Posted by BrendaTx on 11/21/07 6:26am
Msg #222284

The Bottom Line and other ideas/opportunities...

For those who do need this income, what is your bottom line that tells you when you have to stop hoping that things will turn around and do something differently?

I can't imagine going for a month with only two signings. I like my income too much to let that happen. It's just a curiosity I have to know how you know when to say "when".

We all love this business. It's hard, it's exhilarating. It's addictive and fun. We love the people we meet and the kick of getting new business from our marketing efforts. We enjoy the cameraderie here.

Before you exhaust the "padding" in your bank account, I'd suggest two different routes.

(1) Staying in touch with the business - Consider getting a part-time or contract job working for a financial institution, a title company or a lawyer doing any kind of work with one of those which will keep you on the fringe of the business. You'll be surprised at what you will pick up just being connected with those places and how it can compliment your SA business when things turn around.

(2) Finding other independent contract business - Consider branching out into other fields of independent contractor work. Some of the fields others are dabbling in follow.

Document Coding
http://www.cyphercontractors.com

TeleworkRecruiting.com - (Several credible ads - Paid Site)
http://www.teleworkrecruiting.com

Mock Jurist
http://www.virtualjury.com/

Home-based Call Center
http://www.liveops.com/become_an_agent.html

Field Data Collection / Court Abstractor
Query to [e-mail address].
http://www.inft.net/general/employment.htm
www.allstateresearch.com
http://allstateresearch.jobthread.com/job/041aba7ccc662694215f9194712cde10/?d=1
http://www.accuratebackhttp://www.backgroundprofiles.com/researchers.htmlground.com/about/info_data.htm

Field Inspections--the easiest and quickest to get into--Becca has a field inspector list to help you get started and she sells it for only $9.95
(http://floridasnotary.com/fieldinspectorlist.aspx). (Hey Becca, how about using your web-mining talents to create lists of the above types of sites??? $9.95 is cheap for the Google impaired...which is me at this time because real webmining take so much time...and I don't have it right now.)

The above links and suggestions are just a few things I have run across through chatting by email with those who are seeking other work. None of them will give you a huge amount of work...but a little bit here and a little bit there might keep you afloat.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/21/07 6:31am
Msg #222285

bad link

http://www.accuratebackhttp://www.backgroundprofiles.com/researchers.htmlground.com/about/info_data.htm

Pure gobbedlygook. Use this:
http://www.backgroundprofiles.com/researchers.html

Reply by Becca_FL on 11/21/07 8:29am
Msg #222298

Thanks for the plug, Brenda. I have put together a list of Mystery Shopping Companies, but have not hyperlinked it yet. I'll definitely think about your suggestion.

I had some great news this week re: the field inspector list. I received emails from two gals that used my list to break into field inspections. One gal received an order for 89 drive-by inspections this week and the other got an order for 200-300 to be completed next month. I wish I was getting results like that! As you can imagine, I was thrilled to get such wonderful news.

Closings and inspections have picked up quite a bit for me this week...thank goodness.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/21/07 8:38am
Msg #222301

**Closings and inspections have picked up quite a bit for me this week...thank goodness.**

It's so good to hear that one state is getting lots of biz again...the board has a few sprinklings of these.

Reply by PJM/MI on 11/21/07 9:40am
Msg #222306

Re: Thanks Brenda!

As always, you are such a great help to all of us.
With the mortgage world being tipped upside down, it is harder & harder to find other means of income. BUT.. there are jobs out there. Just like in the signing business, you've gotta go LOOK for the opportunities and not expect them to just fall into our laps. (ie.. "Can I do what you do?"
I'm staying VERY busy in my part of the Mitten with the inspections, and I was VERY fortunate to have gotten on that bandwagon almost a yr. ago. It is sad though, that I am busy because of other people's misfortunes.
And before someone "beats me up" on here, I know all about the bad ARM'S and IO's..the great lakes state has lost too many jobs to foreign soil, so it isn't ALWAYS the fault of the borrower that they are in foreclosure.

Reply by Keystone/PA on 11/21/07 11:06am
Msg #222320

You're wonderful, always thinking of others...Happy TG! n/m

Reply by Charles_Ca on 11/21/07 6:12pm
Msg #222357

Brenda as usual is right on the money! I have follewed the..

principla of multiple streams of income. Much like many little streams for the biggest rivers I have expanded my services. I have an intergrated program that looks for services that key into my strengths. I started out in commercial real estate and added lending to my services from there I added insurance and notary services. Since I have a brick and mortar office I also try to get most income per square foot from my office including things like mail box rentals, accepting UPS, FedEx and DHL packages (I don't sell shipping supplies), I get dollar a package and the customer dropse them off and the courier picks them up. Recently I started selling legal insurance and its taken off very nicely. Legal insurance is something that anyone can sell. I don't want to advertise but check the links in my profile, its pretty much self explanatory: you'll have to cut and past the link becasue its in the body of my profile.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.