Mining Your Own Business

I cannot count all the "opportunities" I have been presented with in the mining sector of the diamond business. I was a past Vice President and board member of Sao Luis Mining, a publicly traded mining company out of Brazil. It took us years to lose our money, but in the end, we were successful in doing just that.

All of us in the venture were experienced in diamonds, mining, finance and public offerings. Despite our many talents and skills we were unable to take a property with a large supply of diamonds and make a go of it.

Why we failed is a book in itself. I won't bore you with the details. What I will do, is give you an overview as to what is involved in putting together a mining operation and it will be self evident why there are so few successful mining operations.

We spent years completing our environmental studies, getting our licenses, permits, geological reports, assays, financial feasibility and cost and income reports. It was a never ending cycle of stop and starts, ups and downs; all the while the money is flowing out like the Amazon into the ocean.

The other money eating monster is one that cannot be considered in your projections. It is commonly referred to as the 'X' factor. This is when something goes wrong that no one could have imagined. Except that it happens far more often then even the most pessimistic person could imagine.

Just as an example, the DMS or Dense Media Separation Machine a $600,000 beauty is made in South Africa. When you ship this monster (see picture) you need to tell the truck driver not to go faster than 3-5 miles an hour down your unpaved road or you can destroy the insides. (It will be out of balance) Wait until you see how much fun you can have trying to get it repaired in your remote location. You will roar with laughter when they tell you how long it will take to get the parts and how much this small problem is going to cost you. Good times had by all!

Because you are nearly always working in a third or forth world country, you can expect that everything will take three times as long as projected and will cost two to three times as much as you were told it will cost. Most companies fail because they run out of money before they have a chance to be successful. Other companies fail because the owners just get sick and tired and no longer wish to sit in the bush with the bugs, snakes and local bandits, some of whom wear uniforms, ties and suits.

There are a million reasons why a mining operation will fail. There are few companies who have the knowledge and resources, both human and financial to succeed. To do a mining operation properly, it will take approximately $7-12 million investment and two to three years.

There is an exception to this rule. If you have a concession and you have enough money to buy a pan and some camping equipment and food supplies, you can make a good living going into the mud yourself for a few months at a time. It is not a romantic as having a publicly traded diamond mining company, but you have a better chance of making money.

Make More Money as a Ghost Food Writer

Like high pay? Have self-confidence? Know food; write well? Ghostwriting may be a career move for motivated writers who are willing to write for high pay but no credit or byline.

Simply put, a ghostwriter is someone who writes a book, speech, article or editorial that will be published under someone else's name. Celebrity autobiographies are usually written by ghostwriters and established novelists have been known to supply the plot and outline to a ghostwriter who takes the book the rest of the way to publication.

People who need ghostwriters are those who have a recognizable name or business and either cannot write well enough for publication, or do not have the time to write for publication. In a ghostwriting foodie's dream, a celebrity chef will give the idea, notes, outlines and rough drafts to the writer who will write, rewrite, research, interview and edit the manuscript heading to a publisher.

The celebrity chef's name and photo will grace the book cover. Her recipes and tips, and the ability to get her book in bookstores everywhere as well as the cachet to get booked on Oprah will get the book published and marketed.

What's in it for the ghost writer? Anywhere from $100 per finished page to a split of the royalties.

Ghostwriters need to keep their connection with their work confidential, and have a willingness to work around the client's travel and work schedules. As in every writing assignment food writers win, strong writing and editing skills are essential. Most ghostwritten books are promoted as written by the client, so a strong ego able to withstand reading the praise of the client's writing is also a must.

When looking for ghost food writing work, be cautious with the auction sites. Neophytes bid low for jobs; you don't want to bid a book that nets you only $1 a page. Instead, visit sites that list jobs - writersweekly.com, writing-world.com, craigslist.com - or find an editorial firm that does ghost writing and see if they are hiring out any work.

