Lone Rangers Suffer Without Tonto
A lone ranger is someone who prefers working in solitude or isolation. Sometimes life circumstances can call for us to adopt this attitude. When it comes to building your real estate investing business, however, adopting this mentality can prevent you from achieving the success that you desire.
Being able to work as part of a collaborative effort is essential to getting private money.
There are many reasons why people operate as lone wolves. Some do not know there are better or easier ways, while others prefer to work alone because of certain personality characteristics. Yet working with others in our businesses or even on certain projects can provide us with a boost of energy, motivation, and inspiration.
When we're coming from this place, we can more easily and readily take advantage of business opportunities. As Red Holzman, basketball coach for the New York Knicks once said, “The power of we is stronger than the power of me.”
What types of lone ranger activities are you engaging in and how can working with others create more business success for you?
1. Not enough money. One of the most common reasons cited by people for working in solitude revolves around money. Because most small business people are not making a great deal of money at start-up, they feel they cannot involve other people because they cannot pay them. This is exactly the opposite attitude you need to have when raising capital. Condition yourself to believe that it is OK (in fact, quite profitable) to cut other people in on your real estate investment deals.
2. The need to control. When just starting out, many new real estate investors want to control everything. They feel that if they don't control every aspect of their business, then something will go awry. Often the underlying fear is the fear of failure. So the result is usually one very burned out real estate investor. It is important to learn to delegate tasks whether it is to a temporary or full-time employee, or to a virtual assistant. It's easier to control when one is coming from the perspective of a manager rather than an employee or jack-of-all-trades. Delegation is a great skill to learn, and the sooner the better. By offloading responsibilities, you'll give yourself the space to be work with and cultivate relationships with private investors.
3. Protecting your assets. Many of us create opportunities out of thin air with real estate investments. When we're starting out, we may be fearful that people will steal our deals or private money contacts. The sad truth about this is that there are unscrupulous people who will steal from you. But, the reality is, most people won't. You can take measures to protects yourself, such as non-circumvent/non-compete (NCND) as well as other confidentiality agreements. Often, the best way to protects yourself is to be careful whom you do business with - but this should not cause fear that keeps you on the sidelines.
4. Doing it all. Some people are just used to doing everything themselves, never relying on others to lend a helping hand. Everyone knows plenty of real estate investors that do all of their own rehab work and manage all of their own properties and tenants. While that may be good in and of itself, that type of mentality might not be serving you or your business well. In today's competitive market place, where being quick to respond can mean the difference between getting a bargain real estate deal or not (or getting a private money investor or not), you might need to re-consider working with others. At first, when your business is small, you can probably manage everything on your own. But when your business starts taking off and you find yourself rushing around from 7 am to 7 pm, or later, on a daily basis, working weekends and holidays, it's time to rethink things. You can't do everything and do it all well.
5. Asking for help. Some people aren't comfortable asking for help or support from others. They might look at asking for help as something that signals a sign of weakness or neediness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Asking someone to help you out in your business is a wonderful gift you can give to them. People love having the opportunity to help someone out. You never know how their wisdom might contribute to your business success. You might even uncover an opportunity to partner with someone on a project; something that never would have otherwise come to fruition had you not asked for some help in the first place. Mentors play an important role here. If you have a mentor, than you have someone to keep you in check and someone that is there to help you with business issues.
6. Where are they? You have a great deal and you're certain it would be a real winner if only you could pull it off. But, it might be just too big to handle all alone. Or, you might not have the expertise to make it happen. You don't know who to ask to help you because you can't find someone with the same interests to partner with you. So you decide to remain isolated, the project goes nowhere, and no one benefits - not you and not your private investors. This scenario is more common than you might think. The easiest way to find people to partner with is to start networking, whether you're standing in line at a bank, attending a chamber meeting, or sharing with your fellow real estate investors. Tell people about your project and see what they have to say. Before you know it, you'll find someone who wants to know more about it. They might just be the person who will help you make it happen, or knows someone who can.
