Matters? Matters to whom?

Matters to those you’re trying to reach, your audience, your potential customers, your potential readers. If you provide useful, relevant, and regularly renewed content, chances are your blog will matter to those who matter to you. If you’re hungry for new clients, ready to make the leap from a site where visitor growth has been stagnant, but just aren’t sure how to get there, you might be ready for some help.

Corbett Barr just yesterday launched a 90-day, action-packed online course called, “How to Start a Blog that Matters.” Here’s a bit more about the course.

• This course contains 13 weekly lessons to guide you through starting a blog that matters over 90 days.
• You’ll start with choosing a great topic and setting up your blog and end with building your audience and spreading your influence.
• Each of the 13 lessons contains a specific action plan for you to follow each week. This isn’t just about learning, it’s about doing.
• The lessons are a combination of text, checklists and video. The course contains over 8 hours of video and 30,000 words of blog-building knowledge and advice.

Here’s a bit more from Corbett:

This course is based on the exact strategies I use when helping my one-on-one consulting clients start blogs. These clients pay between $6k and $10k to work with me. I’ve captured my proven blog building framework here so you can get the benefits of working with me, without the cost of one-on-one consulting.

I’ve taken courses from Corbett and I can’t say enough good about them. He’s transparent, doesn’t have tricks up his sleeve, and genuinely wants to help you succeed. If you follow his course and give it your best shot, chances are good that you will succeed, but it’s up to you to start. He even has a guarantee, see at the top of the page of How to Start a Blog that Matters.

Let me know if you sign up, I’d love to hear how it goes. But ever there were a time to pull the ripcord and get started with that blog you have been itching to do, doesn’t get much better than now.

This serves three purposes:

• It lets Membership, the Vice President and Visitor Host know that you will have a sub in your place for a certain meeting.
• It gives you credit for having a sub and not an absence for that date – even if the sub oversleeps, can’t find the restaurant, gets sick or just forgets (believe me, we’ve heard all of these excuses).
• It alerts everyone who your sub will be for possible referrals.

Here’s a sample email:

SUBJECT LINE: Please welcome my sub for (Date): (Firstname Lastname)

Dear Everyone:

Please welcome my substitute for next week, (name) with (company), (what the company does).

Sincerely,

(Your name)

He contacted many newspapers and got them placed in the San Francisco Chronicle, SF Gate.com, the Arts Monthly Column of The New York Times, and the Oakland Tribune, just to name a few.

Phil then asked Gil Zeimer of Zeimer’s Advertising Shoppe to write :30 and :60 radio commercials. The latter script is below. Finally, Gil pulled in Ellen Young, a freelance media buyer and planner, to purchase time on several radio stations (KCBS and KDFC).

To buy one ticket and get one free, click on www.cityboxoffice.com or call 415-392- 4400. To see video clips, visit their Facebook page.

Listen to the :60 KCBS Radio Commercial

:60 RADIO SCRIPT – ANNOUNCER VOICEOVER WITH MUSIC IN BACKGROUND.

So that her blind father can see, Shim Chung offers her life as a sacrifice, plunges into the sea dragon’s watery realm, and rises to become Queen.

Don’t miss this tale of a daughter’s devotion in a classical ballet filled with excitement, grace, and timeless beauty.

Presented by Snowy World and the internationally acclaimed Universal Ballet of Korea, “Shim Chung, The Blind Man’s Daughter”, is a critically praised fantasy ballet. Its lavish sets, traditional costumes, classical ballet, and Korean dancing will delight your entire family.

Join us for Universal Ballet of Korea’s “Shim Chung, The Blind Man’s Daughter” at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House on Friday, July 22^nd and Sunday, July 24^th.

To buy one ticket and get one free, visit city box office dot com or call 415.392.4400. That’s 415.392.4400.

Because I’m seeing more emails from members about needing a sub, I’d like to remind everyone that it’s YOUR responsibility to find a sub. So to help you find one, here are five suggestions:

1. Have a coworker sub for you — Shane Anderies does this with his staff’s attorneys and Nancy Yeh has invited other Paychex employees to sub for her.
2. Have a client sub for you — Ask someone who can vouch for your services to sub for you and give a testimonial. Many members have done this successfully.
3. Have a person who does what you do sub for you – Julia Ten Eyck recently asked another family law attorney to sub for her.
4. Have a potential new member sub for you – Every substitute should be a potential customer for other members in the chapter. So invite someone who will fit in and fill an empty category.
5. Have someone you’ve subbed for at another BNI chapter sub for you – They know the drill so all you have to do is give them your 30-second infomercial and they’ll do the rest.

He put together a sit-down-and-get-to-work post that holds nothing back, doesn’t make it sound easy, but gives you the guidelines, the tools, and the step-by-step processes to start getting some real traffic to your site. Don’t bother reading this if you’re not ready for action, if you’re not ready to put the pen to paper or the pedal to the metal: they’re real actions and they take real work. Ready?

Think Traffic’s Corbett Barr outlines “21 Quick Actions You Can Do Today to Set Your Blog Up for Massive Success“

Only 35% of the credit score is based upon payment history. And yes, late payments do hurt credit scores, but not forever. As time passes from the date of a late payment, it has less of an effect on the credit score. However, the higher the number of accounts with a late payment and the longer the period of time that went by without a payment, the more negative the effect on the score.

Missing low payments is better than missing high payments. So, if you missed a $40 per month payment, it won’t have as negative an effect as if you missed your mortgage payment of $2650.

