Smithfield Crossing Law Blog

Are you going to be onstage next year as a result of your Pre-Paid Legal business? How are you going to get there…. Read on for your roadmap to convention 2009.

As a fellow Pre-paid legal associate I have been to the Las Vegas Leadership Summit twice. Besides the inspirational stories and trainings there is also a time where they parade the top money earners in Pre-paid legal across the stage. At the last leadership summit I attended they handed out a million dollars in cash spread out over hundreds of fellow associates. How did these people have so much success in Pre-paid legal?

Pre-Paid Legal Services as you know teaches people to plug into a highly duplicatable system. Their system is designed to be easy to do. They train that anybody can do it and all you have to do is plug into their training and events. The events are VERY important to Pre-paid legal, if you want to be considered a core associate you have to go to all the events nationally and locally. Don’t get me wrong, the events and trainings are good and I made a lot of friends as a result, but as far as making MONEY, the training I was offered was not that effective. Here is what I mean…

The MINDSET of 99 percent of associates including myself, started a Pre-paid legal business to make MONEY and change our lives. I desired to have a part-time business that produced a full-time income. I needed MONEY.

That is the story of the vast majority of associates.

The roadmap to success that Pre-paid legal teaches is broken down into a few activities. They consist of making a list of your friends and family and following up with them using 3-way calls with your upline. I was also taught to get on autoship and hand out two DVD’s a day. How did I do this? Everyday at work, I would leave on my 1 hr. lunch break and go to my local mall and attempt to prospect and hand out business cards and DVD’s. I only had about 25 mins. to hand out 2 DVD’s and hopefully get a prospect to leave me their name and phone number.

Doing this wasn’t easy and took a lot of guts to get out there and prospect this way.
Next, I was taught the importance of promoting to events, setting PBR’s (Private Business Receptions) and inviting guests. I would invite as many prospects as I could to come out to the events as my guest. How many do you think attended? Not Many!

How many do you think watched my DVD or read my company’s magazine? Not Many! I remember hearing one of the top money earners in Pre-paid say that on average you have to get 10 DVD’s handed out in order to get one person to watch it.

This was very FRUSTRATING to me because I only had so much time and MARKETING the way I was trained was not bringing results like I had hoped.

I was spending more money than I was bringing in on autoship, weekly briefings, gas, auto, cell phone, business cards, etc. My ship was SINKING fast!

Finally, reluctantly I turned to the final training technique that Pre-paid legal teaches and that was to contact lead companies, buy business opportunity leads and start cold calling them. I started off slow but I faced my fears anyway and later became pretty efficient on the phone. However, I still could not recruit fast enough and the people who did join me in business would not DUPLICATE. I ended up spending HUNDREDS of dollars buying leads.

After a year and a half of activity and busting my butt working Pre-paid legals roadmap to success I was nowhere close to my financial goal.

I underwent a period of SOUL searching and decided I had to do things differently or close up shop.

I remember thinking why was it that all those people were able to march on stage and have success using Pre-paid legal’s roadmap? I also felt if I was working just as hard why wasn’t I having the same results?

The answer was simple and it all boiled down to the way I was MARKETING. The Pre-paid legal roadmap is UNTARGETED prospecting. It is based on numbers and the “let’s throw mud at the wall and see what sticks mentality.” Do you think other small businesses MARKET this way? Do you think not targeting your market is the right way to go? The answer of course is NO.

The roadmap that will take you to success in Pre-Paid legal much easier has always been inside you. It is building YOU,Inc. first before even mentioning Pre-paid legal to your prospects. It is in using technology like the Internet to brand yourself and attract people to YOU.

My roadmap to success in Pre-paid legal online is to first offer people a system and a coach (ME) that will TEACH and GUIDE them to learning how to use technology to attract prospects to them. I consult all of my prospects either through email or by phone and GAMEPLAN.

As the relationship builds I share the Pre-paid legal service and sell it to them. I want them to see the value. I don’t even mention the business opp. yet, I get a customer. It’s out of my customers that I get referrals and NOW I ask them if they would like to make money as well. Do you see the POWER in marketing this way?

Let your prospects try the service and get sold on it before offering your business opportunity. By now you have built TRUST, RESPECT, and REPOIRE. You are also in a perfect position to RECRUIT!.

