The Writing life
It is interesting, though, thinking about why a tangled client issue is motivating me to write more than say selling $5m of new homes in 3 months to the coolest people around, or rebuilding my office team to a top notch level after a full year of re-jiggering, or raising a great kid, or the new land I’m looking at, or the hundred of other things I do weekly that actually pretty interesting. So, maybe if I continue to write, I’ll figure out why I continue to write about this, but at exact moment, I have no idea. Maybe the newness - the other stuff is sort of old hat. Maybe the mix of personal, business, legal strategy necessitated really sparks my brain. Maybe it’s just the education I’m getting - if I lived closer to a University I’m sure I’d be taking classes all the time. Maybe this is why people become lawyers, because it’s interesting.
Maybe it’s the competition between parties. Maybe it’s the desire to win - I’ve always been very competitive. Maybe it’s because it’s helping me define my boundaries and lines that don’t get crossed after spending 22 years of taking one for the team 15 times a day just to keep the show going, since the show must go on.
I mean, I could easily write many pages full of things I have gratitude for, people I enjoy working with, efforts I’m impressed by, intelligence I’m awed by. My days are filled with people doing great work - which, in one way, is exactly why being treated and spoken to like piece of dog shit on the sidewalk was and always will be a trigger - I know how hard everyone is working. You don’t get to be on my team without being a hard-working SOB who leaves it on the field most days.
I mean, I could also write about all the stupid shit that happens each day, usually a result of someone doing something brainless, or maybe it’s just a result of us moving quickly at all times, or maybe it’s a combination of both. That would be fun, and probably healthy for me to vocalize.
So basically, my writing material is endless. You could say it’s a flaw in my motivation that it’s this issue that gets the writing juices flowing when so much other stuff could and should. But I’m flawed, that’s not news to anyone. A bit of misfit. My thinking is non-linear. I see things others don’t and don’t see what other’s do. I have the rare ability to be operationally proficient and very creative - typically you sacrifice one for the other. These opposing operation and creative talents pull uncomfortably in different directions. Maybe when I’m older I’ll get out of the operations end of things and stay in the creative lane - though, let’s be honest, sounds a little boring, since all the fun is in the operations, where you win, lose, live, die by your decisions and ability to motivate.
It’s funny with writing, or acting, or anything involving stage-craft - it’s just a front. Like right now on the blog I’m flexing the super-confident, hyper-aggressive gladiator, but that’s not really who I am. That’s my writing facade for this space in time. I guess priming the pump to build the audacity and courage to go into this battle with victory in mind. If you think it, you are it.
One thing I’ve learned over the years - and believe me - I’ve learned more in my lifetime than any person should, most of it coming after the age 40 - one thing I’ve learned is how careful you have to be when you find a good tool - be it an assistant, employee, or in this case, lawyer. I remember my first personal assistant/advisor (tangent alert well, this advisor was good, and allowed me to accomplish and pursue many items on my to do list, and some of them weren’t that well thought out, and really weren’t that great of ideas.
So the lesson, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Attorneys. Having a good attorney is important, but having a good attorney who lacks the credibility to advise against an action is dangerous as is one that will chase every stick that is thrown just to show off. Restraint derives from confidence. No action can be more of sign of strength than in-action. One of my most trusted advisors is the lawyer that I use for getting advice on the ups and downs, ins and outs of dealing with my ex-wife and the co-parenting we do. We do a good job together, but it’s not perfect, and on several occasions I contemplated going back to court to have this or that addressed. He never said no, and I think he would have done what I asked if in the end I asked, but in the interim, he lent me his time to listen to my issues and dilemmas, think about them, and walk me through the realities of what I was asking and seeking, and the most likely outcomes. He did it dispassionately, he did it intelligently, and he did it with my best interests in mind.
And in the end, we never pursued any of my family law issues and concerns, since the courtroom is just not a great venue for getting what you want, compared to the costs - personal and financial - of the exercise. Even more so with family law, where you risk blowing up even an imperfect arrangement into something much worse.
Expenses
The Story of Business is the story of expenses. A story of Cash Flow. And eventually, a story of Profits.
And you are going to have weeks like this when you are building 14 homes across 3 counties, and have a portfolio of 8 single family rental homes in 4 states. But still, Really?
Our forklift lull didn't start - $3000. Tree fell on the roof of a rental - $2000. Someone - not mentioning any names - crashed some piece of equipment into a new AC condenser - $6500. Spec home water well sediment filter - $10,900. Sales tax audit - $35k (because for some god-forsaken reason a little hardware shop out of Tennessee didn't charge us sales tax for internet sales and we buy an impressive amount of hardware I guess). I think there's a few more, but I've put them out of mind for the moment.
Serious money! Out of the blue. Best strategy for those types of expenses is pay them quick and get them behind you since the longer you contemplate them, the longer the pain sticks around. Pay 'em, move on the next problem. Only thing that makes it better is knowing it's actually only 50% of the invoice because of my baller tax rate level.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that the literal non-stop rain since September is degrading our driveways, private roads and everything else we do with land, which is all we do, period, so, that sort of sucks ass too.
Rotator Cuff Surgery
Back in August I had rotator cuff surgery, entering a period and journey of pain, rehab, recovery and fear unknown prior to in my 54 years. To fix a range of motion issue and slight tear that was restricting a bit of range of motion, most telling when trying to throw a baseball, and that type of dynamic shoulder movement.
