Looking for a Unicorn?

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G’day all

Its Friday here again (Happy Friday!) and another dice roll for a summers day in Melbourne.  Certainly not the perfect summer this year, but we certainly can’t wait for a ‘perfect’ summer to enjoy ourselves, right?!

Same as if we are driving to the beach (summer reference there again!) we cannot wait for all green traffic lights before we start the trip.  We just need to head out and be flexible with our journey – stop when we need to stop; turn when we need to turn; and go when we can…

Investing is the same.

I was talking to an investor the other day, and she was asking me how many perfect deals had I done – the ones that have massive payouts, mind blowing absolutely cannot lose deals? 

My answer was…none…

Now I am not saying I have not had good deals, I have had a ton of them, but if I had been waiting for that one of a kind unicorn payout, I would still be waiting…

I have certainly seen investors find them from time to time, and these are the deals that get most of the spotlight, but in the meantime, for every 10 investors that’s spent years looking for the ‘perfect’ deal to start, there is one who is quietly going about their business, finding good solid investments, over and over again, and retiring…

I was reading a piece by one of my real estate mentors this week, and she was comparing investing to writing… More specifically was referring to the 19th Century novelist Anthony Trollope.

Now in an age where most writers were sitting under trees, waiting for that perfect ‘inspiration’ to strike, starving, Trollope was churning out 750+ words per hour.  He quickly became the target of many critics, frowning at the volume of his output, particularly after he admitted he wrote for money.  After starting his writing career at 30, he went on to publish 47 novels and many other short stories and non-fiction pieces.  Trollope had a very solid career, despite the critics and was, in his own words, “extremely comfortable”.

Trollope did not wait for inspiration to strike, to try to write a number 1 best seller to catapult him to stardom and glory… he just kept writing, book after book, some good, some average, some probably even ordinary.

Generating wealth through property investing, is essentially the same…  It is made by the daily hustle.  Finding a strategy that resonates with you, delivers consistent profits and then just churning out as many deals as you can.

You don’t have to find that ‘Unicorn’, it’s not glory or stardom, there’s no magic bullet, it’s just rolling up your sleeves and doing the work.  Slow and steady.  And wealth will come quicker than you think.

You got this!

Happy Investing all and have a great weekend!!

Are you REALLY in control of your own Destiny?

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G’day all

I want to chat today about an announcement in the news this week which I believe highlights two issues, one in Australia’s economic and political landscape, and another, much closer to home –our own security.

The announcement this week of the closure of Holden and the brand in Australia/NZ has certainly sent shockwaves through what is left of our Automotive industry in this country.

To lay my cards on the table, this is a subject that is near and dear to me, having been a Holden fan all my life, and worked for the ‘Lion” for almost 16 years.

It certainly was a sad day Monday to hear about the demise of a company I had a lot of fondness and loyalty for, worked hard for and bled for…but I cannot say the announcement shocked me.

For those who understand the automotive industry and kept an eye on GM’s worldwide activities, and Holden’s sales, particularly over the past few years, this certainly wouldn’t have been a surprise

GM had exited all other right-hand drive markets over the past few years and had no RHD vehicles in the pipeline. Holden sales had plummeted to all-time lows, and January’s results indicated an even worse year to come.

Great Wall put its hand up to buy GM’s Thailand plants where Colorado’s are built (one of the few remaining successful nameplates left of Holden, so the final nail in the coffin was driven home.

Anyway, back to my points…

Firstly, the government’s response, and a ‘surprised’ Prime Ministers indignant claim that GM and Holden had somehow ‘played’ the Australia taxpayer out of millions in funding and grants over the years.  Once again, it seems that Scott Morrison seems to have missed the target and focusing on the completely wrong areas here…

Instead of whining and complaining about the cost of industry assistance, he has completely ignored the return on investment Australia received from the car industry.

Australia got plenty from GM Holden and the other carmakers in return for the billions in assistance over the years, including capital investments that tally many times that amount.

And more valuable again were the benefits in terms of employment, both in-house and in the parts industry, continuing technological development on the production lines and in many other aspects of the wider industry.

I was speaking just earlier this week with business owner who started his career with Air International, a very well-known supplier to the Automotive industry in Australia, and he said he owned his current success (now owns an 8 figure software development company based right here in Melbourne) to what he learnt during his time in Automotive.  How many more are like this?  I know I am one…

To imply that Australia got nothing out of its support for the car industry is just plain incorrect. It demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the importance of manufacturing and of the concept of Return On Investment, where a manufacturer can take a $2 piece of steel and make a $20 component.

