Hummmmmmm… I bet I can teach anyone here how to fish… If you havent done 200 transactions a year then you need to stop and wonder why
I have to say that no one here knows me and youre probably thinking I could be full of hot air… But most of you just cant stand the heat so you would think that…
I can document my success… And it takes training… anything short is crap…
Michael you need no introduction… you helped so many, and I for one got started in this business thanks to you 
Michael, I wasn’t referring to you at all. I don’t know why you took that personally, but I was referring to a guru I know personally who charges people 10k to suckers who could have learned everything on this forum for free and just needed someone to motivate them.
Thanks for the kind words… I am always here to help and have decided to visit the boards again…
No Worries Jason… I am just too passionate about teaching I guess
Fadi, you make very good points regarding risk vs. reward. There are two types of people, leaders and followers. I’m sure that you are aware that investing, be it real estate or securities, is not for everyone.
However, all people dream about being rich and many start their own personal journey only to be convinced by others and even themselves that they don’t DESERVE to be rich. For the select few that break out of their “comfort zone” it is a refreshing new world that has unlimited possibilities.
Yes. There are people who are sceptics and that’s okay. We can only pray that they find happiness where they are at…
ED
Jobran Khalil Jobran said in a poem (translated):
There are those who are born leaders
And those who are born to be led
Not sure who said the following, but I heard it and read it in Dan Kennedy’s audio and books:
“Success leaves clues”
If you want to be successful, model someone who is. I don’t mean a copycat, but if you do what they do, chances are you will succeed as well.
For a while I have been studying some of the most successful in an industry trying to figure out how they made their millions. While I was attracted to the rewards, I quickly realized that they are on the road speaking almost on daily basis… a life I do not want… So it was time to readjust my goals.
Great quotes Fadi…
The road is rough… I just completed 10 days of traveling telling the story to people who were either hearing a different language or are so fearful of investing that it drove me crazy…
Don’t get me wrong some get it however the majority doesn’t…
Michael,
I have a course for speakers, primarily real estate that has some of the big names in the industry (as well as dan kennedy) talk about this issue. The argument they make is very compelling and gives you behind the scenes why they do what they do and say what they say when they are selling something. In the end, you cannot help them all, all you have to do is do your best to show them the way and, frankly, sell them the tools/knowledge they need and it is up to them to succeed (or fail to act).
However, all people dream about being rich and many start their own personal journey only to be convinced by others and even themselves that they don't DESERVE to be rich.
The truth is that most people DO NOT DESERVE TO BE RICH. So, when someone tells them that, they are telling them the truth. To “deserve” riches means that you have earned the right to riches because of your actions. Just being born and taking up space does not constitute deserving anything in my opinion (that includes housing, healthcare, food, etc). When I become czar, the lazy are going to be in trouble!!!
Mike
ED,
There are really three kinds of people in this industry – those who lead, those who follow, and those who won’t get out of the way. This third group is comprised of the deal-killers (mainly real estate agents and attornies) and the nay-sayers (family, friends, co-workers, jealous neighbors, self-appointed know-it-alls, etc).
My mom divorced my dad and then married a rich guy. She is now rich. Did she earn it? No. Does she deserve it? Dunno. I have a few friends who have recieved an inheritance since they were 5. I don’t think they are rich but they certainly have a lot of money. Deserve it? Dunno.
The thing that gets me is when poor SOBs whine and complain about the people that do earn big money and even though they have the same opportunities, what do they do? CONTINUE TO WHINE AND COMPLAIN! I get what your saying Mike and agree… most people don’t understand what it takes to get rich. My two cents…
Fadi,
Why are you limiting yourself to speakers? I agree that there is a large pool of successful investors on the speaking circuit and who promote their seminars and bootcamps. You can find a fair number of them advertising their products for sale at this site.
If you limit yourself to speakers, then you are overlooking the successful investors right here in these forums that are not out there on the seminar circuit. How about Mike (propertymanager), and Robb (REOconsultants), just to name a couple? I am not even close to those guys in net worth (although I am working on my third million right now), I still consider myself successful because I am financially independent and have been for the last ten years.
We have all given the forum membership blueprints to our success in our postings. We all believe in and practice goal setting. Mike and I are buy and hold guys with similar investment styles. Robb not only does the buy and hold thing, but he does a lot of flips with owner financing and makes quite a bit of money by holding paper. As far as I know, you won’t find any of us on the speaking/seminar circuit, but we are no less successful.
Mike and Robb both have books for sale, so they have a revenue source that I have no interest in pursuing (at least for now). I don’t have either of their books, but if Mike and Robb want to send me a free copy I would be happy to give each of them a testimonial
While I still have my soapbox, if you are looking at what the real estate speakers are doing, to determine how they became successful in our industry, then you are looking at the wrong things. Instead of looking at how the speakers became a success on the speaking tour, look at how the speakers first became successful in the real estate industry.
Robert Allen made a lot of money with nothing down investing before he wrote his book and joined the speaking and seminar industry. John $Cash$ Locke had hundreds of Subject To deals under his belt before he published his book and joined the convention speaking crowd. David Finkle made millions with sandwich lease options before publishing his book and joining the seminar circuit and selling mentorships.
My point is you shouldn’t be studying what the speakers are doing, but rather, what they did to become successful real estate investors before becoming speakers.
