If you are a homeowner, then it’s likely you’ve felt the crunch. The ugly mortgage payments. The fact that your neighbor short sells his house for a fraction of its former worth. Or that the other neighbor up and leaves…giving you a lovely foreclosure in your neighborhood along with a likely case of blight due to a trashed house and yard.

Good times.

But wait. There’s this program. Have you heard of it? It’s called “Making Home Affordable.” (We’ll forgive the improper grammatical phrasing and basically awkward sounding name). You can go online and answer a few questions and see if you qualify for a possible loan modification, refinancing or other foreclosure preventative measures. Exciting, right?

But the reality is something that is not exciting.

If you truly cannot make your house payments, then you gotta do what you gotta do. Period. You need to pull out all the stops to see what you can work out with the bank to either keep your house…or perhaps decide to walk away. Over the past year, I’ve known several people to file bankruptcy, short sell their homes or look towards a deed in lieu of foreclosure as their only option to be able to make it day to day. These are not people who overextended themselves. They experienced divorce, job loss, decrease in wages and were hit by increasing interest rates.

But there are also a lot of people who feel the crunch and yet they can squeak by. And I should probably capitalize the SQUEAKING. So what about these people? What about the people who can make the payment but it’s TOUGH? What about the people who want to adjust their payments but can’t?

Well…according to the Making Home Affordable program, they still may be able to take advantage of it. However, it is not without its issues.

Imagine you submit your paperwork. Your bank finally gets back to you and you are told to start your decreased mortgage payment for a trial period. Sounds scary, but if you make the full payment (rather than the decreased trial period payment) you negate the whole modification process.

So you make your decreased payment. And your credit takes a hit. You tell yourself you don’t really need to have that credit score in the 700s…because you have no intention of buying anything in the near future anyway.

Except there ARE repercussions. Your current creditors can (and probably will) lower your available credit due to your new lowered score. They will also most likely raise your APR to extraordinary heights since you are now considered a risk. Lovely.

And then, months after making said trial payments, you are denied the final loan modification by your bank. You just don’t qualify. And now you get a letter saying you are in arrears (that difference in the reduced payment compared to your original mortgage payment over the duration of the trial period) and you need to cough up the money (typically in the $$ thousands) within a week or the bank will begin the foreclosure process.

Again, good times.

There are people out there who are losing their homes when they are trying to do the right thing. It’s BS and it’s infuriating.

I would love to do a modification. But we won’t chance it. And we can’t refinance…thanks to recent short sales and foreclosures in the area, our home is worth 1/2 of what we paid for it.It would never appraise at what we still owe.

This real estate crunch is a joke. It’s all a bunch of numbers on a computer screen for the banks. Here’s a simple idea that will never be implemented: How about EVERY home is re-valued at CURRENT MARKET VALUE? Everyone gets the mortgage re-worked to what the home is currently worth in today’s market. How many foreclosures would be stopped at that point. How many families would be able to afford to stay in their homes?

(Yes, yes. I understand that I misspelled “dollar,” people. It was intentional. I’m feeling a little sassy and my title has a bit of sassified accent to it today.)

I recently mentioned that I was resolved to learning the whole couponing craze. To grasp the deeper meaning of combining discounts and coupons in order to achieve savings nirvana.

People, I am on my way.

Baby steps. Of course. But we’re moving in the right direction.

I won’t bore you with snapshots of my receipts. (Okay, when I hit the motherlode and walk out of a store with $200 worth of groceries and only spend $20 or less, then YES, you shall see a snapshot of said receipt). But for now I’ll give you a quickie run-down of today’s success.

