Resolution: Increase Your Income

Let’s start with some simple arithmetic. Joe Ordinary is 25 years old, makes $28,000 a year, and gets ordinary 3% to 4% yearly increases. Over a 40-year career, he makes approximately $2.3 million. Elwood Blues is not satisfied with ordinary. He follows the advice he gets here every morning and averages a 6% increase in wages over the same 40-year period.

By the time Elwood retires, he’s earned about $4.3 million. As you can see, increasing your income — even by as little as 3% or 4% a year — can make a giant difference over the course of a lifetime. Imagine what would happen if you could do even better than that!

Well, you can. Today, I want to talk about how you can get BIG salary increases — double, triple, or even quadruple what your peers get. And to get your New Year started right, I want you to set a “category-A” goal for yourself — to increase your salary by at least 10% this year. Let’s start with a very short discussion about how salaries work in a normal, free-market economy.

Businesses exist to make profits. As an employee of a business, it’s your job to perform a function that helps produce those profits. The more important your work is seen as being in terms of creating profits, the greater your salary is likely to be.

Thus, salespeople generally make more than accountants and profit-center managers have higher salaries than engineers. In other words, if you want to get a higher salary from your boss, you have to make yourself more valuable to her. So that could be a “category-B” goal — to make a resolution that you will find a dozen ways (say) to become more valuable to your boss.

Take a moment right now and list the ways you are currently valuable to her. Then make another list of things you can do to increase your value. That list will be a good source of ideas for writing up your monthly objectives. This month, for example, you might make it a point to get your boss her most important report a day earlier than normal.

Next month, you might tell her she can delegate to you the sales call she hates to make. As the months roll by, your boss will recognize that you are operating at a higher level. She may be surprised at first — even threatened a little, if you aren’t diplomatic about it — but she will appreciate how you are making her work life easier and more productive. And she’ll begin to depend on you.

Eventually — and this may happen in four months or it may take a year — she will see you as an entirely different and more important employee than anyone else she deals with. She will begin to think of you as indispensable. At that point, you will have no trouble getting that 10% raise. You might do much better than that.

Here’s a key point: The habits you will develop this year in order to get yourself the 10% raise will be the same habits you need to double or triple your salary in the future. Superstar employees don’t do a hundred things better than ordinary, good employees. They usually do just a handful. You’ll discover and perfect your handful this year in seeking to please your boss, and you’ll be able to use your new skills to go all the way to the top. One caution: It’s not enough just to do a better job and make your boss’s life easier.

To get that raise you want, you sometimes have to ASK FOR IT. You have to promote yourself not only when your salary review comes up but throughout the year. (Remember, it’s your responsibility to make sure you get noticed — it’s not the responsibility of those you work for.) Another caution: Sometimes, what you have to do to please your boss is not necessarily the best thing for the business. Some businesses — and this happens more often with larger, corporate businesses than with growing enterprises — become fractionalized and politicized in parts.

In such businesses, it’s possible to get a job working for someone who doesn’t really care about making the business grow profitably. He cares only about himself. If you have such a boss, you have to be a bit duplicitous. You have to do everything you can to please your boss (or he will fire you) — and at the same time, you have to find a mentor at your boss’s level (or above) whose interests are aligned with those of the company.

Work to please your mentor at the same time as you work to please your boss. By pleasing your boss, you keep yourself employed and you’ll get your raise. And by pleasing your mentor, you will be able to get away from your boss (when the time comes to abandon his rotten ship) to a secure, inside position.

The work you do that makes your company better is the most important work you will do (for your company and for yourself). Only by making your business better can you expect to make dramatically more money than you do now. The greater your contribution toward your company’s success, the higher the salary you will demand. The best way to be a big contributor is to practice a financially valuable skill. I’ve made this point over and over again in past messages.

For example, I said: “You can’t earn a high income, consistently, unless you have a financially valuable skill. To merit a lot of money for your time, you must do something very well that creates value for others.” In business, there aren’t a whole lot of financially valuable skills to choose from.

