Ok, enough already! Quit asking. I’ll tell you what goes on in my life behind the scenes even though I can’t imagine why anyone would care. I’ll bet you won’t be very impressed. I’m doing this only because you asked numerous times and because I’ve seen Dan Kennedy, my marketing guru, succumb to the same pressure in his newsletter last month, so here it goes.
What Do I Watch on TV?
Actually, I spend about three hours a night watching my favorite shows with the use of TIVO. If you don’t have TIVO, you’re wasting a lot of time. It was Dennis Quattlebaum, your host at FFN, who got me hooked and I won’t watch any real time shows anymore.
Here’s what I watch in order of my favorite.
- Boston Legal- By far the best show on TV. James Spader and William Shatner are a rare combination that keeps me mesmerized and laughing out loud sometimes.
- Commander In Chief- A woman President who silently kicks butt and out boxes all her men opponents.
- E Ring- Action packed rescue missions directed from the pentagon.
- NCIS- The naval version of CSI.
- CSI Miami & Vegas- Cool stuff and open body scenes everyone must see.
- House- A mean doctor who hates people, but saves lives.
- 24- Never a dull moment with our hero saving the world.
- Lost- I wonder if they’ll ever get rescued?
- Law and Order- It’s on every 60 minutes, but always good content.
- West Wing- I bet Jimmy Schmit gets elected President.
- Criminal Minds- Deep thinking crime drama.
- ER- Brilliant camera work.
A few others not worth listing, but watched occasionally. Now you know what worthless shows I watch on TV.
What Do I Read?
Right now I’m working on “They Call Him John Q,” the bio of John Q. Hammond, a hotel magnate.
I have on my soon to read, maybe pile “222 Litigation Mistakes” by Steven Roulac.
Recently read George Ross’ book “Trump, Strategies For Real Estate Investors.” Finished all of Trumps books, disappointing really. Maybe one day he’ll actually write one himself.
I’ve started an entire graveyard of books I didn’t finish because they didn’t keep my interest. Not worth mentioning here.
I actually spend more time reading reports from my businesses and newsletters I subscribe to as well as some miscellaneous stuff that would bore you. I read piles of stuff Tish prints off websites I request, since I won’t turn on the machine myself. Of course, I read every letter I get from students before submitting them to be framed for our Wall Of Fame.
What Do I Do In My Spare Time?
I don’t have spare time. I make sure it’s all used on productive work or productive play or sleep with a few vital moments of food consumption and other requirements of life.
That may sound boring to some, but I’d argue looking for something to do to kill time is far more boring.
I supposed the question could be interpreted to mean what do I do that most people would call fun.
Beverly and I take in a movie every chance we get. I get offshore fishing in my boat about twice a month, which for some is like five days of normal fishing. I go to 3 or 4 other locations each year to fish, usually tagging on some business and we hit Alaska every August, which is my favorite.
I scuba dive about six times a year and spearfish most of those dives. When I go down something dies.
I watch a Jags game when I’m home on Sunday with Beverly, which isn’t very often. Frankly, its more fun watching her cheer them on. She’s a little psycho during a game. Doesn’t know how the game is played, but knows when the Jags did good and when to cheer.
Bev and I travel together sometimes, especially anywhere near a casino, and she gets me to do some tourist type stuff and I pretend like I’m having fun. Don’t tell her.
Truthfully, what most people think is fun bores me to tears. I’d rather be in a dentists’ chair than sit around with nothing to do.
I still have fun teaching, writing, structuring deals, and socializing with people who are going places. Never could get into mindless chatter or conversations where it’s obvious everyone is working hard to think of something to say.
I ride my bike every once in a while and now have two planes that make me glad I don’t have to frequent airports, strip searches, and delays.
What Do I Do With Money?
I spend it. My personal living cost would choke a horse, but compared to my income, it’s in line. We don’t really live high on the hog; at least not as high as we could. Ok, so we have an estate, planes, a boat, horses, and a few frills. You won’t find any expensive paintings or imported furniture in our house. No ten car garage full of classic cars or million dollar necklaces in Bev’s jewelry box. That’s just not us and there’s really no internal desire to live like rock stars.
We have pretty much everything we want, except I want a bigger plane. I can’t buy one until Marshall Sylver gets his. He claims his will be bigger than mine, so I have to wait to see what he gets before I buy another. It must be at least one foot longer than his. It’s a man thing.
Most of my capital is placed into short term real estate deals with students. You guys are a demanding bunch. It takes a fortune to stay ahead of the earnest money deposits and due diligence costs on all these commercial deals that doesn’t come back until the deal closes. Some don’t.
I’m not complaining cause this year has been berry, berry good to me and next year and the year after should produce huge amounts of cash for me and some students.
I make a few loans, fund my pension plans and numerous capital eating critters. Cash is always an elusive critter running the other direction.
I don’t buy stocks or what most would call normal investments. I did invest a big chunk in my own private placement we’re currently filling. Sometimes I even use cash for down payments on good real estate deals if I see a short term exit with a large upside.
How Do I Spend My Time?
Well, about two hours of it went into this article and I’d guess I spend about 20 hours a month writing something.
People used to ask me to spend a day with me to follow me around. I told them that may be an interesting day on some days, but you’d have to have varying interests to gain from it. I don’t spend any day on any one thing unless I’m teaching.
My days are multi-tasked and would fatigue most people. I get more done in a working day than many do in a week or more. Not because I’m so busy myself, but I’m a master delegater…. that frees me up to focus mostly on the macro. It doesn’t matter where I’m at, the work flow is the same on my staff.
Of course after a trip and plane time, Tish dreads my return. It’s like a front end loader dumping a pile on her head, but she handles it quickly and well. When I’m home, I spend one or two days a week at Global and the rest at my home office.
If I’m teaching, I usually have dinner with someone in the room or prearranged business meetings. Usually don’t dine alone. Too many people to meet. Too much to accomplish.
Every day when I leave my office at Global my desk is clean with no loose ends. Tish takes my calls, handles most and forwards the rest to me wherever I am.
She and Rick Wheat distribute the commercial deals to seven Regional Project Managers who follow up. Not much for me to do.
Global has 40 people who handle the info marketing business. Not much for me to do.
FFN is run by Dennis and Tim Yandell. Not much for me to do.
Investors Resource Center is run by Kelly Brown and Chuck Burt and others. Not much for me to do.
The events I teach are all filled and conducted by Global staff. I just talk. Not much for me to do.
All other business interest is handled by Tish and Ken Paulk, CFO or Sam Safadi, finance manager. Not much for me to do.
Come to think of it, what do I do? I make sure the good people around me get what they need from me so they can do their job. Then I let them do it. That’s all I do. Perhaps, that’s all you should do.
Peace,
Ron
Author's Products:
November 10th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
I am extremely inspired with your writing skills and also with the format to your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it your self? Either way stay up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to peer a nice weblog like this one nowadays..