Action and Discipline = Success
How many times have you said you were going to get into real estate investing only to find yourself months later still doing research? How many times have you gone out to look at properties, wrote down every for sale by owner number, got home, then made a sandwich and fell asleep on the couch never to call any of the numbers? Forget just talking about real estate, how many of you have had a standing new years resolution for the last five years to lose weight or quit smoking? If you are starting to nod your head in confession, no worries, there is still hope for you! I believe, along with many others, that the two most important things you can do to be successful is to take action and be disciplined. Tom Hopkins, a noted sales guru from way back, said in one of his books that the key to success was discipline, not determination. When I first read this I disagreed and thought that passion and determination was the key. I’m here to say, I was wrong and Mr. Hopkins is right. What is discipline? Discipline is doing the basics very well to make you successful everyday, day after day, year after year. If you are trying to lose weight, the only way to accomplish this is through action and discipline. Tell you a quick story about myself. When I met my wife I was a lean 190 pounds. I started working in the IT industry about 5 years ago and in about year three of sitting at a desk all day, everyday, I had ballooned to 250 pounds! Needless to say my wife felt like I had given her the old bait and switch. Through discipline and action I lost 40 pounds in about 8 months (I’ll spare the details but if you want them, shoot me an email).
Doing the basics in real estate investing is simple. Making calls everyday, more importantly, returning calls everyday! How many of you have called realtors or investors only to have them never call you back. Searching the newspaper everyday, calling key investors everyday and feeding your mind with real estate articles and books everyday is discipline. The next part is to take action. If you find that first deal that fits your numbers and criteria, what do you do? A lot of people go back and rerun their numbers, call their friends and family searching for any reason or justification NOT to do it. STOP IT! If you have created your desired numbers on sound research, when you find something that fits the criteria, do it! I can tell you that there is so much room for mistakes in real estate it is ridiculous so get out there and take action!
Happy Investing
Ray Higdon
SWFLA Investments
SWFLA Investments specializes in rental property investing, property management and subject2 deals.
Good article Ray and how true it is. The title says it all. I am no better than anyone else. I suffered from all the same symptoms ......until I got that first one. Once you get a taste of it, you can't get enough of it. As hard as it was (or seemed) to get over that hump , isn't it amazing how it becomes contageous with everything else that you do?
Thanks Larry. Sometimes even after successful transactions you can still get in that hump. There are times where I feel like man, I just don't have enough deals going, then I evaluate how many calls I've been making, how many offers I've been making and blammo, there's my reason. I know it's overused but real estate IS a numbers game, you make X number of calls you will make Y number of deals.
Ray