I never said I was limiting myself. This was one aspect I was looking for and was trying to understand how the likes of Dan Kennedy, Ron Legrand, Ernie Kessler, Write Thompson, Lou Brown…etc made their money. I love teaching and have done it in the IT industry and was looking at it for the long term so I am exploring my options.
By no means did I hit a dead-end in my search. I already have short, medium, and long term plans for myself and so far (knock on wood) I have hit every goal I have set for myself.
Then, you already have a formula for success that works for you. Set a goal, exceed it, keep doing it again.
Congratulations and keep up the good work.
Gurus are in the business of selling books seminars and boot camps. The Act of finding ambitious budding entrepreneurs and leading them to success usually differs widely from flooding the market with product in the name of making money.
In my opinion, a person who spends tens of thousands of dollars on “education”, during or after a hard selling seminar, in the name of learning about real estate will, most likely, make a bad candidate for real estate investor because wealthy people are usually frugal, and good investors have tight control of their cash flow.
The majority of people I meet work hard their entire lives. Farmers, industrial workers, contractors, and self employed people often times work very hard their entire adult life with very few vacations or days off. Unfortunately, the service, innovation and products that contribute the most to our daily lives do not produce a reward that is commensurate with their social worth.
Farmers work hard every day and speculate about weather, pests, sales, competition…the list goes on. Do they get the reward that they deserve? Do you eat?
Tort attorneys sue the local shopping mart because someone slipped and fell, they make enough money to live the rest of their lives without working. Do they get the reward that they deserve? Have you ever been saved by a wet floor sign?
So work doesn’t have everything to do with success. Many people realize this, which is probably why investing in stocks and real estate is so popular. It’s not because financial statements are intriguing or because tenants and old houses make for fun weekends.
Perhaps the reason why people are seduced by money for nothing is because they see so many examples of it.
I share and remember the frustrations of new investors trying to sift through the fly turds to find the pepper. Professional investors develop a skill for discerning legitimate advice from bad acting, and learn to examine many different strategies and tactics to find the right one that works for the individual circumstances and market.
Successful, SELF MADE people are an unstoppable force. These people are a rare commodity. They have constant obstacles thrown into their path and they just step over them.
If your a new investor THE QUESTION you should be asking yourself “How would I react if I screw this up?”
I have a story I tell all new investors that I think makes sense. As a new real estate investor you are just like a 16 year old kid with a new drivers license. The odds are high that you will be involved in some type of accident. Insurance companies know this and charge accordingly. Now, like a 16 year old, if you were to screw up your first deal would you walk away or keep investing? The vast majority of new drivers just keep driving and eventually get better as they get more experience. The interesting thing about investing is, by the time most people are financially capable of doing it they are also losing their ability to admit they screwed up.
Look no further than todays headlines. People in general are staying away from real estate investments at the EXACT TIME they should be getting into them. Very ironic, isn’t it? Successful people look at set backs as a valuable education that they paid dearly for? If you spent $200,000 to go to Harvard would you throw that out and never use that knowledge? Of coarse not, yet this is exactly what most people do whe they lose money on an investment. They run and hide and never even TRY and learn from their mistakes. Their wife is mad because the family lost hard earned and saved money, the husband is embarressed and tunes out the experience.
These are the things that gurus DO NOT teach. Pyscologly is almost never taught. Yet it is instrumental in developing a successful method of dealing with the failures that we all encounter.
Plan for set backs, understand how you will deal with them and execute you plan when they occur. Learn from EVERY experience, good and BAD.
Most importantly…
STAY WITH IT!!! because like that 16 year old new driver, the more experience you have, the better you get.
Successful, SELF MADE people are an unstoppable force. These people are a rare commodity. They have constant obstacles thrown into their path and they just step over them.
I agree 100% with that, which is why so many people attend seminars and bootcamps and yet so few ever even do a deal. They want getting rich to be easy and that idea is reinforced by all the silly gurus who promote the ridiculous idea that you can get rich while only working a few minutes a week (or as one guru says “while you’re sleeping”.) When it becomes obvious that riches won’t fall from the sky, they give up.
I believe that entrepreneurs are born that way. They have a fire in the belly that almost makes them obsessive about being successful at whatever they do. Look at any of the billionaires. They didn’t get rich by working a “few minutes per week”. THAT’S RIDICULOUS! They work their butts off! They earned their riches. I saw an interview with Donald Trump. In the interview, he said that he never takes vacation. He said that for him, work was his vacation and that he enjoyed having fun working. That’s a huge difference in philosophy. Most people want to get rich so that they can quit working. They don’t realize that the hard work is what makes you rich! Most people simply don’t have (aren’t willing to do) what it takes to be successful and reading books; attending expensive seminars; or going to bootcamps won’t change that!
That was probably not very politically correct, but I believe it.
Mike
Mike we argue and agree on the same day… That’s a rarity…
The simple fact is that most don’t want to successful… Being successful means that they have to come up with a whole new list of things to complain about and circumstances to blame.
I do mentoring and am amazed that the students don’t do what they say they will do on a weekly basis… They want to but the want isn’t enough… I definitely see the drive difference between my successful students and those that are afraid of success.
I know life gets in the way, and that is an excuse for not succeeding…
I asked one of my boot camp attendees what his meaning of success was…
His answer: To go fishing… fishing I thought YUCK… So I asked him to describe fishing to me…
When he was done with his description I wanted to go fishing with him…
So although my meaning of success is to, do anything I want, when I want, how I want, and with whom I want, his was to go fishing…
Michael Quarles
PS If everyone were successful then no one would be, right?