So You Think Your An Entrepreneur? part 2

More Reasons That You're A Salesperson

As I said in my first column, like it or not we are all salespeople. Our lives are made up of a series of “sales presentations”, otherwise known as presenting ourself in the best light possible. Whether we’re out for a job interview, trying for a raise, or just convincing a seller that you need more concessions – you are making a presentation.

The mental state of the successful entrepreneur must be in-line with the message. If you don’t believe that, try giving a pump up your sales force when you’re depressed – it won’t work! You must be aware of and manage your own mental state and that of your listeners or communication channels will not be open. I don’t have space to elaborate on methods of doing this, but here are a few key hints. First, “AAI” – Act As If. Act the way you want to feel, it’s amazing how this works. Use music to set the mood if necessary, dress the part, and reduce your anxiety by whatever method works for you. Remember that you’re the one in charge, and presentation mastery isn’t about being perfect – it’s about achieving your objective.

As co-founder of The REIA of Macomb, Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investor Association the following paragraph comes from personal experience. Fear of public speaking ranks high on most people’s list of worst fears. You may find you’re unusually nervous, develop poor voice tone or negative body language, and be unable to respond to audience feedback. Controlling your anxiety lets you to focus on your audience and their needs. The basic approach to do this is the asking ourselves a list of “what if?” questions. Another way to overcome our fear is to take ownership of the situation. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Double check your notes, and prepare yourself.

Know Your Audience. Whether it is one person or many that you are presenting to you must do three basic things: Meet their needs, reduce tension, and avoid mistakes. A good knowledge of the listeners will give you a chance to tailor your objectives to meet their needs. This also allows you to reduce the “audience-presenter” tension so they will focus on what you’re saying. With a clear knowledge of your audience’s views you’ll be sensitive to potential “hot buttons”.

Engage your audience whenever possible. Boring listeners leads to missed objectives or total failure. You must be flexible and responsive to your audience. To do this you need to use techniques that will give you audience feedback; you must diagnose the cause of the problem you’re addressing, and finally you must choose the solution to act upon.

When you’re presenting watch for non-verbal behavior such as clock-watching, foot-tapping, and cat-napping. When any of these are present get some feedback with, “Is it too warm in here?” or “Should I pick up the pace?” That breaks the attention or lack of, of the audience and brings them back to your talk. One important thing to remember is that the mind can absorb no more than the seat can endure. Sometimes a simple thing like taking a short stretch break will solve the problem.

..........................(How would you like to feel like this guy?)


If you focus on your objective and make sure that your audience is interested, you will undoubtedly achieve higher success in sales.


Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.successinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.dylantanaka.com/

The 90/10 Rule

How To Turn $3.00 into $30,000!

The old saying was 20% of people are responsible for 80% of Success. Oh how things have changed. Success in America is out there for the taking. When I say Success it means more than just completing a task and having a positive outcome.

To me Success means;

• Happiness
  


• Achievement



• Profit (Win-Win)
  


• Effort
  


• Integrity
  


• Awareness
  


• Creation
  


• Performance

I can keep going but by now you get the picture. At a certain point in my business life I had a moment of clarity. I somehow understood what it took to become successful in Michigan real estate investing & entrepreneurship in general. Here is the secret...

Do what the 10% do that the other 90% won't!

To become truly successful and financially independent you must be able to swim upstream.

That may mean NOT turning on your T.V. and reading and remembering a book.

Maybe it's sending hand-written letters to your business associated that you are going to do more business with in the upcoming year. .

Actually writing down your dreams first, then your goals, and finally the action steps to achieve those goals in a measured timely fashion.

Live outside the box and take the path less traveled every time if it will have a greater outcome.

Start with the end in mind.

Most importantly cut the things (people even) out of your life that stand between you and your perfect vision of your life.

DO NOT Let Anyone Crush Your Dream

Would you like the answer to the wild statement above about "How I Will Turn $3.00 Into $30,000? Here goes...

