The Entire Country Is In Debt

So what do you do when you can’t pay your bills?

You attend my WEBINAR on Tuesday December 1 at 9pm Eastern and learn how to create another source of income!

SO MANY have registered for tomorrow night’s webinar to learn how to get of out the vicious living month to month cycle.  Registering is one thing, attending is another…  If you’ve committed to signing up for my webinar, you MUST COMMIT to ATTEND!  There are a limited number of available spots; please don’t take one if you are not serious about changing your lifestyle and financial status.  And, if you haven’t registered yet, DO SO NOW!

Don’t miss out on what could the the best opportunity you’ve heard this year.  I look forward to seeing each and every one of you tomorrow night ~ Al Schweitzer Read the rest of this entry »

Make Sure YOUR Idea Stays YOUR Idea – Protect It

Many start-ups and entrepreneurs worry that their business ideas will be “stolen” and/or copied, and believe me this occurs more often than one would think.  However,  keep this issue in check so that it doesn’t interfere with your continuing efforts toward the start of your business.  Be careful about discussing the details of your business idea, particularly with competitors, and include your copyright statement on all printed material, including that on your website (here’s a copy of mine).   There are many protection options, such as:

• Patent (to protect an original device or process)
• Copyright (for printed material, such as consulting manuals, books and maps or computer software)
• Trademark (to guard a product name, logo, symbol or figure)
• Service mark (to guard a brand or service name, logo, symbol or figure)

Here’s some basic steps to cover yourself and your business, and prove your case should you need to:

• Know the character of every person with whom you discuss the idea, including potential business partners and employees.  Do background checks, if necessary (you can find out how by attending by webinar on Tuesday December 1 at 9pm – Reserve your Webinar seat now by clicking here)
• If you share your business plan and/or idea, be sure to record the name of the individual who receives it and place/state your copyright statement.
• Requiring signed nondisclosure agreements from those who will review your business plan and/or with those you discuss your idea will  prohibit them from using or discussing your  information.
• Employment agreements should limit the ability to use proprietary materials, designs and formulas or to take customer names, copy databases, etc. with them should they leave your business.
• File for a patent to prevent others from copying your invention.
• File for a copyright to prevent others from copying your material, including print, software, music, films, art and
• recordings.
• Register your trademark to prevent others from using a special name or logo you plan to use.
• To protect your ownership rights, seek a qualified attorney who is experienced in matters involving intellectual property protection.

Information on copyright forms, copyright protection and information in greater detail can be located at the Copyright Office, www.copyright.gov.

For more information about patents and trademarks, visit the Patent and Trademark Office, www.uspto.gov.

Copyright infringement takes a lot of time, energy and money to resolve.  By following the steps above, you may save yourself the aggravation.

To your success ~ Al

DO A TEST and ATTEND MY WEBINAR for a new business idea and more tips!

As you continue to develop your business idea, begin thinking about conducting a market test.  Market research doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, but it must be done.  Conduct research to determine whether there’s as sufficient customer supply to support your product or service.  You can find valuable information by using:

• Libraries and published directories
• Computerized databases
• Web sites and search engines
• US Small Business Administration
• US Bureau of Census
• Trade associations for your industry
• Local chambers of commerce

Test your idea with those you believe may become customers, friends, family and others who can offer constructive feedback.  Write down their responses, and be prepared to make changes based on the responses.

How will your product or service be an improvement over the competition?  Know your competition inside and out; study and evaluate them.  Price your product or service competitively.  If  your product or service improves on an existing one, price it slightly higher.  If it will be equal to what is on the market, price it slightly lower. By all means, BE SURE you can make a profit long-term.

Can you answer the following questions about your market?  Keep notes; they will come in handy especially when creating your business plan and/or applying for a small business loan:

• Identify your three most important potential customer groups, defining them by the criteria (age, demographics, industry, etc.) that you believe are most relevant to your product or service.
• Name your primary competitor for each of the three groups.
• Describe how each group feels about this competitor.
• Describe the factors that are most likely to make each group leave a competitor and switch to your product or service.
• Describe what makes each of your competitors successful.
• Describe what makes each competitor vulnerable to loss of customers.

