Do you know why you must become a great observer? As someone who sees the world through pictures (I am an extreme visual learner, with a hint of kinaesthetic thrown in and just a pinch of audio digital:) I am extremely observant of the world around me. It wasn’t always this way, I have always been an extreme visual from as far back as I can remember, however I didn’t use to pay much attention to the world around me back then. I was so busy on focusing on just making it through the day that I couldn’t see the wood for the trees. I was walking round in a daze most of the time, my only concern was how I was going to make it through the day, I had no thoughts of next week next month or next year. I can honestly say that I let numerous opportunities pass me by because I was so blind to what was going on around me. I had my heart severely broken because I was too blind to see what was going on right under my nose.

Take heed from my cautionary tale. You must become a great observer. In this day and age you need to keep up with what is happening around you, the world is changing so fast that what was true yesterday is seldom true a week later. You need to keep abreast of what is happening in your industry, keep track of the latest research and breakthroughs. You need to observe what is going on in your neighbourhood. Everything around you is affected by everything else around you, so it makes sense to know what is around you so that you know how it can effect you at any given time. Don’t be like I was and just concentrate on getting through the day, you will miss so many opportunities that it will literally make your head spin.

Don’t be oblivious to what is going on around you and what is going on right under your nose.

Pay attention to your surroundings, pay attention to what people around you are doing and saying, see where the trends are heading, see what opportunities are lurking in the shadows waiting for an observant person like you to spot them and bring them out into the light.

Opportunity is a master of disguise and usually likes to disguise himself as a problem or a set back.

One of opportunities favourite tricks is to hide in plain sight, he likes nothing more than to be standing right next to you while you are looking the other way.

Once you become a great observer I am sure that before too long you will find yourself staring opportunity right in the face.

Many people have been asking “does loan modification work?” Well the short answer is YES! But you have to go about applying for a loan in the right way or face rejection. This article will outline a strategy for applying and getting approved.

Before I go into the strategy let me clear up one misconception about modifying loans. The initiative was put forward under Obama led stimulus package. The umbrella policy is called Home Affordable Modification Program or HAMP for short. The policy was especially geared for people who are facing financial hardship and can’t make the payments on their mortgage.

Now Here’s The Strategy for Getting Approved:

The first thing you want to do is get a record of your entire past mortgage payments and your present expenses. Once you get this together you’ll be able to present a decent picture of what your current circumstance are like to the potential lender. It’s very important that when you do this only accurate information is presented. Too many people try to hide things and get caught; which naturally results in a big fat rejection letter.

The ‘expenses’ picture will demonstrate to the lender that if you are approved, you’ll be able to make your new monthly repayments. In this regard you need to be honest with yourself when you think about applying for the loan. Falling behind on a modifying loan will almost certainly get you foreclosed.

The Hardship Letter
The hardship letter will be like a plea for help. It’s one of the most important documents you’ll be providing to your lender. As such, it needs to be structured well and not containing too much fluff. Stick to the points that show how you got into your present difficulties. If you recently lost your job, mention this. If you recently had unforeseen expenses like medical bills, include this.

I am really happy to have shared the strategy outlined above with you because it works. It can be even more effective if you use an online loan modification company to handle the whole thing for you. For one thing, the hardship letter is taken care of on your behalf and most will take a professional and thorough look into your situation for free. Yes, you read that correctly - FOR FREE! I hope you take action and save your home from foreclosure. The question ‘does loan modification work’, will no longer apply to you if take action.

Final Note: The loan mod process can be frustrating and overwhelming. Having a specialist on your side can greatly reduce the stress, as they do all the negotiating and paperwork on your behalf. I highly recommend obtaining a free loan modification evaluation in order determine the best course of action based on your financial situation.

Most people, at some point of their lives, get into financial situations that can at best be described as constricting. Financial problem do not just afflict the so called regular solid working people - they affect everybody regardless of their management skills. A sudden illness, car break down, caring for elderly - all these can throw a carefully balanced budget out of control.

The next thing to happen when the budget is out of control is getting into debt. Before you know this debt gets out of control and you resort to falling on credit cards to bail you out of debt. As you can see this can become a vicious cycle.

How to stop oneself from getting into debt? The best way to keep out of this situation is to always to keep a firm grip on personal finance maintenance.

There are many personal finance management tools or software that allows you to maintain your financial situation in good shape. Also, if you go online, you can see many websites that offer products that enable you to stay on top of your debts. These companies that are online can negotiate on your behalf and offer you easier ways out of the credit card debt. They will negotiate on your behalf and see that you are no longer burdened with that kind of debt.

These debt management companies have many ways of negotiating with the credit card companies whom you owe money to. They will work out reasonable and workable deals for you. I recommend that you go to these websites and get help immediately.

