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Could It Be That the Best Chance to Save a Young Family From Foreclosure is a 28-Year-Old Pakistani American Playwright-slash-Attorney who Learned Bankruptcy Law on the Internet?

Wells Fargo, You Never Knew What Hit You.

Originally published in McSweeney's SF PANORAMA

WRITTEN by WAJAHAT ALI
EDITED by DAVE EGGERS

I was late when I first met my clients, the Lipkin family, outside my office. I was very late. I couldn't believe I was late. I felt like an imposter. Maybe I was an imposter. I had dressed as professionally as I could: a sophisticated sports jacket, slicked-back gelled hair, elegant briefcase. My straightened posture exuded the charismatic confidence of a seasoned attorney. In my mind, at least.

I extended a hand and introduced myself to a family that was about to have their home foreclosed upon. Carl and Natalie, the husband and wife (I've changed their names), were both in their early thirties. Their three young daughters were with them, wilting in the heat of the parking lot. They met me with open smiles, even though they had just driven ninety minutes from Sacramento on a scorching summer day. I invited them in.

I was hoping they would never guess that despite being a licensed attorney two years out of law school, I was utterly paralyzed with fear — and earnestly praying to Allah that my potential clients were not about to call me out as an incompetent charlatan, punch me in the face, storm out of the office, and call the state bar seeking to disqualify me.

I was the guy who was going to save these people from being evicted from their own home? Who was I kidding?

In reality, “my law office” was actually my friend's office, which he'd lent to me so that I could meet these clients. The classy jacket had been purchased at a clearance sale in an outlet store at the Great Mall in Milpitas. The gel was the last remnant of a decaying and potentially expired bottle I'd probably had since college but never found the opportunity to use. The suitcase was a gift from my relatives in Pakistan — who, much like the rest of my family, were thoroughly shocked that I had passed the bar exam and become a licensed attorney. My business cards had been printed for free by Vistaprint, and despite having a professional front side featuring my name in bold letters and the words ATTORNEY AT LAW, the back side glared BUSINESS CARDS ARE FREE AT WWW.VISTAPRINT.COM!

Game over. I was doomed.

- - - -

It wasn't supposed to be this way. In 2007 I graduated from UC Davis School of Law, a reputable institution that ranks in the top forty of the inexplicably influential U.S. News & World Reportannual school ranking. According to my Property professor, students who graduate from top-forty law schools are bred to “find a comfortable desk job, most likely in a corporation, and make a nice income without really having to get their hands dirty.” The old saying goes that the A students become the professors, the B students find jobs in government or corporate law, and the C students end up making all the money.

But given the economy, this conventional wisdom was out the window. Instead of being employed at all, like thousands of others who were unlucky enough to graduate law school in 2007, I ended up in my old bedroom, sharing the family home with my parents and my grandmother.

Despite being thoroughly emasculating for a twenty-eight-year-old, living at home certainly has its benefits. You never have to cook, given that your mother, a culinary Jedi Knight, makes fresh Pakistani food every night. You avoid doing the laundry and the dishes, because your father has a “specific system” that only he has mastered. Also, you have your own personal “prayer factory” in the form of a very pious grandmother, who constantly sends duaas and blessings your way — and reminds you nonstop that the only reason she's still living is to see you married and with kids. And for a solo attorney without any money, home can also serve as a convenient and rent-free law office.

After passing the bar, I immediately started scouring the internet for any job even tangentially related to law. I applied for legal-secretary positions, legal-assistant jobs designed for nineteen-year-old college students, unpaid internships at shady start-ups, even senior legal-counsel positions at corporations requiring a minimum of ten years' experience. I shamelessly claimed, as one of my qualifications, “worldly wisdom that compensates for lack of actual legal experience.” I was denied by every recruiting center.

