I briefly mentioned in last month’s update that has had a pretty big impact on my family’s life.
My brothers and I love snowboarding. I’d say them more than myself but we all enjoy it quite a bit.
When we go up, we are all pretty reckless. My oldest brother and I the most, but Eric can do some dumb shit on occasion.
I’ve gotten a couple of concussions, torn up my chin, legs, arms, shoulder, etc. My oldest brother, Christian, has broken a leg, among many other smaller injuries like mine.
It’s a lovely sport.
No, really. It is! It’s just not very safe.
I stopped riding my motorcycle for two primary reasons. First, I’m reckless and rode it way too fast. The second, Fresno can get fucking hot and fucking cold so it gets uncomfortable in peak weather.
With the first point, though, I knew I’d end up dead in a few years so I stopped.
Injuries are bound to happen when you put yourself in harm’s way…especially if it’s intentional.
No, I’m not suggesting we want to harm ourselves. Don’t be so fucking extreme.
We like experiencing a thrill and sometimes that’s how we get it. Anyone who does it knows that the risk is there. You just never expect things to happen to you or those close to you. But when they do…
Well, at least I wasn’t surprised.
If you haven’t gathered what happened by now, one of my brothers had an injury snowboarding. Motorcycles have nothing to do with it. Neither does any of my other banter. It’s just a way for me to drive down a point.
Christian broke his neck while he was riding.
He’s fine, for the most part. Can’t really move his arms and legs but he’s alive!
Seriously, in my eyes, that’s what matters most. He’s currently in a rehab facility (no, not for drugs…although he might need to go there after…) trying to turn the wiggling of the toes into a full-blown body roll.
I’m kidding about the drug problem. Tell anyone I said that and we’re going to have a problem.
Anyway, I may not be happy that this happened but I’m glad I can still call him my cripple instead of my cadaver. Besides, he’s in a great mindset so we’re very hopeful he’ll get most of his movement back, if not all.
But this isn’t the Christian hour, he doesn’t write these updates. I do.
So let’s talk about how this affects me moving forward.
The Dealership
I’m back at the company!
Bummer.
I may love what we built, but I don’t want to be wrapped up in it day-to-day.
Christian was the one running operations so now that he’s taking a shitton of painkillers and jamming out to the music from Rocky as he tries to lift his toe, Eric and I are manning the fort for him.
This is actually a good thing because as nice as getting reports is, it doesn’t encompass how things are really being handled.
Our sales manager has been doing a great job of selling, however, he has been letting many of the other systems we created fall apart.
I sat down with a couple of the salespeople and asked them what they felt were the best parts of working there and they gave me a great list of things. It also didn’t stop there, though. Once they got on the topic of what they would like to see changed, this list kept growing and I could see them reliving the frustration of it as they told me.
Sometimes, people just need to be reminded of what is necessary and they get themselves right back on track. I’m truly hoping that’s all it is.
I love the sales team we have so far. Especially the one I know reads this. She’s going places, and they won’t all be good, but I know she’s more than proven herself. No matter what, I’m keeping her by my side and bringing her up with me…or down.
That’s right. If I burn, so do you.
My nephew is part of the sales force as well, and he’s gotten into the bad habit of negativity, but we can slap that out of him real quick-like. Other than that, I’d say he’s in a good spot along with the rest of them.
The Real Estate
Real Estate Investing
Is it a surprise that we hit a snag with contractors?
We were supposed to have our property on 101st done by March 1st. It’s not done.
The main contractor fell behind for a number of reasons, some his fault, others because of other contractors. We had an electrician that had to come back from Mexico and had difficulties on his journey back.
I have not asked and will not ask, so don’t be racist.
He’s back now and finishing his part soon, but that put the other contractor behind quite a bit. We are looking at about another 3 weeks, so hopefully, I’ll have good news here by the next update.
We have started rehabbing the property that burned down as well as begun work on the house we recently did the roof on.
I need to speed things up and get the work done on the one we have a court case on as they have given us a timeframe to finish.
Some good news! We have the second tenant for the other property that moved in as of the 1st so we are running that one at full capacity and now have some guap coming in.
It’s subsidized rent so the tenant only pays a very small portion, while the government pays nearly all of it. There’s a benefit and drawback to this.
