The Book Fiend Info Center

Once in a while — way more often than I’d prefer — someone will call me up or shoot me an email asking how long it takes to buy a business, does this stuff really work and should they quit their regular jobs to make this thing happen faster.

And what I basically tell them is that I’ve been buying businesses for more than forty years. I still use the same techniques I used forty years ago. The tactics and techniques I talk about in my articles, in my interviews and on my website are intended to show you how to blow the smoke away and get a good grip on what you can expect and what to do when you’re out there trying to buy a business.

I also tell them that, on average, if you know what you’re doing, and if you don’t try to cut corners or anything, it will usually (again, on average) take about six months. That’s six months to find, analyze and close the deal on the business you want to buy.

As far as quitting their jobs, let me put it to you this way: Back when I did seminars, I used to have nightmares about waking up during the night and some person calling me and saying, “I took the class and I know this is going to work; I just quit my job.” I’d wake up in a cold sweat screaming something like, “Oh my God, don’t do that!”

And today I still tell everyone not to quit your job prematurely. Delay the move, or make the move later. Not because it’s hard or some giant ordeal you can’t do (I’ve seen people with “room temperature” IQ’s buy extremely profitable businesses). But because if you rush into it you’ll end up buying a business that doesn’t work.

Arthur B. Hamel has bought over 200 businesses in the past 50 years, and is a well-known author, consultant, investor, business owner, and dynamic lecturer who has shared the stage with such business greats as Robert Allen of “No Money Down” fame. For the past 20 years Art has taught thousands of people around the world — even so-called “little guys” with no formal education or money — how to quickly and easily buy large, multi-million dollar businesses with no credit, banks or prior business experience. He has recently decided to share his unique business-buying secrets and tactics free of charge at: http://arthurhamel.com

Comments Off

Do you ache to know if you’re parenting well? Have your kids gone underground with their thoughts and feelings? Do you feel cut-off?

The most important job you’ll ever have is parenting. To parent well, you need to know what your kids are thinking. If their thinking is crooked, their characters will be too. Let’s see how to straighten crooked thinking by viewing its power to create character.

Thinking Creates Character:

1. Thinking sways feelings.

2. Feelings sway behavior.

3. Thinking, feelings, and behavior create character

My toastmaster friend, Mike, presented a contest talk entitled “The Invisible Box.” With his arms extended, he drew an imaginary box about 7′ high and 3′ wide. Next he stepped inside and shut its invisible door. Mike said that too many people live inside their invisible boxes. How does this apply to your kids?

1. The invisible box is the place where they nurse their hurts and grudges.

2. The invisible box is the place where their negative attitudes fester.

3. The invisible box is the place where they make multiple excuses and hide.

Could this already be happening in your child’s mind? Certainly! What can you do? Listen for words like:

• Nobody likes me.

• I can’t do it.

• It’s too hard.

Suppose your child tried to make the select soccer team. Your child’s best friends made the team but the coach didn’t choose your child. Now your child shuts down, won’t go out to play, and steps into the invisible box. What can you do?

Discuss the Problem with Your Child and:

1. Probe gently. Find out what your child is thinking and feeling.

2. Listen carefully to what your child is saying and isn’t saying.

3. Appreciate your child’s best thoughts. Avoid denying his/her feelings.

4. No criticism. Empathize instead.

What’s next? Teach your child 3 easy sentences to tell him/herself in difficult times. You’ll be more effective if you use these sentences out loud before, during, and after diffficult times in your own life. Make sure your child hears these sentences often:

3 Easy Sentences:

1.Things aren’t terrible or awful.

2.This is just inconvenient.

3.Things don’t have to go my way.

Think about it. Awfuls and terribles don’t really exist. Things are the way they are. The trouble starts when we use awful and terrible to describe the difficult events in our lives. This is extreme thinking and it is negative.

Teach your child that difficulties are just inconvenient. Inconveniences are not terrible and awful.

