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When YOU Present What Can YOU Do Different?

Last week I was listening to a podcast on my way to giving a seminar in Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina. I was reviewing my presentation, and going over my opening lines. To start, I planned to compare a financial product to Vegas. I then would explain how certain parts of finance are like Vegas and gambling . It was going to be edgy, I thought. This presentation was going to be different.

During my drive, I was listening to an audio book that is called Fascinate Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation. In a section of the book, the she said, “You don’t have to be great. You just have to be different”. And so I thought, “what can I do that is totally different than what they are used to?”. Yes, I am going to have my PowerPoint. I am going to preform. I am going to communicate. But what can I do that is remarkable? I needed something that would stick in their minds and get their attention.

What Can I do To Stick In their Minds?

As I was driving, I was brainstorming what this “different” will look like. I started to sketch on my notepad how my idea was going to unfold. Its going to work like this, and I am going to do that, and I want to talk about this and am going to pause here…. I decided to go to the bank and pull out $250 in cash to be “different”. I used this money to illustrate investments going up and down. It was a lot to do on my drive in. Why not just stick with what I created and be happy with all my weekend work? Why make changes last minute and stress myself out?

I literally pull up in front of where I was going to be giving the presentation, open the laptop, spent twenty minutes cranking out the new slide.

Catching My Audiences Attention

Luckily, I double checked all my numbers and I got them all right, but I went in, I did the presentation the but my hands were a little e shaky handing out that money. At one point I did hand out the wrong change and the audience was laughing and joking around but I tried to stay focused. The second day in Raleigh, North Carolina was much easier. I did the whole thing, I learned where I messed up and that I should count and organize the money ahead of time, continuous improvement (in japanese it’s called Kazen) 🙂 by the end of the second day the compliments started to flow. It wasn’t great but it was different.

So, from a personal challenge, what can I do that is different then than everybody else in my industry?

What can you do that is different in your industry? What can you do to differ from everybody else? Is it a better quality of service? Perhaps a different type of service? Are you letting your passion out more? Make sure you’re getting excited!

Do something different than everyone else, as soon as you see/hear “normal” that should be a trigger to stop and put some brain power into changing it!

You Don’t Get Paid to Catch-Up On Work

I had a meeting earlier this week with a potential client. When I walked into his office for Work, our conversation went like this:

I asked him, “How’s it going?”

He said, “Busy.”

I said, “That’s great, better than being slow.”

He replied, “Yes, that is very true.”

I responded, “Other than you need some time to get caught up.”

He looked at me and smirked. He said, “You don’t get paid to catch up.”

You Don’t Get Paid To Catch Up

I said that was so true and I asked him if I could steal his phrase. “You don’t get paid to catch up”. If you think about that, he is 100% right. What are you doing today to be as productive as you possibly can? There are 168 hours of Work in a week. What are you doing with that time? Yes, you have to sleep, so we can subtract 58 hours for sleeping, and you are left with 112 hours.

How are you going to make those 112 hours the most productive time that you possibly can, again, just as my prospect – who will hopefully become a client – said, “you don’t get paid to catch up”.

Your Competition Is Passing You By

If you want to get caught up, get through your inbox, and try to go to “inbox zero”. Try to get caught up with all the work that you have to do, on your to-do list (Check out this article on the new to-do list- A New Take on the To-Do List) – are you working at night? Are you working on Saturday? Are you working on Sunday? If not, you are getting passed. Whoever your competition is, they are passing you by.

So, what are you doing in those 112 hours to be the most productive that you possibly can?

I Don’t Have Enough Time vs. That’s Not A Priority For Me

I just read an article that was very insightful. The author wrote, “I hear the phrase all the time: I don’t have enough time.” Instead of saying, “I don’t have enough time,” the author suggests that you say instead, “That’s not a priority for me”.

Wow just take a minute and think about that, I was almost offended when I heard that.

Then I thought, that is awesome! Here are a couple of examples that he sites:

Instead of saying, “I don’t have time to exercise 30 minutes a day”, you should switch that to, “my health is not a priority for me.”

I don’t have thirty minutes to learn something new today; to dive into how to flip houses, to dive into how to make a podcast, to dive into how to do better in my job. You should re-phrase that and say, “learning something new is not a priority for me.” “Getting better at my job is not a priority for me.” “Creating a podcast is not a priority for me.” And that’s okay if it’s not – that is totally fine. Then just don’t say you don’t have time.

As a takeaway; focus on the items that are a priority by switching your brain and stating “that is not a priority to me”, that will help your brain stop and think and say, wait that is a priority to me”.

Make the most of the 112 hours you have, and get fired up!

Death of the Triple Net Lease

I was into residential real estate back in the mid-2000s until I got crushed. Part of my goal was to flip enough houses to save up $200,000 so I could buy a triple-net lease investment property. It never happened then, at least not yet 🙂

What Is A Triple Net Lease

What is a triple-net lease property? A few examples you may know are stand-alone Starbucks; stand-alone Dollar General; stand-alone Walgreens; any stand-alone retail store(s) that are backed by corporate names. The reason why you would want to buy something like that is that you could put your $200,000 down on a million-dollar property and Dollar General or Walgreens would give you a 15-year, 20-year, or sometimes even a 30-year lease. Starbucks was always an 8 to 10-year, or 12- or 15-year lease. There were a few Walgreens, depending on the location, that would give you a 30-year lease as well.

