Quote of the Week
It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
— Winston Churchill
Personal
It’s been a super busy month. I set out to post one of these updates a week but I’m not having a great start. I’m behind a couple of weeks already. I possibly have too many things that I want to do but not enough time to do them. So I’ll keep pushing to post more regular content because I think it’ll be good for me to write more and I feel I have information to share that could be of value to others.
With that said, the quote of the week which is today’s daily quote is particularly timely. It’s a reminder that I simply need to $hit or get off the pot. There are no excuses so with that kick in the pants I’m motivated to succeed.
Things I’ve Learned This Week
The past couple of weeks I’ve had to dig into Asana because we’re using it in this new real estate team I’m partnered with. It’s not as feature-rich as ClickUp or Notion and I’ve already run into its limitations. Notion databases and functions are hard to beat so I’m trying not to be so hard on Asana.
I’m stuck with using it for now so I’ll make it work as much as I can for needs. I do like that it’s focused and doesn’t provide too many features that distract from actual project management.
Discoveries
There was a total solar eclipse on the 8th. I’ve still not seen one with my own eyes but I’ve discovered some beautiful images and see why people marvel over it. I’m not sure why but eclipses have never really moved me before. This time with the explosion of social media and content sharing I could not help but see images from all kinds of viewpoints captured by before lens.
Reading
This week I’m still reading “Clear Thinking” by Shane Parrish. I’m also listening to Clive Barker’s “Weaveworld” on audiobook. Both are good reads. I’ll have to reflect a bit more on Clear Thinking surely. Before reading it I thought it would have a more dry and boring academic tone to it but it surprised me in a good way. It’s more of a self-help, self-improvement, or growth book in my opinion, and touches on topics that affect all aspects of one’s life.
Writing
I have not done much writing this week or month for that matter. Just a post here and there on Facebook and LinkedIn, one text and the other was a video short. I’ve been spending more time on real estate matters as detailed below.
Obsidian
There’s not much to report on Obsidian itself but I did post a new video to YouTube this week. You can find my video here.
It gets into the Advance Canvas plugin by Developer-Mike and it’s meant to Supercharge your Obsidian canvas experience! It adds features that let you create presentations, flowcharts, and more! Check out the docs here. If you use Obsidian Canvas this plugin you **NEED** this plugin.
Real Estate
This week my team and I closed on a 16-unit multifamily property in Lakeland Florida. We were able to do due diligence, raise capital, and close in a month. That’s much faster than usual and there were a few gotchas here and there when we were biting our nails but it all worked out in the end. We’re now renovating vacant units and executing the business plan. I’m working with the team on documenting systems and improving processes where I can.
In the Midwest, we have renovations completed on one unit with another still sitting to be done. We had to fire our previous contractor because he wasn’t getting the work done on schedule. So the plan is to get another quote from a different contractor before letting the contractor that just finished the unit previously mentioned do the work. Either way, work on that one should start next week. We also had to file for eviction for one of the tenants who renewed but has not paid his first month’s rent on time. He’s one of the old tenants we suspected would give us issues anyway so we’re not heartbroken for him to be gone.
In Saint Petersburg, I’m getting one of the single-family home rentals that was previously a short-term rental ready for a long-term tenant. They didn’t need a furnished place so I had to get remove all of the furniture from the 3 bed 2 bath home. It’s a good amount of furniture. Most of it will go to Goodwill. They move in at the end of the month. [04-28-2024] – This rental has been rented and the tenants have started moving in. Glad to have this one done.
And finally, one of my clients finally has a signed LOI for a retail space. It’s just about going on a year for this one. I’ve been searching far and wide and this client has not been the best. It’s a franchise business as well and I’ve learned they are very particular about the space and locations they’ll approve. Either way, persistence has finally paid off and I can see the end of the track ahead.
Apps & Services
BusyCal is a calendar and task app that I started using a week ago. It allows me to manage and see both Apple Reminders and calendar events in one place. I’ve been thinking about leveraging more apps from the Apple ecosystem in an effort to simplify my productivity stack. Here’s what I’ve discovered.
The first is that BusyCal is a really good application. It’s been a much more pleasant experience than Akiflow on mobile but it’s not as feature-rich. If you’re a Setapp subscriber then you can get access to the desktop app but if you want to use it on IOS then you’ll have to pay a one-time fee. It was only $9.99 for me which I felt was reasonable.
One thing to note is that reminders won’t block time on the calendar. It’s nice that they show alongside calendar events but I prefer they also block off the time in the calendar to prevent someone from scheduling an event during the same time I’ve allotted to complete the task. That’s the main reason why I like Akiflow. I could use time blocking and then schedule tasks during certain time blocks on my calendar.
p.s. After a couple of weeks of using it now, I’m more certain that I’m going to stick with Akiflow.
Special Projects
My special project now is figuring out how I can optimize our team processes and leverage Asana. One of the main processes I’ll probably start with is our post-takeover process of doing unit inspections, budgeting the cost for renovations, and planning out the renovations. We really have multiple processes that need to flow in lockstep with each other as we get the property under management.
Looking Ahead
I have another short-term rental that I want to get a long-term tenant in so I can focus more of my time on multifamily investing and capital raising.
[04-28-2024] – I’ve listed another one of my rentals and I’m starting to do showings this week. I’ve gotten much more activity with this one. I think I may have marketed it more undermarket than I needed to. It doesn’t matter since it’ll still be cash-flowing.