CVS: purchased 3 things; original price total = $22.57. After combined store discounts and coupons the total was $11.58 PLUS I received $5 worth of CVS Extra Care bucks (think store credit to use on my next CVS shopping trip). CVS SAVINGS: $10.99 (and that’s not counting that nifty store credit to use next time ’round)

SAFEWAY: Purchased 14 items; original price total = $25.40. With club card savings and coupons, the total was $15.56. SAFEWAY SAVINGS: $9.84

TARGET: purchased 4 items; original price total = $7.16. This is where I celebrated my happiest of moments…one item was a can of Chef Boyardee Ravioli (I shudder to think of it, but the hubby will eat it, I guarantee you) I bought for 4 cents. The others – 2 packages of Bic ball point pens…I got for FREE and actually got 2 cents back!! They were on sale for 99 cents a piece. I had a Target coupon of “buy two, get $1 off” and a manufacturer coupon stating the same. Sweet! My total was actually $2.16 for these 4 items. TARGET SAVINGS: $5.00

So…I know seasoned couponers will laugh or get a bit of a chuckle out of my meager savings. But I’m excited! I’m starting to “get it.” Now if I can just get my well-meaning husband to not shop…especially when he doesn’t have a list and coupons in fist.

Baby steps, people…

Years ago, if you had told me that the bulk of my writing would consist of informational products, I would have asked you, “What the heck are informational products?”

But now, they are EVERYWHERE online. There are people who make a living just selling e-reports and ebooks on the internet. And some of them (the products, not the people…maybe the people do, but I don’t know them so I will withhold judgement) seriously suck. Seriously.

Have you read any that suck? Or that promise the moon and then you read through and say “I paid $$ for that??”

Let’s face it, there are people out there looking for the fast and easy buck (or three). And I don’t have a beef with that. If people want to whip together an ebook and then make a kazillion bucks, go for it! That’s what capitalism is all about, baby!

However, I myself do not write the quick and dirty junk. For myself or anyone else. Most of my clients actually use their informational products as marketing products…and if the marketing product stinks, then it hurts my client in the long run. Heck, some of my clients actually end up getting their books published…so quality is muy importante!

The point I’m making? If you want to make some quick money online, then go ahead and crank out an ebook of questionable quality. I’m not kidding. You don’t need a masterpiece to make a few bucks!

But if informational products are a stepping stone to other products (dvds, workbooks, cds, seminar gigs, etc.) or if they are used to establish yourself as an authority in your industry, then you need quality. Not a piece of junk cranked out with horrible grammar and poor flow.

So…where can you find writers of both the cranked-out stuff and the quality writing? They are all over the internet!!

Of course, if you want to skip the internet search, you can just contact me (words at tinamcallister dot com). I write quality. And I can even crank something out for you fairly fast. But it won’t be cheap. ($20 per page typically….but for you, since you’re reading this post and I like you, I’ll whip something up for $15 per page…and that’s good ’til October 11th!!)

But other sites you can look (especially if you want/need someone cheaper):

Guru

Elance

iFreelance

RentACoder

Odesk

Have you ever exchanged your services for other services (or goods, perhaps) rather than money? Obviously both parties involved in the barter need to feel that they are receiving something worth as much (if not more) than what they are giving. But it can be a cool way of getting something (anything from a logo designed for your business to a used motorcycle).

Heck, more and more people are turning to bartering due to the economy. There was an article on CNN just a few days back on the issue.

I’ve bartered. Recently, I got some preschool activity classes for my son in exchange for writing some web copy. It was a win-win. It was an easy job. And my client has a limited budget. But she holds classes that are aimed at kids my son’s age. Add to the fact that she holds the classes in her home…right around the corner from me and I didn’t have to think much about it.

Was it something I NEEDED? No. But it was something I probably wouldn’t have spent money on right now. So the time spent on punching up my client’s web copy was well worth it in my opinion.

The whole bartering thing can be simple (which is the way I like to keep it). Or it can be a little more convoluted. I’m talking subscription sites, bartering matchmakers and bartering “bucks.” Perhaps that works for some folks, but I’ll pass.

For some bartering guidelines, check out this blog post. It’s clear, it’s simple…just the way I like.

