Infrequent updates will increase the value of PR

It seems to me that if Google is moving to quarterly PR updates, or even worse, that it will result in people placing even more value on PR. With monthly updates, it was relatively easy for a webmaster to bring a site quickly up to PR5, PR6, or so. With quarterly or less updates, you don’t see the updates for much longer. Waiting a month is much less painful, waiting three months or more might be intolerable. So, I think that webmasters will feel backed into a corner and try to buy an existing website with PR rather than waiting. Thus, driving the market value of those sites through the roof.

Micro Sites

The recent bargain price for .info domains has prompted me to come up with ideas for micro sites. Obviously, I’m not prepared to take on the management of twenty-five new full websites, but it will give me the incentive to create a group of micro sites. I’ve selected a group of extremely targetted travel-related keywords matched to the domains, and have started putting the development of this group of sites out to bid. The idea is to create a static html website, maybe five pages, with a specific keyword in mind. I’ve tried to collect names that show a potential of at least 100 searches a day in the search engines. These are also fairly un-competitive keywords. Bring traffic - sell ads. I expect to have ten to twenty-five dollars in each website (each one taking a developer an hour to make, from content to coding, since they’ll have all the same coding it’s just plug in the content). After that, the only outlay is for the hosting. If I can’t make more than twenty-five dollars per site in 12 months, it will have been a total failure. I anticipate twenty-five a month, though. Small dollars, but if the idea works well, the sky is the limit.

The No Money Down Trap

I think this is going to be a real problem for a lot of people in the USA in the near future. I’ve seen areas of the country that are being incredibly over-built. How many people, when they’re buying a new house, find out the percentage of investor-owned properties in the neighborhood? I wouldn’t want to buy a house where the investor-owned percentage is 20%, let alone the 50%+ figures I’ve seen in some areas. Why? And what does this have to do with ‘no money down’? To take a step back, I’m in favor of purchasing investments with no money down. But, I think too many people, mostly inexperienced investors, are not investing conservatively enough. Consider the carrying costs. If you’re flipping properties, you can do well right up until the moment the property values stop skyrocketing. It’s easy to make money when properties are going up 5% per month, just like it was easy to make money on the NASDAQ in 1998. Is it true that all parties come to an end?

If you’re investing in property for the long-term, it’s even more dangerous to use the no money down if you’re doing no money down because you don’t have any money to put down. How are you going to afford the property if the tennant doesn’t pay rent? How much of a cusion do you need to cover carrying costs when something goes wrong?

When is it a good idea to use no money down? When you don’t need to of course, but also when you do have some cash but don’t want to use it for a down payment because you wish to preserve that cusion. Keeping money in reserve is always a good idea, especially when the stakes are so high.

Many people
have purchase
Palm Desert Real Estate with no money down.

Netsuite Accounting Module un-Reconciles

I’ve been helping a small company with their accounting and finance. They use Netsuite for CRM and accounting. While working with their bookkeeper to reconcile and close for the month of August we noticed that numerous entries that we had reconciled months ago are now showing up as un-reconciled! To imagine that a system that is costing thousands of dollars a year can’t accomplish the most basic tasks in accounting, keeping things reconciled, is mind-boggling.

Leading vs. Managing — They’re Two Different Animals

Are you a manager or a leader? Although you may hear these two terms thrown out interchangeably, they are in fact two very different animals complete with different personalities and world views. By learning whether you are more of a leader or more of a manager, you will gain the insight and self-confidence that comes with knowing more about yourself. The result is greater impact and effectiveness when dealing with others and running your business.

We are going to take a look at the different personality styles of managers versus leaders, the attitudes each have toward goals, their basic conceptions of what work entails, their relationships with others, and their sense of self (or self-identity) and how it develops. Last of all, we will examine leadership development and discover what criteria is necessary for leaders to reach their full potential. First of all, let’s take a look at the difference in personality styles between a manager and a leader.

Managers - emphasize rationality and control; are problem-solvers (focusing on goals, resources, organization structures, or people); often ask question, “What problems have to be solved, and what are the best ways to achieve results so that people will continue to contribute to this organization?”; are persistent, tough-minded, hard working, intelligent, analytical, tolerant and have goodwill toward others.

Leaders - are perceived as brilliant, but sometimes lonely; achieve control of themselves before they try to control others; can visualize a purpose and generate value in work; are imaginative, passionate, non-conforming risk-takers.

Managers and leaders have very different attitudes toward goals.

