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15 things you should do right before a job interview

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waiting for a job interviewThe 15 minutes before a job interview can be harrowing, especially for job seekers who aren't sure what to do with that time. 

"Those 15 minutes are your opportunity to get yourself into the right frame of mind, and set your energy and focus on who you'll be meeting with, what you want them to remember about you, and what you want to ask them," says Deborah Shane, a professional branding strategist and author of "Career Transition."

Here are 15 things you should do in the 15 minutes before a job interview:

SEE ALSO: 19 unprofessional habits that could cost you a job

DON'T MISS: 15 questions you should always ask yourself before accepting a new job

1. Arrive early, but don't go inside

Few things can shake you more than running late to an interview, so always arrive early. But be sure to wait in your car or a nearby café, as being too early can place unnecessary pressure on your interviewer and start the meeting off on the wrong foot, says David Parnell, a legal consultant, communication coach, and author of "The Failing Law Firm: Symptoms and Remedies."

Rita Friedman, a Philadelphia-based career coach, says you shouldn't walk into the office building more than 10 minutes early. "It can come across as an imposition, as if you are expecting the interviewer to drop whatever he or she is doing to attend to you."



2. Stay calm

When you become stressed, your body releases stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine. Depending on the level of your stress, these can slightly or greatly inhibit your ability to think clearly, Parnell says. 

"Ensuring that you remain calm, collected, and cool in the minutes leading up to the interview is necessary to avoid this hormonal elixir, and keep your mind clear," he says.

Career coach Anita Attridge agrees. She says staying calm before and during an interview allows you to listen better and to stay focused on how to best respond to questions. 

"In addition, you are better able to think how you can best present your accomplishments in alignment with what is important to the interviewer — and being calm also demonstrates your ability to deal with stressful situations."



3. Breathe

This will help you remain calm. "Counting your breath is one of the most immediate and impactful techniques for calming your nerves," Parnell says. "Simply focus on your breaths, counting each until you reach 10, and repeat."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The players from Kobe Bryant's legendary 1996 NBA draft

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kobe brany 1996 nba draft

Kobe Bryant will play his final NBA game on Wednesday, wrapping up a 20-year career. But it all started with the 1996 NBA draft, one of the best drafts of all time.

In addition to producing Kobe, one of the greatest players ever, it also gave us one of the most entertaining players ever (Allen Iverson), and a host of future Hall of Famers.

In addition, three of the 10 highest-earning players of all time came out of the '96 draft.

Today, many of these players are still involved in basketball in some way. But there's also a math teacher, an ESPN analyst, and an ex-investment banker. Only one of them — Kobe — was still playing this season.

Allen Iverson was picked first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers.



He has had financial and personal issues since retiring. But he still does Reebok commercials, reportedly has a $32 million trust fund, and was recently elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Sources: Washington PostNBC Sports, USA Today



Marcus Camby was picked second overall by the Toronto Raptors.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

RANKED: The world's top 20 most authentic brands

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lego

Global media brand Disney is the most authentic brand in the world, according to a report from communications company Cohn & Wolfe.

The PR firm ranked companies according to their scores on research and surveys answered by more than 12,000 consumers across 14 markets.

Consumers rated more than 1,600 brands on the three key attributes that make up authenticity, according to Cohn & Wolfe. These were: "reliability,""respectfulness," and "reality."

The report found that consumer cynicism is currently high globally, with four out of five consumers stating that brands are not “open and honest."

Cynicism is highest in Western Europe. Only 7% of those surveyed in the UK, France, and Germany described brands as "open and honest." This contrasts with the US, where 23% see brands as honest, and China, where 36% of people have faith in brands.

Scroll below to see the top 20 most authentic brands in the world.

SEE ALSO: The world's top 10 companies, ranked by reputation

20. Paypal. Authenticity Score: 83.62.



19. Coca-Cola. Authenticity Score: 84.4.



18. MasterCard. Authenticity Score: 84.78.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

RANKED: The areas of London where the most properties have had their prices cut

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Ormonde House 8 Exterior

If you follow UK property news, you may have heard that the London bubble could be about to burst. 

