Mike’s Apartment Blog

It’s a new year, do you have your goals set?  You should.  You don’t want to waste a single moment of time not achieving what you can for this year.  It’s never too early to start.

Last year was a doozy.  The economic difficulties threw a major wrench in most folks plans.  It was all they could do to survive.  Survival instinct kicked in and companies and businesses scattered away from investing.  Loans could not be found, apartments were stuck in receivership with banks unsure what to do.  Despite not being able to close a large transaction this year, I was able to build a solid team of folks in the states we are investing.  Building those business relationships ensures the best for us in 2010.

2009 threw a lot of curve balls this year.  Fortunately, my companies were able to stay on their feet.  This bodes well for us, as many other individuals were unfortunately floored.  While many will spend 2010 getting back on their feet, I plan on pushing heavily forward with my investments.

If you don’t have your goals set, set them quickly.  We have precious little time on this earth and the sooner you achieve your goals, the sooner you can enjoy the results!

It’s the 4th of July, a time when Americans celebrate their declaration of independance from England.  It’s funny that we celebrate our “declaration”.  The declaration didn’t really do anything – it was our steely resolve, focus, and unwaivering determination that brought us freedom.  The declaration was really just words.

That determination during a very dismal and dangerous time is what we have to celebrate.  I bring this up now, because we are in another dismal and dangerous time.  The world wide economy is collapsing around us, multinational corporations and even state governments are going bankrupt, and North Korea is firing “test missiles” at nervous neighbors.  It doesnt get any worse, and its our determination that will get us through.

Never give up.  This awful economy is a precursor to the greatest opportunity for wealth investors will ever see.  Keep focused, stick to you plan, and you will succeed.

Just never give up.

We our biweekly mastermind call this last weekend.  I like these calls because it keeps me moving forward.

One valuable thing I learned was balance.  For those entreprenuers and hard working folks out there, it is easy to let work take us over.  To absorb all your free time and brain cycles.  This is an addiction, plain and simple.  Like any addiction, it is unhealthy.  Any time you focus on one thing in your life to the point you neglect all other aspects, it is unhealthy.

I realized I often neglect my social life and relationships.  Because of this, I set specific goals.  I happen to be married, so I set specific goals to spend time with my family, pets, and housework.  I find that spending time strengthening these relationships helps me continue to move forward in other areas of life.

Don’t forget why we are all out here and working our butts off.  Without our health and our loved ones, financial success is a hollow victory.

Two heads are better than one… how about seven heads?  I think so.  I mean the hydra had seven heads and he was pretty much a badass, right?

So how do you get seven heads?  And what do you do with them once you got them?

Enter the mastermind.  A mastermind is a group of individuals who get together to weigh in on difficult topics.  In this case, the difficult topic is getting rich, and the seven heads are entrepreneurs at various stages of success.  Having a varied group allows affords you two things: keeps you focused and accountable on your goals, and helps you come up with solutions to issues you can’t on your own.

My mastermind meets every two weeks.  We check in on each other, push eachother towards success, brainstorm over tough problems.  It’s very empowering and I highly suggest getting involved in one if you have given yourself difficult goals.

How do you get involved in a mastermind?  Well, it depends on who you associate with.  Though its pretty hard to find a bunch of folks in your immediate area, so I suggest the internet.  Any forum or site where you can find folks with similar goals, you can get together.  I met my mastermind group on www.fastlanetomillions.com.  It primarily a forum for budding entreprenuers, but there are folks from all walks of life.

Where do I begin?  I have read a lot of entrepreneur blogs which spend all sorts of time talking about folks who were in dead end jobs.  Jobs where their bosses were tyrants, coworkers were bungholes, and customers were PIA’s.  They were almost forced into entrepreneurship as a last ditch effort before they jumped off a bridge.

Not me.  I can’t sit here and tell you some sob story.  I enjoyed working for corporate america.  I liked my coworkers.  I liked my managers.  Most of all, I enjoyed my job.  But I wanted more… sounds sick?

Well liked, respected, and valued.  That’s how I would describe my job.  But I just wasn’t satisfied.  I am one of those constant thinkers – the wheels are always turning, always something to do, something to achieve.  A constant multi-tasker whose best work comes during the first hour of performing any action.  This means I am best served rotating through thirty-five different problems rather than dealing with only one (maybe that’s why apartment investing comes so naturally).  I am always competing against myself, an entreprenuerial flagellant so-to-speak, constantly measuring how much pain, stress, and expectation I can pile on myself and still survive.  Okay, too melodramatic?  I know… let’s just say I am always pushing myself to the max.

Kayne West sang, “That which doesn’t kill me, can only make me stronger.”  Okay, he stole it from Nietzsche, but he remixed it into a song which went triple platinum.  Kinda like apartment investing, you don’t have to be new, just different and adaptable.  And a rap artist, but I digress.

Real estate has always been of unique interest to me.  The fundamentals were simple, buy a place with leverage and make sure the rents more than cover the payments.  When I bought my first home and rented the extra bedrooms to my buddies, I was enthralled with the fact that my roommates paid rent regardless of whether I made it into the office or not.  It was my first real experience with passive income and it was a massive relevation - me likey!

Bottomline, I love business, want more, and can’t stop my mind from going-going-going.  With my already piqued interest in real estate, apartments were a natural progression.