Work harder than the other guy!

Last year I had lunch with Jerry Rice the all-star football player. Unlike many professional athletes I have met he was very modest about his abilities. As a matter of fact he didn't seem to believe that he had any more natural talent than the guy next to him. The only thing that separated him from the others was his work ethic. Some of his comments went like this ---
"I could work harder than everyone." - Jerry Rice

We continued to discuss some of his other accomplishments and he kept talking about Dancing with the Stars. I didn't know it at the time but he was once of the finalists in the Dancing with the Stars competition. He talked about the challenge of learning something completely new to him and how much work he needed to put into it to accomplish it. He even went so far as to say that his hardest workdays ever where while practicing for Dancing with the Stars.

Here is a guy who by anyone’s definition has "Made It" yet he was putting in 15 hours a day learning how to dance. For what? To prove to himself that he could be better than the next guy. It’s that simple.

Another thing that struck me in this conversation was his sleeping habits. He would sleep just before the games on Sunday instead of on Saturday nights. On Saturday nights he would mentally play the game in his head. Every play over and over again. He would be up all night mentally practicing the game so that by game time it was already won.

"We had other teams beat in warm-up because we were prepared." - Jerry Rice

We don't play football so how can we use this story? If we want to be the best players in whatever we do, leasing, acquisitions, sales, management or even running an organization then we need to be constantly practicing for the big game. In our business the big game is every time a resident is on the phone with a problem, a seller needs a comparable offer, or a lender is asking for more detail on a deal. It takes knowledge to handle these game winning issues and gathering knowledge is our mandatory practice sessions.

We always have the opportunity to be better and can never stop practicing.

Good luck in the big game. And remember its you that makes it happen.

-Nick

IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING.

Ordinary people believe only in the possible.  Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but what is impossible.  And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.

-Cherie Carter-Scott

Everyday we ask each and every one of you to go out and do the impossible.  Whether it be making a resident happy with a difficult situation, leasing up a building in the dead of winter, financing a project in a market where no one is getting financing, completing a project on time and on budget when the budget and time were impossibly tight, or buying a building that everyone said can't be done.  And guess what every week you are doing it and even exceeding my expectation.

Last week was a great week.  We did all of the above and more.  First, Chuck Rich led the finance department in refinancing all of our cash investment in our Park Greenwood project.  The impressive past is that it was done 13 months after we acquired the property and at rates significantly lower than what we originally projected for the project.  Great job Chuck.  Accolades also go out to Ian and his leasing group that took this property from 75% occupied to 94% in less than 6 months.  The construction group obviously did a great job of moving this project on time and budget.

We closed difficult acquisitions deals in both Kansas City and Albq. last week.  Both are great deals that will fit in well with the Signature Community we already have established in those markets.  Good job Dave Mclain, Matt Weissman and Kunal Chothani.

While everyone else was closing deals last week Brian Kroker and I were out sightseeing.  He and I were on an early exploratory trip to Dubai in the United Emirates.  What we saw was nothing short of impossible growth.  roads that didn't even exist 15 years ago are now blanketed with some of the world's largest and most expensive high-rises.  We were there to discuss with partners the start of a division of Signature Community in the Middle East.  I will keep you appraised of our progress on that front.

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

-Vincent Van Gogh

Just remember at NWJ/Signature impossible happen.

Thanks everyone for your hard work.

Nick

Built to Serve

CARRYOUT FOR LEADERS

** Surrender your ego. Surround yourself with talented people, and listen to what they have to say.

**Preserver the culture. The leader is the primary guardian of the culture.

**Remain faithful to the values. Do not compromise values, even when remaining faithful means doing things differently from the way everyone else does them.

**Unleash the imagination. Serve your team members, and they will give you their best.

**Never stop talking about the purpose. Make certain all teams members connect what they do the higher purpose of the organization.

**Accept Responsibility. Leaders can delegate authority to their team members, but they can never delegate responsibility to the team members.

**No job is unimportant. Organizations are interdependent, and all team members must be working together to realize the potential of the team.

**Do not compromise integrity. Absolute truth is the best dividend and company can pay its shareholders.

**Execute as if your life depended on it. The current business environment requires a sense of urgency like never before.

**Have Fun. Higher productivity and greater guest satisfaction are the result of team members seeing their work as ministry.

The Go-Giver

THE LAW OF VALUE
Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.

THE LAW OF COMPENSATION
Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.

THE LAW OF INFLUENCE
Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first.

THE LAW OF AUTHENTICITY
The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.

THE LAW OF RECEPTION
The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

Its a big world.

Being in NY we sometimes take for granted that the world doesn't revolve around Manhattan, or the US for that matter. My run this morning on the streets of Dubai, UAE (United Arab Emeriates) proved that point to me today.

At daybreak I counted more than 50 cranes in the air (from just one window view). I wondered around the construction site of what is today the Worlds tallest building (Burj Dubai). The development going on here dwarfs that of any developing city I have every seen. All this in a city that hardly existing 10 years ago.

What we need to keep in perspective is that its a big world out there and the US is no longer the power that it once was. This is good and bad. Good for us because with the US in finacial straits right now the world economy seems to be holding its own if not continuing to expand nicely. The bad side is that the US is being bailed out by foreign investors that at the end of the day are buying big pieces of US industries on the cheap.

As NWJ Cos. continues to grow we are will have to look at the forces outside of our US borders as both positive and negative influences on our business.

"If you take risks, you may still fail. But if you do not take risks, you will surely fail. The greatest risk of all is to do nothing." - Robert C. Goizueta (1931-1997), former CEO, Coca-Cola


The Best is yet to come and we have a lot of work ahead of us.


Let's Make It Happen

Nickolas W Jekogian
NWJ Companies
917 763 3500





-----
Nickolas W. Jekogian
917 763 3500
Jekogian@NWJcompanies.com

When blood is running in the streets, the way to make money is to buy assets.

Its either that statement or JP Morgan's "when my shoe shine buy is talking about stocks its time to get out of the market" that represent our acquisition strategy.

These are signs of our times. One month last year Fortune, Forbes and Business Week all ran cover page articles on how to invest in real estate. Less than 6 months later the market began to fall. Real Estate investing is not a follow the leader business, you have to invest when others are bailing out. Zell, Roth, LeFrak, Ross and many other real estate billionaire made almost all their wealth by buying in down markets. Now is our chance to do the same.

Many people are being forced to sell and we have positioned ourselves as the perfect buyer in these markets. Remember our idea of a good deal is not based on being able to flip in 6 months for a decent profit. We invest for the long term and we can wait out the slow periods.

Our strategy is to invest heavily when the market is low and hold long term. When the tide comes back our properties increase in value like all the others but our basis in the assets is substantially lower than what others will be paying.

This same model worked well for us in the early 90s and was responsible for more than half the growth in our. Corporate net worth. The same dynamics are out there again today and now is the time to execute.

In just a few years we will be a $1 Billion company and when the market kicks back up those assets will allow us to easily and quickly continue our growth.

Remember the Best is Yet to Come, but only you can Make It Happen.


Nickolas W Jekogian
NWJ Companies
917 763 3500



Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

A Hint of Optimism

http://www.trendczar.typepad.com//blog/2008/03/a-hint-of-optim.html

Nickolas W. Jekogian