It's the new year and finally you have decided to prepare a detailed budget for 2009.  If feels great and you are off and running....

....then a call comes in from xyz news saying you can get 6 ads this year for the price of 2 if you buy this week.....or we can get you in the top 10 on a Google search for only $19.95 a month.  Blah blah blah. (By the way AR can get you both for free).  But most say....."well, $19.95 is not that much, so....what they hey....OK"

DON'T DO IT.  IF IT IS NOT ON THE BUDGET DO NOT DO IT.  DON'T.... This is one of the biggest reasons companies collapse as they end up adding $10 here $20 here and so forth.  If you have already put together a budget, you already know that those $10-20 add up to thousands at the end of the year.

Take a review at mid year and then decide if you are in a position where the budget can be increased....or needs to be either decreased or funded by a business partner.

So when the sales person calls with a viable marketing item....say your community or school paper.  Merely tell them that you already made your budget, but would you do me a favor and put me on your tickler list for October as we put our budget together in November.

Trust me, this will save you in 2009 and beyond.  As agents we all want the next best thing that will make us a zillionaire overnight.  Stick to your budget and when you have a boatload of cash and want to throw it into Zillionaireaireagentovernight.com then go for it.  That is when you can afford to screw up.  We all screw up, so don't feel bad about it.  Just put the screw up in your budget, as if you put it in after your budget and it tanks, something has to go.

Remember when you have a budget and you add 1 cent, there has to be 1 cent removed.  Don't ever add without removing.  We are not here to be the best producing agents, we are here to be the most profitable agents.  I have a friend that sold $15,000,000 in 05, then over $60,000,000 in 2006.  Sound great, eh?  He is now bankrupt. Why?  His business took off like crazy so greed took over and he started putting ad campaigns everywhere during the year.  $8000 a month with one radio station (on a long term contract).

Just be fiscally smart.  Otherwise go into politics.