Overriding considerations for career changes; voluntary and involuntary
Don’t let the appearance of underachieving step on your ambition.
Writing, spelling, grammar, and punctuation were like foreign languages to me. I had no interest in or mind for them. I hated having to look anything up. Out of every 10 calls I make, I will miss dial three. I have a double dose of an affliction that didn’t have a name at that time. It is now known as Dyslexia. Any one of these conditions or lickings would have kept me from becoming a writer. I never knew any. It took me 50 years to notice that writing could be a possibility and another 10 years to succumb to the Author’s disease, but “now I are one”.
Working around deficits
Every semester of college I signed up for 9 solid classes, attended a few sessions of each of then and dropped the four that looked like they would require the most memorization. When I was a junior I discovered real estate. It was easy to read and required common sense more than book smarts. I took every real estate class the first time it was offered. Thus I became the first person in California able to substitute real estate courses for the experience needed to get a broker’s license. In a field where common sense was king and things happened more slowly I could function fairly well with my limitations.
Good Timing – My first wave
FHA and VA loans were brand new and The Coldwell Company hired me to teach real estate agents how to help their customers qualify for those loans. It required very little experience.
Bad Timing
The loan work was a joy, but before I had completed six months there I was recalled to active duty during the Berlin crisis.
Adjusting to my skillset
My youth and my license suggested that I was better than average, but I had no idea what I was doing and had no experience. When I got out of the service, the owner of a leading company hired me to help him prepare cases. He was an appraiser and often an expert witness. It took him a day and a half to find out that I couldn’t spell and gave me a chance in the property management department.
For two years in that job, twelve property managers report to me and we maintained high occupancies and had no problems we couldn’t handle well. I gained self-confidence but I was only making subsistence pay. The owner’s son-in-law took over the department so I had no upside potential there.
Port in a storm #1
The economy of San Diego was bad at the time and the only job I could find required me to move to Santa Ana; 100 miles away. Two months later the client, who I was to find sites for, died. That put me on straight commission with no experience in a city I didn’t know and no money. All I could do was try to make deals while I looked for a job.
Wave # 2 Positioning
Being at the right place at the right time allowed me to catch the next wave. I shared information on properties with an employee of Wienerschnitzel. They only had a hand full of restaurants at the time and they wanted more. Because I could live on so little money they hired me to “Talk unsophisticated owners with prime property on major streets into building a freak building for a chain that had hardly any new worth. ;o)”.
That was exciting because I was among its first few key employees. I reported to the president and had some input on the direction of the company. I also got raises for every deal I made. Their circle of friends included other start-ups when the fast-food industry caught of fire. We shared ideas with Glen Bell of Taco Bell, Marie Calendar and Ray Crock of McDonald’s. I put hotdog stands in the San Francisco bay area, east of the Rockies from New Mexico to Wyoming, then Chicago and major cities within an hour of O’Hare airport. A financial partner had encouraged them to expand quickly then changed their mind so that company stalled. But the wave in that industry kept going.
Port in a storm #2
To get away from travel and have a home life I took a salary to market land for a commercial real estate developer. A year later another bad economy took that job.
Catching a really big wave
After two years of living on borrowed money, tiny commissions, and looking for another job, a friend introduced me to another startup. It had massive potential because it had just become the new development arm of the Southern Pacific Railroad. On a commission basis, I was able to find sites for, and have buildings built for solid companies anywhere. I place freestanding buildings around the country for Levitz Furniture; Toys are us, several restaurants, and two motel chains. That line of work turned out to be too fast-moving for the railroad so they let it wind down and that wave hit the shore; but not before I had a nest egg.
The Brass Ring
Some acreage, near a regional shopping center that was under construction, was so overgrown its potential had been missed by almost everyone. One day the light went on and I optioned all 11 parcels for two years. The exact time it took me to talk the city and the neighbors into allowing a 7-acre center. It required:
• every cent I could get my hands on
• every procedure and permit known to man
• a bankable tenant
• a financial partner
• a big loan.
