#Landlording for Life Real Estate Podcast

[seanrmorrissey]

(Landlording for Life Real Estate Podcast)

Daniel Johnson discusses why a financial plan is important for real estate investors : 

https://soundcloud.com/sean-morrissey-899912223/daniel-johnson-financial-planning-for-real-estate-investors

#SoundCloud #music #Landlording for Life Real Estate Podcast #financial planning #cfp #certified financial planner #real estate investor

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Rent's Too Damned High

This week on my podcast, I read my Medium column “The Rent’s Too Damned High,” an essay about the economic incoherence of making home-ownership the path to economic security and a middle-class life.

https://medium.com/p/520f958d5ec5/edit

Obviously, home-ownership does allow for intergenerational wealth accumulation (simply compare the wealth accumulation gap between Black families who were excluded from home subsidies like the GI Bill and white families who weren’t), but that’s not the whole story.

Owning a home is a good way to insulate yourself from a landlord’s whims and a good place to stash gains from the labor market, but when a nation turns to asset appreciation — not labor — to increase prosperity, almost everyone loses within a generation or two.

Without strong labor rights, guaranteed pensions are replaced with a mandate to pump your savings into the stock market casino, where you will always be the sucker at the table. The insufficiency of America’s 401k-based retirement savings is grimly comic.

When workers surrendered employment-based security for asset-based security, we lost the bloc that fought for adequate Social Security and affordable tuition. That means that your parents’ house needs to fund their retirement and your college tuition.

It’s likely not adequate for both, but even it is, it’s not going to be enough to pay for your own downpayment, which you’ll need if your parents are going to liquidate their sole major asset to keep themselves from burdening you while you enter the labor market.

That means homeowners’ kids are overwhelmingly likely to end up tenants, and that’s the second whammy. You see, the most reliable way to increase the value of owning a house is to make tenancy worse.

The fact that the home your parents bought for $30k is worth $1.5m today can’t be explained by the new roof, the finished basement, the cool neighborhood boutiques or the people who want to move to your hometown for work.

The main driver of real-estate appreciation is that being a homeowner is better than being a tenant — so everything that makes tenancy worse makes homeowning better, which makes houses worth more.

It’s not just tax-advantaged shelter (homeowners can write off half their monthly shelter bills, tenants can’t). It’s also the fact that every time a house sells, the market rate is set by bidders who are buying the house as “income property” — that is, to rent it out.

Just as in labor markets, shelter markets are zero sum. When you have the income security that comes with the right to a regular shift, your boss has the cost-insecurity of having to pay you when business is slow.

Likewise, if you have the right to force your landlord to fix the roof, the rental is worth less. If your landlord can quickly evict you when a better tenant comes along, the rental is worth more. If rent increases are set by law, the rental is worth less.

If your landlord can charge usury interest, or force you to use an ISP that pays a kickback, the rental is worth more.

Everything that’s better for tenants is worse for landlords — and the worse things are for landlords, the less they’re willing to spend on income property.

The more a landlord is willing to spend to buy a house, the more everyone else has to spend to outbid them. Everything that makes life worse for tenants makes homes more valuable.

Convincing America that home ownership would increase the middle-class also created a large constituency who’d simp for landlords in order to increase the value of their single major asset.

The joke was on us. Now that Wall Street is using the trillions the Trump stimulus pumped into the financial markets to pay 15% above asking, in cash, for every single-family dwelling that hits the market, everyone who doesn’t have a home won’t ever get one.

All those home owners’ kids will be tenants, and will be subject to every depredation that home owners backed in order to protect their kids. Karma’s a nasty thing.

America once had strong labor markets, whose dividends were turned into sturdy homes. When we threw in our lot with our bosses on labor rights, we walked into a trap that would cost us our homes, too.

Here’s the podcast episode:

https://craphound.com/news/2021/06/13/the-rents-too-damned-high/

and here’s the MP3 (hosting courtesy of the Internet Archive, who will host all your stuff for free, forever):

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_392/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_392_-_The_Rents_Too_Damned_High.mp3

Here’s the RSS for my podcast:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

and here’s that original article:

https://gen.medium.com/the-rents-too-damned-high-520f958d5ec5

#pluralistic

[arce-elliot]

Magnus Archives - First Impressions (151-175)

We’re almost there, gang. Out of the Lonely and into the Eyepocalypse we go! Blah blah I had 75% of the series spoiled and am jotting down my thoughts, you know the drill.