For my birthday in October my partner Nathan Mayes, his wife, and my girlfriend went on a Western Michigan Wine Tour. See Nathan and I are born 5 days apart so our better halves put the trip together for our birthdays. As we pulled into a charming little city called Dundee, I snuck out of the tasting and headed across Main Street to a used book store.

There is something special about a small town where everyone smiles and greets you like its 1955 in Mayberry, something pure. So I walked into the used book store and the owner immediately asked me what I was looking for. I said business books. Before taking me toward the Business, Finance, & Motivations sections she stopped me at a separate book shelf with some old looking books on it. I would put them at 50-70 years old on average. She then explained to me that this section was for books signed by the authors. She then pulled out a new find that was a study guide for the 1960's focused on helping prospective real estate agents pass their exam! Try to find help like that at B & N.

Here's where I was able to make a projected 10,000% risk-free investment. A red, white, and blue book caught my eye. To my excitement the author was one of my favorites and I certainly had never heard of this title before. I grabbed it in anticipation to see if it was discounted enough to justify buying without knowing anything about it.

$3.00

What I know now I would have paid $3000 for the information that I gained from the book. Are you ready to find out the title???

Secrets Of Closing The Sale

by Zig Ziglar

From the cover:

OVER 100 specific closes, for professional salespeople PLUS over 700 sales questions AND dozens of persuasion procedures to help doctors, ministers, household executives, teachers, parents and FULL TIME REAL ESTATE ENTREPRENEURS effectively sell their ideas and concepts.

Oaky the full time real estate entrepreneurs was added in, but it may as well have been titled Hey Dylan Tanaka Buy Me NOW!!!

From what I can tell the book was written in 1982 in a time before all of the sensational self-help promoters of the 90's to today. Zig Ziglar is the real deal. if you haven't read him before you need to. What this book really does is go through almost 1000 objections that you will hear as an entrepreneur/business owner/real estate investor/salesperson/human being. The funny thing is in our day and age where Palm Pilot's are already a thing of the past, salesmanship 25 years ago is the same as it is today.

My current favorite "close" of the book goes like this;

To help his clients Take Action Now, he had a very unique business card made. If a perspective buyer told Zig, "Yes I know that I need it, I'll call you when I get around to it". At that point Zig would then pull out his business card, on one side was all of Mr Ziglar's professional information, on the backside was this

You see a true salesperson can overcome any objection. Whether it's by agreeing with their concern or drowning them in features, advantages, and benefits.

So I will end this with another question...

Do you have what it takes to be the 10%, or is being in the ordinary 90% majority your destiny?

~Make It Happen~

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.successinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.dylantanaka.com/

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/

A Night of Credit Millionaires

Tom Kish Delivers To Almost Record Breaking Crowd

On Thursday, November 27th The REIA of Macomb turned 11 months old. Our first meeting was in January of 2007. In eleven short months we've grown to well over 180 members! For those of you who are unaware of what The REIA is here's a short breakdown.

The REIA of Macomb is Michigan's Premier Real Estate Investor's Association. It's a non-profit organization that I co-founded with my partner Nathan Mayes, open to the public, for real estate investors and professionals to learn, grow, and network.

I'm not going to get too much into the REIA itself, just about our most recent event. Tom Kish flew in from Miami, Fla to be the guest speaker of the month. Tom lives in Las Vegas and flies all over the whole country teaching entrepreneurs and real estate investors how to get more unsecured business lines of credit. We had around 160 attendees which put us close to room capacity.

The Extreme Networking pre-meeting was absolutely awesome. I met at least 20 new folks who had come out for their first time. Of course I saw 100 or so members that were in attendance. We've actually been forced to move our Main Event each month to a completely new venue who's capacity is double our current locations.

There was about 7 or 8 different vendors working tables on Thursday night. We had Diana Sloan from Chirco Title, Noel Selewski from the Selewski Insurance Group, Alan Faitel from RealFi, Erik Stark from Gold Key Realty, and a few others.

