people are used to being sought out for opportunities and assignments - their phone rings - their E Mail box is full. Even the very best self employed person must constantly be searching for opportunities, for suspects, for prospects - their phone won't ring based purely on capability.

I asked a very successful consultant in the personal development business what was the highest value position in his organization. He didn't hesitate: Sales - getting the business. He felt that was 70% of the equation for success. I challenged that on the basis that the work had to be delivered in order to get paid, to get referrals, to establish relationships for the future. He agreed that was all true, but, in his opinion, getting talent to do the fulfillment work - be it seminar leaders, coaches, writers and course developers - was a hell of a lot easier than getting an effective sales and business builder.

Tenth - Self Knowledge - Are you an opportunity person - or a consequence person? Opportunity thinking is critical to gaining customers. So is optimism - it's a quality that can keep things going even when things look bleak - as they invariably will. How well do you know yourself? How well aligned are your perceptions of how you impact people with the reality of how you affect and impact others? If those are far apart, they need to be brought into alignment. You need to know what you're good at - not just what you think you're good at.

Being self employed covers a lot of different scenarios. No two people or businesses are exactly the same. Neither are their motivations. The answers to the ten challenges in this article will differ tremendously from one person to another - even in the same self employment niche. But the ten challenges can help you determine the why, what, when, where, who and how of your own business. They can help you be more successful - if after answering them, being in your own business remains your chosen path.

Andrew Cox helps his organization clients select, develop and retain the right people in the right jobs. He works with his individual and team clients to help them better understand their own Behaviors, Attitudes and Motivators, and Personal Skills as the critical step to increased success. He started Cox Consulting Group LLC in 1995 after extensive experience in executive selection and development, sales and sales management and organizational development with Fortune 500 companies. He has worked with a wide range of organizations, managers, leaders and emerging leaders. He is professionally certified in the use of a wide range of Behavior, Attitudes and Motivators, and Personal Skills assessments and uses them as key tools for improved success in people selection and development and in helping clients achieve personal and team growth. Contact Andy at acox@coxconsultgroup for a complimentary report on your Behaviors and be amazed at what you can learn about yourself as the first step to increasing your effectiveness in your universe of people. Go to http://www.coxconsultgroup.com for more information on the Cox Consulting Group and to learn more about the tools that can help you and your organization meet and exceed your goals

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