Latest news with #PSAs
Sky News AU
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Great to see': Liberal ‘tears' flow after Paramount forced to settle with Trump for $16m
New York Post Editor-at-Large Kelly Jane Torrance has discussed the 'Liberal tears' that flowed following Paramount's settlement against Donald Trump. Paramount Global has agreed to pay $16 million to settle against the US president regarding the 60 Minutes interview with former vice president Kamala Harris. 'And we know that … [Bill] Whitaker, who did that interview with Kamala Harris, was apparently teary-eyed when the settlement was announced in a staff meeting,' Ms Torrance told Sky News host James Morrow. 'I can only imagine his tears and the other Liberal tears that are going to flow when CBS News is forced to air Conservative PSAs. 'It's going to be great to see.'
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Sorry, Baby' Filmmaker and Star Eva Victor Can Do It All — Make You Laugh, Make You Cry, and Keep the Cat Alive
Two weeks before the limited release of Eva Victor's feature directorial debut, 'Sorry, Baby,' the multi-hyphenate was busy with some off-beat grassroots marketing: assuring Instagram followers that the film's feline supporting star, who appears in much of the Sundance hit's marketing, was OK. More than OK! 'I keep having to do them,' Victor told IndieWire during a recent interview about those homegrown PSAs. 'Someone told me that their friends aren't going to see it because they're worried the cat dies. And I was like, OK, so, something must be done. I'm continually trying to remind people, but I don't know if it'll work out. But I hope the word will get around eventually that it's not that kind of movie. [And it's not just] 'the cat doesn't die.' I want it to be 'the cat lives a wonderful life and nothing bad ever happens to the cat.' You know what I mean? Because that's different.' More from IndieWire SCAD Takes Cannes: IndieWire's Future of Filmmaking 'The Eva Victor Grad Program': Inside the Year-and-a-Half the Director Spent Preparing to Make 'Sorry, Baby' That's the sort of care and attention that Victor — who wrote, directed, and stars in the film — lavishes on everything they do (Victor uses she/they pronouns). And it's that exact sort of sensitivity that runs through every minute of 'Sorry, Baby,' which premiered to great acclaim at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it also picked up distribution from A24 and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for Victor. Victor's debut is a darkly funny and enormously tender film that is about what happens after the worst happens, but with plenty of room to weave the light next to the dark. As the film's logline hints, 'something bad' happens to Victor's Agnes, but the creator and star is wise enough to understand that's only part of the story, because that's only part of life itself. Told in non-linear chapters, the film follows Agnes as she deals with said awful life event, all of it set in the small New England town where she attended grad school and is now a professor. While 'Sorry, Baby' might be rooted specifically in Agnes' story and the bad thing at its center, in its specificity, there's still tremendous room for wider recognition and revelation. Plus: cute cat. So, yes, the cat (named Olga in the film, as played by Noochie the cat) is just fine, more than fine. Other animals? Well, there is a key scene in the film involving a mouse who doesn't fare quite as well, though that's all treated with the same blend of kindness and dark humor that sets the film apart. Victor is incredibly easy to talk to, and on a wide array of subjects, so chatting about Olga soon led to talking about their own cat (Clyde) and this writer's pair of tuxedos (Felix and Oscar) and their various adventures with in-house vermin (mostly bad). Then, of course, came this exchange, which feels as if it could have been pulled directly out of 'Sorry, Baby': Kate Erbland: I got a hamster when I was Victor: Bad? And while 'bad' doesn't even begin to cover it (anyone who has ever owned a hamster can see where this is going, and that's before I mention that my hamster came to me pregnant), the quickness with which Victor can read emotion, respond to it, and do it in such a way that you feel like instant confidants, well, that's probably why 'Sorry, Baby' is such a revelation. Cats, mice, hamsters, oh my! aside, how is Victor feeling now, on the cusp of the film being released? 'I'm feeling good. And weird. But I feel really excited for the movie to come out and have real people see it,' they said, speaking in the same clipped manner as Agnes. 'It's been so amazing that film people see it, but it's also a movie I made for a version of myself that didn't know much about film and just wanted to feel a film. That's sort of who the film's for. It just feels like kind of this pent-up thing, but I'm ready to release. It's funny it's called a release. It's mirroring so much about birth in a way that I'm surprised by.' Victor is quite thoughtful on the subject of who the film is 'for.' 'Whenever you're in a finance meeting, people love to talk about 'target audience,' and I'm like, 'Honestly, I think for a film like this, it's actually so much based on your lived experience,'' they said. 