Leo Kanell

Author: leokanell

  • Why Your Ultimate Desires Can Make or Break Your Success.

    Why Your Ultimate Desires Can Make or Break Your Success.

    As an entrepreneur, father, and someone who wants to truly make a difference and leave a lasting impact with those I interact with I usually feel about once a week that I am simply not living any where near my potential and am under achieving to a significant degree which ultimately pisses me off incredibly.  Perhaps you too have felt that way, just bothered by your lack of getting the job done.  I have learned from a lot of mentors who are much more successful than I am 3 keys that lead you to success.  Before I jump in to those 3 keys I think it’s important to understand that your ultimate desires or aspirations will have much to say about your ultimate success as well.  For example one of my mentors has a goal of owning $500 Million in real estate and having a net worth of at least $100 million and so all of his daily decisions are ultimately guided and driven by his long term goals.  Another well known entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk has an ultimate goal to buy the New York Jets, a feat that will certainly require that he be worth several hundred million if not a billion dollars and so again his daily decisions are based on his roadmap of whether that particular decision will take him to that end game.

    #1:  Write Down Your Goals Daily

    Several very successful people I have studied are incredibly consistent at writing down their goals every morning and making decisions each day on whether those decisions will lead them to these goals.  We are all bombarded with negativity and challenges on a daily basis and having those positive goals there to reinforce our mind frame to push forward through the crap that we constantly face is vital and frankly extremely important if we wish to get where we want to get to.

    #2  Control Your Thoughts

    At certain times in our lives we may confront especially difficult problems whether they are problems that arise in our family, with health, or of course financial burdens and to overcome these issues that are smacking us in the face each day we have to get good at quickly shifting from those negatives to the solutions and the steps to follow to get to the solutions.  This sounds simple, and frankly it’s not that difficult, it just requires remembering to shift back to solutions and back to #1 our goals that we are focused on.  For me, nothing helps me control my thoughts and help me overcome those depths of despair thoughts that drag me down to a hellish existence like reviewing my goals, I literally feel a million times better when I review those goals and then can lose myself in the tasks required to make my dreams and goals reality!

    #3  Manage Your Time

    In today’s electronic world it has really never been easier to waste your entire life away by flushing your most valuable asset down the drain each day which is time.  I know a lot of parents that don’t want their kids on social media and spending time on the xbox.  Yet, those same parents may spend 3 hours a day being mesmerized by tv shows that consume valuable time that could be spent teaching their kids or learning new skills or building a business that truly matters that could provide financial freedom for generations to come, but they are not willing to sacrifice their time on netflix or on amazon.

    So to recap, write down your goals daily, control your thoughts and manage your time and do each of these each day and you will accomplish your goals and tasks with greater efficiency!

     

  • Live Events Can Change Your Life

    Live Events Can Change Your Life

    So I recently attended Brendon Burchard’s Expert’s Academy and I have to say it was an absolutely life changing experience.  Brendon Burchard is a New York #1 selling author of such books titled:  “the Millionaire Messenger,” “Life’s Golden Ticket,” “The Motivation Manifesto,” and several others.  Being around Brendon can truly change your life and the way you think.  He is essentially a Tony Robbins type with incredible ability to teach and engage an audience.  In reality I have not attended a lot of live seminar events and I have certainly never attended one that lasted 4 entire days.  I was definitely drinking the cool aide, we went all day from 9 am to 7 or 8 pm for 3 and a half days and I loved every minute of it.

    For all of you negative haters and cynics out there may I just say that the real “scam” nowadays is in the incredibly large corporate advertising by huge conglomerates that push their unhealthy, life killing foods on us, it is not those dynamic entrepreneurs who are trying to change lives for the better.  Brendon tells her personal story which is incredibly inspiring because he has not had an easy life at all.  In fact he grew up in a small town in Montana by the name of Butte, it is an old mining town from the glory days of copper and has scores of radioactive waste just a few miles from where he grew up.  His family was tight-knit and he recalls vividly one winter when the furnace died amid temperatures of -40 degrees and his family had to set up tents in their family room and huddle up together in order to avoid freezing through a terribly cold winter.  A few years later when he was a freshman in college his girlfriend discovered beer and boys all in the same night and he lost the woman he though was his one true love.

