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All Eligible Mothers can Avail of a $10,000 Grant from the Obama Scholarship Program!

The federal government, through the initiative of President Obama, is providing assistance to all mothers who want to go back to school and finish their college education. The said assistance comes in the form of scholarship grants from the recently initiated Obama scholarship program for mothers. The grant money amounting to $10,000 does not have to be returned to the government at all. This money will be more than enough to pay for their college expenses and there will still be plenty left to help pay for their everyday expenses.

For those mothers who cannot find the time to attend classes at a regular university, they can opt to take their classes online. Several well-known universities now offer online college programs with a lot of courses to choose from. All mothers are encouraged to go back to school and further their education. A college diploma will give them a better shot at finding a good job with a good salary. They no longer have to content themselves with being a minimum wage worker.

Mothers armed with college degrees have limitless potentials available to them. Going back to college is a good move if they want to give their children a better life. The Obama scholarship program is giving them all the aid that they need so there is no longer any reason for them not to go to college. This is too good an opportunity for mothers to ignore. A lot of mothers are now taking advantage of this scholarship so it would be best to send in as many applications as soon as possible.

Did you know you can get a $10,000 scholarship for Moms just for registering? Apply right now for free: Scholarships for Moms.

Tags: $10000, Avail, Eligible, From, Grant, Mothers, Obama, Program, Scholarship

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 Government Student Grants No Comments

Ever Wonder What it Takes to Broadcast Radio From Your Own Home?

Ever since the beginning people began forming organizations, being lured by amatuer radio technology. The big difference between ham radio and CB radio is that amateur radio setups can be up to 1000 watts and have unrestricted antennas. The available wavebends are more diverse and less crowded and you can even obtain access to very specialized teletype and tv frequencies. With the addition of satellite advancements no corner of the world is beyond your reach. The issue is that amateur radio is licensed and there are tests you must to pass before you can get the license.

Depending on what you want to accomplish there are several licenses available.

The Novice level license conveys access to some HF bands and SSB transceiving between 28.3 and 28.5 MHz and also between 28.1 and 28.3 for radio tele-type. To access these [frequencieschannels] all you need is a 10 Meter Radio [Althougheven though] these radios are [oftencommonly] referred to as a 10 Meter CB Radio they are [actually quite differentquite differnt] as a CB radio does not require [ayou to have a] license and a 10 Meter Radio does. SSB and FM transmissions are allowed between 222.01 and 223.91 Mhz and 1270 – 1295 Mhz too.All it takes to get a Novice license is a simple radio theory exam and the capability to operate Morse code at 5 words per minute.

The Technician license restricts voice broadcasting to the same frequency range as the Novice in addition to the VHF and UHF ham radio bands[AcquiringObtainingGettingAchieveing] a Technicians license [opens upgives access togrants access to] the VHF and UHF bands.~The Technicians license means that you can now [transmitbroadcast] on the UHF and VHF [frequencieschannels]. In order to obtain this license all you must do is pass a simple test about radio theory and FCC regulations.

Next after the Technicians Class is the General Class. The General Class aloows broadcasting on HF and UHF across the entire spectrum and even a few television frequencies. To get this license you must have the ability to work Morse code at the speed of 13 wpm and pass an exam on general radio theory plus FCC requirements.

The Advanced radio license grants access to more frequencies in the HF band, but in order to get this you need to have completed the General class Morse Code and radio theory exams and a more complicated radio theory test.

In the US the best amatuer radio license you can obtain is the Extra Class.. People who have this license have complete access to all HF VHF and UHF frequencies which are designated to ham radio. To get this license you need to have passed the previos licencing tests and pass a new, more advanced theory and morse code test..

The American Radio Relay League is a non profit group that helps ham radio operators complete their exams by providing all the materials you may need.

Like many people you may not really enjoy to undergo all that testing, try CB radio. There are no examinations to pass and there is no license to obtain. The verbage used is relaxed and there’s no need to learn Morse Code. Just go purchase a radio and an antenna and are ready to go. Sound fun?

Tags: Broadcast, Ever, From, Home, Radio, Takes, Wonder

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 Grants No Comments

Messages From the Other Side!