Break into ghost food writing by contacting trade magazines with your writing samples. Dazzle them with your writing and the editors are likely to match you with an executive chef or restaurateur who can't write but will bring prestige to the magazine.

Food writers can turn their culinary knowledge into ghost writing by looking for jobs ghostwriting cookbooks for famous chefs, penning speeches for food executives, writing trade articles for food research scientists, blogging for a local culinary artist, and creating "autobiographies" for owners of food manufacturing firms and Food Network hosts. Keep working behind the scenes and you can build up a lucrative career as a ghost food writer.

Book Review - "The Rough Guide to Romania"

When I was looking for a guidebook for Romania I had three options: National Geographic Traveler: Romania, Lonely Planet's Romania & Moldova, and The Rough Guide to Romania.

The National Geographic guide got okay reviews, people either loved or hated Lonely Planet, and so I chose Rough Guide, which got moderate to good reviews, but had a few that mentioned it had a good section on Bucharest, which was my travel destination. I had never purchased a Rough Guide and had never been to Romania, so I had no idea what to expect or even what to look for, and I desperately needed some sort of direction on what to see and do in Bucharest and the surrounding areas.

The other reviews were right when they mentioned that a lot of the focus was on Bucharest. The rest of Romania was covered very broadly. Most of the maps in the book are for Bucharest. The maps themselves are easy to read and made it easy to find my way through a very large and complex city. I had about three days in the capital city, and the book did provide logistics and history.

I honestly didn't do much with the rest of the book, though. Because I had a day trip planned out to Poienari Castle (Dracula's real castle), I thumbed through the sections on Transylvania and some of the other major cities. These sections have a lot of history around the 1989 revolution.

The Rough Guide to Romania worked pretty well for me on my trip this September. I found its recommendations for museums and points of interest very good, and when I did get lost in Bucharest it was due to the lack of street signs, not the map in the guidebook. The book's recommendation of taking taxis and the expected prices was accurate and extremely helpful, and the tips on getting around and what to see were pretty spot-on for my travel style.

The only complaint I did have is that its restaurant recommendations and hotel information left a lot to be researched either beforehand or by wandering around. The hostel I stayed at was listed in the book, and I found it nice if not charming, but the restaurant price ranges were definitely geared to the ultra budget traveler.

There isn't much on the market in terms of guidebooks for Romania. It is still very much a country in transition, with a large sprawling city for its capital. The Rough Guide to Romania worked very well for what I wanted, which was some history, good maps, and logistics on how to get around. I think these guides are geared toward backpackers, so if you're willing to plan your own sightseeing and are looking to be as thrifty as possible this is definitely your best bet.

Develop Your Own 20 Second Phone Script That Gets Results!

Why do so many sales people dislike phone prospecting? Often it is because the chance of success is so small (only two to four percent success rate). When the rates are down, even strong sellers with enormous internal capacity for rejection avoid telephone prospecting.

What if there was a way to increase the success rate to 50 or 60 percent? Sales people will be scrambling for telephone time at this rate. Your telephone script holds the key.

The first thing on which we need to focus is writing a script aimed at your decision maker. Remember that decision makers buy from people who hold bonafide confidence in themselves.

Assume for now you are able to turn the "gatekeeper" into your ally and the decision maker comes to the phone to talk with you.

You have only a 20-second window of opportunity!

The first objective is to reduce the decision maker's anxiety over being called. I believe the primary challenge salespeople have with prospecting -- the reason phone prospecting success rates are so low -- is that salespeople are creating tension rather than interest. From the moment the other person picks up the phone and hears an unfamiliar voice call them by name, their tension rises. Because of this tension, you have only 20 seconds to alleviate the tension and create interest.

Here are several points to remember when you are preparing an "interest-grabbing" phone script:

o Make sure you can get through the script at a reasonable pace in approximately 20 seconds. That's your "window of opportunity."

o Think of a problem the buyer probably has. Do not bog down the decision maker with your company history. Do not ask the decision maker for an appointment yet.

