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One Trick Pony

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It seems the first question in business is about capacity? Mental capital, physical capital, and financial capital are all just ingredients. It should have been the first question in going to war in Iraq! It is the first question before designing the electrical for your new house. etc etc etc Capacity changes with confidence, education, maturity, etc

I always try to look at the big picture before detail, context before content, framework before reconcilitation, general before specific, etc. There is a sequence to every approach, yet the path is the same or universal. Wealth and money are a good measuring device because it is what the system values and is brutal if you take a loss, it is amoral so it makes you look at the truth of why you lost. By the same token it is not inclusive of all learning but the penalties are real (celestial boot camp) and success can be measured.

The bigger picture is based on value, which may produce short term cash or kick in billions in 20 years. By the same token in the 19th year you may come up one indicator short and make nothing. What drives you? Its what you learn. If you are making nothing along the way it usually means you are off the path. The path is not that exacting for large wealth but more so for small wealth (one million).

On earth there seem to be only 2 generalist professions - Accounting and Law - Numbers and Words. The path will always involve these to powers and I mean powers!!
 
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SteveO

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It seems the first question in business is about capacity? Mental capital, physical capital, and financial capital are all just ingredients.

The primary point that I was trying to get across would deal more with the physical and mental capacities. It is easy to get sidetracked and move towards something else that has not been thought through as well.

An example: Let's say you have been researching small strip malls in Birmingham. You have done all the market research and have narrowed your search to certain primary locations. You have studied what makes a strip mall successful and understand lease rates and typical terms for the area. You already have one in place and it is performing well for you. You also know based on data that retail performance is looking to grow in the near future (not the current status, just an example). You are watching the market for another deal that fits your parameters.

Now someone comes along and shows you an apartment building that is mismanaged in Denver. The price looks good but you know nothing about the market or apartments for that matter.

Do you have the time and resources available to get to understand this? Will your current plan take a hit with all the time and energy you would need to dedicate to this project?

These are the questions that need to be asked. Usually there are deals that can be found in many different fields. How much capacity to you have at your disposal to research and put a plan in place for all of them? My opinion is that if you want to buy apartments in Denver, you set a plan for this and research the area well.

On earth there seem to be only 2 generalist professions - Accounting and Law - Numbers and Words. The path will always involve these to powers and I mean powers!!

You need to understand the numbers and basic law behind your plan. Hire professionals to help get certain aspects in place. Look to see what the numbers can do for you.
 

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Steve in reading your posts it seems you are very good at delegating to control so many units, you are efficient, you speed up the velocity of money, you are organized so you are conquering time to a degree. I own a few and it has taught me alot. However when I first got in real estate years ago and made subtantial money as a "young guy" I thought it was to easy - so I had to buy a business. Thats when my learning compounded, not so much for making money but the life lessons. It might have been somewhat self destructive.

In looking at the ideal if you want it bad enough, you could make a leverage buyout and control even more wealth. If you truly believe you can do this the money is going to be hugh but you must decide how much time you are willing to expend out of your life (and capacity).

A detail example may be evictions, you might be so big you never personally got involved in many. There is a local guy in my town who is a competitor (for lack of a better word) who owns a little over a 100 units. My lawyer told me he always pays them to leave within a week. I never pay a low life for screwing me (excuse language) and have participated in well over 50 eviction going to court myself. Not only did I learn about the "System" it taught me how to fight major battles which I win virtually all and I am talking six figures. Also it gives me the courage to look at many different types of deals for overall efficiency in owning property (residential, commercial, industrial, apartments). The mix is powerful in itself and also actually controls a geographic area to a degree. Each acquisition actually clarifies the path as my vision capacity increases. I never sell.

By the way, my competitor's philosophy works for him, but his capacity is small. He could never do what I do not because he isn't a great guy, a smart guy, he doesn't have the commitment to go to the mat. Because I can see this I can see limits - this is important in business deals, negotiation, etc.

If you want to get out of a traffic ticket enlarge the picture, take on the whole system, force them to think. Their response will always be to make detail their god. The devil is in the detail. Details are reconciling items only and no god.

I attempt to go down the path as it shows itself. Balance is the most important practical tool for discipline yet it is not easy with regard to capacity questions. So I will usually dig out a concept to make the decision. Like "Perfection is somewhere in between" so I don't bite off more than I can chew at certain timing.

Finally sometimes down the path I must do something I hate to do and I do it anyway because it is really a future economic gain and the learning will compound.

No lawyer does evictions as fast and as cheaply as I can now, so what fears 90% of landlords is virtually nothing for me, I have actually figured out how to make money off it (another story, another time).

