#prof bruce real estate investment coaching

[profbruce]

White Angel of Merida Mexico

This silent angel in downtown Merida (aka Centro) offers you one slip of paper to guide your future. For 20 pesos, mine read (in Spanish), “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” #Excellent message.

White Angel of Merida

This young woman dresses up every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in her angel costume, which she designed and fabbed herself. She stations herself outside Merida’s cathedral in their central square.

In front of Merida’s central cathedral 

For a modest donation (such as my measly 20 pesos, about $1 USD) in her jar, which you can see at her feet, you draw one tiny piece of paper from her cup. She only “speaks” in gestures, ie, she’s a mime… She graces you with a smile as well.

I estimated she makes up to 1,200 pesos an hour (around $60 USD). It’s a good gig and she’s a fine artist/actress/mime in her own right. It’s another PB4L, personal business for life, or side hustle. Beats begging, right? Or waiting on tables if you are a young actress waiting for your next gig.

Makes people feel good too and, of course, it doesn’t hurt that she’s a beauty.

Prof Bruce

ps here’s Chris Rock’s latest (foul-mouthed) take on the power of female beauty (on Netflix), https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/chris-rock-live-standup-special. The title of his hour-long rant? “Selective Outrage.” A decent review is on Variety, https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/chris-rock-slap-will-smith-netflix-comedy-special-1235542611/. #NSFO #RatedR

pps I have a theory that pretty much everyone needs some sort of PB4L to get them through the tough patches that almost all of us will face during our time on this planet. You can read more at:

Should Every Person on the Planet Have a PB4L (Personal Business for Life)? https://www.dropbox.com/s/bpqc508879tsdwk/PB4L-personal-business-for-life-bruce-m-firestone.pdf?dl=0.

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT’LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD Real Estate Investment and Business coach Ottawa Senators founder ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker 613-762-8884 bruce@brucemfirestone.com brucemfirestone.com https://burningrocksolutions.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/profbruce https://www.linkedin.com/company/firestoneinstitute https://brucemfirestone.com/blog/ https://www.youtube.com/user/ProfBruce/ https://www.amazon.com/author/brucefirestone https://twitter.com/ProfBruce https://www.facebook.com/groups/reiroi https://www.facebook.com/ProfBruce https://www.instagram.com/brucemfirestone/ https://profbruce.tumblr.com/archive

BOOK YOUR FREE CLARITY CALL WITH PROF BRUCE NOW, https://brucemfirestone.com/coaching/prof-bruce-real-estate-investment-and-business-coaching/talk/

• MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE • FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE • FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB, FEJAH, FOR EVERY JOB A HOME • MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT • HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

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[profbruce]

Get your FREE copy of Business Model Illustrations right now and my BEST updates delivered to your inbox

If you'd like to know how to take care of yourself and your family for 3-generations by building a high performing real estate portfolio and a successful PB4L (personal business for life), add yourself to my list, https://sendfox.com/brucemfirestone!

Want to instantly know more about successful real estate investing and thriving businesses? Then download this FREE handbook of mine, Business Model Illustrations, Real Estate Investment and Personal Business for Life Mini Case Studies. It’s only 67-pages long but has 10 mini case studies in it… 3 are business cases and 7 are real estate ones. Download it from, https://www.dropbox.com/s/febfsb07ev01ns8/Business-Model-Illustrations-Real-Estate-Investment-and-Personal-Business-for-Life-Mini-Case-Studies-handbook-bruce-m-firestone-2019-with-covers.pdf?dl=0.

Prof Bruce

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD

Real Estate Investment and Business coach

Ottawa Senators founder

ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker

613-762-8884

bruce@brucemfirestone.com

BOOK YOUR FREE CLARITY CALL WITH PROF BRUCE NOW, https://brucemfirestone.com/coaching/prof-bruce-real-estate-investment-and-business-coaching/talk/

•   MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

•   FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE

•   FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB, FEJAH, FOR EVERY JOB A HOME

•   MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT

•   HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

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[profbruce]

AIR JORDAN BREAKS THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE

I learned recently (mind you from watching an Amazon Prime film, Air, courting a legend starring Matt Damon as Nike sports marketing executive, Sonny Vaccaro, and Viola Davis as Michael Jordan's mom, Deloris Jordan, a brainiac sports representative) that it was Michael and Deloris who understood what comedian Chris Rock has been saying for a long time, "LeBron James is rich but the MAN who signs his check is wealthy."

What Chris means is that if you own a franchise of any sort (a fast-food restaurant, a sports team, an apartment building, Microsoft 365, a patent, whatever), you own a factor of production and can (hopefully for you) make money while lying on a beach. This is the Holy Grail of business, all business—developing CMRR, committed monthly recurring revenues.

