Today is a very sad day. We are grieving the loss of our family dog Sammy who we had to put down. You really don’t know how much attachment a pet can be, especially after having Sammy for 18 and a half years.

No amount of time prepared us for this. We saw him loose his eye sight, hearing and he needed help getting up on his bed (my family room couch) and was sleeping most of the day. He also started to loose his mental faculties and we knew it was time. I am thankful to God we had the time to say good bye with him today but he will be missed for awhile.

Here’s to you my little buddy…you were a blessing to us.

Larry

I get an overload of Credit Card offers in the mail and over the phone. I have been told it has something to do with your postal code address. Could also have to do with owning a business. Anyway, here’s my Capital One adventure.

I got a Capital One offer that said “hey Larry, your approved”...just go online and register. Sounded good and this was Capital One, you know, the “prime plus 0.9 offer on TV”. It also had a ‘paypass’ feature which would work well for me at Tim Horton’s for coffee. So, blindly I go online, a few quick questions..Presto! I’m approved. Cool. Oh, it wasn’t quite as cool as I thought.

I get a Capital One notice in the mail that lets me know my shiny new Gold Card is on the way and read the terms and conditions. Ok. Don’t normally read the fine print stuff but why not. Wanted to see my 0.9 rate. Yes, you are correct, the interest rate is 19 % plus and there is an annual fee over over 50 bucks. You have to be kidding! What happened to those commercials saying stay away from high interest rates. I guess that doesn’t include them. No problem, I will cancel when the card comes.

The cards come and I try and get into the customer service. No lie, 4 times I was in the system and was kicked out completely. This is after they asked me no less than 3 times per call for the card number and date of birth. I was persistent because I didn’t want to get stuck with this stupid card and finally got through. Guess what…they were questioning why I would be canceling such a great card. Duh…do you think the interest rate might have been too high and you gave a embarrassing credit limit of 1000 dollars and you have an annual fee? The guy said it would be a great way for me to re-establish my credit. Hey, didn’t you check my credit rating before you gave me the card? I have an excellent credit rating and work hard to keep it that way.

The lesson here is don’t be naive like me and have a weak “CC” moment. Read everything before they do a credit check (yes these count toward your credit scores and go on your bureau) and stay with one or two cards. I have a few business ones for obvious reasons and two personal ones…one for travel points and one for our floating line at the Bank. Would I recommend Capital one…maybe if they didn’t use 3rd party sales machines to market their cards (thus the high rate to pay these dudes) and if they GUARANTEED a .09 interest rate. P.S…if you go to their site it actually works out to be more like 5.5% or more.

To your financial future,

Larry

I have been in sales and marketing for over 18 years now and now run three successful Businesses, and I get asked all the time for advice on everything from administration to marketing. If you know me, you will know I readily give advice and support to other people and Companies (sometimes even my competitors) without a second thought. I don’t mind doing it and if it helps them, great.

I believe I have been blessed with a God given gift for business, creativity and marketing and think this gifting should be shared. The issue is that it can become time consuming and take away from my day to day responsibilities in our Companies so, drum roll please, I have decided to be a Business Coach and start charging for some of my advice so I can control my time better and to focus on paying clients concerns and questions and give them more content they would normally get with a email or a few minutes on the phone.

Do I think I know it all and have all the answers…obviously not. I do believe I have a wealth of experience, wisdom and success that some people will find valuable and can share with them to help them accomplish their goals. Watch for more information on my blog as I set this up officially and upload a new website specific to our program.

So, does that mean I will stop giving free advice to people…you know me better than that!

Kind Regards,

Larry J Clark