Posts Tagged ‘Kim Greenblatt’

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Making Money and Dancing

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

WIth the return to television of dancing as a form of entertainment in the last few years, I am happy to hear that it is also returning to a form of recreation for people.  People are signing up for dance classes, kids are performing in dance crews, and the results are spectacular for everybody.  As a dancer as well a businessman, I have to admit that dancing offers that great combination of physically working out and relaxation at the same time. 

Watching all the dance shows both on regular network and on cable, the artform is constantly testing and raising the bar for what people want to see and expect.  The same holds true in business, especially if you are trying to make money.  If you are trying to get people to part with their money, you will need to raise the bar to match their expectations.  Think of it as trying to get somebody from the dance floor to dance with you.  Are you confident?  Are you able to dance?  Are you not too pushy?

Whether it is killer customer service, a great product or being able to boogey on down and entertain them, people want results if they are going to be spending their hard earned cash.  Money will be tight for some time to come so you need to dance fast to try and figure out if the product or service you are offering is selling through or not.  If not, you better spin around and change direction to get in synch with what your competitors are doing to get business.

Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, America’s Best Dance Crew show us that it takes hard work and practice to be a good dancer.  The same holds true in business.  The days of easy money from just throwing open a business may still be there but for the most part it is still 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration – just like the dancers.  We only get to see a fraction of the amount of time they spend dancing.

For something like square dancing, everybody needs to work in unison.  Sure, there are moments where you can show your flair but the reason the squares work is everybody is moving in unison.  Remember that when you are at work that sometimes everybody needs to pay attention to what is going on around them to make a success of themselves and the team.

And what do you do if somebody trips?  That is right!  You don’t dance all over him and cause a dozen people to fall to the ground like dominos.  You stop and help the person up.  In business, you stop and try and help your co-workers to make it through whatever it is they are tripping on.

To be fair, if a partner is squeezing too hard and doesn’t let go, sometimes you need to give the person a subtle or not-so-subtle hint.  I will leave you to your imagination how this might apply in the workplace.

I need to go now and do some stretching – I want to make sure I am limber for both dancing and business!

 

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

 

The profitable blog talking about making money and dancing.

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Changing Drought to Big Dry

Monday, October 27th, 2008

As a follow-up to my last blog on exhaustion of resources, we get news from Australia.

My thoughts and prayers go to the people of Australia.  Australia has banned using the word “drought” to explain why there hasn’t been a lot of rain lately.  Weather conditions all over the world are in a state of flux – which is a thirty dollar word for “change”.  Because so many farmers are in trouble because of the bad weather (families are having to split up to find other work, some are possibly suicidal, etc)  the government figures that it would make things easier for them in dealing with the global climatic changes by letting their people what is going on and trying to remove situations which would result in people going out of control.  It is never pleasant when segments of your society are starting to meltdown due to environmental or economic conditions.  Governments have been established to help their people.  The international news media and bloggers have picked up the information and are letting the world know what was said.  How does this relate to business?

Changing words has often been used to introduce concepts or situations that aren’t going to well accepted.  In the 1980s, the word “firing”, was changed to “downsized” and then to the equally goofy word “rightsized”.  When I read words like that I think of McDonald’s shrinking the size of hamburgers or candy bar companies shrinking the size of Hershey bars down to “fun size” – those are the sizes of candy that you would normally throw out after you ate a “super-sized” candy bar.  Sometimes changing words works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Changing the words may help get some of the tension away from the situation but what is more important is the second step that they are doing. The Australian government  is trying to get the farmers use to the idea that they are going to be in for tough times and act accordingly.  What does that mean for them as business people?  For some families that have been multi-generational farmers, they may have to learn other vocations and it is tough for older people.

For some cities that have agricultural revenue, times will be tough for awhile.  This is similar to what happened here in the United States when we went through our Dust Bowl in the early 1900s and families had to move to where they could get food and employment because the farmlands were drying up.

