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Updated almost 4 years ago, 01/14/2021
Mentoring Cost $20,000
I went to the 2 day Life Styles Unlimited class this past weekend with the goal of learning and finding a multi-family mentor to begin investing with. Like a typical sales funnel I quickly learned it was a brief overview to get the juices flowing, tell you about all the stock market failures and pain points that have let you down in the past, then build you back up with the millionaire mindset and that for only a mere $20,000 that LSU can mentor you to become a millionaire and live the millionaire lifestyle that you and your family so deserve. And to ad a sense of urgency to close the deal, they say you must sign up today or next month the price will be $25,000.
My question to everyone...is there anyone out there who genuinely is willing to mentor someone in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area? I have the passion and the funds to invest in multi-family, I just have no interest in being run thru a sales funnel and someone collecting $20,000 - $25,000 first. They are in the business of making huge money off selling information and dreams via sales funnels first, while teaching the secrets of investing second.
I am looking for the kind of mentor that is not part of trying to run people thru a sales funnel and collect there money before you learn the “secrets”. Is there anyone out there that exists who is willing to let someone shadow them, while in return working for free just to watch and learn the process that truly make there living investing in multi-family and not running a sales funnel?
Michael Burks Sooooooooo...what is it you’re bringing to the table? Successful people don’t typically hang around with “yet to be successful” people for kicks. Start with building your own list of the top five things you bring to the table. And reading, research, and podcast listening doesn’t count 🤷🏻♂️
Michael,
Welcome to BP! The short answer to your post is yes—discovering BP and maximizing its benefits will open doors for you—as long as you put forth the effort. BP exists for the very reason you found it...it can be done without the “guru” approach.
I believe your post was a general question if mentors exist that don’t put you through a sales funnel—again, that’s an emphatic yes. Others on here might take your initial post as the standard “newbie” wanting a handout from a mentor. I give you the benefit of the doubt that you were turned off (rightfully so) by the sales pitch and found BP because your instinct told you otherwise.
The long answer to your question can be answered by perusing the forums, asking questions and listening to podcasts.
Good luck.
Mike
I'll mentor you for 5k, and then use the rest to get your first deal... and we go from there. I'll send a paypal invoice shortly.
I tell this to my business consulting clients all the time: I NEVER do business with ANYONE who does not guarantee their product or service. NO ONE.
Most gurus, real estate or otherwise, DON'T guarantee their products or services.
Originally posted by @Terry Miller:
I tell this to my business consulting clients all the time: I NEVER do business with ANYONE who does not guarantee their product or service. NO ONE.
Most gurus, real estate or otherwise, DON'T guarantee their products or services.
What exactly is there to guarantee?
@Andrewjohnson, typically when you are trying to mentor someone they don’t have much to bring to the table except time, money, hard work and the passion to learn. Otherwise they wouldn’t need a mentor. I am successful in my own field and is why I have money to invest in multi-family. I have personally mentored many people who had the passion to enter the field of my expertise. Most successful people have had mentors, for example Bengamin Graham was Warren Buffetts mentor. Mr Graham did not charge Warren a dime, but yet Warren had nothing to bring to the table expect his time, hard work and passion for what Mr. Graham was doing. I attend the BRK shareholder meeting every year in Omaha and have heard this story many times. Most truly successful people love to give back and share with others. I am simply searching for one on this plateform in my area. I am not seeking someone who is running a sales funnel first, while teaching second. I am not sure what you are talking about when referring to podcasts, etc doesn’t count, as I never mentioned those things. But I do know the most successful people read everyday.
@Andrew Johnsonundefined
@Michael Burks if you have 25k to drop on training, seriously, just use it for a deal.... That's a down payment on a nicer property in the Midwest, owning that will teach you far more then 2 days of classroom training.
Michael,
I think you’re a victim of many before you on here. Many newbies come on here wanting the “handout” of a mentor—yet not offering what they can contribute to the relationship.
The forum is sensitive to those folks and understandably so many of the times. If you are looking for a specific mentor right now, then the general advice is to properly and honestly represent what you bring to the relationship. I believe that was Andrew’s intent.
So my takeaway advice for you:
1) If you’re simply asking do non-guru mentors exist—absolutely.
Or
2) if you’re trying to gain/attract a specific mentor with this initial post, you’ll have to better demonstrate what you can bring to the relationship. And it’s generally agreed upon in the forums to start with what you can offer.
Best of luck.
