Are you considering starting a Real Estate Business? if yes, you'll find this free book to be extremely helpful.
This is a practical guide that will walk you step by step through all the essentials of starting your business. The book is packed with guides, worksheets and checklists. These strategies are absolutely crucial to your business' success yet are simple and easy to apply.
Checklist for Starting a Business: Essential Ingredients for Success
If you are thinking about going into business, it is imperative that you watch this video first! it will take you by the hand and walk you through each and every phase of starting a business. It features all the essential aspects you must consider BEFORE you start a business. This will allow you to predict problems before they happen and keep you from losing your shirt on dog business ideas. Ignore it at your own peril!
Here’s a Valuable Free Gift for You
This is a
high quality, full blown business plan template complete with detailed
instructions and all related spreadsheets. You can download it to your
PC and easily prepare a professional business plan for your business.
Click Here! To
get your free business plan template
The Single Most Important Ingredient for Business Success
The first and most important thing you need to acquire in order to succeed in a small business is... knowledge.
Sounds exaggerated? Listen to this...
According to research conducted by Dun & Bradstreet, 90% of all small business failures can be traced to poor management resulting from lack of knowledge.
This is backed up by my own personal observations. In my 31 years as a business coach and consultant to small businesses, I've seen practically dozens of small business owners go under and lose their businesses -- not because they weren't talented or smart enough -- but because they were trying to re-invent the wheel rather than rely on proven, tested methods that work.
Conclusion: if you are really serious about succeeding in a business... If you want to avoid the common traps and mistakes... it is absolutely imperative that you acquire the right knowledge.
"Why Invent Mediocrity, When You Can Copy Genius?"
That's an excellent quote I picked up from a fellow business owner a few years back. What this means is that you should see what is working and try to duplicate Printing Business. Why go through all the trouble of inventing something new, that you don't even know will ever work, when you can easily learn from and duplicate something that has been a proven success?
[ Note: One of the BIGGEST mistakes almost all new businesses make is that they WASTE tons of valuable time, energy and money on trying to create something "new", that has never been tested or proven... only to find out later that it was a total loss. Don't make the same mistake! ]
Hi! My name is Meir. I'm the founder and president of BizMove.com, a successful internet based information business. I'm also the author of numerous books, mostly in the area of small business management.
I've been involved in small business for the past 31 years of my life, as a business coach, manager of a consulting firm, a seminar leader and as the owner of five successful businesses.
During my career as a business coach and consultant I've helped dozens of business owners start their businesses, market, expand, get out of troubles, sell their businesses and do practically every other small business activity you can think of.
You see, I have been there .... done it ... and bought the Small Business t-shirt! -- This free book contains techniques and strategies I've learned during my 31 year small business career.
Here's what you'll discover in the 'How to Start a Real Estate Business' book:
How to determine the feasibility of your business idea - a complete fill in the blanks template system that will help you predict problems before they happen and keep you from losing your shirt on dog business ideas.
A detailed manual that will walk you step by step through all the essential phases of starting your business
A complete business plan template. This fill-in-the-blanks template includes every section of your business plan, including Executive Summary, Objectives, SWOT Analysis, Marketing Analysis and Strategy, Operations Plan, Financial Projections and more (a similar template is sold elsewhere for $69.95).
All this and much much more.
Success Tip: Setting Goals
Good management is the key to success and good management starts with setting goals. Set goals for yourself for the accomplishment of the many tasks necessary in starting and managing your business successfully. Be specific. Write down the goals in measurable terms of performance. Break major goals down into sub-goals, showing what you expect to achieve in the next two to three months, the next six months, the next year, and the next five years. Beside each goal and sub-goal place a specific date showing when it is to be achieved.
Plan the action you must take to attain the goals. While the effort required to reach each sub-goal should be great enough to challenge you, it should not be so great or unreasonable as to discourage you. Do not plan to reach too many goals all at one time.
Establish priorities. Plan in advance how to measure results so you can know exactly how well you are doing. This is what is meant by "measurable" goals. If you can’t keep score as you go along you are likely to lose motivation. Re-work your plan of action to allow for obstacles which may stand in your way. Try to foresee obstacles and plan ways to avert or minimize them.
Click here! to download your How to Start a Real Estate Business PDF Book for free
Learn how to improve your leadership skills and become a better manager and leader. Here's how to be the boss people want to give 200 percent for. In the following video you'll discover 120 powerful tips and strategies to motivate and inspire your people to bring out the best in them.
For more insightful videos visit our Small Business and Management Skills YouTube Chanel.
