In This Issue:

- Marketing Tip
- Product Update
- Minimize Business BS
- Success Tip
- Business Black Belt
- Support Spotlight
- Partner Announcments
- Tips & Tricks

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Engineering the Deal

Burke Franklin, Founder & CEO of JIAN, Best-Selling Developer: BizPlanBuilder Software, Best-Selling Author: Business Black Belt

I was visiting a friend in Colorado who really wanted to buy a new BMW. She was ready to trade in her old car, she had the money, good credit—everything. So I suggested that we go look at the cars. The BMW dealer had the perfect car—red, convertible, and loaded. The salesman was very nice, gave us the keys, and told us to enjoy ourselves. After driving around for a while, she obviously didn’t need to be convinced that this was the right car for her. The salesman ran the numbers, checked her credit, and then, over the next two hours, tried to come up with the paperwork to put this deal together.

What went wrong? That car dealer could not engineer a transaction and generate one document that incorporated all the terms we agreed upon! A spreadsheet showed the lease vs. purchase comparison and included the desired down payment along with the number of months to get the desired monthly payment. There was a problem with the leasing document. My friend knew she wanted the car, she didn’t need an extra sales pitch for lease. All she needed was a single document to incorporate her personal information, the car’s identification, places to fill in the price, some options, taxes, financing calculations, subtract the allowance for the car she was trading in and calculate her drive-off payment (if any). And it all should have squirted out of a laser printer in one good-looking document with the particulars in bold print. The sale should have gone like this:

Ma’am, here’s the purchase agreement complete with all the numbers we agreed to. We’re giving you $x for your trade-in. All we need is a check for the down payment, your signature here, and the keys to your old car... Here are the keys to your new BMW — you’re ready to go! Thank you very much!

Even if she had a few doubts and was slightly fearful of completing the deal, while her emotions were hot and with a little coaxing, she could easily write her name a couple of times and drive off in the gorgeous, brand new car of her dreams! It didn’t happen that way. They couldn’t get the paperwork in order while we were hot. We left without buying the car.

An airplane as an impulse buy?
Here’s a different story. Click here to finish reading...

http://www.jian.com/support/answers.html?category=Business+Black+Belt+Chapters#faq1161895246

"A problem well stated is a problem half solved"
- Charles Kettering

The Farmer and His Donkey

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

• Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
• Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.
• Live simply and appreciate what you have.
• Give more.
• Expect less

Now…
Enough of that crap… The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

Moral from today's lesson:
When you do something wrong, and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you.

"A Law of Capital Attraction...
Write your business plan so you can build and run your business without investors. Then they'll want to invest. "
- Burke Franklin

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"A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought.
There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor."
- Victor Hugo

“Deep breathing alone has made many a weak man strong and many a sick man well.”

These words come from the immortal teachings of Martin 'Farmer' Burns in his 1914 by-mail course, "Lessons in Wrestling and Physical Culture" (available at http://www.mattfurey.com/farmerburns.html), but they could have just as easily come from the ancient Samurai of Japan -- or the old-time Jiu-Jitsu masters.

For example, in a 1911 book on Japanese exercise methods that I read many years ago, I recorded the following: “The ancient samurai was accustomed to going out into the open air as soon as he rose in the morning. There he devoted at least 10 or 15 minutes to continued deep breathing, standing with his hands on his hips in order that he might feel the play of his muscles.”

Breathing in the open air was also recommended by Farmer Burns as well early American fitness pioneers such as Charles Atlas, Bernarr MacFadden and Paul Bragg. These men truly knew what they were talking about. Today, in most fitness programs taught around the world, deep breathing is practically ignored. This is a major mistake as, to quote one of my former teachers, 'Your breath is your power.'

You can tell a lot about a person simply by observing how he or she breathes. In fact, I believe you can map out the structure of how the person lives life. Shallow breathers tend to be shallow people. Deep breathers tend to be interested in far more than the superficial. The sound a person makes when breathing, especially while exercising, is also revealing. Does he or she have a problem with being seen or heard? You'll know by whether or not you can hear the person breathing. Does this person breathe in a way that says, 'life is a struggle' -- or in a way that shows how they simply 'flow?'

Maybe you've never paid much attention to the subject of deep breathing before. For the first 25 years of my life I didn't either. Yet, I assure you, life is much better when you're in tune with how you breathe. Pay attention to your breathing. Make sure it is deep and full. Spend 10-15 minutes per day working on it and you'll readily understand why your breath is your power.
- Matt Furey, World Kung Fu champion and author of “Combat Conditioning,” http://www.mattfurey.com

"Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that others won't feel insecure around you."
- Marianne Williamson

$1000 SBA loan for a Spa!