This roadmap will guarantee multiple streams of income, cash in your pocket and highly targeted recruits into your Pre-paid legal business.

I look forward to seeing you all on stage at the next Pre-paid legal convention

Your home business career should start with basic legal knowledge about business matters that can commonly come up. Here are a few common terms, ideas and thoughts that someone starting a home business career should know.

Common discussions during a home business career are whether to become a corporation, an LLC, a sole proprietorship or a partnership. The biggest plus, as understood by many of being a corporation, is the idea that a corporation will protect the owner from personal liability.

The reality is that the creation of a corporation as part of someones home business career can protect the entrepreneur from personal liability.

Referred to as a corporate veil, it protects individuals involved in the business from having creditors, customers and others attack their personal assets should a lawsuit be filed against the corporation. It is not enough, however, for the venture to be named a corporation.

The home business founder has to have a corporate feel in his or her career, with meetings of the board of directors, minutes and note taking and publishing, as well as a corporate checking account and perhaps credit cards in the name of the corporation.

Meaning keeping excellent records and a well organized system so they can be easily analyzed and found quickly with ease. Someone whose career involves a home business and who is thinking about creating a corporation should seek the advice of an attorney who has experience with others in your same field.

Registering a company name is important to a home business career and generally means contact with the office of the secretary of state. Business licenses and permit regulations vary considerably from municipality to municipality and from state to state.

The advantages of having a business attorney to help with a home business career are that the attorney will keep abreast of the many changes that occur in the realm of business licenses, corporate and tax issues, the advantages and disadvantages of sole proprietorships, partnership and the various types of incorporation, as well as the continuous changes that are in zoning restrictions and requirements for business licensing.

When it comes time for acquiring a business license for that home business career it might be as simple as a stop at the city clerk’s office and a $20 check.

Or an entrepreneur could become embroiled in many time consuming and possibly restrictive compliances such as permits from the local fire department, permits for control of air and water pollution, permits for signs, country permits, licensing from the state, licensing from the federal government, licensing for purposes of state or city or county sales tax, and permits issued by the local or state health department.

These are the things that might have to be dealt with at the start of a home business career.

You would be well advised to have knowledge of a local attorney who can advise you for reasonably cheap fees at the beginning of your business career until you are ready to incorporate your business.

If you start doing financially well, without an attorney to advise you of different legal problems that come up, from customers or the government at any level, you might find your beautiful financial growing future trashed by an incompetent, raised on government employee, or a greedy customer seeking to line their pockets, unfairly, at your expense.

Many times an attorney can stop these profit eaters dead in their tracks or at least extremely limit the damage and expense they can do to you.

Source:
My 40 years of legal business experience

Prepaid Legal eService is an online recruiting and sales platform that offers you 9 different business websites. Find out how avoid the costly mistake that most people make with replicated business websites, and receive the full benefit of your eService account.

A web site can be an important asset for your Prepaid Legal business. In fact, no serious home business should be without a web presence. You will often be asked for your website, and for a professional image, you simply must have one.

Prepaid Legal Services is suggesting that you use your sites to showcase the membership and the opportunity. Many people take this to mean that you drive your web traffic directly to these sites, and then wait for a response.

The problem with this approach is that, in the beginning, your visitors are not looking for company information and plan details. They are looking first for someone who is able to help them and whom they can trust. What does that mean for your traffic strategy?

It means that you need to position yourself as an expert and establish a relationship of trust first before you make your offer. This is not difficult to do, but using your company website is not the right approach.

Your best approach is to position yourself as an expert on the web, using tools such as article writing, press releases, and social media and so on. At this point, you do not mention your company at all; neither do you mention any specific services. Rather, from your pool of experience and market knowledge, you offer valuable, generic advice, for example on identity protection.

Offer free information in exchange for contact data, which you collect on your personal lead capture page. This way, you are building a list of personal leads, your extended warm market, if you will. Once you have established trust, you will find it easy to win customers and business builders. And at that point, when your prospect is ready and asking for detailed company information, your replicated company websites are a great tool.

As you can see, your eService websites work well in the later stage of your marketing process. However, to build your list and position yourself first, your best choice is to offer generic information through your own personal website.

