By Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

Photo left: Build your tribe with the 3 most important types of capital.

In the world of business, capital is needed to fund ventures, purchase equipment, land, product, time, talent, people, relationships and leads. Most entrepreneurs and Real Estate investors chase and compete for cold hard capital all day long and never learn about the "other" types of capital that are often more important and powerful than cold hard cash.

When I began in business, all I could think about was cash, profits and revenues. I couldn't see the bigger social, educational or relational picture that was taking place around me. Consequently, when I began in the world of business, I was isolated, ignorant, alone and broke. In the animal kingdom I would have been eaten by a large carnivorous predator.

Unfortunately for me, my fascination with traditional capital had blinded me from the true wealth and value that circulates every day and pays zero in taxes to the government. I didn't realize that business is a TEAM sport and that you cannot run it alone with just cold hard money - or lack thereof.

JT Foxx, one of my teachers and mentors, showed me the 4 types of Capital, and the 3 that most people don't think about.

The 4 types of capital:

1)   Capital (real money) for business: This is the type of capital that everyone thinks about. It's cold hard cash and most people chase it and compete for it. In my opinion, this type of capital is the most worthless of the 4 types and very easy to obtain if you understand the other 3 types of capital.

2)   Educational capital, money for your education: This is an extremely important type of capital. Many people finish high school or university and then never invest in their education again. This year alone, I have invested 3x my college education in educational capital and will have it all earned back by the end of the year. This type of capital is absolutely required for you to grow your business. The people who avoid this type of capital move slowly through life, cannot expand their business geometrically and cannot collapse timeframes. THIS TYPE IS ESSENTIAL.

3)   Social Capital – investing in causes etc. We've all heard of social capital, but so many people don't build their business around it. People do not buy products and services, they buy what you believe in. Social capital is created when you do GOOD things for your community. Make sure you give back once in a while. Select a charity to either raise for or volunteer for that aligns with your business and beliefs. This type of capital is extremely important because prosperity attracts prosperity. If you are going to succeed, you need to be an attractor of prosperity and not hoard to create poverty. People who fail to invest in social capital become isolated, alone and vulnerable. DO NOT FORGET ABOUT SOCIAL CAPITAL.

4)   Relational capital – between people. Relational capital, like social capital connects us on a greater level. People are tribal creatures and in the tribal days, isolated tribe members were cannibalized by other tribes or predators in the jungle. Today the world is no different. Relational capital is formed when you take care of the people around you and build solid, long lasting, reciprocal relationships. This type of capital is the glue that teams and tribes are built out of. Without this type of capital, you cannot bind yourself to other people or create strategic partnerships or alliances to take on bigger missions. Build your team, invest in RELATIONAL capital or die alone at the hands of a bigger, stronger tribe.

The very interesting thing about the 4 types of capital is; the more you focus on the unconventional types of capital, the more opportunities, people, deals and cash you attract. Recently in my own business, I have focused on the 3 neglected types of capital and my business has exponentially exploded. I work on the projects I want to while bigger and better opportunities fall into my lap every day. I focus on my network, bringing value to other people and creating synergies with colleagues. This is where successful people find true wealth and satisfaction in life. Stop chasing the money... The harder you chase - the faster it runs.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca

P.S. Please share this article if you find it helpful.

By: Stefan Aarnio, FreedomWay.ca
Photo Left: Phill Grove and Stefan Aarnio

I had the pleasure of meeting an extremely successful Real Estate Investor by the name of Phill Grove in Chicago last week. Phill has done 1000 Real Estate deals in a period of 5 years and made a $1,000,000 profit in Internet Marketing in his first year. The man is a scientist of his craft and extremely methodical in his approach. I will be writing a number of articles on lessons I learned from Phill Grove (phillgrove.com), but I'd like to share one that we all can study from and apply immediately.

