Advertising dollars are always scrutinized and tweaked to optimize performance of money in / money out. For those real estate professionals that are still not embracing the power of BiggerPockets, I ask you why not?!?! Lead generated with traditional means like print, mailers, zillow, Facebook, google, etc are SUPER EXPENSIVE. The folks at BP have given you an incredible opportunity to showcase your strengths and crush the local lead flow, and you can do it for free! Honestly, the extremely low cost of being a pro member should be a no brainer if you are interested in the leads this platform generates.

After countless hours of scrubbing leads, trying to win over clients via cold calls, and provide value to those that don't even know what BP is for these traditional lead sources I will tell you straight up. The leads that come out of BP are HIGH VALUE compared to leads acquired elsewhere... AND they're least expensive leads you can possibly attain.

So, what do you have to do? Well, you need to be part of the community here on BP! I know it is hard, we're all busy after all... but here I am on Friday at 4PM when I have countless other things that I should be doing.. and here I am, stopping by to tell you this:

If you're not generating at least 10 high quality leads per year on this platform, leads that yield referrals and repeat business, then you're not investing the time you need to. Everyone has to start somewhere, including ourselves. I am so thankful that I stumbled across @Joshua Dorkin 's BP back in the days when my life wasn't quite as hectic as it is now and could be a part of both the learning and teaching. No matter what part of RE you're interested in, you can learn new things. So, this just isn't a place to gather leads. This is a place of education. And when you get such a high quality education for free, from people that have been in the trenches making the mistakes and posting it back here on BP, you should appreciate that and pay it forward. I still take on newbie investor clients like @Roland Salmi and walk them through the current markets and show them the deals that are going down and how they perform. I'm not doing it for the almighty buck, I'm doing it because these are people that want to take charge of their financial future in a smart and calculated way. It empowers people to empower others and give back to the community.

Philanthropy is a personal endeavor, and each person that chooses this path dictates how they contribute to the overall goal of community building. That is the coolest part about RE investment IMO, and BP is by far the coolest place to soak in that mentality and start getting active!

I'll leave you all with this, the number one thing that "investors" like to tell realtors.

"Hey, when you get a good deal send it my way"

To all of you that have told your REALTOR this same thing. Please STOP.

There is a market, and on it there will always be a BEST investment. If you're actually on the market for a property, get yourself involved and have your realtor show you the current best fit deal for your criteria. Remember, the more you restrict your buying criteria, the less opportunity you have. Open yourself up AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. If you say "I want to buy 30k houses" you're never going to be a great investor. You've just eliminated every good deal that is above 30k. And as all successful investors know, their ain't no cap on what you should be looking at, only at what you can afford!