Three Priorities For 2014: Closing Thoughts

It has been a couple of weeks now since I wrote the last entry in this series. I was avoiding this, and am not sure why. I think I was afraid that reviewing the whole thing would leave me feeling overwhelmed. But I just did that, and it didn't. There's good stuff here; stuff that deserves hard, smart work.

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to devote ourselves to the good deeds for which God has designed us."

That's Ephesians.

Closing thoughts? Only that I want to live in a way that invites others to come along, and then makes them glad they did.

As God grants me focus, it will be one heck of a ride.

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Three Priorities: The Complete Series
Three Priorities For 2014 - And Beyond
Three Priorities For 2014: 1 - Encouraging The Body Of Christ
Three Priorities For 2014: 2- Growing Businesses.
Three Priorities For 2014: 2.5 - Why Build Businesses?
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Legal Shield
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Homewood Capital Partners
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Luminaria Productions
Three Priorities For 2014: 3 - Redeveloping Race Street
Three Priorities For 2014: Closing Thoughts

Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Homewood Capital Partners

Hm. What should I say about Homewood Capital Partners LLC, and how should I say it?

Well, I suppose the first thing I need to say is that this post, is not an offer to sell, nor a solicitation to buy, units in Homewood Capital Partners LLC.

Okay then - I created Homewood Capital Partners LLC because I believe that Homewood real estate, which has been undervalued for decades, will increase in value significantly within ten years, possibly within five. I believe that a lot of money will be made off Homewood real estate in that time frame. I want some of it, and I want to help my neighbors to get some of it.

I have a King. My King has issued a command - not a suggestion, not a request - to love my neighbor. Helping some of my neighbors to get some of the money that I expect Homewood real estate to generate over the next decade is a way of doing that.

So - units of Homewood Capital Partners LLC will not be available to the general public. It's about me, my neighbors, and people we know.

I don't want to say anything here that ought to be saved for the offering materials, so I'll just say this: I want Homewood Capital Partners to catalyze Homewood's transformation by buying, rehabbing and selling enough homes in Homewood to help raise property values.

And this: I believe that, partly because of the work of the Save Race Street Committee, Race Street is particularly well positioned to lead the renewal of the market for Homewood's existing housing stock.

I need to uncork this genie.

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Three Priorities: The Complete Series
Three Priorities For 2014 - And Beyond
Three Priorities For 2014: 1 - Encouraging The Body Of Christ
Three Priorities For 2014: 2- Growing Businesses.
Three Priorities For 2014: 2.5 - Why Build Businesses?
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Legal Shield
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Homewood Capital Partners
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Luminaria Productions
Three Priorities For 2014: 3 - Redeveloping Race Street
Three Priorities For 2014: Closing Thoughts

Three Priorities For 2014: 2.5 - Why Build Businesses?

I promised to share some big-picture thinking about business. First, a little story:

One day back in the early 1980s, I visited a car dealership in Louisville to apply for a job there.

I don't remember the name of the dealership, or of the man who owned it. I do remember him standing before a group of prospective hires and talking about how much it meant to him to know that his business was helping his employees to put food on the table for their families.

When I left that meeting, I didn't have the job I had sought; but I did have something else:  the desire to own a business.

I think that's where it began for me, this quest to build an enterprise. So the first thing that I want to say about building businesses is that for me, building a business is not primarily about making money, for at least three reasons.

1) My wife and I don't need much income to live well. Our house, car and college educations are paid for, and we don't have kids. Beyond that, we don't have extravagant tastes. She is more frugal than I am, but even my wishlist doesn't go beyond a bodacious home theatre and a Tesla Model S.

I do NOT want a yacht. I DO want one of these. Truly.

2) Having piles of money sitting around has never appealed to me. I would rather have assets that generate income, than simply have a pile of money. And if I can create those assets without money, or acquire them at a discount for cash, or use my money to leverage other financing to acquire them - in other words if I can accumulate assets that have more value than the money I spend for them - so much the better.

3) Making money is at most one-third of the benefit of building a business. I consider the possibilities that a well-run business has for blessing the world to be downright magical. The magic of business is the potential for creating value for more and more people in more and more ways. Money (and other value) for the owner(s), money (and other value) for employees, money (and other value) for vendors whose goods and services the business uses...and on top of all that (or before all that), value for customers.

When I left the showroom of that car dealership, I was inspired by the possibility of helping people to put food on the tables for their families. I still find it inspiring to think of becoming a job creator (however much the term has fallen into disfavor), and of creating value for dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people beyond that.

Heck, make that, millions of people. Because a successful TV show, movie, or video game - or even a YouTube video - will in fact entertain and/or enlighten millions of people. Thus, Luminaria Productions.

And on a smaller scale, the rehabilitation and resale of 20 or 30 or 50 homes in Homewood will create value for dozens or hundreds of people. Thus, Homewood Capital Partners.

