Here are five things that you should know about cars.

1. Get a roadside assistance plan. Check out Triple A or MCA. Its well worth it to know that you can take trips and still be towed and have other coverage outside of your insurance. These even cover things like bringing gas to you. Here is a link to find out some more: MCA Plan

2. Consider paintless dent repair. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
Paintless dent repair (PDR), also known as paintless dent removal, describes a method of removing minor dents from the body of a motor vehicle. A wide range of damage can be repaired using PDR as long as the paint surface is intact. PDR may be used on both aluminum and steel panels. The most common practical use for PDR is the repair of hail damage, door dings, minor creases, large dents and bodylines damage.

The following company provides this kind of service (San Antonio area). FixMyHail.com

3. You can’t completely trust your car’s navigation system. Our Prius plotted a course to Hawaii from Oregon thinking we could drive over the Pacific Ocean!

4. Teach your teens not to text or pick up a cell phone and drive.

5. Don’t text and drive. Set the the example yourself.

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Motivation is the only great type of fuel you need to keep going. No matter how great your ideas are, how brilliant your plans, how exquisite your strategy, if you run out of fuel, you will fail. So, motivation is the key. But motivation never lasts, that’s why it is recommended to be consumed on a daily basis. One boost of motivation once a year, most usually because it is fashionable to make a New Year’s Resolution, means nothing.

You may have a big picture of how your business or your plans should look like, but you can never have a “picture” of all the daily little guerrilla fights you have to put up with in order to be successful in your business.

Also, don’t forget about productivity! Productivity is highly influenced by your level of motivation. Each day is unpredictable. Apart from what you plan to do on paper, a hundred other little things might happen that you never planned for, and never even wished for. These things can have a strong impact on your motivation and, thus, can directly alter your productivity for the day.

It is a very tricky business to keep motivation and productivity balanced and on high. That’s why you have to come up with some great tactics. We studied the behaviour of the most successful business people and came up with 7 tactics that you can always use to boost up your confidence and productivity:

Wake up early and work out: Very unsurprisingly, isn’t it? We all have been told that the early bird catches the worm and it is correct. Waking up early gives you a sense of “beginning” a new day, puts you in front of everyone else and, you will see, gives you satisfaction in the long run. Welcoming the day with a full smile and a light workout session gets your blood running and your high spirits on. Setting up a routine that is easy to follow will prove very useful in the long run.

Take breaks: There are always tense moments during the day. It is very important to be able to disconnect from them and go out of the office, take a walk or just lay down and free your mind for a few minutes. Let your mind wonder, let it be free. You will see you will feel better afterwards.

Don’t be too hard on yourself: We all makes mistakes. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you make them. Don’t dwell on that guilty thought, blaming yourself for something that is already done and gone. This Mistake is one of the biggest deterrents, the biggest enemy. It can lower your motivation level in a matter of seconds. Once you’ve made a mistake, be done with it and go on with your plans for the day. Don’t let it spoil all of them.

Celebrate achievements, no matter how small: A task done is a task well done. Yes, no matter how small your accomplishment is, give yourself a prize. Go get a drink, or a 10 minutes break or buy yourself something nice, you know it. But it is important to celebrate every small task you’ve done in time and as planned. Don’t go from one completed task to another without a simple, but good celebration. Learn to celebrate yourself and your work. At the moment, it might not look great, but in the long run, it sure plays a very important part.

So what? : This is not really the safest tactic in the list, but when everything else fails, you can try it. It is a very good and empowering thought. Why? Well, there are periods when everything seems to be falling apart and fear, tension, stress start creeping in and you end up doing mostly…nothing because you are afraid to not make it worse. But most of the times, doing nothing is worse than anything. In those tough moments, remember that nothing is really important, that as long as your life is not in danger, as long as you have something to eat, somewhere to sleep, there is always hope. If you cannot land that deal, if you are on the verge of losing your business, so what? The world will not come to an end. You will dust yourself off and keep going or start again. But most important, don’t be afraid!

Read and educate yourself: It is very important to always keep an eye on your goal and an eye on yourself and your development as you’re reaching that goal. Never forget about enriching yourself, not only your business. This way you will feel a sense of total achievement.