EP 151 (Big Picture): - OH SIMON??? - okay okay Simon's kinda funny, you go you funky little sky grandpa - Martin Tell Her The TRUTH EP 152 (A Gravedigger's Envy): - oooh another ancient one - hey that's terrifying wtf - can someone please comfort jonny boy good lord EP 153 (Love Bombing): - Idk why the cult ones freak me out, maybe because cults are real? - oh god what's gonna happen to that dog - I literally just made my dinner with white wine vinegar that's a little old are you sHITTING ME - GIRL GET OUT OF THERE WHILE YOU HAVE A CHANCE YOU KNOW SOMETHING'S OFF - AYYY THE HUNTIN' GANG - tbh it was weird that they helped him even though they knew he wasn't human actually - DAISY!!!!! - Jon can you chill w/ the sass if you're not gonna help - Okay I'm gay but Daisy Growl Hot - Two dying monsters trying to reconcile their humanity, this is sad I hate it here EP 154 (Bloody Mary): - oh god it's This Episode I've been dreading it poor Eric - g o d Gertrude sounds so upset - I would die for Eric - "Eric I'm gonna count to ten and you're gonna tELL ME HOW YOU QUIT" - I'm already crying good god - "he needed me" o w - MARTIN GOT TO SAY FUCK!!!!! - O U C H - i am so upset FUCK this podcast - the catalogue of the dead is just the Delano-Keay family album EP 155 (Cost of Living): - CALL HER OUT JON - Tova, to this doctor's heart: it's free real estate - A FUCKING C H I L D?????? - ah yes, some more DIY surgery, who needs doctors when you have knives? EP 156 (Reflection): - ayyyy adelard how are ya - oh fun flesh time - oh? extinction? - also that was gross what the fuck - M A R T I N EP 157 (Rotten Core): - go save Martin before I cry - ADELARD!!! - ah no, I'm gonna miss this dude he was kinda cool - this hits different in corona times - okay this is actually pretty gross wtf - Martin's lonely because he chose to be, Jon is lonely because everyone hates him, poetic cinema EP 158 (Panopticon): - Ah Shit Here We Fucking Go - OH WHAT THE FUCK NOT!SASHA???? - AYYYYY THERE'S JONAH MAGNUS WELCOME HOME RAT BASTARD - uh oh bye bye Gertrude Time - mom and dad are fighting to be Martin's favorite parent lmao - no not the promise :C - Martin is the brain cell, he really just played both these men like kazoos - gdi Peter give me my boy back EP 159 (The Last): - hi I am Sad - Marto blease just go with the tired eyeball man - "i see you" MY B O Y S EP 160 (The Eye Opens) - oh lord here we go - at least we get some Jonmartin conversation - Monologue Time! - Jon: can I just say, from the bottom of my heart...my bad EP 161 (Dwelling): - welcome to the apocalypse bitches - FINALLY i've been waiting for these tapes for my entire life - TIMMMMMM! SASHAAAAA! - Elias being a normal person is unsettling - ALL THE EYE JOKES gdi I refuse to simp for eyeball man - THE JARRING "ARCHIVIST" I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD - "If I wish for all of you to go away do you think it'll work?" well it worked on Tim and Sasha - Elias: I'm a cool boss, I can drink wine - the image of Jon just huddled on the couch with a bag of tapes and listening to them over and over is so sad - sorry Gertrude no Sasha, just a sad little man - thank u for the powerpoint Gertrude - JON DON'T SNAP - i love them so much your honor EP 162 (Cosy Cabin): - GERRY GERRY GERRY - okay Gertrude and Gerry are adorable I love goth boy and his badass grandma - Gerry, ever the pragmatist: but what about TAXES gertrude - Tim and Sasha interacting is the sweetest thing ;_; - oh this is AFTER the hookup lmao - OH WAIT Sasha canonically knew about Danny??? I didn't know that oof - Oh Jon's getting a phone call I suppose - Jon's trying so hard to be dramatic and Martin's like "okay bitch grab ur backpack and lets go" EP 163 (In The Trenches): - "Tell everybooooody I'm ooon my waaay, new frieeends and new plaaaaces to seeeee" - YESSS LET MARTIN CURSE OVER THE GUNSHOTS AND BAGPIPES - "Martin can you stand over there and cover your ears while I cast Eldritch Ramble" EP 164 (The Sick Village): - another one that hits different in corona times - I hate the word soupy - what in the midsommar - if you can't find your own statements, DIY your own - Martin: fuck u Jon, Helen's my friend now - Martin: can I get an Uber, can I PLEASE get an Uber EP 165 (Revolutions): - this is my friend's favorite episode so I'm excited - oh circus music gross - THE RHYMINGGGGG OH I LOVE THIS - my arms are sore from happy stimming at this audio oh my god - SHUT UP JON IT WAS A GOOD POEM - GET HER ASS JON - is that our first "Ceaseless Watcher"?? I think it was! - Jon: Level Up! - Martin: that's hot EP 166 (The Worms): - HELL YES JON SAID FUCK - oh worm? - Martin answer your damn phone - awww Martin don't doubt yourself :C EP 167 (Curiousity): - Fiona: lmao watch this -passes out- - oh I didn't realize Eric was one of the OGs, their conversations make more sense now - Michael :c - Gertrude you got played like a fiddle damn EP 168 (Roots): - jealous Martin lmao - Jon just tell him why you woke up that would probably solve this - As someone who also freaks out about every little twinge this episode felt targeted EP 169 (Fire Escape): - desolation time? desolation time. can't wait to walk through hell - so aside from Smirke's 14 we have the 3 additional fears: the Extinction, the Scotland, and the Landlord - oh this one is terrifiyng i love it - OOOOH the "jons" slowly fading in was really clever - G O D martin sounds so defeated poor boy EP 170 (Recollection): - Martin finding tape recorders is the cutest thing - Oh fuck are we in the Lonely oh shit - this is so disconcerting i love it - someone get this man a better chair EP 171 (The Gardener): - Martin: damn that's a lot of bones - oh not THIS dude again I can barely understand him oh my GOD - well that was interesting EP 172 (Strung Out): - oh web? - oh this is sad shit - I think this is one of the worst domains yet for me personally this sounds like hell - g o d the web makes my brain hurt blease Jonny I'm stupid EP 173 (Night Night): - oh dark? - oh so the darkness is just the apocalypse daycare? nice - oh and this tween runs it, nice - Jon: are you SURE you want me to kill this middle schooler? - wow this is depressing EP 174 (The Great Beast): - oh hunt? - oh vast? lmao that's what i get for assumptions - Martin just wants to kill a man is that too much to ask someone give him a gun EP 175 (Epoch): - ex...tinct...ion? - “Peter was right” no FUCK YOU I refuse to give Peter any credit LOOK ADELARD WAS RIGHT, Adelard Decker laid the BLUEPRINT - poor Jon he's gettin these hard-hitting google searches - Basira and Daisy?????? OH WAIT THAT MEANS OH NO

#the magnus archives #magnus archives #tma

[arcticdementor]

I love NYC. When I first moved to NYC it was a dream come true. Every corner was like a theater production happening right in front of me. So much personality, so many stories.

Every subculture I loved was in NYC. I could play chess all day and night. I could go to comedy clubs. I could start any type of business. I could meet people. I had family, friends, opportunities. No matter what happened to me, NYC was a net I could fall back on and bounce back up.

Now it's completely dead. "But NYC always always bounces back." No. Not this time. "But NYC is the center of the financial universe. Opportunities will flourish here again." Not this time.

"NYC has experienced worse". No it hasn't.

…

Three of the most important reasons to move to NYC:

- business opportunities

- culture

- food

…

Midtown Manhattan, the center of business in NYC, is empty. Even though people can go back to work, famous office buildings like the Time Life skyscraper is still 90% empty. Businesses realized that they don't need their employees at the office.

In fact, they realize they are even more productive without everyone back to the office. The Time Life building can handle 8,000 workers. Now it maybe has 500 workers back.

…

"What do you mean?" a friend of mine said to me when I told him 'Midtown should be called 'Ghost Town', "I'm in my office right now!"

"What are you doing there?"

"Packing up," he said and laughed, "I'm shutting it down." He works in the entertainment business.

Another friend of mine works at a major investment bank as a managing director. Before the pandemic he was at the office every day, sometimes working from 6am to 10pm.

Now he lives in Phoenix, Arizona. "As of June," he told me, "I had never even been to Phoenix." And then he moved there. He does all his meetings on Zoom.

I was talking to a book editor who has been out of the city since early March. "We've been all working fine. I'm not sure why we would need to go back to the office."

One friend of mine, Derek Halpern, was convinced he'd stay. He put up a Facebook post the other day saying he might be changing his mind.

…

People say, "NYC has been through worse" or "NYC has always come back."

No and no.

First, when has NYC been through worse?

Even in the 1970s, and through the 80s, when NYC was going bankrupt, and even when it was the crime capital of the US or close to it, it was still the capital of the business world (meaning: it was the primary place young people would go to build wealth and find opportunity), it was culturally on top of its game - home to artists, theater, media, advertising, publishing, and it was probably the food capital of the US.

…

In early March, many people (not me), left NYC when they felt it would provide safety from the virus and they no longer needed to go to work and all the restaurants were closed. People figured, "I'll get out for a month or two and then come back."

They are all still gone.

And then in June, during rioting and looting a second wave of NYC-ers (this time me) left. I have kids. Nothing was wrong with the protests but I was a little nervous when I saw videos of rioters after curfew trying to break into my building.

…

…

Summary: Businesses are remote and they aren't returning to the office. And it's a death spiral: the longer offices remain empty, the longer they will remain empty.

In 2005, a hedge fund manager was visiting my office and said, "In Manhattan you practically trip over opportunities in the street."

Now the streets are empty.

…

I co-own a comedy club, Standup NY, on 78th and Broadway. I'm very very proud of the club and grateful to my fellow owners Dani Zoldan and Gabe Waldman and our manager Jon Boreamayo. It's a great club. It's been around since 1986 and before that it was a theater.

One time, Henry Winkler stopped by to come on my podcast. He was the one who told me it had been a theater.

He said, "I grew up two doors down from here and used to perform in here as a kid. Then I went out to LA to be the Fonz and now I'm back here, full circle, to be on your podcast. This place has history." Things like that happen in NYC.

…

I love the club. Before the pandemic I would perform there throughout the week in addition to many other clubs around the city and in the past few months, clubs in: Chicago, Denver, San Jose, LA, Cincinnati, all over the Netherlands, and other places.

