You Can’t Eat Everything That Looks Appetizing

In my last issue called “Get Er Done” I wrote about how some people just can’t seem to get anything done and others move through life like giant bulldozers, accomplishing amazing things in what appears to be very short time frames.

          This issue is the counter point and a discussion of why trying to do too much can be just as destructive, maybe more so.

          Somewhere in everyone’s personality and lifestyle choice there’s a balance of not enough or too much. Everyone’s breaking point is different.

          I’ve always been a gung ho guy who gets more done than most any other five people I know. I discussed the reasons last month. I thrive on it and get bored very quickly. I need the action and constant movement. I’d rather have a root canal than lie on the beach and kill a day.

          If I go sight seeing they’d better be pretty impressive sights or just send me the picture.

          When I go out to eat I have a wait problem. I hate to wait. That’s why I’m building a restaurant, so I’ll never have to stand in line to get in or out.

          Dennis Quattlebaum used to take me out to eat every time I go to Atlanta and for the first couple of times he’d drive me clear across town to eat at some fancy restaurant, an hour each way. I put the kibosh on that quickly.

          Never could see a good reason to pass up ten perfectly good restaurants to get to one we had to wait an hour to get in. Food is food. What’s the big deal? There’s always a Denny’s or Waffle House close by.

          Some think I’m nuts for moving as fast as I do. I’ll admit it’s not normal, thank God. The last thing anyone will put on my tombstone is:

Here Lies A Normal Guy

          I’ll also admit that sometimes my pace causes problems that a slower pace would not. I have to deal with issues that get lost in the race and could have been fixed earlier, and should have been, that wouldn’t have surfaced at a slower pace with more focus on details.

          I expect my people to handle details and so far a perfect employee or partner hasn’t crossed my path. Still awaiting his/her arrival.

          On the other hand, in my opinion that’s a small price to pay in exchange for all the cool things we make happen, the wealth we create and lives we change.

          Most aren’t willing to run at my pace and I certainly understand that and wouldn’t even advise them to try. It’s not for everyone and it would kill an analytical personality.

          However, even for a guy like me there’s a point of overload and I am smart enough to recognize mine.

          I don’t remember ever working so hard and I intend to spend the rest of this year unloading much of that work. Even I…

Can’t Eat Everything That Looks Appetizing

          I’m gonna take a diet pill and lose some business weight. But for me, that doesn’t mean accomplished less. It means delegate more. Here’s a partial list of projects in my life as of this writing. See how it compares to yours.

·        Swapping my jet for a Gulf Stream that has a pain in the _ _ _seller.

·        Opening three restaurants while simultaneously negotiating a lease on a fourth.

·        Just closed the purchase of Salmon Falls Resort in Ketchikan, Alaska, my favorite vacation place in the world. Gonna sell time shares there for the next 3 years and double the current volume of business this year.

·        Running Global Publishing again which consumes a lot more of my time than last year.

·        Building 123 condos in Chattanooga

·        Ready to build about 400 condos in Myrtle Beach

·        Selling lots and building houses on another Myrtle project.

·        Growing our oil and gas acquisition as fast as we can in West Virginia.

·        Developing a mixed use project in Burbonnais just as soon as the frozen tundra will let us turn dirt.

·        Leasing and refinancing our FL warehouse project.

·        Moving development plans forward for several Michigan projects that need a full time baby sitter.

·        Working on some phase of development for several other projects owned and analyzing several more in the loop to purchase. About to close on one in Misson, Texas.

·        Winding down a 2 ½ year lawsuit over some money a commercial broker stole from me.

·        Attending three Kennedy Inner Circle meetings this year as well as running five different, 3 day PCG meetings all over the country.

·        Speaking almost every week on our platform or a few joint venture partners while teaching a few boot camps this year.

·        Working with Rick Wheat, Jeff Ritchie and Judi LaPoint to get our new development company organized and running smoothly to systemize and automate our J/V deals with students.

·        Buying a real estate company in a hot location to manage our own sales and hundreds of other units.

·        Putting together an equity fund to raise capital for commercial projects.

·        Manning several FFN calls each month and dozens of others for various reasons.

·        Other tasks too numerous to mention and you could care less about.

How’s that list compare to your life?

          A guy would have to be nuts to take on a load like that and maybe I am.

          Good news! It’s fun and obviously very lucrative.

