Nobody's Perfect

Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.

When we're starting out, getting everything together to start our business, we worry a lot about doing something wrong. Often times, this can lead to procrastination and hestitation to take action. In this post, I want to share a story about a "famous" crew who experienced a major hiccup in one of their projects.

So many of us want to hit the mark perfectly on the first shot. The truth is, of course, very few of us do. Often times, our first attempt is less than perfect, less than ideal. To quote from Warren Buffet, "Business is like baseball: more games are won with base hits than with home runs."

One of my adopted mentors said, "I'd rather see a crooked furrow than a field unplowed". I don't know if he originated that or where he got it from, but I think it makes a great statement. Do SOMEthing, even if the result is less than perfect.

I just saw an episode of "Flip This House" where the team made some major misjudgements. It seemed like a good example because here we see that even seasoned professionals sometimes still get it not quite right.

The subject property was a Connecticut contemporary with a view of Long Island Sound from the deck. It was found by one of their students who initially thought it would be only a few cosmetic fixups.

As it turns out, however, there were some REALLY major issues.

Initially, it seemed that the worst issue to fix would be some water leaking from the attic space, apparently from an air conditioner in that space. The fix wound up being major repairs to the air conditioning unit, including replacing the evaporator coil. The condensate drain also needed to be rerouted to prevent condensate being trapped in the pan and over-flowing into the living space.

When work on the project began, they started outside on the landscaping. Good thing they did, too. It helped them uncover a major issue with the septic system.

Many of us are accustomed to city water and sewer. So, sewers and waste water disposal are easy to overlook, especially when we're not familiar with an area we may have never visited before. In the case of this house, city sewer was not available. So, the septic system had to be dealt with.

By the way: take the word septic *VERY* seriously! I provided the link for a good reason. If you're uncomfortable with strong odors, you'll want to approach these properties cautiously. I remember once hearing an explanation of how to distinguish between chemistry and biology: if it doesn't stink its chemistry. If it stinks it's biology.

When the property was found, it was disclosed that the septic system was not working. This should have been a major red flag.

The initial rehab estimates did not include a replacement of the septic system. So, the initial estimates for repairs were low by almost half of the resulting final amount. While this did not eat up all of the profitability of this property, it was a major hit.

I did not know before watching this show that when a septic system is taken out of service permanently, the old septic tank has to be crushed and left unusable. I'm thinking the main reason for this is to prevent a cave-in at some future point as the concrete buried in the ground deteriorates over time.

In the end, the property was sold at a substantial profit. Still, the repairs did run over budget by more than $25,000.

What's my point?

Sometimes, when we should do "Ready, Aim, Fire!", we focus so much on the "Aim" that we never seem to get to "Fire!".

So, I will encourage you, as others will, to do "Ready, Fire!", THEN aim.

Now, of course, I don't mean that your "first shot" should be entirely random. Once you're comfortable with a general direction, GET MOVING! Take action. You'll have to make corrections along the way, of course, but at that point at least you'll have things happening. Remember: a vehicle which is stopped cannot be turned - it has to move in order to even turn the wheels toward a new direction.

Perhaps you've heard it said that a ship at sea or an airplane in flight is off course most of the time. Small corrections are always being made to keep the craft on track toward its destination.

Likewise, we must always make corrections to our course to keep ourselves and our endeavors on track towards our goals.

Give yourself permission to be imperfect. Perfection is always elusive. Success is achieved by those who pursue it!

We'll talk again soon!

Take care - be well!

Much Success!