Thread: Golden Nuggets- Tips, processes, & How To's

Here is some tidbits for offshore stuff.
Been a while since I looked but most should still be good.


recommendations on off-shore web hosting and domain registration,
1) https://www.zone.ee/ in Estonia
2) https://www.switchplus.ch/ in Switzerland
3) Runbox.com is in Norway
4) Cirrushosting.com is in Toronto (easy switch for Americans)
5) CCihosting.com in Panama
6) https://www.netpoint.ee/eng in Estonia

Hi zendolphin

I noticed you listed a couple of hosting services from Estonia. Have you been doing business through Estonia?

All the best

Oliver

We were trying some black hat seo stuff a couple years ago, and ran off shore servers for testing.

we also like to make sure we are not subject to any single countries crazy making, (ie PIPA and SOPA)

Since you have real estate experience, any good ways on picking up mobile homes, so that the notes can be traded in? Thanks roc

Originally Posted by zendolphin

we also like to make sure we are not subject to any single countries crazy making, (ie PIPA and SOPA)

couldn't agree more.

Originally Posted by zendolphin

she ended up focusing on something that would and that's why you test. To kill bad ideas fast.
so you can really work on ones that are truly great.

The Test...
2011-05-19_2157 - xendolphin's library

Now wait a second, as a part of this test, you solicited for people's email addresses and promised them a PDF in return, then delivered absolutely nothing?

While I totally love the concept of "testing" (and the goal of this experiment) the fact that you have to lie about giving something away, then don't, is unethical. When people "give" their email address, it is a form of psychological payment and when you fail to deliver, you essentially rip someone off. IMO, you need to deliver what you promise. Or, did you in fact deliver a PDF?

the person was hell bent on delivering a pdf, and was half way through writing it.

I was trying to show her why she should test first.

she did end up giving out some tips, but the exercise was more for her to understand the concept of testing, small, and fast.
we deleted the list as well, since the responses were so small, it was not worth pursuing.

but that was the point i wanted her to see, was to test a market. in the purest sense did we over deliver on a promise? nope,
did we send them something ? ya some tips.

While I don't advocate lying, in your tests, I do think its better to test a good idea, or a headline or something before putting alot of effort into it. (she was already 2 weeks of work int a book that no one cared about) so the couple people on the list were deleted.

the exercise was more for her, and the mechanics of it, rather than the audience. so while I can see your point, I was showing her that i t could be done quickly and cheaply.

she has gone on to create a couple kick butt products and rolling out an amazing process now. so it worked, and that was the point.

Another Tidbit.

While cleaning out my folder of random processes and Biz plans, I ran across a couple I wrote a few years ago. I know some people have a hard time writing biz plans but I can crank out a good first draft in about 2 hrs. I will be posting some That I did as 1st edits, and maybe later the final versions.

I wrote this one in sitting (about 2 hrs)

I know most fastlane concepts are Anti Biz plan, but I have found them to be invaluable for a couple reasons.
1. it forces me to think through what I am doing and want to do.
2. it highlights what I have not thought through yet.
3. it allows me to solicit feedback in a few minuets by giving the plan to someone and then letting them ask me questions I had not thought up yet.
4. its like exercise, it forces me into the discipline of actually thinking through the whole process and the whole business, giving me basic insights i might have missed if i was in to much of a hurry.

The point is, for me these biz plans, help me organize my thoughts enough to make me more efficient when I am executing the business.

and in some cases, they have helped me raise money. (alot of money) by showing someone that I have thought through the process.

I will post some of the biz plans I have written for the next few posts, as I find them in my store of random files. as I am cleaning and organizing them, I will put them here.

That is if its of any help to anyone. for fastlaners who shun Biz plans, this may not help at all. as a fast execution guy myself, I would not spend more than a day or so on a biz plan, because the more time on the bplan, the less time on execution.

I will also edit these to remove the "players" or management as well.

Feel free to use the plan as you like, provided I don't see them in some ebook someplace.


