Read carefully, friend, because I’m sharing with you one of the most important lessons I learned when I started in this industry. And it’s made ALL the difference. Not only in the success of my real estate investing endeavors, but also as I’ve carried this core value forward and helped enlighten others.
It’s a simple practice of finding and aligning yourself with certain people. BUT! Not riding their coat tails. Instead, you’ll create a win-win arrangement where you walk alongside each other and level-up together.
Allow me to go back to the beginning for a minute…
I started in real estate nearly 25 years ago. And I made one HUGE error back then. Technically, I was in good company, because I saw and still see a lot of people making the same mistake…
Being arrogant. (Boo, hiss.)
See, not only did I think I could do REI by myself, but I also thought I could actually do it better than others.
Having that arrogance and thinking I could figure it all out on my own was a devastating error to make.
See, I had some success before I jumped into investing, and I had some money. So I thought I had a nice cushion. And, I thought I knew what I was doing since I’d experienced success beforehand.
What do you think happened?
Within 6 months of doing REI, I’d lost everything.
Because I was arrogant. Because I didn’t understand how to correctly interpret real estate. I didn’t understand how to correctly make investing decisions.
See, when certain seasoned REIers know that you’re a beginner and that you don’t know what you’re doing… they take advantage of you.
I got taken advantage of by every single person around me when I got started in real estate. What I became to everybody was a paycheck…
- I became a paycheck to my Realtor — they were misrepresenting numbers to me, giving me bad comps.
- I became a paycheck to my construction crew — they “under-bid” everything just to get my projects. And when the jobs weren’t done, they’d ask me for more money.
- My money guys took advantage of me too.
Everyone who was involved with me took advantage of me.
In 6 short months, I was broke.
I thought, “Now what do I do!?”
Well, I sure as heck wasn’t as arrogant anymore. And I thought I needed to borrow money:
1. to survive and
2. to “buy” myself some time.
Again, that was stupid thinking. ‘All I need is more time,’ is arrogant thinking.
No, it’s not just about having enough time. It’s about doing the right thing.
Clearly, I still hadn’t learned my lesson…
For 2 more months, I arrogantly tried to make everything I had back and learn as I go.
Well, guess what happened?
All the money I borrowed within 2 months was gone — millions of dollars of other people’s money.
I was basically homeless.
The error of arrogance. The error of thinking I could do it by myself and better.
Arrogance will kill you in this industry.
See, there are pillars of success and pillars of failure. The pillar of arrogance is one of the huge pillars of failure.
So, 8 months in this business, I didn’t have anything to show for it.
Finally, at that point, I had an epiphany. It was a very basic one… I had to find a coach or mentor. Which happens to be one of the pillars of success: “alignment.”
I found Bart. And because I had nothing… I was very coachable! Mind you, if I had only been coachable and not arrogant 8 months before then, I wouldn’t have lost everything I had.
Check out this timeline…
So, 8 months in, I’m about $700,000 in debt. I met with Bart once a week… within 3 years, I was back to zero. I basically worked those 3 years for nothing/no income. Because debt.
Then, 2 years after that, I looked at my checking account — I had $1,000,000 in it.
The arrogance pillar killed me. The alignment/mentorship pillar rebuilt me.
That’s when Bart taught me the partner model — that you are a lot stronger with a partner than without one.
And now, some 20+ years later… 100% of all my real estate deals are with partners across the United States.
Do I need to partner on every deal?
No.
But I know I’m stronger with partners than I am without partners. I can do more with partners than without.
There are so many people I see walking around who are arrogant. And the crazy thing is, they’re arrogant for no apparent reason.
But I’m telling you, arrogance is a state of brokenness and a pillar of failure.
Ready to get started in real estate? Already doing some deals?
My response is the same for both: Get a partner.
And what’s more… align yourself with a partner who’s more successful. That alignment allows you to learn as you go while you’re doing deals under somebody’s tutelage.
That is the ultimate way to become successful.