Июнь 2011

How to Avoid Hiring a Bad Property Management Company in the Oc

In Southern California, especially Orange County property management is an important aspect of investing in real estate.

The profitability of your property is dependent on hiring a qualified helpful and professional property management company. Hiring the wrong management company can mean losing thousand of dollars, or more. Property owners who hire the right OC property management company however, can enjoy the benefits of a lucrative property investment. Some of the most common, and often, detrimental mistakes a property owner makes is not doing enough research. The more research you do, the more you can avoid hiring a bad management company.

Property management companies that also sell properties, often nation wide corporations like Century 21, etc. are often a bad idea. They usually are primarily real estate agents, who also do property management because they want to manage when you choose the sell the property. A property management company like this is not a good idea because they make more money selling than managing. You would benefit more from a smaller, specialized company that deals only with property management in your area and nothing else.

For example, if your property is in Huntington Beach, you should try to find a local expert Orange County property management company that has a much experience in the local area only. Make sure you check the references of your management company’s other clients. Don’t be afraid to make a few phone calls, and get a good track record. You shouldn’t sign anything before you have a good idea that the company you’re hiring is the best at property management in Orange County and one that you can trust. On the other hand, as an owner, you shouldn’t be too demanding of references either. A good property management company will not release all of their clients’ information to you,

because it is private and confidential information. The management company won’t be making an obscene amount of money managing your property, so they can always tell you to take your business elsewhere if you are being too much of a pain. You will do well with around 3 references to talk to, and get an idea of how they work with their clients. Some other things to keep in mind: Is the company licensed in the state of California? Is the company insured? Do they have a fidelity bond to protect you in case an employee mishandles your money? Will they provide you with reports? Will they market your property? How do they deal with late charges? How do they handle tenant complaints? And so on. These are some tips for making sure you hire a good property management company that will professionally and efficiently manage your property, helping you turn your home/apartment/condo/commercial property into a steady investment.

How to Become a Private Investigator in 8 Easy Steps

Becoming a private investigator shouldn’t be all that hard right? I mean many thousands of people have gone on to accept

great private investigator jobs or open their very own successful investigation agency; why can’t you? I’ve boiled down the

process into nine easy steps:

1. Find a quality private investigator school or training.
2. Get licensed, if required.
3.

Get your essential gear and support systems in place.
4. Market your investigative services.
5. Impress your clients with

quality service, every time. 
6. Invoice and collect for your investigations.
7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 as often as

necessary.
8. Find more private detective training and improve your skills. Again, repeat as often as necessary.

Actually, I wish it were that easy but it’s not… though it is not impossible, as many of your future competitors would have

you believe.  After all, no one wants to encourage his or her future competition.

With that in mind I am going to give you

the best advice you will get in our industry:

Commit right now to becoming a lifelong student of the Private Investigator

tradecraft, which means finding a mentor, taking courses, reading books, research, and networking! This is not just for the

short-term, but also for as long as you intend to conduct investigations for business or for pleasure. I commit to at least 5

hours a week to learning more about some aspect of this business; improving my marketing skills, staying abreast of the

changing climate of our industry, studying new methods of skip tracing, surveillance, photography, etc; each are extremely

valuable topics to pursue.

Competency is developed from the study and practice of these skills and competency leads to

success!

Step #1 is the first step in the process for a reason, finding the right school for you is of paramount importance

and will lay the foundation for your future; no other single decision made by someone wanting to learn to become a private

eye is so crucial!  You wouldn’t begin a long journey without a map or a critical mission without a plan if you hoped to

succeed.  A quality private investigator training program should teach you each of the most critical skills needed so that

you will hit the ground running once you are ready.

Finding the right course can be tough! You have to consider a lot of

options and weed through the rip-off courses (and there are more than a few) to find a truly great private investigation

course. Ask about the training director’s background and current investigations business… if they get offended or

defensive, that would be a good sign to stay away. Pick their brain a little; does what they have to say give you cause for

concern or does something feel not quite right? Investigate his or her claims on your own- a little research will go a long

way.  Most importantly, walk away if something is wrong.

Ultimately a variety of courses and books from a few reputable

companies and authors would be in your best interest.  This is a complicated business, the real «pros» all tend to approach

the industry a little bit differently and none of us are able to cover everything 100% in full. Consequently, it would not

hurt to expose yourself to as much information about this business as you can before taking Step #2.

Lastly, I want to leave

you with this: having dealt with thousands upon thousands of people asking questions about getting started in private

investigation I find that the one singular cause of frustration and eventual failure is that new people are too busy trying

to reinvent the wheel rather than enlisting the help of an investigator who is a trusted and proven veteran PI or availing

themselves of his or her training programs.

Give yourself a fighting chance and start with Step #1 rather than halfway down

the list. You’ll be glad you did.

Be patient; be persistent and do not give up on your dreams.

If it Looks like a Pyramid and Acts like a Pyramid

Who gets the Pyramid Quack award?

On our conference call the other day, people wondered how to talk and act so that people would stop asking «Is this a pyramid/one of those things?»

One way is to stop, forever, saying and doing the things that evoke this image in the minds of others — i.e. people «who abuse their friends and try to sell them stuff, and get them to sell and take a percent.»

For years, it’s been all about getting people to sell and recruit. That’s the reason countless people discouraged (and ridiculed) my customer-oriented students, «There’s no money in customers. All the money’s in the recruiting.»

I’ve taught hundreds of classes to those who prefer to amass customers. It’s lucrative in some companies, and many stayed in the business because they learned how to do that, instead of quitting.

But some companies pay you to act like you’re a pyramid type. We will bestow upon them the «Pyramid Quack» award. Yes, here. To encourage them to change their pyramid quacking ways which make their people look bad.

If it quacks like a pyramid…

«a pyramid scheme is…[where] the need to subscribe newcomers outweighs whatever benefits the products or system has to offer. Many MLMs sell distributorships more than cosmetics [name your product or service — KK].» -Coercion: Why We Listen to What «they» Say

Some people don’t know it from the way the business is promoted, but we do two things to make money in the network marketing business:

1) get customers (earn a percent on their orders)
2) Get sales reps who want to get customers and more sales reps (earn a percent on their orders)

So based on what they pay people to do, which companies get the Pyramid Quack award?

One gal, Phyllis, a Tahitian Noni rep for years, told the group this:

Typical order: $120 for the Noni juice per month.
Pay for getting a customer (who doesn’t sell it) to buy it: 6%. That’s like $5 for getting a $120 order.(!!)

With such puny pay, who’d want to go after customers? They don’t, and haven’t, for years, she said. This pay plan tells it all: We pay you to get recruits — people who sell it. We don’t care about customers who just buy it (and who don’t sell it).

So, we were about to bestow upon the Tahitian Noni International pay plan, the Pyramid Quack award.

Then with great pride, she announced to the group: «But Kim, this past year they’ve worked to change it — because I think they heard you. As of May 1, 2006, they are paying 20% for customer orders. So now we get $24 for each of those orders!»

That’s what, 3 days ago? After almost 10 years of being in business.

(This conference call will be up on the Talking about Your Great Thing podcast site later this week, so you can hear the juicy details for yourself.)

Tomorrow’s blog: The story on the pay plans of two more companies: Young Living and Life Wave. Do they get the Pyramid Quack award or not?

Send in your company plan plan info and see if it gets the Pyramid Quack award. (Use Comments below.) Here’s what info to submit:

1. What’s the typical customer order amount? And what do you get (range) if you find them, front line them, and they do NOT sign on to sell anything?

2. Name of company. And YOUR NAME.

Then we’ll check it out, and award the Pyramid Quack award to your company, or not.

After all, if it quacks like a pyramid…

Increasing Your Internet Marketability With Austin SEO

Putting your business up online is probably one of the wisest steps for your career move, shifting from manual marketing and going into the virtual market. However, the predicament of having your website stand out from among the throngs of commercial homepages. Just imagine being in competition with the billions of created Web pages, not to mention many of these as just being garbage and without substance. 
If you are having that specific problem, then you would probably want to seek help in having your Web page be placed in the first two or three pages of search engines. In a key search mechanism of commercial Internet commerce, the most successful and long lasting businesses are usually those who get the most traffic for visitors. Even if the one would only want to have its influence over Austin SEO area, it would be inevitable that the Website would be seen in other places too. 
Help us help you with your next move in Internet marketing success. By seeking our help for your Austin SEO needs, you could be assured that there would be more people accessing your Website, which could potentially convert into profit and sales in products and services. Much like malls and other commercial institutions, businesses wouldn’t want to be put up in a place with impaired accessibility or at a disadvantage.
With our year of expertise in the search optimization industry, Austin SEO makes your Webpage stand out in the crowd of billions of competitors. This perhaps would be the best marketing strategy you may have done since your site listing with us will be linked with the top search engines being used. Along with these benefits from your future affiliation with us, you may be assured that our support would go beyond normal means as we would be providing you with ways to improve keyword building based on the statistical basis of everyday keyword searches.
Austin SEO management is our way of making things work for your Website as well as our reputation. Your choice of affiliation with us would mean that there would be an increased marketability for your part, not only in the Austin SEO domain, but in global listings as well.