Nowadays more and more people want to know what to expect when they die. They also ask me, “Where am I going to go when I die?” What is it like in spirit? Do we get to see people we loved? Do we get to meet other spirits? Do we have bodies? The list of questions goes on. Death is held as such a mystery that the only time most people embark on the voyage of self realization is when they are faced with the inevitability of their death.

What I would like to do here is share with you what I have learned about the afterlife based on my personal experiences in astral projection into spirit as well as channeling deceased loved ones and what they have to say about their lives in spirit.

I have been studying various religions and spiritual teachings for over 35 years. With all the knowledge that I have gained in that time, I was not sure of what it was really like in the spirit world. What started me to see the spirit world was my father. My father was comatose and being kept alive artificially on machines. This went against my personal beliefs because I knew that his body was worn out and that it was time for him to move on to spirit. I knew he was afraid of dying and out of desperation I did something I had never done before, I put myself into a state of hypnosis and I astral projected myself to him in his hospital bed.

Let me explain a little bit about astral projection which is taken from Wikipedia, “Astral projection (or astral travel) is an interpretation of any form of out-of-body experience (OOBE) that assumes the existence of an “astral body” separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it. Astral projection or travel denotes the astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the astral plane.

The idea of astral travel is rooted in common worldwide religious accounts of the afterlife in which the consciousness’ or soul’s journey or “ascent” is described in such terms as “an…out-of body experience, wherein the spiritual traveler leaves the physical body and travels in his/her subtle body (or dreambody or astral body) into ‘higher’ realms.” It is therefore associated with near death experiences and is also frequently reported as spontaneously experienced in association with sleep and dreams, illness, surgical operations, drug experiences, sleep paralysis, hypnosis, and forms of meditation.”

I had to do this in silence and completely alone; that is why I was not in the hospital to do this. I took his spirit by the hand and drew it out of his body, and led him into the spirit world. I was surprised at who greeted him at the entrance; it was his army captain from World War Two that he had thought the world of. I waited outside as his captain led him inside of the spirit world. I could hear many people talking and laughing. I did not know what they were saying because it was not important to me all that mattered was that my father was seeing what life was in spirit. After a while the conversation died down and he returned to where I was waiting. From there I took him back into his body. I knew at that point he had no fear of dying, and the next day he did pass away.

In less than twenty hours I woke up with my father screaming into my ear everything that he wanted me to know before he left the physical plane. It did not frighten me at all because I knew he had left without telling me many things. For the next three days he manifested himself where I could see his spirit.

Because of this I never again doubted that the spirit world was far more real then our physical world is. I know the reason I can see spiritual truths is because of my Native American heritage. We understand the spirits and honor them in everything we do. I started working as a clairvoyant, and clients would ask me if I could connect to a deceased loved one. The first time I did this I was not sure if I could, but it was a young man who had been killed in a motorcycle accident; and his mother wanted to talk with him. I was able to give her a description of everything that happened and what he wanted to tell her now. This was one of the most moving moments emotionally in my life. I knew I had helped this woman have a connection with her son, which would lead to her healing.

When I started doing clairvoyant work professionally I was asked to channel a deceased loved one and do it by e-mail. I did not know how I would be able to get answers without connecting to the person, but I took on the job and trusted that the Great Spirit would give me the answers.

It amazes me at the answers I receive, and as I am receiving them, I actually see what the deceased person is talking about. It is a magnificent experience for me. I feel that I get as much out of it as the person I am asking the questions for.

This message that I received is from the spirit of the sister of a dear lady who was having a lot of trouble dealing with her sister’s untimely death at a young age from cancer. She wanted to know how her sister felt and what was happening for her now that she was dead. This lady had been told by another psychic that she did not deserve answers from her sister, and it had nearly caused her to have a complete nervous breakdown. I related what I had gotten from her sister and wrote this message to her from what I saw, and then her sister spoke directly to her.

December 30, 2009

Dear Carmen:

There is absolutely no reason that you don’t deserve answers from Katie. You both had a very close bond and that does not end just because she has moved into spirit. I am surprised, than again not so surprised, that people would tell you such hurtful things.