I miss it.

…

That said, we have no idea when we will open. Nobody has any idea. And the longer we close, the less chance we will ever reopen profitably.

Broadway is closed until at least the Spring. Lincoln Center is closed. All the museums are closed.

Forget about the tens of thousands of jobs lost in these cultural centers. Forget even about the millions of dollars of tourist and tourist-generated revenues lost by the closing of these centers.

There are thousands of performers, producers, artists, and the entire ecosystem of art, theater, production, curation, that surrounds these cultural centers. People who have worked all of their lives for the right to be able to perform even once on Broadway whose lives and careers have been put on hold.

I get it. There was a pandemic.

But the question now is: what happens next? And, given the uncertainty (since there is no known answer), and given the fact that people, cities, economies, loathe uncertainty, we simply don't know the answer and that's a bad thing for New York City.

…

My favorite restaurant is closed for good. Ok, let's go to my second favorite. Closed for good. Third favorite, closed for good.

I thought the PPP was supposed to help. No? What about emergency relief? No. Stimulus checks? Unemployment? No and no. Ok, my fourth favorite, or what about that place I always ordered delivery from? No and no.

Around Late May I took walks and saw that many places were boarded up. Ok, I thought, because the protesting was leading to looting and the restaurants were protecting themselves. They'll be ok.

Looking closer I'd see the signs. For Lease. For Rent. For whatever.

Before the pandemic, the average restaurant had only 16 days of cash on hand. Some had more (McDonalds), and some had less (the local mom-and-pop Greek diner).

Yelp estimates that 60% of restaurants around the United States have closed.

My guess is more than 60% will be closed in New York City but who knows.

Someone said to me, "Well, people will want to come in now and start their own restaurants! There is less competition."

I don't think you understand how restaurants work.

…

If the restaurants are no longer clustered, fewer people go out to eat (they are on the fence about where so they elect to stay home). Restaurants breed more restaurants.

And again, what happens to all the employees who work at these restaurants? They are gone. They left New York City. Where did they go? I know a lot of people who went to Maine, Vermont, Tennessee, upstate, Indiana, etc - back to live with their parents or live with friends or live cheaper. They are gone and gone for good.

And what person wakes up today and says, "I can't wait to set up a pizza place in the location where 100,000 other pizza places just closed down." People are going to wait awhile and see. They want to make sure the virus is gone, or there's a vaccine, or there's a profitable business model.

Or...even worse.

…

If building owners and landlords lose their prime tenants (the store fronts on the bottom floor, the offices on the middle floors, the well-to-do on the top floors, etc) then they go out of business.

And what happens when they go out of business?

Nothing actually. And that's the bad news.

People who would have rented or bought say, "Hmmm, everyone is saying NYC is heading back to the 1970s, so even though prices might be 50% lower than they were a year ago, I think I will wait a bit more. Better safe than sorry!"

And then with everyone waiting... prices go down. So people see prices go down and they say, "Good thing I waited. But what happens if I wait even more!" And they wait and then prices go down more.

This is called a deflationary spiral. People wait. Prices go down. Nobody really wins. Because the landlords or owners go broke. Less money gets spent on the city. Nobody moves in so there is no motion in the markets. And people already owning in the area and can afford to hang on, have to wait longer for a return of restaurants, services, etc that they were used to.

Well, will prices go down low enough everyone buys?

Answer: Maybe. Maybe not. Some people can afford to hang on but not afford to sell. So they wait. Other people will go bankrupt and there will be litigation, which creates other problems for real estate in the area. And the big borrowers and lenders may need a bailout of some sort or face mass bankruptcy. Who knows what will happen?

…

I lived three blocks from Ground Zero on 9/11. Downtown, where I lived, was destroyed, but it came roaring back within two years. Such sadness and hardship and then quickly that area became the most attractive area in New York.

And in 2008/2009, much suffering during the Great Recession, again much hardship, but things came roaring back.

But...this time it's different. You're never supposed to say that but this time it's true. If you believe this time is no different, that NYC is resilient, etc I hope you're right.

I don't benefit from saying any of this. I love NYC. I was born there. I've lived there forever. I STILL live there. I love everything about NYC. I want 2019 back.

But this time it's different.

One reason: bandwidth.

In 2008, average bandwidth speeds were 3 megabits per second. That's not enough for a Zoom meeting with reliable video quality. Now, it's over 20 megabits per second. That's more than enough for high quality video.

There's a before and after. BEFORE: no remote work. AFTER: everyone can remote work.

…

Everyone has spent the past five months adapting to a new lifestyle. Nobody wants to fly across the country for a two hour meeting when you can do it just as well on Zoom. I can go see "live comedy" on Zoom. I can take classes from the best teachers in the world for almost free online as opposed to paying $70,000 a year for a limited number of teachers who may or may not be good.

Everyone has choices now. You can live in the music capital of Nashville, you can live in the "next Silicon Valley" of Austin. You can live in your hometown in the middle of wherever. And you can be just as productive, make the same salary, have higher quality of life with a cheaper cost to live.

…

Wait for events and conferences and even meetings and maybe even office spaces to start happening in virtual realities once everyone is spread out from midtown Manhattan to all over the country.

The quality of restaurants will start to go up in all the second and then third tier cities as talent and skill flow to the places that can quickly make use of them.

Ditto for cultural events.

And then people will ask, "wait a second - I was paying over 16% in state and city taxes and these other states and cities have little to no taxes? And I don't have to deal with all the other headaches of NYC?"

Because there are headaches in NYC. Lots of them. It's just we sweep them under the table because so much else has been good there.

NYC has a $9 billion deficit. A billion more than the Mayor thought they were going to have. How does a city pay back its debts? The main way is aid from the state. But the state deficit just went bonkers. Then is taxes. But if 900,000 estimated jobs are lost in NYC and tens of thousands of businesses, then that means less taxes unless taxes are raised.

…

What reason will people have to go back to NYC? 

#james altucher #linkedin #new york city

[kiraalexander]

a dispute me and a friend can't seem to agree on, but i wanted to know your opinion: should have kim never bothered with jimmy, or should she had to put her foot down and made a better effort at communicating?

Hoo boy anon, this question has been weighing on me with the last episode (5x3) and the insider podcast to 5x2, which I just listened to the morning after I watched 5x3.

But I want to rephrase your question a little bit and ask: would Kim’s life have been better without Jimmy in it? and my answer is no.

Spoilers for season 5 up to 5x3 and the insider podcast 5x2 below.

The Kim we’ve gotten to know during the course of BCS is a very closed-off, tightly-wound person, who moves through the world with a deep sense of wariness, or caution, or suspicion, and we’ve only gotten tiny clues to why she’s so closed off as the series has progressed. 

She has no close friends other than Jimmy - she’s even distant with Ernie when he calls her, and you never see her socializing with her fellow associates. When she makes her cold calls during 2x5, she’s constantly reminding her targets who she is and where she’s met them, usually at an ABA mixer or other professional networking event.

Her professional relationships are few and far between, and have become extremely transactional as the show progresses. Howard is, of course, an absolute nightmare who uses petty office politics to oust Kim to the cornfield whenever she inconveniences him. But even Rich and Kevin are only friendly to Kim when she’s of use to them - either building Kevin’s dream of an expanded Mesa Verde, or “keeping the lights on” by focusing on paying clients. This is, by the way, after Kim has explicitly offered to build Schweikart’s banking practice in exchange for the kind of resources needed to allow her a pro bono practice. 

