It’s 2019–Whatcha gonna do about it?

[Brian Burke]

Last year I posted a thread “It’s 2018–Whatcha Gonna Do About It?” and it got a lot of great response.  So why not do it again?  

Every year around this time I see threads on BP asking about your goals for the coming new year. “Put it out there, hold yourself (or each other) accountable” yada yada yada.

This one is different.

I’ve never been big on the whole state your goals thing. I’ve never had a coach or mentor to hold me accountable. But I’ve still managed to accomplish things that many people aspire to but never do (like going from broke grocery clerk to buying over 700 properties and over 2,000 apartment units for starters). I didn’t do it by just putting it out to the universe. I did it by taking action. Taking specific thought-out steps on a consistent basis.

Your goals don’t matter to anyone but you. They can be as lofty or as modest as you want—because they are YOUR goals. So whether your goal is to buy the Empire State Building or your first house hack, your participation in this thread is relevant. Someone out there will benefit from what you have to say.

Go ahead and state your goal, not to hold yourself accountable, but to give context to your answer to the real question: What are you going to do in the coming year to accomplish your goal?

If you posted to last year’s thread, update everyone—did you do everything you said you would do?  And did doing it help you achieve your goal?

I’ll start. My goal is to buy 1,000 apartment units in 2019.  If I don’t accomplish it, I don’t care…if there aren’t enough great deals to get 1,000 units I’m perfectly fine if the final tally is less.  But I already have around 550 in contract so I think I’m off to a pretty good start.

Last year my goal was to buy $100 million of real estate.  I missed it.  The total was just about $50 million (about 600 apartment units plus a few single families).  Even if I only get halfway to my goal in 2019 like I did in 2018 I’ll take that result any day.

Here is what I said I would do in 2018 to accomplish my goal:

• Evaluate over 1,000 deals. I did this.
• Underwrite several hundred deals.  I did this too.
• Tour and and make offers on many dozens. Check.
• Implement a secure online portal on my website where my investors can obtain copies of their quarterly reports and tax documents, which will give added transparency and make it easier for them to monitor their investments and performance.  Done.
• I’ll add a place on my website where investors can view new offerings and subscribe to investments online without shuffling paper documents via email which will make it easier to invest. Also done.
• I’ll post on BP to help others, and at the same time build awareness to my skill set and my business.  I did this, but not the extent that I could or should.  Room for improvement here in 2019!
• I’ll write a series of articles for the BP blog which will initiate discussion about topics of interest to income property investors, which will ultimately lead to more brand awareness. Totally failed here.  I think I published one or two articles for the BP blog this year.  I wrote a couple more but didn’t publish them.  I’ll try to do better this year.
• I’m going to put at least ten opportunities in front of institutional private equity groups, guys that can write $10 million checks (or even more).  Did this, and even managed to get my first deal done with an institutional partner.  And have built some relationships with other groups.
  

For 2019, I plan to continue to do the first three things from my 2018 list, and the last three things.  Adding to that list only one thing:  write a book.  How would that get me further along toward my goal?  It probably won’t, but we’ll see.

Now it’s your turn. 

Whatever your goal is, give the rest of the BP community a peek behind the curtain. Some readers will have the same goal as you and are struggling to figure out how to accomplish it. Or maybe you need this more than they do…have you really thought about the steps you’ll need to take to get to where you’re going? If not, think about it now and post it here. You’ll thank me next year.

So…what are you going to DO in 2019 to accomplish your goals?