Today I went I spent the whole day with my family. We had a very nice lunch together at the local Applebee’s (one of the best places for eating American food) and then we all went to visit a wild birds sanctuary right on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The place is pretty small, but has all kinds of wild birds including some predators like hawks and vultures.
Be like this free pelican. Stay out of the cage of old style selling.
I was looking at the pelicans being fed by the hostess and I noticed a lot of fish laying on the ground and the birds not even considering it. Actually, as the fish was thrown at them, some pelican would let it fall on the ground and wait for a new fish to be launched. I asked the hostess the reason for such a peculiar behavior and she explained: “They are spoiled. They only want fresh fish and they won’t pick it up from the ground. We have to pick it up and put it back into the pool fort them to eat it”.
At the same time there were some free wild pelicans just outside of the cage waiting quietly for some extra food to be available for them while the captive ones were kind of running all around and spoiling what was thrown at them.
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Observing this scenario it came to my mind that it looks exactly like the real estate market right now or like the media advertisement market since the arrival of the Internet. Buyers seem never happy with what they get and the more you discount the less they are willing to pay, and the salesmen and women that follow this route don’t understand they are doomed. Read the rest of this entry »
Michele and Brad Felton are two amazing persons that I have met three times in the last eight months, in three totally different places and in three completely different capacities. Husband and wife, they have built a business as real estate investors and have expanded it to cover now several aspects of Internet Marketing. I mention them here because I believe they offer the best example of how a family based company can scale its business in just a few months by applying boldly what they had just learned.
Me, Brad, Michele and Daniele during a break at the REO bootcamp in Atlanta, Summer 2009.
Even if a know them very little, it so happens that I see them every day. Indeed I only have three photos on the wall of my office and one was taken with them in Atlanta together with my partner Daniele Bogiatto.
These three photos are particularly dear to my heart as they were printed and hung up for me by my wife Maria while I was giving my first public speech before a paying audience in Atlanta last summer. At that event also Daniele was on the stage with me and shortly before us Michelle and Brad had delivered their own presentation on private money in real estate.
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Michele and Brad during a Q&A panel at the Hypefree bootcamp in Tampa, October 2009. Stay focused and win on one thing first! Start with the end in mind and work your steps backwards on how you get there.
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Me and Daniele were both surprised by the effectiveness and the energy in the presentation. It is always difficult to deliver a speech with two people on the stage, but Michele and Brad had made a wonderful job of it so we complimented them during a break and we took the picture you see in this blog (they are in the middle between me and Daniele). Read the rest of this entry »
Last Saturday I was at a seminar on affiliate marketing and the speaker, Dan Sherman, opened his speech with the following quote by Johann Goethe, the famous German writer: “The moment one commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sort of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now”.
Alex and Stefano, our two twin boys, with their new pair of parrots.
In a nutshell, the moment you look for an answer, if you are really committed to finding it, life will come to your assistance. I decided I wanted to put it into action and it happened to me twice in the following two days.
The first assistance I got from life was during the very event itself. I had been participating with my whole family: my wife Maria was in the seminar room with me and our two twin kids, Alex and Stefano, were playing quietly outside, in the hotel hall. They are such great kids and they are always willing to help me progress in my work, so I wanted to reward them. They had been looking for a pet and they had picked “parrots” as their choice. So, just before leaving the conference room, I remembered my friend Chris Krimitsos had been dealing with parrots.
Today I have participated with my whole family to a seminar on affiliate Internet marketing. It is a peculiar way to spend a Saturday, you might say, and with your kids and spouse. Aside from the very valuable information that I will mention in a minute, I was struck by a fact that evades most Americans: in this country you can have all the information that you want provided you are willing to spend money and time to get it.
Dan Sherman at the Internet affiliate marketing seminar in Tampa.
This will seems obvious to most of you, but you need to understand that in many other countries, knowledgeable people keep very close to their chest any special knowledge they develop with their trade. Most of the time, they are not willing to share it.
It doesn’t matter how much you are willing to pay: the markets are so relatively small and so competitive (compared to the US) that they won’t let go of it and the only way you can know some of it is by either working for them for quite a while, pricing up everything you can, or develop it yourself through trial and error.
Life can become quite complex until we arrange properly its priorities. My wife Maria keeps telling me that one should not work on urgencies but priorities. Urgencies are what life is throwing at us every day. A business appointment, bills to be paid, routine actions to perform. They also need to be done but they should never come to the forefront, hiding what is really going to make a difference and that we have to accomplish on top of everything else.
He is waiting for you, don't wait for him.
Yesterday I had a very intense day and I have seen this concept developed right in front of my eyes. I had a few things to sort out both in business as well in life, and I had to contact three different lawyers, one in Italy and tow in the US. One old divorce, one new marriage that has to be recorded and the new paperwork needed for my current business partners. All things that required attention and that were urgent.
I accomplished everything pretty well, but I felt tired. I have been sleeping little in the last few days coping with many things at the same time and I was losing some of the pleasure connected with life and work. I felt I was not giving enough attention to the things that will make a difference right now and in the future.
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