Virtual real estate investing probably makes you think of a number of things. You may think of real estate investing as real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans and hard money lenders, or you might focus on short sales, bulk reo investing and virtual real estate investing. You may also wonder what type of role these things can play in your life as a real estate investor in different types of economy.

There is a great deal to know about real estate investing. The best way to get the most out of your real estate investing education is to be familiar with some basic information ahead of time. Whether you are interested in short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate or just improving your abilities as a real estate investor, you need to know some real estate investing basics in order to succeed. You should review these three real estate investing basics to learn things even some experts do not know:

1. You always will get a positive result from investing in real estate investing education. Each real estate deal can represent thousands of dollars in potential wealth. Knowing about getting that wealth is the key in the end to your success. When you know about real estate your odds of success increase with each real estate deal. Small investments in education yield big results upon implementation.

2. Any economy allows for success in real estate investing. Often people think that you can only be a success in real estate when the economy is good. In reality, a bad economic situation is not bad for real estate investors. You frequently can get properties at deep discounts. Additionally, you may find deals that would not exist in a booming economy. Poor economies can have the tide turned based on real estate investing. Short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate all thrive when the economy is less than thriving. You can save yourself and others from major financial woes if you know how to do these deals.

3. You do not need to have a great deal of money if you want to be a successful real estate investor. You can succeed in real estate investing no matter how much money you have. There are lots of deals that you can use other people’s money to do. Private lenders will lend you their money if they think you are a good investment. The best way to be a good investment is to know as much as possible about real estate investing. This will help you show people that you are a good investment if they have the money to help you with real estate investing but they do not know how to use it.

Real estate investing is a great way to create a good amount of wealth. You can create a good income no matter what the state of the economy. You can create your own success using your knowledge of short sales, real estate investing, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate. Knowing the basics of real estate investing will help you succeed as a real estate investor. Knowing some real estate investing basics (beyond what older gurus like Robert Allen teach) and applying them will help you succeed as a real estate investor.

Great real estate investing resources are available at RealEstate.BryanEllis.com.

The difficulties that big businesses have experienced over the past several months are opening doors for small business owners to achieve renewed success.  It’s important for the entrepreneur to be primed for success, and a good control of business expenses, both fixed expenses and variable expenses, is a great place to start. 

One expense that has increased for many small businesses is debt service, as the bank panic of 2009 caused many revolving debt facilities to be amortized.  And it is only possible to cut some expenses, like marketing and staffing so far without seeing a negative impact on sales.  With these things in mind, it is critical for the small business owner to always be on the lookout for creative ways to control other expenses. 

Pool Resources Where You Can

Many business owners are working with non-competitive business associates in a collaborative method in order to cut expenses.  For instance, two or three business owners may agree to share office space and other overhead such as equipment rather than each be responsible for the entire expense. 

Others have created co-op marketing campaigns and shared the expense. 

Strategically combining resources is a great way to immediately improve what could otherwise be costly fixed expenses, an almost instant improvement to the small business owner’s bottom line.  And who knows, this collaborative strategy may result in added referrals you might not have received otherwise. 

Replace Expensive Staff Overhead Where You Can

A number of small business owners have decided to forgo costly employee overhead and are instead using non-traditional staffing techniques to meet their needs.  Is it possible to outsource, or to use contract or part time labor so that you are only paying for work that actually needs to be done?  By shifting these costs from a fixed to a variable expense, you can often reduce your overhead substantially, a direct impact on your bottom line. 

Many small business owners feel that sales employees are a necessary fixed expense, but there are even some solutions for keeping this expense in check.  What do you think about using your customers and business connections as your sales staff by offering finder’s fees that will be paid at any time a lead becomes a sale?  This technique allows you to only pay out when you actually get a sale.  Cool! 

Rebid Necessary Expenses

Reality is that there will always be expenses you just can’t avoid, such as telephone, insurance, and bankcard processing.  But, as the economy becomes more competitive, so do many of these businesses, and it is important to be always on the lookout for the best deal.  Get new bids on these expenses frequently and your total expenses will decrease.  Even previously challenging expense categories, such as contract labor can now be renegotiated, because layoffs and dull economic conditions are creating a pool of more capable resources to choose from. 

This year can provide amazing advantages for the small business owner who is more flexible and can make changes quickly.  Studying your expenses and adjusting where it is possible is a terrific way to further improve that success. 

To get more small business success strategies, and to claim your free white paper:  “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year”   visit www.WebAccountingOnline.com.

So, you’re looking for an electric bike but you’re not quite sure where to start or what questions you should be asking. Worry not! Our electric bike selector will walk you through all of the main problems you should be taking into consideration in the process of determining what bicycle best meets your needs.

Once you answer all of the questions and click the button to submit them, someone on our staff will personally review your responses and then email you with a small selection of bikes to choose from, with their recommendations and an explanation on why they made them. Please make sure your email address is correct then we will reply you in a working day.

Rider’s Height:

 Great things come in small packages, I am 5′4 or a bit less.

