I believe in the power of the mastermind. These days I participate in several masterminds and they bring me tremendous value. Everyone I know who participates in a mastermind says the same thing.
When I was President of OREIO, three years ago, I undertook an initiative called “Special Interest Groups”. These groups met on a regular basis with a cluster of members around a main topic. These special interest groups are a mastermind organized around a set of common interests. They’re an opportunity to harness the collective knowledge within OREIO.
We had a group focused on multi-family investing. This included a focus on managing the landlord tenant relationship. These meetings were well attended and got rave reviews. Kwesi Bourne led this group. Kwesi brought in local speakers like a CMHC analyst to provide a layer of insight beyond what was in the publicly available report. That was pure gold.
Denise McPherson led the rent to own special interest group. Attendees got a lot of value from the leaders of the group, and the attendees. These groups harnessed the power and experience that exists within the OREIO membership.
If elected, I would propose to bring back the special interest groups. The focus of these groups would be determined by the membership and would be for the membership.
We conducted a member survey earlier this year and the results were presented to you. 80% of you indicated that you’re investing in the Ottawa area. Most of you have already made your first investment, and a few are still planning your first investment.
A number of you are focusing on how to scale beyond your first investment, and a few are interested in how to make real estate investing your full-time gig.
OREIO’s membership is diverse. Some of you are interested in secondary suites. Some of you want to serve the array of parliamentary staff, embassy staff, and government contractors that call Ottawa home for 6 months at a time. Others are focused on storage, or industrial, or student housing. Doing deep dives with the entire membership will engage a few and leave others behind. I believe that the special interest groups are the best way to dive deep and create small communities of intense expertise. Learning just from a realtor who will sell you something and get a commission is not helping you develop world class expertise as an investor. Investors need to learn from other investors.
OREIO belongs to the members. The organization exists to elevate you, to transform you. The conversation with Dr. Tom Burns last month is a great example of what transformation looks like. Here’s a down to earth guy who loves doing knee replacement surgeries. But he also developed his expertise as a real estate investor to a very high level. If you missed last month’s meeting, I urge you to go watch the recording.
You can find it HERE. https://youtu.be/jbL0CR7sl50. The interview with Tom starts at the 16 minute mark of the recording.
Dr. Tom Burns bought the very first copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad from a car wash in Austin Texas in 1997. He recognized that the treadmill of seeing patients only would cause him to burn out, like most of his colleagues. Some of you are burned out employees, or small business owners stuck on the treadmill of answering customer service requests. Today he’s building hundreds of apartments each year.
Seriously, if you haven’t seen his talk, watch it HERE. https://youtu.be/jbL0CR7sl50
It’s truly epic. It just might illuminate the path that’s in front of you.
I believe in building world class expertise. That means learning from the best in the world by having them speak at OREIO and then figuring out how to apply the learning in an Ottawa context.
I’ve always believed that OREIO needs to maintain an Ottawa focus. If elected, I would bring back the special interest groups and make them a lasting feature of OREIO.
I hope to have your support in the upcoming election.
Victor.