Finally there’s Paige, where there was a chance at real friendship. Kim even admitted to Paige her hesitations about taking down Chuck, something she couldn’t do with Jimmy. But Paige turned cool when Kim didn’t demonstrate that she’d be at Mesa Verde’s beck and call, showing Kim that while they can be friendly, they can’t be friends. (This is not, by the way, Paige’s fault - Kim fucked up by her evasiveness to Paige when Paige had the legitimate expectation that Kim had no other professional obligations. Despite this, Kim’s instinct is to shut the relationship down once Paige’s amicability proved to be transactional.)

Then there’s family. The creators have pointed out on the podcast that Kim has no personal or family photos in her apartment. Further, Kim has mentioned only four family members (or in one case a group of family members) over the course of the show: 1) her grandmother who died tragically; 2) her scumbag cousins who stole her grandmother’s prescriptions and savings; 3) her father who loves Ice Station Zebra; and 4) her mother, who dragged her from place to place to stay ahead of landlords. Kim only feels positive feelings of sorrow for her grandmother’s death, and love for the movies her father loved, indicating that movies are likely the only way she and her father related to each other - especially since he apparently wasn’t around when she was “little” to assist her mother in her multiple moves. (#relatable)

Given all of these relationships, I’d say that Kim has very good reason to move through the world suspicious of what other people want her for. 

Kim has, essentially, no one, except for Jimmy, the only person who loves her without a separate agenda. And I say separate agenda because Jimmy does have an agenda. He wants Kim to respect him, admire him, and become his partner in both their professional and personal lives, but he doesn’t try to coerce or force her in either of those spheres. Sure, he tries to tempt her with real estate (and oh man would I have loved to see them get down in one of those dentist chairs before they moved them out), and tries to impress her with his legal and business acumen. But when she tells him that she wants to do something else, he never puts the screws to her like… Paige, and Rich, and Kevin, and especially Howard have all done.

And then we need to consider what Kim’s life would be like without Jimmy. When we first see her, she’s in debt to HHM and Howard’s holding it over her head by treating her worse than we’ve seen him treat any other employee. She has a two-year-plan of becoming partner, an empty apartment… and that’s it. Kim is all work and no play, and over the course of the show, Jimmy has showed her that she can play. Her revelation about her childhood meant that Kim has had precious little ability to play, and I find it likely that she’s only just learned what play means through Jimmy’s influence. It’s more than a personal, physical or romantic relationship; Kim’s sole source of non-work related joy is Jimmy, whether that’s healthy or not. To say that Kim should never have bothered with Jimmy is to say that Kim might never have learned to play and experience joy, and that’s utterly tragic! He’s given her a facet of life that she never otherwise would have seen, and I posit that, to progress this far, she needed that facet, that outlet and that experience.

That said, we know that Jimmy is toxic to Kim, and that he is only going to get worse for her as the series progresses. As we’ve seen, Jimmy is compartmentalizing his feelings from his actions following Chuck’s death. While Kim tried to help him break down his barriers, he’s resisted to the point of becoming Saul. Should Kim have insisted that Jimmy see a therapist and talk to her? Sure, I think so. But what we know of her character means that her wariness and her suspicion of the world at large - informed by her childhood as well as adult trauma - are preventing her from taking that huge step that would lead to friction between herself and her only intimate, non-transactional relationship. Part of her is, I think, frightened of fully opening up to Jimmy, and the heartbreak that would potentially ensue if he doesn’t recover from his moral calcification. But maybe her fear is also of the intimacy that would occur if Jimmy followed her advice. Their shared trauma could be overwhelming to both of them, if they’re not fully prepared to shoulder it, and right now, neither of them is prepared.

As it is, Jimmy has not only shut himself down, but he’s corroding Kim’s sense of morality, as we’ve seen with Mesa Verde and with Huell and with Bobby and Lois. He’s teaching her to put her toes over the line and enjoy it, because it’s the only form of play she’s ever experienced.

Kim’s personal sense of morality has, so far, prevented her from going fully over the line, and I’m very worried about what’s in store for her in the upcoming episodes. I’ll even go so far as to predict that the “Wexler v. McGill” in ep. 6 is a scam they both cook up, and whether it ends up badly for her… who can say. 

So, anon, I guess my answer is to you: I don’t think Kim should never have bothered with Jimmy, because he’s essential to her as a person, an embodiment of the joy and pleasure life can bring, and her own emotional growth from her traumatic childhood. And while I think it would have been a good idea for Kim to have made more of an effort at communicating with him, she’s not emotionally prepared to do so in her current state. And where that takes us through Season 5 and beyond… I only wish her the best, as the best character on my teevee and in my heart.

#bcs #bcs season 5 #bcs 5x3 #insider podcast 5x2 #bcs spoilers #spoilers #kim wexler #jimmy mcgill #kira's asks #another novel nobody asked for #bcs meta

[othniestearat-blog]

FOR APPLE HOUSE FLIPPER HACK TOOL HELP ME FIND CHEAT CREATOR EMPYREAN [ANDROID]

    Authors Empyrean House Flipper cheats

  notice While buyers will comment about things, I’ve yet to figure out how to see all of their wants otherwise

publish Date 17 May, 2018

10k

House Flipper is a unique chance to become a one-man renovation crew. Buy, repair and remodel devastated houses. Give them a second life and sell them at a profit!

House Flipper is a unique chance to become a one-man renovation crew. Buy, repair and remodel devastated houses. Give them a second life and sell them at a profit.

Seesaawiki.jp/darashii/d/Hack%20Exe%20Press%20Inc.%20Entertainment%20Genre%20(Playstation) ‎Learn the strategies, systems, and secrets of the nation's top house flippers, wholesalers, and real estate investors right here on The House Flipping Podcast with Bill Allen! Bringing you deep-dive interviews and insights on flipping houses and wholesaling real estate, House Flipping HQ is the ulti.

The Bee Movie Script, but it's Brave Frontier. SORRY I RUINED YOUR HOUSE, House Flipper #2.

  ERB OC Contest Voting. penpochia.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-2.html

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https://courtney-7.jimdosite.com/hack-legit-monkey-king-hero-is-back-hero-edition-free-how-to-get-undetected-ps3/ Games with tag: House Flipper License Key House Flipper - Crack & Keygen House Flipper Simulation. EDIT: Guys, I think we have a part two coming in- we've been invited by EM next week monday (June 2nd) so I'm gonna post what happens and link the thing EDIT: Heres part 2 [ ek\ who\ ruined\ my\ birthday\ partys\ mum\ invites/ ek_who_ruined_my_birthday_partys_mum_invites/ Thank you for the gold, kind stranger! Its barely been 8 mins since I uploaded this! English is my f.

  Fizzy's Lunch Lab: Hectic Harvest hack us hack tool House Flipper is a fun new game in which you become a one-man renovating crew - with you buying broken down old homes, smashing through walls, ripping out outdated furniture, repairing fixtures, painting, adding furnishings, cleaning up and then selling it, all within a budget and all in the name of making a profit. First up, sorry to those who found the original introduction to SG. landlord\ that\ lived\ in\ the\ kitchen/ landlord_that_lived_in_the_kitchen. difficult to follow. First time poster and all of that jazz! Youll be glad to know Im sticking to my day job. I apologise in advance for any confusion during Part 2! Please bear with me. Otherwise if youre intoleran.

