Book Review: The ABC’s of Property Management

May 10, 2011

Rich Dad’s Advisors: The ABC’s of Property Management: What You Need to Know to Maximize Your Money Now, by Ken McElroy

I don’t need to get into how much I love Robert Kiyosaki and his entire Rich Dad series. So, when we discovered that one of his “advisors” had a book out under his label about property management, it was a quick purchase.

And then a couple weeks ago we abruptly decided to take our investment property off the market, hire a management company, and rent it out. Suddenly, absorbing everything in this book practically became an income-producing activity.

It’s written by Ken McElroy, a business partner of gazillionaire Kiyosaki. McElroy can talk, he has 20+ years experience with running a property management business, in addition to over $200M in personal real estate investments.

Impressive. I guess. Whatever.

The book is split into three sections:
– Should I manage my own property or hire someone to do it for me?
– How do I find a good property manager?
– How do I hire a good property manager?

Funny you should ask, Ken, WE WERE WONDERING THE SAME THING.

He had me at the table of contents.

The book is detailed and to the point, action items aplenty. Several interesting (and astonishing) real-life examples. No theory or generalities here.

Honestly, the book is a giant, property management to-do list. Hubz read it first, and his highlights abrubtly stopped a third of the way through the book. I think he realized that there just wasn’t any possible way to NOT highlight the whole darn thing, and gave up even trying.

Oh, and the book is only 118 pages. Speedy!

All in all, it’s a very detailed, short-and-sweet-and-to-the-point read by a credible, experienced source. A good book for you if you’re currently asking yourself one of the three questions above. If you want theory about rental properties or investments, this probably isn’t the place for you.

Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars

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Rich Dad’s Advisors: The ABC’s of Property Management: What You Need to Know to Maximize Your Money Now, by Ken McElroy

(All links are Amazon affiliates. We’ve discussed this, yes? Kthanks.)

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A thought-provoking TED video

May 9, 2011

I ran into this video today. It made me think. I like when something makes me think. I hope it makes you think, too.

As a self-employed businessperson/geek, motivation, and figuring out how to self-motivate and turn that into profitable action, is of utmost importance. For me, it’s a constant area of improvement. As it should be, I suppose.

(If you aren’t willing to dedicate 18 minutes to it, at least catch the last 60 seconds.)

I like how Daniel proves us wrong about the “fact” that people who are offered the biggest rewards perform the best, no matter the task at hand.

Interesting, eh?

Interesting, if you’re self-employed and have to self-motivate.
Interesting, if you’re a manager and have a team of employees that work for you.
Interesting, if you’re a leader and have a team of volunteers that work for/with you.

Daniel Pink has published a couple of books (neither of which I have read): A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future is on my wish list. It has nothing to do with his talk here but, goodness, how eye-catching is that title! His other book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, I would imagine is an extension of the concepts in this talk.

Have you read that one?

Not the most sexy of topics, I’ll admit. But powerful, definitely. Check it out.

Here is the TED talks YouTube channel.
What TED talks have you caught lately? Anything shareable? Any favorites?

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Weekend Conversations

May 9, 2011

Me: Mmm, this is seasoned really well. I love me a good pork chop.
Him: Youuuuuu’re MY pork chop.
Me: And don’t you forget it!

——

Him: Oh neat, there’s the Kansas School for the Deaf.
Me: What?

——

Him: It looked yellow.
Me: Like, yellow yellow or reddish yellow?
Him: Um, kinda orangish yellow.
Me: Normal-ish yellow?
Him: Yes, normal-ish yellow.
Me: Ok, good. That’s good.
{pause}
Me: We just had a full, serious conversation about our dog’s pee.
{pause}
{pause}
Him: Do you think there’s any hope for us?

——

Me: Mexican?
Him: No, just had that.
Me: Italian?
Him: Nah. Sandwiches?
Me: Eh.
Him: What do we have in the fridge?
Me: A bunch of veggies. A big salad, perhaps?
Him: Eww. Chinese?
Me: Hmm…
Him: Why don’t we just cut to the chase and order a pizza.
Me: Took you long enough.

——

Hope you had a good weekend, all! I know we did. :)

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Friday Funday

May 6, 2011

Today is Friday!

Aren’t you glad you have me around to remind you of such things?

Today is a special Friday, in fact, for it’s the first Friday in my new era of No Work Fridays.

After working so many years on the side of my full-time job in order to one day be my own boss, and then accomplishing that goal 15+ months ago, I have no problem doing what I want when I want.

And I’m a pro at making myself feel deserving of such freedoms and taking full advantage of it. A movie on a Tuesday afternoon? Sure. Going out for a two hour breakfast Wednesday morning? Of course. Reading for three hours from bed? YOU BET.

