Revelations – Realizing how lucky you really are.

Definition from Bill Biko

Since yesterday there has been quite a few fun little stories pop up, but let’s touch on my definition of revelations first.

As I mentioned, I’ve been getting more irritable for a while now due to myriads of minor and major headaches. These range from a partnership that has been going through a split for over a year and a half, another partner who is managing a property in Lacombe who hasn’t been able to provide any details on the property for over two years and may now be going into foreclosure, being forced by banks to sell properties in a market not conducive to sales, tenants who seem to be more concerned with their welfare than mine and I could probably go on for another thousand words with all the headaches and complaints I have.

All the pressure, all the worrying about everyone else, well it’s just worn me down. Because I have been looking at it as ongoing problems that will never subside and I think that is where the revelation comes in. This all comes back to Tony Robbins new show again, the Breakthrough. Now I quite enjoyed the show as it’s great to see people over come what obviously completely changed their lives, but what I didn’t realize is after the show Tony posts a video explaining some of the background info that gets omitted due to the show’s 44 minute time frame.

It was watching some of this post show video yesterday that I started to realize how lucky I am. Yes I have some big challenges in front of me, but some are transforming as we go along. Last week the year and a half split finally was complete, we received some very positive reviews of the property we are still trying to sell, I’m getting more calls on the vacancies we have, my new business while slowly growing is starting to get some nice results and some referrals, my family still loves and adores me (well maybe adore is strong, especially with how pissy I have been lately, but they still love me!), I have a great home and there is plenty of positive out there.

When I look at the story from the Breakthrough and how the fellow became a quadriplegic who was stuck in his house, afraid to go outside, yet has transformed his views and has become upbeat, positive and enthusiastic about his life and future. Then I compare at how I have started to look at all the negatives without seeing the positives it was a bit of a wake up call.

So while there are no guarantees I will be 100% happy all the time, I will start working on remembering the positives, the good things that are happening and try to let more of the negative wash away.

So with that in mind, here are a couple of developing stories since yesterday. Last night the police stopped by and I was subpoenaed for a courtcase later this month!!

Not against me just in case you were wondering! This relates back to my tenant from last summer who stole another tenants vehicle, cell phone and wallet at knife point. Apparently he and his buddy were caught in Ontario five days later sleeping in the car. I get to show up to confirm he was a tenant and help put him away hopefully for a long time.

The two guys who pissed me off Sunday, well this morning there was an apology text message on my phone. Apparently they are sorry about the misunderstanding and they wish they had taken my place and the fellow who wanted the discount may be interested in coming back at regular price.

I just received a referral yesterday from one of my very happy web clients, not sure how it will turn out, but after a quick look there seems to be plenty I can help them with.

On the slightly negative side, people don’t comprehend ads very well, I have been getting quite a few calls on a rent to own property and another one for a live in manager for another and it’s apparent that I need to write them with more clarity. Obviously including prices, how it works and everything comes across confusing (see look at me finding a humorous bright side!).

There’s been a lot of economic doom and gloom and it’s probably not going away for a while. If you haven’t the time, or had it thrown in your face, about how really good you may already have it, perhaps now is a great time to do so. Happy revelations!

Revelations – Something revealed, especially a dramatic disclosure of something not previously known or realized.

Definition from Answers.com

I was talking with a friend this morning (you know who you are and thank you!) about how angry I am with people lately. Last week I had a former tenant send me an email who discovered a $1,295 judgment on his credit. He stated that I had lied to put this on his credit and he had witnesses about black mould in the property and was considering consulting a lawyer. It pissed me off a bit, so I suggested he go ahead and proceed as I would then have his current address and could go after all the additional charges I didn’t have in the judgment.

It irritated me that he tried to get out of paying originally and when it finally caught up to him, he was still trying to get out of it.

Yesterday I met with two guys from out East who were here to do some promotional work with the Calgary Herald. They called last week and wanted me to hold two rooms for them. They were persistent and very concerned that I had to hold them, so I did. They were supposed to call Saturday to confirm time of arrival, but of course they didn’t so I didn’ t expect them.

