goals aren't good?

Question

I've been thinking about this for a while and would appreciate your feedback. I'll give some examples. Let's say I flipped 4 houses last year, averaged 15,000 on each. then this year's goal would realistically be to flip 6, and make say 20,000 on each. So now we're almost 4 months in. I have one done, offer pending and see no great deals, if I do other investors are beating me to it or out bidding me for them. So now I'm worried, clearly missing the weekly and monthly goals along the way, basically I feel like a failure and maybe try to be more competitive in the bids and get myself into a property that is not that good.on the flip side of it. We're almost 4 months in, I have found 4, closed 2, for 25,000 and 28,000 profit. My goals are being exceeded so what should I do? Sell the other 2, flip 2 more by August and take the rest of the year off?

Instead I feel like a clear path forward is best. There's not a straight line. Im going strike out some and hit home runs at times as well.

Stay focused know where you are trying to get, don't let an arbitrary date or number cloud your vision.

Thoughts?

Account Closed · Answer

Perhaps what you should do is first flip 4 houses like last year and then worry about beating that "score." Pace yourself. But keep in mind that it's only April. A lot can happen in the next 8 months.Good luck!

Account Closed · Answer

In the instance quoted above, this is a horrible goal. It's a goal for the sake of having a goal, which does nobody any good, for any reason.In your instance (and original example), I'm not sure if you're 100% speaking hypothetically or not. However, I assume you are not and the instance you give is real world. Let's say you exceed your financial goal for the year by June. Then, you take the remainder of the year off.If that works for you, perfect. If it doesn't, don't do it.People keep asking, and I have yet to see you give a solid answer. What's the why? What's your end-game? I think your goals may be centered around a number of deals. Why not focus on a financial number instead? If you hit a deal with 100K net profit and your yearly goal was 90K, you win. Take the rest of the year off.(I still feel though, like we need some clarification, maybe).

Justin Fox · Answer

What you should be hearing is set a goal and then do what you will with the results of your efforts. If you set a goal to simply do as many deals as you can this year, then any amount of deals or cash will meet that goal as long as you're satisfied with that effort.Goals help keep you accountable. Doing your best, learning and refining are a part of attempting to meet that goal.The chips fall where you let them.

Jeffery Waicak · Answer

lol I'm not trying to set a goal up. Just wondering why? Why set a goal? Im hearing that if I am far behind my goal is should either press on because there's plenty of time, or scale back the goal. If I'm killing it and hit the goal early, I should either take off the rest of the time till the goal's deadline or move the goal. I don't really see why I shouldn't just do my best, continue to improve, continue to learn,continue to refine, and let the chips fall where they may?

Justin Fox · Answer

I think your goal needs to be make 50% more net profit compared to the previous year, as soon as possible, and then take the rest of the year off. That could take 2, 4 or 10 deals so that number doesn't really mean anything.

George Hermann · Answer

Maybe you're setting the wrong goals. Instead of the number of deals, you could focus on how much money you want to make through your investing. Then the number of deals becomes irrelevant.

Kevin Yeats · Answer

Don't kick yourself too hard.How would you feel if you closed on another deal last week and this week it appears that you would only net $10,000?Deals come and go. Profits from deals ebb and flow. Perhaps the market will turn and profitable deals will fall like rain ... or could dry up/

Jeffery Waicak · Answer

I really don't have a goal set. I am just trying to do as many solid deals as time, funding, and availability allows. As far as I understand goals, they focus on a solid number, and a solid time. In my mind, if the market puts me in a position to do 2 deals this year, then I just do 2 deals. If it puts me in a position to do 22 deals I do 22. That being said, I want to continue to look and ask why did I get/not get this deal. And continue to learn. If I get into a spot where I cannot keep my money working, then I will try new things to keep it going, while keeping within my circle of competence. If I'm finding too many killer deals to fund, same thing

Hugh Ayles · Answer

Prepare for a rainy day. In other words, the market may soften at some point in the future and it will be much easier on you if you have built up cssh reserves while the market is good.Never take deals for the sake of taking deals though. If the numbers do not meet your criteria, it is most likely not worth doing.For me, I need to make $x/ deal with a secondary goal of $y/month. If a deal does not meet those 2 goals, I need a very compelling reason to move forward such as the time invested is only a couple of weeks and I know the house will sell just as quickly.

Jeffery Waicak · Answer

there is a lot of time left in this year. The goals in the example are hypothetical. But this example I believe to be true. I listened to a podcast from an investor in Florida. He was investing for himself. He said he would get beaten on deals by hedge fund buyers that had a goal set for them to buy 5 houses a week. Because of the goal, they had to take worse deals than the individual investor, and would pay more