Matt Larson "In The Early Days"

Mat my motivation is exactly the same. I hate my job. I'm 50 and have nothing to retire on. So basically I’d be working until the day I die and that would probably be sooner than later because of my unhappiness doing it.

My goal is 1 year. I’m GOING to GET IT DONE.

Thanks for your inspiration.

Barbara

for sharing your story. You knew what you wanted and were determined to get there regardless of whatever stood in your way.

Take care,

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

great inspiration matt!!! that is exactly what we need to do.we hear and make excuses all the time but when you look at your goal and DECIDE to DO IT no matter WHAT!! that is what it takes to make it happen.we cant get a message any clearer than that from you!! thanks matt!!
jay

Thanks for the motivation. My husband got demoted again at work with no valid reason. He asked to see his employee record and there was not one negative thing in his folder about anything. He was one of the few that got a raise at work, they complimented him for evertyhing that he did at work, however he got demmoted again. He was frustrated and angry, so he used up his vacation days and then used up all of his sick days. He quit his job. This is not what I had in mind, but now is all the reason to get out and kick some butt.....

Destrie

Hi Matt,
I live in MI as you did. SE MI and the values of homes have sunk pretty bad! My home was value was $129,900 in '05. If I was going to sell today the FMV would be about $70-75k. So, I would have to short sell my home to move it. In my area homes (REOs) are going for $30-45k. They are larger homes then what I am in now. Go figure. I am interested in you wholesale methods. We all have reasons for getting into the RE investing game. Mine has become a medical motivation. Plus, I enjoy reading the different ways to perform in the RE world!
Thanks again for sharing your store to motivate the rest of us. You have shown us that you can do anything as long as you put you mind to it and you stay on track!!!
Earl in MI

Is your husband looking for another job? Are you putting deals together that will replace his income? What is the game plan?

I do miss your posts Matt. Great motivation on this one.
I believe in not giving up no matter what happens, failure is not an option, If you give up on your dream, then what do you have left to look forward to.
I dont want to work for someone for the rest of my life to make them rich and for me to earn a salary, all on my back. Lord knows i have had more failures in REI because of one reason or another, I have been sent to adresses that didnt exist to meet buyers costing me gas and time, and have been beat to the punch on some homes i put bids in for. But i never give up, Laura and i teamed up and missed a property by 1 week because a bid was accepted before ours.
still going>>>
Richie.

Hi I new and trying to learn how to learn real estate investing. Like everyone else I read about, I am experiecing difficult times. The one positive in my life for the last 2 months has been the DG Family and the postings and everything else I can get my hands on to do with learning. I am still trying to put together the steps to get started in such a wonderful and exciting new career. Thank you to every one for your post. Glenda

Yes, my husband is looking for other employment and has got the 'ok' from unemployment that he can start collecting that. Have my first closing tomorrow (tuesday) at 4:00!! So that is a plus. Will keep on putting deals together. I have to go look at a house Wednesday to see about getting that under a land contract and then selling it to a retail buyer on L/O.

Destrie

Nice to see you back on the site! So many new people come to this site everyday that I'm sure quite a number of them dont even realize your story! So thanks for posting again to remind us all what passion and determination can do to change our lives!

Nice to see you back on the site with your words of wisdom that always helped me along the way......Jan

Thanks Matt for your encouragement. I'm trying to keep motivated. I KNOW RE is doable but have had a lot of setbacks. I have to remind myself every day that I can do this if I keep at it and don't give up.

Pat

Thanks 4 sharing your story. Hope 2 tell my success story, too, one day soon!!

God bless,
Serena

I don't have to do weekends as you did. But!!! I am inches from losing my home because I haven't been able to make a mortgage payment since April. My daughter is really depending on me (weight of a thousand elephants) and the memory of my wonderful wife is pushing me on. I seem to have nearly a full time job answering legal problems, unemployment issues, food stamps, Wells Fargo in-competencies and the normal day to day caring for my home, not to mention keeping up with my daughter's activities and those are many. My goal is to survive and prosper. My first goal is to sell this first property and when that happens, I intend to work as many as possible with the extra breathing room. I am 64 and I have already cashed in my retirement account to keep from drowning. Here in Florida my insurance adjuster's license is not helpful and my life long vocation in IT is gone because I am 64. I intend to acquire at least 30 properties (hoping for more) before I am 70. Then as necessary sell half to pay off the others. When it is imperative, I will sell each one after that for my retirement. I expect that 15 to 25 properties will keep me going to nearly 100 years old. I will do this, you will see. My whole life has been "making it happen" and this is no different.