Dejected, I lapsed into my innate South Asian melodrama. I made the following declarations: “My life is shameful. I'm a grownass man, thoroughly qualified, who just got denied a menial job at a small law firm. If I was a samurai in feudal Japan, I would have to harakiri myself out of dishonor and shame.”

“Well, you're no samurai,” replied my mother, “and you're not in feudal Japan. You're Pakistani and you're living at home. So be quiet, eat your daal and naan, and afterward go get some hara dhaniya, pyaaz, tamatar, and Lactaid milk from Food 4 Less.” My mother is the world's second-bluntest instrument, preceded only by my father.

Tired of being rejected, I decided to venture forth and learn the law on my own. It didn't take a genius to figure out we were heading toward a full-blown recession; a South Asian attorney, who'd cornered the niche market of “the Pakistani American attorney” years ago, told me to learn how to file Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies, which were the bread and butter of solo attorneys trying to survive. And so off I went to Google.

I typed in “Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy guides” and found the trusted and respected Nolo legal guides for less than thirty dollars apiece. These guides are manna from heaven for aspiring attorneys; they ostensibly teach the layman all the fundamentals of how to “do it yourself ” so you won't have to spend money on people like me, but it turns out they're just as useful to law school graduates living with their parents.

I devoured every bankruptcy book I could find, and then turned to my associate legal counsel, Google, for more (free) information on bankruptcy law. Somewhere along the way I read an article predicting a rise in foreclosures due to the disastrous economy, and realized the rate of Chapter 13 bankruptcies was going to increase exponentially as people desperately tried to save their homes.

I also discovered that agents and brokers who'd made hundreds of thousands in the once booming but now hemorrhaging “loan refinancing market” had magically transformed into “loan-modification consultants.” So the subprime-mortgage brokers who had actively preyed on unsophisticated people by convincing them to sign “too good to be true” loans–which later defaulted, thereby capsizing the housing market–were now demanding more money from these same clients in order to modify their loans and allow them to avoid pending foreclosures.

Despite being equipped with some — some — knowledge, I shared the quintessential trait of all young attorneys: unrelenting, paralyzing fear. It overwhelms everything we do and contaminates the first two to three years of our law jobs. The thought process goes something like this: “I know nothing. How the hell did I get this degree? How the hell did I pass the bar? Law school didn't teach me anything. Do my employers know I'm incompetent? How long can I fake this before they figure it out? Are my peers like this? How come everyone else knows what they're doing? What if I never learn? What happens if I get fired or fail? Will I get disbarred? I bet I'll get disbarred! Damn, I'm getting disbarred! Please, God, don't let me get disbarred.”

I had all these thoughts as the Lipkin family sat on my friend's office couch and told me that they were about to lose their home. These people trusted me more than I trusted myself.

God help us both.

Article Continued, Full article available here.

Jordan remained silent on Saturday. Details of his ownership group – called MJ Basketball Holdings LLC – weren't available. Sabates said he won't be part of Jordan's ownership group, and believes Jordan is buying 100 percent of the team.

Johnson, the first black majority owner of a major professional sports team, has also declined comment after coming close to ridding himself of a venture that cost him a fortune.

“Whatever the number is, Bob is taking a huge financial loss,” Sabates said. “He tried hard. He just made some stupid mistakes. Bob has a bit of an attitude problem that some people owe him. Nobody owes anybody anything.”

Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, paid $300 million for the expansion team, which replaced the New Orleans-bound Hornets in this town and began play in 2004-05. Johnson, who maintained his residence in Washington, had several missteps, from a failed venture to start a regional sports network, pricing tickets too high, clashing with business leaders and struggling to win over fans soured by the Hornets' ugly exit.

While the Bobcats lost on the floor, Johnson was losing tens of millions of dollars each year despite a new arena funded by taxpayers. The losses mounted as he increased the player payroll after his successful effort to recruit Jordan, who bought a small stake in the team and was given control of personnel moves.

