Make Money with Judgements

What is a judgement? Wikipedia defines a judgement as:

A judgment in a legal context, is synonymous with the formal decision made by a court following a lawsuit.

If a judgement is made, it entitles one entity (a person or business) the right to collect the amount of the judgement from the other entity involved. The only problem is that the court doesn’t help you find the debtor or the debtor’s assets. This is a huge need, but there are few services available that perform this task. Al Schweitzer, from my understanding, is the “father” finding debtors and a debtor’s assets. I recently went to a meeting where he was speaking. I go to a lot of real estate meetings and entrepreneur meetings in general and I was surprised I hadn’t heard of this before. Here are a few facts that he gave out (note I have not been able to verify whether these are true or not).

1. 80% of judgements go uncollected

2. Courts award judgements in the US every 1.5 seconds.

3. Judgements can last 3-10 years

As a wanna be entrepreneur, I’m always looking for other potential ways of making money. Al went on to state that:

If you are owed money from a judgement, you can legally take all of the money from his/her account, garnish wages, place a lien and all without being a bill collector or attorney.

I thought this was absolutely fascinating. I must admit that part of the appeal is that because it almost sounds borderline “dangerous”. I will certainly follow up with an attorney and follow up with a future blog post.

Here were some of the websites given that allow you to find people who in many cases, don’t want to be found.

Insightamerica.com
IRBsearch.com
Merlindata.com
Locateplus.com

So, all of this sounds cool. How do people make money?

1. Find the debtor

2. Send letters and call if you do not hear from them after a week or two.

3. Ask them if they would be interested in settling their debts if you could cut their debt in half. Do they have the cash to settle the debt now?

4. Call the creditor.

5. Ask them if they would consider selling the judgement for $.20 - $.30 on the dollar.

6. Purchase the judgement.

7. Settle the judgment with the debtor and pocket between 20 to 30% of the value of the judgement.

All of this sounds relatively easy, but it usually is when people are trying to sell you something as Al was at the meeting.

There are some other uses with this knowledge:

1. If people have judgements against them, do you think they might be potentially facing foreclosure soon? This could be a way to find pre-foreclosures for real estate investors months before other people start mailing to them.

2. You could use these techniques of finding information on people to screen potential tenants.

3. Do a thorough background check on potential business partners.

4. Locate abandoned property owners.

5. Use judgements to reduce the price of the property you are trying to purchase.

In my opinion there is certainly a lot of value that Al has to offer. I’m pretty frugal so I was not willing to fork over the $500 for the tapes and CD’s or the like. It’s $279 and $767 respectively for his kit through his website, Courtcash.com. I do have a friend that purchased the kit, but he reported that it’s been on his bookshelf, untouched.

photo by Dbking

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Other Posts that may interest you:

What Would Happen if More People Were Financially Independent?
What’s the Best Financial Decision You’ve Made?
10 Reasons Why You Should NOT Own a Pool

Interview: CopperReflections.com

1. Could you please tell us about yourselves?

We have been making handmade copper jewelry and gifts for almost 25 years. We have built our company from the ground up. We started with just a small table on the street, we had a retail store, we have participated in arts and crafts shows in Canada and the United States, exhibited at wholesale jewelry and gift shows and now we are online for the entire world! There is no overnight success in business; you need to build your business step by step on a solid foundation to ensure continued success.

2. You mentioned you are semi-retired, what all does that entail?

Ten years ago nothing was more important than building our wholesale handmade jewelry business, a legacy for our children. We spent night and day working, blinders on, seemingly unaware of the world around us. We focused on our goal so completely that there was no time for friends or family. We were on our own just trying to get everything done on schedule. All in all we were quite successful but something was missing.

One day we woke up and the enthusiasm was gone, we were tired of the stress of our dream. So we decided that the dream needed revising. After much conversation, not to mention a little too much wine, we came up with a new plan. We were going to change everything; we were going to begin living the life we always wanted.