Thank you for your inspiration. I understand the sacrifice you made. You are a determined man!!! May God prosper you 10 fold.

Tim

Thanks for all of the positive comments, they sure do mean a lot to me. My journey was a painful one in the first couple years. I was willing to pay the price because what else is there? Remember, YOU are the magic ingredient in the success formula. YOU + DETERMINATION = SUCCESS.

I don't remember where I read it but, I remember writing it down on the back of a notebook, it said this:

Success is not determined by genius, but rather by determination.

Get it done!

Matt, you always seem to ignite that flame in all of us to act. Sometimes it feels like if the energy is just depleting. You have surely shown us a way to act by example. Thanks for sharing. Welcome back and God Bless.

Sandra

It is great to see that someone else is as determined as I am.

When I started with Deans book a year ago I had no clue what I was doing but I knew that I needed to do it, whatever it was. The things written in the book were the only hope that I had to hold on to. Hope that they would work even for me, hope that it was possible to change my life, hope that what Dean said was true...

I started right away driving my neighborhood and finding vacant properties, calling the owners, making offers.I was scared to death but I knew that I had to make it happen! I had a goal and I too was going to meet that goal! My goal was a little different as yours was. I had to make enough money to feed my kids, save my home from Foreclosure and pay my over due bills before my utilities were shut off.

I faced many challenges along the way. I lost both of my parents over the last year, my husband lost his sister to cancer, I had to have a major operation and my husband and baby both had surgery besides all of this I was losing my home. But I NEVER lost sight of my goal!

With everything going on I could not leave the house much so if I was going to make it work I had to make my computer work for me.

Long story short I too have not missed my goal as well. I am currently earning a nice monthly profit and getting ready to buy my first investment property which if it works out right I will make $25,000 profit. My only regret is that I cannot share my new found success with my parents... they would have been proud!

Thanks Matt for sharing your trip down memory lane. It is helping others take that trip as well only to see that with determination and perseverance, though it wont be easy, you can reach your goals! Your story has inspired me to keep on keeping on!

Hello, Matt. Thank you for sharing your precious story. I am really encouraged by it. I am a newly-started investor and honestly, I am scared. I read Dean's books, two of them(BAREM, PFRERN) this past 2 months. I am trying some of his methods right now.

Sometimes, I wonder if I am doing it right, since I haven't made any money yet. But I believe in Dean's techniques that make sense to me. I will try my best.

It's good to know that even such a successful investor like you, Matt, had a hard time when starting out.

Thank you so much again and I would like to follow your path in the near future.

Matt,

Thank you for your encouragement!
One day (hopefully soon!) I will share my success story with my DG family

I wrote this story recently and thought I would share it here....

I grew up in a small town in Illinois. Like most small towns people like to label people. Well I grew up in poor family. We lived on food stamps for a short time in order to put food on the table. When we didn't have food stamps to supplement the family finances we ate the same meal every day. My Dad figured out how to feed a family of 5 on $27 per week. We didn't eat out, have lavish family vacations, drive nice cars, or get a lot of presents for Christmas. I was pretty shy and didn't have many friends because honestly, I didn't need one more person in my life making fun of me. My friends in high school consisted of 3 people. Poor kids that wear hand me down clothes and drive the biggest piece of crap car in school aren't popular. The low point in my early years was when my 7th grade basketball coach made fun of my shoes in front of the entire team. He was an adult and should have known better. Well it wasn't my fault we grew up poor. I got picked on alot. My brother was tough. I wasn't. I was the smallest kid to field the team in football as a freshman. I weighed in at 115 pounds. What is weird though was the fact that not only was I small but I was also very slow. I got beat in the 40 yard dash by a 300 pound guy. That doesn't exactly help ones ego or win extra points in a popularity contest. I got made fun of for that as well. I love my Mom and Dad more than anything else in the world. They just didn't understand the damage that was created because of being poor. I wasn't very smart either. My brother got all the brains as well as the natural muscle. I had to take special reading in 8th grade and I pretty much struggled with reading all of my childhood because I have dyslexia, which is a disorder in how one looks at words. So basically I had nothing going for me. Except one thing. I had a strong desire to succeed. I never use any of what happened to me in my childhood as a excuse to fail. I used it as motivation to succeed and win. We had an assignment as a senior in high school to predict where you would be in 15 years. I anounced to the world that I would be retired in 15 years at the age of 33. Everybody laughed at me. I wish I had that paper, I'm sure someone does. Well, I knew I wasn't that smart, so I did the only thing I knew how. I WORKED HARD! I started reading books after high school since I was kicked out of college. The reason I was asked to leave? You guessed it, I couldn't pay the bill. So since I got kicked out of school I started in the school of hard knocks. I read 100 books per year and I actually apply what I learn. And yep, just like I promised as a senior, I retired when I was 33 years old. Financially free with enough income coming in to never have to work another day in my life. I became a real estate investor, wrote part of a bestselling book, and have helped countless people start their path to financial freedom. All from a dumb farm kid that grew up poor, got made fun of everyday, got kicked out of college, and had a learning disorder, but just wouldn't be denied in life. The world can't stop someone that won't be denied.