Evidence to suggest that the London property bubble is deflating has started to stack up. Amongst other factors, prices in the most expensive areas of the capital have fallen, and in February, property funds saw big outflows.

To add to that waning sentiment, property analysis firm Propcision has released research showing the areas of London where the largest proportion of properties have had their prices cut.

Propcision said the research suggests prices in London are remaining static as sellers slash prices to keep them at last year's levels. 

Michelle Ricci, co-founder of Propcision, said that the upward trend prime central London property has enjoyed for the past few years has started to show signs of resistance.

"We feel the data suggests asking prices are holding steady with levels seen in the past 6 months.

"However, that said, there are particular areas of vulnerability that may start to show demonstrable evidence of a downward trend — most notably new-builds."

Check out the list below.

32. Bexley

Properties on the market to have prices reduced: 11%

We kick off in south east London with the borough of Bexley, home to Hall Place, a key area designated for urban regeneration. That regeneration may have gone too far if the number of house price reductions is anything to go by, though. 



31. Redbridge

Properties on the market to have prices reduced: 16%

The borough of Redbridge has one of the most impressive town halls in London, but it's not impressive enough to stop residents slashing property prices in a bid to draw new buyers. 



30. Newham

Properties on the market to have prices reduced: 16%

This east London borough benefitted hugely from its proximity to the Olympics, but that was four years ago and demand has cooled since then. 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

20 top MBA programs whose grads land jobs right out of school

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University of Chicago Booth School of Business 2015

Our sixth annual ranking of the 50 best business schools in the world evaluated MBA programs based on reputation, average starting salary after graduation, job-placement rate within three months of graduation, average GMAT score, and tuition and fees. (Read our full methodology here.)

Because business school is such a hefty investment, the ability to get a job soon after graduating is an important factor in choosing where to go.

To come up with our list of the 20 top business schools for getting a job right away, we broke out the schools by job-placement rate. Some schools that ranked highly on our main list didn't make this ranking because of lower job-placement figures, such as Harvard (91%) and Stanford (86%).

It's worth noting though that many students at these schools decide to start their own businesses — an employment result that schools don't factor into their overall job-placement statistic. 

Keep scrolling to see the best business schools for finding a job after graduating, listed here in ascending order by job-placement percentage. 

Editing by Alex Morrell with additional research by Andy Kiersz.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best business schools in the world

NOW READ: 22 MBA programs where graduates earn more than $110,000 right out of school

Columbia University — Columbia Business School

Location: New York, New York

Job-placement rate: 93%

Students begin crafting their network and community within the business world the minute they arrive at Columbia, thanks in part to the school's cluster system, which places first-year students in "clusters" of 65 to 70 people who take all their core classes together. Columbia also counts some of the greatest minds in finance among its alumni, including Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and former Bank of America executive Sallie Krawcheck.



University of London — London Business School (LBS)

Location: London, England

Job-placement rate: 93%

University of London's business school is once again the best outside the US. With 75% of the top-500 global companies based in London, the school is a recruiting and networking gold mine for a host of multinational corporations, including Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Co.

In addition to earning an MBA, students are required to graduate with a second-language proficiency in one of 15 languages offered by the Modern Language Centre at King's College London.



Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Sloan School of Management

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Job-placement rate: 93%

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is not only the best college in America, but it's also home to one of the best business schools. The Sloan School of Management, which celebrated its 100-year anniversary last year, offers three MBA tracks: enterprise management, entrepreneurship and innovation, and finance.

Sloan reported that 2014 graduates accepted job offers at companies like Adobe, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, and 7.4% of grads went on to start their own businesses.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

7 mistakes too many women make when it's time to negotiate their salary

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food52 office tour

Your salary matters.

"For many people, your biggest asset is your earning power, so you have to manage that as well as any other asset," says Dawn Rapoport, a certified financial planner and chief operating officer at Waddell & Associates.