I can tell that you have a very sweet sensitive spirit and God loves you.

To start off with I want you to know that people who have passed over are different in spirit. They may not remember or see things the way you do. Remember they are in a different dimension and have left behind the negative emotions that most humans carry. You can go to my web site and read about this in more detail in an article I wrote called, “After Life.” I just want you to understand because they are different than we are now. Someday we will be in the same liberty that they are.

As I started to connect with Katie I received the strangest message. She says here’s your little Kit Kat. I don’t know if she ever said this in life, but that’s what she feels now. She says she has been coming to you since her passing and has been trying to let you know that she is with you. She says that your grief has stopped her messages coming to you, that you would have normally been receiving such as in dreams, smelling her perfume or noticing curtains moving and electronics acting differently. It was the closeness of your relationship that caused such grief for you. Katie is not disappointed that you felt that way she knew it was going to hit you very hard. Don’t blame yourself for taking her death so hard. You loved her very much and that’s why it was hard. Grief takes however long it takes to subside. You will never stop thinking about her and you will be reunited in the spirit world.

She wants you to know that she is extremely happy and never has to suffer pain any more. She says it was your experiencing every step of her illness that tore you up.

Here’s an answer to your first question. How did you deal with your passing? Here are Katie’s answers.

“I was ready to let go. Those final breaths were my letting go of my physical body. Believe me the minute I was gone I was watching you and mom and I could see your pain, but I was experiencing total bliss. If I could have said anything to you to at the last moment it would’ve been, I love you. You both were the closest people to me and nobody loved me as much as you too. Others cared about me, but it wasn’t like what you two did.

Because of your being so sensitive my death really hit your heart hard, you don’t need to apologize for it any of your actions or thoughts. You have nothing to be forgiven for. I think the best way for you to be able to handle death is to realize that it’s passing from one life to another. We shed off our bodies like a snake gets rid of its old skin. And we are truly born again in the presence of Divine Love.

The more you let go of your grief you will find me coming into your dreams. At night before you go to sleep pray and ask the angels to bring me to you. In the morning have a pen and paper by the bed and write down what ever you get. Keep this as a journal and in time you will start seeing my messages coming through.

At night I walk around your bedroom and I sometimes sit on your bed holding your right hand. If you ever feel a sensation on your right hand whether you’re asleep or awake Realize it’s me connecting with you.

You’re going to start finding the pain easing in your heart. I love you dearly and please tell mom the same thing. Let her see this message because it may bring up some experience is she has had with me and didn’t realize it was me.

I look forward to being reunited with you and everyone in the family in spirit.

I love you,

Katie”

After I sent Carmen this message, she wrote me back that the nick name I received was absolutely the one that they called her sister. She could not believe everything that I had gotten after the terrible experience she had before with the other psychic. Carmen verified that she knew it was her sister speaking to her because of the way she addressed everything she was feeling. This was an interesting experience because I kept hearing that nick name over and over. This message gave Carmen peace of mind and she has been able to go forward without so much pain in her heart.

When we pass into spirit we do not instantly gain all knowledge and become filled with wisdom. There is a learning curve and we keep learning in spirit. Think of death as birth of your soul.

I have found through my experiences of going into spirit and speaking with the deceased that there is life after death, and what I do in this life affects what happens in the next one, it is the law of Karma. It is comforting to know that life does go on, and that one can always learn, grow, and develop spiritually. The detail about everything in the spirit world does not matter. What does make a difference is the belief that any one of us can make an effort to be of service to others, to love, to develop spiritually, and to work toward oneness with God/The Divine Spirit.

Tags: From, Messages, Side

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 Grants No Comments

Consumer Counseling Can Help You Recover From Debt

It can be a challenge today to not spending money when others around you are driving expensive cars and living in your dream home. A result of this due to the availability of credit today is that individuals forget amidst their spending that the money they borrow on credit just be repaid, and with interest.

