Archive View (June 2007)

I don’t go on vacation very often and, when I do, it’s always a working vacation. So the results of a new survey really don’t surprise me. It reports that one in five people brought laptops with them on their most recent vacations. At least 80 percent brought their cell phones. That’s because when people go on vacation, they don’t want to miss what’s going on at the office. About one in five said they did some work while vacationing. About the same number called in to the office to see how things were going. Twice as many checked e-mail and even more more...

In the summer of 2003, I can remember when Mark Burnett came up to the office to discuss a few things with Mr. Trump. I was not a big television watcher, and I had never seen a reality show. I heard that Mark Burnett had an idea to use Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization as the premise for a new show, a business show. I didn’t think much about it because I was busy writing our first book, which eventually became How To Get Rich. A lot of people think we wrote the book to satisfy the demands of the publicity more...

Nobody ever accused the Broadway play “The Color Purple” of being a masterpiece. After it opened its doors in New York in 2005 and got lukewarm reviews from the critics, it soldiered on like many New York shows do,  attracting audiences of suburbanites, tourists and conventioneers. Enter the Star Then Fantasia Barrino came along and stepped into the lead role of Miss Celie. You remember her - the charismatic, sandpaper-voiced dynamo who won American Idol a few seasons ago. Suddenly there was real star power in the cast. The show’s producers, much to their credit, didn’t wait for the world to beat a path to the more...

 Well the results are in (a little slower than we had hoped but nonetheless, they are in) from our recent Name the Podcast competition. The winning name is Trump U Tactics. Better yet, our first two podcasts are now available for listening. Click here now to listen as our President Michael Sexton talks about the current real estate market with Denise DeVoe, who has pioneered many of the strategies that today’s most successful investors are using to buy foreclosed real estate. When you arrive on the Trump U Tactics page, bookmark it so you can return often to listen to new podcasts. Or even better, more...

There’s really no such thing as knowing too much about what you’re doing.  When I was in college, I spent my spare time reading about real estate and foreclosures. I didn’t feel it was a sacrifice of my time, because I was interested in real estate; I wasn’t studying just to pass a test. The knowledge I gained on my own led to my first successful investment. I couldn’t have achieved that if I hadn’t spent the time studying on my own. In college, I also read something that Rudyard Kipling said, which I’ve never forgotten: “I keep six honest serving men, they more...

How do the smartest real estate investors minimize their risks in uncertain times? “Five Ways to Reduce Commercial Real Estate Risks” an article by Will Moore from Pacific Security Capital offers some excellent ideas. Although Moore writes from the perspective of a company that specializes in commercial real estate, its strategies apply to most any real estate investing tactics you can make. Here is a summery of the five of the risk-minimizing strategies it recommends: 1.      Buy or build from the market’s perspective. Understand what product type and demographic location the highest market demand is seeking and how you appeal to it. 2.      Know market costs and dynamics, as well as market prices, more...

It doesn’t seem that long ago that people looked at age 65 as the golden age of retirement. That’s when workers dreamed of a little condo on the beach, maybe spending their days golfing or fishing or hanging out with the grandkids. Not anymore. As baby boomers are hitting their 60s, most expect to delay retirement longer than their parents and their grandparents. And that’s smart because according to a couple of new reports, many of them can’t afford to stop working anytime soon. And that’s sad. Blame everything from higher divorce rates to longer life expectancies for greater financial hardships that mean people more...

“Real-Estate Investors Head Overseas,” an article by Jeff D. Opdyke in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, reported that more American real estate investors are acquiring property in foreign countries. Other U.S. investors are investing in foreign REITs and real estate funds. It’s intriguing to think about investing abroad, but it can be speculative and risky. Without an insider’s knowledge of the countries where you intend to invest, you can be in for unpleasant surprises. Exchange rates can work on your behalf, or against you, when you buy or sell. A strong dollar can make foreign properties bargains; a gradually weakening dollar can make more...

