Ken Wade’s Housing Alerts review

Aunty was subscribed to Ken Wade’s Housing Alerts because it seemed like a good idea.  I believe Frank Chen of REI Club sent me a link (affiliate link in which he gets a percentage of the sale) and I sat through a very long, rather tedious webinar that showed a super simple way of gauging whether a particular real estate market was in a transitional period (not a particularly good time to buy or sell but okay for rental income) or in a wealth phase (great time to buy and make money).

Ken is a chart freak and loves charts of every type.  He discovered that the candlestick method along with moving averages tell a great story about the ups and downs, or ins and outs of real estate investing – kind of like it does for the stock market, only much much slower.

For $99/year, you get to track one city, for $197/year you can choose 3 cities, and the price gets higher the bigger and broader the market areas you decide you want.  If I recall, $1997 will get you the entire United States and some extras such as market reports from Ken Wade himself from time to time.

Aunty picked Las Vegas (surprise, surprise), Honolulu, and Indianapolis as her 3 cities.  All three cities were in the transitional phase – not a good time to get in the market.  Vegas was recovering from an all red phase where all the indicators short term, mid term, and long term were red.  Red is not good, the market is not in recovery, and not a good time to buy.  The more recent quarters had a few yellow and even occasional green indicators, but not in the long term columns, which meant the Vegas will still not a good market for investing for the buy and flip investors.

Indianapolis and Honolulu were almost like Vegas in the readings – transitional, not good for investing yet.

Because I bought the cheap $197/year 3 city package, I only had access to the wealth phase chart and the green, yellow, red dots indicators.  In the beginning, I was an avid watcher and would check and check the wealth phase charts and indicator charts over and over to find that these charts didn’t change at all, for at least 3 months because they were quarterly charts.  The updates didn’t show up until 50 days after the quarter ended – if I wanted to see the December 2011 quarterly period, the update didn’t show up until mid or late February of 2012.

There were a few market news reports that were a bit of sales pitching, and because I was not enrolled as a regional or national member, I was not able to access the more useful and timely market reports on the current areas in movement.  However, somehow I gleaned that Bismarck North Dakota is moving right now from one of Robert Kiyosaki’s live events when he mentioned buying land and developing rental apartments in the Bakken area where fractal drilling of oil is the hot job creator and growth opportunity.

I had the Housing Alerts program for a year, and then noticed a charge on my credit card for $197 – an automatic renewal of the 3 cities enrolling me for another year of slow quarterly charts and sales pitchy updates.  I emailed and asked for a refund in order to cancel my membership.  After an initial refusal, then some muscle of  – really, I want my money back – they obligingly refunded the $197 as a credit on my card.

Just today I received an email from Ken Wade with a free downloadable ebook entitled “Go Broke Investing”.  I went to the website, clicked on the send it to me button with my email address, and received the book in my email account.  It is easier to go through than his super long, very monotone webinar pitch, and it does have good information about past markets and the usefulness of charting.  Throughout the ebook are links to his marketing webinar or site “in order to learn more.”

Here is a link to his promotion:  GoRealEstateDeals.com which will ask for your email address in order to send you the “Go Broke Investing” ebook.  This is a rather aggressive website that will ask you several times if you are sure you want to leave the page, so just insist you do and you are out, or sign up and get the ebook, along with many follow up marketing emails which you can opt out of at any time.

Would I recommend this program?  It depends.

Aunty is an impatient person.  Watching a pot of water come to boil on a stovetop is torture for me.  Because the Housing Alerts program is based on quarterly reports, it is only updated once every 3 months, and after a 50+ day lag.  And, because it is real estate, movements are small and not dramatic as they are in the stock market.

Another point – Aunty is kind of cheap.  Instead of buying the national package with all the big cities in the nation, the option for 3 cities at $197 appealed to the pocketbook, but was limited to – 3 cities (duh)!  This option did not provide me with access to bigger studies and timely reports.  Being stuck with just Indianapolis, Vegas, and Honolulu felt like wading in jello.

I believe this is a program for patient people who are willing to shell out $1997 per year for many years.  All of Ken’s marketing lessons show fantastic possible returns IF properties were bought and sold in the wealth phases.  The most recent wealth phases occurred just about everywhere, about 5-10 years ago.  I dunno about you, but that kind of information of looking backward doesn’t benefit me today.  Perhaps there are a few cities that are actually entering the wealth phase right now.  I wouldn’t know since I don’t have that kind of access.  All I know is that Indianapolis, Las Vegas, and Honolulu are all in the “transition” phase of staying out of the market (which Aunty is NOT doing as it concerns Las Vegas).

Ken Wade does do a fantastic job of charting, market momentum with moving averages, and simplifying the process of understanding with easy visuals.  However, for Aunty, it’s too slow.  It is like playing Keno and the numbers take an hour each to post, versus Aunty’s game of choice – Craps, one of the fastest moving games in the casino.

In summary, it is a good program, rather expensive on an annual basis, and takes years to gauge benefits, and not for Aunty.  If Ken Wade did individual stocks or commodities with his simplification of red light/green light for the cheapos – Aunty might subscribe.

 

Some of Aunty’s Best of the Bests

2013-04-01_17-18-57Best Las Vegas realtor is Martin Fajardo (702) 289-0831, of Robinson & Associates and LV Invest.  Not only does Martin find me the best places and deals, he also is absolutely the best property manager in that town.  He has integrity, hustle, connections and is 100% on the side of his clients.  He is the number one reason Uncle and I have cash flow in Vegas.  Please only call him if you are serious about investing because I am selfish with his time.  He needs to be cloned – amazing what he gets done.

Best luxury auto repair shop – Chad of LXS Hawaii, located on Beretania Street right after Isenberg.  Chad used to be a mechanic for the Lexus dealership before opening up his own place.  You might have seen Aunty driving around a fat beautiful celadon green Lexus LS400.  Aunty loved driving that car – felt like a shark cutting through still waters – powerful, substantial, solid.  Taking it to the dealer was a hit to the pocketbook.  Finding Chad was fantastic.  His rates are super reasonable and the quality of service top notch.  After Uncle agrees to let Aunty get her next dream vehicle (Mercedes-Benz GLK), Aunty will save money and grief by taking it to Chad for service and any repairs.  All makes and models are welcome there.  For the dents and repairs that insurance will cover, Punchbowl Fender Works in Kaimuki is Aunty’s go-to place.  Laird Ogata has been the lead estimator there for 15 years, and the service is fast and excellent!

Best shiatsu massage, ever.  I have had a lot of great massages from Thailand, Japan and Hawaii.  All of them were good to excellent.  However, I have recently found Dick Murakami of Hikari Shiatsu on King Street to be the best of the best.  This was one hour of bliss and I didn’t want it to end.  Shiatsu is not for those that like patty pats.  It is deep massage designed to release stress and strain from tight muscles.  It is heaven on a mat.  Dick’s phone number is 955-5125.  Located in the same building as Alan Wong’s.  Free parking in the building – go up the ramp on the far right rather than down the ramp on the left, and sign your vehicle in.  The best of the best, really.

