About Aunty

Aunty is a new senior citizen and loving this phase of her life. Less responsibilities, less fear of being weird, able to do more of the things that I want to do! Older, yes, slower, yes, but life is even more wonderful in my golden years and I look forward to even goldener ones.

Kim chee soup for the soul

2013-04-02_16-18-36Uncle got a really bad cold – sinus, cough, sniffles, short of breath – really bad.  One of the best reasons to just zone out and watch tv is because you are sick and can’t do much else.

So what does Uncle watch?  Korean dramas by the scoreful.  And every Korean drama has a scene or more of people eating Korean food with gusto and rice being stuffed into their already full mouths because it tastes so good.

It is almost like torture to watch if you are hungry.  One day while Uncle was having a coughing sneezing nose honking fit, we saw Mrs Go Bong Shil serve kim chee soup with tofu to her family and Uncle decided that was what he wanted to eat.

Aunty and #2 daughter went to Good to Grill in Kapahulu for their kalbi ribs (ono but a bit pricey) and next door to a Korean fast food place called Youncy’s Korean Barbeque with….Kim Chee Soup on the menu!  We made a take out order (the only kind they have) of Spicy Kim Chee Soup which came with 4 veggies (very good and they don’t skimp) and rice for a full meal.

Aigoo, aigoo!!  Uncle woofed down the food, smacked his lips and slurped down the soup with as much gusto as the Korean drama folks.

And then he felt much better.  His sinuses felt almost clear, and he was on the way to health.  We had kim chee soup 8 days straight for dinner and it has since become one of his favorite meals.

There is NO comparison between those instant noodle in a bowl soup and getting one from a Korean restaurant.  It looks spicy and hot, but is pleasing and soothing to eat and rather easy to make with fermented kim chee, onion, tofu, kim chee broth and some stringy pieces of well cooked beef.

Warms up your innards and does wonders for your well being.  Enjoy!

 

Favorite Restaurants

Recommended if you want to impress with reasonable yuppy yummy food:

2013-04-23_18-07-51Lucky Belly, 50 N. Hotel Street in Downtown Honolulu on the corner of Smith and Hotel Streets.  This is like high end food – what you would expect at Alan Wong’s if he really scaled his prices down – in a kind of grungy area.  Once you are inside, it is very young and hip looking with small tables and big rectangle plates.  Not only will it impress your out of town guests because of how it shines like a jewel in a dingy part of town, but the food, the food, the food!  Simply yet fancy.  The Shrimp Gyoza is to die for – only 3 pieces of gyoza filled with shrimp that you can taste surrounded by a delicious soy bean avocado and ponzu sauce.  The salads are super beautiful, not sure if I like it, but they are super reasonably priced ($5-$9!).  The ramen comes in a big deep bowl and the noodles and broth are wonderful.  My mouth is watering just thinking about the food here.  Aunty doesn’t really recommend the sandwiches – maybe because of the bread.  Thanks to Pal Wanda for turning me on to this place!

Favorite local style eats:

Yama’s Fish Market 2332 Young Street.  They have good plate lunches.  I especially like their poke and pupu selections that you order by the pound.  I always get at least a pound of their dried garlic/pepper ahi poke and their pulehu tako.  Great as omiyage (gifts) to take to the mainland.  Just make sure you put it in a cooler and bag each container in case of leaks.  Have it belly loaded and it will be near frozen by the time you reach your destination.  Just hope you don’t have delays…

Zippy’s.  The local favorite with at least one in every part of town.  Open 24 hours a day.  Our kids love their chili rice, I like the zip pac, Uncle likes their oxtail soup.  Check out their weekly coupons at http://zippys.com/live/promotions/online-coupon/ (sometimes the coupon site is not available, boohoo!)

Times Supermarket in Kaimuki has great plate lunches!  Surprise, surprise!  I went there after an errand to pick up some eggplant and saw a man ordering a roast beef plate lunch at the “taste of times” counter.  Thin sliced roast beef with sides of either rice, sweet potato, fries, mac salad, steamed veggies, and gravy.  All for $5.99 and it comes with a free drink!  I asked the man how it was, and he rolled his eyes and said, “Ono!” so I ordered the same thing.  Very happy.  Good food, not too many choices but everything looked good, cheap price, lots of leftovers.  I’ll share with Uncle when he comes home.

Asahi Grill Ward Avenue.  Speaking of oxtail soup, this restaurant has a good one.  Lots of other good food too.  Parking lot is small, so feel lucky if you find a space.

Kaimuki Grill in the Kaimuki parking lot behind Hokkaido Ramen (also great place to eat ramen and ono gyoza).  Uncle and I went there – had our Groupon coupon (paid $7 for a $15 coupon!) and we had fried saimin noodles – excellent, and garlic steak – excellent, and a small salad – good!  Uncle had a couple of beers.  It reminded us of Side Street Inn, but it was 10 times better and half the price.  Food was very reasonably priced, service was friendly, place was small and open but not as noisy as Side Street Inn.  Parking is good – 75¢ for the first 2 hours, and after 9:00, you can even sing karaoke!  I’ll spare you on that.  They are closed on Mondays.

Hokkaido Ramen in Kaimuki right before Kaimuki Grill.  Big bowls of ramen in either white or shoyu style.  Gyoza is really good.  Combo of curry, ramen and gyoza will fill you up.  My favorite on hot summer days is their cold ramen platter.  Big variety of toppings on a big platter of cold noodles with a ponzu-like sauce.  MMMMMmmmm good!  Get a card which they stamp for each bowl of ramen/or plate you buy, and after 10 stamps, you get a ramen free!  [Update:  They don’t do the card stamping anymore.]

Good to Grill at 888 Kapahulu Avenue in the Safeway Store complex has good meals.  Everything is cooked fresh right in front of you if you stand by their huge keawe wood grill.  I have had their hamachi kama – OOOONNNOOOO! although it is a bit pricey at $16, but it can feed 2.  Uncle and I went there recently and had their evening special – prime rib!  Regular price was $14.99 but we got it for $9.99, shared that and a baby greens salad and we were happy.  Uncle had their kalbi – very juicy and tasty.  Friendly staff, fast service.  Good stuff!  [new note:  if you plan to eat at Good to Grill on Kapahulu Avenue, buy something at Safeway (next door) first.  The Safeway receipt has printed coupons on the back, and one of them is for a free soft drink when you buy $7 or more at Good to Grill.  That will save you $1.98!]

The absolute best buffet, unfortunately in the heart of Waikiki, is Kai Market in the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.  Everything I ate there was fresh, cooked perfectly, and tasted wonderful.  Snow crab, alae salt prime rib, miso butterfish, salt and pepper shrimp, risotto mushroom pasta, tons of shrimp and scallop on cake noodle, melt in the mouth short ribs, and that is about half of what they have on the main dish line-up.  The chefs use local products as much as possible, so it also helps our local economy.  The service was excellent.  I tried a bit of this and that for dessert – all were good.  I finally got to have chocolate mousse the simple way (the way I like it) and my favorite dessert was the taro mochi with crunchy peanut butter stuffing.  SOOO ono!  Take along a small ziploc bag so you can take home some of the mochi, unobserved.  Locals get 25% off the tab so dinner runs around $30 without tip.  Valet parking is free (just make sure you tip the aloha way). [update: June 2011, went to the Kai Market for dinner.  Somehow it wasn’t as good as the first time we went.  No miso butterfish, different menu.  Perhaps they have different entrees for different days of the week.]

Tanioka’s in Waipahu.  Oh my goodness, where to start.  Okay, I’ll start with what not to order.  Don’t order their mochi chicken plate lunch because it is kinda dinky – just a few pieces of deep fried chicken rolling around in a big plate lunch container.  Just about everything else is DEElicious.  I love their spicy ahi/tako on sushi rice that they have on their refrigerated shelves.  Cone sushi, cut up roast pork, poke (all kinds), bentos, musubis with spam, chicken, fish, etc.  Fish patties, other okazu.  Always crowded but the service is fast and friendly.

Thelma’s is another eating place in Waipahu with good food.  Thelma’s Special is an artery clogging delight of pork lechon (crispy oily crunchy pieces of roasted pork) with chopped tomatoes, onions and soy sauce.  Drink CocaCola with it (I drink coke to cut the grease – can even be used to degrease your countertops, lol).

