Casey Cavell Newsletter #1

Please read my first newsletter is gives you an update on what I'm doing and how I can help you with future investments.

Finding a job in todays market

Dear Casey,

                A friend introduced me to your website and I have been following your blog for a while.  You provide a lot of great information for people and I was hoping to get your thoughts on my situation.

Like a lot of people in today’s economy, I am having a difficult time finding a great job that pays well.  After spending 4 years in college and accruing a large amount of debt from student loans, I find it hard to find a professional job in my field of study.  Despite spending countless hours filling out applications online, writing cover letters, making call-backs to human resource offices, and even applying for lower paying service industry jobs; I still am having a difficult time even obtaining an interview.  It seems like the only places hiring are the ones that have high turnover rates because nobody wants to keep that job. 

                Could you please give me some advice on how to position myself for an interview?  Also, if you could provide tips on what employers are looking for and how to conduct myself after an interview it would be appreciated. 

Thanks for all your help,

Tom Barley – Lafayette, IN

Dear Tom Barley,

                Thanks for the kind words about my blog.  I feel an obligation to make the world around me a better place so that’s why I write so many articles about my business to show people that success can be achieved if you’re willing to put in the work for it. 

                I’m sorry to hear about your struggles finding what you termed as a ‘professional’ job.  Today’s current economy has made virtually every job competitive now.  Just the other day I read a story about a hot dog stand in New York City placing an ad for an operator in the paper.  The next day 350 were waiting in line to interview for this position!  So put that into perspective the next time you’re applying for a job.  With so many people applying for a scarce number of jobs, you really need to find something that makes you stand out to the employer. 

                In my own business, I recently needed to hire a new manager for one of my facilities.  I interviewed 7 people on the first day.  At the end of the day I had trouble remembering who was who.  However, the next morning one of the applicants came to my office with a marketing plan and looked me in the eye and told me “I am going to help you grow your business”.  I didn’t ask him to do this.  I didn’t ask any of my applicants to do anything for me.  By taking the extra time to come up with this marketing plan for me, this applicant showed me that he was willing to put in the extra work to help my business and he definitely set himself apart from everyone else.  So it was an obvious choice for me to hire this person. 

                While writing this, I’m replaying events from the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” with Will Smith.  In that movie his character makes many sacrifices to try to further his career.  He doesn’t drink water during the day because that means he would go to the water cooler and talk to the other workers about sports, or movies, or other things; and this was time that he could be spending working.  He also doesn’t drink water so that he won’t need to go to the bathroom because that would take away from his time to work.  This was his way to make himself standout.  If he maximized his time to work, he could produce more than others. 

                The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.  My advice to you Tom is to try a different approach to your process.  Analyze your whole process and come up with ways to make yourself stand out at each part of the process.  If this means sending edible arrangements to human resource offices, sending thank you cards, whipping out a laptop during an interview to show a power point presentation; then so be it.  With so many people applying for jobs, you have to make the employer remember you. 

                I hope these suggestions help you get started on your quest for a better job.  Keep in mind that one setback doesn’t define you as a person. 

Good luck,

Casey S. Cavell

Three Feet from Gold-Association

As promised another one of the five points to a successful life from “Three Feet from Gold” This topic is going to be on association. Some people believe that being in the right place at the right time is the way to success. In a way that is true, some people have had that happen to them, but if they would not been associating with the right person, success may not have came their way. So, it is really not being in the right place at the right time, it is who you are associating with that can have the biggest impact on your life.

Associating yourself with successful individuals and others that are smarter than you is how I have become a successful business man.  When I was just getting started out of college I did not know a thing about commercial real estate or self storage, so what did I do?  I went on ebay and bought a big lot of commercial real estate investing books and was instantly given 15 mentors.  That was how I started associating myself with successful people, I do realize that not everyone who writes a book should be your direct mentor, but it was a start.  Of those fifteen books I read I then went out and contacted a few of those authors directly.  Jim Randle the author of “Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur” was one of those that I sought out.  I always judged myself as an entrepreneur and wanted to be involved with real estate so why not contact him, he was exactly what I wanted to be.  I went out and found his personal website, his personal email address, his phone number, and so on.  I am aggressive by nature and when I see something I want or someone that I want to be like I do my best and take all the possible routes to get there.  One of those best routes that I have found through experience is associating yourself with like minded individuals, who have been there and done that, and can hold your hand on the way.

Don’t be afraid to get your feet wet. Eventually you will find the right ones with your same goals. You may be the one someday that everyone looks to for advice and hope for their future!

Three Feet from Gold-Action

The most important principal is of the book “Three Feet from Gold” is action. This is one thing that the majority of us will never use in our lifetime. Every day we are all blessed with many different things and given different opportunities.  However, we never take action or do anything good with the opportunities presented to us.  Here is a good quote to live by “It is not what you are given in life, it’s what you do with it”. I have been given a lot in my life and have been surrounded and blessed by many people. I have taken those things that I was given and done something good with them and this expanded all the things in my life.

I have traveled, coached, and spoke on the real estate seminar circuit a lot in the past. My experience has been; you have a room of 500 people and I go up there and motivate them, speaking about my success. When I am done everyone stands up and is ready to go do it, then you check in later and no action was taken.  This is one thing that really bothers me, when people have been given the tools and the blueprint for success but do not take action.  Business is not easy, trust me, and this may be why people choose not to take action or when they do take action it is just too much for them and they give up.  It has been said that 90% of startups fail in the first year and there is a reason for that, it’s called “Business is not easy.” However, if you really look at those businesses that fail they were never really given a chance to succeed.  They did not have the education, resources, and the blueprint that many people have been given like myself.  I would suggest that each of you that are ready to take action go out and find a mentor, someone who has taken action in their lives and trail in their footsteps.  They are there so when you are knocked down on the mat, which you will be in business, you will know how to get right back up and keep fighting.

