Exclusive Audio Interview with Tom Rosen

Bryan Sweet: All right. I’m sitting here with Tom Rosen, and I’m going to ask Tom our three questions. So, Tom, the first question is, what was the major turning point, or point of increased momentum, or where you felt you had a strategic choke point that, once you acquired or completed it, made everything else that you were doing going forward better? Was there any noticeable thing in your career?

Tom Rosen: Well, there were two or three significant moments when the stock market almost collapsed. I did a lot of buying at that time and picked up a substantial profit. It didn’t take too long for it to come out. Over the next year, oil, gas, and some tech really surged. Despite what they say, you should not buy in a downturn. You should buy it when it’s down. That was probably one of the biggest lessons.

Bryan Sweet: Okay, great. And this is also with Rosen’s Diversified, just it could be anything, but what was the most valuable strategy that you wish someone had provided you earlier on that you would like to share with anybody?

Tom Rosen: You mean what did I learn?

Bryan Sweet: Yeah, some valuable strategy that you learned that, had you learned it earlier, would’ve been really helpful to even maybe propel your success sooner.

Tom Rosen: It’s simple. Once you realize, look at the balance at your bank, and you’ve got to remember that’s not all your money. That is a lot of the bank’s money. You can’t buy everything you want. You’ve got to be a little conservative in what you buy. One of the things I learned is if something is bad and it doesn’t get better, it never does. So I dump them. I don’t fall in love with anything. I dump them when it’s time. It’s okay to fail, but that’s probably the best thing that I’ve learned.

Bryan Sweet: Okay, great. Yeah, definitely, those are all learning episodes, aren’t they? And then the third question is, what was the number one most costly mistake that you’ve made, or you’ve seen other investors make, or business owners make, that you think could be avoided?

Tom Rosen: I think, well, we definitely had some businesses that didn’t work. Thank God we had more that worked than didn’t work.

Bryan Sweet: Absolutely.

Tom Rosen: And I think one thing, you could hold onto a bad business too long. When it’s bad, you must get rid of it. Take some losses on your carry forward and all that stuff. I think we had a pretty good track record. “Okay, it’s not working. Let’s get rid of it.”

Bryan Sweet: Yeah, yeah. Is there any one thing that you would say would be the pinpoint of when you would get rid of a business? It’s not going as well, but is there one thing that said, “Boy, we know, feel pretty…”

Tom Rosen: I don’t think there’s anything you could pinpoint it. You can tell, first of all, if the people aren’t quite right and get it, that’s probably the one thing. And then, second of all, it seems like you do a lot of things, and even invest a little bit more money or something, that doesn’t do it. And then, eventually, you go, “I don’t have the right people or enough money to get this thing out of the…”

Bryan Sweet: Yeah, no matter how much money I throw at it, I’m not going to get it.

Tom Rosen: Yeah, it’s just time to get rid of it. Yeah, and the good ones. But it’s all about you got to have good people when you put them in there. And even some of them that you put in there and you tell them what to do, they do it themselves. And then, yeah, when they mess it up that way, they’re definitely headed out the door.

Bryan Sweet: Yeah, but it is definitely, the better the people you have, as soon as possible, is obviously going to help, yeah.

Tom Rosen: Yeah, absolutely.

Bryan Sweet: Okay. Well, great, Tom. Thank you