Managers - adopt impersonal, almost passive, attitudes toward goals; decide upon goals based on necessity instead of desire and are therefore deeply tied to their organization’s culture; tend to be reactive since they focus on current information.

Leaders - tend to be active since they envision and promote their ideas instead of reacting to current situations; shape ideas instead of responding to them; have a personal orientation toward goals; provide a vision that alters the way people think about what is desirable, possible, and necessary.

Now let’s look at managers’ and leaders’ conceptions of work.

Managers - view work as an enabling process; establish strategies and makes decisions by combining people and ideas; continually coordinate and balance opposing views; are good at reaching compromises and mediating conflicts between opposing values and perspectives; act to limit choice; tolerate practical, mundane work because of strong survival instinct which makes them risk-averse.

Leaders - develop new approaches to long-standing problems and open issues to new options; first, use their vision to excite people and only then develop choices which give those images substance; focus people on shared ideals and raise their expectations; work from high-risk positions because of strong dislike of mundane work.

Managers and leaders have very different relations with others.

Managers - prefer working with others; report that solitary activity makes them anxious; are collaborative; maintain a low level of emotional involvement in relationships; attempt to reconcile differences, seek compromises, and establish a balance of power; relate to people according to the role they play in a sequence of events or in a decision-making process; focus on how things get done; maintain controlled, rational, and equitable structures ; may be viewed by others as inscrutable, detached, and manipulative.

Leaders - maintain inner perceptiveness that they can use in their relationships with others; relate to people in intuitive, empathetic way; focus on what events and decisions mean to participants; attract strong feelings of identity and difference or of love and hate; create systems where human relations may be turbulent, intense, and at times even disorganized.

The Self-Identity of managers versus leaders is strongly influenced by their past.

Managers - report that their adjustments to life have been straightforward and that their lives have been more or less peaceful since birth; have a sense of self as a guide to conduct and attitude which is derived from a feeling of being at home and in harmony with their environment; see themselves as conservators and regulators of an existing order of affairs with which they personally identify and from which they gain rewards; report that their role harmonizes with their ideals of responsibility and duty; perpetuate and strengthen existing institutions; display a life development process which focuses on socialization…this socialization process prepares them to guide institutions and to maintain the existing balance of social relations.

Leaders - reportedly have not had an easy time of it; lives are marked by a continual struggle to find some sense of order; do not take things for granted and are not satisfied with the status quo; report that their “sense of self” is derived from a feeling of profound separateness; may work in organizations, but they never belong to them; report that their sense of self is independent of work roles, memberships, or other social indicators of social identity; seek opportunities for change (i.e. technological, political, or ideological); support change; find their purpose is to profoundly alter human, economic, and political relationships; display a life development process which focuses on personal mastery…this process impels them to struggle for psychological and social change.

Development of Leadership

As you can see, managers and leaders are very different animals. It is important to remember that there are definite strengths and weaknesses of both types of individuals. Managers are very good at maintaining the status quo and adding stability and order to our culture. However, they may not be as good at instigating change and envisioning the future. On the other hand, leaders are very good at stirring people’s emotions, raising their expectations, and taking them in new directions (both good and bad). However, like artists and other gifted people, leaders often suffer from neuroses and have a tendency toward self-absorption and preoccupation.

If you are planning on owning your own business, you must develop management skills, whether they come naturally or not. However, what do you do if you believe you are, in fact, a leader - a diamond in the rough? What can you do to develop as a leader? Throughout history, it has been shown again and again that leaders have needed strong one-to-one relationships with teachers whose strengths lie in cultivating talent in order to reach their full potential. If you think you are a leader at heart, find a teacher that you admire - someone who you can connect with and who can help you develop your natural talents and interests. Whether you reach “glory” status or not, you will grow in ways you never even imagined. And isn’t that what life is about anyway?

From the SBA

Where to get your 1099 Forms

Here’s a handy link to the IRS, get the 1099 forms.
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/page/0,,id=23108,00.html

Time to Reorganize

Well, I never thought it would happen, but I’ve received the proverbial “offer I cannot refuse” for my site www.small-business-forum.com. The deal isn’t inked yet, but if the buyer is earnest it will be within the next week or two. I just have a few loose ends to tie up with the site, receive the payment, and that’s that. I’ll free up some time to spend on other sites, like my blog forum which has been long-neglected. There are a few projects left on the back burner I’d like to move forward with too. Change is invigorating.