Matthew S. Chan Blog

This is a quickie post.  I am in Seattle attending the Independent Online Sellers Conference.  I almost didn’t come because this event is largely a grassroots effort.  There are about 200 Amazon resellers here.  Interestingly, this event is acknowledged by Amazon.com.  I am looking forward to visiting Amazon HQ on Monday.

I also learned about micro-blogging today.  So, I set up a Twitter account.  My account is mattchan66.  The link to my Twitter site is http://twitter.com/mattchan66 It is too early to tell how or what I will be using it for.  If it is anything like having a Facebook or MySpace account, I will probably not do too much.

This was first posted on The TurnKey Investor’s Blog.

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After several requests from the last few years for a real estate investor coaching, consulting, and mentoring program, I have decided to create and develop “The TurnKey Investor’s Consulting Program“.

I have been resistant to doing this program because I have been very guarded with my time and personal schedule.  Even with this announcement, I still am.  However, I believe I have created a way to comfortably coach, consult, and mentor others in a way that is effective and reasonably priced.

What sent me over the edge was a customer seeking a coaching, consulting, and mentoring program was actually considering an offer of $10,000 upfront and a monthly fee of $1,000/month from someone who had less real estate and credentials than my real estate partner, Wes and I did!  I told my customer I thought that it was ridiculously priced.  Shortly after that conversation, I decided to develop a program that was reasonable and effective, not this overpriced B.S. program.

For many beginning students, their toughest time is the first 30-days.  That is often their make or break period.  Because of this very formative period, it will be the most intensive period for both my students and myself.  I have to shake them out of their comfort zone and push them out to make things happen both effectively and intelligently.

To maintain good quality control, I will accept students into this program only by a written application and telephone interview process.  I only want to work with students who have a good shot at success.  Having coached, mentored, and instructed many students over the years, I have a good sense of who is committed and who is simply all-talk.

I have committed myself to those individuals that are optimistic, mature, confident, independent, flexible, creative, can listen, and accept constructive criticism and direct feedback.  These types of people have the innate personality traits to succeed at nearly anything they set their minds to.

And while my Consulting Program is considerably less expensive than most real estate investor seminars, it carries a strong enough of a financial weight for the students paying to take this seriously.  It can be afforded but I would not say it is affordable.

Additionally, because the program is on strict time schedules, the student ultimately loses if they get lazy and don’t do their assignments or stick to their 120-day plan.  I also reserve the right at any time to let go of any student who isn’t being accountable to me and to themselves.  I don’t have the patience and stomach for it.

Like my time during the Investors Roundtable, everyone will be put on notice that they must perform.  And after 4-6 months of consulting, I will likely give them notice that their time with me will come to an end.  Basically, if there is no results or success, the consulting must end.

The rules are set.  I am excited by this program.  I have set a high standard for the students to meet.  Only the most confident and capable will want to take this program with me as their coach and mentor.  I openly tell the people I coach and mentor, I cannot be their friend and effectively help them.  Friendship has to be secondary and only after the consulting process has concluded.

Time to do a fun post.  I finally got my copy of “The Political Machine 2008“.  It has been out for about 2 weeks but I was waiting for a local store to carry it so I could buy it.  Normally, I would buy it off the Internet and have it shipped in for a similar price but I was concerned I might get into the game too soon.

What can I say?  I am a guilt gamer.  I love to game but I do it with guilt and I do it with caution.  After all, how does it look for this (hopefully) respected real estate investor, entrepreneur, publisher, and author look to publicly admit he indulges in PC gaming when no one is looking.  Even so, gaming has a way of gobbling precious hours when I should be brainstorming, writing, or some other project.  (There is no shortage of things to work on, let me tell you.)

The trouble is, I can get away with an awful lot if I am not careful.  I got good support people around me and my schedule is very flexible.  Anyhow, enough of this banter.  On to the important topic….  what do I think of the game?

“The Political Machine 2008” is a good and fun game but not a great game.  It builds on the game series that was first launched in 2004.  It manages to keep the fun and humor in the game and leaves out the montonous parts.  Although I did not want an overly complicated and serious political game like others I have previewed, it would not have hurt to “advance the cause” and make it a tad more complex.

Having said all that, I have no regrets despite the cracks and comments from the sales clerk at the local GameSpot store.  After all, it is a $20 game.  I have already spent a couple of good hours on the game and found it a keeper.  Although, a somewhat simple simulation, what keeps the game interesting is that there are so many presidential candidates to play as and play against.  On the Democrat side, you can play as Obama, Clinton (Bill or Hillary), John Edwards, John Kerry, etc.  On the Republican side, you can play as McCain, Bush (W and HW), Romeny, Giuliani, etc.

Funny enough, I chose Bill Clinton to start.  I guess I am just tired of the Republican nonsense and feeling myself being pulled to the Democrats.  (How weird is that?  A businessman and investor that leans Democrat.  Shh… don’t tell anyone.)  I like Bill’s ratings and game specs.  He didn’t disappoint.  I won most of the elections in a campaign that gets increasingly harder as I faced off the various Republican candidates.  Reagan gave me a tough time.  Took me 2 times to take him.  George Washington, on the other hand, has kicked Clinton’s (my) tail.  What a political battle.  I even had a tough time keeping California which is primarily Democrat.

