Collateral damage.

A bright spot-showing a recent project to my family!


Wouldn't it be nice that when failure strikes it could stike in an isolated way or place vs tripping down some stair and knocking down 3 others like closely stacked bowling pins. Or if your going to wreck, itsn't it better to wipe out in a vacant parking lot than on a busy 2 lane bridge where you cause traffic to grind to a halt-partly from debris and the rest from rubber neck drivers.

Try as we will to prevent it, a gernade going off in my back pocket will hurt me and people near me (friends and family).

I recently have had to make some tough choices in the interest of preserving future business viability that includes letting some properties go back to the various banks that lent money on them. The known ensuing damage included the loss of the property, credit, tenants and some collection difficulty and calls. The unintended results-mainly vigorous collection attempts by lenders that is sweeping through our widespread family is highly unfortunate and deeply disturbing and embarrasing.

So what should I do, tell everyone what I am having to do, or put out individual fires with appologies and explanations?

Being the boss is not the top job.

Remember when you were a kid and would say to yourself or others, "if I were in charge I would do it this way?" I remember saying that and some of my ideas were good. Well, now I have been the boss on my constuction rehabs and it's not so easy. In fact, I personally would rather just be given an assignment and be left to get it done-and I would get it done fast and well. However it is not in the cards right now for me to "relax and just work". This past week since I bought Wilcox, I have been working with several semi-skilled workers that need direction and assistance. Josh, where's this? What are we doing here? I lost or broke this and can you get another one-now? Can I get paid now for work I will do for you two years from now, and oh yes, cash please?

We are getting alot or work done, but it's not easy. Take a look at the mess.

We are basically taking the shell of a utility room and turning it into a 1 bed unit and renovating 3 other units at the same time. All the workers want me to give them much slack and freedom to work as they "see best", but sometimes I wonder if their "see best" is clouded by highs, hangovers and hurriedness. With my current crew, I have to be there or things will grind to a halt or I will have to spend time later on fixing things.

I have been thinking about ways that I can better manage my "chain gang". Inside joke as most of them have criminal records. If I had plans laid out ahead of time, I know that that would help, just as more prep for a speach makes it flow better upon delivery. My challenge here is that I don't have the construction knowlege to anticipate everything beforehand as I have to just adapt as I go along. I think when we get on to the "normal rehab" stuff that we will be on to soon, I think things will be easier. I was praying more today as I reached the end of my normal abilities. It all worked out and we got a bunch of work done. Today I spent $552 just on labor. Wow!

Life Lessons #2

If you're anything like me then the things you have learned the most from probably came out of the mistakes you've made. So let's take a little time together to reflect on these lessons and to profit from them.



Looking back over your life, what are the three most important lessons you've learned? You can focus this question on your life as a whole, on your business, on your investing, or any specific area of your life you choose.


Here's a few of my top life lessons: Most things end, often unexpectedly, so savor them now. Enjoy them now. Appreciate them now. Take more photographs; write more blogs. Keep reminding myself to truly savor my life right now.


Also, I am incredibly resilient. I can handle just about anything with God's help and my wifes support so let go of my worries and anxieties. I cannot control life but I can move gracefully through it. We are willing to start over again and if that is all that happens and you have your health and family, then it doesn't seem so bad.


What are some of your top life lessons?



Here are a few of my top business lessons: With the right "partners" anything is possible and easy. Partners may be team members, they may be joint venture partners, they may be advisors or mentors, or they may be actual partners. With the right people doors open, markets move, and value is easy to create and capitalize on.


Document, document, document! Most rough business moments could have been avoided by clarifying relationships and responsibilities better in writing. When in doubt, spell it out!


In the world of investing, here are some of my top lessons!


Value my cash more. When I have a lot of it I tend to discount its real worth. But it is precious, so spend it only when I am getting an incredible value.
Evaluate my investments against my written criteria, and run key investments past my advisors to have them make sure I am making my choices from my best and highest self, not from my greedy, "there's so much money to be made in this move" nor from my "I have to invest now or I'll lose out" selves.


Remember, you've already made your mistakes and paid for them. But by turning them into key lessons to guide your future behavior you transform the price you paid in your past into an investment that will yield huge payoffs for you--again and again.

I get to go to work.

It has been almost a week since I have written and I have spent thousands of dollars and spoken tens of thousands of words, but have I made a positive difference in others' lives? I am not a philosopher, but I am able to make simple observations. Like-I will not live forever, since everyone dies. I will get older and more feeble, since everyone does. What does this all mean?