          Bad news! At this pace my heirs are the only ones who’ll reap the rewards.

          So here’s my checklist to determine when to say no to opportunity. Perhaps it will help you do the same if you alter it to your lifestyle.

Opportunity Checklist

1.     Will it require an investment of my money that I don’t have or am not willing to invest at this time?

If it does it’s an easy NO unless I can come up with the money elsewhere and like the deal enough to do so.

2.     Is it worth the investment of money, time and resources or am I doing it simply because I can?

In my case if it’s a commercial property it must have a profit in the millions that we can get at within the next three years. I’m not a land speculator nor do I buy buildings so we can do all the work and break even. I’d rather go fishing at my new resort and skip the grief.

3.     Is it a high risk venture or do I have several exit strategies in mind that are reasonable and will produce good profit with bad numbers?

If its high risk out of my control, I’m out. If it’s in my control I can always find a way. If everything has to work out perfectly to win, I’m out. It never does. Always takes much longer and costs more. Murphy is my buddy. If my plan one doesn’t work, what’s plan two and three? Better be a good answer or I’m gone.

4.     Is the opportunity exciting or boring?

With so much to do, why do things that you dread?  I’m not too old to have fun. I want to brag a little about my accomplishments. How you gonna brag about boring stuff unless you hang around boring people and I don’t. To me real estate developments and resorts and restaurants and teaching and jets and oil and learning are exciting. The stock market, sightseeing, gambling and the Evening News are boring. But that’s just me. Told you I wasn’t normal.

5.     Is the opportunity something I have even the remotest familiarity with or totally out of my expertise?

Learning about new business while you’re vested or invested in making it successful can be a painful experience. I won’t say I don’t do things I don’t know, cause I do. I know very little about restaurants, oil and fishing resorts. I eat the food, burn the oil and catch the fish. But my solution to this problem is simple.

I Find The Smartest Experts I Can

And Make Them My Partner

They know the ropes so I don’t have to, if I trust them and if I don’t they aren’t a partner. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but I know there’s always another expert available on anything I do.

I’ve turned down numerous opportunities I was clueless on and didn’t know an expert.

Some seemed very lucrative. I don’t regret any. Of course, I don’t know what I missed either.

I’ve learned to say no quickly if it doesn’t meet the above criteria. Some people get themselves all bogged down in worthless projects that aren’t worth doing even if they work out well. The same attitude should apply to all the houses you do as well. Focus on the deals that will make you a lot of money and don’t let the time waster drag you into a manucia trap. It doesn’t take any more time to do a rehab that makes $50,000 than one that does $20,000. A pretty house deal with $50,000 in equity is the exact same process to acquire as one with $10,000 equity. A wholesale deal that makes you $25,000 is not much harder to find than a $5,000 deal.

You should see the big pile of letters we get from students with checks over $100,000. Here’s a list of a few we found in five minutes:

(Insert the 8 deals from students)

Ask any of them how they feel about selecting the high paying opportunities over the low paying. I think you get the message. It’s about quality, not quantity. When someone brags to me about doing 5-10 deals a month, I always wonder how much money they produce. That’s all that counts.

I’ve done over 1600 houses and if I had to do it over again, I could have made as much money doing 50 houses.

The faster you let us train you in the fine art of the real estate business and you get your Masters degree, the more time you’ll spend on making the big bucks and less on making a living. Call one of our counselors at 800-567-6128 and get the scoop. You can thank me later. Maybe you can even make time to go to Alaska with me. I’ll be making three or four trips this year. Go to SalmonFallsResort.com and see why. By the way, I’m extending all FFN members a 10% discount on as many people you wish to take in your party if you register by April 30^th. We’ll probably be full after that. Just put FFN on your order form and I’ll tell Paul Cyr, my partner to make sure you get taken care of. If you have trouble call him at 907-225-2752. FYI, I’ll be there June 1-3 and August 24-26 and maybe one more, unknown now.

Warning! If you go once you’ll be going back. Proceed at your own risk.

Peace,

Ron

Cash Flow Systems This business works, and it works well. Because it can be tailored specifically to you, it will work for you, also. My 1,600-plus homes are there as verification of this, and if that’s not enough, today I have thousands of students all around the country, who’ll willingly share their personal success stories with you. This program covers all major aspects of real estate investing in-depth, and no investor should do without it!