A very special day today, dedicated to celebrate a house which sold in just 15 days and to build tighter personal relationships with the people I work with and with my family. The very fast sale of the house we have just finished rehabbing is a very clear indicator that the real estate market is far from dead, even in Florida, and that when you do the right things and partner with the right people you get results. But the real star of the day is my wife Maria, who has started working with me actively in the last week and has made all the difference in motivation, results and effectiveness.
Francesco Russo, my personal assistant, and his family meets my wife Maria and our kids.
But let’s begin with an early wake up: I usually get up at around 7:30 am even if it is Saturday and today I had to get some work done before my main contractor, Paul, was going to come and visit my house to plan some work on our bathrooms (they need some love and care). He arrived a bit early, as it is his usual habit, and we made a fast review of the work to be done and then we sat down chit chatting for a while and he gave me some very valuable advices on how to evaluate houses built between 70′s and the 80′s, and why you need to beware of black pipes.
Francesco Russo holding his son Alessandro, my wife Maria and Monica Russo
Polypropilene was used everywhere in those days for plumbing and it leaked pretty much at every junction. If you see black pipes in the house you are going to buy: run away. He has also given me some advice on how to recognize Chinese drywall in houses built between 2004 and 2007 (some can be found in remodeling as early as 2001). Aside from the smell of rotten eggs, look for blackened and corroded copper pipes and wires and you can just tell its presence by going in the attic and looking at the top border of the drywall (if visible) and look for some Chinese character: that easy.
Oldsmar flea market, representing the "family face of America"
But the most interesting part of the conversation was a comparison between European and US cultures and my introduction to the so called “Peter Principle” which is fascinating and that I will cover in detail in another post. Simply stated: “In a corporation or military hierarchy every one tends to rise to his level of incompetence”. That is you keep being promoted as far as you demonstrate outstanding results in your previous position and stop being promoted when you start to have bad performance in your current position which is what you maintain from there on out.
This has been a very intense week and I have brought about major changes into my life and business that will have important effects on how things will evolve from now on. The most outstanding of these changes is that I have spent at least twenty solid hours training people both in the US and in Europe using the Web as a primary instructional vehicle, but also complementing it with substantial off line and in person education. You would expect that all this activity would reduce my production results but as a matter of fact I have never accomplished so much in terms of performance as during these seven days.
It’s almost like magic: when you really share your knowledge with your staff, your customers and your family, life becomes much easier and things start to flow better around you because people now understand better what you are trying to do and how you want to go about it, and you understand it much better too because, through the necessity of instructing others, you will acquire a much deeper insight into everything.
Updating other people’s knowledge is a very key factor in any business today or even in your own family life for that matter. We are living in a fairly complex world that changes rather rapidly. You need to have people helping you out otherwise you will soon drown into all kinds of small actions and details.
Let me tell you a story about this. About one week ago my partner and friend in Italy, Daniele Bogiatto, announced me we had new funds available for our real estate investing in the US and that the foremost of the investors that had joined the program, Alessandro, wanted also to be part of the team and become the interface for all other Italian investors.
This is brilliant because Alessandro will be in the best position to have other to join as investors since he has done it himself and has already overcome all of his personal concerns and fears. He has become personally involved, or as you say in the US, he has skin in the game, like me and Daniele have done before. Therefore he will be in the best possible possible position to help, reassure and guide all other investors coming after him.
I am returning from Atlanta, it has been an intense three days at the bootcamp organized by Sam Bell and Mark Jackson about investing on bank owned properties. I have learned many things that will help me improve my performances and that have made me even more familiar with the American culture and its way of doing business. I have also been fortunate to contribute my own experience with the European culture and its very peculiar way of developing relationships. Even today, as was leaving the hotel, several people approached me thanking for my presentation. Always glad to help.
Mark jackson on the stage with his byke: he rode over 1700 miles in 3 months.
But today was Sunday and the opening morning speech was done by Mark himself who gave a very motivational insight on how life can be changed by just cleaning up the bad habits that you have inside yourself.
I find it quite amazing that it kind of plays right in the hand of my previous post (Kill The Victim That Is in You) that I had written just before entering the conference room. So I want to echo it and give Mark’s view of business and life, as he has been able to acquired from years of teaching and coaching people on the very things he was himself doing.
Francesco, Sam, Me, Dutch and Mark during the event in Atlanta.
This time I was alone on the stage, no help from my friend Daniele who is now in Rome, at a milestone event by Tony Robbins. A crowd of American investors wondering what an Italian had to say about real estate, and a very specialized audience for that matter. And once again I decided not to follow the slides, to talk out of my heart telling a story I have lived myself with my family. A story that has captured the last thirteen months of my life exposing me to a world that is so different from Europe and is so complementary with it at the same time. The differences are so great and fundamental that it has become my mission to take the best of the two worlds and mix it so to create a totally new and unbeatable business approach, both for the US and for Old World.
On the stage with Mark Jackson at the beginning of my presentation.
While I was walking on the stage I thought to myself: “If only US businesses knew how much they can gain by integrating their business culture with European networking habits and then mixing them all online and offline”. So I focused on transmitting this view from all different angles noticing that the audience grew more and more attentive.
It took eight hours to get to Atlanta, driving 500 miles along US 75. A straight ride from Florida to Georgia, crossing storms, heavy rain and beautiful sunshine. Yet it went by in no time. This trip has a particular meaning to me. It sounds like the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one.
Going to Atlanta.
Three days ago I got approved for a change of status to by immigration and this allows me the time now and the legal status to develop my business activities without the strains, the uncertainties and the imminent dangers that come along a major shift in life like the one I have done with my family and a change of country and culture.
A section of the presentation held in June in Atlanta by me and my partner Daniele Bogiatto. The importance of finding your lucky strike. Discovering in what you are extraordinary.
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