Just like his stint running the Washington Wizards and his decision to draft Kwame Brown No. 1 overall in 2001, Jordan quickly had a gaffe in Charlotte when he selected the disappointing Adam Morrison with the third pick in the 2006 draft.

While Jordan was eventually fired in Washington, he's been praised for some recent moves in Charlotte, most notably persuading fellow Hall of Famer Larry Brown to take over as coach before last season. They've paired up to complete seven trades involving 21 players since the start of last season, and the Bobcats (28-29) are in playoff contention in the Eastern Conference.

“Everybody wanted to see him involved and I can't imagine the NBA not having Michael Jordan involved,” Brown said Saturday while watching the North Carolina-Wake Forest game. “He's been great for us to work with, he lets us do our job and he's the best. So thankfully, he's back.”

Bobcats guard Stephen Jackson echoed his coach. Jackson, acquired from Golden State in November, has been one of Jordan's best pickups.

“I think it's great, an opportunity for me to continue to play for a guy who I've looked up to my whole career, the best to ever play the game,” he said Saturday night. “I think he's going to get this team, the right guys on the court, and go in the right direction to be a consistent team in the playoffs.”

Jordan will become the second black majority owner for this franchise in a state where he's adored. He grew up in Wilmington and hit a last-second shot to give North Carolina the 1982 national championship.

“We have been anticipating an agreement for transfer of a majority interest in the Bobcats and are pleased it has occurred,” Stern said in a statement. “Bob Johnson brought the excitement of the NBA back to Charlotte and I am certain that as Michael Jordan returns to his home state as the principal owner of the Bobcats the team will continue its growth as a success on the court, as a business success and as a valued community asset.”

Sabates said making Charlotte his home is key to making it work for Jordan. If he doesn't, his streak of business success may end.

“If Michael doesn't do that, he's wasted a lot of money,” Sabates said. “But Michael is pretty smart and Michael's got some pretty good advisers. He didn't get to where he's at by being dumb.

“This is the biggest investment of his life. He can have 19,000 people at every game. It's up to him.”

___

AP Sports Writer Joedy McCreary in Winston-Salem, N.C., contributed to this report.

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Now into year two of the Obama Administration's economic recovery plan, it is clear to the one in five Americans who are either unemployed or underemployed that President Obama doesn't have the firepower to get the job done. Mr. Obama's initial stimulus package of some $787 billion might have been well constructed, but it is obvious that it has been far too slow in creating or saving jobs. In the belief they need to inject billions more into the recovery effort, Congress is reluctant to even describe the jobs creation bill as another “stimulus package,” while the President speaks of the $33 billion plan that would include tax incentives and eliminating capital gains taxes.

Invariably, Washington's well intentioned strategies designed to spark a recovery fail to achieve their goals because massive public debt and modest incentives can't alter the mindset of shell shocked consumers. There needs to be a solution other than racking up hundreds of billions of dollars in new debt. There needs to be a strategy that harnesses the enormous underlying strength of the American economy, the power of free enterprise and the trillions of dollars in consumer savings sitting unused if we expect to create the type of economic growth that puts people back to work.

At the heart of a successful strategy is the willingness to make the American citizen a personal partner in the recovery. Far more effective than another government bailout and without the staggering burden of more public debt, Americans investing in our economy once more would prime the pump far faster than anything being considered by Congress. And the investment money is there. At a time of historically high unemployment there is enormous investment capital in private hands sitting in savings banks. It is Washington's challenge to convince taxpayers, on all levels, to invest in new businesses or in expanding business sectors. To do so would require a tax credit program aimed at the typical American who would like nothing better than to get a better rate of return on his or her savings while watching those dollars create jobs and reconstruct our economy.

Convincing people to invest their capital would involve federal legislation that would permit the IRS to offer taxpayers a 20% income tax credit on several conditions:

Taxpayers must certifiably invest a like amount (or more) in a new or expanding business. This tax investment belongs solely to the taxpayer. It is not a loan and is not repayable to the IRS. The revenue shortfall from this incentive program would be a projected $360 billion, or approximately half of the current economic stimulus debt, in the unlikely scenario that as many as half all taxpayers in the nation participate in this effort.