A couple other notable speakers of the night were Adam Davis and Paul Smudski. Adam Davis is the newly appointed vise president of the REIA of Macomb. Adam has done a ton of consulting with real estate investors and put together a FREE REPORT on

"How To Avoid The Shocking Mistake 9 out of 10 Real Estate Investors Make That Costs Them Thousands of Dollars Every Single Year".

If you are interested in obtaining a FREE COPY of this report go to http://www.successinrei.com/. You can sign up to receive
Adam Davis' FREE REPORT on this site.

Paul Smudski, The Ambassador of Wealth In R.E.I. came up to announce to the crowd the success of the new elite mastermind group. Paul encouraged all of the people in the crowd to take a look at "Taking their real estate investing career to the next level". If you have any questions go to www.WealthInREI.com.

The inauguration of a new Success & Networking club in Oakland County was announced by Drew Sygit, founder of The Lending Edge Team at Meadowbrook Mortgage in Bloomfield Hills. The new group is called The Oakland Business Forum, an affiliate of The National Business Forum. The clubs first event will take place on Tuesday January 15th, doors open at 6:00 p.m. at The Exclusive Troy Hilton located at 5500 Crooks Rd Troy, MI 48098.

As I like to say the event was a triumphant success. There was more pure networking and power team building at The REIA of Macomb's November Main Event than any previous. For me personally there is nothing more rewarding than being able to introduce business acquaintances of mine that are truly able to help each other in their respective businesses.

If you haven't been out to a REIA of Macomb meeting I absolutely urge you to get there. You have no excuse because your first meeting is always FREE. If you have been there or are a member that doesn't make it every month, than shame on You! The Power of being around like minded people can be called a Mastermind or Collective Genius.

Are You 100% fulfilled in your real estate investing business?

The Man Who Started It All

STOP Right Now & Listen To The Master

If you know me or have heard me speak. you know that I believe Napoleon Hill can change lives from the grave. I read Think & Grow Rich at least 3 times before I ever thought about buying a house. It helped me form principles that I live by in life and business.

I don't care if it takes you 3 months you need to read this book. If you can't get it done, buy the audio book on cd, or if you know what your doing download the mp3.

If this inspires you to start studying Mr. Hill's teachings, please send me your thoughts and successes that you can attribute to Napoleon Hill's Laws Of Success.

Spoken words leave impressions, written words leave tracks.
-Napoleon Hill

See Ya At The REIA,
Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforum.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/

So You Think Your an Entrepreneur? part 1

You’re A Salesperson!

Our life is made up of a series of “sales presentations”. Sales may not be your gig, but if you’re the boss you’re making presentations everyday. Be it a pitch to your Board, announcing a change to employees, selling an idea to your spouse, or just trying to win others over to your point of view – you need to sharpen you sword to win in life.

People support solutions that they help create, so involve them by allowing your employees or bosses to participate with questions or ideas. It goes without saying that to not involve key people is risky, because messages can be misunderstood. Use lots of open-ended questions in your presentation to draw out the silent type.


Preparation is a key to success. Prepare your listeners to what’s coming during or before your presentation. Give your listeners a brief overview of what you'll be going over. Make pre-meeting contacts with those invited by email, phone, or in person.

Do your research! People who make it look easy and are effective presenters have hidden weapons. You need stats to back up your ideas, and they have an imaginary bag full of stories, examples, jokes, and ice-breakers to use when needed.

The next thing you must do is to explain “why?” The single most powerful thing you can do to convince your buyer of something is to give a good reason why they should buy what your selling, and believe what you say. most importantly is to have the utmost integrity, so that you believe in your self first. People want and need a clear “WIIFM” – “what’s in it for me?” – to be able to react positively to what you want them to do. It’s extremely important that you deliver a vision of features, advantages, & benefits. Hearing the “why” won’t automatically generate a “yes” to your proposition, but it’ll open the door for receptivity to your idea. In our business you have to take away any objections that they may have. We always present our properties in top-notch, clean condition.

