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Tip for the month
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Business Tips
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Don’t reinvent the wheel! (July 2010)
One thing I've noticed is that entrepreneurs feel like they have to be innovative, creative, and singular in their sales and marketing. Now, of course you want your company to stand out from the crowd. Of course you need a unique selling proposition. But, you don't have to discover on your own how to run a business.
In other words, don't reinvent the wheel. Just find what others have done (and succeeded at) and then try it in your own business.
The great thing about being a business owner today is: the sales and marketing gurus have already tried most everything, and they've revealed ALL their secrets with us!
To help you along, here is my suggested reading list for improving your business, sales, and marketing. (I know you don't have a lot of time, so I will keep the list short and powerful!)
The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
Magnetic Marketing by Dan Kennedy
Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin
Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch
This is great reading that will help you improve and manage your business!
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Property Tips
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Preparing a property for rental (July 2010)
- Change the light fittings – shedding more light on the property can improve appeal, and attractive fittings even more so.
- Open up rooms to make them bigger. Pokey kitchens could be opened up to the dining room by removing non-structural walls, the lounge may benefit from removing the connecting hall wall to open it up. Seek a builder’s opinion and help.
- New kitchen cupboards, and bathroom vanity, can be worth the cost – see the flat-pack options at hardware stores.
- A new shower curtain can make the difference in a bathroom. Choose something tasteful, and choose a washable fabric, not plastic. It feels better, looks good, lasts longer.
- Make the changes appropriate for the market you are aiming for. A mansion in a slum will not rent for as much as it cost you, and will not attract the kind of tenants you want.
- Improve the garden – make it easier to look after. Replace lawn with shrubs where-ever the lawn is difficult to attend (e.g. on steep slopes). Use edging, weed-mat, and mulch well – pebbles look good and last longer than bark.
- Put a high fence at the front of the property. High fences suggests exclusive, but they do not cost much more than low ones.
- A secure shed for bikes and lawnmowers is useful, and keeps them out of the house too.
- Install a burglary alarm, or other security devices. Good locks on doors and windows highly recommended.
- Install an attractive letterbox, or ensure the old one is painted/stained nicely and is in good condition.
- Car parking. If you don’t have a garage, can you put in a carport, or even a car-pad?
- Install services tenants would like, like Pay TV, internet, cleaning.
- Rent by the room if the property is suitable for that
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Finance Tips
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DON’T USE YOUR HOME LOAN TO PAY OFF CREDIT CARD DEBT (July 2010)
"This one happens a lot - I call that the one-time-get-out-of-jail-free card. If you need to pay your credit card debt off with your home loan, you should only do that if you really need to clear that debt and there’s no other way around it. But actively give yourself a period of time within your home loan at that rate to pay that off. For example, if you were paying 16 per cent and that would take you five years to pay off, but your home loan rate is five per cent - you should pay that debt off in half the time. But what often happens is people who consolidate their bad debts into their home loans go and max their credit card out again.
"A better approach is to take all your debts and put them in order of the highest interest payments - and pay those ones off first - pay off highest to lowest. Take minimum payments for all the others and once that highest one is finished take that payment to the next one."
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