Favorite Attorney – Michael Bowman, Las Vegas based, should be an associate or partner at Anderson Business Services.  One of the most entertaining speakers on a boring subject – asset protection and tax relief.  He reminds me of a labrador retriever and he looks like one of those popular actors, just better looking.  I forget the name, but will think about that later.

Favorite Dentist – Dr. Hideki Kurokawa 538-0047.  Located in the McDonald’s Building in Makiki.  He does wonderful fine work.  Best dentist, and I’ve had quite a few dentists work on my somewhat cavity filled mouth.  Attention to detail and quality at a fair price.  Always looks good in a long sleeve dark dress shirt with tie – classy.  He even uses something like a trampoline in the mouth when he works on a tooth – pretty cool stuff – keeps the debris off my palate.  I love his dental hygienist, Kelly.  There is nothing more luxurious than having someone else floss your teeth for you as you are reclined with minty polish on teeth.   Everyone who I have referred to him have thanked me for helping them find such a great dentist.

Favorite accountant/CPA – Diane Sandlin of Sandlin & Associates.  Very sharp, very up to date, and she also invests!  We are moving our tax filing to her this year, and already her assistant Tara Decker has been the biggest help for me in training me to use QuickBooks (which I absolutely LOVE!)  Tara has the patience of those geniuses at the Apple Store table.  Another favorite CPA of mine is Dianne Lee, who I used to use years ago when she had her office near Diamond Head.

Favorite hair stylist – Lola Yoza at Aksel’s Hairstyling.  737-3049.  I have gone to stylists who charge $140+ tip and come out looking like Jamie Lee Curtis.  Not that I don’t like Jamie Lee Curtis, I just don’t want to look like her.  Lola is like a carpenter journeyman – measures twice, cuts once, and the result is just perfect.  Parking is free in this Kapahulu 2nd story business (stalls 1, 3, 4) and rates are super reasonable.  She reminds of Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy.  Fun, beautiful, and a really nice lady.  [note:  boohoo, Lola doesn’t cut hair anymore, boohoo!]

Best place to buy hair products – BOSS Beauty Supply Outlet at  1130 N Nimitz Hwy (close to Eagle Cafe) Honolulu, HI 96817.  Phone (808) 548-2677.  Lincoln Wang once gave our Hawaii Stitchery and Fibre Arts Guild some free shampoo samples and said our hair will look like virgin hair – and it did!  Great shampoo and conditioner.  So of course, us aunties went back and got the product, and everytime we go in we buy more because it IS really good stuff!  If Lincoln is in, ask him to put some sample on – you will instantly see a wonderful difference in the way your hair looks, or your skin feels.  I currently use the Neuma line for hair.  Smells great, looks good, wonderful stuff.

Favorite place to shop for clothes – Calista at Kahala Mall.  This is a really small store located on an inside corner in the Mall, and filled with wonderful clothes.  If I ever need a special outfit or dress, this is where I shop.  Gilda is wonderful and very helpful.  I usually shop the bargain racks, but sometimes a piece catches my eye and then becomes my favorite outfit in my wardrobe.  Siam Imports on King Street next to Kinko’s is a dangerous place for Aunty.  I always find some wonderful top or bottom – great casual clothes with organic look and feel.

Favorite Famous Person – the Dalai Lama.  He is such a cute man.  Whatever he says is full of wisdom and greatness.  My favorite line from him, “Be kind whenever possible.  It is always possible.”  I have much to learn.  Much much.

Favorite spa – Green Valley Ranch Spa in Las Vegas.  This is living in the lap of luxury.  I had the absolute best facial for my dry parched skin (Vegas does that to me as soon as I arrive) and my skin was glowing and felt like a babe’s for weeks after.  I had Elaine as my therapist – she has magic fingers and not once got any goo in my eyes.  A lovely person doing a lovely job.  Bliss.  In fact, Elaine shared a beauty tip her mother shared with her.  You see, I have sunspots on my face from years of not taking care in the sun.  I am zealous about wearing hats and sunscreen now but the dark patches on the skin on my face remained.  The tip from Elaine’s mother is to stop drinking caffeinated coffee and switch to decaf.  I tried this, and lo and behold, after about 3 weeks, my dark spots and patches have faded!  Not disappeared (yet), but they have visibly faded!  (Thanks Elaine’s Mom!)

Favorite computer:  Apple.  Truly this is the most innovative company.  Once you have an Apple, you know why Apple fanatics are fanatics.  I just got this laptop last week – they transferred all my files from my older laptop (Apple to Apple) and signed up for their One-on-One program for $99/year – one hour daily (if you wish) with an Apple person to help you with anything you want having to do with your computer and its multitude of possibilities.  Used that service today and my Apple guy taught me how to load a video I shot at our TaiChi class onto YouTube, and then embed it in this website.  How cool is that?  It was love at first touch.

Favorite retail store:  Nordstrom Rack near Ward Warehouse.  Hard to go into that store and not find great stuff.  All doodads, but great doodads at a discount.  I have the store credit card, and was once a few days past the due date in payment.  I opened my next statement thinking I would be charge finance charges and late fees, but surprise! – no fees or finance charges since it was before the statement end date.  Just little things like that – total customer service and satisfaction makes me a loyal customer.   Target – I was very impressed with the training and culture of the company while our youngest worked there.  Kind of like the Nordstrom of bargain stores.  VUE Hawaii in Kahala Mall.  Don’t let the mediocre display window fool you.  Inside are designer like comfortable clothing in wonderful fabrics and colors.

Favorite art dealer/gallery:  Robyn Buntin of Honolulu.  Robyn’s art gallery is a wonderful place to find treasures.  Everywhere I turn I find exquisite classic pieces of art tastefully arranged.  Aisha is usually there with her beautiful smiling face to help with framing as well as sales.  If I have a fine piece of art that needs framing, I go to see Aisha – I have never been disappointed with the final result of their multi-layering of matte board and touches of elegance to make the piece even more wonderful.  Art is an investment that pays off in more ways than just appreciating in value.  It is an asset that you can enjoy looking at every single day.  Collect what you love, and enjoy it.

Favorite place to get a car wash – McKinley Car Wash on Kapiolani Boulevard.  My favorite jump in the car moment always occurs after a full tank of gas, super duper car wash with interior vacuuming and a super clean interior smelling great.  Don’t let those workers fool you at first sight.  They look like a prison gang broke out, but they wipe all the cars that come out with great attention to detail – almost lovingly.  Putting in a couple of dollars in the “tip box” is my way of saying thank you to them all.  Aunty did a review on them!

Best Shaved Ice:

Waiola Shave Ice behind and slightly around from the Makiki Library.  My favorite flavor and style:  large strawberry with ice cream on the bottom.  Super fine ice, tasty strawberry syrup (someone said it has ajinomoto that’s why it tastes so good) and towards the end you slurp up ice cream mixed with the slushed up flavored ice.  Additional bonus is you get red lips.  My good buddy Wanda Woman insists on getting a large bowl with ice cream on the bottom, with haupia syrup and lilikoi topping.  It looks like a white volcano with cream colored snow topping and flecks of lilikoi seeds.  I must admit, it beats out my strawberry with ice cream shaved ice.  However, you don’t get the bonus red lips.