Here are some of the more “simple” sites to check out:

Craigslist (if location matters, then you might stick to the Craigslist classifieds in your area, but if not, then check out all the barter sections and see if something catches you eye…or post your own need)

People Trading Services

Barter It Online

Barter Bart 

SkillsBarter (in beta)

What about you? Any cool bartering stories to share? Or any other “simple” sites you’ve come across?

You see them out there. People with these brilliant ideas. Brilliant ideas that will make brilliant, best-selling books.

Except they can’t write worth a damn.

So they want to work with a ghostwriter. They want a pro to write it up all pretty and then hand it over.

And they don’t have any money to cough up to pay the ghostwriter.

So they offer up a piece of the profit pie as pay.

If you see something like this – run far, far away. Run ghostwriter, run!!

There are times when it can work out. And work out well. But more times it works out bad, very bad. And that means you just cranked out a book for free.

Just some of the things that can go wrong:

1) Client decides not to publish after all because (insert reason here ______________)

2) Client can’t get a publisher to publish book

3) Client not willing (or able) to get the book self-published

4) Client gets book self-published but doesn’t sell squatola

5) Client completely jerks you around on your original agreement

Oh, there are more things then the five listed above. But that’s just a taste.

I know I sound like an anti-drug ad…but seriously…just don’t do it.

Well, I was hoping to go to Vegas next month. But it’s not happening. Between the puppy and the kid and scheduling conflicts…I’d be looking at popping into the BlogWorld Expo for a day. Literally flying up there Saturday morning and coming home Saturday night. And really, there are workshops that I really want to attend. But they are spread out over Friday (for the real estate track), Saturday and Sunday (the monetization track).

Bummer.

I’m hoping the attendees come home and start cranking out related posts so those of us who can’t attend can still get a taste of what happened there. (hint, hint)

As for my marketing posts…they will be returning. I’ve been so focused on another project that my marketing campaign has been pushed aside for the moment. And I don’t want to throw out some sucky posts on marketing just because I said I was going to do a whole bunch of posts on marketing. You don’t want to read crap and I don’t want to produce it. So we’re in agreement…the marketing posts will wait for brilliance (and for Tina’s other project to get farther along)…

Turns out my post on working for free was oh-so-timely. I got a call last night from a friend. An author and speaker. And he was pissed.

He had been asked to speak at a luncheon. For free. He explained that he doesn’t speak for free unless he can have a table and sell his book, dvd and workbooks. Here’s a fictionalized version of the phone conversation from two months ago:

“Well, we don’t do that.” (Meaning, they don’t let people sell their product at speaking events.)

“I’m an author and that’s how I make a living. I don’t speak for free unless it’s to children. So if you would like me to speak, you can either pay my fee or allow me to sell my products.”

“Well, we don’t do that.”

“Look, how about I just set up a table with my book? Not any other products. Just my book. Because I am not speaking for free.”

“I can bring it to the Board and have them vote on it.”

“Sounds good.”

Again, that was two months ago. Fast forward to last night at 5:45PM. The luncheon is this morning. So we’re talking less than 24 hours notice. My friend gets a call and is told that the Board voted ONE WEEK AGO. And they voted not to let my friend sell his books.

Hmm…and they couldn’t tell him this a week ago, after they voted, allowing him time to gracefully bow out of the speaking gig? Nice. Real nice.

But to add insult to injury, he was informed that the speaking gig had actually evolved into a panel discussion. So now he would be sitting alongside others, vying for attention and making zero dollars for his time.

He’s not a newbie trying to make contacts. He’s not desperate for speaking or teaching gigs – in fact, he turned a paying gig down in order to attend this luncheon.

So now he’s placed in the position of being on a discussion panel, not making any money and basically wasting about 4 hours of his life.

He was pissed and I’m pissed for him.

If you are ever in the position of hiring a speaker and you don’t want to pay, or can’t pay – fine. But you have to make it worth the speaker’s time. You don’t tell them to hand out business cards and call it day.

That’s just bad business.