'I remember all the financiers were like, 'It's young women!' and I'm like, 'Maybe?' I don't know, but I'm excited to figure out who ends up seeing it and who finds it.' Taking the film around to other festivals and screenings has been instructive, and Victor has spent the weeks and months since that Sundance premiere getting a sense of who will find the film. Who needs the film. 'Once in a while, I'll do a Q&A after a screening, and then there are people who I meet, people who are feeling connected to it,' Victor said. 'It's not always the people I expect, based on how they look or something, but I really like that.' They noted that producer and Pastel principal Adele Romanski has a 'finance bro friend' who is 'obsessed' with the movie. 'I feel like the more time I spend in gender-fluid mentality, the more I'm like, 'Everyone's just fucking figuring it out.' I think people are surprising. People can surprise you with what hits for them,' Victor said. Victor talks about film in a very visceral, physical way. Films can hit you. They can move you. They can lodge in you. 'The way I keep thinking about movies right now, it's like there are some films that come in as you're watching them and then move through you and leave. They leave your body. And then there's some films that lodge themselves into your body and soul,' Victor said. 'Because the movie is so personal, I can't really tell [which one it is]. It's up to each person, whether it lodges or whether it moves.' Victor has been open about the very personal nature of her film, and that Agnes' experiences are inspired by things that happened in her own life. In the early days of lockdown, Victor did what many people did — got super into watching movies — and while they'd already been performing by that point (stand-up, incredibly hilarious social media bits), their interest in movies took a different cast. She started looking for stories that appealed to her own lived experiences, and that desire to see those experiences and stories and emotions eventually led to Victor writing the film's screenplay. 'When I was writing it was like, 'Can this [even] be a script?,'' they said. 'And then I started to understand how movies are not a script. One part of what the film will be exists in the script, and the rest is visual, and you can try to write towards it, but it's a completely different medium. That part I actually found a lot of joy in.' The kind of films that inspired Victor — they named some 'really intense' titles like 'Three Colors: Blue,' 'The Double Life of Veronique,' and 'The Piano Teacher' — were more about the feelings they wanted to convey. 'It started becoming clear that this is what the movie looks like and this is what the movie feels like in different moments,' Victor said. Victor said there are two distinct moments in the script where all of that blended together during the writing process — how it would look versus how it would feel, and what visuals were needed to bridge that — including the opening shot of the film and a key moment that happens in the film's second chapter, 'The Year with the Bad Thing.' Both moments focus on a building: the opening shot is of Agnes' small country house, the other scene is of her professor's (Louis Cancelmi) rowhouse over the course of a few hours. 'Those were two moments where I was like, 'This is very clear to me, the filmmaking in this is very simple and clear to me,'' Victor said. 'And they're sort of driving moments of the film visually that allowed me to see it as a movie and that it needs to be a movie. I think the screenplay part, I felt pretty comfortable, I felt like I understood what the screenplay was, and it was really about translating it into a film. That was the part that I was like, 'Oh, my God.' But, also, if you have a screenplay, it is in there. You just have to figure out exactly what you mean.' Starring in the film? That was an easier ask for Victor. Directing it? OK, a bit more fraught. 'I knew I wanted to act in it because I wrote it for myself ultimately, honestly,' they said. 'I was like, 'Maybe we should find someone else to direct it, because that seems like a lot,' and I thought about it for a little bit and I was like, 'Wait, this feels weird.' My producers were like, 'Go think about it, let it crystallize.'' I took a couple months and then I think I wrote back an email that the subject was like, 'Crystallizing Happening' or something.' Those producers include the team at Pastel, including fellow filmmaker Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, and Mark Ceryak. Pastel came on early to the project, and were instrumental to Victor in many ways, including getting Victor to the point where directing felt possible. 'It took me a little bit. Then I was like, 'I do want to direct it, and these are the places where I feel very insecure about that,'' Victor said. 'They sort of set me up on a journey. We collaborated on a journey of getting me to feel comfortable directing. Which, I don't know if I've ever felt comfortable directing, but I got to a place where there was no more learning to be done not on the job.' Romanski and co-producer and Pastel exec Catalina Rojter were often on the film's Massachusetts set, Victor said, joined by Jenkins when his schedule allowed. (Victor said the pair really bonded during the editing of the film, when Victor was editing 'Sorry, Baby' at the same post-production facility as Jenkins' 'The Lion King: Mufasa.' 