COMING U.S. ECONOMIC CRISIS

I write this post today, not about the exciting things that are happening in my business or in my life but about the important things I have been learning.  Important enough that I feel a strong desire to share with everyone, so that you can study for yourself and come to your own conclusion.  I have been studying about our economic crisis here in the US and what I can do to prepare myself and my family for what I feel will inevitably happen. 

Just like other conservatives, I have been raving about our governments lack of financial responsibility.  I knew we were printing money like crazy and that the U.S. national debt was crazy high  However, I think I still lived in a little buble of ignorance to the seriousness of the situation.  My focus, like most Americans, has been on the moment.  On the hear and now.

Just a word of caution, when I first began studying about this subject I increasingly felt fear creeping into my heart.  You will see why!  After snapping at Lindsay a few times and having her ask me to please stop studying about our economic crisis, I had to apologize, ask for her forgiveness, and pray through my fear issues.  Ultimately my family is in God's hands.  That does not mean I live in ignoreance.  It does not mean I do not prepare.  It means that after I've done the best I can, I put the rest in God's hands and trust that He does not have plans to harm me but to prosper me.  It means that I trust in His grace to take me to a place I cannot achieve on my own.  Having said that, I want you to prepare your heart for what what your about to hear.  Don't let fear creep in, but rather excitement.  Because there will be major opportunities in the near future for profitable investments and ministry.  

I was going to write in my own words why our country is on the brink of a financial crisis.  But, after spending several days putting together my thoughts along with the data, I realized I'm not a good technical writer.  I am afraid no one would read what I write because it is hard to write about this in an interesting and entertaining way.  I know that everyone is not as interested in finance as I am.  So, in my study I have come across a video which explains in an easy to understand and entertaining way.  The video is about 55 min. long so I HIGHLY encourage you to take the time to watch the full video.  The video was posted on YouTube in May of last year, there are a lot of updates since that time.  If you want additional information, get in touch with me and I will be more than happy to help! 

In the coming weeks I will share with you what I'm doing to prepare myself and my family not just for survival but to profit from the coming times.  I do feel I am behind the curve on becoming prepared.  I have felt for some time that I need to begin preparing but I have done very little.  But I don't think that it is too late!

 

Anniversery and Update

3rd ANNIVERSERY

This week is a unique week for me!  It is unique because it marks my 3rd anniversary from being laid off.  That means for the past 3 years I haven’t had a traditional job or paycheck.  That means 3 years of being in business for myself!

I wish I could sit here and say that it has been smooth sailing and I haven’t missed that old job one bit.  Although, I guess it would be a true statement that I haven’t missed the job, only the consistent paycheck.  Going in business for one's self is hard and life has a way of knocking the snot out of you.  I can truly say that I appreciate the value of the dollar and how much it really costs an employer to hire an employee. But I've always seen myself as a sort of farmer.  I've been out planting my fields.  I've not yet got the rewards of all my labor.  Harvest time has not yet arrived. 

Another odd thing has happened in the past month.  I have had two companies ask me for an interview and a third company may even possibly be interested.  I found this odd because, I was not even looking or searching for these opportunities.  There has been several times over the past 3 years that I was searching for a job.  I sat for very few interviews and had not one job offer.  Had one of these companies approached me at that time I would have most likely jumped at the opportunity because it was always during a time when life had kicked me in the rear and left me flat on my face. But here I am, super excited about life, my business, and where I'm going and it is not hard times that are trying turn my head and change my direction.  It is the opportunity to have my old life back. 

So what was my old life like?  It wasn't bad.  I mean, we had rough times but it wasn't rough due to finances.  I wasn’t accumulating wealth but there was also no major worries.  It was rough times due to the rapid pace at which my family was growing.  Let’s face it, 3 kids 3 and under was TOUGH!  And I wasn't the one staying home as their primary care provider.  Lindsay was!  But there was little stress due to finances.  I went to my job which I did enjoy, came home, forgot about the job and dealt with life's other problems.  As long as I felt I was doing my very best at the job it really didn't affect me if my employer was or was not performing well.  Sometimes I miss this peace.

So what is life like now?  I absolutely LOVE what I'm doing!  I feel almost like . . . a cowboy!  I know that sounds crazy and your most likely laughing, but hear me out.  I feel like I'm on a new frontier, blazing a new trail!  I have an amazing family heritage and legacy with many entrepreneurs including my father, both my grandfathers, and at least one great-grandfather.  But what I'm doing wasn't handed to me by my family.  Don't get me wrong, my family has helped me TRAMENDOUSLY!  But I'm breaking new ground and its fun!  I have the satisfaction of building something, watching my efforts produce a real result, and experiencing rapid growth!  But even though there are days when the sun is warm, the grass is green, and fresh air fills my lungs as I watch the cattle graze, there are also days when it feels like my fields are on fire and the whole herd has have been stolen.  I hope my analogy make since!  I am convinced, however, that I'm where I'm supposed to be.  I'm on an adventure!  And I can't help remembering that my Pawpaw Lawrence (my mom's dad) used to call me Daniel Boon.  I think it was prophetic!  I think I am a trail blazer!  Hopefully in more than one way!


UPDATE!

WOW!  There is a lot to update you on! 

First, here is a quick update on the duplex we signed the contract on back in January.  Remeber, my First Deal of the Year!  The below video was taken earlyer this month (Early March).  You can see the difference a little work can do!  The property is now completed and rented. 

Second, how am I doing following The Plan to achieve the Goals I set for this year?


Goals # 1 and 2 (Earn an additional $25,000.00)

I've made some progress in this area!  We were able to find an investor to help us refinance the property on McDowell Ave!  After the refinance and the work was complete, we had approximately $12,000 left over!  We tithed $1200, used $4000 to pay off debt, had an oil furnace go out which cost us $2,000 to replace, saved $3000 for a rental remodel coming up, and used about $2800 to help pursue more investments, buy a new computer, and invest in some educational resources.  All said and done, we only reduced the $25,000.00 by $4000.  But, the rental remodel and oil furnace were projects which I'm happy to get done with cash and continuing education is always a must! So I have a smile on my face!

Additionally, we got a contract on the last "flip" house we had left.  In 2010 we rehabbed 5 houses and sold 4 of them leaving us with one house to sell.  That last house is now under contract!  We got our full asking price, but we have to wait for closing.  We are guaranteed to close this year, but it could be as late as December. 

Updated Goal (Earn an additional $21,000.00) 
Time Left - 9 months

Goals # 3 and 4 (Additional $2000/mo. in passive income including an apartment building)

I have to admit this is where the majority of my time and effort has been spent.   To accomplish this goal I need to do 1 deal per month and each deal needs to net at least $100/mo. in cash flow for me.  This is in addition to obtaining an apartment building.  This has not been easy. 

January Deal - 916 Jamison Ave. (Seen in the video above) - $100/mo. Cash Flow.

February Deal - Yikes I didn't get one.

March Deals - in March I had to make up for February and do two deals!  Thankfully God blessed me and I've got them "in the bag".

Deal 1: 807 Gilmer Ave.  - $120/mo. Cash Flow
Deal 2: 1627 Staunton Ave. - $130/mo. Cash Flow (Buying this house for 1/4 its value.  After repair will have about 1/3 its value invested into the property!  So cool!)

Also as part of these goals I need to add an apartment building to my portfolio!  Here is my progress:

I have identified my local market (New River Valley and Roanoke) as well as Atlanta, Ga. as markets to begin my search and I have selected commercial realtors in each of these three markets.  Atlanta excites me more because there is more distress in Atlanta and for that reason prices are much more depressed.  Rents are also depressed but not to the same degree as the prices are. On average I have looked at at least one potential deal per week.  I've been twice to Atlanta "deal hunting" and once in Roanoke.  As a result of all my hunting, I have made one offer on a building in Roanoke which is now a dead deal and a second offer on a building in Atlanta, Ga.  The offer on the building in Atlanta was recent, so I'll have to get back with you about what happens!

Updated Goal (Additional $1650/mo. in passive income including an apartment building)

Goal #5 (Asset Protection and Structuring)

No Progress

Goal #6 (Family before Business)

This is such a struggle.  It's a struggle because I don't know how to measure my progress and I never feel like I've spent enough time and effort meeting this goal.  I've worked many late nights and weekends that I would have loved to spend with family!  But, building a business requires LOTS of time and effort!  Lately I have really subscribed to a quality vs. quantity approach.  I'm at home a lot, working.  So in reality, my wife and kids physically see me more than most families see their dad/husband.  But, the majority of it is not quality time because my focus during the business hours and even a lot after business hours is on the business.  But when I'm not doing business, I try to give my wife and kids quality time. 

One major success is seeing my two oldest, Isaac and James, accept Christ into their hearts in the last few weeks! 

Goal #7 (The Point System)

Alright, time to be honest.  I have totally not kept up with the point system.  But, in my defense, there is a reason why.  James broke his leg and could no longer earn points due to his temporary disability.  It did not seem fair to me to allow the other children to earn the rewards and James not even have the ability to do so.  Or, vice versa, to reward James just for the sake of rewarding him when he did not earn that reward though his effort. 

But, last week James did have his cast removed.  I guess it’s time to get back to it!

Goal #8 (Lose Weight – 20 lbs.)

I made some real progress in this area!  I lost all the way down to 185 lbs.!  This was within 10 lbs. of my goal!  Unfortunately I think I have gained 2 lbs. back.  So, I have 12 lbs. left to go!  All my progress was in the month of February.  My 2 lb. gain has been in March.  I need to turn that around and start losing again!

Updated Goal (Lose Weight – 12 lbs.)

Goal #9 (Deeper Relationship with God)

All I can say is, to God be the glory for all the above success!   I am in His hands!  My peace comes from His provision!

The Plan

"Plans mean nothing; planning is everything!" - Dwight D. Eisenhower

This is one of my favorite quotes.  I first came across this quote when I was in college taking a construction scheduling class.  This is so true because life is so dynamic.  Situations constantly change requiring us to change our plan and/or create a new plan.  So, here is my plan to achieve my goals.  These plans mean nothing, because they may and will change.  But the fact that I am planning and moving forward toward my goals. . . that is everything!

Quick review. . . here are my goals:

1.  Pay $15,000 in unsecured debt.

2.  Save an additional $10,000.

3.  Increase my cash flow by $2000.00/mo

4.  Add a minimum of one apartment building to my portfolio.

5.  Complete our business structure.

6.  Build deeper relationships with children, wife.

7.  Be more consistent with child training efforts.

8.  Loose weight (down to 175 lbs).

9.  Deeper relationship with God!

So that is the target.  Here is how I'm going to get there.

Goals #1 and #2
In my mind goals #1 and #2 are basically the same.  I've got to bring in an additional $25,000 above and beyond what I normally make.  This is going to be a hard goal to meet.  It's going to require some discipline.

In the past when I have earned extra money, I've always had another deal just right around the corner to spend it on.  Or, many times I've taken a short term loan to do a deal and then have to take my extra cash to pay that off.  So far this has been required to get my investing business to where it is today.  But now that I'm here, I need to knock out that annoying debt.

Because this was one of my goals last year as well, I've already got some groundwork laid to achieve this goal.  Here is what I have so far:
        a.  In Oct./Nov. 2010 we purchased a house on McDowell Ave. in Roanoke Va.  In my opinion this is one of the best deals we have ever done.  We are currently trying to sell this house or find a partner who will help us refinance the house and pull out a little cash.  I'm trying not to "count my chickens before they hatch."  But I think we may have already accomplished this task.  Once complete, this should pay off a huge chuck of the unsecured debt.
        b.  Last year we sold three of our rental properties (with excellent tenants) with 100% owner financing.  This was done during the time period when the "First Time Homebuyer Tax credit" still existed.  The plan is that my new home owners will turn this tax credit over to me as their down payment.  It took a while to get these tax credits filed and it is taking a very long time for the IRS to process them. . . but once they come back, this goal should be met!
      c.  I don't plan to stop once I've met my goal.  There are tons of stuff I need cash for:  My wedding anniversary in May (Exciting plans I'll share in a later post!), vacation, more deals, larger cash reserves, etc.

Goal #1 must be complete before I begin Goal #2.

Goals #3 and #4 
In my mind Goals #3 and #4 also go together.  They go together because Goal #4 (adding a apartment building to my portfolio) should get me halfway to meeting Goal #3.

Let us assume that for each deal I do (not including my apartment building) I make $100/mo. cash flow.  This is a conservative assumption because most all the deals I have done bring in more per month than this, even when I have a partner and am splitting the cash flow.  Using this assumption, to meet goal #3 I need to do 10 deals this year in addition to obtaining one or more apartment buildings generating a total of $1000/mo.  To make this happen, I need to be prepared to do a deal at the rate of 1 per month (looking at single family homes and duplexes).  Praise the Lord, I've already got a deal this month!

To obtain my apartment building, I need to:
        a.  Identify 2-5 close by markets in which I would like to invest. (Accomplish in January)
        b.  Contact a commercial realtor in each market I select.  (Accomplish before mid February)
        c.  Begin looking at and analyzing at least one potential deal per week (Beginning in Feb. - Dec.)
        d.  Begin finding partners and/or investors to help me with my multifamily deals (already have a few)
        e.  Make Offers!

Goal #5  
Basically, this goal just requires some cash that I haven't yet been willing to spend.  This may be a foolish thing on my part because, completing this goal will give me an extra layer of asset protection and may be more advantageous from a tax standpoint.  I have been very impressed with Anderson Law Firm and would like to have their assistance is helping me properly set up these new entities.
        a.  C or S corporation will cost me less than $100 from the state of Virginia + $750 from Anderson Law Firm.
        b.  Nevada holding LLC.  To do this properly will cost me $995.

Goal #6
Basically I plan to put family first.  I can get very excited about business and get carried away chasing after deals and working on deals that are in process.  Last year I made the decision to try my best every day to stop at 5:00 PM and be with Lindsay and the kids.  I think I did fairly well with that most of the time.

I've received many comments from people about my cell phone voice message explaining that my business hours are between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM.  I know that I could go farther faster if I gave it more hours.  Also, I 100% agree with Robert Kiyosaki's statement, "Your not going to become successful by just working your job.  Your going to become successful by what you do during your free time!"  I do, desperately want my investing business to be successful.  But even more than that, I have a greater desire to be a successful dad and husband.  A few weeks ago one of the elders in our church (who is also a real estate investor) made the comment, "I've heard a lot of business men in their last moments make the comment that they wish they spent more time with their family.  I've never heard any of them comment that they wished they made more money!"

Goal #7
Basically I just want to go over the "Point Chart" with our children every evening.  I want to keep their rewards constantly out in front of them so they are always motivated to work hard and keep working hard.

Goal #8
All my other goals I am so excited about.  I am excited about the results. . . once again weighing 175 lbs.  but I am not at all excited about the process.  Last week I went out for lunch with some of my investors. I commented to them that I was trying to loose weight.  My investor made the comment, "You know there is only one way to loose weight. . .  Burn more calories than you consume!"  Although this is very basic, it is the foundation of my plan.  My plan has a two fold approach.
        1.  Go on a diet.  I wanted to choose an established diet because they already have the plan laid out for me.  I don't have to recreate anything.  I just have to understand and follow.  After a little discussion with Lindsay, I've chosen the, "South Beach Diet" mainly because it is popular.  Also, my understanding is that this diet helps me to develop good eating habits!  I've not read the book yet, but from my limited online research there are three Phases.  Phase 1 starts tomorrow (Sunday, January 16th) and will last for 14 days.  It is designed to help me get over my cravings for carbs.  Sounds like, for the next 14 days, I'm eating mostly meat and vegetables!  We are going to go to the grocery store tomorrow because I know we don't have enough of the right kinds of vegetables to feed me.
        2.  Exercise and burn off this belly!  I'm going to start with 20 min. per day.  Mostly just running or swimming.  I know, it sounds pitiful.  I just know my friends are laughing at me because I sound ridiculous.  But I'll start here and build upward.  I figure I can do almost anything for 20 min.

Goal #9
I want everything I do to give God the glory.  It will be only through His grace that I am able to accomplish these goals!  I want to be a reflection of who He is!  To do this, I need to keep building a relationship with Him.  I need to daily spend time with Him reading and listening to what He has to say and talking to Him!

FIRST DEAL OF THE YEAR!

The property shown in this video is different than the property I showed pictures and video of earlier.  This property was sold at a foreclosure auction on January 11th.  A local Roanoke investor purchased this property at foreclosure and then quickly turned around and sold it to me at a great deal!  I purchased the property for $35,000.  It sold in 2005 for $108,000 and is currently tax assessed for $78,800.  It has a two bedroom, 1 bathroom, Eat in Kitchen, laundry, and Living room upstairs and one bedroom, one bathroom, eat in kitchen, laundry, and living room downstairs.  It should bring in a minimum of $975/mo. after I put in a little elbow grease!  I will comment later on how this affects my 2011 goals!

How I Got To Be Where I Am Today!

I was born in October of 1983 into a wonderful family who loved me very much.  My parents were great parents and, in my opinion, they did a good job rearing me!  Beginning with the first grade I was taught at home.  Although I rarely enjoyed my school work, I was good at most everything except spelling.  My mother always told me that I never passed the third grade when it came to spelling.  All I can say is thank God for spell check!

I met Lindsay at a camp when we were both 14 years old.  It took me the whole week at camp to finally muster up the courage to ask Lindsay if she "liked me" and let her know that I "liked her."  That only happened because circumstances worked out just right!  We had a connection from the very start and began corresponding frequently because she lived in Georgia and I in Virginia!

Lindsay and I had a lot in common and we quickly became the best of friends.  She was also from a wonderful family.  Like me, she was home educated and her parents had done a great job rearing her as well.  Lindsay was also a entrepreneur.  She raised dogs, bred them, and sold the puppies.  Before we were married, she made enough money to buy her car, fund three mission trips, put a down payment on our first house, and furnish our house.  I also had the entrepreneurial spirt.  I purchased my first rental property at 17 years old.

I graduated from my home school studies in 2001 at 17 years old.  When I graduated I already had 20+ credits from our local college.  I had began taking classes at age 15 thinking I would like to go into something business related.  As soon as I started taking business math and getting into accounting, I thought that it was way too boring.  After graduating, I went to our local community college to study engineering!  I knew that I loved to build things so I believed that Civil Engineering would be a good fit.  After one year at the community college I left and went to Virginia Tech.

After one year at Virginia Tech, Lindsay and I got married.  It was 2003 and my life has changed rapidly since that time.  In 2006, I graduated with my Masters degree in Civil Engineering with concentrations in Construction Management from Virginia Tech. But, before I graduated, we had two little boys, Isaac and James.

We decided we wanted a little bit of adventure, so when I graduated we looked for jobs all over the world. We ended up moving to Williamsburg Virginia (the top family vacation destination) so I could work with a large construction company. We lived in Williamsburg for exactly 1 year. During that year we had our third child, Grace. Three kids in less than 4 years. . . YIKES.

My Family in Williamsburg 

Left to Right: Daniel holding Grace, James, Isaac, and Lindsay

The job was great experience and the company I worked for was very good to me, but Lindsay and I were ready to move closer to family and for me to begin working less hours. We began making plans for me to join the world of self employment and work with a good friend of mine as a scheduling consultant for construction companies. However, just before we made that jump, an opportunity came available for me to work for a local southwest virginia construction company. The owner was an older gentleman and the plan was for me to work towards ownership of the company.

Lindsay and I moved our family to Bluefield Va. and purchased a small ranch style house which needed a lot of work. I worked during the day and remodeled our house in the evenings. My heart was not really in the job and there was plenty of other DAILY distractions with two toddler boys wrecking the house and the van and my lawnmower (I will save the stories for some other time). It was early 2008 and the economy was on the brink of heading into a depression. Jobs were not easy to come by with the construction company and I'm sure it was evident my heart was not much in my job. I was laid off March of 2008.

Picture of Lindsay and I

Being laid off was a hard experience for me. I felt like a failure. I felt unwanted. I didn't know what to do. I immediately began applying for jobs with other contractors. I contacted my friend to see if there was still a chance I could join him as a scheduling consultant for construction companies. My friend gave me quite a bit of work to begin with, but there was not much hope on the horizon for this to become my new career. I began making plans to start my own construction business but was a little too scared, due to the economy, to go that route. I almost purchased some DVD rental vending machines believing that they were going to be the next big thing in the vending business. (I still think that would have been a very good idea. I missed the boat on that one).

