Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
March 10th, 2010
How To Delegate One Key Step Towards Leadership
Delegation one of the critical determining factors for everyone who wants to be an effective leader or manager. And for those of us control freaks lack of delegating skill can be a real show stopper.
Because the harder you try to hold on to things the faster they can get away from you and if you want to extend your reach beyond your ability to do everything at once you must delegate some things to other people.
In my business coaching practice and in our franchise for business coaches we find that delegation is simply frightening for many people.
Why?
First of all you may enjoy doing the thing you have to delegate…
You may think you do it better than anyone else. You imagine it won’t get done properly…
And you know it won’t get done your way. You might even believe if you don’t do that thing you won’t have enough to do.
Know this: whatever you keep to yourself instead of delegating will get shorter shrift than it deserves. These things become bottlenecks in the continued success of your business .
There are four keys to effective delegating.
1. Give the job to someone who can get it done someone who either has or has access to the skills knowledge and resources needed. Also give the job to someone who has time for it. Don’t dump your projects onto someone who has neither the wherewithal nor the availability.
If you do that you are simply setting them up to fail and setting yourself up for disappointment. Don’t just hand your task to the next warm body. Get buyin from the delegate. Are they okay with this thing? Are they enrolled or is this just more work for someone who is already overburdened?
2. Communicate your conditions of satisfaction. Have you ever asked someone to do something and when they came back you said “Oh. That’s not what I wanted at all”? Be sure you have mutual agreement on the critical requirements that define how this job must be handled and what the outcome will look like.
Use SMART goals to clarify the desired outcome along with a timeline for its realization. Also if necessary set up a measurement system that will help you and your delegate know whether things are on or off track.
3. Work out a plan. Depending on the complexity of the delegated task you may ask that the first step be a plan for how to get the rest done. In other cases the request may be simple and a plan not necessary. But think this through.
If you are uncertain as to how something needs to get done but want to make sure it will occur according to some guidelines get a plan.
4. Finally you need a communications protocol how are you going to get updates and give feedback or advice? When are you going to speak or meet? How frequently? Will they send you an email or a formal progress report? Create some predefined mechanism to keep you informed and to give them an opportunity to seek guidance if appropriate.
There is a big difference between delegating and abdicating. When you abdicate you are saying I’m neither responsible nor accountable for the results. When you delegate you are still accountable. You are asking your delegate to do the work and therefore be accountable to you.
“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” General George S. Patton
About the writer:
Paul Lemberg is the president of Quantum Growth Coaching the world’s only fully systemized business coaching program guaranteed to help entrepreneurs rapidly create More Profits and More Life(tm). To get your copy of our free special report with detailed steps on how to grow your business at least 40 faster even when you arent sure what to do next go to www.fastergrowthnow.com.
Posted in Business
March 9th, 2010
Buying A Home After Bankruptcy
If you’re planning on buying a home after bankruptcy you’ll want to read this article carefully.
Buying a home is probably the biggest purchase you will ever make. Having a bankruptcy on your credit report adds an extra challenge.
If you’ve read my book After Bankruptcy Credit Solutions then know that many people who have had a bankruptcy apply for credit and loans the wrong way.
Mistakes in this arena can cost you 10000s in extra interest and other finance charges. Let’s look at an example:
You finally find the home you’ve been looking and the seller’s asking price is reasonable. So you apply for a 250000 thirty year loan to purchase the home.
You fill out a mountain of paperwork… sign here initial here sign here etc. Then not to long after that the lender call you with great news you’ve been approved!
But don’t pop the cork on the champagne bottle just yet. Sure you were approved but at what cost?
You were able to get a 250000 thirty year loan at 8. That means that over the life of the loan you’ll pay 410388.12 in interest.
What if you had been able to take specific steps to increase your credit score and shop loans and as a result reduced interest rate by 1. In that case you would end up paying 348772.12 in interest.
The 1 difference comes out to 61615.87! If you were able to achieve that by taking some very specific steps that would have been EXTRA money in your pocket!
What’s the point of this example? You simply can’t afford to get it wrong when it comes to buying a home.
Let’s look at the RIGHT way:
First if there was ever a time where it’s critical that you’ve increased your credit score before shopping for a loan this is probably going to be it.