Then they called Sunday to say they were here, the rooms weren’t quite ready, so Karen and I had to rush over and prep them before they got there. When they did show up, they didn’t have the money with them for the rooms, and they wouldn’t be able to get it all since they had to withdraw money for traveling earlier that day and had daily limits. Yep, this irritated me too, especially since we had the conversation about costs a week earlier.

So they ran to the bank, came back and wanted to talk to me, in private. So we go outside and they tell me they thought it was too much. They wanted a discount of about 30%. They explained if they ended up staying longer they could rent as apartment for less. So to recap, I held two rooms, rushed to prep them for them, gave them the benefit of the doubt and was letting them only pay part of it up front and now they wanted a further discount. I was furious. I suggested they go get an apartment and walked away leaving them to drive off.

What I’ve been noticing over the last month is I’ve been letting incidents like this get to me. It’s just been a series of little pin pricks that get more and more and more and more and more annoying. The phone call this morning was part one of the revelation that this was happening.

You have to wait until tomorrow for part two!

It appears as I look back through previous posts I throw in quite a few references to motivation and trying to stay positive. This ultimately stems from my endeavours to stay in a positive mindset and look towards all the positive things happening for us.

But I tell you, some days (and some weeks and some months) are harder than others are!  Ultimately though, by staying more positively focused, people and companies can evolve into winners. Not to say this is true in all cases, as you cannot thrive and grow just on good intent or hopeful dreams, somewhere action is required as well. I believe it’s this action that helps separate the eventual winners and losers.

The problem with action though, is what action is required to make these strides forward? What makes winners stand out? It’s easy for many individuals to stay incredibly busy throughout their whole day, week and life, yet at the end of these terms, they have really accomplished nothing. As I reflect back, many former co-workers during my employee days actually turned this into an art. These individuals were always busy, yet never seemed to really accomplish anything.

So to be a winner you need action that moves you forward. It’s defining this forward moving action that causes the real issue. In the last couple of years I have dealt with several individuals who have once again turned the activity of staying busy into an art form, yet at the end of the day, no real forward momentum is ever gained, it’s just another day completed. What’s the point then?

Unfortunately, quite often as I look through my week, I too get caught in this trap of never ending tasks that need to be completed, yet never move me forward. A prime example for me is our collection of weekly rental properties. It seems I am continually coming and going from property to property signing in tenants, signing out tenants, showing rooms and cleaning up rooms.

While all these activities result in a steady flow of incoming cash and mange to keep me very busy, they typically don’t allow us to move forward. This week’s example was a potential tenant who wasted my time, but also incented me to write this post. The full story would bore you, the short story is he left a deposit and wasted my time because he found a cheaper place.

This ended up costing me about two hours of driving around, left me irritable and didn’t help move me forward, until the story evolved into this post. How many activities in your week create the same situation of just spinning your wheels or causing frustration, and what can you do to take these situations, turn them around and help them make a positive forward movement in your day, your business and your life?

The alternative is to stay focused on these roadblocks, waste time and energy and never win. Or if you do, it’s only short lived and at the expense of someone else. Winner or loser, the great thing is you really can be whatever you choose, so just make sure you make wise choices.

He had to be in his late fifties, he was reasonably well kept, dressed in the company provided uniform and he wouldn’t have looked out of place in many different service companies. He had greying hair, a full beard with some of its original reddish orange color peaking out amidst the grey.

Most importantly, he wasn’t happy. He didn’t smile, he didn’t laugh, and he obviously just did his job. He was also probably very good at it; it appeared he had been doing it for a while, so this is really an assumption on my behalf. The striking part of any of this is how common place it is and how it’s just part of our normal day to see people like this. Perhaps you have seen him every day and didn’t even notice anymore? Maybe you work with him, or worse yet, you are this individual?

Think about how often we meet or see people in various jobs working away just because it pays the next mortgage payment, next car payment or perhaps more commonly the next rent to own payment for the big screen TV? What happened to their dreams, their goals, and their aspirations? Or worse yet, what if they never had any and this is all that they know?