Finally, things don’t have to go their way. Teach your child to accept the reality that he/she is not the King or Queen of the universe. If they were they could make things go their way. They’d have the power. Accepting that things do not have to go their way frees them from hiding inside the invisible box. Being free helps them face the challenges in their lives with a positive attitude.

Take the time to discuss your child’s thoughts and feelings. Teach your child to use the 3 easy sentences with their 3 simple and deep meanings. You’ll be helping your child step outside the invisible box. You’ll be parenting well. You’ll be building character too.

Jean Tracy, MSS, Edmonds, WA, USA

Subscribe to Jean Tracy’s FREE Parenting Newsletter, Tips and Tools for Character Builders at http://KidsDiscuss.com

Jean’s newsletter is rated as one of the best parenting newsletters on the web!

Order her new book, Character Building with the Family Meeting Diary at http://www.KidsDiscuss.com

Download Free parenting tips at http://www.KidsDiscuss.com too.

Comments Off

And of course, each loan and each borrower are different. Both banks and brokers have their strengths and weaknesses. Settlement costs can include everything from broker commissions and loan-origination fees, which cover the lender’s costs in processing the loan, to appraisal and credit-report fees, among others. Start with credibility. It’s not easy to know if the prices quoted by lenders are reliable. Some will quote you precise, competitive rates 7 percent. While a mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is evidence of a debt of 9 percent. Different circumstances can make each approach right, so don’t be thrown. See which lenders are charging fees 7 percent and for how much. So how do you find a lender or broker you can trust’ A mortgage is the pledging of a property to a lender as a security for a mortgage loan for 4 percent. In other words, the mortgage is a security for the loan that the lender makes to the borrower. It is a transfer of an interest in land, from the owner to the mortgage lender, on the condition that this interest will be returned to the owner of the real estate when the terms of the mortgage have been satisfied or performed.

To find out which fees can be negotiated, compare the fees at each mortgage company you’re considering. Although most mortgage experts say that rates 11 percent are pretty much the same wherever you go, give or take this tiny 4 percentage. See mortgage loan for residential mortgage lending, and commercial mortgage for lending against commercial property. But others will claim low rates to bring in customers or tell you that the rates 6 percent offered by competitors will change.

Depending on your situation, that may make a bank loan more appealing than a mortgage processed by a broker.

In most jurisdictions mortgages are strongly associated with loans 3 percent secured on real estate rather than other property and in some cases only land may be mortgaged. Different lenders charge different fees. Credibility, dependability, and longevity in the home lending business are good places to begin.

Translated it says: Woon je in Landerd of Rijssen-Holten en hebt u BKR notering’ Lenen met een BKR registratie is nog nooit zo eenvoudig geweest. Haal snel een andere caravan met geld lenen in belgie, 426811 euro is geen obstakel om te financieren. Van Slochteren tot Leek, geld lenen met BKR is altijd mogelijk.

Arranging a mortgage is seen as the standard method by which individuals and businesses can purchase residential and commercial real estate without the need to pay the full value immediately. Many of these fees are fixed but some can be negotiated.

Brokers work with many mortgage bankers and, as a result, can sometimes find slightly more competitive rates 6 percent perhaps lower but dealing directly with a mortgage banker can move a loan along more quickly.

Comments Off

PropertyIndex.com make it easy to find property in Portugal, whether you are looking for a villa or an apartment, they can help you find the right property.

Regardless the fact that the Property Index service is only a fledgling bureau, set up only in March 2007, they have gained in reputation very quickly. As a matter of fact, they are a extremely uncomplicated bureau specialised in offering instruction to every visitor meaning to sell, buy, rent or let realty across the globe. Their avowal: to aid you locate dead-on what’s required very quickly and, moreover, without hassle. Property is available across the globe these days, one of the most fashionable areas being property available for sale in Portugal. It’s quite easy to write up the wonderful properties available in Portugal, one argument for opting for property here being a combination of the houses and apartments available and the wonderful chance of living amongst this energetic and robust people.