I have heard that Your Kitchen in Palolo Valley on 10th Avenue has awesome shaved ice.  Homemade syrups and ice cream.  Yum!  Their pork bowl is something to try because of the onolicious reviews it gets.  This is a true hole in the wall without parking.

Best musubi:

Mana Bu’s on King Street.  You might miss this place if you don’t know where it is.  A little past PeeWee Drive In on the mauka (left) side of King Street in a little parking lot fronted by Baskin Robbins.  The owner is from Japan.  The shop opens at 9:00 a.m. and by 12:30 most of everything is sold out.  Excellent musubis.  Sometimes he gets creative and makes it different with mochi rice.  Even though they look unassuming and little, these delectable triangles of pressed rice fulfill the senses using the best rice with just the perfect amount of salt, filling and good nori.  If I have an afternoon or evening flight, I try to buy these to munch on in the plane.  Staves off the dread of flying and beats out airplane food any day.

Shirokiya at the Ala Moana Shopping Center.  Once a year, around the beginning of July, a township comes to Shirokiya and we are able to purchase the food of the locale.  Their musubis are worth waiting for.  It’s all about the rice.  What a difference short grain high quality rice can make in even the humble musubi.

Favorite Misoyaki Butterfish:

Okuhara Foods at 881 N. King Street, phone 848-0581.  They import several kinds of miso from Japan and cut the butterfish into irregular shapes to maximize the marination and taste of their broke-da-mouth ono misoyaki butterfish.  Sold in 5 or 10 pound bags (5 lbs has about 9-10 pieces) of uncooked swimming in miso chunks of butterfish, $11+/lb, cash or checks only.  Wipe off the excess miso before cooking.  Uncle usually makes the hibachi fire outside and grills it so it practically falls apart with flavor.  This latest time we were out of charcoal so I lined a pan with foil, added another sheet of foil and placed the butterfish skin side up.  I broiled it in the oven until the skin was quite black, removed it from the oven, carefully removed the sheet of foil with the butterfish (swimming in oil), then carefully used a spatula to transfer the butterfish back on the foil lined pan with burnt skin down.  I then put it back in the oven to broil on low.  I cooked it until the top was golden brown.  Easier than grilling – but I must admit I like Uncle’s grilled version better.  Make sure you have your stove vent going on during and after because your house will smell like butterfish – but it is worth it!

Favorite Grass:

No, not what you are thinking.  I am a yard person.  I can spend all day out in the yard weeding, planting, trimming, and watering.  Uncle cuts the grass.  I used to really love to plant emerald zoysia grass – beautiful color but slow growing.  I plant the real pokey stuff – temple zoysia under trees because it can do well with full shade, though this type of grass is really slow growing.  St. Augustine grass also does well in the shade but has very wide blades and runners everywhere.  My favorite grass now is the Z3 zoysia because it grows the fastest of the zoysias, tends to stay short, and grows in very thick – so thick that the dreaded nut grass cannot penetrate.  I get my Z3 zoysia from Quality Turf Grass in Waimanalo.  I am currently on a mission to transplant most of the backyard with Z3 zoysia except for under the mango tree, where I have straggly temple zoysia slowly growing.  It is a losing battle with the dogs, but I keep on keeping on!

Favorite Banks:

So far, it is Bank of Hawaii, mostly because that is where we have banked all our adult lives.  Favorite bankers there are Israel, Davin, Darren, Lowell and Kyle (Waialae branch).  Sometimes a bit frustrating because of their rather conservative bank policies, but I did bug Davin enough to get an umbrella!  Update!  Davin is now the manager!  Go see him and tell him Aunty sent you.  Then ask him for an umbrella, lol!

Territorial Savings Bank is pretty outstanding for a little bank.  The Kahala branch has the nicest bunch of people there – all friendly, all willing to help.  Cyrus Robinson is the manager and I do believe he hires for “nice-ness”.  Great job.  Fantastic customer service.  The website is a bit old/funky looking, but it works!  I have loans and a checking account there.  They do wire transfers and are just behind Lanikai Juice, where I like to go for their acai bowl with sliced bananas and granola on top.  That’s my reward sometimes for doing my own errands.

Speaking of customer service, Wells Fargo Bank goes the extra mile and then some.  I have had the pleasure of dealing with Giovanni Annacta from the Business Banking branch on South Rancho Lane in Las Vegas because I needed to open a business checking account for Vegas investing.  He brought in a commercial business officer, hooked me up with a mortgage officer, and I met the office manager Lois McCaskill, another charming person with customer satisfaction as their goal and mantra.  Office number is (702) 382-8722.  It is a BIG bank with personal attention.  They also have an excellent website and the ability to do a lot with a multitude of options.

Favorite phone company:

AT&T/Cingular.  I like their family plans with Cingular’s rollover minutes, and now ALL calls to other cellular phones are free, even if they are Verizon, etc.  However, what I like most about them is their customer service – a HUGE improvement over the old AT&T.  I had the pleasure of being served by an excellent service consultant at the Kapahulu (near Safeway) branch of AT&T – Chris Esteron.  He didn’t make a single cent in sales on us but he was most pleasant, helpful, and caring.  [Note:  Chris has moved on and is no longer at AT&T Kapahulu.  The new agent that I have found to be excellent there is Kevan Mau, retail sales consultant at the Kapahulu Retail Store near Safeway at 900 Kapahulu Avenue 808-732-3200.  Kevan’s contact info is:  km792a@att.com.]  [[Another Note:  Another great customer agent is Donn Yoshioka.  He set me up with additional lines, new iPhone, and took care of a couple of other techno stuff fast and smooth!]]
If AT&T keeps up this level of service, we aren’t switching even if they do outsource to India (Slum Dog Millionnaire) and donate millions to political candidates.

Raymond Aaron’s iMarketing Genius

If Raymond Aaron comes to your town to give a presentation or class, I have a two letter word for you – GO.  Here’s a link to get more info from Raymond himself.

This recent Raymond Aaron workshop was an unusually small crowd of 25 students, which was fortunate for us since we could ask questions at any time, and because the majority of the participants were Hawaii realtors, the focus of the weekend was on the marketing strategies of realtors in business but ALL of us benefited immensely.

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Selling is a skill that must be learned and mastered.  Selling anything to anyone is easy if they want what you have to sell, and they want to pick you as their seller.

Marketing can be transactional (weak, more of the same, what everyone else is doing) or transformational (startingly, totally different).  Transformational marketing can change the whole picture and increase income tenfold.

An example of transactional marketing is to increase prices, work more hours, sell more items.

Transformational marketing using a chiropractor as an example went like this:

A chiropractor charges $40 per adjustment.  Everyone else also charges $40.  To increase his income he could charge $45/adjustment – but he may get less customers because he is priced too high.  Or, he could charge $35 but he may lose money because he is charging too little and/or have to increase the hours he puts into his business which cuts into family time.

