Do You Have Too Much Debt? How to Use Negotiation to Eliminate Unsecured Debt

Debt negotiation is a settlement arrangement through which you can eliminate a sizable portion of your unsecured debt. Due to the difficulty in recovering the unsecured debt, the creditors are generally willing to offer a discount on the debt and buy the loyalty of the customer rather than risking the total debt.

However, dealing with negotiations, especially with your creditor to get a substantial discount on your debts, can prove difficult for the average debtor. Average borrowers do not have the necessary experience, financial and legal awareness to tackle the seasoned lenders. In any event, negotiating on a loan can be very time consuming and difficult. Most of the borrowers who are finding it difficult to offload their debt do not have the comfort of carrying out negotiations as they are busy switching from one job to another.

As a solution to these problems, we can resort to a legitimate debt negotiation Company. The negotiation Company will have the necessary expertise and the resources that are needed for the task. They will analyze your repayment capacity and will require you to agree on a monthly settlement plan to which you need to contribute over a certain time period. The amount you contribute will be held in a separate account. Without your knowledge, your settlement fund will increase to a substantial amount which the Company can use to settle the debt later.

However, the negotiation Company will want you to stop paying your monthly payments on the debt-you are already saving the money on the settlement account instead. When the creditors become uneasy over your probable default, the negotiation Company will start negotiations with your creditor for a substantial discount on the debt. In addition, a flexible repayment plan can also be obtained. Further concessions such as interest rebates or a waiver of interest will be offered based on the individual circumstances.

Through debt negotiation, a substantial portion of your unsecured debt can be eliminated. The success of the negotiation process depends on the perfect timing of the negotiations. The significant disadvantages of the process are the impact it has on the credit score and the risk of the creditors filing recovery actions against the debtors during the process.

The Top 4 Ways to Be More Present

We’ve all heard it before, “You need to live in the present” or “Be more present”. Although we know this to be true, we often find it difficult to be present because our lives are so busy; we always seem to be multi-tasking, which is the complete opposite of being present. Here are 4 ways that you can experience more presence in your life.

1) Give yourself some time and space alone.

In other words, turn off to tune in. We all think that watching TV will allow us to wind down and although it may to some extent, it doesn’t refuel us. Taking a bath, reading a book, writing in a journal, and listening to a personal development audio are all better ways of relaxing and being present.

2) Ask for guidance… and listen

Have you ever had a problem with your child or work and couldn’t figure out how to solve it? Becoming quiet, asking for guidance from a higher power, and then listening in the stillness can often bring the answer (or at least give you a light bulb moment as to who can help you). Without being quiet and still you cannot hear the answers, so instead of stressing for hours, take some quiet time for yourself then ask and… listen.

3) Honor a Day Off

Take at least one full day off to be with your family – no business, books, audios, etc. Just BE. Schedule something to do on this Sabbath or just allow the day to naturally unfold. Your body and family will thank you for it.

4) Play More!

The opposite of play is depression. What activities make you feel like you’re playing? Kicking a ball around with your child? Going to see a rock concert? Planning a surprise for your sweetheart? Going to a karaoke bar? List 12 things that remind you of playing and then schedule at least one each month for the next year. So simple, but so important. Life can feel overwhelming if we let it control us. We need to take responsibility for our happiness and set up systems that will allow us to be present, to recharge and to enjoy life as it was meant to be enjoyed.

Practice Makes Perfect – 7 Tips for Making the Most of Your Presentation Practice

Believe it or not, preparation is a better determinant of presentation success than knowledge, experience, or even talent. The best presenter is almost always the presenter who is the most prepared. Even so, there are a lot of conflicting ideas about what constitutes thorough presentation preparation.

So what exactly is thorough preparation?

Here are seven straight forward tips to increase the effectiveness of the time you invest in your practice.

1. Practice Delivery Out Loud. Practice is NOT mentally rehearsing your presentation on the drive over to the presentation or even thinking about your presentation while tossing and turning at night. Both of these are something, but not practice. A lot can happen between thinking about what you want to say and actually getting the words to come out of your mouth coherently. If you don’t actually practice speaking out loud, when the time comes, you may struggle to articulate your mentally well rehearsed thoughts. To the audience, this struggle will appear to be lack of preparation.

2. Try to Conduct Your Practice in a Situation Similar to the Real Speaking Venue. Whenever possible, conduct your practice in a situation that closely mirrors the real presentation. For example, if you will be speaking in front of a large group in an auditorium or large conference room, try to practice in a large room filled with as many audience recruits as possible. Why? Research indicates that if your practice closely mirrors your real presentation, once you are in the actual presentation your brain will think you have done this before. Besides practice, the next most important ingredient in your success is experience.

3. Practice in Front of Real People. If you can’t find any audience recruits at work, ask your spouse, best friend, or if all else fails, your pet to listen to your presentation. Interacting with a live audience is an important part of your practice. It helps you not only rehearse your delivery, but gain experience reading and reacting to the silent messages your audience is sending you about their understanding, their likes, and their dislikes.

4. The Mirror is Your Friend. Even after you’ve practiced in front of an audience, continue to rehearse in front of the greatest critic of all, yourself in the mirror. The mirror is a WONDERFUL if underused presentation practice tool. It will allow you to see and hear your delivery live and make decisions about how to enhance your style. Remember, when it comes to practicing your presentation, the mirror really is your friend.

5. Practice From Beginning to End Without Stopping. Practice all the way through the presentation without stopping–even if you make a mistake. Most presenters have a tendency to stop their practice each time they make a mistake. Besides reinforcing this negative practice, when you continually stop and start over you get very good at the beginning of the presentation, but can’t deliver an effective conclusion because you’ve rarely made it to the end of the presentation. As the second most remembered part of your presentation, it is important to have a strong, well-rehearsed close.

6. Practice With Your Props. If you are using visual aids such as a PowerPoint slide show, make sure you practice with your slides. Visual aids of any kind add another layer of complexity to presentation and require practice to use effectively. Practicing with your slides will help prepare you for the things that inevitably go wrong and help you avoid unprofessional behaviors such as not knowing how to advance your slide show or how to put the slide show in the proper view for display.

7. Do it One More Time. After you feel you’ve done it well in practice and are happy with your performance, practice one more time to make sure your success wasn’t just a happy accident. All in all, depending upon you and your content, you may need to practice your presentation delivery out loud 5 to 10 times. Yes, that’s right, you might have to practice out loud up to 10 times, but don’t worry, your audience’s thundering applause will make the effort worthwhile!