Are you a Newbie attacking imaginary enemies?

Tilting at windmills is an English idiom which means attacking imaginary enemies, or fighting unwinnable or futile battles. The word “tilt”, in this context, comes from jousting.

The phrase is sometimes used to describe confrontations where adversaries are incorrectly perceived, or courses of action that are based on misinterpreted or misapplied heroic, romantic, or idealistic justifications.

The phrase derives from an episode in the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. In the novel, Don Quixote fights windmills that he imagines to be giants. Quixote sees the windmill blades as the giant’s arms, for instance. Here is the relevant portion of the novel:

Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, “Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless.”

“What giants?” asked Sancho Panza.

“Those you see over there,” replied his master, “with their long arms. Some of them have arms well-nigh two leagues in length.”

“Take care, sir,” cried Sancho. “Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone.”

As we are aware most people who want to become successful real estate investors, albeit creative or regular investors fail. The term “Analysis Paralysis” has long been used by the new person to describe their reasoning for not getting started in real estate investing. This in my opinion can also be referred to as “Tilting at Windmills”.

When I was in Marine Corps Boot Camp we took Military Occupational Specialty tests to see what would be the best area to be trained in after boot camp. Since I was a licensed amateur radio operator prior to enlisting in the Marine Corps I Scored 100% on this particular part of the test so I was trained as a Radio Telegraph Operator, simply put, because to become a licensed amateur radio operator you must pass a test using Morse Code, that’s those dots and dashes that represent alphabet letters and numeric numbers.

My point being here, if I would have scored high on the MOS test, let’s say as a rifleman or “grunt” which is sometimes the word used, then after leaving the Marines on any employment application under job description, filling in “trained killer” might cause some problems with a potential employer.

If you as an investor were to put together a “Test” to find out if a Newbie would be suited to real estate investing, what are some of the questions you would ask? This test could include monetary, prior education, personality, etc. or any questions you feel would be important. Then again could such a test be developed?

John $Cash$ Locke

PS: Thank you Christopher W for your post on Tilting At Windmills as this is what prompted me to write this post.

I think the first test to be passed is personal finances. If the wanna-be investor is living in a morass of credit card debt, there is a person who cannot delay gratification–“I see it, I want it, I deserve it, I’m buying it!”

I have been listening to a retired couple this week. And I am horrified. They worked hard all their lives, tons of overtime in wage jobs. Raised kids. Saved for retirement. Now they are in their late 60’s and the money is GONE.

There was the trip to China–and the impulse purchase of jade lion statues. There was the $5,000 blue granite kitchen counter. The mega-buck barbeque grill and yard furniture. The 3-car add-on workshop. The expensive riding lawn tractor, the…, the…the list of first quality goods goes on. Everything has to be the best, with no worries about borrowing to get the best.

Why is it that people go to work 8 hours, day in and day out, to earn money and NEVER SPEND 8 HOURS STUDYING WHAT THEIR MONEY IS DOING FOR THEM?

It astonishes me when I hear someone say,“I let my wife pay all the bills.” “My husband deals with the insurance, I don’t know anything about it.” “We don’t really have a plan, but we’ll probably travel when we retire.”

Those people, in my opinion are nuts. They deserve the doom that will fall on their heads.

Newbies: Take responsibility for your finances. Get RID of your debt-- (google Dave Ramsey). Don’t ever let someone else pay, or not pay, for YOUR insurance or bills unless you know exactly what is going on.

Become the steward and guardian of your own dollars, life and future. Otherwise you need to just get back in the recliner and let life kick you around. Which it will.

Furnishedowner

I agree that newbies need to have a handle on their finances… But I believe that they need to change the way they think before they do anything else. By changing what we’re taught inschool and by society that you need to get an education, good job, etc… While there’s nothing wrong with that, there’s something wrong about what we’re taught about how to be financially independent. As long as you need a job, you’re not independent. Learning how to make money work for you instead of working for money is key IMO… You need the know how to direct money on a path that creates more money. That can be through REI, Stocks, Businesses, etc…

One of the tests I give new people that CLAIM that want to learn the real estate business is simple, and comes right out of the book…

The Richest Man In Babylon

I tell them to save $20,000 in one year and then come back with their bank statement and we’ll talk.

