This week I am bringing you a guest post from Kevin Paylow (kevin@deliberateconsulting.com), Consultant & Corporate Storyteller, Certified Corporate Storytelling Instructor, Innovation Consultant, Message Consultant, Strategy Consultant.
I saw this meme on Facebook and thought it was too good not to pass along.
Plus what kind of maniac doesn’t enjoy a good Inigo Montoya cultural reference?
But the advice here is great… though points 3 and 4 need to be fleshed out a bit.
Your personal link probably isn’t “You killed my Father”. Instead consider sharing WHY you’re at this particular networking event.
Except for some extreme situations, “Prepare to die” isn’t the best way to manage expectations. Instead tell them how you hope you can both benefit from meeting.
“Hello. My name is Kevin Paylow. I came to meet and hear the latest thinking from other innovators. I’d like to learn about you and your business and see if there’s a way for us to work together.”
Of course, this is just your introduction. I recommend planning ahead for extending the conversation – read this blog post I wrote a few months ago for some ideas.
This week, I am covering REIAs. I will go over what a REIA is, how REIAs can benefit you if you are interested in investing in real estate, and how to find a REIA in your area. I will also provide details on how to find out about the REIA for the Houma/Thibodaux/Morgan City area.
What is a REIA?
REIA stands for Real Estate Investor Association. This is a group of like-minded individuals who get together to learn about, discuss, and network over Real Estate Investing. From my experience, REIAs are for anyone with an interest in Real Estate Investing (REI), from rank “noobs” to experienced real estate investors.
Meetings usually cover a topic for education on some aspect of Real Estate Investing, such as Tax implications (by an accountant), things to include in your lease (by a real estate attorney), and ensuring a property has a clear title (by a title expert).
Real estate investors also get the opportunity to network with one another. This provides opportunity to learn from each other and can also facilitate deal making. Investors have the opportunity to buy, sell, or trade deals with each other.
Some REIAs do charge a meeting attendance fee to cover a room rental and/or snacks and refreshments while others are in freely available spaces. Some are also held in meeting rooms at restaurants where in exchange for bringing in the group to eat, the room is available for use.
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What can a REIA do for ME?
REIAs are a place to learn. They provide education on many different real estate topics. As stated above, many REIAs bring in subject matter experts to present to the group. These experts are also available for Q & A.
Some REIAs have sponsors who provide REI-specific services, so that allows members to save time in finding said services. These range from title companies to construction contractors & beyond.
There are also likely to be wholesalers at meetings with properties that are for sale at a discount, in addition to investors shuffling their properties.
How can I find a REIA?
A lot of REIAs use Meetup.com to list and promote REIA meetings. Go there and search for REIA and your town name. You can set a radius distance from your target location so it will show meetups within that range, in the event there is a meeting in the next town over. When you find one you want to join, join the group and RSVP for the next meeting. It’s as easy as that.
Are you in the Houma/Thibodaux/Morgan City area?
If you are in the Houma/Thibodaux/Morgan City area, you are cordially invited to join the Bayou Real Estate Investor Networking group. Meetings are usually held on the first Wednesday of the month. Go to the BREIN Meetup page for more information.
And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments. Ask questions, tell your story.
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This week I am going to go over how NOT to spend your money. There are lots of good things to spend money on, but I continually observe people spending money so they can feel like they are keeping up with the Joneses or because they “deserve” it. And avoid misunderstanding, I am not advocating frugality, just better decision-making when spending money.
Everyday Observations
Bad spending habits observed recently:
Withdraw money from an old 401k account to go on vacation
Spending money to set up a business, but with no initial business activity
Early 401k Withdrawal
If you have money in an old 401k, use it for the intended purpose: Savings for retirement! It is understandable if you have a hardship and need the money to help deal with that, but just pulling the money out to go on vacation is a bit ridiculous. In addition to diminishing the amount of money to be available at retirement, you also have to pay a penalty on the money you withdraw, in addition to taxes at your current rate.
Amount needed to withdraw from old 401k to get $8000 for a vacation.
As an example, assuming a 24% tax bracket, if you want to use $8000 to go on vacation, you will need to pull out almost $13,000 to cover the $1,290 penalty and approximately $3,097 of taxes to end up with $8000 to go on vacation.
Not only do you lose 34% off of the top of your money, you also loose any additional earnings by not having that total amount of money still invested.
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Setting Up a Business Entity with no Business Activity
I understand the desire to get out of the rat race, to start your own business, and not have to work for someone else. I am right there with you! But take a practical approach. Take a practical approach. I see people starting up LLC entities, putting up websites, and paying for business infrastructure before they have any business activity. That is definitely putting the cart before the horse. If you spend that money, but do nothing in the way of generating business, then that is a wasted expense.
You would do better spending money on actual business-generating activities than paying for infrastructure before you need it.
Suggestions
Vacations
Plan your vacation as inexpensively as possible. Don’t skimp, just don’t pay $1200 a night for a room when you can rent a whole condominium or home for $110 per night in the same area.
Carry snacks and drinks with you so you don’t have to pay $4-$5 a person for snacks and $3-$4 per person for drinks. No need to carry enough for the whole day, but if you can save $28-$36 for one round of snacks & drinks a day, that cuts your total expense.
Save money until you have enough to go on vacation.
Businesses
Start your business on minimal infrastructure. Start conducting business now, then add infrastructure as you really need it.
Have a detailed realistic business plan. Plan out costs, expenses, margin, target audience, etc. Know these things before starting your business, much less spending money on infrastructure.
Hopefully these suggestions helped you out. Please comment here with any questions or suggestions regarding tips, tricks, and ideas for judicious spending.
And, as always, let me know what you think in the comments. Ask questions, tell your story.
If you like my posts, please share them with others and subscribe to this blog.
