It has been my experience when it comes to a new type of business, or a new way of doing business, that you can get the best results from those who have no previous experience with it. The less they know already, the more they are willing to learn it the “right way”. This is particularly true for the people that help you with the business itself, either inside your company or outside.
Alessandro, the young Italian investor who has been working with me very well in the past 6 months, while we inspect a foreclosure property in Florida.
I have seen this happen over and over and I have seen it repeated in the last few days when I have been dealing with a young Italian investor who has started working with my group six months ago and that had no previous real estate investing experience.
Information is easy to share with him, he is willing to challenge his own views in order to learn something more and he has a positive attitude most of the time. When something happens unexpectedly, he looks at the positive angle and looks for a solution, rather than pointing fingers and demanding explanations that may not be available.
Then I compare him to old timers, to people who have been doing some kind of investing in their old way and have either been successful or unsuccessful at it, and I see some distinct traits that stand out. Read the rest of this entry »
“Somebody else can do it for less” is the statement that can kill any business if not properly addressed and anticipated. When the confrontation gets down to price only, then you know you are definitely on the wrong track. You must be realistic with what you charge, but at the same time this type of comment clearly indicates that you haven’t defined your true value in the mind of your customer. She doesn’t know what she is really getting from you. You haven’t assigned a proper value to yourself, your knowledge and your work ethics.
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It is the clear signal that you need to do immediately something otherwise other people will give you the value they think you have without actually knowing what you can do. You will get into more and more explanations and you will eventually lose money by providing services or products maybe priced lower than you can afford.
I know this because it has happened to me a few times and in the last ten days I had to prevent it twice, that is why I am bringing it up to you. My business model is based on something unique: I have created a safe conduit, a bridge, for European investors that want to come to the US and invest in real estate or in any other future business that would make sense.
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It is amazing how many things have changed and grown in the last six months. I have completed the startup of my real estate company that offers a conduit investment opportunities for people in Europe who want to deal in North American properties and my friend Chris Krimitsos has completed the startup of the Dream Factory, the operation, production and creation center of the Wealth Building Annex in Tampa, probably the most advanced mastermind organization in the US that Chris has founded himself.
Daniele Bogiatto, Chris Krimitsos and Miranda Sorgente at the Dream Factory of the Wealth Building Annex.
So it was natural for us to bring the two things together and yesterday we organized a meeting with Chris at the Dream Factory with two key figures in corporate coaching and training in Europe: my partner Daniele Bogiatto and Miranda Sorgente. Just the day before the TWBA staff had been fully absorbed in the delivery of a spectacular event to the members of the mastermind: a presentation by Gary Vaynechuck on the future of the web and social media.
So the atmosphere was relaxed but still full of the energy generated by the event. So the meeting flowed very well and it lasted much longer then expected. I believe we have set the stage for my company to become the conduit also for American speakers and trainers wanting to expand their action to the European market.
The right relationships are already there and I enjoy the idea of bringing over some highly powerful personality like Gary.
We are still at the early stages, but all the ingredients are already present, so we just need to move now. My original idea to spend most of my effort and time into establishing few strong relationships is paying back big time because now they start to work for me and in line with the natural evolution of the business I have created from scratch. Once again it is not important what you know, but rather who knows you.
If we are going to make it at all in the coming year and decade it will depend on the level of dedication that we can elicit in the people that will work with us. We can’t make it alone and no matter how much effort and dedication we’ll be able to individually place in what we do, nothing will really happen if we can’t build a team around us. It doesn’t need to be the usual company scenario: an office with many desks and all people meeting in one place.
Most likely, in is going to be a series of people that work from their home, maybe quite far from our own and that possibly share different languages and cultures. No matter who and what, if they won’t give their absolute best we will not be able to make it. Businesses today have reached a high level of complexities. You need to master many aspects of them well enough to just keep going: technology, ine Web, legal, financial and the special field you have chosen for your business.
One week ago I was completing the work on house we are ready to sell. The rehab work lasted longer than expected but it was a major project: we changed everything including the roof (rebuilt all of it). So I was checking the last things and preparing the house to be shown. It is a very cute house in a nice neighborhood and I am very proud of the work we have done and I can tell we did well by the extreme courtesy and support we are getting from our neighbors.
I was inside the house with my two kids and as I walked outside I saw a sport car parked crosswise on the lawn, empty. I moved forward to discover who was in it and I was kind of surprised seeing another real estate investor, an old timer, who was sitting across the side door of my van that was parked nearby.
He was grinning because of the surprise and started commenting on the work I had done: he liked it but he thought I had done too much and he believed we had finished in the wrong time of the year since after Thanksgiving “people are fully focused on the holiday season and they aren’t looking for a house”.
Despite his long experience I disagreed with him right there: today people want well finished products since they have ample choice so you can’t keep on living with the rehab standards of the “old” days where you would keep the work to a minimum and the profit to a maximum. Read the rest of this entry »
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