    Fast forward to that summer and he was busy trying to forget her a world away in the Dominican Republic where he had taken a job for the summer.  He and one of his fellow workers were involved in an accident on a poorly lit road at night and Brendon could have easily died, when he awoke with glass and blood all  over him and carefully got out of the car where the windshield had been he had 3 questions pop in to his mind, “did I really live?  did I openly love? and did I even matter?  At some point we will all become painfully aware of our mortality and have to come to grip with these types of questions.  Change your life now, don’t wait  for a moment like that, life is too short.  Brendon’s Experts Academy teaches that we all have a voice and a message like that can absolutely change people’s lives and when I first read that I didn’t really believe it, but after interacting with some of the best people I have ever met I truly do believe it.

  • Why the Top Realtors Succeed and How to Join Them

    Why the Top Realtors Succeed and How to Join Them

    Recently, we have helped a lot of real estate agents to build their businesses so they could become top realtors in their local market.  It surprised us to find that on average Realtors make about 55k per year and the top 10% of real estate agents make about 105k per year.  So the bottom line is less than 10% of agents average over 10k per month over a calendar year.  This was somewhat surprising as we know several top realtors and mistakenly assumed that many of them on average make over six figures per year.  So that said it led us to do some investigating.

    We found through research and surveys from reputable firms that the top 10% of agents take action in certain aspects of their business that the other 90% of less successful realtors do.  It breaks down in to about 4 categories for the top realtors.

    MARKETING

    The top realtors spend more on marketing each year, the top 10% spend at least 5k and the top 5% spend twice that amount in marketing each year.  Marketing can mean everything from nicer listing for sale signs, to brochures, online marketing like Google pay per click ads, zillow ads, trulia ads and other real estate themed marketing.  The surveys did not break down the exact type of marketing, but rather just the fact that they spent the money increased their success.

    TECHNOLOGY

    In addition to marketing, the top realtors consistently spend money on superior technology than their less successful counter parts.  On average they spend at least another 5k per year in technology and again the top 5% spend even more on tech.  Tech can be everything from toll free 800 numbers with free info about a house listed to sell to superior sales funnels built out online and working in conjunction with multiple listing services in their local markets.  Again the exact type of marketing will certainly be important, but more important than anything was investing in the tech whether that means better cell phone and tablet and computer technology or something as simple as a new cell phone battery.  The other day I went to look at a property and the realtor was not prepared with a phone charger and with a dead cell phone was unable to open a property so I could look at it.

    WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA

    The next two important factors for real estate agents to be successful center around essentially what is more marketing and technology spending and it is with the agent’s own website and social media pages.  The top realtors spend more on a better website and social media and they also update those sites and social media pages as well as share content multiple times each week and engage their audience of followers including having more friends on facebook and linkedin that often translate in to more clients.  It really is incredible.

    So for a lot of agents you look at these findings and say well duh if I had 25k to 50k I could be a successful realtor, here’s the good news, we have the ability to help you secure funding for your real estate business, so get in touch and we will help you!

  • Fundability

    Fundability

    Fund • a • bil • i • ty – [adj. Fuhnd-uh-bil-i-tee]
    You won’t find “Fundability” on Dictionary.com, so don’t bother looking. Fundability is a phrase we’ve coined to describe how a business measures up in relation to the entire business lending and investing community.

    If you want to have the business of your dreams then often you need quite a few things to make that happen such as:

    • Equipment
    • A Better location
    • hire more Sales people and employees
    • run massive marketing campaigns
    • buy inventory

    Just to name a few, the common denominator with each item necessary to build the business of your dreams is that they all take a lot of capital and so that is why it is so important to be fundable so your business can qualify for the money it needs to become the business that will make your family proud of you.

  • Building a Business Foundation

    Building a Business Foundation

    When it comes to Funding your business, you must first begin by building a business foundation.

    Your business foundation is when your business is in compliance with basic tenets that most businesses have such as:

    1. Incorporate your business with you secretary of State department in the state you choose.
    2. Get an EIN (Tax ID) so you are registered in the IRS system as a business and other databases.
    3. Set up a business bank account.
    4. List your business with business directories
    5. Set up profiles with the major business credit bureaus like D & B, Business Experian and Equifax Business.
    6. Set up a business website and email (hint don’t use a gmail email.)
    7. Make sure you use the same address, business name and email address for each listing on all business documents including the business bank account, the EIN, the Secretary of state and so forth.
    8. Get appropriate City or County business licenses.
    9. Set up Social media pages for your business at least with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn at the minimum.