If you are self employed and have debt that you are struggling to repay, an IVA could be the solution. We consider when an IVA might be suitable and what to look out for.

An individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) is a formal legally binding agreement with your creditors to settle debts that you cannot afford to repay.

Once in place the agreement allows you to repay as much as you can over a five year period. At the end of this time any outstanding debt is written off although if you are a home owner you may have to release any available equity to reduce your creditor’s losses.

The IVA is in fact an ideal solution for people who are self employed. You can continue to trade with an IVA and the agreement can include not only bank creditors but also trade creditors such as suppliers and VAT or tax debts owed to HM Revenue and Customs.

Sustainable income

However, as a self employed person, before you decide to go down the IVA route the most important thing to consider is whether your income is sustainable.

Generally your IVA will require you to make monthly payments towards your debts for five years. These payments will be at a greatly reduced rate to what you should be paying, however, you will still need to prove that you can afford to pay them.

You will be asked to present your accounts for the past one or two years if they are available.

More importantly you will be need to present a trading projection showing that the business is viable and can generate enough cash to cover the running costs and the sufficient drawings after tax for you to sustain your living expenses and monthly IVA payment.

Trading projections will normally be required for between 12 and 24 months. Of course no one can truly predict the future. However, the projections do serve as a good indicator of what income can be expected from the business.

My business is new or unstable

If your business is currently unstable and you are unable to show profitable projected trading in the short term, this may prevent you from doing an individual voluntary arrangement.

You will not be allowed to start the agreement unless you are confident of being able to make the agreed payments. The reason for this is that if your IVA fails, you may well be left with debts outstanding and if you are a homeowner, there is a risk that you will be declared bankrupt.

If you have only just started your business, you may have to wait to carry out an IVA until you have proven that you projected income is realistic.

Generally speaking, if you have only recently started your business, your best option is to carry out a debt management plan (DMP) for six months or so ( http://www.beatmydebt.com/debtmanagement/index.htm ). This will enable you to prove that the income you can generate from the business is as expected and sustainable.

Where suitable, an individual voluntary arrangement is an extremely good way of dealing with a difficult debt problem. The agreement is ideally suited if you are self employed as all of your business and tax debts can be included.

However, you must be sure that you can sustain the required payments and be prepared to back this up with sensible trading projections.

Utilizing building insurance is really the only way to protect your sound investment. This type of insurance can also help when you decide to lease out your property. If nature decides to intervene and throw a fire your way, you could possibly lose everything unless the contents and the building are insured. Real estate is a very expensive investment, why even take the chance of losing it?

When decided on insurance you need to know that there are 2 different plans available to you. One of them are the bricks and mortar of the building. The other one will protect the household items. If there are expensive items like jewelry and electronics this is crucial. Most agencies will also let you claim your firearms.

Finding an honest insurance agent can be tricky. The best thing to do is to start looking online a make a list of different companies. Most of them will usually have a calculator that is available for use. Take note of the closest agents and phone number. Call and ask for an over the phone appointment, but let them know you are also interviewing other agents at the same time. This way they know they are competing to give you the best coverage and price.

Demand discounts for multiple items. You are just a number to agents, they want your business; basically your money. They will do whatever it takes to make the sale. Make this work in your favor and use it against them. When there are multiple items to insure there will be a discount, and someone who knows what they want and has done their research should get a great deal.

The process of finding cheap building insurance can be a hassle, if you let it. Take your time and research the different companies and negotiate with the agents. In the end you could get what you want and not have to pay an arm and leg for it.

School loan consolidation, also known as student loan consolidation, is a way of unifying all your loans that you have incurred during the time that you are studying. These loans can be for your tuition fees, and you may have different lenders for each semester or term.

Receiving many student loan bills at a time can be very frustrating. Even a small payment amount can appear big to you because there are a lot of them, each with a different interest rate, due date and amount. It can be tough to keep track of these bills. Sometimes, you may even miss paying for one bill because when you have paid for the others, you thought you have paid for everything else. To relieve you of this problem, federal law would allow you to consolidate all your loans so that every month, you would only receive one bill with one due date. This is a lot more convenient than receiving a bunch of bills a month.

With school loan consolidation, you would have lower monthly payments compared to the sum of the individual loans per month. It would prevent you from getting a bad credit history because you now have the capability to make payments on time. Plus, you can expect no late fees if you pay on time, contrary to paying different due dates and missing one bills because of confusion.

Who are eligible for school loan consolidation? Anyone is eligible. However, for people with bad credit rating, they have lower chances of getting approved with a private lending company. Do not lose hope, though, for there are federal student loan programs for you.

If you have a credit rating of more than 660, you will automatically be eligible even for private lenders and chances are you would get the lowest individual rate possible. According to the Federal Family Education Loan Program of FFELP, every lender is required to have the same rate offering, although your individual rate is different from this. An individual rate is dependent on your credit rating and on the average rate of all your outstanding loan balances.