Critics continually harp on about the taxpayer subsidies, conveniently ignoring those larger but less-visible subsidies given to the mining and banking sectors.

The last Automotive plan was $300 million per year available to car makers and parts suppliers who employed over 50,000 people, who if earning only an average wage, would have been contributing around $1.3 Billion a year to income tax alone…never mind what they spent on housing, living expenses, entertainment etc.

No, Australia’s Return on Investment for its Automotive industry was excellent.  Maybe time for some new advisors Mr Morrison…

The second lesson learnt here though, is one much closer to our own hearts, and that is one of security.  Even when things are marching along smoothly, we all can find that we are not really in control of our own destinies

Do we really make the decisions in our life, or do we all have that ‘big brother’ who can pull the pin on us at any time?  Even though in the case of Holden, the writing may have been on the wall, Australia, and all the employees are completely at the mercy of another who is really pulling the strings – evidenced by the ‘shell shocked’ Holden MD – Kristian Aquilina’s interview on ABC this week.

Even when things seem to be going along nicely, and we appear to be kicking goals, all it takes is that ‘puppeteer’ to decide they have had enough of this game and shut it down.  All the work you have done, everything you have achieve can suddenly be gone in minute.

I was one on the lucky ones, able to build my own business and be at a point where I am completely in charge of my own destiny now.  I was able to leave my role at Holden (as much as I enjoyed it) and forge my own path, BEFORE someone was able to shut me down.  Around 800 or so employees there right now, are not that lucky…

I just want to stress… don’t wait for that decision to come and completely knock you down before you do something…

They say the universe always sends three signals; a feather, a slap and a brick…

Holden’s closure this week is the Brick.  Don’t wait for the brick before you make a decision to control your own destiny, your own life and not be at the behest of someone else, pulling the strings…

Happy Investing all! And have a great weekend!!

Love or…Passion for life?

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G’day all

As I sit here on another summers day in Melbourne (muggy though I must add, we are not used to this humidity!), on the eve of Valentine’s day here in Australia.

Now, I will admit to being a bit of a Grinch when it comes to days like ‘Valentine’s Day’, ‘Mother’s Day’, ‘Father’s Day’ and so forth…kind of feeling that they were simply invented by the retail sector to sell more flowers/cards/cakes/<insert your product here> 

I also understand it can be a good opportunity to cherish that loved one, Mother, Father in your life at this time, but also makes it difficult for those of us without our Fathers, Mothers, loved ones around.

Further I question, are you buying flowers for your loved one on Valentine’s day because you love them, or because it is expected from our society and you will be in the ‘dog house’ if you do not; get those looks from your colleagues…” What, you didn’t get her flowers last night??!”

Wouldn’t it be much nicer to come home one night next week with an arm full of flowers, unexpectedly, not because your sorry for something you did, or because society told you to buy flowers, but just because you love them, and wanted them to know?

Wouldn’t your Mum love a call today, tomorrow, next weekend – not just on Mother’s Day to see how she is going, or take her to lunch simply to say “Mum, I love you.” Not because society says Mother’s Day is the day to do it…

I believe we should be spontaneous, live life to the fullest all the time, not just on dedicated days.  Do what you love, love those in your life and TELL them, show your kids you love them. Spread the love, all the time!

And that brings me to the next point…do you love YOUR life?  Do you have passion for what you do, who you are?  No?  If you are not loving you, loving your life, how do you have love to give to others?

I am certainly no relationship councillor here, but it seems to me that you cannot give something which you have not…

If you are not loving you, living your life with passion, how can you provide this energy to others around you?

What’s holding you back from doing what you love?  Society?  Fear?

Life is too short to spend it doing something we have no passion for.  Without passion, you will also lack motivation, drive, dedication, and it is these levels of commitment that will allow you to thrive in what you do…which will in turn gives you more drive and passion to do more… which gives you more results and it turn… well you get my meaning

This becomes an upward spiral in which you can bring those around you with you on your incredible journey through this wondrous life we have been given!

What’s your other option?  Back to the grind stone, the rut?  Remember a rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out… That mouse wheel a lot of us find ourselves on is certainly powering somebodies dreams…why not use that energy to power yours?

So go on, get off that wheel, grab that rocket and set yourself for that wild ride. You will have ups and downs, but man, is it exciting, exhilarating! You will see your passion rise exponentially! 

