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/

Success: Given or Earned

"There is no shortcut." A law of success preached to me by one of my business mentors just last week. We were reflecting on real estate, being entrepreneurs, and what it takes to succeed. When I say succeed, we weren't talking about owning your own business and having a good life. No, No. This mentor of mine has a quarter million a year cash business, well over 100 residential units, around 20 commercial buildings, a very respectable personal residence, and a vacation house in Naples, Florida with a shiny BMW convertible waiting for him and his wife in the garage. Oops, I forgot to mention that he has an estimated 75% equity across he board. When this man talks I listen.

As we were chatting about what he stated, that if he were of our generation, he would be worth 3x what he is due to technology and information. In my opinion he is selling himself short, I believe that he would be worth 7x what he is now. But I have to agree with this man, there is no substitute for hard work. Maybe if you are a dot com millionaire, or born to a blue blood family in which everyone is a doctor. For most of us normal folks, hard work, dedication, and a love for what we do is what will bring us fortune in the future.

Believe me when I say that I hate cliché’s. Yet I have to join the cliché crowd and say that my generation and the one directly after me is pretty lazy. We seem to have this overwhelming sense of entitlement. I would like to put some of this blame on our parents, the baby boomers. It seems as though the generation before them was the one that had Pride, Integrity, and Honor. We are lucky now-a-days to trust one or two people in business. Back in the WWII generation. everything was settled with a handshake. When a man, or woman went to work they took pride in themselves first and their company second. They didn't have "Family Leave" or drug and alcohol rehab programs built in like we do today. They put their nose to the grindstone and worked!
Trust me I know that I can work a lot longer, harder, and smarter but at least I can say that I am making it on my own and giving it my all. My partner Nathan Mayes and I closed out 20th deal today. That's 20 purchases, not purchases, sales, leases, evictions, or general contracting jobs. We have also built with the help of many other the fastest growing real estate and entrepreneurs investing club in Michigan, The REIA of Macomb, which will sign up it's 200th member this month. We have also started coaching a handful of individuals to help them meet their business goals.

Back to my mentors statement "There are NO shortcuts". He's right, almost. We have found one shortcut that has ultimate been the igniter for much of our success. It's called Cooperation. What does that mean? My definition of Cooperation is; Networking, Sharing, Learning' Growing, Teaching, Helping, Caring, but most of all Never Giving Up.


~Make It Happen~
My sites...
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.wealthinmacomb.com/