When in comes to pricing, this can be one of the most difficult tasks to complete.  When considering your pricing policies, think about the following:

• Provide details and a calculation of how you arrived at the price for your product or service.
• List the price(s) that your most significant competitors charge for their corresponding product or service.
• If your prices are higher, why? How will you justify them to your customers?
• If your prices are lower, why? How will they help you attract customers?

Stay tuned for more valuable information on Starting Your Own Business, and attend my webinar on Tuesday, December 1 at 9pm for additional information!  Reserve your Webinar seat now by clicking here:

Darius Barazandeh is very unique because he is not only an attorney BUT has investment experience with tax foreclosure sales, ’sandwich’ lease-option transactions, note creation through mobile home ‘flipping’ (i.e., quick buying and selling) and residential single family construction projects.

You won’t want to miss this!

Darius will be my guest on WEDNESDAY, December 2 at 9pm EST, and you MUST attend!  Reserve your Webinar seat now by clicking here, and read one of his articles below for YOUR PROTECTION!

By: Darius M. Barazandeh, Attorney at Law / M.B.A.

You may hear conditions clauses being called ‘weasel clauses, or contract contingencies.  Conditions clauses allow the buyer or the seller to end the contract upon the happening or non-happening of an event.  Your purchase contract (and the one we provide in this program) has several key conditions clauses.  This is because in wholesale transactions you will want the right to end the contract or re-negotiate purchase price if the property turns out to be less attractive than you thought.

For example, you may discover that there are additional liens on the title report that the seller did not know about.  Your retail flipper may inspect the property with you (after you have a contract with the seller) and may discover that the foundation is slightly cracked.  A conditions clause allows you to re-negotiate the contract or cancel the contract upon a certain condition being found.

We keep our conditions clauses very broad.  For example, one of our clauses allows you to end the contract or re-negotiate if you find out that the property is not worth what you originally thought.  For example, assume that you do some preliminary market research and believe the property is worth $150,000 and then sign a purchase contract with the seller.  Later you discover the property is really only worth about $120,000 and that your comparable sales were skewed.  The right conditions clause would allow you to re-negotiate or simply end the contract.

Conditions clauses are common, but not required for a contract to be valid.  Nevertheless, they are a very good idea.  Here are some common examples:

• Financing Contingency: Contracts may be contingent upon the buyer obtaining financing.  For example, the following contingency is in place (just in case) a new loan is required but cannot be obtained:

“If a new loan shall be required for Buyer’s purchase of said property, then this agreement is subject to Buyer’s obtaining a new loan for the amount of $____________________ with an interest rate NOT higher than _____________% and an amortization period NOT less than  ____________ months.”

• Subject to Inspection: Here is an example from our contracts:  Contract and terms are subject to:

[Buyers]  “…review the properties’ marketability, value and/or condition with Buyer’s agents, business partners, and associates.  If this is not satisfactory, Buyer may end this agreement without default or adjust the price and terms of this agreement.”

• Title Contingency:  Here is an example of contingency that allows for re-negotiation or an end of the agreement if there are title issues.  This example was taken from our contracts:

[This agreement is subject to] “…a title review of said property.  If title clouds, liens, undisclosed issues, defects affecting title, property surveys, ownership disputes or clouds, zoning issues, debts, levies, or restrictions of use of any kind, are found then the Buyer has sole discretion to end this agreement without default.  In the alternative the Buyer may adjust the price and terms of this agreement without prejudice or default.”

• Approval by Buyer’s Partner:  This is the notorious conditions clause that everyone talks about.  It simply reads:

“This agreement is subject to approval by buyer’s partner.”

This clause basically allows the buyer to get out of the contract for nearly any reason, because typically the buyer’s business partner may be their friend, spouse, etc.

However, before you get too carried away with conditions clauses, understand that exercising a conditions clause unfairly or at the last minute and thereby causing loss to the seller, will make you liable for violating your implied duty of ‘good faith’ and ‘fair dealing’.  Moreover, you only need one or two good conditions clauses in a contract to be sure you are protected.

Darius will be my guest on WEDNESDAY, December 2 at 9pm EST, and you MUST attend!  Reserve your Webinar seat now by clicking here.  This is REALLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

All the best ~ Al