Here in America we are going through some tough times as well with the financial meltdowns, problems we have had with hurricanes, tornadoes and tension over our elections.  The government has stepped in to help their people.  I am sure Australia is doing the same.  Loss of one’s population isn’t an option.

The take away is that people and their government have to work together to try to get through this and in the business world you have to change sometimes whether you want to or not. 

Best of luck to us all!

Kim Greenblatt

 

You are reading Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable.

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Rett Syndrome Picnic Los Angeles October 25 2008

Saturday, October 25th, 2008

Today we had our Southern California Rett Syndrome picnic.  Special thanks again to Sherri Brady for doing a fantastic job organizing the event.  Special thanks to all the participants and sponsors.  If anybody has any pictures or links to share, please post them in comments so I can get them out there.

Don’t forget the other Rett Syndrome events that we have and we will see you next year as well!

Here are some videos from the event:

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

You are reading the profitable blog and here are some videos for the So Cal Rett Syndrome Picnic 2008.

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International Sales

Friday, October 24th, 2008

Judging from the emails that I get, a lot of people in other countries read my blog.  Today’s blog is for my readers in Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and within that the UK, Turkey, Russia, Japan, Norway and anywhere else I have missed.

I get emails with questions about how to get more international sales whether it is actually selling something, offering services or even getting somebody from another country to click through to their website.  The bottom line is are you selling a good product at a good price.

If people can order your product or service, get it in a timely manner, find that you did what you said you would or that the product works, that is it.  As I am fond of saying, there isn’t anything magical or supernatural about it.

When people order my books on tax preparation or money management (which deals with how to get jobs and what to do if you are laid off),  they can see samples of my writing style and they generally know what they are getting into.  The problem with dealing with people in international sales is sometimes you don’t know what is on the other side of the ocean, or shipping costs are prohibitive, or there is sometimes problem in the delivery method.

It is up to you as the seller to insure that the supply and distribution chain that you are using is a sound one so that you can get your product to your customer or client.  Anything else than that will result in a bad deal for both you and your customer.  Sure, you might make a sale but if you lose repeat business or word-of-mouth is that you aren’t a good place to get things from could kill your business.

Another problem is that if you have failed to do adequate localization, you might not be understood.  Localization is a fancy word for tailoring your sales, your business to what the people in your target audience in their part of the world expect to see in their advertising and you need to insure that you don’t use any slang that might be considered offensive, cultural references from another country that don’t make sense, etc.  Have you ever watched a television show from another country and even if you understand the language, get some slang that doesn’t make sense?  Even watching some tv from the BBC here in the US I have to think about what was said, jot down some notes and research what some of the slang is to get some jokes.   A lot of video games go through localization because some nations don’t like the level of violence in a game so the game producers have to tone down or remove or redo certain aspects of games.  Same holds true with movies that are R rated and need to be edited with PG scenes.

Well, either that or stop watching BBC.

Test marketing is a good idea as well and if you know any people that speak the language or know the country you are selling to, it doesn’t hurt to ask them for help.  People all over the world will forgive you if you don’t get their language straight in speech or print if you are trying to communicate with them.

In the meantime, hello to all my readers and friends from around the world and thanks for reading!

Kim Greenblatt

You are reading the profitable blog about international sales.

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Future of Credit Availability

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Question for Kim from a reader: “How come the banks are getting money and they aren’t kicking it down?”

My answer: I think the banks are kicking money down, though they are doing it slower and with tighter regulations than before.  The best analogy I can think of is that the pendulum has been swinging to the side of what I would call fiscal conservatism or tighter money.  Cash was free and easy for years and just by virtue of having a mailing address you could get offers for credit cards, home loans, etc. Bank reps were turning a blind eye to compliance with regulations, limits as to how much somebody could qualify for a loan, and something as plain as having 20% down as a home down payment. Times have changed-and it may not be for the worse over the long run. A lot depends on how the new administration gets projects going to put people to work so they can get paid, but I am getting off topic and on my soap box here.