Instead, Chiropractor writes a book “The Book on Sore Backs”.  He writes press releases and sends them off to all sorts of media outlets.  One or more pick up on the press releases, and the phone starts to ring with potential customers.  The receptionist asks “how did you find out about Dr. ___?” and if they say they heard about the doctor because of his book, they are asked if they would like to be treated by the book author for $99 or an associate for $40 (prior to he makes an arrangement with the other chiropractors if they would do adjustments for his patients at his office for $20, and he gets the other $20).

His income has been transformed from $40 to $99.  He also receives income without having to do any adjustments from his “associates”.  His business is transformed.

10 requirements of transformational marketing:  Be a Leader, Branding, Lifetime Value of Customer, Intentional Congruence, Image & Video, Copy (great wording), Social Media usage, Traffic, Buzz, and Relevant Charity.

The most important trait was being a Leader in your field so people will want to follow.

Next comes Branding, which we focused on for the rest of the day.

Branding is about you, not the company you belong to (in the case of realtors, it isn’t Caldwell Bankers, etc. that is your brand.  You are your brand.)  Your brand is not what you say.  It is what others say or think about you.

Raymond gave several examples of Brand trumping Product.  Pepsi, in a blind test challenge, was the cola of choice over Coca Cola several years ago.  However, because Coca Cola has a stronger brand name, Coca Cola sales are higher than Pepsi.  It doesn’t matter that Pepsi tastes better, Coca Cola is perceived to be a better brand so it has higher sales.

The levels of branding rise from 0 – 10 from brand absence (zer0) to brand awareness to brand preference to brand desire to brand insistence (ten).  Brand advocacy (when you tell all your friends how great some brand is) is over the top.  An example of brand advocacy is the Apple Computer Company.  Apple users love their Apples and tell everyone about the wonders and greatness of their Apple products, which gets their friends to try it and buy.  This is the best and highest level of salesmanship.

To advance to higher levels of branding, make WOWs (when people say “Wow!).  Every Wow moves you up – gradually.  Every unWow (things that need fixing) moves you down – fast.

6 ingredients of Wows = Big, Unexpected, Memorable, Positive, Extra, Relevant. (BUMPER)

Sources of Wows include your own creativity and uniquness, feedback from clients, turning unWows into Wows.

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Ways to brand yourself:

By Achievement (Lance Armstrong’s achievement of defeating cancer and winning the Tour de France several times earns him $100,000 for each speaking engagement)

By Association (pictures with famous or successful people)

By Authoring a Book

By Reciprocation (give, give, give and create relationships)

By 3rd party recognition (testimonials – especially written ones)

By charitable donation (example is McDonald and the Ronald McDonald House)

By Brand Mascots (Snap Crackle and Pop for Rice Crispies)

By Message Control (be careful of the words and stories you use – always be aware of the message/image you are wanting to convey).
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At the end of Day 1, we were instructed to create our own website with “OurOwnNameReview.com”.  Raymond has RaymondAaronReviews.com as one of his websites.  On it, using WordPress templates, he asks a simple question “What is the greatest thing that Raymond taught you that will increase your business?”

When people fill in their name, city, and occupation as well as their feedback (which is automatically a testimonial), it is posted.  This review site will be at the top of anyone’s Google name search of you which will help your branding as it serves as bonafide validation and positive reinforcement for you.

THAT is ultra cool.

[Aunty’s review website will be HonoluluAuntyReviews.com in the near future and my question would be about benefits from visiting Aunty at HonoluluAunty.com.]

Elance.com is a site like ebay – but just for services.  Post the job you want done (i.e. make a review site just like Raymond’s) and bids for your job will come in – after which you leave feedback.  This is a great resource for finding a webmaster or website developer if you need one  (they can help you make your review site – tell them to go see RaymondAaronReviews.com and make one for you just like that).

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DAY 2 iMarketing Genius

Raymond began by giving us 6 rung steps in the “Ladder of Profits”.  From a ground base of zero:

1.  Visibility – with so many channels of media on the internet, magazines, etc. build a presence and get your name out there.  Create and maintain a website.

2.  Credibility – you want to be known, liked, and trusted.  Becoming an author of books will give you instant visibility and credibility.

3.  Marketability – setting up a business to succeed where customers choose you

4.  Profitability – the achievement reached.

Starting at the base and moving downward is

– 1.  Invisibility – the majority of people as entrepreneurs, employees, investors are on this rung.

– 2.  Instability – mental, emotional, financial distress.  Insolvency.

In order to achieve profitability, you move up one rung at a time, in order.  The way to skip rungs from invisibility to profitability is to win a lottery – which has very low probability.

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Nido Qubein is one of Raymond Aaron’s coaches.  He is the President of High Point University in North Carolina, and on the Boards of BB&T Banks and Lazy Boy.  Raymond played a short video of highlights of a recent presentation.  What a WOWer of a speaker!  If you can, google for YouTube videos of Nido Qubein.

Points from his presentation:

To become great and successful, hang around with successful people.  Who you spend time with is who you become.  Figure out what obstacles are in the way in your life and avoid or get rid of them.

Over and beyond communicating is connecting.  Figure out how the other person must feel first before he/she will do what you want them to do.

Training is teaching people what to do.  Educating is showing people what to be.

Pay yourself first.  Most people pay themselves last after all the bills, etc have been made.  Pay yourself first.

Nido hates “to do” lists because they never ever end.  Instead, have a “stop doing” list.  (Raymond expanded on this concept – keep reading.)

Do only the 3 things you do best.  Delegate all the rest.  [Wow – what a wonderful possibility!]
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Regarding the “stop doing” list:

1. Write down every task, activity performed in a week, business related as well as non-business related.

2.  Identify what 3 things you are good at (A items).

3.  Identify your C things – things you hate doing, procrastinate about, and are lousy at doing.

4.  Everything else is a B item.

5.  Eliminate one C item.  [This is WILDLY transformational]

6.  Get rid of all other C’s.

7.  Get rid of B’s.
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Here are 21 steps for your Marketing Department

1.  Have a transformational Marketing Department.

2.  Strategically choose your niche – where/what do hot eager buyers want?

3.  Understand your niche – do market research – 3 actions/person involved for every sale – the decision maker, the payer, the beneficiary.  Cater to the decision maker.

4.  Organize duties – keep your core abilites (things you do best) and delegate the rest eventually

5.  Start with 5 lead sources for new prospects – referrals are most common, Facebook page, craigslist, posters, Linkedin profile, contests, billboards, speeches, newspaper ads, cards, networking groups, eZineArticles.com, blog, radio, video testimonials, etc.

6.  Add 1 new lead source every 2 months

7.  Story board your prospecting funnel – at the start of lead generation you may have 20 prospects because of response to an add, and at the end you have 1 or 2 sales.  Between the start and end, track the drop off rate and figure out why.

