Build Your Personal Brand Now

by Bud Bilanich

Your brand is how people think of you. Tom Peters says that “a brand is a trust mark, it’s shorthand, it’s a sorting device.” Think of the well-known brands that you know - Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dell computers, iPods - all of them are shorthand for a product. When you think cola, you probably think Coke or Pepsi. When you think computers, Dell probably comes to mind. When you think portable music players, iPod is probably at the top of the list. Some brands are so strong that they have become a generic name for a type of product - think Aspirin, the original brand name for the Bayer product.

People can be brands too - Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan. Peyton Manning is becoming a brand. I’m a brand - albeit not as well known as the people I’ve mentioned above.

I’m the Common Sense Guy

This didn’t happen by accident. I work at it. I’m starting to get some brand recognition. A few months ago, a client of mine was doing a talk to an industry group. He decided to give me a plug. He said, “We used a consultant, Bud Bilanich, to help us with that project.” One of the people in the audience said, “Isn’t he the Common Sense Guy?” Pretty cool, huh?

The point of this discussion is that people with powerful personal impact are their own brands. This isn’t just for people who are self-employed. It’s for everyone. In their excellent book, Be Your Own Brand, David McNally and Karl Speak suggest that you answer three questions in developing your personal brand:

1. What are your core competencies?
2. What are your standards?
3. What is your style?

Remember, a good brand will repel almost as many people as it attracts. That’s OK - you can’t be all things to all people. Your brand should reflect who you are and how you operate. For example, I know that people who are looking for a highly theoretical approach to solving their problems are not going to be attracted to me. I avoid wasting my time trying to sell them my services because they aren’t going to buy my common-sense approach. Don’t be afraid to let your uniqueness show through as you build your brand.

You don’t want to be a vanilla brand that appeals to everyone. You want to be a Cherry Garcia brand - something that is uniquely you.

Bud Bilanich, who created The Common Sense Guy blog, is president of the Organization Effectiveness Group in Denver, CO, a management and leadership consulting group whose clients include Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, AT&T, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. His books include 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations: Beyond the Flavor of the Month to Lasting Results.

Purchase the condos and have a buyer coming in to buy your parcel

It is really much simpler than you think and wont require you to outlay huge dollars.

1) You have an interested builder, right?

If yes, then find out:
2) Your neighbors... would they sell their condos?

If yes, than:
3) Approach your condo neighbor and negotiate a price and get a real estate contract written up with a closing date as far off in the future as you can get.
Ask for a due diligence period of at least 90 days before you put anything into escrow.

3.1) Now that you have that contract you have a legal and equitable right to purchase the condo property.

4) Now approach the Builder and have them make an offer on the entire parcel, and of course try and fit their closing date in BEFORE your closing date for the Condos.

4.1) Now you have created a double escrow situation.
NOTE: Double escrows are NOT illegal... ask your title company if they are any good they will say 'sure, no problem'!

What this means is that you have secured the RIGHT to purchase the condos and have a buyer coming in to buy your parcel and the condo parcel and you will make hopefully quite a bit of money without having to take the risk of actually taking ownership of the condos.

Any questions just ask! Good luck!

Short sales - part II

A short sale is nothing special. It merely means that you are purchasing the property for less that the seller owes. To accomplish this, the mortgage company needs to accept it - some will, some won't and it depends on a lot of factors.

But, more important that weather it is a short sale or not, is whether the deal works or not. It is quite possible to buy a property via short sale that is still over priced and won't cash flow.

Any questions just ask! Good luck!

Short sales - part I

Short sales are getting more and more popular as an option for lenders to get as much money as conveniently as possible. The number of defaulted loans just keeps on going up. The lenders realize are saving money by avoiding having to go through the foreclosure process and then hold and resell the property themselves. I've read stats that it costs a lender like $20k - $30k after all is said and done to foreclosure on a property and get it resold. They realize that it is better to get the house sold right now even at a loss, then to take it back and have it on their books as a non-performing asset.

If you are coming across short sale opportunities that you do not know how to work or just don't want to bother with, you might want to post a comment. You sign up with them (for free) and you get a real nice back office suite that you use to submit your leads and follow up right online. They also provide a lot of training on how to find foreclosure opportunities and how to work them too.

Any questions just ask!
Good luck!