Do you know how most people become successful in a home based business? They invest in themselves! Education is one of the most important keys to have in any home based business. If you don’t invest in yourself by educating yourself, who will?Here’s some interesting statistics!· Did you know that only 3% of the population is financially independent? That means that 97% of the people never reach financial independence, they failed!· Did you know that 70% of all college kids won’t read non-fiction books when they graduate?· Did you know that 80% of the general population won’t read a book?· Did you know that only 3% of the American people have a library card?Do you think that there is a correlation between the 3% of library card users and the 3% of the people that have obtained financial independence?I believe that when you read you are absorbing good information, you are educating yourself. I also believe that when good things go into a person, good things come out of a person. Positive energy draws positive energy, isn’t that the Law of Attraction?When you surround yourself with positive people, aren’t you happier? Wouldn’t you like to be around people who are of like mind? So why not pick a home based business where you can choose the people you like to work with. Wouldn’t you like to be around the same kind of people who have the same mind set as you and want the same things as you?When you surround yourself with positive minded people you become healthier in mind and spirit. Did you know that happier people live longer lives?By educating yourself, you are investing in yourself! When you are looking for a home based business, invest in the time to educate yourself about the MLM industry. Learn about the company you are interested in, what their mission statement is, and what system they have in place to help you be successful. One of the biggest obstacles for a home based business is lead generation. See if the company has a marketing system to help you generate traffic to your business so that you can be successful.There is a saying that if you work hard you will make a living, but if you work hard on yourself you will make a fortune! A home based business takes hard work, focus, commitment, education, persistence, and devotion to succeed. It takes a few years to build up your business but once you put in all the hard work, you can enjoy the rest of your life with a residual income and no financial worries! Isn’t that what we all strive for, a lifestyle with no financial worries, to come and go as we please and do what we want?

Do you need home based business leads?The answer is of course you do. Every home business in existence needs them.But one of the things that holds most people back is knowing how to get these leads. It’s not as easy as most people presenting their opportunity will have you believe.The Lie About Home Business Leads…So here’s the thing. Leads are the lifeblood of your business. You need them, and without them you can kiss your chances of success goodbye. This is especially true in the beginning but nevertheless, knowing how to generate leads for your home business is the greatest thing that you can do right now.Why is that? I thought I wasn’t going to have to know marketing!Well that’s a lie that a lot of people will tell you when they’re trying to recruit you. They’ll tell you that you don’t need to know marketing, you don’t need to sell, and that it’s just as easy as telling your friend about a movie that you liked. They’ll automatically want to do it too. Sound familiar?This is what happens. A lot of new people who get into a home based business where they’re distributors for a certain company like Amway, or Monavie, or Agel come into the business under those false pretenses. By the time they realize it’s more difficult than that then they freak out and quit.How to Get Home Business Leads Over and Over AgainYou don’t have to give up though. You don’t have to up and quit. You can simply learn the techniques of getting leads for you business on command.Now a lot of people will tell you that the only thing that you have to do is hand out business cards, or fliers, or online just stick up a website and/or a blog with your phone number and people will start calling. Or worse, they tell you to use your companies mirror websites.None of this is true either. There’s much more to it than that. You do need a website, but you also need:
A way to capture prospects information,
A lead magnet to get them to give you their information
A way to email them automatically,
You need a steady stream of visitors to your site (because it’s literally a numbers game),
You need a way to close these peopleAre you starting to see why people give up? It all sounds like a ton of work just to get home based business leads. And it can be.The solution is to set up your system right in the first place. Set it up so that it will be automated. You can do this in about a week or two on your own, or faster with help.Then you need to get automated traffic from sources such as the search engines, article marketing, pay per click marketing, social marketing, etc. There are any number of ways. You pick a way to get the traffic to your home based business leads system and you stick to it, and then you move onto the next.

Home based business advantages include personal freedom, being your own boss, no more commuting, keeping your own rewards and picking the times for working.This is just the tip of the iceberg of the many home based business advantages but if you are looking for personal freedom then a business based at home offers you the ideal solution. If you are running a enterprise from home you can pick and choose exactly when and where you want to work. You no longer have to worry about picking up the little ones from and kindergarten as you can stop working whenever you choose.Being your own boss would again throw up another long list of advantages, but when you’re your own boss you decide how much effort and time you are going to put into your business. Nobody’s looking over your shoulder or pushing you in this direction or that.No more commuting is a terrific advantage. The average worker would gain over 2 hours per day. How would use those 2 hours?. Having you own home based business gives you a terrific advantage. Just think no more stuck in a traffic jam or sitting in on a train for those 2 hours per day. You could be using that time constructively in your home base business.How would you like to keep all the rewards of the work that you put into your home enterprise. What a terrific advantage this is. The rewards you gain are equal to the effort you put in. No more breaking your back for your boss only to be rewarded with a pittance at the end of the month.The number one home base business advantages, especially for the stay at home mum is to be able to pick the times your work. No longer feeling guilty about having to leave your children with a child minder as you pick and choose exactly when you want to work.