Deloris got it... big time. She negotiated hard with Sonny and Nike on behalf of her son that, in return for coming over to the Swoosh from rival shoe company Adidas, Mike would get a) a $250,000 per year salary for five years for Michael plus b) a piece of the action... a percentage (I believe around 10%) of gross sales of not only the launch shoe in the Air Jordan line but all shoes ever to be made under this brand.

Deloris was, I believe, the first ever to propose such a contract, which in essence, by providing Michael with a royalty on sales, gave him a return (via direct remuneration) on his intellectual property (his likeness, his incredible feats on the court, his championship rings and so forth). It gave him equity in the business even if he never owned a single share in Nike. Indeed, a royalty on sales (which is simple to calculate and monitor) would be a huge improvement in my view over share ownership. Returns from the latter are often opaque, hard to determine/pin down, and impacted by factors outside Micheal’s control such as exorbitant pay packages for executives of US publicly traded companies.

How do I know it's 10%? Well, in the above image shot from my TV screening of the film, the Air Jordan line sells around $4 billion for Nike today and in the next image (see below), the movie quotes reports that Michael (21-years after he retired from the NBA) is making $400 million a year from this deal.

Now that's 1) CMRR, 2) making money while lying on a beach (or golfing, which Michael seems to enjoy more) and c) control over a factor of production for a long time.

I think more people should be looking for more ways to exploit this sort of royalty paradigm (not just sports greats and Hollywood actors) so they can benefit more from their work and their creativity.  

Prof Bruce

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT'LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD Real Estate Investment and Business coach Ottawa Senators founder ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker 613-762-8884 bruce@brucemfirestone.com brucemfirestone.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/profbruce https://www.linkedin.com/company/firestoneinstitute https://brucemfirestone.com/blog/ https://www.youtube.com/user/ProfBruce/ https://www.amazon.com/author/brucefirestone https://twitter.com/ProfBruce https://www.facebook.com/groups/reiroi https://www.facebook.com/ProfBruce https://www.instagram.com/brucemfirestone/ https://profbruce.tumblr.com/archive https://www.tiktok.com/@prof.bruce7 https://burningrocksolutions.com/

BOOK YOUR FREE CLARITY CALL WITH PROF BRUCE NOW, https://brucemfirestone.com/coaching/prof-bruce-real-estate-investment-and-business-coaching/talk/

• MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE • FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE • FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB, FEJAH, FOR EVERY JOB A HOME • MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT • HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

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COPYRIGHT, BRUCE M FIRESTONE, OTTAWA CANADA 2024.

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[profbruce]

First client advantage

Want to know how important a 1st client is? Well, read on…

Suppose you and your spouse are walking past a downtown eatery. The posted menu and prices look decent but there is no one in the store. Across the road, there is another restaurant almost identical in terms of look, menu and price but it’s packed full of customers. Which one do you choose to go to?

For most people, it’s the one with the better vibe, ie, the crowded place because “it must be good.”

A few years ago, we purchased a small warehouse. It was empty and needed significant renovation and repair. We had no launch clients at all. Zero.

My wife and I decided to carve it up into 9 small workshops (from 200 sq ft to 900 sq ft), basically to appeal to what seems to us is an unlimited supply of gigpreneurs, folks with side hustles or hobbies that have outgrown their basements, backyards and garages.

The first guys who showed up were an Eastern Europe pair with an import biz, super cheap. We wanted to rent each workshop for $700 plus HST plus power, but these guys gnawed us in half—down to $350. I rented to them despite my wife giving me heck for cutting our asking price to this degree.

But it’s like the two restaurants: By having some action at the place, we rented all the rest of the spaces in less than two months at the posted rate. It’s weird but true, this works.

All of this to say, do whatever you can (within reason) to land your first clients, OK?

Prof Bruce 

Feature image source, Jorgetarlea – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58209271.  

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT’LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD

Real Estate Investment and Business coach

Ottawa Senators founder

ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker

613-762-8884

bruce@brucemfirestone.com

brucemfirestone.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/profbruce

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[profbruce]

Claudio in Merida Mexico has his own PB4L (personal business for life)

His name is Claudio. He comes to Merida (where there are wealthy tourists) from Oaxaca (gastronomic capital of Mexico) once a year to sell his beautiful handmade cotton/bamboo blankets door-to-door.

Besides himself, there are three other people who work with him (both men and women).

He comes by car and it takes a day or more (17-hours and 54-minutes drive time according to google) to get to Merida.

These blankets sell for around 1,500 to 1,800 pesos each depending on how good a negotiator you are as a buyer… We bought one.

