Diego Landa retweeted
Some rules for working with contractors who run their businesses out of their pickup trucks:
1. Always check license status, confirm active insurance and speak to some references *before* hiring
In the construction agreement:
2. Negotiate clear, unambiguous payment milestones ("completion and sign-off of rough framing", not "15% completion")
3. Negotiate for the final payment in the contract to be greater than or equal to your rough estimate of the contractor's margin on the project
4. Have the contractor give you a conservative estimated completion date, then negotiate bonus and penalty provisions for early or late delivery, respectively (but cap the penalty so that it never threatens to put the contractor into an overall loss on the project)
5. Include provisions for kicking the contractor off the job and voiding future payments if he fails to make reasonable progress
Payments:
6. Always get a lien release prior to paying an invoice, but
7. When the contractor hits a milestone, pay the associated invoice immediately (like, the same day)
Warranty:
8. If you're building a rental and you intend to rely on the contractor warranty, set a responsiveness requirement and a carve-out ("if contractor fails to fix the problem within 48 hrs, owner can hire someone else to fix it without voiding warranty")
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For more on the business of buying, renovating and managing real estate, join my mailing list at moseskagan.com
Diego Landa retweeted
USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did we…?"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
🤖 Made with AI
Like with many world changing new tech, VR looks like a toy now, but will be a big step in digitalizing our world and driving even more dependence on devices for our daily lives.
VR is a prophylactic ensuring you will never conceive a child, as no one will want to get near you. (In this case, ensuring nothing gets done as colleagues won’t want to work with you.)
teapaw.org/cbsthismorning/status/…
1
Diego Landa retweeted
** Building homogenous teams
In my 30s as a leader, I didn't get that every person is wired differently.
I would get annoyed by detailed people.
Because I like to talk to idea people.
So, I'd build teams that had lots of ideas but got nothing done.
Diego Landa retweeted
Spend your time studying unicorns and you'll end up working for somebody else.
Spend your time looking for opportunity and you'll make something of yourself.
Diego Landa retweeted
How social algorithms be when you mention any product.
teapaw.org/supplierofmemes/status…
Diego Landa retweeted
1/ Barbara Corcoran is a self made millionaire known for her role on Shark Tank. What you may not know is her rags-to-riches story building NYC's largest residential brokerage that sold for $66mm.
This is a lesson in how finding opportunity is a matter of believing it's there.
Diego Landa retweeted
In 1955, an onion farmer from New York made a fortune cornering the market for onions in the United States.
By the time he was done, there were literally onions flowing through the streets.
Who's up for a story?
👇👇👇
Diego Landa retweeted
The idea of building in public is becoming more and more popular.
That is because it works!
There are countless examples of people that have used this strategy to help grow their business.
Here are 10 tips / examples and 1 warning…..
/thread
Diego Landa retweeted
Early on we got lots of advice that our #1 priority should be: hire great people. That sounds great, until you pause and think: wait how do I actually do that?
It's hard and I’m no master at it, but lessons and advice we’ve learned (usually the hard way):
Diego Landa retweeted
1/ There's a fascinating story of a normal guy named Allen Hemberger who became obsessed with the Alinea cookbook. He spent 5 years re-creating all 107 recipes.
There's an extremely valuable lesson in this process for anyone thinking about taking the leap to become a creator.
Diego Landa retweeted
The trillion dollar question. Why are COVID cases increasing while deaths are decreasing? The answer is simple. It's called Simpson's paradox and it's the result of incorrectly pooling data and arriving at a false conclusion. A thread 1/9 #COVID19 #ThursdayThoughts
Diego Landa retweeted
8 years ago, I got fired as President and co-founder of @udemy, a now-$2B unicorn
This is a tough story to share, and I’ll try my best to be honest
Fortunately this story ends on a positive note & I hope it’ll be useful to anyone who’s been laid off or fired.
**Read on**
Diego Landa retweeted
I've been running @morningbrew's social media for the past ~2 months
here's a thread of a few things i've learned
Twitter strategy only for now
Insta later
Excited to be participating in this program! Thanks @Spring_is for a great kick off session.
We are super excited to kickoff our Emerging Impact Investor program tomorrow evening! A huge thanks to Mari Mathews (Program Director) for working your magic and making this happen. ✨👏✨
#impact #impactinvesting
qoo.ly/35wxb8
Diego Landa retweeted
My partner and I traveled from London Heathrow to Beijing yesterday. Given the current #COVID19 situation, I thought that I would share my experience of what traveling to China is like at the moment (it might be a preview of what could come to Europe). 1/n
Diego Landa retweeted
What an inspiration. Price's example was a key contributor to us raising the minimum wage at Basecamp to $70,000. So great to see the company is still thriving, despite all the doom's talk ❤️ bbc.com/news/stories-5133281…