Real estate entrepreneur Nick Jekogian's thoughts and adventures in real estate, customer service, angel investing, endurance sports, and making things happen.
I finally had a chance to see the hottest movie of the year (Social Network) and was amazed not just by the great acting, great screenplay but amazed at how valuable the Facebook company has become by doing the same thing we do everyday at Signature Community. Give people at opportunity to be part of a community!
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about the movie Wall Street 2 and how it sort of missed its marked and was really about a time that is now behind us (see below) whereas the original Wall Street movie from the 90s started an era. Well Social Network seems to be the new Wall Street. Although it overly glamorizes the start up business and uses a 1 in a billion example of success what it does show is that in today's world if you can create a product that everyone feels a deep desire to be part of (Sense of community is one of the principle needs of people, in some cases more important than food or sex) you can have millions of followers. In less then 10 years Facebook has more that 500 million members and is one of the biggest success stories of our generation.
At Signature Community we understand people need/desire for community. We do everything we can at Signature to make our residents feel part of the community not like a tenant. We have programs that promote resident involvement, newsletters to keep our residents informed and even a helping hand program to give some of our less fortunate a leg up in this brutal economy. We continue everyday to try to make Singnature a bigger and bigger part of our residents lives and their sense of community. We hope that if you have any ideas that will promote the community aspects of life at Signature Community please share them with us at ideas@asignaturcommunity.com.
Thanks for helping to make Signature Community the greatest living social network. Nick
Last Sunday morning at 6AM I was running in the dark. I was 4 miles into a 52 mile run that came on the heels of a 5 mile swim and 225 bike ride. I had been swimming, biking and now running for more than 24 hrs and was feeling it. During mile 4 of 52, I was moving at a very slow pace and I couldn't keep focused on the road. I was wobbling side to side and physically done. At that time, I thought the race was over for me. This wasn't just any race this was a double Ironman event that I had trained for the past year. I had been working on getting in the race for the year before that, but most importantly this was a personal goal that I committed myself to doing. In that hour before sunrise on Sunday morning I was ready to give up.
I came around the bend and down the hill into the crew area and that's where the race began to turn around for me. My brother Michael joined me on the next lap, against doctor's orders due to his recently broken arm that had kept him out of the race. While running I started downing some bananas and Gatorade. But what it really took were my brother's words of encouragement to change the type of race I was running. At that point I was able to make the mental shift from this is a "running race" to this is a "mental race." At this point, the pain in my legs, feet, arms, neck and head all somehow dissipated and the only thing that mattered was the thoughts in my head. I continued to find the mental strength to push the next 12 hours through all the pain and exhaustion. I had turned the corner in the race and knew that it did not matter what condition I was physically in, this race was going to be won in my head. This experience helped me see that one can never underestimate the power of teamwork and positive leadership. I would not have made it over the finish line 12 hours later, if it were not for the powerful encouragement and wise words of my brother Mike and the support and positive energy of the rest of my crew. They made this race happen for me.
In the week following the race I kept going back to those dark moments early Sunday morning and thought about what made my race different than the others that didn't finish or others that didn't make it to the starting line (more than 2/3 of the racers dropped out before the start). The one key thing keeps jumping out to me is that I believed and was told repeatedly that I could do it, that I was going to make it happen. I never thought "will I do it?, Can I make it?", I thought "I will do it!, I can Make it Happen!". Amazingly the difference between finishing a Double Ironman or any Endeavour for that matter, is do you think, "Can I do it? or "I can do it!"
In the 34 hrs and 45 minutes that I was out on the course swimming, biking and running I only questioned my ability to finish once for about a 30 min time period, which was when I was the most susceptible to failure. When I was encouraged to start thinking positively again, I changed the statement around to, " I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN!"
At Signature Community over the past two years there have been many times that people have asked "Will we survive, Can we make it through these difficult economic times?". Through all the problems that we have encountered I have continued to say, "We will Survive! We can make it happen!"
We may have had to shed some good assets, some good people, but in the end, we will come back stronger and thrive as a company. The decisions will be painful, the cuts will be gut wrenching, the stories will be frightening, but just as I did for 52 miles (over 12 hours) last Sunday, we will continue to say "WE ARE MAKING IT HAPPEN" and we will "MAKE IT HAPPEN".
Thanks again for all your support on my crazy race (below is a short race report), but more importantly thanks for all your commitment and dedication to MAKING IT HAPPEN AT SIGNATURE COMMUNITY.
Thanks for all your support and interest on my latest crazy race endeavor. Here is an update:
The Double Ironman started at 7am Saturday with a 5 mile swim. Swim went great for me and I was out of the water in a little over 3 hrs.
Bike was a tough slog taking almost 17 hrs to ride the 225 miles. I was on the bike from about 11am until just after 5 am sunday morning. The course was pretty brutal because it was a 2.5 mile road with sharp turnarounds on either end (with one side being at the bottom of a hill). 45 times around each of the cones was not a pleasant experience. I did take a 15 - 20 min. rest every 50 miles with a Red Bull shot before each break to motivate me to get back up.
I started the run about 5:30 am and continued to run non-stop until 5:45 pm on Sunday. The early morning run was very difficult and at points I was close to giving up. About 8am my brother (Mike) and Yael joined me on the run and somehow turned my mindset from giving up to making it happen. My pace increased significantly over the next few hours and the first 26 miles of the the 52 mile run turned out pretty nicely. The later part of the run was a mindless walk or shuffle for about 8 hrs. Every 30 mins we did a calculation to make sure my pace would beat the finish time requirement of 36 hrs.
I could have never done it without my family crew (mom, dad, mike, yael, my kids and mike's kids) and their boundless energy pushing me towards the finish line. In 34 hrs and 45 mins. I finished the Double Ironman.
Attached is a photo of me going over the finish -- American flag in hand, National anthem playing in the background and family cheering me on. No better way to end a long weekend!
