Some ask, “why warrior?”

Others inquire, “Are you going to teach me to fight?”

Or “how can I accomplish more in my life if I am at war with someone?”

These are all great questions, but for those that know me and know my background it’s easily understood. For those of you that are beginning this journey with me, allow me to expand.

I spent 10 of the best years of my life serving this great country in the United States Army. In less than 10 months of arriving to my first duty station, the phone rang very early one October morning. Operation Urgent Fury was in full swing and as a young, green, second lieutenant, I was about to get one of the strongest lessons of my life. This lesson; however, was given to me 2 month earlier…I just didn’t realize it yet.

Rewind

It was late August 1983. I was 2d Platoon Leader in A Company, 1st Battalion 508th Parachute Infantry Battalion. My roommate, let’s call him Doc Highspeed, was in B Company 2nd Battalion, 325th Parachute Infantry. Doc had just finished a grueling 9-day field-testing exercise. We had agreed to have a beer at the Officer’s Club after he got cleaned up and turned in his gear. I remember sitting at a table with Doc and his fellow lieutenants rehashing the last 9 days. We had been there about an hour when in walked Doc’s Company Commander, Captain Michael Ritz.

As young LTs, you hang on every word that a captain has to share with you. We had waited specifically for Captain Ritz, to get feedback on how the unit had performed. One of the other platoon leaders present asked, “Captain Ritz, what took you so long?” Captain Ritz replied, “during the after action review I was being critiqued over my security and movement during a leaders reconnaissance. The evaluator said I was sky lining myself making me vulnerable to enemy fire.” “Just for the record” he added, “if that were real combat, I’d never do that!”

Fast Forward

October 28th, I am watching the sunrise on a Caribbean island. My boots are caked with mud and my uniform is soaking wet from sweat and rain. I am receiving an update on current operations on the island. I hear that the medical students are safe. I hear the bulk of the Cuban resistance has been defeated. Then I hear that Captain Ritz had been shot and killed. I remember asking how he died. My Company First Sergeant replied, “While conducting a leader’s reconnaissance, Captain Ritz advanced without security and was shot and killed.” All I kept hearing however was…”if this was real combat, I’d never do that!”

Take Away

I am not critiquing Captain Ritz, I’m sharing a lesson learned from my past. I’ve come to realize there is a fine line between wanting to do something and actually doing it. When you think about it, it’s really the only two things we can control in our lives; what we intend to do and what we actually do. We can have the greatest of intentions, but without rehearsed execution we cannot expect ourselves to perform at a high standard. It is this thirst for self-awareness that seek to instill in those I coach. It is the spirit of someone that seeks to change their behavior to reach their objectives that I want to bring out in all that read my posts.

So why warrior? Maybe the best analogy I can give you comes from, all things, a yoga pose.

From yoga journal.com:
“It may seem strange to name a yoga pose after a warrior; after all, aren’t yogis known for they’re non-violent ways? But remember that one of the most revered of all the yoga texts, the Bhagavad-Gita, is the dialog between two famous and feared warriors, Krishna and Arjuna, set on a battlefield between two great armies spoiling for a fight. What’s really being commemorated in this pose’s name, and held up as an ideal for all practitioners, is the “spiritual warrior,” who bravely does battle with the universal enemy, self-ignorance (avidya), the ultimate source of all our suffering.”

All the best,
Warrior, out!

Nevada revised statute 645.645 is clear when it addresses the importance of representing the home warranty properly. An agent must represent the sale and the provisions of the home warranty contract accurately as well as appropriate the funds properly or they may be found in violation and subject to twenty years in the state penitentiary. Okay, so it may not be twenty years in the big house but the very reason that this statute made it into real estate sales law is because it is important.

