3 Lessons I learned trying to get my wife onboard with REI

[Jake Cowley]

Hi BP community,

I wanted to take some time to share some lessons I learned while trying to get my wife onboard with REI.

Hope this helps others!

1. Don’t wait to share your ideas or goals until you think that you have all the answers
I LITERALLY did everything wrong on trying to get your significant other onboard with REI.
Everything ranging from giving vague answers as to why I was spending long nights on the computer searching a website about real estate to talking about buying our 1st property without seeking her input as to why this would be a good thing for our family.

What I should have done was this:

• a. Share with her what my thoughts and goals were for this new journey.
• b. Explain how this new journey could benefit our family in the short and long term.
• c. Ask for her thoughts so she could understand the WHY behind this new journey.
• d. Then, if there is mutual agreement, together we could craft a strategy to invest in real estate that would meet our goals.
• 2. Listen to RE podcasts of investors who have similar life situations
  For us, this started with listening to BiggerPockets podcast episodes of other husband/wife teams or investors who had similar life situations. We heard countless stories of investors who were tired of working long hours at W2 jobs and did not have much time for family fun with their kids. We were in the same situation and loved the idea of creating financial wealth for our family so that we could spend more time with our kids.

Think of it this way:
If something were to happen to you today, your employer would likely post a job opening for your job the next day.

Do you think your family would have the same reaction?

3. Talk about whether or not they would want to be involved in the business
Perhaps your significant other is supportive of your REI dreams/goals but they may not want to be an active business partner. The last thing that you want is unknowingly pressuring your significant other to become business partners if that's not something that they are interested in.
Just having the support of your significant other is a gamechanger for you so look to avoid any un-necessary pressure to become business partners if they are not interested.

For us, my wife’s strengths are developing and implementing process and systems. Together, we agreed that she would be our property manager for the rental properties. This works for us and our business but don't assume that your significant other can or wants to be involved.

Hope this helps someone! Each of you are amazing and I love hearing your stories! Feel free to reach out to connect and would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Thanks,