Missing three payments in a row is worse than missing three different payments once throughout a year. And a collection or public record is even more detrimental to the scores.

30% of scores are based on a ratio formula of the total balances of debt to the total high credit limits available. Ideally, borrowers want to keep balances below 10% of the available credit limit. It is also better to spread balances over a few cards than having it all on one card.

Having a credit card balance that exceeds 50% of the limit is one of the most common reasons for a lower credit score.

Up to 15% of the score is comprised of the length of credit history. This means you want to hold on to old credit cards, even if the rate is high and you never plan on using it again. You are rewarded for having long-term credit card debt.

Closing old credit cards can devastate credit scores since this eliminates credit history as well as reduces the ratio of available credit to debt ratio.

Another 10% is based on credit type. A good mix is always best—an auto loan, a mortgage payment, a few credit cards, etc. Four to five is desired by scoring and many mortgage lenders

Be wary of borrowing from finance companies, they are considered lenders of last recourse. People do not borrow at 28%, unless they are desperate.

Only 10% of the score is based on inquiries. Similar inquires at the same time should not hurt the score. For instance three inquires in a week while car shopping does not hurt the score as much as having three different types of inquiries pulled.

Having inquires in one month from a credit card company, a mortgage lender, and then a car dealer will drop a score up to 85 points.

While it is important to understand why scores are what they are, it is also necessary to understand that the scores constantly change with monthly credit card statement. A mistake is not permanent, nor is a score of 825.

 As I mentioned it’s National Disability Awareness Month.   (I’m sure you’ve been waiting for this all year) .     I always thought disability meant being in a wheelchair.   As many dentists or surgeons know a disability could mean something as simple as  arthritis or a  back pain. 

 So click here  What’s my Personal Disability Quotient (PDQ)?   to help you determine what your chances are for becoming disabled. 

If you have any questions or would like to understand how disability works, please give me a call or better, let’s schedule a one on one.

 Have a great Disability Awareness Month!

1. Start early; a year in advance is not uncommon for large tenants; smaller tenants can take six months or more. Note when your lease expires and hire an experienced broker before you have reached the above milestones.
2. Have a “Plan B.” Be prepared to “vote with your feet” if the Landlord is resistant and won’t make any rent or tenant improvements concessions.
3. Read the exhibits, floor plans, and work letter carefully; bring in an architect (Landlord’s or your own) to complete a pricing plan that meets your firm’s budget. In addition, if your firm has a little room in their budget, you should build in a little expansion room, so in twelve months you’re not looking for additional space again.

Your Broker will determine the current trends, custom and usage requirements of the retail or office market; your Lawyer can review the terms of the Lease and determine economic risks and legal parameters to be negotiated.

Rob Appleton
Dunhill Partners West
Dunhill Partners West is a San Francisco based commercial real estate brokerage and investment company specializing in real estate acquisitions, leasing and asset management. The company, founded by Mark Hutchinson in January 2005, was born out of his desire to provide a superior level of hands-on service to meet the unique needs of investors and principals.
rob.appleton@dunhillpartnerswest.com

http://www.dunhillpartnerswest.com

388 Market Street, Suite 850, San Francisco, CA. 94111
415-981-0805 Direct / 415-317-3636-Cell

Robert Gates
Erskine & Tulley, PC
Erskine & Tulley is a real estate and business law firm handling all aspects of business organizations, formation, contracts and real estate transactions and disputes. We pride ourselves on quick, cost-effective responses to client needs to help with planning and negotiation, solve problems and, if necessary, mediate, arbitrate and/or litigate.
bob@erskinetulley.com

http://www.erskinetulley.com

220 Montgomery Street, Suite 315, San Francisco, CA 94104
415-392-5431, EXT. 2051
FAX 415-392-1978

So much of our culture defines ‘success’ as how much we have: cars, a home, and especially work. While being financially successful gives us comfort and security, the question is, at the end of the day, at the end of the decade, or at the end of our lives can we look back and smile?

‘What do you do?’ is almost always the first question we’re asked or we ask. What if we we’re asked ‘Are you happy?’ … What if WE asked that … to everyone? Well, to our new business client they might look at us askance and take their business elsewhere, but isn’t that ultimately what we’re providing? Not ‘happiness’ but a successful product that furthers their lives or business?

What if you thought ‘Are you happy?’ to yourself, in relation to your clients, and around your loved ones? Meaning ‘givers gain’ … what can you give to yourself today, and others, that will feel successful, a 5 minute walk in the middle of the afternoon to clear your mind, a thank you call to a business associate, or a simple phone call to someone you care about.

Take a nap? What are you nuts?

The benefits of napping are many and varied, NASA and Harvard studies say a nap can increase productivity by up to 34 percent. Researchers from the University of Haifa did research on napping and long term memory function. They taught two groups a specific task with a series of steps. They then let one group stay awake and the other group had a 90 minute nap time. Not surprisingly, the group who took naps improved when they went back later in the evening to complete the same task. The group that did not nap, showed no improvement.

Balance and success in life can be very simple. What if you left a few minutes extra on that next daytime drive and parked your car three blocks from home or work … and strolled there? What if you called your spouse and ordered take out?

My guess is that like me, bringing the ‘simple things’ into your life are something you could stand more of … because at the end of the day while we live a very abundant life are we able to smile about some of the things we’ve done today? Who will you be nice to today? Put yourself at the top of that list!