8.  Establish 3 levels of clients and cater to them differently.
level 1 – ones that don’t want to pay the going rate – sell them something smaller, i.e. audio CD set
level 2 – will pay standard
level 3 – will pay higher – will get more

9.  Create your BRAND – this is what people think of you.  Have a slogan, logo,         color scheme, font, URL site

10.  Create your 5 second pitch – be puzzling,enigmatic.  Give insufficient information, no selling, about them not yourself.  Purpose is that they ask for more information because you become interesting to them.

11.  Create visibility and credibility.  Write a book, self capture websites, do something to be recognized.

12.  Plan for social proof – testimonial capture system (example RaymondAaronReviews.com)

13.  Plan for referrals – on sign up sheet ask for 3 guest referrals (if you ask for 1, you get 0, asking for 2 or 3, you get 1, asking for 4 or more, you get 0)

14.  Align with a related cause – on your marketing tools “a certain portion of my sales goes to….”

15.  Management feedback data – how many clients you saw, results, numbers, numbers, numbers

16.  Soft Launch – do a pretend or test launch.  If you have a coach, ask first.

17.  Review numbers and redesign.

18.  Hard Launch

19.  Keep watching your numbers

20.  Keep delegating more and more so that you just have your core abilities tasks

21.  Check in with coach at every stage (keep getting feedback)

Without a Marketing Department, there is no leader, no transformational ideas, no focus, procrastination, time wasted on non-essential tasks, no positioning, only a few lead generation sources, no brand, no formal referral system, no strategic plan.  It is living inside invisibility.

_______________________

After lunch, Les E.???  did a presentation on marketing to sell more.

The seller must be non threatening.

Words such as experience, integrity, service, honesty, quality, reliability, the best are not important and so standard that the customer is not impressed.

Customer Espionage:

* Who is your target market

* Who are your primary competitors and what are they doing

* What would cause someone to want or buy what you want in the first place

* What problems, frustrations or annoyances do people experience when buying what you sell

* If this was your best friend, what “insider knowledge” would you want them to know

* What’s your evidence – need supporting proof

If you want massive sales success you must do all of your customers’ thinking for them.  Phrase your sales pitch with “so that you”, i.e. We service your air conditioning our way so that you will always be comfortable.

___________________________

The last part of the day was spent with Raymond showing us Intentional Congruence.  It brought tears to his eyes – because he gets it.  Truth to tell, I didn’t get it yet – but I will try out the concept.

Start with a circle in the middle of a blank sheet.  This will represent whatever your #1 source of income (write it in the circle).  Then, in a planet like arrangement around but away from the central circle, draw other circles.  Write down in each circle whatever you do that has activity or expenditure of time, other income sources, or important person (i.e. wife, family).

There are 3 kinds of arrows for this – absent, thin, and fat.

Starting with your #1 source of income circle, draw an arrow to one of the named “planets” and ask yourself how does A (#1 income source) support B (the activity or thing.)  After you have done a bunch of these, draw arrows back from B to A and figure out how B supports A.

After that, draw arrows from a planet to another planet – all or none of them if you can think of a connection in which they support each other.

At first, there will be a lot of absent arrows (no support or connection), some thin, and a few fat arrows.

The purpose of this exercise is to have a blueprint image for conscious decision making in order to have congruence in life.  Congruence so that doing something in one “planet” will benefit/support more than just itself, but other “planets” will also benefit because you intend/plan it that way.

An example Raymond used was this:

His central planet is Coaching (his #1 source of income).  One of his planets is his youngest daughter.  He has an iPad with better games than hers because he pays for his apps and she is only allowed free apps on her iPad.  On the day of the week when he is in charge of her, he has a phone coaching session with one of his clients.  Rather than have her be bored and free during that period of time, he allows her to play with his iPad, but the rule is that it must be on the couch of his workroom – while he is on his phone coaching session with his client.

The intentional congruence occurs when his coaching sessions support his time to be with his daughter, and ALSO when she is in the same room and hearing (even if subconsciously) his lessons and advice to one of his coaching students.  She is learning without realizing it (arrow from his coaching planet to daughter planet), and he has her in his vision which inspires him and is in her ear (arrow from his daughter’s planet to his coaching planet) to give really inspiring and great words of wisdom to his student that he has to spend time with – both at the same time.  He was wanting to spend time with his daughter anyway, and he had to be on the coaching session anyway.

Raymond also showed us what his coach Nido Qubein’s intentional congruence looks like.  It was mind blowing and way way out of our league.  Like seeing what a Grand Master can do with hundreds of instruments here and hundreds of instruments there, with much larger dollars and connections.

The more intentional (important word – intentional) congruences you make in your life, then every intentional action you make will bring more benefits/advances/fulfillments to more of the “planets” in your life – with less time involved.  Since you are going to do something anyway, let them be multipliably fruitful.

_______________________
Raymond’s introduced us to his 10-10-10 package (for a price) consisting of a 4 or 6 webinar program that will teach and guide anyone to produce and publish a book.  10 chapters – 10 hours of your time – 10 weeks printed.

Well, that was a WOW.  Uncle is thinking about it.  It could dramatically increase the esteem of being an expert in his field (no, it’s not fishing…yet).  And the benefits of being able to say, “I wrote the book on that” is multi-fold.

In any case, the two days spent with Raymond were days well spent and fantastically valuable.  The real kicker was that it was free – no cost at all, even though Raymond brought in his key program man, paid for travel expenses, hotel meeting room and amenities, and even gave us all the Steve Jobs biography book.  WOW, WOW, WOW!

Donna Kato and Polymer Clay

In my stumbling around using different art mediums, I have had the privilege of meeting and learning from some of the finest artists in their field.

Polymer clay (some call it Fimo the way you say Kleenex instead of tissues) is instant gratification.  What you work with is what you get.

My absolute favorite teacher of the medium is Donna Kato.  She calls me kiddo!  LOL!  Actually I think she calls almost everyone kiddo even though she is the same age as me.  She sure doesn’t look it!

She even has a clay named after her – Kato Polyclay by Van Aken.  How cool is that!  It also happens to be the BEST polymer clay on the planet – easy to condition, holds firm in canes, is super strong after firing, least toxic of the clays.  I have given away my other clays because I am now too spoiled with how wonderful Kato Polyclay is now.

When I grow up, I’m going to play even more with polymer clay.  It will be my reward during our retirement years of leisure.

Color Code

Ian Plummer of Color Code gave a fascinating lesson on personality/core motives using the colors Red, White, Blue, and Yellow as indicators.  The theory is that every person is born with a certain core value and life’s experiences, upbringing, etc. influence how we act and react.  Knowing what our “color” is can help us understand ourselves and knowing the color of people you associate with can guide us to a better relationship because we will know what that person needs and wants.

