I hope you got your white rabbits this morning. I was going to open this one with a fun fact I've heard a hundred times: NASA was started to explore the ocean, got bored, and went to space instead.
Then I looked it up. It's not true. NASA was created in 1958, right after the Soviets launched Sputnik, and it grew out of an aviation research agency. It was always about the sky. The ocean story is a myth.
But the part that is true is even weirder.
We still haven't finished the ocean. As of April 2026, only 28.7% of the seafloor has been mapped in high detail. The part of the deep ocean humans have actually laid eyes on? Less than 0.001%. About the size of Rhode Island.
We had a whole frontier right here at home. We looked up instead.
That's so human.
We do this all the time. We get a big idea, we get fired up, and then the next big idea shows up and we're gone.
I'm personally guilty. I've forgotten so many ideas. I should probably go back through my Claude chats and dig them all up.
And as I write this — right now, typing this sentence — I'm thinking about three ideas I want to go implement because of this newsletter. How funny is that? I'll tell you what they are when they're real. Note: Already forgot which ideas they were… but you’ll see them implemented, promise!
Today's track fits a little too well. In 2003, Sufjan Stevens put out an album called Michigan and announced he was going to make one for all fifty states. He made two. Michigan and Illinois. He later admitted the whole thing was partly a promotional gimmick. Forty-eight states, still unexplored. I was heartbroken — so eager to hear about my birth state, Massachusetts, and Ohio, where I grew up. But alas, a gimmick got me.
Still, two beautiful albums. That's more than most of us finish.
Some people need to explore more.
Realtors especially. Too many of us learn the surface-level stuff and stop. There's a whole ocean under the standard buyer-and-seller deal, and we spent all of last week swimming around in it:
Assignments — you sell your contract on a house, not the house itself. (The Paper Is the Asset)
Novations — the seller stays on the deed while you fix it up and sell it for them. (You Stay on the Deed)
Short sales — the bank agrees to take less than what's owed on the mortgage.
Land contracts — the seller acts as the bank and gets paid monthly. (Thirty-Nine Percent)
Lease options — rent now, with the right to buy later. (The Deal That Doesn't Exist Yet)
Assumable loans — the buyer takes over the seller's existing low-rate mortgage. (The Loan Comes With the House)
Those are tools in the toolbox. They're what make you excellent. A lot of the best wholesalers/investors I know use every one of them, and because of it they can create more solutions for sellers. More tools, more ways to say yes.
Then there's the other side of the coin. Some people really need to stick to one thing and dial it in.
People have said that to me a little bit in the past. And I get it. I do think staying ancillary to your industry, close enough that everything you do feeds whatever you're actually practicing, matters.
But passion projects are passion projects. If they get you fired up, you're more likely to get them done.
Take my dating app, Reject Rob. I think it'll also be the third place app, the spot that isn't home and isn't work, where you actually meet people. We've lost a lot of those, and I think this can help fix that for a lot of people. I've been tinkering with it for over a year. I love it. I think the world needs it.
I also have to focus on my business. So I've been focusing on my business.
It's fun to be clever and think. But dialing down on one thing is where the money is. I wrote about how everybody needs a second thing — the trick is picking which one.
Go deep on one ocean before you build the rocket.
So if I had to tell you to work on just one tool out of everything I threw at you last week, it's assignments.
Learn the A to B, B to C. The seller (A) signs a contract with you (B). You assign that contract to an end buyer (C) for a fee. Make it a side hustle or make it your main hustle. You can make some really big money on assignments.
And you don't have to build the machine yourself. I've got the infrastructure.
There's Closings with Colleen — Colleen's company. Contracts to close. She handles title, mortgages, lenders, deadlines, all of it. 420+ transactions and counting. Happy to make the introduction!
There's OffMarket.deals — the buyers list. 70,000+ buyers. Kentucky law says you need a license to advertise a contract you don't own to the public. OffMarket.deals markets it under mine, so you stay on the right side of that.
There's me. I'm a realtor, too.
And there's The Morning Bergeron — the reach of this newsletter. You're reading it right now.
We've got lots of ways to help you along in your journey. Just plug in where you need us.
This is the easiest thing to start. You could literally have something by the end of the day.
And if you need money fast — you're in a short sale, or you need to come up with money to finish a project — assignment fees close fast. Seven to 14 days. Very few contingencies (the "only if" conditions in a contract). Typically it's just title. If you're creating your own deals and you're the end buyer, I'm sure you can work out inspections.
But the fewer contingencies, the better. Anything you can do to get rid of friction and add speed to a transaction is typically a great thing.
Want to do your first assignment? Reply "ASSIGN" and we'll get you plugged in!
Hit me up at each step of the journey,'m here to help! Robby was built for just that.
Call or text anytime: 502-305-8915.
📊 Yesterday's poll: When money gets tight, what's your first move? Both at once ran away with it — 63%. Cut expenses got 26%. Find a new way to make money and panic a little first tied at 5% each. Love that most of you do both. Just remember: you can only cut down to zero. There's no limit on making more. If you're in that 5% looking for the new way — today's issue is the map.
Today's poll
Be honest — are you an explorer or a dialer?
Results in tomorrow's issue.
🏆 Every morning I pull the five best deals on the Louisville MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and the five most ripe for a lowball, with the number I'd offer. If there aren't five great ones, I don't send five. Reply "FIVE" and I'll send you today's, one-to-one.
With Enthusiasm,
Rob Bergeron
Owner–Realtor at Award-Winning Winner Realty
Winner Realty: (502) 305-8915
Winner Realty | OffMarket.deals | Property Partner Data Company
Schedule time to discuss your goals, bottlenecks, or whatever’s on your mind — book me here.
PS: Go shopping. Live on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) right now — one list for the tools we talked about last week:
Owner financing or lease option offered, Kentucky (36): the seller will be the bank, or let you rent now and buy later.
Sold as-is, Jefferson County, $10K to $100K (105): the practice field for your first LOI spray.
2–4 unit multifamily, Jefferson County, under $300K (52): small rentals, and house-hack starters (live in one unit, rent the others).
PSS: Don't forget — I'm allowed to bring friends (realtors/industry folks) to KREE (Kentucky Real Estate kre) this morning. Come join us. Bring some energy. Bring your ideas and your questions.
Thursday, October 1, 9:00–11:00 AM
900 Envoy Circle, Louisville, KY 40299
Park in the rear lot if you can, out of respect for the neighboring businesses.
Intros at 9:00, quick pitches at 9:10, deal presentations at 10:00, then more pitches and problem solving until 11:00. A lot of the commercial folks in that room have been doing this for decades — come learn from them. Hit reply if you're coming so I can look for you.
PSSS: Does anyone have an aerator for a small pond? Was hoping someone had the tools they could need to help the pond thrive!
PSSSS: get our ducks in a row…