This is especially important for people early in their careers, in the "accumulation phase" of acquiring assets.

"In the early years, where you start very much has an impact on where you end up," she explains. "You want to make sure you are being very focused on negotiating your best opportunities, because that will help determine what you're getting paid in future roles. If you spend 10 years being undervalued, that doesn't set you up for the middle or later stages of your career, where you should hit peak earning power."

This advice applies to everyone — but research shows that women may have more trouble putting it into effect, whether that's because of their own socialized tendencies, a lack of history with effective negotiation, or the way their actions are perceived from across the table.

Below, Lee E. Miller, co-author of "A Woman's Guide to Successful Negotiating" with his daughter Jessica, details seven of the most common and counterproductive negotiation mistakes women make.

SEE ALSO: 5 things to do with your money when you change jobs

They accept the first offer.

"In academic studies and in my own experience in the business world, women often do not negotiate," Miller says. "They simply accept the first offer."

Counterintuitively, an employer is usually ready for a little discussion. "I've been on the recruiting side, I've been the head of HR, and I expect there will be negotiation — especially as you move up the ladder," Miller says.

In fact, missing the opportunity to negotiate for yourself could even raise a red flag with your employer. "If you don't negotiate for yourself, the company will wonder, as you move up, 'Is she going to negotiate effectively for us?' Declining to negotiate casts doubt on your leadership," Miller says.



They believe what they're told.

Part of the reluctance to negotiate might be that women tend to follow the rules and take what they're told at face value, like "The offer for this position isn't negotiable" or "This is what we can do," the first time the subject comes up.

"The first offer that is made rarely is the best offer," Miller says. "Men almost always come back and ask for something else." The offer is almost always negotiable, he continues — even if not the salary and things like benefits and scheduling.



They figure they'll wait to ask.

One tactic Miller has seen among women is to accept a position without negotiating, with the intention of proving their worth and then approaching their employer for a raise.

But, he explains, there's a flaw in that approach. "If you start too low, your raise is on that too-low base. Aren't you better off getting an additional $10,000 up front and then getting the same 10% raise down the road? You should always be negotiating the best possible deal that you can."

He acknowledges that sometimes an employee isn't in the best position to get more than the initial offer right off the bat. That's fine, he says, but go in with a strategy. "It's very typical if you're changing fields or you need new skills, to get the experience and then ask for the raise. If you can't get it after all that, be willing to change jobs, because someone will be willing to pay you."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This year's National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees invented everything from dental implants to the EpiPen

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Harriet Williams Russell Strong

Since 1973, the Inventors Hall of Fame has inducted some history's brightest minds and most influential innovators into its ranks — Edison and Tesla counted among them.

On May 5, the nonprofit will formally induct this year's inventors.

Each one met the criteria of holding a US patent and "has contributed significantly to the nation's welfare and the advancement of science and the useful arts," a representative from the Hall of Fame tells Tech Insider.

Here's this year's class. 

Victor Lawrence — signal processing in telecommunications

Dr. Lawrence spent the bulk of his career at Bell Laboratories, where he developed a way to quickly move data over phone lines without overcrowding the bandwidth.

His inventions set the foundation for voice-band modems and DSL, both early means of access to the internet.

"By enabling the high-speed transmission of more data, Lawrence helped turn the internet into a global industry useful for more than simple text-based functions," the Inventors Hall of Fame states.



William Sparks — butyl rubber

Like many wartime innovations, butyl rubber managed to outlast its temporary usefulness.

Sparks' invention alongside Robert Thomas was originally designed as an artificial replacement for regular rubber, whose overseas supply had been cut due to World War II.

Eventually, it was brought over into civilian life for use in rubber sealant, inner tubes for tires, footballs, basketballs, and, in food-grade form, chewing gum.



Bantval Jayant Baliga — insulated gate bipolar transistor

Baliga's invention is a power switch that reduces gasoline consumption by 10% and improves electrical energy efficiency by more than 40%.