House Flipper PC, PS4, XONE, iOS, AND. * I have. Occult preRaise. Occult RERaise. 4RC4N01D! 4: KOHBEEP edition 1 Ride / N.P.P.D. Rush. The milk of Ultra violet / Snowflake Tattoo/ 12 orbits 16bit Trader 3079/3089/4089 Triple Pack 7 Wonders 7 Wonders - The Treasures of Seven Retail 7 Wonders 4: Magical Mystery Tour 7 Wonders Ancient Alien Makeover 7 Wonders II Retail 8infinity A Detective's Novel A Plot Story A Shawn Story Aarklash: Legacy Abandoned ABC Coloring Town Absoloot. WTS Steel Will Cutjack D2 (B. ‎House Flipping QA with Justin Williams.

[art-of-manliness]

Podcast #481: Building Financial Independence Beyond the Stock Market

Financial independence is a goal for a lot of folks. But what does it take to get there? My guest today explores that question on his website, Financial Samurai. His name is Sam Dogen, and before writing about money online, he worked in finance. We begin our conversation discussing how his career in equities shaped his personal finance philosophy and made him leery of putting too much wealth in the stock market. Sam shares why he recommends putting a lower percentage of your money in stocks than is often recommended in mainstream finance advice, how that percentage should shift as you get older, and alternative ways to invest, build your wealth, and create multiple streams of income that will give you more control over your fortunes. Sam then shares what it means to be financially independent and some of the blindspots he thinks exist in the FIRE, or Financial Independence/Retire Early, movement. We end our conversation talking about how to plan your financial life for the future, especially concerning what the changing world will be like for your kids. Show Highlights * How Sam’s net worth was affected by the ’09 crash  * Why Sam diversified away from the stock market * How Sam’s philosophy towards money differs from many financial experts out there  * Forecasting your future — and the worst-case scenario — when it comes to your money * How Sam’s fairly conservative approach has helped him in the long run  * Why your investments should have some utility  * Investing in real estate without being a landlord  * The wisdom of stability — in both your career and your locale  * Changing your investment strategy as you age  * Why Sam advocates starting a business as an investment strategy  * The FSDAIR framework for paying off debt  * The FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement  * How to calculate how much you need to retire early * Blind spots people have when it comes to financial independence * How do you plan for your kids’ future?  Resources/People/Articles Mentioned in Podcast * From a Paycheck Mentality to a Net Worth Mentality * 4 Money Tips From 4 Personal Finance Legends * The Power of Compound Interest * How to Think About Money * So You Want to Join a Multi-Level Marketing Company * Got a Job Offer? Here’s How to Negotiate the Salary Higher * What is a REIT? * Real Estate Crowdfunding * AoM series on side hustles * How to “Moneyball” Your Way to a College Degree * Start a Debt Reduction Plan * My interview with Mr. Money Mustache * Saving For Your Kids’ College Education Connect With Sam  FinancialSamurai.com  On Twitter On Facebook  Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!) Listen to the episode on a separate page. Download this episode. Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice. Recorded on ClearCast.io Podcast Sponsors Navy Federal Credit Union. Proud to serve over 8 million members, and open to active duty military, DoD, veterans, and their families. Visit NavyFederal.org/manliness for more information.  Harry’s. A great shave doesn’t come from gimmicks. Harry’s use simple, affordable hardware that simply provides a great shave. Get a free trial set that includes handle, blades, and shave gel at harrys.com/manliness.  The Great Courses Plus. Better yourself this year by learning new things. I’m doing that by watching and listening to ​The Great Courses Plus. Get a free trial by visiting thegreatcoursesplus.com/manliness. Click here to see a full list of our podcast sponsors. Read the Transcript Coming soon! The post Podcast #481: Building Financial Independence Beyond the Stock Market appeared first on The Art of Manliness. http://dlvr.it/Qyhxb6

[andlandlord]

The first... and Landlord Podcast with Jonathan Taylor Smith

Husband, Father, Entrepreneur, Realtor... a long list of other titles and descriptions... and Landlord!

Welcome to the "... and Landlord" Podcast - with Jonathan Taylor ("J.T.") Smith... Following a Roadmap to Financial Freedom Through Residential Rental Real Estate. Here you'll learn how adding "... and Landlord" to the litany of titles and descriptions that speak to who you are and what you do may be the greatest opportunity to achieve financial freedom available to the average person today. Where someone else pays the bills (the Tenant) and someone else provides 80% or more of the money (the Bank) and where you get 100% of the cash-flow, all future appreciation and the tax benefits. All on an asset that's insured against loss, and that cannot be worth ZERO short of an Alien Invasion or the Zombie Apocalypse, ultimately resulting in a FREE HOUSE for YOU (the Landlord) - that will kick out cash-flow for the rest of your life and beyond! You try getting any of that from the stock market or your 401K. So be all that you are... and Landlord!

No? Scared? Name for me another asset where you can get a low interest 30-year loan for 80% (or more) of the purchase price of that asset, but still get the benefits of being 100% owner. And for which you can get cheap insurance on that asset protecting against losses, including fire, theft, natural disasters, etc... Yet you get 100% of future value appreciation and all of the tax benefits, including mortgage interest deduction, and deduction of rehab / repair and operating expenses, plus phantom deductions like depreciation. All while having everything paid by the Tenant!?

But when many people think of Landlords, they may think "Slum-Lord", so it seems Landlords have an image problem. Worse still, many who have considered becoming a Landlord think they'll get calls from Tenants at 2AM reporting their toilet overflowing; or they'll have to fight to collect rent each month... Well, if you're getting calls from Tenants at 2AM or you're fighting to collect rent - YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!

So I'm here to tell you WHY you should be and HOW to become and SUCCEED as a Landlord - how to do it right, so that it builds your wealth and enhances your life (not the other way around). Done right, you'll avoid the stereotypes and problem Tenants while acquiring great cash-flow positive / appreciating properties and have systems, policies and a team in place that will make it all run smoothly - as a business.

Real Estate has made more millionaires than any other asset class (by far), and especially in the USA, it provides an opportunity to build wealth and create passive income that should not be dismissed because of misinformation, doubts and fears.

I remember when I first started telling people that I wanted to be a Landlord (I would joke saying I wanted to be a "Slum-Lord", but that's just my warped sense of humor) - and inevitably the person would vomit their Landlord Horror Story all over me (or that of a friend or family member). But in listening to such stories for only a few minutes, I would quickly hear the thing that person did wrong (or failed to do right) that was a critical mistake I was convinced I wouldn't have made... I could do it better. And I was right!

Being a Landlord is simple, if done right... If operated as a business, with rules and policies never broken, procedures always followed with systems properly utilized and when surrounded by a reliable team. Listening to the "... and Landlord" Podcast will give you insight into these things, and so much more regarding WHY and HOW to become a Landlord running a rental property business that builds your wealth now and for generations to come, while greatly enriching your life with passive income that allows you to pursue your dreams.

So again, be all that you are... and Landlord!

... and Landlord! Rental Real Estate Podcast Episode

#landlord #real estate #rental property #rental properties

[seanrmorrissey]

(Landlording for Life Real Estate Podcast)

Checkout this week's #Landlording for Life #podcast episode with the "Landlord Coach" discussing how to use the "VIP Process" to #delegate tasks as a landlord : 

https://wp.me/p8ef8y-12h 

#tenant #lease #multifamily #vision #infrastructure #process #realtor #mortgage #portfolio

#SoundCloud #music #Landlording for Life Real Estate Podcast #VIP #VISION #PROCESS #INFRASTRUCTURE

[mentornationpodcast]

The Most Powerful Investing Secret that Nobody Wants to Hear

If you follow some of the most successful influencers on social media today such as Gary Vaynerchuk, Grant Cardone, Dean Graziosi, and others, you will hear a very common question asked thousands of times by so many people. The question goes something like this. Grant! I have $25,000 saved. What should I invest in?