Here're other free books in the "how to start a business" series that may interest you:
Agriculture Assisted living Auto repair Bakery Bar Beauty salon Bed and breakfast Bookkeeping Boutique Bowling alley Carpet cleaning Car wash Catering Cattle farming Charity Cleaning Coffee shop Computer repair Construction Consulting Convenience-store Cupcake Daycare Dental Dog daycare Ecommerce Electrical Embroidery Engineering Farm Fashion Film Financial advisor Fitness center Flower-shop Food Food truck Franchise Frozen yogurt Furniture store Gas station Goat farming Grocery store Gym Hairdressing Hair salon Ice cream Insurance agency Interior design Internet Internet cafe IT Jewelry Landscaping Laundromat Laundry Law firm Magazine Manufacturing Microbrewery Motel-hotel Music Nightclub Nonprofit Nursery Online-retail Photography Pizza Plumbing Poultry farming Preschool Printing Private investigator Pub Real-estate Resort Restaurant Retail School Security company Service Software Spa Sports-bar Startup Supermarket Travel agency Trucking Vegetable-farming WebsiteHere's a Sample 'Executive Summary' for a Real Estate Business plan:
[COMPANY NAME] is a well-established real estate sales office in the greater metropolitan area of Austin, Texas. Part of the [COMPANY NAME] Real Estate group, this multi-faceted firm sells both residential properties and land over a five-county target market area which includes some of the most prestigious neighborhoods in the Austin/ Round Rock metro area. Although the recession of the past few years has resulted in a 40% decrease in market sales, both [NAME] were able to weather the storm and not only be some of the few who survived, but actually thrived and won market awards. They have a defined vision for the company and anticipate explosive growth as the market makes it return.
The Company:
[COMPANY NAME] is owned by full-time, licensed real estate partners and married couple [NAME]. As a company, they provide professional, confidential and personalized service for both home buyers and sellers, and have a successful track record in both sales and customer satisfaction.
In addition, [NAME] has earned certification as a Home Stager and a GREEN Designation from the National Association of Realtors. [COMPANY NAME] was one of the first real estate offices in the Austin market to earn this prestigious designation.
Both partners have the philosophy of making a sincere commitment to each client served and their personal demeanor often results in forming long-lasting relationships with many of the clients they serve.
The Owners:
[NAME] have been raising their three wonderful children in Austin since 2001, when they settled down into the area permanently. Through all of their business activities, they have taken the personal time to engage and become versed in all the activities, arts and sports available in their city.
A graduate of Texas Christian University, [NAME] is a high achiever with years of excellence in the business world. He had 13 years of experience in the field of Broadcasting; and worked his way up to VP and General Manager of the local CBS Television Station, KEYE. He then parlayed his savvy business skills and extensive background in negotiating, into forming his own Real Estate business. He's a man who never gives up and does what it takes. He is also down to earth and very personable.
[NAME] stays involved with the community where he has coached in the Round Rock Youth Baseball Leagues for years, and now is the "Director of Coaching" for the Westlake Youth Lacrosse League and he is also on the Board. [NAME] is known as “The godfather of youth lacrosse” in the school district in which he resides. He was coach of the first youth team that fielded only twelve players. Currently the youth program has over two hundred participants. When not working (which is not often because he's a bit of a workaholic) one can most likely find him on the Golf Course with son Ryan.
[NAME] graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and utilized her blend of savvy business skills, creative flair, environmental awareness, and interpersonal aptitude into one of the top real estate marketing firms in Phoenix before moving to Texas. Also actively involved in the community, [NAME] makes time for kayaking the lake with their children, playing piano or guitar, balancing her center with yoga classes, or taking the time to add to her ever-expanding book of poetry.
The Services:
[COMPANY NAME] provides comprehensive Listing and Buyer services for all residential properties and land in the greater Austin Metropolitan area. In addition, they are currently expanding into the “short sale” market. A short sale is when a homeowner has to sell their home and the market value of the home is worth less then what is owed to the bank. With the current economic conditions this has become an emerging market.
[COMPANY NAME] has become very astute at acquiring offers on these properties, negotiating directly with the bank to convince them to accept market value offers, and release the home owner from any long term obligation to the bank. This critical service helps distressed sellers get control of their lives and avoid foreclosure. Because of the vast amount of short sales homes in the current inventory there is also opportunities to acquire some of these short sales, fix the interior, and resell them to homebuyers.
The group also promotes GREEN real estate products and was one of the first real estate offices in Austin, Texas to receive a GREEN designation from the National Association of Realtors. The company is actively involved in providing both home buyers and sellers with education on what features can increase energy efficiency, building concepts that promote "reduce and reuse", as well as environmental health concerns to promote use of low VOC products, etc.
The Market:
Austin was selected as the No. 2 Best Big City in "Best Places to Live" by Money magazine in 2006, and rose in rank to No. 3 in 2009. It was also noted as the "Greenest City in America" by MSN on their CityView Page. According to Travel & Leisure magazine, Austin ranks No. 1 on the list of cities with the best people, referring to the personalities and attributes of the citizens. Austin was also voted America's #1 College Town by the Travel Channel, as well as ranked the fifth-safest city to live in, with fewer than five murders per 100,000 people annually. A 2009 article by Forbes Magazine determined that Austin was the least stressful large metro area.