Three Feet from Gold-Talent

As promised in my last blog post, I’m going to give you the second point in the book titled “Three Feet from Gold”. The second principle that he mentions is talent. Everyone has it in one form or another and it’s up to you to find yours and to make the best of it. My three talents are dealing with people, negotiating, and systems. I am able to deal with people of all kinds of backgrounds and to put systems in place for them or as a partnership to make them successful. Negotiating is one of my strengths as well. I will say however, your talents are developed at different times and not always just given to you. I guarantee you that I was not a great negotiator at first; it took learning skills, and trial and error. I went out and learned from the best, thanks Dad, and read up on the subject. Even though some are more gifted on certain levels than you, there are ways to bridge the gap. It is called hard work. Again, everyone has talents you just have to find out what yours are and develop them even further. Then if you are able to find a way to use your talents whatever they may be, incorporate them with a passion that you have. You will then be able to enjoy your life to the fullest. So, go out and find your talent, develop it even further, and incorporate it with your passion.

Three Feet from Gold-Passion

On my many ventures in my business career, I can give some credit for my success to a book entitled, 3 Feet from Gold by Napoleon Hill. There are 5 principles that the author wrote about and I will talk about them in later blogs, but the one that made the most impression on me was passion.

Passion is one of the things that I have personally never lacked in my life.  Everyone has it, but at times it’s hard to find.  You just have to find out what your passion is and if there is a way to make money from it, that makes it all the better.

Growing up as a kid my passion was baseball.  It was what I enjoyed doing and I really got a thrill every time I played the game.  I still have that passion for it today as I still play and study the game regularly.  My next passion in college was Texas Hold’em, a simple two card poker game that grew tremendously from 2003-2006.  During those years poker was my passion.  I enjoyed playing, studying, and networking with other successful pros in the game.

Early on in life my passion was baseball, several years ago it was poker, and now its commercial real estate.  Since I became a full time real estate investor my passion has really grew for this business.  I have a passion for my employees, customers, and others that I work with on a regular basis.

Every day when I wake up I look forward to working and learning something new each day.  I have no doubts that is has helped me become successful.   I am sure one day my passion may change like it has in the past.  However, I do know that whatever passion I may have at that point in my life I will give it 100% and I will have a great desire to turn that passion into a successful business venture.  That is the mindset of a passion filled entrepreneur.   I have a good feeling my passion in a few years will resort back to baseball as it is my goal to purchase a minor league baseball team.

So, what is your passion? What is the first thing that you do when you wake up in the morning or look forward to doing?  My advice to you is to run with it and make it your own.
I’m looking very forward to telling you about the other principles in upcoming blog posts. Stay tuned!

Maintaining Employee Performance

Nobody wants to work for a boss that only makes demands and rewards the employees with nothing more than a paycheck.  On the other hand, if a boss is too lax with the employees and is seen as more of a friend than a superior; then there is a good chance the employees will take advantage of this.  I feel there is a common ground that can be utilized to ensure that your employees continuously perform well and hopefully enjoy working for you. 

I’ve found that using 3 R’s when dealing with employees has given me a great balance between performance and employee morale.  The R’s I am talking about are Reinforcement, Recognition, and Reward. 

Reinforcement has two parts to it in my opinion.  I feel that continuously setting ambitious goals and making it aware to your employees that you expect them to achieve these goals is crucial.  This is what psychologists refer to as the self-fulfilling prophecy.  In essence, people will perform how you expect them to.  If you go into a situation and have a preconceived notion that someone will fail, there is a high probability that they will.  This could be due to you not giving that person everything they need to be successful and in a way you almost sabotage them from the beginning because you expect them to fail.  To avoid this, always have faith in your employees because you trusted your judgment when hiring them.  The second part of reinforcement almost coincides with my next R; Recognition.  I feel that constantly giving positive reinforcement around the workplace helps employees perform well.  It could be as simple as agreeing that you like a marketing idea an employee presents you or as basic as saying “keep up the good work”. 

Recognition is also very important to employees.  Nobody wants to feel like they are being taken for granted or unappreciated.  Many times when I have written articles I have mentioned my employees by name and thanked them for all the work they have done.  For everyone else out there, ways you could recognize your employees could be as simple as telling them thank you every time you see them.  If your employees are amazing and you want to show your gratitude you could take an ad out in a newspaper, post a status on facebook or twitter, or put up a gigantic poster in your workplace that describes how much your employees mean to you.  I also feel that if an employee is doing a stellar job it is important to recognize this in front of every other employee as a motivation tool.  If everyone can see how employees who do excellent work are treated, then they are more likely to strive to be an excellent employee as well.

The last of my 3 R’s is Reward.  When employees are going above and beyond to make your life better, it is important to show your gratitude and appreciation by rewarding them.  Recently one of my employees told me she was taking her boyfriend out to a restaurant for his birthday.  I called up the restaurant and picked up their tab of $134.  On occasion when I visit my properties I have been known to give my managers a 2 hour break and $40 which they have to spend.  During the holidays I give my employees gift cards to restaurants.  There are many ways you can reward exceptional employees.  My employees have made my life better than I ever imagined so I truly feel a reward in giving back to them. 

These are just a few ideas that can help you maintain positive cycle of performance and reward.  We need our employees to make money and our employees need us to make money.  However, by always having a positive energy in the workplace, I feel that optimal performance will be achieved.  So after reading this I hope you take time to evaluate how you treat your employees and hopefully you can find the perfect balance between performance and reward.  Thanks for taking time out of your day to read my thoughts.  Good luck to you in all your endeavors. 

-Casey Cavell