An Honest & Professional Businessman: Paul Brenneke

Paul Brenneke hears a number of adjectives and nouns attached to his name: efficient, organized, finance, real estate, banking… However, there are two adjectives that you’ll probably hear next to Paul Brenneke’s name more than any others: honest and professional.

As the CEO and founder of Guardian, a Boutique Investment Banking Firm, Paul Brenneke believes that honesty and professionalism are essential for success in the world of business. Developing and maintaining these two traits requires constant vigilance and a willingness to do the right thing – every time.

While Paul Brenneke wouldn’t necessarily promote himself as a “teacher” of honesty and professionalism, he has learned quite a few lessons in his 30 years of business in the banking, finance, and real estate industries. Here are a few of the lessons that he’d like to share with other professionals in those fields:

·       Speak out against injustice. It’s easy for professionals in any industry to go astray. Sometimes taking advantage of a system or position of power is all too easy. If you know of some kind of injustice, confront the individual first. If the individual shows no willingness to correct his or her behavior, then it might be time to take the problem to corporate authorities or the appropriate governmental authorities, advises Paul Brenneke.

·       Hold yourself to high standards. When you have high moral and ethical standards, then you know what is permissible and what is not. Knowing what you’ll do in a situation before you get in that situation is critical. That’s why Paul Brenneke believes it’s important to have some sort of moral code that you can operate out of.

·       Install regulatory systems. If you’re in a leadership position in your company, then Paul Brenneke highly advises that you install some regulatory systems to maintain honest and professional values in your company.

4 Types of Investments – Paul Brenneke

As the founder and CEO of Guardian, a Boutique Investment Banking Firm, Paul Brenneke gets a lot of questions about investing. Though Paul Brenneke is willing to work with his clients to diversify their portfolios with a variety of assets, he primarily specializes in real estate investing. Nevertheless, friends, family members, and acquaintances often approach Paul Brenneke for investment advice of all varieties.

According to Paul Brenneke, there are 4 primary types of investments: stocks, bonds, precious metals, real estate, and mutual funds. Here’s how Paul Brenneke typically explains them to non-finance professionals…

Stocks

Since the early 20^th century, stocks have been a very popular form of investment. Of course, the stock market has been a little less predictable in the last ten years, but – as Paul Brenneke often reminds investors – that’s any investment for you. Unpredictability is the name of the game. Great investors, just happen to have a little less of a track record with “unpredictable” investments.

Bonds

Bonds are one of the safest types of investments. However, Paul Brenneke doesn’t recommend them to anyone that’s trying to make some serious money through investing. When you purchase a bond, you are essentially loaning the U.S. government your money at interest. Your return is low, but guaranteed.

Precious Metals

Precious metals have been some of the most popular types of investments in recent years. Paul Brenneke believes that owning a few precious metals isn’t a bad way to diversify your portfolio. However, gold and silver are currently at an all time high, which means it’s not the best time to buy.

Real Estate

Real estate is Paul Brenneke’s specialty. He’s been buying and selling commercial properties – and helping his clients do the same – for more than 25 years. As the market rebounds, Paul Brenneke sees real estate as being a great investment for the coming years.

Paul Brenneke – Time Management 101

When it comes to time management, Paul Brenneke believes that everyone has their own little tips and tricks to make the most of their day. As the busy CEO (and founder) of Guardian, a Boutique Investment Banking Firm, Paul Brenneke has had to develop his own time management skills out of necessity. Otherwise, it would be impossible to adequately serve Guardian’s diverse clientele and needs.

Whether you’re in the finance, real estate, or banking fields like Paul Brenneke or a non-professional, Paul Brenneke has a few time management tips that could help you make the most of your days, weeks, and years…

·       Create a schedule for yourself at the beginning of every day. Schedule your day out in 15- or 30-minute increments. This is a great way to keep you on track and away from distractions like the Internet, morning paper, or whatever other things take away from your work.

