Tyler Jorgenson

The family and I are staying at Marriott’s Newport Coast Villas for a few days. This is an amazing part of the world, truly breathtaking views and spectacular beaches. We’ve stayed here before but somehow this time it’s different. It’s in my blood now… this is where we’ll end up. It’s just a matter of time, well and a lot of cash. Driving around here is like going to a fancy car convention. I hope they don’t mind my cool guy minivan. The doors are automatic… is that cool enough to fit in?

The 8 million dollar homes and $450,000 cars are nothing compared to these assets.

We discovered Crystal Cove State Beach for the first time and fell deeply in love.

We were very happy to be invited by some friends for an evening at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. We don’t get out to do couple’s things nearly enough. Dinner was good, dessert was great and the company was fantastic. There were some good magicians and shows as well but the best part was just spending time with my wife and friends, telling stories and laughing.

Tanya and I came to the Magic Castle a few years ago for a company party and had a good time. Somehow coming with friends made it a little more enjoyable.

Thanks for the invite Jeff & Laura! You guys rock.

Ever since the birth of my oldest daughter 3 1/2 years ago I have had to really focus on the balance I maintain between work and family. It certainly is not an easy thing to do. This week I traveled up North with my wife, kids and parents to visit my Grandfather. My Dad’s Father is 93 years old and is battling 3 types of cancer. My Granny couple of years back so my youngest two were never lucky enough to meet her. To add to the importance of taking this trip, my son is the only Male Jorgenson of his generation from my Grandfather’s line, none of my Jorgenson cousins had boys. We felt it was very important to make sure they met at least once and take a 4 generation picture.

We’re staying at my Aunt and Uncle’s beach house in Capitola, which is like living in a dream because it is so beautiful. The challenge is that I had to travel and be here during the week, so I am still fielding work calls and emails. I don’t mind being accesible for my clients because I understand that we are dealing with time sensitive matters and financial issues that can be very stressful. Other than the fact that my cell phone doesn’t work in the house I have been responding to emails and calls promptly. But then I see this sight, taken yesterday evening, and put the phone away and remember what is most important.

I love my clients, and count many of them as friends, but nothing trumps my wife and kids.

Gone skydiving? Traveled to Hong Kong? Been on Safari? Helped a stranger for the better?
My beautiful wife rented The Bucket List for us to watch. I’m not much for writing movie reviews, but all in all it was a good flick. It made me think a little bit about my life’s goals and aspirations. In the movie Morgan Freeman’s character has a nice family life (but a stale marriage), a modest job and a traditional home. Somehow he ends up sharing a hospital room with Jack Nicholson’s character (sorry about the Lakers in Game 4 Jack) who is an extremely wealthy man, but with no family ties to speak of. Both characters get to impart a bit of their views to the other through the movie and end up better people in the end.

The first thing I thought of was my amazing family. I have three ridiculously amazing children and a super star wife. If I were left desolate in a shack in Tulsa (the Paris of Oklahoma) but I had my family then life would be alright. The next thing I thought about is that I want to see some stuff while I’m on this earth. I’ve been lucky to chase giraffe in Africa and I am very grateful for my time there… but I want to see Machu Picchu, sing to my wife in Italy, tour the Holy Land and climb Kilimanjaro.

While I was in South Africa I read some words in Afrikaans that have stuck with me.

Many of you know it’s Latin counterpart, Carpe Diem. Both say the same thing so both are obviously good but Gryp Die Dag, said in a gluteral and milataristic voice full denotes expedient and forceful action. Carpe Diem is so much more poetic and light.

That being said, two questions to think about?

1. What is one thing you feel you MUST do before you kick the bucket?

2. What is the most rewarding thing you can do TODAY?

My thoughts after watching the movie are in line with Baird’s poem:

Time flies on wings of lightning;
We cannot call it back;
It comes, then passes forward
Along its onward track;
And if we are not mindful,
The chance will fade away;
For life is quick in passing.
‘Tis as a single day.

Life your life with a sense of determined urgency. Reap while the sun shines.

Entertain me and leave a comment with your answer to question #1. Maybe there’s a prize for whoever leaves a comment with the most original answer.

I had an awesome day today. I spent most of the day down in Orange County negotiating contracts on a few big real estate deals. I have some great clients that I am working with to put together a commercial venture and we wrote up a couple offers on residential properties today. Then I had lunch with a good friend and business partner (thanks for lunch Phil, the cucumber wrapped spicy tuna rocked). Just when I thought the day was approaching it’s apex I landed a new client that has a lot of property in coastal Orange County. One of his properties leases for $19,000 a month and I’m hoping to have it sold this week!

To top it all off I met my wife and kids at Disneyland for dinner and check out my score on Buzz Lightyear… I don’t know why, but I was really proud of this.

I heard about this company about 4 months ago but I was pretty skeptical. I mean who would really give you $25 just for signing up by creating an account on their site?

I clicked on the link and started to fill out an account when I noticed that it asked for my SSN. I didn’t like that, so I closed the window and forgot all about it. A couple of weeks ago I saw the website mentioned on a more reputable blog and the author showed her check for $22.50 (the $25 – $2.50 check fee. You can opt to add a bank account and have it transferred in for free). I decided to do a little research. The company is a legitimate startup run by Steve Case and they are using their advertising dollars through this referral program instead of commercials, print, billboards, etc.

