Sunday, October 19, 2008
Lyrics for Sarah Palin SNL appearance
Here are the lyrics for the song Amy Poehler did on Sarah Palin,
SNL 10/18/08. Great!
my name is sarah palin you all know me
vice prezzy nominee of the gop
gonna need your vote in the next election
can i get a 'what what' from the senior section
mccain got experience, mccain got style
but don't let him freak you out when he tries to smile
cause that smile be creepy
but when i be vp
all the leaders in the world gonna finally meet me
how's it go eskimo
(eskimos)
tell me what you know eskimo
(eskimos)
how you feel eskimo
(ice cold)
tell me tell me what you feel eskimo
(super cold)
i'm jeremiah wright cause tonight i'm the preacha
i got a bookish look and you're all hot for teacha
todd lookin fine on his snow machine
so hot boy gonna need a go between
in wasilla we just chill baby chilla
but when i see oil lets drill baby drill
my country tis a thee
from my porch i can see
russia and such
all the mavericks in the house put your hands up
all the mavericks in the house put your hands up
all the plumbers in the house pull your pants up
all the plumbers in the house pull your pants up
when i say 'obama' you say 'ayers'
obama. (ayers) obama (ayers)
i built me a bridge - it ain't goin' nowhere.
(ohhh)
mccain, palin, gonna put the nail in the coffin
of the media elite
(she likes red meat)
shoot a mother-humpin moose, eight days of the week
[three gunshots]
now ya dead, now ya dead,
cause i'm an animal, and i'm bigger than you
holdin a shotgun walk in the pub
everybody party, we're goin on a hunt
la la la la la la la la
[six gunshots]
yo i'm palin, i'm out!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama
HURRAY! As you can see, I'm consumed with the upcoming election but this thoughtful conversation on MSNBC with Colin Powell was amazing. The interview covered the characters and issues facing the two candidates very clearly and well, I thought. The division in the country between red and blue was so stark and discouraging, in 2004 especially.
The movement of people towards Barack Obama, especially these last few weeks as McCain's campaign has grown more fear generating and divisive, is a joy to see. I await November 4th with expectancy, excitement and a sense of the world settling right again after these terrible eight years under W. Racism exists in the country, covert and overt, but so far, it looks like fear and hate won't prevail this election. I am grateful.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Sarah Palin on SNL
Tina Fey apparently was unwilling to even be onstage with Sarah Palin but when they passed each other, the likeness was uncanny. I would feel the same way. Amy Poehler's song was howlingly funny and we've watched it many times already. Sarah Palin behaved with quite good humor and the roast was actually pretty gentle, in my opinion. I watch the polls every day to make sure Obama continues to pull ahead. Sarah Palin in the VP seat would be just way too much to bear.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Taking Time to Think - Please Blink
I worked with a father whose son killed himself with a gun he had in the house. The young man's fiance called off their wedding. I don't know why. In despair, the boy went home and the gun was just there, loaded or he knew where the bullets were kept, in the house. There was no time to reflect, to pull out of that sadness, to talk to somebody and feel hope or joy again. The young man took the gun and shot himself and it was over - for him.
The man I knew and his wife will probably never entirely get over the grief of having their child dead before him and the guilt of providing his son with the ultimate solution. His siblings might wonder why it wasn't them. The fiance was not the only reason but certainly lives with knowing that her decision was the catalyst for his choice. As we move faster and faster, we take less and less time to think about our moods and our actions. I think there is a cost to our humanity, our sense of community, our serenity, our passion. What happens to our connection to our own and others' spirits, and to the planet. Please BLINK!
The man I knew and his wife will probably never entirely get over the grief of having their child dead before him and the guilt of providing his son with the ultimate solution. His siblings might wonder why it wasn't them. The fiance was not the only reason but certainly lives with knowing that her decision was the catalyst for his choice. As we move faster and faster, we take less and less time to think about our moods and our actions. I think there is a cost to our humanity, our sense of community, our serenity, our passion. What happens to our connection to our own and others' spirits, and to the planet. Please BLINK!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
TV - A Waste of Time?
What's your opinion? Is TV a waste of time? I don't like to turn it on because I can get hooked into a storyline or a character easily and I just don't have time. I LOVE watching House, that testy genius doctor. I would say 'maverick' but John McCain and Sarah Palin have sullied that great word's meaning. When my nephews are watching TV or clamoring to watch TV and I speak to them three times before they hear me, I really wonder. As human beings, we interact with other human beings by our natures. What are we interacting with when we look at the television or play a Gameboy?
I notice attention spans are shortening with TV, cell phones, the Internet and all the other technology that makes it POSSIBLE to deliver expectations faster and faster. So here's my question - if something is possible, should that necessarily mean that action should be done? As we move faster and faster, what happens to our judgement? Bush didn't blink going into Iraq. Sarah Palin didn't blink accepting the GOP vice presidential nomination. At what cost?