We packed up the house and the kids and we moved to Turkey. At times it seems like a fairy tale! We live by the sea; we go for long walks and spend entire days at the beach. We take drives along the coast and the views take our breath away, it is a truly enchanted life; a dream come true!

We still work on the handmade jewelry business but we are a lot more relaxed about it. Now we are focused on our website and new designs for our handmade jewelry and unique gifts instead of the day to day running of the business. The wholesale jewelry business is now working for us instead of us being the slave of the business.

3. How long have you had your business, http://www.copperreflections.com/? What are some of the challenges you’ve faced in maintaining your business?

We started our business almost 25 years ago, but have only been focusing on the website for the last eight months. When we made our first website a few years ago, we sat down with a website designer and he made the website just how we wanted it. We were busy with our wholesale handmade jewelry business and didn’t focus on the website, it was just there. We had invested money but not time to understand how to make the website work for us. It was like printing business cards before you know what you are going to sell, pointless.

In the last eight months we have devoted a great deal of time to learn about internet marketing and to develop our website. It takes a lot of time, but research is the key to success. Knowing your target market and creating a marketing strategy are very important. This is not an overnight process; it takes time to find out what works and doesn’t work. It is a work in progress; every day we learn something new and try to apply it to our situation.

Six months ago you couldn’t find our website unless you typed in our URL. Now we are in the top ten for several of our keyword phrases and seeing improvement every day for the more competitive phrases. Every day we get inquiries about our handmade jewelry and unique gift ideas.

4. How did you get started in your business? How do you plan to grow into the future?

My husband starting making jewelry and selling on the street, he had a 2′x4′ table in Gastown, a historical part of Vancouver, Canada. We’ve come a long way since then. We are very much looking toward the future. Being online is like having a store for the whole world! We have recently found a distributor for our handmade copper jewelry and gifts in Australia. We receive inquiries every day and hope to find distributors throughout Europe and the UK. The future is looking very bright.

5. Are most of your clients within Turkey or do you do a lot of your business overseas?

We just moved to Turkey about a year ago, we don’t sell our products in Turkey. We have been in business in Canada for about 25 years. Our customers are mostly in the United States and Canada, and our designs are fitted to that market. We sell to the top tourist attractions in Canada, like the CN Tower in Toronto, Butchart Gardens in Victoria and Capilano Suspension Bridge in Vancouver. We have distributors in Canada and the US who sell wholesale to retail stores, 90% of our sales come from there.

6. You guys seem to have done very well considering you are under the age of 50. Do you have any tips for other up and coming entrepreneurs?

If you want to be happy, sell retail; a store, online or craft shows. If you want to make money, sell wholesale to the retail stores; it’s a lot more work but it has its own rewards.

Sometimes a successful wholesale jewelry business just sneaks up on you overwhelming your life. It took years to realize that one person cannot be responsible for everything. In any type of business you must delegate the work so that the business is working for you. Choose what you like to do and outsource what don’t enjoy. Life is a balance; work should not overshadow all other areas.

Take time to enjoy life: family, friends and especially your kids. Before you know it they grow up, make sure you are the most important influence in their lives, not someone on tv. They are depending on you to show them the way to be happy and successful in life. Don’t let them down, be there for them.

To find out more about Tony and Jen, please feel free to visit their blog:

http://copperreflections.com/handmade-jewelry-blog/

or chat with them on twitter

https://twitter.com/unique_jewelry

10 Reasons Why I Want You to Be Financially Independent

I’ve wanted to be financially independent starting about 2-3 years ago.

I’ve been out of school and in the work force for 6 years. The first few years out of school, I think I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to help the world. I started out at a fuel cell company because I thought fuel cells would be beneficial in helping wane the US off of oil. Now I work in a lab playing with carbon nanotubes which have their own set of “green” possibilities not limited to being the best material for electrical conductivity. Working on the cutting edge of technology is very cool, but both scenarios have me working until I’m 65 or longer and that doesn’t sit well with me.

My idea of financial independence is a situation where one is in a financial position to work or not and still enjoy the necessities of life plus a few luxuries without relying on government assistance.

