Does our organization or our business have a good vision? I listened to a speaker this week who used an illustration for all organizations and businesses. He told us to think about our business or group as a rope circle with all of our employees or members inside, but holding on to the rope. The rope circle illustration made it easy to see that a business or organization cannot move far in any direction without eventually all coming along as a team. He said all groups have

In the late 1970s, I was a farm specialist and received a call from a former client. Pat then worked for a small-town feed company that was owner and manager of a 640-sow farrow-to-finish hog operation that he wanted to sell. Being a young broker, I was really proud of my new listing but never expected it to be as challenging as it was. As a novice property-oriented broker, I focused on marketing materials. I took aerial pictures of the hog facility and created an attractive,

It is hard to believe that some of us can visualize a world without television. I remember that our farm family drove to a neighbor’s farm to see their new TV set. It was about 1958; there was only one black-and-white channel and we watched professional wrestling! When I first got into the real estate business in 1974, my broker gave me a pad of Purchase Contracts and Lease Forms and two sheets of carbon paper to do business. No copiers were available, yet somehow we did busi

Recently I read Rumsfeld’s Rules by Donald Rumsfeld. One of the primary rules he learned in pilot training is that if you are in an airplane and get lost, you need to “Climb, Conserve, and Confess.” I have been thinking that this rule could easily apply to our business and our daily lives. Climb: How many times do we feel that the project or transaction we are working on has major problems and is about to crash? Maybe this rule should remind us to step back, look at the big p

I wrote an article for the Observer in 2010 entitled “Where Have All of the Young Entrepreneurs Gone?” It identified my observation that it seemed the younger generation lacks interest in becoming entrepreneurs. Folks, this trend has not improved. Recent headlines like “Fewer US Entrepreneurs Willing to Create New Businesses” and “Three-Month Average of Job Creation Plummets” illustrate my worry because everyone knows that small businesses historically create the most jobs an

I talk to many business people regularly. What is their perspective? What are they doing in today’s times? Currently, in my central Nebraska area, there are many good things going on. Agriculture is having a record boom. Commodity prices are extremely high and land values are skyrocketing, creating huge net worth for farm owners. Our unemployment rate in central Nebraska is around 3%. Many jobs are going begging. Rents and home values are going up, so real estate equities are

Click on the link below to read Stephen England’s article published in the S.E.C Real Estate Observer June 2012 http://www.secobserver.com/2012/04/why-is-it-so-hard-to-ask-financial-questions/ #blog #StephenEngland

Click on link below to read the article by Stephen R. England published for The Society of Exchange Counselors Observer website Winter 2011. http://www.secobserver.com/2011/12/finding-transactions-in-dead-listings/ #blog #StephenEngland

A Guide to 1031 Exchanges is designed to help you understand the many options available when considering 1031 exchange strategies for deferring taxes. After its first printing, we received such an overwhelmingly positive response from so many readers that we went to work to enhance this edition not only with more content, but with the most recent information available at press time. Download the pdf to read the entire report by Bill Exeter, President and Chief Executive Offi

Click the link below to read the article by Stephen R. England published in Society of Exchange Counselors Summer 2011. http://www.secobserver.com/2011/08/basics-for-success-in-real-estate-brokerage/ #realestae #howto #blog #StephenEngland