They are machine washable and dryable.

This photo was taken at our front door. Claudio was nearing the end of his mission having already sold several hundred blankets.

Claudio doesn’t speak much English (actually none) so my spouse Dawn did the translating, while I did the negotiating.

They grow their own cotton and bamboo and make their own cloth.

This is another PB4L story… It’s my belief that most of us (wherever we live) need some kind of side hustle we can call our own; one we can rely on when everything else fails. It would help too if we owned some real estate as well, even if it’s a modest home, hopefully with little or no debt on either the business or real estate.

Prof Bruce

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT’LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD Real Estate Investment and Business coach Ottawa Senators founder ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker 613-762-8884 bruce@brucemfirestone.com brucemfirestone.com https://burningrocksolutions.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/profbruce https://www.linkedin.com/company/firestoneinstitute https://brucemfirestone.com/blog/ https://www.youtube.com/user/ProfBruce/ https://www.amazon.com/author/brucefirestone https://twitter.com/ProfBruce https://www.facebook.com/groups/reiroi https://www.facebook.com/ProfBruce https://www.instagram.com/brucemfirestone/ https://profbruce.tumblr.com/archive https://www.tiktok.com/@prof.bruce7

BOOK YOUR FREE CLARITY CALL WITH PROF BRUCE NOW, https://brucemfirestone.com/coaching/prof-bruce-real-estate-investment-and-business-coaching/talk/

• MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE • FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE • FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB, FEJAH, FOR EVERY JOB A HOME • MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT • HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

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COPYRIGHT, BRUCE M FIRESTONE, OTTAWA CANADA 2023.

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[profbruce]

Coaching: Parts 6-10 Introduction to Prof Bruce Real Estate Investment and Business Coaching

Waterbridge Media and Bruce Firestone created ten short videos about Prof Bruce real estate investment and business coaching… here’re parts 6 to 10 in the series:

part 6

part 7

part 8

part 9

part 10

Full playlist on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd3QdcBlEm9_3tN2YJVgDc3uIE-FIFM0g

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD, Century 21 Explorer Realty Inc broker, Ottawa Senators founder, Real Estate Investment and Business coach 1-613-762-8884 bruce.firestone@century21.ca twitter.com/ProfBruce profbruce.tumblr.com/archive brucemfirestone.com

MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

[profbruce]

The tinier the house, the more creative you need to be

The smaller the house you build, the more creative you need to be. One of my daughters is moving into her own home that is just 192 sq ft. She’ll live right next door to a small workshop (about 350 sq ft) where she will design and produce high fashion custom clothing for glamorous women so it’s a live-work (play) condition with a smaller ecological footprint.

PROOF CANADA, https://proofcanada.ca/

One issue though is what to do with her fraidy-cat by the name of Marty? Marty is her best bud but is her tiny house too small for both her and the cat?

Marty

Marty is pretty much afraid of everything and everyone except for her so finding a new home for the cat seems traumatic (for both of them, I think). I mean he won’t even go outside unless she puts a leash on him and walks with him, never more than 4-feet away… #Sheesh

My wife and daughter labored over this issue for quite some time. Where to put Marty’s litter box became the last issue to be resolved? Then, bingo, the solution presented itself… there is a piece of furniture next to the front door with coat hooks and places for boots and shoes below. What if they raised that and put Marty’s litter box underneath?

Our contractor, Pat O’Connor, and the girls came up with this solution–

There is a side entry (bolt hole) where Marty can enter to do his business and a door that opens to allows for the changing of his litter.

By the way, if you like the design, we’ll license the IP (intellectual property) to you. We have set a price of 1 cent per year for 1,000,000 years, which works out to a total of $10,000! Mind you, the PV (present value) of that is only about a dime.

I’ll have much more to say about tiny living in the future…

Prof Bruce

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD Real Estate Investment and Business coach Ottawa Senators founder ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker 613-762-8884 bruce@brucemfirestone.com brucemfirestone.com https://burningrocksolutions.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/profbruce

postscript: a few more pics of her (not quite finished) place:

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[profbruce]

Coaching: Introduction to Prof Bruce Real Estate Investment and Business Coaching Parts 1-5

Waterbridge Media and Bruce Firestone created ten short videos about Prof Bruce real estate investment and business coaching... here’re the first five in the series:

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

Full playlist on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd3QdcBlEm9_3tN2YJVgDc3uIE-FIFM0g

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD, Century 21 Explorer Realty Inc broker, Ottawa Senators founder, Real Estate Investment and Business coach 1-613-762-8884 bruce.firestone@century21.ca twitter.com/ProfBruce profbruce.tumblr.com/archive brucemfirestone.com

MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

[profbruce]

Jeff Speck on how to make your town more walkable

Noted urbanist and planner Jeff Speck shares his views on how to create a more walkable city.

