This column will be posted on hump day, and your scribe is writing this from 36,000 feet. Let's share some thought provoking one liners and power phrases that can help you make your day (and your life) every day they are put to work.
.jpg)
"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of." – Benjamin Franklin
"Oh, how rich I would be if only I had everyone's wasted time!" – The Elk
"When everyone is going right, look left." – Sam Zell
"Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Govern thy life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one, and read the other." – Thomas Fuller
"Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow." – Doug Firebaugh
"Timid salesman have skinny kids." – Judge Ziglar
"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right." – Henry Ford
"If you have an hour, will you not improve that hour, instead of idling it away?" – Lord Chesterfield
"Heaven never helps the man who will not act." – Sophocles
"Trust but verify." – Ronald Reagan
"We are either progressing or retrograding all the while; there is no such thing as remaining stationary in this life." – James Freeman Clarke
"They can because they think they can." – Virgil
"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." – Thomas Jefferson
"The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others." – Solomon Ibn Gabriol.
“…hard work and commitment does pay off – if you balance it with faith in God, concern for others, integrity, a passion for learning, and a positive mental attitude." – Jim Clayton
"You can get everything out of life you want if you help enough other people get out of life what they want." – Zig Ziglar
If you liked these…
…then make sure you check in on the popular INspiration blog.
http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/INspiration/
It is loaded with thought provokers and motivators. Please pass it onto your colleagues, team mates and friends.
The Road Ahead
There are widely divergent forces at work which impact manufactured housing. These are both challenges and opportunities. That said, there are good reasons why a company like the Carlyle Group (CG) is getting into manufactured home communities. As Dawn Wotapka at the Wall Street Journal said it:
"Carlyle Group (CG +1.97%) LP, a private-equity firm that has interests in everything from an oil refinery to a vitamin maker, is adding trailer parks to its portfolio.
The Washington-based company has struck a deal to acquire two Florida communities for a total of $30.8 million…"
Dawn knows better than to call these "trailer parks," and we will reminder her of the proper name. But the point is be it this deal or others, new lenders, new capital, new blood are coming back into manufactured housing.
Let's wrap up with a quick look, keeping in mind the quotes above.
Negative Forces and Factors
-
Regulatory and Zoning.
-
Image issues, both real (self inflicted wounds) and outdated (quality, we build a durable home that's an incredible value, but too few know it).
-
Finance, notably SAFE, Dodd-Frank and CFPB regulations looming or already in effect.
-
Incomes are down, and the work week is shortening for many due to ObamaCare.
-
Home sizes are shrinking.
-
10,000+ boomers are retiring daily, many need more affordable homes.
-
We need 20 million new housing units by 2020, and affordable housing is seen by Harvard studies and others to be in a looming crisis.
Positive Forces and Factors
-
Manufactured home shipments are rising steadily for 3 years. While still well under HUD Code home levels, modular home sales are rising too.
-
We sell America's most affordable permanent homes.
-
The outdated stereotypes that hold us back from still more sales can be dealt with by persuasive facts and appealing images.
-
The self-inflicted wounds can be corrected and healed.
-
HR 1779 is perhaps the most bi-partisan bill moving to fix CFPB regs, and as of Monday morning, we are now up to 95 Congressmen on board with the MHI and state associations supported fix that protects lending for consumers and those who retail HUD Code manufactured homes.
http://www.MHProNews.com/home/featured-articles/october-2013/136-community-management-a-fair-housing-legal/6333-its-now-or-never-for-mh-lending-reform
Innovation, Information and Inspiration for Industry Professionals.
That was our original tag line here at what we now call MHProNews.com. Please reflect on those words and what they mean.
As to image building, we have a rapidly growing platform that Showcases Smarter, Stronger, Stylish Shelter Savings! – found at ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com or MHLivingNews.com for short.
Like you, we are in the trenches of our industry, through client work, web marketing, sales training and much more. We are more than just "trade media," as important as that is! We are 'all in' on factory built housing.
We see the challenges and look them in the eye, and decide daily to be part of the solution. Thanks for being here. Thanks to all who make this trade media work possible. Thanks for getting others to see what we do, sharing our links and joining the fight for a better future.
Day by day, working better together, inspired as we ought to be…we can do this.
Yes, we can. ##
PS: Check our many Exclusive and Red Hot Featured Articles for October and see the other new stories at MHLivingNews.com too.
L. A. 'Tony' Kovach
ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com | MHProNews.com |
Business and Public Marketing & Ads: B2B | B2C
Websites, Contract Marketing & Sales Training, Consulting, Speaking:
MHC-MD.com | LATonyKovach.com | Office 863-213-4090
Connect on LinkedIN:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