Have you ever heard this one? “Don’t worry if it isn’t working now during our walk through, I’ll slap a warranty on it at closing and you can just call in a claim a few days later and they will come out and fix it.” As God is my witness I cannot tell you how many times I have heard this one! This is flat out insurance fraud. Every warranty company in the business does not provide coverage for a home’s systems and appliances that are already known to be broken. If an agent tells their client there is coverage when they know something is already broken and conceals this information from the home warranty company, they likely will be found to be guilty of fraud. Subsequently, fraud is never covered under a professional liability insurance policy. This creates bad juju.

Juju is the magical power attributed to the prospect that bad things happen to people that do wrong. Fraud is bad so don’t do it. On a lighter note and the converse to bad juju is good juju. Good things happen as a result of people doing good deeds. The best deed or service an agent can provide to their client is the gift of having realistic expectations. Home owners that have to shell out $6,500.00 for a new five ton air conditioning unit less than a month after closing typically do not fit the mold for repeat customers nor do they usually turn out to be strong advocates for helping to build your referral base. There is an easy answer to this problem, however; honesty.

Saying, “I don’t know,” followed by, “let’s find out together.” Is priceless! At this point you would call your home warranty representative or the 800 number and allow the warranty employee to present the home warranty, its options, upgrades, benefits, limitations, and exclusions to your prospective buyers and sellers. You are left with simply taking notes and then putting those notes into your working file.

Home warranties were designed to help, aid, and minimize high unexpected out of pocked repair and replacement costs to a home’s systems and appliances; they do not cover everything. A really good representation that will earn you a place in the heavenly realm is to tell your happy homeowners-to-be that there may be and likely will be ‘non-covered’ costs associated with a ‘covered repair.’ “What? You mean to say there may be additional costs to a home owner more than the premium and deductable?” “Yes. I did mean to say that.” Shocking as it may be, home warranties much like car insurance, home owners insurance, and car warranties are subject to rules, boundaries, and limitations. Home warranties are not a ‘catch all.’

A retail cost for a hot water heater replacement from a licensed plumbing company for your typical thirty or forty gallon water tank will run a home owner in the range of approximately $800.00 to over $1,100.00. Basic home warranties usually cover for the new water tank and the labor to put it in but that leaves charges for earthquake strap supply and installation, flex lines, ball valve, sediment traps, permitting fees, etc. These charges are expected to be paid to the plumber by the home owner at the time of service. Make sure your clients read through the home warranty contract and look to see if there are any upgrades available to purchase in addition to the basic premium. Even when an upgrade is purchased, the policy limits may be exhausted and ultimately result in additional monies being owed to the plumber. This is why it is important to read the contract verbiage.

Home warranties are used on average more times per policy year than either homeowners insurance or title insurance policies by the tune of an approximate average of two times per year. Owning a home without transferring some of the mechanical repair and replacement cost onto a warranty company is a gamble. Protect yourself and your clients from the high cost of home repair, include a home warranty plan at closing and remember: When properly presented, the home warranty is invaluable in terms of reduced liability to you and peace of mind to your clients. Next time your client asks you if the warranty covers everything what will you say?

I remember speaking with Dr. Ken Blanchard about ego and he said; “E.g.o. stands for Edging God Out.” Seems appropriate…but don’t get me wrong…there are times when ego is good, healthy and combined with grounded confidence and accomplish many things. I’m just saying there is a right and wrong way to deal with someone else who’s ego is getting in the way of achieving your goal. You can listen, feed their ego…better yet, let me give you an example:

I was on the phone with Evil Knievel a few months before he passed away talking about negotiating a deal to build a $7 million roller coaster in his name. He said to me; “Barry, what makes you qualified to represent me? What experience do you have in this arena?”

My answer; Evel, I’ve represented Jackie Mason as the producer and marketing agent of his live television show and sold the autobiography of 19 time world champion skateboarder and X-Games gold medalist Andy Macdonald.
To which Evel replied;

“Jackie Mason? He isn’t even a has been! And the only skateboarder I know is Tony Hawk who’s a pimple on my left toe!”