And helping people to gain affordable attorney access so that they receive full benefit from our legal system - well, that can be valuable to anybody I know or can talk to, who doesn't already have it. Thus, Legal Shield.

In sum, I see building a business as a way of giving more to more people than I could ever do otherwise, and thus a way of fulfilling Jesus' instruction and promise, "Give, and it shall be given unto you" - not to mention the cultural mandate of Gen. 1.28.

More briefly still: Why build businesses? Because business is holy.

That's my view. What's yours?

***************
Three Priorities: The Complete Series
Three Priorities For 2014 - And Beyond
Three Priorities For 2014: 1 - Encouraging The Body Of Christ
Three Priorities For 2014: 2- Growing Businesses.
Three Priorities For 2014: 2.5 - Why Build Businesses?
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Legal Shield
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Homewood Capital Partners
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Luminaria Productions
Three Priorities For 2014: 3 - Redeveloping Race Street
Three Priorities For 2014: Closing Thoughts

Three Priorities For 2014: 2- Growing Businesses.

I am writing this at nearly 2 a.m., but it will not appear until 7 a.m., if I use Blogger's scheduling feature correctly. So I begin with...

This blog post was supposed to appear yesterday. Sorry about that.

This is where I start talking about growing businesses. Right now that means learning to allocate resources (time and attention, mostly) between four:

I created Capital Synergies, Inc. to own and manage partnerships that would in turn invest in real estate (one partnership per property). I haven't done that yet, but in the meantime, I created Luminaria Productions, a media company that now owns both this blog and Homewood Nation, a community news service that incorporates an eponymous website, Facebook page, Twitter feed and YouTube channel. Capital Synergies owns Luminaria Productions.

Along the way I also signed up as a member of, and independent representative for, Legal Shield, under the Capital Synergies name.

Homewood Capital Partners is an LLC that I formed for the purpose of partnering with others to invest in real estate in Homewood.

I'll say more about all of them later, one at a time. For now, general observations:

1. Any one of Homewood Capital Partners, Legal Shield, or Luminaria Productions could in and itself provide a very comfortable living. Managing all of them well will make me rich (especially since my definition of rich sets a relatively low bar: $50,000 a year in passive income.). Managing them poorly will - make me poor? Destroy my marriage? Seriously, I can't even imagine how bad it could get if I don't manage any of them well. Or to put it more precisely, how much worse it would get if I don't learn to manage any of them well.

2. Managing four businesses well (or even one) begins with managing myself well.

3. It's nearly 2 a.m.

4. Going to bed, right now, would be a good step toward wealth and power and stuff.

Before talking about managing individual businesses, I think I should share some of my big-picture thinking about business, so that will come next.

***************
Three Priorities: The Complete Series
Three Priorities For 2014 - And Beyond
Three Priorities For 2014: 1 - Encouraging The Body Of Christ
Three Priorities For 2014: 2- Growing Businesses.
Three Priorities For 2014: 2.5 - Why Build Businesses?
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Legal Shield
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Homewood Capital Partners
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Luminaria Productions
Three Priorities For 2014: 3 - Redeveloping Race Street
Three Priorities For 2014: Closing Thoughts

Building a billion-dollar enterprise, 20: refining reporting

So, this work may go better if I have some sort of system for reporting.

First, some clarification - I have created legal entities for at least a dozen businesses through the years, of which I am now focusing my attention on two - Homewood Capital Partners LLC and Luminaria Productions LLC.

Homewood Capital Partners is a for-profit LLC, created to invest in Homewood real estate.

Luminaria Productions LLC, of course, is the media production company behind "Homewood Nation" - and, it occurs to me, would make a perfectly sensible owner for this blog. Duh!

Three other entities relate to Luminaria in some way. I have a long-dormant sole proprietorship, Greenhouse Publications, which I have mentally, but not formally, moved from being an extension of me to being a subsidiary of Luminaria - its arm for print products. I see the first print product being a book derived from four and a half years of the "My Homewood" blog; the working title is "Black Man in a Suit."

There is a real estate partnership, 529 N. Homewood LP, created to purchase and hold the eponymous property. I mention it here because I may place it under Luminaria. As of now, it stands separate.

Finally, there's Capital Synergies, Inc., predating all of the above except Greenhouse Publications. The purpose of Capital Synergies is to own and manage entities that own assets. The original idea was to have it be general partner of real estate limited partnerships, and it is the GP of 529 N. Homewood Ave. It also owns and is Managing Partner of Luminaria Productions. So it will show up in posts about building a billion-dollar enterprise, as a background player; but not much, I think. Most of what I write about BBDE will be about Luminaria.

So, what did I do today (Wed, 6/5) for Luminaria?

