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The first step …

The first step in blogging is not writing them but reading them. — Jeff Jarvis

Tags: #business, #thriveorsurvive, @changeinadvance, determination, education, entrepreneur, growth, Jeff Jarvis, social media, success, truth, united states, wisdom

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Categories Quotes

Hey folks here we have the complete postings of my latest series on why you need a blog. Every business benefits from a web presence, and as such yours should be brilliant, not lacking or dysfunctional.
I added additional articles from previous posts to aide your transition from novice to blogging machine.

-The Top Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Blog-
part 1
part 2
part 3

-Why you need a Blog and how to blog

Click here

-What You Blog is as important as How You Blog

Click here

-How To Make Money Blogging

Click Here

#thriveorsurvive.

Thoughts? Concerns?
Questions? Think I’m wrong?
Let’s chat.
Need ideas?
Want to learn how to invite?
Let’s chat.
Want a mentor or maybe the guy who will bounce ideas back and forth with you?
Let’s chat-
Tony@Changeinadvance.com
@changeinadvance
http://www.changeinadvance.com
Or simply reply to this article.

Tags: #business, #thriveorsurvive, @changeinadvance, advertising, blackberry, blog, blogging, entrepreneur, freedom, Google, google authorship, growth, how to, knowledge, marketing, mindset, SEO, serp, social media, success, technology, truth, web presence, wisdom

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Categories Blog

Free House Flipping Course

11 Jan

You read it right folks-
Zero Cost House Flipping Course

Every day fortunes in real estate are made all around the country.
There is money to be made in every corner of the country. A simple system is the easiest way and what everyone dreams of.
Well, look no further for the truth.

If you watch tv or search the net you will find about 100 courses that are all considered reasonably priced. I saw one by a guy who ran his own company and even had a tv show and he was only charging $200 for a 3 day seminar.

Let me save everyone $200. To flip houses you first need to become a realtor so that you’re not paying someone 6% every time you sell a house.
Makes sense right? 6% times 8 flips @ an average of $100,000 grand. Adds up quick folks.
Next you need money- and lots of it.
To get these funds you either need perfect credit, or a rich family member. No one will lend you money if you’ve never flipped before. Sad but true facts. Risk vs reward is the formula.
And finally, you need to be in a market in which real estate is very expensive and in which people value their time more than their money. Only then can you gain enough value in the flipping process to make any real money. Locations include NY, Boston, DC, LA, SanFran, etc. Certain states and even counties do not qualify. Real estate prices and the abundance of cheap labor make new construction too affordable in these areas.

Moral of the story:
Know your goal,
Know your area, aka your market,
And make sure you are set up right to make moves.

#thriveorsurvive.

Tags: #thriveorsurvive, flip this house, free course, free house flipping course, growth, homes, house flipping, real estate, success, zero cost house flipping course

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Categories success

11 Really Cool iPhone Keypad Codes

7 Jan

11 Really Cool iPhone Keypad Codes

Your iPhone can browse the net, play myriad games, play YouTube videos and more but there are also some nifty tricks you can use to find out some great information about your phone and run it more smoothly.

In essence, there are a bunch of iPhone keypad codes that you can type in and get back specific information about/from your mobile carrier, phone and billing details.

When you want to use any one of these codes, open your iPhone’s “phone app” and make sure that the keypad button is selected in the bottom menu. Next, type in any code from the list below and press call.

iPhone Codes: Network & Phone Information

*3001#12345#*– Opens up the “Field Test” settings on your iPhone, which allows you to see many, many advanced network settings on your phone including cell site information and more.

*#06# – Displays your iPhone’s International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number (this code also works on many other phones).

*#21# – Displays any call forwarding settings enabled on your iPhone.

*#43# – Shows you if call waiting for various parts of your phone are either enabled or disabled.

*#30# – Shows you if you have the call presentation (to see who is calling you) setting enabled or disabled.

*#33# – Displays call barring settings for your iPhone, and weather they are enabled or disabled.

iPhone Codes: Carrier & Billing Information

*646# -View available minutes on your AT&T plan (*min#).

*777#- View available minutes on your AT&T pre-paid plan (if you get the “Account Not Found” error, you do not have a pre-paid account and you should try the code just above this one for postpaid accounts).

*3282# – View wireless data usage statistics (also *data#).

*225# – Check the bill balance on your AT&T account (also *bll#).

*729 – Makes a call to AT&T to pay your wireless bill.

Do you have any other iPhone keypad codes / shortcuts to share? Let me know in the comments section or feel free to email me or hit me up on twitter.

#thriveorsurvive.

