After reading “Ugly Americans” (a personal top 50 book), and “Rigged” many years ago, I became a fan of author Ben Mezrich. He has a penchant for writing fascinating entrepreneurial stories, typically based on real-life events. So when Bitcoin Billionaires was released over the summer, …
Get Ready to Pay When a Tenant Leaves
This year has served as a good reminder. 2019 has been one of high tenant turnover, and managing rental properties has been time-consuming. Almost every rental property we manage has had a transition from one tenant to the next, which reminded me of just how …
The Buyer Shouldn’t Address The Elephant in the Room – That’s Your Job
A friend of mine and fellow entrepreneur is a ‘sensei of the sales process.’ The guy is a natural closer. He does it in such a casual yet skillful manner that when describing how he closes tough deals, you get the urge to pull out …
How Real Estate Investors Spot a Motivated Seller
Every buyer or real estate investor wants a motivated seller because it often results in getting a pretty good deal on the property… however, it’s not always easy to spot a motivated seller, at least not before negotiations begin. Over the years, I’ve figured out …
Live Poor in Your Twenties
Every second Friday, my neighbor beneath in the old and somewhat run-down apartment complex I lived in during my early-twenties would return from the oilfields. Middle-aged, he was a bachelor and raging alcoholic. He’d get in at about 6PM, and like clockwork, by about 8:30 …
Learn to Love Researching
I worked with a very successful entrepreneur who had a knack for giving memorable presentations. It was his talent. He would put together some of the most compelling and visually appealing presentations I’d ever seen. The research that went into his presentations was impressive – …
Who’s Watching Your Blind Spot?
About a year or so before the financial crisis, which brought households and governments to the brink of economic disaster, mineral exploration companies, along with their stock prices, were white hot. For those unfamiliar, these are companies that go out and raise a few million …
Brilliant Inventors Need a Crazy F*%#er to Turn Their Ideas Into Startups
I caught up with an old friend, and fellow entrepreneur, this past week. It had been a few years since we spoke at length, and the last time we chatted, he briefly mentioned how he was starting his own renovations company. Before talking, a mutual …
How The King of Oil Trading Became a Fugitive
The greatest oil trader of all time, Marc Rich, lived a unique and insanely controversial life… and in Daniel Ammann’s book ‘The King of Oil,’ based on interviews with Marc Rich, his family, law enforcement and his colleagues, I got a glimpse into the entrepreneur …
Close Solo
Closing a deal or sale of ‘size,’ by that, I mean a relatively large transaction (be it selling a company, real estate, even a high-end car), often comes down to the strength of the buyer’s and seller’s relationship. And the more people there are involved …