Cash still can be come by but it isn’t free and easy as it was ten or twenty years ago.  I have talked to a lot of people who have had their HELOCS cancelled and after an appraisal, they have had them reinstated.

Did anything change in their credit situation?  Probably not.  The property values were finally looked at realistically and the bank/lender used a realistic more conservative valuation method – versus the blind computer method that they used for years and that gave a true example that not everybody in America is upside down on their mortgage.

The same can be said for credit card issuance.  People are still getting applications for credit cards and lines of credit so the money appears to be there – it is just that the bar has been raised back to the way it use to be decades ago where they actually expect to have reasonable valuations and down payments before lending money for homes and some sort of track record before issuing credit cards.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see credit tighten for personal non-secured lines (like credit cards) though that may be superseded by interest rates going up once the economy finds a direction.  That may not happen though for a few years since it will take some time for the economy to sort itself out and in the meantime credit may be a tighter than it was before.

So the solution?  Try and keep a positive cash flow, save money and pay bills on time.  Eventually, you will get credit card offers and when you do, watch the interest rates and use them sparingly and not as sources of income.

Whether you agree with the bank bailouts or not, the profitable way of approaching credit in any of its shape or forms (credit card, HELOC, line of credit, etc) is to remember that the purpose of it is to jumpstart or help out something, not to be used as an income stream.  The money is borrowed – that means that sooner or later that cash has to be paid back.  If interest rates go up, and they will over time, you don’t want to end up paying more money than you borrowed among other things.

On a separate note, I’ve started working on my next non-fiction book.  The book has to do with personal finance.  Now, more than ever, we have to not only make sure our own financial acts are together but we need to make sure that our children are learning to budget and watch their money.

 I will give you more information as it develops.  If you have any ideas or suggestions for titles, please drop me a line or a post on the blog.

Kim Greenblatt

 

You are reading the profitable blog and Kim Greenblatt answers a reader asking when banks will kick down money.

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Reviewing Your Personal Finances

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

With the stock market swinging like a pendulum, with job markets cold and the California fires raging hot, it seems like a good idea to take stock of one’s personal finances.

How much cash do you have liquid?  By liquid, I mean how much cash can you get to within 3-5 business days if you need to?  You don’t need to answer me, just be aware of how much and how fast you can get to your money.

How secure are your existing investments?  If you have been able to gut out the changes in the markets for the last few weeks you should be able to make a decent assessment of your investments. 

How is your debt?  If you have a lot of credit card debt or mortgage debt, what steps are you taking to reduce it?  It is tough to make money when you have money just going out.  With debt hanging over your head, you want to do what you can to get rid of your burden.

Are you paying enough or saving enough for Federal and if appropriate state taxes?  If you had to dip into your 401K please save about a third of the money for taxes.  If you are in a situation where you need the money to eat and live, do what you need to do but be aware that you will have to deal with the tax situation eventually and the end of 2008 is right around the corner.

Are you able to save at least 10% of your weekly money for emergency savings?  If not,  do what you can to save what you can. 

Is there anything you can cut or trim down from your budget to save money? 

It is the weekend so I won’t bring up anything else except a reminder that Sundays are a great day to review your finances once you are relaxed and things are calm around you.

Be safe and healthy!

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

 

Kim Greenblatt askes if you are reviewing your personal finances.

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How Are Your Backups?

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

How are your hard drive backups?  Do you have a set of flash drives as well that have your important documents, contact information, etc somewhere safe?  I have been guilty in the past of taking multiple back-ups of important records and keeping them all one spot.  That wouldn’t have done me any good if the fires that are hitting the San Fernando Valley got to my house.

Can you get to your back-ups, your computer, important documents in case of an emergency and get them out of the house or apartment in five minutes or less?  If a fire is coming, or if you have had an earthquake or the waters are rising, you will not have much time to gather the information that puts your life from set back or on hold to back on track.