'We edited in the same place as 'Lion King,' but they built a wall so that we couldn't see what they were making, because it was very private,' Victor said with a wry smile. 'Like, one time I saw one image of an owl, and I was like, 'Fuck, I'm going to get fired.' And then I was like, 'Fuck, that looks good.'') To prepare for their first day on set, Victor also turned to other filmmakers for some advice. Jane Schoenbrun offered some that really stuck, speaking to both the pragmatism and emotion Victor wanted to bring to the production. 'At that point, I was just ready,' Victor said. 'I was really nervous though, too, because I was trying to set tone in all these ways before [we even started]. I remember Jane told me this thing while they were shooting 'I Saw TV Glow,' and they were like, 'The most important thing about the first day is making the day.' So, you have to finish on time, because morale needs it, and people need to trust that you know how to do that. That was a lesson that I took with me. I was like, 'We're finishing the day on time.'' The first shot? A little trickier, as it involved Victor as Agnes and Naomi Ackie as her devoted best friend Lydie going for a walk near Agnes' house (which also used to be Lydie's house). 'There was a train that went by every 20 minutes under the tunnel we were walking over, and I really wanted to wait for the train,' Victor said. 'And Adele was like, 'That's crazy. This is the first shot of the day.' And I was like, 'Ah, man, I don't know if I should wait for the train,' and then I turned to Naomi, and I was like, 'Should we wait for it?' And Naomi was like, 'Whatever you want. Do whatever you want. I'm here.'' In some ways, that's Agnes and Lydie's relationship in a nutshell, one borne of love, trust, and confidence. If Lydie is Agnes' person, it sure sounds like Ackie filled that same role for Victor. 'I really think the reason that the shoot worked was because Naomi had so much trust in me from the beginning, without having any proof I could do it,' Victor said. 'There were moments when I had to think about what I wanted, and the patience that she gave me and the love that she gave me was completely essential for me to then become more confident. That's such a gift from day one for her to trust me without having any reason to, really.' The last day of production focused on scenes with Victor and co-star Lucas Hedges, including a handful of more intimate moments between Victor and Hedges. No spoilers here, but Victor said Hedges' last shot sees his Gavin running out of his house toward Victor's Agnes, and Victor's last shot was the converse, with Agnes running toward him. That's a sweet enough note to end it on, but Victor, as ever, had a slew of hilarious details that only added to its power and humor. 'Our Steadicam operator, Dean, was recovering from Norovirus that he got from his kids,' Victor said. 'I kept running in the wrong direction, because I was running toward the house, because my intuition was telling me that, but I really had to run toward these lights. I kept running the wrong way, and he just kept chugging Gatorade and I felt so bad. Then it started snowing. The whole reason I wanted to shoot there and then was because I wanted to get fucking snow in the movie, and it snowed the weekend before we shot, and it snowed the night we were wrapping, and we actually had to wait for it to stop snowing because the shots wouldn't match. So, snow didn't happen! But I heard that happened to 'Certain Women,' too, which is a really important movie for this film. I'm in good company.' What did it feel like to wrap production? 'It was fun, but it was weird,' Victor said. 'There's a grief to it. When you're imagining your film, it's endless, and the reason it's hard is that it doesn't exist yet, but it's everything. By the end of the shoot, there's this sadness of, it's finite, what you have is what you have. But then it's also euphoric, because you have it.' Victor laughed. 'And I had never done an edit before, so we wrapped and I was like, 'We did it! It's over!,'' they said. 'And it's like, hell no. I was humbled quick. I went to LA the next week to start editing. I had one week off where I was in my parents' house, comatose. It was an intense time. It was amazing. I miss it. The further I get from it, the more I crave it. I really do miss the part where we were making something.' There's little question that making the film was intensely personal and deeply healing for Victor, but they also understand that by saying the film is based on their own experiences or events in their life, that opens a door for people to pry. 'I'm incredibly interested in privacy,' they said. 'It's something I've had for a long time. When I was doing stand-up, I had all these boundaries around what I would say. I think it made me a pretty bad stand-up, because I was like, 'I don't want to talk about anything about my relationships.' That's one of the most interesting things people could talk about!' But 'Sorry, Baby' is, Victor stressed, a fictional narrative film. 