When we pulled up the building’s history, we could see the banks had been trying to sell these places for a while, slowly coming down in price, but there were no takers. Until one bank blinked, and sold a place, there was no set price to start a negotiation…it was a prime piece to buy low.

We bagan negotiations by coming in at a really low price. The banks countered by giving in a little, but not much. I came up a touch, the banks came down a smidge… It was slow going, the bank’s lawyer, on average, took a week to counter each offer. Fortunately, no other offers were forthcoming…Eventually, we settled on, what I felt, was a price low enough to take a risk on the property.

It turned out that mine was the first bank to blink, I’d set the benchmark price…I also had the privilege (or more correctly my lawyer and I had the privilege) of sorting out all the legal issues like the liens on the building, and sorting out the management. Fortunately, I’d had dealings with  property management companies before and knew a few honest ones. By september, I still hadn’t closed, but the building was getting sorted out. In fact, as things got clearer, it looked to be an excellent investment, so I offered on a second unit.

This time, we had a benchmark to go by. We knew what a top line would be, so had a good leg to stand on when it came to negotiation. Some of the other units were beginning to sell, and we’d just formed the condo board (of which I was the founding treasurer), and begun to sort things out. Now, the other benefit I had was I knew most of the building’s secrets (especially financially) since I’d needed to get things organized to hire a property management company (which we were just about to do, but hadn’t announced yet). It was probably the best time to negotiate.

I was able to get a second, nearly identical unit for even less than the first. Ironically, I was able to close the second unit, before the first because the first unit had to fix all the hurdles, which never applied to the units that followed.

Nearly one year later, the final large unit came up for sale. It’s asking price was low, a bit lower than the selling price of my second one. I was going to make an offer on this one as well, but a friend of mine wanted to start off in getting a rental, so I let him make the offer. Originally, we thought to offer a bit lower, having successfully negotiated lower than list on the last two but, by this time, it wasn’t the same building. While we found the realtors selling the place had done minimal work in finding documentation or building history, it wasn’t had to do your own due diligence as it was when I started looking at this building. The titles were clear, there was a property management company, financial reports, and a condo board.

The listing came up on thursday, and by friday the unit already had two offers. The one thing we knew, the banks wouldn’t look at any offers until monday, since their lawyers don’t work on weekends. That gave us a few days to evaluate our options.

Realtors won’t, and legally can’t, disclose other offers. That being said, once you’ve been in the game long enough, you tend to know the psychology of buyers. Knowing there were two offers, we were able to find out that the offers didn’t come from realtors who had sold units since my purchase. This means that they didn’t come from people familiar with the building (a definite plus), or it’s financial shape. Since they came in only one day after listing, I suspect they hadn’t done their due diligence yet (another plus). My guess would be, the offers would come in slightly lower than asking, with a few conditions (probably an inspection, possibly financing, though it was so low a price that may not have been one).

My friend was willing to make an unconditional offer, so now the question became at what price? He could offer a bit lower, list, or even slightly above.

Offering lower presented the most risk. While it worked in the past, as I said before, this isn’t the same building. This property is a great cash flow rental. With at least two other offers is it worth potentially losing a cash cow over a couple thousand dollars? You’d make up the difference in a year’s profits from renting. If you don’t get the property, you lose those potential profits over the entire future of the property.

Offering list price, unconditionally, in this case seemed like a pretty safe bet. There is still risk that someone else may make the same offer, but in this case, it doesn’t seem likely (they are new investors to the building, and most people want a deal). That being said, there is still a risk, as the property is at an incredibly low list price…

The final situation seemed to be the “silver bullet”. Offer $100 over list price, unconditionally. I doubt any of the other current offers would match this as a starting point. The banks want this property off their books quickly. The price is too low for them to want to haggle over it, or be bothered with a bidding war. For my friend, what he pays today will be made up quickly by rental profits, so there is no great loss. To offer over list would virtually guarantee he gets a winning property.