The IRS would recoup this shortfall since each taxpayer (investor) would pay income tax on his/her new investment when it becomes profitable. Each new or expanding business would pay its income tax on profits. Each newly created job would generate income tax on its compensation. Projected total new taxes from this economic growth and job generation would far exceed the $360 billion lost from the IRS 20% tax credit. That intangible ingredient which many economists tout but few can quantify - namely investor confidence - would encourage additional consumer confidence and result in even further job creation. Now, investment tax credits are not new, but harnessing them to a concept designed to act as a firewall against a recession that continues to create an unstable economy would be unprecedented, effective and expedient in creating jobs, especially since they would be revenue neutral.

Standing before Congress during his State of the Union Address the President challenged the joint session that if anyone had a better idea to help create and sustain job growth they should contact him. What he may find is that the better idea isn't to be found on Capitol Hill, but with hundreds of millions of Americans who can be convinced to invest their savings in a nation that wants to balance its books.

President of Eugene M. Grant Company, New York, a Manhattan based real estate company.

With households trying to pay off their debt and saving more of what they earn, they're spending less.

“Without adequate demand, small businesses can't sell their goods and services, and therefore won't hire,” Reich said. “Consumers won't have money in their pockets until the government primes the pump adequately through a larger stimulus that gets money out there right away.”

Tanya Wheeless, president and CEO of the Arizona Bankers Association, said bankers in her state are reporting that healthy businesses are hunkering down, borrowing less and waiting out the recession.

“Banks make money when they lend it. They have every incentive to do it,” Wheeless said. For those businesses unable to secure additional funding, “There's probably a reason why they're not getting it,” she said.

The demand for loans, she said, is coming from those small businesses that are in danger of failing. And banks have good reason to be wary. Loans are increasingly being paid late, or not at all. For banks with $1-10 billion in assets — the kind of banks Obama's plan would target — the delinquency rate on loans and other assets has more than tripled in just two years, according to data collected by federal bank regulators.

Losses are piling up. As of Sept. 30, banks had written off twice as many loans last year as they had during the same period in 2008, according to the latest federal banking data.

Wheeless added that the banks that need the money — those that are hurting — may not qualify for the new funds, considering that bank regulators would only want to funnel the money to healthy banks.

Community banks are generally defined as those with less than $10 billion in assets. Of the nearly 8,100 banks in the U.S., some 8,000 fall into this category. Several hundred are being targeted by regulators for bad practices. Many will fail.

And there's another compelling reason for community banks not to participate in Obama's program: The stigma of TARP, the bank-bailout program that would be the source of the new funds.

Bankers are well aware that last time around, Congress and regulators imposed new restrictions — including executive compensation limits — on banks taking TARP funds after they had already taken them.

“Banks that are strong and have existing lending capacity are going to be extremely gun-shy because of what's happened with previous TARP recipients,” said Wheeless. “There's a huge stigma associated with it, and frankly I don't know that the government has shown that it can be trusted not to change the rules midway through the game.”

John Heasley of the Texas Bankers Association said that his state's banks may not need the money, and probably wouldn't want it even if they did.

“I think you'll find a good number of bankers with some reluctance in taking this money,” said Heasley, executive vice president and general counsel for the group. He suggested instead that Obama's plan would be more effective if the money were simply used to increase the already-existing government guarantees on loans backed by the federal Small Business Administration.

As it happens, smaller banks are already doing a much better job of lending to small business than big banks.

While banks with less than $1 billion in assets kept their lending steady in the quarter ending Sept. 30, compared to the previous quarter, the nation's 53 megabanks — those with more than $100 billion in assets - actually cut their lending nearly 4 percent, or $155 billion, according to an analysis by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

That three-month decline in lending among the megabanks is more than five times more than the $30 billion Obama would send to small banks, in the best-case scenario.