Originally posted by @Matt K.:
Originally posted by @Terry Miller:
I tell this to my business consulting clients all the time: I NEVER do business with ANYONE who does not guarantee their product or service. NO ONE.
Most gurus, real estate or otherwise, DON'T guarantee their products or services.
What exactly is there to guarantee?
Exactly. Are you saying you don't have anything worth guaranteeing? *smile*
I worded it like I did, but the bottom line is everybody on planet Earth is accountable. I am simply referencing the concept of professional accountability. You hold your lawyer, accountant/bookkeeper, banker, grocer, etc. accountable, as do I. Gurus are not exempt.
Originally posted by @Terry Miller:
Originally posted by @Matt K.:
Originally posted by @Terry Miller:
I tell this to my business consulting clients all the time: I NEVER do business with ANYONE who does not guarantee their product or service. NO ONE.
Most gurus, real estate or otherwise, DON'T guarantee their products or services.
What exactly is there to guarantee?
Exactly. Are you saying you don't have anything worth guaranteeing? *smile*
I worded it like I did, but the bottom line is everybody on planet Earth is accountable. I am simply referencing the concept of professional accountability. You hold your lawyer, accountant/bookkeeper, banker, grocer, etc. accountable, as do I. Gurus are not exempt.
accountable isn't a guarantee.... I mean I guess one could say you're guaranteed access to the education if you pay the fee, but that's worthless what does that really mean?
Short of providing access to the information, there's not much more one can guarantee. Just like college it's up to the student to take the info and use it....
@Michael Burks You're partially missing my point. My point is that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of people on BP that are in a similar situation to you. They get suckered into some seminar that they think will give them "secrets" and emerge frustrated that it's all a sales exercise to get you into a platinum/gold/mentorship/coaching/access to ____/etc. program. Five minutes on Google would have let you know that's what you were in for, it's the worst kept secret on the planet. Some of the people reading your post probably think $20K is cheap compared to the $50K they were quoted.
The vast majority of people emerge from those programs seeking the same thing you are: free advice, a free mentor, etc. So let's say that I was successful (maybe I am, who knows) and it DFW (I'm not) and I did have free time on my hands that I didn't want to spend with my kids. You still haven't said one thing that you bring to the table (outside of seed capital) that every...single...other...person...says that they have as well. So there is absolutely zero reason that any mentor that's got free time should choose YOU.
And that's what's missing from your Graham/Buffett example. Buffett took Grahams class at Columbia. So Buffett was already passing the filters of 1.) smart enough to get into Columbia, 2.) smart enough to get an A+ in Grahams class, and 3.) Columbia's Business School isn't cheap...it costs money! So if you want to use the Graham/Buffett analogy you need to: 1.) pay to attend a course taught by a guru, 2.) get an A+ in the course, and 3.) have that guru find you so impressive that they choose to hire you to work for them (like Graham did with Buffett) and mentor you at that point.
Originally posted by @Matt K.:
Originally posted by @Terry Miller:
Originally posted by @Matt K.:
Originally posted by @Terry Miller:
I tell this to my business consulting clients all the time: I NEVER do business with ANYONE who does not guarantee their product or service. NO ONE.
Most gurus, real estate or otherwise, DON'T guarantee their products or services.
What exactly is there to guarantee?
Exactly. Are you saying you don't have anything worth guaranteeing? *smile*
I worded it like I did, but the bottom line is everybody on planet Earth is accountable. I am simply referencing the concept of professional accountability. You hold your lawyer, accountant/bookkeeper, banker, grocer, etc. accountable, as do I. Gurus are not exempt.
accountable isn't a guarantee.... I mean I guess one could say you're guaranteed access to the education if you pay the fee, but that's worthless what does that really mean?
Short of providing access to the information, there's not much more one can guarantee. Just like college it's up to the student to take the info and use it....
I don't want to go back and forth past this point: think about yourself personally. Is there ANYONE that YOU don't hold accountable for the products and services provided to you? That's about the whole thing right there.
again, accountable does not equal guarantee.......
@Andrew Johnson thanks for taking your time to respond. I appreciate your perspective.
This is my last post on this.
And he said unto thou: "Accountability may not mean "guarantee" to some, but it means consequences for all."--Terry D. Miller, MBA 3:16
:-/
Originally posted by @Terry Miller:
This is my last post on this.
And he said unto thou: "Accountability may not mean "guarantee" to some, but it means consequences for all."--Terry D. Miller, MBA 3:16
:-/
what a cliff hanger, if only we'd find out what there was to guarantee....