'I know, [there's] a lot of curiosity,' Victor said. 'It's obviously a personal film, but I did have a lot of joy in the creation of world-building and in the fictional parts. It was kind of the best of both worlds, where I got to weave in my little truths in ways that are disguised enough in this world that I got to build to support this person's story. Real life is real life, but a movie has to be contained, because it only lasts a certain amount of time and the world has to support the story.' Victor added, 'People's interest in my experience, I'm trying to look at it pretty empathetically, that people feel connected to the film and are wanting for more information.' For those wanting more information, Victor points back to the film itself. 'I do think the film is the purest version of what I could ever say about me, and the film is also not me,' Victor said. 'The film is the film. The film is what we can all look at, and I'm just a part of it in my own ways. It is a piece of art. It's meant to be a piece of artistic creation. So, I do always feel it's appropriate to point people toward the film if they have questions about me.' As we were speaking in a tucked-away alcove on the second floor of the Cherry Lane Theatre (which A24 purchased in 2023), Ackie and Hedges were on stage doing remote video interviews. A monitor in the alcove featured a live feed, and we could see and hear the interviews as they unfolded. On one hand, so nice! On the other, so nerve-wracking! 'It's so nice to have Naomi and Lucas around me doing [press] with me, because I don't want it to just be my film,' the filmmaker said. 'I want it to feel like a film we all made, because we did. It's nice to remember that it's not just me.' As another remote video interview started up, Victor couldn't help but smile at the monitor. 'Aw, look at their cute little faces,' they said, just as the interviewer asked a question about Victor. 'It's so awkward. They're talking about me and I'm not here.' While we managed to turn the volume down, Victor couldn't help zeroing in on a slight framing problem, with Ackie and Hedges not quite evenly situated next to each other. 'It's freaking me out that they're not sitting in the middle,' Victor said, with a smile. 'But that's my problem. I'm the director.' A24 will release 'Sorry, Baby' in limited release on Friday, June 27, with a nationwide release to follow on Friday, July 18. Best of IndieWire The Best Lesbian Movies Ever Made, from 'D.E.B.S.' and 'Carol' to 'Bound' and 'Pariah' The Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in June, from 'Vertigo' and 'Rear Window' to 'Emily the Criminal' All 12 Wes Anderson Movies, Ranked, from 'Bottle Rocket' to 'The Phoenician Scheme'
Mint
28-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
One nation, one tariff: What the Centre is planning to light up clean power
New Delhi: The central government will hold talks with stakeholders to push the adoption of uniform tariffs for renewable energy, two people aware of the development said. Uniform renewable energy tariffs or URETs were first proposed by the Centre in October 2023, but haven't been implemented yet as power is a concurrent subject and would require states to come on board. The development assumes significance in the backdrop of delays in signing of agreements between power developers, procurement agencies and distribution companies (discoms), which has held back procurement of clean power, especially solar, by discoms even as its installed base has continued to grow. Currently, about 30 giga watt (GW) worth of PPAs are lying unsigned, according to the people cited above. This had reached a high of 55GW last November, per a report from JM Financial. 'Discoms have some reservations regarding URETs," said a government official, one of the two people mentioned above, requesting anonymity. 'The Centre would hold stakeholder consultations soon to understand what exactly is their apprehension and what kind of changes and clarifications are required. After this, we would see more PPAs (power purchase agreements) being signed." Renewable power developers sign PPAs with procurers such as Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI), NTPC Ltd, NHPC Ltd, or Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited. These power buyers then sign power sale agreements (PSAs) with distribution companies or discoms to take the power to industry and homes. Delays in signing agreements could make power from older projects unattractive, as newer ones with lower tariffs keep coming online. Some options being considered by the Centre include getting prior commitments from states, which own the discoms, for PSAs before coming up with new bids, and halting new bids before a certain number of unsigned PPAs are signed. This is how the URET would work. Grid Corporation of India Ltd, which would be the implementing agency for the mechanism, will set a uniform pooled tariff for power from central pools, which would be revised from time to time based on discovered tariffs from auctions. Then, intermediaries such as Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and others will sell power from the central pool to all end procurers including