Life is a sales job from beginning to end. From the moment that we seek how to get approval as children, winning friends at school, getting our first girlfriend/boyfriend, getting our first job, getting engaged and married, achieving our goals, and anything else you can think of in between.

The real key to selling is to believe in yourself. I started in commission furniture sales. Later that transformed into mortgages. Now it's getting sellers to believe in the offer I make, contractors to bid against each other, and buyers to understand the value we offer them. We’re selling ourselves or our ideas all along the way. Who said you weren’t a salesperson?

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

13 Simple Ways to Use Craigslist To Spike Your Business FREE part 2

The Second Half of Why You Have No Excuse Not to Advertise For FREE



As I talked about a little earlier Craigslist is a tool that all Michigan real estate investors and entrepreneurs should be using. Okay let's finish up...

8. Finding Everything You Need on Craigslist

Remember during my first discussion I said Craigslist gets 4 Billion page views a month. That's proof American's believe in it. Now that you understand what Craigslist is, you may still wonder how it can help you specifically. There is no one simple answer to this question. The benefits you can gain from Craigslist will depend on what you are looking for from this community. In this section we will discuss some of the relevant uses of Craigslist for those who are seeking to purchase products or services, find a job or meet friends or romantic partners and in the following section we will discuss how Craigslist can be beneficial to a business.

9. How Can Craigslist Help Your Business?

Business owners can benefit from using Craigslist. As previously mentioned, Craigslist receives approximately four billion page views per month so advertising on Craigslist makes it easy to reach a large audience with minimal effort. Business owners can use Craigslist in a number of ways. The most obvious use is to post advertisements touting products and services offered. Another way business owners can use Craigslist is to check out competitors on Craigslist and learn more about how they are reaching potential customers.

10. Using Craigslist to Network

Those who are interested in organizing online networking opportunities for like-minded individuals to share ideas can also use Craigslist to accomplish their goal. Placing an advertisement on Craigslist which directs traffic to a message board can help to create a thriving community. Again it is important to place this advertisement in a location where the target audience will be reached.
* Directing traffic to a website
* Directing traffic to a message board
* Soliciting participation in an e-newsletter

11. Answering Postings on Craigslist

Some of the features on Craigslist include sections for community events, activities and news, personals advertisements, discussion forums, housing opportunities, for sale items, services offered, small business advertisements, jobs and resumes. While some of these sections such as the discussion forum and parts of the community section exist exclusively for the purpose of exchanging information or ideas, other sections such as the personals, housing, sale, services, job and resume sections provide the opportunity for users to respond to advertisements for more information or to make a purchase.

12. Can Craigslist Improve Your Business?

The answer to this question is yes and no and maybe. It all depends on the way in which the business owners utilize Craigslist. Savvy Internet marketers who are able to identify the target audience and create sales copy which entices the reader may find advertising on Craigslist to be incredibly profitable. Conversely Internet markets that do not do their research and take a spamming approach to advertising on Craigslist are not likely to see significant financial gains.

There is certainly an opportunity to gain financial benefit through advertising on Craigslist. Advertising for all products and services is free on Craigslist making it cost effectively. Additionally, Craigslist already receives extensive traffic with approximately ten million visitors generating four billion page views each month so there is no need to drive traffic to the website. While Craigslist offers so many advertising benefits, these benefits may be wasted if the advertiser does not do his research or evaluate the competition.

13. Why Your Business Cannot Afford Not to Advertise on Craigslist

Craigslist is not always the best advertising option but there are certain situations in which a business cannot afford not to advertise on Craigslist.Small start-up companies often have a great deal of work ahead of them to begin competing with existing companies who are already thriving. These companies may already have established client bases and may have substantial funding budges for the purpose of obtaining new customers. Customer loyalty can be difficult to break and new companies either have to offer significantly better quality products or services, comparable products or services at reduced prices or a slick marketing campaign with consumer appeal.