Originally posted by @Michael Burks:
@Andrew Johnson thanks for taking your time to respond. I appreciate your perspective.
I apologize for the slight derail of your thread.
I wish you the best, and stand by my caveat emptor for any professional, and especially gurus.
This whole website is your mentor, and it's free.
Asking for mentorship is weird, because I have mentors and none of them would call themselves that. They are just my friends who know more than me, and since they like me, they teach me all the stuff I don't know because they want me to succeed. Also, I help them out in areas that I'm strong and they are weak. What you really need is a best friend who knows what you want to know, and is happy to teach you.
Spend time on this site, this is your networking. The person you need to teach you is on this site, somewhere, but he's not looking for you he's minding his own business; Mentors aren't trying to become mentors for free. You need to find that person, and show them why they need you and then become best friends with this person. If it's just transactional, it won't be as valuable, you have to make genuine friends with people to get great help from them.
So you have 3 posts as I write this. commit to posting on BP every day, reach out to people, make friends, it'll all pay off. This site will help anyone be successful if they keep plugging away at it.
I would not spend $20,000 on education when the information is available here for free
@Alexander Felice thank you for the genuine advice...best I’ve received
@Michael Burks, if all you want is to invest in multi-family passively, you don't need Lifestyles. There are plenty of MF groups in DFW (search meetup.com) that are hosted by experienced MF syndicators (some of them are on BP as well). Find those groups and attend their meetings. Get to know people who put deals together and invest with them if you so choose.
Just a thought... You select your mentor and ask. Might not be a good idea to accept an invitation. Just my opinion, but maybe a good arrangement is a 50/50 investment and a 50/50 split on return. Might be some value in making sure both parties have equal amounts to lose.
@Michael Burks - I’m going to echo @Alexander Felice’s comment and add that if you haven’t already started listening to and following @Joe Fairless, you should. His podcasts are a wealth of info on multis.
Best of luck. Glad you didn’t fall for the guru trap!
Your profile does not say anything about your background. I would start by filling that out. It will make it easier for members to offer specific advice.
For instance, my background is in finance – CFA, M&A and equity research with a global investment bank/major oil and gas player. I bring my institutional finance, financial modeling and underwriting skills to the table (and on deals). One of my partners is a structural engineer. He brings a complimentary skill set that, combined, makes the us greater than the sum of our parts. Since, MF is a team sport, you must decide where your strengths lie and where you need to partner up.
I “mentor” (hate using this word) small, focused groups. I’m helping one of the guys build out his branding (SFRs and MFs in Canada) whereas I’m helping another guy build out his modeling and underwriting skills. But we all learn from each other, as everyone is accomplished and driven. We also do deals together and are a sounding board for each other for business advice.
If you want to get a flavor of the local market, I would suggest attending local meetups and REIAs. One word of caution: you must focus on a niche. There are networking groups for all sorts of RE-based activities. You must be selective else you will get bogged down.
Trust your gut and don’t pay $25K (btw, I’ve heard there is a $40K program as well!) and partner with the right people to hasten your progress.
PM me and we can talk about the local market in detail.
Originally posted by @Michael Burks:
@Andrewjohnson, typically when you are trying to mentor someone they don’t have much to bring to the table except time, money, hard work and the passion to learn. Otherwise they wouldn’t need a mentor. I am successful in my own field and is why I have money to invest in multi-family. I have personally mentored many people who had the passion to enter the field of my expertise. Most successful people have had mentors, for example Bengamin Graham was Warren Buffetts mentor. Mr Graham did not charge Warren a dime, but yet Warren had nothing to bring to the table expect his time, hard work and passion for what Mr. Graham was doing. I attend the BRK shareholder meeting every year in Omaha and have heard this story many times. Most truly successful people love to give back and share with others. I am simply searching for one on this plateform in my area. I am not seeking someone who is running a sales funnel first, while teaching second. I am not sure what you are talking about when referring to podcasts, etc doesn’t count, as I never mentioned those things. But I do know the most successful people read everyday.
@Andrew Johnsonundefined
You say "Bengamin Graham was Warren Buffetts mentor. Mr Graham did not charge Warren a dime, but yet Warren had nothing to bring to the table expect his time, hard work and passion for what Mr. Graham was doing."
You guarantee to make me into Warren Buffett and I will guarantee to bring you my time. ;-)
@Elizabeth Wilson Thank You!