discoms at the uniform tariff. An official with a discom said on condition of anonymity that tariffs from several projects would be pooled to come up with a uniform tariff that would be revised from time to time with tariffs discovered for new projects. But if tariffs for new projects are higher than the current uniform tariff, that would lift the uniform tariff as a whole. This in turn will increase cost for discoms even for ongoing power supply under older PPAs, the official said, adding that 'the visibility of tariffs is an issue". Queries emailed to the spokespersons of MNRE and SECI remained unanswered till press time. The delay in signing PPAs comes at a time when the Centre has set a target for installing 50GW of green power every year till 2027-28. On 15 August last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated India's ambitious goal to achieve 500GW of non-fossil-based energy capacity by 2030. The Centre wants states to sign PPAs as it would also help them in meeting renewable power obligations (RPOs), which if not complied with, will attract penalties for discoms. Renewable power obligation (RPO) or renewable consumption Obligation (RCO) is a mechanism notified under the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022 by which the designated consumers, largely discoms, are obliged to consume a certain percentage of electricity from eligible non-fossil sources, as a percentage of their total consumption of electricity. Vikram V., vice president & co-group head for corporate ratings at Icra Ltd said demand, grid connectivity and cost are key factors for signing PPAs. 'Implementation of uniform tariffs is expected to discourage discoms from postponing signing of PPAs in expectation of fall in tariffs, thereby taking care of the cost factor," he said. Mint earlier reported about India's depressed green energy price scenario weighing down the country's installed and pipeline renewable merchant power capacity of around 3GW, which has entailed investments of around ₹15,000 crore. The development assumes significance given that solar power has been the mainstay of India's green energy transition trajectory. India has an installed renewable energy capacity (including large hydro capacity) of 271.5GW, of which solar power accounts for 110.9GW. For perspective, the country's total installed energy capacity including fossil sources is 472.46GW.
GMA Network
19-06-2025
- Business
- GMA Network
ERC launches probe into Siquijor power crisis
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Thursday announced that it is conducting a formal inquiry into the power crisis in the island province of Siquijor. In a statement, the ERC said it asked the Province of Siquijor Electric Cooperative Inc. (PROSIELCO), S.I. Power Corporation (SIPCOR) and the National Power Corporation (NPC) to appear and provide explanations at a public hearing scheduled for July 3. The regulator said it is reviewing the compliance of PROSIELCO and SIPCOR with their respective Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) with contracted capacity of 9.5 megawatts (MW), which the ERC said 'should be sufficient to meet the peak demand in Siquijor.' 'The investigation was prompted by reports received by the Commission regarding frequent and prolonged power outages across Siquijor, which have disrupted economic activities and affected the welfare of residents, businesses, and tourists in the province,' the ERC said. The provincial government of Siquijor, through its Sangguniang Panlalawigan, earlier this month declared a state of calamity due to the worsening power crisis, as residents have been facing rotational brownouts since May 13, 2025. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inspected the SIPCOR power plant in the province last week and directed an investigation into SIPCOR's operations amid the ongoing power issues. He added that he was open to the possibility of having another power provider in the province. 'In calling for this public inquiry, the commission is determined to find long-term solutions to the power reliability issues experienced by the province and ensure that contractual commitments are delivered and services are improved moving forward,' said ERC chairperson and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta. The ERC said, during its technical inspection last month, it observed several operational and regulatory deficiencies in the generation facilities and distribution lines in the province. 'These deficiencies include inadequate preventive maintenance, lack of fuel inventory, operating without required safety certifications and plant certificate of compliance, and the use of rental generators without permits,' it said. 'The Commission also noted the use of improper sectionalizing equipment and delays in infrastructure relocation on the distribution side,' it added. Over the weekend, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) said it had successfully restored power in Siquijor. —VBL, GMA Integrated News
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A former firefighter went from earning $1,600 a month to owning over 30 properties. He explains how he used creative financing to land his first $3 million deal with $30,000 in savings.