Seek only to gain one thing: curiosity.

Establish curiosity about how another person in the same position as your prospect, with the same job title, has already figured out the solution to a problem your prospect probably has. Be prepared for a positive response -- to continue selling on the phone or to book an appointment.

The foundation for a telephone prospecting script is a relationship story.

In 20 seconds, it is impossible to read most relationship stories; therefore, we only use the decision maker's job title and their specific likely problems. Focused, relationship specific prospecting is the most effective. That is why the relationship story format starts from the base of a real job title and a specific problem the decision maker likely has.

If you want to call Vice Presidents of Operations, tell these decision makers specific problems of another Vice President of Operations and how you helped that Vice President solve their problems. In other words, you want to build a bridge of common ground.

Here is an example of a 20-second telephone script...

"Tom, this is (your name) with (your company) in (your location). I have been working with Vice Presidents of Operations for the past seven years. One of the chief concerns I am hearing from other Vice Presidents of Operations is their need to have confidence in the Editor of their company newsletter. I have been able to help other Vice Presidents successfully deal with this issue and I want the opportunity to share with you how."

The response you want to hear now is "tell me more..."

This script does exactly what I want it to do! Tom, the decision maker, responds with, "Tell me more." That is curiosity. The key is the relationship story and how you word the relationship story. Put some anxiety in it. Accent the frustration you hear from his counterparts.

Using the 20-second phone script, a seller is asking a buyer, are you curious how someone with your job title in your industry has already figured out how to solve a problem that you probably have as well? This is one of the great secrets to prospecting.

When you prepare your phone script, start with four relationship stories. Choose the story that is more probable for the initial script. Then have the others in reserve. Why? Because buyers don't always say, "Tell me more." Sometimes they say, "I don't have that problem." So then you can say, "Other problems I have also helped my customers deal with are (story B, C and D). Are you curious as to how I have helped our customers deal with these issues?

Now it is down to a "yes" or a "no." If the answer is "No," say, "Thank you for your time" and move on to your next phone call.

In Franchising the Best Man Should Win, Even When that Man is a Woman

Many franchisors in modern franchising today believe that they should have a certain percentage of women and minorities in their franchises and always make sure to recruit new franchise candidates in that ratio. This is extremely bad policy; sure equal opportunity is a good idea, but equal opportunity has come to mean ratios. That is wrong.

As far as believing in equal opportunity, I guess no I don't believe in that. I believe "the best man wins", and many times that is a woman. I pick the very best franchisee team members I can. I have to. We have come too far, and worked too hard to settle for anything less. The most dedicated and spirited individual is the one we pick provided that they can afford to buy the franchise. We try to help them with financing or anything we can.

As far as off color comments, yes I'm not politically correct, never have been and since I own 100% of the company, no one can fire me. So I tend to comment on those things I see with an open mind. And I am also open to free discussion and willing to learn new views. What is unfortunate is the world is changing and the political correctness in the franchising industry is preventing truth from being said and actually hurting the best candidates sometimes, not always, due to quotas.

We need so many Cubans, So many American Indians, so many Jewish people and so many Hispanic franchisees. Rather than saying, let's just pick the best person, make them compete and the best person male, female, black or white, Catholic or Hindu wins. That is the way it should be really. So, be thinking on this in 2006.

The "Securitization Slowdown"

It's as if the Market has been "holding its breath" for the last several weeks... basically since the Bear Stearns collapse. (You may have noticed this in your neck of the woods)

The nationwide market for Multifamily Properties is still strong in the face of the residential real estate collapse. Occupancies are stable in most markets and rents are keeping pace with inflation. But not very many properties are being bought and sold this quarter.

Here is the reason... I call it the "Securitization Slow-Down"

Used to be that a lender would write a loan and then quickly get that loan off their books through Securitization. The Securitization process bundled a bunch of loans into a larger "Security" and sold those to other entities as a safe way to make good income. Things just didn't quite work out that way when the underlying loans went sour.

