5 Benefits of Using Video to Market Your Legal Services
1. You can educate your viewer
2. Your viewer gets to hear you before ever meeting you
3. Your viewer gets to see you before ever meeting you
4. Your viewer gets to hear your expertise before ever meeting you
5. A viewer is able to make an educated decision about whether you are the right lawyer for them, before they ever meet you.You can’t do that with a yellow pages ad.
You can’t do that with a classified or display ad in a newspaper.
You can’t do that with a static website.
Nor can you do that with photos on your website.When a potential client comes into your office, isn’t your goal to educate them about how a lawsuit like theirs works, and how you can best guide them through their lawsuit?Didn’t you ever wish you could simply answer a viewer’s question online but had no real way to do so except for replying in an email?When you are buying a big-ticket appliance or a large flat-screen TV, don’t you want to read the reviews of what people who have purchased the item said about it…all before you spend your hard-earned money? Of course you do.What if you had a satisfied client telling the world in a video how they came to you with a specific legal problem and because of your expertise, you were able to help them resolve their case. Now, they can’t stop telling all their friends about you.By creating video, you can get your educational message online and have satisfied clients tell the world all about how wonderful you are. The best way to to do this is with video.
The Keys to Starting an Online Business
When the economy is unstable, starting a business can be a bit scary. However, many people wonder if starting an online business is a better way to start. The truth is that starting a brick and mortar business is very similar to starting an online one. That being said, the start up costs can be a significantly less with online business ideas, and the flexibility of the medium may help you to perfect your product without suffering large startup costs. The process of how to start online business is not simple, but it may be easier than you would originally think.The first thing that you must do is to sift through your internet business ideas. Today there are very few unique business ideas. That means that there are many different competitors out there. What you need to do is take a look at your online business ideas and spend some time looking at who those competitors are. You want to be sure that you understand what the marketplace is saturated with as well as where there is a need in the marketplace.Take a look at your potential competitors and evaluate what is good and bad about the goods and/or services that they are offering. Then you want to compare those with your own internet business ideas. You want to be sure that when you are working through how to start online business your product is better than what is out there. This will set you up for business longevity and financial success.When thinking about how to start online business many people make the mistake of forgetting to create a marketing plan. While your online business ideas are important – if you do not think about how you are going to get the word out you may be setting yourself up for failure.Instead you need to think very specifically how you are going to market your product. You must spend some time deciding how you are going to develop a customer database, you must think about how you are going to use the internet to increase your sites traffic, and how are you going to turn prospective customers into buyers. If you can determine how you are going to make all of those things happen successfully you may be ready to start working towards selling your web business ideas.Finally, you need to realize that in learning how to start online business you are in for quite a bit of work. Unfortunately, many people make the mistake of thinking that starting an online business is very easy. In fact, the truth is that there are many different steps involved in securing your web address, building your website, and launching the site. Each step falls chronologically and you cannot move forward until you have completed the preceding one.The best way to handle this is to create a detailed outline of the steps that you need to take to launch your site. Outline these clearly and appoint each one a due date to help keep yourself on schedule. Remember you do not want to race to launch your site only to find out that you have skipped crucial steps. Instead, if you can follow a well laid out plan you can be confident that when you do launch your site you will be on the path to success.
It’s Easier to Finance a $5,000,000 Apartment Building Than a Single Family Investment Property
Funding has dried up for residential investment property (1-4 family), but it’s plentiful for large multi family projects.1. Funds are available for large multi family properties, but not for residential investment homes.President Obama said during his Economic Recovery Act Speech, “there is no money available for you speculators” and he meant it. Try to get a loan for a residential (1-4 family) non-owner occupied property and see the results for yourself. There are no more stated income loans available for residential investors. If you have been in the residential investment game for a while, you already know it, if you are just starting out; you will experience this problem on your first residential investment deal. Its cash, hard money at 12% and a 65% LTV or you’re done.The good news is that government backed funds are plentiful for larger, multi-family properties. This presents tremendous opportunities for those who know how to access the funding sources.2. You don’t have to personally qualify for the loan the properties qualify.Imagine that! Anyone who has ever attempted to purchase a residential investment property (1-4 family) has encountered the issue of personally qualifying. Sure the rents may cover part or the entire mortgage, but the lender only considers a percentage of that income toward your ability to pay the new mortgage. You need, tax returns, financial statements, proof of funds for down payment, etc. Not only that, but of course your FICO score becomes a big factor. Get through all of this and every time you buy another residential property your FICO score drops and you are viewed as more of a risk to the lenders. The more successful you become in this arena, the harder it gets……With commercial financing, the properties qualify for the loan, not you. The loan is not reported to the credit bureau’s. The more successful you become, the easier it gets…..3. Most loans on large multi family properties are fully assumable.Ever try to assume a residential loan without having to qualify for it? Not happening, at least not since the early 80′s when FHA and VA loans went from “fully assumable” to “qualifying assumable”. It’s the same as having to secure a new purchase money mortgage, so unless the interest rate is very attractive, it’s never done. The first home I ever purchased was a little bungalow for $25,000. It was 1980, I was 20 years old and didn’t qualify for a $200 limit MasterCard, but I assumed a $23,000 VA loan, no questions asked. The same criteria hold true to this date for large multi family projects, but very few know about it.The financing on many large multi family buildings are fully assumable. Remember, the properties qualify not the buyer. You can buy 100 + unit apartment complexes without qualifying, no verification of funds, no credit report, no tax returns, just knowledge.4. You ARE NOT personally obligated to repay the loan.Try getting a residential mortgage and tell the lender that you don’t want to personally guarantee the loan. Not happening! We are accustomed to all loans carrying personal guarantees. It’s incorporated into every residential mortgage, by every lender in the country. Of course they want recourse if you default, they get the property and then have the right to a default judgment for any balance that may be due after they liquidate the property. Residential loans carry “FULL RECOURSE” to the mortgagee.Larger commercial loans are “NON RECOURSE” to the borrower. The property and its ability to generate cash flow is the lenders security, not you personally.5. Multi Family Properties are built to CASH FLOW, single family homes are not.Single family homes are designed, built and price for owner occupants, not for cash flow. Study the numbers on almost any single family home and you will discover that after you pay the mortgage, taxes. Insurance, utilities, maintenance, etc, you will lose money every month. Single family homes are terrible for cash flow despite what the residential guru’s on TV tell you.Multi family properties are designed, built and priced to do one thing and one thing only, “make money”. Lenders lend based on the fact that there are sufficient funds to cover the debt obligations, not on what your credit score is, or what the house down the block sold for or what your personal income was last year, etc…..6. Professionals manage the property- No tenants and toilets to deal with.With residential investment property YOU generally have to manage it. The property has negative cash flow to begin with; there probably is no budget to hire a management company to run it. You go from watching the guru on TV sitting by the pool telling you how great your new lifestyle is going to be once you buy a couple of homes, to fielding leaking roof calls and clogged drain problems on Saturday nights.With the larger properties a professional management company handles all of that for you. It’s budgeted in just like taxes and maintenance. The lenders require a professional management contract be in place at closing. They handle all the problems; they are staffed for it and deal with repairs, collecting rents, renting vacant units, etc. They send the funds to you. You never have to deal with a single tenant, yet you reap the rewards. Now you have a lifestyle.There are many more reasons to move from residential to large multi family including dramatically increasing the property’s value by simple rent increases, etc. I encourage anyone investing in residential property to take a good look at moving up to larger properties. It’s easier than you think when you acquire the knowledge.Copyright (c) 2009 Joe Florentine