Some 56 percent of smaller banks increased their lending in the third quarter, while only 23 percent of the megabanks could say the same thing.

Megabanks cut their commercial and industrial lending by nearly 9 percent, the steepest drop of any asset class, according to the FDIC analysis. Smaller banks cut lending in that category by less than 3 percent.

“What you're seeing is local accountability with these community banks,” said John W. Ryan, executive vice president of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. “That, to me, really tells you something. These folks know the customers coming through the door making their case.”

Ryan said that community banks examine their customers; big banks examine their balance sheets. He cautioned that this could become more common as big banks grow ever bigger, while small banks are allowed to fail.

“From a community perspective, you worry about that,” Ryan said.

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We're kicking off our Maker Business series with this piece by Jeffrey McGrew, who along with his wife Jillian Northrup, and their trusty CNC machine named Frank, are a two-person (and a bot) design and fabrication juggernaut. From their design-build studio, Because We Can, in Oakland, CA, they do custom interior design, furniture, and create such artistic wonders as the “Art Golf” course they've set up at Maker Faire. Here, Jeffrey shares some words of advice to those who may be thinking of going “Maker Pro.”

Make: Online series: Maker Business

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the two models offer different aspect ratios - looks like 16:9 and 4:3 - as well as odd sized physical dimensions of 7″ and 8″ diagonal. the dpi of each is not stated. buttons and other controls also unstated. is there an accelerometer? plus Archos says even more models with more features to come this summer.

how are Android app developers supposed to deal with all this? no single app's UI design can work just for the entire Archos line of products, let alone other OEM's. crazy.

Apple will have just two physical alternatives for iPhone/touch and iPad, with a single universal app spec/SDK that will work on both.

yes, the Archos pads are cheap. you get what you pay for.

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Apparently the Stateside uproar over the recall of 8 million Toyotas — and worries that the company may be attempting to conceal potential defects — has had the inverse effect in the car company's homeland. According to a new report, the Japanese public thinks America is overreacting to the situation.

“When Japanese see this excessive reaction happening in the U.S., they feel pity for Toyota,” explains Takashi Takeda of advertising biggie DDB Worldwide. “Recalls always happen. Trust for Toyota is huge in this market and was not built overnight.”

Here in the states, most Toyota commercials are nothing more than 30-second apologias for the recall. But in Japan, it's been a much more don't-ask-don't-tell approach.

“It's an example of cultures colliding. The average consumer in Japan is not reacting in the same way and marketing professionals here are a bit daunted by the proactive role that America's government has had,” said Chris Beaumont, a Tokyo-based branding consultant and a marketing professor at Tokyo University.

“People here are surprised at how visible the recall has been and wonder, 'If Toyota is hurt, is Japan Inc. hurt?'” Mr. Beaumont said. “To what extent will Japan be affected adversely rather than just Toyota?”

It's basically just the Japanese version of the old bromide, “What's good for General Motors is good for the country.”

“There is concern that if Toyota's problems do not improve, the recovery pace of Japan's economy will slow down, too,” Mr. Takeda said. “We see U.S. nationalism at work.”

U.S. 'Overreaction' Stirs Empathy for Toyota at Home [Ad Age]

With the Federal government shut down by back to back record breaking blizzards, members of Congress are huddled at home, wandering the internet, perhaps looking for a match made in heaven. Across town in the K Street frat houses, hoards of hungry lobbyists, unable to pursue their desired prey on foot, also resort to the internet, looking for love.

When you are a needy Senator, working tireless long hours to preserve and protect our Democracy and facing re-election, you don't have much time to find true love. And you have to be careful who you are seen with these days with all the prying eyes in Washington.