I notice attention spans are shortening with TV, cell phones, the Internet and all the other technology that makes it POSSIBLE to deliver expectations faster and faster. So here's my question - if something is possible, should that necessarily mean that action should be done? As we move faster and faster, what happens to our judgement? Bush didn't blink going into Iraq. Sarah Palin didn't blink accepting the GOP vice presidential nomination. At what cost?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Social Networking Bewildered
I am stunned at the number of social networks that exist online these days. MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tagged, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube, ning networks, blogs, RSS feeds and more. Younger people navigate all this much more easily than I do but still I must learn. I keep hungering towards designing my business as automatic- and online-based. I can see that it is possible to streamline everything with technology BUT you need to understand how the technology works and, even more, how it fits together. If not, there's more work instead of less and the whole purpose of getting more done in less time is defeated. I am also going up against other, considerably more adept online business owners. Soon it will be easy. But today, it isn't.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Keeping Track of Details
I feel like I'm in a tizzy with so much to do and not enough time to get it done. So here's what's going on... 4 days a week of freelance work, returning professional and personal phone calls late, selling the Philly house, figuring out what to do about rents on the Syracuse duplexes and the Syracuse property manager, doing research for Philly Connected, talking to my accountability partners and meeting with my Women Entrepreneurs group twice a month, seeing my husband, friends and family, learning more real estate strategies and building my real estate and online businesses in my spare (WHAT?) time. I'm sure I'm forgetting something still. Oy vey!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Wonder of Seedlings
I went to see my Grandpa and we walked out near the road. We passed pods of seeds clinging to the rough open husks, ready to fly away. The seeds were attached by silky white parachutes of fluff, light enough to catch the wind and be carried to root near or far away. I pulled two overflowing handfuls of glossy, vivid seedlings and brought them to my Grandpa to stroke over the top of his hands as they rested on the handles of the walker. He smiled at the texture and beauty. He smiled and we walked on to where we had a view of the community and waving grasses over the fancy water drainage system they created in return for a badly needed stop light at the entrance. It was a day of sensations, breezes blowing, seedlings, grasses, pavement under our feet, enjoying our visit. Beautiful!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Advertising Puzzlements
I have been reading three books recently about marketing, Blue Ocean Strategy by W Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne, microtrends by Mark J Penn and Marketing to the Affluent by Dan Kennedy. My conclusion is that success or failure in marketing is all in how you think.
Blue Ocean Strategy basically makes a distinctions between red and blue oceans. Red oceans are markets everyone is competing for, recognized trends like the Baby Boomers. Blue oceans are a created phenomenon where there is no competition and, among other factors, increases price point and/or decreases expenses. Cirque de Soleil, one example from the book, combines the idea of circus and theater to increase prices, expands market share beyond families to corporate, and reduces expenses by eliminating animals.
microtrends is a demographic book and its premise is that, with the advent of the Internet, 1 percent or 100,000 people can move markets. That means that people are able to break out into sliver demographics and if marketers are only focused on megatrends, they will be missing the boat. Here are some examples of emerging groups: Internet marrieds, working retired, Protestant hispanics, southpaws unbound, pet parents, high school moguls, social geeks and powerful petites. Fascinating, huh?
Marketing to the Affluent is about marketing to people who buy stuff in THIS market. I have been involved in real estate investing, buying from people in distressed situations (foreclosures, bankruptcies) and trying to sell to the few buyers left that everybody is fighting over. So this book is about what kind of thinking is required to market to the affluent.
As an example, I asked a small, prestigious eight-table restaurant owner with a two-year waiting list (Rao's) if he would be willing to donate a table for the East Harlem School Fall Benefit. He agreed in 2006 and 2007 and I'm praying he also agrees this year. That donation (one dinner for four gift certificate on a specific date - no substitutions) raised $3500 the first year as part of the silent auction and, leading the live auction, enough to scholarship a child for a year in 2007. Amazing! My thinking was, "What do you offer people who can buy pretty much anything they want?" Something NOT ACCESSIBLE. It makes total sense. Obviously, the size of the bid had a whole lot to do with people wanting to give lots to the school too. I was leaping up and down, cheering, in amazed glee.
Blue Ocean Strategy basically makes a distinctions between red and blue oceans. Red oceans are markets everyone is competing for, recognized trends like the Baby Boomers. Blue oceans are a created phenomenon where there is no competition and, among other factors, increases price point and/or decreases expenses. Cirque de Soleil, one example from the book, combines the idea of circus and theater to increase prices, expands market share beyond families to corporate, and reduces expenses by eliminating animals.
microtrends is a demographic book and its premise is that, with the advent of the Internet, 1 percent or 100,000 people can move markets. That means that people are able to break out into sliver demographics and if marketers are only focused on megatrends, they will be missing the boat. Here are some examples of emerging groups: Internet marrieds, working retired, Protestant hispanics, southpaws unbound, pet parents, high school moguls, social geeks and powerful petites. Fascinating, huh?
Marketing to the Affluent is about marketing to people who buy stuff in THIS market. I have been involved in real estate investing, buying from people in distressed situations (foreclosures, bankruptcies) and trying to sell to the few buyers left that everybody is fighting over. So this book is about what kind of thinking is required to market to the affluent.
As an example, I asked a small, prestigious eight-table restaurant owner with a two-year waiting list (Rao's) if he would be willing to donate a table for the East Harlem School Fall Benefit. He agreed in 2006 and 2007 and I'm praying he also agrees this year. That donation (one dinner for four gift certificate on a specific date - no substitutions) raised $3500 the first year as part of the silent auction and, leading the live auction, enough to scholarship a child for a year in 2007. Amazing! My thinking was, "What do you offer people who can buy pretty much anything they want?" Something NOT ACCESSIBLE. It makes total sense. Obviously, the size of the bid had a whole lot to do with people wanting to give lots to the school too. I was leaping up and down, cheering, in amazed glee.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Children and Elders Not the Same
Why are older people and children treated almost the same? It's a mystery to me. I am very close to my 96-year-old grandfather and my two nieces and three nephews so I have had many opportunities to reflect on this.