Don’t take your eyes off the road: You are driving the vehicle of your life, your business, yourself. Never forget to keep your eyes on the road, on your goal. Your final goal is where your motivation should come from.

We’re sure there might be other tactics and tricks to keep you on track, but start with these and see if any improvement is on the way. In the end, all you have to do is to believe in yourself and in your goal. Do it using the 7 tactics explained above. Safe journey!

For more tips and networking check out EntrepreneurMeetup.com

As the job market in Tucson continues to grow, investors in the multifamily home market remain optimistic. To add fuel to the fire, apartment occupancy is increasing steadily, making Tucson a sought after area for real estate investors.

In recent months, a number of complexes have been sold. One of these is the Coronado Villas in Tanque Verde Road. The complex, consisting of 432 units, was bought by Tokola Properties from Oregon for a whopping $43 million. San Francisco based Prime Residential was the seller in the deal brokered by the Tucson office of Berkadia.

Art Wadlund, the senior managing director of Berkadia explained that Tokola was looking for a quality property in Arizona. They recognized that the accelerating job growth and increasing apartment occupancy in the Tucson area presented a prime opportunity, as Coronado Villas is located within a growing multifamily market.

Coronado Villas, built in 1994, consists of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The units include a washer/dryer and wood burning fireplaces. Community facilities include three swimming pools, a fitness center, a clubhouse and spas. Saguaro National Park east is only a short four-mile drive away.

The Tucson real estate market also recently received a boost when Lima One Capital, based in South Carolina, entered the local market. John Warren, Lima’s CEO noted that they offer loans only to multifamily property investors and house flippers. The loan types offered are “FixNFlip” loans for investors rehabbing homes over a 13-month period and multifamily projects loans for property owners and investors over 30 years. Warren added that  Phoenix and Tucson have always been well-balanced markets, making them prime investor areas.

Loan details:

• Rental30

The 30-year loan is aimed at landlords who want to refinance or buy single properties. The minimum amount that can be borrowed is $45,000 and rates start at 6.5 percent. Lenders need to have a credit score of at least 630 and the loan-to-value can be maximum 75 percent.

• FixNFlip

These loans are made over a 13-month period and both interest rates and origination fees decrease as the investor makes more flips. Flippers can borrow up to 70 percent of the loan to after-repaired-value (ARV), or 90 percent of the loan to cost.

• Fix2Rent

This short-term loan can be used by investors to buy and rehabilitate a property. Once the property has been fixed, the load can be converted to a Rental30 loan.

Other commercial deals recently done include:

• Vista Palmilla Apartments, 57 units for $1.7 million.
• Medical space on First Ave, 7,152 square feet for $1.8 million.
• Land along with improvements on Fifth St, 52,100 square feet for $1.7 million. The site will be redevelop for affordable workforce housing.
• Land at the northwest corner of Shannon roads and Cortaro Farms, 9.25 acres for $1.6 million.
• 4,910 square feet leased in the Wilmot Professional Plaza.
• 1,450 square feet leased at 2351 N. Alvernon Way.

The Tucson Real Estate information used in this article was compiled from broker records at the Pima County Recorder’s Office.

Find out about investing in Tucson real estate at TucsonRealEstateInvesting.com

To start with, what really is GRUMPINESS? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary online, grumpiness is the attitude of being easily irritated or annoyed. In other words, to be very impatient most of the time with people or situations. We can therefore say grumpiness is that attitude of being constantly irritated, annoyed or impatient with people, things or situation. Generally speaking, attitudes or behaviors are learned and therefore can be unlearned. We are in the days and age when we all want everything fast and now. When it doesn’t happen fast and now, we tend to lose our patience, get irritated and become very annoyed.

As a parent or someone who relates with kids a lot, you will understand that kids tend to learn from and pick up the examples of the adults who are closest to them, those who are most influential in their lives. They form their pattern of behavior or attitude based on what they see or experience from their parents, close adult relatives, teachers and other sources of learning they are most frequently exposed to. It can also be assumed that the home situation or environment is the most influential on kids because they spend most of their time there.