So what do I say next? Well, learning from experience…the last thing you want to do is get defensive. Martial arts is a great metaphor for this. When someone strikes you in karate and you block their strike, there is also a chance you can break or injure your arm. In Aikido or Jujutsu you step to the side and let their energy pass along side you giving you the option of redirecting it or letting it go. So I let Evel’s comments go by and instead of coming back with a defensive answer like, do you realize how many video games Tony Hawk sold! I took a different approach. Remember, people don’t care how much you know, until they see how much you care…about them. You always get more with honey than you will with vinegar anyway. So I said;

When I was 13 years old, you were my idol. I was sitting on the banana seat of my schwinn stingray bicycle and wearing my football helmet ready to pedal down my street and jump over 5 garbage cans using the wooden ramp my father helped me build. It was the fall of 1973 and you were on the wide world of sports about to jump the grand canyon. I thought I was you when I was jumping those garbage cans and it would be an honor to represent you in this deal.
The next thing Evel said was; “Barry… When I made those jumps on ABC Wide World of Sports, I owned all that footage…nobody was doing that…”. He went on and on about all the past jumps and deals he did and I listened. We made the deal and the Evel Knievel roller coaster was launched at Six Flags park in St. Louis in the summer of 2008. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sales objection, a problem in a relationship or setback, understanding how to overcome obstacles while dealing with large egos will make all the difference in business and in life.

What are you saying YES to in your life and what are you saying NO to?

For every Yes, you are saying No to something and for every No, you are saying Yes to something.

Here are some examples:

• I am saying Yes to building my business and No to doubting myself
• I am saying Yes to making 3 new contacts a week and No to the fear of being rejected
• I am saying Yes to fulfillment and abundance and No to being a victim
• I am saying No to stress and feeling I have to do it all on my own and Yes to the skill of delegation

Saying NO is as powerful as your Yes’s. At times even more powerful. If I could hand you a KEY to balance, I truly believe this is it… Test it out for yourself this next 30 days. What is ONE thing you want to do or stop doing in your personal or business life? Write that down. Now draw a line down the middle of your paper and on the top left hand side write the word YES and on the right hand side write the word NO

Like this:

For you to really accomplish this goal/result what will you have to say Yes to? And, if you say Yes to it what will you have to say No to?

Keep asking yourself this until you run out of things.

Imagine if you will~ if you really committed to your Yes’s and your No’s what would be different?

I DARE YOU! “BE” committed for 30 days~ I would love to hear from you.

My aerobics classmates looked amazed when I nonchalantly tore the white tags from the gym’s new foam exercise mats. The tags read “UNDER PENALTY OF LAW THIS TAG IS NOT BE TO REMOVED except by consumer.” (I suspect the mattresses in their homes may still have the tags attached.) They hadn’t looked for, or noticed, the fine print.

In fact, many of them may never have read beyond the first lines on their labels. The fine print in contracts generally comes at the end. The specific details in news stories also comes towards the end, well after the headlines. And the “fine print” in personal accounts that people share with us in conversation tend to show up later on.

Sometimes those details are sprinkled throughout and, like small forest animals, require alertness and awareness to notice and hear. Big problems in listening that cause us to miss small but critical details include:

1. Jumping to conclusions. Assuming we already know what’s coming.

2. Impatience , often because the listener wants a turn to talk. Problems in talking include these:

Rambling, disgressing, not getting to the important details.
Pauses that signal “I’m through” when there is more to be said.
The talker says, “I’ve been looking for a bank card that rewards you with airmiles on all major carriers. I finally found one with First Credit Bank. It’s got a low APR and small annual fee . . .”

“Great,” says the listener, thinking about signing up. “Gotta run now.”

Anything missing? How about the fine print?

• Lots of blackout dates.
• Miles expire within one year.
• Difficult to get seating during high travel seasons.
• Must stay over on Saturday night.

These would have come later, had the listener asked, or taken time for the whole story. Instead, he got only the headlines. A few simple adjustments by either the talker or the listener could bring out the full account.

For example, the talker could preface her remarks by saying “I found a bank card that gives air miles on all major carriers. However, it’s got some difficult restrictions, even though its fees are low. Let me explain.”

