| When I was younger I used to live wildly | | | | someone walks out of the bush and offers you a |
| impulsively, within a set course plan. For example... | | | | basket full of mushrooms...Be grateful, but don't |
| I had an idea to travel to Indonesia and live in the | | | | eat them all in one sitting. |
| jungle with an untouched, un-jaded 'tribe'. I did so | | | | Some finer points can be translated and applied to |
| for six and a half weeks. I spent these days near | | | | life and real estate: |
| starving, eating grubs and trying to hunt monkeys | | | | Don't climb a 40 foot Rambutan tree if you've |
| with poison darts. I kid you not. I trekked through | | | | never even tasted the fruit; Watch and learn |
| the wettest jungle in the world to befriend | | | | what is going on in your market and what |
| not-so-long ago headhunters. I ran for my life | | | | constitutes a 'sweet deal'. If you don't know what |
| while nearly being gored to death by wild boar... | | | | one looks like, how can you find it? |
| My hired guides and I trekked through the mud, | | | | Leaky canoes; canoes with holes in them don't |
| took dug out canoes up and down the muddy, | | | | float well. Neither will your real estate team if it's |
| leech ridden rivers. I remember wading across a | | | | not put together right. You need to continually |
| deep creek while freezing cold rain pulverized my | | | | check and evaluate the performance and results |
| scalp. I held up my pack, throwing it repeatedly | | | | of your group. |
| against the slippery clay slope all the while clawing | | | | Have the right bartering chips; I traded tobacco |
| my way along, trying to get a grip. After making | | | | for passage on my journey. I quickly learned the |
| it out onto the bank I looked at my body, | | | | value of this commodity. Many investors throw |
| covered in what appeared to be fat, black welts | | | | away great deals over a little negative cash flow. |
| that were visibly growing into gluttonous banana | | | | Running a $3K loss to make a $50K gain in one |
| slugs. Leeches. I would never have had the | | | | year is a good example. A very common and |
| patience to burn them off. I furiously tore them | | | | shortsighted mistake that rookies make is failing |
| away with my bare hands.... But, I digress. I was | | | | to understand what to negotiate. Know what |
| looking for something on my journey. | | | | you're buying: be it price or terms and how to |
| Some kind of proof that a 20-year-old kid had in | | | | negotiate it. Make sure that your guides aren't a |
| his mind about the way things should be, about | | | | bunch of yahoos! Whether you buy one property |
| what I wanted to find. Looking back on that | | | | or a hundred, you need an exceptional team in |
| adventure I learned a lot, but at the time I hated | | | | place to help guide and protect you along the |
| it, not because of the sheer torture of it, but | | | | rocky paths. Make sure that you have a map and |
| because of what I was looking for I didn't think I | | | | a team that knows how to navigate. |
| found. That was until later, anyways... I realized | | | | Lastly, don't seek adventure in your real estate! |
| (years later) that I DID find something on that | | | | Keep your business as simple and boring as |
| trip and it was... | | | | possible. Sure, you can have fun, but get your |
| Never continue trekking when you've got infected | | | | excitement in elsewhere. The last thing you want |
| feet! Don't push the river- it flows by itself; if | | | | is a gut full of pinworms and a few digits missing |
| you're starving and haven't eaten for days and | | | | at your next business meeting. |