Tags: #thriveorsurvive, @changeinadvance, android, apps, att, codes, free, gadgets, how to, international mobile equipment, iphone, keypad, knowledge, mobile, postpaid accounts, smartphone, sprint, steve jobs, success, technology, truth, verizon, wealth

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Categories Electronics, free help/apps

The Power In Setting Goals

4 Jan

The Power In Setting Goals

Setting Goals is perhaps the single most powerful thing you can do to change your business for the better. And Now. Setting Goals is an immediate process if you choose it to be.

Going with the flow is too easy.
Stop following the status quo. Be an originator. Don’t hang with your friends. Don’t do the bosses laundry all your life.
Set a goal for yourself to be the best. As in expect the most from yourself. When you have large goals, medium goals, and small
goals you have established you end up with a framework for greatness. This let’s you reach a higher caliber exponentially. It isn’t always about having easy and hard tasks. Its the aforementioned framework you have created that will catapult you to greatness.
So when friends and coworkers have a plan that involves fun, or goofing off- say bye. Don’t be a jerk- by all means be well mannered- but the time management set into the framework (see how key it is?) of your goals must be followed.

Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Decisions.
Every day of your life you make decisions- what paths you take truly are up to you. When you decide to be nothing you are nothing. When you decide to stop your current modus operandi and move towards success- guess what happens?
YOU BECOME SUCCESFUL.
Every action has a reaction so if you don’t choose to control the former you run the risk of being at the mercy of the latter.
While being incredibly fair and equal most people don’t see it that way. They blame the company, the wife, the weather. Anything. However I can attest to this-
As long as I work harder I earn harder.
As long as I put my business first it grows first.
A key correlation: when I don’t blog consistently- I lose major traffic. Now for my secondary blog its about quality content. I will miss many days without question. But it becomes irrelevant. With this blog I have to hit hard and often. People come to me for answers and I in turn provide said answers or go get them. That is the decision I made. And it has paid off grandly.
What decisions are you making?
What will you give up to be great?
What trade off is worth true greatness?
Only you know.
Be great.

Remember every goal….
Every goal costs you something. Even freedom isn’t free. The price you pay is letting go of who you are to be who you imagine. To accomplish a goal the first thing you must. sacrifice is your right to make excuses. I keep learning that when you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way and when you don’t you’ll find an excuse.

#thriveorsurvive.

“Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness – great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy.” -Jim Rohn

Tags: #business, #thriveorsurvive, goals, success

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Categories success

3 Things Really Smart People Do

3 Jan

3 Things Really Smart People Do

You want to be the King. The Boss. The Best. Well it takes steps. And we have discussed the need for discipline and practice before so today we are going to come at being brutally efficient- aka the Boss from a different angle.

Start Early.
Even kings rise with the roosters. Why? You can’t conquer the day starting at noon.
My job starts at 7:45am and I liked getting up at 7am. And I can do it, no question. But it stinks. I’m rushing and have to move fast. Ugh. I know get up about 15 minutes earlier and in 2 weeks it will be about 30 minutes earlier. The goal is to get up at 6:15am. Why?
-So I have extra time for responding to emails and opt-ins.
-So I’m not rushing.
-So I can get everything ready for my family with a leisurely pace. How you start is how you end. Imagine starting your day with prayer, meditation, yoga, or a quick read- sounds like heaven. And I’m not trying to push any religion or mindsets on you but getting in to a calm, cool, collected groove benefits everyone.
As to why I’m upping the time in increments- easy. It makes sense. When you bite off more than you can chew you quit sooner. I set 3 day goals for myself mostly. Not 30 days. Why you ask again? It takes the pressure off. And builds small successes.
Look at football, they play to control yards. Then quarters of the game. Everything on the path to success revolves around small ‘focus-centric’ steps.

Do what you hate most, FIRST.
I hate returning phone calls. Hate it.
And I’m a people person!
So what do I do first chance? Call the people I’m supposed to. Con Edison, Cable, opt-ins, new team members, the irs- doesn’t matter. I make the calls as early as possible.
If you hate the doctor’s office go as soon as the new year begins. Make it your mission to begin new with conquering. Make it synonymous. If you start your day with whatever you dislike you can not only breath a sigh of relief but build on your successes faster. Also if that which you dread is done first the rest of the day can be spent on growth and or business building.

Exercise and Sleep.
Everyone needs a lot of both. How can you push your body to its limit without exercise?
You can’t leverage your health if its irrelevant to you. Build your body with the fervor of building your contact list. You can’t do marathon meetings if your body won’t run the marathon.
Next sleep folks- a lot. 8 hours is a minimum. Not a maximum. Rest helps you think clearer, function better, and burn more calories. So that image you guard is winning too. Also the reason to work harder is to have more. Well you can’t do more with less so have enough sleep to get it all done. Now at times you may lose sleep. But when you lose sleep for television, booze, or video games- you dishonor yourself. Your body is a temple. Treat it as such.