Children hear, "No", more often than any other word. Their opinions are disregarded as other people make important decisions about their lives: foods, activities, exercise, schools, habits, hobbies. They are protected, to a degree, from their own choices which makes sense. But I can't forget walking with my 5-year-old nephew across a New York street, insisting on holding his hand. He wanted to pull away in the middle and I said, slightly joking, "I'm the ruler of you." And his response was, "So when we get to the other side, I'm FREE." "Yes, then you're free", I answered back. The instinct for individuality seems to be strong from a young age.
My grandfather lives in an assisted living facility. He just moved out of his own apartment two summers ago. He is tremendously smart and aware of what's happening in the world from newspapers and TV. His body continues to become less strong every year. In his early 90s, he helped us build a kit house (A-frame between two sheds) as a family in Maine, hammering windows, climbing ladders, pickling walls. Now his mind is agile but he needs a walker to go places for balance. The natural knee (without the knee replacement) gives out from time to time and sends him tumbling down without notice. His hearing is quite bad these days and he's lost most of the vision in one eye.
So he has successfully navigated through 96 years. People shout at him to be understood except they don't know that shouting makes them harder to hear. Lower pitches (usually men) are easier and higher pitches are harder. It is almost impossible to get anything done on a telephone service call with push 1, 2, 3 technology that disconnects if he doesn't understand fast. People are always telling him what to do and trying to move him along faster. It's immensely frustrating. He knows himself to be completely mentally capable (as do I) but he is treated like a child who needs to be told what to do all the time. Classically, when Grandpa needed a new cushion, they e-mailed my mother who was traveling in Russia to ask if they could get him one. She said and I conveyed, "Ask him!"
He grew up in England, met my grandmother in Germany on her grand tour, and moved to the US. He has lived through many innovations that have changed the planet, TVs, cars, computers and more. He tells me amazing stories about his life, like when he and his sister decided they needed to buy a car (their parents never drove) and drove it home. He and my grandmother moved to Canada with my mother and aunt so he could join the Canadian Air Force because Britain was being bombed and America was not yet in the war. He was a navigator in planes and still has his log from that time. It annoys me to see this extraordinary man treated like a child unable to make his own choices. What will it take for people to understand how unfair this is?
Children hear, "No", more often than any other word. Their opinions are disregarded as other people make important decisions about their lives: foods, activities, exercise, schools, habits, hobbies. They are protected, to a degree, from their own choices which makes sense. But I can't forget walking with my 5-year-old nephew across a New York street, insisting on holding his hand. He wanted to pull away in the middle and I said, slightly joking, "I'm the ruler of you." And his response was, "So when we get to the other side, I'm FREE." "Yes, then you're free", I answered back. The instinct for individuality seems to be strong from a young age.
My grandfather lives in an assisted living facility. He just moved out of his own apartment two summers ago. He is tremendously smart and aware of what's happening in the world from newspapers and TV. His body continues to become less strong every year. In his early 90s, he helped us build a kit house (A-frame between two sheds) as a family in Maine, hammering windows, climbing ladders, pickling walls. Now his mind is agile but he needs a walker to go places for balance. The natural knee (without the knee replacement) gives out from time to time and sends him tumbling down without notice. His hearing is quite bad these days and he's lost most of the vision in one eye.
So he has successfully navigated through 96 years. People shout at him to be understood except they don't know that shouting makes them harder to hear. Lower pitches (usually men) are easier and higher pitches are harder. It is almost impossible to get anything done on a telephone service call with push 1, 2, 3 technology that disconnects if he doesn't understand fast. People are always telling him what to do and trying to move him along faster. It's immensely frustrating. He knows himself to be completely mentally capable (as do I) but he is treated like a child who needs to be told what to do all the time. Classically, when Grandpa needed a new cushion, they e-mailed my mother who was traveling in Russia to ask if they could get him one. She said and I conveyed, "Ask him!"
He grew up in England, met my grandmother in Germany on her grand tour, and moved to the US. He has lived through many innovations that have changed the planet, TVs, cars, computers and more. He tells me amazing stories about his life, like when he and his sister decided they needed to buy a car (their parents never drove) and drove it home. He and my grandmother moved to Canada with my mother and aunt so he could join the Canadian Air Force because Britain was being bombed and America was not yet in the war. He was a navigator in planes and still has his log from that time. It annoys me to see this extraordinary man treated like a child unable to make his own choices. What will it take for people to understand how unfair this is?
Thursday, October 9, 2008
To Freelance or Not
I've been freelancing for more than 10 years, proofreading and copy editing in advertising, medical advertising, publishing and legal. Being a freelancer has its pros and cons, however. By the way, I've been at the same place now for going on four years so it does not always mean jumping around.
Pros: flexibility to pursue outside interests, exploring the workload and culture of a company before signing on, getting an edge on being hired in a place you like because you are a known quantity already (inside instead of outside), more security when companies are downsizing (freelance is less expensive than staff - no health care, no vacation pay, no sick pay).
Cons: NO Health Care, no guarantee of hours, variable cash flow (7 hours up to 60 hours a week), work at many companies or one, instability and uncertainty, less security unless it's a permatemp position.
So why do I do it? I enjoy meeting new people and engaging in different work projects. I also have many interests outside of work (tutoring, writing, real estate, internet businesses, meditation, travel, etc.) that freelancing's flexibility allows me to pursue. I like the agility of keeping a pulse on the workplace and market, learning new skills constantly to make myself more marketable. When there is little work, the downsides are formidable but I wouldn't trade it for anything because I yearn to make a difference, change the world. For that, I need the free time that freelancing gives me.
Pros: flexibility to pursue outside interests, exploring the workload and culture of a company before signing on, getting an edge on being hired in a place you like because you are a known quantity already (inside instead of outside), more security when companies are downsizing (freelance is less expensive than staff - no health care, no vacation pay, no sick pay).
