Monthly Archives: December 2018

A friend’s 500 sq ft (approximate), 3-room apartment in a Hong Kong tower in a  desirable neighborhood is worth $4 million CAD, but rents for “just” $4,000 a month.  Cap rate?  About .8% pa. Conclusion? Real estate investing in HK brings poor cash returns, which means CDN real estate looks mighty tempting with cap rates […]

Asked by Telfer School of Management’s Catherine Elliott to rank the top 10 most important attributes an entrepreneur should have (and the bottom five) from her lengthy list, here’s what I came up with– Top 10 (in no particular order) DrivenOptimisticInnovative problem-solverCreative thinkerSeeks to make a contributionRisk-takerDeliversOpportunisticFlexibleAims to make a difference Bottom 5 (in my […]

Here’re some artifacts from Ottawa Senators founder Bruce M Firestone, PhD, now on deposit with city of Ottawa Archives, https://ottawa.ca/en/residents/arts-heritage-and-culture/city-ottawa-archives. In addition, the Firestone family has donated more than 1,600 works of art (paintings and sculptures) to form the FIRESTONE COLLECTION OF CANADIAN ART, https://oaggao.ca/firestone-collection-canadian-art, housed and displayed by the Ottawa Art Gallery, OAG. city of Ottawa archives: […]

I’m halfway through Bill Browder’s excellent 2015 book, Red Notice, talking about his experiences as an investment banker and asset manager in Russia in the days and years after the fall of the iron curtain (circa the 1990s). If you are like me and wonder why so many of the financial industry’s products are self-serving […]

Here’s an except from Bill Browder’s excellent book, Red Notice, Simon & Schuster, 2015, https://www.dropbox.com/s/kgepgbdty474z6m/Red%20Notice%20Bill%20Browder%20Mad%20River%20financing%20excerpt%20chapter%208.pdf?dl=0, a true story. Bill was among the first people to recognize the opportunity to invest in Russian equities (then called vouchers—basically, coupons that could be alchemized into shares in what would eventually be publicly-traded entities) at the end of the […]

“How important is trust in life?” asks Stefan Aarnio of Bruce M Firestone on his show, Respect the Grind. Bruce M Firestone is best known as an entrepreneur and founder of NHL hockey team, the Ottawa Senators, their home arena, Canadian Tire Centre, and the Ottawa Senators Foundation, a children’s charity, as well as a […]

“How important is your education in terms of your success?” asks Stefan Aarnio on his show, Respect the Grind. [Here’s a rough transcript of the entire show] Stefan Aarnio: Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the show, Respect the Grind with Stefan Aarnio. This is the show where we interview people who have achieved mastery and […]

20-things you need to do to produce an endless stream of grateful clients— devote at least ½ day a week to biz dev (to a maximum of 1-day per week) define your irresistible coaching niche define your ideal (target) client what is the irresistible outcome of your coaching? market the heck out of your practice […]

[excerpt from Don’t Back Down, the real story of the founding of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators and why big leagues matter, Bruce M Firestone, 2015, https://brucemfirestone.com/product/dont-back-down/] Ottawa-based tech and real estate billionaire Sir Terence “Terry” Matthews reinforces the following ten “Terryisms” for each startup he has guided to success: 1. Form an early (and lasting) attachment to your […]