Dylan Tanaka... The Dragon Slayer?

Hunting For Enormous Fire-Breathing Dragons With Nothing But Small Gang Of Entrepreneurs

I like to think of myself as a Dragon Slayer. I know that this is the first time that you've ever heard this from a non-profit founder who has an affinity for argyle sweaters. Sometimes I equate what we as entrepreneurs do to what 17th century Dragon Slayers did. Every time we create a new business or a new marketing campaign it's like inventing fire. Now I know that fire was discovered before the 1600's just play along.

There are 4 traits that almost all successful entrepreneurs possess:

1. A Feeling
2. A Strategy
3. Trust
4. A Lionheart

Lets break each one down as Webster's Dictionary would;
1. Feeling-to find or pursues one's way. What this means is you believe that you know or can produce a better way to do something. It may be building and designing a car, or it could be how to build a human transporter, like on Star Trek. It's an idea.

2. A Strategy-a plan for obtaining a specific goal. This one is straight forward. After yo have an idea you must have a plan on how to execute it.

3. Trust-confident expectation of something. This one is critical. You must have confidence in your product, service, or idea.

4. A Lionheart-having exceptional courage and bravery. Having the Dragon Slayer designation demands an unrelenting can't-lose attitude. This trait is by far what catapults most entrepreneurs into super-successful business owners. You must have a powerful confidence in yourself. If you don't "seem" to believe in you and your business potential investors or customers, they simply Won't believe in you either. Also to be a leader you simply must have an unwavering poise about yourself.

There are no absolutes in life, so not all ultra-successful entrepreneurs posees all of these traits, but I challenge you to show me a few who don't. The more prosperous Michigan real estate investors that I do business or have coffee with seem to harbor these attributes. I know that The REIA of Macomb couldn't be the triumphant success that it is, if my partner Nathan Mayes and I didn't deliver these characteristics.

So I ask you when facing an intimidating, razor toothed, fire breathing, dragon do you have what it takes to be a Dragon Slayer???

Sharpen Your Sword,
Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymichiganhomes.com/

Missing Cufflinks

Only Through hard Work and Persistence Will You Truly Reach Your Goals

A little over a month ago my team and I rented a vendor table at a Macomb

Chamber of Commerce event titled "Sales & Marketing 2008". It was an awesome seminar/trade show for small business and entrepreneurs. Not as exciting as The REIA, but that's okay. What does this all have to do with Building Wealth?

Immediately following the Sales & Marketing Event in Sterling Heights I went over to Royal Oak to have dinner with a Wealth in R.E.I. member, actually the mastermind groups Ambassador, Paul Smudski.

I was scrambling around that morning looking everywhere but I couldn't find the cuff links. No big deal, I went to the office and bought & sold some real estate, like I do all day every day. When I was driving home I realized i was wearing a par of cuff links that were sub-par. So I decided my mission was to find my favorite cuff links when I got home.

About 2 hours later I'd gone through the suit that I wore the day they went missing, the shoes, the couch, under the bed, under my computer desk, my car, my whole bookcase was ripped apart, behind all of my dressers and nightstands, and of course a couple calls to my girlfriend who I was sure was in on the conspiracy. No dice, or should I say no cuff links.

I decided to give up for now and resume my search at a future date. Out of sight out of mind, the next time I thought about my favorite cuff links was when they would have finished off my suit about a week later. Again I scrambled around in the morning for a couple minutes and vowed to myself I would not sit down when I got home later until they showed up. After another day living the dream I pulled in my driveway on a mission.

I calmly took off my suit and put on a t-shirt and Adidas pants ready to go to war with my house. This time I went from the basement to the bedrooms upstairs. I looked in every suit coat, so I thought, all my pants, my shoes, every nook and cranny in my house. 3 hours later it was over. I actually failed, remember you DO NOT FAIL until you quit, and I quit!

I decided that it was time to go out and find a special new pair of favorite cuff links. They had to have been thrown out accidentally. One positive development came out of the 5 hours I searched, my house was never cleaner. This was the first time in a very long time that I actually believed I failed. That night i picked up my second favorite book for inspiration, Dale Carnegie's Lifetime Plan For Success, which is just a compilation of How To Win Friends & Influence People and How To Stop Worrying & Start Living. To put it lightly i was disheartened.