Cons: NO Health Care, no guarantee of hours, variable cash flow (7 hours up to 60 hours a week), work at many companies or one, instability and uncertainty, less security unless it's a permatemp position.
So why do I do it? I enjoy meeting new people and engaging in different work projects. I also have many interests outside of work (tutoring, writing, real estate, internet businesses, meditation, travel, etc.) that freelancing's flexibility allows me to pursue. I like the agility of keeping a pulse on the workplace and market, learning new skills constantly to make myself more marketable. When there is little work, the downsides are formidable but I wouldn't trade it for anything because I yearn to make a difference, change the world. For that, I need the free time that freelancing gives me.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Remembering What's Truly Important
Today at work, I heard something that knocked me back and made me sad. A coworker who is younger than me (early 40s, I think) had a stroke on Monday. He is in ICU at a hospital in Brooklyn. He has no health insurance as I didn't for over 10 years. He is a freelance proofreader too. This is the second person I know who had a stroke and no health care this year, younger than me. The first one was a very vital man who headed up my beloved real estate investment association and worked all the time. What's going on? Both these men worked a lot, exercised little, ate badly and were pretty stressed. That sounds like me, too. It's time to be more mindful of my own bad habits so my quality of living continues to be great. So today, I'm re-evaluating my priorities and considering what I love most in people and activities so I can do more of those. At a moment like this, it's time to smell a rose, whatever that means to me. Appreciation!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Jobs and Unemployment
I just read an article on the Internet by Anthony Balderrama of CareerBuilder.com on the Best and Worst States for Jobs which was very interesting. The article claimed that the best places to find jobs are where unemployment stats are lowest (Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), January 2008) - makes sense. Of course, he quoted a national average of 5% and it's higher now (6.1% from the news programs).
Best 15 states for finding a job, as of January 2008 BLS statistics, are South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraka, Utah, Hawaii, North Dakota, Virginia, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Delaware, Maryland, Iowa and Vermont. Their unemployment rates were between 3% and 4%. The mean annual wage (nonfarm payrolls) ranged between $30,460 and $44,030. In South Dakota, Idaho, Nebraska, Utah, North Dakota, Montana, New Hampshire, Delaware, Iowa and Vermont, the top industries are trade, transportation and utilities whereas in Wyoming, Hawaii, Virginia, New Mexico and Maryland, the top industry is government.
Worst 10 states for finding a job, as of January 2008 BLS statistics, are Michigan (duh!), Mississippi, South Carolina, Alaska, California, District of Columbia, Ohio, Arkansas, Nevada and Kentucky. Their unemployment rates were between 7.6% and 5.7% (below the current national average). The mean annual wage (nonfarm payrolls) ranged between $30,460 and $61,500. In Michigan, South Carolina, California, Ohio, Arkansas, and Kentucky, the top industries are trade, transportation and utilities, in Mississippi, Alaska, and the District of Columbia, the top industry is government and in Nevada, it's leisure and hospitality.
OK, so here are some questions this raises... where are the other 25 states unemployment rates? If the national average unemployment rate has gone up 1.1%, has that increase happened across all states or not? If not, what factors within the individual states are driving it up or down? What proactive actions are state governments taking to decrease their unemployment rates? Which industries are most recession resistant? Are there standard of living criteria included when demographers look at the economy? For example, you can't buy a shack in most parts of California for $61,500. Anyway, simply looking at unemployment, population, mean wage and primary industries seems very shortsighted to me. What skills does the job being sought entail? Are they transferable across several industries? Is telecommuting or cybercommuting a possibility? Are the jobs being offered in that state or sector full time, part time, flex time or freelance? What is important to that particular individual; higher salaries, more flexibility, health care, urban, suburban or rural setting, etc.? What size business do you want to work for? What is the trending economy in the area, up or down, and for how long, months or years? What if you'd rather build your own business instead? So it's not so simple looking for a job after all.
Best 15 states for finding a job, as of January 2008 BLS statistics, are South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraka, Utah, Hawaii, North Dakota, Virginia, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Delaware, Maryland, Iowa and Vermont. Their unemployment rates were between 3% and 4%. The mean annual wage (nonfarm payrolls) ranged between $30,460 and $44,030. In South Dakota, Idaho, Nebraska, Utah, North Dakota, Montana, New Hampshire, Delaware, Iowa and Vermont, the top industries are trade, transportation and utilities whereas in Wyoming, Hawaii, Virginia, New Mexico and Maryland, the top industry is government.
Worst 10 states for finding a job, as of January 2008 BLS statistics, are Michigan (duh!), Mississippi, South Carolina, Alaska, California, District of Columbia, Ohio, Arkansas, Nevada and Kentucky. Their unemployment rates were between 7.6% and 5.7% (below the current national average). The mean annual wage (nonfarm payrolls) ranged between $30,460 and $61,500. In Michigan, South Carolina, California, Ohio, Arkansas, and Kentucky, the top industries are trade, transportation and utilities, in Mississippi, Alaska, and the District of Columbia, the top industry is government and in Nevada, it's leisure and hospitality.
