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My apologies for no video blog the last few days. We are getting ready for the trading event in Wellington and I take these things very seriously so I am making sure everything is as perfect as possible and dealing with the many people who want to attend but we can’t squeeze in.

On that note if you were to consider joining us in CHCH please email me and we will try and assist with airfares to make it do-able for you to come. We have room there and would love to have you join us for the grand finale!!

On top of that I offered a great new subdivision in Gisborne to my subscribers and the response stunned me. We sold an entire development in under 48 hours. I suspect that it may be the fastest complete development sell down in New Zeland history!!
Great news for Matt Gilligan the developer and wonderful news for the investors who are in on the ground floor of an outstanding opportunity.

Anyway rather than rush the video blogs I will conclude the series next week, starting Monday. Too important to do off the cuff as it were. Thank you for your patience.

FRom 23/10/2006

I have been having an email discussion with a friend of mine over the weekend about the whole “fake it till you make it” scenario.

I remember at the Oct 2004 Academy listening to an Australian speaker who talked about cycling to an onsite appointment with a developer. He pedalled away wearing a 3 piece suit and then hid the bike so the developer wouldn’t know that he couldn’t afford a car.

I applaud his ingenuity and believe there is nothing wrong with “looking the part” to instill confidence, appear professional and avoid not being taken seriously. We all have to start somewhere and our circumstances shouldn’t preclude us from opportunity.

However, (there’s always a however), the danger in doing this is that we are all tempted to cross the line to where we are simply not letting the truth get in the way of a good story.

As I started moving more in property circles I was amazed at the amount of “property people” who owned hardly any property. Or the “property experts” who had hardly done any deals. These people aren’t “faking it till they make it”, they are “lying through their teeth” and hoping they’ll get away with it because hardly anybody ever checks. I found them everywhere. The reason I became “flavour of the month” was that I had done more than 10 deals. People I thought were experts and in some cases whose books I had learned from were impressed by my results?? And I’d just started. It was a real revelation to me and still saddens me today.

Because I have a natural tendency to tell a great yarn I made a conscious decision in my own life to be very specific about my property transactions so that I couldn’t get accused of stretching things. Whenever I speak I happily detail my net worth, what deals I’ve done and what property I have traded and currently own. Ask me what I’ve made out of trading and I’ll actually tell you the truth.

I think the fact I have done this has been a significant part of my so called “success” publicly. Everybody knows what I’ve done, nothing to try and guess.

Fortunately now I have friends and move with groups of people who have actually succeeded, who are actually investing and most importantly genuinely know what they are talking about. Many of my students have become close friends because they are actually doing it iand have in many cases achieved more already than many of the “professionals”.

I share all this with you to encourage and exhort you to do the same. You don’t have to advertise your failures or your dirty laundry, but to celebrate and talk about your successes. You don’t have to make them up or pretend to be something that you are not. People love genuine. People warm to real. People get excited and inspired by integrity.
I’m serious. People, especially women, can spot a charlatan at a hundred paces. So don’t go there. Especially if you’re a good story teller like me, choose to keep the line well off behind you in the distance.

By all means put your best foot forward and make sure the shoe on the foot is spit shined. But when you are tempted to advertise that hush puppy as a Gucci original, run a mile.

There is an unfortunate character flaw in many property people to try and see how close they can get to the line without crossing it. Blatant honesty and being transparent about what you do is a great way to combat this. When Raewyn and I appeared in the Herald recently, the only negative phone call I got was from my accountant who was concerned that IRD might want to investigate me. I replied that as everything I had said was true, why would I worry about an investigation. I had nothing to hide, nothing to get “done” for.

In another forum recently also I had someone “investigating” me and “informing” the community that I had been in prison for fraud. Albeit that it was 28 years ago this so called investigator had failed to visit my website where I already tell the world that I spent my 18th birthday in prison. I can’t think of the words to convey the power of this in YOUR life. Being transparent is amazingly freeing and such a low stress way to live your life. Can I encourage you to please, please choose to live your life and do your investing this way. You can sleep at night, enjoy every day and never be afraid of a phone call or a knock at the door.

Dean lives at www.massiveaction.co.nz

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
John Wooden

Rereading this blog I feel this to be even more true today. I see all the promo’s and advertising from some “experts”, but get them 1 on 1 and actually ask them specifics and they have very little to say. i think they will over time get exposed. And that doesn’t mean to say they are not good peole to have in the industry, but people need good quality advice and education and I don’t think you can offer that if you are not actively investing. Some things, like Kierans property cycle commentaties for example, are fantastic and relevant whether Kieran is investing or not, because he is commenting on the cycle, not teaching you the latest tricks etc. However if some multi trillionaire property investor is offering to teach you the miracle pathway to success you want to, and I believe have a right to know, exactly how many trillions: show me the properties, show me the money, show me the S&P’s.

I always do this and always will, at least you know what you are getting.