What are Interest Rate going to Do?

What are Interest Rate going to Do? from Joe New on Vimeo.

Posted in Joe's Monday Message

TELL YOUR STORY, THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Using social networking to promote our ideas or to sell a product or a vision can be a dangerous thing. It is so easy to fall into the whale’s mouth and exaggerate, inflate, or cover over the broken image of who we really are. In our eagerness to impress and sell, we can easily stumble and fall.

While projecting a too-good-to-be-true image may produce short-terms gains, it results in long-term disappointment. Eventually we can’t hide the truth of who we are. There is too much information already out there. The truth is that most of these people are just like you and me.There is only one thing for us to do: We must simply tell our story, both the good and the bad.

Yes, the truth will find us out, but it will also set us free.

There are huge advantages to telling your story, whether it be via a blog, a tweet, or Facebook. It can be the story of your company (a group of people), the story of the your product (what people created), or the story of your life. In the end, people want to hear stories about other people—just like them.

There are three reasons why:

1. People long for connection. When you tell a human story, it resonates.
2. People invest in other people, not in inanimate objects.
3. People may not be able to smell that “something is too good to be true,” but when they put in their mouths and chew on it, they won’t like the taste. Human stories—especially those of failure—create loyalty.

We all have a natural tendency to show our best side and to hide our flaws. But it is those moments in life when we are caught off-guard—when we make a mistake or when we have to apologize—that really engage other people.

This is why we must not hide the bad parts of our story from those who have chosen to follow and support us. Friendship, after all, is about sharing.

For this reason, I would encourage you to:

1. Tweet about your accidents and mistakes. You don’t have to over-do it, but show your humanity.
2. Blog about your disappointments and failures. These include the things you learned, the things you wished you had known before you started a project, or that relationship that ended in failure. You can do this without dishonoring anyone.
3. Ask for help. Reach out for ideas, solutions, and moral support. Engage your social media audience on a level playing field. When they know you are sincere, 99.9% of people will do anything to help.

In conclusion, consider these questions: What stories that you are afraid to tell? What are you holding onto with a clenched fist that prevents you from reaching out and receiving with an open hand?Like my acting teacher used to say, “The truth will set you free, but first it will really hack you off!”

Posted By: Michaelhyatt.com

Posted in Leadership

Not What, But Who

Funks happen. The ebbing and flowing of our businesses and our lives is as inevitable as the rain in Portland. As long as you are still breathing, you will have lulls and you will have peaks.

You will also have many days that are neither high nor low, but rather somewhere in the middle.

The funny thing is that we can learn so much from any of these seasons. Don’t forget that seasons are just that – good or bad, they will soon change! It’s particularly important to remember this in tough times, because we might be tempted to think that the challenges are permanent. They never are.

If you are in a season of difficulty, it is quite human to want to get out and get back to a state of peace and joy. I wish there were some fool-proof way to get back there quickly, but often we need to stay in that season until we learn something.

One thing you can do in the midst of your challenges is to look for the lesson. Specifically, you may ask yourself, “What is it about the state I am in that could be a lesson I need to learn?”

Some of us never do. We wallow in our misery longer than we should, rather than posing the internal question. If you watch the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, you will see a very funny perspective on what it means to get stuck in an uncomfortable season until you finally learn to ask the right question.

One thing I need to learn over and over is that I ask the wrong question. My question is still, “What will get me out of this?” It is only when I shift my question from “what” to “who” do I finally begin to see the light. “Who do I need to help?” “Who can I serve?” “Who in my life could use a good word of encouragement from me?”

To ask this, to seek an answer, and then to take action is one of the keys to releasing yourself from a funk. Try it. If I am wrong then all you did was help someone in need. That wouldn’t be so bad.

The world around you needs you more than you know, and the cool thing is that most of the time it doesn’t care about your funks.

Look up and go help.

Coach Steve

Posted by: Realityandhope.com

Posted in Championship Living

The Key to Effective Marketing

I recently had the oppor­tu­nity to meet with the head of mar­ket­ing for one of the larger orga­ni­za­tions we coach. He has led mar­ket­ing for this now multi-billion dol­lar firm for the last three decades. When he started, they had less than 100 team­mates and today they have more than 60,000.

They have expe­ri­enced rad­i­cal growth — and their mar­ket­ing ini­tia­tives drive a lot of that growth. One key take away that really stuck with me was how focused he was.

He uses this thought to drive every­thing that their mar­ket­ing and inno­va­tion teams do:

Posted by:

Posted in Productivity

Where Are Mortgage Rates Headed?

We often talk about the COST of buying a house vs. the PRICE of the home. The price obviously is a major component of the cost. The other major component is the interest rate on your mortgage. A small hike in mortgage interest rate can have a dramatic impact on your monthly payment. For that reason we try to keep you current on what is projected for rates in the future.

Four major institutions project rates: The National Association of Realtors (NAR), Fannie Mae, Freddie Macand PMI. Here is what each is seeing in the next year.