Points covered include:

-Euclidean zoning (separation of uses) started by moving housing away from dirty soot-producing mills with the result that life expectancy immediately improved… (the one and only success of urban planners, Ed)

-large areas of single uses guarantee you will not have a walkable city because nothing is near anything…

-new urbanism—means creating traditional neighborhoods are walkable versus suburban sprawl, streets don’t connect so a few roadways get all the traffic and become congested

–also, we super size schools and playgrounds so every kid has to be taken there in a car; can’t even bike (safely) there

-to develop a walkable place, you can’t start with the bones of a suburb made for cars with mono cultured zones and overloaded collector roads connected by multi-lane freeways

-if you want that suburban home on a street that looks like this (see below left), Jeff says, then be prepared for its companion (on the right):

-the above is guaranteed to produce absurd results like from these non-photo shopped pics:

-mono use suburbs like the one on the left (below) generate sprawl while a neo-urbanist MIXED-USE neighborhood model looks the one on the right—

-perfectly walkable cities require transit so folks can access the entire conurbation by “walking” instead of buying a car

-block size must be 200-feet long (Portland Oregon, left hand side) not 600-feet long (Salt Lake City) for your town to be walkable… 200-foot blocks generate a two lane city; 600-feet means you’ll need six lanes to accommodate car traffic because it’s basically unwalakble

-when you double block size, you nearly quadruple fatal accidents—people simply drive faster on wider streets

-when we widen streets and lengthen blocks and make towns less walkable, you increase car trips in a form of “induced demand” so no matter how big our roadways are constructed, they will always fill up with more traffic because extra marginal trips become more feasible or, for example, it becomes possible to move even further away from work… it’s a downward spiral

-on the other hand, congestion limits demand

-2 lanes can handle 10,000 vpd so many 4-lane roadways can be redesigned and narrowed to make them more walkable without negatively impacting on the ability to move car traffic (see left hand side (existing condition) and Jeff’s redesign on the right-hand side):

-so, an overwide street like this in Oklahoma City:

becomes:

-makes room for more on-street parking (which protects the curb and sidewalks pedestrians from tons of fast-moving metal) and bike lanes too

-note, curbside trees also slow down cars 😊

-people like animals are drawn to places with good edges; ie, the public room must be contained

-must develop streetscapes where signs of humanity are abundant to create a truly walkable neighborhood; people need to be with people and be able to see people to feel conformable.

Prof Bruce

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT’LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD

Real Estate Investment and Business coach

Century 21 Explorer Realty Inc broker

Ottawa Senators founder

1-613-762-8884

bruce.firestone@century21.ca

twitter.com/ProfBruce

profbruce.tumblr.com/archive

brucemfirestone.com

•             MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

•             FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE

•             FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB

•             MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT

•             HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

[profbruce]

Hire a Development Manager For Your Next Real Estate Project

For your next project (large or small), don’t hire a project manager, an architect, a planner or a contractor. Your first hire should be a Development Manager.

This is a relatively new role.

A development manager is a facilitator who fulfills these roles:

Site acquisition advice and help with due diligence,

Zoning review and guidance concerning highest and best use of the subject property (HABU),

Developing a functional program along with animation ideas (ie, how to add new revenue streams to property),

Budgeting, pro-forma and spreadsheet analysis/cap rate and internal rate of return calculations, ​

City pre-consultation, ​

Critical path scheduling,

And many other tasks.

Schedule a free clarity call with Bruce M Firestone, PhD, to discuss your next project…

Simply click on this link and find the next available slot to talk with Prof Bruce via Zoom,  https://brucemfirestone.com/coaching/prof-bruce-real-estate-investment-and-business-coaching/talk/

Bruce has developed over 1,200 new homes, dozens of residential and industrial subdivisions not to mention office buildings and shopping plazas plus an NHL-caliber arena, Canadian Tire Centre, home of the Ottawa Senators.

