Category Archives: Residential

LEARNING FROM LEADERS’ QUOTES

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

How can you learn from proven leaders’ wisdom? One quick way is to get an insight to their thought process by reading up on their quotes.

Years ago, a business acquaintance I had met in San Francisco while consulting on a high-tech real estate project for Santa Fe Southern Pacific in Silicon Valley got me started on looking at quotes from different leaders in various industries. Continue reading

A TSUNAMI HITS DETROIT

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Do you hear that? It’s a crumbling sound reverberating across the country.

It’s the great wall of over-bloated government pensions starting to crumble in Detroit. The unions think they will stop the crumbling? I don’t think so. Continue reading

CONDO BOARD PRESIDENT: YOU ARE NOT A LANDLORD

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By James Carlini

Views from a Condo Board President :

As more baby boomers retire and decide to go into condos or townhomes that have homeowner associations, they better realize that condo/ townhouse living is different than living in a single family home. Living within a set of rules after living on your own for several decades takes Continue reading

DETROIT: THE “SCARED STRAIGHT” DESTINATION FOR CITY ADMINISTRATORS

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

The city of Detroit is faced with a 50/50 chance of bankruptcy and this should not be taken lightly. Many can criticize what led up to this financial catastrophe, but the more important issue is what can everyone learn from it? Continue reading

MUNICIPALITIES GONE WILD: EAST DUNDEE AMBULANCE BILLING FEES

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By James Carlini
We have all heard about the municipality in California that has paid some of its administrators with six-figure salaries as well as six-figure pensions, but we think that is a very rare occurrence and that our own municipality would never get that bad.

Look closely at your own municipality and its agencies. Are they gouging you on the price of services? Are you paying double compared to the Continue reading

REAL ESTATE AGENTS: AS FAST AS GLACIERS

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By James Carlini

pic real estate for sale The housing market has really been slow the last couple of years in the United States, but you wonder if it could have recovered faster if real estate agents would do their jobs.

In Illinois, real estate agents range from very good to very poor.  Some have no sense-of-urgency in respect to Continue reading

AREA CODE 809: JUST ANOTHER PHONE BILL SCAM

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By James Carlini

Area Code 809 Phone Scam

There are a lot of Emails going around on the internet warning people to watch out for any calls that say to return the call to a number inside of the 809 area code.  Some have said this is an exaggerated threat, but if you look closely, it isn’t.  This kind of scam happens.

Graphic Caution Phone ScamThis is a real threat and will cost you money and more importantly, time, if you get caught up in it.

The Email being circulated warns of calls coming in to be Continue reading

Liz Strauss Interview at Extreme Leadership Summit

Liz StraussLiz Strauss Speaks at Extreme Leadership Summit

Liz spoke about building your business by building relationships, trust and rapport with others. Liz is one of the 10 most influential women in social media per Forbes and Huffington Post, and she uses age old business techniques to she learned from her dad to totally dominate a market using these new platforms.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cSMtUj-qSw]

I was recently granted a phone interview with Liz and I have gotten the pleasure of hanging having a few dinners and great conversations.

Liz makes a great friend and a wonderful mentor. Liz is blunt because I think she gets bored easily and doesn’t care for ignorance, but more because she cares a lot.

I am glad to call Liz friend and so happy that I finally got her on camera. Thanks Liz – JW

Here is the phone interview [CLICK HERE]

liz strauss bloggerLiz Strauss

Liz Strauss is a master teacher, thought leader, community builder, and international business strategist, who has been called the most influential “real-ebrity” on the web. People visit her blog to learn, discover, and meet each other. She’s a business creator, an über connector, an idea machine. No one questions that what she brings is one-of-a-kind authenticity.

Strategic, intelligent, and nice is a powerful combination.

From her father’s saloon, to her years as a teacher, with her understanding of literacy, brain development and writing, her work as territory sales rep for a menswear corporation, to an outstanding international publishing career, Liz has used every opportunity to find the human attractions and connections behind the P&L.

