Formulas for Real Estate Investing May Sound Like The Answer, But There's So Much More

Formulas for real estate investing success exist, but there is only one tried and true way we know of. Are Your Prepared To Getting Really Frustrated? Like, Really Frustrated?

The other day someone asked me how Nick and I got started with our own business around real estate investing.

What books had we read?

And how much money we had put aside to start.

What business plan template we used.

All the usual stuff.

We had no formulas for real estate investing success.

After thinking about it for some time I realized that although we had both read a ton of business and marketing books and discussed various business ideas that would be related to our real estate investments what it really boiled down to was getting frustrated enough that we actually took action.

We both had a background in direct sales, which has helped us I'm sure.

And we both grew up in an entrepreneurial family - our father started and ran his own construction company. He didn't have any formulas for success either. He wasn't even interested in real estate investing.

But it was still a big decision to quit what we were doing and begin a new adventure entirely. I was new to real estate investing. I couldn't find any formulas for real estate investing success.

We would both be walking away from income streams (jobs) that paid very well.

But one day we both go so frustrated, so pissed off, with the way things were we finally took action. We still had no formulas for real estate investing success, take note.

I remember listening to some old Tony Robbins stuff and recall that he mentioned that frustration is good.

That you should use frustration to your advantage.

That frustration is the emotional fuel you need to make a change in your life.

Let's face it, no matter how much you may want things to be better, if you're reading this you have access to the Internet, a computer, a warm roof over your head and more food than you need for the day.

We all have it pretty good.

So when frustration builds up inside you, it may be just the thing you need. I searched for formulas for real estate investing success.

For me personally, this all boiled down to one single day.

I was working in the software industry for a company that was preparing to go public on the New York Stock Exchange.

And I was in charge of a sales team that was really humming along very well.

Great group of people on that team.

It was fun.

The money was good.

And then one month I got lambasted for missing our sales targets.

There's nothing wrong with that. I'm a big boy. I can take it.

In fact, I was used to seeing and hearing that type of thing.

I had been involved in the software industry for about eight years at that point so getting chewed out for missing a sales target was no surprise to me.

When you missed a monthly sales number you were opening yourself up to abuse.

It was the nature of how aggressive companies in that industry run.

But what wasn't lost on me was that our sales team had a banner month the month prior and we actually pulled in a few deals early that month to help the company hit its sales target for the quarter.

Well, by doing that we left ourselves in a position where we would be thin on new deals for the next month.

So when we missed our stated goal that next month and I got ripped badly for it - I LOST IT.

Our sales team was the best performing sales team in the office at that point in the year.

I got sick every month trying to hit some outrageously aggressive targets - which somehow we were managing to hit.

And then the first month we miss one because we tried to help the entire company hit its target a month earlier, we get ripped for it?

Ah, no.

Not the way I wanted to live any longer. I needed to find formulas for real estate investing success.

What Are The Formulas For Real Estate Investing?

Driving home that night I stopped in at the local Dollarama (Dollar Store) and picked up a few sheets of bristol board and some big black markers.

I walked in the door at home, cleared everything off our kitchen island, and starting mapping out a plan.

Here's the actual piece of bristol board, I found it a few months ago while cleaning up our basement:

It was mapped out into 5 areas:

1. Vision - what did I want? 2. Strategy - how was I going to get there? 3. Accountability - how would I hold myself accountable? 4. Metrics - what numbers would I monitor so track my progress? 5. Celebrate - how would I celebrate the milestones?

It wasn't the first time I had done something like this but it was the first time it seemed to work! Formulas for real estate investing? I still had none.

Within 6 months Nick and I had started our new business venture together.

I hadn't seen that piece of bristol board for years but a few months ago I found it under an old kitchen island we had stored away in our basement.

On the Strategy section I had written:

Student Rental Property & Lease Options as the main real estate investing strategies.

There was also an area under Strategy titled:

Publishing & Educational

And under that was written:

Newsletter and Speaking

Funny enough we have gone on to do more Student Rentals and more Lease Options investment properties via our Brokerage than anyone we know.

And we have published a monthly 12-page newsletter for over three years now.

And under the Vision section I have:

6 weeks of vacation a year with the family.

In 2009, we had 4.5 weeks of family vacation time. So not quite there yet, but get there! I don't have formulas for real estate investing success, I have commitment, I have knowledge, I have the ability to learn. I have never found formulas for real estate investing success...

Isn't it funny how things work out?

But here's the thing.

We don't attribute any of this to writing down our goals.

Although that surely helped us gain clarity.

And that clarity probably helped attract some of the right people and events into our lives.

We really boil things down to is this:

1. Having the systems in place that would produce consistent results - both for our investing and for our business. Please re-read this point because it's so important.

2. And being frustrated enough with our lives at that particular point that we were willing to risk it all to make something happen.

Who needs formulas for real estate investing success!

When I left my 9-5 job both my children were under the age of 4, actually, my daughter wasn't even a year old.

That's not the time most people would advise anyone to walk away from something and start a new business venture.

With zero clients.

But we did.

Looking back it seems a little crazy actually!

But here's the thing...

We're not advising that you pick up and quit your job.

Or that you run off and buy an investment property without the proper preparation.

What we are saying is this...

If you are frustrated with your current situation...

Maybe you're looking for more cash to buy another investment property and can't figure out how you're going to get it.

Or you're looking to buy your very first property and you're not sure how to do it.

Or you want to buy a big apartment building but can't seem to connect all the dots to make it happen.

Or you want to create other streams of income in your life so that you can live more freely.

Whatever it is.

If you are frustrated right now. Even if you're pissed off at your situation.

That's a good thing.

That's the emotional juice that will push you to find the answers and to take action.

Seriously.

We no longer view being frustrated with something as a bad thing.

It's a good thing.

Look, we don't claim to have all the answers.

We're just sharing some of our story to let you know you're not alone and hopefully there's something here that you can use to push you along your own journey.

(We're not done with our own journey, by the way, there's a lot more we have planned!!)

And maybe in 2010, you're going to get upset enough, frustrated enough, that it will push you past obstacles that have been blocking you.

So go on.

Get pissed off.

Get really pissed.

It's the right thing to do :)

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