A little hope for the noobs out there...

[Taylor Shapiro]

Yesterday was one of those days for me that will have changed the course of my future.

For the past 4 or 5 years, I've been building a solid relationship with a man who I met at my gym. I actually offered to help him on the bench press when I noticed he was grabbing his shoulder in pain. The time we've known each other has been filled with great conversation on human psychology, success, coming from nothing, business, and fitness. I helped him by volunteering to help coach middle school lacrosse, and have had plenty of lunches together.

This man is a successful bond broker working for a major firm. When I mentioned to him over 2 years ago that I was getting into rehabbing houses, he asked for more info. He's seen my work ethic and drive and wanted to find a way to help.

Just yesterday he sat me down with his "guy". After months of delayed dates, I finally had the opportunity to present to both of these guys what I've done and what I plan to do. His "guy" made a fortune by starting a waste management company in the 60s, which grew to be one of Connecticut's largest. He also rehabs SFHs and commercial buildings just to keep guys on his payroll "busy" :)

My presentation was on point. Each received a packet of info documenting everything that goes into rehabbing houses, from purchase, to holding, to sale, to rehabbing, to fees...everything. Stuff I initially learned here from guys like JScott, Will Barnard, local mentors, articles, books, and many more here.

At the end of the presentation, I told them what I was looking to raise.

They looked at each other, smiled, and said "I don't have a problem with that".

This morning, I got a phone call from the man I met in the gym 4-5 years ago, of all places, telling me that they're on board and that I can contact my attorney to set up my LLC and draft the paperwork.

Needless to say this has been a life changing event.

I'm writing this to show everyone, particularly (us) noobies that occurrences like these are possible. It took 5 years to build a relationship for this man to have enough trust in me to introduce me to his guy. 5 years. These things take time. The terms we agreed on are so good I almost feel guilty to share them. If you really want to get to that next level, you're going to have to make the necessary sacrifices. Taking time to study, taking people out to lunch, coffee, dinner, networking, continuing to study, continuing to network, getting out of your comfort zone...

I wanted to thank everyone here whose had both a direct or indirect impact on my education.

I'm excited to share pictures of my first rehab once it's under contract and hear all of your feedback.

My message to those just starting: Just keep moving forward. Keep failing forward. Looking back on all the time it's taken to get to this point here has all been worth it.

Now it's time to find a deal!