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Home » Business And Finance Articles » Im Feeling Very Mortgage Inadequate

I'm Feeling Very Mortgage Inadequate

Right now I'm feeling very inadequate. You know! It's that feeling you get when you've just let someone down. As Mortgage Professionals we have all experienced it. I just couldn't help. Here's the whole agonizing story from the very beginning...

Last Summer, Canadian Kyle MacDonald, an unemployed writer, set off on a quest to turn one red paper clip into a house, by swapping it for items that were bigger or better.

Based on a game called Bigger and Better (I don't remember that one when I was a kid) that he played as a child, MacDonald decided he would use his creativity and the power of the internet to trade up from one item to another, starting only with one red paperclip, to ultimately trade for his goal...a house.

MacDonald set up a web blog to trade his one red paperclip on July 12th, 2005 and he made his first trade for a pen (in the shape of a fish) on July 14.Well, it took Kyle 14 internet trades, and exactly one year to move from the red paper clip to a house on Main Street in the tiny town of Kipling in Saskatchewan province, Canada - a place he has never been to before.

Kyle's initial trade swapped the paperclip for a pen in Vancouver, the pen became a doorknob, which was traded for a portable barbecue, then swapped for a generator, to become a full beer keg and neon Budweiser sign in New York. A snowmobile followed which was then traded for a trip to Yahn in the Canadian Rockies? He swapped that for a 1995 Ford Van which was then traded for a recording contract which became one year rent-free in Phoenix. An afternoon with Alice Cooper followed, then a snow globe, a Hollywood movie role in Donna on Demand for a two-storey, three-bedroom, 1920s farmhouse on the town's Main Street in rural Kipling.

Kyle's new home community, which is named after the famed British author and poet Rudyard Kipling and is home to New York Times list award-winning romance novelist Mary Balogh, seems like the ideal place to crank out his life's story, which is scheduled to hit store shelves next summer. He successfully parlayed this whole adventure into a book deal with Random House and a movie deal with DreamWorks.

You can go to Google maps and key in the address: 530 Main Street, Kipling Saskatchewan to view the property.

His book, to be published in four different languages, will contain new material about his bartering experience. He said he was approached by about 40 book publishers and 50 production companies who were interested in his story.

Again, I feel terrible that as a Mortgage Professional, I couldn't help Kyle secure a home mortgage. Of course, being unemployed didn't help much. To tell the truth, I really don't originate mortgages in Canada. Plus, all of my lenders had already reached their quota and all of their free mortgages had already been allocated.

Congratulations Kyle MacDonald on a job well done. Quite a return on investment...one red paperclip for a house. Only in America...well actually, North America!

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Dish Network – Business Strategy Principles for your Home Business

Dish Network boasts an impressive clientele of more than nine million monthly subscribers. Significantly, though they are only the second largest distributor of satellite television service, they have been voted #1 in customer service by J.D. Power and Associates. While every business has, by necessity, a different business plan, a careful look at some of the things Dish Network has done to be successful will yield a few principles that will help your small business to succeed.

Echo-Star owns Dish Network, and they are currently in negotiation with one of their channel providers because the provider is demanding a higher per-package, per-user fee each month. The demand, though an increase of only a few pennies per user, represents millions of dollars in the short and long term for Dish. I present the conflict here to demonstrate Dish's commitment to minimizing costs. Rather than just rolling over and accepting the fee increase, Dish Network is demonstrating to their customers their commitment to providing their services at the lowest cost possible. For any business to be successful, and I assume that is the goal for your home business, it must bring in more revenue than it shells out. Being diligent in fighting to minimize your own costs will go a long way towards that end.

Perhaps the reason you started your own business was because you craved the autonomy that came inherently with "being your own boss." Perhaps it did not take long to realize that absolute freedom is hard to come by. Unless you produce the raw materials, refine them, create a marketable good, and sell it completely on your own, your business decisions are limited somewhat by others. Dish Network's taking issue with the fee increase represents their dedication to retaining some of that autonomy we all desire for our businesses. Even if you can't set the prices, you certainly can negotiate them. Unless you are absolutely sure you are getting the best deal possible on the materials you purchase, make a phone call and talk to someone about it. In the end, the producer's relationship with you, the consumer, affects their bottom line.

One of the biggest concerns Dish Network faced in the new millennium was how to continue to provide their award-winning customer service cost effectively. Customer service was performed completely over the telephone at a cost of $5 to $15 each call. Dish looked to technology to provide additional venues where customer service interactions could play themselves out. This led to solutions that would be available through the customer's satellite receiver at home and online solutions, where the customer could view and make changes to their account without requiring the services of an employee, thus providing the same customer service while cutting down on costs. The lesson that should be learned from this example is that technology, when implemented correctly, can save costs and increase the efficiency with which we are able to provide services to our customers.

The magnitude of work required to produce and integrate Dish Network's new customer service solutions is baffling. Now consider that they planned for and implemented the technological changes to their customer service process in less than five months. The home business principle to learn from this is speed is a necessity, not a luxury. To compete with your competitors, you need to provide the same product at a higher quality, faster speed, or lower price. What changes do you need to make in order to streamline your business? Is there something that you are doing now that you could do without? By all means, weigh your options carefully and make a decision you feel comfortable with. But once the decision is made, move on it. Your customers will appreciate your decisiveness and innovation.

Dish Network is a thriving business, due in large part to the way they analyze and execute their business strategy. Using equal discretion, innovation, and decisiveness could boost your business as well.