Benefit, rent is guaranteed through good and bad times. Drawback, there’s a chance the tenant may not take as good care of the property.
We are eyeing a property and will have a contractor go out to inspect it. I’m pretty sure it’ll be one we are going to be purchasing just based on the pictures, videos, and numbers.
Real Estate Agent
I’d say this is where being back at the dealership has placed the biggest hindrance on.
I am not taking on any new clients for at least the next couple of months or until we find a rhythm that will allow me to. I don’t feel it would be fair to anyone involved if my time and attention is split in too many directions.
The problem here?
My YouTube channel has begun getting me leads that do require my attention. Most of them seem to be for the future, so nothing I need to overwork myself on right now, but they are still coming in.
It’s nice to see it pay off like that, especially because when they come in there is no awkwardness at all. Everyone who has reached out to me so far talks to me as if we are friends and feels a million times more genuine than random people you meet that you now have to make an impression on in 5 minutes.
The great thing is that it automatically filters out those that would not work well with me and allows the ones that know they enjoy my personality to come forth. It’s nice.
You can check out my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/MarkBeneke1
The Writing
Still a pause in this arear. No, that’s not a spelling error.
Although, I will say that a couple of days ago my mind got racing and I got the craving to write. Who knows, I may just get sucked back in soon.
The Leisure
I’d say February was fairly calm. No major trips, just our home calling to us to veg out.
No, Christian isn’t a vegetable so don’t act like I can’t say shit like that. He’s temporarily paralyzed, that’s all.
I read through a book called Atomic Habits that was a wonderful refresher. It’s really a bunch of regurgitated info from any other habit book, however, it’s short and to the point which makes it great to pick up when you need to get a boost.
I played a little bit of Apex, nothing extreme. Elden Ring just released, though, I may just have to pick that up and sink my life into it. Sorry Rach…
I finished Boba Fett with the wife. It was awesome! My only complaint about the show was that for the last 3 episodes it was hijacked completely by the Mandalorian.
A cameo I would have appreciated, but for 3 episodes it turned into the Mando / Grogu hour. I may like the Mandalorian, but I don’t watch Boba Fett only to get some other fucker.
I also watched a show called Reacher on Amazon Prime. It was very enjoyable and I found myself laughing on many occasions, even though I don’t think I was supposed to. The main character is from Blue Mountain State and I found it very hard to see him any differently.
COOOOOCCCAAAAAAINE!
I’ve never been much into anime, but I watched Castelvania after a recommendation from a friend and I loved it. They are 20-minute episodes so sometimes you have to just swallow some of the story progressions but the show was super fun to watch.
I don’t think we watched any movies this past month. Mostly just shows.
We are currently watching Succession season 3, and it’s fucking hilarious so far.
A book I recommend this month: Atomic Habits
A show I recommend this month: Castlevania
A movie I recommend this month: ? I don’t think I watched anything worth mentioning.
The Puppies
BD-1 and Clementine got into a fight recently. The winner?
Clementine.
BD can be a real shithead. I know in his head he’s just protecting himself, but it seems like he thinks he needs to protect himself from everything! Clem, Nova, the pots and pans, the mailman, my forehead.
He just reacts badly to everything and his first reaction is to bite. Clem took a bite to the cheek and the moment she processed what happened, she saw red. She ended up taking a big bite of his tail and stripping him of some of his hair and skin there.
He’s fine.
If I’m being honest, I’m a little proud of her. At least she stood up to that mother fucker. Will he learn? Unlikely. The only thing to come from it is that she will likely be more reactive next time, alongside him.
Hopefully not, but let’s be real here. They’re dogs.
Nova stays out of it all. She’s our sweetheart that just wants peace in the household and to explore her curiosities.
She’s also the reason why I haven’t slept properly for the past couple of weeks.
No…I’m the reason. I pamper them way too much. She feels like she needs to sleep on top of me and I don’t get her off. Instead, I suffer.
I love my puppies. Especially Elmer.
Well…that’s all I got for you for this month.
Wait, no. I’m looking for book recommendations. Throw them at me!
Thanks for reading and I will catch you on the next one.
Okay byeee!!!