I also like Elena’s though I don’t know where they are in Waipahu anymore.   Elena’s has a restaurant in Vegas! so when you are longing for good Filipino comfort food, drop in and have their huge Pork Adobo Fried Rice Omelette, mmm mmm good!  Pal Patricia and I used to go to Waipahu once a week and eat the pork adobe fried rice omelette, pancit, and banana lumpia.  Oh my, now I am drooling…

Favorite Vietnamese Restautants:

Hale Vietnam in Kaimuki – 1140 12th Avenue, phone 735-7581 open daily from 10:00 am – 9:45 pm.  Their prices have gone up a little, but their pho is still one of the best.  Savory tantalizing broth with fresh herbs and veggies served up with the meats (or non meat) of your choice.  Uncle always gets the extra large combination.  I usually order their vegetarian papaya salad (spicy, healthy and yummy!) or their mock chicken salad (yummy on sliced cabbage, also very healthy).  Sometimes we splurge and get an order of spring rolls – these are served with lettuce leaves in which we put the spring roll, pickled carrots, cucumber, mint, basil, noodles, and dip in the vinegar sweet sauce.  Absolute bliss.

Good friend Alan and wife Gwynne turned me onto another Kaimuki restaurant – Super Pho at 3538 Waialae Avenue across Kaimuki Park, open daily from 10:00 – 10:00.  This is a place with ZERO street appeal so you can easily miss it, but there is ample parking in the back of the restaurant if you can find the driveway.  Very large menu, prices are reasonable.  Uncle had the pho, the broth wasn’t as rich and their combination didn’t have as much meats as Hale Vietnam, but he said it was still good (high praise from Uncle).  I had their beef stew – more like a soup with an unusual flavor.  It was very tasty and filling.  The place is rather chilly with air conditioners going overtime, and the television screens are on at high volume – something that is totally not necessary for a dining establishment.  It makes for a very bad date place because the person facing the tv screen almost can’t help watching tv during dinner rather than focusing on the person sitting across from them.  *note – now they have only a small tv, not so distracting.  Also, I think the cook has changed because the beef stew is thicker now, not as unusual tasting.  I liked the old one better.

Saigon’s in Kaimuki = 3624 Waialae Avenue, phone 735-4242, open Monday – Saturday from 10:00 – 9:00.  Parking is based on luck, or you can park in the municipal lot and cross the street.  This is my favorite place for bun cha giao (pronounced BUN cha yao).  This dish is made with rice vermicelli noodles on a bed of sliced veggies , and topped with pieces of spring roll sprinkled with peanuts and fried onion bits.  Served with the vinegar sweet fishy sauce.  Absolute wonderful combination of tastes in the mouth.  They also have a vegetarian version of the spring roll, so for my vegetarian friends I order “vegetarian bun cha giao).  I never tire of this dish and I think I could eat it every day.  Nobody (imho) makes bun cha giao better, though Mai Lan on Keeaumoku is also very good.  The trouble with Mai Lan is that it takes so very long for them to make the order, it can get a bit frustrating waiting, especially if you are doing take out.

Favorite Thai Restaurants:

Thai Valley Cuisine in Kalama Valley – my Thai friend Ahlin always likes to try Thai restaurants and is very picky since she is one of the best cooks that I know.  We went for lunch and the food was excellent, fresh, and healthy!  Lots of parking since the Kalama Valley Center is not a bustling place.  501 Kealahou Street, phone 395-9746.

Mekong II on King Street – I love their mango sticky rice.  Yummmm.  Very nice people.  Next time, I will order just the sticky rice with coconut milk topping and put our own pirie mango slices over.  OMG, I am so hungry now.  *note – I think they went out of business……Sad.

Favorite Japanese Restaurants:

Sekiyas across from Kaimuki High School – my alma mater.  We used to cut out of school and get the cone sushi, fish patty, shoyu hotdog.  Okazu there is expensive now [very very expensive from Sekiyas], so Uncle and I don’t order that way.  We sit down and eat from the menu.  Uncle likes their oxtail soup and hamburger steak.  I like their wun tun min or teishoku sets.  Warning!  Don’t EVER order their beef tomato. It comes in a huge bowl and looks good, but it is fishy tasting – like the base was made with shrimp based saimin broth mixed with brown gravy.  Totally gross.  What is worse is that I ordered it twice!  If I order it a third time, I’m quitting.  I love their stir fried vegetables with chicken.  All entrees come with genmaicha (tea), tsukemono, miso soup, and rice with entree.  Love it, love it.  Like eating at home but you don’t have to do the dishes.

Fukuya Deli in Moiliili on King Street IS the place to order your okazu.  Their selection is large, and the prices reasonable.  Parking is a bit on the tight side, so plan to go on the off hours from lunch or park on the street (metered).  Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays – somehow those are the days I am hungry for their food!

Zippy’s Sushi bar – one in Pearl City and one in Kahala.  THE best sushi – especially the nigiri stuff.  I have dreams about the hamachi nigiri – huge thick pieces that overwhelm the small bit of rice and your senses.  They even have various teishoku specials – my favorite is their hamachi kama served with ponzu sauce.  Yummm.

New kid on the block is G Sushi in the Market City Shopping Center.  Pal Wandaful treated us to lunch, and Aunty had their $6.99 salmon bento.  What a pleasant surprise it was!!  The salmon was either fried to perfection, and came out hot and fresh with a delicious piece of gyoza and good rice (not too mushy, not too dry).  We also had salmon skin sushi (excellent and just grilled), spicy hamachi sushi (yum, yum, yum), and soft shelled crab sushi (more yum yum yum) all for such a reasonable cost, that I had to drag Uncle (remember, Uncle does NOT like trying new places to eat) there, and he was really impressed too with the prices, the quality of food, and how we were full and happy!

Favorite Chinese Food:

Little Village in downtown at 1113 Smith Street, phone 545-3008.  My go to place to impress people for lunch.  Their honey walnut shrimp tossed in a mayonnaise/garlic sauce and served with candied walnuts is fantastic.  Their eggplant w/ garlic sauce is not.  I forget what else was good there, but everyone who I take finds something they like.  The atmosphere is simple and classy.  They even have their own parking lot in the back – a major plus for any downtown establishment.

Lam’s Garden across from Kahala Mall – 4210 Waialae Avenue, phone 735-3990.  The former owners had a thriving business with excellent food and loyal clientele.  When they sold their business, people stopped going partly out of loyalty and partly because of the change in menu.  Years after the transition, Uncle and I decided to try the “new” Lam’s Garden.  We were pleasantly surprised.  I love sweet sour cabbage with pork (Uncle doesn’t).  Theirs is the best – crunchy pickled mustard cabbage stir fried with thin slices of pork – always fresh and tasty, excellent with rice.  Uncle like to order their roast duck, and lately he orders the combination duck with chicken on rice.  Lots of rice, with a quarter serving of excellent roast duck and crispy skin chicken (nice and crispy thin skin on the salty side, yum yum).  When we want to splurge we get their steamed fish fillet – sometimes flounder but it sure tastes like sea bass.  Pieces of fish fillet with the delicate sauce of soy sauce, sugar, peanut oil, ginger and green onion.  Melts in your mouth because it is always cooked to perfection.  Best to eat family style.  And I get to take home quite a bit of my favorite sweet sour cabbage that way.

If you like salty spicy deep fried chicken wings (I am salivating as I write) with sauted chili and onions garnish, then the New Mui Kwai Chop Suey in Kaneohe is the place to order it.  They call it “salt and pepper chicken wings” and for some odd reason it isn’t on the menu, but everyone knows to order it.  Located at 45-1052 Kamehameha Highway, phone 247-3230.  Don’t know why it is called “New” because it has been there awhile.  Not sure what else is good there – I’m a one dish kind of gal when I order from them.  *note – the salt and pepper chicken wings got more expensive – $8 and you get only about 8 wing dings.  Sometimes it is crispy and wonderful, sometimes not so crispy and not so wonderful.  Still, it is worth taking a chance that Aunty will get a good batch, so we keep ordering when we are in Kaneohe.

Favorite Hawaiian Food:

Ono Hawaiian Food on Kapahulu Avenue.  Always a line, because the food is so ono.  Lau lau is good, but they always run out by the time we sit down to eat.   Automatic raw onions with Hawaiian salt when you order.  The owner is the best socializing PR for the place.   Last time we were there, we had a great conversation going on with the owner who is only a few years older than us.  All went well until we were leaving, and Uncle starts out the door and turns to the owner and says, “Tanks eh Uncle!” which is kind of an insult because that would mean he is way older – even though being called Aunty or Uncle is kind of a title of respect.  Uncle to uncle proper way of addressing is “Brah”.  Much easier on the ego.