The listener could avoid jumping to conclusions by asking, “How about restrictions? Are there any downsides with this offer?” Either way, it would be possible now to get to the fine print. Frequently, marketers, politicians, and even social friends, tend to start with their good news while leaving the awkward details until later on in the story.

To get to the details, we must listen more thoroughly, often asking explicitly for the details. After all, as the bureaucrats are fond of saying, “The devil is in the details.” In this hurry-up world, impatient to get on to the next thing, many of us tend to catch only the bold headlines of a story and not take time to learn the “insignificant details.”

Sometimes it doesn’t matter. But often, it does, causing us to form half-baked conclusions, or to take actions we later regret. Conversations can be messy, long, rambling, incomplete.

But the process is a mutual effort, with each person helping the other to get the whole story out and develop a fuller understanding. Although these communications are almost always a partial failure, we can narrow the gap of misunderstanding by taking the time to look for, or to share, the fine print.

Let’s take a look at how the mind works to find the answer to this question. You have a conscious mind and an unconscious mind. Your conscious mind is your goal setter; however your unconscious mind is the goal getter, generating the feelings and behaviors that will either move you toward or away from your goal. It is the jet propulsion system that moves you out of the “stuck” space and into action. Have you ever noticed that when you set goals and don’t achieve them it’s as if a part of you is pulling you away from the goal through behavior that sabotages your success? It’s is almost like having two teams of horses pulling in opposite directions. This occurs because the conscious and unconscious minds are not communicating effectively.

This is understandable since most of us have not been trained in how to program our mind to align the conscious mind’s goals with the unconscious mind’s feelings and behaviors. Most of the behaviors that we have are programmed by default, that is, we learned them unconsciously; unless they bother us, we simply take them for granted.
There are really only six things we do in our head to create emotional states and behavior.
We make pictures, sounds, feelings, smells, tastes and we have self-talk. How we organize these in sequence creates behavior that either produces the results we want or self-sabotaging behavior we don’t want.

There are some distinctions in these things we do in our head, such as location of the picture, whether it is a movie or a still, up close or far away, etc. These distinctions are how we encode these internal representations of reality that create our emotional states and our behavior.

Take a moment to remember a time when you were extremely pumped up about something you wanted to do. Pick a single event and notice the picture you have, the sounds you hear and the feelings you have as you step into your body inside the picture. Notice how pumped up you are feeling! While you are feeling pumped-up reach up and pinch your earlobe and hold it until the pumped-up feeling begins to dissipate. Release your earlobe. Reach up again and give that same earlobe a pinch and notice how pumped up you feel now. If you do this with 3 or 4 more events from the past where you were pumped up you will have a button on your earlobe that you can fire off whenever you want to feel pumped up about an activity you need to perform. One of my clients, a sales person, asked me how to stay in an up mood when all the people around her are so negative. I showed her this technique among some other’s I have up my sleeve and her sales went through the roof. Test it out and share it with your friends. Spread excitement!

Having spent almost 20 years in the image industry training professionals and teams, my clients come to learn that our work together extends well beyond the physical. Yes, a sharp appearance in business opens doors but an energetic impression is what gets you invitations to come in and chat. This connectivity that you establish or the lack thereof, is what makes or breaks your success out there. It is the same for a team of employees. Front-line staff needs that same visual appeal but it is that magic that happens in the initial encounter or subsequent guest experience that is potent and most significant. This is much more than charm, luck, or a gimmick that gets folks coming your way. This quality is something we can cultivate and use personally and professionally. Where does one begin to develop this connectivity and ability to attract the right people, things and opportunities?

