Thoughts For The Day
"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, they make them."
--George Bernard Shaw
"When you change, the world around you changes."
--Niurka
"Wealth, notoriety, place, and power are no measures of success whatever. The only true measure of success is the ratio between what we might have been and what we have become."
--H.G. Wells
"The undeveloped piece of property with the greatest potential is still between the ears."
--Anonymous
"Effective people are not problem-minded; they're opportunity minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems."
--Stephen R. Covey
"To be what we are and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end of life."
---Robert Louis Stevenson
"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would solve most of the world's problems."
---Mahatma Gandhi
The Dash
A poem by Linda Ellis
I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end
He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years
For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not how much we own;
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what's true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life's actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?
What Determines Financial Success?
What percentage of your financial success does your IQ determine?
a. 75-80%
b. 65-75%
c. 45-60%
d. 25-40%
The answer is surprisingly "none of the above".
Statistics show that your IQ determines about 4-10% of your financial success. I can hear some of you breathing a big, deep, sigh of relief! One would think that if that is all we use, everyone should be a financial genius. Where does the other 90% to 96% come from?
Keep in mind that the traditional IQ tests measure linguistic skills and arithmetic skills, which is the focus of the left side of your brain. It does not determine how to solve money problems. We use the right side of our brains for that activity. Money is an idea. Money does NOT make you rich. This is proven over and over again by the many lottery winners who end up losing their fortunes 93% of the time. Last week I read of someone who lost their winnings within a matter of months! You can be an academic genius and be a financial moron. You also have a 93% chance of being a financial moron if you are a lottery winner. I bet everyone reading this article thinks they would be in the 7% that would handle their money intelligently if they won the lottery. I'm not so sure.
I have been reading Robert Kiyosaki's latest book "Financial IQ". He states that our financial IQ grows by solving financial problems. We start out by solving small financial problems. As we gain proficiency in solving small problems, we gain momentum in solving medium sized financial problems. Ultimately, we are able to solve the large, extra-large, and super-sized money problems. It is like exercising a muscle. The more we use it the stronger we get . . . and the richer we get. He also says, "It isn't gold, silver, real estate, stocks, bonds, or oil that make us rich, it's the knowledge of gold, silver, real estate, stocks, bonds, or oil that make us rich.
Unfortunately, most people in the United States of America never solve even the tiniest of financial problems. The average person goes to work, puts some money in their 401(k), comes home, and turns on American Idol. The economy deals them a blow and they give up! They switch their brains off. They are not used to sitting down with a pen and yellow pad and figuring out how they can increase their financial well-being. Their creativity muscles have atrophied, or worse, they never developed in the first place.
If you have an interest in increasing your financial intelligence, I recommend you pick up a copy of "Financial IQ". He explains the five types of financial IQ you need to be successful financially. If you are interested in learning more about the five IQ's just respond to this email and I'll include them in next month's newsletter. You may or may not agree with what he is saying, but it will help you see financial intelligence in a way you have never thought of. At least, I know it helped me see differently. Thank you for reading.
Benchmark News
How do we save our clients 15% with NO change orders?
We have personally asked hundreds of people what irritates them most about construction. The answer that we get back almost 100% of the time is change orders. Everyone seems to have a story about experiencing unnecessary change orders if they have been involved in a construction project.
Why do construction companies make their customers suffer with numerous change orders in the course of a project? In most cases, it is a lack of communication and teamwork between the architect and the general contractor. It also can be a HUGE profit stream for the general contractor.
Many companies will bid a job at cost knowing that they will make their profit in the mistakes made by the architect. There is no such thing as a perfect set of plans. Most contractors will view the architectural plans marking (with a big red pen) which change orders they can capitalize on AFTER the job starts. This way they can mark up their profit at least 20% and sometimes more. Who ultimately pays? The customer.
How can customers protect themselves? The simple answer is through what we have coined as Benchmark Design/Build. Architects, engineers, and customers have told us that we have a unique and effective way of doing design/build construction that is different from any of our competitors.
Benchmark Design/Build is based on a holistic approach of teamwork and creative building solutions. We take 100% responsibility for the creative building team that is chosen. The team consists of the customer, architect, structural engineer, mechanical engineer, civil engineer, electrical engineer, and most importantly, the creative solutions driver: the general contractor.
We have learned that most of our "design/build" competitors will hire the architect. The architect hires his own engineers and then the contractor goes into hiding until the plans are done. This is like racing a car with no driver. They then will have the audacity to find problems in the plans and pass the change orders onto their clients! This is done because they were never part of the team that put the plans together. This lazy approach requires no creativity or thinking on the part of the general contractor. Most general contractors are very systematic in their approach. They look at plans, methodically figure out their costs, and place their bid. They leave the most important aspect of design/build out: creatively designing the best building for the client for the lowest possible cost.
Because the contractor was not part of the team, the client (who was not part of the team either) does not realize what was missed. They do not realize the savings that could have been discovered with the watchful eye of their contractor. The contractor should be there every step of the way to fill in the holes that the other team members miss. The things that only a contractor with "in-the field" construction knowledge can see. The contractor should also be there to discover ways to save the client money through efficiency and creativity as the team works through the multiple disciplines of putting the building project together.
We believe that we can save a client at least 15% because of our ability to bring creative solutions and efficiencies to the table during the design phase of the project. We have saved some clients as much as 30%. Since we specialize in design/build construction, we have more experience in this arena than any contractor in the Treasure Valley. As a company (established in 1948), we have done hundreds of projects using the Benchmark Design/Build method with no change orders and at least 15% savings.
If you are interested in real life examples of how this has been done, give us a call at (208) 466-9400.