1. I promoted Rob Jones' piece on Homewood Nation about coaching Homewood.
2. I scheduled a room at the library for TechShop's presentation on June 18, then wrote, posted and promoted a piece on Homewood Nation about it.
3. I conducted an interview with RaShall Brackney that I think could provide material for at least a couple of stories in Homewood Nation.
4. I promoted last night's BBDE post on both LinkedIn and G+.
5. I created a spreadsheet to decide which venues to use to promote which types of content that I create online. This is a small thing that could have a big impact because I have caught myself wasting time deciding which venues to use to promote which content. I have also wasted time trying to remember which venues I had used and which ones I still needed to use. It is curious how I sometimes simply lose track of what I'm doing, mid-task. As a type of checklist, the spreadsheet should help. Never underestimate the power of a good form.
6. I emailed Eric Brown, president of Hybrid Learning Systems and ImpactGames, about PeaceBuilder
7. I emailed Kilolo Luckett, primarily about Homewood Capital Partners, but also about meeting.

That seems like it. On the one hand, that doesn't look like a full day's work; on the other, I feel as though I kept busy. Except when I was nodding off. Gotta exterminate the night owl.

Tomorrow morning, Pomodoro. Task #1 - update entities and projects list. Going forward, that list will provide the basis for both planning and reporting Luminaria activity.

I've just come up with tweaks on the LinkedIn./G+ experiment:

• share these posts twice: upon completion, then about 12 hours later, or between 12 - 1 pm,
• early in each post, link back to the preceding one.
• always link to new Homewood Nation content (don't just say, " I wrote/posted so-and-so.") 

Building a billion-dollar enterprise, 10

Today I did not do anything specifically to make money. But I did work on building a billion-dollar enterprise, by talking with my wife about it.

I described to her the general steps I intend to take to move PeaceBuilder forward - reconnecting with people I know at Pitt's business school, reconnecting with people I know in Pittsburgh's tech community, and connecting with people I don't know yet, but should -  and told her about the three things I am working on now to generate income: placing a "donate" button on Homewood Nation, setting up a Cafe Press shop on Homewood Nation, and publishing "Quick Flicks."

I also told her that, while it is possible for someone to accumulate significant wealth without anyone knowing about it, reaching my goal of an April, 2017 IPO valuing Luminaria Productions at $1 billion would automatically make the value of my Luminaria shares a matter of public record. And even before the IPO, the very process of building such an enterprise in Homewood would attract the attention that would make me a public person.

I told her those things because - as I also told her - I have long believed that she has a fear of becoming rich, partly coming from a fear of other people knowing about her wealth, and making her a target for them to get some. She didn't disagree.

I apologized for going broke, and asked her if she forgave me, and she said yes. I told her that I am bound and determined to get out of the place that I've come to, and to never come back to this. Ever.

Odd that so far, thinking about making money has focused my attention almost exclusively on Luminaria Productions, when Homewood Capital Partners might actually produce income sooner.

There's a lot of damage to repair. I believe that tonight was a good start.

Happy New Year!

2012 could be the year in which my life totally explodes. In a good way.
Or it could be the year in which my life totally implodes. Icky yucky bad bad.

What would make it a good year - a great one, even?

The completion of some projects, the advancement of others.

For completion:
Short film, "I Will Love You Always" - final cleanup, distribution
Short film, "coda," - final cleanup, distribution
Book, "Black Man in a Suit," - compilation, editing, production, distribution
Game, "PeaceBuilder: Homewood," - completion, v.1
Homewood Banner project
Race Street spring tree planting
Race Street fall tree planting

For advancement:
Homewood Capital Partners - launch
PeaceBuilder: Homewood - marketing

Ha - the post is taking a long time to write. Part of me is looking at the list so far and thinking, "That's enough for one year," making me hesitate to add more.

So I'll come back.

Just because I need to write

Here's an interesting thing: I love to write. I have specific pieces of writing that I need to do, pieces of writing that can help to enrich myself, my neighbors and the world. I have put off writing them.

What's up with that?

The real question is, "What will it take to break through whatever's up with that?"

Complicated, sophisticated answers may exist. I believe the most powerful answer may be too simple for words - namely, the act of writing, itself. I could spend a great deal of time trying to figure out why I'm not writing more, and/or trying figure out tricks to get myself to write more. Or I could sit down and start writing, like this.

This is now here. It exists. Fingers tapping keys become words on screen tapping brains: just lie still, you'll feel a slight pinch: Hippopotamuses in pink tutus dance weightlessly on tiptoe.

Now, that wasn't so bad, was it? And you won't even think about hippopotamuses for the rest of the day. Especially since I didn't even name the movie.

Oh dear. Sorry.

The thing of it, I have job assignments, pieces of writing that will matter, that deserve more and earlier time than hippopotamuses in pink tutus ever will.

Prospectuses matter more than hippopotamuses. For me, anyway, in my present context. The prospectus for 529 N. Homewood LP; the one for Homewood Capital Partners LLC.

Even more central, more critical, the first phase of the business plan for Luminaria Productions LLC.

Yes, I need to write these things. Quickly. Starting today and completing all within the next week.

Just write, grasshopper. Just write.