1. If you are not going to work with individual you are paying, don't do it. You need to work with individual who's charging you, so you can have accountability from him/her.

2. Take a very close look at cost/benefit ratio of relationship. Is similar information or help available at a lower cost or from other sources. Please understand that most of information needed to succeed in Creative Real Estate or Home-Based Businesses is available for free if you have time and ability to research it yourself.

3. Be very careful of those who claim to have secret or proprietary ways of doing business. The dictionary defines proprietary as made and sold by one with sole right to do so; exclusively owned; private; benefiting an owner; owned by a private individual or corporation under a trademark or patent.

Now ask yourself, does anyone in field of Creative Real Estate own an exclusive method of doing business. The answer is no. It is just marketing hype designed to entice someone into parting with his/her money.

Most of methods for finding, acquiring, renting, selling, optioning property have been around for years. Can someone bring a slightly different twist to these methods, yes; but this is hardly proprietary.

Take Lease Options, people have been doing options for well over one half of a century. There is nothing new about sandwich leases, assignments, etc.

Wouldn't you think that if someone had a proprietary method and he or she shared that method, that it would no longer be proprietary. Of course! Once shared, it is no longer exclusively owned, therefore not proprietary.

Which really leaves part of definition about benefiting owner. As we have seen, there are truly no proprietary or secret methods; so who does this claim benefit? Why one trying to separate you from your money with this hype.

4. Be careful about long term relationships. Be sure any contract you sign can be canceled if you are not satisfied with service being provided to you. You should be final arbitrator of whether or not a relationship is worth your money.

Do not pay for entire period up front. Many Gurus, Coaches and Mentors have a non-refundable clause in their contracts. By paying entire fee up front, you lose leverage in case of dissatisfaction with services provided you.

5. Be sure any material supplied to you and any services to be provided during course of relationship are covered in detail. Get a listing of what will be covered and order in which it will happen. Do not accept generalities or vague comments like "We'll get to that". Know exactly what you are paying for.

6. Don't be led on by overly high prices. The most expensive is not always best, especially for you. This is one area, where cost does not equal caring or commitment to your needs. Nor, does a high price indicate quality. Don't be fooled by "I'm worth it" line.

7. Speaking of quality and caring, don't settle for lip service that someone cares about your future, make them demonstrate it. Speak to them a number of times. Do they give you bum's rush if you can't afford their services right now, or do they take some time with you. Do you get sense that they are more interested in selling you something? If you do, think very carefully before agreeing to enter any relationship with someone like this. What makes you think that their underlying attitude will change with passing of money.

8. Do they seem to get more benefit from relationship than you do? By this we mean, do they ask you to help promote their activities or products in your marketing material or promotional material. Do they ask you to do things for them, but are reluctant to do things to help promote your business? If they do, these are warning signs that this could well be a one sided relationship. Don't fall for line "Well, you'll receive some back end benefit from this". Remember, you're in business to promote yourself, not someone else.

9. If your Guru, Coach or Mentor makes a promise to do something for you, get it in writing, particularly if it has a monetary consequence to you. By getting it in writing, you avoid any misunderstandings and you have recourse if he/she does not follow through.

We have previously examined realistic billable hours and effect of business expenses on your hourly rate. Now we'll look at effect of benefits.

Once upon at time, when we were employed, we received a benefits package from our employer. This usually included health, life and disability insurance. Many firms also had available pension programs, profit sharing, dental and vision coverage. In addition, one-half of your social security was paid by your employer.

As self-employed individuals, we have to provide these benefits for ourselves. This means an additional boast to hourly rate we've calculated so far. For sake of argument, let's figure a standard benefits package consisting of health, life, disability, pension and profit sharing. Let's figure health insurance costs at $300 per month; life at $50 per month; disability at $150 per month; pension (a SEP-IRA) at $500 per month and about 10% for a profit margin.