Joe's Blog

Welcome to 2006

I have written out some goals for 2006.  Most of them are the usual suspects: loose weight, be a better friend and family member, budget better, etc.  Some are personal.  I hope that this year will be a year of discovery and discipline. 

I would like to go deeper in my walk with God and with my family and friends.  I would like to give back to my community and invest time and money in causes that will move us closer to where we all long to be.  I wish you all a year of peace, prosperity and thanksgiving.

This is going to be a good year for you.

Big Christmas Party!

Tonight I went to a huge Orlando Christmas party for a local law firm.  There were about 1,500 people spread out over three office floors. (The image to left is what it looked like getting off the elevator)  I was supposed to attend this event with a good friend of mine.  We were invited to attend the event by my friends uncle and he planned to show us around and introduce us to some important people. 

My friend wasn't able to attend the event.

I went alone.  It wasn't as bad as it could have been.  There were so many "important" people there and I didn't know hardly any of them.  I talked to who I knew and had a few conversations with new people but it was hard to work the room without any support.  Because people want to meet popular people.  In other words, it is almost impossible to work a room as a one man team.  I learned a lesson or two from my experience this evening. 

1) Stay with who and what you know.
2) Active listening is the name of the game.
3) Boast about others and laugh about yourself.
4) I need a girlfriend/wife badly.

Hopefully next time will be better...

The New Standard

Bill Drayton is the new standard for what I am trying to become.  A social entreprenuer and investor.  Here is a cool video link where Bill speaks about what the future will demand of us as citizens of the human business.

I plan to watch this video again but with a pad and pen next time.  That way I will capture some new subjects for research and development.

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/multimedia/pmp/drayton.ram

Wienscoting

1. "Norbert Wiener was quite short, five foot even, in fact. He was also given to the kind of absent-mindedness for which academics are known. MIT corridors have, or at least used to have, wainscoting, that is, a strip of wood with a molded groove in it running along a wall about three and a half feet off the ground. The nominal purpose of this is to prevent chair backs from scratching the paint on walls and to provide a boundary between the darker shade which the lower part of walls are usually painted and the lighter shade above. It was Wiener's custom to stick his finger in this groove, close his eyes, lower his head in thought and walk down a corridor, guided by the wainscoting. Professors were told to close their classroom doors or Wiener would be apt to follow the corridor wainscoting to the door jamb of the classroom and pick up the trail of the wainscoting on the inside of the classroom, following it around the room until it led him back to the corridor.

1. During one of these trips down the hallway, Wiener was interrupted by several of his students who talked to him for several minutes about what they were working on. After the conversation had ended, Wiener asked one of them "Could you please tell me, in which direction was I traveling when you stopped me?" One of them replied, somewhat confusedly, "You were coming from over there [gesturing] this way [gesturing]." Wiener replied, "Ah, then it is likely that I have already had lunch. Thank you." and continued down the hallway to his office."

This story was in the Wikipedia summary of Norbert Wiener, a famous mathematician and founder of cybernetics.  What is cybernetics?

I don't know.  But I will tell you when I find out.   It has something to do with communication and control.  Advertising, public relations and spin, I think.  I want to read his books because of this series of links that I followed today.

http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/ - Fred Wilson's venture capital blog article entitled, "A match made in Heaven." about Seth Goldstein and Lew Ranieri new company, "Root Markets".

this made me want to read about Seth Goldstein...

http://majestic.typepad.com/seth/ - Seth Goldstein's venture capital blog has a list of books that Seth is currently reading.  On the top of the list was Norbert Wiener's book on Cybernetics.

So then I went to Wikipedia to learn more...

This is how I learn.  This is how the next generation will learn too, I believe.  Through Tags, links and living bibliographic applications, injected with audio/video stimulation.

Today's meeting

Today I met with the managing partner of a very large law firm.  They have over 150 attorneys in ten offices throughout the state of Florida.  The office we were in over looked beautiful lake Eola, from the six-tenth floor. (picture to left)

The person I met with is a friend of a friend and has a great deal of experience in venture capital investing and private placement regulations.  My goal was to ascertain the legal procedures that would be required for me to raise a million dollars or more through a small limited partnership.  He was very helpful and invited me to his firms famous Christmas party.  Needless to say I will be attending. 

Again, I was struck with the small fish - big pond feeling that seems to be my new mode of operation.  As I seek to build these relationships with established professionals, I realize that humility is not a negative when coupled with determination and productivity. 

In other words, there are many people out there that are willing to help a "young turk" like me as long as they know that their time is not being wasted.  Now, I need to prove that; first to myself and eventually to others.   

