work out every morning at 4:45, I’m at the office by 6:30 a.m., and I don’t get home from work until 7:00 at night. - Sam Zell

I have always believed that every day you choose to hold an asset, you are also choosing to buy it. Would I buy our buildings at the price Blackstone was quoting? Nope.

At some point the guy I was sitting next to turned to me and asked, “So what do you do?” I replied, “I’m a professional opportunist.” And that has been my response to that question ever since.

In the beginning, we took nearly all of our returns in residuals, and we charged very little in fees. Eventually, the residual equity turned to cash, and then we’d reinvest it in the business. Consequently, we never had any money. Never. We were asset rich and cash poor. We operated the company on a shoestring. One year, we sold the last piece of an asset, got a windfall of $30,000, and promptly bought a stereo system for the office.