Young’s Hawaiian Food in Kalihi near the police substation.  To tell the truth, I don’t really like lau lau, but Young’s makes the biggest bestest lau lau I have ever eaten.  Kalua pig, lomi salmon, and lau lau.  Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm.  Gotta have the poi too.

Favorite Korean Food:

Gina’s BBQ in the Market City Shopping Center where Harding, Kapiolani and King Street intersect.  The mini Family Pack used to feed our family, and the regular size Family pack can feed a lot of adults.  Gina’s vegetables are always fresh and tasty, and although greasy, the meats are ono, ono, ono.  After a concrete driveway pour, I ordered from their catering menu – the boys were very happy and their tummies were full.

While in the Market City Shopping Center, check out Duck Lee if you are hungry for excellent duck noodle soup.  It is a small place tucked in the corner, but well worth looking for.  Their roast pork has great reviews, but I’ve only had their duck so far.  5 quack star rating from me!

Aunty recently ate lunch with a friend at Red House in Honolulu – 835 Keeaumoku Street, phone (808) 944-0088.  What a pleasant surprise!  It was Korean food with a clean and modern twist.  Prices were reasonable for lunch.  Aunty had Bulgogi fried rice (perfection!) and mandoo, and friend Allan had hot and spicy tofu soup and the Chef’s special chicken.  Everything was really good!!!  Yum yum yum.  Aunty will go again and try more items on their rather eclectic menu. [Uncle and I went there for our anniversary dinner.  It is much pricier for dinner and the portions are the same size.  Next time we’ll go for lunch instead.]

Youncy’s Korean BBQ at 888 Kapahulu Avenue has really delicious Kim Chee Soup and her sides are fresh and good.  The owner is extremely nice (important to Aunty).  An unexpected pleasant surprise was her hamburger steak plate lunch!  The hamburger was really good and the gravy was what you would expect from a 5 star restaurant!  This place has become our favorite take out dinner spot.  Everything is good there!

dinky servings of sides, if you ask Aunty…

Mama Woo’s on King Street – heard a lot about it, all positive, but Aunty was upset enough to write a 2 star review of the place on Yelp because of how skimpy they were for me, but piled on the food for the next person.  Really plenty rice, chicken was good, but the salad tasted a little bit spoiled – maybe because Aunty was kinda upset.  Mama (I think it was the owner) also needs a bit of friendliness in her attitude.  Hopefully she will learn how to return a smile with a smile instead of a stare.  This one is an unfavorite.

 

Fine Dining:

Uncle and I don’t go out to expensive restaurants.  Uncle can be very embarrassing to be with if the food is very expensive, and the portions are small.  He has been known to ask the waiter/waitress if they dropped some of the food because it looks like food is missing on the plate.  It is with great trepidation that I go to a high end restaurant unless I know for sure he will enjoy the food, regardless of price or size.

Alan Wong’s at 1857 S. King Street, 3rd floor (808.949.2526) does not disappoint.  Everyone who ever went there would rave about the food, but that held no sway with Uncle.  However, since we had a BIG gift certificate from one of our favorite daughters and it was expired (they still accepted it), we had to use it all up at once.  Pricey, but the service was good and not snobby.  The Chopped Ahi Sashimi and Avocado Salsa Stack was to die for.  A little bit spicy and with little crunchies,  $19.95 worth of taste bud bliss.  We had a couple of other appetizers but this Stack was such a winner, and the others were distant seconds.  The tomato, beet, and avocado salad was a bit strange, though the table next door told us how much they liked the li hing dressing (served as dots on the plate).  I think next time we’ll get the simple salad with Alan Wong’s dressing.  Uncle had a nicely done Rib-eye steak, and I had a wonderful steamed opakapaka, kind of Chinese style with pork hash on top.  Really heavenly.  It truly was the best and worth every dollar.  So much so, that Uncle said we should go back to eat there at least once a year.  THAT says a lot.

Non local regional food:

Soul on 3040 Waialae Avenue (in Kaimuki) across from City Mill.  Parking is limited and shared with a bunch of other eateries, so we usually park across in the City Mill lower parking lot for $3.  Have gone there twice and plan to go back many more times.  Soul has Southern style cooking with a modern yuppie edge.  Not as oily and greasy as the authentic stuff – but it is ONO!  Have had the pulled pork adobo with coleslaw sandwich, the vegetarian chili is good, fried chicken is excellent, ribs are good, cornbread is drier and coarser than what I am used to, collard greens are really good (and that is from someone who doesn’t like her vegetables!) and hands down it is just great food in a very nice homey atmosphere.  Chef Sean Priester is usually on site, sometimes even taking orders before the crowd starts to arrive.  Nice man, great food – what a combination! [Update: Soul is no longer here, boo hoo!  He now operates out of a food wagon.]

Las Vegas Eateries

Mother’s Korean Grill at 4215 Spring Mountain Road, phone (702) 579-4745, has the absolute best yakiniku dishes – I order their beef brisket – thin thin slices of beef cook up crispy really quickly and then dipped in a sauce of sesame seed oil with salt and pepper.  Daughter orders galbi – unrolled before you on the grill – sweet, savory, delicious.  The side dishes that accompany are beautiful and tasty.  So many wonderful side dishes!

Hedary’s Mediterranean Restaurant at 7365 W Sahara Ave (western part of Vegas), phone  (702) 873-9041 has the BEST lamb shank that I have every had.  Falls off the bone with a flavorful, almost vinegary taste that tastes like it took hours and hours to cook.  Good side salad and grilled vegetables are standard and come with the meal.  I wash it all down with my favorite – Coca Cola.  Bliss.

On my last trip with friends, we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory for their happy hour pupus.  For $5, you can choose from the happy hour menu.  Our waiter helped us choose, and everything he recommended was unbelievably delicious and fulfilling.  We had avocado rolls (SO delicious – rolled with salsa and deep fried), fire roasted artichoke with 2 delicious dipping sauces (probably my favorite), corn tamales that were quite wonderful, lettuce wraps with tamarind and other dipping sauces, and guacamole special mix.  I think we ordered about 7 dishes, and we were happily stuffed.  Washed it down with refillable cokes.  Happy happy happy.

The Dalai Lama

2013-04-02_16-11-32The Dalai Lama is one of three people Aunty would pick if stranded on an island.  He recently came to speak at the inaugural Pillars of Peace symposium in Honolulu on April 15, 2012.

Aunty delayed purchasing tickets, and they were soon sold out.  Very sad, Aunty was almost resigned to not being able to go, and then good friend Ellie called out of the blue and asked, “Sistah, you like go with me to see the Dalai Lama?”  Of course, of course!  Uncle dropped us off before he went fishing that day.

We sat on the right side of the auditorium and had a fine view of the screen which ran subtitles of whatever was spoken.  This helped a lot since hearing every word was important to Aunty.

The entertainment was very good.  Jerry Santos of Olomana, Willie K (awesome awesome), Amy Hanaiali’i, Jeff Paterson, Henry Kapono together with Michael McDonald (sounded great together) and some video entertainment of Lanai school kids singing a song of peace and Jake Shimabukuro playing an original ukulele piece using only 3 strings.

When the Dalai Lama entered onto the stage as Michael McDonald and Henry Kapono’s last song was ending, there was a collective moment of goosebumps and everyone rose to their feet in applause.

He looked delighted, rather old and so very cute.  With hands clasped together, he greeted us and everyone fell silent and was ready to be enlightened.

To tell the truth, Aunty fell asleep a few times while the Dalai Lama spoke at the podium about “Advancing Peace through the Power of Aloha.”  He is not a dynamic speaker that keeps everyone charged in their seats, but rather a speaker that one strains to hear and understand just because of who he is.  He is a leader of peace, love, and understanding and the way he carries himself is with humility and joy.

He had us entranced with his simple stories.  One of them was about President Bush.  He said he really loved Mr Bush, and when he was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal he held hands with then President Bush on one side, and Nancy Pelosi on the other.  President Bush whispered to him about Nancy, “She always makes a problem for me.”  Which made all of us laugh and whoop.  Being a man of peace, he repeated how he really loved Mr Bush, a very nice man, but he didn’t love his policies (of war).

He spoke about the world in disorder and how difficult it is to find peace and to be able to love others that hate you.  His solution to all of this was to be warm hearted to others.

