Working intimately with so many entrepreneurs, I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about virtual assistants.

Tales of mis-hiring, terrible work quality, overbilling, identity theft…

I even heard one story about a new VA taking off to Central America never to be heard from again.

(Okay, that one actually happened to ME!)

I’ve been through it all — good & bad — but I’ve actually worked with the same incredible VA, Christiana, for almost 18 months now. And honestly, having her has changed my life.

VERY few entrepreneurs can grow their businesses & thrive as lone rangers.

There’s a point where you simply HAVE to start exercising only your strengths & outsourcing all your weaknesses if you want to grow.

Read the rest of this entry…

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

The U.S. Senate is considering a bill that would severely limit the way you do business as a creative real estate investor and, more importantly, is an inexcusable infringement of the property rights of all Americans.

HR 1728, which you can view in its entirety here, deals with a plethora of mortgage-related issues, mostly around limited terms and fees on residential loans.

But the heinous piece of the legislation is in section 101(3)(e), which defines the affected principals as:

(E) does not include, with respect to a residential mortgage loan, a person, estate, or trust that provides mortgage financing for the sale of 1 property in any 36-month period, provided that such loan -

(i) is fully amortizing;
(ii) is with respect to a sale for which the seller determines in good faith and documents that the buyer has a reasonable ability to repay the loan;
(iii) has a fixed rate or an adjustable rate that is adjustable after 5 or more years, subject to reasonable annual and lifetime limitations on interest rate increases; and
(iv) meets any other criteria the Federal banking agencies may prescribe;

Yeah, I know, confusing.

Read the rest of this entry…

Posted in Real Estate | Comments (16)

What makes an NFL football dynasty?

In other words, what makes a team a perennial Superbowl champion?

In the last few days, I’ve been thinking about this & drawing a lot of parallels to my business.

One of the fundamental keys, I’ve realized, is simply architecting the right team.

In his book “Good to Great,” Jim Collins discusses the commonalities shared by all “great companies” (a great company being one that produced cumulative stock returns of at least 3x the general market over a 15-year period… there were only 11 U.S. companies that met this strict criteria between 1965-1995.)

One of the foundational commonalities between these 11 companies was this:

Before ever deciding which direction to take their “bus,” the great companies focused on (1) getting the right people ON the bus, (2) getting the wrong people OFF the bus, and (3) getting the right people in the right seats.

So many companies (and teams) do this backwards.

Read the rest of this entry…

Posted in Business | Comments (7)

Day 5 :: Black Sand Beach :: Strategic Byproducts

Posted in Business | Comments (4)

Day 4 :: Kalalau Valley :: Speed of Implementation

“Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.” - Ecclesiastes 11:4

If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.

Read the rest of this entry…

Posted in Business | Comments (2)

Day 3 :: Waimea Canyon :: USP’ing Your List

“I have made more than 40 sea voyages & numerous land trips, & have gone clear around the globe once… I made all those journeys because I could not help myself–made them with rebellion in my heart, & bitterness. Human life is maliciously planned with one principal object in view: to make you do all the different kinds of things you particularly don’t want to do.” – Mark Twain in 1909

Here’s a phenomenal article by Jay Abraham on creating your USP…

Read the rest of this entry…

Posted in Business | Comments (0)

Day 2 :: Shipwrecks :: Outsourcing

Immediately after this video I tackled the lady in the pink shirt that walked behind me.

Just kidding. Maybe.

Read the rest of this entry…

Posted in Business | Comments (0)

Day 1 :: Spouting Horn :: Mastering Your Inner Game

There is a blowhole behind me in this video, believe it or not. (No jokes about me being the “blowhole”).

An interesting concept I learned from the great business mind, Ken Glickman, is that 24-hour days are for losers.

Read the rest of this entry…

Posted in Business | Comments (7)

I recently had one of the best surf sessions I’ve had in a LONG time.  By “best” I mean most satisfying… stoke-inducing… I don’t know.  If you haven’t surfed, it’s hard to translate the feeling.

Just think of what activity turns you on the most & think of the BEST session you’ve ever had of that activity.  A time that, when you think about it 2 weeks later, still has you excited.

(I realize where you may be headed with the above exercise, but let’s move on. Perv.)

As I’ve processed what it was about this session that made it so special, I realized there are 2 lessons that can be applied to life & business.

1) Big steps of faith reap big rewards

This day was big. Big enough to make an experienced surfer’s heart race.

Read the rest of this entry…

Posted in Business, Faith, Life | Comments (15)

“May heaven describe you as one of those rare people who live to achieve Great Things for the glory of God.”

That’s the closing sentence of Bruce Wilkinson’s The Dream Giver. Read it again slowly.

“May heaven describe you as one of those RARE people who live to achieve Great Things for the glory of God.”

It truly IS a rare thing, isn’t it?

To know someone — ANYone — who is unquestionably living their Dream, achieving tremendous success in this life, and radiating Christlike-ness every step of the way.

That’s my life’s mission: To qualify as that rare breed, and to help others qualify as well.

A while ago, I heard the brilliant Ken Glickman paint the following picture of life… Read the rest of this entry…

Posted in Books, Life | Comments (11)