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I don't know about you, but I am tired of seeing Ad's about multilevel marketing, folks trying to sell me snake oil in the forms of pills and tea, scam artist, fake emails, and people advertising the next wave in financial prosperity without the data to back it up. Far too often, people just aren't willing to put their money where there mouth is when it comes to a business or a service, they are just looking to get your money into their wallet as soon as possible. It is a pet peeve of mine, and frankly its part of the reason why i started this blog. I have and will continue to put my money where my mouth is when it comes to my services and my business. As a lawyer I am not allowed to make guarantees in accordance to Illinois Ethics Rules and the Bar Association, but for sure I have invested over 300k of my own money in my own financial and legal education, and i'm proud to say that when i offer a service to a client, i've already put time, money, blood sweat and tears into work and coaching i provide to my clients. I make no guarantees but I am invested in my client's outcomes, as results is the primary income of most attorneys.
However, I'll be honest, sometimes i wonder what all these companies are really offering. As of late, i have began asking these people and service providers...what guarantee do you have as it pertains to results. You may or may not be surprised to hear that a lot of these services say, results may vary. However, whenever i hear that, I run the other way. When i look to hire a service, or buy a product I want to know what I'm really getting, or at least what I should expect. So many people and places have completely disregarded the value of the services and products they provide, and have instead replaced value with flashy marketing, and outright fairytale LIES!
Which leads me to the question, how can we know if a product or service is worth selecting? Especially, if we are dealing with a product/financial/coaching/or business proposition.
Simple...ask what legal assistance will be provided upon your selection of any financial service or business you decide to pursue. If you aren't provided direct attorney guidance...then RUN!!!!!
Secondly, ask about ROI, ROI stands for return on investment, and this is what every single company in the world uses to decide what product or service offering they will be selecting and ultimately paying for. Return on investment only means
What, why would it matter if an attorney is involved in selecting which new business venture you should enter? Also, ROI, i've never heard of it...why does it matter, why is it so important?
I'll be brief, there are 3 L's that determine the life of every single America.
`1) Lobbyist (Special interest group who pay legislators to enact laws and legislation that would ultimately support their own financial/business interest.
2) Laws- The day to day rules the federa/state/ and local governments give us to abide by so they can sell the US people the idea that we all live in a civilized society. (Caveat Opinion: We don't)
3) Legislation - Legislation is basically the process used by politicians to make and enact the rules that ultimately become our laws. Again, often influenced by the interest of the lobbyist.
Then there is the bottom line and the question every business and government entity asks itself before making any type of major financial decision
1) What is the potential RETURN ON INVESTMENT that I will receive by making X,Y,Z decision
The general idea of ROI is that it is : A Ratio between net profit and cost of investment. A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favourably to its cost. As a performance measure, ROI is used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiencies of several different investments.
The average america make terrible investment choices every single day. We make choices that provide us with a NEGATIVE ROI, which means for the things, products and services we invest our time and money into, we will see little if any subsequent benefit from the choice we make. Usually, we end up losing value in what we do daily, which ultimately leads us to living middle class and poor lifestyles. We are not seeing any benefits to what we do.
For example, if Todd invests in a $500 dollar pair of jordan shoes, he will wear them daily, they will be worn out, nike will continue to create a false "shortage" of the shoe, but will ultimately provide enough for those who want it. Todd will ultimately lose the $500, Nike will gain the $500, and Todd is ultimately less well off than he would have been had he just invested $20 of that $500 dollars in some some shoes, and put the remaining $480 dollars into beyond beef stock, which BTW has just shot up 110%. He would have still had shoes, and plus he would have made significantly more money (and had a positive ROI) on his money, which lead him to making him a lot more than what he originally invested.
However, instead most of us never even hear the words return on investment, we are never taught to ask about ROI. Its so rare, that for those of us that do as daily citizens service providers freeze, because when you are asking a person/company about the ROI you are asking them to put their money where their mouth it
Let me tell you a secret...MOST COMPANIES WILL NOT PUT THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS. I REPEAT! MOST COMPANIES THAT YOU DEAL WITH DAILY WILL HAVE A BS ANSWER FOR YOU AS IT PERTAINS TO ROI. So you should start asking this question daily with every single transaction you pursue.
Which leads me back the the importance of hiring an attorney when you make business, real estate, or any financial decision.
ALL LICENSED ATTORNEYS HAVE ALREADY PUT THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS BEFORE YOU HAVE EVEN MET THEM!!!!!!
A Licensed legal professional would have had to had spent 7 years, hundreds of thousands of dollars in education, and consistently on yearly basis has to pay fees to bar associations and ethics association in order to get and maintain their license. These professionals are taking continuing legal education courses just to make sure they have the latest business and legal information available in which to service you...and there is no substitution for that....no matter what other leader in the "financial services" or corporate officer says.
So there is a very important different between a non attorney business professional, and an attorney who is also a well versed business professional.
So I hope you will consider this post next time you come across an Ad for the next hot product, service, or business coach. ASK ABOUT THE ROI!.....Otherwise, GET A LAWYER!!!!!
As always, STAY INFORMED!