What a beautiful and simple solution.  Truly, if someone is warm hearted to me, I will be warm hearted to them, and vice versa.

During a question and answer period, most of the questions were from people asking the same thing – how do I deal with people who aren’t willing to forgive, or have hatred, or are negative.  His answer to each was very similar – it begins with ones own self.  Forgiveness is not the same as forgetness.  Allowing the person to be who they are is love.

A question about dealing with anger as an indigenous people who had their land taken from them (this is an issue that Hawaiian people and the Tibetan people have in common) made the Dalai Lama reflect on his own situation.  I do not remember his exact answer but in summary it was that one must move on rather than dwell on the past and its wrongs.

When asked if he always smiled, even when he was alone, his answer was an instant and loud, “Yes!”  He expanded on that and said that he also smiles in the bathroom (much laughter).  However, he said, when when he has a hard time in the bathroom, he is not smiling (big laughter from everyone).  He then turned to his well dressed suited translator and asked him if he also had that problem (explosive laughter!)

After a keiki hula performance and some gift giving, the Dalai Lama waved to the left and waved to the right, left the stage and was whisked away in a security car.  We all then slowly moved to the exits, found our transportation, and went home.

We did not see miracles.  We did not participate in a life changing turnabout rah rah kumbaya experience.  Instead, we were enchanted by a charming warm hearted man in maroon robes, maroon foam visor and red socks who truly walked the path of a man of peace and love.

Aunty had a wonderful day, and with each recall of something the Dalai Lama did or said, a smile and the remembrance of his smile lightens my spirit and recharges my joy.

May your days and life be blessed, and if the Dalai Lama ever comes to town again, Aunty is getting her tickets the very first day.

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Gavin Tsuda’s Tactics

Gavin’s 8 steps for small business leadership was in military speak.  He has used these steps in combat and still uses them today in all aspects of his life.  Planning parties, business objectives, investing – following these 8 steps is the recipe for success.  Although these seem like “duh, I know that already” because you think you know these steps, ask yourself if you actually implement them.  If you do, you are most likely to succeed.

Step 1 is Receive the Mission.  Decide what it is you want to do, what the problem is, what your objective is.  Think about the end state.  Remember METTTC – Mission, Enemy (competition), Terrain (area, geography, place), Troops (support people), Time, and Civil Considerations (customers).

Step 2 is Issue the Warning Order.  This is a pre-announcement to subordinates that something will be happening.

Step 3 is Make a Tentative Plan.  Have 3 possible plans or course of actions, apply the “what ifs” to each, choose the best one.

Step 4 is Start the Necessary Movement.  Give initial directions, start everyone on a process.  Whenever a task is given, it is very important that everyone knows the task and the purpose of the task.  That way your team understands why and can use their own initiative to achieve the result you are wanting to achieve.

Step 5 is Reconnoiter.  This is where you do research, checking things out, doing due diligence.  Whatever is discovered will either confirm or deny your initial assessment.

Step 6 is Complete the Plan.  Have all the pieces in play.  Designate the main effort – the person or team that will actually do the leading, and the others are support.  All orders start with “The purpose of the operation is…” then explain how.  State the end state – what you want to accomplish.

Step 7 is Issue the Order.  Give commands, write it out.

Step 8 is Supervise.  If any unforeseen problems occur, you need to be there.  Always have a contingency or back up plan.

After all this is done, you and your team will have charged up the hill and planted the flag in triumph.  Keep the plans and review them, reuse them if it worked.  Learn from the mistakes.

I can see why Gavin is so respected.  He carries himself with dignity and yet is humble.  If I were in his troop, I would charge when he gives the command.

Miscellaneous Tips

Get a PO Box near your home/business that you will visit frequently.  You might be put on a wait list, but keep checking and get one.  Then, change the address on your accounts, licenses, permits, insurance, car registrations, etc.  It is a level of security – if your purse or car gets broken into and the thieves have your keys, they don’t know where you live since your PO box will be the address on all your identifications and papers.  I like the USPS’ boxes because they are open 24/7 for me to access my mail.

Coffee filters can be wonderful little helpers.  Check it out!

If your refrigerator smells and nothing you do helps (though you should clean it out first), try this.  Pack each shelf with crumpled newspapers and set a cup of water on the top shelf.  Let it stand for 5 days.  The newspapers will absorb the odor like magic!  Best to do just before you leave for vacation.

I dye my hair.  What I can’t stand is the roots showing after a few weeks of hair growth.  Hmmmm, I thought, why can’t I use my stamp pads to color my hair?  So I did, just for the temporary fix.  Find a color that matches the dyed color of your hair, and use the stamp pad (the little ones shaped like teardrops work better than the flat large rectangle ones) and run it over the roots area and especially around the root area around the face.  Don’t use the permanent ink type – it might stain your face and scalp, and that will look gross.  Shazam!  Root lines vanish – for now.

I used to be able to memorize phone numbers of all my friends.  Now, I sometimes even forget my own phone number (since I don’t call myself that much – “hello? self?”).  Once, in a casual conversation with someone I didn’t know, phone numbers were exchanged, and he said he used to have a really great phone number when he was living in Hawaii.  It spelled PEANUTS (732-6887).  That was pretty cool.  You can figure out your own phone number analog combinations by playing with the alpha and numerics but the easy way is to enter the phone number at phonespell.com and it will spit out the possibilities.  Not all numbers work out, but when it does, it makes it easy to remember.

My 1968 Karmann Ghia, my baby for 38 years. Aloha pumehana.

Here’s my baby – the first car I ever owned.  The car I met Uncle in as well as pack our entire family of 6 in to watch a movie (Conan the Barbarian) at a drive in theatre.  Today, the new owner just drove her off and it was truly bittersweet.  Since this is my website, I’m posting her picture here with duct tape patches and all.  Aloha dear Karmann.

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.

 

Think Big – Aunty’s notes for your review

Think Big Hawaii happened over a 3 day weekend on October 26-28, 2012.  Here are Aunty’s notes:

THINK BIG October 26, 2012 Hawaii Convention Center (speakers in order of presentation, names are in capital letters and bold:

REGGIE BASS:

Make the decision that you are going to accomplish the goal. (Be lazer focused in your goal setting)

Make the commitment to make it happen.

Make sure you hold yourself accountable, and have someone to hold you accountable.

Make sure that you have an action plan that is clear, understandable, specific, strategic.

Focus on the right things, not the wrong things otherwise you sabotage yourself.

 

PHIL GROVE:

Three Essential Skills

  1. Marketing – Generating Leads, finding deals, prospects
  2. Sales/Negotiating – Converting leads into money making transactionsIf you are great at sales but you suck at marketing, you don’t get at bat. Better to be a better marketer rather than a great salesman.
  3. Strategy – what are the transactions and how you do them

Business is about monetizing your marketing. You will spend time or money to get leads. Everything else is about turning that time and money into making money.

For every $100 Phil spent on marketing, he got 1 lead, for every 20 leads, he got 1 lead that made him $15,000. ($2000 = $15,000)

Take dramatic action. To have different results, you must do different actions. Schools don’t teach marketing or sales.

Immigrants are 4 times more likely to become multi-millionaires than US. (sink or swim)

Take 2 sets of notes – a regular one like you always do; and one of ideas – 3 things to do differently on Monday

Life is Good in America. People will fight fiercely to keep what they have, but it is hard to motivate them to fight for more.  This makes people perfectly content to do the same thing that they have always done which gives them the same result.

What is your Motivation? Need produces Motivation which leads to Goal Directed Behavior resulting in Result. [Tony Montana (Scarface) “In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then, when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, you get the women.”]

*Look up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Marketing budget write down how many dollars and hours you will spend to reach your goal. 85% of your time/money on marketing.

Deal flow = marketing, marketing, marketing

Skeptics, Gamblers, and Lucky Gamblers – bad for future

Never stop the machine. Some shift their attention 100% to the operations and let the marketing engine stop, so have to start from scratch.

Your next deal is always more important than the deal you have now. Focus on getting the next one.

Master Sales – or get a partner that is good at sales.

Always negotiate with a carrot and a stick (what can happen vs what you are offering)

Every opportunity has a close – the least-worse option is sometimes the best one.

Learn how to manage the clock – usually at the last possible minute (foreclosure list shows when going to auction – best time is last possible days)

Learn Strategy

Multiple strategies = multiple streams of income

Multiple strategies recession proofs your business. Focusing on a single strategy making money, one day, you start making less money, so do double of what used to do.

Philosophy of Investing

Finance, analysis, Operations – these are critical, but not urgent (traps)

Use Tools – find a lead vs. use a tools to find 1000 leads

Don’t forget about capital – relational capital. Net-worth = Network

A good network builds deals, coaches.

Left brainers: Analytical, hard to get them to do stupid things, but also tend to not do anything. Let your gut make decisions – take the opportunities.

Right brainers: quick decision makers, shiny penny syndrome (want to do it all). Learn to FOCUS.

Think differently! Transformational strategy, unique selling propositions, zero based thinking, value disciplines, focus, relational capital, marketing, branding, strategy of preeminence, chasing rabbits vs chasing elephants, intentional congruence.

*Keep a calendar and keep track of everything we do – get a true picture of what activities are spent on the most important things vs wasteful activities. Then, figure out if you can have someone else do some of the activities for you. Focus on the activities that are important.

The envelope around the business in order of importance in order to get the right offer in front of the right person:

#1 The Channel – the flow, from producer to retail

#2 The Marketing – makes you money. i.e. – the cover of a book with Fabio sells books

#3 The Product – quality, hard work

Phil found the biggest channel in the business, offered to do all the work, etc., they kept all the profits. After that when Phil became branded, the 2nd product had more weight and he could get profits.

Online Marketing

  1. Website for RE – in order to capture leads:Buyer Website – properties available, resources for buyerSeller Website – services for buying houses, resources for sellersWeebly.com for custom websites to get templates
  2. Develop marketing CollateralMarketing materials (Phil’s home selling guide) hire via elance.com (free lance writers, market resources, etc.), 99designs.com (creative logo design, stationary, etc.), freelancer.com (writers, etc.)
  3. Buy a mailing list – MelissaData.com (hundreds of lists to choose from) or hire a list broker (google “lisr broker”Marketing = message + list. They both have to be rightShort sale list – notice of default list
  4. Mail to list – www.click2mail.com.24¢ postcard + 11¢ printing = $35 per 100 postcardsMulti-touch – industry says 4x, every 7 daysMarketing is an experiment – getting the right message to the right list
  5. Generate SEO traffic to websiteSEO = search engine optimization, traffic from searces for specific keywords. Google has a formula that no one has access to. Having links back to your website gives you a higher score – Being at the top is very valuable. SEO is a science and art form – too much time and effort. Shortcut is to use press releases – gets your site/company referenced in lots of recent, relevant sites, short, simple “LAH launches new national program to allow any homeowner to sell their home…” PRLog.com, Free-press-release.com, PRWeb.com
  6. Local online listings – local advertising. Register self at Google Places, Yahoo local. Use company address, that will show as the address on the map. Google.com/places/ http:listings
  7. PPC for immediate paid traffic = pay for click advertising for a fee in which you pay each time someone clicks on your ad.. Pay and Google will put you there – they are in business to make money. 85% of the time potential viewers click on the top listings.
  8. Social Media – Facebook.com, Linkedin.com connect with peopleKeep it simple – set up Facebook – create a fan page for your business. Do videos and post them on Facebook, linkedin, etc. pages. Link to your website. Add friends, customers, associates. Communicate with them – success stories, problems solved, status, partnerships
  9. Communicate! It costs 7x more to obtain a new customer vs doing business with someone that already knows you. Work what you’ve got first. Offer them valuable products and service, and valuable content and resources.
  10. Auto responders – series of emails automatically sent to prospects.Most common response to a REI offer is “let me think about it”. Instead of trying to offer more money, etc., follow up instead. Auto-responders keep you in the deal until the deal “bakes” long enough to get done. www.aweber.com more than doubles the conversion rate.Professional tools to manage emailing to your list.

Email and online marketing to investors/realtors. Post wholesale deals to buyers list. Market and economic updates, invite to events.

Get people to go to your website.

Offline marketing, develop marketing materials, buy a target customer list, mail to list

Online marketing – PR to get organic traffic, local listings, PPC to get paid traffic

…………………………………………………………………….

CHARLIE DOMBAK, CPA MBA tax strategist

worked with tax attorneys for 6 years, founding member of Optimal Financial Group

Comprehensive Financial Planning

Have legal separation between personal and business – use entities = corporation, LLC, Limited Partnership. Each has unique attributes depending on business.

Attorney that knows legal and tax aspects of entity structuring, form separate entity for various investments, specialized.

Insurance agent gets 100% of 1st year’s premium, check policy accuracy. Best deals when you interject competition into the picture.

Financial Planners have financial incentives to keep you in a certain fund. Fee based fiduciary are best for your own monies.

Accountants – historians, specialized

Partnership LLC for investment class recommended by Charlie Dombek

Tax mitigation – overpaid income tax

Current enforcement trends. Enlarging tax gap, 6,000 new auditors, 30% increase in small business audits, less audits of large corps, higher audits for thosE making more than $1 million.

Coming? Personal income tax increases, higher tax rates on savers and investors, igher social security wage caps added up to a 15.3 % surcharge, higher taxes on marriage & family, return of the death tax.

Romney plan – fairer, flatter, simpler – permanently extend cuts, repeal AMT, reduce individual rates, reduce taxes on savers and investors, repeal federal estate tax.

Which entities are best? Avoid sole proprietorships (no separation, only protection is insurance), single member LLCs (not for active business, taxed like sole proprietor, legal shortcomings – in some states can order judicial foreclosure like in Hawaii), general partnerships (responsible for partner’s activities and liabilities).

Corporations fit best for active businesses (not investment activities). C Corp is a separate legal entity and files and pays taxes on separate returns. S Corp is a flow through entity.

Control Garbage Tax (FICA, FUTA)

S corp gives the most control over payroll taxes (garbage taxes) ideal for small business, internet businesses, flips (dealers)

S corp paid in 2 ways, paid through payroll, paid as a draw. Called John Edwards income splitting technique. Split income in a way favorable to you, and compliance with IRS with proper compensation formula.

Negative legal and tax consequences to holding assets in corporations. Investment assets with passive income change to income in corporations.

In a Partnership, the entity cannot be liquidated if held in partnership. Distributions are able to be used if there is a claim against a partner.

Only entity type that benefits investors best are partnership LLCs. Because partnership, have ideal legal and tax structure. Segment assets according to risk.

How to segment risk for real estate investors. Parnership LLC for residential properties (must be taxed as a partnership for maximum asset protection) set up as a holding company (has charging order protection which owns shares of several single member LLC that is disregarded for tax purposes, each owning a piece of property.

Operating agreement –

non assignable interest – partner cannot assign interest to creditor

no power to demand distributions – can keep distribution within LLC

non disclosure provisions,

non pro-rata distributions – can distribute 100% away from partner in a suit

special allocations – use to minimize taxes

poison pill provisions – person holding charging order may get saddled with tax liabilities of LLC

charging order limitations – non liquidating charging order – sole remedy. Annual distributions is the only way to liquidate.

C corporations pay tax at their own rates. (doesn’t want as first choice because of payroll double tax) Corp rates are graduated, usually lower than individual rates. Only entity type that can pay pretax fringe-benefit expenses such as medical payments, etc. Ability to have fiscal year end.

When you have significant income, set up a management company (C corp) that the Partnership LLC for Real Estate pays management fee. The C corporation pays tax deductible fringe benefit expenses.

If you have several (partnership LLCs,) pays management fees to the holding LLC.

Retirement plans:  IRAs, No ERISA protection, not bankruptcy exempt, require same contribution for employees

Qualified Retirement Plans:  401(k)s, pension plans, defined benefit plansare exempt from bankruptcy proceedings and creditory attack, have discriminatory funding formulas

How: Partnership LLC for investments pays management fee to LLC taxed as Corporation (as management support)

Can use retirement plans to take income off tax return – train income stream to flow into a retirement plan. Retirement plan expansion structure. PreferredLLC turbo charges our retirement plans. The tax deductible retirement plan pays into retirement plan expansion structure with preferred and common members, holds

Preferred LLC . Your tax deductible retirement plan feeds your tax-free Roth by routing all investment returns above 6% annually to your Roth. Company plan goes to preferred, goes to common, ROR beyond 6% goes to Roth IRA

Preferred LLC example $100,000 investment with 18% return.

Net earnings: $18,000

Taxable deferred earnings: $100,00 x .06 = $6,000

Tax free earnings: $18,000 – $6000 =$12,000

tax saved: $4080

developed by tax attorney out of St. Louis

captive insurance companies – the anti millionaire tax strategy.