More recently, he has helped hundreds of clients across the US and Canada as well as overseas with everything from renovating a single family home (adding, for example, a basement apartment or backyard coach house or workshop) to redesigning and animating a 1,500-door new subdivision…  

Also, you can now download Prof Bruce’s free mini handbook with case studies showing just how much time and money you can save/make by hiring a development manager, How to become a DEVELOPMENT MANAGER and why this is crucial to new projects and, indeed, whole towns, cities and neighborhoods, https://www.dropbox.com/s/tmc30o1yaav7w2a/Development-Manager-role-bruce-m-firestone-2020-e.pdf?dl=0

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT’LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD Real Estate Investment and Business coach Century 21 Explorer Realty Inc broker Ottawa Senators founder 1-613-762-8884 bruce.firestone@century21.ca https://www.linkedin.com/in/profbruce/twitter.com/ProfBruce https://brucemfirestone.com/blog/ profbruce.tumblr.com/archive https://www.youtube.com/user/ProfBruce/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/reiroi brucemfirestone.com

BOOK YOUR FREE CLARITY CALL WITH PROF BRUCE NOW, https://brucemfirestone.com/coaching/prof-bruce-real-estate-investment-and-business-coaching/talk/

•    MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE •    FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE •    FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB, FEJAH, FOR EVERY JOB A HOME •    MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT •    HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canadian_Tire_Centre_1.JPG

[profbruce]

Longyards grand opening

While it is a long march from humble beginnings to a continent-spanning business operation, if anyone can do it, it’s my friend and coaching client, Chris Long, pictured here with his oldest daughter, Lily, at the grand opening of Longyards at 6571 Bank street in Ottawa Canada on October 1st, 2019.

Chris is a trained carpenter who took over his grandfather’s business (Conrad Construction) a few years ago and used it as a cash engine to build a high-yielding real estate investment portfolio that includes both a residential rental component and now a commercial one too.

Longyards is the first of what we hope will be many storage yards focused on RV, truck, bus, boat and equipment parking as well as mini contractor yards, a place where a contractor or trades-person can have their own storage yard to develop their own businesses.

It’s modeled after Khyl Powell’s facility in Ithica, Arizona called CS Yards,  http://csyards.com/.

Chris is a fine student; he understands property animation (adding new revenue streams) well. He took the decrepit old house that existed on the land when he bough it (9-acres +/- of heavy industrial-zoned land) and turned it into two units–upper and lower 2-bedroom apartments (each with their own ingress/egress) plus he converted the existing garage into a microsuite also with its own entry and w/c (bathroom) and micro-kitchen that he can use as a site office.

Office windows on left hand side, upstairs apartment has front and side entry, lower level has rear entry, all brightly colored and renovated

lower level rear entry, manufactured walkout condition

side entry to main level apartment

Looking out the front window of Chris’ office, note the stairs to the main level apartment, which has excellent soundproofing to noise and fire-separate residential and commercial uses

Lily holding front of new biz card

Lily holding back of new biz card

Chris showing the first of many contractor yards, note that front gate and privacy screening not yet installed 

Backlit pylon sign, note in northern shelf city like Ottawa, backlighting is very important since it is so dark for six months of the year…

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, working for Chris 24/7/365

Once you have proven your real estate business model, focus on it and nothing else for 10, 12, 15 or more years. That’s the road to great success.

Prof Bruce

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT’LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD Real Estate Investment and Business coach Century 21 Explorer Realty Inc broker Ottawa Senators founder 1-613-762-8884 bruce.firestone@century21.ca twitter.com/ProfBruce profbruce.tumblr.com/archive brucemfirestone.com

•    MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE •    FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE •    FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB •    MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT •    HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

Postscript: Lily’s congratulatory message was, “We hope long yards last millions of years, dad!” I agree with one proviso: I also hope it makes millions of dollars and that it doesn’t take millions of years to do that…

Music I listened to while composing this: 

[profbruce]

Fun with your kids this summer

Charles “Chip” Esten (better known as Deacon Claybourne from TV series Nashville) was asked by his writers to come up w/ a song (in just 3-days) he could perform on the show (season 6) as a tune his daddy had once taught him...

The result is the fabulous, Itty, Bitty, Ditty, https://youtu.be/ZmMz1UQu0u0

Play it and sing it with your kids–ask them to do the tea kettle whistling part too.

Here’re the words:

My grandaddy used to widdle

While my daddy played the fiddle

In the middle of the front porch swing

And my sister used to giggle at a silly little riddle

‘Bout some brittle and a diamond ring

While my mama fixed the bittles on her little kitchen grittle

You could hear them as the tea kettle sing

While my grandaddy widdled

And my daddy played the fiddle

In the middle of a front porch swing

Here I go

My grandaddy used to widdle

While my daddy played the fiddle

In the middle of the front porch swing

And my…

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD Real Estate Investment and Business coach Century 21 Explorer Realty Inc broker Ottawa Senators founder 1-613-762-8884 bruce.firestone@century21.ca twitter.com/ProfBruce profbruce.tumblr.com/archive brucemfirestone.com

-MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE -FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE -FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB -MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT -HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, AND CITIES TOO

Image source: By Fort Sill Army Base – https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortsillcannoneer/28246477335/in/photolist-cH9Qv3-dcN6Fr-dieTFL-dquy5H-du6go3-dpFs3y-dquvpn-cS9fiJ-nwFJpi-JSS2nq-JSRv8h-JVapDc-JVaKf6-J6EMWR-K34bkn-K33zBV-K34HYT-J6Fte9-JBf6db-J6FmmS-JBf6rh-K34uYK-J6EHbi-K34whg-J6FrNo, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56962341

Patrick Kerr and Bruce Firestone sing Chip Esten's Itty Bitty Ditty for Bruce's grandsons, CJ and Godric...