Bottom Line

If you are looking to buy a house and are waiting to see what will happen with prices, remember interest rates will also impact your housing cost.
Posted by: kcmblog.com

Posted in Keeping Current Matters

You Can’t Afford Not To “Buy”

To Your Success 5/16/2011 from Joe New on Vimeo.

Posted in Joe's Monday Message

Nurture What’s Within You

A mother-to-be nur­tures the baby inside of her by tak­ing care of her own men­tal, emo­tional and phys­i­cal health.

Do you real­ize that you have some­thing very spe­cial within you as well? You are “expect­ing twins”: Pur­pose and Promise. And if you are going to nur­ture them, you must invest the time and effort to take care of yourself.

You have within you the poten­tial to live life at a much higher level than you are now. That isn’t to say that you don’t have a great life already, but wher­ever you are today, it can be even better.

We all have gaps between where we are and where we want to be, and we all have poten­tial to do some­thing about those gaps. The action you take is up to you, and your own effec­tive­ness has a lot to do with your health.

Recently, a client shared with me how much bet­ter he feels and how much eas­ier it is for him to close the gaps in his life and busi­ness — all because he decided to take bet­ter care of himself.

When we first started work­ing together, he weighed 303 pounds. He is now well on his way to reach­ing his goal of 225. He is gain­ing mus­cle and los­ing body fat. To date, he has lost over 80 pounds of body fat and his energy level has soared!

Just today, he told me that he began the morn­ing with one hour on the ellip­ti­cal. If I had told him six months ago that he would be doing that, he would have laughed and said: “I wish.” He didn’t start out with an hour on the ellip­ti­cal, but he built up to it.

The miss­ing link between wish­ing and being is doing. And it’s hard to do much when you aren’t healthy.

What change do you need to make today so that you will be bet­ter equipped to close the other gaps in your life and busi­ness? Do you need to work on your phys­i­cal health? Your emo­tional health? Your rela­tional health?

Start with one thing that will improve your health, and do it today!

Posted By:  Irrefutable Success Tim Enochs

Posted in Championship Living

It Has to Lead to Contribution

The last few years have been espe­cially hard on most of us. Heck, nor­mal life with­out the ram­i­fi­ca­tions of this global eco­nomic melt­down was chal­leng­ing enough. The sad real­ity is that many peo­ple we work with have begun to ques­tion their abil­ity to con­tribute. Maybe we’ve even had those doubts our­selves at times.

Are you hear­ing and believ­ing any of the following?

• I am just try­ing to sur­vive, I have noth­ing left over to give.
• I am slammed, way too busy to add any­one or any­thing else to my plate.
• The best is behind me. I used to think I could con­tribute but my mis­takes have taken me out.
• What does it mat­ter? Who cares any­way?
• I have noth­ing spe­cial to contribute.

I can tell you that I know that these are not true! They are lies and must be fought with vigor.

I am not try­ing to dis­count your sit­u­a­tion in any way. What I want to com­mu­ni­cate is that no mat­ter what your sit­u­a­tion, you can still con­tribute and make a dif­fer­ence and oth­ers are count­ing on you to do so.

For some it is to par­ent and train up future lead­ers or good hearted ser­vants; for some it is to apply your skill to your trade of pas­sion; and for some it is to serve and lead your teams and organizations.

Some­times we lose our way, but we can always find our path back if we know our WHY.

Hope­fully many of you are already famil­iar with the Life Plan­ning process we use at Build­ing Cham­pi­ons. This is a process I have been ben­e­fit­ting from and coach­ing oth­ers on for many years. I am a firm believer in its abil­ity to aid us with mak­ing bet­ter proac­tive and inten­tional deci­sions in life and business.

Your Life Plan should be a dynamic and liv­ing doc­u­ment that is con­tin­u­ally being reviewed, lived out and adjusted where and when needed. One of the ways you might want to improve upon your plan is to assess how you see your­self con­tribut­ing to each of your accounts.

Look at where you are doing well and where you think you could con­tribute more. Then, map out a plan to make sure you are mak­ing the great­est impact you can in your life, your busi­ness and your com­mu­nity. We believe so strongly in this theme of con­tri­bu­tion that it will be a cen­tral part of our Build­ing Cham­pi­ons Expe­ri­ence this fall.

The truth is that we all have the abil­ity to make a greater dif­fer­ence in the lives of those around us.

On behalf of those lives you will touch, thank you for your contribution.

Posted By:  Daniel Harkavy

Posted in Leadership

Keep Your Eyes on the Targets

Imag­ine fly­ing the Apache AH-64 heli­copter, cruis­ing at 165 miles per hour with one eye on what’s ahead and the other eye focused on your helmet’s eye­piece and its sophis­ti­cated nav­i­ga­tion and arma­ments systems.

Yes, that’s right! One eye must fly the plane and the other eye, simul­ta­ne­ously, keeps track of sophis­ti­cated sys­tems. These pilots are amazing.

