Homes go to closing: 1,400 For November this year, we have seen hundreds of more homes being sold than we did in the same month for 2019.  So our market is still healthy and active.  If you are paying $1800 for rent for a two-bedroom apartment, you are paying too much and may want to…

Staying with the focus on our Non-profit Presentations Deborah invites Lynne Telford from Care and Share into the studio. They will outline all the people and organizations that depend on Care and Share for food and so much more. Listen and Learn! If you have any questions or would like to discuss something you have heard…

In keeping with our Holiday Non-Profit Presentation shows, Deborah invites in "The Place formally Urban Peak". The Place works with homeless kids from the ages of 12 to 24. This is a great organization which is trying to fill a needed gap in our homeless problem here in Colorado Springs. Listen and Learn! If you…

This week Deborah is back with Debbie's Tid Bits! She is going to let you know what you need to do to sell your home. That's right it's "Hits and Misses". Do you want to sit on the MLS for a week or a month? Listen and learn!

One thing we just can’t avoid, is how others perceive us by the the clothes we are wearing.

You do it too, don’t you!  Have you ever thought, hey, she sure looks amazing!  Or he could use a shave and a new coat, or what was she thinking wearing that!?  You see, it’s human nature.  We just can’t help it.  However, we can certainly influence how others think about us by putting a little extra thought and care into what we put on.  Especially when it comes to a job interview, meeting with potential clients, or getting introduced to your significant other’s family, you can’t escape the thoughts they form they first lay their eyes on you.  Does your style say you are careful and confident or does it say you are stylish and sassy?  Maybe your style is unconcerned and worn out, or too comfortable and mismatched.  Whatever it is you are wearing, it says more than you might think it does.

 

Here is the thing.  When you put in the effort to dress to impress the people you are meeting with, they will notice it and reward you with a favorable impression.  But there is a trick.  Be careful to only dress up one level.  Dressing up too much can say you are trying just to hard and says that you are not very perceptive.  People will think you are either arrogant or clueless.  Not dressing up, or enough, and you will be considered to be thoughtless or even disrespectful.  So, yep, there it is.  That fine line to where you are putting on enough of a flair to look good and pull it off with grace, versus looking uncool.

 

So here are a few tips I have found to be helpful…

*  Never wear jeans in new situations.  Ever.  It won’t do you any good to go casual for just about every situation I can think of.  Instead, find a great pair of slacks you can be comfortable in.  They always look so much nicer anyway.

*  Be clean and crisp.  Do a once (and a twice) over to make sure you don’t have any wrinkles, tears, stains, loose threads, and even tags and stickers if you just purchased a new pair.  Check your nails too.  Are they trimmed and clean?  Overlooking things like these will make you look sloppy if someone else notices them and you don’t.  How embarrassing!

* Get a second opinion from someone you trust and be open to their honesty.  If they don’t agree with something you have on, take it as a helpful piece of advice and make the necessary adjustment.  You will be grateful you did.

*  Take out the extra piercings, cover up those tattoos, and use makeup to cover up any blemishes.  Try to be picture perfect.  You may feel you are hiding your true self, but for a first impression, you want to show your best self.

* Accessorize.  Add a nice watch, a pretty necklace and matching earrings (for ladies), or cuff links and a tie pin (for the gentlemen).  Put on a stylish belt and don’t forget to shine those shoes!

* Don’t forget to smile!  It is your best attribute and helps people to feel relaxed and confident in you.  People who smile often and smile easily can help others to like them and can overcome awkward moments when nothing else may seem to go right.  Check your smile out in the mirror.  Make sure you have a winner that puts others at ease by including your eyes.  It makes your smile even more genuine.

 

Follow these quick tips, and truly, you will be on your way to make the best first impression.  So back to step three.  You know that honest second opinion I told you a moment ago to get?  Well, that can be harder to get than you think.  Finding someone who will be objective (probably, not your mom), can be tricky.  But guess what?  I am going to introduce you to someone who can help you out with just that.  Her name is Lynette Jones from When Style Matters and she works exclusively to help people manage their ...

Do you go online to shop, look for a job, find a pet, or even look for a place to live? You just might be getting scammed if you don’t know what you are doing. It is true and this is just the tip of the iceberg! It happened to me and it can happen to you. Digital thieves are getting tricky and if you aren’t aware of it, they are waiting for you to be their next victim.

How does this happen?

Easy, especially if you use public WiFi, even to do something simple like check your email. Everything you do on a WiFi is broadcast to anyone else connected to the same network. Just think of every click you make as a train of information. The thieves see you train coming a mile away and they hijack it and look in eat car to find what they are looking for. Often times, they just need your email address and maybe a phone number, which they can easily get if you are using your phone.

How did I find out I was being scammed?

I received an email from a company I do business with thanking me for an order I did not place. But something was off. The last four of the credit card didn’t match my card. So I did a lot of things. I called my internet company, I called my mobile phone company, I called the credit bureau and placed a hold on my credit account, and I called the police. My first thought was my identity was stolen. I needed to find out what was going on.

It was determined that scammers got my info while I was on vacation in Hawaii using the hotel WiFi. They got what they needed and started doing business. Th e poli e found out that the package was shipped locally to here in Fountain and contacted the lady living at the address the package was shipped to. And guess what? She was being scammed too! She thought she was doing a legitimate job by repackaging orders and shipping them to where her employer told her.

So now what?

Chances are, because of our digital age and the many, many methods of relaying information, these criminals are out of the country and may never be caught. They rely on your trust of a company, your ignorance of their tactics, and your lack of digital security. We have to do our due diligence to inform ourselves and keep our guard up. With that in mind, here are a few tips you can use to help safeguard your identity:

1. Always use a secure WiFi connection. If your mobile company offers it, pay for it. You can always use a VPN (virtual private network) as well. It keeps your data encrypted when you don’t have secure access.

2. Don’t trust an app because it is on Google Play or the App Store. Many thieves are using these now tO access your information with your permission!

3. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!

4. Make sure you are doing business directly with the company. You know the little lock in your browser address bar? Make sure you see it there at all times!

5. Don’t ever click on links in email, even if they are warning you to check your account, pay a bill that is past due, or check on the status of your order. Always good directly to the website and login that way. Clicking on those links creates that train that thieves will use to track everything you type and everywhere you go.

6. Inform yourself about the various scams that are out there, and just be aware, new ones are popping up every day.

7. If you can, use gift cards with a low-balance when making purchases or paying bills online. Minimizing the access to your money and your bank is always best.

Sounds quite scary, doesn’t it? Maybe we won’t be able to protect ourselves 100% of the time, but we can hopefully, keep the risk low and infrequent. Plus, always report any incident to the police!

If you would like to hear more about my story, check out my podcast where I have Officer Matt Hewlett-Packard with the Financial Crimes Unit. He talks about many of the scams to watch out for and offers some more ideas you can use to help protect yourself from t...