Today PolluterHarmony, a new online matchmaking service was launched to help the lobbyists and politicians find each other from the privacy of their own homes. PolluterHarmony.com, a dating service dedicated to helping polluter industry lobbyists, CEO's and propagandists match up with willing public officials, making it even easier to buy and sell influence, sabotage global warming solutions and derail our clean energy future.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, the new website was launched alongside an online advertising campaign. In coming weeks, Greenpeace organizers will also take to Capitol Hill to help promote PolluterHarmony's compatibility formula, which matches polluters and politicians based on their love of dirty energy, past environmental violations, and their ability to ignore the public health interests of real people.

Greenpeace launches PolluterHarmony at a time when dirty industry companies and their trade associations are spending record amounts on lobbyists and influence peddlers in an effort to undermine clean energy policy and global warming solutions. Serving these needy lobbyists and politicians is the least we can do.

The real life of lobbyists relationships with politicians made headlines last month when the news broke that dirty industry lobbyists helped Senator Lisa Murkowski write legislation aimed at stripping the Environmental Protection Agency of the authority to regulate greenhouse gasses. The lobbyists, former Bush officials Jeffrey Holmstead and Roger Martella, helped Murkowski craft the bill shortly after several of their clients made sizable donations to her campaign account. We are still awaiting a response from Senate Ethics Chairwoman Barbara Boxer to a letter sent requesting an immediate investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates (in President Obama's words) with the Citizens United decision. Corporations are just like people, says the nation's highest court, so why shouldn't they have a matchmaking service to find their true love?

Here are some testimonials that PolluterHarmony is already working:

Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln of Arkansas has found multiple matches with Dirty Coal loving electric utilities like Southern Company, Duke and AEP, and lots of love from Big Oil

Representative Joe Barton of Texas, who has long shared a bed with his home state pals from Big Oil is leading the pack on House oil contributions. Now Barton seems to be harvesting the fruit of his labors to derail global warming laws with newfound love from Dirty Coal.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Big Oil Alaska is spending her time in the lower 48 finding lots of Dirty Coal love. Murkowski is neck and neck with Senator Dorgan as the leading recipient of coal and utility campaign contributions.

And why not, she is spending her time trying to strangle the EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act, a law that oil companies and utilities have violated over and over in recent years and punished with millions of dollars in fines. Murkowski's suitors have million$ of rea$on$ to love her attack on the EPA and the Clean Air Act.

Corporate violators of the Clean Air Act

Duke Energy has been busted by the EPA for Clean Air Act violations.

ExxonMobil for instance was found guilty of over 2000 Clean Air Act violations and fined millions in penalties.

Chevron has violated the Clean Air Act on numerous occasions and is now being investigated in Alaska for knowingly violating air pollution permits.

ConocoPhillips has also been found guilty of violating the Clean Air Act and paid big fines.

If you are a politician looking for your very own lobbyist love affair or vice versa, check these handy field guides:

OpenSecrets has records of 997 registered Electric utility lobbyists with spending of over $140 million in 2009.

OpenSecrets Electric Utility campaign contributions

OpenSecrets has tracked 790 Big Oil lobbyists and over $160 million in lobbying cash for 2009

OpenSecrets Big Oil campaign contributions

OpenSecrets Coal Mining campaign cash

FollowTheOilMoney

FollowTheCoalMoney

You'll find more info on our main site Jobs From Home

The Following Blog Post is from Associated Content and sponsored by Earn From Home

Starting a business should not be an intimidating issue even for a would-be entrepreneur who has to evolve the venture from bare beginnings. The focal point of success is always who and what you are as a person and as a businessman.

When I first dipped myself into running my own company in the development and production of local business reference and directories, I just had a small capital out of my earnings. But this low capital base did not deter me from pursuing my interest. I decided to go on and made some reasonable money from publishing two (2) directories. With these earnings, I migrated to international trading at the height of the demand for telecommunication systems and stayed in the business until 1998. In 1999, I finally went into where my passion was and where I am presently engaged in (i.e. business writing and consulting.)

