Monthly Archives: January 2017

“WWSJ do?” stands for: “what would Steve Jobs do?” It’s useful to recall his words in the early days of the Trumpster presidency: When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an […]

Having founded one charity (the Ottawa Senators Foundation) and worked with many not-for-profits, I get asked, “What are some of the different financial models that an organization can adopt?” Here’s my list: fee for service model sponsorship model donor model grant model social enterprise model endowment model non-endowment endowment model. A fee for service model […]

Why do most partnerships fail? In my experience, it’s because— 1. no one is really in charge2. partners battle over unequal contributions either in terms of sweat equity (workload) or money3. the decision making process is ill-defined and takes too long4. one partner thinks the other one will take care of problems/seize opportunities when really […]

A lottery to sell his home Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and the principal architect of their Declaration of Independence, was at one time the third wealthiest president, yet he died bankrupt. In his effort to stave off bankruptcy and clear his debts before he passed away and before his daughter […]

Here are a few selected segments from Realtopia Ottawa by Bruce M Firestone, PhD, Real Estate Investment coach, Century 21 Explorer realty Inc broker, Ottawa Senators founder [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz5MjDXJrwA?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=540&h=304] @ profbruce For more information about real estate investment courses and coaching, please contact: Bruce M Firestone, bruce.firestone@century21.ca 6137628884

I was recently asked this question by a client: is a short form commercial offer to lease adequate as a lease agreement or does he need to hire a lawyer to prepare a full lease agreement? Here is my answer: Ha! Good question, Chuck. I put in all your offers to lease this paragraph: Lease […]

How do you animate rural property or farm? Well, how about buying a “Zamboni” and creating skating trails through the forest. Then charging for it? Here’s Nick (dad) and Emma experiencing this treat in rural Quebec. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnvtJrd6BIc?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=540&h=304] This property can be found at 9, Montée Beausoleil, Lac-des-Loups (Québec), J0X 3K0 Canada. The cost is: Adult […]

Why not theme individual streets in your town as well as individual homes? Pick a theme for each street… based on its name, its history, its geography, its community, its ecology, whatever. Boost its property values and its household income via micro businesses and other built-form animations (eg, coach houses, in-home suites, storage sheds…). Here’s […]

The real estate investment coaching Bruce M Firestone, PhD, and his team does is based on the following adaptation of some of the strategies that Warren Buffett has brought to stock market investing: 1.     Buy targeted smart, well-located properties in industry sectors where large, low cost-of-funds players (banks, REITs, insurance companies, pension funds) are largely […]

A few years ago, I was asked to come up with a few suggestions to help “start up Sparks street”, a not very successful pedestrian mall in Canada’s Capital city. A few ideas I came up with included: -Density bonus for residential construction-National boardwalk-Stanley Cup monument & museum-Charity casino-National signage-Media wall-Tethered gas balloon Here’s a […]

I have a coaching client who specializes in rent 2 own in British Columbia. He asked me, “How would I apply what I’ve learned from you, Prof Bruce, to animate my rent 2 own portfolio?” First, I suggested he ask himself what I call the “Shopify” question, which is: “How can Shopify make their clients more successful?” […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yXycpt6axo?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=540&h=405] If you are one of the 80% of Canadians and Americans who don’t have a defined benefit pension plan, if saving millions of dollars to provide for your sunset years just isn’t doable, if you are fed up with tech bubbles, fund and financial advisers as well as poor returns from mutual funds, […]