Keep adaptable
What can go wrong will go wrong and what can’t go wrong will also go wrong. A week before the options were to expire the two partners who would have owned 75% of the partnership decided not to be in a partnership. To save the deal I sold them 75% of the land and gave them a one year head start. The buildings I was able to build, on the 25% of the land I kept, would have been earned enough to retire on.
Wave #3
For the motel chain with the most promise, I agreed to do all of their real estate work at my expense for a percent of the profits. All the motels kept very high occupancies f, so those years were wonderful. The economy moved down and the owners wanted to do other things so they sold to Motel 6. That wave ended on the shore but I got a multiple on the income I had been receiving.
Development
That money wouldn’t buy much in Orange County, so I went to Salt Lake City where it would buy more. The properties I developed there did well but as they were becoming seasoned the saving and loan industry collapse so no financing was available. That forced me to sell two properties. But the three I kept are well located with strong tenants and long leases all of which are now paid off.
Consulting
Retiring at 55, Dave had debt he wanted to pay off so he consulted part-time for a wealthy landowner. My work only affected a small part of his attention so he asked me to write to him instead of calling. He loved the English language and graduated top of his class at Harvard. He got more enjoyment out of correcting my papers than my conclusions. I learned not to be rushed into decisions and how writing what we were doing revealed the information we needed to make a better decision.
Teaching
While consulting I was packaging the lessons that had been so helpful to me. They were taught in prisons and halfway houses. Eventually, it became clear that a book could get more help to more people
That was the birth of Crafting a Better You which eventually became Get Life Right. That title was not available, but five years later the owner offered it for $5,000. It is the most accurate title with the fewest letters.
Know These Marketing Principles
• “A poor product in the hands of a great marketer will sell better than a good product in the hands of a bad marketer. “ You are the marketer of you! The cheapest help usually turned out to be the most expensive overall. If you aren’t great; get the help that is.
• If the job you have will not meet your eventual needs, it is only a stepping stone job. Make sure it is stepping toward a job that will.
• Even though I knew these principals, I didn’t know how to find or evaluate candidates and I thought I was too busy. The book was stalled until the right marketer found me. Four months after the Website was fixed, 50,000 people had downloaded the book and it is now available in an audible form almost everywhere.
Waves make most people more money than they can save working diligently, but to ride them you have to catch them. Use the following concepts:
• Catching them requires you to be in the right position, knowing where they will break, and having the means to catch them.
• Forward-thinking and investigation is how you know waves are forming or find the brass rings.
• Keep your eyes open and your skills currently fully engaged in your area of interest.
• The book Rich Dad Poor Dad shows two career paths where one person ends up with a salary and the other wealth.
• Choose a career and a way of life that will make you and your family self-sufficient financially; you owe that to yourself and the rest of us.
• Know the amount of money you will need for your old age (add 15 years if you have stayed fit).
• Working on your next most important need keeps you on the most direct path to your ultimate goals.
• If you marry young or carry a lot of debt you will not be able to take advantage of many opportunities.
• Work where you can make decisions frequently so your self-confidence grows and you can make decisions quickly.
• If the goal you are striving for is worthy enough, you will do whatever it takes to achieve it.
• Dave has 40,000 hours in GetLifeRight
• Huge goals that you fail to achieve can be more satisfying than a lesser goal you can.
• The right goals turn expenditures into investments.
• God answers all prayers withyes, no or not yet. The no’s are for those who are already fulfilling a more important purpose.
• If your skillset isn’t growing or isn’t meaningfully employed, it is heading for the shore.
Your north arrow the conditions you want to exist when you retire. Treat is as a mark on the horizon of your mind toward which all of your decisions and actions are direct
Use your best judgment to estimate the most you can accomplish when you retire or pass. Then mark a spot on the horizon in your mind that you will work toward during your life. Then make all your moves and decisions head you in that direction.
All the security in this world will not help you if you haven’t secured a place for yourself in heaven. If you put God above all things and use your skills for others you will be blessed in this world and in the next.