Over the last 25 years, that has resulted in an energy savings of 100 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

The IGBT can be found in household appliances, solar panels, cars, medical equipment, and just about anything that uses high voltage.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

13 tough interview questions you may have to answer if you want to become a flight attendant

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flight attendants

If your dream job involves experiencing the thrill of adventure and taking amazing vacations at little to no cost, get in line.

The competition among flight attendant candidates is so fierce that, for certain airlines, applicants compete with thousands of other applicants.

In fact, veteran Delta flight attendant Danny Elkins previously told Business Insider that it's harder to get invited to the Delta flight-attendant training center than to get into Harvard University.

After sorting through thousands of applications, airlines use an array of interviewing techniques, including video interviews, Q&A sessions, and in-person meetings to thin the herd. As Elkins said, airlines have to make sure that those they hire can not only serve to keep customers safe and comfortable on board, but also fit well within the organization.

Here are some of the toughest questions a flight-attendant candidate might be asked in the process:

SEE ALSO: Here are some of the most bizarre things flight attendants have seen in their line of duty

DON'T MISS: Here's what it's REALLY like to work as a Delta Air Lines flight attendant

'Create a PA announcement for a couple celebrating their 50th year anniversary' — Delta Air Lines



'Describe the color yellow to somebody who's blind' — Spirit Airlines

Click here to find out why they ask this question, and how to answer it.



'You have one seat left on a flight, and you have five passengers waiting on standby: A military man in uniform, a pregnant woman, a woman and her infant child, an elite customer who is a frequent flyer of Northwest Airlines, and a gentleman trying to go and see his ill sister. Who will be the one to get the empty seat on the flight, and why?' — Northwest Airlines (now Delta Air Lines)



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here's what 'Game of Thrones' looks like without visual effects

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 Have you ever wondered how "Game of Thrones" comes to life? 

braavos-built

HBO sent a raven to the official "Game of Thrones" Facebook page with an incredible behind-the-scenes look at how their production teams use a very creative mix of real and digital effects to create locations like King's Landing or Braavos (seen above) and make the dramatic battles beyond the wall so visually stunning.

The five-minute clip breaks down some of the most memorable moments of the past seasons and leaves us even more eager for the upcoming season six. 

Check out the special effects secrets of one of the most popular dramas of all time.

King's Landing, home of the Iron Throne, is actually a creative manipulation of Dubrovnik, a coastal city in Croatia.



The Great Sept of Baelor is digitally added to the foreground. The Red Keep, where the Lannister family lives, is on the right hand side in the background.

kings-landing-before-after



Arya's apprenticeship in the haunting House of Black and White actually takes place on a giant soundstage. The four main columns with the faces are real, however,



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

If you want a driverless car, move to one of these 7 cities

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Google driverless car

Some cities are already preparing for driverless cars to hit the roads.

The World Economic Forum recently conducted a global survey aimed at gauging how people feel about self-driving vehicles. The report also looked at what cities were doing to get ready for robot cars. 

Here's seven cities that are ahead of the curve and getting ready for the decade of self-driving cars, according to the WEF's report. 

SEE ALSO: Driverless taxis are about to hit Singapore

Singapore

Singapore made the WEF's list because people can now hail self-driving shuttles as part of the country's multi-year trial.

The first phase began in January and will test the driverless shuttles on service roads with minimal traffic, gradually working up to actual roads with regular traffic, Channel News Asia reported. The trial could last as long as two years.

A startup is also planning to test driverless taxis  in Singapore later this year. The country is also one of the testing sites for Citymobil2, a program testing driverless electric shuttles in countries part of the European Union.



Gothenburg, Sweden

The second-largest Swedish city made the list because it's the testing site for Volvo's DriveME program. Starting in 2017, 100 customers will be able to lease an autonomous Volvo XC90 and drive it in autonomous mode on specified Swedish roads as part of the program.

It's all part of Volvo's ambitious self-driving experiment and mission to make cars deathproof by 2020.



Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh made the list because it's where Uber's self-driving car research center is located.

