To my fellow real estate investors out there: Is your REI business working the way you want to?
If not, do you know what you need to do to change it?
Well, if you’re operating like so may investors out there, I’ve gotta tell you: Your business will get punished if you don’t remodel it now.
What are they doing that’s not so great?
Here’s a clue: shiny objects.
Lemme back up for a hot minute…
Here’s a crazy fact — the top 5% of the wealthiest people in the world earn nearly 90% of its income.
Nuts, right?
Well, it’s because there’s a major problem that plagues every entrepreneur / financial freedom-wanting / big $ maker.
It’s actually something that the economic elite have figured out… and conditioned themselves to avoid, while the rest of us bump into — and get crippled from — this problem regularly.
Thing is, the problem is sneaky… it’s subtle, so most entrepreneurs unknowingly encounter it over and over and over again until they finally burn out from frustration and exhaustion, throwing in the towel on their dreams.
Shame.
It gets worse. :/
This yucky problem also creates a nasty habit that causes a self-destructive cycle. Eventually, these folks become so distraught with their work environment, feeling that they’re not bringing in enough profit — so they turn back to the game.
Sure, maybe they have a couple wins at the beginning, but they’ll inevitably spiral downward into a financial deathtrap of defeat once again.
What is this problem? Opportunity.
So, there’s a main difference that separates the top 5% of investors who earn loads more than a full-time income from part-time effort… and those who bust their butt, spend a bunch of money on courses, books and training events… but end up not getting anywhere.
The top 5% think differently.
Those elite investors who have an impenetrably solid REI business, which is sustainable, scalable and growing, think strategically, not opportunistically.
What do I mean?
Well, which of these describes you:
Opportunistic Investor:
- Gets into deals super-fast
- No organization, no process, no plan, “Just wants to make $”
- Jumps from strategy to strategy
- Buys every software system, book, tool available to be successful
Top 5% Strategic Investor:
- Only pursues deals if it fits their strategy
- Grows their business based on specific goals and processes
- Tackles a new strategy only after their business goals are met and reassessed
- Realized that only a handful of strategies, tactics, business basics, and key tools are needed to build a massive REI business
So, really, no matter how you slice it, the poor opportunity seeker is doomed to fail every time. Opportunistic investors are guided by emotions.
Know what happens when people make decisions based on emotions rather than facts and logic?
It’s not pretty.
Emotions cost you money and have no place in the investment arena.
I can’t tell you many times I see rolling their eyes or politely nodding their heads, but all the while they’re quietly pushing me to “move on to the meat and potatoes.” And for them, that’s just strategies and tactics.
Please don’t be that person.
For your financial future, please pay attention and digest what I’m sharing here. If you ignore this powerful yet simple lesson, you’ll lose your business eventually…and perhaps, even your credit, what you have in your bank, everything you own, your reputation.
I can assure you of it. (Not that I’d ever want that for you, of course.)
Please, stay away from the trap of opportunity.
Hey real estate investors, you’ve got to change your mind…
Starting now, think strategically about everything you do in real estate.
So, many years ago, in fact, we used to have a program called the Strategic Investor Insider Circle. It was specifically created to share with people the characteristics of a strategic investor vs. an opportunistic investor — and we had a nice, small community of people who agreed on and lived by that core value.
If you’re already thinking strategically, good job, you! Keep it up.
If you haven’t been, change that behavior and mindset right this second. See yourself as strategic real estate investor and business owner — not an opportunity-seeking money-maker.
How?
One big way is this: match up your goals with your needs and locate the 1 or 2 (never more than 2) strategies that map back to those criteria… fewer, better things.
See, one of the biggest problems I see with anyone starting in real estate or any kind of new business venture for that matter, is that they are in such a drunken stupor over the excitement they feel — and everything they see is a bight shiny object.
And once they get into the REI rabbit hole, they realize just how deep it is. It’s very easy to try to do all the things all at once — and that’s a recipe for mediocrity, not excellence.
So, hyper-focus is a superpower. And if you learn it sooner rather than later, you’ll absolutely accelerate your success.
Let me make this somewhat tangible: If you have very little cash in the bank, and your financial goal is to have a 6-figure bank account within 12 months, you need to focus your energies on fast, transactional-based business activities — like assigning contracts and double-closing properties in the wholesale arena, or even land flipping.
Whatever you can do to generate a high-income vs. building wealth and cash flow.
Now, if your goal is to build wealth or create cash flow, then you’d focus on 1 or 2 other, different strategies — like buying rentals or building an Airbnb short-term rentals business, or not wholesaling land but buying it cheap and selling it with owner financing for cash flow.
But please always remember — don’t get distracted by all the shiny strategies that REI has to offer. Focus squarely on 1 or 2 at a time, based on what your clear vision and goals are… and then apply that framework as a decision filter that acts like guardrails. (Think of it like bowling with the gutter bumpers in place — staying in line and on track.)
When you stay focused and begin to enjoy the windfall of success that’ll surely head your way, the next “great thing/shiny object” ain’t even going to matter at all to you. And that feels good.