·       Reward yourself for time management success. Time management isn’t about being your own slave driver. The idea behind proper time management is being happier and more efficient. Therefore, Paul Brenneke believes it’s critical that you reward yourself when you’re successful with your time management.

·       Get an accountability partner. Chances are, you have a colleague, coworker, friend, or relative that is also interested in being more diligent in their time management. If so, partner up with that person and report back to them about your successes and failures. Paul Brenneke believes you’ll both learn a lot along the way, which will make the experience rewarding for the two of you.

·       Read everything you can, but be selective. There are some great time management books and blogs out there that Paul Brenneke has found beneficial. It’s great to read from a wide range of authors. However, be selective in choosing the advice that you’ll actually follow, advises Paul Brenneke.

Paul Brenneke: Have an Organized & Efficient Career

If you want to do something well… you better be extremely organized and efficient – at least that’s what Guardian, a Boutique Investment Banking Firm’s, CEO and founder Paul Brenneke will tell you. Brenneke is a highly organized and highly efficient banking, real estate, and finance professional in the Pacific Northwest area.

However, he wasn’t born that way. And, if you ask Paul Brenneke, he won’t hesitate to tell you that being organized and efficient is a skill that requires practice and constant refinement, just like any other skill. Fortunately for you, there’s no reason why you can’t be organized and efficient so long as you’re willing to put in the hard work…

3 Tips for Being Organized & Efficient

·       First, be ready for change. Those who can move and adapt with their industry’s changes are the ones who will be most successful in the long run. With roughly 25 years of real estate experience when the housing bubble burst, Paul Brenneke was swept up in a whirlwind of change. Because of his organization and efficient practices, he was able to hold steady and still be in the real estate game today. Others, however, weren’t able to because they lacked organization and efficiency.

·       Secondly, don’t rely on others to provide what you need. There’s something to be said for delegation. As a busy CEO, Paul Brenneke happily delegates many different tasks. However, Paul Brenneke is careful to only delegate work to those that he really trusts. Don’t count on that new intern to have your notes ready for your speaking engagement. That burden falls on you.

·       Thirdly, keep backups of everything. No matter how organized you are, things get lost – usually at the most inopportune times. When important documents are lost, your efficiency plummets. Keep digital backups in multiple locations (cloud-based storage, external hard drives, Google Drive, etc.).

How to Be a Complex Problem Solver – Paul Brenneke

As the CEO and founder of Guardian, a Boutique Investment Banking Firm, Paul Brenneke has to be ready to solve a problem at a moment’s notice. After all, when you manage portfolios that contain up to $1 billion in assets, there’s a lot that can go wrong.

Throughout his nearly 30 years in the fields of banking, finance, and real estate, Paul Brenneke has learned how to be an excellent complex problem solver. Great problem solvers like Paul Brenneke are able to succeed in whatever roles they choose to occupy because they know how to handle situations.

If you’d like to learn how to be a great problem solver, then Paul Brenneke advises patience above all other things. Developing your problem solving skills isn’t something that happens overnight. Rather, it takes a careful attention to detail and a genuine willingness to learn from one’s mistakes. That being said, here are a few ways you can get started:

·       Transfer knowledge and skills from one field to another. Perhaps you’ve been in real estate for years. You know exactly how the closing process works, and can handle just about any situation. These days, however, you’re working in manufacturing. You may think that your “closing skills” have little to do with manufacturing. However, you’re probably wrong. Next time you run into a problem in your new career, think about how you would solve problems at the closing table. This is a great way to start thinking about solutions in a creative way – something your peers probably aren’t doing.

·       Read plenty of books. If you want to be great at something, it’s essential that you read what others – who already are great – are saying about the matter.

·       Ask others for help. Great problem solvers tend to have the ability to listen, delegate, and rely on others when necessary. Learn these three skills – all forms of “asking for help,” believes Paul Brenneke.