Here is a very very brief summary of the colors and what they represent:

RED  — These are the powerful bulldozers.  Hillary Clinton is a definite Red.  Very motivated, driven, in charge, confident.  They bring great gifts of vision and leadership and generally are responsible, decisive, logical, proactive and assertive. 
 On the negative side, they might tend to be selfish, insensitive, impatient and argumentative.
BLUE  — These are the heavy weight do-gooders, love to serve, give, help, and care for people.  Oprah Winfrey is a prime example.   Intimacy drives these people.  They are generally loyal, intuitive, sincere, and thoughtful.
  On the negative side, they tend to be self righteous, overly sensitive, perfectionists and have unrealistic expectations.

WHITE  — These are the peacekeepers, my favorite kind of people.  The Dalai Lama is definitely a white, and so is Uncle (thank goodness).   They have the ability to stay calm and balanced even in the midst of conflict, are generally kind, adaptable, and good listeners.  On the negative side, they can be indecisive, silently stubborn, unexpressive, and detached.
YELLOW  — These are the fun lovers.   They bring great gifts of enthusiasm and optimism and are generally happy, charismatic, logical, spontaneous, and life of the party.   The negatives of this group is that they can be uncommitted, disorganized, afraid to face facts, impulsive, and unfocused.

Fascinating stuff.  Some hints to working with others if you can find out their “color” are:

Reds:  make sure you did your homework before approaching them (if it is your boss), just give the bottom line, summarize.

Blues:  give them all the information and then give them deadlines.  Keep following up with them.

Whites:  don’t overload them, lead them, show them the end game.

Yellows:  be upbeat, they work best with people they like.  Keep them informed, give positive strokes.

The website to go to for the test is colorcode.com.  You can take the free test, and you will receive your dominant color results.  At anytime before or after, you can pay for the test and get a detailed report with your percentages of color, as well as a customized 20+ page report going into more detail and links to some exercises to better understanding and self improvement.  While Ian was describing the different traits, needs, and limitations of each color, I was so sure I was Red and Yellow – because I had the worst traits of both.

However, after taking the test and upgrading because of a coupon he gave at a discount, I turned out to be 36% Blue, 23% White, 21% Yellow, and 20% Red.  It was a nice surprise to be more like Oprah than Hillary, though I admire both.

You can check out the website and take either a free test, or one that you get a personal report and score of your colors.  Ian even puts on workshops on color coding to help people understand our underlying “color” as well as the underlying color of people that are close to us, and how to use that knowledge to build better relationships.

This is far better than going to psychics that seem to be able to “read” your present and future, IMO.  It was a fun exercise, as is the Briggs Myers/Jung test (free!) that I have consistently scored as an INTP for the last 40 (yikes!) years.

Mortgage acceleration payoff programs – some caveats

2013-04-17_11-58-16Do NOT waste $3000 on the Money Merge Account program from United First Financial to eliminate your mortgage in a few years.  It is cumbersome, time consuming, and limited.  All their hype about algorithms and such with the juggling of at least 2 accounts is easier achieved with chunk payments.  [This company has changed their name to “Worth Unlimited” – same players, same game.   Mahalo to Joe Taxpayer for alerting me to this on his excellent site:  JoeTaxpayer.com.]

A recent online class I took taught the basics of early mortgage payoffs with a HELOC or any other interest bearing line of credit.  This ingenuous method was the brainchild of a couple of Australian women who wanted to beat the system of the 30 year mortgage.

Take a $500,000 30 year mortgage at 5% (this will be what I will use as the example).  The monthly payment for principal and interest (P&I) is $2684.11.  Property taxes and insurance (T&I) are usually added on to this, but I will not add those in for this example, but be aware that these are additional payments required.  I will also round out the numbers to make it easier to understand from this point on.

With the very first mortgage payment of $2684 (P&I only), $2083 is interest, $601 is toward principal.  The loan is reduced by $601 for a new balance of $499,399.  The next mortgage payment of $2684 is broken down to $2081 towards interest, $603 toward principal, for a new balance of $498,796.  The next mortgage payment of $2684 has $2078 going towards interest, $606 towards principal.  This continues on with the bulk of the monthly payment going towards interest, until year 16 (!) when more of the payment starts going toward the principal because the balance of the loan is lowered enough for that to happen, and your loan principal starts getting paid off faster and faster.  If you make regular steady payments of $2684 every month for 30 years, you will have paid in almost double the amount of the initial loan!

The Australian ladies discovered this “secret”.

Use $10,000 from a line of credit, like a HELOC, to pay towards principal (make sure you specify that to the bank when making the payment).  This will reduce the loan balance by $10,000 to $490,000.  This automatically will “step” you up to month 16 of scheduled payments, and you would have saved over $32,000 of interest, because of the way the amortized 30 year payments are scheduled (16 months x ~$2000/mo interest = $32,000).

You will still have to pay off the $10,000 HELOC advance – but even if that is at an interest rate of 10%, and you pay it off in a year, your “cost” is $11,000, but you saved $32,000.  Your actual cost is only the 10% interest ($1000) but you are taking out a loan that has to be repaid, so I include the sum in this calculation.  Even so, the savings are big time!

If you can do this 18 years in a row, your mortgage will be paid off in full, 12 years ahead of time, and you will have saved $214,000 in interest.  The sweet spot seems to be in the 9th year, when the mortgage payments begin to weigh more on the principal than the interest.  For $90,000 of pre payments (9 years x $10,000), you save $178,000 in interest.

For this to work, you will need enough income to pay down the $10,000 HELOC every year.

Compare this to:  if you did nothing but pay your regular mortgage monthly payments for 30 years without any additional principal payments, you will end up paying $466,000 in interest for your $500,000 loan.

Another way to battle this 30 year mortgage debt is to pay $1000 more per month towards principal reduction.  This works out almost the same as a $10,000 principal reduction payment once a year.

You can “play”with the numbers using Joe Taxpayer’s spreadsheet (click on green “My MMA spreadsheet”, then open the xls document) which allows you to change the terms and amounts of the loan, as well as adjust any payments.  You can then see the interest savings as well as the principal balance remaining for whatever scenario you chose to adopt.

In general, it seems that the more you can put toward principal at the beginning of the loan, the greater the savings on interest.  Which has me thinking of a new strategy the next time I borrow on our home.  Instead of going for the highest loan value at the fixed 30 year rate, I might be better off getting a lesser loan, and getting a higher HELOC.

The advantage of a 30 year mortgage is the fixed rate and the length of time the loan is available.  However, the monthly payment does not change, whether you owe $500,000 on the loan or $50,000 on the loan.  Fees and points are added into the loan which can easily top $10,000 of additional cost from the get go.

The advantage of a HELOC or interest only loan is that you use it if you want or need to, and the monthly payment decreases (or increases) as your balance changes, and these are usually loans without fees or points.  The disadvantage is that the interest rate fluctuates and the loan usually expires in 10 years.  HELOCs can also be closed at anytime at the bank’s discretion.

Currently, interest rates are very low – 5% or a little less for a 30 year conventional mortgage.  These methods of paying down one’s mortgage faster makes sense, and it makes even more sense and has more interest saving advantages when the loan is at higher interest rates.

