Hi,

You wrote:
> In your opinion, can "cleverness"
> be acquired?

I hope it can, because I'm trying to aquire it. Aside from the fire burning in my inner core to succeed in business I'm rather unsuited to be an entrepreneur. I'm shy, I don't like talking to people, I'm a terribly slow learner and I make more mistakes than anyone alive.

I'm almost at the point of knowing what I want to do in business (I'm going to spend the rest of the day just contemplating because it feels like an idea is trying to hatch). But I still don't know exactly what I want to do. (When I do decide I'm going to market it relentlessly!)

By cleverness I meant something like:

OK, you want the house. Maybe you can do a syndication deal with investors to buy the land and set up a high-end golf school (I heard Brad Richdale--he of infomercial fame--is charging $7000 a weekend at his golf school). The investors put up all the money and there's enough room on the land for you to build your house there, and your 20% of the golf school lets you build it. You manage the golf school, the investors get a great return on their investment plus they can participate in the golfing, and you don't even have to commute to get to work.

Instead of a golf school you could start some kind of franchise and do the same kind of syndication deal.

The people here on the forum can and will help you and the only advice I have is there is no "magic pill" you can buy from anyone that, if you take it, the next day all your problems will be gone. My other advice is to trust yourself, trust your intelligence, and believe you can make the right decisions.

You wrote:
> I tend to think that people fall into
> patterns that are not conducive to success
> and that it takes a kick (maybe from Gordon
> or someone else on this forum) to adjust
> your thinking and get you pointed back at
> the target.

Some people have a hard time getting into gear, and for some people it's effortless. I'm one of the ones that have a VERY HARD TIME GETTING INTO GEAR. Gordon and a bunch of other old-time forum people know this is true: for five years I literally DID NOTHING. I remember times when I was sitting in my office realizing an idea would work and make money, and I'd be sweating and I could not make myself get started actualizing the idea. I even experimented with herbs and supplements (the legal kind!) to try to fix whatever was wrong with me. I was even hearing music playing in my head like my own personal radio station, and sometimes the music was very distracting. In 2000 over a short period of time all my hangups disappeared THANK GOD and now if something needs to be done I can smoothly get into gear and do it.

You wrote:
> That's why I posted and Gordon gave me a
> different perspective that I hadn't
> considered.

I think Gordon's honest and he knows a lot.

Hope this helps!

Best,

- Boyd