So start by making sure you tell your valentine that you love them today…but do it again on Saturday with another (hidden) bunch of flowers and see how that goes J

Happy Investing all! And have a great weekend!!

The Right time is… NOW!

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G’day all

We have all heard the term ‘time flies’ and it’s amazing how quickly it can.  The old saying ‘time and tide wait for no man’ is so true, and it does not matter what we do, we cannot slow the progress of time.

It’s funny how in fact it does seem to speed up as we get older… As a teenager we cannot wait until we are an adult so we can…vote (read drink…) but then once we have been in the workforce for a few years, we remember how simple our adolescence was and sometimes wish we had it back…

It was Einstein who knew that time was relative… 1 second with your hand on a hot stove seems like an hour; whilst a 3-hour dinner date with our loved one, seems like minutes…

But the ONE thing that is a constant, is that we all have 24 hours in a day. It’s how we use this time that differs from person to person.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a good Netflix binge like the next guy, but I suppose the difference between success and mediocrity is the ability to prioritise time properly, and the understanding that we ONLY have 24 hours a day and need to use them wisely.

Nothing wrong with a good Netflix session, but this can be used as a reward, for achieving ‘the thing’ you were needing to do/finish/start. 

The other thing that lulls us into a false sense of security is that the feeling there will always be another 24 hours’ tomorrow…  Now for most of us that is true, but again, the issue here is that this is not a given either… 

No one would have guessed that Kobe Bryant would die at 41…nor the actor Kirk Douglas would make it to 103.  Understanding these are two well-known celebrities, but my point is, we certainly are not guaranteed tomorrow…

Yet we are quick to put off achieving the thing until ‘tomorrow’…

Or we say, I will do that when… <insert reasonable excuse here>.  But again, this is just a way of us justifying why we are not taking action now.  We feel better about ourselves if we have a reason we cannot do the thing today.

“Let’s wait until things are better; all lights are green; we have more money; we have more time…”

But the thing is… there will always be excuses… the time will never be ‘right’, it is just now…

There is no tomorrow, yesterday, later, there is always just now…

The past few weeks shows us that the universe will throw many obstacles in our way – bushfires, virus outbreaks, trade wars, and I am certain you will have had your own personal challenges as well (man, have we had ours!)

But the point I want to drive home here is this… there is no tomorrow/later/right time… there is only now.  We only ever always have this moment, right now…

It’s the decisions that we make in this moment that will affect the rest of our lives, however long that is blessed to be.

Happy Investing all! And have a great weekend!!

Laser focus & Determination

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G’day all

Friday rolls around again, and we are already saying goodbye to January and helloooo February!

Wow… Feeling fatigue already from the new year’s resolutions, and trying to live up to them?  It can be tough.

All throughout the media at the moment is the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, along with 7 other people in a helicopter crash in California this week.  Certainly a tragedy for all on board and their families, but of course, we all knew of Kobe Bryant, and while very few of us knew him personally, he lived a life of meaning and was a beacon to what is possibly for us all.

I want to focus briefly though on one of Kobe’s mechanisms of success – his Black Mamba Mantra…

He apparently learnt about the black mamba snake in the film, Kill Bill, then decided to take the name on as his alter ego.  From that point on, when he was on the court, he became ‘The Black Mamba’.

But this wasn’t about puffing himself up or trying to big note himself… This was about survival. He said:

“I had to separate myself. It felt like there were so many things coming at once. It was just becoming very, very confusing. I had to organize things. So I created the ‘Black Mamba.’”

How awesome is this!  We all have that feeling of overwhelm with so many things coming at us at once…from all directions. The mind will find a million things to worry about, even if you’re as successful as Bryant was.  Even just trying to live up to our new year’s resolutions, how much is the universe throwing at you?!

The Black Mamba allowed him to leave everything behind as soon as he stepped onto the court. He didn’t have to worry about the bills, or how the kids were going at school, or any of the million things we all have to worry about. He was focused, determined, lethal on the court.  The Black Mamba was a work of mental discipline. It was an incredible act of focus and determination.

And I think a lot of what Bryant achieved in his incredible career can be put down to this superhero-level focus, and the mantra that made it possible. 

Now maybe we don’t need to develop this level of focus, but what this teaches us is that with superhero focus, anything is possible…so go on…don that cape and see what you can achieve!

Thank you Kobe, for the inspiration.  His legacy is huge… but he also has now taught us the sobering fact, that no matter what you have, it can all be taken away in a heartbeat…

Happy Investing all! And have a great weekend!!