It is not impossible for even rational individuals to be optimistic about their future ability to repay a loan. Believing that the monthly payments associated with a loan will not be a burden to repay, they take out the loan. Later, however, it may become obvious that the payments and money owing is outside their financial budget and possibilities. When the time comes that bill collectors being calling, consumer counseling may be a good choice to assist with credit card debt settlement. Should you find yourself unable to repay your debt and handle settle debt yourself, here is some advice in choosing a good consumer counseling service.

Start your search either online or in a phone book but beware of possible scans. If the organization claims they can repair your credit in a very short time, you are dealing with a concerning company and you continue your search.

Reputable and trustworthy credit counseling services will test you with some prerequisites before accepting you as a client. The perquisites may be different for each company, but the general requires are a source of income and a minimum amount of unsecured debt. If you have trouble with secured debt such as a car loan or mortgage, it may be difficult for them to help you.

When you first meet with your credit counselor, be sure to have copies of all statements from your current loan or credit accounts. They will need to know the specifics of your financial situation, such as the amount owed to the creditors, the current monthly payments and interest rates.

Thereafter, it is in the hands of the counselor. They will contact your creditors and negotiate a new monthly payment and lower interest rate. You can decide if you want to handle and submit the payments yourself or make a lump sum payment to the counseling service. If the latter is chosen, the counselor will make the payments to your creditors. Once an action plan is determined, the counselor will help you improve your general financial situation by creating a budget. A budget will help you avoid future debt and another financial situation. Today, there are even software programs to assist you in following and managing your budget. Of course, you can seek the advice of your counselor when you need it.

One last note, do not count of using your credit cards during the credit counseling process. The service will require you to sometimes cancel the cards or stop using them until you have repaid your debt and repaired your credit.

By: Ali Wright

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Tags: Consumer, Counseling, Debt, From, Help, Recover

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 Grants No Comments

The Inevitable Slow Death From The Small Interest Pace Bank Loan And Rise With The Merchant Advance Loan

“Once the recession clears up, then issues will likely be back to usual,” is often a phrase overly generally spoken these days. Since the economic system continues to sputter, tiny businesses have been patiently waiting for that banking institutions to reopen their coffers. The restaurants, salons, and retail merchants that utilised lines of credit history inside past to finance operations and develop are sitting tight.

An in depth analysis revealed that funding for little organizations is still simply available but by way of choice sources. For prolonged time business proprietors, it is hard to believe of going to any location but the standard bank down the street. If a financial loan for $50,000 was obtained at 4% APR in 2004, chances are an offer you for that same financial loan 2 many years later but at 8% APR might be perceived as an outrageous improve. The cold actuality is the fact that the traditional bank is planning to lose dollars either way.

A really basic instance would be a $50,000 financial loan at 5% non-compounding awareness around 1 year, payable in entire in the stop. That would total to $2,500 profit for the traditional bank. You can find obviously bank administrative costs that eat into that these kinds of as employee salaries, overhead fees, rent, legal fees, and so on. Suddenly the earnings to become gained on this loan is much decrease.

You will find two other downsides. One particular would be the possibility charge of not having that income on hand. Perhaps that could’ve been utilised inside a very much a lot more brief phrase investment using a increased yield. It also could’ve been accustomed to preserve liquidity and prevent their personal money circulation troubles. The other downside is the risk of default. There may be generally the threat that a organization will not be able to spend it promptly or pay it back in any respect.

The FICO credit history scoring model is really a device that helps banking institutions predict the possibility of default. Examining money circulation historical past, economic statements, sales projections, and confirming compliance with regulations also facilitates to filter out the greatest candidates. Ultimately there is going to be defaults regardless.

But if a little enterprise seller thought the financial institution was making a pretty penny off their financial loan at 4% and milking them dry at 8%, it can be time for the actuality verify. In 2009, the Modest Company Administration (SBA) launched the America’s Recovery Funds loan (ARC) to stimulate lending. The ARC loan is a $35,000, interest-free, 12 month deferred payment bank loan that is fully guaranteed through the SBA. $256 Million was allocated for the application. It can be a excellent chance for any company proprietor and a terrible burden for each the standard bank and tax payer. The SBA predicted an astounding 56 % default pace within the cash. Yes, 56%.