Dwyer Equity Begins

I've left CNL and am working to reposition Dwyer Equity Partners, LLC as a small but legitimate investment company.  I hope to launch DEP as soon as my two week probationary period is complete with CNL. 

This house (upper left) may be our first acquisition.  It is on a large corner lot in a high traffic area of College Park.  I would like to turn it into a small office site for a lawyer, accountant, doctor, dentist, etc.  If successful this should generate a small amount of passive income and is likely to appreciate greatly based on the city's future planning maps.

The lot is zoned R-2 and could eventually be re-developed into condos or town homes.  The City will be providing access to city sewer in the near future which will almost double the site's available size.(half of the property is occupied by a large septic tank.)

Who knows, maybe this will be the headquarters of Dwyer Equity???

I am loving the freedom and energy of working for myself but I will likely need to get another "job" to pay my bills.  My goal is to take entrepreneurship seriously and not to quit when I take on another job.  Please pray that I will be able to pay my bills and pursue my dreams. 

Sorry its been so long since I've posted anything.

John Daker

This is an awesome video. 

http://www.getupoutmy.biz/daker/

A good friend of mine sent me this link.  It is a church talent show where John Daker makes his singing debut.  After he forgets the words he just keeps going, dauntless and unshaken.  What resolve he must have... 

Venture Capitalitis

There's a good post today on The Venture Blog about a the newly discovered psychological condition known as "Venture Capitalitis".  We private equity guys are lucky to be immune from this condition.  Our goal is to make our clients the shining star as we set the stage.

Here is the post: 

In a Woody Allen moment, I was reading the DSM IV (the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual for mental illness) to make sure I didn't have the mental equivalent of a "tumor the size of a golf ball." But, as Woody Allen himself points out, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you, and sure enough, I've diagnosed myself with a full blown mental illness -- it's called Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) or, as I've renamed it, Venture Capitalitis. Of the Personality Disorders available to me (Histrionic Personility Disorder, Antisocial Pesonality Disorder, Schizoid Personality Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, etc.), Narcissistic Personality Disorder may be as good as mental illness gets. Which is a good thing because best I can tell NPD is running rampant on Sand Hill Road.

The DSM IV is the Fourth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Its purpose is to assist mental health practitioners in diagnosing and differentiating among mental illnesses. Accordingly, it takes the form of a list of diagnostic criteria which, if met in sufficient numbers by a particular person, indicates that that individual has the particular mental disorder in question. The diagnostic criteria for NPD are telling. NPD is diagnosed by "a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts," -- sounds like VCitis already doesn't it. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is "indicated by five (or more) of the following:"

1) Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g. exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).

2) Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.

3) Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).

4) Requires excessive admiration.

5) Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations.

6) Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends.

7) Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.

8) Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.

9) Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.

Now I don't mean to be critical of my brethren in the Venture Capital industry, nor of myself for that matter, but tell me if that doesn't hit the nail on the head. Forget about meeting 5 of the criteria. How about 8 or 9? This Web 2.0 stuff is all well and good but I can tell you what my next investment will be in -- a mental health facility on Sand Hill Road.

Sailing the Intercoastal

I had a chance to sail the inter-coastal this past weekend on a 25.5 ft. Hunter and it was fun.  The person whose boat I was on is selling it for $6,000.  I am thinking about buying it and fixing it up.

       (Click on the picture to the left and enjoy)

If I bought the boat I would like to live on it and fix it up for about three months or so.  This would reduce my living expenses by 25% and provide me with access to a relaxing new hobby.  I could rent out my room in the house and have my mortgage completely paid for by other people.  Then I could start looking to buy another house to rent.  The boat is in good shape and with some work, it will be worth about $8,000.

If I can get my passive income (rental homes, etc.) to pay for my expenses, then I can afford to take the boat island hoping in the keys and that is a goal worth working toward.  Corporate life is not for me and there are too many wonderful opportunities off the beaten path.  I refuse to keep my head down, wasting time as I follow the underpaid, overworked masses.

Go West Young Man !!!

Shanghai on business

A fellow blogger and friend of mine is currently in Shanghai on business.    He has posted about this trip on his blog: The Window Manager 

I am super-jealous and wishing that I were being paid to travel in China.  My dream job is to travel the world in search of valuable investments.  I am tempted to buy a ticket and go to China to live there for a month or two.  Should I? 

Shanghai is to become the financial capital of the world.  I want to be there as it happens.  In 2008, they will host the Olympics and many think that they will unpeg their currency around that time.  This will further position them to become the most dominant force in the global economy.  I need to go there and develop a list of contacts who will become my business partners in the years to come. 

Here is a good article about this exciting time in China. http://www.investmentu.com/IUEL/2005/20050721.html