It's also where Carnegie Mellon is located, which has several robotics professors working on projects related to driverless cars. Uber actually poached more than 40 autonomous vehicle experts from Carnegie Mellon.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 14 most inspirational quotes and moments from Kobe Bryant's auto-documentary, 'Muse'

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Kobe Bryant Muse

Kobe Bryant will call it a career on Wednesday night when he plays his final NBA game. Earlier this season he released an auto-documentary, "Muse," a film that takes a look at many of the challenges Kobe has faced in his career.

From moving back to the United States as a teenager and barely being able to write English, to skipping college, to troubles with his marriage, and the struggle to prove he could succeed without Shaquille O'Neal as a teammate, there were many trials and tribulations during his 20 NBA seasons.

The constant struggles provided Bryant with numerous moments of inspiration for himself that could also be used by others.

Here are the best quotes and moments from "Muse."

On success.



On constantly moving around as a child as his dad played professional basketball in Europe.



On playing with rage.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Former State Department adviser says 6 forces will change the way we live and work over the next 20 years

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alec ross

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's senior adviser for innovation and subsequently a senior fellow at Columbia, Alec Ross has logged "well over a million miles" in his travels across 41 countries.

He's studied the development of emerging technologies and their applications around the world, and his book "The Industries of the Future" is an exploration of the six fundamental forces he is confident will transform the way we live and work over the next 20 years.

Business Insider recently spoke with Ross to hear more about these forces, and what we should expect.

SEE ALSO: LinkedIn's HR chief shares her best career advice for 20-somethings

We'll become increasingly reliant on robots

Advances in cloud computing is one of the main factors behind the dramatic rise of automated technology that will only continue to expand.

For example, in the United States, companies like Google and General Motors are investing in driverless car technology; in Japan, robots are serving as personal caregivers to the elderly.

As has happened before in history, automation will both kill and create jobs.

"Overall, robots can be a boon, freeing up humans to do more productive things — but only so long as humans create the systems to adapt their workforces, economies, and societies to the inevitable disruption," Ross writes.

Ross predicts that this will be a net positive for the entire global population, but will hurt the most among manual laborers in the Western world and low-skilled workers in countries like China.



Genomics will become the next trillion-dollar industry

"The size of the genomics market was estimated at a little more than $11 billion in 2013 and is going to grow faster than anyone could imagine," Ross writes.

Ronald W. Davis, director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center, "likens the state of genomics today to that of e-commerce in 1994, the year Amazon was founded and before the founders of Google had even begun working, as students, on internet search," Ross continues.

He predicts that the American genomics industry will boom over the next two decades, and that we will be able to predict a tremendous amount about both our health and the health of our unborn children — which will bring with it some heavy ethical questions. China will be on the United States' heels in this industry, he says.

 

 



The technology behind digital currency will eliminate middle men and empower developing nations

"I think the most significant outgrowth of Bitcoin has not been the creation of a viable digital currency, because I think that there is little evidence that Bitcoin is either a store of value or a medium of exchange," Ross told Business Insider. "What's significant is this computer science breakthrough in the blockchain," the public ledger that tracks Bitcoin transactions.

For example, we will be less reliant on people like accountants to guide us through forms, since blockchain technology will be able to power "smart contracts" that can be embedded in the financial transactions for things like real estate.

Ross compared Bitcoin to an early web search tool like Web Crawler, and said that while it won't become a widely used digital currency, it will serve as the foundation for ones that will.

"That is going to help accelerate globalization because a cryptocurrency will make it much easier to connect developing and developed markets," he said. "The Bangladeshi construction worker in the United Arab Emirates is no longer going to have to spend 8% of their wages on transfer payments. They can spend .008% transferring the money to Bangladesh."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This exclusive Manhattan club is the perfect place for die-hard car enthusiasts

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Manhattan Classic Car Club 36

Tucked away in a former police stable on Pier 76, the Classic Car Club of Manhattan is an automotive Mecca on a decidedly not car-friendly island.

