Filed under: Estates

Today’s home in Phoenix, Arizona was once the home of John and Cindy McCain. The home, on over two acres, was Cindy McCain’s childhood home, where she was raised as a privileged beer distributor’s daughter. When the McCains lived there they spent $250,000 remodeling the home back in the 1980s. In 2006, the couple downsized into a condo and put the home on the market. When I first heard about it in 2006, they had a bit of trouble selling the home, listing it for around $3.75 million.

The current owner is going for a bit more. They’ve listed the home, which has seven bedrooms in the main house and two bedrooms in the guest home, for a hefty $12 million. The home includes a master suite with a Mexican-tiled private patio with a spa and built-in fireplace and seating. The gourmet kitchen has slate floors, granite counters and heavy commercial stainless steel appliances. The guest home also has an attached his/her dressing cabana. More pics at the virtual tour. It seems to have had quite the renovation since the McCains lived there. Check out the photos from 2005 when Architectural Digest visited the McCains. It’s virtually unrecognizable except for certain telling details like the fireplace in the master bedroom. I’ve to state, I like Cindy McCain’s version of this house.

For more prime properties and lush locations, see Luxury Homes and Mansions.

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Continue reading John McCain’s Former Home, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), salesforce.com inc (CRM), Small business

Every day, I get a variety of media pitches from companies and PR folks. No doubt, I try to evaluate all of them.

The problem: some of the pitches don’t work. As a result, a company might miss an opportunity to get some exposure.

However, there are some strategies to improve things. So, let’s take a look:

Know the journalist: Most of us focus on certain topics (or have a so-called beat). Thus, read some of a journalist’s work. If he or she doesn’t cover your industry or market focus, then it’s probably a waste of time to make a pitch.

Now, for those who are a right fit: put the journalist’s name in a notebook or a database (there are free on the web offerings, such as Zoho). You might also look at other publications the journalist writes for. Oh, and it’s a good idea to keep reading the journalist’s work. To this end, you might set a filter with something like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) News.

Craft a personalized pitch: OK, I’ll respond to a canned pitch. But, it superior be highly targeted.

Even though, if you want to improve your odds, try to find ways to show that you understand my focus and work.

For example, you could begin a pitch with: “Hi Tom, I saw that you recently wrote a piece about on-demand software operator, Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM). I think you might be interested in another company in the space, which is called…..”

Believe me, I’ll pay attention.

Keep it short: I’ve seen pitches that have hundreds of words. Don’t do it. Instead, I like pitches that are just a couple paragraphs.

Basically, find a way to grab me and then perhaps have a press release (but don’t have it as an attachment — I’m scared of opening them because of security concerns).

Provide a hook: I get press releases on such topics as new-hires of executives and other typical stuff. But, unless the hire is a big-time person, does it matter? Probably not.

In other words, consider the following: what is the angle (that is, the hook)? Why would I be interested in writing about your pitch?

In fact, try to state the hook in an email’s subject line.

Don’t pitch every day: Yes, I get some of these. And it’s annoying. It means that you are really not targeting me; rather, it’s kind of like spam.

Some resources: To go further, there are certainly good books on dealing with the media, such as Media Training 101: A Guide to Meeting the Press and The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and On the internet Media to Reach Buyers Directly.

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Merchants Bancshares, Inc. Dividend Declaration and Earnings Release - MSN MoneyCentral
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If you’ve been reading my posts, you know I’ve been talking with  Bill Losey about retirement planning. 

Today I received his Retirement Intelligence newsletter/blog with a good post on a subject I’ve been meaning to talk about:  The cyclical nature of the market and he did a nice job of summarizing the ups and downs over the past 80 years.  His post is titled  “How Fast the Markets Recover.” 

One of the benefits of being a baby boomer is that we have been through a few of these ups and downs.  I remember the “Black Friday” of 1987, how everyone was concerned we were headed for another depression,  and how the market rebounded.  I remember talking to someone at the beginning of the 2000 - 2001 stock market fall.  He stated he was pulling out all his retirement funds.  (He was and still is in his 50s.) He took massive losses.  If he had left his money in, he would have recovered what he had lost and more. 

Remember the fundamentals, folks:  Purchase low, sell high.  And also remember that, since 1929, the stock market has averaged an 11% annual gain.  Yes, that’s including the “Great Depression.”  So think, read, listen, wait. 

Warren Buffett’s words of wisdom on this subject:

Only purchase something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years. 

And

Our favorite holding period is forever. (Berkshire Hathaway?)