again CBR! Thank you! After reading this one the other night...I looked HARD for this post yesterday. It disappeared! I have bookmarked it for sure now and know to look in the "Everything Else" forum for your awesome posts

After I read your initial post, I went to bed, and I couldn't stop thinking about it the next day (I just discovered it 3 days ago).

Here's the part that hit me hard...
"The GOAL wasn't- "Well I want to leave my job if everything works out"

The way I related to this is I keep telling myself I'm doing well because I'm taking action and "if everything else comes along, I'll be fine". That is well and good. But I'm not doing ENOUGH to reach my goal of 5 deals before the end of 2009. I HAVE to take my goal as seriously as you did Matt in order to make it!! My goal may sound unrealistic to some but I DO HAVE THE TIME! And while I have another job, it's not the all-consuming 40-hour week jobs that most people have, so I CAN do more, and I CAN GET IT DONE! I've got to get more going on!! And I REALLY KNOW I CAN DO IT!!!

I do have one deal closing November 30, and I have a lot of networking events and goals for buyers, and goals for looking at properties between now and then, and I've just got to keep getting through the numbers. More houses, more contacts, more to-dos.

So 2 nights ago, I told my husband, it's best we don't have a Christmas party and I may not be able to attend a lot of social things in December. He is totally great with all of that. I am a very social person, so this is hard for me, but Matt, you make such a great point with all of the "things you missed" but that you didn't MISS YOUR GOAL!!!

I may miss out on a lot between now and the end of December (and have already made sacrifices these past couple months), but I'm not going miss my goal!!!!

Thank you for putting me back on track Matt and inspiring me to get it done!

And thank you for sharing your personal story and how you overcame every obstacle there could be growing up. I'll go get it done now!

Thanks again,
Louisa

Louisa, just remember the world can't stop a person who won't be denied. You've set your goals. Focus. Focus. Focus. I spend every morning in the shower, every night before I fall asleep, whenever I am in my car driving--only picturing myself as if the goal is already reached. I convince my mind that it has already happened. "Whatever the mind can believe and concieve it can achieve." It is so powerful. I would literally play out in my mind buying a house at half price, having my friends tell me how great of a deal it was, fixing it up and cashing checks. It had already happened in my mind. So I expected offers to be accepted very low. And to this day I buy houses AT WILL for half price. AT WILL.

Remember, there are 2 types of people.

1. In the process people

2. Results people

In the process people make sure they create a list of things that need to get done, in the proper order, so they can achieve their goals. All the lights need to be green before starting the trip. Plus, as long as they "keep busy" that is getting them closer to the goals. And ya know, eventually if they do the right things long enough good things will happen and their goals will be reached. In the process people think like this: Mike hears about a good deal a few states away that he needs to get to it right away otherwise it will be snapped up by someone else. He goes outside to get in his car and drive there when he realizes it is snowing. He turns on his radio and sure enough their are warnings out that it isn't safe to drive. He parks the car and thinks "ya know, this seems like a good deal, but it is much too dangerous to drive that far and look at it, plus I need to do more research on it just to make sure the numbers work. I will keep busy during this storm checking the numbers and when the weather breaks and the coast is clear then I will go take a look at it. Mike never gets the deals because Matt gets their first. He can't figure out why Matt is so lucky all the time. Mike thinks "I am doing everything right, working hard, but I never catch a lucky break. Real estate just doesn't work.