I need to cherish my time and the people that I love like Jo and Noah and my family and my few friends.


The Fosters were here tonight and they were interested in looking over my portfolio of properties and the pics that I have taken along the way. I enjoyed showing them the visuals of years of work in just a few moments. The time seems to be a blur when you flip through the pics.



Earlier this week I got a call from a friend who had moved away from Jax about 1yr ago and he is trying to figure out what's next for him and his wife and whether they should move back here from ATL where they are living in a friends basement. He has been trying unsuccessfully to sell his home for about this whole year. I wish I could help him as I know the pain, but the only thing I could really say is that sometimes you have to walk away to be able to move on.

I know that this thinking (accepting premature financial failure to avoid the greater one down the road) flies in the face of others including my wife, but I know it is true. I would rather be graded by history for what I am ultimately able to accomplish for God and others rather than achieve less special thing but have people say when they saw me "he never gave up on anything before he lost everything trying to make something work out." Don't read me wrong, I want to succeed and win the fights, but I would rather quit a fight early and live to fight again rather than die trying to with a lost cause. Everyone must make their own line about what this really means. I would not slide this thinking into marraige as that IS a lifelong commitment (fight for some people-not me). I love my wife and appreciate her and her various convictions and concerns.

Sometimes the board just fits.

I bought a house today on W30th St. for $20k and I hope to be able to sell it in the mid $50's.

I worked at Dewitt on triming around the doors and windows. Joe did well today because when I showed up I saw a new table saw sitting there all ready to go. He knew I needed one and had talked about getting one and picked one up for a good price at Harbor Freight this AM and then stopped by Lowes and got some other items that we needed. He never told me he was buying the saw with my $$, but we put it to good use today and it worked well and here I am glad that used initiative to help our project.

An amazing thing happened as I came out the house one of the many times today. I looked back at the door and realized that I had missed one piece of needed trim. Right then I looked down and saw a piece of scrap wood that was already painted white like it needed to be and figured it would make a good starting piece to cut up to make fit. I got my tape measure from my handy tool belt that Jo bought me and was ready to measure to cut when--the piece fit perfectly in all 3 diminsions that mattered. It was the perfect lenght, width, and thickness--perfect. I put my tape down and said "wow" and thanked the Lord for that amazing fit. It's just nice in a project with many missed cuts and mistakes to have a 1/1000 chance work out like this one did today. That's cool!!

Point of view

I had to find another lawn guy today as my regular one didn't pay his ph bill and I can't reach him. I found a guy on Craigslist named Mark. He had just a small mower, but he said he needed the work and was willing to do this large yard at Lord Taylor. I met him there at 9:50 but he was already done. He said he trusted me to mow first and then get paid just from talking with me on the ph. Anyway we talked for a few and he mentioned he is and emt and has recently started mowing to help pay for his daughters leukemia medical bills. I can respect that and so here I start giving him ideas on how to build his business and generate more income by doing junk hauling.
I don't know why I always try to help people? I guess I want to see people become more than who they currently are as that is what I try to do. At least I didn't try to talk with him about trying to buy some re as I now know that is not for everyone and at times maybe not even me.

We worked at Dewitt replacing some rotted wood in the garage and closing it in. We also painted. I was trying to let Joe and David work on their own and solve their own pblms, but it was so hard as they kept messing up and came in to fix the mistakes. I know Joe wanted to try to figure it out on his own so I tried to leave them be--sort of. Perry said he my be interested if he can get a good loan and I told him $76k. Obviously he wanted a little better so I told him $75k if he closes in 30 days. That's sort of hard to enforce so it will prob be $75k. He wants some $$ back to redo the bathroom and maybe payoff a little debt. I will keep working to get this home done so it will be ready for either Perry or another buyer. I want to sell this as I need the $$ for Wilcox.

Savings are better than earnings.

I am selling a home (Cobblewood) that I am going to have to come to closing with some funds and pay a bunch of closing costs on. One of the items that runs about $300 is the survey. Through some phone tag and research, I was able to locate a prior one that should be reusable and got that squared up. That I know was a blessing from God.

We went shopping for a pool for Noah.

Tried to work out the sale of 10 bunnies to one buyer.

I got the $1,000 bank check for the deposit on Wilcox and filled out the contract.

I talked with a buyer from church who is interested in Dewitt and talked them through the prop.

Tried to locate a better foreclosure listing service as IRSFL is not keeping the data current.

Talked with David about other possible buyers for 15th St.

I love you Jo and you inspired me to maybe keep a record of what I do.