Two things happen…They either break their @ss putting that $20K together or I never hear from them again.

The ones (and it’s LESS than 5%) that come back get this advice…

Investing is like learning to DRIVE a car…When you first start driving, statistics PROVE you are much more likely to have an ACCIDENT. Insurance companies know this and charge MUCH higher rates for 16 year old drivers…

Here’s the QUESTION…

Investing works the same way with one HUGE exception…

When most new drivers have an ACCIDENT they CONTINUE to DRIVE…they don’t STOP DRIVING for the rest of thier lives!!!

BUT…When most new INVESTORS have an ACCIDENT…THEY JUST STOP INVESTING!!!

WHAT WILL YOU DO IF YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT INVESTING???

The answer to this question is CRITICAL to any future success. Any SEASONED investor knows the ODDS of you making a COSTLY mistake on your very first investment are MUCH higher than doing so on your 25th property.

I’ve seen this happen OVER and OVER to people…They make a mistake on their first investment…They LOSE a small amount of money after putting a LOT of work into a property and they just WALK AWAY and say…

“This isn’t for me.”

I say…

Did you WALK AWAY from you first CAR ACCIDENT and buy a BICYCLE???

Did you just STOP DRIVING???

So what’s DIFFERENT HERE???

You made an ERROR…YOU PAID TUITION and NOW, just when you LEARNED SOMETHING…You THREW IT AWAY???

Sounds crazy to US because we’re investors…But it happens ALL the time!

My TEST would revolve around a scenario where the person being TESTED fails a few times at a task and to WIN they must KEEP COMING BACK!! BUT…They can not know THAT’S what the test is looking for…You have to tell them that you were testing for something else like speed, or memory…PERSISTANCE wouldn’t be mentioned…But THAT’S the trait I’d be looking for.

There’s a CLASSIC example of this in a land mark study where people were asked to TEST volunteers on their SPELLING ability…If the volunteer spelled the test word wrong, they received an electric SHOCK…With each wrong word the shock got STRONGER…ACTORS were used and SCREAMED after each shock (no shocks were ever given, a LIGHT would go on when the “shock” button was pressed and they’d SCREAM.) The people delivering the shocks were told by a person that LOOKED like a doctor (white lab coat and clip board) that they MUST shock the volunteer if the word was spelled wrong.

In REALITY…The REAL TEST was actually done on the people GIVING THE SHOCKS…HOW FAR WOULD THEY GO??? Some people REFUSED to deliver a painful shock…Others BLINDLY continued to shock volunteers even when they BEGGED them to stop.

VERY interesting study…It showed how AUTHORITY FIGURES or “EXPERTS” could be BLINDLY followed by “THE HERD” without a single THOUGHT. I see a lot of that in the REAL ESTATE GURU WORLD!!!

JOHN…Thanks AGAIN for coming up with that RULE CHANGE!!! It’s GREAT to see CONSTRUCTIVE posts here again!!!

FDJAKE. Excellent post. I’ve read the “Richest Man In Babylon”. Its a great book. Your post reminds me of the book “Remicences of A Stock Operator” Its about Jesse Livermore’s life as an investor/trader. Its amazing how much he won and lost so many times. It has some great lessons about boucing back from failure and learning the lessons failure teaches. I can’t remeber who said it, but there’s a saying that says “Successful people fail the most”. That’s beause they never quit and they’re not afraid to keep trying.

Richest Man is Babylon is a great read that all young people should read IMO. Ive read it and I must say, even though im naturally “good with money”, it really made me feel confident in the way I handle my money.

Regardless, if somebody is horrible with money, I dont see how they can ever be a successful investor. So I think showing that you can raise capital would be a good start.

Yes sir…You’re right.

The best investors I know failed MULTIPLE TIMES before they succeeded…BUT…They LEARNED a TON from everyone of those failures and that TUITION paid off in the end!!!

Although if you can learn from other people’s mistake, you can save the tuition fee. :beer

I LIKE THAT THINKING!!! :beer :beer :beer