The Austin metropolitan area is ranked 38th nationally as the largest region and the City of Austin is ranked 16th. Growth rates the Greater Austin Region have been extraordinary over the years. The 1990's saw a 48% increase in population, with the metropolitan population of Austin increasing to over 1.5 million by 2006. The growth has been averaging at about three percent annually since the 2000 Census and has been recorded as high as 54% in some segments of the area.
Financial Consideration:
The Financial Plan for [COMPANY NAME] is to expand the business, penetrate the target areas in their market and lead the city in traditional and "green" sales, achieving their ultimate goal to be the number one real estate sales office in the Austin area.
The first thing critical to this family-owned community business is receiving grant funding to allow them the necessary upgrades and optimization of the business. This includes the website, visibility and name branding in targeted neighborhoods, hiring essential personnel, and having business debt relief. All of these activities will support [NAME] efforts to capitalize on Green industries and the short sale market.
This will help the group achieve its goal of having their office known throughout the city as “the best” in terms of listings in the most desirable places, state-of-the-art-real estate search-and-find technology, and by offering the best personalized Texas-style-hospitality-based customer service possible.
[COMPANY NAME] is seeking grant funding in the amount of $450,000 to supplement sales revenues to fund the needed growth, expansion, debt relief and hiring key personnel and is outlined in Section 5.0 Strategy and Implementation and Section 5.5 Milestones.
1.1 Objectives
The objectives of [COMPANY NAME], Inc. are as follows:
The philosophy of [COMPANY NAME] is to provide their clients with state of the art buyer/seller tools while rendering the absolute best customer service available in the industry.
[NAME] are passionate about taking their business to the next level; they take a tremendous amount of pride in what they do. They personally assist their clients in the buying or selling process. This spirit permeates throughout their company as their clients embark on making one of the biggest financial commitments of their lives. Their team is “hands on and focused” to insure no detail is missed.
[COMPANY NAME] is located at [ADDRESS] in [CITY, STATE]. They operate a full service listing and buying service for residential property and land sales. The couple moved to Austin and established [COMPANY NAME] in 2001 with both [NAME] licensed as realtors.
The company has achieved accolades and status over the years, and has been consistently ranked on the Top 20 producing real estate offices by the Austin Board of Realtors (there are over 10,000 agents in the market). Although sales have been steady, [NAME] are ready to take their company to the next level by expanding their company resources to offer both seller and buyers more exposure and opportunities to show their listings to the target market made up of nearly one million residents. [COMPANY NAME] was one of the first to earn the National Association of Realtors GREEN designation in the city of Austin.
[COMPANY NAME] is working towards achieving the “Number One” ranked real estate office in Austin and will achieve their goals by expanding the business, reducing the business debt and adding the necessary components needed to help the company meet and achieve all planned goals and objectives.
[NAME] opened [COMPANY NAME] Real Estate Company in Austin in 2003, and have continued to provide a profit even during the hard economic times. After the area home values declined and foreclosures went up, this couple has still proven to be on the top of the real estate field in the Austin area.
According to the census and city information, Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in Texas. [COMPANY NAME] targets both first-time and seasoned buyers as well as providing a listing service to sell homes.
Past Performance |
|
|
|
|
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
Gross Commissions |
$255,596 |
$429,989 |
$349,778 |
Gross Margin |
$212,590 |
$335,260 |
$280,458 |
Gross Margin % |
83.17% |
77.97% |
80.18% |
Operating Expenses |
$169,010 |
$210,406 |
$182,073 |
|
|
|
|
Balance Sheet |
|
|
|
|
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
|
|
|
|
Current Assets |
|
|
|
Cash |
$5,814 |
$16,179 |
$6,967 |
Other Current Assets |
$400 |
$400 |
$400 |
Total Current Assets |
$6,214 |
$16,579 |
$7,367 |
|
|
|
|
Long-term Assets |
|
|
|
Long-term Assets |
$73,453 |
$73,437 |
$73,437 |
Accumulated Depreciation |
$36,732 |
$43,682 |
$48,186 |
Total Long-term Assets |
$36,721 |
$29,755 |
$25,251 |
|
|
|
|
Total Assets |
$42,935 |
$46,334 |
$32,618 |
|
|
|
|
Current Liabilities |
|
|
|
Accounts Payable |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
Current Borrowing |
$80,124 |
$81,505 |
$82,556 |
Other Current Liabilities (interest free) |
($108,324) |
($108,091) |
($91,060) |
Total Current Liabilities |
($28,200) |
($26,586) |
($8,504) |
|
|
|
|
Long-term Liabilities |
$66,529 |
$53,947 |
$39,872 |
Total Liabilities |
$38,329 |
$27,361 |
$31,368 |
|
|
|
|
Paid-in Capital |
$1,000 |
$1,000 |
$1,000 |
Retained Earnings |
($32,969) |
($106,005) |
($92,794) |
Earnings |
$36,575 |
$123,978 |
$93,044 |
Total Capital |
$4,606 |
$18,973 |
$1,250 |
|
|
|
|
Total Capital and Liabilities |
$42,935 |
$46,334 |
$32,618 |
How do you judge the effectiveness of your small business marketing efforts? Easy...does it produce results? Great looking ads, fancy logos and flashy web sites are worthless if they don't bring business to your door. This list of 10 common marketing mistakes can help you produce better results.