In all modesty, all these businesses that I have mentioned were successful as they had achieved the midterm purposes for which they were established. And the success milestones had a common denominator: all businesses germinated from humble roots.

Based on my experience, you need not be a marketing guru, or a management expert, or a financially-loaded entrepreneur to start a small business and sustain it to a level that gives you self-fulfillment. There are just five key considerations to bear in mind, and these are:

1. Know your motivation by knowing exactly your needs.

Before going into business, ask yourself: What do I want to become? Is it my passion? What actually prompted me to consider going into business? What personal needs of mine will the business satisfy? The answers to these questions are very important start-up considerations for a small business owner.

When I went into publishing business, I was regularly employed, an engagement that I could not leave because my expected business earning was much lower than my employment income. But I was bent to set up a company for four compelling reasons: 1) to augment my employment income in anticipation of the expenses related to the simultaneous college education of my three children 2) to take advantage of joint undertaking that would give the business some captive market, 3) to start on something I was interested in and sufficiently competent with i.e. business and marketing communication, and 4) to establish a business where my wife can be gainfully employed and operationally involved. In essence, my business rationale was quite clear since it was all in accordance with what motivated me at that time.

2. Learn and know the business you are going into.

You do not invest in something you totally do not know, especially if it is not your passion or interest. Even if the intended investment has attractive potential, the more you should be a master of the business ins and outs. When you miss the opportunity, or it simply slips out of your control, you may not have the chance to recoup whatever you have lost. If you have invested hard-earned lifetime savings, imagine the stress and trauma that you will have to bear. So, make it a point to first study the context of what you are getting into so that you will not get lost the moment you are in it.

3. Set SMART objectives — in markets, revenue, expenses.

You are a small company, lacking in resources and could easily snap out should you be off track even for a short period of time. To minimize threat of this nature, you have to set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bounded (SMART) objectives. If you practice this discipline, you will have the flexibility to pulse how you are performing and what necessary actions to take in case any problem crops up.

In my first business directory, I set a one-time, 6-month project gross revenue goal of $ 30,000 and an operating profit target of $ 6,000.00 (25% of Sales). I clearly identified the markets that would pump in the revenues - corporate advertisers and small commercial business accounts. The key point here is that, at the first instance, you have to know and anticipate where your revenues will come from and what items you will have to spend for to realize profits, and your objectives will have to be shaped within the amount of investment you are prepared to put at stake..

4. Love what you are doing. Be self-driven, and always interconnected with people.

Entrepreneurship, regardless of the size of your business, has many downsides and failures. Never be stunted by any of these psychological threats. Remain motivated by your needs. Exercise patience and flexibility. Be passionate about your rationale for setting up the business even if, at times, you might feel you had enough of the start-up problems. Seek new knowledge and the company of people who can help, enlighten, and power you up especially when the temptation to quit is high or when the odds against you are great.

When my publication business became operational, I was saddled with serious account acquisition, cash flow, and logistics problems. I was about to give up because it was taking a toll in my finances and family life. Lest I totally lose my investment by the wink of an eye, I immediately consulted several industry practitioners to get clear insights as to what the core issues were and what corrective options could be done. I never vacillated to personally seek their advice even for seemingly simple issues, but which I was not too familiar with.

Always consider the thought that there are always people willing to help start-ups e.g. suppliers to your venture that would delight seeing you grow because it would mean additional business for them or business practitioners who are just too happy to share and coach you about their experience. Through the help of people who I did not intimately know, I was able to turnaround the initial performance slippage of my publication business into a financial result that surpassed gross revenue target by 15% and operating profit goal by 6%.

5. Exercise contentment and humility, and lead a discreet life.

As an entrepreneur, you must demonstrate credibility, respectability, fairness, and transparency in business deals. You have to build continuing rapport and trust with the business community you move about. You can do this by leading a life of contentment and humility while remaining firm in the exercise of high values. Always find happiness in what you already have than in what you can have. Remember, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. There is a time for everything, and you can set up success milestones if you practice patience in trekking the road to your desired business destination. You can heighten your tenacity and tensile strength against threats and setbacks in the course of conducting business, but only if you can learn the art of ignoring set-up pain while focusing on the strategic potential of your business.

