A Global Positioning System (GPS) has become one of the de facto “must have” electronic marine devices for every boat on the water. A marine GPS device provides two functions in particular that, once you get used to, you will wonder how you ever managed without.

First, it provides you essential information about where you are and how fast you are traveling. Most marine GPS units will tell you where you are within two to three meters of accuracy, how fast you are traveling and how far you are from shore.

Second, most marine global positioning units allow you to set waypoints. A waypoint is a marker for where you are currently. This feature allows you to plot a navigation route through craggy rocks or difficult waters, avoiding buoys, nets and other obstacles. Multiple waypoints form a route that you can save and use as a guide for the inbound journey or re-use another time for safer and easier navigation to a favorite location. Another great benefit of setting waypoints is that you can mark significant finds whether this is an abundant fishing spot, a great scuba diving location or the position of a wreck.

By overlaying GPS waypoints with an integrated mapping tool or chart plotter, a marine GPS can give you a very precise picture of where you have been, where you are, where you want to go and what lies in your path.

Ultra-precise GPS marine electronics include the addition of signals from the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). WAAS is program that was developed the Federal Aviation Administration to correct any errors. Satellites travel on an elliptical path in orbit around the earth. The calculations used to determine where you are depend also on knowing exactly where the GPS satellites are. The orbital path of a satellite is disrupted by a score of natural phenomena, including space weather, the gravitational pull from the Earth and other factors. WAAS performs corrections for these factors, increasing the accuracy of the GPS signals that your GPS receiver processes.

If your marine GPS is WAAS enabled (and most are these days) then you will benefit from this improved accuracy without doing a thing. You don’t have to configure it or subscribe to it. However, it is only available in North America; so if you are sailing outside the US waters just know that the accuracy of your GPS may dip from better than three to less than seven meters and possibly to less than fifteen meters. WAAS is a good feature to look for when shopping for discount marine GPS.

WAAS enabled marine GPS can be mounted (fixed position) or portable (hand-held) systems. Hand-helds are useful if you leave the boat to visit a local hotspot on dry land, explore an island or simply find where you left your boat in a large and unfamiliar marina. If you do intend to use your portable GPS on dry land, then it is definitely worth paying more for one that comes with built-in maps because following a compass point that is plotted as a straight line is not easy on land, especially in urban areas or over mountainous terrain.

Whether you are applying directly to your lender or claiming eligibility under HAMP, the practical decisions are all to be made by the lender. You do whatever you can to set out your side of the proposed bargain with a clear set of accounts showing money in and money out. The need is to demonstrate a guaranteed slice of your monthly income that can be devoted to paying a reduced instalment. So list everything you are obliged to pay to keep body and soul together, from food to utilities to transport to health insurance, and so on. Without the modification, this is going to be negative, i.e. on paper, you are spending more than you earn. The “trick” is to show enough to cover a modified instalment, perhaps with a tiny slice of money left over for the inevitable emergencies. If the modified instalment you prove can be paid is enough to keep the lender less unhappy, the modification will be agreed on a trial basis. But if the minimum instalment the lender requires will leave you in negative territory, your offer to modify will be rejected. Why reject a good faith offer? Because people who have to juggle monthly payments to fit into the available money almost always default again. Your income must cover all outgoings.

If the modification is agreed in principle, it moves on to a formal trial basis. In theory, this is a three-month trial, but the reality is that the lenders usually drag their feet and are very slow to convert the trial into a permanent modification. This ought not to affect you. After all, you are paying the agreed amount. But there is a problem. Until the modification is made permanent, the lender will report you to the credit rating agencies as still delinquent. This is grossly unfair. You are paying what is agreed. But, as the law stands, the unpaid balance each month will be reported as late. Thus, the longer the trial period is allowed to drift the worse your credit score will become. This requires action. You should contact the three major agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and ask that details of the trial be added to your credit file. That way, even though your score will continue to decline (that is a computer algorithm that stops for no-one), all other lenders will be able to see what is going on.

So what is happening during the trial other than you proving your ability to pay the reduced instalments on time? The answer is slightly disheartening. It is always in the lender’s interest to collect as much money from you as possible on your mortgage. But, while you stay in default, the lender is entitled to foreclose at any time. If the lender judges it will make more money by foreclosing rather than accepting the reduced payments over the rest of the term, it will always foreclose. It is simply collecting as much cash from you as possible before triggering your eviction. No-one said the home loans industry had to work fairly, and it does not. The only time the lender will accept a permanent modification is when the accounts clearly show more profit in keeping the mortgage alive. While the housing market remains depressed, the odds are in your favor. But if resale prices start to rise, the odds will swing against you.

One of the key factors to consider when starting a business is the ‘how’; how does this business work and make money? When you invest in a franchise the franchisor provides you with a business system that has been proven to work and provides all the answers to ‘how’.

All franchises will have an established business system in place that you must follow. These systems are designed to improve overall productivity and increase sales of each franchise. Having a proven system already in place eliminates the guesswork and costly errors faced by the typical start-up. As part of the system, franchise companies will have determined the best combinations of products and services for their market.

The franchise company will have typically spent a great deal of time and money developing and perfecting this business system and it is this very system that has enabled what was once a single business to develop into a successful franchise. This perfected business system is what you are paying for when you buy a franchise. When my company is working with clients who want to turn an existing business into a new franchise this is the first question we will ask; how does this business work, what is your business system and can you describe it accurately and succinctly?

Another important piece of research conducted by the franchisor to support the system will be demographic data to determine the most lucrative locations for franchises. These are often described as territories and many franchise companies will be actively recruiting for new franchisees in unoccupied territories.

The proven business system approach will lead us to a very important decision point on the road to determining if a franchise is the best way forward for a client. When you buy a franchise you buy a system that you will be expected to follow, if you are not the type of person that likes to follow a system, if you are a ‘go it alone do it my way’ type, then perhaps a franchise is not for you.

If you decide you can comfortably follow the business system and decide to invest in a franchise what can you expect? To get the new franchisee on the road to running a successful business the franchise company will provide a complete detailed system on how to successfully operate the business. They will also provide training, continuous company support, a peer support network and marketing support. Marketing plans for pre-opening as well as ongoing operations are also components of the overall system that is presented to new franchisees. I know of several franchise companies that will provide staff to support your grand opening and help you through your first week to get you up and running more quickly

So what is the benefit of going into business for yourself but not by yourself by investing in a franchise with a proven business system? Research demonstrates that overall franchises have an approximate success rate of over 90% as compared to small businesses started from scratch at only about a 15% success rate.