Thoughts from the Desk of Bob Repass…
I am super-excited that this year at NoteExpo 2018 we will feature a series of TED Talk-like sessions on Saturday. That’s right, I am putting together an outstanding line-up of dynamic entrepreneurs and real estate note investors to share their stories and experiences.
So what is a TED Talk?
The concept was started in 1990 by the media organization TED Conferences LLC. TED (Technology, Entertainment Design) is based on the slogan “ideas worth spreading.”
TED talks are concise. Because their times are short (at NoteExpo they will run 8-12 minutes), speakers will have generally done the hard work of cutting out any extraneous ideas. Every word of a TED talk counts — and that’s very different from the public speaking most of us are used to!
At NoteExpo 2018, the speakers will be allowed a maximum of 12 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative and engaging ways they can. They will share their thoughts on living the entrepreneurial life, how to maintain the work/life balance, why they do what they do, what inspires them, how to overcome obstacles and setbacks and much more.
Simon Sinek, one of the most popular TED Talk speakers, says “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”
You are going to hear from a diverse group of speakers from across the industry and from various backgrounds. Some of our confirmed speakers include David Phelps (Freedom Founders), Cody Faller (Faller Financial), Chandler George (Catchfire Coaching), Fred Rewey (Exposure One), Fuquan Bilal (NNG Capital Fund), Eddie Speed (NoteSchool) as well as myself.
I promise you will be motivated, inspired and energized on Saturday morning. So if you have not already, register for NoteExpo 2018 November 2nd & 3rd in Dallas REGISTER TODAY!
I look forward to seeing you there!
Bob Repass
Managing Director
Stay up to Speed with Eddie
We Get Paid The Most When We’re Creative
by Eddie Speed
What’s your best motivation for being creative? I’ll give you two. First: Joy!
There’s something exhilarating about solving a problem in a fresh, new way. The second: We get paid the most for our creativity.
In the note business, there’s the mechanical game and the head game. The head game is bigger than the mechanical game. Here at NoteSchool we do a great job teaching how to, for example, buy a 30-year note then sell the first 12 years to recoup your investment and get 18 years of free mailbox money.
We can teach anybody the mechanical game, but not everybody has the gumption to become an entrepreneur and play the head game.
AN ENTRPENEUR’S LIFE IS ABOUT SOLVING PROBLEMS
I talk a lot about your value-add to your clients, but the ultimate value-add to yourself is creativity!
Most people in typical jobs have what I call a “Rinse and Repeat” approach to life. They do the same thing the same way again and again. But an entrepreneur relies on a creative mind instead of on an employer who sets your salary. You can make as much as you’re smart enough to figure out how to make. There’s no glass ceiling!
A successful entrepreneur is free from having an employer, but you’re never free from staying connected with other people. When you’re in the middle of a bad situation and you’re sitting alone in your office with your mind racing, I’m 100% certain those walls aren’t going to tell you what to do.
You’ll never succeed in an isolated bubble without a full network of people you can call for advice. But don’t get advice on being an entrepreneur from some someone who’s not one. If you go to friends and family to ask their advice on becoming an entrepreneur, they’ll tell you it’s a terrible idea and you’re out of your mind to give up your steady paycheck.
I’ve made a lot of friends over the years that I can call for advice. Naturally, I wouldn’t call an accountant for advice if I’ve had an argument with my wife. I have lots of people who are grounded spiritually I can call anytime, night or day. And you need people like that, too.
Back in high school, I had a friend I could call when I needed my car pulled out of a ditch, and I had another friend I could call when I needed help on homework. The nerdy guy who was the smartest person in class is not going to pull me out of the ditch. You have to match the question to the right person.
Wisdom is knowing where to find it.
People often think their first idea is great, but the initial idea usually has some bugs in it, so the idea you bounce around and refine is always the best. But the guy that thinks he can solve a problem (or refine the solution) without getting advice is absolutely foolish.
A problem well-defined is half solved. Experience has helped me understand problems better so I can solve them better. I’ve also gotten better at telling a big problem from a small problem. In the early days, every problem seemed like a huge problem until it was solved, then it didn’t seem so big.