Mastering the basics of your professional presence is essential. Having the appropriate look, one that is well suited for your personal style and body, one that is in sync with your work or the occasion is a definite first step. Whether you like the way your clothing fits or find yourself stuck in a rut, your appearance and grooming is something you can instantly upgrade simply by choosing to do so. If you are not sure where to begin, there are image professionals out there who can help. They have a knack for helping people define their style and can pull together a desired look. The power behind this first step is in your intentions – how purposeful you are in managing the impression you leave with others is key. Opinions of others however are not within your control but the preparation is. The old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity is so true. The gem, often missed here however, is not so much about the resulting impact you will have on others by making those enhancements, it is in the way it makes you feel about yourself. Know that a complete makeover may not be in order here. Instead a conscious shift in thinking and actions can be subtle and yet powerful. Upgrades in your wardrobe, hygiene or grooming such as replacing worn out undergarments, whitening your teeth or changing the part in your hair can make all the difference in the way you carry yourself and feel about yourself. The act of making these changes a priority and choosing to step up in a small way can transform you and your energy. People may not know what is different about you, but will sense something new or fresh. It’s an attitude you wear. You show up differently, perhaps with pep in your walk, a sparkle in your eye, a pleasant disposition or a lightness about you that is delightful. This first step is cosmetic and fortunately something that can be bought and/or acquired through instruction and practice. Whether working alone or within a team, this approach of enhancing yourself from the outside-in, raises your connectivity and can set the stage for a strong company and personal brand. It begins with the vision you hold for yourself. If you need to begin seeing yourself differently, align yourself with a mentor, coach or consultant to help you see the brilliance in you.

The actions you take – your facial expressions, gestures, posture and eye contact can convey openness and caring. This creates instant rapport. As fundamental as this is, many overlook this basic practice of showing a genuine interest in others. It is all in the way you receive and respond to others. How do you listen? What do you look like when you listen to someone? A slight lean into someone shows a true desire to know more. Initiated eye contact acknowledges someone’s presence in a powerful and respectful way. A gentle hand over your heart when hearing something that deeply matters conveys sincere concern. Actions speak a thousand words. The fine art of body language is underestimated and under-utilized. Begin with the intention to really “get” who you are with. Embody your desire to know and help others and your body will follow suit. There is no better way to do this than to slow down. Connections are made when you are fully present in the moment. It is a shame when your “busy-ness” masks your real self and excuses you from being unavailable to engage or be engaged by others. Moving at the speed of life gets in the way and compromises the connections you make with others. So pause. Breathe. Get ample rest. Pace yourself. And in doing so, you can transform your mood, mental clarity and overall presence.

Today, people are more intuitive than ever before. A pretty face, fancy clothing or smooth talkin’ doesn’t go far. We can sense things about people that either attract or repel us. The quality of being comfortable in your own skin, for example, radiates warmth and allows others to be themselves. Where does this kind of confidence come from? This sort of understated poise is so powerful that it compels, inspires and intrigues others. Those, on the other hand, who project a blatant, “I-don’t-give-a-hoot-what-you-think-of-me” attitude and come to work with no regard for others, think they are coming from strength but rather are perceived as insecure and weak. Representing ourselves with respect for ourselves and others, exudes an essence of modesty and self-assuredness which makes us more approachable. It’s a mindset and it comes from the core – a zest. Christian Dior said it best, “Zest is the secret of all beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest.”

The freedom we have to remake ourselves is one of life’s greatest gifts. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world…as in being able to remake ourselves.” Grace, humility and authenticity grants us that chance to remake ourselves over and over, one choice at a time. As we upgrade ourselves and become more in-tuned to those we are with at every given moment, we become more approachable, credible and effective. Looking good is just not good enough to succeed in life today. A positive visual impression coupled with your ability to demonstrate a true interest in others can breed an energy about you that magically connects you with the right people, things and opportunities. Ultimately, your showing up adds value and you then possess that winning edge.

I don’t believe in multi-tasking and you shouldn’t either. Your goal should be to do as few things as possible while concentrating energies on few selected important items. We are physically and mentally able to do more than one thing at a time but with each task we add, we reduce our ability to focus on the most important item at hand. Practice doing one thing at a time and putting all your energy into doing only that task. Turn off all distractions and take a deep breath. I know the thought of disconnecting sounds scary at first but you will be amazed with what happens next. Your focus will multiply many folds and you will begin to complete things faster and more efficiently. Over time you will start to crave your alone time.