So, with that brief explanation, here is a Business plan I found today.
(this was the first draft, about 2 hrs to write. the finished one with proforma I doubt I will post, because I still use that to run that biz)

Business Plan
Doing It the HARD Way
A hard money lending company
A development stage company


Executive Summary

Our company was formed around targeted niche opportunities in local real estate markets, specifically the emerging market of foreclosures, rehabs and real estate investment from a lender perspective. This is a hard money lending company primarily focused on lending to real estate investors on properties at below market prices. Our company focuses on getting the real estate investor the money he needs to purchase and rehab the houses. Charging higher interest rates, with points and lower-than-average loan to values, we are able to reduce risk, create income streams, and liquidity to a market with high demand and high returns.

Objectives

• Create a constant stream of repeat customers who consistently borrow
• Create cash flow through monthly payments and yield spread
• Reduce risk by using a strict criteria, i.e. making loans at 65% of value
• Provide a source of loans that private investors can purchase with these characteristics
• To periodically sell to the secondary market to recapitalize our line of credit when necessary
• To create a workflow that automates the entire process, keeping tight controls on the money and lending criteria
• Create a recapitalization process for quick turn around of defaults
• Create yields in excess of 30% per yr



Overview of investment strategy

Our goal is to create multiple loans to real estate investors. The focus is chiefly investors who deal in rehab, resale, rental and foreclosure bailout of single family residences. A small portion of the investment loans we make will cover commercial real estate, or new home building. This can be done by:

• Creating strict lending guidelines that develop very consistent cash flows from lending activities
• Reducing risk by good loan to value guidelines
• Reduce risk by creating loans that may be sold to the secondary market at any time
• Keep costs low by outsourcing non-core operations to other companies including appraisal, servicing, and collections


Keys to success

The top keys to success of this venture are:

• The right managers and key personal
• Knowing the market or being able to determine the market quickly
• Deep real estate knowledge
• Good default management
• Good relations with investor/borrowers
• Effective servicing tools
• Good underwriting
• Quality deal flow
• Multiple exits including secondary market sales



Company Summary

The company has two primary executives, xxxxxx and xxxxxx. A Virtual Office is used to keep costs low, and provides for a fully digital environment. This allows information to flow quickly and response to loans to be just as quick. Virtual Assistants and a Virtual CFO provide quality reports to investors, and automated workflow. With this program, we are able to provide additional services to other hard money lenders, giving them the leverage of an automated workflow and back end services (including placing loans with other service’s, and secondary market sales.)

Industry

Lending takes many forms for the owner occupied properties. However with the rise of foreclosures will come the inevitable rise of additional real estate investors. Real estate is typically a capital intensive venture with few real estate investors able to really borrow from the banks. Most banks have an upper limit on how many loans they will give a borrower as well as how much they will loan. There is a considerable opportunity to supply the residential and commercial real estate investor with financing to purchase residential real estate. The industry is typically fractured and a very cottage industry. This allows our company to step in and consistently provide services.

The types of loans we will be making:

• Hard money non-owner occupied residential loans
o The largest segment that we will focus on comprising 90% of the loans we expect to make

• Commercial loans
o Commercial property comprising about 5% of the loans we will make

• 2nd loans for bridge or foreclosure loans
o Quickly placed 2nds for the benefit of keeping the house from foreclosure. Highest return, higher risk, and comprising 5% of the loans we make
Market

The first year, we will be making loans largely in two states: Texas and Utah. After the first year we will expand to a few other markets with our focus on states based on

• States that have acceptably short foreclosure laws
• States that have acceptable rates on usury laws
• States that the principals feel that they have enough market knowledge to determine the validity of property valuations
• States that have experienced investors with whom we have a personal relationship who and represent a good risk


Sourcing strategy

Our principals have a deep knowledge and experience in real estate investing. We also currently have a number of investors to whom we deem to be an acceptable risk to make loans. These investors are experienced, have systems in place, and have criteria of buying that match our own criteria for lending.
We will also be developing these sources:

• Web based marketing-- (limited) form based website that will allow user to upload information directly into our database
• Mortgage brokers-- there are a number of brokers that have been unable to get a loan approved via the normal channels or just have to short a window. We expect to see deal flow from this source
• Hard money brokers-- there are a number of HM brokers that already have more deal flow than some of the their lenders can fund. Subsequently they are looking for more lenders.
• REI Groups-- there are a number of REI groups, (real estate investors) where we may look for the investors. We believe that we will have more investors looking for cash than we may provide.

