A web video blog about lifestyle design, passive income, real estate, vending machines, used cars, and eustress challenges.

Grant and Alan give a quick update on where they have been and where they are going.  Shot in Grant’s kitchen.

Runtime: 19:40

A quick rundown of the episode:

• Welcome to Episode 52.
• Where have we been?
• Report on the Ren Auto Group
• Report on Renaissance Vending Group
• Report on Renaissance Men Properties

First off, thank you, thank you, thank you, to all the supportive Ren Menions out there.  After hundreds and hundreds of emails we are back to ’speak on it’.  So here goes…the biggest updates of all updates.

We are in a holding pattern, (like the picture?).  A major holding pattern.  We have always been an open book with you guys and why the hell stop now?  But first, let’s answer a couple of questions and emails…

#1 No we are NOT dead.
#2 We love our episodes too, we are trying to bring them back
#3 We did bite off more than we could chew, we had good intentions

So let’s get into it…

We have sold all cars from the RAG and the doors are officially closed! We only broke even every month (best case scenario), and it took up way to much time.  The closing of the RAG is all good news.

We have sold off all the boxers! Once again, good news, see above.

We have stopped taping The Ren Men Show (for now) because our singular focus was our rental portfolio for the past several months.  Once we stopped all the other break-even businesses we realized our portfolio was in bad shape.  We were losing nearly 20K a month! Yeah awesome, we know.  We ferociously scoured the numbers to see what the $#!4 was going on.  We feel we have more of handle on our portfolio, but by no means are we out of the woods yet.

We are in the midst of a major refinance of our portfolio. We really didn’t know what we were doing at the beginning and it really bit us in the backside. Our current goal is to sell all of our current homes and start fresh. We can renovate our houses cheaper, we can buy the houses for cheaper and we have a better grasp on the expectations/responsibilities of our renters.

Monthly repairs will kill profits! Educate your renters on your expectations and fix the little problems before they become major killers. That is all for now kiddos…

Until next time…whenever that will be…

Hey RenMenions!

Alan and I are on a bit of a break right now… but some of you have enjoyed the ‘life-style design’ home movies I have produced in the past. Here is my most recent effort celebrating Memorial Day Weekend with extended family at Paint Creek Cottage. I am attempting to capture the story-telling style of Stillmotion – my favorite group of visual storytellers.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

GP

A web video blog about lifestyle design, passive income, real estate, vending machines, used cars, and eustress challenges.

After a quick intro over an open grill, Grant and Alan take on the 300 Workout.

Runtime: 18:08

A quick rundown of the episode:

• Welcome to Episode 51.
• Report on our Progress.
• 300 Workout.

A web video blog about lifestyle design, passive income, real estate, vending machines, used cars, and eustress challenges.

Grant and Alan talk about their latest Featured Failure, then share the latest contest they will be entering.

Runtime: 12:51

A quick rundown of the episode:

• Welcome to Episode 50.
• Our Failures.
• SHOPIFY Contest.

http://stillmotionblog.com/2011/05/10/the-simple-entries/

Follow the above link and vote for your favorite video!

A web video blog about lifestyle design, passive income, real estate, vending machines, used cars, and eustress challenges.

Grant and Alan interview the authors of “Don’t Own. Don’t Rent. Live Well” via Skype about their lifestyles and inspiration.

Runtime: 27:11

A quick rundown of the episode:

• Welcome to Episode 49.
• Our Failures.
• Interview with Matthew and Fiona Peters.

10% Body Fat, are you kidding me? So for those of you who don’t know The Ren Men are dueling it out and trying to reach 10% body fat by the year’s end, if not we each owe 15K to a charity. Grant sits at about 18% and Alan sits at about 26%.

So I (Alan) took the 300 challenge. I’ve done if before but always with some kind of cheating (lat pulldowns instead of pull ups) This is the workout:

25 Pull Ups

50 Deadlifts (135 lbs.)

50 Push Ups (BOSU half-ball)

50 Box Jumps (~24. in.)

50 Floor Swipers

50 Clean and Jerk (35 lbs. db)

25 Pull Ups

Doesn’t seem THAT tough, does it? You try to finish it as quickly as you can. A ‘good’ time is under 20 minutes. Let me repeat that, under 20 minutes!

