Sunday, August 01, 2004
Still here
Well, the month has ended and I am still employed full time. Sometimes I just feel like I'm crammed into a tiny little box, and if I don't stretch out and scream, I will implode. But miraculously, every day I get up and go back. I'm building a reserve fund so that I don't get caught shorthanded. Maybe this time next year, when I start feeling like I'd like to have the month of August off, I'll be able to take it. Wouldn't that be nice?
This last Thursday, my boyfriend and I went to our condo's association annual meeting and we learned quite a bit. First, we learned that about five years ago, the units in the four different buildings on our block could have been had for $15,000-$30,000 each. The sponsor was going under and it was seriously affecting the individual unit holders, so the values dropped way down. The sponsor is starting to sell his units now, so hopefully the increasing sales prices will do well for our values. We were gratified to see that virtually all of the individual unit holders in our building were represented. Most of them were residents, only ourselves and one other person were investors. So we left feeling very positive about our chosen investment. We also got some great tips, such as where to go to get some new screens, and also a chance to get our real estate taxes lowered, which would be great. Even if they were lowered by $8-10 per month, we'd be that much closer to getting cash flow positive.
ok, let's look at the goals that I set for myself last time:
1) The book is coming along. I manged to write on it only two or three times this week. I don't want to lose the feeling of desperation that led me to start it. But work is progressing. I'm getting close to 10 pages single-spaced.
2) Haven't come too far on the financial advisor. $3000 is a bit much for me right now, when I'm trying to build up the slush fund. I'd like to spend about $1500. We'll see how that works.
3) I joined Respond.com and actually activated the subscription. I can now actually access the leads. There were about six in three weeks, now suddenly there are none. We'll see what comes along.
4) I have not yet joined ToastMasters. With next month's commission I need to decide whether to get the real estate license or join these guys. I can't decide, but I'm earmarking about 20% of each month's commission to spend on something that I've been planning to do.
5) Haven't started on my real estate license yet. See above. I promise that either #4 or #5 will have been decided upon and started by the end of this month. Check back then.
Well, that's all for now. Today could have been creative but wasn't. Instead I saw a movie with my boyfriend, then came home and did minor organizational work. So hard to stay in Quadrant II (see Franklin Covey for details if you didn't understand that reference).
Until later...
This last Thursday, my boyfriend and I went to our condo's association annual meeting and we learned quite a bit. First, we learned that about five years ago, the units in the four different buildings on our block could have been had for $15,000-$30,000 each. The sponsor was going under and it was seriously affecting the individual unit holders, so the values dropped way down. The sponsor is starting to sell his units now, so hopefully the increasing sales prices will do well for our values. We were gratified to see that virtually all of the individual unit holders in our building were represented. Most of them were residents, only ourselves and one other person were investors. So we left feeling very positive about our chosen investment. We also got some great tips, such as where to go to get some new screens, and also a chance to get our real estate taxes lowered, which would be great. Even if they were lowered by $8-10 per month, we'd be that much closer to getting cash flow positive.
ok, let's look at the goals that I set for myself last time:
1) The book is coming along. I manged to write on it only two or three times this week. I don't want to lose the feeling of desperation that led me to start it. But work is progressing. I'm getting close to 10 pages single-spaced.
2) Haven't come too far on the financial advisor. $3000 is a bit much for me right now, when I'm trying to build up the slush fund. I'd like to spend about $1500. We'll see how that works.
3) I joined Respond.com and actually activated the subscription. I can now actually access the leads. There were about six in three weeks, now suddenly there are none. We'll see what comes along.
4) I have not yet joined ToastMasters. With next month's commission I need to decide whether to get the real estate license or join these guys. I can't decide, but I'm earmarking about 20% of each month's commission to spend on something that I've been planning to do.
5) Haven't started on my real estate license yet. See above. I promise that either #4 or #5 will have been decided upon and started by the end of this month. Check back then.
Well, that's all for now. Today could have been creative but wasn't. Instead I saw a movie with my boyfriend, then came home and did minor organizational work. So hard to stay in Quadrant II (see Franklin Covey for details if you didn't understand that reference).
Until later...