Preserve in mind that these loans even now had to go via an arduous underwriting procedure. Even then, far more than half will conclusion up in default. That becoming said, the standard bank will be dropping money even if these loans were definitely becoming originated at 50% interest.

The SBA provided one more incentive for banking institutions to lend inside Economic Stimulus Bill. The assurance on 7(a) loan defaults greater from 75 % to 90 %. Service fees have been waived or lowered. The incentive expired in May possibly, 2010 and due to the fact then banking institutions have issued a drastically decrease level of these loans. The main element currently being the lessen default coverage.

It should be considered ridiculous that financial institutions are so less willing to lend with only a 75 percent default ensure. Envision if there is no SBA and there is a 0% percentage assure. With no the tax payer’s dollars getting offered at the leisure with the govt to reimburse banks for what is a hopeless cycle of losses, low rate loans in business can not and really should not exist.

What is happening now is an economic realization of this catastrophe. From the meantime, you can find alternatives for modest company proprietors around. Should your standard bank in no way offer you you that 4% or 8% APR loan once more, it is time to look into Venture Funds or perhaps a Vendor Cash loan.

In this recession, if anything at all is to get learned, it truly is to readjust expectations and look into choices that wouldn’t have been deemed previously. For those that have stigmatized financing applications much like the Business Loan it need to be stated that these are by no implies a loan for your desperate.

A Product owner Loan is often a program intended to repay the funding corporation by making it possible for them to withhold a percentage of each credit score card sale that’s done up right up until the total taken plus a charge is reached. Some nay-sayers are rapid to point out how the costs are a lot more costly than a financial loan, in some situations a lot far more.

In a country exactly where everybody has grown up with interest rates below 10%, it occurs as no surprise the fact that approval terms with a Business Cash advance could inflict injury using a small business owner’s pride and expectations. It really is time for America to acquire over it. Readjust or get left inside the dust!

If $10,000 is obtained by means of a Business Advance loan and invested on marketing that directly or indirectly leads to $20,000 in revenue, then repaying the financing provider $13,000 was a money making selection. When the only oven inside of a restaurant’s kitchen breaks, would it be practical to deal with it and shell out much more than you assume or would you rather close the restaurant mainly because the oven doesn’t operate?

The business proprietors getting benefits of Vendor Money Improvements are a step ahead of those that haven’t. The competing retail shop across the street from yours bought a full yellow page ad, a new neon sign, a google ad campaign, and fresh exterior wall paint with their Merchant Cash advance. How will you fare versus the revamped and revived competitor? Possibly they paid a quite penny. In case you hold out for that 4% mortgage to are available rear, it is going to be very late.

Dealer Bucks Advancements are not to the desperate. Even though the procedure is typically quick, there’s rigid underwriting criteria. Ignore the marketing and advertising phrases of 90% approval prices. That makes them sound overly attainable. It is not THAT simple. Tax liens, judgments, poor credit rating, and missed property mortgage payments can all inhibit your possibilities of approval according to the funding provider. You’ll have to have to offer merchant processing statements, financial institution statements, business licenses, and contact details for your personal organization property landlord. Extensive cash circulation analysis is conducted by teams of professionals. Some companies even need a list of creditors and trade references.

Business Hard cash Innovations are today’s sustainable funding source. There is certainly no reliance on federal government guarantees and deficit increasing stimulus software. Vendor Loan services this sort of as Positive Payment Solutions in New York, are liquid and eager to set up long expression relationships with little organization proprietors. Draw down on finances if you need to have it. Expand, remodel, enhance inventory, advertise, and fix aging gear. In a tight race among you and also the small business next door, how a lot of the big difference would it make if you received a $100,000 deposit one particular week from nowadays? It could well be a game changer and ‘lights out’ for ones competitor.

Perhaps you had been for the fence for just a Vendor Advance loan from the past and made a decision in opposition to it. What if your competitor does it now? Probably it’s going to charge them more than they hoped but their reward will probably be YOUR shoppers and they are going to win inside the long operate. It pretty much smells such as fine wine of capitalism that America is slowly losing, doesn’t it?