NECESSITY IS THE BEST FERTILIZER FOR CREATIVITY
Many times I’ve found myself in survival mode. I’ve never, ever started out with a problem with my mind racing and amped up, then – boom – right in the middle of the chaos the fully-formed strategy drops down from heaven all laid out from end to end. That’s never happened to me and won’t happen to you.
People think these fully-formed ideas just pop in my head, and I say, “You ain’t walked a mile in my shoes.” (To be honest, I can’t say I thought up my best ideas; I stumbled into them. But hey, a good idea is a good idea no matter how you came up with it.)
How effective can you be when your mind is racing? Not very! But when we talk the problem through with a trusted friend, calmness returns and clarity emerges from the fog.
OPPORTUNITIES ARE OFTEN CLEVERLY DISGUISED AS PROBLEMS
When a non-entrepreneur has a problem, they tend to lose their creativity. But to an entrepreneur, that’s when creativity kicks into high gear. I laugh because there’s a fair amount of people that would say Eddie Speed is creative. But I would say Eddie Speed is focused on being creative.
A problem is often opportunity knocking. The things that change your life for the best often start out as problems. Our problems force us to change and grow. I know tons of people who look back on a problem from years ago and say, “This happened, and now I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
Marketpulse
The 7th Inning Stretch
By: Jeff Watson
I live in northeast Ohio, so I am a fan of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. And why not? They have a very good record and have been consistently in the playoffs, although they have yet to win the World Series in the last several decades.
Baseball serves as a good analogy for where I think we are in the current business cycle. You may be familiar with the “7th inning stretch”, the point in the game in the middle of the 7th inning when the fans stand up, stretch and move a bit, and then sing a song, usually Take Me Out to the Ball Game or sometimes God Bless America. While baseball games usually last for 9 innings, they often end after 8½ innings. If the home team is leading going into the 9th inning, it is incumbent upon the visiting team to either tie the game or take the lead to force the home team to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning.
I don’t want to get confused with who is the home team and who is the visiting team in our current economic system. I just want to let you know who the umpire is . . . The Federal Reserve System. I believe we are in the 7th inning, and the umpire is tightening the strike zone and raising interest rates. In fact, we may see an interest rate hike in September 2018, and I suspect we will see another one before the end of this year. Some economists are planning on an additional rate hike or two in 2019.
As the cost of money goes up and liquidity goes down, we can expect to see the economy contract or slow a bit. We also need to pay close attention to the 2-year and 10-year treasury rates. I predict that as interest rates are increased and liquidity is tightened, we are going to see two main segments of our society adversely impacted the most – the consumer who has always been living on the margin and never learned their lessons over time, and the businesses out there with a whole lot of borderline and questionable debt financing (aka, the junk bond crowd).
The consumer who is going to be in trouble will not only be the consumer who has brought too much house, but also the consumer who has borrowed too much money on cars, credit cards and student loans and is usually renting. This may cause delinquency and vacancy in multi-family properties to increase.
The real threat, however, is to the companies with all the borderline loans and questionable bonds to which they are obligated. If these companies go into a debt death spiral leading them into bankruptcy court, we can expect to see thousands of jobs shed, resulting in a slowdown of the economy.
Does this mean I will stop investing? Absolutely not. Does it mean I will become more astute as an investor? I certainly hope so. Does it mean I will begin positioning myself to take advantage of some of the possible opportunities that may come? Absolutely. But in the next economic slowdown, I do not see housing prices taking near the tumble they took 10-12 years ago. I could be wrong, but I think this time around, the opportunity will be for people to pick up pieces of small- and medium-sized, privately-held businesses at really good prices, maybe at just the value of the assets.
I look forward to seeing all of you at NoteExpo 2018. I will be holding a break-out session on Saturday afternoon entitled; “Do’s and Don’ts of Using and Raising SDIRA Funds to Invest in Notes” I hope you will be there!
Capital Markets Update
Yes – Wills Are For Everyone!
By: Ryan Parson
Aretha Franklin died without a will and now her $80 million estate is in probate court
When legendary singer Aretha Franklin died of advanced pancreatic cancer last month at age 76, she did not have a will or trust, according to documents filed in Oakland County Probate Court. And now the $80 million estate of the intensely private Queen of Soul is about to become very public – and possibly very taxing for her heirs.