Business, Real Estate Investing, Raising Capital and finding deal partners is a social game. All of these games are won and lost by networking. He who is the best networker gets the best access to deals, money and people. Since Real Estate and Business are heavily driven by social skills, Etiquiette and how you conduct yourself is often the deciding factor between the investors who become rich and the others who die broke.

Etiquette is a french word that means "a code of behaviour that delineates expectations for social behaviour according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group. The French word "étiquette", literally signifying a tag or label first appeared in English around 1750.

Your Etiquette defines you and as the definition above suggests, it will signify, tag and label you in a social circle and will either give you the midas touch or the kiss of death in a social network.

Some basic fundamentals for etiquette are:

1. Have excellent manners - Please and Thank You go a long way.
2. Don't "fake it till you make it", act like you belong.
3. Dress for success. Look like the boss, not an employee. Many investors start out with poor image. Consider getting an image consultant and pay attention to your shoes, hair, eye brows, and grooming.

Positioning is important when networking and once you have the basics down, position yourself where the money is:

• Insert yourself into high net worth situations like charity events, operas, country clubs, golf clubs, theatre, art and the right parties. Remember, putting all of this together will take time. You are building a network.

If you already have some money, Phill Grove recommends giving $10,000 to the united way. After you make your donation, you will be flagged by every charity in town and invited to every single event charity event available. He also recommends donating $100,000 to any politician to be flagged on every political list in town. Another great positioning tip from Phill is to buy a Bentley and get a golf membership, schedule your tee times for 2:00PM on Thursdays and start golfing with the power brokers that prefer that time slot.

Unfortunately not everyone has $100,000 sitting around to donate to a politician or access to a Bentley so we will have to get a little more creative.

Phill Grove's ETIQUETTE CASE STUDY, 3 ways to socially kill your personal brand as an investor.

Stefan's comment: I have met many people who fit into the following 4 Case profiles. There are many many people who run around at events falling into these categories. These are REAL types of people and they are VERY common at investor events.

CASE 1) "The Magic Trick Guy". You meet "Magic Trick Guy" at a local real estate investing club or seminar. He has the following attributes:

1. Poorly dressed
2. Missing teeth
3. Performs magic tricks for others at the event
4. Leans into your personal space while talking
5. Has bad breath
6. Follows you like a stalker
7. His intro: "I can transform a $200,000 investment into 2 BILLION DOLLARS in 3 months"

Established brand: He is a crazy seminar person.

Case 2) "The Bulk REO Webinar Guy". You meet the "Bulk REO Webinar Guy" at a local real estate investing club or seminar. He has the following attributes:

1. He listened to a FREE webinar on the internet and has decided to make millions in Bulk REO deals.
2. He brags about his success at the event.
3. His intro: "I'm looking for $50M for a big bulk REO Deal"
4. He has no prospectus and says "I know what I'm doing, I don't need one!"

Established Brand: Idiot who doesn't know what he's doing, very common brand to find at an investment event.

Case 3) "The Real Estate Club Guy A, B and C". You meet 3 guys at a real estate club, their names are A, B and C. They all claim to have a great deal:

1. Investor "A": Has an REO deal listed at $93,000 that he can get for $86,000 that has been listed for 5 months.
2. Investor "B" has a mansion worth $1.6M that he can get for $1.1M (The catch is that it's only 1.2M and it has been sitting for 34 months).
3. Investor "C" has a Land deal, a mobile home deal, a weird semi commercial thing, a fire damaged house, a risky newbie development deal and a tear down at "land value".

Established Brand: Rookie investors who don't know what they're doing.

Stefan's comment: These investors in Case 1,2 and 3 are committing social suicide by having poor etiquette and presenting bad deals in an unsolicited manner. I know because I used to fall into some of the above categories.

Phill Grove's guide on: How to scare money away:

Any jackass can find a high risk deal and then ask someone with money to assume all of the risks. However, people with money want to partner with other people who treat their money more conservatively than they treat their own.