Sometimes it’s better to overpay the listing price, or at least pay the listing price, rather than negotiate and have a chance of losing the property. While it’s true you don’t really lose anything if you don’t buy the property, deals like these are few and far between. By next year, the foreclosures will all have been sold in this condo, it will have been running properly and well managed for a year or more, new owners and new tenants are all on the same page about turning the place around… The values of units could easily double and go up to the area’s average selling prices.

In the future, I may kick myself for allowing my friend to buy it instead of me…P-)

Lesson: While usually most of the profits on a building are made when you buy, remember to analyze the deal as a whole. The losses you face by trying to maximize profits can, sometimes, cost you all of your profits.

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Each of these seminars seems to promise the “secrets” of investing in “fill in the blank topic” that will make you rich. In reality, these are minefields for the uneducated investor.

They are very slick, very controlled environments, geared at separating the unknowing from their money, all while making you feel like you are doing the right thing to secure the future. They just fail to tell you who’s future you’re securing.

If you attend one of these events, you can expect to find one or more of the following techniques being performed…

1. A free gift. Nothing is better to get people feeling obligated to you more than giving them something for free
2. Audience plants. Ever notice those people who suddenly agree? Volunteer to sign up? Offer “spontaneous” testimonials? Most of the time they aren’t there by accident…
3. Rather vague and limited information. This is only a  short seminar afterall, you didn’t expect to become an expert in one seminar did you?
4. Some opportunity to sign up for a “more comprehensive” course. Don’t be surprised if it too follows this script, but costs more money.

Now, truth be told, I do know people who’ve joined these “Networks” or groups and have made a lot of money, unfortunately it’s usually been at the expense of other people, not through good investing..

To give you an example, I and a bunch of other investors just bought some condos that were being “developed” by one of these “network” members. They bought a three storey walk up apartment three years ago and, using the techniques they learned, got “investors” to buy in (at above market values) and converted it to a condo. Well, shortly after, the market dropped a bit, and the “investors” found themselves holding the bag on properties that were underwater (had less equity than money owed to the banks). Nearly every unit in the building had gone into foreclosure by the time I found it. The “management” had disappeared, and the properties were being sold for less than half their retail value.

It took a long time, and a lot of work for me and the other true investors to fix the problems, but the return on investment for us has been great during this recession period. Unfortunately, the “developer” also managed to make a lot of money out of the deal. I’ve noticed that this “developer” has been promoting a  new property.

In a different example, a friend of mine got caught up in the “more comprehensive” training seminars. Each one leading to the next, more expensive and more comprehensive course. Each one just one or  so steps away from untold wealth. Eventually, after spending tens of thousands of dollars, he had to declare personal bankruptsy. He  never even got to buy a property, and I’m not sure he even learned he’d been taken. He missed the most important lesson from his expensive education.

Lesson: The promiss of quick riches is hard to resist. The reality is there is no secret, it’s not hard to make money, but it is work. There is a quote that says if you walk into a room, and don’t know within 5 minutes who the patsy is, then your the patsy. Remember that the next seminar you attend.

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His last point, which I’ll quote below, sums up my motivation for this site, better than I’ve ever been able to, though I don’t really want you to be rich to buy my products and services. I do want you to be rich.

Lastly, you may be surprised to learn that wealthy people wish you were wealthy, too. It’s a mystery to them why others don’t get rich. They know they aren’t special and that wealth is available to anyone who wants to focus and persist. Rich people want others to be rich for two reasons: first, so you can buy their products and services, and second, because they want to hang out with other rich people.

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There are two kinds of debt, often called “good” debt and “bad” debt. Good debt is the kind that puts money in your pocket (that means more money than it costs you, let me be clear on that) like the mortgage on a rental property. Bad debt is the kind that just costs you money sort of like a big screen TV you can’t pay cash for.

Having no debt can be a good thing, if you want to remain at the same net worth. You’re house is paid off, so are your cars and toys…but the equity is locked up, and not making you anything other that standard appreciation (or depreciation).

For every dollar you save in the banks, earning you less in interest than inflation and thus losing you money, represents a lot of money other people can use to make more money. The bank can lend out multiple dollars for every dollar they have stored in savings. I’ll let you in on a little secret though, the banks want you to save because they make a lot of money off of your savings, it’s good for the “little” guys to deposit their money at under 1% interest, that way the bank can lend out 10 times that (or more/less depending on the economy) and charge 3–6%…

Imagine, you give the bank $100, they agree to pay you 1%, so $1/year (which, if you’re in the highest tax bracket will cost you nearly 50 cents in taxes). The bank meanwhile can lend out $1,000 at let’s say 5%, making them $50 on your $100.

Are they ripping you off? No. They are providing a service, and using the rules to make money. If you want a slice of the pie, buy some bank stocks or…

Do what the rich do.

When a wealthy person buys an investment, they rarely pay for it with their own money, they borrow money to pay for it. They leverage their net worth to make money. For example, if you owned your house worth $100,000, you’d have a tough time increasing the value of the house to $200,000 without spending money. If however, you borrowed $90,000 against the title of your house, bought 9 rental properties worth $100,000 each, you’d still be in the same situation as far as your net worth was concerned. You still only have a net worth of $100,000 but now control $1,000,000 worth of real estate (meaning if you sold everything you’d still only have $100,000 not $1,000,000 because you’d have to repay the bank the other $900,000 you borrowed).

Let’s say your mortgage interest was 5% amortized over 25 years, making your payments about $525/month, and you could rent the place for $1,000/month. This means you’re making $475 x 9 rentals x 12 months $45,900 each year. With taxes eating half, you could still double your net worth in just over 4 years.

This example is extremely simplified, for example there are other costs involved (lawyers, taxes, insurance, etc.) but on the flip side, if you were to reinvest your profits your taxes would be lower and your net worth would grow much quicker. For a more in-depth idea of what’s involved, I’d suggest you read my book.

Even if you had the cash, I wouldn’t recommend using more than the bear minimum, as you lock up it’s earning power and put it at risk.

When the rich buy businesses, real estate, even stocks, they borrow money to do it, they get grants, subsidies, whatever. They use leverage to keep money working for them. The savers power them.

Now, this isn’t meant to say go out and leverage everything to buy crap. You need to be smart, and buy smart. You have to make more money than you pay for that money, otherwise you’ve got “bad” debt.

“Bad” debt makes you poor, it doesn’t matter if it’s a big screen TV or a bad investment property.

There is no path that will make you money for nothing, but it’s not difficult to make money either if you’re willing to work. Saving isn’t the path to wealth, and the system isn’t corrupt.

If I had $50, would you be upset if I invested and turned it into $100? Would I be a bad person for doing that (assuming it was legal of course)? Would it be different if I used the same technique on $500? $5000? Then why does it change when you have a lot of money? In fact, it’s more work to change $500,000 into $1,000,000 and riskier to boot, but it’s the same return on investment. It’s the same as 10,000 people changing $50 into $100, when you put aside taxes and probably employment. Don’t get mad at people’s success, just get off the couch and imitate them.

I often wonder why we listen to people who work for a pay check when it comes to investing. The people working for the banks, the magazines, the investment companies don’t make money doing what they tell you to do, they make money by telling you what to do which makes their employer money.

If you want to be rich, look at how the wealthy make their money. Let me know if you ever read an article about Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, or anyone who “dipped” into their pocket and paid for a purchase outright. It doesn’t happen in investing.

Lesson: Spent money is dead money, and dead money can’t make you anything.

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When my wife started out in the equestrian business we looked at the numbers. It takes a lot of money to start up an equestrian business, and our research showed that the best run stables only tend to break even. For us to have started by buying our own property at the beginning would have been a mistake…possibly a very costly one.