However, that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a little self-inflicted guilt when I took advantage of my freedoms. It wasn’t a lot of guilt, just a fleeting feeling. Enough to make me go, Hmm, and eventually drive me bonkers.

I found myself making up for those hours in the evenings, or by crazily running around the rest of the day. I guess I still had some of that corporate mindset swimming around in my conscience.

That brainwashing, corporate monster. He’s a nasty villan.

And speaking of corporate mindsets, who said work weeks had to be 5 days anyway, huh? Who enforces that stuff? Oh yeah, that’s right. THE CORPORATIONS.

So this week I decided to purposefully leave my Friday blank. No scheduled appointments, no defined responsibilities, no deadlines. Nada. When a few people asked on Wednesday about my availability the next few days, I responded with, this and this time on Thursday and that and that time on Monday. Easy peasy.

I’m hoping that this takes away my guilt. I’ve created this lifestyle for myself, darnit, I can do whatever I please. And just because I have big goals for my businesses for the remainder of the year and just because I’m Type A and have to win at everything doesn’t mean that I have to force myself to constrain to an old work schedule or feel bad for enjoying the fruits of my labor.

Right?

Right?!

Right.

Today, as of 3:05pm, here is what I’ve done:
– make breakfast for Hubz
– pick up the house
– take myself out to breakfast
– drink too much coffee
– start getting the shakes
– flip through a lovely catalog that came in the mail yesterday
– cruise Twitter & Instagram, check email
– worry that the dog is sick
– take the dog to the vet
– worry that the dog is sick
– wait for two hours while dog gets poked and prodded
– worry that the dog is really sick
– pay $5,479,312 to the vet
– sit on the porch and worry that the dog is sick
– drink more coffee

This Friday Funday stuff? I think I’m gonna like it.

P.S. Please send a new canine. The warranty on mine is running out.

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Review: Beats by Dr Dre headphones

May 5, 2011

Beats by Dr Dre headphones Monster Beats by Dr Dre Solo HD On-Ear Headphones (on Amazon)

I have never been much of a headphones junkie, I’ll admit. Prior to a few months ago, I used nothing but the standard ear buds that were packaged with the various electronics I use on a daily basis. They all sounded the same.

However, Hubz decided to go out on a limb last year and buy me the new(ish) Monster Beats headphones from Dr Dre for one of my Christmas gifts. It was a fun surprise and I was a quick convert. An earbud user I was no more.

I’ll say one more time, I am NOT a headphones expert nor a geek that cares much about them. But I do enjoy these from an I-know-nothing-about-headphones perspective, and here’s why:

– there’s just no comparison between in-ear and over-ear headphones. Over-ear have the ability to cancel out background noise (which these do pretty well) and give you far superior sound quality. Walk into Best Buy or any place that allows you to try out a couple pairs of over-ear headphones, crank up the volume on the available demo cds, and try it out for yourself.

– don’t laugh, but they’re cute! Color-wise and size-wise. I’m all about headphones that sound fantastic, but not if I look like I’m wearing giant bowling bowls on either side of my head. Embarrassing.
Beats by Dr Dre

– the Beats fold down really easily, perfect for traveling, and come with their own semi-soft case. I can easily throw them in my bag at the airport, still fit in my 22 notebooks and 9 hardcovers, and not worry that they’re going to a) take up a ton of space, or b) get squished.

– if you’re a design lover, the packaging these babies arrive in? Yummy.

– the volume control is convenient and, unlike several other in-wire controls I’ve had over the years, functions one-hundred percent as expected and hasn’t broken.

– the quiet-ness and noise cancellation kind of goes both ways, if that makes sense. I can turn a movie on full blast, take them off, set them two feet away on the desk, and I can barely hear a thing. When actually on my head, practically no increase in volume will be noticed by a nearby spouse/canine/mouse. As someone who’s had to walk 25 yards across the library to shush! someone who’s not-so-politely providing a new soundtrack for the entire building through their headphones, that makes a big difference.

– from a comfort perspective, they get a so-so rating. The Beats are very easy to adjust and aren’t heavy on my head, but for some reason they hurt my ears if I’ve had them on for more than a couple hours. A quick, little shift of the ear pads, and I’m good to go for another hour. Maybe I have oddly sensitive ears or I’m wearing them wrong? Who knows, but that’s just about the only critique I can come up with.

Beats by Dr DreAll in all, I didn’t care one iota about the headphones world, and now I do. This decent-sound-quality stuff is kinda nice, I admit.

And these headphones? They mesh quite nicely with pearl stud earrings. And I know you were VERY worried about that. Ahem.

If you’re looking for an entry-level “fancy” HD headphone, I’d recommend the Beats. Happy listening!

Rating: 4.5 (out of 5) stars

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Monster Beats by Dr Dre Solo HD On-Ear Headphones (on Amazon)

(All links are Amazon affiliates, mmkay? But I think you got that. Over and out.)