Yesterday’s post sucked. At least I think it did. I felt pressured by my self-imposed “post a day” edict. And the day got away from me. So last night, when I really, really, really just wanted to go to sleep, I was cranking out a post. Stupid. I know.

So if you think yesterday’s post sucked, you’re right and I apologize.

I spent the better part of my day working for free. Sick, huh?

A client of mine was rushing to get her book to print. So she’s whipping off back cover text to me and asking me to take a look. She’s asking me to look over the book. She’s asking me to send it off to the book producer. And all this is going on under a ULTRA TIGHT deadline. Not my deadline. Hers.

My job was done last month. In fact, I performed above and beyond the initial project agreement and she ended up with a smokin’ deal in terms of what she paid and the amount of work I cranked out.

But my client keeps sucking me in. CCing me on emails. Asking me questions. I don’t know how long I’ve spent answering questions. Or scrambling to find her another book producer so she can get her books in print within a month’s time. Or reformatting her book. I don’t want to know. Because if I think of the time I’ve spent, then I’ll think of the hours I should have billed. And that will lead to thinking about the money I should be getting paid.

Bad business, this working for free crap? Well, certainly not the smartest thing to do!

But some professionals do it, regardless. REALTORS work from free. They work and work hoping they’ll get a transaction and then that the transaction will close. Since I used to work in real estate, that whole “work in the hopes of making a deal and then closing is successfully” is nothing new to me.

But I am no longer in real estate. Not as an agent, anyway. I just write about real estate. So, as a writer, perhaps working for free is stupid.

Why did I do it? I like my client. She’s a real go-getter. And I believe in her project. And I didn’t want to leave her in the lurch when time was of the essence.

I only hope that working for free will result in more paid work – with that client or referrals through her. Because I really, really, really don’t plan on doing anymore free work. Seriously.

Once you know what you’re selling, it’s time to think about marketing your product or service. Marketing’s a no-brainer, right?

You gotta spread the word and get people to start buying your product. Simple enough.

But do you know how to get from Point A to Point B and maybe even to Point C?

First and foremost, determine WHY you are launching a marketing campaign.

(Get past the money issue…of course you want to make money…)

In order for you to launch an effective campaign, you want to know the reason behind it:

1) New product/service?

2) New target market?

3) New strategy?

Okay, there are more reasons…but these are the basics.

When you know your specific reason for launching a marketing campaign you are laying the groundwork for developing that campaign and making it as effective as possible. Not every campaign has to include you reinventing the wheel. You can re-use customer lists. You can re-package and re-market “old” products. But you need to have a reason why you are doing it in order to draw the line from point A to point B. (and sometimes to Point C…if there is a Point C).

In fact, because I have a hard time keeping things easy, my own impending marketing campaign will be a hybrid…but well developed based on my reasons for launching this marketing campaign. More about that in a later post.

For some people, mention taxes and you will get the steely gaze of doom or the gagging noise of an old lady choking on her ill-fitting dentures.

I’m not one of those people.

I believe taxes have a purpose.

Would I like to pay so much? Heck no! But I do believe in paying my fair share.

And now, since I moved from PT freelancing into FT biz mode with Beyond The Pen, I’ve gotten pretty anal about setting aside the moola for Uncle Sam. Thankfully, I had experience with this when I was actively selling real estate.

Taxes were never taken out of the commission checks. And there are plenty of horror stories of stupid agents who spend, spend, spend and then are crapping their pants come tax time. Thankfully, since I always put aside 25-30% of each commission check immediately, I was not one of those agents.

So with my writing biz, as painful as it feels at times, as I get paid by clients, I cut a chunk off and put it right into my savings account. Earmarked for Uncle Sam. Hopefully he won’t take it all…

So what the heck is all of this rambling about?

Taxes and talking about taxes…typically not a fun topic. But I stumbled across a blog the other day that is a daily Q & A. You gotta check out The Tax Girl – it’s an interesting read. Really! Maybe you’ve got a question you want to send her.