On my PC Notebook, I had to test the game to see how the game would perform without a good graphics card.  And so, I played one game as Obama.  I soundingly defeated with a landslide against Warren Harding (a political wimp).  However, the game was definitely more sluggish because of the basic video card that comes with my HP Intel Centrino Duo Notebook.

All in all, in a politcal year, $20 is pretty inexpensive for a PC game.  I have to say, it remains educational to me.  I know nearly all the “battleground states” that are essential winning an election.  Let me give you some hints, Hawaii, Idaho, and Montana don’t count for much.  If you never set foot in those states, it would not matter much.

I like “The Political Machine 2008“.  It is a keeper and will tie me over until I get overloaded with the presidential election process (live or computer).

I have known for many years that in order for new beginnings to open up, endings must happen.  Whether this is in personal or business life, this axiom is generally true.  The problem with most people, including myself, is that we dislike and fear change and taking risks.

There is a common saying that people should not burn bridges.  The problem with that is that sometimes that is the only way to let go and ultimately move forward.  Of course, there are upsides and downsides.  One has to focus on the positives and upsides or the negatives and downsides can be overwhelming.

I have had some practice on “burning bridges” and making endings and new beginnings.  And I am happy to say, as a whole, my decisions have been pretty good.  Short term, they were inconvenient and sometimes painful, but ultimately a greater good and opportunity opened.

Without getting into specifics, there are some things happening in my life that are simultaneously ending and beginning.  I am happy some of the circumstances and relationship are approaching their endings.  It is a welcome relief.  In fact, I have been looking for other things to end and leave behind.  I want to “lighten the load”, if you will.

The people I want to “keep” are people who have been “of service” to me.  They are solid people who are honest and stick to commitments they keep.  Their “flake factor” is very low.  The others are simply “needy and takers”.  In other words, they only come around when they need something.  Or there are other people who are simply lazy, unmotivated, and basically stuck in a rut.  They are in a situation of their own creation and like pigs in a pile, they continue to wallow in the mud.  You offer and try to give a helping hand out of the mud but ultimately they want you to do all the work to lift them out.  That won’t happen here.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are people who are inspired, ambitious, go-getters, risk-takers, enlightened, and action-takers.  I love and respect these types of people.  And when these people run into each other, they tend to get along quite well.  And the synergy they create is far greater than what the individuals can do.

I am not waiting until 2009 to prepare for it.  I am in process of “cleaning house” both literally and figuratively.  I am paring down the people I associate and correspond with.  I am leaving and abandoning those projects that don’t work anymore.  The unhealthy, fearful, lazy, unambitious, immature, and losers are left behind.  Life moves a lot faster when you stick with other winners.

It feels really good to make the endings happen.  It is amazing how quick, new people and opportunities open up.  It is easy to fall into a rut especially when you have a lifestyle like mine.  And so, I have to make a conscious effort to purge every so often.  I have a great feeling that come the end of summer, most of the purging I have to do will be done which will open up the rest of 2009 for interesting and great new people and opportunities.

With every project I work on, I try to share and tie my “my personal story” into the project I do.  I believe it gives personal relevance and credibility to the project if I put my personal reputation on the line.  With most projects I work on, it is not just “a job” I do.  There is often a very personal reason I get involved or promote something.

To help promote “The 2008 TurnKey Investor’s Real Estate Portfolio-Building Workshop”, I felt I had to share and disclose more personal information about myself and background than I have every published before.  Like layers of an onion, this project forced me to peel another layer away.

I have to say it felt quite uncomfortable writing that piece but it had to be done.  You can read “My Personal Story” as it relates to the upcoming workshop in October.  Enjoy.

One of my pet peeves on the Internet is the phenomena of cybersquatting and domain speculating.  Basically, most cybersquatters are people or companies who register blocks of domains for the purpose of reselling them to end-users or developers who ultimately want to create content around a given domain name.

Because we live in a capitalistic society, I won’t say it is morally or ethically wrong to cybersquat for profit.  However, as a website creator and content developer, I find myself blocked from using many domains that would be appropriate for a project or venture.

If there was a corresponding live website to a registered domain name, it would not bother me so much.  But most of the time when I view a registered domain, it shows nothing or a generic parked page.  That tells me that there are lots of people who either are not developing content for the registered domains or they are cyber-squatting.

There are domains I register and hold on to.  But it is not to resell them.  I have intentions of developing a website around the name.  For the most part, the days of domain speculation are over and yet there are many domains still being sat upon.

With ICANN’s recent expansion announcement, the Internet domain space will soon be expanded to the point where it will become unprofitable to cybersquat.  No longer will we be limited to .com, .net, .org, .info, etc.  We potentially will have a limitless supply of domain names with the creation of new top-level domains.

Up to now, I have been a strong proponent of getting a .com in a domain name.  However, I have softened my opinion on this because I have registered some .org domains as appropriate.  The biggest problem years back was that most of the public was ignorant of Internet conventions.  So if you did not have a .com, you were not as credible and you ran the danger of less sophisticated users not being able to recognize your Internet address as an accessible website.

