Welcome to Chez Cliff!

Within earshot of several college girls speaking, one of them said “I’m going to drop that class.  I’m failing it.”

Another girl asked, “Are you failing or Asian Failing?”

Asian Failing?

Fortunately, pressure on academics never reached me.  Sure I was hell-bent at one point to make sure my GPA was as high as possible.  One guy I knew in college had a philosophy of “2.0 and go!”.  If he got a D in one course, he made sure to have a B in another to balance out.

But the notion of giving up on something unless I’m anything but perfect is ludicrous.  That’s the definition of Asian Failing.  Anything less than perfection is unacceptable.

I’m so glad I’m not part of that world.

This piece was a tough piece to write.  After all, how do you make ‘nothing’ interesting?  

This is however.

Sitting on the couch, I realize my phone isn’t ringing with problems or delays or burdens.  Everything is in this autopilot mode which is rather enjoyable.  The new tenant has been taken care of, with all her belongings to be moved into the house.  The back tenants reported some plumbing problems, which were taken care of easily enough.

The automated bill pay has taken away my bills.  The Skype option is working out wonderfully.  Grassman appears to be on track.  Expenses are down.  Income is steady.

With this down time comes the use of the imagination.  I’ve talked extensively before, about the E-Myth book and the various levels of the business:  Employee, Manager, and Entrepreneur.  For the longest time, my life bounced from Employee to Manager then back again to Employee.  This is the grunt work, the less glamorous work, which needs to be done.

Now with the autopilot engaged, I’m back up to the Entrepreneur level.  The “vacation rental” idea is one product of this mental wandering.  The online business idea is getting back on track.  And a second project has been piggy-backed onto it.  Good stuff all the way around.

What has made the “Imagineering” games fun is my new work schedule.  Fridays are now mine to do with as I please.  Now an entire day can be devoted to my own projects, in addition to the piece-meal hours throughout the week.  That makes more sense to me.

These times are the times of real estate investing which I truly enjoy.

On a side note:  I hate valium.

In case you missed it, Ed McMahon from the Tonight Show and Publisher’s Clearing House fame is losing his home.  Anther foreclosure victim.  But not a victim of rising interest rates but rather a failure to make the monthly payments.

Nearly $644,000 in missed payments.

I have a lot of respect for Ed.  Do you know how many times he has personally written me, telling me that I may have won the sweepstakes?  For a man of his stature to take time out to write me is, quite frankly, humbling.

Let me draw your attention to a few phrases in the article which chilled me to the bone.

McMahon, 85, has been a pitchman for the American Family Publishers’ sweepstakes.

However, he has been unable to work as a pitchman for various products since he broke his neck 18 months ago, said his spokesman, Howard Bragman.

Am I to believe that Ed, at the age of 85, is still required to work or else he’ll lose his house?  Whatever happened to retirement?  Does he receive no residual income from the Tonight Show or Star Search reruns?

The thought of having to work at the age of 85 is downright scary.  I know some companies like HP and IBM were phasing out retirement for death separation . . . but good grief!

Of course now we have to ask “Yeah but why does he have a 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom mansion in Beverly Hills?”

Beats me.

Why doesn’t he have it paid off after all these years?

Don’t know.

I understand the danger of focusing on those things you don’t want.  What you focus on is exactly what you receive.  But I can’t help but to shudder at the thought of being 85 and being forced to work.

At a recent coffee shop discussion, the topic of “Nervous Money” was broached.

The concept of “Nervous Money” is simple: any money which you’re afraid to lose is classified as “Nervous Money”.

In a more general sense, no one likes to lose.  We all like to win.  Our entire society hinges on the need to be winners and second place is first loser.  Add to this that finances (money) seem to dominate every aspect of our lives.  Twenty or thirty years ago, nearly every job offered secured retirement packages with guaranteed income and health benefits.  Who was to worry?  These days employees must be savvy about 401k, investment plans, brokerages, Roth IRAs etc.  Upon turning 68, their very lives will depend on those investment choices.

No pressure there.

When adding the two words “lose” and “money”, this creates a rather nasty situation that can cause people to do irrational things.  Back in the 1990’s, shooting up brokerage houses was a monthly occurrence.  The other day, a television commercial advertised “If you invested in high risk junk bonds and lost money, call us and we’ll sue!”  Some people just don’t handle the loss of money very well.

Sure the argument could be made that risk just needs to be managed, the downside mitigated.  I completely agree.  But when making an investment, no “100% guarantee” exists that everyone will be a winner.  People win, people lose.  

I sounded like Gordon Gekko there.

When making an investment people should only invest what they can feel comfortable losing.  If any hesitation or doubt creeps into their minds then the investment shouldn’t be made at all.  If the rent money is being bet on a single pull of the slot machine then the person shouldn’t be angry when they lose.  Betting stupid results in more losses than gains.

This article really pleased me.

In the article, our man Bob starts off his illustrious career as a homeless, drug-addicted bum.  After he squeezed into a position, putting labels on paint cans, he financed his business idea with $1000 on his Visa card.

Yes, he risked.  And he was rewarded for that risk.

When starting out, people will oftentimes ask themselves “What’s the worst that can possibly happen?”  Understandably the question brings to light the risk, the down-side of any idea.  Working on mitigating those risks and learning to manage them is the secret.

Dare I put forth the hypothesis that his response to the question “What’s the worst that can happen?” wasn’t “Fear of failure”.  From my chairt, his life had already hit its lowest possible point by being homeless and addicted to drugs.  The only other position I can think of that is lower than that is being a food taster for Roachael Ray.

If you don’t have anything to lose, it can’t get any worse.  More importantly if something is gained, then promptly lost, then the individual already knows how to cope with having nothing.

Perhaps this explains why history is replete with people who become great entrepreneurs, business owners, public leaders, authors, scholars . . . because starting out, they literally had nothing.  And when they knew they had nothing to lose and everything to gain that triggered their drive to succeed even more.

Interesting.