I want you to be financially independent. Heck, I want to be financially independent as well, but we’re focusing on you, not me.

Can you imagine what the US would be like if more people were financially independent?

Some questions I’d like you to ponder:

1. Would the US be happier?

2. Would there be a shift towards people studying the arts?

3. What would the stock market be like?

4. Would professional sports be as popular as they are today? Do people need this distraction if they are no longer going to jobs that they may not enjoy?

5. What about movie stars/celebrities? Would they be as popular as they are today?

6. Would we see a huge spike or slow-down in innovation?

7. What about professions such as psychology? How would it affect them?

8. If more Americans were financially independent, would we produce as much waste as we do? If we have more time, there is potentially less hustle and bustle and perhaps people would be able to fix household items that break instead of tossing it and going to Walmart to buy another.

I want you to be financially independent, and here’s why:

1. Stay in your relationship

Relationships are important. Life and business is all about relationships. One of the most important relationships you can have is with your wife, husband, or significant other. It is disputed whether financial issues are the major cause of divorce (see artcle by Liz @ MSN Money), but not worrying about money, I’m certain, would have a positive impact on your relationships. I’m not sure about you, but in my opinion, during a divorce, the only person that really wins is the attorney. In addition to not having disputes over finances, if you are financially independent, you don’t need to work. If you don’t need to work, you have a lot more time to spend on developing and nurturing those relationships. I know I would love to spend more time with my wife, family, and friends because time is our most precious commodity. You can never get it back unless you are Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. It’s these strong bonds that I believe to be one of the most important ingredients to a “good” life and being happy.

2. Volunteer

If you are financially independent and not working, you need to be doing something productive. Why not volunteer for a local organization or habitat for humanity. Here is a list of possible reasons you may want to volunteer per Susan J. Ellis of Energize, Inc (find the original post here)

• to feel needed
• to share a skill
• to get to know a community
• to demonstrate commitment to a cause/belief
• to gain leadership skills
• to act out a fantasy
• to do your civic duty
• because of pressure from a friend or relative
• satisfaction from accomplishment
• to keep busy
• for recognition
• to repay a debt
• to donate your professional skills
• because there is no one else to do it
• to have an impact
• to learn something new
• for freedom of schedule
• to help a friend or relative
• for escape
• to become an “insider”
• guilt
• to be challenged
• to be a watchdog
• to feel proud
• to make new friends
• to explore a career
• to help someone
• as therapy
• to do something different from your job
• for fun!
• for religious reasons
• to earn academic credit
• to keep skills alive
• because an agency is geographically close
• to have an excuse to do what you love
• to be able to criticize
• to assure progress
• to feel good
• to be part of a team
• to gain status
• because you were asked
• to test yourself
• to build your resume
• to be an agent of change
• because of personal experience with the problem, illness, or cause
• to stand up and be counted

3. Increased Mental Health

If you aren’t worrying about money, you probably aren’t as stressed out. Stress kills. Have you ever snapped at your kids or significant other after a long day at work? Gone. Traffic to work and the mental strain that is puts you through. Gone. All of that sounds pretty sweet to me. I try VERY hard to make sure I don’t bring work or traffic stress home, but sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming. I’m not trying to say that if you are financially independent stress will permanently go away, but I’m sure your stress level will decrease significantly.

4. Increased Physical Health

You aren’t in the office 40 plus hours per week. You aren’t in the car for upto 8 hours per week (16 hours if you live in Los Angeles). That’s a lot of time that is now available to you to take care of you and your body. There are a ton of benefits that you would see in your physical health without worrying about money. Without a job, you would be able to dedicate more of your time to working out.

5. Time with Friends and Family

I often feel badly that I don’t spend time with my little brother or that I don’t make it down to Austin to hang out with old friends. There is no good excuse, but unfortunately there are only some many hours in a day.

I hope this is never a scenario that anyone has to go through, but if you are financially independent and a family member falls ill, you would be more able to help out. I know quite a few people who tend to their friends or family at the detriment of their own financial well being. Financial independence would put you in a position to help if needed.

