Financial Education: Real Estate Investing 101 — Mindset (Part 1)

March 15, 2022

(WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE. I also recommend that you have pen and paper handy or some sort of a note taking apparatus before you start reading.)

So you want to learn how to invest? And you want to leverage real estate as your investment vehicle? WHY? Of all the investment tools, options, ‘vehicles’ (as I like to call them), why real estate? Better yet — why invest, period?

Having been the product of financial education myself and (sometimes) over-the-top advocate for financial education, there are many reasons why I can share with you real estate investing is a great way to build multiple income streams and long-term wealth.

If you’re following the thread, then you know this one comes after Personal Budgeting 101 from last week. I hope you’ve had the chance to download or at least take a look at the Excel shared with you. I’ve already gotten many feedback: “This is great, so easy!” “What is this? It’s so elementary!” “Just inputting my own numbers is already giving me insight on why I feel trapped…financially.” Like everything else in life, haters are gonna hate so I’m just going to put this out there now: “The things that are easy to do are also easy not to do.” Wisdom by Jim Rohn — one of my all time favourite motivational figures. So the choice is yours. Because, if that didn’t get you moving to do something different, perhaps you’re not truly ready to receive financial abundance yet.

Naturally, if you’re still with me, you’re good. I applaud you for not letting the title of this article deter you. Because we are about to get a little touchy-feely, a little emotional and a little fluffy for some of you. Yet, it’s ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY necessary to go there. And yes, I went there, too.

One of the most important aspects to success in real estate investing is the belief that you can actually leverage it as an effective tool to create multiple sources of income and long-term wealth. In short, you can use it as a tool to create the life that you truly want. This belief in yourself must be strong enough to endure setbacks, rejections, and even the occasional ‘failures’. This comes from the TRUST that you have in yourself — your ability, your desire, and your commitment — to change. That trust combined with a clear why or a deep sense of purpose can help carry you through the ups and downs in not only your real estate investing journey, but in life. When the reason why you embarked on ANY journey is solid, overcoming obstacles both mentally, emotionally, physically and professionally all becomes that much easier.

Identifying Your ‘Why’

It’s easier said than done as most things that take courage and time. So, I’m hoping to guide you a bit here on how to identify your why, or a sense of purpose — starting from who you are, and where you are in life. (Heads up: I get it, you’re here for real estate investing learning and the how-to’s. Those WILL COME. Trust the process.)

Your ‘why’ is your primary motivation, your emotional anchor and your guiding light. It’s the reason why you’ve decided to better your life in the first place. Constantly keeping this motivating reason in viewing distance (literally and figuratively) can become the much needed fuel to keep pushing you forward to achieving your goals and dreams.

How to Actually Identify Your ‘Why’

There are many methods suggested and practiced by many. To sum up, here are the steps that I have personally used and leveraged to help others identify theirs:

1. Self work: Recall the times when you were ‘in the zone’. Really focus on the mission and the task, and most importantly, the energy that you felt, when you were getting things done. Now, write down WHAT you were getting those things done and WHY you were doing them in the first place.
2. Ask for help: Choose 3 people that know you very well or someone you have spent a lot of time with in the last while (parents, relatively, best friends, colleagues, significant others, etc.). Ask them if they noticed when was the last time you were so focused on something (ie. achieving a goal) that you forgot to stay in contact, or forgot to eat or sleep. Sometimes, we do not see through our own blind spots. This is why it’s valuable to seek others’ perspectives and observations. Remember, the words are perspectives and observations, not opinions. Even if you feel that you’ve done a bang-up job in your self work, you are still encouraged to do this step.
3. Magnifying glass time: Once you have collected enough data from the first 2 steps, write them all down on a giant piece of paper. I am old school and visual, so I like physically writing all these things out as much as I can. If you’d like to go digital or substitute this method with one that’s more effective to you, be my guest. The point is the next step here: do you notice any patterns? Any reoccurring ideas, themes, drivers, factors, situations, or even emotions you found amongst everything? List them out.

At this point, I’d like to share some personal experiences and perspectives on the steps above.

Right now, I believe that my ‘why’ is bigger than me and it has to be to get me out of bed. Many books and successful people out there will either TELL you the same thing or implicitly communicate that through their glorified public stories. I’m going to suggest that you keep it, just initially, as SELFISH as you possibly can. I’m a believer that you cannot pour from an empty glass. Fill yourself up first so that you can overflow and GIVE. That way, when you GIVE, you give without hesitation. You give without anticipation and you give without expectation of anything in return.

Some of you might be thinking: Great! What does that even mean?

It simply means that you do not have to declare that you want to end world hunger (yet), you do not have to advance science so that there’s no cancer (yet), and you do not need to donate to support world peace (yet).