Here a few small changes I have made and they seem to have really helped me get more accomplished. I say small because they really are. The impact these changes have can be astounding though.

1. Plan your day.
List all the things that you wish to get done down on paper. It really helps to actually hand write your goals. This burns them deep into your sub conscious making the list more tangible. Then take the most important task off that list and do it first. Forget everything else on the list. Doing this one daunting task first helps all the other ones become much easier. Then do the second most important item on your list and so on.

2. Don’t use “dual” screens.
I used to be a big promoter of using two screens to be more productive. Recently I discovered that using only one screen helps me stay more focused. Two screens will just get you into trouble if you are aiming for concentration.

3. Limit the number of browsers you open
We are guilty of this. You start with one and the next thing you know, you have 20 different pages open and you’re getting lost between browser screens. If you are not using the web page then close it. Use only one page at time to majorly increase productivity. Use a password remembering program speed up access in and out of websites like a href=”http://www.roboform.com” target=”_new”>Roboform.

4. Monitor your time on social sites.
hese are huge distractions if not used properly. Designate and limited amount of time per day to be on Twitter, Face, LinkedIn, etc. Your goal here is to be converting leads or meeting new people that can help you get leads. If you are doing anything else then you are simply wasting your time. With all the content that’s available, it’s pretty easy to do.

5. Turn your phone off
while doing your most important tasks. My phone is by far the biggest distraction that I have. It’s also the best business tool available today in my opinion, a true double edged sword. We should not be slaves to our beloved devices. We need to take back control and use it effectively and to our advantage. Practice increasing the time that you are able to stay “off the grid”. Here you will find yourself creating and producing very good quality content. Here is where you will truly shine.

I suggest trying new things and mixing it up, often. Our deepest human desires are to find comfort with repetition in our daily lives, but growth and learning do not happen there. Only when we change up our routine will we find new ways to work. Be a scientist and test often.

If you were asked which side you would rather be on, and the only two choices were advantage or disadvantage, which would you choose? If you were asked whether advantage was a good or bad thing to have, how would you answer?

Seminar attendees arrive in thundering herds to learn about gaining “unfair advantages” in business, where leverage is king and facts are filtered to serve the one who win/wins. Having the upper hand is appealing, and it has its rewards, like money, cars, and clothing. There’s other stuff, too. Having a physical advantage has been useful for men to dominate the human species for eons. Intellectual advantage wins in law and politics every day.

Using sexuality to sell, no matter what sex, is big business in the land of the Card Holders. You can see the drive to gain advantage all around you, and in the attitudes of others. The desire for, and belief in the idea that controlling your life is good, drives each of us to vie for position in every interaction, with every person we meet. This has its advantages. But for every positive there’s a negative of equal proportion, and believe it or not, there are some disadvantages to seeking advantage, in the complex process of living.

Let’s take a look …

1.) Invulnerability Shuns Connection

Humankind naturally desires a mate to share life with. If intimacy takes shape between mates, emotional vulnerability is required by both people. Pain is certain any time we are vulnerable. The willingness to suffer is rare, and can be an accurate gauge for the depth of your caring; about anything or anyone. Intimacy requires attitudes that cut against the mental grain of advantage seekers. Attitudes that are honest and innocent. Sadly, those of us most emotionally guarded may stand to gain advantages, or at least avoid being hurt. But impenetrable walls of invulnerability retard the chance to offer and receive bonds with others that are meaningful and enduring.

2.) Sentiment Peddled As Caring

As children, we were all trained to be good and have right answers. For this life-long effort, we expect and sometimes receive approbation. This perpetual quest for acceptance and approval leads to the well-known practice of societal pretense. I call them “sposeda’s”; doing all the things you’re ‘sposeda’ do. But remember, conformity breeds both morality and rebellion. Most of us have built-in contradictions in our fantasies of who we should be, and what we feel entitled to. Disappointment pervades daily experience when the facts in our lives contradict comforting ideas… like love, for instance.

