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.

July 5, 2022

(WARNING: COLOURFUL LANGUAGE)

“Alright, Tim’s gone mad.” is probably the thought that some of you had when seeing this title. “Either that, or he’s delusional.” is probably another thought you had.

Hear me out here…

While sharing about financial education, building businesses and creating financial successes is something that speaks to the entrepreneur in me, sharing with you how some of the habits I’ve dedicated myself to building over the years speaks to my soul.

With all the uncertainties happening these days — the economy, the interest rates, the bond yields, the stock market and the real estate markets — fear and negative self talks rear their ugly heads in all of us. Yes, in me too. However, this is the time when we have to remind ourselves that EVERYTHING IS CYCLICAL — especially the different factors mentioned here.

I am not here to compare myself to anyone else when I say “staying power matters” since I can only say that I’ve been truly entrepreneurial for about 20 years, and have found any substantial financial success in the last 10. For that reason, I will always have respect for any entrepreneurs that have lasted decades regardless of their current reputation. They’ve done something (or many things) to keep them in the game through the changes and cycles over time.

Like everything we do, mindset is huge and arguably the ultimate determining factor of the successful vs the unsuccessful. Note — it’s not the successful vs the failed. But how we feel about what we do is often times neglected in the business world. Everyone wants the ‘how to’. From the yellow dummy books to the gazillion searches on YouTube for how-to videos, we forget that most of us only do what we want to do most of the time.

Learning about and managing my energy level and mental state daily are what I attribute the exceptional growth during uncertain times to— especially in the last 5 years between the regional recession in my home province and a global pandemic.

Asa business owner and a real estate investor, I can quickly and easily default to sharing business tactics and strategies, and even step by step guides on what I’d do in any given situation when there’s a problem to be solved.

Here, I want to start with something between mindset (abstract) and strategy (concrete): habits.

While I’ve consumed books, speeches, and taken countless personal development courses and 1-on-1 coaching sessions, there will be no empirical data nor science shared other than personal experiences and perspectives. Remember: something between mindset and strategy.

1. Unsubscribe

Welive in a world where we’re conditioned to seek information quick and easy. It’s even easier if it’s just fed to us regularly without having to lift a finger for the second time.

Starting today, unsubscribe from 1 thing daily. I honestly do not recall if I learned this somewhere or just got completely fed up with the amount of junk and spam emails one day. I started by unsubscribing to mailing lists first. You know — the kind that takes time and mental space, and sometimes even your hard earned money for no good reason.

Perhaps you ‘subscribed’ initially because you were actually seeking a particular service, product, a piece of information, etc. However, if it’s not contributing to your day-to-day efficiency or functionality, unsubscribe now. It’s ok to search for it again later when you actually need it again (thanks, Google!).

For me, this is as simple of taking a couple of minutes a day and hitting the unsubscribe buttons — travel sites, newsletters, retail stores and even search lists set up with real estate agents in a market that you once were interested in. Some days, it’s a more drawn out process of saying goodbye to ‘friends’ that I’ve actually never exchanged words with online. It’s drawn out because I would often times send a quick message first before removing them altogether. After all, I’m not a robot. At some point in time, I’ve either sought out to connect or they did — for a reason. I’d like to honour that reason. Perhaps I was the one that dropped the ball initially on making any kind of meaningful connection.

If you do this for the next 30 days, I can promise that you will feel so much lighter mentally, emotionally and maybe even financially and spiritually.

2. Diet & Exercise

“OH GOD! Now he’s gone too far!”

“This (topic) AGAIN?!”

Let’s not forget that this is about me sharing what’s helped me everyday to stay consistent and persistent. Of course, with that in mind, if anything sounds applicable to you, make sure you consult with your physician(s) first.

You might be surprised to know that I don’t follow any particular diet plans. Naturally, that is not what I’m sharing here. The only ‘diet’ that I would consider myself to be on is intermittent fasting. As one who’s always had trouble gaining QUALITY weight, I fought this idea for as long as I could remember. However, when COVID lockdowns forced me to completely redo our business plan for Trust Your Talent Academy (because we launched in January 2020), I found myself needing more time to work starting March 2020 so that we wouldn’t close our doors in 2 short months (not even a global pandemic could stop this passion project!). As a result, the idea of skipping breakfast became more of a practical measure rather than a 100% voluntary one (at first). Growing up in Taiwan, breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, it’s a whole culture in itself. Undoing nearly 40 years of THAT was even harder than the idea of losing more weight from not eating.

Admittedly, intermittent fasting gave me results that I couldn’t have imagined:

• Better and more even energy level throughout the day
• Improved mental clarity to tackle tasks and projects
• Helped me reach my ideal body fat percentage (and maintained my muscle mass)
• More time in the morning to complete my routine (it’s become very convenient and a huge time saver not having to worry about making or seeking out for breakfast)

You may have your own views or traditional beliefs about fasting. Whatever it is, I’m not here to promote it. I’m simply sharing. If you’re interested, look up the different ways you can incorporate intermittent fasting into your daily life. I was pleasantly surprised. These days, I usually fast daily between 13–16 hours (in case you’re wondering).

When it comes to the exercise part…I’m not talking about the ‘let’s go sign up for a gym membership and hit the weights everyday’ kind of exercise. It’s probably really more fitting to just say ‘move your body for at least 30 mins a day’ or ‘stand up half the time during your waking hours’.