More than $3 billion is estimated to possess been injected to the economic system even though Dealer Money advance vendors. The default pace on these is a smaller amount than 15% on normal. Recipients from the ARC financial loan would be the authentic losers right here. It really is only a matter of time before the U.S. Federal government and economists recognize Merchant Cash Innovations as staying one of many core forces even now driving tiny company growth and at no expense for the taxpayer.

When the repair store down the street puts up a giant, shiny, new $5,000 indicator to divert your customers away out of your shop, waiting for that 4% curiosity financial loan present to occur back again may take too extended, if it actually arrives back again in any respect. Don’t carry your breath.

By: Johnson111

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Tags: Advance, Bank, Death, From, Inevitable, Interest, Loan, Merchant, Pace, rise, Slow, Small

Monday, September 6th, 2010 Grants No Comments

Real Estate Lessons from Trammell Crow

When you hear the term “America’s real estate magnate,” who comes to mind? Donald Trump, of course. But don’t believe everything you see on TV. There’s a real estate developer whose empire . . . well . . .trumps that of “The Donald.” And because he shuns the spotlight instead of seeking it out, the average person has never heard of him. (If you’re a resident of Texas, a real estate developer, or a student of business, you can exclude yourself from that list.) But chances are good that this man has left his mark somewhere you have lived, worked, shopped, stayed, or visited.

His name is Trammell Crow, and he’s the real estate mind behind such landmarks as the Dallas Market Center, Atlanta’s Peachtree Center, San Francisco’s Embarcadero Center, and monuments across the nation and the world from Brussels to Hong Kong. He’s had his tireless hands in apartments, office buildings, hotels, retail stores, and developments of every stripe. And because his legacy is so deep and broad–and his life and personality are so colorful–his story is well worth reading.

William Bragg Ewald, author of the new biography
Trammell Crow: A Legacy of Real Estate Innovation
(Urban Land Institute, 2005, ISBN: 0-8742093-5-8, $34.95), follows Crow from his humble birth in a tiny frame house at 1318 Fitzhugh Street in Dallas to his rise to wealth and power in the real estate world to the bitter years of financial woe, reorganization, and bare-knuckled litigation–and makes the reader come to truly know this compelling man.

Trammell Crow: A Legacy of Real Estate Innovation
is filled with valuable insights on the Crow business formula, his unorthodox partnership-based plan, the changes in government, policies, and society that impacted his company, and the nature of the man himself. Here are a few excerpts from the book:

The origins of Crow’s work ethic:

He took all kinds of jobs. From the age of ten he had mowed lawns, caddied, pumped gas, even jerked sodas on Sunday until his father put a stop to it. Years later he passed a filling station with journalist A.C. Greene, pointed to it and said, “That’s where I got my start.”

By 1932, as the Depression deepened, he was plucking chickens and cleaning old bricks for reuse in new houses. He worked on a construction site for 15 cents an hour, clerked in grocery stores, helped unload Clabber Girl baking power and Spreckles sugar from railroad boxcars, wheeled them into the warehouse, and stacked them up. For a dollar or two he would drive a new car from the Dallas Ford plant over to Fort Worth. From his earnings he gave his mother half to run the house and paid off his father’s $600 grocery bill.

All of this did not leave him embittered. “The whole attitude of the world today toward poverty, particularly that of socialists and writers who have never been there, is out of sync with reality,” Crow wrote. “We didn’t suffer any personal, emotional, or educational injury from our circumstances. We also learned things that many people never know. We learned desire. We learned the benefits of unity. We learned that you can do without. We learned that you can aspire and work and achieve without being fed from the outside. We learned not to feel sorry for ourselves. That might be the biggest lesson of all.”

The birth of the speculative warehouse:

The building John McFadden built to fill the 135 Cole Street plot measured exactly 11,250 square feet. And in that measurement can be found another significant Trammell Crow feature–speculation. Ray-O-Vac needed only 6,750 square feet. That left 4,500. “Taking chances already,” Crow said as he looked for a second tenant for the empty space and found Decca Records. Before the building was finished, they had signed up for the remaining 4,500 square feet, and Trammell Crow had become, in his own words, a “confirmed gambler, a speculative builder.”