    By doing these simple steps now your business has a chance to receive funding.

  • Startup Business Funding Trends 2016

    Startup Business Funding Trends 2016

    Leo Kanell discusses the best funding and financing options available for entrepreneurs in 2016. For more tips and info regarding funding for entrepreneurs go to www.leokanell.com.

    For the majority of business startups bootstrapping is most often the path taken to launch your new business. For most they are under capitalized which puts them in a tremendously vulnerable position. In this video Leo Kanell explains the top 3 trending options for startup businesses to secure funding. These are options that can be available to any entrepreneur.
    #leokanell
    That said, some of these startup funding options are easier than others. So by following the newest movements with lenders you will increase your odds for successfully securing capital significantly. Leo Kanell teaches entrepreneurs how to creatively secure affordable financing to fuel the growth of their new or existing business. Nothing puts a smile on his face like knowing that the latest entrepreneur was able to secure funding and launch their business thanks to his expert guidance on the subject of startup business funding.

     

  • Startup Funding Options

    For most new startup businesses the task of securing some startup funding capital can be extremely daunting and in reality where to start is the most difficult thing to know.  Most new entrepreneurs immediately think of going to their local bank and seeing if they will qualify for some money, let’s begin by looking at that experience and then other options after that.

    When you go and see your bank it’s important to understand that most banks do not lend to brand new businesses since they are unproven and a high risk.  That means the only option you will find at a bank will be the infamous SBA option.  SBA has 3 loan types, the 7(a), 504 and the express.  The 504 and express almost always are exclusively for established businesses with 2 to 3 years of profitable business tax returns.  The 7(a) is the only option that can realistically be used for startup businesses.

    Qualifying for a 7(a) loan can be a difficult task, in reality it comes down to a lot of things like your business plan, industry type, your personal credit, but indeed the most important factor will definitely be whether you have any assets or collateral.  Acceptable collateral types will generally be significant equity in your home or other real estate properties, newer equipment with a strong value and generally a 401k or IRA.  So if you have those types of collateral then you stand a good chance at securing a startup SBA 7(a) loan.

    You will also need some type of down payment usually 10 to 25% is what most lenders want, for new businesses the percentage is usually much closer to 25%.  So you have to ask yourself what percentage of new startups actually have that type of collateral and down payment available for their business to secure startup funding?  Since I have personally spoken with thousands of new business owners in my experience it would seem that less than 5% of new entrepreneurs have those kinds of qualifications, assets and collateral.  So if you don’t possess those items then what other options are there?

    In reality the best option will be a mixture of unsecured credit lines.  These credit lines do not require extensive income documentation or collateral, in most cases you just need a 680 credit score to qualify for them.  The monthly payments are low and affordable and they are flexible tools.  Even if you are successful at securing an SBA loan, an SBA loan will often not be able to go towards working capital, so in reality you will still need additional funds for working capital like paying payroll, marketing and other costs.  For most startups unsecured credit lines are your best bet.

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

    Leo Kanell teaches entrepreneurs how to secure affordable capital for their new or existing businesses.  For more info go to http://www.leokanell.com

  • Credit Inquiries Further Clarified

  • Credit Inquiries Have Ruined My LIfe

    Over the years I have helped my clients secure over $120 Million dollars in funding and I’ve learned a few important items that lead to success when securing funding for a business.  One of the most misunderstood concepts that is constantly be spread across the country is the idea that a few credit inquiries aka “hard credit pulls” are going to drop my credit score 100 points and ruin my life.  Today I’m going to tackle this common misconception with the facts of when credit inquiries do negatively impact you and when they are irrelevant to your funding options.

    HOW INQUIRIES AFFECT YOUR CREDIT SCORE

    So let’s look first at how credit inquiries can affect your credit score, first of all credit inquiries make up about 5 to 10% of your credit score, in most cases the percentage is closer to 5% so will 6 to 8 inquiries drop your credit score 100 points, the answer is definitely no, it might lower the score by 15 to 20 points and that is about the biggest impact.  Of course if you go hog wild and have your credit pulled 25 to 30 times in a 30 day period then that could lower your score a lot more, in reality though most people have 2 to 4 credit pulls every 2 months and that is not going to make a big impact on your credit score.

