Nov 05

November 5th, 2011 was a very sad day, as our industry has lost yet another one of its few superstars, Attorney Joe Peters.  I met joe twenty plus years ago at an apartment association meeting. I don’t think he ever missed more than a handful of those meetings in the ensuing years, but now we will all deeply miss him

What Joe taught me: 

Joe was such an even keeled guy, the type of personality that is necessary to succeed at rental housing, especially in lower income urban areas.

In life various people who positively influence you teach you various important lessons.  The one I learned by watching how Joe dealt with things over the years was to live above the noise and distractions and just focus on your task at hand.  I think is the single most important trait for those who want to succeed in landlording, business or life.

There was a fable about a farmer I had read a couple of years ago that embodied this “live above the noise” attitude.  The first time I read it I thought of Joe.  As I sat here tonight reminiscing about Joe my thoughts turned again to that fable.

A farmer had only one horse. One day, his horse ran away.

All the neighbors came by saying, “I’m so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.” The man just said, “We’ll see.”

A few days later, his horse came back with twenty wild horses. The man and his son corralled all 21 horses.

All the neighbors came by saying, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!” The man just said, “We’ll see.”

One of the wild horses kicked the man’s only son, breaking both his legs.

All the neighbors came by saying, “I’m so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.” The man just said, “We’ll see.”

The country went to war, and every able-bodied young man was drafted to fight. The war was terrible and killed every young man, but the farmer’s son was spared, since his broken legs prevented him from being drafted.

All the neighbors came by saying, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!” The man just said, “We’ll see.”

Derek Sivers

 

 

 

 

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