Lindsay and I had always enjoyed real estate and read a lot of real estate investing books.  I never looked at this as becoming my job but always wanted to invest.  At this time I thought I knew about everything there was to know about real estate! Lindsay had studied and passed the exams to become a realtor and we already had two rental properties. However, I never could understand how a person could rapidly grow their real estate portfolio. In my mind it took a long time to save up that 20% you needed to put down on a property. I read books about 100% financing and owner financing and people finding these super deals. . . but I never saw anything like this. Those people were just lucky.

In April of 2008, Lindsay and I went to a Rich Dad Education seminar in Newport News, Virginia. At this seminar our eyes were opened wide to the possibilities of the world of real estate investing. I realized that I only knew a small portion of what there was to know about real estate. It was super motivating and I was ready to come home and fly into action. The only problem was, I felt like I had a small coffee cup and I was standing in front of an open water hydrant trying to collect all this real estate knowledge as it spewed forth. I realized that if I wanted to make this my career, I needed a lot more education.

Since that time Lindsay and I have spent over $50,000 attending classes and seminars and listening to motivational speakers and networking with other investors. I believe that it was worth every penny. We have attended classes on Foreclosures, Lease Options, Sales and Negotiating Techniques, Wholesaling, Asset Protection and Tax Strategies, Creative Financing, Land Development, Commercial Real Estate and many others.

We also decided that if we were serious about investing in Real Estate we needed to move to an area with higher demand and more opportunities. In July of 2008 we moved to Christiansburg Va. to begin investing in the New River Valley as well as Roanoke Va. (the largest city in Southwest Virginia). By the end of 2008, we had increased our real estate portfolio adding three new duplexes, one single family home, and a single wide trailer.

2009 was a year of many changes. The biggest change was the addition of Mercy to our family. Secondly, we added another 8-9 properties to our portfolio in addition to purchasing and selling or wholesaling several properties. We were 100% focused towards acquiring rental property. We were constantly cash poor and we still did have enough cash flow to support our rapidly growing family. I was still performing some consulting work and other odd and end jobs to make ends meet.

Towards the end of 2009 we decided to begin rehabbing houses and selling them hoping for a "big hit" to build cash reserves, pay off debt, and rocket our investing career.

In 2010 we successfully rehabbed and sold over 4 houses in addition to wholesaling a couple of houses. We rehabbed a 5th house which we have not yet been successful in selling. It is my opinion that this is the most difficult market in my lifetime to sell a house. We never did have the "big hit" we were looking for but still did relatively well. Additionally we became more conservative in acquiring rental properties but still managed to acquire another 9-10 properties including two student rental properties I am very excited about! Towards the end of 2010 we realized that not all our investments were "deals" and began to get rid of underperforming assets.

That brings us to the present time, Year 2011.

DEAL HUNTING

First potential deal of the new year!  I haven't had the time yet to build the plan of "how to get where I want to Go."  However, I feel like a duplex would fit into that plan.  

THE PROPERTY

The pictures shown here are really the worst of the whole property.  The exterior of the property appears to be in good shape (Vinyl Siding, 8-10 yrs left on roof, alright windows, newer doors, etc.)  I wanted to clarify that, contrary to what I said in the video, we do not specifically look for properties that look like this.  We look for signs of distress.  Either distressed property or distressed owner.  When we find properties that look like this, there is usually some type of distress involved which implies seller motivation.  A motivated seller usually is much more negotiable.  Most any property can be restored - just got to make sure there is money enough to restore it!

In the coming weeks we'll continue to pursue this deal and see if it turns out to be a deal!

New Year, New Blog, New Goals!

I have finally decided to join the world of bloggers, blogging about my life and my business.  My purpose for this blog is to set goals for our new year, 2011, and track my progress as I work to achieve these goals.  My hope is that through these posts, you will find some content inspiring and encouraging.  Additionally, I hope that you, my readers, will help me stay on track with my goals and encourage me!


My intention is to make regular posts (at least one per week) to keep you up to date with my happenings and progress.  Lindsay has committed to staying on top of me to ensure that I do just that.  I know that I am not the greatest writer (Lindsay is excellent) but I will strive to do my best.  I really wanted to do this last year, but never had enough motivation to get it started.


So, without further ado. . .


