Why Guacamole Is Always Extra

I would be the headline speaker at Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Education events I would have to travel all over the world. That means I was in airports.

A lot.

You learn a thing or two with that much travel. Like, airports can be weird.

Did you know that the San Francisco International Airport has a therapy pig? Her name is LiLou. She wears costumes and does tricks to relax nervous flyers.

Sao Palo Airport has a resident dentist. As if people needed another reason to be afraid of flying!

If you are in a well-traveled area of an airport look up. You will almost always see lost balloons on the ceiling sadly not living their best balloon life.

And almost always, for your dining pleasure, there is a Mexican restaurant serving comfort food.

I love food. One of my favorite things about Toronto is the plethora of authentic multicultural food choices there. Just like airports, Mexican restaurants have similarities across the board.

An example . . .

If you order a meal and say “Can I get extra guacamole with that?” the server ALWAYS replies with

“Yes, but guacamole is extra.”

I know this. We all know this. You can even buy a T-shirt that says “I know guacamole is extra.”

If you ever ask why “guacamole is extra”, they will say something like “our guacamole is made from scratch each day by guac artisans with only fresh whatever this and that….” This of course is not true.

There is a simple reason why guacamole always costs extra.

It’s because avocados are really expensive. They take a ton of water to grow and they go bad very quickly.

I am sure if they were not an integral part of the cuisine, Mexican restaurants would not use them. (If you think about it, the majority of restaurants do not have avocados on their menus).

Right now, in your head, you are probably saying “Okay. I am learning a different way to look at airports and guacamole, but what does that have to do with Florida property investing?”

In your head it looks like this:

Airports—> Mexican Restaurants —> Guacamole —> Real estate?

Now that the question has been framed properly I will tell you with….

Another story!

Initially, when I was looking to buy our first property in Florida, we looked for a classic 50/50 joint venture (JV) deal. They are basically all the same. You, as the money partner, put up the money and somebody with the investing knowledge buys the house, rehabs it, and sells it for a profit (hopefully).

You split the money evenly. Thus, the name 50/50 JV.

I was at a conference in Florida when I came across a couple with a booth for turnkey investments. They had already purchased distressed properties, rehabbed them, placed pre-screened tenants to live in them, and sold them as cash-flowing income properties.

They had the whole process down. From beginning to end.

I was interested in becoming one of their investors on the front end. I wasn’t super interested in their business model, but I wanted the opportunity to learn how property investing worked in Florida.

I even offered to take less than the traditional 50/50 split just so I could learn. It was going to be a great deal.

A great deal for THEM, right?

We had a few emails back and forth, and then things just started to fizzle out. They stopped returning my messages.

Why?

Two reasons, really.

Reason Number 1: I was in the wrong place with the deal. Just like a balloon, or a pig, or a dentist (ack!) in an airport, a 50/50 JV deal is NOT designed to be a learning experience. They call the money partner a “silent” partner for a reason.

Reason Number 2: Florida is a unique place. Beautiful weather. Beautiful beaches. But its real estate market is like no other I have ever experienced. It is VERY transactional.

What this means is that on the back end–meaning the agents and bankers–there is very little relationship building. They only care about how to close the deal. The market does not have what I like to call a “teaching spirit”. Anything beyond the mechanics of closing….

“Yes, but guacamole is extra.”

And guac (read: “investing education”), really isn’t on the menu down there in the real estate market.

This is a mistake. You cannot really know something innately until you can explain it to another person. As Aristotle says:

“Teaching is the highest form of understanding.”

This is why I run my businesses the way I do. I understand what Aristotle meant.

Straight up? When I teach you how to invest in Florida income properties AS A BUSINESS, not only do you benefit, but *I* become a better business owner and investor myself.

Our interests are perfectly aligned!