It is important to not that while free advertising is appealing, the advertising should be just as sophisticated as it would in markets where the business owners would be required to pay a fee to run the advertisement. This will help the business to maintain a professional image and will entice potential customer to try their products or services.

In conclusion, using Craigslist is another part of doing "Whatever It Takes" and of course "Making It Happen". In 2008 and beyond staying on top of technology will keep our printers using more ink on our tax returns. And that's a good thing. Ask yourself this question, Why is Amazon.com worth more than General Motors?

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

13 Simple Ways to Use Craigslist To Spike Your Business FREE part 1

There is no excuse to have a tough time finding tenants, sellers, or good cheap contractors.

Here are 13 easy ways to use Craigslist to make more money in your business...

1. Affordable Advertising on Craigslist

The advertising on Craigslist is certainly affordable. In fact there is no fee for the majority of posts made on Craigslist. Craigslist began as a non-profit organization but in 1999 it was converted to a for profit organization. However, operating costs are supported by charging nominal fees for help wanted advertisements placed on the San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City Craigslist websites. Additionally, there is a fee for brokerage apartment listings in New York City.

One good thing about Detroit, FREE Craigslist posts!

2. How Do You Use Craigslist?

The beauty of Craigslist is it can be used in a variety of ways. Some of the most popular uses of Craigslist include advertising rentals, meeting contractors, and finding sellers. Craigslist is appealing because there is no need to generate traffic to the website. Craigslist already receives approximately ten million visitors per month who generate approximately four billion page views per month.

3. Use the Search Feature to Find the Target Audience

The search feature on Craigslist can also provide valuable insight which can help advertisers to locate their target audience. Advertisers can start this process by entering keywords related to their products or services to search in various sections of Craigslist. During this time, take note of competitors’ advertisements which are returned during these searches and the sections in which these advertisements are placed. If competitors’ advertisements appear in sections which appear logical, it might be worthwhile to consider placing your own advertisements in these sections to ensure target audience members find your advertisement when searching these sections.

Next carefully examine all advertisements by competitors. Pay particular attention to the keywords used in the advertisements. This is important because savvy Internet marketers recognize the need to optimize their advertisements for the same keywords being used by competitors. Failure to do so may result in potential customers only viewing the competitors’ advertisements when searching for these particular keywords.

4. Promoting Your Business through Craigslist

Craigslist can prove to be an excellent avenue for business promotion. Whether an individual has a small business which they operate on a part time basis or a thriving business which has become a time consuming endeavor, Craigslist can help the business to increase in profits and popularity.

Even the most well thought out and innovative marketing campaign will falter if it is not reaching the intended audience. This is why it is so important for those who are trying to promote their business on Craigslist to be sure they categorize their advertisement correctly to ensure their intended audience will receive the intended message.

5. Understanding Craigslist

Many people hear the name Craigslist and know it refers to some sort of website but many are still unclear about the different ways in which Craigslist can be used. However, Craigslist receives over four billion page views per month so there are obviously many people who have a better understanding of the services offered by Craigslist. Essentially, Craigslist is similar to the classified section of a newspaper where individual can either post advertisements or respond to existing advertisements.

6. The Most Popular Use For Craigslist

One of the most popular uses of Craigslist is for business promotion. Both small businesses and large corporations can take advantage of the free advertising offered on Craigslist to promote their business and attract new customers. Business owners are free to place advertisements on Craigslist in the section for services offered. This section is broken down into a number of categories to allow business owners to place their advertisement in the most appropriate location where it is likely to reach the target audience. There is also a section for small business advertisements but it might be more worthwhile to place advertisements in one of the appropriate categories because it is more likely to be found by interested individuals.

7. Craigslist for Beginners

Although Craigslist has been around in one form or another since 1995, there are still some who have no idea how to use Craigslist. These individuals are missing out on a wonderful opportunity to be a part of a growing and continually evolving online community. This community is an excellent resource for finding information, finding jobs, finding friends or dates, making purchases, selling items or discussing important issues.

