All Forum Posts by: Shawn Parsh

Another great benefit of having a successful real estate business is being able to spend significant time with friends and family. This of course is especially true around the holidays. I thank everyone who has helped me over the years in getting me where I am today. I look forward to the coming year and learning all I can from each of you. Merry Christmas.

Several good points made. First I have to say that you don't need your own money to invest in real estate so regardless of the ecomony you can still get started. Second, I agree that each person has to determine what they want to do with their life. What I plan on doing is presenting seminars to people who have an interest in real estate. I will do my best to answer their questions and to eliminate fear. I will tell my story, my challenges, and how I got through them. I will do this without blowing smoke and without trying to take advantage of their desire to have a better life. I believe there is more than enough to go around and hope I can help others find a life of freedom as I have. Please keep up the comments, I learn more from all of you everyday. Thanks and Merry Christmas.

Hello all Thanks for the comments. I'm sorry I haven't responded to your posts the last couple days, but I have good reason. My son Aiden finally decided it was time to come out...my wife delivered him on the 20th and we just got home a few hours ago. Now that I got mom and baby in bed I thought I would catch up on a little business. I will make this short tonight as I haven't slept much yet.
Bryan I know exactly what you mean when you say people think investing in real estate is easy. Too many people listen to the hype and think they will be able to do nothing and make millions. Kind of like the latest diet pill will melt pounds off your butt. Eat whatever you want, don't work out, and take this magic pill and you will lose weight. Most people want an easy solution to their problem. That's one of the reasons diet pills are a multibillion dollar business.
It is no different in the real estate business. There are far too many people who just tell people what they want to hear, not what they need to hear. I would rather be straight with people from the beginning instead of blowing smoke up their rear by telling them it is easy to get rich in real estate. I advise people who are looking for a quick and easy way to wealth to buy lottery tickets not real estate. As we all know real estate takes work, but for those willing to do what it takes it is well worth the effort. My real estate business is what allowed me to stay at the hospital the last couple days with my new son. It is also what will allow me to help mom and baby out the next several days why they recover. A successful real estate business can give you several things, but for me the most important thing it gives you is Freedom. I don’t need a lot of things or a lot of money. What I really enjoy is the freedom to spend my time with my family and friends. That is what made the difficult journey worth it to me.
Eric, your point on financial security is well taken. Look how many people are now out of work or under employed. I bet many of them thought their jobs were secure until a few months ago. The sad part is most will learn nothing be this economy. They will overlook numerous great investments on their way to their next job interview. I can’t count the number of people who have told me they want a guaranteed check and that’s why they don’t invest in real estate. I wonder how they feel about those guaranteed checks now.

It is great to get so much feedback on my question, I really do appreciate it. Jon I understand your questioning of my intentions…but rest assured I have no hidden agenda. The capitalization of some of the words is to identify the areas I think are of added importance or significance. I believe you highlighted Action-Fear-Passion. In my opinion one of the many reasons people do not reach a goal is that they never take any Action. As many others have said on this site….talking about doing something and doing it are two different things. As such I consider Action to be a key ingredient to success. I would rather see someone take Action and fail than to never take Action at all. Lord knows I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my day, buy no one who knows me would say I don’t take Action. As I stated in another post the BP site is great, but there is something to be said for meeting in person. Having never met, you will have to either find someone who has dealt with me directly or wait to see my progress and true intentions. As far as Fear, we all know that it stops a lot of people from going after the life they really want. I will try to mitigate Fear by educating people on ways to protect themselves so When they make a mistake they can learn from it and drive on. Finally Passion, there are two reasons for Passion being given extra attention. First, if you have ever listened to someone talk about something they obviously had no passion for you would probably agree it is like watching paint dry. I want my seminars to be fun, and educational. I believe the Passion I have for the business will help make that happen. Secondly, in order to be successful in anything that takes time and commitment you need Passion. Things go wrong no matter what the business so if you aren’t passionate about what you’re doing you will likely not last long. I hope that helps clarify my meaning Jon. On a side note I appreciate the pricing examples you gave me.
Vikram, you are 100% correct that most seminars are marketing tools used to sell other products or services. I don’t mind seminars that try to sell you something…provided I know that’s what they are going to do. I’m a pretty direct guy, another side affect of my military time I would guess, and I appreciate people who are straight to the point with me as well. After saying that I have paid tens of thousands of dollars on real estate seminars over the last several years and I don’t regret any of them. Yes some of them were not very good, but I have always been able to take at least one new concept or idea from a seminar that will make or save me enough money to cover the cost of the event. Of course I think in many cases you get out of something what you put in. I agree with you that marketing is going to be the key to my success or failure. I have posted another question on BP about marketing but have not yet received any comments. As I said earlier I have a meeting scheduled with a marketing company so hopefully I will get some insight there. I don’t want to be the only one at my Seminar. : -) Of course if I was I guess I could book a smaller room.
Douglas I also agree with your comments on a free market. I have no problem with people charging large amounts to teach seminars as long as there is a clear understanding of what is being taught. Integrity, honesty, and service are important traits for any business and they should be part of any seminar. If my seminars are successful I will be compensated for my time. If I can keep marketing cost low and attract enough attention to fill a reasonable number of seats there should be at least a small profit from the event. What I will not do is tease the participants with a little information about the subject and then try to sell them an advanced seminar where they will learn what they need to know to be successful. On the flip side I will not hold their hands and skip with them to their first deal.
Rich I really appreciate the offer to be a presenter at the event(s). I have written down your name and will research your back ground here on BP as you suggested. As you know I am still trying to work out all the details as far as length of the seminar, target audience and so on but when I get things more ironed out I will contact you. I do plan on using some of my power team members for the longer seminar, but I think having some other investors at the event would be great. It would be great if we could get a few investors to present different aspects of the business.
Once again I would like to thank everyone for their input. I will continue to watch for updates and suggestions. shawn

Thank you for the clarification.

