Numbers

General Real Estate Investing
1

I find it very difficult to go out and post signs and talk to strangers on the street and hand out business card. However right now they seem to be the most effective methods of marketing. (in Canada, many other methods are unavailable to beginners)
Now If you have bought a property, even just one, it is easy to do those things. Psychologically you have identified yourself to be an actual investor. skilled or not. So, for newbies who haven’t bought anything yet, how do u find a psychological reason to do things that you are embarrassed about? Here I am trying to get someone to put a sign up somewhere in a college, as if i am a big time investor. But mentally I keep on thinking about the fact that i haven’t bought anything, in other word a “fake”.

book knowledge helps. but not a whole lot in this case. even when you know you have to do it eventually, the fear makes you procrastinate a lot. and it’s really starting to get into the way of my plan of action.
i read an article regarding this by Bill Gatten, it is very good but how do you switch your mental mode to “hard core”. any one’s personal experience with this? any input would be interesting.

2

you just have to do it. period.

you can psyche yourself up when approaching people. act as if you’re favorite sport team won the big game or act as if you’ve won a million bucks. go nuts, clap your hands together and scream at the top of your lungs. go crazy.

do this in your car on the way to meeting someone you’ve got to make a pitch to. i’m telling you, it’s not silly.

this may help you get through the uuummm’s and hhhuuhhh’s and annoying things that people do when they are not into what they’re saying. this is all Tony Robbins stuff, but it’s not a novel idea.

when you’re in a zone and focused - you just roll with it.

but again, you’ve got to go and do it. that’s the only way you’ll be able to get better at it. it’s the only way you’ll be able to move past your fears of doing what it is you fear.

what you’re experiencing is nothing new. talking with people, knowing you don’ t have a property and blah blah blah…that’s got NOTHING to do with it. cuz i could give you a property and you’re mind will come up with something else to worry about and focus on that’s negative and ultimately self-defeating.

i see where you’re coming from BUT, if you don’t talk with people and don’t get people excited about what you want to do, guess what - you won’t get there. so challenge your fears and go for it.

you’ll find that the more people you talk with, the more you’ll realize that the best of them are just talking a lot of bull themselves! lol

i ran a landscaping business for 5 years with over 100 customers - and i didn’t know the first thing about flowers, plants or anything - and i mean NOTHING. but i went in and they saw me as the owner, i listened, i offered understanding and i spent like 5 minutes online before i met them drumming up some names of stuff to throw at them…

they’d be like, “oh wow, that sounds lovely.” lol

we did the job, everything managed to stay alive and it looked really good when we were done - cuz i’m a perfectionist…but anyway.

work through you fears. you’ll feel incredible. if you turn your back on them - you’ll feel like 10 times the failure.

don’t allow yourself to set boundries - make your own path and go for it!

3

big-fat-cow,

Forget all the pyschological mumbo jumbo!!! If you’re going to be in business, then be in business. You aren’t a fake because you haven’t bought a property, any more than a new bookstore is fake because they haven’t sold their first book. You’re just new. If you’ve done your studying and are ready for business, then you’re in business.

Mike

4

I think it’s nothing more than a way of being. If you are confident in what you are doing then you project confidence. If you are nervous and scared and worried that you are coming across as “fake”, that is what you project.
I will never forget the first phone call I made to a prospective seller. I was in the parking lot at Applebee’s waiting for my brother to meet me. I had put off the call all afternoon because I was nervous as HELL! I finally got to the point where I had had enough of my crap and just dialed. I had no script in front of me and just a general idea of what to say. I wasn’t incredibly smooth but I got through it. We set up a meeting the next day and tried to work a short sale. Unfortunately it didn’t pan out but MAN did it feel good to finally get it out there!! I just realized that I am what I am, I was where I was, no more no less. It’s okay to be new because every single investor on this board was new at one point or another. Now go KICK SOME A$$!!! :beer

5

Just be prepared to answer the most common questions. If you don’t know the answer, don’t lie. Tell them you will get back to them the next day. Then find out and get back to them the next day. I think most people respect that.

6

thanks guys. that was great! i will be referring to this post for encouragement! it’s totally different than reading motivation from some book.

ps. i sneaked out at 11:00 pm at night to post some signs, hoping nobody would see me :anon. i always thought of posting signs as weird, maybe someone i know is going to see me OMG!@! but after glue the first one to the wall, i felt a lot better. gonna get more done soon.