It is one of the most fashionable regions of the world these days, and with the scenic beauty and wonderful climate surrounding you here, how could you conceivably go wrong. Property in Portugal is very rich in history, culture and art, this area of the world is home to a good many cultures. Just twenty years ago there’d be just a trickle of Englishmen in search of properties in Portugal. Ask any one person who has relocated to Portugal and they will tell you the same thing. Quite a few people would will insist on viewing it as a fashion and others will insist on viewing it as a more or less a fixation… Clients who are interested in migrating to this region will typically range from young yuppie couples who are looking for a challenge to older people who intend to enjoy themselves and put their feet up.

Note that you may have to deal with difficulties when trying to acquire properties abroad: there will be a million differentiated, not entirely logical, actions when plotting, touring or signing up. If you only miss a single minute action it could definitely trigger comprehensive difficulties and, more importantly, a financial hammering. Naturally, as is to be assumed with this popular area, properties might well be extremely upscale in this region and that is simply because of the great market pressure. Despite this the property buyer is truly quite spoilt for choice in such an area so great in terms of sunny surroundings. It’s definitely got practically everything one might ever wish for, etc.

Comments Off

Bare attention (to objects, people and circumstances) is what brings order in this world and in your personal world. If you know how to move your attention without the involvement of mind, positive creation happens as a result. Attention is literally a life response whereas mind is reaction out of memory and reaffirmation of the past. Attention is not same as thinking mind but it constitutes pure awareness moving itself through different objects without creating friction.

I am stating below some examples as to how life responds to the power of attention. Here’s one:

One small business owner decided to give attention to his accounts, balanced eight months of back bank statements, and miraculously received $5000 from nowhere the next day.

The key is attention without interpretation of the situation. A mere attention and intention to improve is sufficient.

If you bring your personal or business accounts fully and accurately up to date, you’ll be able to watch the money flow to you!

Money is not the only thing that responds to attention. So do ordinary objects and things. Consider this example:

A businessperson was unable to make any substantial sales. He was told
that he should give attention to and evaluate his remaining current stocks, and then make a full effort to sell them off. After making an effort of selling but a few of the minimal stocks, an order arrived equal to six months of normal sales!

We have often seen this phenomenon where a business owner concerned by low sales or cash made the effort to sell off remaining unsold stocks, and life responded by bringing more sales. This is a powerful example of the power of attention to objects and things.

One way we give attention is by adopting the personal value of maximizing the way you use your current resources, such as money, materials, and time. Here’s an example of how one manufacturer applied the value of maximum utilization of a limited resource, which resulted in a very favorable situation for the company:

“In the manufacture of welding electrodes, Low Carbon Ferro Manganese is one of the main raw materials. The manufacturer who was supplying us suddenly informed that their plant is shut down for maintenance and that there will not be any supply from them for the next two months. It is an expensive material so the stock holding was minimum. There are only very few manufacturers of this item and they are all located at far away places. We had little time to arrange supply from other sources. The stock on hand was sufficient for 5 days of production only. We decided that not a particle of LCF should be wasted and alerted all the workers to be extra careful. The shop floor was swept thoroughly and all the spilled material were collected, screened and used. We provided attention to what could immediately be attended. Coincidentally, within two days, a Managing Director of a company manufacturing LCF in Orissa (which is about 1300 kilometers away from Pondicherry) visited our unit; over the phone (from Pondicherry) he instructed his plant to dispatch material to us. From the previous supplier we were buying the material against payment. Where as this company offered us a credit of 30 days. We did not negotiate any terms with them. They themselves agreed to supply at the same price. We were frank in telling them the precarious situation we were in. In spite of knowing our weak situation, they did not take any undue advantage. We are continuing with them.”