Great point about the amount of rent paid being a good indicator. In the registration process I will try to gather important details so I know who I’m speaking to. As far as my back ground in real estate, I’ve done a lot of things. For the most part I have been a buy and hold guy, but I have done some flips. I have bought everything from single family houses to apartment buildings to abandoned schools to commercial buildings and done some land development. I usually buy properties that are distressed in some way, rehab them and rent them out. I use both bank financing, seller financing, and private investors. Of course like most of us now I think I’m using banks less and less. When I started investing I had no money or credit so I have used many creative methods for buying. I also did all my own rehab work and over time I had a crew that worked with me. I no longer do any of the work myself as I have built a pretty good team to handle things for me. I have also coached several people who have gone on to buy investment properties.
What I know is that when I started I was renting and was a single parent making $8.00 an hour barely getting by. I can’t remember which infomercial I saw at that time, but it got me interested in real estate. I then began to educate myself and started to figure out that there were ways to invest in real estate….even for me. Having this back ground I understand there are thousands of people out there that are probably in the same boat right now. If I can help them by telling them how I did it, and how they can too, and make a few bucks for my time it seems like we both win. I’m hoping that my back ground in the Army (in my 25th year of Army Reserve) and what I’ve learned about motivating people to take Action will help. I understand Fear is a big obstacle, but I figure if I can lead men and women through the streets of Baghdad I may be able to motivate a few here in the states. I have a real Passion for real estate investing and what it has given me so I’m hoping that will come out in my seminars. I thank God everyday for my life and how much time I can now spend with my wife and kids.
As far as my angle, it is just the seminar. I will trade my time for their fee. They get the information that I have spent the last 10 plus years learning and I get what’s left of their fee for attendance after expenses are covered. That’s as complicated as my plan gets. I look forward to further input or questions. Thanks

I read the benefits for becoming a BP pro, but I'm still a little on clear. Would being a pro member allow me to advertise my book and or future seminars to those that were interested? If so where exactly would it be advertised? Or would it be better to just pay to advertise? For those of you that are already pro's please give me the skinny on the benefits. Thanks shawn

Right now I’m thinking of two different seminars. The first would target renters and would focus on ways to buy their own home. The second seminar would be for people who are interested in investing in real estate. The purpose of the seminars would be to educated people at the events not to sell them on future business with me. I have given presentations in front of groups of about 800 or so but I have never taught a seminar yet so I’m still learning the process. Right now I’m thinking a 2-4 hr seminar for renters and a 1-2 day for those interested in real estate investing. Of course I’m thinking the renters’ seminar would be less expensive than the investors, but I’m not sure how to price it yet. As many of you have said if I price it to low there will be no perceived value and too high no one will come.
As far as the giveaway idea, I plan on giving my book to those that attend. I figure if I give the book they will feel like they are getting something, but the book also outlines many of the techniques that I will talk about in the seminar. I will also have a handout as you suggested. At the investor seminar I will probably have my attorney, cpa, realtor, handyman, and insurance agent speak as well. What are your thoughts of $99.00 for the seminar for renters and $299.00 for the investors’ seminar? I have a meeting planned with a marketing company next week….provided my newest son comes by then. My wife is now 5 days PAST DUE. I’m thinking he hates the cold as much as I do. So anyway once I find out what the marketing will cost I will have a better idea of what to charge or how many people I will need to register to make it doable.
Oh I would also like to hear your thoughts on how many assistants I should have. Obviously, it will be based on the number of people who register for the event but what should be the ratio? Thank you for all the input.

I appreciate the input. What would you suggest for a two hour seminar? Price? Did you advertise by saying there was a limited number of seats...only 35, or did you try to get as many people as possible? What marketing did you find effective and what was a waste of money? Did you have a hand out for the attendees or did you find they paid attention better if they had to take notes? What should be the goal of a 2 hr seminar. I know thats a lot of questions so if you don't feel like responding I understand. Thanks

Joshua,
I'm not sure how you select people to assist with BP, but I would be interested in getting more involved. In particular I would like to help with researching the idea of a national event. Networking on the BP site is great, but there is something to be said for meeting people in person. I know in my local area I find very few people to network with from BP. I just started the Central Illinois Real Estate Investors blog hoping to get a few local people....but no luck yet. If you decide to have a national event I would love to be involved in making it happen. I'm not even sure how many Active members you have on the site now, but it has to be quite a few. Thank you in advance for your consideration.