This is why you never give up...

The next morning I woke up happy, after my homemade Starbucks, and I was ready to go out and Slay Some Dragons. I went through the routine of picking out a suit, showering, shaving, bla bla bla. Again wearing a french cuffed shirt with less than desirable stand in cuff links, but I was 99% over it. As I was getting all of my gear ready, my Blackberry, cell phone, my pen, & wallet I reached down into my pants pocket and a sense of peacefulness washed over me. My CUFF LINKS!!!

Somehow they ended up in a pair of suit pants that I was sure they weren't in. This is a lesson in never giving up. You may think that cuff links aren't worth looking 5 hours of your time. They cost close to $100, so we're talking about $20 an hour for some old used cuff links right?

Wrong!

It's about doing what others won't.

-Maybe that's buying a house, renting it out, and learning people management skills dealing with tenants while they pay for your house over 15 or 30 years.

-Maybe it's staying up until 2:00 a.m. after your spouse and kids are in bed while you're learning how to get traffic to your new website.

-Maybe its an undeniable urge to get out of the herd of sheople and Make it Happen.

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforums.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/

W.I.T.

(Whatever It Takes)

Okay friends, here's my style of motivation. Whatever It Takes, what does this really mean? It certainly doesn't mean being unethical, lying, cheating, or stealing. I had to get those out of the way. It means
"Never Quitting".

You haven't failed until You quit.

Everyday in life I watch people stumble through, even those that posess some sembelance of what's going on. There is some unwritten rule in this country that once youv'e finished high school, college, or trade school that your done learning. This thought process is part of what Kiyosaki & Trump talk about in their collaboation "Why We Want You To Be Rich".

Don't get me wrong, I do not think that I'm perfect. I have certainly passed up eduactional opportunities in my lifetime. Now I am smart enough to close my mouth and use my ears whenever I have a chance to learn something new.

It's not very often you don't see myself and my partner Nathan at any real estate event that we know about in our area. We absolutely support other real estate groups as well as a number of other civic and entreprenureal driven organizations. Back to the meat of my story.

There is no reason that all of my friends out there reading this are not succeeding at higher levels. Most of us have been blessed with all of the talents required. The most important one though, is one that we have to conceive in our own mind, Desire. You see without Desire there can be no grand finale of your plan.

Every plan starts with a Dream. Measureable steps need to be taken to make that Dream an achieveable Goal. Without desire though, the goal will usually not be reahed. Eveyone can get lucky once in a while, but I am one of those people that seem to be lucky all of the time.(see the words surounding my picture on the right side)

Without Desire we wouldn't be living in the Motor City because Henry Ford would have given up his Dream.

Without Desire we couldn't look at the American Flag and pledge our allegiance and live the Dream we have been afforded.

Without Desire we would cease to exist.


We all have Desire. What we need to do is to figure out the secret to harnessing it. If you want to be a succesful entrepreneur, even part time, you have to have an undying Desire to Succeed. In our comapny, Jeffrey Douglas Property Investments, Inc my partner and I are never satisfied. Our unwritten motto, even after a super business deal is; "We're just getting started". You see the world is all of ours for the taking. When I was in commission sales, by the way commission salespeople happen to probably be the most cynical group on the planet, my Dream was torn down every day.

I had a Goal to become finacially free enough to fire my boss and start my own real estate investing company. I came in contact with about 75 people daily in my old life. I have to say that less than 5 didn't Live To Discourage me. There were a few friends that I miss very much that used to tell me everyday "Dylan, you're too young, too smart, and too driven to work for this company". Luckily I let their kind words drown out the sorrows from the rest of the crowd. So in June of 2004, I kindly said hasta la vista, and burned the ship that I sailed away in, once I hit shore of course.

If there is one bit of advice that you must take from me is to Never Let Anyone Hold You Back From Your Dreams. I'm not saying quit your job and go out and buy houses. I'm saying write out your goals, and Do Not Ever Stop until you achieve them.

Oh yeah...Make It Happen!!!

important sites:
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/