Goal setting and dream achievement isn’t exactly given high priority in school, it’s all about get good grades, get a good job, start a career. But what if you hate your job, or just don’t enjoy yourself? Welcome to the trap of the rat race.

This is kind of a personal retrospective right now as Karen and I are both trying to refresh our dreams, our life goals, our “Belize” to quote Don Campbell. Karen’s doing great as she has several goals and aspirations that have just exploded into her vision of what she wants to do, where she wants us to be and is busy working on how we will get there.

Me however, I’m struggling. It seems like I have lost some of the clarity I used to have. Don’t worry, I’m not the grumpy old man working behind a counter yet, I can work anywhere!! If you are reading along and this is really hitting home perhaps you need to work on your clarity and goals as well.

I know I am on to something as I have just been reminded for the third time in the last month how important it is to have some type of plan for your life. Twice in books, once in a podcast, and all from successful people, hmmm maybe its true success leaves tracks!

What are your thoughts do you have a purpose you are striving to fulfill? Do you have a “Belize” you are working towards as an end goal? Or are you just working for the weekend? I’d love to hear what some of you think about this. If you want to leave a comment great, but even an email to me would be wonderful.
Just don’t tell me you were that grumpy older gentleman, or I will be left with the impression these posts aren’t helping anyone!

I’m a huge Will Smith fan. I really admire what he has done and how he has grown from his start as a rapper to a fantastic actor and obviously great person. In the following video are some excerpts from various interviews he has done over the years that provide you with some insights into how and why he has become who he has become.

His positive outlook, his drive and his motivation are a great example of what you can do if you set your mind to it and have the right attitude. If you want to move to the next level in whatever you do, perhaps this little bit of inspiration will help.

I’ve recently been emailing back and forth with a reader who has some dreams and finding this video seems to be a rather nice coincidence. Big J, pay special attention to the last 40 seconds and may the chocolate gods smile on you!

I found this originally on Frank Kern’s site, so Kudos’s to him for posting it.

Think about that one for a moment, money makes Real Estate investing easy. When Karen and I started out, we had a small line of credit, a bit of cash saved up and some huge goals. Along the way, we created bigger piles of cash, extended lines of credit and created even larger goals, but it wasn’t always easy.

When we look back at those initial purchases, many months were a struggle, every purchase a creative process to stretch our dollars and expand our portfolio. We delved into vendor take back mortgages to learn how to reduce the amount of cash we needed. We came up with ideas to extend closing periods and obtaining early access to properties to get a head start on renovation projects. We leveraged our credit cards and other people’s money (OPM) to extend our ability to purchase new properties.

Along with this we learned about joint venture partners, hard money with obscene interest rates, RRSP second mortgages that we could apply to our properties and pay investors double digit interest rates and short term higher interest loans. We also became adept at educating friends and family about how they could utilize their own lines of credit to obtain returns of 10% or higher from us.

We continued this way for the first several years and as the market values increased and our hard work eventually started paying off, we saw more and more money start to fill our bank accounts. As quickly as the money would come in though, we would turn it back into back into more properties. Eventually as the money continued to flow in, it became easier and easier to make more money in Real Estate and to purchase property without being as creative.

2006 and 2007 were very heady times. It seemed no matter what you bought, no matter how slow your renovations, no matter how you set up your financing, it became too easy to make money. With values going up several percent per month if you couldn’t get contractors in quickly it just meant more back end profit as values increased. You didn’t have to work at buying smart, you just had to buy.

You didn’t need to be creative with vendor take back mortgages, you didn’t really need extended closing times, and it simply became easier and easier to buy just with money alone. Now, here we are several years later and many of the rules have been reset back to our starting days and perhaps even a bit further back!

The last couple of years have put a severe dent on the entire market and have managed to turn Real Estate into much more of a challenge for many people. We’ve seen deflating prices, the uncertainty of the economy and certainly a significant amount of fear in the market. The easy money has certainly disappeared.

All of this change though has created a new environment of opportunity for many investors out there and as one of my earlier posts mentioned; many new investors are starting to appear, eager to get into the Real Estate business. A majority of these folks will be coming in with lofty ambitions and some optimistic goals. I’m here to say with the proper amount of work and determination thrown in these same types of successes can be recreated by anyone.