The 10-year-old club, which recently moved to its new home in Hudson Yards from SoHo, provides 400 members with access to a list of classic and exotic automobiles, along with a range of social activities.

"Some of the members are die-hard race fans or car enthusiasts," membership director (and amateur racing driver) Adam Miller said.

The club's collection is impressive both for its serious automotive firepower (think Ferrari 458 or Lamborghini Huracan), but also for a range of cars beloved by drivers — like a race-modified BMW M3 or an Acura NSX, a Japanese sports car famous for having been influenced by three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna.

Photos by Hollis Johnson.

 

SEE ALSO: This Aston Martin was so gorgeous that we wanted to buy one for ourselves

Some Manhattanites may require a bit of coaching before they get behind the wheel.

"It's not unusual to have someone join who has never driven a manual [transmission]," Miller said.

The club provides a list of teaching events, and will even rent out the parking lot at the Meadowlands or the New Jersey Motorsports Park for some in-car training. 

They offer track days at nearby road courses, and for those interested in racing, the club fields a few Miata-based race cars in some amateur events across the eastern seaboard.

"It's the biggest rush you can legally get," Miller said.

There are even organized trips to some of the world's most famous racetracks, like the Nürburgring in Germany or Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

Dues to participate in the club's social events are $180 a month, and from there members can pay for a package of "points" to book the cars. A typical member will pay about $9,000, plus the base dues, to drive for 30 days out of the year.



On a sunny Friday afternoon, the garage was already missing cars as members disappeared on weekend adventures.

"We are not in the rental business," Miller said. "When someone takes out a car it's a 'booking.'"

To the enthusiast, the club provides the joys of driving a classic or exotic car without the headaches of ownership.

"For most of our members, returning here and giving the keys back is a big relief," Miller said.

That's when a team of in-house mechanics take over, providing service and repairs to classics or finicky exotics.



Once finished, the club will keep the doors open and the public to wander in and look at the collection free of charge, co-founder Michael Prichinello said.

As part of its proposal to the Hudson River Parks Trust for the unusual site, the club will also provide a host of services for non-members, including turning an adjacent parking lot into a public plaza, creating kayak and paddleboard storage space and access to the river below, and hosting a list of educational events.

"We've even thought of doing a program where we turn a [gasoline-powered] car into an electric car," Prichinello said. "Why not? We have such good mechanics here."

There are also plans for public car shows and automotive art exhibits.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

I've been investing in real estate for the past 5 years — here are 10 things to ask yourself before you start

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house front yard 2Our start in real estate began from very humble beginnings.

My husband and I bought our first property at the ages of 23 and 25, on October 25, 2011 after our 3rd move in 18 months. I had just graduated from grad school and was unemployed and without a job.

We bought a home based on one income and used my husband’s VA loan. Fast forward four years to today; we own seven houses, with two more expected to close by Christmas. We have a net worth of over $400,000 and make almost $2,000/month on our REI rentals.

All of this was courtesy of investing in rental property and thinking outside of the box using the little resources we had. Of those four years, I only worked in a professional capacity for less three of those years, due to relocation for my husband’s job (military pilot).

I share this as inspiration; not as a brag. You can do anything you set your mind to in real estate. In real estate, no beginning is too small, no investment is too large.

Real estate is an awesome investment. It is adaptable to your goals, and your pool of resources. The benefits of owning rental properties are as vast as your goals and desires. Don’t let analysis paralysis or the fear of failure stop you from getting started!

You will make tons of mistakes. Trust me — I did!! Still, I am so thankful for our real estate investments. Most importantly, I’m glad I started.

Real estate comes in many forms — multi-family, shopping centers, storage units, industrial office buildings, residential housing — all of which come with different sizes and price tags.

There are lots of financing and management strategies. This unique melting pot of options means that anyone can gets started with a little bit of wisdom and a lot of out of the box thinking no matter their financial planning.

For this guide we are going to focus on residential single family homes and how to buy rental property in this category.