Wills Are for Everyone
Figuring out how to divide your estate is a very personal matter. How you allocate your assets among your heirs is very important on both a financial and an emotional level. This even affects items of sentimental value.
Not all distributions of assets are so simple. But they all tap into human emotion. If you care about how your heirs will react to the unveiling of the will, even if you aren’t around to witness it, think about what the impact will be on loved ones.
There also can be an emotional toll on you when you frame your will. Some people have trouble with doing one, as it reminds them of their own mortality. Some even think they are tempting fate by creating a will. Planning for what happens after you are gone is difficult enough, but a lack of planning is even worse.
Wills Help Avoid Probate Court
More than half of all decedents die without a will, which means the distribution of assets will occur based on state law. In most cases this isn’t what you want. In addition to handing your descendants a legal hassle, failing to have a will ensures that your wishes aren’t carried out.
Let’s say that now you are finished with the attorney and have a will. Are you really done? Yes, for some, but for others, absolutely not. What else could be left?
Remember that an estate plan is an intimate subject. Have you thought about sitting down with the kids and making sure they understand all that you have done? No, you don’t have to go into all of the intimate details of your personal finances, but give them a high-level overview of your personal wishes for final arrangements and an explanation in general terms of what will happen.
Are you the owner of a closely held business in which one child is involved and others are not? Do you have a succession plan? Do you decide to leave their assets in a trust, rather than outright?
Are you excluding a child or perhaps favoring others? What about the child that is taking care of you in your later years: Do the other children appreciate how you might treat the caretaker differently? Maybe you want to give it all to charity; will the kids understand? What about a child with special needs? The list of considerations is expansive.
You’ll need to work with a trusted attorney to create appropriate documents. Additionally, talk with other successful investors about how they created their wills and trust structures. These discussions today help you and your family to be more comfortable about your wishes for how you would like your wealth to be handled.
Want to Learn More?
Even if you have a will, now is a good time to review and update it if need be. If you don’t have a will, regardless of the size of your wealth, even a basic will is necessary. Visit the Mile Marker Club booth at NoteExpo 2018 to learn more about some of the components necessary of creating and updating your will.
In The Spotlight
Loral Langemeier: Keynote Speaker at NoteExpo 2018
The note industry’s event of the year NoteExpo is entering its 5th year and will be held November 2nd & 3rd in Dallas. We have added a second keynote speaker to the event Loral Langemeier. Loral Langemeier is a money expert, speaker, entrepreneurial thought leader, and five-time best-selling author who is on a relentless mission to change the conversation about money and empower people around the world to become millionaires.
The CEO and founder of Live Out Loud, Inc., Loral shares her best advice without hesitation or apology. Loral has created, nurtured, and perfected a 3-5 year strategy to make millions for the “Average Jill and Joe.” The company has served thousands of individuals worldwide and created hundreds of millionaires through wealth building education keynotes, workshops, products, events, programs, and coaching services.
Loral’s straight talk electrifies audiences and inspires powerful action from live stages and television programs ranging from CNN, CNBC, The Street TV, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Channel-America’s Nightly Scoreboard, The Dr. Phil Show and The View. She is a regular guest-host on The Circle in Australia and has been featured in articles in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes Magazine and was the breakout star in the film The Secret.
This is another reason that NoteExpo 2018 is the can’t miss event of the year – Register Now!
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Quote of the Month
“Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me” – Carol Burnett
This Month’s Poll Question
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Those of you that have attended a previous NoteExpo Conference should already be aware of who is my favorite musical artist. We have an in-depth playlist that plays during all breaks. Yes I am referring to Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen’s autobiography is an extensive fist hand look at his journey from growing up in New Jersey to selling out stadiums across the world.
Two of the toughest questions to answer in my opinion are “what is your favorite Bruce Springsteen album and what is your favorite Springsteen song? After much deliberation I would say mine is The Rising album and Meeting Across the River for song. But they tend to change over the time depending on where you are at that certain point in your life. That’s what makes Bruce so amazing.