Originally posted by Hutch:
If anyone else has a great Steve/Dave story or “thank you†(I’m sure there are many)…………….post it here.
I’ll post a thank-you and a story in here.
Thank-you to Steve and Dave for giving me my first job, and for the time and patience you invested into me over the 4-and-a-half years I worked for you both.
As for a story…
Back in 2001, I was a year 12 student who had a keen interest in real estate investing and I received a call out of the blue from Dave.
I’d known Steve and Dave for a year-or-so – they both come to a Cashflow game I had organised, and I’d been to their first ‘seminar’ which was really an informal dinner Steve and Dave put on to help answer people’s questions.
The call from Dave was inviting me to join him for a trip to see some of his investment properties, and see a wrap go ahead.
This was an offer I couldn’t refuse!
I said yes, excitedly told my parents, and straight away went to my room to look for what tracksuit I was going to wear. (Steve and Dave were known for wearing old tracksuits when investing, and I didn’t want to look out of place).
The next day, Dave pulled up in the driveway and picked me up.
For anyone who has any illusions of the type of people Steve and Dave are – they’re not motivated by red Ferrari’s, expensive suits and the usual signs people associate with wealth.
In fact, Dave’s car was a late-80’s-early-90’s Hyundai Excel. The paint on the bonnet had flaked, the drivers seat sagged on one side, and whenever you got it above 80km’s the bonnet flapped and the steering shook.
So travelling down the highway at 110kph, I was a little nervous that floor beneath my feet was going to fall away and I’d be sucked onto the road below.
(This just added to how nervous I was already – I was sitting in the car next to THE David Bradley – and he was taking me to see his properties!)
I started asking Dave about what I could expect to see, and how the deals worked. We talked about real estate agents, the property market and investing strategy.
It was great!
I was going to see a wrap too – which was exciting. But one thing which confused me is how to work out what a fair and reasonable selling price was when setting up a wrap contract.
So I made the mistake of asking Dave.
Dave replied “Actually – that reminds me, I need to work out the figures for the wrap we’re going to see today” – he shifted his knee up and held the (shaking) steering wheel and turned to dig around the back seat for his calculator (while the car shook and rattled, driving at 110kph).
I dug my nails into the seat and nervously asked;
“Would you like me to find it for you?”
“No no, it’s alright” Dave replied, glancing back onto the road to make sure there was no oncoming danger.
I breathed a sigh of relief the second he found the calculator – but it was only for a second, because his eyes stayed off the road. Still steering with his knee, he turned his brown financial calculator on and started punching in numbers and explaining he was running numbers to find a figure which gave him enough profit in the deal – and was a fair price for the buyer.
Every few seconds, he glanced up from the calculator on his knee to make sure we were still on the highway, and we weren’t about to run into the back of someone.
By this time my heart was racing, and my fingernails were practically embedded into the grey-blue seat of the vibrating Hyundai Excel. I was sure we were going to blow a tyre, run off the road and be another number on Victoria’s road toll that year.
“Do you want me to punch the numbers into the calculator?”
“No, it’s ok – … and the interest rate is…” Dave replied continuing which his explaination of the numbers.
I was very happy to get out of the car when we arrived in town.
I got to see some of the deals Dave had on the go, plus drove past some which had already been bought and sold. It was a long day, and it was dusk by the time we got home.
A few months later, I received another call – this time it was to ask me if I wanted to come and work for the boys.
What an offer!
For most of Steve and Dave’s investing career, they only had one employee – an admin manager. And they with their previous admin manager (Tim) finishing up and moving elsewhere, they were offering me this role!
I said Yes straight away, and started a few weeks later.
Shortly after I started, Dave asked me if I was enjoying working for them.
I explained I was finding it challenging but was enjoying it – and commented that I was surprised to be offered the job – after all I hadn’t even been interviewed!
Dave laughed and replied “But you did get interviewed”
“When?” [eh]
“That trip to see the properties was your job interview.”
After four-and-a-half years working with Steve and Dave, I can’t say nice enough things about the guys. They’re genuine in their motives, and are always out to help people – and in an industry full of sharks they’ve made sure their integrity was non-negotiable.
As employers, they were patient enough to take someone who only had a high school education, and turn that person into their admin manager – and later their event coordinator, and marketing coordinator.
And they took an interest in helping me to develop the skills I needed to achieve my goals – not just the skills I needed to do my job.
I’ve recently taken a new job doing business development work for a stock-market education company (if you’re interested, click here) and I wouldn’t be here without them.
So thank-you guys. Your help and mentoring has meant a lot to me.
Brent
Options? CFD’s? Futures? Derivatives?
Free trading workshops on technical analysis tools and techniques.
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