OK, so here are some questions this raises... where are the other 25 states unemployment rates? If the national average unemployment rate has gone up 1.1%, has that increase happened across all states or not? If not, what factors within the individual states are driving it up or down? What proactive actions are state governments taking to decrease their unemployment rates? Which industries are most recession resistant? Are there standard of living criteria included when demographers look at the economy? For example, you can't buy a shack in most parts of California for $61,500. Anyway, simply looking at unemployment, population, mean wage and primary industries seems very shortsighted to me. What skills does the job being sought entail? Are they transferable across several industries? Is telecommuting or cybercommuting a possibility? Are the jobs being offered in that state or sector full time, part time, flex time or freelance? What is important to that particular individual; higher salaries, more flexibility, health care, urban, suburban or rural setting, etc.? What size business do you want to work for? What is the trending economy in the area, up or down, and for how long, months or years? What if you'd rather build your own business instead? So it's not so simple looking for a job after all.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Treasure Mapping
Treasure Mapping is an old idea with a lot of incarnations. I came across it when I was reading a lot about visualization and abundance. This Unity Church minister named Catherine Ponder talked about creating a treasure map to make dreams come true and I've been making a map most years for the last 10 years.
I spend several weeks collecting and cutting out pictures and words from magazines I like. I buy a heavy piece of poster board, at least 22" x 30" and I usually like a leaf green board for a backdrop of economic prosperity. I then cut 3 shapes, circles or petal shapes in different colors. Spirit lies at the center in a circle of GOLD or WHITE. I might cut out a heart for the inside or an inspirational saying. The first year it was, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will grant you the desires of your heart." It was the saying that was on my nametag on an early church retreat. I spent a year pondering what delighting myself in the Lord meant and wondering what were the desires of my heart. It was an amazing year.
Four larger circles or petals go around the spirit circle on the green background - GREEN for money, career, business; BLUE for intellect, education, hobbies; ORANGE for health, diet, balance; and PINK for love, family, friends. Then I choose images and words from the magazines that represent dreams and actions that are important to me right now and glue them to the colors they match. In the green petal, I have job goals, businesses, houses, apartment buildings and million-dollar play money. In blue, I put my volunteer tutoring, writing, vacations and reading. In orange, I have exercise, balance, meditation, fitness. In pink are my husband, family and friends. Truthfully, each choice is individual so there's no right or wrong answer.
Here's what I discovered... at the end of a year, I could see what was vital, optional and no longer wanted. By looking visually at my dreams for a year, I can see my own truth, without deception. So being an entrepreneur, volunteering at the East Harlem School and writing, for example, stayed, and having children, with regret, was let go. In the warp speed of my life, it's easy to lose track of what's important. Treasure mapping helps me find that center again. Try it out for yourself and see.
I spend several weeks collecting and cutting out pictures and words from magazines I like. I buy a heavy piece of poster board, at least 22" x 30" and I usually like a leaf green board for a backdrop of economic prosperity. I then cut 3 shapes, circles or petal shapes in different colors. Spirit lies at the center in a circle of GOLD or WHITE. I might cut out a heart for the inside or an inspirational saying. The first year it was, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will grant you the desires of your heart." It was the saying that was on my nametag on an early church retreat. I spent a year pondering what delighting myself in the Lord meant and wondering what were the desires of my heart. It was an amazing year.
Four larger circles or petals go around the spirit circle on the green background - GREEN for money, career, business; BLUE for intellect, education, hobbies; ORANGE for health, diet, balance; and PINK for love, family, friends. Then I choose images and words from the magazines that represent dreams and actions that are important to me right now and glue them to the colors they match. In the green petal, I have job goals, businesses, houses, apartment buildings and million-dollar play money. In blue, I put my volunteer tutoring, writing, vacations and reading. In orange, I have exercise, balance, meditation, fitness. In pink are my husband, family and friends. Truthfully, each choice is individual so there's no right or wrong answer.
Here's what I discovered... at the end of a year, I could see what was vital, optional and no longer wanted. By looking visually at my dreams for a year, I can see my own truth, without deception. So being an entrepreneur, volunteering at the East Harlem School and writing, for example, stayed, and having children, with regret, was let go. In the warp speed of my life, it's easy to lose track of what's important. Treasure mapping helps me find that center again. Try it out for yourself and see.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Subprime Mess In Perspective
I thought this article from Slate, Moneybox was important enough to include in my blog and besides, my friend, Roy, is quoted in it and I know what great work Accion does. In financial crunch times, what happens to philanthropy, tithing, reaching out to others?
More Subprime Loans, Now! Why the world needs cheap loans at insanely high interest rates. by Daniel Gross. Friday, Sept. 19, 2008, at 5:10 PM ET
Despite recent foreclosures, the world needs more subprime lending
What the world needs right now is more subprime lending—a lot more of it. Yes, I know that in the public imagination, subprime lending is the scourge responsible for crippling the U.S. financial system. The massive extension of credit to people who lacked extensive credit histories and documented wages seems, in hindsight, supremely stupid. But far from the madding, depressed crowds of Wall Street, billions of people are starving for credit.
Lending tiny sums to people who live on a few dollars a day—street vendors in New Delhi, goatherds in Kenya—doesn't carry the glamour or financial rewards of haute banque. And compared with efforts to vaccinate children or build dams, it seems like an exercise comparable to shooting pellets at a runaway rhinoceros. But in an era when a great deal of foreign aid has been wasted or has fallen into the hands of corrupt officials, microlending has built a track record of effective poverty relief. Microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus, who founded Bangladesh's Grameen Bank in 1983, won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. And microfinance, which now touches the lives of more than 100 million people, is one of the few bright spots in the troubled financial sector. "We've helped about 80,000 entrepreneurs, and the repayment rate is about 98 percent, which is a better performance than consumer credit-card portfolios in the U.S.," says Premal Shah, president of Kiva.org, an online microcredit organization that allows computer programmers in Seattle to lend sums as low as $25 directly to small-scale grocers in Uganda.