Pat is a fine singer, songwriter, musician, composer and union man (red seal boilermaker).

Prof Bruce can't sing worth a bean, but he adores his grandchildren...

[profbruce]

Eyes on the Park

What makes New York’s central park so successful (it’s the most visited park in the US) is, in part, the fact that thousands of people live on its periphery, which not only gives them access to it, it also creates a safer environment because there are so many eyes on the park.

Parks can be dark dangerous places when they are isolated/cut off from neighbors and neighborhoods.

What parks are not is a wilderness area.

How do I know that?

Wildlife flourishes in places where human beings don’t go, not even bird watchers. Places like the exclusion zone around Chernobyl and the DMZ between the two Koreas. For real.

Many architects, landscape architects, community associations, neighborhood activists, environmentalists, urban designers, municipal planners and politicians are not clear on this… they have come to believe parkland design is an environmental issue. It is not.

Parks are meant for active and passive use by human beings, often stuck in urban agglomerations where forest bathing and enjoying nature is as rare as winning an argument with my wife.

Active uses like, for example, being able to get a coffee, tea or muffin or being able to use a w/c that is NOT a porta potty are essential. If you simply have a grassy area and a few trees, that’s not enough.

What does Central Park contain?

-ponds

-police patrols

-medical emergency response teams

-Central Park zoo

-ice skating rink (Wollman Rink)

-playgrounds (21 of them)

-great lawn

-Tavern on the Green restaurant

-Shakespeare in the Park festival

-Delacorte Theater

-large mouth bass fishing

-attend a concert at SummerStage

-visit Belvedere Castle

-row around the Lake

-play beach volleyball or croquet

-bird watch

-race model sailboats

-jogging

-ride the century-old carousel

-watch a puppet show at the Swedish Marionette Theater

-play tennis

-picnic

-make a wish at the Bethesda Fountain

-much more besides.

Prof Bruce’s self-financing Park

I’ve been working on a concept called “eyes on the park” for awhile. The idea is to have people living on the borders of the park and to make parks self-financing. It’s heresy to some but here’s a sketch I did of what it might include. Where you see $$$ in a red circle, these are financial engines.

First to free uses:

-splash pad

-parking

-mountain biking trails

-fenced off-leash dog park

-fruit orchard

-BBQ and picnic area

-games area (eg, chess and backgammon plus board-games)

-sports area–ping pong, croquet, pickle ball, beach volleyball, mini golf, horseshoes, cornhole, bocce, shuffleboard…  

-hedge mazes

-soccer pitch/ultimate fields

-tool sharing

-boardwalk.

Revenue-generating land uses:

-food trucks

-artist kiosks

-flea market stalls

-wedding pavilion and event center

-craft hut

-general store

-boat rental

-camping site and glamping yurts

-amphitheater

-coffee, tea and sandwich shop

micro-gardens and bunkies

-residential lots on land leases around the periphery of the park (your eyes on the park).

The idea is to let entrepreneurs run the active uses on long term land leases featuring triple net rent and percentage rent.

Entrepreneurs are likely to run these services more effectively than municipalities and cities, towns, villages, counties, townships, states and provinces can achieve twin objectives too–

obtain higher utilization rates for their parks,

offset some or all (or even generate a surplus) from their parks and rec departments, ie, patch a significant hole in many of their budgets.

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT’LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD Real Estate Investment and Business coach Century 21 Explorer Realty Inc broker Ottawa Senators founder 1-613-762-8884 bruce.firestone@century21.ca twitter.com/ProfBruce profbruce.tumblr.com/archive brucemfirestone.com

•    MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE •    FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE •    FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB •    MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT •    HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

Image source:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central_Park_-_The_Pond_(48377220157).jpg

Image source: Martin St-Amant (S23678) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6383576

[profbruce]

How to build an adaptive organization

I’ve just finished reading Ron Wiens’ excellent book, Building Organizations: that Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound, 2012.

