[quote=tjc45]

[quote=Revealer]tjc: I could

almost live off the interest on the value of the stuff

you own/drive. Guess I don’t get the point of 12

vehicles.[/quote]

Let’s break it down. Two daily drivers, the Honda

and the Jeep. The Jeep does duty as a tow vehicle

for one of our boats. I need its 6500 pound towing

capability. It also serves to get us to off road kayak

and canoe locations. Another reason we own a Jeep

and a Honda is that both can be flat towed behind

the motorhome. That means we don’t need a trailer

to pull them. The BMW K1200LTC motorcycle is my

Ironbutt machine. Look’em up at

[URL=http://www.ironbutt.com]www.ironbutt.com[/UR

L]. The Honda Reflex scooter is an around town, go

get the milk bike. Lots of fun to ride! The Motorhome

is a recreational vehicle that we use for travel and to

support the boat racing we still occasionally do. The

Cobra was a self explanatory middle age crisis

machine, and once I burned the rear tires off the

thing I sold it, melted tires and all. I bought the pick

up truck because at the time I was doing serious

renovations to my house. I did most of the work

myself. Things like rebuilding an 1100 square foot

triple level deck from the ground up. I got tired of

being burned time and time again by a lumber yard

that couldn’t keep its delivery promises. One day,

after planning yet another day off to work on the

house, and waiting for a load of lumber and supplies

that didn’t show up, I drove to the nearest car dealer

and bought the truck. I kept the truck for three years

and sold it. I regret selling it, because it was such a

handy vehicle to have around. So right now I’m down

to five personal vehicles. Of course my wife drives

one. We work together and usually commute to the

office together in the 03 Accord which now has

92000 miles on it. If she has appointments out of the

office and I don’t, I take one of the bikes. In really bad

weather, I take the Jeep. The other five vehicles are

driven by my children, and even though technically

speaking I own them, I consider those car as

theirs. If you don’t get the point of helping out your

kids, I can’t explain it to you. I have four kids. I help

them every chance I get. I enjoy helping my kids. In

fact, it is one of the forces driving me. No one helped

me. I started at the bottom with nothing. One of my

goals was to help my kids start at a higher level. That

I’m able to do it is testimony to the rewards that await

anyone willing to gut this business out and do what it

takes to succeed.

And sometimes the math behind doing things

isn’t obvious. For example buying an $18000 pickup

truck might seem like a stupid waste of money. Yet it

paid for itself with just the deck job. The low estimate

on a contractor doing the deck was just over

$30,000. I was able to do the deck myself for about

$8000 in materials. I sold the truck for $11,000.

Adding the $7000 depreciation to the cost of the deck

and I’m out of pocket $15,000 on the deck. Of course

the truck was a useful tool in many more projects

around the house. So, by my way of thinking, it wasn’t

a stupid purchase.

Actually, I agree with you, cars are a stupid way to

spend money. Thus the Accord instead of a Benz,

and the Jeep instead of an LX470.

The point of my post was to show that judging one

by the vehicle they drive is a mistake.

Man, I am sorry, the format on this Mac sucks.

At least it’s not a Commodore…“Firms with poor technology for $200, Alex.”

[quote=liquidasset]

If you appeal to a certain social class, i am sure you are one of them anways. Why change your ways if that is not even the cirlce you run around with?

I never have once met someone and been like WOW, he drives a high end benz. I have to do business with him. Heck for all you know, he could be dealing drugs, fraud, churning , ect. You get my drift.

Besides I only do business with Carver Yacht owners, and maybe a Boston Whaler owner!

[/quote]

 With regard to the question of 'whether you come from that crowd' being a factor  - ultimately, the beauty of this profession is it's egalitarian nature - almost everyone starts with about the same odds. There are VERY few guys who have Harvard MBAs and heiress wives who can make introductions to their dad's friends for them at parties (they are the institutional salesmen).

The vast majority of brokers are from fairly modest backgrounds. Almost everyone I know has to put up with so much brutal humiliation that very few of the "well born" manage to survive. Generally the guys with rich fathers and Ivy League diplomas can't ever seem to really make it work for them in this business - at least at the beginning. Their family and friends know how inexperienced they are and aren't any more likely to do business with them than some stranger. The few of these types that do manage to survive for for 3 or 4 years seem to do VERY well later on, but generally it seems to be the guys with state college degrees and a chip on their shoulder that manage to survive and later thrive. Almost all of the Wharton MBAs (hell, most of the MBAs period) failed out of my training class - or, rather, quit and took a good sales jobs that paid a base salary and you knew where your potential clients where. You generally only last if you REALLY want to do this or this is your best chance of getting rich. Most MBAs arent willing to make $60k their first year, $70k for years 2-5 and $150k to $300k for years 5-10, only to make big money after 10 years of hard work. They'd rather make $150-220k for the rest of their lives and hope that they get rich off stock options...

Point is, brokers who work with the HNW and UHNW crowd generally do it because they've focused on that group. Not those who are born into it. If you want to do business with these people you have to look the part and be confident in your approach with them.

Most HNW or UHNW people weren't born into their money and didn't come from lots of money. I often have to restrain myself from standing up when the wife gets up from the table because the husband doesn't. The dinner parties of the wealthy aren't scenes from The Age of Innocence. These people were just motivated to make lots of money when they were younger - just like a promising young broker. Generally they wanted to make lots of money so that they could buy things like cars and homes.... just like  a promising young broker.  Point is, if you want to do business with these people, you have to do what they do.

You have to go where they go and do what they do. You then let them know what you do and they will eventually some will do business with you. After they trust you. The car or the clothes will assure them that they are dealing with a person who is reasonably successful, but trust is still paramount.

[/quote]

Well said. Just curious, once you began the work
yourself (so, I guess, minus the wasted time with the
lumber company, etc), how long did the deck project
take to complete?[/quote]

I didn't track the exact amount of time it took to do the deck. It was done as I had time over a three month period. I needed to get it done for my daughter's wedding, as the deck was where we were holding the reception. I'm not an expert on building decks so I had to learn some new tricks as I went along. One week before the wedding the deck sat unstained and without rails. My wife was insisting that I hire someone to finish the deck. I told her, "No sweat, I'll knock this thing out in no time."  I took three days off that week, measured, cut, and installed the rails and over 400 ballisters. Two days before the wedding I stained the deck. Then, that night it rained and washed most of the stain off. Early the next morning, the day before the wedding, I restained the deck and prayed it would dry before 2pm the next day. Luckily for me it did. I spent an hour on wedding day morning just checking the deck. Then the catering company showed up and started setting up tables and equipment. I officially finished the deck two hours before the wedding and 4 hours before the reception.

As a side note, over this time period I fell in love with the truck. It was such a cool vehicle. Need a load of lumber, go to the lumber yard. Time to mulch the yard, off to the garden center for a ton of peat moss. A neighbor need's a washer moved to his mother's house, not a problem. But, once the major work on the house was done the truck sat unused more and more. When the battery died, run down by the alarm system, I realized it was time to sell.

O