Tyler Jorgenson

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.
– Ronald Reagan

For a long time I have considered going into politics at some level. A little while ago I interviewed for a planning commissioner position (A city planner from another city got the gig). I had hope that I would be able to make positive changes in government. Recently, however, I’ve been thinking that one could possibly make as much change, or more, by working through the private sector. So when I came across the above quote from Ronald Reagan I was pleased. This is actually why I enjoy it when successful business leaders enter politics later in life. Hopefully they can infuse the success and lessons learned in their business careers into government. With the campaigns heating up I encourage you to look at this as one of your considerations for who you are supporting.

I posted a couple of these from my phone while we were in Newport today. I absolutely love this part of California. I would love to live here, even though I am sure that everyday is not as perfect as today. The water was smooth and calm, there were dolphins swimming, birds flying, children laughing, and it was all capped with one of the best sunsets I have ever been blessed with. If all of 2008 be as great as today was this is going to be a banner year.

A nice day on Balboa in Newport Beach capped of with one of the best sunsets of my life.

I love New Years resolutions. I’m not a big fan of the resolutions that are made with little thought or commitment, I love it when people use this as a time to make lasting change in their life through reviewing the past and visualizing their desired future.

A friend of mine posted a really great document that you can use to plan out your resolutions. I edited it to be for this year. Download it here. I hope you use it and make 2008 a year full of accomplishments and milestones.

-Tyler

Last weekend we were treated to VIP seats for the annual boat parade in Newport. My good friend and #1 title officer Ben Benjamin is a member of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club so we got to go out on their dock and watch as the boats came by right in front of us. Thanks Ben!

“…man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.”
Ronald Reagan

I came across this quote today:

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
– Thomas Jefferson

It seems pretty prophetic now especially when one thinks about how far and deep the impact of the the sub prime loan crash is being felt. I have friends in South Africa that are feeling the effects, friends traveling to Germany are concerned about a weak dollar as they exchange to the Euro, and hey, don’t forget about my colleague that just told me yesterday he let his house go to foreclosure when the market dropped $100k below what he owed on it.

Here’s another quote that people could have listened to and, had they headed his warning, we may not be seeing such a crazy popping of the bubble.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.

– Thomas Jefferson

A friend of mine from Junior High and High School recently blogged about how one of the characteristics of the ‘New Rich’ was that they put themselves in the flow of money. This got me thinking about the businessmen and women that I network with and if I needed to work on getting closer to greater ‘flow’. I googled ‘California’s Richest Men’ (nothing sexest ladies, I would gladly network with wealthy women as well) and found this gem of an article. Published in The New York Times on January 4th, 1891 the list of California’s richest men started with a staggering net worth $250,000! Topped off by the founder of Stanford at $50,000,000. If a net worth of $50,000,000 seems like a lot just remember that Tiger Woods will pull in over 100 million USD in 2007 from endorsements only. He could probably afford the 250 Million Dollar yacht in my last post.

In 1891 a net work of $250,000 got you on the list… what will it be in another 116 years? Maybe the trio of Benjamin’s folded in my money clip will do the trick.

Click on the picture to see the article.

So, hopefully it won’t take me over 100 years to climb the list. If you don’t see me for a while, I’m out putting myself in the flow of money.

p.s. Although many of my posts will be on the topic of wealth attainment I do not feel that money should be our main goal in life. The most important things in my life are my God and my Family. My purpose in seeking wealth at a young age is to buy me time with my loved ones and the freedom to serve my God around the world.

Recently I have been devouring self-help books, psychology texts and biographies of people I admire. I am on a bit of a self development kick and am loving the revelations that are coming from trying to better myself. One of the books I am reading is an old copy (1980) of Tom Hopkins How To Master The Art Of Selling. Here are a couple of quotes:

“People always choose the economic level they’ll accept – it’s never thrust on them.”