It is a new year, 2011 and like most everyone else I am developing my "New Year's Resolutions!"  I never have liked to the word "resolution" because as soon as someone resolves to do something, all forces of nature seem to try to work against that resolution.  Just like Paul said in Romans 7:15, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do."  So, instead of a resolution, I am setting goals.  More or less I'm saying this is the direction I want to go.  This is what I am going to measure my progress by!  I have separated my goals into three different categories, Business, Personal, and Spiritual.  


Business Goals


1.  Our business has approximately $15,000 in unsecured debt.  This debt is a combination of credit cards, unpaid real estate taxes, and other loans that we incurred to get our business off the ground.  It was my goal in 2010 to completely eliminate these debts.  Only, this time last year the figure was $20,000.  In August 2010 were were fairly close to reaching that goal; however, the last half of 2010 were really tough months and we ended up once again carrying balances on our business credit cards to repair and re-rent properties. 


2.  After paying off the unsecured debt, I would like to begin building cash reserves for the business.  By the end of the year I would like to have put $10,000 in the bank that I do not touch for investments!  This money will be our emergency fund, a layer of security. 


3.  By the end of the year, I would like to have increased our cash flow by $2000/mo.  


4.  So far I have been most comfortable investing in residential real estate (mostly single family homes).  Although I have looked at many apartment buildings and commercial real estate and even made offers, Lindsay and I have never added an apartment building or any commercial real estate to our portfolio.  I would like for this to be the year we step out of our comfort zone and make that change.  I would like for half of my goal of increasing my cash flow by $2000 to come from acquiring either an apartment building or commercial real estate.  


5.  Lindsay and I currently own or partially own three separate LLC's.  Part of our asset protection and tax strategy plan require us to start a Nevada holding company (LLC) and either a C or S corporation.  It is my goal to complete our structure by adding the Nevada holding company and a corporation this year.


Personal Goals


1.  Build deeper relationships with my wife and children and constantly encourage, nurture, and point them towards a deeper relationship with God.  I really do not know how to measure this goal, but it is very important to me.  


2.  In the last few months I have developed a system in our house that Lindsay and I refer to as the "point system."  I developed this system because Lindsay was struggling to train our children to be more efficient and do things in a timely manner.  I did not know how to support and lead her through that process when I had to work during the day.  Also, I felt that in an effort to train our children, I was always threatening them and putting the fear in them of negative repercussion and corrective action.  My theory was to train them through their desire to achieve something positive.  So, I took the problem and stressful situations (mealtime, getting ready to go swimming, going out in public places, etc) in our lives and created a "plan".  As long as they follow the "plan" they get a point.  If they do not follow the plan, they do not get a point and there are defined boundaries when corrective action does take place.  At the end of every week we tally up their points and they can exchange their points for ice cream, treats, a dollar, and other things.  If they wish they can save up their points to get larger rewards such as new toys or a date with mom or dad.  So far this system seems to work well for us but I was not very consistent through the month of December and we have lost a lot of momentum.  My goal for this year is to be consistent with our new system, or more broadly, to be consistent leading my wife and training my kids.  


3.  I'm sure this is one of the most popular goals among people every new year.  When Lindsay and I got married I weighed 175 lbs.  I currently weigh 195 lbs.  When I was younger I used to think that I will never get out of shape and get chunky.  I mean, just work out and knock that fat off.  Well, regardless of how I got to the state I am currently in, it is darn hard to go back.  For one, I love food.  It tastes good.  For two, I'm out of shape.  I do not enjoy working out.  It does not feel good.  My goal for this year is to loose those 20 extra pounds and get back to being that good looking husband I was when Lindsay and I got married.  


Spiritual Goals


I don't know why I have put this last because it is really the most important.  I truly desire to continue to develop a closer and deeper relationship with God.  I want to continue going to greater heights of His grace!  I want this year for everything I do to point towards Him.  My business is really His business.  My family is really His family.  No matter what my goals are, ultimately, I want my business and family to be achieving His goals and further His kingdom.  Again, this is something I don't know how to measure.  But, this is the direction I am heading!


So, in this post I have put forward my goals for the next year.  In my next posts I hope to tell the story of where I have come from, define where we are now, and build a plan to get where I am going!