Conducted Two Seminars In Boise — And I Was The One Who Learned The Most
Posted @ 5:08 pm - Filed under 1031 Exchanges, Real Estate Investing, Purposeful Planning, Boise, Retirement, Weekend Thoughts
People are hungry to understand how to become a successful real estate investor. They want to know the hows and the whats, and the whys. Many of them have already had their own personal uh oh moments. They’ve sold things they never should have. They bought land they had no business owning. When was the best time to execute a 1031 exchange? They made investment decisions almost entirely based on subjective analysis.
And some of them may end up losing some money. But not terminally so. They’ll remember the key mistake resulting in the lost money, and will be better for it.
I learned something listening for a couple days to their stories, and answering their questions.
They weren’t greedy wannabes thinking they were the world’s next Donald Trump. To a person, they were smart, energetic, hungry for knowledge, and most of all — braver than is safe.They asked how I could help them repair the damage. Some I’ll be able to help, for some it’ll involve amputation — but surviving to invest another day.
I came away with much admiration for every one of the attendees of both seminars. (with one exception) They set goals, mapped out plans, and led the charge onto their own battlefields. Real people with real dreams, but not a professional advisor in sight. My heart went out to them.
I’ll write of specific cases later this week, but you get the picture. These folks were investors who walked their talk. Though many of them had unintentionally driven into a ditch, they weren’t walking away. They were waiting, jaws set, for the tow truck. There was not an ounce of ‘give up’ in one person either day.
It was a magnificent experience for me. Both days went way over the 90 minute plan of me talking then answering questions. After the conclusion of the second day’s seminar I was humbled to learn that a single mother traveled almost 100 miles, child in tow to hear me. Clint and Janine, the parents of my host, mortgage broker Jed Galbraith, traveled five hours. It was worth the trip just meeting them.
In two days there were two totally different groups of investors. All but two were from Boise. Yet between all of them they couldn’t come up with a real estate investment broker in town, in whom they had any confidence. Same thing in Twin Falls, and Rexburg. So they came to listen to some guy from, of all places, San Diego.
The genesis of this trip? Bill Williams of Bill’s Boise Real Estate Blog. He’s a home agent there, and he also didn’t know anyone local that he felt comfortable referring Jed to. Jed came to Bill asking for help when he kept having his clients ask him for investment advice. Bill said he should talk with me. Thanks Bill. Bill and I could only talk on the phone while we were in Boise, as our time wasn’t our own. Josh and I literally went directly from the end of the second day’s seminar to the airport. That won’t be the case on our next trip — we’ll make sure of that.
The lesson here? People want solid knowledge, but they can’t find it. It’s like most of us with art. We may not know much about it, but we know good stuff when we see it.
I had the privilege of meeting two groups of incredibly high quality folks. To a person they expressed their intention to call and work with me. I look forward to it, and after getting to know them for just hours, I view it as an honor.
They were all an inspiration. Courage oozed from that room. I felt braver almost by osmosis. 
Though I’ll be writing more on this Boise visit during the week, I wanted to thank Jed for the superb job he did hosting, and especially organizing the seminars. He also made all the arrangements for our trip there, including the hotel. Oh, and I don’t want to forget to mention he allowed Josh and I to use his cool Yukon.
Then Josh and I got to eat dinner after Friday’s seminar at his house. His kids, Hailee, Chase, and Tanner were worth the trip by themselves. You haven’t lived until you watch a four year old (5?) eat handfuls of parmesan cheese — all the while smiling like the cat who just ate the canary. Jed’s pretty wife Shana, served up some chicken and pasta. Why is it when I make chicken I need a sharp knife, but when she makes it the chicken surrenders at the mere sight of a fork?
Then came the chocolate cake and ice cream.
Jed must be livin’ right.
This entry was posted on Sunday, April 22nd, 2007 at 5:08 pm and is filed under 1031 Exchanges, Real Estate Investing, Purposeful Planning, Boise, Retirement, Weekend Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
