Past Articles

I was having a conversation with someone the other day and he asks me the question … “Do you ever dream of retiring some day?”

“Why?” … I ask.

“You know … so you could do things like travel the world … or pursue your hobbies … or do things you really love to do.”

“What do you do for fun? Or recreation?”

“That’s always been a tough question for me to answer”, I say, “because there really isn’t that ONE activity for me that I try to escape to. To me, it’s all

You might have run across a news article last week about a subway worker in Madrid, Spain finding a $2.0 million check.

Telemadrid in Spain broke the story, and the Huffington Post was one of the first news agencies to pick it up here in the states.

Here’s the article:

http://bit.ly/CheckFoundOnSubway

Is that funny or what??

I guess because the check was for a good amount of money and the fact they couldn’t find me right away created somewhat of a buzz … and turned me into a bit of a mystery man.

How did I

I’m writing you on another train ride overlooking the beautiful French countryside … heading towards Paris … after spending a few days in the South of France.

Ever been there?

If you like wine … quaint and charming little villages … and lavender … you’ll definitely love this area.

The region also includes the French Riviera, so there’s lots of beaches, shopping and great restaurants as well, and of course you can gamble and hang out with the super-rich in Monte Carlo, if that’s your cup of tea.

Yup … you can do it

I just ran across a great piece by Michael Bloomberg, a Billionaire Business Magnate, one of the richest people in the world, and the former mayor of New York City, where he lists his top 5 tips for becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Here are 3 of them …

#1) Take risks.

He says … “Life is too short to spend your time avoiding failure.”

So true.

If you’ve never failed, or taken some lumps along the way … either your goals aren’t big enough … or you’re not even in the game taking swings.

I’ve been

I was having a conversation with someone a few days ago, and he asked me the question … “How do you become unstoppable in real estate?

“What do you mean by unstoppable?” I asked.

“You know … several transactions every month … able to take advantage of most opportunities, even the big ones … passive cash flow locked in place … flipping a few for bigger paychecks … leads coming in automatically.”

“And ideally, a system in place so I don’t have to work more than 40-50 hours a week. I do that

The real estate market throughout the U.S. has been going through a dramatic two-year recovery.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the median price increased 11% over the past 12 months, and 21% over the past two years.

That’s pretty crazy … when you realize ‘normal’ is around 3% a year!

What’s driving it?

Lots of investor activity for sure (with a big percentage being cash buyers), but it’s also owner-occupants, both of whom have been enticed by record-low interest rates.

Over the past few years, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, we’ve received a

Can you guess what it is?

It’s a skill that people like Richard Branson … Donald Trump … Warren Buffet … Phil Knight (founder of Nike) … Bill Gates … and most of the world’s wealthiest people all have in common.

Now of course, they share lots of skills and character traits for sure, but from a business-building standpoint … they all have the amazing ability to raise money and capital.

Warren Buffett got started with $9,800 and today … investors continue to pour BILLIONS into Berkshire Hathaway, his primary holding company.

Donald Trump

As a real estate investor, being able to quickly evaluate potential real estate deals (fast!) is one of the most important skills you can develop.

I’m talking about the “5 Basic Essentials” that you must know … so you can quickly determine if you’re dealing with a real potential ‘deal’ or a flat-out ‘dud’.

A more in-depth analysis to confirm your initial figures and assumptions only happens AFTER you’ve determined you’re dealing with a real deal.

Plus, getting good at this will really allow you to ramp up your marketing and lead generation

What would you say is the biggest reason people fail in business?

Is it the lack of capital?

Or the wrong network?

Bad employees?

Lack of knowledge?

Bad management?

What do you think?  Those are some of the more common reasons people point to as reasons for failure … and a good case could be made for each, right?

But take a look at some of the most powerful, effective, and successful people in the world.  A lot of them didn’t start out with a lot of time, money, assets, or a glowing pedigree.

Steve jobs got started

I just ran across an article by Penelope Trunk titled “15 Things Overachievers Do”.

Here are a few that stuck out for me:

1. They let doors shut all the time.

High achievers understand that ‘when one door closes … another one opens”.  And also understand that focus and having a specialty is usually the quickest and most predictable path to success.

2. They talk about their weaknesses.

For me, understanding what you’re good at, as well as not so good at (while being willing to admit it to others), does 2 things: #1) It