So, here’s $25. It’s free if you take the 30 seconds to sign up.

My account took about 24 hours to be verified and then I just clicked to accept the $25 from revolution money exchange and it was credited to my rme account. I added a bank account and once that’s verified I can transfer the moola over to WaMu.

Enjoy! ONE MORE THING – I forgot to mention that this is a limited time deal. Because I didn’t jump on this some may miss the chance. The offer expires on May 15th (my birthday) so you need to click on the green button below and sign up today if you want the $$.

I love California. I count myself very lucky to live in such a diverse part of the world. Within an hour or so from our house we can find just about anything. We can shoot up to our cabin in 45 minutes, head to the beach in under an hour, cruise to San Diego in a short jaunt, etc. Last night my wife was trying to figure out something to do today and we somehow ended up planning on a trip to UCLA for a book fair. The fair was huge and was spread out across the entire, large, UCLA campus. Unfortunately there wasn’t a ton to do there for kids, other than watch their parents buy them books, so we didn’t stay too long. We decided to head towards to beach, 4 miles away and ended up at Dukes in Malibu for an early dinner. Dinner at any restaurant with two 15 month olds and a 3 year old is a challenge, but our waitress was great and just smiled the whole time as she watched us deal with our masticating maelstrom. After our great dinner we went looking for a place for the kids to play and ended up having a great time on the beach. Not only do I live in a great place, but I get to do so with this great family! Lucky? Oh yes!

I caught part of the movie Spanglish on the tele last night and the main family in the movie moves to Malibu for the summer… I don’t think that’s such a bad idea. Maybe I can house swap my cabin for somebodies ocean front property for a few months!

My wife and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary with a little jaunt down to Newport Beach for a stay in our favorite hotel. After sleeping in with no children waking us up we drove up and down the coast checking out the gorgeous views and homes. For lunch we enjoyed The Cheesecake Factory. I tried the Miso Salmon that looked so good last time I was there and it was great. Upon the recommendation of one of my wife’s friends we had a little sweet fix at Sprinkles. (Entrepreneur side note: They are doing this right! They have one product and are delivering phenomenally. They currently have 5 stores and are opening 16 more! I hope they don’t lose sight of their foundation and start offering cakes and pastry’s, only to become just another bakery. Great cupcakes Sprinkles, good work!)

We somehow worked our way up to Long Beach around dinner time and walked around Shoreline Village to see what restaurant would tease our taste buds. It wasn’t hard to miss this:Meet Paraffin, a 197 foot yacht that had all who gazed upon her beautiful hull drooling in awe and a little envy. My curiosity was peeked, what type of person owns such a yacht? Google gave me the answer and a great story or two.

Like many teenage boys, 17-year-old Mike Kittredge couldn’t aford a Christmas present for his mother. His solution was to melt a bunch of crayons and make the into a candle. His neighbour liked it so much that she asked to buy it, and so the first candle of the Yankee Candle Company was sold. Mike made another for his mother and one to sell, and the company found its wings.

Nice work Mr. Kittredge, but I hope you’re not still making make-shift candles for your Mother’s Christmas present anymore.

Here are a couple more photos:

I rarely read email forwards, but for some reason I watched this video that was forwarded to me today. I’m really glad that I did, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Thank you for being a part of my life.

So often in life we create our own limitations. Interestingly enough our limits are self imposed or conditioned by others who feel inadequate. When we are born we are nearly fearless (the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises are with us from birth) but we learn to fear failure through being teased or ridiculed. I got this little glimpse into my 1 year old daughters limitless perpective on life and loved it. She’s just doing what she sees her 3 year old sister do… so why couldn’t she be able to do the same? Look around you and see if there is somebody that has attained goals you would like to attain and ask yourself if you believe that you can achieve the same levels of success. Too often we don’t give ourselves enough credit, or have enough faith in our own ability to achieve greatness. Raise the bar.

-Posted From My Treo –

I got an email early yesterday morning from my friend Deyl inviting me to lunch. I’ve posted links to Deyl’s blog before but the background is that Deyl and I went to Elementary, Middle and the first part of High School together. I moved from San Diego to Wrightwood just before our Sophomore year. It was great to reconnect with Deyl and even though we didn’t have hours to chat since we both had meetings we had to get to I really enjoyed talking through a couple of deals. Deyl and his wife Paige have a great outlook on life and are both going to be household names within a matter of years.

As I was waiting outside the Cheesecake Factory at Bella Terra I overheard a couple of businessmen discussing a new product they were promoting. Since I try not to be shy about opportunity I introduced myself and we shared a brief, but rich, dialog. They invited me to help them with their product and we exchanged contact information. I don’t know if anything will come of the interaction, but I was pleased that I didn’t allow a silly fear of introducing myself get in the way of a potential opportunity.

I made it back to Chino a little late for my two o’clock meeting but not too late for it to be saved. I met with one of my new licensees and we went through some business strategies for how he can make good money even in the current market. There is a lot of opportunity out there and we are only limited by our own lack of vision.

A few business calls and emails later I was on my way home to my beautiful wife and kids. My twins turned 1 year old today… Happy Birthday!

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.