What matters to you the most? YOU! Yes, YOU! If your answer is anything but you, think again. Are you in the best physical shape of your life? Do you have the financial capacity to support the lifestyle that you truly desire? Do you feel that you are living authentically — unafraid and unaffected by other people’s opinions and judgements of you?

Here are some of the reasons, or people’s initial ‘why’ when they first started that I felt are truly authentic:

• I see all my friends posting on social media of the great times, great vacations, expensive hotels, business class seats and fancy shopping trips…why am I not able to afford all that like them?
• Somebody (could be a parent, a friend, an ex-spouse — as they tend to be, a former boss) didn’t think that I could achieve something bigger and I’m going to prove them wrong. (Dark, I know. However, I first learned the term “backward motivation” from a manager at work. Ouch!)
• Ever since I was a kid, I was always jealous of my friends (or cousins or even some stranger on social media) for having so much more than I did. That jealousy ate me up inside and I am going to get me what I want now, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.
• I always grew up being the shortest person amongst my friends and family. That made me feel inferior, and then I heard this super wealthy guy say: I’m shorter than everyone I know, that’s why I learned how to make money. So, when I stand on all my money, I’m taller than everyone else. That really stuck with me.
• I do ok at work and I make an ok income. But, my kid came home one day and told me about his school friend’s winter break on a fancy vacation with their family, and ask me if we could go one day. I knew then that I owe it to myself to make that happen.
• I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. I’m 52 this year and my 2 kids are about to go to university and I’m going to have to re-mortgage the house to pay for their tuition. I thought I did better than that in life.
• Working for nearly 30 years, my spouse and I have done ok financially. We took the typical middle-class path and will retire relatively comfortably. Depending on how long we continue to live, we know that our lifestyle is going to be relatively boring if we want our retirement to last. I feel very insecure and even ashamed about the idea of that.
• My brothers and sisters never did as well in school as I did. Somehow, they are doing so much better in life than I am. That doesn’t sit well with me.

I hope you’re getting the idea. To tell the truth, it’s getting a little tough to keep listing these examples out. As you can see, all of it mostly comes from a place of feeling like “I’m not enough”. At the risk of making it somewhat depressing, I will say, if that’s how you’re feeling right now, you’re there. Stay there for just a few minutes longer…and start writing down what’s making you feel like you’re not enough right now. (Use a separate sheet of paper, your journal, or just the white space on this workbook.)

Now that you’ve gone through some emotional turmoil, let’s turn that into some much needed emotional anchor and fuel you need to keep going. If you’re finding that you’re stuck, make sure you reach out to one of the Strategy Coaches to guide you through these steps again.

The next step is to take ownership over EVERYTHING that you’ve just experienced, felt and become alarmingly aware of. Now, say to yourself: “This is it and I am satisfied.” Really do it. Tell yourself out loud that you are satisfied with everything on that list. (If you are anything like me, you’re kicking and screaming now. Maybe even holding back tears and only letting out swear words. It’s ok, I’m a big boy, I can take the heat. I started writing because I wanted to create a change — so I’m going to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.)

Remember: your life is your own to live. No one else can live it for you, nor can you live someone else’s life for them. You MUST take ownership of your chosen path — the decisions you make and the tasks you’ll have to carry out to lead you to the life you wish for. This means you now have to commit. Commit to living a better life. To do that, you have to first commit to CREATING a better life.

I once learned: a commitment is a choice that I surrender to. (Read that a few times until you really get it.)

The word here is choice. To briefly elaborate on this point: the fundamental difference between a choice vs a decision is data. Data of prior knowledge. Data helps us make decisions. Choices are made with or without considering data. Consider this:

“I’m choosing chocolate ice cream over strawberry ice cream today because I’m in the mood for it. I can’t explain it. I just want chocolate ice cream today.”

“I’m choosing chocolate ice cream over strawberry ice cream today because I remember the last few times I had strawberry ice cream, it wasn’t very good.”

Now, tying it all back to you — deciding to use real estate investing as a business vehicle/tool to create better/more income streams and long-term financial success. Starting any type of business is challenging and can be daunting. This is no different. There will be times where you just ‘don’t feel like it’, but taking ownership over your identified ‘why’ will help you get through those times. After all, again, your life is your own to live. Just like no one else can live it for you, no one else can do the tasks you need to do to create the life you want. It’s that simple.

Now, take the next 7 days to complete this exercise: for every items on your list that you want to change, write down how you’d like to alter your own reality. REALLY PICTURE and let your imagination run wild. Even after you’re done with the exercise now or within the 7 days, I’d like to invite you to revisit this often in the next few days here (and may modify your list) while Part 2 continues next week.

To leave you with another quote by Jim Rohn that has stuck with me since the first time I heard it: “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.”

And to my keeners reading this, here are a couple of book suggestions you may consider reading: Start with Why by Simon Sinek, and The Saint, The Surfer and the CEO by Robin Sharma.