So, I’ve been walking down memory lane… to when I first got started in real estate investing.
It wasn’t good. Not good at all.
It was a dark, scary time for me because I didn’t have a mentor or coach, I didn’t have anybody telling me the right way to do things. I was just reading a bunch of books and buying a bunch of courses.
Fast forward about 3 years later, and I finally had it figured out and was able to quit my J.O.B. to do REI full time.
BUT!
During that time when I first started, it was frustrating and hard.
I’m so glad I went through that though — because it was a process of learning and growing and trying and testing and failing… and failing… and failing a lot, and making a lot of mistakes…
And a process in which I learned some really important lessons:
Marketing:
- Always be marketing.
- You’re not a real estate investor. You’re a marketer who does real estate investing.
- The only way to learn is by talking to sellers, making mistakes, making a fool out of yourself.
- Then, get your marketing done for you, in spite of you — hire a VA or local assistant.
Offers
- Your speed to income is directly proportional to the number of offers you make.
- If you want to do deals, you’ve got to make offers. Plain and simple.
Best Use of Your Time
- Only do the highest revenue-generating activities: the $500/hour activities.
See, when you focus your time on inputting data in a CRM, on designing a postcard, on buying the list and sending text messages, on sending emails — you lose out. Outsource all of that.
Ok, if you’re just getting started and progress is a little slow… maybe you’re frustrated that you’re making mistakes — I want to encourage you to keep going. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Some people have success faster than others. But I can tell you, for the people who do have success faster than the others — it’s because they’re not afraid to fail. They’re not afraid to make mistakes — and that’s how you learn.
Look, opportunity costs. And it gave me valuable lessons in return.
One thing I learned is NOT to buy homes on debt. Don’t get over-leveraged. I relied too heavily on mortgage brokers and banks to lend me money on deals… and I didn’t realize that you can actually buy deals without getting loans or taking over loans.
Here’s another thing I’d tell myself back then: When you buy a good, solid course from a credible coach — just do what they tell you to do! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You will learn as you go.
Trust the system. Trust the process. Stop asking, “What if,” start asking, “What’s next?”
Take one step at a time. Complete it, then take the next step. One at a time and focus…
DON’T be a Jack of All Trades. That’s a BIG lesson I’d tell my newbie self. I was overthinking and getting overwhelmed with multiple strategies. When I finally zeroed in on just 1 strategy — I started crushin’ it.
Choose 1 strategy — wholesaling, lease options, buy & hold, fix & flip — ignore everything else but the one you choose.
Focus makes you rich.
I would’ve told myself to focus on wholesaling, getting properties under contract, and flipping the contracts.
I used to think wholesaling wasn’t sexy. All that work for $5k? I wanted to be a baller with $30k rehab deals. I thought wholesaling was for less sophisticated investors.
I was SO WRONG.
Now I know that wholesaling is the best strategy in real estate investing. Period. Bar none. You’re flipping paper. The most important skill you can learn as an investor is wholesaling.
And finally, I’d also remind old me, repeatedly, that I’m not going to know all the things, and I just need to get out there and take action. Fail forward fast. Failure is inevitable at some point because no 2 deals are the same. There are so many variables.
Ok, check out these 2 books, they’ll really help:
- “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”
- “The Secrets of a Millionaire Landlord”
Those books radically changed my life. Get them. Read them. Today.
So…
The current me says: get out there and do it. You got this.
