Encouragement Thread

The majority of people do not "get" what we do. When people don't understand something, instead of researching and trying to learn about it, they tend to tell you it is illegal or it just won't work.

The majority of the people here (or at least those of us who have stuck around) look at the bigger picture. We KNOW that it will work. It is not going to happen overnight, but it WILL work if WE do!!!

Stick with us, cause we're goin' places!

And actually...this whole website is an "encouragement website".

Karen

We all need encouragement, inspiration, and motivation every day!
Your dreams are yours. No one else can fulfill them for you but YOU.

My favorite words to live by are those of Eleanor Roosevelt: "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face...Do the thing you think you cannot do."

Fear is a natural mechanism. It alerts us in uncharted waters or in times of discomfort, trouble or danger. Though at times it can stifle, petrify, or even paralyze us with [unnecessary] inaction. DO NOT surrender to your fears! Be courageous! A courageous person is not someone without fear. A courageous person has the nerve to ACT (in spite of fear) and who has the judgment that something else is much more important than the fear itself. Let not fear keep us from being part of something more important and amazing. Move forward in spite of fear and self-doubt. Go do the thing(s) you think you cannot do! Believe you can do anything you set your mind to doing! Believe in amazing possibilities.

Jerry Gillies said: "Confront your fears, list them, get to know them, and only then will you be able to put them aside and move ahead."
We must get at the core of what holds us back from taking necessary actions in pursuit of our dreams. (Try writing down your fears, then crumple up that paper and discard your fears away---a simple, yet very liberating exercise!)

There's a ton of encouragement, inspirational, and motivational quotes available on the Internet! Three links I've found are below. Wake up every day and write one down for your day's work. Then declare it aloud.

Inspirationspark(dot)com
Livinglifefully(dot)com
Motivation-for-dreamers(dot)com/words-of-motivation(dot)html

Say "Nay" to your fears and self-doubt. Say "Nay" to the naysayers!!!
PS. There's a saying: "What people are not UP on, they are DOWN on."

Your Post Totally inspired me! THANK YOU!

Look to the end reward for your encouragement. Rick, you get your reward in real estate when you find someone a house and they reward you with a smile, a contract, and in the end a commission. So, how do we get the little rewards to keep us motivated. It is simply to make many small goals leading to the big goal, both are important... Let's take an example... I want to save up some money, but how much? um let's say $1200. So, how do I do it? Well we need a time measurement and work your way backwards... So we want to do it in a year. So that would be 12 months and roughly 4 weeks a months, so $25 a week. Then we just find a way. The answer is cut expenses and/or add income. Some way may be to cut out a snack, make lunch and carry to work, extra job, sell things, mow lawns, shovel snow, deliver papers, baby sit, buy and sell storage units, or find and sell off real estate deals! So use this example and prove it on a small scale and move to a bigger scale.

Now on to the real estate goal. May be to build up a huge amount of income from real estate, find a goal and path, then apply it. Mine is to have $50k/yr in income after all expenses. Tried the flips and did well, but saw the market was shifting, so went to buy and hold as rentals. So bought one @ 35% of value and worked on it like a flip, but rented it instead. Now it is 2 1/2 years later and it is 1/2 paid off, then took and bought 2 more last year, in 6 years those will be paid for, now I figure I need 7 total to provide the desired income... Now the key is to find the desire, put into goals, and outline a plan to get there...

Best wishes and good luck... If you have trouble starting, PM me!
Darron

Already loving this thread! Great post Rick!

We deal with naysayers every day, but I just have learned to smile and ignore their negative inputs. Most naysayers are people who aren't doing this, but this community isn't perfect. I have seen a few negative-minded people on this site that are getting deals done, but I guess that is just their personality.

Try to come up with a plan to re-inspire you every day in the morning when you wake up, and at night before you go to bed. That is why Dean posts weekly blogs, and on IE there are daily blogs from top students. And if you ever are feeling in a slump you can't get out, post something on these forums about what's going on!

You sure are right about discouragement coming from a lack of understanding. I posed an assigning question to my broker who has been helping others buy and sell real estate for 30 years. He replied, "Why would you want to (assign)?" Obviously, he wasn't thinking outside of the box, and after thirty years he's not rich, so I let it go at that.

One of the reasons why I become discouraged, as I was yesterday even as I started this thread, was because I do suffer from so many chronic illnesses, including clinical depression. As a disabled, combat veteran, let me tell you folks something. I suffer from:

> Epiplepsy,
> Spondilois (in three seperate vertebrae)
> Osgood Slaughters (bad cartiledge (sp?) in both knees)
> Clinical depression
> PTSD symptoms
> Osteoperosis, and more.

Now, I could let all of that stop me. I could become a burden on society and live off other people's tax dollars altogether, and of course I already receive some government benefits, but I will not give up!

I sincerely desire to be rich, and I absolutely refuse to die young while laid up in some VA nursing home. I don't desire to be rich for my own sake or for my own glory; I desire to be so to help as many people (including my family) as I can along the way and so I can give more. I feel so helpless when I can't help others. It's what I dedicated my life to for so many years in law enforcement, the military and as an EMT.

Anyway, my point is, if I can do this, inspite of of significant, constant pain, taking fistfuls of medications a day and while having brain about to vibrate out of my ears and while having the majority of my household income coming from government assistance, you can too!

...now back to the phones. Out of my last 12 calls, two went well. One guy wouldn't let me buy his house at a discount, so I'll list it for sell when he finishes his repairs. The other guy has two houses he needs to sell. The most important thing at this point is to continue to cultivate these relationships.

