Herman: John L. Herman Jr., Author

REAL LIFE EXAMPLES

Whenever I read something I prefer real life examples rather than theoretical ones. In this blog there has always been a request for you to present your situation, with an offer to give you an hour of free advice from this writer. A food product company exec wrote to me, two people buying a bar have asked for advice, a service industry owner has sunk her retirement money back into the company as it has hit a bump, and one professional couple built a house on speculation and now have no buyer and are losing thousands a month in interest payments, draining their resources and stressing them out as a bonus.

Recently I offered a way to “hire herman” for fees far below what I used to charge as a financial consultant to give anyone wanting my help the ability to buy tens of thousands of dollars of service (my old fee) for merely hundreds of dollars. Their reaction from my new clients when they heard what I was willing to do, for the fee I have charged them, was “Why are you doing this for us?” Because, I want to. For the same reason I write a free blog daily, and for the same reason my books cost less than twenty dollars each and the same reason I give free speeches all over the country, or charge a very small fee for business groups…because I want everyone to learn from others whenever possible, without having to pay an arm and a leg for the advice.

Let me set the table for you. We have a brand new house in Cape May County New Jersey. It has more debt on it than it may be worth. Like thousands of others around the country. I told my new clients to do three things, lower the price immediately to find a buyer, put the house up for rent and have someone else help pay the cost of carrying it, and third, set an auction date and put a reserve price so they can make a final decision after we have knowledge of all three options. In seven weeks I will guarantee them an education of what the market feels about this house, and also an opportunity to take one of the three options because with some marketing efforts we will have people making offers all three ways. How can I be so sure? It’s how I made millions over the last twenty years. And if you continue reading this blog you will follow my efforts for the next seven weeks as I will write one blog posting weekly explaining my activities and the impact they have on making investors fit our schedule and not sit there waiting for lightning to strike. Remember your Hermanisms, like Number 51, “It is what it is.” In order for my clients to make a sound financial decision, they must have full market information, and any cash offers available before they decide their next move.

Part of the next two months will also include advising the lenders where we are in the process, as the lender also has a decision to make…if we don’t get them out 100 percent by our efforts. Stick around for this ride as the next seven Wednesday’s will be devoted to showing you what happens in a financially troubled deal where the owners want out with the least amount of damage, and hope for the miracle by taking action and not just sitting around doing what most troubled owners do…nothing.

• Posted: 21 February 2008
• Comments: 0
• Category: Business failure

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