#thriveorsurvive.

“Mastering others is strength.
Mastering yourself is true power.”
Lao Tzu.

Tags: #business, #thriveorsurvive, growth, mentality, skills, smart people, success

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Categories leadership

Is Your Price Point killing Sales?

2 Jan

Is Your Price Point killing Sales?

Sales are the heart of your business 9 out of 10 times. Bloggers and a few other specific businesses may sell indirectly or not at all. So working from this premise we can assume that you want to sell product consistently and repetitively (we all want customers to come back).
Assuming you want long term cash flow and growth and you aren’t looking for a one hit wonder.
We will also assume your product is killer, has good branding, marketing, and social media presence.
So all of those factors being declared let’s look at a factor a lot of up and coming entrepreneurs overlook, the price point.

A quality product or service has to have a proper price point as well or you risk eroding your profits.

Priced too high.
When you price your product too high you may miss your target audience. Indeed the very people you want to buy or benefit from what you offer may not be participants. This is where knowing your key demographics comes in handy. Data is always your best friend even if its implications appear negative. Let’s say guy X wants his tee shirt line to sell for 35 dollars a piece. Now data shows us people pay way more, 5 times as much in some cases. However you have to have the immersion, the marketing, and PR to make it work. Not to mention the distribution channels and so forth.
Guy Y on the other hand only wants a small profit and undercuts guy X by 10-15 dollars a tee shirt. In this economy especially he may beat guy X. Also at that price point people may buy 2 for 1 which is only a few bucks more. His lower price point has created new price points and may yield greater sales. If 5 dollars more buys an additional tee many people will opt for that deal. Have we not doubled sales on average? I’d say that all factors being equal we probably have.
If we look at the Kardashians we see proof of this. Their mainstream line is at sears and priced to sell. It is not on rodeo drive or 5th Avenue. This is simply to maximize profits. When you appeal to the mainstream you open yourself up to a greater amount of potential clients.

Priced too low.
The opposite can be said as well my friends. If Honda dropped their flagship Accord Model 13,000 dollars people would stop and think. Most would worry. As an Accord owner twice over I know that I pay a premium for value. The Honda brand is synonymous with quality and reliability. To under price that would gut their brand. It all comes down to value. You have to offer it to get fans and customers. But you have to value what you offer and what you create. Establish this before you go to print or sign deals.
Often we get what we expect and if you expect too little you will be little

#thriveorsurvive.

“High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.”
-Charles Kettering

Tags: #thriveorsurvive, marketing, price points, pricing, sales, success

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Categories Blog, finance

4 Elements to Greatness

1 Jan

4 Elements to Greatness

It’s 2013, everyone is making goals and becoming a new person. And for many its the same goals as last year. Tenacity is good no question- but its time to skew focus.

There are 4 key ingredients to true greatness and for 2013 I want us all to embrace them even before setting a goal. Set your goals? No prob- just take this is first.

Belief
Nothing great is done without belief. If you don’t believe in your cause or goal you have no power. You will not move forward. You may not even tread water. When you aren’t confident- LIE. Even to yourself. Belief comes from within and from previous successes. See what you have done and believe you Will do more.
Belief in U.
If you don’t believe you can do it- you can’t. when you do it know it is all you. No one helps you. When I’m in the gym I have to lift off the weight. I work by the motto that if you can’t take it off the rack you don’t deserve to lift it. Right there I force my belief to grow. I literally put my mind into the muscle and shape my results thru my belief. Do you see how simple that is? How we can all do it. I bench press into the 300s. I get help. But I do it. No one lifts, they just make sure I don’t die. Get there.

Consistency
Without consistency you can’t do anything. You are recruiting to build your team?
You have to work the system everyday.
You blog? blog daily.. There is no blog if you don’t blog a lot. Blog often. And keep blogging. That may not have been said eloquently but you get the point. You have to work at what you do religiously.
Michael Jordan worked at being great. He was consistent with his gym time. He practiced. And practiced. And practiced. You have to work at it over and over. There are no breaks until you reach the mountain top.
I love the quote ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead,’ as it shows the level of dedication needed.

Discipline
To get to the top you have to be great. And the way to greatness lies in discipline. What you do daily is what you become. Let’s look at the meriam webster definition:
Definition of DISCIPLINE
1: punishment.
2: instruction.
3: a field of study.
4: training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character.
5a : control gained by enforcing obedience or order.
5b : orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior.
c : self-control.
6: a rule or system of rules governing conduct or activity.
Discipline is almost in its simplest form taking the other three elements and combining them simultaneously.
Loving what you do, and doing it consistently is discipline. Belief that you can and will do it is derived from discipline. When you make it your mission to live disciplined you will see greatness invariably.