Wikipedia defines Triple Net as “A triple net lease (Net–Net–Net or NNN) is a lease agreement on a property. The tenant or lessee agrees to pay all real estate taxes, building insurance, and maintenance (the three “Nets”) on the property. Additionally, they agree to any normal fees that are expected under the agreement (rent, utilities, etc.).”

Are You Ok With Putting All Your Eggs In One Basket?

This means that the investor signs the lease. The tenant, not the owner, is responsible for the taxes, insurance, and maintenance for the duration of the lease. When looking at real estate and having a hands-off approach, there is nothing better than having a corporate tenant that will guarantee the lease and pay all the carrying costs.

That is if you are OK with putting all your eggs in one basket. I would argue that this is just a piece of your investment strategy. Meaning, if you are looking for monthly income, this is one spot out of five or ten.

Diversification On Location

Diversification on location and corporate client is very important. This post stems from a conversation that I had with my Aunt. I had to write about it. My Aunt has a theory that everything is moving online. Amazon, or the Amazon of the world, is crushing individual retailers.

Take a look at your buying habits. Who remembers Sam Goddy or Radio Shack? What happened? iTunes and Amazon. How is Amazon changing Home goods? Is Amazon changing Best Buy? Do you feel that Amazon is changing Walmart and Walgreens?

Old Habits Diehard

My Aunt’s theory is that she believes in the old school shopping malls. The malls where all the stores are under one roof. Where everything is facing inward and you remember walking around them as a teen and “hanging out”. Most have a central hallway of sorts, either one story or two. She believes these types of properties are going away.

The structures will stay, but their existing function of retail space will be replaced by a new, “micro-manufacturing community”. Multiple storefronts will turn into small manufacturing facilities, or storage units, for individual companies who want to have a retail and shipping location but also could double as a storefront. They have a parking lot for the trucks. The buildings have the warehouse docs for the distributions. The property even has individual gates that can be blocked in order to store products. I think she is on to something.

DIY Spaces Where People Can Gather to Create, Invent & Learn

If you look at the maker space movement, defined here: “Makerspaces, sometimes also referred to as hackerspaces, hackspaces, and fablabs are creative, DIY spaces where people can gather to create, invent, and learn. In libraries, they often have 3D printers, software, electronics, craft and hardware supplies, and tools, and more”, which would allow for a transformation of this old-dead type of real estate.

I speak around the United States and I talk about how we are in the “McDonald’s economy”. Everybody wants everything now, now, now, now. When we buy things on Amazon in many cities, you can get your purchase that day or the next day. Even if you are in a rural area, you can get it in 2 days.

Look at the long-term view of the triple net lease of a brick-and-mortar store. I think the only survivors in that space are going to be the ones that offer services. For example doctors’ offices, dentists, and gyms. The spaces where people need to go to see somebody or physically do something, and not simply purchase products.

As you look at building out your real estate portfolio, you may want to consider this.

What Is A REIT & Will They Pop This Year?

REITs

In August, REITs real estate will be the 11th sector to be included in the S&P 500

What is a REIT according to Wikipedia? “A real estate investment trust is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate. Ranging from office and apartment buildings to warehouses, hospitals, shopping centers, hotels, and even timberlands. Furthermore, some REITs also engage in financing real estate.”

REIT Stocks: Higher Dividends

I met with a client this past week. He brought to my attention that he was looking at REIT stocks. I asked him why and dug a little more. I’m a dork about learning new information. REITs pay out higher dividends and by law have to pay out 90% of their earnings. Wikipedia explains this here. “REITs are strong income vehicles because to legally avoid paying U.S. Federal income tax, REITs generally must pay out at least 90 percent of their taxable income in the form of dividends to shareholders”

In conclusion, my client was only looking at this from the standpoint that if he owned index funds and mutual funds for that matter, those funds would have to now buy/hold. I was looking at it from a point of view that now all the “Index funds” are forced to buy into the REITs. That said, the theory is that there are REITs that will become the 11th sector in the S&P 500.

Let’s go back to simple economics; supply and demand. There are a limited number of shares so if demand is forced to increase, then they will drive the price of all 25 stocks up. Time will tell.

How REITs Are Structured and What Investors Should Watch For

REITs are broadly divided into three categories: equity REITs, which own and manage physical properties; mortgage REITs (mREITs), which lend money to real estate owners or invest in mortgage-backed securities; and hybrid REITs, which combine both strategies. Each carries a different risk profile, so understanding which type you’re buying matters significantly before committing capital.

Because REITs are sensitive to interest rate changes, rising rates can compress their valuations by making their dividend yields less attractive compared to bonds. This is one key reason analysts watch Federal Reserve policy closely when evaluating whether REITs are likely to outperform or struggle in a given year.

For everyday investors, publicly traded REITs offer a practical way to gain real estate exposure without the headaches of property management, large down payments, or illiquidity. They trade on major stock exchanges just like any other stock, meaning you can buy or sell shares quickly — a significant advantage over owning physical property directly.