One of the biggest mistakes I see apartment and commercial real estate investors make is leaving their investment property in complete control of their property manager. Even the best property management companies will not look at things like the owner.

I have seen this literally cost investors thousands of dollars in lost cash flow and property value, so it is definitely a mistake you want to avoid.

In this article I want to discuss the importance of being an Asset Manager, rather than a Property Manager. First, let’s define these two terms:

Asset Manager
Focus is on maximizing return and property value for the investor(s).

Property Manager
Focus is on day-to-day management activities for a property.

“Think Like a CEO…”
If you want to maximize your returns as an investor, you must think like a CEO, and not a property manager. Your focus should be continually on how to maximize the return from a property and increase value.

I see a lot of investors that lose track of this, and leave things up to their property manager, thinking that is their job. It is not.

Here are the things you should be focused on as an Asset Manager:

1) Increasing Income
2) Reducing Expenses
3) Improving Property Value
4) In short, maximizing returns and property value.

Continually ask yourself questions, such as:

- How can we increase rents? Are all of our rents at market levels? Can we charge higher rent for preferred units, such as near a pool?
- Can we reduce our property taxes by protesting the assessed value? Can we reduce our insurance expense by changing companies? How can we reduce every single line item expense – even by a small percentage?
- How can we increase the value of the property? What improvements would maximize value?

None of these activities should be done at the cost of deferring maintenance or reducing the property value over time. As the CEO of your investment you need to see the big picture – whether it is a duplex or several hundred units.

Your property manager, on the other hand should focus on the day-to-day property operations to keep things running smoothly, such as:

1) Property Maintenance
2) Marketing and Rental of Units
3) Collecting Rents and Paying Bills
4) Enforcing Property Rules and Procedures

Good property managers will also perform activities that could be considered asset management, such as performing regular checks to verify market rents are maximized, testing marketing results, and finding ways to reduce expenses.

However, I would caution against leaving everything up to your property manager, because ultimately, it is your responsibility to increase your returns and property value.

Attorneys that specialize in real estate law will document and go over property transactions such as purchases, leases, appraisals and inspections. They may also assist in resolving any insurance and environmental issues. When something happens with a transaction, these lawyers go to court to defend property owners that are involved in lawsuits.

One of the main things a lawyer will do is to draft documents that in adherence with real estate law. They put together purchase contracts, conveyance transactions, financing agreements and leases and rental agreements. It is important to understand that property agents may help their client to fill out these types of paperwork but only a licensed attorney who is experienced with real estate law can draft and revise the documents.

Attorneys that are experienced with various types of property transactions know that it is not uncommon for clients to request that their help to negotiate terms and conditions of various deals. This normally involves working alongside other attorneys, brokers, developers and investors.

There are some lawyers that only deal with reviewing and giving advice on real estate transactions. In this case, the clients will negotiate their own transactions as well as sign the contract and at that point they will request the lawyer look over the deal and give them advice about it. What this entails is that the attorney will look at the legal title issues as well as any environmental issues and any reports, contracts or other documents that are involved in the deal. The reason that clients will turn to a lawyer for this type of advice is that these types of lawyers have the training to notice an issue that their client may not recognize.

Many times real estate deals do not go as planned and when this happens the courts are usually involved in a lawsuit. This is where attorneys and their experience comes into play. The attorney will put together the legal pleadings to file with the judge, file appeals as needed, bargain with the legal counsel on the opposite side to try and work out a settlement deal as well as participate in the necessary hearings and court proceedings.

Most attorneys in this field are trained in mortgage and trust foreclosures. These attorneys are often needed during tough economic times. There are some attorneys that will represent the lender and others that represent the borrower. The ones that represent the lender will help the lender understand the foreclosure process. The ones that represent the borrower will look for mistakes that have been made in the foreclosure process and will also negotiate with the lender to come up with a settlement so that they can stop the foreclosure from going forward.

Real estate attorneys play an important role in handling real estate law. They have many duties and responsibilities when it comes to brokering various deals. It is important to understand that different property attorneys will charge various rates. Some lawyers will have a set price that will cover everything that is needed for your case or they will have a per hour rate that they will charge to work on your case.