If you have decided to get school loan consolidation, you should look into various lender’s offers first. Many lenders offer not only discounts but also some benefits. Some will give you lower interest rates if you have paid correctly in the past few months. Also check carefully not only the interest rate but also the payment schedule. How long are you going to pay for the consolidate loan? A low monthly payment but lasts for ten years is not very amiable.

Getting school loan consolidation is actually a smart move so that you would avoid missing any payments and you wouldn’t mix up your payments. If you have not yet found a stable job after college, this can be very helpful for you. It can also increase your credit score. But then, as with every other loan, discipline must be enforced. School loan consolidation usually offer discounts and lower rates, but make sure you pay correctly and on time.

In this fast moving world, we cannot be certain about anything and hence we have to be well prepared to face any of the situations. When it comes to the matter of money there are many things that could help us to get back the money we spent on some damages if we have already taken a protective cover for that. Yes, availing insurance is the best way to achieve this and there are varieties of policies which could satisfy all your needs.

Now the latest inclusion in the policy list is the mobile insurance policies. We have to admit the fact that the prices of many of the mobile phones like Apple iPhone and so on, keeps on increasing with the range of additional features. They are not just mobile phones and we can do many things just with this gadget.

This is the main reason for the companies to start with the mobile insurance. Still there are many people who do not really understand the need for a coverage plan for their expensive gadget. For them to understand below listed are few good reasons why you require a mobile insurance.

1. It would provide as a protective cover for your mobile from many possible damages that could happen to that gadget. This purely depends on the policy you are choosing.
2. Any expenditure that you are doing it for your mobile either because of some damage or repair cost could very well be claimed from the insurance company.
3. The premium cost is very much less when compared to the money that you will be spending on your money in case of any issues.
4. Mobile insurance provides all sorts of cover including theft and various other things which could cost you more money than the original price of the cell phone

I believe, these few reasons itself is good enough to justify the importance of availing mobile insurance.

To grab the attention of your prospective customers, you need to promote your business. With the proliferation of the numerous methods of advertising, it very is likely to chance upon the right promotional method for your company. However, if you have limited funds, capitalizing on the customary methods of promoting a business can become a predicament.

Posting ads on dailies or installing billboards can be quite a challenge if you are working with a limited budget for promoting your business. The traditional way of advertising can be uneconomical if you are tight on funds. The more reasonable option to keep in mind is to promote your products in trade shows and corporate events.

Corporate giveaways are more inexpensive and are readily attainable. There is a wide selection of products to pick from. Depending on the nature of your business, chancing upon the appropriate item is elementary. Determining the product that best embodies your company will never be a hassle. More importantly, they will help you accomplish your goal of escalating your exposure in the market.

Furthermore, corporate giveaways can also be the suitable gift to your employees or loyal customers. It is likely to find suppliers offering promotional items that cater to your advertising requirements. Advertising a business is a long-term venture so you need to back it up with a product that will assure repeated promotion of your company.

There are many advantages in using trade show giveaways for promotional work. You can comfortably benefit from the wide printing spaces that these products offer by adding your corporate name and logo on them. If making changes on your logo design seems to be a daunting task, there are suppliers who can help you adjust them to make it compatible with your item of choice.

The biggest advantage of placing your money on personalized giveaways is the huge return of expenditures. Although the capital required for these products is meager, you can look forward to getting reasonable savings and more clients.

If you’ve missed the news lately or don’t have a child in elementary school as I do, you may have to think back to your elementary school days to remember that Earth Day takes place in April. Yep, the official date this year is April 22, 2010.

Back when I was in elementary school, I remember creating a time capsule and burying things into the ground to be unearthed at a later time. Upon reflection, this exercise seems to be more related to the study of archeological history and preserving artifacts than it does about Mother Earth. However, the same exercise today may teach us about the concerns of landfills and the impact they have on the “green,” global warming debate. This was not the case several decades ago.

But, regardless of whether you are on the “global warming” side of the debate today or not, this much is clear; we still have much to appreciate and learn from our planetary parent.

And it isn’t all green either.

That’s right Mother Earth can host a class on leadership that can hold a candle to any MBA course out there. Her leadership lessons are so abundant and available to us right in our very back door. So, put on your walking shoes and join me for a walk in the park.

I was doing just that the other day when I realized that only in nature can we really experience what it means to transform. After all, the ability to transform requires a great deal of leadership.

In nature, life transforms. It transforms without any questions, hesitations or thoughts.

In nature, there are no judgments for what may appear to be an end or a beginning. There is no bias for what has been or what will be.

Transformation simply happens because it must. To thwart it would be to destroy life

And yet, as individuals, organizations and businesses, transformation is often what we seek, but we have the darnedest time achieving it.