Instead of jumping in the deep end, hoping to swim, we decided to build up the business by boarding our horses someplace, and generating a clientele.

Now, this solution did cost more, no doubt about it, and there were plenty of problems that were associated with this decision…but it was also a valuable education. We ware able to see what worked and what didn’t work. What was needed, and what we could do without. It also let us establish a cash flow, and a track record as we grew and developed a good reputation. Had things gone wrong (and unexpected things happen all the time like car accidents), getting out wouldn’t have left us stranded or cost us a fortune. We gave up profits for an education, and we made it money well spent.

Later, when my wife was well established, and very frustrated with the situation of having grown too big to keep going in the current situation, we ran the numbers again. At this point we were paying more in board than a mortgage payment on an expensive property. We had an established clientele, a steady income, and an education. It was time to move on.

In another horse-related example (though if you look at the concept it’s universally applicable), we have a student who has their own horse as well as a small acreage. What they don’t own is their own trailer. Now, their initial idea is to buy their own trailer and bring the horse over for lessons instead of paying board. Would this be cost effective? What one needs to to is find out how much the trailer would cost, then add in maintenance, gas, insurance, as well as cost of feed for the horse at home and the hassle of trailering a horse once a week. Next figure out how often you’ll use the trailer outside of hauling for lessons (be honest about it, you’ll only be lying to yourself otherwise), and the fact that you’ll need someone to take care of your horse when you want to travel. Once you add all this up, divide it by the monthly cost of board and see how long you could have someone else look after your horse for the same money. There are other factors of course, like having to travel any time you just want to ride, but sometimes it pays to wait a bit. Things could change for you dramatically in a year, for the better or not, are the hardships a deal breaker?

Looking at stocks, you can apply a similar attitude. I’ve often heard the expression “the best day to start investing was yesterday, the second best time is today”. I don’t believe that’s always true. If the deal isn’t there, don’t buy, wait, keep educating yourself and do your research. If there was a stock you wanted to buy, but missed the point where you thought it was a good deal, then keep watching it, it may come back down. Just don’t panic and buy at a high point. This is one of the things I don’t like about mutual funds…they advertise past performance. Just because they did well last year is meaningless to this year. How many of you bought the top funds only to find them drop in rankings? It’s more important to know what they hold, and who’s managing them than how they did in the past, but we don’t get told that information by the sales force unless we ask.

If you want an example when it comes to renting a place vs. owning one, you may like to reread Rent vs. Own Revisited.

Another good article to reread is Procrastinating can make you rich! Pay particular attention to the part about “rent to own”.

Our society is geared to living in the moment, buy now and pay later. This is the wrong attitude on so many levels and has lead to most people begin caught in the golden handcuffs (meaning you have to work, no choice, your debts have you trapped). We need to change our attitudes, give up the instant gratification for long term success. Our society needs to be willing to give up on what we want, we are not entitled to have everything we want right away.

Lesson: By giving up on the right now mentality, we set up our chances to build a good foundation for living our dreams. Those who don’t usually end up living in the nightmare of their dreams.

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When you go in to negotiate, you should keep all your options open. Some deals may be better than others, so it’s worth exploring all of them. Here are a few examples…

Equipment Sales

Now, I’m all for free money, so these deals usually strike me as a good deal. That being said, it’s often better not to begin the negotiations by talking a cash deal. Talk to your bank ahead of time and find out what kind of interest you’d be paying if you came to them, then find out what kind of price you can get if you paid “cash” for the purchase. Often times, dealers have special discounts available for “cash” customers. Only thing is, don’t expect them to double up on the deals, if you get a low price, you won’t get the 0% financing.

Run the numbers and see which deal is better, paying interest and getting a bigger discount, or getting 0% financing.