If you are charged with DUI in Minnesota and seek attorney to fight your case the first question that strikes your mind is how to know which Minnesota DUI Attorney or Minnesota DUI Attorney Firm is best to choose.

There may be many questions that you need answers to. Like, how do you figure out if you at all need to hire a lawyer under your situation, if you do, what is the right time to contact a lawyer? Next question – what difference does it make to hire a Minnesota DUI Attorney Firm who knows the specific issues in my type of case? And lastly how should you go about finding an exert Minnesota DUI Attorney who concentrates specifically on your type of cases.  You have to understand that deciding to hire a Minnesota DUI Attorney is an important decision –a decision that only you have to take for yourself. We have listed down some important facts related to choosing your Minnesota DUI Attorney firm. We hope it will help you in choosing the right guy for the job.

Please understand and be clear about one thing – that pleading guilty before the court can cost a lot more than hiring a Minnesota DUI lawyer. As you weigh the cost of pleading guilty and all the future costs that come with it, against the cost of hiring a Minnesota DUI lawyer, you will realize that hiring an established, accomplished and experienced Minnesota DUI attorney is an investment in your future.

There are several long term consequences to pleading guilty to a DUI, including having to divulge to every potential employer all your life that you were convicted of a serious crime and pay an increased insurance premium because of it. If you finding out about all consequences that are there that you may have to face in future, then you will certainly consider consulting a Minnesota DUI lawyer. Someone, who will help you fight and get you a fair and deserved justice.

If you are in the process of choosing your Minnesota DUI attorney or attorney firm, do not delay it under any circumstances. You have to understand that the sooner you can find and bring a capable Minnesota DUI lawyer on board, the sooner the process can start. That much sooner the lawyer begins to gather the evidence and starts weighing the facts that are in your favor against the State’s case and starts to prepare your defense.

Hiring an experienced Minnesota DUI lawyer is an investment that you are making for your future. So don’t treat the fee as cost. Another important thing to keep in mind is that not all Minnesota DUI lawyers cost the same. They all charge what they consider as an appropriate fee for the level of his or her experience. Therefore while you are choosing your Minnesota DUI lawyer, do not hesitate to ask the lawyer what will be his charges to represent you.

Last but the most important point- You need to have a certain comfort level with your lawyer. Your relationship with your lawyer can make or break your case. You have to be certain that your Minnesota DUI lawyer listens to you and understands your concerns and goals. If you keep the above points in mind while choosing your Minnesota DUI Attorney, Minnesota DUI Attorney Firm, you will be able to get yourself the best possible justice.

When it comes to growing your Prepaid Legal business, there are a few things you should know. After reading this information, you will know exactly how to grow your Prepaid Legal buisness the easy way. Even without having to bother friends and family.

Prepaid Legal Marketing Secrets #1: You have to understand the benefits of using the services offered by Prepaid Legal. Whether it’s legal protection service or identity theft, knowing the benefits of each one will help you understand who will pay for these services. By doing this, you will attract people who wants added security from the services offered by Prepaid Legal, and they’ll join you in growing your Prepaid Legal business.

You can also figure out how the benefits of the protection offered by Prepaid Legal by looking at how it has helped you. Or your upline, downline, or someone you know who have benefited greatly from the service. This will help you understand who will purchase the services from you and join you in your Prepaid Legal business.

Prepaid Legal Marketing Secrets #2: Understand who your target market is (or people who have a need or want for what you have to offer). This will be people looking for protection. Or maybe someone who wants legal protection in their corner 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Or people who have a fear of someone stealing their identity. There are hundreds and thousand of people out there who wants your service. Once you figure out who your market is, you’ll be able to help protect hundreds of people. They will be so excited about the service, that they’ll join you in your Prepaid Legal business.

I will say this, though. Not everyone will want your Prepaid Legal service. And not everyone will want to join your business. Don’t worry about it. There are hundreds of other people out their waiting on your help. You just have to find them. Or better yet, have them find you. And from time to time, you’ll be able to attract some “heavy hitters” into your Prepaid Legal business. They will bring with them hundreds of people into your Prepaid Legal business. This will make it fun and exciting in growing your business.