Hi, my name is John Abbas and I’m the host of Mentor Nation Podcast. Today, I’m writing an article about The Most Powerful Investing Secret that Nobody Wants to Hear. These tips will help you to gain more and more profits.

Every time I hear this question, I usually see two answers being given.

They say “Invest in yourself”

They recommend investing in what “they” are selling.

Not that this answer is wrong, but is it really what people want to hear? Is the answer complete? Is the question even able to be answered generically or is the answer on a case-by-case basis depending on the situation of the person who is asking?

This is why I want to share something with you that a very wise mentor of mine shared with me.

You see. In my 20s, I was all over the place. I was making decent money in Network Marketing, and my mind was racing. I had a little money saved and decided that I was ready to be an investor. Every time I heard about some cool opportunity to get in on something early, I was hooked. I started following lots of people who built wealth in different industries. Some made millions in the stock market. Some made their fortune in Real Estate. Some by selling coaching and marketing. If you follow anyone enough, you will feel like what they do is what you should be investing in. If you follow several people, this can lead to confusion and uncertainty. This is where I found myself. I had several courses that I only watched part of. I was paying for software that I didn’t know how to use. I was paying for masterminds with other clueless people hoping to get some sort of direction. I was dabbling a little into the stock market. I owned a little cryptocurrency. I was trying to figure out how to do drop-shipping and make millions on Amazon.

Then I met a mentor in Nashville that corrected my thinking and helped me get clear on what I should be focusing on… Here is the advice he gave me almost 10 years ago that has made me a lot of money but more importantly helped me understand the mind-set around investing wisely.

Before you ever become an “investor” with your money he said “Invest your time to build a skillset because nothing can take that away from you. Learn how to build a business around that skill set. Not only will you learn a valuable skill, but you will learn other equally valuable skills as you build the business such as leadership, communication, problem-solving, sales and marketing, and management.”

Choose what you are passionate about, what you enjoy doing, or something that is highly valued in the marketplace to others, and build out a strong skill set by learning, finding mentors, practicing, and getting results. This is how you create a stable and steady income. If you do this well, and you don’t live above your means by buying dumb shit, then you should make quite a bit more than you need to live allowing you to save money. Focus on building that before you invest in anything else. Don’t think because you have $20,000 saved that you are ready to be an investor. Until you have mastered something that makes you valuable, and that people are willing to pay you good money for, just stay the course with blinders on. Regardless of what happens in the economy, there will always be a demand for people with a valuable skill that most people don’t have.

Here is why this is important. As I type this, the world is getting ravaged by the coronavirus. Nobody saw this coming. Businesses are closing, people are losing everything, the stock market dropped over 30% and things are just getting started. In Nashville where I live, thousands of Airbnb’s that were making owners a fortune due to tourism, are now vacant and many of them will head into foreclosure soon.

“Investments” are getting crushed but the people who have skills are still making tons of money.

Once you have built a business that generates excess cash flow that is stable, then it might make sense to start investing. So what should you invest in? Unfortunately, I can’t give you a perfect answer because everyone’s situation is different, however, I will give you some direction and some questions you should ask yourself.

Do you want to be a hands-on Investor or a hands-off investor?

Do you want to focus on short-term investing or long-term?

Do you want to invest in things with high risk, high reward, or low-risk low reward?

Do you want to diversify, or just invest in one thing that you believe in?

Do you see how the answers to these questions can lead to drastically different advice?

What I do might not be what you should do but let me share what I do at the moment that works for me.

My main business is day-care. That is where I spend much of my time and energy because I know that business, it’s very profitable, and I can expand. The demand for quality childcare is high and it’s not easy, so I spend a majority of my time planning the next 5 years on how I can go from currently doing over a million per year to be at $10 million per year at the end of the 5th year. I know that to do this, I will need to open up more locations and focus on owning the real estate as well so that the money I pay monthly in rent is toward a mortgage on a property I own vs. giving it to a landlord.

I know that I have excess money and for me, I like to be hands-off. I want to invest in both short-term payoff and long-term payoff, and I don’t mind taking big risks if the rewards are there.

I put my money into buckets.

Bucket 1: Savings. 6 months of living expenses in liquid money or cash because you just never know.

Bucket 2: Money I focus on just investing back into my main business

Bucket 3: Retirement. I have Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, and IRA’s

Bucket 4: Stocks. Since I want to be hands-off, I focus on ETF’s, and solid companies that pay a great dividend. ETFs are Exchange Traded Funds that just follow the S&P 500.

You are just buying a pool of the top 500 companies traded so it’s more stable. Since for the last 100 years, the S&P has gone up, if I think long term, I should be good. I like dividend stocks because, in addition to owning shares of the company, they pay a dividend quarterly which is steady cash flow aka residual income.

Bucket 5: Real Estate: This is also hands-off for my situation. Since my fiancé is a realtor, and Real Estate holds value well long term, I chose this and can do this hands-off. She sources deals, she runs the numbers, we buy the property or properties, have a contractor fix them up, and then have a property manager rent them out and handle 100% of the day-to-day while we collect a check every month.

Remember: I am not telling you what to invest in or that your plan should be my plan because it shouldn’t. The purpose of this blog is to help you understand that before you become an “investor” with your money, Invest your time into building skill and build a business around that FIRST until you can create a lot of excess cash flow.

Second, before you invest your money, ask yourself the right questions so that you understand what type of investing suits you so that you aren’t just throwing your money away at everything that sounds good or some get rich quick BS. Many great investments are both hands-off and hands on, low risk and high risk but you need to know what your risk tolerance is and also if you’re thinking is short term or long term.

Lastly. Some of you reading this might just want to be an “investor” for your career. In that case, being an investor will be your business and you will still need to build a “skill” so everything above still applies. Choose the industry you love, learn all that you can, find a mentor, take massive action, make mistakes, learn from them and keep going and chances are you will become a great investor!

To Read/Listen More Podcast Kindly Visit Our Website Online.

#mentor nation #mentor nation podcast #mentor podcast #podcast #podcasting #mentor podcasting #world class podcasting #world class podcast #business podcast

[wineanddinosaur]

Next Round: The Design-Focused Sensibilities of Double Chicken Please

Airing between regular episodes of the VinePair Podcast, “Next Round” explores the ideas and innovations that are helping drinks businesses adapt in a time of unprecedented change. As the coronavirus crisis continues and new challenges arise, VP Pro is in your corner, supporting the drinks community for all the rounds to come. If you have a story or perspective to share, email us at [email protected].

In this episode of “Next Round,” host Adam Teeter sits down with GN Chan, co-founder of Double Chicken Please in Lower Manhattan. GN’s journey has taken him from growing up in a home with no alcohol to bartending in some of New York’s most storied establishments. Today, he faces the daily challenges of opening a bar during Covid.

Along with his co-founder, Faye Chan, Double Chicken Please uses GN’s extensive experience in product design to bring hacking design into the bar’s theme. Hacking design focuses on the concepts of deconstructed and reconstructed menu offerings such as drinks that combine lime rum, cold-brew coffee, and apricot, or a reposado tequila with lavender and cacao. For food, chicken sandwiches take center stage, along with plant-based options and shareable sides. With no indoor dining and limited outdoor space, Double Chicken Please is offering to-go and delivery options until regulations ease.

