In my time as a mentor and financial coach, I have seen that many investors never reach the level of success and wealth that they hope to. While unfulfilled expectations might be the result of any number of factors, I think that all too often folks fail because of a failure to streamline their business and to plan ahead.
As the saying goes: “A failure to plan is a plan for failure.”
So in this blog post, let’s talk a little about viewing your real estate investments as more than a passive hobby and as a business that needs to be managed. Here are some tips for getting success with real estate investing:
1) Make the business a priority. When something is a priority in your life, you go out of your way to spend time doing it. Think family, health, or work. Come hell or high water you will find a way to do the things that matter to you.
So where do you think real estate investing should be on your top ten list of important things? If you recognize how much money you can make and how that money would improve your life then you won’t let anything as trivial as watching TV take up your time.
To help you progress, I suggest making a sort of business plan where you detail how many deals you want to complete during a certain timeline. Then, work backwards to decide how many letters you need to send out, how often to make offers, and so on.
2) Know what you need to outsource. Have you ever seen people starting a new diet or exercise regimen only to give it up a few weeks later? Why couldn’t they stick with it? In short, it has to do with how the person viewed the changes they were making (temporary or permanent) and how much they enjoyed those changes.
The same is true for building a successful business. If you view what you are doing as a temporary “thing” that you are dabbling in, then chances are you won’t stick with it. And if you force yourself to do things you hate (stuffing envelopes, closing on deals) then you probably will give up soon. So outsource the stuff you hate to do and work on integrating this business into your life instead of doing it in bursts.
3) Be consistent. My late friend Vince had a great schedule, and in just 15 months he was able to make 19 deals and net over $400,000 in cash and equity. What was his secret? He stayed consistent.
Like most of you, Vince had a day job and fit his real estate investing around it. But he made it a priority and outsourced the parts he didn’t like (mainly by using title companies). On Thursday evenings from 4-10 PM he researched deals and made offers, and on Saturday mornings he sent out his mailings and listed land online.
Like Vince, you will probably note that there is some overlap, but the goal is to always have fresh deals coming across your desk and managing your time effectively.
While I have to be careful making guarantees, I will say this: in my experience, 100% of the people who took this business seriously and were consistent have made money. 100%.
Make your real estate investing business a priority, outsource what you hate to do, and be consistent.
That’s all it takes to be successful.