Mortgages

Different banks have different terms and programs when it comes to mortgages, there are many to choose from. In most cases however, any one that offers you some perks such as “cash back” will cost you way more than you’ll ever make. Remember, you’re agreeing to pay interest for many, many years…always try to get the lowest interest rates possible, but you should also consider the penalties for early repayment…each situation is different, but it would pay to run the numbers. The same is true if you have a high interest mortgage. It may be worth paying the penalty to get a lower rate.

Stores

I recently did an on-line order from a store that had both a Canadian and US version of their on-line store. One of them had better prices, but when it came to adding the shipping, the prices went through the roof, with the shipping costing more than the original order. I was lucky to discover the alternative website (ironically, it was the same company, and the stuff was shipped from the same place…I’d even guess the two websites were hosted on the same servers), and saved a bundle…in fact the site offered free shipping on my order.

Coupons

On another on-line order experience, I got a coupon that saved be 30% on my order. After placing my order however, I found that my coupon didn’t work with the canadian pricing on their site. I did a quick search, but the best coupon I could find for the canadian priced site was 20%. Now, I’m sure I could have called the company, and made arrangements to get an exception made and the coupon honoured but, with the canadian dollar trading around par, I just switched the currency. It turned out the prices were slightly cheaper in the US currency as well as getting the higher discount, so it was worth the exercise.

“Special Offers”

I get ads in the mail all the time from companies offering special deals. From utility companies offering to install a new furnace for “low monthly payments”, to credit cards offering “low introductory rates on balance transfers”. Most of the “deals” don’t turn out to be that great. For instance, if you add up the payments on that furnace, you’ll find it cost a lot more than buying the furnace outright. On those credit cards, look out for “transfer fees”, or other hidden fees in the fine print…not to mention the quick interest rate hikes after the “introductory period”. Most of the deals I’ve seen are great, if you’re the company selling them…as for the customer, well it’s buyer beware.

As seen on TV

Don’t fall for the infomercial, forget the low prices, the free gift, the limited time offer…start asking about the shipping and handling fees, the processing fees, and the fact that you’ll be stuck with the piece of junk or have to pay return shipping, restocking fees, etc. Once you add up all the “fees” your paying a lot of money for these things.

Shipping

I buy a lot of things from the states. One of the things I’ve learned is to use Air shipping. Ground shipping, while generally cheaper and slower, doesn’t include brokerage fees at the border. Air shipping does include the border fees, and it’s faster. Now, not everything that comes across the border gets stuck there, but the ones that do can cause headaches beyond belief, and cost a small fortune. I once had to pay $5 so that they could collect thirteen cents worth of GST (the item wasn’t even worth $5).

Advertisers are paid to get to you buy what the seller wants you to buy. Not get you the best deal. Sometimes, though it may be counter intuitive, it’s better to avoid the “deal” and look for alternatives.

Lesson: If there are options, run the numbers, looking at all the hidden costs to see exactly what you’ll be paying.

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Well, believe it or not, I’m not an expert on th rental market in every part of the world. Heck, I’m not eveen an expert on all part of my own city. I did however, have a good idea on how my frind could find all the answers they were looking for for free.

I suggested that my friend do a dry run and go through all th motions of renting their place.

The first thing they needed to do was take at some comparable listings on Craigslist and Kijiji. Once you have an idea of rental rates, take some pictures of the place and post an ad on Kijiji and Craigslist. Feel free to play around with the ad to see what works and what doesn’t. Ask for a high rent, and see if you get any response. If not, you can drop your rates (it’s easy to drop your rates, but you usually can’t raise them). Remember, having a lot of responses isn’t required, you technically only need one person who’s willing to pay, but multiple people gives you options when it comes to selecting the “right” tenant.

If the rents that you can generate are enough to cover your expenses (for more explanation on what to coonsider, you may want to read a copy of my book), you may as well proceed to the next step.

Once you start getting responses which are cash flow positive, set up viewings of your place. Act as if you already have a tenant, even though it’s you, but that they are out while you are showing the place. If you are asked, make sure you comment on tthe fact that there are several people also interested in the place. Always leave yourself an “out”, so that you can turn people away.