Although I would love to have a home debt free, it is also a waste of potential for me.  Sitting on a house with 100% equity is like sitting on a pile of gold.  It is great to have, but it is just what it is.  This is Suzie Orman’s ideal retirement model – owning your home debt free.  This does not, however, mean expense free.  You can still lose your home due to catastrophic medical or unforeseen expenses, to lawsuits, fraud, and your own intended heirs getting greedy.

I would rather use as much of the equity that I can in order to acquire more cash flowing assets such as rental property.  Good rental property.  These cash flowing assets can be the income used to pay the mortgage payments on our financed home.  Sweet chickens!

Additional income from your investments can pay down mortgages on the properties.  This is good debt being paid off with cash flow that is forever.

Susie Orman’s message of eliminating all debt can backfire and leave you looking like a target with limited options.  Learn the difference between good debt (used to acquire assets that put money in your pocket) and bad debt (doodads, toys, trips, jewelry, clothes, etc.).  Avoid and eliminate bad debt, use good debt to get rich.

Aunty just found a really good article over at the FinancialMentor.com about the pros and cons of paying off your mortgage or investing.  Really a good read.  Turns out he is a fence sitter, but he has a solid fence in place.

Rocking Las Vegas

Aunty is on her way to Las Vegas tonight with Uncle (big 6-0 celebration with fellow Kaimuki Bulldogs, McKinley Tigers and Roosevelt Rough Riders).

I brought along a book for the plane ride, “Rocking Wall Street” by Gary Marks. The author is a very interesting man living a wonderful life doing what he wants, when he wants, and where he wants. I found his philosophy about life and wealth fascinating, and want to grow up to be like him.

Here are Aunty’s brief notes:

Gary was a successful professional rock songwriter who also traded stocks (day trading) and did very well. However, one day, he had a really great trading day and rushed in all excited to tell the great news to his wife, she told him that she would rather be married to an 80 year old Gary with $8000 in the bank vs a Gary who makes $8,000,000 in the stock market and dies in 8 years. He was either nervously happy or nervously upset each day. He stopped day trading immediately and put his money in hedge funds.

His definition of the End Game – no longer being concerned about money – is when you have enough principal invested safely for your after-tax income to match or exceed your annual expenses on an ongoing basis. [Aunty’s note: this is the same as Robert Kiyosaki’s definition of getting out of the Rat Race when playing his CashFlow Game – passive income exceeds expenses.]

This book is his journey to reach his End Game.

Gary was asked, “What would make you feel rich?” His response was to live where he loved to vacation, near a beach, in the sun, in a Spanish-style modest house and surf and play all year round. So, he moved to Maui and goes on vacation to visit friends on the mainland.

His advice to achieve : Choose only risk-averse investments for your portfolio, so you can spend less time and energy riding the waves of great wins and heavy losses.

Gary’s mantra is “Everything you know is wrong”, so it is important to have a strategy that bypasses risk and decision making. This is the psychology of hedging. Give up the big win to avoid the big fall. Diversify ideas, asset classes and strategies. Be clear on whether you are investing, or gambling [big AHA! moment for Aunty.]

Rather than love an asset and therefore invest in it, the better mindset is to believe in the success of the asset but also hedge the risks of the asset. Assess your portfolio of assets – no regrets, no love addictions. Rearrange it, synchronize it, diversify it.

The key to truly great investing is to always protect your principal first, and attempt to make a profit second.

Gary does not seem to believe in the long term benefits of holding real estate, citing that there were only 2 decades in the last 120 years when real estate outperformed stocks, and that was in the 1930s and 1970s. If one does invest in real estate, his 3 criteria for it are:

  1. Strong employment opportunities, and/or a vibrant university economy
  2. Increases in population, therefore increase in housing
  3. The area is a warm and wonderful place to retire.

He suggests diversification and dollar cost averaging (every year keep buying more of what you have) for those who are looking to grow their net worth within a whole lot of indexes such as the S&P 500, Wilshire 5000 index, International, Russell 2000, Nasdaq, REITs, TIPS.

For wealthier individuals, Gary promotes hedge funds and does not recommend doing it yourself.

The rest of the book was read through quite quickly and to tell the truth, Aunty wasn’t as interested in the back half of the book as the front half. One point that really stuck out was how he suggested buying a home to live in, and upgrading when one’s finances improved. This contrasted with Robert Kiyosaki and his infamous “your house is not an asset” revelation that was, and still is, very contrary to popular opinion.

I plan to pass this book along to pal Randall, a fellow craps playing Bulldog. Sometimes we discuss our options trading adventures and no matter how many times we are beaten, we get back into the losing game of thinking we know what the market will do.

If this book helps either of us shake the very bad habit of betting on the losers, then it is well worth reading and sharing.

We’ll save the gambling for the tables in Vegas.  Aunty might actually have better odds at that than picking up, down, or sideways in the stock market.

Ultimate Blueprint – Info Marketing Millions

Jeff Vacek and Ken Preuss of Info Renegades were in Honolulu this May 2012 to present a 3 day workshop entitled Info Marketing Millions Ultimate Blueprint Event at the Hyatt Regency in Waikiki.

This was an eye-opening training event.  I subscribe to a LOT of newsletters, programs, and free reports.  Much of the sales promo looked similar – as if they got it from the same book or template – the language, format, colors, layout, header, etc. – kind of like WordPress has “themes” that you can choose from for your own blog site and everyone who chooses that “theme” has sites that look very similar to each other.

Regarding the sales promo pages that all look alike, it is because – they ARE.  They “model” (I call it copy) each other – especially the most successful internet marketers.  What works for the one with the most success will work for you.

Maybe Aunty is too old school, and so this “modeling” was a turn off to Aunty at first.  Old school or not though, Aunty saw the potential of info marketing and wondered if the strategies learned during the weekend could be applied to Honolulu Aunty somehow, in a way that Aunty could accept.

We were taught 4 keys points of Information Marketing:  1) Fulfilling core human wants, 2) Thinking beyond the e-book, 3) Modeling after success by creating your own version of what already works and sells, and 4) Thinking Joint Ventures.  The emphasis was placed on Joint Ventures, and for good reason.

Joint Ventures is utilizing affiliates.  You share in the revenues by promoting someone else’s product to your email list, and they share in your revenues by promoting your product to their email list.  A Joint Venture is when 2 marketers connect to leverage their resources – subscriber lists and/or products.

The 4 most successful Joint Ventures are the sales funnels of:  Emails to Teleclass (video or audio), Email to Telesummit (a series of calls and info from more than just you), Email to Free Report (written), and Email to Affiliate Sales funnel.

One of the first decisions to make is choosing your niche.  What do you have a passion for, a genius for, a commitment to?  Ken and Jeff call this your P-G-C.

Another first decision to make is which revenue model (teleclass, telesummit, free report, affiliate) you want to pursue.  Once you have chosen your niche and revenue funnel, study the way the most successful marketers in that niche and revenue funnel message their product, and “model” them.

This workshop started off slow and uncomfortable (because of the “modeling” = twisted copying) techniques and after the first few hours, Aunty seriously thought that this was not for her – it just didn’t seem ethical.  At that point, it was almost as if Jeff and Ken could read Aunty’s mind.  We were asked if we rather be right, or rich.