Sure having access to cash makes it easier, but if it was easy, everyone would do it!

I get an email out of the blue from someone I hadn’t had contact with in the last several years (other than asking to be removed from the blog as it didn’t interest him anymore),  looking for some information on what to do with his property as he is getting transferred out of the province. He is inquiring about whether doing a rent to own is worth it or whether he should sell it, or whether I wish to purchase it as an investment property.

But I have a couple of problems, last time I helped him out with some Real Estate information, roughly three years ago, I recall him taking my info using it and then the feeling I get was of being tossed aside once he had the info. The second problem is prior to that he had become very interested in potentially investing with us in some property. After providing him with plenty of info on our projects then, spending time explaining how it worked etcetera, he bailed on that as well.

So after putting in several hours I’m left feeling a tad unappreciated, as if I have wasted my time and I’m generally not happy with the guy. So, even as we start emailing I am coming into this with a bit of a tainted mindset! So the question is, am I going into this with clouded judgment from the get go?

Hey, I love helping people out and I have been informed by several of my entrepreneurial friends that I may be giving to much information away that I have spent years learning. My last reply to the fellow was rather short, some quick answers on whether the property would work as a rental and an offer to help set up the rent to own paperwork in a way that protects him and creates the best possible setup of the deal for him. I also explained I have spent thousands of dollars in training and many hours of real life experience learning this, so I would need to be compensated if that was the route he wished to pursue.

Part of his reply; I was looking for some friendly advice and support not a service. He has decided he will do his own research on the rent to own. This brings about my question, was I being fair, or was I being a jerk?

At what point does the free information I provide cross the border and move into a chargeable service territory? Did my previous experiences with this individual push me to the dark side in an effort just to get rid of him, or was I entirely valid charging someone looking for specific information that I just happen to have considerable experience with?  What would any of you done?

I’ve been off the posting wagon here for the last little bit and haven’t put anything up new for a whole week, don’t worry, I haven’t disappeared, I’ve just been busy. It appears that over the last month, more and more people are getting on the Real Estate bandwagon and this has taken some of my time up.

We have met with six different sets of people who are starting to get the Real Estate bug and have either been referred to us as people who are easy to talk to and helpful. It’s great to see the enthusiasm from people out there just looking to get started and it helps to light a little bit of a fire under us as well.

If you have just been lurking on the pages and reading along, it’s really not a problem contacting us if you ever have questions. I try to answer everyone’s questions and perhaps I meet with too many people, but it’s all working out so far. Some of you are already starting to read some of these posts and adding to some of the discussions with your comments and observations which I really appreciate.

If you have any topics you would like me to touch on here send me an email or a comment and I will do my best to provide you with some helpful information to guide you along.

I have a few topics to cover all of a sudden and after an email from a subscriber last week, I will start with spam.

Strangely enough, when people subscribe to the blog, they get updates on new posts. True I filled in many of you automatically from my contacts when I first started up the blog, and many have requested to be removed over the years, but many have also been added on, my statistics show me that many of you read them and some never read them. Also, there have been a few glitches, where people received the same blog posting email two, three or four times and I apologize for that. Technology isn’t perfect, we all seem to understand that, we resent it, but we understand it, or at least I hope we all do?
Anyway, I have previously updated people on how to be removed, and it’s simple, just email me and ask to be removed. My point here is don’t be surprised if you register and get emails from me, really what did you think you were registering for? Sending me an email saying Stop The Spam is not necessarily the correct tact. Don’t worry, if you do, you won’t be getting anymore of the updates as soon as I can get to this computer and delete you, so on that account I guess it is effective. Anyway, there is that little rant, thank you for following along.

Rich Dad author Robert Kiyosaki, if you haven’t heard of him you haven’t looked at your front door in the last year or read any of the junk mail you receive from the post office. Rich Dad Poor Dad endorses a series of seminar’s that appear around the country and show you how to become wealthy. Or at least that is the premise of why you should attend.