While we’re focusing on single family homes, with some minor adjustments, this plan could work for many other types of rental property.

The key is to have a model that works, and to use that model to guide your plan. A great plan allows you to get to your goal with minimal mistakes.

Here are 10 things to evaluate before you buy your first income property:

SEE ALSO: An HGTV star says one equation can tell you if your rental property is worth it

What type of property do you want to get started?

While there are tons of property types; we are going to focus on single family. Even within this niche you can get started with a personal property meaning you live in it first and rent it out when you move or you can buy a rental property. This means that it is a rental property from day one.



Do you want to be a local investor or are you willing to buy long distance in the best real estate markets?

Being a local investor allows you to be able to check on your properties easily if there is ever an emergency. It also makes it easier to self-manage or supervise a property manager.

Long distance allows you to invest where the market make the most sense for cashflow; not just your local market (i.e. Kentucky versus New York City). You can live and work in California and invest in the Midwest where your money goes a lot further with higher returns.



Do you want cash flow or cash flow and appreciation?

Some markets such as California, DC, or New York City, see large amounts of appreciation that a landlord can anticipate. Other areas such as small town Texas, Wisconsin or upstate New York are cheaper and return large cash returns but the house will never go up in value. When you sell the house it will be worth the same amount you paid for it.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Mexico's scandal-plagued president is obviously having a rough time

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Enrique Pena Nieto Mexico meeting Germany

Much heralded when he took office in late 2012, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has been dogged by scandals and bad press throughout his first three years in office.

And, despite his movie-star good looks and his administration's efforts to influence the media's coverage of him, his time in office has been marked by photos that portray "Mexico's savior" in a less-than-flattering light.

SEE ALSO: Leaked documents show the Mexican president's close friend moved $100 million offshore after a corruption probe

Peña Nieto used a home owned by Juan Armando Hinojosa Cantú, a contractor who had donated to Peña Nieto's political party, as an office while running for president in 2012.

Source: The New York Times



Peña Nieto also used a helicopter owned by one of Hinojosa's companies free of charge during his presidential campaign. Hinojosa won billions of dollars in contracts while Peña Nieto was governor of Mexico state and president.



In mid-2015, reports emerged that Peña Nieto appeared to have misrepresented how he acquired a piece of property outside Mexico City on disclosure forms filed in 2013. He amended the forms the following year, but questions remained about where he got the property, as well as how much it was worth.

Source: Business Insider, Reuters



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

1 MILLION MILES: From Moscow to Cambodia, John Kerry has seen it all

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kerry iraq

John Kerry recently became the most traveled US secretary of state in history, narrowly edging past a previous record set by Condoleezza Rice under President George W. Bush. 

As of April 7, Kerry traveled 1,055,000 miles for the job. To have traveled that far, Kerry has spent 2,297.03 hours in flight, which works out to 95.7 days.

In total, he has had 466 travel days so far in his tenure and has visited 80 countries.

We have put together some of our favorite photos of Kerry's travels below. 

SEE ALSO: Meet Ground Force One, the president's $1.1 million armored bus

RUSSIA: Kerry poses in front of St. Basil's cathedral during a walk at the Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2013.



KENYA: Kerry takes a selfie with a baby elephant while touring the Sheldrick Center Elephant Orphanage at the Nairobi National Park on May 3, 2015.



UZBEKISTAN: Kerry tours the Registan cultural site in Samarkand, November 1, 2015.



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These stunning paper microbes glorify the tiny creatures that call our bodies home

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Your body is not just your body.

It's teeming with microbes, and to illustrate their beauty in captivating detail, artist Rogan Brown turned to cutting out their forms in paper.

His work covers the wild diversity of organisms that call our body home, both friendly and belligerent.

Brown shared photos of three of his projects with Tech Insider, the best of which we've gathered here to show off his stunning layered-paper art.

Brown's "Cut Microbe" was made for the Eden Project's "Invisible You – The Human Microbiome exhibition" in Cornwall, UK in 2015.