Prepaid Legal Marketing Secrets #3: Once you understand the benefits of using Prepaid Legal service and who you’re target market is, you should automate this process. This will allow you to show your downline what to do and how to do it. This will allow you to help protect people and allow them to help you in growing your Prepaid Legal business. This is how you will grow your Prepaid Legal business the easy way. You wil be able to add dozens and dozens of people into your business each week, every week.

This will not only give you a deep sense of gratitude, you’ll have people whole-heartedly thanking you for taking the time out to help them. And remember, the more people you help, the more money you make. So help alot of people, and in return, you’ll make alot of money.

Use these marketing secrets to grow your Prepaid Legal business the easy way. These secrets will not only help you grow your business, but help you attract the right people to you.

As a civil litigation attorney and litigation defense attorney in Palm Springs, San Diego, Newport Beach, Orange County, Santa Ana, Riverside, San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga, Indio, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and from courts all over California, you learn there are some questions you should never ask, or ask again. And then there are some questions you hear once in awhile that cause the entire courtroom to either go silent or break out in laughter. At the very least, most of these questions will certainly confuse the witness.

“Just how old were you really on your twenty-fifth birthday?”

“Can you see without your glasses or your teeth?”

“What was the defendant doing while you were in the bathroom?”

“Do you still feel you are brain damaged?”

“Where did you live in town after you moved away?”

“What don’t you know about the accident and when did you find out?”

“Just when did you realize you hadn’t been killed in the accident?”

“You’re just saying that to confuse me, or is that your normal way of talking?”

“Did you look at the defendant when you saw him?”

“Can you describe what you didn’t see?”

“Was that when you were in a coma or had you already left the hospital?”

“Are you qualified to be an expert or is there somebody else more qualified to make that conclusion?”

“I think we all know who will be the jury of that, right Judge?”

“Could you repeat that again for those who heard it the first time?”

“I see you have clothes on today.”

“What do you mean exactly by that particular phrase you elucidated?”

“Could you be more specific than “I don’t remember?”

“And what time was it by the watch you weren’t wearing?”

“Do you have a first name, John?”

“Do you consider yourself to be an honest or a dishonest person when you promise to tell the truth?”

“Have you ever lied to anyone before today?”

“Have you ever driven drunk before the accident?”

“And how many teeth would you estimate you have?”

“Are you able to touch your nose and walk a straight line better today than you were on the date of the accident?”

“Can you estimate how many wives you have?”

“Do you consider yourself to be as honest as the Judge in this courtroom?”

“Have you been practicing what you wouldn’t say today?”

“And exactly when did you come up with a conclusion that would make sense?”

“We’ve never met before today, except for that time in Vegas, have we?”

“Have you ever been to Vegas?”

“Does your wife know about that trip?”

“What caused you to be a child when you were that age?”

“Did you eventually become an adult?”

“Do you know what questions I’m going to be asking you to give me answers to or are you just guessing?”

“You seem confusing. Are you speaking too fast or would you like me to slow down?”

Get Education on Your Rights -Read and Know Before You Do Anything.

Hire a Qualified and Licensed Attorney for Your Loan Modification

The last 5 years is nothing but violations of all kinds of laws including TILA, RESPA and HOEPA by all kinds of lenders including the big lenders. My bad list of lenders include Countrywide, WAMU, and of course Citi. City has already eaten up 40 billion of federal money, and is still teetering on the brinks of a disaster. They are also at the same most arrogant and unhelpful lenders. Most of the foreclosure mess is created by these bankers, including of course many small bankers. They over qualified people who could not handle the burden of loan. These folks should not have been home buyers in the first place. The example, I give quite often is of my son is 10 years old and is in 5th grade. I give him one dollar every day for his allowance. Imagine if I start giving him instead $100 every day for his pocket allowance. It would spoil him in less than one month and show him how to be financially irresponsible. It is another thing if I open a saving account and put $100 in his account every day. Of course that would be a fantastic idea for his college education and bright future.

There is No More Waiting Required— You Waited Long Enough.

The foreclosure process is designed so that you have time to get back on your feet and save your home. But that doesn’t mean it’s safe to procrastinate. The longer you wait, the harder it gets to get you out of that fix. As soon as you decide you need mortgage help, call for a loan modification help and get started.