I am tired of cyber-squattting and domain speculators.  In my eyes, they profit but they really add no value to the big picture.  With domain names soon becoming plentiful and diverse, the power shifts back to the website creators and content developers.  That is what people want, that is what I want to provide.

We are in the middle of 2008.  ICANN claims they will start accepting new applications around this time in 2009.  I predict that sometime in 2010, the domain space will begin to widen.  I also predict that cybersquatters and domain speculators are going to start dumping their domains when they realize it is going to be quite unprofitable unless they have a super-unique domain name.

As far as I am concerned, there isn’t a project I have worked on that I have not been able to be creative and work around cyber-squatters.  I simply will not allow them to profit from me.

Cybersquatting and domain speculating will soon become an obsolete and unprofitable thanks to ICANN’s recent decision.  The end, and new beginning, cannot come soon enough for me.  Start watching domain names not being registered next year.  The dumping will start slow but will eventually come fast and furious.

This was first posted on The TurnKey Investor’s Blog.

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It has been a few weeks since the last update for “The TurnKey Investor’s Real Estate Portfolio-Building Workshop” Seminar.  Quite frankly, I have been focused on various issues relating to our own real estate portfolio as well as other administrative issues.

Despite very little promotion, I have heard from a few people who seem excited about the upcoming workshop in October.  I surmise they like our guest speakers, field trip, and the idea of a real estate portfolio resonates with people who are focused on building true wealth, not simply turn deals month after month.

Registration is coming soon!  I promise!  I also promise I will have an extensive update on what the workshop will cover!  There will be a great discount for people who register early.

Check back for more announcements!

I want to keep this post as brief as possible because this announcement is not one I consider “good news” but it was necessary given the amount of inquiries and information I have been getting regarding the infomercial company, “Incredible Discoveries”.

As a brief recap, “Incredible Discoveries” came into my life around June 20, 2007 when they wanted to talk to me about marketing my books with infomercials.  The conversations ultimately led to a $75,000 fee they wanted me to pay.  I was immediate suspicious and I declined the offer.

A disgruntled, ex-employee, Robert Danoff, and another individual made contact with me feeding me insights.  With my suspicions and their suggestions, I followed up on their insights.  I made a few more blog postings regarding Incredible Discoveries updates as it related to Robert Danoff.  I posted them because Robert Danoff gave me information that I thought might be of public interest.

To make a long story shorter, I eventually put an end to discussing “Incredible Discoveries” because I did not want my blog to become overrun with this story that really had little to do with me or my business. If you want to know more, go visit these posts.

• “Incredible Discoveries” Sets Up Phone Appointment
• “Incredible Discoveries” Makes First Contact
• Highly Suspicious of “Incredible Discoveries” $75,000 Fee
• More Thoughts on Infomercials & Complaints
• Incredible Discoveries Lawsuit against Bob Danoff - Part 1
• Incredible Discoveries Lawsuit against Bob Danoff - Part 2
• “Incredible Discoveries” Submits Alleged Written Retraction by Robert Danoff

However, since these posts last year, this blog persistently gets traffic on “Incredible Discoveries” which means many people are interested and someone is reading.  But I also continue to get emails and phone calls from people wanting my opinion on “Incredible Discoveries“.  I also get a few complaints.  But I am not the Better Business Bureau.  Nevertheless, I keep my ears open to what people tell me.

The straw that broke the camel’s back is when yet another person called asking me my opinion.  I told them it was up to them and it was their money.  It was like they wanted me to prove or disprove that “Incredible Discoveries” was a “bad” company.  Quite frankly, it isn’t my job to be responsible for others.

As a public service, I shared my opinions on the blog already and if you think you can part with $50,000 to $75,000 and take the risk, fine with me.  It is your money.  But I keep telling everyone that my internal radar says to spend your money elsewhere.  You can do a lot with $75,000 on your own plus I think a lot of the infomercial business is one that offends my sensibilities.  That is why there are so many complaints.

• InfomercialBlog.com
• InfomercialScams.com
• InfomercialRatings.com

In any case, I did get curious enough to do more fact-checking on “Incredible Discoveries“.  After all, why does this blog get so much interest because of “Incredible Discoveries”?  Obviously, a lot of people are searching for information on them which led me to do some searching on my own.

And so, I am trying to put this issue to bed.  I dug out more interesting information.  I had some interesting phone conversations from various past plaintiffs and defendants against “Incredible Discoveries”.  I found information from the Florida Attorney General’s Office and Florida Division of Corporations.

With all of this, I compiled my findings into “The Incredible Discoveries Information Page“.  I have tried to be fair and I am upfront of my biases.  I give commentary and information but it is up to the reader to draw their own conclusions whether anyone should do business with them.

If you have additional meaningful information or corrections, I will accept them.  But I am resistant to taking any more phone calls on Incredible Discoveries. I got better things to do than discuss them.

To those who care, “The Incredible Discoveries Information Page” is a free resource. The direct link is:  http://matthewchan.com/incrediblediscoveries-info.htm. To those who don’t care, you aren’t missing much.