An article in yesterday's Miami Herald provided more evidence that to be successful in real estate today, you have to keep your eye on a number of trends at the same time:   Slowing construction. Construction of new apartments and homes dropped by 2.1 percent in May to 1.474 million units -  24.2 percent below the level of a year ago. A lingering surplus of available new homes. Thousands of new homes are unsold and homebuilders are offering new sales incentives to buyers, including kitchen upgrades and free decks. High interest rates. Freddie Mac's national survey of interest rates for 30-year mortgages hit an 11-month high of 6.74 percent last week. And then on the same more...

I had a conversation last month with the programming director of a radio station in Boston. He was complaining about how difficult it is to convince companies to advertise on his station. “Why is it so tough?” I asked. “Because we have no way to document how many people actually hear the ads we are trying to sell,” he replied. “So when a company advertises with us, they have very little idea what they are buying. There’s a missing link in our business, which is the direct and measureable connection with listeners. Cable TV has it, the Internet has it, but we don’t.” He more...

Negotiating is an art. There are nuances and finely honed techniques and rules to be aware of. Here are a few of them: Know what you’re doing. Sounds simple, but I’ve seen a lot of instances where I couldn’t believe how much the other side didn’t know. I immediately knew I could have a grand slam and fast, just based on their apparent lack of preparation. My father used to tell me, “Know everything you can about what you’re doing.” He was absolutely right, and I’m giving you the same advice. Follow it. Remember, it takes a lot of smarts to play dumb more...

Why do smart people fail to prepare for unfortunate events in their lives? After all, bad things happen in even the happiest lives. They are predictable. Looking the other way isn't going to offer any safeguards from them.  You and I might not like to think about it, but odds are that you or I will encounter one or more of the following problems at some point in our lives. A financial setback, such as the loss of a job or the failure of a businesses An illness that causes us to lose time at work A lawsuit that threatens our finanical well-being The expense of caring for aging or ailing parents A retirement lifestyle more...

I’ve always been very outspoken about a college education. If you’ve got the brains and the financial assets to go to college, then there’s no reason not to go. It’ll give you an amazing leg-up on the rest of your life. The question is, when you go to college, which major should you choose? I’ve always leaned heavily towards business, but there are plenty of other fields that obviously offer great opportunities. However, recent studies show that liberal arts degrees, surprisingly, can be very useful in today’s world. Liberal arts majors are in high demand across all fields because in today’s working environment it’s more...

If ever there was a case to convince you that job security only happens when you own the business, you need only look to Dell Computer. They recently announced results that "blew away" Wall Street expectations. They made $759 million for the quarter and thanked their employees by announcing a planned layoff of 8,000 people, roughly 10% of their workforce. There's no question they have been taking a beating recently and margins continue to erode in their space but that's what makes my blood boil about big business - you have no control of your future cash flow or career when you more...

Vital information from the new book Trump University Wealth Building 101: Your First 90 Days on the Path to Prosperity You spend years building a company and then one day a visitor falls in your parking lot, breaks her hip and sues you. Is it a problem you can settle out of court, a problem that your insurance policy will cover - or a problem that will cost you your business? The answer to that question is really up to you. Protecting your assets depends upon the strength of the “asset security system” you design and install. Recognize this, and take these five more...

There are many roads to wisdom, and many wonderful books to educate us on our way. One book that I would suggest to you, because it is valuable for business and management strategies, is The Art of War by Sun Tzu. It was apparently written in the 6th century BC, and is a study of military strategy. It has been influential to leaders for many centuries. Throughout history, General Douglas MacArthur and other famed military strategists have studied it. It’s a valuable book and worth your time. By comparison, another famed book is Machiavelli’s The Prince, which is more about political conflict than more...

Great advertising doesn't have to be expensive. Consider these low-cost, highly effective marketing strategies that Prof. Don Sexton teaches in his Marketing Mastery Program at Trump University:   Identify your competitors’ weaknesses and target them directly. Be the only car dealership dealer in your region that offers Saturday service hours or wifi in your waiting room - or be the only health club in your region that has a babysitter on staff. Then trumpet that advantage in your ads. Deliver your marketing message through tightly focused media. If you are targeting young families in just a few towns, putting handbills or posters in daycare centers can give you more...