If people are interested, have them fill out an application so that you can screen them. Contact their referennces, and do the backgound checks.

If everything goes well, you may be able to move out with a tenant waiting to move right in. Worst case is you discover your place won’t be a cash flow positive investment, saving you from a big mistake.

Lesson: if you don’t know the answers to your questions, do something that will get you the answers. Asking an expert is only going to give you an opinion, going through the motions can give you the answers.

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I once looked at an 7 suite apartment complex in the small town of Canora Saskatchewan. It was on the “main street”, and even featured a storefront which used to be a laundry mart. It had a metal roof, about 4–6 tenants (paying somewhere around $500-$600/month each) and was listed for about $70,000.

Canora is a small town in the middle of farming. It’s about an hour from the nearest large town called Yorkton. When I went to inspect the place, I met with the town hall and found out that they were trying to hire a building inspector, unsuccessfully it turns out, and, until they could, no building permits could be issued. The town was basically a retirement village for local farmers. It had a couple of banks, restaurants, and grocery stores, but you could tell it was a dying town.

From an investment point of view however, everything looked great. The building was fairly low maintenance, there was a live-in manager, and, even half empty, it generated a huge cash flow. The building, of course, would be a bit of an albatross, meaning it would be difficult to get rid of if I ever wanted to sell, but on the whole, it generated more than a third of it’s cost every year gross. I could probably get out of it financially in 5–7 years scott free in the worst case.

I spoke with the owner, and we negotiated a deal fairly quickly after I had done my inspection to complete my due diligence. Unfortunately though, I hadn’t brought along my computer, nor my standard real estate contract, so I’d have to return home, type it all up and complete the deal we’d agreed on.

When I got back and sent them the contract however, I got a phone call from the seller. It seems they’d presented my offer to the owner of the building next door who had agreed to pay more. If I were willing to offer another $5,000, the building could be mine…

I walked away from the deal immediately.

Even though I could still make good money, even paying more, I don’t do business like that. We had a deal and, while I don’t blame them for trying to get a better deal for themselves, I don’t play games like that. I firmly believe it’s vital to protect your reputation at all costs. We had a deal, the price of the seller’s soul was only $5,000, I valued mine more.

I don’t regret walking away from the property. It was nice as an investment, very low risk and would have given someone a low cost way to explore remote management, managing an apartment complex, and other experiences but there are always other properties and deals out there.

Lesson: Don’t be afraid to walk away from a deal, especially if you can’t trust the people your negotiating with.

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When you are up by a lot of points, it’s easy to get complacent or an ego, both can lead to a quick turnaround in the game dynamics.

On the flip side, when the roof starts caving in, it’s easy to give into despair, instead of keeping your head and working your way out of the rubble.

You can see how the emotions come to rule the game as goalies face their challenges. A close game can turn into a blowout as the players give into their emotions. In hockey, I often watch the goalies for signs that their emotions are starting. When they do, it’s game over for the team unless the coach makes a change, or he gets control of them.

The same rules apply to business and investing, you need to keep your emotions out of the game.

In Business

I once had a client who was cheap. They always asked me for advice on how to improve their business, then would go and get someone cheaper to implement my ideas. I didn’t mind, the client often got what he paid for. One time, he did this to me and the product he got made was so poor quality though, that he got really mad at me. No amount of explaining that, since I didn’t actually build the product and had no control of the finished result, could calm him down…it was hurting his business, and I was my idea.

Well, much to the confusion of some friends of mine who knew the story, I helped the client to redo the product, and it wound up working exactly how I said it would. My friends all though I should just walk away from the client, as I never made any money from him, and it wasn’t worth the stress…

To me, I saw it as a threat to my reputation though. I needed to prove to the client that what I said was true, before he went to others and complained that I had ruined his business. The truth rarely matters in life, perception trumps truth. It was vitally important to me to avoid getting emotional, and fix the problem, preserving my reputation.