Loving what you do
You’re wasting your time if your heart isn’t there. You have to love what you do. It has to be synonymous with you. I have a day job. Love it too folks. I have a business. Love that too. However when I stumbled onto Ray Higdon and how I could blog to build an empire I was astounded. And as he said, if he could do it so could anyone. And once I started this blog it was over. I’ve come to love the blogging and guest editorials I’ve been blessed to write. It has been an honor. You see writing was my first love. I’ve written stories, raps, songs, poetry, editorials, and now blogs. But my true love was always present- The Writing.
When you love what you do you already feel successful. However this feeling will grow and will lead to external success if not worldwide success.
See you at the top.

#thriveorsurvive.

“What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.”
-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Tags: #thriveorsurvive, 2013, belief, consistency, discipline, follow through, goals, greatness, mindset, success

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Mindset

In the Red Corner – Gold Bullion vs. Certified Coins

1 Jan

In the Red Corner – Gold Bullion vs. Certified Coins.

BY Mike Getlin | September 29 2011 1:18 PM

We gold bulls have been licking our wounds over the last few weeks. This summer’s intense upward price movement set the stage for major volatility on the precious metals markets, and long term gold investors are stuck riding out the storm, at least for the moment. Yesterday however, something was brought to my attention by someone out on our trading floor. One of his clients who bought a diversified investment grade coin position early in the month was actually dead even on his overall position. While gold had tumbled by over $300 per ounce, his coins had stayed right where they were showing him no loss whatsoever. Needless to say, this needs a bit of explaining.

Let’s take a look at gold’s correction versus the price movement in a variety of $20 Liberty certified coins. Gold closed at $1895 on September 6th. Over the course of the next 20 calendar days, it shed $297 to close at $1598 on September 26th. That is an overall correction of 18.58% in 14 trading days. The certified $20 Liberty coins fared much better. See the chart below for the comparison.

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The major difference between raw gold bullion and certified coins is the premium (which is often significant) that the coins carry over the spot price of gold. For example, the $20 Liberty in Mint State 66 condition is a coin that sells for well above $15,000. Most investors look at that and wonder why in the world anyone would buy a one ounce coin for over 15 grand! Yet this month, the one who did would be laughing all the way to the bank while the rest of us dream longingly of weeks gone by and $1900 per ounce.

Now this is not to say we should all rush out and dump all our bullion in favor of certified coins. That said, there is clearly an advantage to be gained by owning some of these products that help insulate investors from these volatile markets. The real question is what causes certified coin premiums to change, and what place do these products have in a healthy and diversified gold portfolio.

The debate over whether to buy bullion or certified coins (also referred to as numismatics) has been raging for decades and will probably continue to produce spirited cocktail hour conversation for a long time to come. Some people swear by investment grade numismatics, while others think only a fool would buy anything other than bullion. So who’s right? Both of course. As with most arguments like this, there is a lot of truth to both sides, and each strategy has significant advantages and disadvantages.

On the bullion side, the main argument against certified coins is that they are too expensive. Why pay $3000 per ounce or more for a gold coin when you could buy a Gold Eagle or a bar for $1800? The premium, as well as the dealer’s bid/ask spread is much higher on certified coins as they are more difficult to source and procure. The other argument against them is they tend to move more slowly than bullion coins. For investors who need instant liquidity, or are trying to pop in and out of the markets with some frequency, certified coins present some major drawbacks.

In contrast, numismatists (people who study coins) never forget one simple fact: value comes from scarcity. If you purchase a gold bar this year and sell it in 2015, there will have been millions upon millions more produced and sold between now and then. If you purchase a certified $20 Liberty, you can sleep well at night knowing that never again will a single $20 Liberty coin be produced. It’s hardly even a question of supply and demand, because there really is no supply. Thus when you look at the $20 Liberty MS66 in the graph above, you see it actually increase in value during gold’s worst month in 20 + years. The premiums on certified coins can move quite independently from the gold market and often times increase when gold goes down. This provides strong buoyancy during gold market corrections; something a lot of gold buyers would have loved over the last few weeks.

All in all, there is no real “right” answer as to whether investors are better off with bullion or certified coins. As such, we’re strong believers in owning both. Ideally, a healthy gold portfolio would have both bullion and certified coins. The bullion will move more quickly, provide more gold per dollar invested, and can be bought and sold at lower margins. The certified coins may have higher long term profit potential, benefit from strong demand and scarcity, and can provide stability in a gold market that is likely to become increasingly volatile in the coming years. As with most arguments, the best answer probably borrows a bit from both sides. As with most investments, the best strategy is probably a diversified one.