 

Tags: baby boomers, Bill Losey, market cycle

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Image details: 137th Open Championship - Previews served by picapp.com

Have you heard about “coaching?”  No, I don’t mean the football kind.  I’m mean the “business coach” or “life coach.”  While coaching (the sports variety) has been around for a long time, the concept of a business or life coach or personal coach is relatively new.  Many star athletes have had personal coaches to help them improve their careers.  Now, anyone can have a personal/business/life coach.  And they are everywhere.  The International Coach Federation, a non-profit organization with over 13,000 members worldwide, credentials coaches.

Dr. Phil speaks about coaching with his clients.  You can find a local coach or sign up for an online coach.  Either way, you’ll pay between $500 and thousands a month for the services of this person.

Is the coaching worth it?  I don’t honestly know.  I had a coach for about a year.  He initially did some personality tests, etc. and got me to write down my goals and develop a mission and vision for my business.  He helped me to keep my goals in mind and be motivated; he kept me on track.   Could I’ve done that myself?  Probably.  Would I have done it as well as he did?  Probably not.

If you’re considering hiring a coach, the ICF has 5 suggestions for you (in this article on FoxBusiness.)

Do you have a coach?  Have you ever had one?  What did you think?  Was this person worth the money?   Do you think a coach can help your business?

Tags: baby boomers, coaching, international coach federation, small businesses

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 PimpYourWork.com

Last week, I asked readers the following question: “Do you access social networking sites in the office?“  Below are their responses:

PYW reader Gautch states that he’s working with a team to set up an internal social network for their company.  “Our testing ground is our own social network. So i guess i have to state, yes I visit social networks at work.”  He adds, “On a side note, in our department, we are about to phase out email because the SN is working so well. But I highly doubt we could phase it out company wide.”

Miguel seems to have a contrarian view, especially when it comes to Facebook.  He wrote, “In fact, I delete my Facebook account. I in fact think that LinkedIn could end up being more useful than Facebook. Facebook is fun, but it seems like there’s a lot of potential for Linked In to be used for business networking.”

But one of the reasons why employees don’t access social networks at work is because they’re blocked, as gs1192 points out.  “Absolutely not - even though mostly because they’re blocked by my companies firewall and blocking software.”

What do you have to say?  Do you think it’s okay to access social networks in the office?  Do you think companies are being too harsh by blocking them?

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PimpYourWork.com

There are only 3 days left to vote in The Economist Online Debate on the following proposition: “The competitiveness of workers in today’s rich countries is in permanent decline.”  To participate in the debate, click here.

Currently, 64% of respondents voted against the proposition.  However, if you believe otherwise, there are 3 days left to sway the vote.

The comments section of the debate is rather interesting. Here are some excerpts:

From Jon Ingham (emphasis mine):

“The world’s human capital is becoming more evenly distributed – as developing economies catch up in terms of skills and productivity – and as temporary and permanent movements between countries increase. And technology will continue to obliterate some jobs in developed economies – even though in the main I think technology tends to change rather than eliminate the demand for human activity.”

From Ravmanj (emphasis mine):

“What seems to be in decline is the real market value of Western education focused on the soft sciences. Rich countries (especialy Americans) have to stop pampering our students with ever-declining standards in mathematics and science. Students who graduate with a degree in the soft sciences are promised the world by the education elite, but can deliver very little when it comes to generating profitable ideas in a multi-national business climate. America needs to focus on training (and perhaps retraining) its workforce towards more analyitical skills and trades.”

From Gianluca Marcellino (emphasis mine):

“…like in many other economy evolutions before, yes this evolution is making things better for all including many “workers in today’s rich countries” - compared at least to what earlier models could have reached if left unchanged. Still, each individual worker in today’s rich countries is seeing some of her advantage erode every day. Unfair advantage it has certainly been, yet good to enjoy while it has lasted.”

As for my thought, it certainly looks that worker competitiveness in wealthy nations is on a decline - at least where knowledge work is concerned.  It’s not surprising, since the technology available to us this day (the internet, computers becoming more inexpensive) has granted us to conduct business in a global scale more than ever.  On the surface, the first major difference between the knowledge workers from developing countries such as China, India, and the Philippines is the price.  And why not?  Cost of living in these countries is cheaper relative to the US and the UK, and as the population in these countries becomes more educated, more literate, and more bilingual, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

Do I think that this decline of Western worker competitiveness is permanent?  No. Clearly, we’re in a transitional stage where the developing nations of the east are showing the strength and quality of their workforce.  If the west wants to catch up, they need to restructure their workforce and train their people to both deal with these changes in the global workforce and find the areas in which they can be uniquely competitive.

What do you think?  Do you think competitiveness of workers in rich countries is definitely declining?   If not, why?  If so, do you think this decline is permanent?

Pic Credit: Screencapture from The Economist

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Europe stocks rise as banks rebound - MSN UK News
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