The entrepreneurial spirit is all about blazing a new path and figuring out on the go how to succeed in your own way. This is the perception most people have when getting into business for themselves for the first time. I shared this perception in the beginning of my journey. The truth is, in most cases, there has already been a path that has been proven to work in your industry by an industry leader you can follow and learn from. We live in a time and age where any sort of information you could possibly want to learn about is out there for you to access on the internet, Much of it is free! Following a path that others have had success with before you and adding nuance to it in your own way creates your own unique path to success!
Find The Right Guide
With the amount of information out there and all of the gurus you can find online trying to sell you a course to do the thing you want, information overload can become a real thing. This overload leads to a lack of action whatsoever which is the thing we need to avoid most. The key to avoiding this is by gaining a general understanding of what it is you want to learn, get niche, and then vet and choose people to learn from once you have a baseline knowledge established. I unwittingly took this exact path in my real estate journey. I first started listening to BiggerPockets Podcast, a podcast all about real estate investing with a newbie twist on how to get started and a general introduction into many different avenues you can take in the industry. I then, through this process, started to read books by people on the podcast and gain a knowledge of more specific information I could niche down to in order to make my mark. Eventually, by putting in so many hours into listening to this podcast, I found a mentor who resonated with me. His strategy fit exactly what I was looking for, a way to use knowledge to leverage my way into owning real estate with little money of my own and without needing to qualify for loans. This was called subject to and seller financing (creative real estate). It was at this point I realized the niche I wanted to explore and it was time to get specific. It was time to go all in.
Paying To Play
Anyone who has had major success in an entrepreneurial endeavor will tell you education is the most important contributor to their success. At a certain point though, education becomes paid education. I was at this point when I found the mentor I wanted to follow from BiggerPockets. His name was Pace Morby and he had a community called Subto where he brought you behind the curtain on how to be successful in this niche. His mentorship was a $8,000 commitment at the time and the membership granted lifetime access to the group. I decided to take the leap and haven’t looked back since. Since joining, I’ve been a part of dozens and dozens of transactions, own dozens of units, and have a real estate wholesale business where we use creative finance as a major tool in our toolbelt we can utilize to make money. Without this mentorship, none of this would have been possible! Of course, this information is out there to uncover on your own, but when paying to play, it gave me access to all the knowledge I needed and a community of people I could network with doing the same things I was! The combination of the two was a catalyst for major action, the formation of successful partnerships, and the beginning of lifelong friendships.
Getting Deeper
The deeper you get in a niche, the more expensive knowledge gets. Of course, this makes sense because the deeper you can get in an industry and the higher the level of the people in the rooms you’re in, the more money you’ll be able to make. We are at a point now in our business of major investment into our wholesale operation. We need to get very specific with our tracking of KPIs, spending money on leads, and putting together the systems and processes for scale. We have recently enrolled in a coaching program called Results Driven that gets in our business and helps us do all of this exactly how they do it. The owners of the company, Josh and Tiffany High, have a multi 7 figure real estate wholesale and fix and flip business in Columbus, Ohio. Their model works nationwide and so they have packaged their business and are selling it to others with coaching for implementation and replication essentially. This is $25,000 for every 6 months of membership, but the knowledge if implemented correctly can be translated into a 7 figure wholesale and fix and flip business, just like they have.
The path is out there for you to follow on your entrepreneurial journey. First, it’s about a general knowledge of the landscape of your industry. Next, it’s pay to play. The more specific you get, the more education will cost because of the higher return it will produce. Investing in yourself and your business in this way is an amazing recipe for success given that the hard work and effort are attributed to the process as well. You don’t need to blaze your own path and with all of the information out there for you to learn from and implement, you probably shouldn’t! Follow a proven path, add your own flavor, and create the success you’ve always dreamed of!