Have you ever had someone tell you they love you but then their actions appeared to be different than your idea of love? Often love is defined by intentions and feelings. Feelings are fleeting, and intentions are worthless without follow through. Follow through is found in actions. Actions are where you find love, especially when it is inconvenient or painful to act in a caring manner; to nurture life even if it doesn’t nurture us back. To give focused energy in a relaxed context of warm acceptance, even when being ridiculed, criticized, and condemned. Sentiment can’t pass that test. Sentiment is pretend caring. Caring is observed in behaviors, not words.

3.) Desire to Win Promotes Deceit

Have you ever worked with someone who had decided, “failure is not an option”? We all want to win. I’ve never met someone who wants to lose. Creating winning habits and attitudes is center to creating desirable outcomes. Influencing outcomes is important if you’re going to get what you want. And everybody’s trying to get what they want out of life. That’s how we define a happy life. Trouble is, when advantage is going to swing away from us, we tend to omit, ignore, “forget”, and manipulate facts. We can even believe in our personal integrity as we pretend we didn’t understand past agreements we made that no longer serve us well. We can feel entitled to nearly anything and still believe in ideas that contradict our actions, all the while controlling outcomes to our own benefit. Do you have any experience with this dilemma?

4.) Desires Precede Needs

Once you’re 18, you can do what you want, right? This popular idea runs rampant in the minds of the free. But look around. Does doing, getting, and being everything we want lead to fulfillment? Do people that have the most (externally) also experience equal fulfillment in their lives?

It’s easy to miss that doing anything you want includes eating everything you want. This little contradiction shows up in study after study of obesity problems. Doing anything you want means entertaining yourself pleasurably, to your discretion, beyond what affirms life, even to the exploitation of others. Having everything you want means that once you get something, the needle is empty, and attention soon turns to the next item you’re willing to trade your future for. That’s how credit cards were invented.

Point is, doing everything we need is more important than doing anything we want. By mastering what our bodies, minds, and emotions need, many unhealthy desires dissolve. This is not to say that all desire is unhealthy. But ya gotta watch them impulses, every step of the way, and see if they meet up with what’s needed. If not, choose need and watch a problem disappear.

5.) Thinking to Understand is Missing

Have you ever thought about thinking? (This is the stuff I do for fun on Friday night — I know, get a life, right?) Think for a moment about your purpose for thinking. Why do people usually think? Most often it’s to get answers, solve problems, and accumulate information. Accumulated information is stored and used as needed to gain temporary advantages and feel good. (More on how “feeling good” falls miles short of Self Worth in later entries. For now, let’s continue…) It’s rare that people think solely to understand.

Think about how people normally listen. Let’s give all of us listeners the benefit of the doubt and say that a conversation began with a question rather than a statement. As listener, it’s common to gather enough information so that we find common ground, then respond with our own feeling, desire, or opinion about what we hear. It’s rare to ask more questions with the sole purpose of understanding someone else’s perspective. If more questions come, there is frequently an agenda: probing for useful information. Why is that so wrong? Well, it’s not, necessarily. It’s just a recipe for communication ping- pong and a tendency to think for control rather than understanding — listening to respond rather than explore. How many questions are you good for in a conversation with someone else?

Listen sometime. Practice with someone you really care about. Ask a question. Watch your mind want to tell them something, then pause, and ask them another question. You may learn something. Some people learn that they’re not really that curious. This is a chance to begin recapturing that childhood innocence, if you’re willing to let go of some of the cards. Subtle shifts in purpose can open doors to intimacy; and blindness to old habits can keep the most important people in your life hungry at your hands. Saddest part is, without looking, neither person may ever know why. Happy part is, you have a choice. Give up some advantage. (It has it’s advantages.)

Many of our real estate investor clients form an LLC to hold and manage their real estate in order to protect their other assets from liabilities or lawsuits that might result from their real estate investment. If the LLC is formed and managed correctly and there is a claim or lawsuit relating to the real estate, then generally only the assets owned by the LLC, and not the investor’s other personal assets, will be subject to the claim or lawsuit.

