Neville's Financial Blog

This blog will be dedicated to tracking my financial progress. Today I turn 22, let’s see how far I can financially advance by the time I am 23.

Today I had the opportunity to hear Dave Liniger speak and meet him afterwards. He is the founder of the largest real estate company in the world, RE/MAX. He was an extremely motivating and interesting man who shows no signs of slowing down.

After dropping out of college and joining the military, he started buying small houses and selling them. By the time he was 21, he had sold 21 houses. From there on he had a successful career as a real estate agent for several large companies, then he founded RE/MAX.

He spoke of the many years of difficulty trying to start up the company and compete in the real estate market. Financial problems and death threats were the norm during the starting years, but once the company finally got on track, it soared. He also was very proud that RE/MAX was the only large real estate company who allowed women and minorities to become agents and upper management.

This is a bad picture for both of us, but here it is anyway!

Money Making Update:

For January, my online business made a total of $502

I’m attending a Texas Entrepreneurs event this Tuesday when I get an offer I COULD NOT refuse…hob-nobbing with the WEALTHIEST people all over Austin…

…..oh yeah, including ELTON JOHN and ANDY RODDICK.

I rushed home, put on nice clothes and headed over to the Four Seasons Hotel where I was helped into the this exclusive event by “Bob” and a special access wristband:

This event was an extremely exclusive, private party hosted by the Andy Roddick Foundation. With less than 400 people, the group raised over $800,000 last night.

I had the pleasure of meeting Andy, he was a really nice guy with a really great organization:

The first hour and few minutes of the event was more like a bar scene. Everyone was walking around, talking, eating hors d’oeuvres and drinking champagne. Everything was FANCY. The food, drinks and even the bathroom:

Later on I got to meet Elton John for a little while and shake his hand. I didn’t get a picture, but after dinner and auction that raised over $300,000 alone, he began his performance for a very enthusiastic group of around 350 lucky people:

This performance was taking place while I was being served a six-course meal and “free” booze.

Elton’s performance was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. He got the entire room standing up and singing along. Someone then paid (donated) $19,000 to hear him sing Candle In the Wind!!

The room looked incredible as everyone held up candles during the song:

Click here to see a small video clip of Elton’s Candle In the Wind performance (1.3 MB)

SO. Besides me showing off the fun I had last night, there is a lesson to take away from this. MEET PEOPLE. Meet LOTS AND LOTS people. Network. If it weren’t for me networking, I would have just had a plain-old Tuesday night. Instead, Bob, who I met through networking, helped me connect with some of the nations wealthiest and most powerful people (I met TWO billionaires that night…that’s right…with a capital B).

Try THAT sitting at home watching TV!

My attempt to crash the I C 2 Corporate Governance Conference was very successful.

I was tipped off about the conference by “Bob” on Wednesday night.

Thursday morning I whipped out my suit and headed over to the Barton Creek Resort and found the conference. Every single person in the room was either a CEO or member of a corporate board….and often times many boards at once. EVERYONE. In fact, “Regular” people weren’t even invited.

I purposely showed up 5 minutes late so I could rush in past the registration people. It worked. Everyone had huge nametags around their necks except me…..but it didn’t really cause any problems. I was spotted talking to some prominent figures, so no one questioned me after that.

I met tons of people there….and not ordinary people. When I asked “What do you do”…the typical response would begin with :
“I own…(insert big company here)“
or
“I founded…(insert big company here)”
or
“I am the director of…(insert big company here)”

There were LOTS of very prominent figures present, but the most well known was Herb Kelleher, the famous founder of Southwest Airlines. I got to meet, talk and sit next to Herb Kelleher.

Not a very clear picture, but that’s Herb speaking.

Here is me (with the goofiest smile ever) with Herb Kelleher:

After he was done speaking, he sat down at a mostly empty table. I left my table and went to sit closer to Herb. I snapped this quick video to prove how close I was to him!

The rest of the speakers were great, but Herb was the BEST.

“Bob” and “Vinny” were both present at the conference. They are also both board members/CEO’s of very successful companies. I can’t give too much information about them, but both of them have companies undergoing extremely rapid growth. They are both very photogeneic:

The conference went from 10:00am till about 7:30pm. It was good food, good drinks, lots of mingling, learning and fun.

When I left, I couldn’t tell which car was mine. The Camry or the Mercedes SL500???