MJ (founder of this forum) wrote about Trump vs RK and he is 100% right in evaluating Trump. It is easy for me to see Trump's boundaries and limitations. On the other hand I am intriged by RK, M Scott Peck, etc and would thirst to hear what they had to say next. This obviously has very little to do with money in the short run. The long run is a different story.
 

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Once you decide on your own "One Trick Pony" it makes life much simpler, at least for myself. Now I am not tempted to pursue many of the other ideas I get that aren't as lucrative as my precious One Trick Pony. In the past? I'd be all over every idea. Now its focus focus focus.

Bump for the One Trick Pony...
 

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Thanks for bumping this often referenced thread that doesn't seem to generate the amount of discussion as it should!

If there's one thing that a lot of us have in common, whether we're in the "just starting" phase or even the "I've hit a snag" phase is that we're chasing rainbows or looking for that flavor of the month.

What this leads to is "analysis-paralysis", i.e. I have about 900 thread subscriptions now with about 60% that I have posted on and about 20% that I haven't even looked it, just saw the title and a little blurb and decided "hmm, this'll be worth looking back over" and it adds to the "analysis-paralysis" of trying to organize and figure out which threads contain the information relevant to what "I" want to do.

So with that in mind, to add to the "one-trick pony" taking all that I have learned from these threads it really takes answering one question to find the solution:

"What am I passionate about that other people want and are willing to pay for?"

Much like how MJ stated if you can find 1million people willing to pay $1/ea for your service, that's a $1million idea, but you have to have the passion to follow through on it and the customer's have to show a willingness to pay prior in the form of purchase order agreements or other types of pre-orders prior to investing an onerous amount of cash :smxB:
 

emorgan

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If you can figure out how to make it into a fastlane biz....

LOL! This was about two years ago.. and I may have stumbled onto it...
 
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I disappeared from the forums for a while. Circumstances and the economic downturn hit me hard. A long, long story of situations and bad timing led to the loss of millions of dollars and hundreds of apartment units.

There were many others in the same boat here in Arizona. I watched others that I know fall the same way. Many apartments in this state were not even pulling in enough money to pay expenses (not even including debt service). An example was one property was pulling in around $78K per month. Arizona's anti-immigration law and the economic turndown started at the same time. The income on this property dropped to $35K per month in three months time. The expenses were $35K per month for utilities, management, insurance, etc... There was no money left to pay the mortgage. I emptied my pockets trying to keep everything but that turned out to be a mistake as well. I should have held on to my liquid cash reserves.

Then there were all the apartment deals that all of a sudden showed up. Properties that were selling for 60K per unit were now at 20K. Even at these prices they had no cap rate and were losing money.

I was drooling over the deals knowing that the pendulum would swing again. I worked like crazy to try and secure some of these deals.

There was no financing to be found. Most of my contacts with the big companies were gone. The old equity partners were shriveling up and blowing away. I had no contacts with the new money coming into town. Many of them looked at me as a high risk due to the past circumstances.

That one trick no longer felt like it applied. I could not get loans and was having difficulty finding investors. My wife told me that I needed to go get a job!!!! No way!

Finally I was able to get ahold of a small 12 unit deal with an investor that signed for the credit. We paid $18K per unit. Then a couple more deals came around. Some investors were taking note of the successes and a few more deals were made.

I am now back up to around 160 units and growing. I have a bank that gives me preferred status on loans now. Of course I will do things differently this time around.

I am very thankful for that one trick!
 
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Gold. Have some rep money!
 
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Just got back on the forum after a long time off from a followed lead. Everything has changed !!

Steve thanks for the up date (good or bad), was curious but expected the dilemma during the crash, coming back is more of a character builder than the one trick. RE is never one trick. Leverage is like a snake, you let in the house and it will eat the whole thing - best to keep it under control outside.

One other thing to watch for is the 2016 predicted money crunch in RK's crash of stock market because of the technical convergence of many legal and retirement of baby boomers.

The other thing of coarse is the Currency wars that are accelerating.

Thanks for update - now I will try to check out this new forum stuff - hope its still simple!
 

SteveO

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Steve thanks for the up date (good or bad), was curious but expected the dilemma during the crash, coming back is more of a character builder than the one trick. RE is never one trick. Leverage is like a snake, you let in the house and it will eat the whole thing - best to keep it under control outside.

The skills and knowledge that I have with real estate is what is allowing me to come back so well. That downturn and all that happened just added tools and understanding. The one trick is still in play!

I know we have a difference in our viewpoints and that is good. Our diversity drives the world. I just got back to the forums as well. Welcome back.
 

SteveO

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This one trick pony thing is starting to sound too much like the "One Trick" gimmick that is visible everywhere. :confused:

There is no "one trick". The whole premise of this post is to focus. This does not mean that you should not learn many things. You should be as well rounded as you want to be. Learn all you can and put what you want into practice.

