Guru vs. Coaching

Guru vs Coaching

Without fail we have all seen the people on Youtube, on various infomercials, and on the radio about how if you just follow their process you tap into immeasurable wealth with just a small time commitment. In is a formulaic procedure for video; fast sports car, fancy looking house, and looking successful as possible. They might even show you a cancelled check from a past deal to show that they are not bluffing and they are legitimate. If there is one side of real estate investing I do not like or enjoy this would be it. I do want to be perfectly clear here and say I do think system and real coaching works, but I am not for people investing tens of thousands of dollars just to try and find oil overnight.

I find it detestable for someone to be told that they can begin to start real estate investing on a monday and by friday they can close and make thousands and thousands of dollars in profit. Yes, it is possible. Is it likely, not one bit. In fact it is highly highly unlikely. Real estate investing is not something you can just pick up and be great at it. The intense minor details that are involved in nearly every facet take time to understand and there is a comfort level that comes with doing it over and over again. I cannot tell you how many deals I have done in my career of real estate investing, but I can tell you how many deals I have failed with- it is 29. I could walk you through each of those 29, tell you when, why, and how they failed. Those 29 deals failed due to everything from my desperation to do a deal, to trying to rush through it, to not paying as close attention as I should.

Those 29 failed deals are the basis for my success in this business, not because there have been exponentially more successes than there have been failures but rather I am constantly not wanting to be judged by those 29 failures. A guru would tell you that failure is the simple cost of doing business and comes with the territory, now pick back up the phone and keep dialing. Therein lies the fundamental difference, with a coaching you go step by step through why it failed and what can be learned.

A guru will sell the system to you which normally is just make calls to certain lists and do hard selling across the board to get a contract signed, rinse and repeat until you hit the number that allows to sing to the high heavens about how well that guru worked for you. A lot of these gurus pitch a form of wholesaling called virtual wholesaling, which in the simple description is getting sellers in California to agree to sell when you yourself are somewhere else entirely. More than likely you will never step foot on that property, and the only way you will see that property is through google street view. Think about for a moment, you want to convince someone to sell their property to you when in reality you have never, nor will you ever see it. The reason these virtual wholesalers are successful is that they have built-up premium buyers lists for given areas of people who will pay top dollar for projects that they do not have to find. The cost of doing business for them is paying a fee for someone to go find their property for them, making you a middle person. It is real estate investing, but I would go so far as to call it that in name only. Virtual wholesalers will tell you that even the smallest profit is worthwhile, so it is worthwhile to keep dialing and chasing dollars. Cool, but

More importantly though, and here is the biggest difference here, most of the time this programs are sponsored by a name. Someone who has some semblance of success in real estate who is pitching these programs or systems for you to consider. Yet, when it comes down to it you will never actually speak to that person, instead you will be speaking with a team member or someone else within the lose confines of an organization. You do not find the level of success you want, there is nobody to talk to. This is probably my biggest complaint with these guru systems, they care about two things- signing you up for the program and you getting deals done in the system, and success comes from just doing the program and following it.

In my time in real estate investing, I have had three coaches, two of which are still to this day my biggest mentors and supporters I could have. I speak to them at least once a week, if not more, they keep me grounded, they keep me focused, and they keep me motivated towards what I need to be doing. Even at the highest levels of success I still use them to tweak what I am doing, they both know me so well after so many years together where exactly I am falling short and where they need to apply pressure and how best to apply that pressure.

Coaching keeps you grounded, it keeps your mindset sharp, and keeps you focused on your why and your goals. Is coaching for everybody? No, and I will be the first one to admit that. We all like to think of ourselves as coachable, but in reality we are not. We are set in our ways, and sometimes we are not open to change, but change is what makes us better. Hearing other viewpoints to a problem can oftentimes help reach our end goal faster and with better results. Yet, where the biggest thing between a guru’s system and coaching is the accountability factor.

Real estate investing is a long and many times lonely road, but with a coach you have someone constantly checking in with you, and making sure you are doing the activities that are going to get you going quicker and faster. Coaching is all about getting the very best out of you, and getting you to be the very best function of yourself that you can possibly be by achieving your highest level of potential while anchoring you to feelings of your goals, your why, and what you want out of whatever it is you are doing.

This is incredibly challenging and time intensive work, but can wildly fulfilling, fun, and meaningful. If you are considering coaching here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

1. Be honest- the first conversation you have with a coach should not be about what you do tomorrow, but rather what you want to get out coaching, what your goals are, and how best they can help you.
2. Consistency. Keep a schedule call. If it is every week, every other week, once a month whatever the schedule is- create one and keep it.
3. Track what you do. The best way for a coach to help is for them to know what you are doing. How many hours did you work? What did you do in that time? What are you marketing too? How are you marketing to that group?
4. Admit what you do not know- always be asking what you could be doing better, and ask questions. Do not expect to be told the answers, rather ask how to attack a problem or you are unsure how to go about doing something.
5. Use the network to strengthen your weakness, have a conversation with your coach about what kind of network they have that you can be plugged into to help overcome any weakness that they might have. Are they apart of a large meetup, network of like minded individuals, or community that you can be plugged into to pull you up and get the most out of everything that you do.

As always to your success!