He was leaving behind an old world in which a developer found a tenant, built a warehouse to meet only his specifications, and gave him a 20-year lease, in that order. “Who ever heard of calling a Ford or a Buick a speculative car?” a big developer asked. “But that’s what they are: cars manufactured for Ford or GM that have no buyers signed up. Well, Trammell Crow invented the speculative warehouse–a general-purpose building that he could offer to a prospective tenant not next month or next year, but now.” And it all began with those 4,500 square feet he leased to Decca.

Openness as a business philosophy:

Another component of the Crow method was his belief in open partnerships. Openness–a combination of trust, generosity, sharing, and optimism–permeated all of his activity.

It permeated his conduct with lenders. He didn’t go after the last dollar in every deal. He wanted his counterpart to walk away feeling he had made the best bargain ever.

It permeated his conduct with builders. A colleague once dropped by a construction site and asked the foreman to see the blueprint for the new building. “Blueprint? Hell, Mr. Crow says put a stake in the ground, go 200 feet west, then turn north.” Johnny McFadden and Edgar Miller were Trammell Crow’s good friends, the colleague reflected, “and he just turned them loose.”

Openness permeated his conduct with his brokers, on whom he depended to find lenders and tenants. “Other owners,” one former broker has declared, “tried to exclude or circumvent the brokers.” Or hammer them down on price. Trammell Crow didn’t. So brokers would bring prospects to him first. And as he left on a trip, he could sign a blank loan contract, leave it with a trusted broker, and tell him to go ahead and make the deal.

Most landlords try to avoid tenants, afraid they might ask for something. Not Trammell Crow. He aggressively pursued tenants’ problems. What did they need? He wanted to know. And he delivered more than he promised.

The Crow management style:

By 1970, Crow had branched out into one avenue after another, of varying promise. Recognizing that real estate demands local knowledge and expertise at its core, he had for the first time in history assembled a nationwide organization–an organization that would lead people in the future to express surprise that the Trammell Crow Company was headquartered in Dallas rather than in their own neighborhoods. He had assembled a bright and energetic team. He used no headhunters, no batteries of psychological tests. Most–Shutt, Simmons, Shafer, Mack Pogue–were very young. He hired many of them right out of school. And as one of his older associates said, “I trained them–how to read blueprints, how to go about leasing–and in three months they’d be telling us what to do.” He trusted them. “To get off Trammell’s team,” one associate said, “you either had to steal from him or quit.” If he wanted to reprimand a partner, he would begin by congratulating him.

He gave with great generosity, made his partners millionaires and multimillionaires, working the 50/50 magic. “Over the years,” he reflected later, “I probably was more giving than I needed to be. But on the whole I wouldn’t change.” He had built the greatest organization in this field in America by giving leadership to the man on the site. The more you give, the more you get back–a conviction he calls “generous pragmatism.” He always believed real estate on a nonpartnership corporate organization would be doomed to fail. Through “selfish generosity” he believed his partners would make money, and he would make money.

From this formula what resulted? First, a brain trust, a far-flung organization of diverse people around the country capable of supplying their leader with varied creative ideas. Second, diversification–of location and of product, from specialists, who knew every nook and cranny of every local market; who knew every type of building they were putting up. And third, an organization national in scope, with geographic diversity that permitted economies of scale in borrowing and in construction . . . This diversity protects the national organization from cyclical downswings in individual economic areas and individual products.

His eccentricities . . . and his genius:

As ever, he had small peculiarities displayed. He once climbed an eight-foot fence in a black overcoat and derby hat. Riding in his car, dictating and eating cookies at the same time, he could leave the dictation tape an indecipherable jumble. Becoming too hot in the midst of his guests at an upscale restaurant, he removed his jacket and cut off his shirtsleeves. While his secretaries tried to tell a particularly objectionable visitor that Crow was out of the office, he walked by shielding his face with a sheaf of papers, pretending to be invisible.