Recently, CBC’s Marketplace had an expose on the seminars which you can watch here, Who’s getting rich off Rich Dad? Anyone considering attending one of these to become wealthy really should watch this. Now having said that, I am a big believer in the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series of books and the concept Richard Kiyosaki is pushing. It has changed our lives definitely for the better.

You just have to take much of it with a grain of salt. Some of the techniques they talk about may or may not work. Mobile homes scare the hell out of me, they are a depreciating asset much like a vehicle and are not really Real Estate and it appears may not be as profitable as portrayed (you need to watch the video to understand). On the other hand, we have managed to make a considerable amount of money off of pre-foreclosures over the years, but it isn’t necessarily easy!

I really believe it’s true that anyone can become rich, but there is far more to becoming rich than just going to one of these seminars and then signing up for more and expensive courses as these types of seminars are famous for. To really become successful, you really have to buy into the idea that you can do anything you set your mind to, to find a real purpose that drives you. Yet the mindset of many of the folks attending these types of events is to attend the course, discover the secret code of the wealthy and watch their life change. Kind of like getting the winning lottery ticket, which is the ultimate seminar that people keep signing up for on a weekly basis.

I’ve actually attended some of the events like this and there is nothing you get from them that you cannot find in many of the books out there, except for the opportunity to meet many other people looking to change their lives. The opportunity to hang around like minded people, how golden is that?

We even started out by attending a three day weekend event that cost us $5,000. Sure enough, they had a few people selling things and surprise, we bought into several of them, but that was when we were just searching for the winning lottery ticket. We weren’t quite sure where we wanted to go, how we were going to get there and what it was going to look like. We just knew we were going to become rich through Real Estate.

Since that time we have learned a tad bit more, attended a few more events, and put a few miles on in the Real Estate business and the game of life. We have learned to plan a bit better (we still need plenty of work on this), we have seen how setting goals for ourselves works and more importantly how not setting goals provides you with exactly what you planned for. We have even met some people who have become great friends and inspirations for us. So is there a lesson buried in here about seminars, or is this another rant?

As much as I like to ramble, there is a point, the seminars may not be the answer for you, but they could be the catalyst to help you move forward. It could be that one ingredient to help push you to look for more answers and more solutions to get what you want or perhaps it allows you to meet the one person who can help guide you along. Most importantly, that solution may not involve the $5,000 three day course that you can purchase from the back of the room, or perhaps it does, it all depends on where you are in your life.

Perhaps many of you remember the book and the video called The Secret? It was all the rage and applauded by many as the ticket to changing your life. Unfortunately, too many people took the boiled down message to mean sit at home and focus on what you want in life and it will come true. Needless to say many people were very disappointed in the results as they were missing one of the key ingredients, taking action.

What are your thoughts? Have you attended any of these events and if so, did it work for you?

Wow, am I ever grateful it’s 2010. 2009 was a pretty brutal year economically, business wise and action wise for us. We still have a few headaches that have followed us over into 2010, but with some strong action and forward movement on our part, instead of waiting to see how it plays out this time, we should be on a much stronger footing for 2010.

What I have realized as I reviewed some of the mistakes and shortcomings of 2009 was how far we have actually come. Yes, we lost money in 2009 on Real Estate, in fact a considerable amount which pains me every time I reflect on it. However, Real Estate also put us in a position so we had money to lose. If we hadn’t have started purchasing properties back in 2003 I would probably still be working at my old job, making a comfortable living, but not very happy. This life is so much better!

Financially we are twenty years ahead of where we were back then, even after the slowdown. Lifestyle wise we have the ability to show up to our children’s recitals in the middle of the morning, pick up our children after school and make our work fit around our hours. Sure, I had flexibility at work due to a great boss and plenty of seniority, but nothing like this.

None of this would have happened originally though if we didn’t start crawling and make that initial purchase that started us moving forward.  That initial purchase led to the next one and the one after that and so on. Much like a baby learning to crawl, there are struggles and surprises as you learn. Unlike a baby, these struggles and surprises can be bumps and bruises on your finances instead of your body.