Securitization allowed lenders to make more money by writing more loans and shift the risk to other entities. As the loans started to go bad it was the owners of the securitized loans that were left holding the empty sack ... not the ones who originated the loans. So now nobody trusts a Securitized Investment. No one wants to take on problem loans that another institution originated.

According to the Wall Street Journal ... In just the last year total assets in US Banks have risen by $1.2 Trillion ... mostly because of the Securitization Slow-Down. Lenders are not able to securitize ... so the loans stay on the books.

Why is this Important? Well ... when a lender writes a loan they intend to keep, they go about the process differently than if they intend to Securitize it. They are more careful at every stage of the loan process. This new caution has a negative affect on your Return on Investment.

The Lenders are doing two basic things differently now

1) Lower LTV's - Average LTV's have fallen from the 80% of the last several years to the current 75% or less. So, buyers have to put more cash into the deal.

2) More Conservative Underwriting - The Lenders are moving expense estimates up and income estimates down across the board. This "new math" lowers the Net Operating Income (NOI) projections from your property ... Which lowers the Debt Coverage Ratio ... Which lowers the amount they will lend to the buyer. So, buyers have to put more cash into the deal.

More Cash Please ... The Double Whammy of lower LTV and lower NOI from more conservative underwriting ... means it will take a significantly larger pile of cash to buy the same building now than it did just a few short months ago.

Less Leverage = Lower Returns - With more cash into the deal ... any Buyer's Return on Investment is lowered.

This naturally lowers the price any Buyer is willing to pay. Sellers who have been used to top dollar for their properties are holding off on their sale because top dollar is significantly lower in this market than before the Credit Crunch.

The New Old - This new, more conservative environment isn't "New" at all. It's actually a return to what is historically normal. Just like the way Price/Earnings Ratios returned to more normal following the DotCom bust. What has been distinctly abnormal is the superleveraged environment of the last several years. Lenders writing loans willy nilly knowing that they would have them Securitized and sold to someone else in a matter of weeks.

So this is not a new phase. It is more like the fashion world ... what was old is now new again. The bell bottom jeans of my high school days are back in style.

Look for properties to begin coming back on the market and seller flexibility to return in the next several months as we all get used to this New-Old state of affairs. Sooner or later everyone - even the Sellers - will realize the days of easy credit and fat underwriting are over and prices will find a new level that makes sense in today's environment.

Won't be long before the market starts to breathe again.

Why Don't More Kids Play Badminton?

I suppose it shows my age when I say things like that. I recall having several badminton sets as a kid. They were lots of fun then and I'll bet if more kids were exposed to them - they'd find it true today as well. I suppose it's not unlike so many other sports niches - a small but rabid following whose expertise scares away crowds of novice players. Have you ever seen a 'professional' badminton match?

When I first began researching for the badminton page on Backyard Steward site I was mesmerized by the incredible depth of product variability - the technology and materials used in the racquets are very modern and highly sophisticated. We've come to the point now that we're looking for ways to reduce wind drag on badminton racquets. Some are reminiscent of fine Chevy engines - completely blueprinted and balanced. Can you believe that?

All that high tech stuff aside for a moment - badminton is an excellent backyard game you should consider for your kids - if you haven't already. It's a low impact and deliberately easy game to play for beginners. The slowed movement inherent of the shuttlecock (we called it the birdie when I was a kid) makes it a game that old and young can play together easily. Very few people can't pick up a badminton racquet and whack the shuttlecock across the net a time or two. One might even consider it a primer for a much more demanding sport such as tennis. Tennis, while generally similar, is much harder on just about all your body parts by comparison. Knees, wrists, and ankles are much better off for badminton players - trust me on that.

