DIY: Always Look for the X Factor (Video)
In this week’s DIY video, Andrew expounds on the “X-factor” and why it’s so important. ...
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The 7 Deadly Sins of Leadership: Sin #5 – Leadership Production
“There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.” – Henry Ford I once heard an allegorical story of a traveling rabbi who came across a fruit tree, abundant with foliage. The rabbi, famished because of his long journey, searched the tree for fruit. Upon discovering none, promptly cursed the fruit tree. Shortly thereafter, the tree withered and died. The moral of the story resonates throughout history. If you reflect the appearance of health and productivity, be sure that you have the “fruit” to back it up! It’s not necessarily wrong to judge a tree by it’s fruit. Neither is it wrong to judge a leader by his fruit. Leadership means production! Having knowledge of what you’re supposed to produce and actually producing it are the paramount duties of leadership. I was visiting a large corporate headquarters in the Midwest several years ago. I was greeted at the executive entrance by a very jovial, young security guard. He had an infectious smile and a down-right side-splitting laugh – just a delight some personality. While meeting with the executive team, I commented about the young security guard. Without missing a beat, the CEO replied that the young man had been hired for 2 reasons: first, to be a security driver for the CEO and secondly, to keep the outer office area in an upbeat and positive mood. That was a first for me! I had never heard of a “mood” employee, but I was certainly intrigued. Well, as fate would have it, I became the CEO of that corporation several years later. I inherited the “mood cop.” I thoroughly got to know the man and his family and recall the long protracted illness and eventual death of his father. I called the mood-cop into my office and told him I didn’t expect him to be upbeat through this difficult time. His eyes filled rapidly with tears as I placed my hand on his shoulder and expressed my deepest sympathy for him and his family. I told him to take some time off to decompress. He looked at me, smiled, thanked me, and said, “You employ me, among other things, to produce joy in the outer office. You’ve allowed me to weep in private. Please allow me to go back to my job and produce what you expect.” He knew what he was supposed to produce, and he produced it, even when his heart was broken. Allow me to address three specific areas of concern with respect to leadership production: 1. Know what you are expected to produce. 2. Know how to produce. 3. Just do it. Studies have concluded that billions of dollars are lost or squandered due to the leaders lack of production. By the time a person gets to the leadership position, his/her work...
Read More »8 Phases of the Flip Series: Phases 1 and 2 – Grant Park Historical House – Atlanta
Phase One – Grant Park: Atlanta GA We’re very excited to present our first post for each of our of six Atlanta-area houses. They are all in the beginning stages of rehab. We have multiple jobs starting right now. I have done well over 200 flips and continue to do more. First, I want to discuss my favorite house of all time. A Historical Victorian House located in Grant Park in Atlanta. In a previous post, we discussed “The 8 Phases of the Flip”. Today, let’s discuss Phase 1 and 2 for the historical Victorian house. Since this is a historical rehab, there is plenty of “red tape” I want to tie-in to the second phase. PHASE 1: Project Overview – Size – 3 story, Main 2 floors over 3000 sq ft with additional 600 sq ft in usable attic. As it sits now, 4 bedroom, 5 bathroom house. Master suite includes private sitting room, 10×10 balcony overlooking historical Grant Park along with 2 original fireplaces in the sitting room and the master bedroom. The house has a formal living room, study, and dining room on the lower level. Location – As they say in real estate, “LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!” This is a prime example of that. We are on a huge corner lot that overlooks the historical Grant Park and Atlanta Zoo. An extra bonus to this house is that it’s located one block away from a highly acclaimed charter school, giving the owners of the house selection into this school. Numbers – Purchase 225k, rehab 250k, sales price 750k. We had $5000 earnest money (all cash) closing immediately, no contingencies. How I found property – Through one of our local whole sellers. We bought the home within 1 hour of it hitting the market with multiple cash backup offers on the property Budget – 225-250k, finalizing final numbers with general contractor and subs Blueprints – see attached, laser drawing stage Permits – in process, historical house causes longer duration Surveys – see attached PHASE 2: Demo (part one) – Landscape cleanup – Due to this house being unoccupied for over 12 years and the fact that the people previously living there were hoarders, we had an excessive amount of cleanup as well as landscaping demo to do at this property. However, one of the reasons we skipped to Phase 2 and did the landscape demo is because this house was buried in overgrowth, as you can see in the photos. We wanted to bring this property back to life by getting the neighbors and community excited and talking about this property being restored. Therefore I can assure you, this idea for marketing works! We had well over 50 different neighbors stop by and thank us dearly for making the neighborhood better and cleaning up this property that’s been an eye sore for over a...
Read More »DIY Friday: The Power of Branding – Custom Keys (Video)
In this week’s Do-It-Yourself video, Andrew explains the importance and power of “branding” by using customized key sets. For more information on “branding“, check us out on “Marketing Monday’s“. We post a weekly blog article on Marketing 101. ...
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