Outsourcing

In order to keep our costs low, with out a lot of extra bulk in our operation we will be outsourcing a number of our operations including:

• Due Diligence
o We will be using BPO (Broker Price Options) in some cases. These range in the 100-150 per unit costs.
o Full Appraisals. These are done by professionals, used by the banks as well. We will use appraisers that are familiar with rehabs.
• Loan Doc preparation
o This is typically done by the title company but we will have a number of specific documents that we will send to the title company
• Servicing and Collections.
o We will be using an outsourced servicing company that will cost approximately $9.00 per month, per loan with a $25.00 boarding fee.
o We will have an in house “relationship manager” who will deal with the investors directly, if and when communication stops. We will hand the file over to a collection company that is familiar with our approach to collections and business.
o Foreclosures are done by outside attorneys
• Virtual Assistants
o We have a number of Virtual Assistants and Virtual Underwriters who can handle the calls, take the applications through the process of Due Diligence, and provide the recommendations. With a digital network and a paperless office, we can create many automated non-local workflow processes, reducing our overhead costs
• Virtual CFO
o Bookkeeping and CFO duties are also outsourced. Reports will be generated for the investors, and automated through custom software that combines servicing, collection and investment info into a comprehensive report.
Software

In order to expedite the whole process, we are developing software that will
• Accept information from multiple sources and standardize it
• Accept preliminary investor information and qualify the data for a possible loan
• Price the loan if outside the “box”
• Create the paperwork and send the instructions to accounting and to the title company
• Create a “coordination time sheet” based on the timeline for the loan to occur
• Create an “investment analysis” for matching to criteria
• Follow and control workflow process front to back
• Create “summary page” to be sent with original documents to loan boarding process for loan servicer
• Create “tape” for electronic boarding to servicer
• Create tickler to “relationship manager” for future calls and put on a “to call list and time frames”
• Create drill down capability for the managers to look from a top down perspective on portfolio, down to loan level information
• Make coffee

We are expecting this software development to take 3-6 months total, and cost in the range of $10,000-$15,000. With the experienced team we have on board, we expect this project to only take a small portion of the managers’ time.

Competition

The hard money lending space is very fractured. Typically, hard money lenders are a cottage industry and there are few “nationwide” lenders. Larger lenders are typically focused on either larger transaction dollars per loan than local lenders. Many have 250-500k lending minimums. Due to the complexity of underwriting “investment deals” there are few standards to the industry.

The Secondary Market

The secondary market is a large “unofficial” market place whereby buyers and sellers of various debt instruments go to complete transactions. It is a large, invisible market that almost any kind of debt imaginable is sellable. Typically a well written hard money loan can be sold in 1-3 weeks for at or near par. In some cases, if the paper is written with prepayment penalties, or structured correctly it can even be sold for above par. Our management team has over 4 years experience selling and purchasing debt in the secondary market. Experience has produced a number of contacts that can facilitate sales through this channel. Investors seeking higher than average returns, with lower risk through lower LTV, often turn to hard money loans for their portfolio. As a result there is often a high demand for hard money loans in the secondary market.

There are a number of buyers in the secondary market for hard money loans. Most prefer bulk sales of notes as opposed to single sale or one-of-a-kind transactions. Professional loan servicing also enhances the purchase price and attractiveness of the loan. Other features that enhance the note sale are credit score, job length, and collateral. The secondary market is a huge liquid market, which can purchase portfolios of mobile home notes, quickly, adding a large dimension of liquidity should cash be needed.


