First, sorry for the hiatus. I was traveling exploring colleges with my son and then for my dad’s memorial. But I’m back in the saddle now! Welcome to this first installment of the Apollo Solution:
Success Starts Now
Houston, we have a problem.
Before becoming a cliché, this statement was first uttered by astronaut Jack Swigert on April 13, 1970. What Swigert actually said was, “okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”
Swigert was on the Apollo 13 mission to the moon when a routine maintenance procedure resulted in an explosion on the spacecraft. It quickly became apparent that getting to the moon was an impossibility. Instead, what ensued was a fight for survival for three astronauts with the only goal a safe return home.
There was no opportunity to pull into the nearest intergalactic big box hardware store to pick up a few spacecraft repair parts. There was no time to attend a seminar on how to fix a spacecraft. There was no chance to form a focus group on the best way to proceed.
Success had to be crafted from what was on hand, with the skill set already available, right now. There was no room for excuses unless you wanted to be the one making the report to the widows. Part of the solution in April 1970 involved duct taping plastic covers harvested from instruction manuals to vent potentially lethal levels of carbon dioxide. There were multiple manual course corrections as the damaged craft hurdled through space at 25,000 miles per hour. It was unconventional and unplanned, but it worked.
Three astronauts, James Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, Jr. owe their lives to the Apollo Solution.
With the Apollo Solution, success starts now, right now. Success must be crafted from what is already on hand. Success must be achieved by who you are now with the skills you have now.
Success can’t wait. Success isn’t something that happens when you graduate from college, finally get the promotion or walk out the door in retirement. Success starts now. No waiting to be invited or credentialed. No asking permission. No excuses, no delays. The only thing better than success is a success that happens now.
Success must be cobbled together with what you have now. In my business, the leasing agent is often clamoring for more qualified prospects to rent the apartments. But the number of prospects can’t always be controlled. What is within our control is what we do with the traffic that does come through the door. We can’t always control the number of prospects. But we can close a higher percentage of the prospects. Then if the traffic gets really lean, it’s time to stop being passive. Then it’s time to visit local employers to promote the offering to folks in human resources that might be working with transferees.
One of our residents remarked to me, “I rented an apartment from you because I figured that was the only way to get your leasing agent to stop calling me.”
Success must be achieved by who you are now. I’m a big believer in education. You can never know enough to ever stop learning. But inexperience and lack of knowledge can never be a reason to postpone the success journey.
The first apartment building I ever built, I acted as my own general contractor and construction expeditor. I had no qualifications for doing that and no idea what I was doing. I can remember several occasions when I pulled up to the job site to encounter teams of construction workers with arms folded over their chests upset about another step or circumstance that I had screwed up. I also remember working past midnight and starting again in the morning about 5 AM.
But the result was the Fairways Apartments, an apartment complex on a golf course. That was 25 years ago. I happen to think the Fairways are the nicest apartments in town. But I suppose that’s subjective. What is not subjective is that they are the most expensive rentals in town, both then and now.
For that matter, years earlier when I first started buying existing apartments, I had no money or track record. I would put together some ridiculous high leveraged deal on an old beat-up apartment building and then get rejected for financing at every bank in town. But with every rejection I learned something. Ultimately, I kept the deals on course and on time and secured the financing and became an owner.
The Apollo Solution demands that success starts immediately. Still in school? Start networking now in your chosen field. Do you pine to live somewhere else? Put the for-sale sign in the yard and start packing. Today.
I was 23 when I bought my first apartment building. I was 27 when I started my own real estate company. I suppose things may have gone better had I waited. But sometimes waiting means never getting started. Certainly, had there been foreknowledge of every difficulty I would face, I may have been too intimidated to start. Sometimes being naïve is an advantage. All the problems and difficulties can never be anticipated. Don’t postpone your move until circumstances are ideal. They will never be ideal. Jump in now while you still have the resolve.
Come back for more next week to find out when it’s time to quit your day job.