The bottom line is that you should do what you enjoy. Once you find that, focus..... This is not to say that you can't change or switch to something else. I am only talking about "at a time". Not many people can juggle multiple businesses at once, at least successfully.

My background is very scattered. I was a landscaper, marine, plumber, janitor, stable boy, assembler, mechanic, construction laborer, electronic technician, R&D prototype builder/tester, production line supervisor, test supervisor, chem lab manager, and apartment owner. The apartment owner job has led to apartment maintenance, management, and personnel director. This has lead me to the point that I am at in life.

My one trick is not a gimmick. It is apartment investing. I enjoy it very much. I enjoy it more after this last downturn than I had in the past. Yes, there are challenges and difficulties that can seem extreme. I don't let those bother me anymore. I like where I am at. I like the fact that I narrowed down my focus. (There sure are a lot of "I's" in this post) :)

This is not to say that there will not be a change of direction again in my life. If there is, the focus will be redirected.
 
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Young-Gun

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Timely post for me to read - as you may see in my other new thread about hiring since I'm approaching burnout.

Occasionally I doubt the road I've chosen to the fastlane. Start reading threads on here about other ways people have made the cash and wondering if I should switch. But, then I remember "Grass is greener".

One of the worst approximations we make is "how quickly we can do that". Try running up a big hill, you'll always think it's going to be easier than it really is.

You'll start thinking, "hey, I could run down this hill, and use that momentum as a start to get up THAT OTHER hill over THERE, and I'll get there faster"

But, a lot of the energy of the uphill climb is wasted and squandered to friction and wind resistance as you run down your half-hill, into the valley, and a quarter of the way back up the second hill.

Suddenly you realize, "DAMN I should have just stuck with the first hill - I WAS ALREADY HALFWAY UP"

So, "stick to the plan."

Don't stop 3 inches from gold.

Remember that you get the most tired at the 75% mark

75% is when you can start to see other hills and think, "I should have climbed that one"

75% is when your brain tricks you, saying "hey man, running down this hill would be a lot more fun than finishing to the summit"

75% is the moment that seperates the champions from the mediocre

Seriously, this isn't just Rocky - B.S.

I'm getting it. This is the difference between those who "have it" and those who don't.

In sports. In music. In career. In art. In science. In business. In investing.

Getting to 75% is the easy part, because you never anticipate how hard it is so you just keep climbing and climbing until you suddenly realize you're tired..

Your one-trick pony is feeling weary... bored... wants to back down...

Getting to 100% is what sets you apart. Makes you triumphant.

Stick to the plan. In fact, stop planning and get back to hustling.
 

SteveO

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Bump for someone that asked...
 

Mattie

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hmm...i was having one of these days today! Thanks for sharing.
 
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MTF

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Bump. VERY powerful advice, @SteveO. More people should read the entire thread.
 

SteveO

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This post is over 7 years old. At the time, I was seeing posters that were all over the map on what they were trying to do. Some were jumping from one project to the next and trying to figure out a direction.

I believe that the post is still relevant today. There does seem to be a tighter overall focus on this forum than there was back then. Even so, there still seems to be a lot of bouncing around within this tighter range.
 

MTF

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Even so, there still seems to be a lot of bouncing around within this tighter range.

Could you please give some examples of what you mean by bouncing around within this tighter range?

For example, my primary business is selling books on Amazon. Would expanding to offer coaching for fellow authors and/or other services for authors be considered spreading my focus over too many things, even if my primary business doesn't take my entire time?
 
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SteveO

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For example, my primary business is selling books on Amazon. Would expanding to offer coaching for fellow authors and/or other services for authors be considered spreading my focus over too many things, even if my primary business doesn't take my entire time?

No!!!! That is the right thing to do. Build off of what you know.

You would still be working within your field of expertise.

I should clarify as well that there is nothing wrong with making changes and adjustments. Especially early on while trying to find a niche.

We have all heard the expression "Jack of all trades and master of none". It is great to know how to do many things but at some point you need to become a master at something. That is where you are most likely to make money.

The majority of people on this forum are working on internet based businesses. That was a little different 8 years ago. If you are going to sell widgets, get good at selling widgets. Become an expert. If you are going to sell information, then understand the market and go after it.
 

MTF

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Thank you, @SteveO. I have to admit I was VERY tempted to go into an entirely different market, but after taking a longer break I decided against it. Your thread only confirmed that it was the right decision.
 

SteveO

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Thank you, @SteveO. I have to admit I was VERY tempted to go into an entirely different market, but after taking a longer break I decided against it. Your thread only confirmed that it was the right decision.

Sometimes it makes sense to change. Your avatar says it best though!
 
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MTF

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Bump for all the restless entrepreneurs tempted to jump from one thing to another only to realize their original plan was the best.
 

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