The shoulder - you don't really think about it that much - but it's an amazing piece of machinery. Move in all directions - not sure anything else on the body has that type of dexterity of movement. And then you have these little thin muscles that weave in and around the clavicle that can get damaged over time through use or injury - and while the group of 4 muscles that make up the rotator cuff may be small, any attempt to repair them if they tear in a minor or major way - is fraught with a recovery process that ranks in the top 10 of most arduous.
I think my only other surgery before my rotator cuff surgery last August was when I had my nose reconstructed when I was about 12 after foul-tipping a fastball off my bat straight to my nose during the New Era Midget Championship game of 1980+/-, which we won. Knocked me out cold. Went to the hospital just for a bit before bee-lining over to Pizza Hut for the after game pizza party. Seeing me and my nose with gauze stuffed up in it, and my duel black eyes might have diminished an appetite or two.
As I was typing that up, I started thinking about how that was all done without texts or phones with minute to minute updates like ‘we’re here’, or “i’m on my way’. I don’t know how life was conducted back then.
My point is I had another surgery, one that because the ‘injury’ was sort of innocuous and caused discomfort only when doing specific things, and the surgery itself was only a few hours long, and it was same day type of thing, I really didn’t think much of it. But I should have, because it lead to maybe the craziest 6 months of my life in terms of injury, surgery and healing.
Little did I know I was about to enter one of the most intense post-surgical rehab, recovery and physical therapy exercises out there. I’m 6 months into it, post-surgery, and I’m still not back to full shoulder strength, and if someone was to tell my life was going to be turned upside down in order to regain 10% range of motion and be able to throw a baseball again, I’m not sure I would have went down this path.
And the pain - wow - as my arm hung lifeless beside my body like a stroke victim, wow, I can say I’ve never felt pain like that before - day in, day out, and then the PT where nothing came free and each and every since ½” of range of motion had to be earned through not just pain, but a completely unfamiliar level and feeling - just a different style of pain. Not cool, not fun, pretty scary, and definitely should have watched youtubes about it before the surgery, not while I’m on the couch 24 hours after.
And I learned some unexpected lessons - which always happens since I'm a sponge for inputs and information regardless of the situation I'm in - I learned the hard way that a highly credentialed NYC best in class doctor on retainer isn't necessarily the end all be all since I really feel I went into this surgery asking the right questions but not getting the right answers. What I needed was a good old fashioned down to earth country family practitioner to give me some real down to earth perspective, not a referral to the best orthopedic surgeon in NYC who works on Olympic athletes. One route is surely impressive, the other one much more valuable. Sure my NYC doc is a lot freer with the prescription pad for my occasional Xanax and more frequent Viagara, and has access to world class doctors and facilities at a snap of his finger, but really, that's so NYC - flash over substance. Access over effectiveness.
Same is true with attorneys. Give me a slow talking common-sense lawyer who mows his own lawn over a paper-pusher 'strategist' any day of the week. I knew this, but everyone can be blinded by the flash at times.
And 6 weeks in a sling like this dude, without the smile.
Saturday Site Inspections
Was talking to a banking colleague who reads the blog - I know, who doesn't? - and he was commenting on what he sees at the thousands of job sites he sees around the Hudson Valley and compared that to mine, and let's say mine sort of set the bar, high. Sounds like an expert witness to me.
My most productive, rewarding and simultaneously frustrating job site visits happen on Saturdays, and sometimes Sundays. On those days, the saws have stopped, the truck and vendor traffic slows, and I can methodically work my way through the homes under construction. In Olivebridge, where we have 9 under construction - some finished now - it’s a source of great pride to me - my efforts, the efforts of others. The stamina, risk, strategy, problem-solving, team-work.
It’s not hard to appreciate all the good and talented work being done on our behalf by small businesses, many of which I have worked with for 16+ years or more. Some of these small guys have grown old with me, and more than a few are starting to retire, or more accurately, scale back. Luckily, it appears I make the cut for those scaling back, and they remain trusted advisors and resources.
But, it’s actually quite hard to appreciate my Saturday visits because that’s not why I’m there. I’m there to find out what’s wrong, what’s unfinished, what’s back-ass-backwards, what’s dirty, what’s messy, what’s muddy, what light is left on, what heat was not turned down, which window was left open, lumber pile left uncovered to the elements, overflowing dumpster with no alert to office. The things that are wrong or need corrected is endless, and you multiply that by 9 homes and you can really be fricking wound up. Luckily, up in Olive, there’s no cell or text service without a booster, so the endless streams of nastygrams to my trusted vendors can’t go out so I end up just making a list. It’s for the better they can’t go out many times. It would be fun to play a game such as 'what makes Chuck the most agitated in this photo?'
But it’s tough. Even something good can be better. And we aim for better. Always better. Always cleaner, quicker, more thorough, more efficient, more streamlined. More creative. More good-looking. More value.
Seems like the crowd is thinning a bit, a lot of the new players in the new home for sale construction game seem to be dwindling. Lower sales prices, higher construction costs, scarce land, lots of hard lessons leaves only the boldest, and there we are again - standing straight and tall and selling our pants off.
Another quiet morning at the Pinchot mansion in Milford day, organizing books from 150 years ago, with letters, cards, notes, and inscriptions. Today I came across an inscription from T. Roosevelt to G. Pinchot, c. 1905. Right there in my hands.
And I'm Court Appointed Special Advocate for kids caught up in family court, where us volunteers are assigned a case and we just sort of shepherd it through the courts and advise the courts and judges of our opinion of the situations before the courts independent of children/youth services, guardian ad litems, and attorneys who even in the best of times have too many cases.
Here are my 3 kids that are looking good at a dinner date at my home last night, just 12 months out of one of those home-life horror stories you hear and read about. The improvement is hard to put into words.