Housing Section
Craigslist’s housing section offers a variety of options related to lodging. Users of this section can find apartments or homes available for rent, sublet opportunities, potential roommate situations, house or apartment swaps, real estate sales, vacation rentals and even storage, parking and office space for rent or sale.

Services Sections
In the services section, service providers may place advertisements for the types of services they offer. Advertisements should be placed in appropriate categories but if there is no appropriate category the advertisement may be placed in the generic small business section.

At any given time you can find 10-20 ads on Craigslist that are generated by us. I have personally found a lease option tenant fro Las Vegas for a Roseville house over a year ago. Knock on wood, everything is still going great with them. I have met other investors through Craigslist, wholesale buyers, and even current REIA Members found us on Craigslist.

If you're not using Craigslist you're either lazy or silly. So learn how to type and hit submit, Make It Happen!!!

C'mon It's FREE.

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

The Long Road to Success

Is It Paved With Comfort or Crisis?

I once read that crisis is change happening. Do you agree with this statement? If you really stop to think about it when faced with adversity do you take the path less traveled?

We all struggle with this. Whether it's changing insurance agents or having to let go of a once "key" employee. Something that you'll often hear me say is "Successful people are those willing to do what others won't." It may be as simple as working on Saturday to stay ahead of the competition or turning the T.V. on mute, it has to be on right :), and picking up a great book or reading a blog to learn something new.

As my generation gets older the deck is stacked against us. Unless we are willing to learn faster and work longer, there may be nothing left to retire with at 65. What is the solution you ask? Taking the bull by the horns and Making it Happen. In Michigan right now there is more opportunity now than ever. My partner Nathan Mayes and I are running around telling everyone who will listen that this is The Millionaire Maker Market.

How to manage your schedule and stay stress free

In 2008, staying on top of things and being able to successfully manage your schedule is essential if you want to remain stress free, a schedule is all about planning your day more efficiently which ultimately ensures that you get everything accomplished that you're trying to. The best way to do this is to list your time and tasks in order of priority and determine what top priority is and to set out goals in your life that you want to accomplish. It's true the devils in the details, but don't keep gettin' ready to get ready, understand?

Determining Your goals and priorities

In order to be able to manage your time more efficiently and get the most out of your day you have to be in control of your life and decide exactly what it is that you want out of life and what you need to do in order to get what you want. Next you need to manage your priorities efficiently; you do this by deciding what is more important to you. Start chopping off the bottom, less important ones. I'm not saying don't do them, if they still need to be done appoint someone else to do them. The next step is analyzing what you do with your time by finding out exactly how much time you spend on a particular task in life, a journal will help you greatly with this part and you should make a list of your schedule every day for 2 to 4 weeks and determine exactly how long you take on certain things. Some of the things you should include could be work, studying/learning, exercising, sleeping and relaxation, once you have done this you can then go on to evaluate the use of your time and decide if you are spending your life wisely

Matching available time with your priorities

To manage your time and make your day more efficient you need to take a look at the detailed list you prepared and use your time to match your priorities. As well as taking into account the amount of time you actually spend on each task you should also ask yourself if you are spending enough quality time on a task. There are times when my partner and I sit back with a cup of coffee from 4:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m. and all we do is dream build and mastermind. Make sure that you are adding value all the time you are spending. A good example of this would be are you studying/learning when you are likely to take in more information, or do you fit it in whenever you can? If you are leaving studying until the end of the day, are likely to be tired and not concentrate as well as you would earlier on in the day, or maybe at 5:00 a.m. ?

As Dan Kennedy says "Stay away from Time Vampires."

Tips for managing your time more efficiently

Break down large tasks into smaller ones and tackling each individual part one at a time can ease the stress considerably than facing one larger task. You can't eat a whole cow in one bite!

Get rid of routine tasks, if a task is done just out of routine instead of necessity then eliminate it if possible. Outsource it to your assistant, or better your virtual assistant.