It takes that same kind of con­cen­tra­tion to lead a team in today’s com­pet­i­tive and increas­ingly com­pli­cated envi­ron­ment. Lead­ers must keep one eye on the imme­di­ate chal­lenges, and the other eye on the road ahead and the strate­gic adjust­ments and changes that will be required.

But what I see hap­pen­ing today is man­agers and lead­ers get­ting fix­ated on the one most press­ing issue at hand. Other impor­tant chal­lenges take a backseat.

These dis­tracted lead­ers are not stay­ing focused on their imme­di­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties and long-term vision. This impacts their lead­er­ship through the myr­iad of chal­lenges they face and slows the real­iza­tion of their long-term goals.

Keep Track of Key Projects

Strate­gic plans involve a series of planned actions related to rev­enues, expenses, per­son­nel, and sys­tems, with a con­stant focus on achiev­ing expected results. Add unan­tic­i­pated mar­ket head­winds and reg­u­la­tory changes, and there’s plenty to con­tend with.

It is crit­i­cal to keep in front of you ALL the tasks that must be done. Some­times one par­tic­u­lar issue may seem espe­cially impor­tant. There can be pres­sure to focus almost exclu­sively on it, to the detri­ment of other crit­i­cal goals. Don’t get side­tracked by any one issue. Stay bal­anced. Keep every­one focused on the tasks at hand. Lead­ers and man­agers must learn how to get many things done simultaneously.

Make Sure Every­one Knows the Priorities

Even in the best of times, teams need to pull together, work as one, and under­stand the many pri­or­i­ties and how all their actions fit together. Clar­ity on pri­or­i­ties is essential.

When chal­lenges, issues, and oppor­tu­ni­ties arise, every­one can become con­fused about pri­or­i­ties and what to do next. Don’t let it hap­pen. Keep your­self orga­nized and focused to cover all the bases. Lead­ers need to learn how to mul­ti­task through others.

Learn to Rely on Others

The leader can’t do everything…but through the power of the team, much can be accom­plished. If divide and con­quer ever has mean­ing, it does when the pres­sure is on.

Be clear on the desired end result for impor­tant projects. Check on progress fre­quently so crit­i­cal deci­sions are made in a timely man­ner. Use sim­ple pro­ce­dures to stay on top of tasks.

Use a Sys­tem to Help Multi-Task

As the mul­ti­plic­ity of tasks becomes more com­plex, there are effec­tive ways to keep every­one focused. Try pulling together in a sin­gle spread­sheet or doc­u­ment all the required actions over the next 90 days. Include spe­cific actions, time­frames and who is account­able for every impor­tant project and task. Check the progress at every impor­tant mile­stone to stay on track.

Stay Focused on Strategy

All actions — espe­cially when they are in reac­tion to unan­tic­i­pated forces — should be guided by your vision and long-term strate­gic plan. Don’t let short-term issues cloud your vision for where you are going.

Lead like the Apache heli­copter pilot. Keep one eye on the tasks at hand, and the other eye on your strat­egy and long-term vision.

Posted By: Leadership From The Trenches Jerry Baker

Posted in Productivity

Renting: Truly a Better Option?

After the last five years, more and more people are hesitant about purchasing a home. We definitely understand their concern. However, is the alternative option actually a better choice? Renting in the current housing market might not make good financial sense. Just this week theHarvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies released a report analyzing conditions in the rental market. The study found:

Rental markets are now tightening, with vacancy rates falling and rents climbing. With little new supply of multifamily units in the pipeline, rents could rise sharply as demand increases.

This increase in rental costs is already taking place. In their Spring 2011 Housing Reportreleased earlier this week, hotpads.com stated:

…that rental listing prices across the US climbed 7.4 percent while for sale listing prices retreated 8.8 percent since this time last year (April 2010 – April 2011).

Just yesterday, Trulia released its second quarter 2011 Rent vs. Buy Index. In the report, they stated that buying a home has become more affordable than renting in nearly four out of five (78%) major cities.

”With home prices nearing a double dip and more foreclosures expected to flood the housing market over the next two years, the decision between renting and buying a home across most of the country has clearly moved in favor of buying,” says Ken Shuman, Head of Communications at Trulia. “As we head into the summer buying season, those looking to buy a home should be encouraged by improvements in the market and feel optimistic about their chances of finding an affordable home, much more so than in previous years.”

“Aspiring homeowners should focus their energies on locking down a low mortgage rate sooner than later. While home prices are unlikely to return to pre-crash levels, today’s low interest rates will likely rise thanks to inflation and spikes in the Fed rates,” notes Shuman. “As the government wind downs its role in the mortgage markets higher mortgage interest rates will be inevitable.”

Bottom Line

Though purchasing a home is not an easy decision after what has taken place in the market over the last five years, realize rental prices are about to soar. You should probably take this into consideration when determining your best housing choice.

Posted by: KCMBlog.com

Posted in Keeping Current Matters