Financial freedom is a journey that is filled with immense trials and tribulations. It is all about peaks and valleys on the way to the top, however, if you stick with it, no matter if you’re going through a peak or a valley the trajectory of your journey is always upwards. The best way to view this concept is that a valley is a failure in which you have the ability to learn from if you so choose to, and a peak is putting those lessons learned from failure into practice. What I’m trying to get at is that it is a cycle and you will have to go through failure and disappointment to reach the peak levels of success you are striving for. Success is about how you respond to adversity and deal with disappointment more than it is about anything else. When one person gives up after a failure and another person perseveres, it is the persistent one who reaches the top level of success.
If it’s easy, you’re not aiming high enough
Make your goals make you feel uncomfortable. If they scare you at first, good. You must convince yourself of your ability to achieve them and you will find a way. I have a goal that I’ve been able to convince myself I will attain that I once would have thought was impossible. That goal is 10 million dollars of real estate owned and under management by me by the end of 2022. Sounds scary, and it is scary (at least it was at first)! Taking action on achieving this goal has taught me so many valuable lessons and has truly convinced me that when you put the right energy into your head and into the universe, everything is on your side. I have faced so many challenges thus far and I’m not even halfway to my goal yet. As it stands, I have $5 million of buy and hold real estate under contract right now set to close in July and August. It has taken me countless hours since January to get to this point. Endless phone calls, sleepless nights, constant problems, and I wouldn’t change any of it. From the valleys of my experience thus far, I’ve learned how to raise a ton of money, inspect a home and find issues. find deals, grow my network, and so much more. None of this would’ve been possible had I not gone through situations that pressed me up against the wall with pressure. The biggest takeaway I have from all this is that if you simply REFUSE to accept failure as an outcome, you will always prevail. Financial freedom and overcoming adversity is really about solving problems other people would generally shy away from. If you possess an attitude that exemplifies persistence throughout all obstacles, success is inevitable for you.
How to know you’re on the right track
Contrary to what most people believe, failing at something may actually mean that you’re on the right track. If this is you, take a step back for a moment to analyze your situation. Was the universe trying to send you a message? What actually went wrong? What pieces of the puzzle are you missing? Were you on the cusp of something and when the going got extremely tough and the pressure was on did you fold? These are all examples of questions you should be asking yourself if you find yourself in a situation like this. If you had just persisted for a little while longer would you have reached your goal? This is the case for a number of individuals who choose failure when the going gets too tough right before their goal is realized. When the pressure is on you to perform and it’s now crunch time, you can be sure that you’re in a situation that will help you grow as a person and help you reach your goal as long as you continue to persist.
Avoiding an issue doesn’t solve the issue
In one of the deals that I am actively working on, we had a big problem with depositing what is called earnest money or money upfront just after signing a contract to act as skin in the game during escrow. My partners and I use what are called transactional lenders to fund portions of deals such as this instance, and in this particular case our financing fell through. For a week we avoided the issue hoping and praying that we’d be able to get a new lender for this part of the deal. The deal was about to fall apart when one of my partners and I negotiated the earnest money down significantly and were able to deposit it ourselves. Putting off the problem and hoping and praying it would resolve itself within a few days did nothing but prolong our inevitable demise had we not taken serious action. By taking the action we did and negotiating the earnest money down to where we could afford to deposit it ourselves, we were able to save the deal. This short week taught me so much. When you don’t address a problem and wait for it to resolve itself, it typically just gets worse. Taking major action when things go south is where greatness is conceived.
Disappointment and failure are part of the valleys that encompass the journey towards financial freedom. If you are able to conquer these issues with fearless persistence, success will inevitably be reached. There is no secret to success, it’s just about doing the work and putting forth the effort that most people just aren’t willing to put forth. The choice of success is yours and yours alone to make!