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If You Chase Two Rabbits...
I was reading a post here on Bigger Pockets the other day about the success of a BP member, Justin S., who has been an investor since February of this year. What an inspiring post. I encourage you to read the entire post at... http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/42483-where-am-i-now-
Justin shares not only his successes, but also provides some valuable lessons that he has learned in the past 10 months.
The one lesson that stuck out the most was the very first one where Justin strongly suggests... "FOCUS on one strategy. Do not try to learn them all, you will only burn yourself out."
And that is the topic of this blog post!
As a founder of a REIA in Baltimore, I can't tell you the number of times I witnessed new and sometimes experienced investors get all charged up because of the profits some other investor was generating.
It usually went like this...
Most investors don't really know what area of real estate they want to focus on when they first get started. And just as often many investors with more experience (but not nessecarily more profits) jump from one approach or formula to another with little to show for their efforts. Or worse yet, someone just spent $15K attending some gurus bootcamp and came back with so much stuff swirling around in their heads they have no idea where to start.
So... they show up at the next REIA meeting and hear a group of investors talking about the killing they are making rehabbing houses. CLICK... goes the light bulb and off they go to rehab houses.
After a month or two they show back up, they are discouraged because their rehab is not going great and they hear another group of investors talking about the great cash-flow and cash-outs they are getting from their rental properties...
So... off they go to acquire rentals...
And the story continues until these investors get discouraged because nothing they are doing is working and they soon find themselves back in the JOB market wondering... what just happened?
I was lucky when I got started. I was too lazy to learn everything and therefore only focused on one thing. When I got started I was going to buy rentals and nothing else. And buy I did. It wasn't until we had over 30 rental properties that we decided to try our hand doing a retail rehab. Just to see if we could do it.
By then we could do the rental thing in our sleep. We were good at it and our cash-flow and equity proved it. It took discipline and at times guts to stay the course... when so many other investors where making a killing doing rehabs or wholesaling. But when we decided to move to another strategy it was easy to do... as we just built upon our current knowledge base.
And that is the point of Justin's lesson learned...
By focusing on one thing, getting really good at. Becoming the expert others seek out. Doing it so well profits can't stay away... you will not only enjoy this business and profit handsomely from it... but you will be able to accelerate everything you do because of the strong foundation you build in the process.
I will leave you with the following... something my wife, Vicky, reminds me of often...
FOCUS...
If You Chase Two Rabbits...
Both Will Escape!
To Your Success...Pete
If you found this post to be of value, I would be honored if you passed it on to others who may benefit.
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Peter R, Giardini is the founder of The Club, Real Estate Mastermind a National Real Estate Investor Coaching program whose philosophy is that real estate investing coaching/ mentoring can only be provided by experenced "local" coaches in a one-on-one environment. To find out more about The Club visit or send an email to . To learn more about Pete visit www.theclubteam.com/about.asp.
You can listen in and participate in Pete's Real Estate Investors' Mastermind radio show every Thursday night at 11:00PM on BlogTalkRadio... . To hear my weekly Current Market Update click on the green button at the upper left of this post. Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Comments (8)
Nice article.
Michael Perry, over 14 years ago
Michael... it is my pleasure. I am glad that these insights are valuable for others.
Peter Giardini, over 14 years ago
Thanks for taking the time to remind us all to stay focus and execute our plan. Nice job
Michael Zuber, over 14 years ago
Justin... please accept my apologies for not getting your name correct. Stupid move on my part. I have corrected it on the post. I have found that staying focused in this business can be a real challenge. Yet those who manage to do are usually the ones who are generating the most profits. Great job Justin.
Peter Giardini, over 14 years ago
Great post! I get questioned all the time about why I don't "try" all the other ways of real estate investment.
James Ward, over 14 years ago
Peter - I'm glad you built of my post. Its a great article and valuable lesson. P.S. Name is Justin not Jason. Don't worry, it happens all the time.
Justin S., over 14 years ago
Peter, great post as always! This has been a roadblock for me in helping those that seek out my help. I think a lot of not most of new(er) investors have the 'fast track' mentality and they do exactly as you mentioned, Go where they 'think' the money is. This is also very true when new(er) investors go and get their 'Realtors' license. They lie to themselves saying their only doing it for access to the MLS but in reality, all they do is get sucked into that 'ideology' that being licensed will make you a lot of money and then they disappear all together completely wasting all the time you spent with them.
Nick J., over 14 years ago
Great article and lesson, Peter. I've never heard the lesson of the two rabbits, but it is a great way of explaining things for folks.
Joshua Dorkin, over 14 years ago