Alea iacta est ~ The Die is Cast

I've driven my SUV for 18 years now. I bought my Blue GMC Envoy brand new in 2003. Since that time, I've enjoyed 210,000 miles with her, but she's getting a bit tired. I've enjoyed not having a car payment for a decade, but she's been needing some help to get back and forth to the bus depot for my morning bus jaunt down the valley and back. Whether I'm ready or not, I'm going to soon be looking for a new ride.

I've had my eye on those Jeep Wrangler's you see everywhere. They never were everywhere until I had my eye on them. I especially like the Rubicon models. Not only do they look the best, but I just like saying that name - RUBICON. Go ahead, say it out loud. RUBICON. It's a fun word to say. I think it'd be fund to drive.

The actual Rubicon is a river in Italy. During the Roman republic, the Rubicon marked a boundary between a certain Roman province to the north and Italy proper, which was controlled directly by Rome. It is said that Caesar deliberately broke the law in crossing the Rubicon and made armed conflict inevitable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubicon He is attributed to have uttered the phrase alea iacta est, which translates into the Die is Cast, essentially meaning there was no turning back. This is essentially where I am at in my Note business.

Before I entered the note business, I was trying to be a regular real estate investor, just like everyone else. I was trying to get houses under contract, and then either selling the contract to another local investor (wholesaling) or doing light cosmetic rehab myself (fix & flip). It became very apparent I wasn't very good at it. My heart wasn't in it. Marketing consisted of large chunks of time and money hoping to find distressed owners or absentee landlords, then sending out letters attempting to persuade them to call me. Then, after sending out 1,000's of letters, the 2 - 3 calls that came in were not really motivated to sell. Plus, there were 50 or more other folks locally doing the same thing. Portland is a highly competitive market. Everyone wants to live here. If I was able to get one potential seller to show me their property, because I had a day job, it was tough to schedule an appointment during a time that worked. This whole process wasn't working. Too much outgo for the trickle coming in. I lost motivation and spent a bunch of money. I then had a revelation one night at a Northwest REIA meeting (Thank you Joe Varnadore), transitioned to notes, officially changed my company name and you know the rest of the story.

My Rubicon happens as GoDaddy is sending me reminders that my website domain names for my previous business, Northwest Property Options, is expiring. If I don't send them their renewal fee within 5 days, the domain cancels. NWPropertyOptions.com becomes available for someone else. My answer is alea iacta est ~ the Die is Cast. I'm a note investor - and there is no turning back.

Whats your Rubicon? Have you recently had to face one? I'd love to hear about it. This may not sound like a big deal, but mentally and formally, moving past the past is a big deal. While I didn't do much business, there is a small sense of loss as I move to much bigger and much better things.

Did you watch my Friday Stroll about risk? Crossing the Rubicon is definitely taking a risk. Do that here: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnl9F4Uz7QQ
 

Another risk moment happened this past Thursday night. I was invited to speak before Northwest REIA at their June General Meeting. The house was packed, and I had a great time speaking to the membership. Thank you once again to Dave Metzker and Christian Bryant for the opportunity.

Thank you for reading. New assets are in the works. I've got about 350 new assets on 5 or more tapes I'm reviewing. I hope to add another 10 or more before the end of the month. This might be the time to talk to me and see if we can cross the Rubicon together.

                                   

Together, our potential is infinite!