Surprisingly many people who run into these setbacks in Real Estate tuck in their tails and become the loudest mouthpieces about how Real Estate can wipe you out and what a bad investment it can be. It’s amazing these people are able to walk. If they had the same mindset when they initially started crawling, they would have never left the safe spot they started at on the floor. Obviously, they didn’t stop trying to crawl though and managed to not only overcome crawling, but also learned to walk, talk and run.

So what changes our mindset as we grow older and potentially wiser? If we really had acquired wisdom as we aged, wouldn’t we realize we need to crawl before we walk or run in many of life’s adventures? Do we simply get too caught up in the fear of making mistakes that could cost us money or could damage our pride? Why do we lose the gusto to reach for that brass ring that appears to be just out of our reach?

As more people come to me for guidance and mentorship about Real Estate investing, I am seeing a colossal difference between the people worn out by day jobs and the people just entering the Real Estate business. The excitement they bring, the willingness to not only learn to crawl with their Real Estate investments, but the desire to learn to walk the talk to move forward can be an adrenaline rush to me. It reminds me of how when we initially started we ate, talked and dreamed of Real Estate almost 24 hours a day and how crawling eventually leads to walking and running. So remember, you gotta crawl before you start running!

So many books to read, so little time

I know, third post in as many days, what’s going on? Well as the New Year has started, the flood gates of information have started as well.

I have been getting inundated with all types of information regarding what 2010 will be like, some like the Don Campbell interview I have passed on, other less valuable information I have read myself and will incorporate into future posts.

One of the pieces of information I recently received was a link to Seth Godin’s new FREE ebook that is a compilation of thoughts from over 70 different authors. Most of the people you may have never heard of, but you may want to learn more about them once you read some of their views and thoughts.

The book is called What Matters Now and provides you many things to think about for this year. Here is the link for you to access this, Seth Godin – What Matters Now ebook.

If you haven’t read anything else of Seth’s, I highly recommend you pick up a couple of his books either at Chapter’s or the library, or you order them online from Amazon here, Seth Godin book’s. One of my favorites was The Dip, which talks about the inevitable dip in a growing business and helps guide you to whether you need to quit or push forward before you waste to much time. Lily, this may be for you!

Two others you may also want to check out (although they are all good!) are Purple Cow, and Meatball Sundae. He does like unique titles! There are numerous other titles as well, but these would make an excellent start, especially for anyone involved in marketing.

Just to help introduce you slowly you can download his other recent book Tribes as a free audio file to play on your iPod or other MP3 player. It is available through a service called Audible.com and as a warning they require you to load some software on your computer to properly download the audio book. The direct link for this is as follows, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us – Seth Godin Free Audio Book.

If anyone has already heard this I would love to get your thoughts, (Harold, did you end up listening to it?). I thought it had some very valuable points in there and I am trying to apply several of them, some right in this post!

Growing a successful Real Estate business, or any business for that matter, requires a willingness to learn and Seth Godin has many ideas for people to learn. So if you have read any of his books, would you recommend them? If so, could you tell the tribe why, because remember if it helped you, it may help someone else to read it as well?

mmmm Coffee!

I had a few inquiries yesterday whether I was packing it in, this is far from what is happening. We are actually simplifying and this involves getting rid of quite a few of our current properties.

Most of them are rooming houses which although they have been a huge source of income for us over the last five years, have also been a drag on our morale. Originally there was three of us working together doing all the required work, but over the last nine months I have been dealing with all the tenants basically alone and it has just worn me out.

So we are simplifying things by getting out of all but three of these units currently. For someone willing to put in the work and eager to get some great cash flow it will be a tremendous opportunity. I just wouldn’t recommend renting out 48 rooms to tenants all on your own!

As for some of our other properties, perhaps we are just getting lazy, but we have the one property in the NE (Marlborough Park) we are selling and then we have another couple coming up over in Bowness as well. These properties are both about a 45 minute commute for us, we have made our money off of them and are ready to pass them on to someone else looking for a great deal and who will profit for many years to come.

