Laugh and the world will laugh with you. Fart and…

[Joe S.]

There’s an old saying that says laugh and the world will laugh with you. Fart and stand alone.
After 20+ years of buying, selling properties and having several tenants from Hades, I wanted to share a couple of thoughts.

1. If you succeed in a big way, you will gain some friends and admirers. 

( you’ll even have more friends if you pay for all the events, trips, and dinners. Lol.)

2. If you have problems Don’t expect much help.  

Every once in a while, somebody will come on here usually brand new and say hello bigger pockets family. Now I’m sure the owners of Bigger Pockets are glad that you would say that, but in reality, Bigger Pockets is full up with strangers, and there are very few posters that do not have something to gain by posting.

If something goes wrong in your life, don’t expect a lot of help even from a paid mentor. You have to be responsible to get up every day and focus on your own goals. 

I was not trying to be negative, but simply pointing out the world typically response to what you make of it.

[JD Martin]

Quote from @Joe S.:

There’s an old saying that says laugh and the world will laugh with you. Fart and stand alone.
After 20+ years of buying, selling properties and having several tenants from Hades, I wanted to share a couple of thoughts.

1. If you succeed in a big way, you will gain some friends and admirers. 

( you’ll even have more friends if you pay for all the events, trips, and dinners. Lol.)

2. If you have problems Don’t expect much help.  

Every once in a while, somebody will come on here usually brand new and say hello bigger pockets family. Now I’m sure the owners of Bigger Pockets are glad that you would say that, but in reality, Bigger Pockets is full up with strangers, and there are very few posters that do not have something to gain by posting.

If something goes wrong in your life, don’t expect a lot of help even from a paid mentor. You have to be responsible to get up every day and focus on your own goals. 

I was not trying to be negative, but simply pointing out the world typically response to what you make of it.

 Exactly. I have a saying, maybe I stole it from some other smart sage, can't remember, but: "An ounce of action is worth a pound of theory". If you want anything to happen, you need to get off the couch and get started. 

A lot of new posters mistake analyzation for action. They think because they're posting and asking questions, reading books, listening to podcasts, that they're taking action. Well, none of those things are action - they may be worthwhile preparation to take action, but they're not action itself. 

Also, on your first point, I have a funny story. Well maybe it's not funny but it's interesting. Years ago I had a friend that had been laid off and was struggling to pay the bills while looking for work. Coincidentally I had a rental that had come open and needed a couple of rooms repainted. Paint is not rocket science, and he asked if I had any work that needed doing, so I let him do the paint job instead of my painter (accepting in my mind that if he didn't do a great job this was going to be charity). I brought him everything - paint, supplies, etc. After about a week he was maybe 1/4 way done with a job that should have taken 2 days, maximum, even by an amateur. I gave him a couple of more days, then just told him I didn't need the other room painted and I was going to pay him out (charity). I met him there to pay him out and in the course of talking he said "man are you lucky to have all these rentals". Lucky? Only if you consider working every night, weekend, holiday, and times when I should have been on vacation lucky, mucking around in crawlspaces, hunting down houses, falling through floors, etc. 

That's one reason I hang out on BP - most people in my life can't appreciate the level of work it took to get to this level. They think there's just some magic pixie dust out there that makes you successful. Only other people who have been there seem to be able to relate; lots of other people are just jealous.