    SECURED LOANS

    Let’s say that you are looking for a mortgage or an auto loan and you go to a few different mortgage and auto lenders to look for financing.  The good news is that the three major credit bureaus will actually count most inquiries that are mortgage or auto loan related as one inquiry when they are pulled within a 2 week window.  The credit bureaus understand that you are looking for the best deal and as such they don’t punish you.  Now regarding the effect inquiries will have on actually securing the mortgage or auto loan, well the answer is there is really no impact, secured lenders like mortgage lenders and auto lenders know that they have collateral and so in case of a client not making their payment and defaulting on a mortgage or auto loan they can take back the collateral, so what that means is they don’t generally take credit inquiries as an important factor in underwriting your loan.  At most a mortgage lender will require a letter of explanation for what the inquiries are.  In reality credit inquiries rarely have much of an impact on your ability to qualify for a mortgage or auto loan.

    UNSECURED LOANS

    Unsecured credit lines, loans and credit cards are affected much more with inquiries.  Unsecured lenders take on more risk than secured lenders so if you try to get a credit card or two and already have several other inquiries on your credit report in the weeks prior to applying for a new credit card then the credit card lender will assume you already secured financing elsewhere and in many cases they will automatically decline your request for a new credit card or credit line.  Thus in all of lending the biggest impact that credit inquiries can have on you as a borrower is when you apply for any type of unsecured credit lines or loans.  Some lenders nowadays will actually do a soft pull on your credit report which will have no impact, but most lenders will do a hard pull.  Either way you will want to pay special attention to hard credit pulls.

  • Why Mark Cuban is Wrong about Starting a Business on a Business Loan

    Shark Tank has become one of the most fascinating shows on tv regarding entrepreneurship and capitalism.  One of its current “Sharks” is Mark Cuban, he is a man I respect immensely in terms of business development, entrepreneurship and creating wealth.  He has also been quoted as saying that he would never start a business on a loan.  Why would he say that?  There is the fact that it is more profitable for himself and his show to give capital to entrepreneurs for ownership and equity in these new businesses, if the entrepreneur figured out how to secure financing then clearly that would not benefit the premise of the show.  That said, he may really believe that is an important aspect of starting a business.  I think he is completely wrong and I’m going to prove it with some concrete examples.

    I have started multiple multi-million dollar businesses and each of them was started with some sort of loan or funding that I had to creatively secure in order to get these businesses off of the ground.  So from my own first hand experiences I can tell you that in order to begin and at several turning points in my businesses the ability to secure capital for them has been a tremendous key.  So that said, allow me to share a much better example of businesses succeeding due to a business loan or some sort.  

    Allow me to present Walmart.  We all have been to Walmart and have witnessed its growth first hand.  Decades earlier it was begun with one store by a great man named Sam Walton.  Sam started his first store with a loan of $20,000 and $5,000 he had saved up.  He continuously tinkered with the discounting methodologies that he would develop over the years to create the biggest global retailer in the world and he would never have succeeded at growing it the way he did without constant financing.

    At one of his first stores he secured a loan for $1,800 to finance an ice cream machine that he used to sell ice cream outside his store and attract new customers.  He was nervous about the loan, but it ended up increasing his sales significantly.  As he began to grow from his first variety stores to his first full fledged actual big box store Walmart he went around looking for capital from investors.  Each investor passed on his business model believing it would not succeed long term.  So Sam “borrowed to the hilt” and risked all of his personal assets in order to build Walmart and grow it exponentially.  Walmart now has thousands of locations worldwide and had annual sales recently of nearly $500 Billion Dollars.  It all started with a loan and was grown with significant funding.  Additionally if Sam were still alive today he would be the world’s richest man and be valued at 160 Billion nearly double what the current richest man Bill Gates is worth (about $80 Billion) so suffice it to say understanding how to start a business with a loan can be one of the best decisions that a business owner ever makes.  Comprehending the best methods to secure growth capital as your business expands can be vital to long term growth and success.