1. Not Having a Clearly Defined USP.
Do you want to fit in or stand out? In order to thrive in today's
cluttered marketplace, every business owner must be able to
clearly articulate an answer to the question, "Why should someone
do business with you rather than your competitor?" "What makes you
unique? Your answer to these questions constitutes your Unique
Selling Proposition. Do you offer 24-hour, 7 day a week service?
Do you offer the lowest price? Do you offer a no risk guarantee? A
strong USP helps you to stand out in a crowded field.
2. Selling Features Rather than Benefits.
Someone once said, "No one ever bought a drill bit. Millions of
people have bought a hole" People don't buy features, they buy
benefits. They are tuned into Radio Station W.I.I.F.M. (What's in
it for me?) Tell them clearly how the features of your
product/service will help them, make their life easier, etc.
3. Not using headlines in print
advertisements.
You have at most a couple of
seconds to grab someone's attention when they read a
newspaper, magazine etc. Using an attention-grabbing headline
ensures that the reader will continue to read the rest of the
advertisement. The headline is an ad for the ad. Take a look
at some newspaper ads. Which ones attract your attention? You
will probably find they have utilized an effective headline.
4. Not testing headlines, price points,
packages, pitches, everything.
How do you know what ad, what price, what offer most appeals to customers? By putting them to a vote. Test everything. Rather than running one newspaper ad for three weeks, why not run three different ads for three weeks and measure which draws better? Rather than putting all your advertising into newspaper, why not split between newspaper and direct mail and measure the results? Why not price your products/services at different points and see which sells more? Is cheaper always better? Not necessarily. Each situation is unique. One price may outperform another for a myriad of reasons. Your job is not to know why, but to find what works. Test, test, test.
5. Making it difficult to do
business with you.
Are your sales staff
knowledgeable about your products? Does someone answer
your phone promptly and in a friendly manner? Can
people find your phone number, location? Can customers
find things easily in your store? Put yourselves in
your customer's shoes. Don't make them work-they
won't. I've seen a web site that undoubtedly cost the
company thousands of dollars and NOWHERE could I find
a phone number or email address. Your customer has
better things to do than struggle to do business with
you.
6. Not finding out what your
customer's needs are.
What is the first
step in filling your customer's needs? Discovering
what they are. What's most important to them? Don't
even try to guess. You may think price is most
important when what they really want is fast service.
You may believe fast service is what they want when
what they desperately want is a friendly, personal
touch. How do you find out? People won't tell you
unless you ask. So ask.
7. Not maintaining an up to date
customer database.
Your customer list is
pure gold. Rather than always working to bring new
customers in the door, why not take advantage of the
good will you have already built with your existing
clientele? Experiment with extending special offers to
your customer base. Ask for
referrals. Send them a card on their birthday. Call
and ask what they most enjoyed about doing business
with you (or what they disliked doing business with
you). You worked hard to develop these relationships.
Recognize their value and work hard to "re-delight"
them.
8. Not eliminating the risk.
What stops a customer from buying from you? Are they
unsure that your offer is worth their hard-earned
money? Make it easy to decide to buy from you. How can
you reduce their risk? If you are in a service
business, let them try your service at no cost. If you
are a lawyer or consultant offer them a free
consultation. Offer them a money back, no questions
asked guarantee on any product they buy. Why not? Are
you afraid people will take advantage of you? Give it
a try for a month. You may be very pleasantly
surprised. Not confident in your product or service?
Then go to work on improving your service.
9. Not educating your customers
Don't just claim that your service is better. Explain
why. Are your staff better trained? Do you utilize a
technology that increases service turnaround or
quality? Don't expect people to just take your word
for things. Quality, Service and Value mean nothing.
Everyone claims to offer these. Make these claims real
for the customer by offering credible explanations why
they should do business with you.
10. Not knowing what works, and
sticking with it.
Do you know which ads
are effective? What media pulls best? What offer gets
the best reaction? By testing (see above) you will.
When you find something that works, don't change it
until you find something that works better. Just
because you're sick of an ad/offer isn't a good enough
reason to change it. You can supplement with other ads
and offers. If it works, keep it.
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