I’ve always thought it was part of the American dream that each generation would grow up and make more than their parents did. But a new report shows that American men in their 30s earn significantly less than their fathers. After adjusting for inflation, it found that men in their 30s now have a median income of about $35,000 per year. That’s a 12 percent drop for men in the same age group 30 years ago who made $40,000 a year. As recently as 10 years ago, men in their 30s earned 5 percent more than their fathers did when they were the same more...

If you’re eager to learn more about marketing without spending a cent, I’d urge you to visit Marketing Maestro, one of Trump University’s family of blogs. Created and moderated by Josef Katz, Trump University's Director of Marketing, Marketing Maestro goes where wimpier blogs fear to tread. I'm not kidding! One recent post explored how a small company called TerraCycle, which makes a fertilizer that contains worm poop, is using its blog to do battle against a giant competitor, Scotts Miracle-Gro. You’ll learn a lot from Marketing Maestro. Free and fun, it’s another part of Trump University’s efforts to make useful, profit-maximizing information available to our members.  more...

Congratulations, June grads!  You are about to start one of he most energizing periods of your life. What could be more exciting than taking what you have learned and creating a productive and interesting life? If you are beginning to look for a job, I'd like to offer two pieces of advice. First, keep the big picture.  Your first job will probably not turn out to be the perfect job for you. But I am certain that it will offer you opportunities to learn many important lessons. Perhaps you will learn about a certain technology or about how to sell. And you will certainly learn how to work with other people and get ahead. So more...

Cash flow is the number one headache for entrepreneurs. If more money is flowing out of your company than is flowing in, you could take a loan to temporarily correct the problem. But since borrowing can dig your enterprise into a deep hole, I would urge you to apply these wealth creation remedies listed below. They will help you address the underlying problems instead of avoiding them: Collect money up front. Depending on your industry, it might be customary for you to deliver your goods or services without being paid up front. But why shouldn’t you secure money from clients ahead of time, more...

With graduation time here, college graduates are heading out into the workforce hoping to land great jobs. But it all starts with a really good interview. I’ve conducted so many interviews and I’m often amazed at how poorly so many of them go. I’m surprised at how quickly talented candidates can blow a potential job by what they say or don’t say when they sit across the desk from a potential boss. Some of the dumbest mistakes are when an interviewee doesn’t ask questions because it shows he or she just isn’t interested in the company. Show interest. Show that you care about more...

If you are eager to learn how to make a great deal of money in foreclosures and would like to minimize your risks at the same time, I would urge you to investigate two foreclosure workshops that Trump University will be holding in California next week: Friday June 15, 9AM - 3PM at the Portofino Hotel and Yacht Club, Redondo Beach, CA Saturday June 16, 9AM-3PM at the Renaissance Agoura Hills Hotel, Agoura Hills, CA Both seminars will be lead  a member of the Trump University faculty who has built a substantial real estate empire that includes many foreclosed properties. Like all Trump University more...

For some great insights about why multi-unit properties offer great investment opportunities, I urge you to read last Friday’s post on this blog. But to invest safely, you also need to be aware of the risks. If you fail to ask these questions before real estate investing, you could be making a very big mistake: Are all the rental units in the property legal? Have your attorney check with the municipality where the building is located to be sure that they are. If units turn out to be illegal and the city disallows them, that could damage your rent roll and turn the more...

You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.  - Galileo I am a competitive person and to me, that’s a good thing. Staying competitive is the opposite of being complacent. Complacency is the ultimate enemy of success. In fact, when people ask me how to achieve great success, I usually explain that the most important first step is to get out of their comfort zone, which is a bad place to be. If you are happy in your comfort zone, you need to move out of it. How else can you find the greatness that lies within you? more...

For years, I’ve been preaching that when you own your own business, you can structure it to make your life easier and a lot more pleasurable. To give you an example, when I went into my first business, I made it a goal to go fishing every Wednesday throughout the summer. I did it. It was wonderful. I also had that goal to leave the office by 3:00 on Fridays. That was wonderful too. I have since stopped working on Friday altogether. Now, there’s no way you could ever do that working for someone else. However, I might have come across someone who more...