6. Foreclosures

I feel greed fueled a lot of the foreclosures we are seeing today. If you were financially independent, you more than likely wouldn’t have a mortgage much less have the need to borrow 106% to purchase a house.

7. Happiness

I truly hope that you enjoy what you do 8+ hours per day and 40+ hours per week. The unfortunate situation is that most people do not like their jobs. Financial independence could put an end to your ball and chain routine and enable you to find something that will make you happy. Life is way too short so you should focus on being happy during the time you are here.

8. Pass the Knowledge of Financial Independence to Family and Friends

Pay it Forward. You could help your friends and family achieve financial independence. This would not only help them financially, mentally, etc, but you’d be able to spend more time with them since they are no longer working the long hours required by their jobs.

Teaching your kids to be financially independent will give them the flexibility to choose the major they desire as opposed to choosing the major that pays well in order to pay back student loans (I’m not speaking from experience ).

9. Hobbies

It’s tough to keep up with any hobbies. My wife and I have a tough time keeping up with hobbies and we don’t have any kids so I can only imagine how hectic it gets with a full house. Well, if you just added 40+ hours to your week, you’ll have time for some hobbies. You could finally learn how to paint, write the great American novel, or take up yoga. I’ve always wanted to take up some sort of martial arts. I think that the discipline would be good for me, but it would also help me stay flexible, meet other people with similar interests, and I’m sure I would become stronger.

10. Education

You should go back to school. Because you would have 40+ hours of extra time every week, you could go get that art history degree! I know I would like to learn a foreign language or take a carpentry class.

Do you want to be financially independent? If so, let me know how I can help. If we are able to gather a lot of support for this goal, perhaps we can all help each other achieve it. Are you already financially independent? If so, send me an e-mail and I’d love to interview you about your adventure.

happinessisbetter [at] gmail.com (sorry, spam likes me )

Photos by Tigr, Joe Shlabotnik, kiskisbreeze, Hamed Masoumi

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Interview: Liveworkdream.com

Do You Like Money as Much as I Do?

I Conquered the iPhone

Do You Squidoo?

Do You Squidoo?

Squidoo is a website that allows anyone to EASILY build a single page website called a “lens”. The lens can focus on a particular subject or can be a broad overview. The person who makes the lens is termed a “lensmaster”. Squidoo claims you can build a lens in 60 seconds and best of all, it’s free!

So, who should use Squidoo?

1. Business owner

2. Blogger

3. Anyone marketing anything

4. People who are passionate about a subject and want to spread the knowledge.

5. People who want to complete a simple webpage about themselves.

Why should you Squidoo?

1. Money

There are a few ways to make money using Squidoo.

On your lens, you can elect to have Google ads displayed. This can be a revenue source for you, but it will more than likely take some time to see any money so be patient.

You can opt to showcase Amazon, eBay, and CafePress items on your lens and if people purchase them, you earn commission. This is also termed “affiliate marketing”.

You can also make money by referring traffic from your lens to your blog or website. Of course, you only make money on your website or blog if you have advertising of some form.

2. Give to Charity

One of the great aspects about Squidoo, and has most likely attributed to a lot of it’s popularity, is that they give to charity and give YOU the option to give to charity. The breakdown of revenue is:

1. 5% goes to charity off the top of the revenue they pull in from ads and affiliate links. You don’t see this from too many companies so Squidoo should certainly be commended for that.

2. 45% of the revenue goes to the overhead of running Squidoo.

3. The other 50% goes to either the charity of the lensmaster’s choice, or is directed to the lensmaster in the form of cash.

3. Simple Web Page

There are not too many other websites that can get you up and running as quickly as Squidoo.

4. Great Publicity

Building Squidoo lenses that direct people to your website or blog is a great (and free) way to promote your services. If you have a blog, you need to have a Squidoo lens.

