Two things. The first was his greed. We entered 1991 recession, and price of buildings went down. The banks were starting to foreclose on buildings and put them back on market for very cheap prices. Nick just couldn’t let a deal pass him by. He bought 3 of them. He borrowed last dime he could squeeze out of every building he owned to buy these buildings, thinking that he could do no wrong. One bank made him deal of a century. They wanted a lot of money down but price “was just too good to be true.”

Nick was so much in a hurry to get his hands on this great deal he didn’t bother to do his normal structural inspections and research. After all, Nick owned 17 buildings in Hollywood by now and knew market better than anyone else, he thought. He looked at building and saw it was only 20 years old. The building was empty, which meant it brought in no income. That didn’t bother Nick, he would just get it rented quickly and building would support itself. What Nick hadn’t noticed was that foundation was damaged and a $100,000 repair was needed. This was a repair that Nick couldn’t afford. I begged Nick to walk away from this building and let bank have it back. He refused and squeezed more money out of his collection of buildings.

As you can imagine, Nick was loaned to hilt and had no money set-aside for an emergency. At his peak he owned 17 buildings worth $45,000,000 with him estimating his net worth at $7,500,000. He was definitely worth a lot of money. That was for sure. Before we get jealous of him, lets look at these numbers a different way. If Nick was worth $7,500,000 then his real estate loans had to be difference. That is $37,500,000. These were sure big numbers.

Let’s look at these numbers in terms of their percentages. This $37,500,000 was 83.3% of $45,000,000. $45,000,000 had to be retail value of all these buildings. Nick would not think in terms of selling them. He never sold a building. He only bought, and bought, and bought. What Nick saw was potential. If property values went up only 10%, Nick’s net worth would go up $4.5 M. Property values had gone up over 20% in 1980’s but recession that had started was of no concern to him. It is clear that he had stretched himself to limit. The last building bank sold him put him in trouble. He might have even survived it if he sold one, two or maybe three buildings. No, Nick wouldn’t do that.

One year later recession was not over. Unemployment in California went up and up. Businesses were closing, President Reagan was closing down Aerospace, and workman compensation insurance was so high no one could stay in business. Vacancies in apartments were going from 1% to 5% to 10%. Then it happened, we had LA riots. Hollywood became a ghost town and then it happened again, earthquake of 1994. Brick buildings fell down on Hollywood Blvd, none of Nick’s buildings. People moved away and vacancies rose in Hollywood too as much as 17%.

Do I need to tell you what happened to Nick? He lost everything when vacancies went to 5%. He had no reserves or cushion for a margin of error. For 18 years Nick lived like a pauper, in one of his small apartments. He did his own property management for all of his buildings. He drove an old car, worked seven days a week, took no vacations, always had to worry about paying his next loan payment and where to borrow his next dime. His plan was to make $10 Million Dollars and sell everything. What he got was nothing for 18 years of his life. I have no idea where Nick is now. He disappeared off face of earth. So, “A BIRD IN THE HAND IS WORTH, A MILLION THAT ARE PROBABLY NOT IN THE BUSH!

2. Fear of loss and desire for security - again, usually financial, but fear of emotional loss as well. This motivator can relate to loss of something already gained, or to fear of not gaining something that is perceived as a need.

3. Comfort and convenience - making life easier, less complex, more productive, more leisurely, less stressful.

4. Prestige and pride of ownership - although it may not be a psychologically healthy frame of mind, many people do attach worth of life to ownership and accumulation of material items.

5. Satisfaction of emotion - act of buying can translate into a 'feel good' mechanism, possibly satisfying an array of emotional urges. While we're not suggesting you take advantage, compulsive spenders quite often experience bouts of 'blues' or even depression.

As you begin to ponder and understand your own motivations, so will you be more able to understand motivations of others. We're all human, and for most part cut from same cloth. We share essentially same needs and desires, even though we may go about satisfying them in vastly different ways.

The greater your understanding becomes of why people buy stuff, greater your ability will be to explain what you have to offer. You'll be more able to make clear to your potential customers inherent benefits you can provide through your products and services.

As your potential customers come to realize why they should do business with you, and subsequently do so, at least some of your own key needs and desires will be fulfilled.