Primary business structure pays insurance premium up to $1.2 million annual to a Captive Insurance Company (you as a business owner owns) Is a fully licensed insurance compnay, governed by section 8319B0 of code, are 100% owned and controlled by shareholder, no restrictions on investments, can be used as rainy day funds.

Audit proofing – never file your taxes late, avoid paying taxes late, avoid matching issues, ratio analysis – scored when deductions are too high to income, etc., be careful with travel, entertainment and auto deductions.

For highly contested deductions. Five tests – valid date, receipt, amount, reason, relationship for entertainment, car & truck expenses – have mileage log, credit card statements are not considered receipts, business/asset acquisition travel

if you are traveling to look at your line of work it can be deducted. If you are traveling with expenses not in your line of work, not deductible unless the deal is done.

Charlie will move any properties on Schedule E to a partnership LLC and file a separate tax return. No protection if the property income shows up on your personal tax return.

…………………………………..

Day 2 LINDSEY JEAN: Irresistible Influence and Wealth Creation [Aunty’s note: this was my favorite presentation]

Simply show up. Go to events. Do what needs to be done in the best way you can.

We do business with people we like the most.

For each of the statements below, write down the letter that you agree with the most:

When I have an opportunity to meet someone in business for the first time, I am:

D.  outspoken & direct

I. Spontaneous and funny

S. Welcoming and friendly

C. reserved

 

In business, I consider myself to be:

D. competitive

I. passionate and animated

S. peaceful and laid back

C. diligent and dependable

 

The traits of someone I do not interact well with are:

D. slow and indecisive

I. meticulous and critical

S. controlling and insensitive

C. unorganized and chaotic

 

Your time management for business would best be described as:

D. efficient

I. move quickly to the next fun thing

S. go with the flow

C. systematic and prompt

 

In relation to leaders in business I tend to:

D. be the leader

I. hate directions

S. want the best for everyone

C. like exact instructions

 

In business, I tend to be:

D. bold and determined

I. spontaneous

S. calm and even tempered

C. predictable and conservative

 

When given an assignment, I am:

D. productive

I. creative in finding solutions

S. focused on helping others

C. diligent and detailed

 

After writing down our corresponding letters (D, I, S, C) and tallying them by majority (i.e. if you had 4 “D”s then you were in the “D” group) we broke into our groups.

Everyone was to describe themselves, in one word, both the positive and negative, and someone recorded the responses. Each group had similar characteristics, very different from each other, needing different approaches.

Characteristics of the types are:

D type: dominant driven determined risk takers, results oriented, decisive, efficient, enjoy challenges, achievement driven, influential, innovative, but can be can be like dictators, bossy, impulsive, talk over others, insensitive to others. Their appearance: sharply dressed, quality clothing, wear jewelry, walk tall, have aggressive handshake, confidence in their demeanor, image conscious, talk fast, manicured hands. To make an impression on this type of person, need to be business-like, straight forward, assertive. To impact them, talk about the possibility of financial gain, get to the point, stay focused, show them what is in it for them, let them believe that they are in control. Listen attentively to their ideas, do not interrupt, be as agreeable as possible and try to build them up.

I type: influencing interactive inspirational, extroverts, passionate, risk takers, emotional, magnetic, animated, very social, stimulating, impulsive, full of life, but can be easily distracted, unrealistic, defensive, impulsive, too talkative, totally disorganized, tend to be late, too much drama, tends to waste a lot of time, not taken seriously. Their appearance: dress in bright colors, trendy, fashion conscious, love jewelry, bright makeup, tends to flirt, flatter, and touch a lot. To approach them, you need to be enthusiastic and upbeat, active and motivational, talk about exciting opportunities for possible cash for spending, make them the center of attention, visual stimulation, provide positive and fun environment. To impact them, be animated, use emotion, analogies, stories, allow them to be vocal and welcome their input, introduce them to important people and help them visualize what their future can look like.

S type: stable supportive sensitive, nurturing, agreeable, considerate, reliable, truthful, endlessly loyal, excellent listeners, compassionate, team players, giving, committed to providing service, and sensitive to the feelings of others, but can be indecisive, overly passive, overly supportive, providing help to a fault, tends to hold a grudge, sacrifice results for the sake of harmony, overly accommodating, Their appearance: casually dressed, wear earth tones, longer hair than most, soft spoken, laid back, calm, passive presence, more natural looking with less makeup. To approach them, be easy going, laid back and genuinely interested in building a relationship, be slow paced and not in a rush, ask about family, take time to build trust, recognition, inclusion, create vision of family life and cohesion. To impact them, be engaged, understanding, provide genuine sincere caring answers, tell them what to do in a supportive way, helping the greater group.

C type: controlled, conscientious, cautious, meticulous, orderly, high standards, professional, does diligence, organized, accurate, analytical, very high regard for integrity and systems, but, can be rigid, too critical of others, appear unemotional, stand-offish, aloof, don’t like change. Can over analyze. Their appearance: dress conservatively and professionally, wear blacks, browns, greys, tend be well kept, manicured, business like demeanor, pens in pocket, carry briefcase or portfolio. To approach them, be business-like, professional, accurate, slow pace, systematic, have outline, give facts, present in logical structure format. To impact them, be detail oriented and precise, do not over-embellish, ready with supportive documents, do not pressure, need time to process and evaluate.

Cater your personalities to communicate and relate with others. First you need to figure out what “type” the other person is and approach them accordingly. Look at how they are dressed, and then ask them a question, so based on their answer, you can figure out their type. Listen, observe, find their hot button to get them interested.

People like to work with people that are like themselves, so it is best to work with people you get along with. A business team needs all components and not too much of any one type.

DISCprofile.com website – gives full profile – 2 ½ hour test ~ $100 .

NLP = Neural Lingistical Programming – the unconscious brain and how it reacts. 90% is unconscious. We have belief patterns based on our life’s history. Brain does not process negatives (can’t don’t won’t) so always put things in the positive rather than the don’ts, etc.

One way to win and influence people is by mirror/matching them – speak slow if they speak slow, fast if they speak fast.

We move every 60 seconds. When you first approach people, pay attention to body movements. Most of the people will mirror the actions of the dominant person at the table – subtly copy what they do and do what they do. To test if you “have” them, do a body shift and they follow – you do have them. If they don’t follow, then go back to mimic them and then test later. C types take the longest to win. If you don’t “have “them, don’t ask. Talk to them later.

…………………………………………….

PHIL GROVE day 2

3 essential skills – Marketing (65), selling (10), strategies (12).

Advice to newbies:

1. 1st deal should be a low risk deal. No money but a lot of skill needed.

2. Learn a lot.

3.  Don’t learn too much (take action).

4.  REI, like all business, is a numbers game that starts with marketing.

5.  Don’t try to do it all yourself. You will fail.

MARKETING – finding deals

65 methods – some paid, some free

Free: door hangers, stickeis, etc., letters of intent, business cards, FSBO marketing, magnetic signs, professional referrals, networking, realtors and the MLS, REOs and HUD foreclosures (get list, make random offers on all of them), door knocking, driving for dollars, past customer referrals, bird dogs, wholesalers, bulk REOs, social media, blogs/curation, search engine optimization, website, local search advertising.

Paid: direct mail – tax late, pre-foreclosure, divorce, probate, modeled list, bankruptcy, non-owner occupied, section 8 landlord list, bandit signs, mass media, newspaper ads, online advrtising, paid lead, affiliate marketing, pay per click advertising, REI matcher.

Phil’s top 6 Google pay per click, direct mail, paid lead service. Driving for dollars (make a list of abandoned houses) local search, craigslist

Big takeaway – #1 job is finding a deal. Most investors fail because of insufficient marketing.

STRATEGY- different ways to make money

referrals, buy & hold, house swapping, auction/option, lease/option, contract for deed, fix and flip, equity partnering, mortgage assign, wraps, wholesaling, short sales

cash = fast, advertise self as a cash buyer.

wholesaling – get property under contract, sell or assign the contract for a fee.

Buying subject-to – agreement to pay seller’s mortgage in exchange for the deed. Find motivated seller that does not want to pay their mortgage or else they face foreclosure. The catch is that they have to sign the deed over to you. (2 docs that matter – deed and the note. Whoever’s name is on the deed is the owner, the name on the note is the one who owes the money) Then you can renovate/retail, wrap, rent,

Fix & Flip – but property, renovate and sell retail. Most people underestimate cost of rehabbing by 50%. Must remember that it is NOT your house. Miscalculate what the house will realistically sell for. Non investment minded realtors tend to tell you what you want to hear, not necessarily the truth.