So you want to increase your credit score. By the way if you’re trying to qualify for a loan and time is of the essence there’s a way to increase your score in as little as 72 hours!
Next you want to have mortgage broker on your team. If you’ve had a bankruptcy they can be invaluable. But you don’t want just any mortgage broker.
You need to interview a few and ask them some very specific questions. It’s really important that you have the RIGHT mortgage broker in your corner.
A good mortgage broker will have access to several lenders and know which one is appropriate for your situation. They will also be able to walk you through the entire loan approval process.
Only after you have lined up financing should you begin to look for a home. Of course you’ll want to interview a number of real estate agents.
But what if you can’t get approved for a conventional loan? Don’t worry! There are a number of strategies you can use to purchase if you can’t qualify for a traditional mortgage.
In fact with one of the strategies it doesn’t matter if you have terrible credit or even if you are unemployed… you can still qualify!
Copyright (c) 2006 Innovative Solutions Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER:
This information is designed to provide only a general overview of the subject matter herein.
This information is provided with the understanding that neither the publisher nor author is engaged in rendering legal accounting or other professional advice. If legal or other expert assistance is required the services of a professional should be sought.
Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss or damages including but not limited to special consequential incidental or other damages caused by the information contained herein.
About the writer:
R. Lawrence Anderson is the author of After Bankruptcy Credit Solutions which shows individuals how to qualify for credit loans after bankruptcy. For more information visit: http://www.bankruptcycreditsolutions.com
Posted in Business
March 8th, 2010
A Personal Mortgage Experience
I dont know what the mortgage situation is around the world but here in England the mortgage industry is a constant point of debate. It used to be that everyone aspired to having a mortgage on a nice home you know the kind of house with enough rooms to cater for the average family with 2.4 children. I was no different myself when I first wanted to get on the first rung of the housing ladder ten years ago.
At the time I was living in a council flat (a government housing apartment) with my husband and our baby daughter. The apartment was a fairly decent size but I had gone back to work and my partner was working long hours so we thought that we wanted to stop renting and take out a mortgage to buy our own house.
I felt quite strongly that I wanted to have a mortgage so that we were not paying dead money in rent. We looked around the area we were in for suitable house nothing too fancy just a comfortable twobedroom property with a small garden for our daughter to play in safely as she grew older. We narrowed down our choices to get an idea of what size of mortgage we required. The next step was to approach a number of mortgage providers to see who offered the best rate for our needs.
It was rare to be able to obtain a mortgage that covered 100 of the propertys purchase price but we were lucky in the fact that a member of my family was happy to make up the shortfall for our deposit. After a few weeks we had our mortgage set up and put in our offer for the house we both loved. All that was left then was to wait to see if the house seller would accept our bid. That was one of the longest waits I had ever had up to that point! Finally we received the call that told us that the house was ours! The paperwork was all exchanged and the money from our mortgage transferred into the buyers account. Now we could make arrangements to move in and look forward to a long and happy life in our new home or that was the hope at the time.
Unfortunately my marriage broke down after only a year in our new home. I contacted the mortgage company to see if I could take on the mortgage myself. Sadly the amount of money I was earning was not enough and the mortgage company refused my application. I had no choice but to try and sell the house and find a smaller property that I could afford by taking out a mortgage in my own right. The house prices in my area and the majority of England too were rising at a ridiculous rate and fewer people were able to take out a mortgage to cover the inflated costs. This was the problem that I faced. Eventually the reality sank in that I was going to lose my house and have to go back into a council apartment and that is exactly what happened.
I know my story is not unique by any means but the situation has got to the stage in this country that no one can afford to get a mortgage to cover the high cost of houses and apartments. This is not restricted to firsttime buyers either. I strongly believe that the housing market is going to crash in the near future as there are too many houses for sale that people are unable to obtain a mortgage to buy. The average salary in this country is too low to qualify for a 100 mortgage on a middle of the range house or apartment. I know I am not alone to be in the frustrating situation that I am in at present but I am still positive that the situation will change in the near future and mortgages will be available to cover the cost of a new home. I am looking forward to that day so that my new family and I can stop paying dead money in rent and get a mortgage to buy our own family home.
About the writer:
Cheryl Lind is the owner and operator of http://www.yestomortgage.com . She is dedicated to helping people get the information they need about mortgages.
Posted in Business