Socrates said, "If you work at something you are passionate about you will never work a day in your life." I said that to a 14 year old schoolgirl the other day and she asked, "Who's Socrates?"
Maybe that's a good analysis of what's going on in our public schools these days. I believe that our children spend most of their class-day texting each other. If there was a regulation that said they each had check their cell phones at the door each morning, that would end the texting, and maybe they would learn who Socrates was, what he taught and why. But I did my homework and found that it is politically incorrect for any public school to demand such an action. Speaking of that subject, the country's' second richest man, Warren Buffett recently held a shareholders meeting and over 37,000 attended. He purchased his first stock at age eleven, so I guess he never worked a day in his life. His best quote at the recent gathering was, "The economy has begun to show real strength over the last couple of months."
Try asking your teenage son who Warren Buffett is and he'll probably answer, "What team does he play for?"
At the meeting they then asked Buffett about the Goldman Sachs scandal. Two years ago he had invested $5 billion into the company, so I wouldn't expect him to say anything negative - and he didn't. I think it was an unfair question since I believe it would have been politically incorrect for him to answer.
Over the years he has taught entrepreneurs a lot, including how to compete. Before I started a business I was advised to do the following: Find a business that did not yet exist, buy an ongoing business, or find a going business that you like that is for sale and see if you can start it for less, and then compete. I luckily found one that didn't exist, but then had no one to copy from. That made it that much more difficult. I guess I learned that nothing worthwhile is easy.
Getting back to competition and how its done - the new technology age has exploded like almost overnight and one of the most popular entertainment / information portals is newsletters. It seems that everyone is publishing an Internet newsletter - and they're free. How do I compete? What would Warren do? Hey, I have a head start in my region.
For over 40 years I have been receiving hundreds of commercial / investment real estate stories and pictures each week. I can't possibly print them all. I'll start a daily newsletter. I also have millions of archived information that no one else has. I can't wait, especially now that the economy is showing real strength. If you want to receive our newsletter, just write. Email, or phone and give us your email address. And it's free. I've already put Warren Buffett's name on the list.

Roland Hopkins is the founder of the New York Real Estate Journal, Norwell, Mass. Tags: