We’ve all read stuff about inspiration for the new real estate investor. But what is really going to get them to get off the fence and go for it? I mean really. Famous sayings? You read them and forget them. Seminars? A few days later they’re an afterthought. Forums and blogs? No.
So what’s it going to be? What’s going to inspire them? What inspires you…or us all?
Whether you’re a real estate investor or not, anyone who’s realized that they’ve got to make a change in their life, feels inspired by something so great, that it throws their whole universe into complete happy chaos.
We’ve all felt like we can conquer the world and that they world is our oyster. We’ve been there, done that. That soon fades as you weave your way through the maze of r e a l i t y. It ain’t easy to conquer the world - literally (See history books - WW2 - Hitler).
What will give the person who feels the burning sensation of change in their veins the inspiration to make it happen?
I’ll be finishing this thought on my website. Should make for some interesting conversation on here. Maybe we can all come together and write one long article. Of course the militant terms of use on this site will claim all this material their own, but who cares. Let’s have some fun!
I think of one word that oddly enough is (to me) the answer to this question.
Interesting question that should generate a good, lively discussion.
I am not quite sure that successful people are “inspired” as much as they are motivated.
You could argue that some inventions were the result of inspiration but can you deny the factors that motivated the inventor in the first place?
As the story (myth?) goes, an inventor was facing foreclosure in the late 1890s and had to come up with quick cash to stave off the creditors. His inspiration was the paper clip. I will agree that this simple invention was an inspiration but the inventor was motivated by impending financial ruin.
Alexander Graham Bell’s invention was motivated by his intense desire to aid the hearing impaired. His “hearing aid” became the telephone.
How many times are we motivated to success in response to some impending adverse event? I personally got into rental property ownership through a confluence of adverse events. In early 1980 I had just bought a house in San Antonio TX with 100% financing. Five months later, I was given notice that I was to be transferred. I could not sell the house because I could not afford to pay the sales commission. My employer would only defer my transfer to the end of the year. My only recourse was to turn my house into a rental to avoid coming out of pocket for two house payments. I was motivated to become a landlord – and accidental landlord – by these adverse circumstances.
How many times have we read in these forums that loss of job motivated someone to achieve financial independence through real estate investing?
Maybe you should ask not what inspired you, but what motivated you ?
Very poetic. My motivation and ispiration is “calling in rich” to work and going golfing whenever I feel like it. My response may lack eloquence but it’s got buttloads of direction.
That sounds more like your dream. What has to happen to motivate you to achieve that dream?
My own dream was to have a job that paid $100K, at which I only had to work from noon to 1:00 pm, and I got an hour off for lunch.
My own motivation was a recession induced downsizing in 1990 that created some financial hardship. It took a loss of job – more accurately a reduction in income – to force me to focus on real estate investing as the means to one day replace the income from my day job. As a result of that motivating event, I developed my investment strategy and the investment criteria that I still use today to evaluate a potential rental property acquisition.
From that point in time, it took only eight years for our passive, unearned income to more than adequately support a retirement lifestyle. That was nine years ago. Today, I am still self-unemployed and living my dream.
Following on Dave’s responses, I don’t think that anyone is ever inspired to be a success. Sure, they may be inspired to dream about being a success because of someone or something else, but that’s about it. Motivation is the key to success.
And as Dave said, motivation is usually inspired by a desire to increase one’s financial position, whether that position is a looming financial doom or simply a strong desire to better one’s income/lifestyle, though the latter is much rarer. I’ll also add that the motivation is SELF motivation. If someone is ‘on the fence’ then it’s solely up to them to make the decision to get off it, one way or the other. In any business venture, if you are not self-motivating, then you are not going to succeed. There will not be anyone there to force/motivate you to take the actions necessary to even maintain a business, much less succeed.