Source: The Eden Project



The piece, showing a fictional microbe sliced in half, was inspired by infectious bacteria like E. coli and salmonella.



"Cut microbe" features the tentacle-like flagella and hair-like pili that bacteria use to move and communicate.



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Check out this incredible piece of history from the space race

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A prototype lunar rover once tested by NASA will be available for sale at an online auction this month, with an estimated price of $125,000 to $150,000.

The early prototype, known in official NASA documents as the "Brown LSSM," does not resemble the final Lunar Rover, which served the crews of Apollo 15, 16 and 17 on the surface of the Moon.

Its authenticity has been verified by former NASA engineer Otha H. Vaughan, Jr., who worked on the team of famous German-American rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.

"Mr. Vaughn states that the team actually flew the prototype on NASA’s KC-135 Zero G aircraft ‘to get some idea of how she would bounce with rubber tires and things like that,’" the auction house said.

The vehicle is in rather bad shape, and has spent an unknown amount of time sitting in an Alabama backyard after it was reportedly purchased at a NASA auction.

The prototype was spotted by a U.S. Air Force historian who reported the find to NASA, which, according to papers included in the sale, made at least one short-lived attempt to get it back.

It was later sent to the scrapyard of current owner Johnny Worley, who recognized its value and decided to preserve it.

 

Not much is left of this early lunar rover prototype ...



... but it is a rare chance to own an actual piece of the Apollo program.



The vehicle was built by Brown Engineering and reportedly tested in NASA's KC-135 "vomit comet" reduced-gravity aircraft.



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These beautiful space photos are actually just a bunch of junk in a scanner

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The photo below could be of a planet and its lone moon, drifting through a nebula of gas and dust.

But it's no view from a deep-space probe.

It's all food sitting on the glass plate of a home office scanner.

wanderfoodNavid Baraty, a freelance photographer, creates these stunning cosmic forgeries by arranging a mixture of spices, groceries, and glassware on an Epson V37 scanner. (The device's removeable cover, he tells Tech Insider, is vital to achieve a black background.)

He even based his latest series around a fictional space probe called Wander — short for Wormhole Accelerated Nomad Delivering Exploratory Reconnaissance — which "visits" each scene.

Below are 18 of our favorite scanner photos, which we heard about from The Salt at NPR. You can find more of his space scenes on the Wander Space Probe's Instagram or Facebook.

For this Earth-like planet, Baraty used a glass of water mixed with soy sauce, whiskey, coconut milk, and food coloring. The background was made from salt, flour, curry powder, and cinnamon.



He doesn't strictly use edible materials, though. This far-off galaxy view was made with salt, flour, turmeric, sugar, cinnamon, and... hair from his cat.



This green world is made from a glass of orange juice, tomato sauce, wasabi, and milk. The nebula behind it is made from coffee, cream, water, and food coloring. And sticking with the breakfast theme, the moon is a piece of pancake.



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This is what happens when you slice a laptop in half with water

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It may look like a just a stream of water, but loaded with enough pressure, industrial waterjets are powerful enough to cut through an inch of steel.

Or, if you're looking for some fun, slicing through everyday things like shoes or a laptop.

Business Insider talked to the creator of a new YouTube channel called "Cut in Half." This person didn't want to be identified since they are using the tool at work — albeit after-hours — but they did walk us through what it's like to turn highly-pressurized water into something that can slice a baseball cleanly in half.

SEE ALSO: 23 things you had no idea you could do in Snapchat

Waterjets are typically used for industrial applications, like carving a wrench out of metal or shaping aircraft wings. But after stumbling onto a subreddit filled with pictures of things beautifully sliced open, Cut in Half's creator decided to have some fun using water to slice through everyday objects.



He started with the only thing handy on him: his shoes. "I'd never seen anyone do it before," he says.

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The soft cloth was easy to slice through, so he went to Goodwill and picked up some random nonsense, like a power strip. The Omax Abrasive waterjet uses 60,000 pounds per square inch of water to cut through most anything.

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