These subprime loans provide working capital to budding entrepreneurs, usually women—small amounts of cash to buy a sewing machine or livestock. Frequently, credit is extended to groups; peer pressure turns out to be a powerful motivating factor. But figuring out the borrowing capacity of people who may not keep records is a labor-intensive proposition. While in the United States subprime lending was totally mindless—ask a few questions, collect the fee, sell the loan—global microfinance is totally mindful. "We need loan officers with a banker's head, a social worker's heart, and the stamina of a distance runner," says Roy Jacobowitz, external affairs officer at the microlender Acción, which has a $3 billion portfolio.
To have a truly major impact, though, microcredit needs to move out of the realm of the social worker and into the halls of finance. "There's been a realization that the only way to make this work is to do it according to business and financial incentives," says Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, the microfinance think tank housed in the World Bank. Newcomers to microlending are frequently shocked to learn of the high interest rates. "Rates in our network range from 25 to 30 percent per year," says Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women's World Banking, a New York-based outfit that provides services to dozens of microfinance institutions and commercial banks. "But that compares favorably with the village loan shark, who may charge 200 to 300 percent a year."
Only when major banks see the possibility of making real money in the field will it grow to the scale needed in the developing world. Littlefield believes there are about 700 profitable microlending institutions. Some large commercial banks are getting in on the action; the British bank Standard Chartered pledged in 2006 to invest $500 million in microfinance. CGAP projects that private-sector microfinance will nearly triple from $7 billion in 2007 to $20 billion in 2015. But that's the kind of sum one good Wall Street bank can lose in a year. Shah believes there are another 400 million potential clients for microcredit organizations. And loans are only a piece of the puzzle. As Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas economist Edward Skelton noted in a research paper, "Less than 25 percent of Mexicans possess even the most basic financial convenience: a simple checking account."
Advocates are counting on technology to foster the widespread consumer access to credit that Americans take for granted. "The advent of mobile banking is promising, especially in rural areas, because it's reducing cost and making microfinance more efficient," says Littlefield. But what's really needed is a new, larger crop of indigenous profit-seeking entrepreneurs and institutions, local banks that understand customers the way American Express understands our habits. "At the end of the day, we need to set up self-reinforcing systems that aren't dependent on other people's largesse," says Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of the Acumen Fund, a New York-based venture-philanthropy fund.
Debt is frequently referred to as leverage—a force that allows people to lift large weights. Those toiling at the bottom of the pyramid need all the levers they can get.
More Subprime Loans, Now! Why the world needs cheap loans at insanely high interest rates. by Daniel Gross. Friday, Sept. 19, 2008, at 5:10 PM ET
Despite recent foreclosures, the world needs more subprime lending
What the world needs right now is more subprime lending—a lot more of it. Yes, I know that in the public imagination, subprime lending is the scourge responsible for crippling the U.S. financial system. The massive extension of credit to people who lacked extensive credit histories and documented wages seems, in hindsight, supremely stupid. But far from the madding, depressed crowds of Wall Street, billions of people are starving for credit.
Lending tiny sums to people who live on a few dollars a day—street vendors in New Delhi, goatherds in Kenya—doesn't carry the glamour or financial rewards of haute banque. And compared with efforts to vaccinate children or build dams, it seems like an exercise comparable to shooting pellets at a runaway rhinoceros. But in an era when a great deal of foreign aid has been wasted or has fallen into the hands of corrupt officials, microlending has built a track record of effective poverty relief. Microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus, who founded Bangladesh's Grameen Bank in 1983, won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. And microfinance, which now touches the lives of more than 100 million people, is one of the few bright spots in the troubled financial sector. "We've helped about 80,000 entrepreneurs, and the repayment rate is about 98 percent, which is a better performance than consumer credit-card portfolios in the U.S.," says Premal Shah, president of Kiva.org, an online microcredit organization that allows computer programmers in Seattle to lend sums as low as $25 directly to small-scale grocers in Uganda.
These subprime loans provide working capital to budding entrepreneurs, usually women—small amounts of cash to buy a sewing machine or livestock. Frequently, credit is extended to groups; peer pressure turns out to be a powerful motivating factor. But figuring out the borrowing capacity of people who may not keep records is a labor-intensive proposition. While in the United States subprime lending was totally mindless—ask a few questions, collect the fee, sell the loan—global microfinance is totally mindful. "We need loan officers with a banker's head, a social worker's heart, and the stamina of a distance runner," says Roy Jacobowitz, external affairs officer at the microlender Acción, which has a $3 billion portfolio.
To have a truly major impact, though, microcredit needs to move out of the realm of the social worker and into the halls of finance. "There's been a realization that the only way to make this work is to do it according to business and financial incentives," says Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, the microfinance think tank housed in the World Bank. Newcomers to microlending are frequently shocked to learn of the high interest rates. "Rates in our network range from 25 to 30 percent per year," says Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women's World Banking, a New York-based outfit that provides services to dozens of microfinance institutions and commercial banks. "But that compares favorably with the village loan shark, who may charge 200 to 300 percent a year."
Only when major banks see the possibility of making real money in the field will it grow to the scale needed in the developing world. Littlefield believes there are about 700 profitable microlending institutions. Some large commercial banks are getting in on the action; the British bank Standard Chartered pledged in 2006 to invest $500 million in microfinance. CGAP projects that private-sector microfinance will nearly triple from $7 billion in 2007 to $20 billion in 2015. But that's the kind of sum one good Wall Street bank can lose in a year. Shah believes there are another 400 million potential clients for microcredit organizations. And loans are only a piece of the puzzle. As Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas economist Edward Skelton noted in a research paper, "Less than 25 percent of Mexicans possess even the most basic financial convenience: a simple checking account."