We were taught to do market research by seeing what other gurus and top internet marketers were doing in any chosen niche, and how to “swipe” their sales copy in order to model for ourselves.  This, we were told, is done as the norm – and it must be true because of how similar the sales copy, opt in pages, congratulations pages all look alike in format, content, appeal.  (okay, so Aunty got a bit more comfortable with that because it is duplicating what everyone else duplicates and is acceptable in the industry, almost laughably acceptable.)

[Caveat:  a big NO NO is to copy the actual product, such as another person’s eBook because the original content of products falls under copyright laws and punishable with extracted fingernails or worse.]

Duplicate what works for others and make it work for you.  The message here was not to re-invent the wheel when it comes to marketing strategies.  Our passion, genius and talents are put to better use with product development than to start from scratch for the sales copy and materials.

By the end of day 1, we got into the “meat” of the education, and the light began to come on for Aunty, though still with some reservations.

Then, Day 2 and 3 were totally awesome and mind blowing!  (watch for Aunty’s seminar notes coming soon.)

Info marketing fulfills a need.  My favorite guru, Robert Kiyosaki, has said that we have moved from the industrial age into the information age with the advent of the internet.  People have a thirst for knowledge and are searching for solutions.  Providing those solutions is key, providing information and solutions utilizing joint ventures is explosive.

The lessons we all learned in the 3 day course of the Ultimate BluePrint – Info Marketing Millions was invaluable, and I truly hope that each and every participant at this event finds their niche and is successful in promoting, reaching out, and having their goals fulfilled.  Although Aunty’s chosen investment vehicle is cash flowing rental real estate, the possibilities of generating serious income from info marketing with joint ventures is unlimited, and it can be done ethically and Aunty’s way.

One day Aunty’s Bookstore may be born, or a mature aunty’s site will be profitable.

If Ken Pruess and Jeff Vacek come to your town to teach, run and sign up for their classes.  They are living proof that you can make millions with info marketing, and you can tailor it to the way that fits into your own standard and quality.

It is a lucrative business.  Aunty gives two thumbs up.

 

 

 

 

Rich Dad free training review

2013-04-17_11-22-25Went to a free 2 hour Rich Dad Education “Learn to be Rich” training recently.  The speaker was an excellent salesman – offered additional training for 3 whole days in a class that would teach everything needed to get rich with real estate investing for the bargain price of $199.

I have gone through the Rich Dad seminars, beginning with the free 2 hour introductory training to the $199 (used to be $500) 3 day training, to a very expensive package of courses ($16,000 yikes!)  The trainer in the 3 day crash course was very very good at summarizing (with a little bit of wrong information) all the different techniques, which are based on advanced courses in the Rich Dad Tigrent packages.  Because of the crash course and what I learned, and the realization of how little I know, I signed up so I had a starting point and figured the advanced courses would help me get over the humps.

I took Foreclosure, Master Trader, Asset Protection, Lease Options, and Creative Real Estate Financing classes.  I learned the most from the Asset Protection class and the Master Trader (stocks) classes.  Although there was a lot of information in the other classes, most of the information taught could have been learned from books.  [What these classes teach are not really what Robert Kiyosaki preaches.  Rich Dad Education (and Rich Dad Coaching) are trademark names that pay Robert Kiyosaki royalties, use his name, face, etc. – but their content is their own.  To learn from these groups is not the same as learning from Robert Kiyosaki.]

For a few months, even after getting some classes under my belt, I remained in the “not sure of what to do” phase and did not take action.

I was contacted by Rich Dad Coaching (another company with the Rich Dad trademark but not affiliated with Rich Dad Education).  For $6000 (yikes again!), I subscribed to having my own personal coach for a 45 minute call, once a week for 16 weeks.  It came with a guarantee that I would purchase  property during the coaching period.

Even though I had a rather poor learning experience with my coaches (one spoke too softly & seemed disorganized, and the other was too impersonal and book and course oriented), it gave me a sounding board with a real person for my very first deal.  It was like having a security blanket which I really didn’t need, but it felt safer to have.

After going through 2 wrong-for-me realtors, I found Martin Fajardo, my Vegas realtor after a recommendation from our entities attorney.  I did use the Rich Dad worksheet (free to download on the RichDad.com tools tab) to analyze the properties Martin send me via email.  I put in offers and was thrilled when one was accepted!

Looking back, I could have skipped the Rich Dad courses, but on some level I must acknowledge that they must have helped.  All the information taught and the tools used are available for free on the internet if you know what to look for, but I probably wouldn’t have actually taken the plunge without the guilt of spending so much money, or on my own.  I had to make use of what I was learning because of the guilt; and I did dive in.

One of the best ways to learn is to play the Cash Flow game with at least 2 others.  Just by playing, you will get the shift in your mindset on the best strategies and also help you get comfortable with investing.

Join a local real estate investor club (google search for city and real estate investment club).  I joined Hawaii Real Estate Investors in 2009, annual dues of $120 or $15 per meeting.  I am glad I did because I have met some of the finest fellow investors and contacts there.  Run by Paul Xavier, HiREI brings in speakers every month with real estate specific topics to educate us all.

Read a lot of books, search and learn.  If you can do these things on your own, then do it.

If you need to be pushed, coaching helps.  If you do spend that much money on courses or coaching, make sure you do take the steps and actually invest.

If you have already spent a lot of money on courses that will “teach you to be rich”, do something with it.  Appreciate the fact and your guts that you spent money to learn and because of just that alone, you have taken action towards your success.

A great quote I heard was “You don’t have to get it perfect.  You just have to get it going.”  True, that.

I am glad I got into investing the way I did – retirement was fast approaching, and we had to do something but didn’t even know it.  It was a necessary though expensive way for me to learn that we needed to do something.

If you haven’t yet spent a lot of money on courses, spend wisely.  [If you do buy programs and courses, remember that you always have 3 days to cancel.  It is sometimes difficult to know whether or not to cancel because you don’t have anything to look at until after that period of time, so it’s a gut feeling many times.]

Get all the free classes you can, and go to investment type meetings – though try to avoid the ones that are trying to sell you something such as annuities, insurance policies, mutual funds, bank products, etc.

RichDadWorld.com is a great place to get free products and see and hear from Robert Kiyosaki himself.  Browse through, sign up for his free power pack with excellent material, and sign up for his occasional webcasts in different parts of the planet – usually for a low early bird fee of $9.95.  It helps to get a lot of books, tapes on financial smarts – which I did for free at our local library.  ALL of the Rich Dad books (Rich Dad, Poor Dad/Cash Flow Quadrant/etc.) are excellent, easy to read, and loaded with great information.

Be careful of who you get advice from.  Some of the worst advice you can get is from people who have less then you.    Some guru said (don’t know who but I hear it all the time) “Never take financial advice from a poor person.”

Learn from the best – just make sure they are worth learning from.  That’s Aunty’s advice for the day.