Keep back-ups of business data off-site.

Invest in a flash drive and back-up important documents, phone numbers, account information in either a text format or a simple Word format.   You want to be able to re-read the information on ANY system in the event you cannot get your system restored or back from a burnt or flooded house.

Make sure that all people who need to have access on an account are on the account.  If you or your spouse or partner cannot make it to an ATM or to get money and the other needs to get money they will be out of luck if they don’t have access to cash.

In the event of a disaster, cash may be king.  The information in your life might be the queen.   I have heard of emergency services issuing debit cards.  That works great if local merchants are online to accept electrical transfers.  If they can’t, default is cash, food or the honor system.  Ask the people who have been through hurricane or tornado damage lately.

Documents or software for services you provide will need to be reloaded to computer systems.  Other parts of the country or world may be up and running and they still may need your services-maybe now more than ever.

While I am on the subject, make sure that your vehicles are gassed up so if you have to leave you can drive and if need be, drive far away out of the zone of the disaster.  If you are driving and almost empty and the roads are jammed, get ready to abandon your car.

Test your backups periodically.  Try reloading them into another directory or if you can, another computer so you can get the feel for what it is like to get back into action if your business is halted or interrupted.

Recently my DSL line was clobbered.  I have a backup and that allowed me to transfer networks and I was back up in minutes.  The DSL provider was out within 72 hours but some businesses cannot afford to wait that long. 

Do what you need to do to stay connected.  If you have a website, is it mirrored or backed-up somewhere safe? 

Hopefully, after reading this article, when asked, “How are your backups?”  You can respond, “Fine, thanks for asking, how are yours?”

Kim Isaac Greenblatt 

 

You are reading the profitable blog by Kim Greenblatt as he asks, “How are your backups?”

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The Next Big Thing Is Small

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

So while you are trying to figure out what the next big thing is this year or concluding that blogging isn’t quite what you had in mind, you may want to start planning for how to take advantage of the changes in our economy at both the national and international level.

Money for the immediate future, despite government’s best interests, will tend to be tight. People who are trying to crawl out out of debt will be watching what they spend money on, they may not have a steady income stream and they may actually be between jobs or need extra money.

So what can you do to make money or stay profitable? Think smaller scale. People will not be spending as much for items. The cliche use to be “Well the rich can always afford big items no matter what the economy is”. True, but are you set up to sell super yachts to the Sultans? If not my suggestion would be to aim for the stars but be content if you get off the earth or even out of your neighborhood.

Think of what people who are trying to save money might want to buy or use and fill that niche. It doesn’t have to be big, it can be small. If you can come up with one small labor saving idea that you can market or package or manufacture, you will be on your way to starting your business.

One way to make money or at least get an income stream is to come up with something small and affordable that fills a niche. Here in Southern California we have had implemented hands free cell phone devices to comply with driving law changes. Companies have exploded with Bluetooth compliant devices to help drivers comply, because let’s face it, once you start yakking and doing business on the phone you probably won’t stop – though personally I think you should and that is the subject for another blog. One nice item that made it to the market was a handle that fits universally behind any cell phone and it can clip by itself on your belt or inside of a purse. There is a self sticking hook that can fit in your car and you can set it to be hands free. The problem is that you still need to hit a button and that may not make it as compliant as a headset but you still need to remove one hand from the steering wheel to hit the earpiece button to turn on the cell that way.

It can’t cost that much to manufacture, after all, it looks like a plastic hook and plastic mini-lasso. It retails at places for US$9 so there looks to be a lot of room for mark-up and profit for everybody. If the manufacturers eventually get the price down so it is in the dollar stores, there might be a lot more sales than at nine bucks.