If I understood it correctly, the role of a leader is to build an organization that (eventually) won’t need him or her to function effectively. 

You can do this, according to Ron, by building, EI, emotional intelligence, RI, relationship intelligence and CI, corporate (or organization) intelligence.

How?

EI means that people within your organization (and I would broaden that to include your entire stakeholder group--customers, suppliers and marketing partners, board of directors/advisers, shareholders, officers, media partners and sponsors) believe in themselves and the leader helps/encourages those beliefs

RI means that every stakeholder trusts and believes in their colleagues/other stakeholders within their organization’s ecosystem, and they share information widely and freely

CI means that each stakeholder believes in the company’s (or organization’s) vision, goals and culture, and they will do everything they can within their creative power to further the team and organization’s aims plus they will embrace changes needed to realize these objectives.

If a leader can create the right environment/culture and the right set of objectives for an organization, then they will have a company that can leap tall buildings.

Ron also notes that leaders today need to not only have the four qualities traditionally associated with top managers--belief in self, authoritative, able to see tomorrow and works hard for himself or herself--but four other seeming contradictory character traits, namely: humility, able to establish intimacy, build for today and working for the whole.  

The challenge I’ve asked Ron to address next is: Can he apply his thinking to whole towns or cities to animate them--giving them more opportunity to compete in a fast-changing worldwide competition based, as it is today, on the competitive advantages (or not) of each city-state.

Stay tuned,

Prof Bruce

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD Real Estate Investment and Business coach Century 21 Explorer Realty Inc broker Ottawa Senators founder 1-613-762-8884 bruce@brucemfirestone.com twitter.com/ProfBruce profbruce.tumblr.com/archive brucemfirestone.com

MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB

postscript: When I ran a large company, I always thought my job was done when no one called me, texted me, emailed me, messaged me or came to see me. 😊 BMF

postscript 2: Ron Wiens has issued two challenges--

do 1 thing each quarter faster, better, cheaper…

no society in the world has the 3rd driver of economic performance—that is, how to properly lead knowledge workers… so implement the above!

[profbruce]

Path to creating affordable housing is out there but only possible if cities and towns make it so

Are you familiar with the BBC series From Lark Rise to Candleford? It’s about life in two neighboring places in the late 19th century—one a poor rural village called Lark Rise where life is a struggle, and tother being a more prosperous town called Candleford.

They are 8-miles apart with a muddy track the only “road” to get to Lark Rise. The reason I ask, other than the fact that my wife and I enjoy the series (we detest modern Hollywood storytelling with guns, drugs, car chases, murders, superheroes, bombs and so forth), is I took this picture on the weekend from our home theater screen of Lark Rise—

I realized with a start that such an affordable village could never be built today with all the modern zoning, official plan and site plan rules that are in place. #WhatAShame

So, this got me to thinking—maybe the city I live in (or for that matter any town) should, instead of trying to reform their rules, which seems impossible to do without fomenting a (non-violent) revolution and overthrowing the current powers-that-be/turfing out the entire civil service and the consulting industry that has grown around it to support such a perverted process and land use system, take on the responsibility to do all the required studies and the humongous costs associated with them so we can get back to creating a) livable places and b) affordable homes.

Given the enormous cost of (for example) complying with site plan requirements (estimated by me and my planner at $121,000+) so my family can build a $135,000, 542 sq ft bunkie next to our barndominium workshop for one of our daughters to live in, there is NO POSSIBILITY of doing such a project unless you are a dumb rich dude with money to burn. But if you have to spend $121,000 on a site plan application and studies, you might as well build a 8,000 sq ft McMansion instead, right? So much for affordable housing.

What I am thinking of is this: A city or town creates facilitator positions and office... facilitators are tasked with guiding important projects through city and state or province requirements, whether it is a mega project like a 1 million sq ft fulfillment center or a tiny bunkie like we want to construct. In the former case, speed matters most. In the latter circumstance, cost matters more so facilitators would have a budget for studies/consultants etc.

There would be a process to apply to a facilitator office for acceptance to their program.

In addition, there would be a “parallel” process—every time an Official Plan or Master Plan review is conducted by a city or town, landowners could also apply to have their properties reviewed and rezoned at city or town cost.

This actually happened a few weeks ago—a client of mine is buying a 20+ acre site in a small town zoned CH, highway commercial. It allows mini warehousing (mini storage) but incongruously does not permit larger warehousing. My client has a lead on a use—for a large scale warehouse use—which is currently not permitted.

However, the local planner (at her initiative!) offered to include a request from my client to amend their Official Plan during their ongoing review at no cost to my client! So, it does happen (occasionally).

