Back to square one. Any advice is kindly appreciated

[Edwin Martinez]

Hey everyone. So I bought my first property about more than a year ago. I decided to fix, flip and sell. Not knowing anything about flipping a house or real estate in general. I ended up completely failing to meet my goal. I had the wrong people helping me out and I just kept making all this stupid mistakes. Long story short somewhere along the end of the process after being so hard headed about selling the house, I realized I was going to take a huge lose. I’ve put so much money out of my of my own pockets into it. I decided it would make sense to move in the property due to certain circumstances in my life at the moment. I learned a few valuable lessons along they way and realized I have to take a few steps back and go back to square one. Also I realized I needed a partner that can help me finance and share the risk or a mentor. The problem is I don’t know anyone who is a savvy investor. Everyone in my circle works for a boss in a 9-5. and I really don’t have any valuable connections so I have been going to meet ups in my area. The problem is I feel like I really have nothing to show or talk about since I really have not done anything worth talking about. I sometimes over hear some of their convos and it’s mostly about all of there current deals and projects and success they’ve had with other experienced investors. What can I do for or how can I approach these more experienced investors to convince them to teach, help me or work with me? I have no credit to get a loan but I do have some capital to work with (money), but I think I shouldn’t mention that I feel like some might just try to take advantage knowing I’m not very experienced, but unfortunately at the same at this point in my career I feel like thats the only thing I can bring to table. Anyone has any advice or comments?

[Joe Villeneuve]

My advice at this point....?  Take a deep breath,...and realize that starting at square one again isn't taking a step backwards.  Also, although you have less money now than before, you haven't lost any money.  Why?  You're still in the game.

Question:  If you lose the first 5 hands when you sit down at a Poker table and half of your chips, how much money have you lost?  I'll let you think about that for a while.

What you've described is what everyone that has a bad experience when the start out learns..."what NOT to do".  You need to now learn "what you should be doing".  

What you need to learn is:
1 -  Market Analysis...so you know Where to Buy.
2 - How Money Works...so you know How to Buy
3 - What/How to develop a REI Plan...so you know When to Buy

...and realize that all three of these Knowledge Bases are three parts of one whole.  In other words, all three are equally important, and must work together at the same time to be successful at REI.

OK.  Have you thought about the question above?  Good. Here is the...

Answer:  None.  You haven't lost any money...yet.  Why?  You're still in the game.  Those lost chips aren't lost...yet.  They're just in different piles on the table...which you can recover in your next hands...since you're still in the game.   Just like the money represented in those chips you waved good-bye to in those 5 lost hands, the money you waved good-bye to in this first deal isn't lost...it's just in a different property...the next one...which you can get back, as long as you are "still in the game".  You said you have cash left, so you're still in the game.

The secret is to not get emotional about hands, houses, or money into bad deals or hands.  If you see a losing hand or property...get out while you can...and move forward with as many remaining chips/dollars as you can...and recover what you lost...and then some. 

PM me if you'd like a pep talk...or a better explanation.