Anything to save time or comfort people is also a great business idea. People who have to care for the elderly or special needs need inexpensive items in their lives to help them out. They are gouged to begin with because a lot of companies hope for insurance reimbursement. There is a huge and growing niche for anything that can help special needs people or the elderly communicate, walk, talk or take care of themselves inexpensively. Trying to take care of cleaning needs for special needs people is like trying to take care of infants. There is a lot of diaper changing and that gets to be tiring and messing. Special needs and elderly people who need to be lifted can be aided with hoists and special chairs but currently they are expensive. Anything that can hit a lower price point would be accepted by the market with open arms and open wallets!

So the take away from today’s blog is aim for the stars but if you just land on the roof of your house or apartment, you have done okay.

Stay healthy and sane!
Kim Isaac Greenblatt

You are reading Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable, and he is saying that the next big thing is small.

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Help Kim What is the Tax Relief For Disaster Victims?

Monday, October 13th, 2008

Emergency question from a reader:
“Help, Kim, my house is involved in the Sylmar fire. What is the tax relief for disaster victims?”

My answer: Good luck and above all be safe! The Federal government offers relief to those of us who are suffering from uninsured property damage. To see if you can qualify for the write-off, the damage must be caused by an unexpected, identifiable event, such as a flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, etc. This is an aside but make a note that accidents and deterioration of property don’t count.

In this case, the fire sounds that it definitely would count.

Your uninsured loss, minus $100, must then exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income to qualify.

You will need to run the numbers to see if you can claim the casualty loss deduction.

If you can claim the casualty loss deduction, be prepared to provide the IRS:

1. An estimate of your loss, which could involve getting appraisals for the value of your property before and after the damage.

2. Background data about the disaster that caused your loss, such as newspaper clippings.

3. Proof you own the damaged property.

4. Receipts for repairs.

5. Make sure that you remove any costs that you have been reimbursed for by insurance companies.

Please remember that if your loss is in a federally declared disaster area (and that may be deemed as such by the government depending on how bad things get), you have the option of deducting the loss on your tax return for the year immediately before the disaster. If you choose that option, enter your adjusted gross income from the prior year instead.

For more on claiming the deduction, see IRS Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters and Thefts, and IRS Publication 584, Casualty, Disaster, and Theft Loss Workbook.

Good luck!

Kim Greenblatt

Kim Greenblatt’s profitable blog answers a plea for help on what tax relief is for disaster victims.

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The Lost Art of Buy and Hold Stock Ownership

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Back in the day, you would buy and hold onto stocks throughout your life and as you approached retirement you would sell the stocks to cover expenses, buy that farm or retirement house in the Tropics or whatever you want. For the last twenty or so years, stock ownership has been marketed as more than ownership in a company but a way to make a quick profit.

The truth is, you can make a quick profit but you can equally make a quick loss. Fundamentals of investment point out that for every investment there is a person who makes money in the transaction and another person that loses money. How can you make a profit doing this?

One answer I like to tell people is to take the big picture. For large, well-funded multi-billion dollar firms, you need to take the long horizon view. You should buy shares in the company and hold onto them. Does that mean that you should forget about them? By all means, NO!

You should monitor the company’s progress, follow the press releases, follow any news on their industry and make your own well-researched, non-emotional choice as to what to do or not.
The problem in the last few days with the stock market is that people are reacting with their gut to non-news. Yes, some banks are going under. Yes, some businesses are having problems.

Not ALL companies are having problems. A lot of firms are being sold off because some of them were held by financial institutions that need cash, people who are short-sellers or because of fear.

If the underlying fundamentals for a company have not changed, why sell it off? Do you need the money right away? If so, do it. If you don’t, don’t. Has there been some change in the market fundamentals or if you are a charter, in the dynamics of the stock? Did you get a signal to sell?

Ultimately you make the choice, just remember that sometimes it is better to buy and hold onto to something and not respond to the knee jerk responses of the public.

Be safe and sane!

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Kim Isaac Greenblatt asks if you know of the lost art of buying and holding a stock.

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