Stories...

Sorry I did not follow up with my promise to write more, but been busy closing the year of and still at it.

Anyway I thought of what to write about next, after a little intro.  And I decided that I would just write about things that I thought was important, at least for me, or as they come to my head.

So what I thought more about was the importance of stories, and not just stories but stories with authenticity, stories that we live, that others want to live and so on. I thought of what story have I been telling, to myself and others, as well as market.

Coming from 12-14 years of real estate in Bali (yes I survived it) I thought what company has told good stories.  I thought of a few of the up brand management companies and sales companies and there has been some really good attempts, some good well thought through stories that market did believe.

Did the story teller believe?  Probably. was the stories true?  Yes and no.  Dreams of freedom, paradise, unmatched lifestyle was told.

Market boomed and many customers did find great investments and lifestyle.  Some did not and had close to nightmares.

One story that was absolutely not true was the legality of how many of these investments was done, how they where structured and recommended to be structured by various advisors and agencies.  I believe this has been and is the largest reason for why people have had and keep having issues.  It is by far the largest “disturber” of an otherwise great story told, perhaps except for now a looming water crisis and traffic issues. 

We see this change now and that’s good for the market and more than anything good for Bali. More and more responsible investors are coming to the market with the right structures and conscious about environment and social issues.

So that lead me to think of the stories I have been telling over the years.  We had some good years in Paradise Property and some not so good, but there was a story early in the process.  Paradise Property itself was aiming at becoming a story.  We had Uncle Phil coming in for a year or so trying to continue to build a story, and that’s when I started to realize.  We had slogans like; “with the right advice its paradise”, it’s a jungle out there” and others.  We were actually story telling about regulations, not about selling property.

I realized as well that this was what I had talked about from my first scary experience with real estate in Bali, its regulations, its laws, or lack of being more correct.  This is what I talked about to our sales team, our partners, our clients and vendors, get your structures right as things will change.  Most laughed, but possibly not anymore since various tax amnesties and now common knowledge nominee structures are illegal to mention a few.  Much more to come though.

This is what we continued to talk about in Seven Stones, and the last 3 years changes in the market has been massive as to know very few agencies talk about nominee on freehold (they still do using various freehold related permits but this will go as well soon). We have written wide and far, held seminars, work shops and so on all around business advice, company set up, do’s and dont’s, you name it.  We still do.

And then I saw the light (while I was reading further in Seth Godin’s book “all marketers are liars/tell stories)

A few lines stood out from the last chapters.  Marketer with authenticity will thrive.  If I knew what you know, would I chose to buy what you sell.  After I have used this and experienced it, will I be glad I believed the story or will I feel ripped of.  

Remember this is with Bali real estate as back ground.

It got to me this was the story I had been telling the entire time, speaking in a passionate and genuine authentic way about regulations trying to be heard in a hot “time share minded” market. Trying to sell real estate.  It did work well, but it will now work so much better.

Why?  Because we make sure investors and buyers not only chose the best possible structure to secure and manage their investments, we also educate them from A-Z on what is going on in Indonesia’s market, politics, etc from central, to province to regencies.  We are a power house of knowledge.

And with out really being conscious this was the path we chose way back and took further steps in April/May this year and recently fully decided that forward Seven Stones is a business investment consultancy, specializing in real estate and tourism.

I feel great…like really great.  I was never a sales man ( but I can sell if that makes sense), we want to help, provide support and value, and in that do well for our clients, vendors and ourselves.

So look out for 2020.  I am super exited and alive again…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Photo by Joshua Ness