All to intelligent purpose. He could do economic feasibility studies in five minutes on the back of a placemat. He could summarize complicated presentations on a single sheet of paper. Taking dictation, Barbara Collins has remembered, “You can’t predict the end of the sentence with Mr. Crow.” He can, Bill Cooper observes, see through the details of a project to the bottom line; can walk into a town like a homing pigeon and say, “Here’s the project site.” “Exxon would take a hundred professional people to plan its building in New York City,” Cloyce Box observed; “Trammell Crow would do the same thing all by himself.”

The trying years (the 1980s):

Even in its glory years, the company had an abundance of go-getters. But now, more than ever, it was becoming a company of mercenaries. These were not the young men of varied backgrounds who joined in the days of the roll-top desk and foolscap financial summaries and found themselves in an organization “intimate, small, and fun.” Crow had grown big and become streamlined, rife with young MBAs with signature rights. One of Crow’s oldest partners, Tom Simmons, summed up the change in a striking metaphor: the old company was a tattered old goose that had laid golden eggs; the new company was a streamlined goose that didn’t. Traveling around the country, Mack Pogue would from time to time find himself appalled at the young MBAs lacking experience and left in charge of the local turf. A couple of blocks away, from their office at 2001 Bryan, old-timers Tom Shutt and Bart Brown watched this change with sadness. They had built for the market, not to pile up volumes. The company they knew in the old days responded to genuine customer needs, not to a get-rich-quick formula.

The legacy (circa 1994):

With the roll-ups shifting assets from the partners to the family, its chief, Harlan Crow, now sat atop an empire that, in 1993, had a gross value, before debt, of some $7 billion, including some $4 billion in the Trammell Crow Commercial Company. Equity in this empire came to about $1 billion, including the equity of the Crow family, $370 million. Outside partners–principally insurance companies and smaller investors like Ehrenkranz–had equity totaling $844 million. All these enterprises together produced annual revenues of about $2 billion and employed more than 5,500 people. The commercial company, the biggest component, managed more square footage than anyone else in the United States–some 240 million square feet, half of it owned, half of it managed for other owners. Harlan would soon remarry. He and his new bride would have his first child, a boy. They would undertake the purchase of the palatial Adirondacks home of the former Ms. Meriwether Post near Lake George.

And like Prince Hal, Harlan looked forward to following honorably, effectively, and humbly in the footsteps of a distinguished and delighted father.

The big lesson from
Trammell Crow is that action–undertaken with unflagging energy and unyielding determination–is a magic elixir for both triumph and disaster. Crow is a living example of that truth. That’s reason enough to pick up Ewald’s book. And if that’s not enough, well, the story of Trammell Crow is just darn good reading.

“Why write about him?” queries Ewald in the preface. “Because as a one-of-a-kind individual–in his character, personality, surprises, speed of mind, convictions, compulsive optimism, shortcomings, energy, and, above all, his singular ethics–he far out-fascinates most billionaires, most CEOs, indeed most people. Because he rose farther in his business–real estate development–than anyone else ever has, and because he therefore had farther to fall. Because his features as an individual mesh inexorably with the driving buoyancy and the treacherous economic follies of our time.

“This is therefore a story of dramatic tensions: between the forces within a man and his country that powered an egregious business ascent and the undertow forces within a man and his country that propelled him earthward,” he continues. “It is a morality play about transcendence–about what remains when both a business and a society founder. This is a story that recounts how a man, though the heavens may seem to fall, can sometimes still come through triumphant.”

About the Author:

An accomplished author, William Bragg Ewald, Jr. has written eight books, including a biography of former President Eisenhower. He served as a member of the White House staff during the Eisenhower administration and assisted the President in writing his two volumes of White House memoirs. Dr. Ewald received his doctorate from Harvard University. He is also the author of two books on eighteenth-century English literature.

About the Book:
Trammell Crow: A Legacy of Real Estate Innovation

(Urban Land Institute, 2005, ISBN: 0-8742093-5-8, $34.95) is available at bookstores nationwide and major online booksellers or direct from the publisher at uli.org.

The Urban Land Institute

(uli.org) is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance the total environment. Each year, the Institute honors a land use visionary through the Urban Land Institute J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionary Urban Development. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 25,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

Tags: Crow, Estate, From, Lessons, Real, Trammell