 I’m somewhere between 5′4 and 5′8. I understand that not every frame size will fit me and that certain models are more ideal for me than others. (If you want the bike to be versatile so you can share it with your family, choose this option. Smaller frame bikes can always be adjusted to fit taller riders comfortably, but a larger frame folding electric bike can only be adjusted so much for shorter riders.)

 I’m between 5′8 and 6′ 2. I understand that this means I will be comfortable on most of your bicycles with the correct adjustments made.

I’m not shorter than 6′2.

Rider’s Weight:

 I weigh under 160 lbs. I understand that any electric bicycle will support my weight.

 I weigh between 160 lbs. and 200 lbs. I understand that this means almost all of the models will still work for me, but models with more powerful motors and pedal assistance might suit me best depending on what my uses for the bicycle are.

Between 20 lbs, I weigh. and 250 lbs. I wish a little less range every charge. I understand that this means I will be limited in some of my options, and I would be best suited with a more powerful motor and a pedal assisted system.

It is likely that you think of a number of things when you hear the words real estate investing. You likely leap to real estate investing as real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans, and then you may expand to thinking of short sales, bulk reo investing or virtual real estate investing. You may also wonder what type of role these things can play in your life as a real estate investor in different types of economy.

There is a lot of information out there on real estate investing. The best way to optimize your real estate investing education is to know the basics ahead of time. You will get the most out of anything to do with short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate and just improving real estate investor abilities by knowing some real estate investing basics. You should review these three real estate investing basics to learn things even some experts do not know:

1. Real estate investing education is a true investment that always has a positive yield. Each real estate deal can represent thousands of dollars in potential wealth. The knowledge of how to get that wealth is the key to your success. Knowing more about real estate betters your odds of success when you do a real estate deal. A small investment in your education can yield big results when you implement your learning.

2. You can succeed in real estate investing in any economy. Many people think that you can only succeed in real estate when the economy is booming. In reality, a bad economic situation is not bad for real estate investors. You can often buy properties at deep discounts. You might also find deals that simply would not exist in a booming economy. Poor economies can have the tide turned based on real estate investing. When the economy is not thriving, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate can all thrive. You can save yourself from financial difficulty along with others by knowing how to do these deals.

3. A lot of money is not vital to your success as a real estate investor. You can succeed in the real estate investing arena no matter how much money you are working with. Many types of deals enable you to use other people’s money to do them. If you are a good investment private lenders may let you use their money. A person who is a solid investment knows as much as possible about real estate investing. This will help you show people that you are a good investment if they have the money to help you with real estate investing but they do not know how to use it.

A good deal of wealth can be generated with real estate investing. You can create a good income no matter what the state of the economy. Using knowledge of real estate investing, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate you will be able to create success for yourself. Knowing real estate investing basics will help you succeed as a real estate investor.

Are you reading your balance sheet every month? My clients tell me that it is a bit intimidating to them. They just never familiarized themselves with it enough to make it one of their regular tools. By walking them through a sample balance sheet I bring it much closer to them, believing that if they become familiar with it, they will make better business decisions because they will have one more tool.

You can use a balance sheet template to play with the numbers and practice your skill.

Preparing Accurate Financial Statements

To begin, we need accurate financial statements. It’s not always as simple or as obvious as it may seem. Many small business owners, when we first meet, tell me that their balance sheet is obviously wrong.

They had a family member do their books and that person had just the basic knowledge of QuickBooks and knew the AR and AP functions.

Preparation of accurate financial statements for a business requires a bit more specialized accounting knowledge. So, let’s get the financials first.

Reading a Balance Sheet

Now we can start reading our balance sheet by understanding its main categories – assets, liabilities and equity. These three categories are rather self-explanatory. Assets are simply what your business owns, liabilities are what your business owes and the equity is the residual value. Your balance sheet needs to always balance and the equation is: Equity = Assets minus Liabilities. Assets and Liabilities are further divided into short-term and long-term.

Everything with a due date within 12 months is categorized as short-term. Current (short-term) assets are for example: cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable and inventory. Long-term assets can be items such as: property, plant & equipment (land, buildings, equipment and vehicles) and intangible assets (ex. goodwill and trademarks).

Typical current liabilities are: accounts payable, current portion of long-term debt, unearned revenues, taxes payable and accrued wages. Some typical long-term liabilities: long-term notes payable and bonds payable.

The equity section usually involves the following: common stock, retained earnings and net income. The lines of the equity section will be different for different legal entities.

Balance Sheet Analysis

The best way to read and analyze a balance sheet is using ratios, because absolute numbers don’t tell the whole story and do not capture the important relationships between the many components of the balance sheet. Ratios help you stay on track and warn you when you start veering off course.

Balance Sheet Ratios

The most common balance sheet ratios are:

Current ratio = Current Assets / Current Liabilities

Quick Ratio = Current Assets less Inventory / Current Liabilities

Net Working Capital = Current Assets less Current Liabilities

Debt to Asset Ratio = Total liabilities / Total Assets

Debt to Equity Ratio = Total liabilities / Shareholders Equity

A detailed explanation of each one of these ratios is beyond the scope of this article, but I invite you to visit my site for a discussion of balance sheet analysis.