Five Tips For Choosing the Best Christening Presents

Invited to a christening? If you’re determined to give the most meaningful christening presents, there are some important things you need to know before you begin. Just follow these five tips for giving christening presents.

1. A important factor when you start to shop for christening presents is making sure that you put some thought into it. The reason why this is important is because many people just buy some sort of silver item and think it’s ok. If you don’t put some thought into it, then you run the risk of giving yet another silver rattle or comb, and they will not get much use because everyone gave it!

2. Another important consideration for finding unique christening presents is to think about your relationship to the family and child. It’s critical that you don’t just give a Holy Bible because this is a common gift, and only the godparents should do that. If you make sure that you don’t give a gift the child can’t use, then you’ll be fine.

3. You don’t have to spend lots of money in order to give good christening presents. Even what you spend at a restaurant would make a fine gift. All you need to do is shop around, and make sure that you give something useful.

4. Instead of complicating yourself by looking for a perfectly fitting piece of clothing or hat, try it this way: give something the child cannot outgrow! In fact, if you give something that will be more useful down the road – maybe like a pocketknife – then you will find that your gift keeps on giving!

5. Have you considered giving an investment? It’s not as difficult or expensive as you might think. Anything will help. What you need to do is talk to a financial advisor, and within an hour you can have one of the most useful christening presents for boys or girls setup.

So if you really want to give good christening presents, follow these tips to ensure success.

Freelancers and Entrepreneurs — Let’s Examine Our Present and Recently Past Influences

What are the influences that are either helping or hindering you in your business and personal life? By making ourselves aware of them, we are more likely to work toward positive changes. In this article, my goal is to get you to examine your present and recently past influences.

The people we know, work and play with. Yes, we are heavily influenced by the people we let into our lives. If we hang out with negative, critical, complaining people, we can easily lose our enthusiasm and drive. If we join groups and make friends with those we want to emulate, we will be on our way. It is just like tennis and chess. The way one gets better is to play with someone who is better than we are. I am not suggesting that you drop the friends you have now, but I am suggesting that you join groups of winners, network with people who are known as successes and volunteer for worthy causes.

Life-long learning with books, tapes and magazines. It is astonishing to find out how few people read a book after graduation. I am sure that none of you reading this article would fall into that category. However, I must mention the wonderful scope of topics available today in book form, the plethora of tapes that inform and motivate — I listen and re-listen to tapes by Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn, Earl Nightingale and am always influenced to take a new action step toward success.

Visit your public library. It offers a wealth of influence — I always use my driving time to listen to tapes and CDs. In addition, there are almost too many magazines to read. I have found that the best way to benefit from the great information is to scan and then only read those articles that pertain to some part of my business or life. No matter what your specialty is, there are magazines that address your problems and situations.

Physical activity and a focus on health. One of the strongest influences on my well-being, business acumen, and energy level is daily exercise and sensible nutrition. Studies have shown that there are so many side benefits from regular exercise and proper eating that one could easily fill a wall with post-it notes listing them.

By pushing oxygen to the heart and brain, we keep both healthy and smart. If you are having a difficult time getting started, I suggest finding a buddy to go to the gym with you or work out with you. In the fitness classes I teach, the people who participate have become friends and they cheer each other on — another positive influence.

I ask you again, what are the influences in your freelance living? Are they helping or hindering your progress? What new and better influences can you and will you embrace in the future? What bad influences and toxic companions are presently draining you of your energy and passion for living?

It is time to make two lists — one with the bad influences (past and present) and one with the good influences. Congratulate yourself on the good influences and continue to pursue them. On the list with the bad influences, add an action step and a new influence to replace each one. Take action and you will be on your way to success!

Negotiating the Best Price on a Home

Nobody wants to pay too much for something, especially something as expensive as a home. No doubt you have friends or relatives who always seem to get great deals. What you should recognize is that there are proven tactics to negotiations, ones you can learn that will help you get a good deal on a home.

Have you ever heard the old saying, “don’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach”? Very simply, it means that you shouldn’t put yourself in a situation where you’re apt to buy without thinking. This is very important if you want to negotiate a good price on a home.