Who Else But a Qualified Attorney?

Your lenders policies have hurt you too much. Your broker (former) and loan officer along with mortgage bankers and all the other allied people have hurt you much. IN fact, this foreclosure fiasco was caused originally by combination of all these folks and their unlimited greed. Don’t let them continue this game. We all are hurt by this collective deceptive practice. So let us work together and stop it.

Don’t file for bankruptcy, unless you really have to.

Filing bankruptcy is not a solution; at the most it would delay the process. In some cases, it would jeopardize your loan modification process. Remember Automatic Stay under bankruptcy and then affirmation of debts. They are time consuming things. You lose the leverage and deterrence of bankruptcy to use in your loan modification. I never file bankruptcy before loan modification. In fact, in my law office, I keep them separate and never unify them. Because of the knowledge of bankruptcy, foreclosure, and loan modification: an attorney can be uniquely qualified to cover all these areas and knowledge of all these areas, would be very helpful. Just don’t file bankruptcy at the very outset. It may give some time but it is not the solution. Also, please don’t file bankruptcy just for your home loan unless you have lots of unsecured debts

Do Have Any Alternative Plan.

Why Do Lenders Prefer Loan Mod Over Foreclosure?

-Loan Modification is a temporary help. Get qualified for this. There is nothing to be embarrassing in all this issue. Lots of these things had happened out of our control.

-Your lenders are still difficult to work with; they have built fireballs around which you have to cross.  The secret is that by doing loan modification they are helping themselves. On a cost benefit analysis, they lose more money in a foreclosure. It saves money, and this is a time tested factor that lenders save money on loan modification and lose money in foreclosure.

Let us analyze the situation here in greater details.

• Loan modification is cheaper. They deal with one borrower only and not a plethora of people like default agency, governmental agencies, and the auctioneer and furthermore a new person in the entity who is stills an unknown commodity.
• A loan modification takes place in 30 or 60 days while the foreclosure process is long and it has its statutory limitations.
• The paperwork is less in loan modification compared with foreclosure process. In foreclosure, your lender will assess all kinds of late payments, expenses and attorney fees, and of course a repair for the home to make it at least presentable. All these add up in the cost to lender.
• Your lender is tired of foreclosing home. They have a high list of REO properties, and no one is buying them.
• A loan modification process can slow down your foreclosure process but it is not a safe guarantee against the foreclosure.
• However, as long as borrower is talking, communicating with their lenders, they would not or at least hesitate to send their home to the auction block. Ideally speaking, don’t sit and wait for this time to come.
• Do something now. It is the time. It is your home. Find someone who is professionally qualified to help you. It is your local attorney who has a local office, easy to find and communicate and licensed in the State of Nevada.

1. Put everything on paper. It’s not uncommon for lenders, especially smaller ones, to lose track of your application. To prevent delays, make sure all your efforts are documented and kept on file. This includes all the calls you make and receive, both from your lender and loan modification attorney. Keep receipts of all your transactions, and make copies so you don’t have to let go of the originals.

2. Do your own financial statements. Part of every home loan modification is a financial worksheet, which will be your main basis for qualification. Most lenders have their own forms, but it won’t hurt to make your own as well. If your lender insists on using their worksheet, at least you’ll have all the information ready.

3. Be as detailed as possible. Too much information is better than too little, and it limits the chances that they’ll call you for more information. A typical worksheet for a mortgage home work modification will include the following:

• -Your contact information (address, home phone and work phone, fax and email)
• -Information about your property, including the estimated value
• -Your current income
• -Any additional income, such as welfare, child support, etc.
• -Your estimated total value, including other assets such as real estate, savings and checking accounts, IRAs, 401(k), stocks and bonds.

-Liabilities, such as existing loans monthly bills, medical expenses, and tax liens

4. Keep all your bills. Keep track of all of your bills in a methodical order. Make sure you write down your grocery bill, your utilities, including water, power, gas, and trash charges. Now, add on your monthly bill of HOA, any other community charges, your insurance charges, your child support, and other alimony issues or legal expenses. Possibly, a positive cash statements would be an ideal one to work with banks.