GN and Adam also discuss the bar’s craft cocktail offerings that use a tap system. The gas-injected, stabilized system allows for a clean, no-touch, creation of cocktails. It also lowers labor costs, which is evident in the establishment’s cocktail prices, which are between $12 and $14.

Listen Online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

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Or check out the conversation here

Adam: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter. And this is a VinePair “Next Round” conversation. We’re bringing you these conversations in between our regular podcast episodes in order to give everyone a better picture of what’s happening in the drinks world right now. Today, I’m really lucky to be talking with GN Chan, co-founder of Double Chicken Please, a brand-new bar that’s opened in Lower Manhattan. GN, thank you so much for joining me.

GN: No problem. My pleasure. Thank you for having me here.

A: Before we talk about the craziness of opening a bar during Covid and why you did that, tell me about Double Chicken Please.

GN: Basically, it’s a design studio. It started 12 years ago, when it was supposed to open. The design studio was my best friend’s from college, in Taiwan. It never happened. And by chance, I switched my career. I was a designer who became a bartender, and moved from Taiwan to New York. And years later, I started thinking about opening a place. So we turned the design studio into a bar, basically. But we still operated under this brand, under a design brand. So right now, we are deciding on our food and beverage, but down the road, we have a lot of different things coming up. So yeah, it’s a beverage and food brand for now. But down the road, we might collaborate with different brands, like clothing or design or a gallery. That’s what we are planning to do. So it’s pretty exciting.

A: So when you were in college, were you were doing graphic design? Were you doing more mixed mediums? What was your background as a designer before you came to New York and entered the bar world?

GN: I was studying structural design, or in the modern language, it would be product design. So basically furniture, product, all this stuff. And I was very interested in interactive design, like AI. For example, you wave your hand, and something just goes up, or you wave your left hand and something reacts to you. Stuff like that. I was pretty amazed by technology and all the stuff around me. So I combined all the things with graphic design.

A: And what brought you to New York right after college?

GN: So, I was doing my own design studio after college. Military service is our duty in Taiwan, and all of a sudden, someone scammed me. I got scammed, so all of my money’s gone. I was broke. So very randomly, I went to the bar and asked for a job. And I got hired without any skill or knowledge of bartending. I just needed a job to pay off my bill. And then I have no money, so I’m living in the bar for seven months. There’s a small attic in the bar in Taiwan, and I just lived in that small attic for seven months, and started learning bartending. And I figured out what it is. Really cool and really fun. Basically, it merged two of my biggest interests. One is design, and one is to perform. I used to be a trained magician. So this is perfect. It fully combined two of my major interests, even though I don’t drink. I didn’t really drink alcohol growing up, my whole family doesn’t drink, but I still learned how to do it. And I really like it. Then one day, my friend from Hong Kong came to visit — she’s a really well-known bartender — and I asked her, “you know better than me about the bartending world. Where’s the most challenging place for making cocktails?” And she said, “hmm, maybe New York.” I said, “OK, I’m going to go to New York.” And then a month later, I bought a one-way ticket and quit my job. And I’m here. And that was 10 years ago. I’m lucky enough to still be here.

A: Wow. So you’ve bartended at a bunch of storied places in New York prior to opening Double Chicken Please. When did you have the desire to open your own place? What was that thought process for you?

GN: I think it was five or six years ago at Angel’s Share, and I love Angel’s Share, I loved the people I was working with, I love everything. But Angel’s Share is really Japanese. I always say it’s rebellion Japanese. They have a really unique style, and I think it’s better to not change it. It’s better to stick with that. So if I wanted to do something, I needed to start with my own. And so I started thinking and started planning and it took a long, long time. The whole project took six years to actually make it happen. There were so many obstacles that we bumped into, it was almost too much. We thought about quitting this project so many times. We almost moved back to Asia two years ago. But for some reason, I think I’m just stubborn. My business partners are also really stubborn. We just want to make things happen and the way we want to be. So, a month ago, we opened Double Chicken Please in the Lower East Side, which took us six years.

A: Was the length of six years, was that finding the right space? Raising the capital? Was it all of those things that is what made it take so long?

GN: Yeah, but mainly it was looking for space. There are so many obstacles. For example, dealing with the landlord. The back-and-forth negotiations, every term takes four or five months. And this one time, the landlord just disappeared. Another time, the landlord wanted to open the bar by himself. After he reviewed our business plan. There’s another time, after six or seven months of negotiation, the landlord went to jail. So the whole thing fell apart. And there’s another time we were about to sign a lease, and at the very last minute, the bar says, “OK, so we’re gonna do a three-days celebration but before that, we will close.” And I say, “yeah, that’s totally cool.” And they got busted. They served underage people, so their license got suspended. I don’t know, just a backlog or something happens in our life, it just never worked. So it took us a long, long time.

A: So talking about when you finally open. I’m assuming you had the space before the coronavirus outbreak? Or were you already in the midst of building the space out when this all started?

GN: No, it was before. We started negotiating this current spot, 115 Allen Street, around January 2019. And then we finally got the keys on Aug. 1, 2019 and started to build out. And then the Covid broke out, and there were four or almost five months when nobody wanted to work. And so the whole project kept dragging and dragging until Nov. 13, 2020, when we opened. We basically opened two days after the build-out finished.

A: Wow. And was the landlord understanding about what was happening with Covid, and were you able to take a break and not have to pay rent?

GN: Well, the tricky thing is, our landlord, they are good people, I have to say. I’m really grateful to have this landlord on this journey with us. But the thing is, they are a bunch of young people like me and my business partner. They are not wealthy people who sit on the couch, collecting money. They are young people who mortgage their house or home and try to do real estate business. So there’s only so much that they can help with, because they also got hit pretty bad during Covid. So I understand that. But it just made it really difficult for us and them to come up with something that can really help each other. So they try their best, I would say. I really appreciate it. So we’re still suffering from all this setback and circumstance. We will survive.

A: So you opened in November. So what is the concept of Double Chicken Please? I know, obviously you are doing chicken. But can you explain to me the concept of what the cocktails are and what your vision is for the place?

GN: So basically, it’s under a big concept called hacking design, like computer hackers. So hacking means deconstruct and rebuild. And it’s functional. It cannot just be an art piece. You have to be something that’s practical, that’s functional. That’s called hacking. So that’s the concept of Double Chicken Please. So everything we do, we try to hack a traditional or classic drinks or play with a dish and turn that into ‘martin funk,’ we just try to play with it. So for Double Chicken Please, we actually have the front bar and the back bar. The front bar is more casual. It’s more fast-paced, with fried chicken sandwiches and cocktails, everything on tap. In the back would be a little bit more homey. More classy, the drink and food here will be more fun. Something like craft cocktails, finger food, deconstruct a whole chicken and deconstruct the traditional dish, and put it back in a drink form. Deconstruct a classic cocktail, put it back in the bites form. So it’s comparing where you are drinking your food, you are eating your drink, something like that. So it’s a little bit more fun.

A: Very cool. So when you had the concept, you mentioned your business partner, does she have a background in food? Who had the background to know what you wanted to do? And on-site for the food side? Obviously, the cocktail side you had mastered. But when you thought about that, who did you go to for that?