Another great characteristic of badminton is the ease and speed in which you can set up the net. Most backyard sets have aluminum poles that can easily be planted with little effort. For kids this is good for another reason - changing the height of the net. Once kids start batting the shuttlecock around a bit they typically forget about keeping score - because they're having too much fun. Does outdoor exercise get any better than that? You don't have to strictly adhere to the court dimensions either - which makes it fit in any size backyard.

Personally I think badminton is a developmental thing that all kids ought to be exposed to at least once in their lives. Coordination, timing, and balance are all synergized and in the guise of good natured entertainment. For the older kids you'd probably want to chalk the yard for all those 'line' shots - just to prepare them for their tennis-like McEnroe impersonations.

All kidding aside, badminton with or without strict interpretation of badminton rules is one of those classic family fun games yours is virtually guaranteed to enjoy.

Gardening--Fun and Frugal!

Whether you are an avid vegetable gardener, a beginning herb gardener or just like to have a pretty yard, these frugal tips may help you save a little money!

1. Stale coffee and coffee grounds make great organic fertilizer. They provide many trace minerals and low, gentle levels of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous.

2. Remember that a good soaking of water less often is better than a light sprinkling every day -- for veggies and for your lawn.

3. If your neighbor has a plant you particularly like, ask for a cutting, instead of going to the nursery and buying one. Maybe you could trade a cutting from one of your own plants.

4. To easily water a tomato plant, bury a bottomless coffee can next to the plant and pour the water into the can. This allows the water to go straight to the roots.

5. Plant marigolds in your vegetable garden. They will attract insects that eat aphids and other pests.

6. My husband bought some used carpet at a garage sale, cut it into wide strips and laid it down between the rows in our garden. Now we can pick peas with getting our shoes muddy.

7. Use grass clippings as mulch around your vegetable plants to keep moisture in and weeds out. Just don't use the clippings right after you have fertilized your grass or treated for weed control.

8. If you have access to them, pine needles make excellent mulch.

9. A natural, frugal garden pest spray: mix 1 tablespoon of liquid dishwashing soap and 1 cup of cooking oil. Use 3 tablespoons of this mixture to 1 quart of water and spray on plants.

10. In the herb garden, to keep plants like mint from taking over too big an area, put it in a clay pot and simply plant the whole pot!

"He who plants a garden, plants happiness."

How Can I Be of Help to My Stuttering Child?

If you were unable to arrest your child's stuttering during his tender age, there is still the possibility that you can make it go, so don't regret or panic. You only need to accept the situation and then go for some possible speech exercises or techniques to help him live the normal life you wish for him. I have listed some things you can do to help him, read them carefully and put them to work.

First and foremost, show some love by welcoming the child into the family. Kids are very smart and articulate; most times they test you to find out if you are really who you say you are; they will want to find out if you truly accept them for who they are, so make this a priority because they are watching you.

Secondly, speak him into confidence. Instead of wasting your time regretting or feeling sorry for him invest that time into making him understand that he is unique. Speak confidence into him so that he can use it to fight any emergent challenge or low self-esteem.

Give him some primary keywords to pronounce. Increase his chances of speaking by giving him some primary keywords to pronounce. You can write down words that start with the alphabets; "p, f, s." I mentioned these alphabets because I used to have problem pronouncing words that start with them.

Be patient to hear him speak. You can help your child regain the love and mindset he requires to fight stuttering by being patient with him when he speaks. Do not rush him into speaking fast or trying to cut his speech; if you do, you will only add to his problem by increasing his chances of stuttering and this will lead to self-torture.

Make him believe in you. It's a different thing to show love and also a different thing to make someone believe in you. You can make your child believe in you by going the extra mile of buying books and other materials relating to how stuttering can be controlled. Your child will rapidly position his mind to respond to training when he sees such devotion towards him.

Lastly, watch with him the videos of some famous actors and actresses who were once stutterers. While watching with him, tell him that the people he is watching were exactly the way he is before they broke the bond. This will help to push him into believing that his speech problem will one day be gone.