MILLIONAIRE Mindset Vs. None-MILLIONAIRE Mindset

[Shiloh Lundahl]

On the BiggerPockets website everyone has an equal voice. An equal opportunity to read and post as anyone else (as long as the poster follows the BP posting guidelines of course - which is understandable).

I have learned from people much wiser than I to be selective in the advice and opinions I listen to. Specifically I have been taught to read, listen to, and associate with the people that I admire or would like to become like.

I have been reading a recent post about all the negative aspects of real estate investing and how most investors really lose money and the ones that talk positively about investing in real estate just want to sell you their book or get you to listen to their podcasts where they get paid by their advertisers. 

Because everyone has an equal voice on BiggerPockets I wonder if all of the posts on here bring up the below average investor’s mindset but also bring down the above average investor’s mindset. I’m not advocating limiting the posts to only those people who are wealthy standing in a room talking about their real estate, but boy would I like to be a fly on the wall in that room soaking up only the real keys to success rather than listening to or reading the opinions of people who are below average investors.

I don’t mean to sound like an elitist, I am just wondering if anyone else has felt the same way.

[Account Closed]

I know the post you are talking about, and I recognized it as a lot of jadedness, but as someone who has dealt with most of what he was bitching about, I saw a lot of grains of truth to it.  

On the other hand, I dont really buy into the "above average investor" talk or "millionare mindset" stuff. But, thats because I know my personality is different from the people who say that sort of stuff.  

I'm not a wheeler-dealer transactional type. Those types of people are kind of like an "engine" that needs constant fuel to keep that energy going. Realtors, flippers, wholesalers, etc, who complete a project and then need to hurry up and find the next thing. 

For those types of people, they need the optimism and encouragement, and to keep a positive outlook.  Those are the sorts that think in terms of their mindset and if they are an above-average investor.

For me, I'm a bit deeper in the mud. I think the transactional types look down on people like me. I self-manage, I do as much of my own work as I can, I hunt and hunt and hunt until the "right" deal comes along and then I pounce aggressively. I know exactly what I'm looking for and I know what I'm going to do with it when I get it.  Also, this isn't my day job, this is me trying to aggressively (but patiently) build wealth for myself using the tools and resources I have.   

I think the guy that wrote that post is a lot like me, in that the non-transactional types dont entirely trust the transactional types because we know they just want to do some sort of deal and move on.  We're also in the mud so we get a lot of mud on ourselves. 

That leads to some jadedness. I've thrown more than one shady contractor off my property. I think most realtors are complete bozos. I dont trust anything anyone tells me in terms of numbers. I think scammers and corner-cutters are everywhere in REI. I think the up-talkers/book-sellers are selling fuel for those that need it for their "engine." I dont.

I really identified with that post and voted it up. But I will keep on doing what I do because I've done it long enough now to know my method is working.   

I'm not sure if I really addressed what you were asking, but there's just so many different personality types and different ways to success in REI that it makes sense there will be disagreements and clashes on the softer stuff, like outlooks and mindsets.