Exit strategy

One of the keys that our company has in place is familiarity with the secondary market and its advantages of multiple sales via this pipeline. To provide liquidity for our investors or to increase the volume of turns that are possible in a year, we may turn to secondary market sales. As investors rehab a property, the property usually increases in value, and increases in possibility of sale. This turns into payoffs of the loan, which are then re-loaned out to new projects. If the real estate investor is not willing to pay off the loan, or is unable to, then we will foreclose on the property. At the LTV that these loans are made, it increases the chance that a full payoff will occur at the foreclosure sale. If we accept the property, our management team has experience in disposing of the property in a number of ways including direct sale, sale via owner finance, in which we carry the paper, then resell the paper, or refinance through a more traditional source, thus returning liquidity to the lending process.

The Players
xxxxx

Zendolphin, I agree that business plans are helpful for the thought process, cash and cash flow needs, and finding issues with the idea. The reason that I don't like business plans is because once you start the business, they usually go out the window. People try to stick with their business plan, but you have to adjust to the market.

I think business plans are great if you recognize them for what they are - an initial plan, not a definite map.

Originally Posted by Cparsons

Zendolphin, I agree that business plans are helpful for the thought process, cash and cash flow needs, and finding issues with the idea. The reason that I don't like business plans is because once you start the business, they usually go out the window. People try to stick with their business plan, but you have to adjust to the market.

I think business plans are great if you recognize them for what they are - an initial plan, not a definite map.

exactly,
in fact here is another biz plan.

we ran this company for 3 months prior to selling it. I didnt even get the whole business plan finished before we sold it.
another 1 sitting type plan


Business Plan
Adaptix Medical Supply
Medical Supply and Oxygen Company
A development stage company
This is not a prospectus


Executive Summary
Adaptix Medical supply is a DME and other Disposable Medical Supply company. We sell to Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance backed programs that will pay for patients to receive certain useful toys used in health care of the patient, either at home health care, or as patients of a doctor.

Objectives
To build a multi office service business, with a centralized command and control structure to better implement a company wide efficiency for many of the redundant but mission critical tasks .



Overview Company Strategy
Our company Strategy is to Identify markets that we feel we can bring services to. By setting up a metro based administrative system. We can extend our reach far into the rural areas where there is little or no services. By bringing efficiency and a highly networked system to rural areas, we can bring large volume buying to the little offices. Allowing the sales to focus on sales, the deliveries to focus on deliveries, we can drive sales, and patient retention. by setting up our offices in 1 of 2 ways, we can find and retain key employees. Either by finding the absolute best sales person in the area, or by having a person, buy in thereby reducing our cost of setup and bringing them into the fold as an owner operator.


Keys to success

The top keys to success of this venture are:
 Service
 Sales
 Rural outlets
 Niche Marketing
 Focused accounting and billing to insurance companies. As well as follow up
 Reduced administration for the rural offices
 Finding and Keeping Top notch Sales people
 Finding and retaining Delivery Drivers that double as representatives.



Company Summary
Adaptix was formed for the modeling out and rolling out of a multi office, centralized admin DME and medical supply company. We will have several specific locations that will wholey company owned, and will extend our reach into the rural areas by Joint Ventures (JV’s) with top notch sales people in the area. Focused population demographics will allow us to find and aim our efforts in markets with higher than normal patient types. The goal is to build up at a minimum of 10 offices throughout the state of Texas before expanding to additional States. We have the eventual goal of 50 offices / JV’s. in the next 3 yrs.

Industry
The medical DME and State of Texas CBA programs are backed by either state funded, or federally funded programs. Including Medicare, Medicaid, and Community Based Alternatives (CBA) for the state of Texas.

Markets we will be in .

(need to insert numbers here) the markets we will be focusing on are the following.
1. CBA, for home health care (nutrition and wheelchairs, Bariatric, Beds ect)
2. Medical Oxygen, Medicare, and Respitory Medicine (oxygen, Cpap, Bipap and Nebulizers, and Nebulizer meds)
These are the secondary markets we plan on expanding into latter in 2008 early 2009
1. Medical Drug trials, in house offices for doctors.
2. Infusion Centers, intravenous Drug delivery, in house IV therapy.