Jeremy Barker started a hidden-door company, Murphy Door, to supplement his firefighter income. The company grew rapidly, prompting him to look into large commercial spaces. He bought a $3 million building with just $30,000 of his own money and expanded his portfolio from there. Jeremy Barker spent much of his career bouncing between construction, working as a paramedic, and working as a fireman, as well as experimenting with startups. "I kind of played ping-pong for the first 35 years, trying to decide what it is that I loved, which was fire," he told Business Insider. "Unfortunately, it doesn't pay. I didn't want to live on $1,600 take-home a month." Unwilling to give up his firefighter career completely, he decided to supplement the modest salary with a side hustle. He started making hinges for hidden doors — an idea inspired by a DIY home theater project for his kids — and called the company Murphy Door. "That escalated quickly from 2013 into 2016," he said. "We signed Home Depot. It just grew really fast." While Murphy Door created an additional revenue stream, he put most of the profit back into the business. It wasn't until he stumbled into real estate that his wealth started to snowball. Besides his primary home in Utah, Barker had no experience buying real estate. But as Murphy Door took off and outgrew its original space, he and his real estate agent started looking at larger buildings. His agent found a deal on a 90,000-square-foot building that he told Barker was too good to pass up and pitched it as a space the company could grow into. It was listed for $3 million. "I looked at him and I'm like: 'Are you freaking crazy? $3 million? I work at a fire department. I have no idea how to get a loan.' My mortgage was difficult enough," Barker said. "He goes: 'You sign this LOI. I'll help you figure out the money.'" That night, Barker turned to YouTube to learn about financing commercial real estate. He learned a couple of things: One, he'd need to raise capital. His $30,000 in savings was a start, but not enough for a down payment. Two, he could lease a large portion of the space, about 70,000 square feet, that he didn't need for Murphy Door. Once he understood how letters of intent, or LOIs, and purchase and sale agreements, or PSAs, worked, he realized he could take advantage of the time between signing one and the closing date to get a head start on leasing. After some back-and-forth with the seller regarding terms, he got the green light to list the building for lease before closing. "I had to sell them a little bit," he said. "I said: 'Look, I only use a small space, but if I could put it up for lease, you're not committed to anything. I'll let everybody know early that it's not bought yet, but there's a 90% chance it closes.'" He signed the PSA, put a "for lease" sign outside the building, and, "within 24 hours, I had my first tenant that was like 22,000 square feet," he said. "Within the next couple of days, I got another big tenant, and before I closed, I had a full package of lease rent roll equivalent to about $140,000 at that time annually in that space." The lease agreements helped him secure the rest of the capital he needed — a couple of hundred thousand dollars — for the down payment, as he was able to show investors the expected net operating income. It also helped secure a loan. "I went back to Bank of Utah, and I said, 'Here are my rent rolls.' They did the first mortgage," he said. "Within 12 months, I retabled it over to Golden West Credit Union and pulled $2 million out — and I'd only put in $30,000." He said he paid his investors back within 24 months, and the building's value has more than quadrupled over the past decade. Recognizing the tremendous wealth-building opportunity in real estate, Barker "just rinsed and repeated" from there, he said. He's fine-tuned his strategy, but it's not dissimilar to his first deal: Find an overlooked or undervalued property — ideally a building that has been on the market for years in order to gain negotiation leverage — and build a long enough closing period into the terms with the seller in order to have time to set up lease agreements with future tenants. As of June, Barker owns more than 30 commercial and residential properties. BI confirmed his ownership by reviewing his 2024 property tax notices and his lease agreements. Barker, who said he faced bankruptcy twice early in his career, didn't have much savings to work with when he started buying real estate. "I knew that I had to think outside the box," he said. What he didn't have in capital, he made up for in research. His edge, at least in the beginning, would be understanding his market better than anyone else, and using that knowledge to pitch investors. "Spend a whole bunch of time understanding the marketplace," he said. "I've learned about buildings. I learned what rent goes for around here. And you don't have to get complicated. I'm looking at: What is the average rent rate? OK, it's going for $12 to $15 a square foot. If I buy this property, my hard costs are going to be $4 a square foot." Once you find a deal that you're confident will work, start pitching to any prospective investors within your networks. Barker said he'd frame it as: "I don't have any money to bring to the table, but you have all my time. I'm willing to give away X% of the equity to just pull off my first deal." Pitch with confidence, not arrogance, he added. "I would understand the market really well and talk at a super basic level, not to sound like you're smarter than you are," he said. "Just be confident. You don't have to talk outside your scope." Barker said he reached financial independence years ago, thanks to his real estate portfolio, which brings in about $2.5 million in annual revenue. It's freed him up to spend his time exactly how he wants: in the fire department, where he still works part time, and at Murphy Door. When it comes to real estate investment, "we get stuck on the reasons not to do it rather than figuring out how and why to do it," he said. "Quit saying, 'I can't because I don't have money.' Or, 'I can't because I've never done it.'" "I think we have to just do the homework and spend a little time to reverse engineer stuff, think about pricing, and think about 'what is the opportunity?'" Barker said. "When other people see a lack of opportunity, a different lens could probably see some opportunity there." Read the original article on Business Insider Sign in to access your portfolio