Because we thwart it every step of the way (present company certainly not excluded!)

Unlike nature, we hold on to those dead leaves on our branches. The dead job, the dead relationship, the dead issue. We want to resuscitate rather than to let go what is no longer working for us.

Unlike nature, we resist destruction. We build onto old ways of doing things instead of clearing the slate. We convince ourselves that it’s better to build up than it is to tear down.

Unlike nature, we hang on even when we aren’t being fed. We resist change rather than face our fears and we hang on even if it means we are starved.

Mother Earth teaches us and reminds us that in order to transform and grow in your life, you need to become a better leader at home and at work. Start this process by:

Letting go of what is no longer working for you

Cleaning the slate and tearing down rather than building on shaky ground

Being courageous and facing your fears and finding a place to be fed

I have always enjoyed the idea of Earth day. Who better to honor than Mother Earth?

And after all, we now have more to thank her for.

Happy Earth Day!

Tip #1: Beware of tax firms that overstate their success rate.

Avoid tax relief firms that overstate their success rate. According to Consumer Affairs, it’s not uncommon for firms to misrepresent their ability to provide help. In some instances, companies will misrepresent their staff’s professional skills and experience in addition to failing to provide promised services. Look for a firm that puts potential clients through a rigorous in-depth interview process to find out if they qualify for an IRS tax settlement - and will not allow a client to retain their services unless the taxpayer is a legitimate candidate.

Tip #2: Know what questions to ask before you hire your tax representation.

There are a number of important questions to ask your prospective tax attorney before hiring them on as your IRS battle-mates. In order to ensure that your tax attorney will be working in your best interest instead of simply charging you enormous service fees, you will need to treat your research process as you would a job interview.

Tip #3: Hire a firm that is responsive to your needs.

A tax attorney is responsive and will make sure you don’t pay a penny more than what you owe. They will take over all communication with the IRS and make sure you stop clocking interest and penalties. Unfortunately there are companies out there that won’t take you calls, don’t respond to the IRS and make your back taxes troubles much worse than if you never hired the unethical tax relief professional.

Tip #4: Qualified tax resolution professionals provide immediate relief through Power of Attorney. When you get tax help from a certified tax professional, you get the benefit of them working completely on your behalf and will file a tax Power of Attorney (POA) with the IRS. This will provide you with immediate relief because from this point on the IRS will be required to contact them instead of you. A separate POA may be required for any State problem.

Tip #5: Beware of firms that guarantee results without even seeing your information.

One of the hallmarks of an unethical tax company is someone who promises you a specific outcome without an in depth review of your specific tax matter. Every situation is unique and the IRS agent on the other side of the table is always an unknown factor. There are no guarantees in life. Anyone who gives you a guarantee is unrealistic and unprofessional at best, or a scam at worst. A Certified Tax Resolution Specialist will get to know their client’s specific problem and educate them on options for their specific case so that they have realistic expectations.

Tip #6: Know when to work directly with the IRS to resolve back taxes.

If your back taxes debt is less than $15,000, most tax specialists won’t take you as a client. A Certified Tax Resolution Specialist wants to create a win-win situation, where the taxpayer gets needed tax relief and they earn their fee. If your back taxes debt is relatively small (less than $15,000), most often you can work directly with the IRS to resolve you back taxes.

Tip #7: Understand the costs associated with resolving your specific IRS problem.

Unethical tax companies will often low-ball their representation fees, quoting a seemingly low cost but neglecting to you tell you that the average Offer in Compromise takes 6-10 months. Additionally, because a high percentage of Offers are rejected by the IRS, these cases often have to go to the appellate level - at which point these firms will then turn around and hit the client with additional appellate representation fees. Look for firms that charge a fixed fee for their tax resolution services and can explain exactly what will be involved with achieving a settlement for your specific IRS problem.

Tip #8: Know the truth about Offer in Compromise tax settlements.

A Certified Tax Resolution Specialist has a track record of success with the IRS. You get that success rate by negotiating realistic Offers in Compromise with the IRS. An IRS tax relief scam might give you an impressive number of Offers In Compromise they have filed, but the number of OICs a tax resolution firm files is not what matters. Find out what percentage of their Offers in Compromise are accepted by the IRS (their success rate). Because Certified Tax Resolution Specialists are usually realistic with the cases they file, they often have the best track record for getting Offers in Compromise accepted.

Tip #9: Know the difference between a tax specialist and a Certified Tax Resolution Specialist (CTRS)? Tax specialist has no meaning. What matters is being a Certified Resolution Specialist. Certified Tax Resolution Specialists are certified by the American Society of Tax Problem Solvers. The ASTPS is a national, not-for-profit organization of professionals who specialize in representing taxpayers before the IRS.