You Can’t Run A Profitable Business By Making “Fun” A Priority
“The fly that prefers sweetness to a long life may drown in honey.” – George Santayana (Dialogues in Limbo, 1925) Inc Magazine says Doug Hall is “America’s top new-product idea man.” Hmm. I thought I was. One of Doug’s most popular “new ideas” — the basis for the book that…
Is “Working For Yourself” The Only Way To Get Rich?
“Keep moving. Slower or faster does not matter as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius Contrary to popular mythology, most self-employed business owners are not getting rich. In fact, the average income of small-business owners is virtually the same as that of employees. According to the National Federation…
Investing In Real Estate, Lesson 6: Investing In A Local Limited Partnership
If you tell a financial planner you’d like to invest part-time in real estate, he’ll suggest either REITS (real estate investment trusts) or limited partnerships. REITS are like stocks. You have no control over them, you have little chance to interact with management, and your knowledge of the business and…
Investing In Real Estate, Lesson 5
“Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.” – Henry Ford Here’s a very nice and easy way to make good money in real estate. It’s something you can’t do all the time, but when you can it’s golden. The idea is to buy pre-construction homes/condos in very promising,…
What To Do With Good Employees, Part 3
“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.” – Albert Einstein (Out of My Later Years, 1950) On Wednesday, we talked about money — how much good employees should be paid. Yesterday, we talked about benefits — both standard and fringe.…
Investing In Real Estate, Lesson 4
“Little and often make much.” – Confucius Yesterday, we talked about buying and selling fixer-uppers in bad neighborhoods. But you don’t HAVE TO start at the bottom. If you have more money to invest, you can do all of the above in a better neighborhood. In fact, if you can,…
Direct Mail Will Work for Anybody
People sometimes say, “Jay, I’m not a retailer or a mail order company I don’t see how in the world I could possibly use direct mail.” To which I reply: “Nonsense-you can use it, and you should use it, because if you don’t think you can use it, then chances…
Buying and Selling Local Rental Properties
“If you fall, pick something up while you’re down there.” – New England proverb Yesterday, I told you a story that highlighted just about every mistake you want to avoid when buying real estate for rental purposes. Today, let’s talk about what you should do. It seems to me that…
F 2 Real Estate Lesson 2
“Seek not proud riches, but such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly.” – Francis Bacon (Essays, 1625) My first experience in real estate was an unforgettable disaster. KFF and I were living in a little town house in the Dupont Circle area of Washington,…
F 1 Investing in Real Estate
“An acre in Middlesex is better than a principality in Utopia.” – Thomas Babington Macaulay (Lord Bacon, 1837) Last week, we talked about wealth building in terms of “five secrets”: Secret #1. Get to work an hour early. Secret #2. Practice a financially valuable skill devoted to profitable endeavor.…
Wealth Building Secret #4: Invest In What You Know
“The first man to fence in a piece of land, saying ‘This is mine,’ and who found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Discourse on the Origin and Bases of Inequality Among Men, 1754) Yesterday, I explained my approach to…
Choose Investments That Keep Risks Low And Profits High
“Be not penny-wise: riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves; sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more.” – Francis Bacon (Essays, 1625) If you get up early and make good use of your time, you will have a higher-than-average income. If you commit to…