Official Richart Ruddie Blog - Internet Entrepreneur

Excited that the recent legislative bill passed will be bringing two new great museums to the USA. They are the National Museum of the American Latino and American Women's History Museum as part of the Smithsonian Institution! Can't wait to see it in person in Washington, D.C.

The ability to opt out of seeing Alcohol and Gambling ads on Youtube is soon to be a reality as per this recent announcement: https://blog.google/technology/ads/greater-controls-sensitive-ad-topics-your-ad-settings

Funding Direct Central Florida's Boutique Mortgage Company

Funding Direct is a mortgage company based out of Central Florida bout 3 hours away from me. They are very boutique compared to the rocket mortgages of the world. We found that a lot of lenders trying to get approved for a loan end up going with a big name or a major bank only to be completely deterred by the massive amount of paperwork and headaches that they have to go through despite being told that it's a seamless process.

From my experience working with Bank of the Internet out of San Diego (now called AXOS Bank) that some of the mid tier and creative lenders are the best to work with. I was told based on a Wall Street Journal article to check out BOFI. I had a contact over at BOFI that I reached out to from my days in the structured settlement industry as they were also active in the secondary structure settlement market. Their loan portfolio was under a bit of fire in the WSJ piece but overall I have nothing but 5 star reviews and great things to say about them as a lender compared to Dan Gilbert's Rocket Mortgage and Bank of America's mortgage lending division which is the closest thing to a modern scam that I can warn others not to waste your time with.

So what's the deal with Mortgage Funding Direct?

Started by Tawn Kelly they are a top originator in the country. She's got over 16 years working as a mortgage lender. She's got 4,7000+ mortgages that have been originated and also owns the company Mortgage Direct Ventures who partners with construction companies, contractors, realtors, and banking institutions to create mortgage companies. They have over 35 years of combined experience which in the mortgage industry and after surviving the Florida market crash in 2008-2009 that feels like a lifetime. 

Photo of Mortgage Funding Direct LLC's website that is due for an update in the Web 2.0 world...

Overall the client who was buying a home I helped finance to build worked with Mortgage Funding Direct LLC and sang praises. As I remember the nightmare of dealing with mortgage brokers both good and evil it's nice to hear a compliment as it can be a huge pain in the ass to deal with.

They are not related to the mailers I keep on receiving for merchant cash advances and direct funding loans to "help your business with the capital it needs."
 
The merchant cash advance business probably got burned pretty badly during the pandemic with so many restaurants and businesses being completely shut down and not re-opening. We have to wonder are the merchant cash advance loans that did not sour did they make up for the attrition?

 

People Like Deserts More on Round Plates vs Square Plates

Behavior Psychology plays such a huge part in our shopping habits. This wasn't as apparent until the books like Tipping Point and Freakonomics started to focus on our habits in the early 2000's. Now however after the Social Dilemma came out on Netflix we're starting to realize how social media plays a role in shaping confirmation bias, cognitive bias, and habits that we are not aware of. For example receiving a notification that Richart Ruddie has tagged you in a photo. You receive the email about the tag but not the actual photo so you have to click through to see the photos and post. Once there you are targeted to see other ads and posts to keep you engaged. While this is great for shareholders it was deemed evil by the team who did the movie The Social Dilemma (thats a hard work to spell by the way).

So what are some other examples that come to mind?

Desert. If you received a plate that is round than you are going to perceive the dish as better and sweeter than if it's on a square plate. Why is that? Well let's look at the coca-cola campaign to save the polar bears with white cans instead of blue. The crowd fought back and said this new coca-cola just isn't as good. The issue was that it was the same exact product but the color of the can made it taste worse.

Richart Ruddie Fort Lauderdale Guide for Food & Activities During COVID-19

Here are some suggestions for food & places to go when visiting the greater Fort Lauderdale area.

Food	Location	Website	Notes
Indian
Bombay Darbar	1521 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301	https://bombaydarbar.com/	Best Indian
Indian Harbor	1515 SE 17th St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316		2nd Best
Pizza
Primanti Brothers	901 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd	https://primantibros.com/location/fort-lauderdale-beach	Open 24 hours
Luigis Coal Fired	1415 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301	https://luigiscoalovenpizza.com/	Coal Fired Pizza
Greek
Greek Isles Taverna	3300 N Ocean Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308	greekislandstaverna.com	Authentic small and good for to-go
Vegetarian/Healthy
Myapappaya	1040 Bayview Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
Green Bar & Kitchen	1075 SE 17th Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
Spa Juice Bar	1217 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301	http://spajuicebar.com
Stone Crab Claws
Catfish Deweys			In Fort Lauderdale
Billys Stone Crabs			In Hollywood
Steak
Steak 954
Sushi
Phat Boy Sushi
Asia Bay
Thai
Larb	6234 N. Federal Highway
Markets
Living Green Market	1305 E Commercial Blvd,Oakland Park, FL 33334	http://livinggreenfreshmarket.com	Small Grocery Store and Juice Bar
Vegan Fine Foods	330 SW 2nd St #102, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312	https://www.veganfinefoods.com/	Small Grocery Store and vegan menu
Yellow Green Market	3080 Sheridan StreetHollywood, FL 33021	http://www.ygfarmersmarket.com/	Currently closed due to covid-19
Family Friendly Events & Activities
Santa's Enchanted Forest	7900 SW 40th St, Miami, FL 33155	https://www.santasenchantedforest.com/	Canceled for 2020
Childrens Musuem of Science & Discovery	401 SW 2nd St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312	http://mods.org/	Only opened weekends right now
Drive in Movie Theater	3291 W Sunrise Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311	https://www.floridaswapshop.com/	Open everyday
Jungle Island	1111 Parrot Jungle Trail, Miami, FL 33132		Parrots & Animals mostly outside I believe

Richart Ruddie Quote of the Day

Was reading an article about habits, traits, and boring ways to be more creative. This was a quote mentioned from Albert Einstein:

“It’s not that I’m so smart, I just sit with the problems longer.”