We will spend the next several months re-balancing our lives,  simplifying and/or removing our headaches and then come back harder and faster than ever. We have some fairly simple plans for 2010 which involve getting back to our original business model which allowed us to be successful for so long.

2010 will involve plenty of Real Estate and there will be many new opportunities for people to become involved with us for short term investments and more Joint Venture partnerships. If you want to jump on our bandwagon and come along for the ride be sure to contact us, be sure to follow my postings and be sure to buy me a coffee!

Another year has flown by and this particular year has had its share of headaches, heartache and economic impact virtually everywhere on the planet. Although hindsight is 20/20, reflecting back on this past year I have become mindfully aware of my biggest mistake of the year, have you?

For anyone hoping to change their life, improve their successes and just make things better it is critical to look back and perhaps review what he or she could have possibly done differently.

For me this year was a financial nightmare. The losses we took will impact us for several years, but in hindsight, if we didn’t take chances originally, we would never have been in a solid enough position to weather this setback.

We have had some very successful years and we owe those years to taking some very significant action. When we started over six years ago there were many months of using advances on our credit cards to cover mortgage payments, hoping, begging, pleading that a property would sell before we ran out of room on the card! Knowing we had to take action to get things done.

During 2009 and even most of 2008, we never felt that same pressure, we never took enough of the action to get things done. Sure, we have had bursts of it, but we never ramped it up to the point where we were taking massive action.

In my mind and in my review of the year, this lack of massive action is directly responsible for our lack of forward momentum this last year and for us moving backwards rather than forwards. Our biggest mistake was simply a lack of massive action.

Historically the downturn of the economy has resulted in the creation of some of the biggest strongest companies out there. Companies like Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, GE and FedEx all began during downturns.

Many much smaller companies also started up during the downturn and have also succeeded. Much of this in part to the owner not being able to get a job and having to fall back upon him or herself to put food on the table. Failure simply wasn’t an option!

If you haven’t reflected on this past year yet, take a minute to look back, reminisce about how things could have been instead of how they are. Think about what you can do and must do in 2010 to make it a success.

This upcoming year will be a turning point. A time when things finally are starting to get back on track. So you can just roll along for the ride or you can step up and ensure you make things happen.

I know I have personally let tenants and partners take control of my life and our business, but this year will be different, it has to!

As a side note, I put a post up yesterday that I didn’t send out to everyone. If you aren’t aware, Jim Rohn passed away earlier this month. Jim Rohn was an incredible influence on many people’s lives with his incredible views on everything from motivation to success.

I found a video of one of his seminars on Frank Kern’s blog and enjoyed it so much I thought I should share it with my readers. The post is available here, Jim Rohn Video

Tell me what you think, both about the Jim Rohn video and this post. Tell me your stories about 2009 and any stories you may have about your successes or what you hope to change to make 2010 successful! I look forward to your comments.

You missed out on an incredible person. Jim Rohn recently passed away and I managed to stumble across this watched this video on Frank Kern’s blog. I enjoyed it so much as it made such sense, as much of his information does, that I felt my readers should have an opportunity to see it as well.

Some of his statements in the video make so much sense, so if you enjoy it, have heard some of his works previously or have some comments I would love to hear them.

We all tend to get a big caught up in our work and at times become obsessive about what we do. I think what we all have to remember is there is a between difference between being obsessive and being passionate. Now you can be obsessive about something and really not be passionate about it, but you can never seem to be passionate about something and not obsessive.

I remember when we first started up our Real estate business we were incredibly passionate about it and that passion turns into an obsessiveness about making it grow. Well recently with all the headaches and problems you can imagine much of the passion has been driven out of it. Perhaps now I am even a bit obsessive about getting rid of tenants!

Anyway, where I was going with this is a friend, Harold Hagen, forwarded off this great video to me about a small store owner down in Los Angeles. It’s just under 13 minutes and is a wonderful example about someone who is so passionate about his business it is an obsession.

Take 13 minutes out of your life, relax and watch this fellow talk about what he does, then when it’s over, maybe ask yourself how passionate you are about what you are doing and if you aren’t, what are you going to do about it?