This is so true Thank you Karen

Sometimes though, we think or speak discouragement over or to ourselves in various areas of life, including in our real estate endeavors.

I told myself, "Self, the only way to make money in real estate is to help other people buy and sell their properties for commission."

I did this for a long time, and one day recently and woke up, and then I asked to myself, "Self, why are you chasing $1500-2000 commissions when you could be making $15,000-20,000 on deals?"

Let's examine our thoughts and speech, and let's see if we're speaking positive or negative things into our own lives.

although probably not to your extent, I can relate to having negativity surround us; that's why many of us come to this site, attend the Edge events, etc. because it is where we can hang out and 'talk' to like-minded people; I believe it was at last year's Edge event that DG told us to look around us in the room, and then he said: all the people you see in this room are just as crazy as you are!

needless to say, this site has been like a safe haven for me, where I come to recharge, and to also provide some motivation to other investors.

If you haven't done so already, I truly recommend that you read DG's book Totally Fulfilled- it is really very motivational... as an example, here's one of the many excerpt from the book that inspired me...

"The most rewarding feeling in the world is to set a goal, accomplish it, and then watch your life start to change. There's no greater joy than transforming a dream into reality. Set a goal in your mind, and remember that no matter what, you are going to make it happen."

Wishing you great success on your rei journey,

The ABSOLUTE most important tip I can give to anyone here is build one on one relationships with some of the other people on this site.

I PROMISE you, if you develop good friendships with other people who are on here, who are as dedicated as you are and are about at the same point in your RE career and you communicate regularly--by phone, emails, texts, even visiting in person--that will be the strongest support you can have!

That connection will keep you motivated and keep you going and eventually make you successful!!!

I am a testament to that! So many times I would have quit if not for three or four of my very good friends that I met on this site. I love them dearly!

You know who you are!

Karen

Keep one thing in mind, that it is none of anyone's business what you do with the property as far as detailed closing, after you lock it up under contract. All they need to know is that you are closing a deal with cash, that's it. If you explain the assign process and go into detail, yes they'll tell you everything under the son about how illegal it is, how you'll go to jail or other excuses. In this case, sometimes less is more.

I admire you for what you're dealing with on top of health issues. It's unfortunate when we have spouses or mates who aren't supportive of what you know to be true in your heart, & give you dirty looks, yet they expect you to give up every good thing you're doing towards REI, and be support of whatever they do, regardless... I get it.

I don't have all the answers in the world, but this one of the greatest sites in the world, to come for a real "feast" of words and encouragement. How do you eat your way out of a pickle? One bite at a time, right?

Don't be your own worst enemy!

Educate YOU not everyone else

Find and make deals

KNOW the Values in your area

Get REAL buyers

It takes time and committment

Be SURE to use the proper FORMS to collect ALL needed info

Happy Monday, Ladies!

I absolutely believe in the relationship building in order to find and maintain encouragement, and I have attended some DG sales events, but I don't know if I'll ever attend his Insider events. I may though, it depends on if I use his colleagues products. There is, however, two other organizations that I belong to, and I might attend theirs.

Today begins a new week. Let's make the most of of it!

Speaking of finding "Real buyers," that can be quite a challenge, can't it? I've decided to build a cash buyers list before I even get started putting houses under contract, and I have found that many people get very negative and even mean on the phone. On the other hand, I've had some very positive and productive meetings with people that are, "Real." I think it's a matter of sorting through who's who, but it can be done.

Every morning (or the day before the next day), ask yourself, "Self, what can you do to make yourself more successful that day?" Right the goals or things to do down, and follow through. If someone tries to distract you with negativity, disregard that negativity and instead focus on your goals.

Also, set short term goals (1-6 months) and long term goals (1, 5 and 10 years).

Goals are only goals if you write them down and then develop a plan to reach them. Otherwise, they are just dreams, and they may be unfulfilled.

One common misnomer and way that people try to discourage us by telling us we have to work harder to earn more. I want to encourage everyone to worker smarter not harder. One of the best ways of doing this is through marketing. Working smarter includes earning when you're not working at all, because you have earnings coming in from doing things the smart way like earning money on rents (passive income) or having your marketing drive your business.

If you are spending time planting bandit signs, hanging door hangers, licking envelopes or stamps, etc. that is not smart. That's hard work, and it should be done by someone else. I'll be hiring my teenagers. While their doing that menial stuff, I'll be working smarter like focusing on deals, clients and relationship building.

Hello All,

Great thread here. I love me some good inspiration. The end game for all of us in this business is MONEY, because money provides us with the opportunities to do whatever we want, and that my friends is FREEDOM! I was watching an interview Oprah did with LL Cool J, last week, who happens to be one of my favorite artist and he said, "DREAMS DON'T HAVE DEADLINE", SO TRUE! Please believe in yourselves, get help when you need it, build relationships daily, avoid all negativity, stay focused and you will be successful.

Hope this helped.
Ciao,
Shah

It has been said that your income is the average of the top 5 people you associate with in life.
So if you are associating with people that have the same or lower income than you do, you will not get far.

Put it this way:
If you find somebody that has what you want or is doing what you want, do EXACTLY what they are doing. Heck, even ASK them what they did to get there.

The point is that you have to remove the negative people from your life. Too many of us listen to people giving unsolicited advice in areas which they have little, negative or no experience in at all.

Once you start surrounding yourself with successful people that you can actually learn and take positive advice from, that's when your boundaries of success and wealth truly become unlimited.

Take Action, Take Care & Focus On Happiness!