CEO and founder of SOBCon, author of the popular Successful-Blog.com, speaker.

Liz defines irresistible businesses as those with great relationships who constantly

  • Remove what customers don’t want.
  • Enhance what customers love.
  • Add something unexpected customers would die for.

Irresistible defines Liz.

Sobcon

SOBconLiz is also the Creator and CEO of Successful Online Business Convention SOBcon, the high-touch business summit

The theme – “Creating and Leveraging Opportunity”. 2 ½ days of strategies and tactics focused on merging your online and offline worlds into a successful business.

Where you can find Liz:
Twitter @lizstrauss
Blog www.successful-blog.com

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Steve Farbers Extreme Leadership Summit

What is Extreme Leadership?

If you haven’t already noticed, ‘Leadership’ has become just another one of those pseudo-pop-psycho-cultural buzzwords.

Over time, its meaning has been diluted to such a profound degree, that it’s just another one of those labels we use when we really mean ‘The one with the big office.’ 

True leadership doesn’t come from a snappy vocabulary, the books you have on your shelf, your place on the organization chart, or any other fabrication.

Leadership is intensely personal, intrinsically scary, and it requires us to live up to and beyond the point of fear—every single day. – Steve Farber

Extreme Leadership Summit

Steve and his team have crafted The Extreme Leadership Summit to be something unique, something special, something…well…extreme. And it’s unlike any leadership or personal development “event” you’ve been to before.

The Summit is not a pitch fest (where a bunch of speakers try to sell you stuff), and it’s not a parade of talking heads, to mix a metaphor, where you passively sit, watch the show, take notes, and go home.

This is an experience, a process.

Informed by our brilliant thought-leader-speaker-coaches and with the help of your fellow participants (in small, focused MasterMind Teams), you’ll build a significant, personal Extreme Leadership Action Plan–a plan that you’ll begin applying to your life and business immediately, before The Summit even ends.

And–unlike other events–the vast majority of our speakers will be attending the entire conference. With you. We’re all in this thing together.

More Information………….

Steve Farber Steve Farber

A subject-matter expert in business leadership and a frequent guest on news-talk shows around the country, Farber is a senior-level leadership coach and consultant who has worked with and spoken to a wide variety of public and private organizations in virtually every arena, from the tech sector to financial services, manufacturing, health care, hospitality, entertainment, retail, and even the US government.

Leading from experience.

In 1989, after having run his own financial services company, Farber devoted his professional life to the field of leadership development and has been at it ever since.

Steve was director of service programs at TMI, an international training consultancy, and then worked for 6 years as Vice President and Official Mouthpiece (that’s what it said on his business card) of The Tom Peters Company where he met several of his mentors including author/gurus Tom Peters, Jim Kouzes, and Terry Pearce.

In 2000, Farber established his own company, Extreme Leadership, Inc, where he is president and CEO. He is also the co-founder of The Center for Social Profit Leadership, a non-profit organization formed to serve the leadership development needs of social entrepreneurs, and served as Vice Chairman on the Board of Directors of the world-renown, Up With People, a global leadership program for students from 18 to 29 years old.

A Universal Message.

“Approach the act of leadership as you’d approach an extreme sport: learn to love the fear and exhilaration that naturally comes with the territory.”

Steve Farber is the president of Extreme Leadership, Incorporated, and the founder of The Extreme Leadership Institute, organizations devoted to the cultivation and development of Extreme Leaders in the business community, non-profits and education.

Steve’s Books

book radical leap re-energized Steve Farber

The Radical Leap Re-Energized

is an expansion and revitalization of The Radical Leap, which was named as one of the 100 Best Business Books of All Time by Covert and Sattersten.

It’s a novel told in Steve Farber’s humorous, poignant, and original voice that takes the reader on a deep exploration of the qualities and practices of real, or Extreme Leadership, and how to apply them in daily life. Part One, The Radical Leap, explores the leadership elements of Love, Energy, Audacity, and Proof;

Part Two, The Radical Edge, takes the discussion deeper into innovation, personal clarity and guidelines for changing the world. It sets a new standard for what it means to really lead in today’s business world and beyond.

Steve Farber’s masterwork, The Radical Leap Re-Energized, is an inspired opus on what it means to be a leader of substance and significance. You’ll find yourself coming back to it again and again.” –Michael E. Ventling, Global CFO, Ernst & Young
Steve Farber leaps again. I was into it the first time. This time, I’m leaping with him!” –Chris Brogan, President Human Business Works
e, I’m leaping with him!” –Chris Brogan, President Human Business Works

book greater than yourself steve farber

Greater Than Yourself

Too many people assume the timeless principles of true leadership—of helping others achieve their full potential—don’t apply Monday through Friday during work hours or in any circumstance where a paycheck is involved.

In GREATER THAN YOURSELF, Steve Farber proves them wrong: in this powerful and inspiring story, Farber shows that the goal of a genuine leader is to help others—teammates, employees, and colleagues—become more capable, confident, and accomplished than they are themselves. Through the actions of a forward-thinking and extraordinarily successful CEO, Farber reveals the three keys to achieving this: Expand Yourself, Give Yourself, and Replicate Yourself.

Filled with actionable principles and innovative ideas, GREATER THAN YOURSELF is perhaps the most powerful message today’s business leaders can learn.

Blogger Liz Strauss on Building Community

Liz Strauss BloggerLiz Strauss is Witty, Funny and Too Friggen Smart

I first saw Liz on Empire Avenue. Yes it is an Internet game, but although I do not do Mafia Wars or Farmville I love EAv because it tells you about your reach on social media and reminds you where you need to put more work and how you are doing on many of the different medias. Enough about EAv. Go check it out and remember not to let the tail wag the dog.

Liz plays Angry Birds and is on EAv and I see here there and everytime I do something on EAv Liz says something nice and one day she sends me a nice personal tweet. It was sweet and very nice and I took a second to Google her and check out who she was. To my amazement she is not just another blogger.

Let me put this in perspective… Liz is a keynote speaker at BlogWorld! So why the personal note? This is what Liz does to build community. It is what I do on my sites. It is all about talking to one person at a time. It is the essence of building community.

I am honored that she choose me and am now a HUGE fan. More that that as you listen to this interview you will see the immense genius of Liz and what she does and what she believes, what she teaches and how she lives her values.

Thank you so much Liz. This interview starts out a bit rough and I apologize, but you were a trooper and did not let my fumbling deter you from making your incredible points.

Many of us struggle with social media and others are building incredible lists of thousand and thousands, but the most important and hardest thing to do on the web, in sales and marketing and social media is to build rapport and community. Some can build huge rapport and community, but have no clue how, why or if they should market them. Liz can do both and very well.

Take the time to listen to this interview more than once. This is one of the more important interviews I have done and you will learn from listening to Liz – JW

liz strauss bloggerLiz Strauss

Liz Strauss is a master teacher, thought leader, community builder, and international business strategist, who has been called the most influential “real-ebrity” on the web. People visit her blog to learn, discover, and meet each other. She’s a business creator, an über connector, an idea machine. No one questions that what she brings is one-of-a-kind authenticity.

Strategic, intelligent, and nice is a powerful combination.

From her father’s saloon, to her years as a teacher, with her understanding of literacy, brain development and writing, her work as territory sales rep for a menswear corporation, to an outstanding international publishing career, Liz has used every opportunity to find the human attractions and connections behind the P&L.

CEO and founder of SOBCon, author of the popular Successful-Blog.com, speaker.

Liz defines irresistible businesses as those with great relationships who constantly

  • Remove what customers don’t want.
  • Enhance what customers love.
  • Add something unexpected customers would die for.

Irresistible defines Liz.

Where you can find Liz:
Twitter @lizstrauss
Blog www.successful-blog.com

Liz is also the Creator and CEO of Successful Online Business Convention SOBcon

SOBCon Chicago 2012

Larry McDonald on The Collapse and The Future of the Economy

lawrence mcdonaldLarry McDonald Former Lehman VP and NY Times Bestselling Author on The Collapse and The Future of the Economy.

Lawrence G. McDonald Senior Director at Newedge and NY Times Bestselling Author of “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense – The

Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers; certainly the first and one of the most comprehensive and well written books on the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the economy as a whole, sat down with me to discuss his life, the book, the fall of Lehman and what he believes is going on with the economy both nationally and internationally.

Larry is known for successfully reading market trends both during the dot com meltdown of 2000 and was one of a group of people at Lehman’s that actively predicted the fall of the real estate markets in 2008 when everyone else was bullish.
I really enjoyed Larry’s book because it is a great story and Larry lays out the confusion of those tense days of crash in a way everyone can understand and

comprehend.
I want to thank Larry’s staff for their time and patience and Larry for the incredible amount of time he spent with me as his schedule is nuts!. – JW

Lawrence G. McDonald

foxpic2

Larry McDonald has written New York Times Best Seller “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense” about the collapse of Lehman Brothers, with Patrick Robinson, the #1 New York Times best selling author of Lone Survivor.

Global Lecture Tour

Larry is on the lecture tour, recently speaking at Universities, Banks, Investment Firms, Law Firms and Insurance companies.

His speaking engagements have been all over the United States, Europe and Asia. He has been a Keynote Speaker at over 20 venues since his book was published.

lawarence G. McDonald lehman a colossal failure of common sense

“A Colossal Failure of Common Sense – the Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers,” was published by Random House 7/21/09, and hit the New York Times bestseller list in its first week. It is now one of the bestselling business books in the world, translated into 12 different languages. Larry is President and Founder of LGM Group, LLC an asset mgmt firm, specializing in Washington, DC policy research and trading, based in New York City.

Larry has been a guest and or contributor on CNBC, MSNBC, the New York Times, Fortune, CNN, CCTV China, France 24, BBC World, BBC America, Barron’s, Channel 4 News London, Bloomberg TV, Fox TV, Fox Radio, CBS, PBS Frontline and NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CBC News Canada, Business Week, The Economist, Die Zeit Germany, Tokyo TV, the Financial Times, Time Magazine, NPR, and the New York Post. Read More…..

Larry Mcdonald book a colossal failure of common sense lehman brothersThe Book

One of the biggest questions of the financial crisis has not been answered until now. What happened at Lehman Brothers and why was it allowed to fail, with aftershocks that rocked the global economy? In this news-making, often astonishing book, a former Lehman Brothers Vice President gives us the straight answers—right from the belly of the beast.

In A Colossal Failure of Common Sense, Larry McDonald, a Wall Street insider, reveals the culture and unspoken rules of the game like no book has ever done. The book is couched in the very human story of Larry McDonald’s Horatio Alger-like rise from a Massachusetts “gateway to nowhere” housing project to the New York headquarters of Lehman Brothers, home of one of the world’s toughest trading floors.

We get a close-up view of the participants in the Lehman collapse, especially those who saw it coming with a helpless, angry certainty. We meet the Brahmins at the top, whose reckless, pedal-to-the-floor addiction to growth finally demolished the nation’s oldest investment bank. The Wall Street we encounter here is a ruthless place, where brilliance, arrogance, ambition, greed, capacity for relentless toil, and other human traits combine in a potent mix that sometimes fuels prosperity but occasionally destroys it.

The full significance of the dissolution of Lehman Brothers remains to be measured. But this much is certain: it was a devastating blow to America’s—and the world’s—financial system. And it need not have happened. This is the story of why it did. Read More…..

Where you can find Larry:
Twitter @convertbond
Blog LawrenceGMcDonald.com