All told, in starting a business from humble roots toward an appreciable accomplishment, you can depend comfortably on the following formula: Small Business Success = Motivation + Knowledge + SMART Objectives + Interconnection + Contentment.

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The Following blog post is sponsored by Jobs From Home

If you're tired of the “rat race,” you may have considered starting your own home business. You are not alone in this venture, as people come online everyday in search of ways to supplement their incomes or even quit their day jobs with an online business.

I was in your shoes a few years back. I knew that the internet was the perfect platform for a business to make money from. But, I was always always skeptical about these make money online programs. I finally took the step to start my online business and joined an affiliate program. I can tell you firsthand it was the best step that I had ever made.

I want you to have success online as well. I am not going to tell you, that it was easy to get to where I could put in my notice to my boss, but the day did come eventually and it was the best feeling in the world. I am going to tell you the benefits you gain when you decide to take the plunge.

Benefit #1 - The first benefit of starting your home business online, is that unlike a business on the street, your home business can usually be started for under $100. If you were to start a business on the street, you would more than likely need to take out a business loan.

Benefit #2 - An online home business is global. The second that your business website is listed, you can get traffic from all over the planet. You can have a never-ending stream of targeted prospects on a daily basis viewing your products. Think about how much it would cost for you to advertise an offline business.

Benefit #3 - Your income is never limited. Unlike in the work force, were we are all subject to salary caps or hourly rates. Your online business has absolutely no cap to how much you can make daily, monthly or yearly. Think about it, many people are generating $1000's from home everyday with their internet businesses and you can too.

Benefit #4 - You can set your own hours to work on your business. Work as much or as little as you want.

Benefit #5 - You are your own boss! Think about how cool that is. You are now in full control of your own home business. You call all the shots and do not have to answer to someone else.

So, get going and start your home business today!

More info here: Jobs From Home

A quick shout out to Earn Extra Money for sponsoring this Associated Content Post!

As a business you must have a professional image. Regardless of how much you want to believe that your competence should be what matters most, a lot of people still do not think that a home business is professional. Thankfully there are numerous things that you can do in order to have a professional image in these people’s eyes.

The first thing that you are going to need is a professional business name. It really is worth paying the small fee to register a “DBA” (Doing Business As) or become incorporated. You can then use this name on your letterhead and business cards. This is really an inexpensive and easy thing to do and while your clients do not know this, they do take notice of the professionalism that it presents.

Another thing that you can do is get a PO Box. While this does not cost a lot it does look much more professional. This way if you need to meet with a client you can rent a small conference room or go out to lunch with your client. By doing these things you will come across a lot more professional than if you had a meeting in your home.

The telephone is another area where you want to appear professional. This is something that you will especially want to take some consideration of if you have small children or pets around because their behavior can be unpredictable. You want your phone calls to sound as though you are at an office and not at home. One way in which you can handle this situation is by only giving your phone number to existing clients because they have already experienced your professionalism. Therefore, they should not have an issue with your working at home.

If you really do not want to give out your home phone number then you should consider hiring an answering service. The answering service’s job is to simply answer the phone and tell your client that you are unavailable then take a message. This will allow you to always be prepared when you make a phone call so that you appear professional.

One other way in which you can provide a more professional image for your home business is by obtaining a professional domain name that is based upon your business’ name. You can do this for less than $10 per month and then you will have a professional sounding email address. Of course, you can also create a web site, which will help add to your business’ professional image.

When you take time to do these things you are showing that you care about your business. Having a professional image is a really important thing to have when working from home. It will definitely increase your profits.

More info on Earn Extra Money can be found on our main site!