Category Archives for "Finance"

Mar 19

White Angel of Merida Mexico

By Bruce Firestone | Business Coaching , Business Models , Entrepreneurship , Finance , PB4L , Sales & Marketing

This silent angel in downtown Merida (aka Centro) offers you one slip of paper to guide your future. For 20 pesos, mine read (in Spanish), “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” #Excellent message. This young woman dresses up every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in her angel costume, which she designed and fabbed herself. She […]

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May 01

Path to creating affordable housing is out there but only possible if cities and towns make it so

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Models , Design , Entrepreneurship , Family , Finance , Green for Real , Investing , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Tiny Homes

Are you familiar with the BBC series From Lark Rise to Candleford? It’s about life in two neighboring places in the late 19th century—one a poor rural village called Lark Rise where life is a struggle, and tother being a more prosperous town called Candleford. They are 8-miles apart with a muddy track the only […]

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Oct 26

Murals are a powerful tool to revive urban areas

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Coaching , Design , Entrepreneurship , Finance , Green for Real , Investing , Life Coaching , PB4L , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Urban Economics

Theming downtown Belleville Murals are a powerful catalyst in terms of reviving and improving urban areas. For example, Jane Golden started a program in Philadelphia to bring graffiti artists “in from the cold.” The Mural Arts Program (www.muralarts.org) in Philly employs over 300 artists each year and teaches more than 1,000 young people the art […]

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Oct 25

The tinier the house, the more creative you need to be

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Models , Design , Entrepreneurship , Family , Finance , Green for Real , Ideas , PB4L , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Tiny Homes , Urban Economics

The smaller the house you build, the more creative you need to be. One of my daughters is moving into her own home that is just 192 sq ft. She’ll live right next door to a small workshop (about 350 sq ft) where she will design and produce high fashion custom clothing for glamorous women […]

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Jul 08

It would be daffy for my daughter to sell her home

By Bruce Firestone | Family , Finance , Investing , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Urban Economics

We helped one of my daughters (I have five children) buy a home four years ago for $345,000. We added a basement apartment for $80k so her total cost is about $425,000. We had it appraised last month—after insane pandemic-induced appreciation, it’s now worth $760,000 according to a local appraiser. First thing she said to […]

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Feb 02

Commercial or residential at grade, which is better for the bottom line?

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Coaching , Business Models , Entrepreneurship , Finance , Ideas , Investing , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Sales & Marketing , Urban Economics

I can’t believe that other landowners/property owners haven’t figured out how to repurpose their retail space to live-work-play-make spaces, all at grade. There is demand for these types of spaces from gigpreneurs who, for example, want to work in a street-facing studio and live behind their store, all on one level (ie, the ground floor). […]

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Nov 30

Met an attorney this week who can only be described this way, sorry to say: A know-it-all-know-nothing

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Coaching , Business Models , Design , Entrepreneurship , Family , Finance , Green for Real , Investing , PB4L , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Urban Economics

Main Street Makeovers He must have received his law degree in the snail-mail. The guy didn’t know the difference between foreclosure and power-of-sale. Why is this even important? Foreclosure versus Power of Sale Because I advise a number of funds (REITs, MICs, Private Equity Funds, Mortgage Trusts, Mutual Fund Trusts, individual private lenders such as […]

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Oct 11

Get some professional advice/coaching/mentoring from a trusted and experienced source—says Terrell Owens

By Bruce Firestone | Business Coaching , Business Models , Entrepreneurship , Family , Finance , Firestone Institute , Investing , Life Coaching , PB4L , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Sports & Entertainment

[Excerpt from Gadgets and Gizmos—how to tell if you own a real business or just an expensive hobby  available from, https://brucemfirestone.com/product/gadgets-and-gizmos/] I realize this is a somewhat self-serving headline since I am a real estate investment and business coach and my spouse is a California-based CTI[1]-trained life coach, but don’t take my word for it—listen […]

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Jul 11

How to pitch anything

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Coaching , Business Models , Entrepreneurship , Finance , Firestone Institute , Ideas , Investing , PB4L , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Sales & Marketing , Sports & Entertainment , Urban Economics

Book review of Pitch Anything, an innovative method for presenting, persuading and winning the deal by Oren Klaff, https://youtu.be/0ihMwKc2Sow With insights from Bruce M Firestone, PhD Plus, how a yoga teacher went from earning just over $30k a year to more than $100k Plus, how Prof Bruce successfully pitched the NHL for an expansion franchise […]

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Jun 19

What is the real value of a CEO? And how a bad one can kill you

By Bruce Firestone | Business Coaching , Business Models , Entrepreneurship , Finance , Ideas

[This is an excerpt from Don’t Back Down, the real story of the founding of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators and why big leagues count written by Sens founder Bruce M Firestone, PhD, available from, https://brucemfirestone.com/product/dont-back-down/] You have to laugh at the expectations of leadership in the US where they expect their leaders to have a […]

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Jun 15

Urban versus Suburban

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Finance , Green for Real , Ideas , Investing , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Sales & Marketing , Urban Economics

Here’s an article I wrote some time ago. In it, I was trying to understand why someone might pay $171,000 more for an urban townhouse, which was essentially the same as a suburban, much less expensive one, except closer into town. Was it a rational economic choice? Here’s what I concluded… then. Today, in an […]

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