This got me thinking. When I was going through college I remember thinking that if I could get a job making $100,000 a year then my life would be amazing. I would be living in a land of milk and honey and money would be so plentiful life would be blissful. My first ‘real’ job was working for Washington Mutual as a loan consultant (I don’t count owning a little restaurant before that as a real job, nor the dozens of part time jobs either). The day that I got hired was the same day as an awards ceremony for the previous year. I was invited to the party and my wife and I sat there as the annual production awards were handed out. The top achiever for the year, and the man assigned to be my mentor for the next 6 months, had funded close to $200,000,000 in home loans resulting in a annual pay of over $1,000,000! All of a sudden $100,000 seemed paltry. I watched the attitudes and the resulting production of the different loan consultants that I worked with for the next couple of years and noticed that each of their production was limited to what they felt they could attain. The built their own glass ceilings. This leads to the next quote:

“You’re choosing a level of life that’s poor compared to what you could have with the extra exertion you are capable of.
It’s all on your shoulders, and there’s no way you can shift a bit of the responsibility to anyone else.”

I believe that I have limited my level of life in recent years and that my goals and attitudes need to reflect a higher focus. This leads me to a challenge and a question that I hope to get some feedback on:

Challenge: Raise the bar as to what you thought was possible in your work, relationships and personal achievements. Believe that you can attain greater job titles, production numbers, income; believe that you can have more meaningful relationships; believe that you can achieve great things. Then start out today to do so.

Question: Has there ever been a time in your life when you have had a similar paradigm shift? A time when you went from thinking that one level of life was acceptable to aspiring for something greater? If so, how did you make the change?

I leave you with an example of a different paradigm. I recently purchased a copy of Robb Report and read about a cell phone that cost $6,000, private jets, a yacht that costs $250,000,000, and cars that made my mouth water. An old friend of mine blogged about a family he is working with on a project to develop the private island they bought into fractional ownership luxury properties. That family obviously doesn’t accept the 9-5, 3% annual raise, get your pension paradigm.

I have so much to be thankful for this year. A gorgeous, supportive wife and 3 amazing children. To all who read this I say much Mahalo for being a part of my life.

My brother and law and I headed out with our Hawaiian spears and we shot 9 fish off of Waikiki beach! They were fast and it was a little tougher than I thought it would be but we got better at it as we kept trying. We grilled them up with butter, lemon and garlic salt for a nice snack. We’re going to try and catch some bigger ones tomorrow.

I had a great meeting today with a couple of investors. Any meeting that starts with an Ahi salad is destined for greatness. It's not everyday that you meet intelligent businessmen that are down to earth and easy to talk to. These guys are the real deal. After meetings like this you're motivated to aspire to greatness.

This is going to be a crazy week. I have 4 deals in escrow, 3 purchases and one sale. I am putting together the funding for 2 of the purchases to close them cash, trying to get the financing in place for the other two deals, getting ready to go to Hawaii on Saturday, meeting with a possible Trust Deed investor, meeting with a potential buyer, etc. It should be a busy but productive week.
Recently I have been thinking about how much life is like one big game. There are players, levels, opponents, strategies, tricks, cheaters, evil villains, power ups, etc. I haven’t found any extra lives yet, but I’m just playing hard with the one I have. I am simultaneously reading about 4 books right now. I don’t normally do that, but each one is so jam packed with awesome information. It’s like stumbling on the cheat book for a video game. There are so many invaluable resources available to improve our skill set for the game that we are all playing. Enough ranting, but I’m sure I’ll return to this concept in a later post.

Halloween was a lot of fun. Andy was Peter Pan and Ashlyn was Tinker Bell. Taylor was a Pretty Princess.
The picture of all the kids is funny since it they are the kids of 4 couples and all within three years. Our little get-togethers are a bit hectic. There are 8 now, and one coming next month. Awesome.

That’s one good looking Mom.

We went over to the Church for Trunk or Treat and had a good time. I guess this first picture may need some explaining. My brother in law Russ was down from Utah and didn’t have a costume. He went up to our extra closet and found the plastic bag suit from my mission in South Africa, then cut a pumpkin and put it on his head. I was Clark Kent… not as jazzy.