Moral is they didn’t wasted the material further and alerted all the workers to be extra careful. The shop floor was swept thoroughly and all the spilled material were collected, screened and used. They provided attention to what could be immediately attended. Moral is mere attentions to a situation without being caught up in its interpretation brings order into it. One need not worry, anxiety (using mind) but need to attend to immediate things including the people and objects and the universe arranges rest of the trappings to bring in the harmony into the area of attention.

Here’s a closely related example of the power of attention to things through the application of the value of maximum utilization, and life response:

X, the proprietor of a company, engaged Y as his consultant to improve his business. Y, the consultant, noticed a machine, which X deemed not useful to his present business, kept in a sorry state. Y requested X to repair and repaint it and keep it ready for production. X laughed and said, “This machine is idle for last many years without any order. I can not spend money on it. As soon as I get orders, I will repair and repaint the machine.” Y thought X was looking at things in the wrong way.

Y told X, “If you keep machine ready for production and if you genuinely wish that this machine should yield profits, you will get orders. Life will favorably respond.”

X followed Y’s suggestion. After a day or two, X’s cousin, an engineer, came to his factory. The newly painted machine gained his attention. He took interest in the machine. He told X that he was interested in starting a new factory. If X could give the machine to him, he could earn profit from the first month onwards and a share of the income would go to X. An agreement was struck and the machine became a cash cow.

Moral is begin with trust that in the end everything will be organized and take your first step forward in the trust that the universe will arrange the trapping, your job is to attend the immediate objects, people and rest will follow on its own timing. In this case they attended a machine deemed not useful to his present business.

So all sorts of things respond to attention; animate and inanimate!

One final example will show how the power of attention is tied in to organizing things one level higher than it is currently organized.

A company had just launched a new product, yet did not yet have any sales on the product, despite considerable effort. One day the manager decided to go through the operations manual to update it to the latest information, including procedures related to the new product. He did this late in the work day. Early the very next morning he saw the first order for the product come in through the company’s web site.

Finally, let’s not forget to mention that people also, of course, respond to attention.

Mind creates friction, attention creates movement. If you experience movement without friction, its attention and not the mind and you can assume that you are in a creative state. We invite restlessness through preconceived ideas about the state of reality. Creativity begins when you can stabilize in a chaotic environment looking at it as an ever expanding life rather than mere problems; all the chaos is a life itself expanding to create new bridges where there are none. As a result, trust takes over fear and panic. New things or events or people are seen as opportunities to organize the life one step up. It is through chaos that the new order is borne, so chaos need not be seen as something to fear about but life itself stretching the limits to organize one step further. A relaxed attitude takes over the panic and fear.

Attention itself brings in the order when used wisely in a trusting manner. Things are disorganized on account of lack of attention and ignorance of it’s values.

Attention brings in the order. Place your attention in the areas where you seek improvements, hang out loosely expecting to improve the area, rest will follow. Key is identify the area, focus loosely and intend the desired result.

Seek with the attitude (state of existence) that you are already fulfilled and perfect in areas where you seek improvements, the acting and attitude of the perfection at every step itself consolidates into the ultimate end perfection. Move yourself consciously attending whatever needs to be attended here and now.

You trust and move one step toward unknown and simultaneously unknown moves one step towards you bridging the gap between harmony and disharmony. Your attention itself is your one step towards the unknown and if you consistently moves your attention in the desired direction with the intention to improve the life, unknown is moving towards you simultaneous bringing in all the necessary elements to bring harmony into your life.

Universe responds not to just fulfill your individual whims and fancies but to bring in greater order for greater good.

There is always a response to attention since it has capacity for positive movement where has mind has fixed notions which restricts movement.

Attention enables movement, whereas beliefs blocks movement.

Author: Santosh Kunte -Mumbai India. An avid reader of the spiritual knowledge, engineering graduate and executive. Loves reading meditation and sharing. You can reach me for your valuable feedback or you can reach me for your problems of finance, relationship etc. by dropping an e-mail to me on sskunte2@rediffmail.com

Comments Off