(need size of each of these markets, need demographics of each of these markets. Need demographics of rural vs metro distribution of patients.)


Competitive Bidding.
In the last 4 years of Medicare, and Medicaid in an effort to reduce costs, began to implement Competitive Bidding. Focused mainly on Oxygen and Oxygen Therapy. There are to be 10 Cities that start this in the first test phase. Dallas Fort worth is to be one of the cities to begin the Comp bidding process. Additional cities are to be added at a latter date. Eventually it could become nationwide. Any strategy that we move forward with, will have to at some time be compliant with this.

Startup

Patient Sourcing Strategy


Acquisitions
o The fast Eddie scenario
 What we are buying
 How we can buy it
 What we have to change about it
 Speed to market
 Eddies Current model
 Improvements we can make
• Process improvements
• Paperless improvements
• Inventory Improvements
• Marketing improvements
• Training




JV Partnerships
Finding and keeping good Sales people are one of the key components to this business. Many sales people who have achieved a certain level of success are important keys to success of this venture and expensive to hire and keep. One of the methods we have determined to be a way to tie them to the company, is to provide a buy in. we will put an office in a rural area, and offer the sales person, up to 20% buy in through a proformance metric, and time with the company. This buy in can exsist as long as the sales person stays with the company. We may move it from profit sharing to direct ownership of the site over time.

The Rural Route

Outsourcing

Software

Competition

Financials

Exit strategy

The Management Team

Very awesome thread, keeping a close eye on it - thanks

Thank you for all the useful information!!! how do you suggest getting the 20 credit cards? prepaid gift cards? Thanks again!

Originally Posted by vek242

Thank you for all the useful information!!! how do you suggest getting the 20 credit cards? prepaid gift cards? Thanks again!

We used to buy around 100 gift cards at a time. for employee gifts, and rewards. you can go to wallmart, sams club, wallgreens ect to get prepaid visa/mastercard/amex type cards. they spend just like a credit card. you have to pay cash tho. as part of a test about 4 months ago, I did one for 20$ bucks. used it to open a new adwords account, and get 15$ in adspend (first 5$ went to open the account.) hope that helps.

Z

zendolphin thank you for the tread can i ask you a very basic question?
you talked about "Create small “mini sites” sells 1 product"
For each mini site will be need a domain or can i just use free domains or worldpress?
Thank you i am doing my best to learn this new way of business thank you again for your time.

Originally Posted by kirrubi

zendolphin thank you for the tread can i ask you a very basic question?
you talked about "Create small “mini sites” sells 1 product"
For each mini site will be need a domain or can i just use free domains or worldpress?
Thank you i am doing my best to learn this new way of business thank you again for your time.

really, 10 bucks for a domain.....

get a domain. free ones suck.

ok, Another quick process.

Got Dropbox?

Got 10 Gigs on dropbox Free?

Dont have that many friends who signed up for you yet?

here is a quick process someone shared with me after we discussed it. Since I already had drobox maxed, I haven't used it but he did and went from 2Gigs of free space to 4.5 in less than an hr after posting this, I thought I would share it.

I posted the whole "mini process" here on my google docs where I keep these things.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...1s_ves5iM/edit

you can go there and read the process.
basically he went and posted on odesk this process, and got to his full10Gig in less than a day.

it was cool enough to watch, that I wanted to share.

Z

okay guys,

I followed Zendolphin advice and he's helping me really hard and I have to say that is advice and coaching worth gold!

He knows a lot, he gives awesome advice and also he's changing my perception of this fastlane road!

Thanks Dale!

Cheer guys!

This is a really great thread! Thanks for taking the time to post all these nuggets/tips.

Though some tips were a bit too blackhat for me
eg: Testing method and also Dropbox method.

Some great information, thanks for sharing. I am buying domains for niche affiliate sites, in your opinion can you make good money with this method.

Originally Posted by David Rees

Some great information, thanks for sharing. I am buying domains for niche affiliate sites, in your opinion can you make good money with this method.

depends...