When you guys were first starting out, were you guys a little nervous about all stuff you were learning? I must admit, im a little scared about buying my first property. I will not let my fear stop me, but im just wondering if people who are successful were once scared like I am.
I visit this site 3-4 times a day, and read books. Maybe its just my age(16), but theres alot of stuff to know.
I think we’ve all been scared at one time or another. You say you will not let it stop you… good for you! There have been tons of threads about this topic that are full of great thoughts and ideas about fear. Good luck!
Fear for me comes from not having information. You never have all the answers at the same time. But I never buy a house until I do. I know what the house will retail for and how long to expect it to stay on the market, I know what it will take to fix it up and I know what it will rent for. That being said I know if it will cash flow and how much equity is in it. I have had some scares when I have showed up at a closing and the mortgage rate was different than what I had agreed upon which was going to have a bearing on the cash flow, or they needed cash down that I was not told about and they need CERTIFED FUNDS. That was not fear it was anger.
I actually think “Fear” is a great motivator if we allow it to be…
I am so afraid that I will be poor again I work my butt off…
Michael Quarles
It’s good if you use fear, bad if you let fear rule over you.
Fear is natural, especially on your first deal. You can have all the book knowledge that is out there inside of your head, but taking the actual plunge is kind of scary. There are lots of things that can happen, even when the numbers look totally solid.
It gets much easier after the first one, though 
I used to be afraid of success… I was afraid of having so many houses not to know what to do with them…
Getting out of one’s comfort zone is always scary experience, but something we have to do and once you do it few times you get used to it and move on to the next challenge and fear.
Moving out of one’s comfort zone is a sign of growth.
Fear is a natural reaction to an unknown.
What a lot of new investors soon realize is the FACT that they are signing on the dotted line for a LOT OF MONEY. In order to GET that money you had to show a history of paying your debts. That history, and your future is what your gambling with. What you need to remind yourself is this…
Your first deal should be so good that you HAVE to do it! It should be almost like walking past money on the sidewalk. The reason I say this is you WILL make some big mistakes on your first investment. You will learn how much things REALLY cost to fix, how long they take to fix and what you should have fixed and should have left alone. That’s a whole lot of learning.
The pay off comes with patience… Once that first one is done you have gained and incredible amount of experience, even if you lost money.
The fear gets replaced with knowledge. Knowledge is the most powerful thing in the world. Once it is obtained it is priceless, obtaining it however, can be expensive.
Try this exercise for your mind…
Remember how you felt at a new job. You were uncomfortable, maybe scared. Eventually you overcome that and learn. You get good at your job, it becomes second nature. Remember that whenever your trying something new. I have found that by reminding myself how my brain was going to react to a new situation you can anticiplate the response and not be bothered by it.
Eventually you’ll learn to enjoy that rush/fear. Look at successful business people. They consistantly put themselves in postions that make them uncomfortable because that’s were they feel ALIVE!!! They do their best thinking in that enviroment because their brains have been trained to THRIVE on that type of situation. How many times have you seen VERY successful business people INTENTIONALLY turn their organization upside down just to shake things up. I personally know people who will tell you straight out “I do my best thinking under pressure.”
It’s a response they have LEARNED to embrace.
I’m a Firefighter… There is no more stressful situation on earth than pulling up to a home fully involved, and having a mother tell you her child is still in that house. I can also tell you that at that exact time, your brain becomes a laser. Time slows down, you look for a way to access that home and get to those bedrooms as fast as possible. It’s literally an oven your entering. From experience you know that kid is probably hiding somewhere in that bedroom, in a closet, under a bed. As you climb the stairs you pray that the door to that bedroom is still closed. If it is, you have a shot. If not, the heat and smoke will make that room untenable. You have 90 lbs. of gear on, and at that moment you have absolutely no feeling of weight on you at all.
The point of the story is Firefighters are mentally trained to react like this.
It starts in the Academy where you are introduced to fire. You learn what works and what can get you killed. It’s very cut and dried stuff. The thing that has always amazed me was how, through training, normal people are changed. Instead of running FROM the burning building they now RUN INTO IT!!
Yeah. There is fear in everything, or mostly everything usually.
Starting a new job = nervousness/fear
Riding a motorcycle for your first time = nervousness/fear
Talking to a hot chick = nervousness/fear
Investing in RE = nervousness/fear
Also, I think we get your age…you seem to mention it in every post…
Not sure that helped 
Another excellent post by FDJake! He is absolutely right. REI is a serious business. When you sign on the dotted line, you are literally putting your financial health and reputation on the line. That’s why the people that promote the “just do it” philosophy are so far off. If a new investor is to have any chance to succeed, then he/she must do whatever it takes to understand the business; their market; their strategy; and they must have a solid plan. “Just do it” is a great slogan for a shoe company, but a very poor way to start a business.
Mike