In 1995 my wife and a business partner had the opportunity to open and own a franchise of a local very successful Day-Spa operation. Both my wife and her partner were employed as managers in the Day-Spa operation at that time. I became the background financial guy. I knew we needed a business plan and I didn’t have a clue how to begin so I purchased your BizPlan Builder off the shelf at a local computer outlet. I did not even own a computer at that time.  Had one at the office, but couldn’t use it because of restrictions. I took the software over to my best friend’s house (he had a computer and knew how to use it) and we installed the software. It took a while; some trial and error, lots of re-writes, but we finally finished. When we took the business plan to the bank and applied for SBA financing, it was a snap. The financials were in order. They complimented us on the organization of the plan. They liked our vision. The plan had everything they required to get the loan process moving.  In the end we were successful. The SBA loaned us $100,000 based on the experience of the partners and the business plan. We now have two Day-Spas operating in the New Orleans French Quarter. Come see us! 
- Lewis Cocke, Spa Aria at the Hotel Montelone and Shine Spa and Specialty in the French Quarter)

The Top 10 Signs of Giftedness in Adulthood

The vast majority of adults who were labeled ‘gifted’ in childhood are unaware that their advanced development would continue to have an impact throughout their lives. Contrary to popular belief, giftedness is not characterized by high intelligence alone. Rather, gifted individuals experience early and exceptional psychological, spiritual and intellectual development. As a result, gifted adults exhibit common personality traits and face similar challenges on the road to self-actualization. Gifted adults demonstrate:

1.   Qualitative differences in information processing
Characterized by: unique perception and awareness; a sense of humor and creativity outside the norm; questioning, searching for truth, intuitiveness; insightfulness; comfort with both divergent thinking (breaking things into components) and synergistic thinking (putting things together to form something new and different); relentless curiosity and heightened creative drive; being more process-oriented than product-oriented; holding divergent values compared to mainstream culture.
 
2.   High sensitivity
Characterized by: sensitivity to others often combined with a sense of personal alienation and loneliness; acute awareness of complexities and consequences; heightened responsivity to expectations of others.
 
3.   Intensity
Characterized by: high excitability; high energy level; emotional reactivity; high arousal of central nervous system (Kazimierz Dabrowski Theory of Positive Disintegration).
 
4.   Multi-potentiality
Characterized by: having capabilities in many areas and domains of talent; can move fluidly from one pursuit or interest to the next; the ability to juggle many things at once.
 
5.   Idealism
Characterized by: striving for moral integrity; interest in social reform and service; extraordinarily high standards; low tolerance for mediocrity and frustration.
 
6.   Perfectionism
Characterized by: self-criticism; labeling oneself as “scattered”; having a lowered sense of entitlement to make mistakes; identifying easily with failure; thinking they are more likely to blame than others; difficulty taking credit for achievement and abilities (“impostor” phenomena).
 
7.   Need for autonomy.
Characterized by feelings of: being out of step and on a separate path; being “Other”; not fitting in; striving for inner  authenticity; may experience deep conflicts between needs for self-actualization and maintaining traditional relationships.
 
8.   Strong entelechy (from Greek for ‘having a goal’).
Characterized by: the need for self-determination; for self-actualization; leadership qualities; achievement-orientation;  interest in nontraditional careers and professions.
 
9.   Intense moral commitment
Characterized by: seeing injustice and doing something about it; willingness to stand up for one’s beliefs; outrage at moral breaches that the rest of the world seems to take for granted.
 
10. Global view
Characterized by respect for all human beings; a greater capacity for empathy; concern for others—especially children; sensitivity and warmth.
 
About the Submitter:
Submitted by Elyse Killoran, Personal Coach and Life Strategist who specializes in work with Gifted Women, who can be reached at Elyse@WomensU.com, or visited on the web at http://www. WomensU.com The original source is: The work of Douglas Eby, Mary Rocamora, Kathleen Noble and studies conducted by Linda Kreger Silverman of the Institute for the  Study of Advanced Development.

Do you have an article or some useful advice that you you'd like to share?
Please email the editor with your news to appear in Business Black Belt as well as on our website.

"Statistics:
The only science that enables different experts
using the same figures to draw different conclusions."
- Evan Esar (1899-1995), American Humorist

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""The more you seek security, the less of it you have.
But the more you seek opportunity,
the more likely it is that you will achieve the security that you desire."
- Brian Tracy

Tax Tricks -- A bonus refund with your 2006 tax filing?

Did you know that you may qualify for an extra refund when you file your 2006 taxes? And if you qualify, you can claim the refund by filling out just one extra line on your 2006 tax return.

If you subscribed for long-distance telephone service between March 2003 and July 2006, you almost certainly paid a federal tax on your telephone bill. But recent court decisions ruled that the tax should not apply. So the IRS has come up with a simple method to refund the taxes. They’ve developed standard refund amounts based on the number of exemptions you claim.

The standard refund will be $30 for one exemption, $40 for two, $50 for three, and $60 for four or more. Normally, you claim an exemption for yourself, one for your spouse, and one for each dependent. So a married couple with one dependent would be eligible for a $50 refund.

These amounts are based on a survey of average telephone taxes paid by families of different sizes. If you don’t want to take the standard refund, you can always go through 41 months of telephone bills and figure the actual amount you paid. Then you’ll need to fill out a special form to make your claim.

You’ll receive your refund when you file your 2006 taxes next year. The IRS is preparing Form 1040 EZ-T for those who paid the excise tax but are not obligated to file an income tax return.

As of now, businesses and nonprofits will have to detail the actual taxes they paid to receive their refunds. However, the IRS is trying to develop simplified methods for them too, so don’t start going through your bills just yet.

- Edward Mitchell, Manager, Management Resources Consulting Group Inc., www.mr-cg.com

"Not everything you do is going to be a masterpiece,
but you get out there and you try and sometimes it really happens.
The other times you're just stretching your soul."
- Maya Angelou

Congratulations to all the kids who were born in the1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !

• First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
• They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
• Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
• We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
• As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
• Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
• We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
• We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
• We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because...
• WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
• We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
• No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
• We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
• We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms...
• WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
• We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
• We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
• We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
• Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!
• The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And, while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

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