Look at your habits to see if they could be changed, maybe you could do certain things different ways and save yourself some time in the process. Getting you clothes ready the night before for example.

Evaluate yourself to determine if you are a morning person or night person and organize tasks to use whatever time suits you best. In 2008 you can do a lot of work when other are still sleeping.

Learn to say the word “NO” when asked to do something for someone, its okay doing favors but it can take considerable time from your day. Train your business acquaintances to e-mail rather than call. it may take 15 seconds to answer an e-mail, but 15 minutes on the phone with possibly less effective results.

As most of you know I certainly believe in relationship building. It's what I spend 25% of my day on. I couldn't invest in Michigan foreclosures without all of the contacts that I have and friends that I've made over the last 3 years. All I'm telling you is you must be in control of your time.

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

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock

A new American Millionaire is born every 24 seconds,
will You be next?

It may be hard for some of you to contemplate. There were a few other statements that were hard to believe over time.

1. The Earth is round.
   
2. Man will be on the moon.
   
3. People would buy and sell houses on a T.V. with a keyboard(personal computer)

Without Belief none of the wonderful things mentioned above would have become universal truths. This concept has been written about as early as the 1930's when Napoleon Hill penned the phrase "If You can dream it, You can believe it, You can achieve it."

There has never been another time or place in history where you goals can be achieved so easily. Understand, when I say easy, I'm not saying that it won't take dedication, persistence, belief, and patience. What I'm saying is that capital (credit) has never been as easy to secure. Information i.e. the internet, never existed before the early 90's. You can do market research and demographics on your business is seconds, for FREE, as opposed to an overpriced consulting company and an 8 week long report project.

The technology available to us today is the main catalyst to help American Millionaires pop up at almost 3 a minute!!! That's 150 an hour, and 3600 per day. There are 13 year olds starting successful EBAY businesses and making on Donny Deutsch on CNBC. Even in more conventional businesses the effects of e-mail, or being able to apply for a mortgage online has changed the world that we live in. There are "NO EXCUSES" for failure in America.

I don't want to get in trouble for generalizing so

READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK.

You would have to be oblivious to the truth to not know that immigrants in this country are building stronger "bases" than the average American that was born here. The people that have been lucky enough to get a green card, work visa, or citizenship know the opportunity that this county offers. Think about it, how many of you reading this right now that were born here, and your parents were born here also, can't wait until your number gets called and you get to move to Russia leave your family and start the business that you've been dreaming about? Not many. Now reverse the situation. The answer is almost all.

Does the rest of the world know something that we don't? YES

They know that America is the land of opportunity and the streets are lined with gold. That is not a joke. We are so lucky to be Americans because of the Freedom that we almost all take for granted, myself included. Our lives are so cushy here that we don't have to worry about drinking water, land mines, or deadly disease. We can concentrate on building our net worth without those primal interruptions. How many people in Africa, India, China, the Middle East, or South America would sacrifice everything for a chance at our wonderful lives?

Why is it that first generation Americans, who's parents weren't born here, have a higher net worth than 2nd, 3rd, or 4th? The word I used earlier was sacrifice. Winners don't look at opportunity as sacrifice, losers do. here are the definitions of both, you will see the correlation;

Opportunity-a good position, chance, or prospect, as for advancement or success.
Sacrifice-the surrender of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher worth.

Opportunity equals a chance (spending time) for Success (your future).

Sacrifice equals surrendering time (less T.V.) for something of higher worth (your Family's net worth)

Two more;

Winner-a person with a record of successes (you can't have a record until you Make It Happen)

Loser-One that fails consistently, especially a person with bad luck (see pic above for the definition of luck)

Take your pick;

I'm a Loser not willing to Sacrifice.

I'm a Winner who sees Opportunity

Always working at Winning...
Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.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/

Cash Rich, Equity Poor part 2

Retitled: Equity Rich, Cash Poor

In my last post I talked about the ease at which anyone with a lick of sense can become a successful Michigan Income Property owner. As I was on a call with one of the REIA of Macomb & Wealth In REI members, Bernie Smith, I had a slight epiphany.

