Home - The Bruce Projects

About Bruce

I am in my mid-sixties now. My friends are retiring, but I feel like I am just getting started. Technically, I am just an Old Guy but I am ready for (almost) anything.

As an Old Guy, I am expected to be winding things down, retiring, moving to Florida, sitting by the pool, buying ice cream for grandchildren, and basically just disappearing until I eventually get dementia and pass on.

I really don’t like that at all. I mean NFW to that!

There is that guy you might have heard of called The World’s Most Interesting Man. He supposedly said:

The Most Interesting Man’s one regret is not knowing what regret feels like.

I want that to be my only regret too. So I have launched

The Bruce Projects.

The big reveal – to myself – and to you — is simply this: I now just say yes to every single thing I’ve never done and see what happens.

If you are a fellow Old Guy, you might do the same.

This website — and The Bruce Projects — are dedicated to us Old Guys. If I can do it, then so can you.

Real Estate Lawyer
Adler & Stachenfeld LLP

About 25 years ago – I guess now 27 years ago — I founded a law firm in New York City called Duval & Stachenfeld, with the name recently changed to Adler & Stachenfeld.
Over the years I built this into a 50-lawyer powerhouse real estate law practice, which is today one of the top real estate law practices in New York City, including handling many billions of dollars of commercial transactions both domestically and in non-U.S. jurisdictions…

Real Estate Investing
The Useful Bruce

I was formerly licensed to act as a placement through a FINRA-approved broker dealer. This was through a company I formed called The Useful Bruce LLC, www.theusefulbruce.com. Through this activity I was permitted to raise capital for real estate parties. After a while it got too confusing between the law firm and capital raising, so I shut this down and, accordingly, my license to raise dollars and be paid for it has now expired…

Real Estate Business Building

Since in my day job I am a real estate junkie, I find myself with not only legal expertise, but an awful lot of industry expertise as well. In this capacity, I work to help real estate players succeed in building their real estate businesses. I (mostly ) try not to put on airs about myself, but this is something I am really good at. Typically, I can look at just about any real estate business – small or large — and in less than an hour come up with a bunch of ideas to improve it.

The Real Estate Philosopher

I am one of the most well-known persons in the real estate industry and considered a thought leader. I really don’t like the phrase ‘thought leader”, as people should think for themselves, but I am recognized as such in the real estate community through my writings as The Real Estate Philosopher, which reaches close to 50,000 real estate professionals nationwide.
Unlike newsletters and mainstream publications, The Real Estate Philosopher solely consists of my thoughts and also thoughts of friends and colleagues…

Real Estate Writing

I have written three non-fiction books at this point. Two are in real estate and one pertains to sales and marketing:
The Real Estate Philosopher’s Guide: If there is anything in the world I know a lot about, it is real estate. It has been my life for 40 years. The Real Estate Philosopher combines my knowledge and experience in real estate with my love of thinking (philosophy). If you are in the real estate world, or thinking of going into it, it will add a lot of value to what you do…click through to learn more.

The Bruce Fiction Writing Project

I am proud to say my first fiction book is live and published. It is a great story – and I am not just saying that because I wrote it. I sought to write a page-turner, and I have pulled that off. People who start the book are annoyed that it is the middle of the night and they should go to sleep, but they can’t stop reading just one more chapter to find out what will happen next. If you don’t believe me, read the reviews or — better yet — give the book a try. Click through to read more.

The Bruce Political Project

Welcome to The Bruce Political Project – I am just launching this now – concurrently with launching this Just Bruce website and — being much too honest — I am not yet sure where it will lead me. But here is what I know so far and what I am planning, plus a bit of history.
History: For the past many years I have many times decried what those in Washington — and at the state level — are doing. So many things are done that I find kind of crazy or worse. Not to mention positions espoused by the political parties. I am neither a Republican or a Democrat, but find myself liking some things of both parties and being flabbergasted by other positions taken. And what have I done about it so far?

The Bruce Philosophical Project

Welcome to The Bruce Philosophical Project. I am confident that this will be my life’s crown jewel.
I have always felt that, although many may decry philosophy as something for older men with beards and those patches on their elbows pattering on about incomprehensible mental masturbation, that is flat-out wrong!!!! Instead, philosophy is the heart and soul of humanity. It leads us forward – with concepts like Immanuel Kant’s moral imperative – and backward – with sick, evil theories like using the faux science of eugenics as an excuse to denigrate races that some claimed to be inferior…

The Bruce Poetry Project

I love writing – and reading – poetry. One of my favorite pass-times is sitting in a bar – with a scotch of course – and a pad and a pen – and scribbling out a poem.

My poems are wide-ranging – from thought pieces – to cute stories like Ogden Nash – to wonderments – to daydreams – and much more. I have about 40 poems so far, and each vacation seems to result in a few more.

Doing Good

I am trying to be a good person. Of course, the concept of ‘good’ is at least moderately subjective, but I am doing the best I can. It means a great deal to me to treat others with respect and caring – and to be a class act. When I die, I want to be remembered as a decent human being. Click-through to learn more about what I’m up to.

Bruce, The Athlete

I am five foot nine inches tall and not particularly strong. As a basketball player when I was a youth, my saying was: “I’m small but I’m slow.” I think I was average or below average at almost every sport, but that didn’t hold me back as I tried a ton of things and had some successes interspersed with many failures.

Family & Life History

Family Comes First: I strive to always be mindful of the critical element of family in my life and I treat it as a (sacred?) mission. Among other things:
I have been married for almost 40 years to my wife Ann, aka The Sweetie Pig, I have mentioned throughout this website. After all this time I am like a teenage boy with a crush on her.
I seek to be an inspiring and loving father to my daughters…

Inspiration & Dreaming

There are all sorts of things I dream about, too numerous to put into this website. Here are some things that inspire me as of late:
Yes Man: As noted in the introduction, I want my one regret to be not knowing what regret feels like…..
So, as I cruise through my sixties, I try to say ‘yes’ to everything.

Fun

For fun, how about this…Pig Stuff: My wife and I collect pigs. I don’t mean we collect pigs; I mean we collect pigs!!! We have probably a couple of thousand pigs in my house — no exaggeration. My front yard has 11 pig topiaries and is known throughout the neighborhood as The House With The Pigs. My wife’s nickname is Sweetie Pig.
Pig Parties – every few years we have a bash at our house…

Renaissance Man

I always found the concept of The Renaissance Man to be an inspiring concept. Picture a gentleman in his (study?) with a beard – I don’t have a beard though – who is proficient at everything that spices up life.
The various definitions of a Renaissance Man include everything from poetry, to music, to dancing…