Well it’s Friday now. ‘Tis time to party!
-Nev

My attempt to crash the I C 2 Corporate Governance Conference was very successful.

I was tipped off about the conference by “Bob” on Wednesday night.

Thursday morning I whipped out my suit and headed over to the Barton Creek Resort and found the conference. Every single person in the room was either a CEO or member of a corporate board….and often times many boards at once. EVERYONE. In fact, “Regular” people weren’t even invited.

I purposely showed up 5 minutes late so I could rush in past the registration people. It worked. Everyone had huge nametags around their necks except me…..but it didn’t really cause any problems. I was spotted talking to some prominent figures, so no one questioned me after that.

I met tons of people there….and not ordinary people. When I asked “What do you do”…the typical response would begin with :
“I own…(insert big company here)“
or
“I founded…(insert big company here)”
or
“I am the director of…(insert big company here)”

There were LOTS of very prominent figures present, but the most well known was Herb Kelleher, the famous founder of Southwest Airlines. I got to meet, talk and sit next to Herb Kelleher.

Not a very clear picture, but that’s Herb speaking.

Here is me (with the goofiest smile ever) with Herb Kelleher:

After he was done speaking, he sat down at a mostly empty table. I left my table and went to sit closer to Herb. I snapped this quick video to prove how close I was to him!

The rest of the speakers were great, but Herb was the BEST.

“Bob” and “Vinny” were both present at the conference. They are also both board members/CEO’s of very successful companies. I can’t give too much information about them, but both of them have companies undergoing extremely rapid growth. They are both very photogeneic:

The conference went from 10:00am till about 7:30pm. It was good food, good drinks, lots of mingling, learning and fun.

When I left, I couldn’t tell which car was mine. The Camry or the Mercedes SL500???

Well it’s Friday now. ‘Tis time to party!
-Nev

A business associate and I were speaking when he asked about my first online business, House Of Rave.com.

I told him I started it in high school and it had consistently made an average of $800 or more per month for the last 5 years, I don’t keep any inventory and all the shipping is done in California.

He then asked me, “Can you make more?” The answer was a simple yes. I spend less than 20 minutes a day on it, and if I spent a little time upgrading the whole operation, I could bring in about 50% to 100% more money. I know what works and doesn’t work with this particular business, I’ve just somehow always been satisfied with the money it brings in.

He told me, “This is low hanging fruit for you,” and that sentence re-sparked my interest in the business.

Over the month of September, I am going to enact the following items to improve the business:

-Add 1-800 number - I already have a VOIP phone for the business, so a 1-800 number is only $5 more per month.


Add my own pictures - I never see most of the products I sell, so I want to order select popular items for myself, take my own pics and write my own descriptions. I’ve done this before and it was very successful.

Make contact form – An online contact form would allow customers to ask questions without having to physically send an email with their own account.

Put tracking system on my own server -I currently have an order tracking system, but it is hosted elsewhere. Customers do not see it is hosted elsewhere, but it costs more money to host with someone else.

Get exchange server for mail - I use webmail for the business right now, so I cannot keep long term track of old mail/sent mail.

Offer Gift Certificates - My shopping cart software allows for gift certificates, so there is no harm in offering them.

New SSL certificate - I just didn’t want to pay for it, so the user-end shopping cart system has not been on an HTTPS connection for about a year now. I need to get a new certificate now as they are not expensive, and they give customers a better piece of mind.

Updates every three days - This rule would make me update either the main page or the blog at least twice a week. This lets users know there is someone on the other end.

These are just a few of the updates I am going to make. Hopefully within the next few months I can increase net profits by at least 40%.

I just saw and met Gary Kusin, the CEO of Fedex Kinkos. He was giving a speech here at UT and drew in quit a large crowd. He called himself a “Forest Gump” of business because his success was simply the result of hard work. In a nutshell he stressed the trick to getting ahead was outworking the next guy.

He is a UT alumnus who graduated one December with a degree in Government…..that description will also fit me this December. It was very interesting hearing him speak about some of his friends and mentors such as Ross Perot, Jack Welch and Bill Gates. I breifly talked to him after the speech and got a picture:

The reason I am wearing a nametag is because of an idea I stole from “The Guy with the Nametag” Scott. He’s a motivational speaker who has been wearing a nametag for three years. I like the simplicity and effectiveness of the nametag. Now when I attend an event I make my own nametag. It helps people learn and remember your name and is great for starting conversations.