Though it’s good to know how to analyze a spreadsheet, write a balance sheet, or engineer a new design, if you want to break into the big bucks at work, you are almost certainly going to have to start doing at least one of the three things businesses traditionally pay big bucks for:

* selling

* marketing, and/or

* managing profits

Yes, I know you’ve heard it before. And, no, I won’t be angry with you if you decide to stick with what you already know. I’m just pointing out that in going after this goal of increasing your income, there is the standard ladder (i.e., becoming more valuable to and pleasing your boss) and then there is the jet-propelled way — which might mean changing your profession. Whichever way you take, you can and should be able to boost your salary by 10% this year.

That is what your goal is — and here is how you are going to do it:

1. Make a resolution to be more valuable to your boss (and/or your business — see above). Do it now. Write it down.

2. Make a resolution to develop one or more of the three financially valuable skills identified above.

3. Make a list of a dozen or so ways you can please your boss and/or improve your business. Write these down too. And pick one or several of them as monthly objectives for January.

4. Figure out some way to communicate to your boss or to your company’s president that you want to make a bigger contribution this year. (No need to tell him you want a higher salary. He will “get that” without your saying so.) Will this be enough?

Last January, an old friend of mine mentioned to me that she was struggling on her yearly $45,000 income. She told me she was “hoping for a 5% raise” but was worried that she might get less because her company was floundering. I gave her the advice I just gave you — and she brushed me off. Then, in April, in an e-mail message on an unrelated topic, she again mentioned that she was “struggling to make ends meet.” I told her — almost rudely — that I didn’t think she had any right to worry or complain, since I had given her the solution she needed. She e-mailed me back to say that she thought my advice was “just like all the good advice I read — well-meaning but not relevant to my situation.”

We discussed her “situation,” and, not surprisingly, it was not as special as she thought. This turned into a challenge. I told her that if she didn’t get a 10% raise by following my advice, I’d give it to her myself. She refused the charity (smart woman that she is) but accepted the dare. It wasn’t even six months later that she wrote to tell me she’d been promoted. Her new salary? $62,000. If you set for yourself the modest goal of getting a 10% raise this year — and get it … and then get an increase of just half that amount for the next 10 or 15 years … you’ll be worth millions more when you retire than you will be worth if you do nothing. So start with that 10% goal.

And develop the habit of making yourself more valuable. Don’t brag, but do promote yourself. Then watch your income grow!$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

Make Your Personal Life Richer Next Year

Although he is one of the most accomplished leaders and politicians in the world's history, Winston Churchill also indulged in several hobbies. In fact, for Churchill, hobbies were the ideal way for him to work through some of the most difficult political problems he was faced with, during his long and distinguished career. 

Frequently turning to painting as a pastime, Winston Churchill was known for entering his study to paint for hours on end, with strict instructions to not disturb him. During the war, these painting sessions sometimes extended far into the night. Yet, he didn't come to this hobby early in life; he began painting when he was far into his adult years, at the age of 40.

What are your hobbies? If you say “watching sports on television,” I’ve got news for you. That’s not a hobby. It’s a habit, and a bad one at that. A hobby is, or should be, something that makes your life richer.

The kind of hobby that Winston Churchill would have recommended is one that might:

* stimulate your imagination

* satisfy your curiosity

* give you a sense of peace

* sharpen your senses

* broaden your knowledge

Maybe even stave off senility. By this, more demanding, definition, reading could be a hobby or it could merely be a habit. The difference would be in what you chose to read. If the purpose of your reading is amusement and the result is nothing but amusement, then what you are doing is better, but not much better, than watching television. I’m not opposed to mindless amusement, but, like junk food, it must be consumed in small quantities on a very occasional basis. If you do more than that, you will get fat.

Having two or three challenging and/or stimulating hobbies will make your life infinitely better. It will give you ways to soothe your agita and make rainy days something to look forward to. It will fill up your spare moments. It will keep you feeling young and alive. And it will keep you from getting lonely. People who pursue interesting hobbies are themselves more interesting. They tend to have broad and active intellects, spirited hearts, and youthful souls.

Spend some time today figuring out how much time you waste every week watching television, reading mindless books, or fiddling around with some other junk activity. Then promise yourself that you’ll devote at least half that time to the pursuit of hobbies that will improve you.

Here are some hobbies I can recommend from personal experience:

1. writing and/or reading poetry

2. creating and/or studying art

3. studying and practicing a foreign language

4. keeping a journal

5. learning to enjoy wine and/or food

6. collecting something you love

7. photography

8. writing your family history

9. making movies and/or writing screenplays

10. learning to dance and dancing

11. designing and tending gardens

Churchill recommended two or three, and that is probably enough. I have a few more than that. Since I don’t feel compelled to devote any minimum amount of time to any of them, it doesn’t seem excessive to me. I tend to focus on a smallish group of them at a time — and when I get “enough” of them, I stop for a while.

This year, I faithfully kept a journal, studied wine and art history, and learned some Spanish. Now and then, I’d write a poem or take some artsy photos. I did that when it felt like fun. Next year, I think I’ll do some fiction writing and get back to dancing. What are you going to do? Make a promise. Allocate the time.

IT’S GOOD TO KNOW: WHY JOB INTERVIEWERS ASK ABOUT YOUR HOBBIES

Two questions commonly asked by job interviewers are “What are your hobbies?” and “Do you play any sports?” There’s a reason for that. According to an article that appeared a while ago in USA Today, the interviewer is not simply curious as to whether you have a life — he may be looking for evidence that you have job-related skills outside of your professional experience.

If, for example, you play chess or bridge, that shows you have analytical skills. Reading, music, and painting demonstrate your creativity. Individual sports show that you have determination and stamina. And participation in group sports indicates that you are comfortable working as part of a team.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

The Best Way to Surpass Your Peers and Rise To The Top Of Any Business

What’’s the best way to surpass your peers and outdo your competitors? Work harder than they do. If that sounds daunting, consider this: Most people don’t work very hard. Some people spend their time doing as little as they possibly can. Most do stay busy, but they are not always very productive. They write long memos, discuss issues that don’'t need much discussion, contest insignificant points, and attend to the tedium. But only a very few apply themselves — long and hard — to the critical business challenges.

According to Saul Gellerman, who was an expert on the subject, people at work form a bell-shaped curve when it comes to diligence and follow-through. At the bottom are the loafers and goof-offs. In the middle is the silent majority that does just enough to get by. At the top are the relative few who are motivated to achieve. When you understand the dynamics of any such group, you understand that a modest amount of hard work will put you beyond both the terminally lazy and the lump-along middle crowd.

Just by being modestly ambitious, you will rise to the top third of almost any organization. But getting up the last few rungs of that ladder will be tough, because the few you are competing against are competing hard. Chances are they are as smart and talented as you, with the same (or more) basic resources. They may even have better contacts. But there is one thing they don’’t have more of — and that is time. If you can use your time more effectively than they use theirs, you will move ahead of them.

Hard workers eventually succeed even against those who have advantages. You can do better than someone who is smarter, richer, and luckier than you — so long as you are willing to work harder than he does. As a friend said to me the other night, “Life isn’'t fair. When it comes to money, beauty, intelligence, and talent, the distribution is uneven and arbitrary. But one thing we all have an equal amount of is time. We each have 24 hours a day. Even the length of life you get is not fair, but the 24 hours you have each day is the same for everyone — and what you do with those hours will determine your success and happiness.” 

Planning your day the night before gives you the chance to increase your productivity and think about new ways you can use your hours better. People who rise to the top work long hours, but not excessively long. They are at their desks early — at least an hour before others — and they stay later (though it may be only a half-hour later).

But what they do best is work harder when they work. They do the necessary things first, even if they are difficult. They learn what they need to know and don’'t waste business time learning unimportant stuff. They are willing to harass and cajole, tease and criticize, flatter and pout to get the job done. They spend a few minutes every evening organizing their days and a little while every Monday morning planning their week. They select their tasks based on what will achieve their goals, not on what happens to end up in their in boxes.

They manage their jobs; they don’t let their jobs manage them. Hard work is a lot of, well, hard work. But if you break every job down into little, easy-to-handle pieces, you can accomplish an extraordinary amount. And once you get into the habit of working harder and smarter than the people you compete with, your success is guaranteed.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

Give Yourself a Second Chance in Life

“Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy person has no time to form.” – Andre Maurois

There is so much you can do in the second half of your life and so many examples of people who have accomplished great things as seniors. I’ve talked about several of them in past messages:

* Aristotle, Henry Flagler, and John Glenn 

* Nelson Mandela, Mary Baker Eddy, George Burns, Grandma Moses, and Colonel Sanders 

* Martha Graham 

* Armand Hammer and William R. Grace 

* Isaac Asimov 

* Tony Bennett 

Here are a few more to inspire you:

* Karen Blixen: Better known as Isak Dinesen, Blixen began writing fiction when her life was — by her social standards — over. Born to a distinguished Danish family, she attended Oxford, studied painting in Europe, married her cousin, and ran a coffee plantation in Africa for most of her career. Following her divorce and the subsequent failure of the plantation, she wrote “Seven Gothic Tales,” which became a best seller, and followed that up with “Out of Africa,” which was hailed (and justly so) as a great literary achievement, giving her a permanent place in the history of world literature.

* Edward Hopper:  Hopper, one of my favorite American painters, spent his life earning a living as a commercial illustrator. He never gave up painting, though, and began to paint the serious stuff he became known for — the dark streets, all-night diners, bleak white houses, etc. — when he was a mature man. He was well into his 60s when substantial recognition arrived, “too late,” as Brendan Gill (author of “Late Bloomers”) put it, “to do him any harm.”

* Wilbur Lucius Cross:  Cross spent the first half of his life as an academic, specializing in the development of the English novel. Upon retiring at 68, he launched himself into a political career — winning the governorship of Connecticut and successfully serving for three terms.

* Philip Johnson:  Born to a wealthy Cleveland family, Johnson spent his first 40 years living the kind of life most people dream of. The only thing he didn’t have was a career. He got one in his 40s. He enrolled in the graduate school at Harvard to study architecture, building a house for himself as a student project. He launched his practice in New York in 1945 and has since designed all sorts of prominent office buildings, museums, and churches. He was active in his business well into his 90s.

If you are nearing or past 50, stop telling yourself you are too old to do this or that.

Are you working on your lifelong dream? If not, get going. If you are over 50, ignore the critics and move forward. And if you are still young, don’t tell yourself you can do it later. Start now. Today. Do one small thing to move yourself forward and then do something else tomorrow.

Nobody will take you by the hand and walk you to the fulfillment of your dreams.

You have to start that walk alone. Do it now. One small thing.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

How an LLC Can Stop Lawsuits and Creditors Dead in Their Tracks

“Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.” – Jean de la Bruyere

As I explained previously, you may want to consider establishing a business entity like a corporation or a limited liability company (LLC) if you’re a real estate investor, an independent contractor, or a small-business owner. These entities can help make your business less risky and more financially rewarding.

Corporations (S Corps. and C Corps.) typically provide good protection against “traditional liabilities.” In other words, if your business is sued for something related to its business activities, a properly set up and maintained corporation should protect the owners from personal liability.

Yet most attorneys will tell you that a multi-member LLC will usually provide enhanced benefits – for two important reasons:

1. Fewer opportunities for error.

A corporation is more complicated than the LLC. For one thing, it must hold annual meetings. State law also requires it to abide by a number of rules that create a “forced” three-level management structure. This means all operations must be channeled through directors, officers, and shareholders. In a small- to mid-sized business, the same person or handful of people must occupy all of these positions – which can create confusion and increased opportunities for error.

On the other hand, state law does not force such a complex management structure upon the LLC. And, though it’s a good idea to hold an annual LLC meeting, it’s not a legal requirement. You probably won’t lose your protection if you forget to have one. This means fewer technicalities to deal with, less confusion, and fewer potential mistakes for an attorney to use against you when trying to “pierce” your business entity to hold you personally liable.

2. Greater protection against creditors.

Perhaps the main reason an LLC is favored in most situations is that it will not only protect you from your business’s liabilities… it can also protect your business from your personal liabilities.

Let’s say you are driving your family to the park on a Sunday afternoon. Along the way, your car “taps” someone who is crossing the street and he is slightly injured. The injured person finds a personal injury attorney who tries to milk the case for every penny. They sue you for $1,000,000… and win. Your insurance only pays out $500,000, so you still owe $500,000.

What happens next? The answer depends on whether you have a corporation or an LLC.

What usually happens in a case like this is that the attorney passes the case on to a collections specialist – an aggressive attorney who really knows the ropes. He can, for example, go to the judge and request a Writ of Execution. With this writ, a creditor may visit your residence or office (with the local sheriff) and begin seizing your personal assets.

If you have a corporation, he may also be able to seize up to 100 percent of your corporate stock shares… because your corporate stock shares are considered personal property. If the creditor gains control of your company by seizing enough of your shares, he can then vote to dissolve the corporation. Assets in the corporation would then be distributed to you (and your co-owners) personally. And then the creditor could grab those assets up to the $500,000 you still owe him.

But this can’t happen if you have an LLC – because the laws of all states (except Pennsylvania and Nebraska) have included special rules that allow LLCs to be protected in a situation such as this.

The creditor would generally not be able to gain control of your LLC. He also could not vote to end it, nor force a distribution of assets. He would be limited to a “charging order.”

A charging order is an order granted by a judge that says any money passed on to a business owner by the business must first go to the creditor… until the debt is paid off. BUT, the creditor does not have the right to force an LLC to make this payment. So he could wait a very long time for any such payment – especially if the people running the LLC are sympathetic to your situation. They could choose to stop distributions made to you altogether.

What’s more, once the creditor gets the charging order, he may even have to pay taxes on money the LLC made but which was not distributed to you.

Let’s say you’re a 50 percent owner of an LLC that makes $1 million in profits and the managers decide not to distribute any of those profits to you. The creditor can’t seize your $500,000 share of the profits, because it wasn’t distributed… but he could be forced by the IRS to recognize it as “phantom income” and find himself with a tax bill in the neighborhood of $150,000 or more.

Establishing your business as an LLC can almost act as a “poison pill” against questionable lawsuits, and it can put you in a much better negotiating position if you’re ever sued. The prospect of getting a big tax bill without any cash could spur the other party to settle the judgment debt or just drop his collection efforts. At the very least, it will help keep your business intact.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

Real Estate Investing: Comps May Dictate Your Success As An Investor

Where you find your information and how you use it will go a long way in determining your success on a given property. If you are looking for a quick flip, your price will be determined by the comps you use. In fact, almost everything you do from that point will be reliant on the comps you use. Local properties will shape everything from your price to your renovation projects. By relying on old or inaccurate information, it will result in a lower price and less money in your pocket. Properties you are comparing the subject property to are the ones that buyers and realtors will be using. Just make sure they are the right ones. Using the appropriate comps in your area is absolutely critical to your success as an investor.

There are many instances where overzealous investors have unrealistic expectations for their properties. They may have seen a similar house in the area sell and automatically think they can get the same amount. Unless you know everything about that property, you are setting yourself up to fail. Start by looking at properties that have sold within a one mile radius of your house. Anything farther out than one mile can’t be considered a good comp. After you have your list of properties, you can start to go to work.

Look at the style, size, location and amenities of each property. The more differences, the less likely that a buyer will use that as a comparable. Even though you may give value to a pool, deck or fireplace, it does not mean that they will. Sure, some value must be given, but you need to be careful in placing a firm price on any one of those items. The only items that should guarantee value are living space (square footage) and bedrooms.

The best place to find sales and pending sales properties are through the MLS. If you are not a realtor, you will not have access to it. This is where having a license comes in handy. It is a bit of an effort to find comps, but this is the main part of their jobs. They should be able to provide you with sales for the last six months in your area. Listen to their advice and suggestions on what they think they can list the home for after you are done with your work. Don’t ignore their suggestions just because you think the quality of work will be nicer or you like the location better. Your realtor knows the market better than you and will know what a realistic value is.

Look through each comp and see if any deductions were made for a buyer paying cash or for a foreclosure sale. This is important information that you could use to increase your price. You can look at internet valuation sites as a starting point, but if you want to dig a little deeper, you will read the actual listing sheets. This is what they are there for and need to be used even if you think you have a good idea on the area.

Money is made in real estate either on the buy side or when you sell. If you do decide to sell, you need as much information as possible to make your decision. It is not enough to have information, but you need to look at the right information. With the help of your realtor, you should know as much about the property and the area as possible. Use this data to get the maximum return when it is time to sell.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]