New To Bigger Pockets, Now What?

[Andrew Thomas]

I began doing this article, after having a conversation with my partner, and thinking back to constantly hearing from family, friends, colleagues, and myself included. “Some day I am going to…….” Then the line would be filled with “Be Rich”, “Start a Company”, “Buy a Property”, “Invest in Real Estate”, “Inspire Others”, “Write my first blog on BP about things I have learned in Real Estate”. Then Silence… No Action and thus No Results.

So reminiscing on these conversations reminded me of first day of school. Trying to make a good impression with the “cool kids” and back in elementary/middle school when you were young and hopeful about all the great things and friends you could meet.

I am not sure if anyone else has ever felt this way (I know I have), but being the new kid is school can be a little intimidating, especially when you know the amount of wealth that is generated from some of the community members. But take a deep breath it’s okay, most on the platform are typically trying to Leverage one of three things

1) Time

2) Money

3) Knowledge

It’s your job to figure out which and put it all together.

For me, in an attempt to bring my life experiences and knowledge to the community. I wanted to take a proactive approach, by starting at the beginning with the Day 1 of BP for new members who may have in the past or may be currently experiencing the same thing.

So let’s Demystify the “First Day in BP Community”. Good and Not So Good

Let Start with the Not so Good

1) No one is going to do it for you: if you are someone who is used to being popular right away as you walk in the room. This is not the case, there are over a million members here and a lot are serious entrepreneurs who have many other priorities, busy lives etc. which means you have to be proactive, when socializing, engaging, communicating ideas and asking for help.

2) There is typical no absolute answer: Everything in life is nuanced and the advice you receive may be great but you have to take into consideration your circumstances, and know yourself. Unfortunately, not every idea is practical for you or your situation, it maybe you don’t have all the facts or you are not as experienced to take on those risks. There is great advice available but you are going to have to do your research and apply it on a case by case scenario.

3) There is a lot of content: Now while having great information is better than no information. Do not be overwhelmed with the amount of content here; there are thousands of articles written and that is just a low estimate. So the notion that you can learn everything then start does not make sense. A better solution is to learn, apply, innovate and repeat. There is such a thing as inactions by overreaction or paralysis by over analysis. My suggestion is to break the learning process up into manageable pieces, and try to grow daily instead of burning out with too many competing ideas.

4) There is No Get Rich Quick Here: Sorry real estate is a great way to get rich and wealthy, but is takes time (primarily focused on learning and executing). It would be more accurate in most cases to say “real estate is get rich slowly”. Also, it is based heavily on momentum, very hard to get going in the beginning but once it does it can be powerful and almost unstoppable. Just remember don’t give up when it gets tough.

And then There Is the Good: I like to end with the sweet things

• 1)There are over 1 million members: there are an abundance of members from different walks of life, experiences and backgrounds. That means people who can relate to your current circumstances as dire as they may or may not be. It may not be the exact same but more than likely there is someone here who has gone through something very similar.
• 2)The tools are high grade and easily available: There are plenty of software that are directly mention or available on the platform for you to practice for free. These tools are an aide to your endeavors and should be treated as such. Remember at the end of the day you are the biggest tool and the deals begins and ends with you.
• 3)No Sales/Pitch Fest: The best thing about the community is that is built by investors for investors (of any age). There has been huge business models built on the desperation of those not savvy, it does not mean that there is no value from some of the seminars but typically not enough to drain someone’s life savings. A lot of people have been hurt by those practices, and this community is strong about keeping the ethics high and transparent.
• 4)Diverse Community Event, Webinars, Discussion & Seminars: while you may disagree with someone’s opinion or strategy or idea, that is the biggest beauty. Diversity of the mind, because no two people are the same, and that will breed a plethora of ideas. Just be patient, do you due diligence and focus on what applies you can always adjust as you go.

Now that you know the Good and Bad, the next thing is to take actions.

• Now one of the best ways to think about your actions is to “Begin with the End in Mind”

Out of the book the most prominent habits from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People By Stephen Covey.

Now I won’t get into too much detail of the book but above is a quick summary.

For this article, I refer to habit #2 Begin with the End in Mind, which means create a vision. It could be literally a vision board (also called a Dream Board or Creativity Collage) that represents what you truly want out of the community and life. The idea behind this is clarity, knowing what you want and reverse engineering the actions needed to get that result. What you want to have, where you want to live, or even simply where you want to vacation, your life almost mysteriously changes to create or attract those images and desires. The same is with you network as often as possible, ask questions the more you learn is the more you earn. You will find your network will grow, and change and get better once you get better.

Things to Consider

Goals are for your personal well-being: ex make $1 million.

Dreams Impact others and change lives: ex Combating Homelessness and Poverty at the source.

See Reference: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/661240-midatlantic-real-estate-investor-summit-oct-18th-19th-2019

Take Always

Dream Big But Create small Executable goals

My Suggestions for Everyone in General

~Keep It Simple~

For the Novice or Completely new to Real Estate

Know what you want up front, and don’t get overwhelmed and begin with one topic at a time. It may seem like general advice but it is proven.

Also, I personally would recommend taking a virtual tour;

https://www.biggerpockets.com/tour

Then Check out some the Staples of the Community

• 1)Bigger Pockets Podcast, where experts from the BP community and beyond on the give lesson from life business and beyond that will be a game change
• 2)Dive in to the Community Webinars & events
• 3)The Book Store
• 4)Check out the Forums for Key insight and Advice

For the Experienced Real Estate Investor, New to the platform

Take a look at the previously mentioned, but focus on engaging the community.

• 1)Recommend Tools, Books, Seminars etc
• 2)Write articles on the forums helping newer community members
• 3)Talk to other investors that are in the same niche and that are in different Niches
• 4)Respond to other members articles if you have insight
• 5)Dive in to the local Community Webinars & events
• 6)Jump on and guest speak on a relevant podcast.
• 7)Post to the BP Market Place
• 8)Add to the Forums your Key insight and Advice

Success Begets Success

When you are out there in your market, doing your thing by taking action, getting deals, changing neighborhoods, if you have done the steps above your sphere of influence will notice. If you have been doing it for a year or so, every time they see you (especially when you are helping others as above), they will be reminded that you are a profession. As you become more noticeable, the “cool kids” (keeping the same analogy) will ask, how can they be apart or your endeavors? The more successful you are, the more individuals will come out of the aether to see how they can also benefit from your success; lenders, wholesalers, fix and flippers, Note Buyers/ Seller etc. All for the benefit of your dreams, so don’t waste the opportunity.

The Last Thing That you have to Do is Be Responsible for your actions.

Here in this community as well as moving forward, your reputation precedes it is a small world so you must be mindful and intentional with your words and actions. With that said my final advice is take care of the people you work with, new or previous, so that they will take care of you and as a bonus become raving fans. Do these things and you will never have a problem being the new kid on the block again.