So many new entrepreneurs and investors have a "I want to go to Vegas and gamble your money mentality" - this terrifies people with money.

People who have money and want to invest are NOT LOOKING TO GAMBLE. They want:

1. Safety First
2. High Returns
3. Speed
4. Rinse and Repeat
5. WInners and who minimize their risks.
6. People with experience who have done their homework and know what they are doing.

Phill Grove's ETIQUETTE CASE STUDY: One way to brand yourself as a Winner:
Case 4) (Continued from above) Profile: "The sharp looking kid at the Billionaire Class". You meet a sharp looking kid at an investing class and he has the following attributes:

1. He is dressed sharp
2. He speaks well
3. Talks of working long hours every day
4. Talks about studying, training, books, he is well read.
5. Talks about doing tons of marketing and spending lots of time evaluating deals, but he's looking for a good one.

Established brand: This kid is a go-getter!
Phill Grove's take home feeling from this kid: "I hope this 21 year old kid calls me when he's got a deal!"

***End of Phill Grove's case study.***

Stefan's comment: I hope you take some time to carefully study the attributes and etiquitte of the above 4 cases. Ask yourself the honest question "which one of these cases am I closest to?" What parts of etiquette do I need to work on? After spending some time studying these cases myself, I have already taken drastic measures to study more, improve my wardrobe, improve the way I speak and read more books. Raising money from other people should not be taken lightly and you have to be a professional. There is no room for idiots.

Remember: Etiquette is an essential skill in the networking game and a major key to succeeding in the world of business and Real Estate. Proper Etiquette can spell the difference between becoming rich and dying broke.

Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
freedomway.ca

By: Stefan Aarnio
Photo: Lunaar, prior to finishing in the studio.

The Jubilee Fund in Winnipeg, Manitoba is auctioning my original painting "Lunaar". It's an Original piece (A HUGE Painting) 60"x36" made of Acrylics with crushed glass and sand on Stretched Canvas. The website for the fund allows bidders to bid up the price of the painting and the current bid is $100 (Less than the price of the canvas). 100% of the proceeds go to the Jubilee Fund and allow for "Ethical Investing in Manitoba".

The website states:

"
Artist: Aarnio, StefanOn the Lunaar

60" x 36". Original Acrylic with crushed glass & sand on stretched canvas.

Signed by Artist.

Stefan Aarnio was born and lives in Winnipeg. His art is wildly coloured, textured, high contrast acrylic artwork. He relies mainly on pallet knife and spatula to aggressively lay down the hard edged lines that define his work.

Stefan can be reached at 204-960-3689

Value Price: $997

Current Bid: $100"

Now is the chance to get an original piece of Artwork, help out charity and own one of my biggest pieces for a ridiculous price. Please take the time to bid on this piece, you will not be disappointed with the piece or the cause... And with a starting bid at $100, you really cannot go wrong - it's a no brainer.

http://www.jubileefund.ca/auction.php

Thank you,
Stefan Aarnio

Local Winnipeg Artist, Real Estate Developer and Entrepreneur Stefan Aarnio has launched a program open to all charities in the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Although successful at selling his locally for profit, Mr. Aarnio's successes in Real Estate have allowed him to produce Art that is no longer commercially for sale.

All of Stefan Aarnio's current and ongoing art pieces are to be donated and sold through charities only, all proceeds collected belong 100% to the charity. Stefan Aarnio has made the decision to have all of his artistic work serve a higher purpose.

Our program has been launched with a donation to Jubilee Fund, a charity specializing in funding small, local entrepreneurs who cannot secure traditional financing.

It is our mission to serve as many charities as possible with quality, local Art pieces for fund raising purposes to serve their communities at a maximum capacity. We are always seeking charities looking for specific Art donations.

If you are a charity interested in fund raising with Stefan Aarnio's art, please contact us here.

For additional samples of Stefan Aarnio's Art work please visit stefanaarnio.com