Positivo Glasses
The world is what it is, and no matter how you spin it the world will bend to no one. Tonight I had dinner with a friend of mine, an aspiring financial planner, and I was reminded by this fundamental principle. It's mentioned in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, which I am reading on assignment for the Fellowship Program I am a part of this year. I could tell my friend was on the downs with his career. He is starting to feel like his efforts are not paying off. Sales is not easy. Tough as hell if you ask me. Sales is a profession where activity generates results.
There is something to be said about people who look at life through a positive lens. When this happens you start to notice more positive things in life. So what happened here? Did that person's luck ultimately change? No. Instead what happened is a change in that person's outward perception of the world. The power of perception can change one's interaction with his/her surroundings. Rather than seeing negative, feeling regret, or missing chances the person is now seeing positive, optimistic, and new opportunities.
It isn't that suddenly the world became more positive. The positive things were always there, but now you start noticing them more. Covey wrote that 'common sense isn't always common practice.' Thinking positively seems so fundamental that we shouldn't have to be reminded of it. We really do need it.
I have found that when I have a positive outlook, my surroundings become more favorable to my intentions. At work when I think I am going to have a great day, I normally do. Perhaps it's what you call willpower. Whatever it is, I am thankful for having this type of vision. I am productive because of it.
Flirting with Investors
Thursday evening I made a pitch to some wealthy investors in regards to one of my projects. My partner and I were looking for an investment in the ballpark of $500,000 for the startup costs involved with our project. I'll admit, I really do not have much experience when it comes to this type of sales pitch. By the end of the night, the investors were not ready to invest. It was a no. One of the investors wanted to see where we would be in 2-3 months, and from there further assess if investing would be reasonable.
I came away from the meeting feeling invigorated and reaffirmed that my partners and I are on a good path.
Tons-O-Fun
Good lord it has been a while since I have blogged. I promise I will get back on track here!
Just Created My First Website
I have been busy recently trying to get a few companies launched. I even took some time to develop a site that isn’t so fantastic, but will get better. Right now it’s a pay-to-see service which has been generating a few sales (but nothing I can leave my dayjob for!). The site is www.suppliersdaily.com. I am actually in the works to reposition this site to a much better and higher use. I need programmers with major skills and an entrepreneurial appetite.
Project for 2007
Later this year my friend Charles and I are launching a website that’s far from your traditional ecommerce site (like my ghetto Poker Stash site), but more aligned to a community-user generated content site. I realize all of the major websites today are trying to reposition themselves into the new ‘Web 2.0’ craze, so why be left behind? The biggest sites today (Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo, Google, and Craigslist) seem to focus on connecting people and creating a ‘community’ so to speak. Stand alone websites where you show up and the site tries to SELL you everything on the planet (including sneakers for mice) will get you probably 30 seconds (if you’re lucky) or less of viewing time (I bet the advertisers are happy about that). I’m good on the first round of funding (namely my own pockets!) but I definitely foresee a need to raise a little more capital to implement some advanced features. If this thing takes off I might need some investors =D
Real Estate
This market is tighter than the bond between Shaq and Kobe (erm, wait?). I am not talking about residential, but I am talking the commercial real estate market. I wrote an offer for the Urban Outfitter property in Santa Barbara for $7.2M. Turns out a local beat us at $7.35M. That’s the way the cookie crumbles. Not that any of you care, but cap rates in the industry are still sub-6%. What the hell does that mean you say??? A cap rate determines the price of the property. So if the rent for the year is at $130,000 and the expenses are $30,000 you will have a NET income of $100,000 (rent minus expenses). Then you capitalize the income by a ‘cap rate’, meaning you take the $100,000 and divide it by the cap rate. So at a 6% cap (hard to find today) you will have $100,000 divided by 0.06 and your property is worth about $1,650,000. BORING I KNOW.
My buddy Rohit just bought a lot in Texas. He’s planning to hold onto the house for a year, then tear it down and building 2 duplexes. Haven’t heard where he’ll come out on this deal, but he says it’ll be about $200,000. NOT BAD EH?
Bruins
My BRUINS need to destroy Pitt and get to the ELITE EIGHT. I’ll die if they lose.
Newest Thingamabobber For Your Website
Forgive me, but I took this off of Tech Crunch’s blog (I know, I’m a biter). Check out Jatrx. You can make phone calls to a person, company or whatever FROM YOUR WEBSITE! That’s insane I tell you. Check it out, I put it on my own blog www.jeffignacio.com.
