Real Estate Investing Resource

Archive for August, 2009

It is said that the Japanese have a formula that allowed them to become one of the greatest forerunners of technological development – the “3 I’s”: Imitate. Improve. Innovate. They took an existing idea and used it enough to understand it. Next, they tried introducing changes and improvements and generally exercised a bit more creativity than was envisioned by whoever conceived that original idea. And then finally, they create an entirely new concept from what they learned.

Notice where the formula begins – Imitate.

One common mistake of newbie investors is thinking and believing they know enough to survive and so they try to wander off into the forest all alone. While a handful actually succeed, the vast majority fails within the early part of their investing career, eventually giving up and end up missing out on a world of income.

Don’t get me wrong. I admire people who take matters in their own hands and strive to succeed on their own. I have the same attitude and it has served me well in my years as a real estate investor, as an entrepreneur and as an individual. But the point is, alone, you can only do so much. Sooner or later, individual creativity and resourcefulness fails. It is at this crucial point that a lot of investors get lost and eventually fold – especially if they reach the point where everything they try fails.

But just as I have mentioned in the previous post (see “Why You, Me And Everyone Else Need A Mentor”), the most logical, yet surprisingly the most overlooked, step to take is to get a mentor.

First off, a mentor (when properly chosen) can provide you with the right direction to take in order to shake off the ‘bad vibe’ and move on. More or less, a mentor will have experienced that same situation and has the answer to the question, “What’s next?”.

Secondly, a mentor will help you shorten your learning curve by showing you exactly what works. You don’t have to go through the entire ‘trial-and-error obstacle course’ just to find out that the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line. A mentor will provide you with a map that will take you directly from ‘lost newbie’ to ‘cash-vacuuming animal’ in no time at all without having to go through expensive ‘failure detours’.

Furthermore, a good mentor will know the most effective way to encourage you into taking the all important first step and go further to motivate you to maintain your drive, passion and hunger. Take for example my student Fiona Camberun. She was scared of talking to prospects over the phone, much more for talking to them in person. That fear was what was holding her back. But with just a few words of encouragement and motivation, she finally took the plunge and made close to US$13,000 on her first deal! A good mentor will do that to you.

Moreover, a good mentor will have developed a deep bag of tricks that he can share with you so you can start doing what he does the way he does it and with the same results. A mentor will know the most effective way to get a seller to agree to give you their property at 50 cents on the dollar, the most mind-blowing way of getting a buyer to eagerly give you their money in exchange to whatever deal you have, the most magical way to put 2 and 2 together so you get the most out of every deal and be a hero in the eyes of both the seller and the buyer, and a host of other ‘tricks of the trade’ that you would have spent 5 lifetimes trying to learn and master on your own.

And these are but a few of the myriad advantages you’ll get from having a mentor.

So take this advice and get a mentor now by clicking this link: http://dodeals.com/mentorshipprogram

Remember, when all else fails, steal – from a mentor…

…And I’m glad to open my coffers for you to plunder

Let me tell you a short story that happened to me when I first got into real estate investing:

Before my ‘Real Estate Investing Days’, I was working for a top IT company. I thought I had it made and then suddenly, at the onset of the new millennium, the IT industry crashed and my company was forced to let go of most of their people – myself included.

I didn’t have a whole lot in my bank account and I needed to find me a new money-source – FAST.

Then I stumbled upon a free real estate investing seminar. I attended it, listened to the speakers, took a bunch of notes and towards the end, they pitched us a $3,000 course that promised an entire universe of wealth.

I was so impressed that I didn’t have second thoughts and immediately made the investment.

And then it hit me.

I had no idea how to get started. I had more questions than answers and I didn’t have anyone to ask.

My precarious predicament became more apparent to me as I watched other newbie investors close one deal after another while I (along with a bunch of other clueless greenhorns) scrambled for the scraps they left behind.

I knew right there and then that those hot shots knew something that I didn’t and that they were doing something that I wasn’t doing. So instead of retreating away from the scene to lick my wounds like a beaten dog, I did the most logical (yet surprisingly, the most overlooked) course of action…

I took a mentor – and everything went as smoothly as possible.

You see, I’m never afraid to try things out for myself (I don’t think anyone should). I have had my share of trial-and-error, dead-ends and a truckload of failed prospects and projects when I was starting. I tried to learn as much as I can from those experiences. But there’s one thging I learned early – if I can avoid failure, I won’t risk it. By taking a mentor, I eliminated a big percentage of the probability that I will fail. Since I have someone who knows the business guiding me and showing me the ropes, my chances of success increased immensely – now look where it got me. J

I was able to accomplish more in a shorter period with my mentor than I can ever hope for had I continued on my own.

Not only was my learning curve shortened, my learning process became more efficient.

That’s why even up till now, I still make sure that I consult with a mentor on things that I am not sure about.

I’ll tell you more about having a mentor on this week’s webinar which will be on Thursday, August 6, at 8pm Central (6pm Pacific, 7pm Mountain, 9pm Eastern). Just go to this link to register and grab a seat: http://dodeals.com/specialwebinar.

It is true that experience is the best teacher. But it didn’t say YOU have to be the one experiencing it. If you learn from other people’s experiences, THAT’S still experience being the best teacher.

Agree?