It's Lonely At The Top... Part - 1

This blog post was originally written and posted on Nick Johnson's blog site www.subject2.com.  I want to thank Nick for inviting me be a guest author on his site.  If you haven't.... check it out.  

Here is the article... 

I believe it was Zig Ziglar who coined the phrase… “see you at the top!”

I have attended many seminars where that phrase was  a keystone of the discussion… and almost everyone who I have spoken to about the subject of success, especially real estate investors, completely endorse the notion of getting to the top!

Regrettably, while getting to the top takes a tremendous amount of effort, some skills, and much self-made luck… once at the top, it is a very lonely place.

As entrepreneurs, by definition, we start at the top.  We leave whatever JOB we had, jump into real estate with a clear vision of wealth, and freedom and control over our lives; march off smartly to take down deals and secure our profits… and soon find ourselves out in the lonely world sometimes wondering…. what the HECK did I get myself into?

As real estate entreperneurs we have the good fortune of having to learn to do just about everything, and learn it while we are doing it.  Think about it… if we aren’t out negotiating a deal, we are back in the office dealing with insurance issues, or out in the field managing unmanagable contractors or dealing with overly demanding buyers.  And often times we find ourselves ill equipped, over worked, under appreciated, and sometimes just darned scared.

It is lonely at the top!

Face it, neither you nor I have all of the answers to every situation we could be confronted with every day.  We don’t have time to learn from scratch everything that must be learned in this business to succeed and secure our profits.  And it is unrealistic and perhaps you are delusional to think otherwise.

From my own experiences I have learned that trying to successfully operate my businesses in a vacuum… a vacuum absent of others valuable knowledge, guidance, and the benefit of their experiences just makes being an entrepreneur an insurmountable challenge. 

And sadly… too many really good, well-intentioned real estate investors drop out because they just don’t realize that they are at the top, running their own business without the needed input and guidance from others.

I will continue this discussion next week as I explore a few proven techniques that have worked for me in ensuring that while I am at the TOP… it is not a lonely place… in fact it is enjoyable, enlightening, and of course profitable.

In the mean time I welcome your thoughts on what it is like to the chief cook and bottle washer… its rewards and challenges.