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More Changes!

May 4, 2011

Thank you all for your wonderful messages, emails, comments, and texts about the changes happening around this ‘ole website. First of all, I still have a hard time grasping the fact that there are more than 2.3 regulars that read my crazy musings. Hearing from so many people in such a short period of time has been overwhelming and wonderful and shiver-inducing.

Second, I think I figured out how to get more of you to come out from Lurkerville…write more personal posts! And by personal posts I mean crazy, Type A, book-obsessed, popcorn-obsessed, canine-obsessed posts, of course. What fun it is to “see” you guys come out. Return to the sunlight again soon, you hear?

Third, you? You rock. Oh, and you too! And that’s all there is to say about that.

I thought I’d take another minute to point out a few tweaks I’ve made to the site in the past couple days.

Mini ‘About Annie’ The first widget in the right-hand column is now a miniature About page. For newbies that land on my site, they have a face to put with the name and a short description of what I’m about. The About page is still there with all the details, but now it’s not a required click to figure out who I am and why the heck I’m yelling at you about personal development or my canine-baby. I saved you a click! You can thank me later. And speaking of About pages…

Simplified About page The old page was just too…much. It’s simpler, shorter, and more to the point. Here’s who I am, what this site is about, why you might care. Done and done.

What’s Vemma? Previously, I linked to my Vemma website via one of the Supporters icons. That wasn’t really accurate. They weren’t supporting my site by advertising with me, I advertise for them! So now it has its own widget with a purrty new image. Click it, learn about Vemma, go forth and prosper.

Currently Reading Because I know you’re all simply dying to know what book is currently fighting for its life (and its crisp pages) while stuck in my purse 24/7, there is a place for that. Under the subscriber box is a new Currently Reading widget. I’ll update this as close to real time as possible. If I’m reading one book, I’ll only display one book. If I’m currently in the middle of two or three…you get the point. (When I finish reading the book, I’ll update the widget and add the title to my reading list.) The books are linked to Amazon via an affiliate link. I get paid if you buy something after clicking on it. Don’t judge me for it.

Hmm, I think that’s about it!

I would love to do a complete re-design of this site, but that’s not important right now. Maybe sometime this summer we’ll get around to making bigger changes. Or whenever I run into someone who will design it for me.

Is that you? Are you a designer-person?

Hello? Hello?

Dearest Universe,
Please send me the perfect person to re-design my website. Thank you and Amen.
Love,
Annie

Ok! As I’ve said before, I hope you like what you see around here. And if you don’t, TOO BAD.

Wait. Just kidding.

If you don’t like what you see around here, THEN JUST LEAVE.

Woah! I’m getting a little rude here! Let’s try this again.

If you don’t like what you see around here, then, well, I guess you’re still ok. Or you could just suck it up. Or you could leave. Or you could email me and tell me what you don’t like?

Whatever.

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Where do you want to go?

May 4, 2011

objects in the rear view mirror, on Flickr by qthrul

If you are tasked with driving a car forward, using the rear view mirror might make that task rather difficult. And dangerous.

How do you drive a car forward, then? How do you make any progress? Easy. You look directly out the front windshield, not immediately in front of the car but not too far away either, you grip the steering wheel, focus, and put pedal to the metal.

An old analogy, of course, but an important one.

The past matters, I’m not going to say that it doesn’t. However, what happens in your future is entirely defined by what you do right now.

Do nothing, and that past will be your future.

Do a few things kinda halfheartedly and your future will be your past, plus a few hopes and dreams.

If you take major action? Stay openminded? Always be willing to make yourself uncomfortable? Be willing to change? Then you can turn that future of yours into an entirely different picture compared to your past.

But you know what you have to do to begin doing ANY of that?

Look forward. Not behind.

I want to go out into my community.
I want to go into a higher tax bracket! (Err, or maybe I don’t?)
I want to go to a place where Hubz doesn’t have to report to anyone other than himself. (And me, of course! Mua ha hahaa.)

I want to go to a place of higher learning.
I want to go overseas and down under.
I want to go to the land of successful, published authors.

It’s where I want to go. It’s affected by where I’ve been. But it’s not defined by where I’ve been.

Look forward. Not behind.

Where do you want to go?
And more importantly, what are you doing right now to get there?

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This is my life

May 3, 2011

So there I was, minding my own business five minutes ago, wineglass nearby, laptop in, well, my lap, watching The Biggest Loser. And then this happened:

You guys, I laughed so hard and so violently that Hubz thought I was hurt/dying/suddenly deranged and came running from the other room.

This commercial? This is our life, my friends. Welcome!

And when you come over for dinner next week? Please bring extra socks. Mine are a little…moist.

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