Winning the Investment Battle Against All Odds

Real Estate Investing can be a lot of fun and VERY lucrative. But, it’s not a game. First of all - the odds for success are stacked against you. Take into account that a survey by Tactical Real Estate four years ago revealed that 92% of all ‘investors’ quit the pursuit of real estate investing within three months. Even more startling is that of the 90% remain, they will wash out before they end their first year building their investment portfolio.

According to SCORE, “the failure percentage of businesses started today is 70-90%”.

These figures are scary. Based on this, you’re probability of business success would better off buying an A&W franchise and flipping burgers for the rest your life.

But there is hope for all property investors – and I certainly don’t mean to deter anyone from becoming a new real estate investor at all. I’m pointing out the facts. Because if you’re going to com to the table and play – better to play to win and know what you’re up against than fold your cards and learn some potentially painful lessons, right?

While I’ve uncovered much of this in my Strategic Investment Manifesto, and spoke of the “opportunistic” entrepreneur versus the “strategic” entrepreneur, I’ll take a few moments here in this newsletter to share some more information, and paint a scenario for you that will help guard against your property investing business from becoming a terrible statistic.

For the newbies who are reading this, you can’t take real estate investing as a new business opportunity lightly at all and I’m sure you now see why. What’s more, you also can’t think of it as a huge monkey on your back. I understand that you might get a little scared at first and feel overwhelmed, but you can certainly plow through and enjoy the rich rewards that await you from having done a few deals this year.

For the newbies and even experienced investor’s that are equity rich and cash poor, The concept that most investors miss is that they need to really get into the mindset that they are building a business – be it part time or full time - first. More importantly, you need the right kind of training from a tactical “what kind of investment strategy do I use” standpoint, as well as a strong understanding of what is needed to start, grow, run, systematize and scale a real estate investment business empire.

By the way – I’m not recommending that anyone stop reading here, then head out and fork over tens of thousands of dollars on real estate investing and business building seminars at all. Start small, and take it one step at a time.

My point is - You can’t jump from the crawl to the run. You have to learn how to walk first. Getting into the right type of training from both a tactical property investing level, and business building standpoint, will enhance your ability to find great deals and be successful. Which ultimately leads to a more enjoyable quality of life. Otherwise, you can experience what so many failing investors have experienced.

Burn Out
But enough on that point – if you’re new, let’s take a look at what you’re about to enjoy. To begin with, your first real estate deal will be exuberating! Every step of the way, you’ll feel amazed that you can actually make money as an entrepreneur in this business. You’ll also go through a whole range of emotions at different stages throughout the deal-making process. Just a warning, that you should stick to doing no more than two deals at a time, otherwise, it can rob you of your energy.

Still not convinced you need to approach this as a business? Here’s an even better way to illustrate how this ‘could’ be for you, and I’ll use the two scenario’s I’d referenced earlier.

Scenario #1 – Opportunistic investor jumps onto every potential deal they see. With good intentions, they do everything they can to stay on top of everything, try to please everyone, make plenty of offers, run around talking to banks, mortgage brokers, other investors, homeowners, and want to be involved in personally walking the deal(s) to closing so they can deposit the big fat check they have that’s coming to them if each deal works out. In a two-dimensional environment, doing deals that could put tens of thousands of dollars into your pocket and add six figures to your network in the next four weeks sounds like a lot of fun. But, there’s an ugly reality which the opportunistic “how do I begin investing in real estate” entrepreneur will soon have to come to terms with. They try to be all things, to all people, take on more than they can handle, stay awake late into the night trying to figure out how to manage the chaos they’ve turned their life into, and inevitably burn out in just a few weeks. If this is all that happens to them, then they’re lucky. Because for their sake, hopefully, they haven’t foolishly got involved in arrangements that jeopardize their credit, their personal integrity, their home, and not make them liable in an industry that is well known for its share of lawsuits.

Scenario #2 – Strategic investor is aware they need to apply smart investing and business principles. With good intentions, they first do market research, take the appropriate technical investment training on a strategy best suited to their local area, plan their goals, understand or seek out and learn business building knowledge, then get into the mode to get their first deal. With a keen focus on getting just one deal under their belt, focusing on the application of just one investment strategy, and building a longstanding brand for their business, they then minimize their time and dollars spent marketing, networking, qualifying, and landing their first deal. Then, without additional pressures and feeling like they’re moving in one hundred different directions at once, casually stroll in to their bank to deposit the twenty eight thousand dollar check from their first deal. With a total amount of time expended in the deal totaling twelve hours. Time spent invested in structuring a solid business positioned for growth and scale to get their first deal? Three months.

Out of the two scenario’s I’ve painted above, which investor’s life would you prefer?

You see, you don’t have to bow to the opportunistic mindset and become one of those tragic washout statistics. Because there are plenty of real estate deals that can be struck daily. Once you actually enjoy the process, and don’t feel burdened down by the endeavor, then you’ll want to do it again and again. You are on your way to success. Even better, you’ve positioned yourself not to bite off more than you can chew. If you are feeling like the investor in Scenario #1 right now, then I have two words for you: “Slow down”. Because you can recover from your downward spiral, and get yourself on the right track.

How do you do that? First off - Get back to the basics. These days there are so many programs pitching ‘advanced strategies’ and trainings out there that it clouds the mind. Remember in Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi instructed Daniel-san to “wash on, wash off”? Just think about the purpose of the methods behind the supposed “crazy Miyagi” for doing this. He wanted Daniel to get the basics so they become second nature. And like a good karate master in a dojo, they will not let their student advance until they know the student has mastered the basics of those movements.

My advice then – whether you’re a novice or experienced investor who sees themselves in Scenario #1 right now, would be to revisit the investment basics, focus on building a solid business, then Walk yourself through a few solid deals and then take on more of a challenge as you grow.

Brad Wozny
Founder, www.INSTANTRealEstateSolutions.com™
Creator, 7 Figure Profits™

Back to the Newsletter