GN: Our co-founder Faye Chan, she was a bartender like me, and she handled a bar in Shanghai called Speak Low, which is one of the top 20 bars in the world. And then I called her when they got No. 10 in the world. I say, ”It’s about time.” So we jumped into this project together. But the food part, we actually worked with a couple of different chefs before and tried to figure out what the best way for us. It’s a long process. About three months ago or four months ago, friends introduced us to this young chef named Mark Chou, and just bonded really well and he’s extremely talented. So we started working together and we have a really similar mindset to create something together. So now we all work together. At the beginning it was actually more like a bar. I’ll be honest with you, it was more like a bar slash light bar food. But now it’s almost half and half, food is equally as important as drinks. That’s something we learned during the first lockdown as well. Food became a big part of every bar program because, technically, people need to eat. They don’t need to drink. So during lockdown, especially now since indoor dining is banned and all the to-go and delivery is heavily driven by food, not drink. I’m really happy with it, though. People ask me, “Do you mind if you do food? Does it steal the spotlight of drink?” I said, “I don’t mind at all. Our product is our design, and I’m happy to produce everything that people need to make people happy.” I’m totally fine with whatever product we produce, whatever form it is. Everything, as long as it’s come from DCP, people like it. I’m happy.

A: So can you explain the name for me a little bit? Where did it come from?

GN: Originally, the name came from me and my best friend in college. So his nickname is Turkey in Mandarin. Turkey is somewhat like a chicken. And my nickname is something like chicken salad in Mandarin. So we both are chicken-ish, so that’s why I named it Double Chicken Please. Just something fun, catchy, something silly, I guess. Now, usually we just explain that Faye and I are two chickens. It’s just a funny name, but it doesn’t mean that we only sell chicken. We do a lot of different things based on our palates, based on our culture. We learn from all around the world. It’s not only chicken.

A: So talk to me about the cocktails a little bit. What cocktails are you doing on draft right now? And why did you decide to do cocktails on draft?

GN: Most of the drinks are based on whatever flavor that we’re interested in, and the flavor that we discover that’s good for a tap system, because the tap system is completely different from craft cocktail. When you put it in, it needs to be clarified. Everybody does it a different way. At least that’s for us, we need to clarify, we need to make sure this pulp and that nothing clogs the pipe, and it has to be really shelf-stable so that we can keep it for a long time. It’s just a different logic of making drinks and beverages. Right now, we started with a really streamlined menu, six drinks or seven drinks. Most of the drinks are a twist on a classic and give you a fun twist or something that we’ve been doing the past couple of years on the road doing the pop-up. And people would say, “Oh, this drink is actually good,” and people like it. And also, we are new. So we started with six different drinks. They all have a really different flavor profile. Try to see what people in the area are actually looking for.

A: So it’s interesting because I’m not as familiar with how draft cocktails work, so it’s cool to talk to you about it. Because you look for stuff that needs to be more stable, as you’re saying, is it more likely you would go with more of a majority- booze cocktail or a spirit-forward, as opposed to like a cocktail that has a lot of juices and things like that?

GN: Not necessarily. So for our six drinks, the ABV goes from 9 percent to 20 percent. They’re very different. So they don’t necessarily have to be higher-ABV as long as you clarify. You inject it with O2 or CO2 to make sure it’s shelf-stable. You can keep it for a long time. It’s fresh, no problem at all. So we were still focused on flavor, and how we can clarify and make them into the form that’s suitable for the tap system. So people are actually asking me, “Oh, do you do these because of Covid?” Because it’s really clean, basically you don’t touch anything. You basically just open the faucet and fill the glass. That’s it. So it’s really clean, safe, and people think it’s very simple. Also the way we do it, we can save a lot of time making stuff. So we have more time to serve the customer and to chat with our guests to make sure they have good time, and we can lower the labor costs as well. That’s why we can offer every drink from $12 to $14, which is a pretty affordable price in New York City. It is almost like a happy hour, all day.

A: Yeah, that’s definitely better pricing than you find a lot of places. So then you make the cocktails ahead. They all go into a small keg. And then do you push through with nitrogen or something that you’re pushing through the cocktail out through the tap?

GN: Yeah, basically, you can imagine it’s the same system as beer, just different gas. It’s a mixed gas. We use either CO2 or nitrous, it just depends on the drinks. Depends on what we want to present. What kind of mouthfeel — foamy or creamy texture — it depends.

A: That’s really cool. I hadn’t even thought about that. That makes it even more interesting. Awesome. And so then are you also selling cocktails now to-go?

GN: Yeah, we do. We do have two different sizes. One is per serving with ice, and people can take it to-go. Or we do these 8-ounce bottles, which are 1.5 serving to two servings. So we pour into a glass bottle, then people can easily take it home and pour ice themselves. So we offer a bunch of different choices. I think very soon, we are going to offer an even bigger quantity of bottles for the holidays right here around the corner for people who would like to party at home.

A: That’s awesome. So, through opening during Covid, what are your plans? What are you thinking about for the next three or four months? Or do you plan to keep the status quo? Obviously, we don’t know when indoor dining will come back. So is it mostly for now a to-go business and outdoors for you?

GN: We don’t really have outdoor, technically, because there’s a bus station right outside. So technically, we can’t do anything. So that’s extremely hard for us to survive. But I think people are a little bit more forgiving nowadays because they know the situation. So we just sneakily put two tables out there to host four people. And so far, nobody has complained about it. So, that’s all we got, and then just to-go and delivery. And honestly, to answer your question, what’s the plan after these three or four months? I don’t know. Every day, we try to figure out what’s good for this week or next week, because everything is changing too fast. The governor banned indoor dining, and then there’s next week or two weeks later they’re going to lock down completely again and the vaccine is out. So everything is rapidly changing. So I can’t say for sure. Also, our ideas are always constantly changing. So I would say right now we are at a stage that we plan everything a couple of days ahead of time. Just like we don’t plan something really long-term, but of course, we have a goal. So, we basically run the business day by day to see what’s going on tomorrow.

A: Well, GN, this has been really cool to talk to you a little bit about Double Chicken Please and what you guys have been up to. When do you think you’ll do products that aren’t drinks and food?

GN: Well, we’re actually doing it already. So for example, we’re selling our plates. We designed a plate and manufactured it in Poland. We designed our utensils. When you come in and use it, it looks like a screwdriver. Because the concept is when you use our utensils, you feel like you’re deconstructing and rebuilding something. So that’s our product as well. We’re selling our mask, it looks like a chicken beak. So you’ll be welcomed into the chicken family when you wear it. We already started doing a bunch of stuff, and there’s more stuff coming up. We just started to do stickers, it’s like a thank you card. The stickers show a chicken but looks like a boxer. We say it’s rolling with the punches — basically, it’s representing our spirit right now. So these are a lot of things we are trying to do, and we also see which way people can resonate more. So, yeah, it’s just a lot of things coming up.

A: That’s awesome. Well, I can’t wait to come in and check out the bar. And thank you so much for taking the time. This is really cool. I wish you guys all the best. I can’t wait to try the cocktails, and obviously next time anyone who’s listening goes to New York, you’ve got to go check out Double Chicken Please. Thank you so much, GN. This has been great.

Thanks so much for listening to the VinePair podcast. If you enjoy listening to us every week, please leave us a review or rating on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show. Now for the credits. VinePair is produced by myself and Zach Geballe. It is also mixed and edited by him. Yeah. Zach, we know you do a lot. I’d also like to thank the entire VinePair team, including my co-founder Josh and our associate editor, Cat Wolinski. Thanks so much for listening. See you next week.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity

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