3:35 pm – Here we go…25 Pull ups, 7, 8, 9, (oh, how can I feel tired already?) 10…(insert — huffing and puffing sound here)…

3:37 pm – 14, 15 (oh they might close down the gym before I finish)…rest…

3:40 pm – I head over to prepare for some dead-lift fun…you can setup the dead-lift bar beforehand, but I know I’ll take as much rest as I can get…

3:42 pm – I still need a break from pull ups, enter dead-lifts…10, feel good…

3:44 pm – Back to pull ups 16-20, (I must have blacked out during 19 and 20)

3:47 pm – 11-20 dead-lifts still feel good…

3:50 pm – Need a break, hey I’ve got a great idea, let’s go box jumping…49, 50 pouring with sweat and swear words a-flowin’, fear starts to set in…will I make it through this?

3:53 pm – Back to pull ups 21-25, and I have to do that again? Holy cow chips…

3:56 pm – 21-35 dead-lifts, after box jumps, burn baby burn…

4:00 pm – Wheeeeeezzzzing…

4:02 pm – 36-50 dead lifts complete, (hand in the air, praise the Lord)

4:03 pm – Floor swipers burn through 20, actually felt decent…two deep breaths, rep out the last 30! Yep, I might just throw up…awesome…

4:05 pm – Clean and jerk, 25 each side, felt good…

4:08 pm – Push ups, saved them for last, because I KNEW I could rep them out…uhhhhh, negative ghostwriter pattern is full….25 half-way home…hello, nice to see you brick wall…35, how did my shirt catch on fire? Oh it’s not, those are my lats burning to a crisp…40, 45, 50…no gas left, fumes?, gone as well…

4:10 pm – The final 25 pull ups…1, 2, 3…reverse grip, 4, 5…I hate you glory days, I hate you Spartans…I hate you number 10…

4:12 pm – 6, 7, 8…reverse grip 9 and 10…I hate you vino, I hate you ego…I hate you Frak’n Peelle…I hate you Adam Baker…I hate you Annie Sorensen…

4:14 pm – 11, 12, 13, 14, reverse grip, 15…I hate you Tim Ferriss…I hate you BodPod…I hate you Tony Horton…I hate you Pat Flynn…

4:16 pm – 16, 17, 18, reverse grip, 19, 19.5…total muscle failure…I hate you YouTube body transformation videos, I hate you complex carbohydrates…I hate you King Leonidas…I hate you Ren-Menions…

4:18 pm – What can I do? How can I quit now? But I have nothing left? Stop being a kitty and get it done! 20, 21, 22, reverse grip, 23, 24…one damn more…side grip, 24.5…oh $#!4 I am done…one more, 25…DONE!

I take it all back I love you every last one of you!!!!!!!!!!!!

7:35 pm – Finally, getting enough feeling back in arms to feel confident enough that my motor skills will hold up long enough to write this post…

In conclusion, I feel extremely tired, but also really happy I finished. I did almost quit, just once, right before the last 25 pull ups, but I needed to finish…once I started the last 25 pull ups being so close to finish, I was going to finish no matter how long it took. I wanted a better time (43 minutes) and wanted to do all exercises I the right order but I would’ve been in the gym all night. I plan on doing it again next week, I’ll keep you posted…

AL

A web video blog about lifestyle design, passive income, real estate, vending machines, used cars, and eustress challenges.

Grant and Alan sell two vending machines on ebay. Then, they have a chat with Greg Hart.

Runtime: 22:44

A quick rundown of the episode:

• Welcome to Episode 48.
• Selling vending machines on ebay.
• Interview with Greg Hart.
• Should we be in your market?

A web video blog about lifestyle design, passive income, real estate, vending machines, used cars, and eustress challenges.

Grant and Alan sit down with Kevin Chance, a professional poker player.

Runtime: 24:02

A quick rundown of the episode:

• Welcome to Episode 47.
• Interview with Kevin Chance.
• 100th Home Celebration?