Grumpiness is not only a bad attitude for children, it is equally bad for everyone. To effectively help kids overcome the negative attitude of grumpiness or any other negative attitude, it must start with the most influential adults in their lives which is usually the parents, guardians or teachers. It can also be said that kids are like a mirror reflection of their parent or other adults who are most influential in their lives. Kids reproduce what they see in their parents and those adults. As parents who wants to lead their kids by example, you must make it a habit to first check yourself when you observe any negative traits in your kids. Parents or guardians must therefore, work on themselves first in that area. They must realize the need to be positive role models to their kids. They must understand that much more important than the rules of behavior they set for their kids to follow is the way they conduct themselves to the kids and to others in the presence of the kids. If the parents are sure they are not responsible for the negative attitude they see in their kids, next is to check who or what the kids are being exposed to that may be responsible. Parents have a duty to deal with such appropriately as soon as possible.

The point is this, if you as a parent are always grumpy with your kids, with your spouse or with others right in the presence of your kids, you are pretty much telling your kids it is perfectly fine to be grumpy with others. But when you choose to be tolerant, patient and calm when you could have been irritated, impatient or annoyed, you are also teaching them to act that way. This is to say that the easiest way to handle grumpiness in kids is to practice not being grumpy towards them or others so they can learn from your examples. The saying “Children see, children do” will forever be true. It must be mentioned that no one is perfect. Parents and kids will always have moments of imperfection which if handled well especially by the adults, can be learning and growing moments for everyone. Besides such moments, the adults have the responsibility to keep working to model positive attitude to kids because it is the most effective method of teaching them.

Learn more about good parenting at More4Kids.info

Are you trying to track the activity of your employees? Or maybe you want to make sure that your employees arrive in time at work and they do their best at all times? Then it’s very important to invest in some good employee time clocks. Not only do these clocks make it easy for you to manage your employees, but you can easily track who arrives to work in time and who doesn’t!

Finding the right employee time clocks is rather challenging, which is why we have created a list which includes all the best options when it comes to employee time clocks and the value that they can deliver!

Facial recognition time clocks

Sometimes, employee time clocks can be tricked by employees. This is why it can be a magnificent idea to opt for facial recognition time clocks. What makes these amazing is the fact that they are very reliable, easy to use and you never have to worry about them being tricked by any employee in the longer term. Results are indeed second to none with these employee time clocks. Plus, they are very accurate and they will always allow the employer to track how much time an employee spends working on a particular project to begin with.

Fingerprint time clocks

If you don’t want to acquire facial recognition time clocks, you can pick the fingerprint time clocks. These stand out because they are very easy to use and install. Once you place them correctly, you will find that results will indeed stand out and the experience will be an extraordinary one. It’s safe to say that investing fingerprint time clock can be a great idea and in the end that can be rather rewarding.

ID badge time clocks

The ID badge time clocks are old-fashioned, but they do work very well. If you don’t want to invest in biometric options like the facial recognition time clocks or the fingerprint time clocks, this may be one of the best options for you to have. Plus, the price is a lot lower, and the solution is rather accurate. You can, however, deal with various human errors and that’s why a biometric time clock may be a much better option.

Hand punch time clocks

These solutions are the simplest ones out there. They are hassle free, designed to make the entire process simple, easy to perform and rather distinct as well. Once you use the employee time clocks, you will be impressed with the value, quality, and attention to detail. All you have to do is to take your time, and the value can indeed be a delightful one.

In the end, the employee time clocks are a stellar solution for any company, so you may want to give them a try. If you can opt for facial recognition time clocks and/or fingerprint time clocks since they can make work hour tracking a lot better and faster. Try them out, and you will surely appreciate the experience and results in the end!

Amelia Miller – Amelia runs RageMyCloset.com Amelia was born and raised in Chicago and blogs about luxury fashion, vintage, and travel.

Nikia Jefferson – he Founder and Editor of ChiTown Fashionista

Liz Schneider – personal stylist and fashion blogger who blogs at sequinsandstripes.com