Advocates are counting on technology to foster the widespread consumer access to credit that Americans take for granted. "The advent of mobile banking is promising, especially in rural areas, because it's reducing cost and making microfinance more efficient," says Littlefield. But what's really needed is a new, larger crop of indigenous profit-seeking entrepreneurs and institutions, local banks that understand customers the way American Express understands our habits. "At the end of the day, we need to set up self-reinforcing systems that aren't dependent on other people's largesse," says Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of the Acumen Fund, a New York-based venture-philanthropy fund.
Debt is frequently referred to as leverage—a force that allows people to lift large weights. Those toiling at the bottom of the pyramid need all the levers they can get.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Helping Sell Houses Faster
As we all know, getting money from a bank for ANYTHING is pretty close to impossible these days, especially if your credit is less than pristine. So buying a home is very difficult if you have less than A credit (over 680). What this means for someone selling a home is fewer buyers, less competition for houses so lower sale prices, and a longer, more challenging timeframe to a successful close. What can a seller do?
An incredible linking of services can provide a great solution. Here's how it works:
1) Buyers, in this market, want to buy a home or investment property, to get seller financing, and to avoid going to the bank. So the seller offers approximately 80% seller financing until the close, and B and C buyers with 550 and up FICO scores can qualify. This means families with A, B & C credit compete to purchase the house, more buyers, higher prices, faster sales.
2) FREE Temporary Home Seller Assistance Service.
Home Sellers, Investors & Realtors want to get all cash when the house sells. They want their money out at closing to buy a home (1031 exchange to save on taxes), to put into another property, investment or fun, and to make more commissions on house sales. So the buyers apply with an application to qualify for seller financing from note buyers who buy the newly created note and take it over at the close. None of the seller financing terms change for the buyer except that the seller does not hold the note, a note buyer does. The seller gets all cash at closing in a discounted note, usually 13-20% discounted. Most places in the country, houses are currently selling for a lot more than a 20% discount so getting close to appraisal price minus the discount is GREAT!
3) Note Buyers want mortgage notes to buy that will give them passive income at an attractive interest rate. By creating the notes in this way, they buy notes exactly matching their note buying criteria through the application that the buyers fill out.
A WIN-WIN-WIN scenario...
Eligibility for Services:
1-4 Family houses, condos, town houses, REOs, short sales valued $50,000 to $300,000
Homeowners, investors, realtors, mortgage brokers, builders, renovators
Less effective in New York and California
4) Finally, there is an attached business opportunity where it is possible to make money helping sellers sell their houses faster, at higher prices, more easily by offering the free service and building teams to do the same. Membership levels are Free, GOLD ($297) or PLATINUM ($697) and you can go to the link on the left side of http://www.allcashatclosing/ for the details on that offer.
If you are selling, especially selling, or buying houses in this market, this effective strategy is well worth checking out. If you go to the Web site, ask for your free report, "How to Sell Your House in 2 Weeks." Nothing to lose, it's all totally free...
An incredible linking of services can provide a great solution. Here's how it works:
1) Buyers, in this market, want to buy a home or investment property, to get seller financing, and to avoid going to the bank. So the seller offers approximately 80% seller financing until the close, and B and C buyers with 550 and up FICO scores can qualify. This means families with A, B & C credit compete to purchase the house, more buyers, higher prices, faster sales.
2) FREE Temporary Home Seller Assistance Service.
Home Sellers, Investors & Realtors want to get all cash when the house sells. They want their money out at closing to buy a home (1031 exchange to save on taxes), to put into another property, investment or fun, and to make more commissions on house sales. So the buyers apply with an application to qualify for seller financing from note buyers who buy the newly created note and take it over at the close. None of the seller financing terms change for the buyer except that the seller does not hold the note, a note buyer does. The seller gets all cash at closing in a discounted note, usually 13-20% discounted. Most places in the country, houses are currently selling for a lot more than a 20% discount so getting close to appraisal price minus the discount is GREAT!
3) Note Buyers want mortgage notes to buy that will give them passive income at an attractive interest rate. By creating the notes in this way, they buy notes exactly matching their note buying criteria through the application that the buyers fill out.
A WIN-WIN-WIN scenario...
Eligibility for Services:
1-4 Family houses, condos, town houses, REOs, short sales valued $50,000 to $300,000
Homeowners, investors, realtors, mortgage brokers, builders, renovators
Less effective in New York and California
4) Finally, there is an attached business opportunity where it is possible to make money helping sellers sell their houses faster, at higher prices, more easily by offering the free service and building teams to do the same. Membership levels are Free, GOLD ($297) or PLATINUM ($697) and you can go to the link on the left side of http://www.allcashatclosing/ for the details on that offer.
If you are selling, especially selling, or buying houses in this market, this effective strategy is well worth checking out. If you go to the Web site, ask for your free report, "How to Sell Your House in 2 Weeks." Nothing to lose, it's all totally free...
Friday, October 3, 2008
Ode to a Cabbage
I am visiting my stepmother in the country. A friend was coming over for dinner so she asked me to go out into the garden to cut a cabbage for our meal. Off I went with a big knife. I was surprised at how tough the stem was as I hacked away, wishing for shears. Finally it came loose. I moved over to the tomatoes and, collecting about 27 small ones, piled them in the center because I forgot to bring a basket. Then I proudly bore the cabbage back to the kitchen, Savoy cabbage. We discovered a woolly caterpillar had come along for the ride, extremely soft, and put him back outside. This Savoy cabbage was just beautiful, tightly wrapped in the center, light green, with splayed, huge deep green leaves on the outside. The outside leaves were quite tough and had many holes from snacking bugs. It was such an amazing, artistic vision of a Savoy cabbage that it's still sitting on the counter being admired. We had asparagus for dinner.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Banks Tightening Up
I went to a meeting this evening of a real estate investment group I belong to called Philly Connected LLC. Our aim is to provide green affordable housing in Philadelphia. So we members have been working on creating business lines of credit, expanding credit card lines, and fixing our FICO scores so that we have the credit scores and funds to be able to invest in real estate.