So far it has worked quite well. I usually forget I am wearing it and get thrown off when strangers call me by name! I bought a pack of 25 nametags for less than a dollar. It’s one of the easiest and cheapest ways to aid in meeting people.

-Nev

I was informed about another charity event where many wealthy Austinites would be Saturday night for drinks, a fashion show, dinner and dancing. I always jump at chances like this to meet powerful people, so naturally I decided to crash it.

Crashing this party was a little different because it was black-tie attire only and held at a secure venue. Three days before I had a tuxedo tailored at K&G Men’s store. The entire ensemble including the tux suit & pants, cufflinks, bowtie and cumberbund cost me around $200 after tailoring. Not too bad, especially since there will be lots of black-tie events during the holiday season.

Now that I have a suit AND tuxedo, I’m properly outfitted to attend upcoming events. Looking the part really helps when attending a fancy-shmancy party. When I was checked at the front of the base, they checked my ID, saw I was wearing a tux, asked me if I knew where my table was (I said yes) and they handed me a gift bag filled with Grey Goose, assorted bottled waters, pens and all sorts of other goodies. “Bob” had given me a table name to use, I was wearing a tux, sounded like I knew where I was supposed to be and acted as if I belonged there…and it worked.

I pulled up to the event, and my car was valeted because there was no self-parking. A photographer at the front entrance took my picture by one of three huge tanks, and I asked him to also snap a picture with my own camera:

I ordered a martini, Grey Goose of course because they were partly sponsoring the party and began to mingle. I found the crowd very easy to talk to, and striking up conversations was simple, especially since UT had just won a football game an hour earlier.

After cocktails, the crowd entered a large aircraft hangar (I think) which was converted beautifully into a large fashion show runway. There was loud music playing and the whole place had a very New-Yorky feel to it.

After the fashion show, which was actually pretty cool, everyone was ushered to several enormous and connected tents for dinner, dessert and dancing. There was a silent auction, a live auction, and raffle. The main prize for the raffle was one of three Mercedes cars. I found out the event was being coordinated by the Four Seasons, so it was very nice, and MUCH more elegant than the pictures show:

I knew a few people before I came to the event, but their table was already full. Also, my whole goal of attending this was to meet NEW people, so after some mingling with the crowed I was invited to another table for dinner.

After desert, coffee and some dancing people started to leave. The valet area was around several M1 Abrams tanks….I couldn’t resist climbing on top of one and getting a picture!

I left the party with several contact numbers, new friends, some interesting business ideas, a full stomach and having had a great time.

I must remember to thank “Bob” who told me about the party in the first place. He’s one of the people “In the know” about all these events, and is always gracious enough to inform me about them and help me get in. He also introduces me to his well-established network of friends and mentors, he’s a really great guy…always smiling!

I had the opportunity to listen to Mike A. Myers, an extremely successful business man and community developer. He has developed many high-end neighborhoods and golf courses all around the nation, especially in Texas, including several by my home in Houston. He owns several banks and has been involved in tons of other investments. He gave a large donation to UT to help construct the Mike A. Myers Track and Soccer Stadium:

He is also on the board of many companies and is very involved with the university.

A Quick Background on him:
-He attended UT and later went to law school here also.

-One summer he moved to Michigan to sell books door-to-door. He said still to this day he has never experienced so much rejection as his door-to-door days. He also said learning how to handle rejection helped him immensely in the business world.

-In his junior year of college he started a mobile catering service which ended up being pretty successful.

-He then opened two restaurants, including one very speculative property inside a military base. Both were wildly successful and he had over 40 employees.

-At a very young age he got several high-up internships in Washington D.C.

-After making loads of money from various investments, he decided to build a 750-acre luxury community in Dallas. He put up much of his own money, totaling about 25% of the total capital. He raised the other 75% and got started with the project. One of the largest oil price spikes in history struck and vastly increased the cost of the project, nearly wiping him out completely. In the end he came out successful.

-He later started a bank which has since expanded to several banks.

Towards the end of his speech he said the following five things were his own rules for success:

• Find a mentor.
• Keep your options open.
• Have as few responsibilities to other people as you can.
• Stay focused.
• Get Lucky.

He was a great speaker and I definitely learned a lot from his talk (especially some very interesting facts about real estate development). At the end of the speech I spoke with him for a while, discussing his developments around my area and joking about Herb Kelleher. I also got a nice picture with him to add to the collection: