I was asked this on the "Why Not?" podcast the other day for Brian Belaire, another successful investor and property manager who moved to Aruba and still operates a couple companies up here in the New England area, and while it was coming out of my mouth, I realized I needed to share with anyone else who needed to hear this - ESPECIALLY those starting out.
WHAT would be the top 4 things you'd say to yourself when get started in this business?
1. FAILURE IS REQUIRED.
It's not just a possibility that some folks are SCARED of ... it's a REQUIREMENT to success.
In fact - the quicker you get there, the faster you see results.
EMBRACE the awkwardness of talking with sellers, of knocking on doors, on hearing objections and swears,
On realizing that you're working with people in a sensitive part of their lives.
On getting ARVs wrong and having buyers tell you that you're numbers are off, and you need to renegotiate.
ENJOY the process of hitting guardrails and structuring offers, sometimes poorly, or losing deals and having sellers walk, or going OVER on rehab budgets and even losing money on rehabs as you learn what it's like to buy in a changing market.
Every failure - every test of your marketing, every conversation, every offer, every rehab, every tenant, every refinance, every tech nightmare...
It's ALL required to go from "BAD" to "NOT BAD", then from "NOT BAD" to "OK", then from "OK" to GOOD, then GREAT. EMBRACE the mistakes and love them for what they are - opportunities to grow.
2. PATIENCE is KEY, and Enjoy the PROCESS over the OUTCOME.
You're not going to crush a $750K wholesale deal in your first week... (and if you do, holy **** did you get lucky, and imagine what you can do when you PRACTICE your skills!). I use that example since I just PAID a $750K wholesale fee last year to an investor who put in the reps, and had a smoking self storage deal under agreement for a steal... and I was HAPPY to wire them the funds.
Regardless of social media showing you all the millions to be made - every new investor didn't start that way. They started by focusing on the ONE strategy that spoke to them, in the ONE market they knew or targeted, with the TOOLS they picked up - and they learned along the way.
There's SO MUCH knowledge out there - a LOT of it is noise and distractions. You don't need to learn every strategy before you start. You don't need to watch 1,000 hours of YouTube before you're successful. That said - START, and then, DO NOT QUIT, when the challenges arise. They are there to build you into a stronger business person and leader, to open yourself up for MORE.
It took me 4 months to get traction for my FIRST ASSIGNMENT DEAL (after losing everything in my first 5 out of state deals... if you haven't read the story, here it is again... ) , but once you learn and build MOMENTUM, things get easier and faster...until they halt again, as there's another lesson you need to learn as you grow into the next version of YOU, and YOUR BUSINESS.
EMBRACE these lessons, and don't expect to be a millionaire in your first year. It's all about putting in the reps on any strategy you're into and SLOWLY getting better, which translates into more income, more deals, and more confidence in what you're doing. Don't jump at every strategy that looks sexy - STAY CONSISTENT with YOUR FOCUS.
3. It's a TEAM SPORT.
It's the OPPOSITE of what we're taught in schools - to work indpendently, get good grades, don't ask for help, and don't cheat by using reference tools or calculators. (Talk about the OPPOSITE of what entrpreneurship is...)
The most successful people I know in this business are those who realize - they DON'T have to do it alone.
I was the person who had been burned in a few really bad partnerships (case in point, my first 5 deals), and then grinded my way to 10, then 30, then 80 deals a year with just me and only one other person.
...but I didn't realize how quickly I could grow, how much more I could learn and scale once I set that aside and trusted people. My first employees, my new partners, my new JV partners, and eventually taking on private money investors (Oh NO! Could I trust myself with OTHER people's money??) - it all became part of my journey and opened me up to 8 figures, and helping over 500 families a year, while growing a rental portfolio to over 1,000 units.
I ALSO can tell you, that when I finally turned the spigot back on, and started making self development a part of my annual budget, for me and my teams, the SUCCESS POURED IN. Having someone hold me accountable makes me strive for more and progress over perfection every single day. The most successful businesses have boardrooms, and the most successful investors have business and life coaches that help keep them focused and push them to their next versions of who they can become.
Even when someonething doesn't go right - remember the first lesson and embrace the learning, but continue to be open to what working with others can do for you.
4. CHECK your EGO and REMEMBER your WHY.
Here's my biggest lesson - REMEMBER your WHY.
FINANCIAL FREEDOM - doesn't necessarily look like having a company with 35 employees, having 8 vertically integrated real estate companies, striving to get another 300 wholesale & rehab deals, and another 1,000 units that year, while locking yourself into 20 zoom meetings a week to run a massive company that now owns YOU.
Hard lesson I had to learn - that I started doing things for the wrong reasons. "Becoming #1" in my market and also showing all those haters from my childhood and when I was starting out, that I WAS THE DUDE. It didn't end up serving me, and I started having to ask hard questions - who am I when all of the BUSY-NESS falls away? Can I learn to do LESS and ENJOY MORE? Can I impact just as many people in different ways?
Hoping that some of these resonate with you investors - and if you're new, you may not be in a spot to fully embrace them yet. But these were the biggest lessons I could think of to date, where I'd go back and tell them to my younger selves.
Couple tips...
SURROUND yourself with like minded individuals! Local meetups are a great way to stay in the know and network, and ... when you're ready, INVEST IN YOURSELF. Paying a coach, mentor or being a part of a community or mastermind, will ACCELERATE your growth.
Happy to share and talk RE - reach out here or on socials to connect!
#FinancialFreedomin5Years
PS - now that you've read some forums posts today - what's the NEXT INSPIRED ACTION you can take to move you closer to your goals?? :)