Results people don't really care about the process that much. They don't cross all of their T'S and dot their i's before getting started. If they get knocked off course they just build a new path. They don't have a set routine. They just see the finish line and nothing else. If their are hurdles or obstacles in their way the just jump over them and don't look back. For example, results people act like this: Matt had to go across 3 states to get to a house he heard was a good deal. He had to get their today because this one wouldn't last. When he went outside he noticed that it was snowing and their were warnings not to drive because it was dangerous. He knew not getting their would be even more dangerous to his financial future, plus he figured if his car got stuck in the snow on the way he would just walk the rest of the way or hitch hike. He needed that deal, he was going to get that deal or die trying. He really didn't think the distance or the snow could stop him from reaching his goal anyway. He got there, got the deal, and cashed a big check.

I hope this explains how I think. I didn't even know another way of thinking existed untill I started coaching people. People stop themselves from achieiving greatness. Get it done!

That reminds me of a drive I made in a snowstorm once!! LOL!

I LOVE the "results based" thinking. And I thank you for teaching me that, or I would definitely have remained a process person.

And always, love and appreciate your story.

ANYONE CAN DO IT! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!

Rina

P.S. People, bookmark everything Matt writes.

P.P.S. Louisa, I can't wait to shout with you WHEN you reach your goal!

My Mom used to tell me everyday "Matt you can do anything you want as long as you put your mind to it"

I guess I just believed her because my Mom doesn't lie.

She programmed my mind to win without even knowing. Please people, if you have kids, tell them from the time they are little that they can achieve anything they want in life no matter what,because by the time they get older they will have teachers and others students trying to stop them. Program your kids for winning because everyone has the seeds of greatness inside of them. Everyone.

I look back and am kind of sad, because I think I raised my kids as a poor example of believing in myself, thus it affected them. I was always so focused on making everyone ELSE happy that I thought it was bad to make ME happy! NOW I know I can do BOTH! And I have apologized to my kids and am both being a good role model now and encouraging them to follow their dreams!! AND I am SOOOOO thankful to have the resources now to help make their dreams come true!!! I think of our youngest daughter going to Germany with her College choir to perform in January, and her NOT having to worry about working off her college tuition (although she is VERY responsible and DOES work), but knowing that she can dream big, and then join me in REI in the future!
Thanks again, Matt. You and Dean made me believe in myself, and I will forever be grateful.

Rina

Your last series of posts have been simply amazing. Just the kick in the butt that I needed at the time. In reading your post to Louisa, I thought to myself WAKE UP!! He's talking to you too. Thanks so much for the inspiration and motivation that you continue to provide to everyone on this site.

Bruce

You welcome. Telling my story is sometimes hard because I really don't like to think about the painful times, but I know it helps people and that is why I tell my stories.

The reason I have a warrior as my picture is because I fought a lot of battles along the way. The battle gear doesn't make the warrior-the battle makes the warrior. Fighting battles is all part of the process. Real estate isn't the project your working on-YOU ARE THE PROJECT! And once you conquer YOU everything else you ever do gets easier.

Once I figured out that I was the project and not real estate, my success exploded, because I can control me. It was me vs. me. Not me vs. real estate. I hope I have made that point clear because it is the most important thing about getting success in real estate.

Your post on "in the process" vs. "results" hits me right where it needs to...from now on, anytime I see myself as too "in the process" (which has been all too often!)...I'm going to ACT ON THE RESULTS. I'm looking at a few things now (literally within the past 24 hours), that in my gut I know I should JUMP on. Today's the day. No waiting. I'm not going to be last...I'm going to be first on these. I'll report back!

Thanks again Matt for giving us a "view from the outside looking in" ---it is so very helpful.

Rina --thank you, thank you!! Working it!! And congrats on your daughter and Germany with school etc.....that's incredible! She is lucky to have an encouraging Mom like you!

Cheers!
Louisa

Hi Matt.. this is awesome. It is so true. Many times I think I have to conquer this mountain, real estate investing, so big that I get stuck in the process. But it is actually ME who I have to conquer. Thanks Matt for the inspiration.
Be Blessed... Jose

I'm a newbie...trying to finish reading Dean's new book and working on Think a Little Different. I want to start my new year ready to go equipped with all the info i'v read. I hope to be as successful as you and your story truly inspires me to get up every morning and work towards my goal of becoming an investor and quitting my job in 1 year. Thanks for being such an inspiration and sharing your knowledge.