Many of our clients, considering today’s market, are upside down (the mortgage is higher than the value of the property) and still consider protecting their real estate investments. The reason being, if you own 2-3 properties outside of your residence, you are a target for a lawsuit, even if you have no equity. There are many who have lost everything financially and will be looking for alternatives, and lawsuits can be a financial game plan. Even with no equity, you may have an insurance policy they can collect from. That is a big part of the problem. I will point out that your home (or principal residence) is handled differently.

With that being said, here are the strategies and key points to consider when transferring real estate to an LLC to protect it.

Keep in mind, almost always, when you purchase a rental property for example, you will be closing escrow in your name personally with a personal guarantee. After the close of escrow is usually when you would transfer it to the LLC via quitclaim or warranty deed.

Here are some issues to be aware of when you do that.

Four Key points to be aware of when you own real estate and are considering forming an LLC to transfer the property into the LLC (called quitclaim or warranty deed). Typically, a title company would do this for you.

Due on Sales Clause: Your mortgage company can accelerate your loan if you change title. Meaning you purchased the property in your own name now you are transferring it to an LLC (a different name) the mortgage company can technically call the mortgage and you have to pay off the mortgage.

This really never happens as long as you continue to make the mortgage payment from the LLC and the owners are the same. Meaning you and your wife owned it before and now you and your wife are the members of the LLC. Plus most mortgage companies resell their mortgages.

Transfer tax-the county assessor may charge you a transfer tax for transferring title of the property (from you to the LLC).

Usually there is an exception if you (or you and your spouse) own 100% of the property before and answer the transfer there is NO tax. If you change title and add a new owner to the LLC that MAY trigger a tax. If you are not getting the response you want from the county assessor you can use this approach; The best way to test this is to ask, “is there a transfer tax if you transfer it to our living trust?” When the country assessor says, no that is an exception. Now you can say, “now that we have established that there are exceptions, are there other ones?

3. Reassessment for property tax purposes-if someone has held onto the property for many years by transferring it, that may trigger a reassessment for property taxes.

You should know from their local county if that is the case. Many times areas automatically reassess every few years and this is not a real concern. Exception is California (Prop 13) where the values have been frozen for many years and transferring property could trigger a huge reassessment for property tax purposes.

4. Insurance issues: When you go from owning a property in your own name to transferring it into an LLC, the insurance company may charge a higher insurance rate (with more coverage) for you as a landlord because they now look at you as a business. Sometimes the increase may be minor like $100 per year. The key is to make sure you communicate to your insurance company so if you have a claim in the future you do not give them a reason to not write you a check!

Meaning, if the insurance policy was made out to you because you owned the property and now transferred to an LLC but the insurance policy is not in the LLC is that a problem from the insurance companies point of view?

That is what you must find out!

The next step is to determine how many entities for your properties. The key is not to put all your “real estate eggs” into one basket. Meaning do not just form one LLC to hold five properties that represents 90% of your net worth.

If the LLC is sued directly by a tenant and you lose and your insurance company does not pick up the tab, you may lose 100% of your equity in that one LLC! That also does not mean you need five separate LLC’s for each property. The factors you want to take into consideration are the following:

The fair market value of each property.
The equity in each property.
The percentage of net worth the real estate as a whole represents.
The liability of each property.

Example; if you have two rental properties in Northern Wisconsin that are only $50,000 each and you only have $10,000 of equity and this is only 30% of your net worth, then one LLC is probably fine for both properties. Again, everyone’s risk tolerance is different. If that was 90% of your net worth you may want two LLC’s in Wisconsin.

All magazine subscribers receive a free consultation when you call Nevada Corporate Planners, Inc. at 1-888-627-7007 and we answer your questions and walk you through all the fees and services. Go to www.nvinc.com to download a powerful FREE CD to help your protect your real estate and other assets.