7. Too critical and judgmental. Being critical of others is a popular reason for many people to remain working in isolation. You might not think anyone can do the task or project as well as you can. Each one of us is unique and we all have talents and gifts in different areas. Rather than judging or measuring someone in a particular area in which you excel, look for areas in which they excel, from which you can benefit. Another person may be strong in an area in which feel you are weak. By combining talents you can create more than you could have if you remained working in isolation. Take a step back, and set aside your judgments of others. Instead look for the treasures inside of them.
8. Superman syndrome. Many real estate investors feel that they are like the fictional character Superman, who could do everything, even see through concrete and steel. Unfortunately, humans are far from this idealized cartoon character. As Jonathan Swift once said, “No man is an island.” We can't do it all ourselves and if one really thought about it, there is nothing that you have that is solely based just on your physical or mental efforts. It's actually more fun not to do everything yourself. Let others help you out. Let them share their ideas with you and vice versa. Lighten your attitude, delegate tasks or projects, and really enjoy the work you are doing. Doing everything is not a badge of honor, but rather it is a sign that you don't know the power of working with others.
9. Not enough for everyone. A scarcity mind-set is a strong underlying component of the lone ranger mentality. This often happens when we “fall in love” with an project, thinking it is “the investment of the century.” And because of that, we don't want to share it with anyone. We don't want to bring equity investors in to share profits with. We don't want to syndicate the deal because it will mean less money in our pocket. If you believe in the power of compounding wealth, then you cannot believe in scarcity - you must believe in abundance and with an 'abundance' mindset comes a belief that there is more than enough to go around.
10. Not understanding of the power of collaborative partnerships. Lone rangers don't understand the power of collaborative partnerships. These relationships are a strong and necessary component of any successful business. A collaborative partnership is one where the participants bring their talents and expertise to the relationship. It could be with real estate brokers, private investors, private money placement agents, attorneys, accountants, property mangers among others. Seeking out people who have the skills you are looking for while offering your own talents in return, is a great way to break out of isolation and experience new opportunities for business growth and success.
If you want to build your private money pipeline, you can't be a Lone Ranger.
Being able to work as part of a collaborative effort is essential to getting private money.
There are many reasons why people operate as lone wolves. Some do not know there are better or easier ways, while others prefer to work alone because of certain personality characteristics. Yet working with others in our businesses or even on certain projects can provide us with a boost of energy, motivation, and inspiration.
When we're coming from this place, we can more easily and readily take advantage of business opportunities. As Red Holzman, basketball coach for the New York Knicks once said, “The power of we is stronger than the power of me.”
What types of lone ranger activities are you engaging in and how can working with others create more business success for you?
1. Not enough money. One of the most common reasons cited by people for working in solitude revolves around money. Because most small business people are not making a great deal of money at start-up, they feel they cannot involve other people because they cannot pay them. This is exactly the opposite attitude you need to have when raising capital. Condition yourself to believe that it is OK (in fact, quite profitable) to cut other people in on your real estate investment deals.
2. The need to control. When just starting out, many new real estate investors want to control everything. They feel that if they don't control every aspect of their business, then something will go awry. Often the underlying fear is the fear of failure. So the result is usually one very burned out real estate investor. It is important to learn to delegate tasks whether it is to a temporary or full-time employee, or to a virtual assistant. It's easier to control when one is coming from the perspective of a manager rather than an employee or jack-of-all-trades. Delegation is a great skill to learn, and the sooner the better. By offloading responsibilities, you'll give yourself the space to be work with and cultivate relationships with private investors.
3. Protecting your assets. Many of us create opportunities out of thin air with real estate investments. When we're starting out, we may be fearful that people will steal our deals or private money contacts. The sad truth about this is that there are unscrupulous people who will steal from you. But, the reality is, most people won't. You can take measures to protects yourself, such as non-circumvent/non-compete (NCND) as well as other confidentiality agreements. Often, the best way to protects yourself is to be careful whom you do business with - but this should not cause fear that keeps you on the sidelines.
4. Doing it all. Some people are just used to doing everything themselves, never relying on others to lend a helping hand. Everyone knows plenty of real estate investors that do all of their own rehab work and manage all of their own properties and tenants. While that may be good in and of itself, that type of mentality might not be serving you or your business well. In today's competitive market place, where being quick to respond can mean the difference between getting a bargain real estate deal or not (or getting a private money investor or not), you might need to re-consider working with others. At first, when your business is small, you can probably manage everything on your own. But when your business starts taking off and you find yourself rushing around from 7 am to 7 pm, or later, on a daily basis, working weekends and holidays, it's time to rethink things. You can't do everything and do it all well.
5. Asking for help. Some people aren't comfortable asking for help or support from others. They might look at asking for help as something that signals a sign of weakness or neediness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Asking someone to help you out in your business is a wonderful gift you can give to them. People love having the opportunity to help someone out. You never know how their wisdom might contribute to your business success. You might even uncover an opportunity to partner with someone on a project; something that never would have otherwise come to fruition had you not asked for some help in the first place. Mentors play an important role here. If you have a mentor, than you have someone to keep you in check and someone that is there to help you with business issues.
6. Where are they? You have a great deal and you're certain it would be a real winner if only you could pull it off. But, it might be just too big to handle all alone. Or, you might not have the expertise to make it happen. You don't know who to ask to help you because you can't find someone with the same interests to partner with you. So you decide to remain isolated, the project goes nowhere, and no one benefits - not you and not your private investors. This scenario is more common than you might think. The easiest way to find people to partner with is to start networking, whether you're standing in line at a bank, attending a chamber meeting, or sharing with your fellow real estate investors. Tell people about your project and see what they have to say. Before you know it, you'll find someone who wants to know more about it. They might just be the person who will help you make it happen, or knows someone who can.
7. Too critical and judgmental. Being critical of others is a popular reason for many people to remain working in isolation. You might not think anyone can do the task or project as well as you can. Each one of us is unique and we all have talents and gifts in different areas. Rather than judging or measuring someone in a particular area in which you excel, look for areas in which they excel, from which you can benefit. Another person may be strong in an area in which feel you are weak. By combining talents you can create more than you could have if you remained working in isolation. Take a step back, and set aside your judgments of others. Instead look for the treasures inside of them.
8. Superman syndrome. Many real estate investors feel that they are like the fictional character Superman, who could do everything, even see through concrete and steel. Unfortunately, humans are far from this idealized cartoon character. As Jonathan Swift once said, “No man is an island.” We can't do it all ourselves and if one really thought about it, there is nothing that you have that is solely based just on your physical or mental efforts. It's actually more fun not to do everything yourself. Let others help you out. Let them share their ideas with you and vice versa. Lighten your attitude, delegate tasks or projects, and really enjoy the work you are doing. Doing everything is not a badge of honor, but rather it is a sign that you don't know the power of working with others.
9. Not enough for everyone. A scarcity mind-set is a strong underlying component of the lone ranger mentality. This often happens when we “fall in love” with an project, thinking it is “the investment of the century.” And because of that, we don't want to share it with anyone. We don't want to bring equity investors in to share profits with. We don't want to syndicate the deal because it will mean less money in our pocket. If you believe in the power of compounding wealth, then you cannot believe in scarcity - you must believe in abundance and with an 'abundance' mindset comes a belief that there is more than enough to go around.
10. Not understanding of the power of collaborative partnerships. Lone rangers don't understand the power of collaborative partnerships. These relationships are a strong and necessary component of any successful business. A collaborative partnership is one where the participants bring their talents and expertise to the relationship. It could be with real estate brokers, private investors, private money placement agents, attorneys, accountants, property mangers among others. Seeking out people who have the skills you are looking for while offering your own talents in return, is a great way to break out of isolation and experience new opportunities for business growth and success.
If you want to build your private money pipeline, you can't be a Lone Ranger.
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