Mar
9
2010
In a past post I introduced arbitrage and how it is a really great money maker. It has done well for me in the past and I have to say it’s doing really great for me currently. So great in fact that I want to revisit the subject.
In my past post I told you that arbitrage was simply the method by which a person profits from a market imbalance. An item costs one amount in one area but costs a different amount in another area. An example of this would be something on eBay Canada vs. eBay America. Let’s say a hockey puck costs $3 on eBay America but costs $4 (after currency rate exchange) on eBay Canada. You could make a dollar a hockey puck buying from eBay America and selling on eBay Canada.
Of course I just made that last example up but there are real life examples all over the place. You just have to keep you eye out for them. The key is to get a process going where you can set it and forget it. The more time and effort you are putting into making your money through arbitrage the less profit you are seeing. There are web sites out there that compare prices for you so you can see at a glance how much an item is going for across multiple sites. I have found though that these sites are often delayed and of no use to me. So my biggest effort goes into finding items that have a price difference.
If I am able to reduce the amount of time put into finding and setting up an arbitrage system then that is more money and time that I save which equals more profit. Of course this is a very big motivator for me. That is why I have come up with a product that will do just that for anyone who is either in or is interested in getting into the internet arbitrage arena. My product is still being developed but I can tell you that it will save you a ton of time in this area. The product should be ready for the initial release within the next two weeks. At that time I will only allow 50 people to sign up for the first wave. This will allow me to ensure that I provide fantastic customer service to the first round of users. You will want to be one of the first 50 people to take full advantage of this product so stay tuned for more updates!
Mar
8
2010
Another key person in your real estate team is your real estate lawyer. Having a dedicated real estate lawyer that you can go back to time and time again is essential for success. There have been a few instances where I had used a lawyer that was not dedicated to real estate and it was painful. For the non-real estate lawyer, this transaction is not their bread and butter. There is a good chance the lawyer may get called to court for a higher profile\paying case and your real estate transaction sits their until the lawyer is done with their other commitment.
This is especially bad when you are bidding on a hot property and need to get through attorney review very quickly. A quick real estate lawyer will seal the deal for you where as any other lawyer may delay the process exposing the hot property to other bids (even though a property is in attorney review another party can still come along and entice the seller with a higher offer). So do your homework when selecting your attorney. Make sure the attorney is a real estate lawyer. Make sure they are responsive. Make sure you have a good relationship with them and he or she is someone you can use time and time again. Even if they charge a higher price many times it is worth it. If the attorney is able to assist you in grabbing that sweet deal you will more than make up the attorney fees in the end.
Mar
8
2010
This Corporate Success post plays off of the Increase Your Market Share post. Think of yourself as a brand in your corporation. In order to move up in your corporate world you have to convince the higher ups to buy your brand. You want the people above you to WANT you to work for them. They should be asking you to work on their projects. How do you do that? One way is to be seen.
Just like a product in a store, no one is going to buy the product if they don’t know about the product. The same goes for you in the corporate world. No senior manager is going to want you to work for them (or promote you for that matter) if they don’t know about you. So you have to see and be seen. What does that mean? Attend lunch & learns. Attend corporate functions. Attend a happy hour once in a while. If you were not invited to the happy hour then get invited. It never hurts to ask someone who was invited if you could tag along with them. Attend the company quarterly meetings instead of getting stuck at your desk with too much work. Get in front of everyone’s face as much as possible.
You can then take that a step further and create your own events. Organize a lunch and learn where you give a presentation on Best Practices. Take the last 30 minutes of the day and drop in on some folks to see how they are doing. You would be amazed at how well this one works. Drop by the VP’s office after their meetings are over but before they go home. Let them know that their speech was right on the mark and you agreed with their key points. If you didn’t agree with their points then say, “I just need more clarification on “X” point so I can understand it from your perspective”. You don’t want to be a TOTAL brown noser…..just a slight brown noser. This last suggestion may get you more work but hey, that’s the key to moving up. You get the projects from the right people, do well with those projects and those right people will want to see you succeed.
Mar
4
2010
Overall it was a good week. I was very consistent with my healthier eating. I was consistent with the exercise. Best of all I feel better and I don’t feel like I’m on a diet. I just feel like I’m much more conscious about what I eat and how much. I make smarter eating decisions. Consistency was the name of the game this week and it helped me to lose 2 pounds.
My goal was to lose 3 pounds this week but I am happy with losing the 2 pounds. I did not put the effort in to lose 3 pounds but this was a crazy week (which I’m discovering that every week is a crazy week…..which makes every week normal then?) so I’m happy with the 2 pound reduction. I did exercise 4 times over this week (2 miles on the treadmill, 7 miles on the stationary bike, 30 minutes on the NordicTrak and 2 hours of shoveling a foot of snow). I still have not introduced weights into the work out but this is a priority over the next two weeks.
In the food department I behaved for the most part. I did have a meatball sub on Tuesday night but that’s about as bad as I ate this week. I also did indulge in a piece of cake my wife made but she made it with applesauce instead of oil or butter so it was very low in fat.
With the 2 pound loss this week that puts me at 210 pounds. That’s a loss of 5 pounds in 4 weeks. My original goal was to lose 1 pound a week so from that perspective I’m 1 pound ahead. BUT….my time frame was to lose 52 pounds in 2010 so I’m actually 3 weeks or 3 pounds behind schedule. If I stay only 3 weeks behind schedule I have a feeling that I’ll be able to catch up or even surpass this when the warmer weather is here and I am more active outside. My goal is to catch up before the warmer weather gets here though. Keep up to date with these posts to see if I can catch up before spring.