[Ace that you pull out when you have to get the deal] Equity Partnering – Subject-to (no $$) (with IOU for future profit share) partner with the seller and agree to share the profits. Renovate and retail.

Left brain close: when trying to negotiate with seller, negotiate profit, not price. Do a numbers close. Works well with one exception – the magic house. Then, use the magic close – get their numbers (how much they think it is worth, how much they think the rehab will be)

House swapping – trade house for house (no $)

Option-auctions buy the option contract (no $$) sell at retail auction get house on option.

Mortgage payment assignment. Buy and just get under contract w. standard master agreement (sub-to w/ option), sell by assigning contract for a fee. 82 million people that are not qualified to borrow – looking for houses that are financed.

**Buy and Hold. Sub-to owner finance conventional, rent, or sell retail in 5-10-15 years.

Million dollar plan. Buy $10 million of subject-to properties, rent them, wait until the market goes up. ****10 years from today is dependent upon what you do today.****

Listing referrals and combo plans. Do marketing for sellers, selling lead to realtor on your power team.

SALES – negotiating

Whenever send offers, have option period and subject to inspection.

Always ask, by the way do you need to have another house?

All-in-One Done-for-you video encyclopedia, one password, marketing, strategy, sales done for you.

REI marketing manager – seller website, seller squueze page, buyer squeeze pages, professional website, optional (paid) lead services, private investor MLS of owner finance deals, wholesale deals

…………………………………..

JT FOXX

Think bigger so great things can happen.

Disrupt the normal.

3 keys –

      1. all about relationships. Monetize relationships. People invest in people.
      2. Marketing – branding is the key. Always better when someone sells you than you sell yourself.
      3. Perseverance

go from survival to competence to confidence to success to significance to legacy.

Broke people are always busy, Successful people are always productive.

………………………………………………

BRUCE BUFFER official voice of the UFC and business and marketing and entrepreneur, told story of his businesses, life.  [Aunty took a picture with him!]

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Day 3  JT FOXX after an evening out and stuck in Waikiki because of tsunami warning

Strategic thinking – paint the picture for them.

“they can copy the how, but they can’t copy the why”.

The more exclusive you are, the more money you will make.

Won’t have everyone liking you -i.e. to be President with 51% of the vote, which means 49% don’t like you..

NIDO QUEBIN video highlights BetterLifeMedia.com

Examples of McDonalds, Prudential – people want to buy if you think of how to make people feel.

Pain of discipline vs pain of neglect. Performers focus on results, non performers focus on obstacles.

Do a Stop Doing list, rather than a To Do list.

Any improvement in our lives come as a result of change.

Why should people to do business with me? How easily can someone else imitate what I do? If I were to buy what you have to sell, would I think of you first, second, at all?

Brand awareness okay, brand preference better, brand insistence – best.

Great people have great attitude. Bad sandwich story. Your attitude expressed on the outside of you is the commentary of the person who resides on the inside of you.

……………………………………..

JT FOXX resumes

Awareness – who you are, what you stand for, your mission statement, to become successful you have to be uncomfortable. Always be uncomfortable.

Education based marketing – build on client’s success.

Consideration, WIIFM – what’s in it for me. Show the immediate benefit of taking action now.

Action – want to be first to market – Innovation, determination, engagement, action.

The choices you make determine the reality of your outcome. How you change is how you succeed.

Branding – key. You want to be the authority in your field.

What gets measured gets managed, what get rewarded gets repeated. Know your numbers – what is working, what is not.

New Rules of marketing

  1. dominate (your niche) SOV = share of voice – have your own authority
  2. innovate – how are you different, stand out from everyone
  3. illustrate – CEO = chief experience officer
  4. articulate – move yourself from perception to consideration – move from”thinking about” to actually doing.
  5. Create the experience – inner engineering – clients want to buy the experience
  6. brand advocacy – reputation = brand, the brand doesn’t make the company, the company makes the brand. Brands are mirrors – want people to connect with you.Have authority, respect, aura of authenticity,

………………………………………………..

PHILL GROVE day 3

Branding How to

Started off not being on Google as the #1, now he is for Austin real estate investor

[ example of Houstons in Austin has best French dipped sandwich – Schiner Bock beer was Phill’s favorite beer to have – an insistence that he have that kind of beer.]

Brand – the personality that identifies a product, service, company, or person. People describe a brand in terms of their: thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes towards the product, service, company, or person and how it relates to others.

Value of Brand Awareness = 1, Brand Preference = 3, Brand Insistence = 10. Brand Advocacy is even more valuable – not only insist on using the brand but tells others about it = 12. “Life is too short to have a PC.” = the brand advocacy of Apple computers to an Apple fanatic.

How to get to brand insistence, brand advocacy is to give WOWs. Wow’s are anything that’s better than your competition. Examples: send a Christmas card, stay open past 5:00 pm, invite your customers to a special event, unexpected service. Avoid Un-Wows, i.e. un-returned phone calls, the run-around, a stupid customer service person.

You are a brand, and so is your business. Your brands are constantly “being built” with or without your attention. Googleability is key in today’s market. Good branding makes deals and business come to you, bad branding makes people avoid you.

Purpose of the marketing department is to eliminate the sales department. Good marketing makes the sale easy. Purpose of the branding department is to eliminate the marketing department.

You only get ONE chance to make a first impression. [Phil wore a suit to create a good impression.]

Branding starts with a name, or 3. For real estate, need 3 brands for different audiences – motivated sellers, buyers, investors, other services. Need 3 or more because the message is different to different audiences. [ We buy ugly houses – we sell houses by we-buy-ugly houses]

Brands take on identities (max 2-3) [ sony has a chemicals business, motorola makes bar code readers]

Motivated seller branding: audience is motivated seller, attract realtors, attorneys. Target audience wants to sell fast, no cost, no credit harm. Message, we buy houses, cash, fask, any condition, any problem = no problem. USP – Unique Selling Propostion, AMPS, solutions. Brand Equity value is low – few repeat customers, always ask for testimonials anyway.

Investor branding – other investors, power team members. What does your audience want – not to loose money, want money back with a nice return, want it back fast, ability to rinse and repeat. Message – we offer high return, low risk opportunities. USP – why would they want to do business with you. Brand Equity Value is super high – automatic deals, ask for testimonials.

Buyer branding – owner finance buyers, any buyers, realtors etc. Message – rent to own (higher response rate than “seller financing”) No bank financing. USP we do what realtor’s can’t to.

Generally recommend doing business in an entity LLC, LP, Corp. The entity that actually buys property (enters into contracts) is probably the Investor brand (or possibly the seller brand)

Consider doing dba (not really a company but using a different name as the master company), will simplify the business structure. Too many complex corporate structures for beginners not good. Instead, simplify and focus on building the business.

The 3 phases of being an entrepreneur.

  1. The new entrepreneur looking for the 1st deal – goes to intermediate entrepreneur – sometimes get stuck because they think they have it figured out, gets stuck at a certain level.
  2. The advanced
  3. The guru

The new entrepreneur – needs websites, business cards, voicemail message, REIAs and professional organizations. Watch your message – people don’t just listen to what you say, they watch what you do. Etiquette, USP – unique selling propositio, elevator speech, borrowed credibility (“my partner has done over 1000 deals”), aura of authenticity (at top of all George Ross’ leases even though he has 19 of them, they are called “Standard Lease”. Phill changed all his contract names to “Standard Master Agreement” and it makes things a lot simpler), mindset.

Website – most important is to capture leads. If you make people click on one more tab or link, you lose 50% of the people. Branded logo, social media integration, etc.

Business cards – getting to be billboards, making them look cool. Purpose is to exchange contact information, part of your brand. Ask “would Donald Trump do it”. Professional business cared– limit to logo on upper left corner. Name of company at top next to logo. In center of card, your name, your title (senior managing partner, etc.). Under that put your website: www.company.com. Put phone number on card, don’t put “cell phone” and your phone number, O: (808) 123-4567, F: (808) 123-7890, email address on the bottom left corner. Put your company email, i.e. aunty@honoluluaunty.com

Physical address on the bottom right corner. Leave back blank. Or, put picture of a project you are working on – little conversation starter.