Even if Squidoo doesn’t seem like your “cup of tea”, I would encourage you to visit a charity lens that Squidoo set up: http://www.squidoo.com/squidoo-charity-giveaway. For every vote they receive for a charity, they will donate $2 (up to $80,000) to that charity. As I write this, I believe they have already exceeded the 40,000 vote ($80,000) figure, but you are still able to vote.

You can go here to make your first lens!

Also, here is my profile on Squidoo: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/HappinessisBetter

Some other alternatives to Squidoo are:

Hubpages - From what I’ve read, it’s very similar to Squidoo with a different look and feel. I am not familiar with Hubpages and JUST signed up moments ago.

Here is a review of Hubpages vs. Squidoo by JohnKnoo.com

Oondi - This is another website very similar to Squidoo and Hubpages, but not as well known. I’ve read that they pay 100% of the advertising income instead of the 50% offered by Squidoo. I’m also not very familiar with this website.

Anyone have experience with these websites?

photo by TeamStickerGiant

Do You Like Money as Much as I Do?

I’m not sure why I’ve always had a fascination with money. I’ve always liked making money and I’ve always been careful with spending it.

It all started when I was in the 4^th grade. I do not recall why I wanted money, but I tried to figure out how to make money. I assume it was for baseball cards or the like. I started selling candy to other kids at school. The bus driver even gave me the nick name, “The Candy Man”. I would go with my parents to Sam’s where I would buy laffy taffy and blow pops, then mark them up 100%. Looking back, I was proud that I was able to pull in $40 a week, which is a lot of money to a 9 year old in the 80’s.

Between the age of 9 and 16, my quest for money became more urgent. Once staff at my elementary school told me to stop selling candy to other kids (they didn’t like the competition ), I started mowing lawns. In middle school and prior to turning 16, I also worked at my dad’s baseball card shop. I usually had to work for credit so I would use the credit to buy packs of baseball cards that were of high value to other collectors. I had the inside scoop on whether the good cards had already been plucked from a box or not and thus I was able to tilt the chances of opening a pack of cards with a valuable card. I then sold the valuable card either to my dad or to friends.

Once in high school, my first “real” job in was at a dollar theater. I started out asking people “would you like butter with that”. Yes, it was lame. I was covered in all sorts of neon colors because it was owned my Cinemark Theaters. My starting pay was $4.25 per hour which was enough to pay for gas and insurance on my car (which was REALLY expensive ~$200/month). I quickly moved to projectionist which was more up my ally. During my second summer of work eligibility, I had 3 jobs. I worked at the movie theater (my main job), at Winn Dixie bagging groceries and at RGIS as an auditor (REALLY boring).

That fall after I had maxed out my “potential” at the movie theater, I left Cinemark to bag groceries at Tom Thumb. I quickly became a cashier where I was pulling in $5.25/hour. I was only there for 6-9 months before starting at Flashnet (a 1995 internet provider) where I was a salesman. It was actually my best job during high school. I made $8.oo per hour plus commission. With commission and my base pay, I was making $12.00-$15.00 per hour. I’m not much of a salesman, but it made the job a lot easier since the calls were inbound and therefore the callers were already interested in signing up. It was just really a matter of services provided.

I had various jobs working for professors in college. My next business took hold in 1999. I started selling Pokemon cards through my website and Yahoo! Auctions. I had originally wanted to start a website for my dad’s business. Everyone, especially a business, NEEDED a website. It was the big thing. Well, my dad wouldn’t commit to move forward on a website, so instead I asked him to could order more cards than usual so that I could buy the excess (at the time a seller had to have a store front to be able to buy Pokemon cards from the manufacturer). My first internet business was born. I did fairly well considering I had a part time job and a full load of engineering classes. I pulled in around $12K in about a year. Unfortunately, I jumped into the business towards the peak of the short-lived popularity. It was interesting that most of my customers were overseas. That business lasted about a year prior to dying out. It was an interesting ride though, and thankfully that entrepreneurial spirit has persisted.

Do you have any childhood or college money-making adventures? I’d love to hear them!

photo by theritters’