The best time to buy a home is when you don’t absolutely need to. You won’t be feeling pressured to get a house before you have to move out of your existing home. When you’re not feeling pressured, you’ll be able to clearly spot a deal, and you’ll feel more comfortable walking away from negotiations that aren’t going the way you want them to.

Of course, in order to spot a deal you have to know what the going prices are. If you’re looking to get the best price on a house, spend some time researching homes that have sold in the areas you’re looking at. Pay particular attention to the homes that most closely resemble what you’re looking for.

Obviously, the best time to buy is in a down market such as we’ve seen in 2007 through 2009 (and maybe beyond). There are many times, though, when certain areas of the country are experiencing depressed prices. These times are to your advantage as a buyer.

When you’ve found a home you’re interested in, and you know its approximate value compared to other homes that have sold, you need to size up the seller. Is he wiling to negotiate? If not, it may be due to a few reasons: he isn’t strongly motivated to sell; he’s reduced his price as much as possible already; or he’s just being stubborn. If you don’t think the home is priced fairly, and the seller won’t budge, walk away. Chances are you’ll still see it on the market months later, and the seller will probably be more inclined to haggle on price.

Negotiating the best price on a home shouldn’t be a negative experience. In fact, the more pleasant the transaction, the more likely you are to get the best deal. The art of negotiating involves making the seller feel as though he’s winning, even if he isn’t.

Perhaps you’ve experienced this when buying a car. The sales person is ultra-friendly, comes across as being on your side, and wants to be as helpful as possible. When you make an offer on the car, though, the sales person has to “run it by the sales manager.” All the sales person is doing is letting the sales manager be the bad guy, and letting him say “no” to your offer.

You can do the same thing when negotiating a home price. Do your best to get concessions from the seller, then say that you need to run it by “the boss.” The boss could be your spouse, your father, your realtor, or just some imaginary person you created on the spot. The point is that you want to let someone else say no to the seller’s offer, while you remain his friend. If the seller has already made some concessions to you, there’s a good chance he’ll make more to satisfy “the boss.”

If the seller agrees early on to a price you think is good, don’t accept it right away unless you absolutely have to. Remember, you want to make the seller think he’s winning the negotiation. By accepting right away, you’ll make him wonder if he’s made a mistake. If you come back with a counter offer, he’ll likely think that he’s still winning, and may be open to reducing the price further.

Your demeanor is an important factor in negotiations. Most people talk too much after the other party presents an offer. It’s much better to say something along the lines of, “you’ll have to do better than that,” then wait to see what the seller has to say.

Contrary to what many people think, your demeanor shouldn’t be cool and collected when the seller present his offer. A look of shock or surprise on your part can throw the seller off balance and make him think he’s made a big mistake. If he really wants to sell, your reaction may get him to reduce the price further.

In almost every transaction, one party says, “why don’t we split the difference.” Don’t let that party be you. If you let the seller offer to split the difference, you’re again making him feel like he’s winning. If the negotiating continues, you’re still the one in control.

It always helps in negotiations to have something in your back pocket you’re willing to give up, even before the negotiations begin. It can be almost anything, as long as it makes the seller feel as though he’s winning.

One thing you must absolutely have in your back pocket is a clean offer. You wont’ be in any position to negotiate if you have to wait for the mortgage lender to approve you for a loan, or if the purchase is contingent upon the sale of your existing home. If you want to be able to negotiate, get pre-approved for the amount you want to borrow, and either sell your existing home or get approved for a bridge loan so you can carry your existing mortgage until the house sells.

You’re not going to be able to wheel and deal on every home you come across. Some homes attract buyers like bees to butter. Other homes will be so attractively priced that trying to negotiate would be pointless. If you come across one of these, and you want the home, buy it without reservation.

If the process of haggling on home prices isn’t something you enjoy, consider having someone else do it for you. Many people use realtors as buyers agents to good effect. The realtor will know the market, and should have the negotiating skills to get you a good price.