This is purely coming from my personal experience of how I manage my energy level daily to deal with the good and the bad. By that, I mean this has nothing to do with getting pretty looking muscles that make you look good in your clothes. Of course, if that’s where you want to take it as a happy by-product, that’s up to you.

Also, unlike ‘do it as one of the first things in your day’, I simply just want to encourage you to move more and stand more.

For any of you who might be interested, here’s what I do for exercise (changing things up and keeping things interesting is important to me:

• Pilates
• Hot flow yoga
• Weight training
• Walking — outdoor or treadmill

If you do this for the next 30 days, I can promise that you will feel so much more energetic physically, mentally, emotionally and maybe even better financially and spiritually.

3. Meditate

Ok, this one is something that I really picked up during lockdowns as a result of COVID in 2020. We’ve all heard how great meditating is these days. It’s the new drug. It’s the new dance. It’s the new catch word worldwide.

For me, meditation at first (almost without fail) turned into either “I’m bored after 30 seconds” or “Oh sh*t! I fell asleep”. Then I found these lovely guided meditation tracks on Spotify. You may have another platform or even specific app that you can and prefer to use. The point is — start. Start with just 1–5 minutes a day with a guided meditation track. Test many of them and start bookmarking the ones that have made a positive impact on you after.

These days, I still use guided tracks. I’ve had people tell me that ‘guided meditation’ is a bit of an oxymoron. But hey, I’m looking for results here. So, whatever you find that works for you, do it and keep doing it until you have to pivot.

Meditating in particular has helped me at grounding myself on a daily basis. We get pulled from different directions all the time. And if you suffer from ‘over achieving’ like me, this one is even more critical to get incorporated into your daily routine.

If you do this for the next 30 days, I can promise that you will feel so much lighter physically, mentally, emotionally and maybe even financially and spiritually.

4. Laugh

This one seems almost silly, isn’t it?

At one point in the last 10 years, I realized that I have become SO SERIOUS about things and life in general. I mean, how could I not be? I’m an investor by trade and am responsible for taking care of people’s hard earned money. That is a serious responsibility! So, honestly, that hasn’t changed much. I’m actually proud of that. Because I know my profession demands my highest attention and responsibility.

What changed is that I would seek out things daily that would make me literally LOL (that means ‘laugh out loud’ for some of you). This can be purposely seeking out comedy clips or memes on social media or making the time to watch a sitcom episode for me. Sometimes, it’s from connecting and catching up with friends and trading stories. However, be careful of the whole ‘misery loves company’ thing here as that will actually drain your energy more than adding to it. After all, I’m seeking laughter to boost my energy level, my focus and my overall spirit.

For me, this can also include daily play time with my dog. Once in a while, I will throw in singing out loud in the shower or a full-on at-home karaoke party. Party for one, please! Nothing makes me laugh out loud at myself like when I know I’ve butchered a song badly. And it also makes me smile when I’ve sung the same song for 20 years well. The point is this — find ways to tickles yourself till you put a smile on your face or give yourself a great belly laugh.

If you do this for the next 30 days, I can promise that you will feel so much better physically, mentally, emotionally and maybe even financially and spiritually.

5. Create

This can be journaling your own deepest and most private thoughts into a diary to creating something you can and want to share with the world.

The idea is that you get joy through the process of creation. It doesn’t even have to be the same thing every time. I remember making a seasonal wreath with a friend of mine one day 4 years ago, and that wreath is proudly hung up on our front door during the spring and summer months every year still.

Also, the process of creation surprisingly can also come from the process of destruction. I’m specifically referring to plucking weeds from our yards here. It’s not my favourite thing to do around the house — full disclosure. Yet, through removing the weeds, I create a much more pleasant yard to look at. Interestingly, I see cleaning the house through the same lense as well.

The point is this: find a way to express yourself everyday. We are human beings that often get confused as human doings because we take on so much. We feel things daily. And we ARE all those feelings. And some of those feelings need an outlet to be expressed.

You may not be as random as I am, and may already have a hobby that allows you to express yourself daily — writing, visual art, gym, yoga, running, music, singing, gardening, building a business, etc. That is why this quote also speaks to me so much:

If you do this for the next 30 days, I can promise that you will feel so much lighter physically, mentally, emotionally and maybe even financially and spiritually.

Tosum up, here’s a short list of resources that have helped me tremendously over the last few years:

• High Performance Habits (book by Brendon Burchard)
• No More Mr. Nice Guy (book by Dr. Robert Glover)
• The Ultimate Jim Rohn Library (recordings by Jim Rohn) — PERSONAL FAVOURITE OF ALL TIME
• The Meaning of Mariah Carey (book by Mariah Carey)
• PSI Seminars (www.psiseminars.com) for personal development
• Eva Medilek (www.evamedilek.com) for 1:1 high performance life coaching
• Athlean-X on YouTube

This list can easily get pretty long and I’m happy to share more if you’d like to reach out to me directly: Tim@TrustYourTalent.ca 🙂

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

If you’re wanting to be a part of a community of real estate investors from around the globe, here is the T.A.L.E.N.T.ed Investors Facebook Group. It’s a place where people come together to share experiences, knowledge, successes and challenges, and money making opportunities!

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.

If you prefer the live interaction and delivery to help you build some foundation, our next Bootcamp is on July 23 and July 24. Go ahead and register for a session for either day to help you further your financial education.

Lastly, I just want to say thank you for your continuing support.

I aim to be authentic and adding value to your life.

I invest to build a life. I build business to create better life experiences.

It’s ultimately about LIFE and I appreciate you coming on this journey with me!

(Written in Edmonton, AB)