If we don’t find a way to make cities and towns more adaptable, especially in a pandemic or post-pandemic society and now a world at war too where everything is changing around us at lightspeed and, for example, where lots of young people (and not so young) want a simpler life—smaller places, more affordable homes, a live-work condition, we will end up with a horrible result—more homelessness, more people working themselves to death trying to put a roof over their heads and bread on their tables. What do you think?

Prof Bruce

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT'LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD

Real Estate Investment and Business coach

Ottawa Senators founder

ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker

613-762-8884

bruce@brucemfirestone.com

brucemfirestone.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/profbruce

profbruce.tumblr.com/archive

BOOK YOUR FREE CLARITY CALL WITH PROF BRUCE NOW, https://brucemfirestone.com/coaching/prof-bruce-real-estate-investment-and-business-coaching/talk/

•            MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

•            FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE

•            FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB, FEJAH, FOR EVERY JOB A HOME

•            MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT

•            HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

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[profbruce]

The Value of Sticking Together, The Value of Trust

Bruce M Firestone, PhD

Most people know about the prisoner’s dilemma even if it’s just intuitively rather than explicitly—

Two people are accused of a joint crime. Police detectives put both suspects in individual interrogation rooms. They offer each of them a deal—if you’re first to talk, you’ll get jail time of just two years. If the other party talks first (ie, rats you out before you can do the same to them), you get 9-years, and the other accused gets 2.

What they don’t tell you is that if you both stick together (ie, don’t talk), you both get 3 and ½ years.

In the first scenario, total prison time is 11-years; in the second, it’s only 7. So, it makes sense for both of you to stick together. However, the temptation is to go for the 2 before the other person can. What do you do?

More importantly, you have to ask yourself: What will your partner in crime do? Will they hold fast to the plan and not rat you out.

It’s same deal in the military—

Three troopers are in a foxhole together. They are under severe attack that threatens to overrun their position. If you run but the other two soldiers stick thereby holding up the attackers whilst you make your escape, your chances of surviving are 0.667, but theirs are just 0.333 each. Of course, you are a coward, but you’re alive and they are (likely) dead.

If you all run away, your attackers will probably kill you all—each of you have just a 0.167 change of surviving (it’s much each easier to render someone deceased if you shoot them in the back while they are fleeing). Now, you are all cowards and all dead.

But if the three of you stick together in the tranche and keep firing, your chances of survival as a group go up to 0.500 each.

In scenario 1, your collective probability of survival is 1.333, in scenario 2, just 0.501. However, in scenario 3, it jumps to 1.500. Hence, sticking together is best but again you must ask yourself the questions: What will your fellow marines do?

Now how about a civilian example? OK, let’s try tech—

You and a fellow coder are co-managers of a team of hackers. You’ve both heard that a competitor is looking to recruit whole teams to speed up a new product launch. You know if you go over first, you’ll get a salary of $250,000 but if your co-manager goes first, s/he gets that $250k, you only get $125k. If you both go over together (which shows a) you’re not desperate and b) strengthens your bargaining position), you both get $200,000.

So, sticking together creates total compensation of $400,000. Splitting apart, you get a total $375,000 and one of you is a big loser.

Again, ask the question: How much do you trust your co-manager? 

Fear of loss in humans is much greater than desire for gain, which means most people are hugely tempted to be first to rat out a co-conspirator, first to desert their fellow foot soldiers or first to get their foot in the door for a new job.

Trust is hard to establish and quick to vanish.

Prof Bruce

Postscript: Here’s a great piece by Brené Brown called Anatomy of Trust; it’s worth watching, https://youtu.be/WuzXTQGFsOw.   

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FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT'LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD

Real Estate Investment and Business coach

Ottawa Senators founder

ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker

613-762-8884

bruce@brucemfirestone.com

brucemfirestone.com

https://burningrocksolutions.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/profbruce

https://www.linkedin.com/company/firestoneinstitute

https://brucemfirestone.com/blog/

profbruce.tumblr.com/archive

https://www.youtube.com/user/ProfBruce/

https://twitter.com/ProfBruce

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BOOK YOUR FREE CLARITY CALL WITH PROF BRUCE NOW, https://brucemfirestone.com/coaching/prof-bruce-real-estate-investment-and-business-coaching/talk/

•        MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

•        FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE

•        FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB, FEJAH, FOR EVERY JOB A HOME

•        MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT

•        HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

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First published, https://brucemfirestone.com/the-value-of-sticking-together/.

Download from, https://www.dropbox.com/s/pa163ixj939jqgn/value-of-sticking-together-value-of-trust-bruce-m-firestone-phd.pdf?dl=0.

Feature image: By ChaoticBrain – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79884144.

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