In Life

When I was in the car accidents and lost my income, had no support and face a bleak future I became depressed. I knew I was depressed, I knew why I was depressed, it didn’t make life any easier. It would have been very easy to give into the depression, but I forced myself not to. I’m not saying it was easy, or that I was always successful, but I did have a family to support, so I needed to find a way.

Each day I tried to force myself to do something. Learn something, do something, think of something, just something. Instead of sitting around, giving into the emotions, I slowly started to change my life. I learned investing, I changed my business, I developed passive income…

It wasn’t always easy, I remember seeing the mounting bills and wondering if I should dump my investments which hadn’t yet begun to grow in order to pay them off…those are some of the toughest decisions I’ve ever made, but I made them logically, not emotionally. I kept my head, and worked my way out of the mess.

In Real Estate

I remember one time I was busy, in a hurry and didn’t do my normal screening on a tenant. It turned out to be a disaster when they got into a domestic dispute and trashed my place (we’re talking huge holes in EVERY wall, and police involvement). I remember looking at the place the next day and thinking how much the repairs were going to cost…

The tenants of course, wanted to stay (well, one anyway since the other was going for free rent in jail). Instead of kicking them out, I allowed them to stay (they assured me they’d fix the damage, but I wasn’t that foolish). The reason I let them stay though was an unemotional one. I needed the place repaired before it was rentable again, this would cost me both repairs and lost rent as the repairs were being done. By allowing them to stay, I generated profits which could help to pay for the repairs at a later time.

My gamble paid off and, though they weren’t the ideal tenants, I managed to generate a significant amount towards the repairs by the time thy left, minimizing my loses.

In Stocks, Bonds, Etc.

Investments fluctuate, fact of life. I’ve made many investments that have fallen in value from where I first purchased them. I can’t control that. In most cases though, my research was correct and the investments turned around and did what I expected them to do. Not always, but more often than not.

It’s best if you don’t follow your investments to closely. These days especially, it can be a bumpy ride. You need to trust yourself, assuming you actually did your homework, and ride out the bumps. Back in 1996, you could have bought Apple on the way down, but had you timed it wrong, you may have lost, on paper, even more (maybe 50–75% of your investment) if you didn’t time the bottom right. Of course looking back today, any price you paid for Apple back in 1996 would look like a bargain having gone up by huge factors (not hundreds of times but thousands). If you panicked, you missed the boat, deals like this happen all the time, but maybe not as great.

Lesson: Trust in yourself, do your homework, and keep your emotions out of the game. If you can’t, things will only get worse.

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In the episode, they had two pitchers. One who presented a single dress which could be worn 10 different ways, and the other an innovative hammer to get into hard to reach places.

Both of the pitchers were quickly shot down in a rather rude manner…but hold on, was this some sort of deja vu moment for me???

About a month ago, the Canadian version of Dragon’s Den had a celebrity special and they had two different pitchers with the same products!!! Both got funding after the “celebrity judge” gave their approval (it looked like both would be initially shot down as well).

When I went looking for funding for the Equine Centre, I approached every bank and credit union that there was. Being right in the middle of the 2008 financial meltdown, I too was rejected by every one of them. Even some private money offering loans at 15% were turning me down, not that I was interested in that rate.

Tenacity does pay off, remember that you only need one person to say yes. 100s could say no, it doesn’t matter, as long as you find that one yes, and agreeable terms (don’t make a bad deal just because someone says yes).

With everyone saying no, what did I do? I started over again, from scratch, I kept knocking on doors of different bank departments, had meetings to present my plan, and got rejected more and more. Eventually though, I did find the financing I needed, ironically at my own bank which had rejected me 4 times prior (I just didn’t fit into their loan criteria), by different departments. The best part is, I got a better deal than I could have hoped for as well.

 Lesson: Believe in yourself, it pays to be persistent.

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