In this issue:

To Do Lists...

This Month's "You Should Have Been There" Award

Tips for Sending Email to Barney

Upcoming Events

To Do Lists...

(Back to top)

I do get a lot done. In the last twelve months we have purchased millions in properties (for ourselves and with students), finished revising three major home study courses, wrote and produced two more new courses, took five short vacations, and did dozens of presentations and the list goes on. Considering some folks can’t buy one house a month, let alone three, and a commercial property now and then…I get a lot done. But then, I have some secrets…want to know what they are?

Planning should be a continual process. Some of you are experts at planning and organization, but I have to do it by rote. To make my life easier, and to get more control of day to day events, I have installed some systems. If you are in need of help, read on. Maybe there is an idea in there for you. And, if you are doing everything right, then you are the personality type that has to read this anyway, just to make sure you know it all!

First, let’s talk about your financial goals. Your first step is to set your goals. Work backward from how much money you would like to be making at some point in time in the future.  Next, break it down to monthly and weekly amounts. Now figure how many people you would have to meet, contact and sell to meet your income goals.

I have come up with a 1-2-3 system. It lists the one most important thing to do this month, the two most important things to do this week and the three most important things to do today.  I made a spread sheet that I punch and put into my Franklin Planner. It organizes my whole week. You only need 52 weeks and with two weeks to a page it is only 26 pages for a full year.

It also has a place for one “good news” event for each day. It is good to stop and be thankful for what is right in your life. We spend too much time fighting problems. Today, I put down the word "rose.” It is 87 degrees out and a rose I cut two days ago just opened and looks like a gift from heaven. It is on our bookkeeper’s desk. Yesterday a client paid a large sum of money that was overdue. So the dollar amount went into the “good news” slot!

This system also has a place for three new money making contacts a day. I have to remind myself or I forget to keep up a regular and repeated program of prospecting.

Do realize that if there is one piece of advice that is worth following, it is to call on three prospects every day. If you will do that and that alone you will be a very successful investor with a six-figure income in a year. While you are doing your planning, give a thought to your system and see if this simpler and reliable system can help you get the job done more effectively.  I use Excel (or you can use another spreadsheet program) to do this.

This brings me to my second system. I have a real estate action list. It lists 14 ways to find or get good deals. We do one a day each, twice a month. To be honest, I have two people that work that system for me. It is good to delegate what you don’t have to have done by you. They call me for details, “Magic Words to Say” and I go in to negotiate when the seller is ready.

The third system I use is for current properties. There is also a place for actions.  It is driven by the list of properties we have. Under each, we have the big action steps…Contract or Option, close, finance, rent or sell.  The stage we are in is detailed with a list of who should be dong what and when.

The last system is my annual goal page. I make a once a year list of big goals. I review it one or two times a year.

Two years ago I wanted to re-do "How to Make your Real Estate Fortune" and the "Hidden Profits" book. It actually took two years. I’ve had "Get to 240 pounds" for several years. (At 6 foot 4 inches, with a broad frame, I am skinny at 240".)  I have not made much progress on this goal and there are about 100 items on my sheet. Really, 100 or more. Many are carried forward for years.

Each year I decide which ones I need and or want to concentrate on. Also, each year I make a list of all the things I did do. "Find a wife" was on there for six years! Got one! So was getting a book published by a legitimate publisher (The Negotiating Paradox).

If you don't remind yourself of all the things you do get done, you could get into a real depression. When you review what you have done, it gives you the energy to go on.

Of course, all of this is a subset of global financial planning.  How much will you need when you retire, what do you have coming in now without going to work, and what is the gap you need to fill? Next, you build a business plan, marketing plan and retirement income strategy to get that done. The things I listed above are the parts and pieces to get that done.

I always like to reward those of you who wade through all that I write. I'll post a link to my "Weekly List of Things To Do" Excel charts at www.zick.com under Helpful Links.

The point here is not only should we have goals and keep them in front of us, we also need to celebrate the things we do get done. If you don't, some days it can seem like nothing is getting done. It is, just slowly.

Someone said that life is what happens to us while we were making other plans. To an extent I agree and like that.  I like to "go with the flow" as I call it.  But my life flows around lists and plans.  Studies have proven that those things that get written down as goals and are measured and reported on, get improved. Develop a system that make sense to you but DO develop one!

This Month's "You Should Have Been There" Award

(Back to top)

The man that wants to be President, Sen. Kerry, has been making his case that he is the champion of the working class guy. To prove this, he went through the long and tiring process of getting a bill through congress to help get workers more pay for overtime. Good for him and the workers.  (Not so good for the small business owners, but that is another story.) So it came to a vote just recently.  But too bad…it failed to pass by one vote. And there was only one person who failed to show up…only one member missing. Yes, it was Mr. Kerry, who is the winner of this month's “You Should Have Been There” award. 

Tips for Sending Email to Barney

(Back to top)

If you've emailed Barney and did not get a response, he has had three (!) computer crashes recently and, as you may know, email is not picked up by most email back up systems.  So, please email him again if you haven’t heard from him and make sure the subject line is simple and direct like “real estate investors' web sites” or “gold student with question,” or “ NL student question.”  In this age of tons of spam, we have someone that deletes Barney’s junk mail so cute subject lines might end up in the trash!  Barney’s email address is bernard@zick.com.