So people I know who are investors have built up $1000s to $100,000s of available operating capital from these sources. OR THEY DID... What's happening as both individuals and banks panic is that banks are pulling back credit. So if you have a credit card with a $25,000 limit and $10,000 used, the credit card company may call and reduce the limit to $10,000. The same goes for home equity lines of credit and business lines of credit. If you are a business owner, suddenly the money to run the business could disappear overnight. An individual who has been handling their credit responsibly, with no more than 30-50% of the line of credit used, now, in a moment, has a maxed out their credit card, business or credit line. Their FICO score goes down even though they are still behaving responsibly. The lenders just changed the rules and the realities of the game.
I believe this is a temporary situation that will reverse in time, sooner rather than later. If businesses are unable to run effectively, banks will also be drastically impacted and that situation can't go on for along. The economy either contracts or expands. In a contracting market, the predominant feeling is fear and scarcity so money is moved around to pay bills, make ends meet. Resourcefulness diminishes. In an expanding market, love and action rule, paying bills but also having families, building businesses, buying homes and investment property, investing in the stock market, volunteering, tithing, travelling and going on vacation.
Which choice creates excitement, joy, community, commitment, involvement and love? I choose expansion and growth myself, especially in the face of challenging times. What about you?
So people I know who are investors have built up $1000s to $100,000s of available operating capital from these sources. OR THEY DID... What's happening as both individuals and banks panic is that banks are pulling back credit. So if you have a credit card with a $25,000 limit and $10,000 used, the credit card company may call and reduce the limit to $10,000. The same goes for home equity lines of credit and business lines of credit. If you are a business owner, suddenly the money to run the business could disappear overnight. An individual who has been handling their credit responsibly, with no more than 30-50% of the line of credit used, now, in a moment, has a maxed out their credit card, business or credit line. Their FICO score goes down even though they are still behaving responsibly. The lenders just changed the rules and the realities of the game.
I believe this is a temporary situation that will reverse in time, sooner rather than later. If businesses are unable to run effectively, banks will also be drastically impacted and that situation can't go on for along. The economy either contracts or expands. In a contracting market, the predominant feeling is fear and scarcity so money is moved around to pay bills, make ends meet. Resourcefulness diminishes. In an expanding market, love and action rule, paying bills but also having families, building businesses, buying homes and investment property, investing in the stock market, volunteering, tithing, travelling and going on vacation.
Which choice creates excitement, joy, community, commitment, involvement and love? I choose expansion and growth myself, especially in the face of challenging times. What about you?
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
What We Do and Don't Control
It would be nice to think that we have complete control over our own lives. It just ain't so.
We have no control over the economy, banks failing, companies going bankrupt, downsizing and lost jobs, government regulation, taxation. In NYC, we are feeling extreme pain right now with Lehman Brothers bankrupt and AIG in deep trouble. Our local economy is more affected by Wall Street turmoil than anywhere in the country. Those lost jobs and businesses will send more families into turmoil and financial difficulties, more foreclosures and decrease the tax base by probably 12%, which impacts our schools. These kind of events we can simply try to prepare for proactively and react to as effectively as possible. For this reason, for my family, I favor building internet and real estate businesses outside of my job to build passive income so I am less dependent on my paycheck. This strategy is working much more slowly than I hoped, with a steep learning curve but it is a beginning.
We only control our own actions in our lives. Fear is a natural reaction to chaos but I notice that when I am most afraid, I lose all resourcefulness. I want to go to bed and pull the covers over my head. I have felt depressed and in despair at times where I had no idea where to turn. In that state, I have no idea how to dig myself out of financial challenges. If I can hold myself calm (meditation works), I reach out to other people for solutions, negotiate with and continue to act congruent with my values (buy organic, volunteer and donate, grow passive income, build businesses, meditate and learn). Sometimes it works and sometimes not. I know what I aspire to but don't always do it. Go figure... I'm not perfect, just human.
We have no control over the economy, banks failing, companies going bankrupt, downsizing and lost jobs, government regulation, taxation. In NYC, we are feeling extreme pain right now with Lehman Brothers bankrupt and AIG in deep trouble. Our local economy is more affected by Wall Street turmoil than anywhere in the country. Those lost jobs and businesses will send more families into turmoil and financial difficulties, more foreclosures and decrease the tax base by probably 12%, which impacts our schools. These kind of events we can simply try to prepare for proactively and react to as effectively as possible. For this reason, for my family, I favor building internet and real estate businesses outside of my job to build passive income so I am less dependent on my paycheck. This strategy is working much more slowly than I hoped, with a steep learning curve but it is a beginning.
We only control our own actions in our lives. Fear is a natural reaction to chaos but I notice that when I am most afraid, I lose all resourcefulness. I want to go to bed and pull the covers over my head. I have felt depressed and in despair at times where I had no idea where to turn. In that state, I have no idea how to dig myself out of financial challenges. If I can hold myself calm (meditation works), I reach out to other people for solutions, negotiate with and continue to act congruent with my values (buy organic, volunteer and donate, grow passive income, build businesses, meditate and learn). Sometimes it works and sometimes not. I know what I aspire to but don't always do it. Go figure... I'm not perfect, just human.
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