Etiquette: Blocking and Tackling. Have great manners. Act like you belong. Dress for success – how you look – shoes, hair eye brows, grooming. Insert yourself into high net worth situations – benefits, charity events of the rich, the right parties. It can take time. Donating $10,000 to United Way, you get on the “list”. Surround self with wealthy people Have an elevator speech, include a USP. Professional storefront – company name, branding, etc.

[Case studies –

  1. Magic Trick Guy – poor dressed, missing teeth, stood in corner doing magic tricks, kept following around Phill, got into his personal space. His intro was “I can transform a $200K investment into $200B in under 3 months”. His brand was Crazy.
  2. Bulk REO guy in WDC – listend to webinar, bragged about success, intro looking for $50M. His brand was Idiot.
  3. Real estate club guy (multiple). Claims to have great deal but if you look into it, it is not a good deal. Brand = Rookie.
  4. Sharp looking kid at Billionaire Class – dressed shart, spoke well. Talked about working long hours, studying, training, doing marketing, looking for a good one. Brand – Go-Getter]Your USP – Unique Selling Proposition – if you have one, you have Super Powers. “I can sell your house in less than 30 days, at no cost to you and at no harm to your credit, even if you have little, no, or negative equity.” (as investor) “I list homes on the MLS, like other Realtors, and use 12 additional strategies to sell homes, that other Realtors don’t even know.” (as super realtor).

Elevator speech – 15 – 30 seconds. Who you are, USP

Phase II – The intermediate entrepreneur.

  1. position self as the expert. Make presentations to title companies, REIAs, meet up groups, etc.
  2. Elevator pitch – update pitch – leverage experiences
  3. brand leverage – leverage partnerships, affiliations – bought the preferred national vendor for short sales of Kenner Williams $5400 check to them.
  4. host beneficiary relationship 0 use 3rd party endorsements – always better than self promotion –
  5. orientation package – about me, bio, highlights, press kit, branding with picture
  6. social media and google-ability – build presence of Facebook, LinkedIN, YouTube (record all deals) do YouTube video showing deal, etc. case studies, publish, & on side of page all other videos, testimonials. When you do a deal, make a video.

Fan page for business on Facebook, brand yourself as a professional, talk about deals, problems that you are solving. Linkedin – more professional, has picture, various recommendations, has elevator speech, USP, links to website.

7.  Internet Marketing – blog and advance internet marketing.

Phase III – Expert Entrepreneur

  1. Host your own events – bird dog breakfast, new entrepreneur group, meet ups, host a training event
  2. Loss Leaders – starting your own REI clubs, radio show, etc.helps build your brand
  3. Reputation management – bigger pockets, blogs, endorsements, online presence
  4. Internet Marketing – PPC, SEO, etc. and advanced traffic
  5. Alliances with other Gurus – internet marketing, affiliate marketing, partnerships (i.e. Phill and Jt Foxx)

**************

LINDSEY JEAN – Cash Cow Know How. Single Mom Secrets to Fast Cash Finding Deals

Dave Asarnow High Heels and Hard Hats

how to get deals chasing you rather than you chasing deals

getting cash buyers fighting to give you their money for deals

do it on autopilot from home. Program your mind for success, eliminate any negativity, no excuses, stop complaining, act smarter, not harder, take action & take command of your destiny.

5 quick and easy steps to quick cash (assignments)

  1. build team of birddog agents – local professional agents. Most important step – recruiting the right agents that specialize in areas, Right agent – google REO agents, these control the sale. Short sales agents , brand new hungry agents. Use Lyndey’s “hot Deal” handbook.
  2. analyze deals they find for you – deal analyzer spread sheet (60 seconds) – determine ARV (after fixed), how much to fix, our offer price = ARV goal 65%. Cost of capital 12%, closing costs 7%, everything is done in the MLS. San Diego 73%, Santa Barbara 85%, Los Angeles 80% San Bernardino 65%. Tell agent to look at what cash buying investors are buying. Over last 6 months, look at rehabbed properties & what they sold for, look at what the investor paid, look at what they rehabbed – put in the numbers. To determine ARV, pull other like-kind properties (comps)
  3. submit “yes!” offers – relationship between you and listing agent, how you present your offer. Secret: clean cash offers (no contingencies/appraisals/inspections) buying as is, in as in condition, in other – “buyer intends to sell the property in some point in the future for a profit”. Never lowball – always come in with highest and best. Have agents offer price using deal analyzer. Sometimes make smaller checks – all real estate agents are happy & willing to work with you again.
  4. Decide which buyer gets the deal – review the waiting list – who you like the most, who has the most money, text or email blast text their purchase price, rehab, what they can sell it for. Quality of buyer vs quantity. Need integrity, honor, ethics, enjoyable.
  5. assign the contract for quick cash Present the deal, escrow manages the entire deal, you will be paid as a buyers consultation fee.

*do short sale offers – LOTS – because they are taking such a long time.

Better to be a normal investor rather than agent – less fiduciary duties. Can be signed on as their assistant 7 have access to MLS.

Not about who you know, it is about who knows you.

Find Cash Buyers (ask them what they want & how much they would pay for it), then find the houses that they want (using your real estate agent) = the secret formula.

More people have invested in 2012 ($11 billion) than 2010 and 2011 combined.

(sold her program to many of the attendees. Aunty did not buy)

…………….

 

JT FOXX

follow through, speed of implementation, trust but verify. No excuses, crazy 8 – 8 people, talk to them 8 times, over an 8 month period, circle of influence.

Credibility equals power, power equals access, access equals brand.

Four steps towards getting branded

  1. Personal Branding – this is you – creating the brand – featured on “self made list” website featuring pictures and profiles of celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs – including you! 10,000 twitter followers, facebook/linkedin/google fast track 9social media in 7 minutes with Curt Maly $1997 value), the art of building brand equity Cds
  2. Brand monetization – leveraging the brand to make money and have deals come to you
  3. brand innovation – growing the brand through innovations and brand associations
  4. brand identity – promoting and refining the brand with advanced techniques

 

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All in all, it was a VERY long weekend. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best of the best, Aunty would rate this event as a 6. Better than most, but the content wasn’t really there. It was as if JT Foxx wasn’t really excited to be there – perhaps because we didn’t fill the room with prospects. For myself, most of the presentations were repeat performances – and so the newness of the message was diminished.  However, the messages were still very good, especially if hearing them for the first time.

Raymond Aaron (does a program on the Monthly Mentor with daily videos sent to Aunty’s email) was not there, which is a big void in this group. Interestingly enough, Phill Grove ran out of time on the third day and did not go into his 9-9-9 which sounded a bit like Raymond Aaron’s 10-10-10 of getting a book written, formatted, and published in order to create one’s “brand”.  Aunty misses Raymond Aaron’s excellent presentations.

Hopefully these notes are understandable to readers. If you have any questions, just send them over as a comment and I’ll see about finding the answers.

Mahalo for reading through a very long report!

Just for Aunties

2013-04-01_16-20-38As we get older, it shows.  I really like the wisdom part and the being comfortable in my own skin as I age.  Unfortunately, my skin, face, hair and body seem to be running away from what I used to look like faster and faster.  At some point Aunty will just give up, but for now, Aunty will invest time, effort and money to slow the process down.

Here are a few pointers along the way:

Kapiolani Women’s Center often has classes on beauty and health.  Aunty’s favorite is TaiChi.  I have been in the beginners class for about 3 years now.  I am learning this wonderful exercise VERY slowly.  It has given me very good balance.

Currently, Aunty takes 4 supplements for maintenance of good health.  Two are the must takes.  Intestinal Correctional Formula #1 (I know Wanda, too much information) and Protandim.  Super Food and Strontium are taken when and if I remember.  So far, Aunty feels pretty good and healthy which equals a very wonderful life.

Learn something new.  Eat at different places.  Try a new hair style.  Wear pretty earrings.  Wear lipstick.  Simple things like these make you feel better, and look better.

The PACE exercises (see Exercise tab under Health and Wellness) are good for building lung capacity.  It is good to be able to have strong lungs and endurance.

Currently, Aunty uses NeriumAD every night on her face, arms, and neck.  Because it is so easy to use (spread on clean damp skin at night and rinse off in the morning), Aunty never misses a night of applying it.  The results are really good – or maybe people are really nice when they say that I don’t look my age.  My skin looks nice and my lipstick doesn’t “bleed” outside my lip line anymore!

Dress up. Sometimes Aunty over dresses.  We used to enjoy playing dress up when we were little girls.  Now that we are older “girls”, enjoy and dress up!  You will look faahbulous, dahling.

 

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.

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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.

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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.

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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!