Bernie and I were going over a deal he's working in Eastpointe. He already has the lease option tenant committed to $4000 down and $1100 monthly. Not bad for net even having a house for the guy yet! After running down rough numbers it seemed as though Bernie would cashflow $250 monthly when taking into account the properties built-in wealth builder (his tenant) needed. At least a 4 bedroom house with a couple of bathrooms for him and his 5 children.
Whether it was Bernie, myself, or the Collective Genius that was synergized between us, I came up with a way to help Bernie reach wealth status in half the time. I knew coming into the conversation that Bernie and his wife both have great jobs, so cashflow isn't always the most important component of a deal to him. As I said earlier, in my head I was running some rough numbers and came up with a way for Bernie to cashflow some, but leverage his situation to the fullest. It's a simple concept called a
15 Year Mortgage!

You see, the numbers shook out to where he would be cashflowing $250 or so as I stated earlier. In knew that if he was willing to cut that cashflow in half, he would also cut his mortgage in half. Most investors and small, medium, and even large business owners can be quoted saying

"You will live or die with your cashflow".

In most investor's cases, they have a job that is feeding that cashflow need. So why not amortize over 15 instead of 30? Here is the difference on a $75,000 loan...

$75, 000 @ 8% over a 30 year amortization = $550.32

$75,000 @ 7.5% over a 15 year amortization = $695.26

Ask yourself,
"Is less than $150 a month worth 15 years of my life?"

...................................Control Your Time.................................

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

Cash Rich, Equity Poor part 1

Over the next two posts I will examine similar investing strategies that will have a different outcome. In our current market we can buy single family homes and cashflow $200 without being experts. With the drop in property prices and the consisitent renal rates, their has become an inequality in the marketplace. And it's to Our advantage!



Eastpointe 3 Bedroom, Brick Bungalow, Basement & Garage
$101,000 purchased 24 months ago


24 to 36 months ago as investors in Eastpointe for example, we would pay anywhere from $90,000 to $105,000 for a 3 bedroom, brick ranch, with a basement and garage. Now let's look at what that property would cost per month:

Debt Service: $583.33 ($100,000 @ 7% interest only)
Taxes: $275 ($3300 annually)
Insurance: $45 ($540 annually)
Water: $50 ($600 annually )

Total: $953.33

For us to make these numbers work our exit strategy was always a lease option. We could usually get better tan market rent, $1100 in this case, and we were able to sell the home for an 10% over market elevated price. When mortgages were easier to qualify for, and it was a sellers market, this strategy worked great. However the market has shifted and we all must adjust.




Eastpointe, 3 Bedroom, Brick Ranch, Basement & Garage
Purchased and repaired at $60,000 in September 2007

Let's use today's numbers to look at the opportunity afforded to us in this buyers market that we are in. Just to qualify a line item that you may think was missing above, our price includes repairs.

Debt Service: $440.25 ($60,000 @ 8% principle & interest over 30 years)
Taxes: $275 ($3300 annually)
Insurance: $45 ($540 annually)
Water: $50 ($600 annually )

Total: $810.25

You can see at today's pricing you can pay principle and interest, cashflow almost $200 monthly, and own a home for 60% of 36 months ago pricing. Obviously values are down, but it is to our advantage.

Take for example the changes in the mortgage industry in the last 6 months to a year. There are more renters out there today than ever before. We are all able to deliver the bread and butter 3 bed, basement homes to the Americans that need them. I wish I had some hard numbers to back this next statement up, but I have to believe that there are more than 10,000 renters in the tri-county are that can afford $900-$1100 per month. I don't know your personal goals, but if you want to own 10, 20, even 100 houses, what is Your excuse?

My next post will help you discover the power of being
Equity Rich & Cash Poor.

~Make It Happen~
www.REIAofMacomb.com
www.PrettyMiHomes.com
www.WeOfferToday.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/