Choosing Success
by Ron LeGrand
What gives some people the drive & determination to succeed while others fail?
Over the part 20 years I've known many investors and entrepreneurs. I've seen
every possible scenario, from overnight success to plodding, sit-on
your-butt-and-do-nothing failure. I've known people who would get off to a great
start, and then fade away, and some who would piddle around and never seem to
get anywhere. I've known those who made a very successful living, and even a few
who became super wealthy.
Is there a magic formula for success?I wish I could tell you there was. It could
have saved me a whole lot of headaches over the years. And having the copyright
on that formula would have made me an awful lot of money. Unfortunately, there's
no more magic in being successful than there is in anything else worthwhile in
life.
However, from years of experiencing my own successes and failures, as well as
witnessing those of others, I have identified a few mistakes that can
short-circuit an entrepreneur's rise to fortune. I've compiled a list of the
most common roadblocks you'll face on the road to becoming a successful
real-estate entrepreneur.Now, you may be one of the fortunate few, and never
find yourself faced with any of these problems, and that's great. More likely,
you'll recognize parallelism your own situation in what I'm about to discuss.
My goal here is to put you in a position where you can identify these pitfalls.
Then,when you encounter them (and you will), you'll be armed with the ability to
direct yourself around them and get back on track..... immediately. You won't
have to worry about these things hindering you from achieving your goals. So,
let's dive in and go down the list.
1. Lack of Focus
I define focus as concentrating only on the work you must do to succeed in your
business, avoiding all distractions and not getting side-tracked by every "great
idea" that pops up. It's not easy. The world we live in today is filled with
things that beg for our attention. We live in what's being called the
"Information Age", and that's great except all this bombardment of information
makes it hard for most of us to sift through the junk and come up with the good
stuff. That's why most of us have a problem staying focused -even when we're
trying to concentrate on something we know will make us wealthy.
There are a million ways to make a million bucks and every day a new avenue for
riches is presented to us. But I've learned through trial and error (lots of
error) that the only way to make something work is to filter out everything else
and stick with what I know works. I get frustrated when I see people with
tremendous potential for this business get off track with a so-called
"get-rich-quick"scheme (and there are a lot of them - just watch a little
late-night television).If you dabble in one business, jump to another then try
something else completely different, you're not likely to be successful at any
of it. Focus takes work, determination and discipline. Sometimes it hurts. Like
when you have to say no to your family so you can go out and make them five or
ten thousand dollars when you could be watching Seinfeld re-runs at home.Believe
me, when your increased income starts showing up in trips to Disney World, new
clothes, cars, etc., your spouse and kids won't have a problem with it.
2. Getting Into the Rental Business Before Your Cash Flow Needs Are Met
Boy, did I ever get tangled up in this one. When I first got started with real
estate, I decided to buy all the rental property I could. I figured with a lot
of tenants in a lot of houses, the cash would just fall in to my lap every
month, right? Wrong. It was the biggest single mistake I made for a very simple
reason - I just wasn't ready. Like yours truly, many beginning real estate
investors get in to the rental business because they think it's some kind of
quick path to wealth. But it's not. It's slow and long-term.
Soon after I built my "rental empire" back in1982, I discovered that my daily
cash flow needs were not being met. I had a huge amount of capital tied up in
equity and a thin stream of income. And I had a family to feed! Don't get me
wrong, I've got nothing against rental property as an investment .I'll probably
have them until the day I die. However, if you don't have a cash cushion built
up, you'd better get really good at buying properties dirt cheap. But even when
you do, you'll discover a million ways to spend down your cash flow.
Busted toilets, leaky roofs, paint, carpet, yada - yada -yada, it all eatsgreat
big holes in your wallet. Even if you do have enough ready cash to get into the
rental game, you need to know what you're doing. For instance, do you know about
"professional tenants" who make a living "getting over" on landlords? These
creeps know the landlord tenant code and eviction laws inside out and they can
make your life a living hell before you finally get them out of your house. If
you want to become a professional landlord, you'd better understand how the game
is played and get the education necessary to deal with all the potential
problems. Bottom line, my advice is this: Make some fast cash by quick-turning a
few houses before you get yourself mired down with rentals. Get into some low
risk, high-return deals before you start piling up equity and dealing with
tenants. Then, when you do become a "Super Landlord," your chances of retiring
on your rental income will be much better.
3. Listening to Poor Advice
This is something you probably already know. As you go through life, there will
never be a shortage of people who want to give you advice. Your parents, your
spouse, friends, in-laws, kids, they all have opinions about what you're doing
and what they think you should be doing. Very often, the value of their advice
is worth exactly what you paid for it ..... nothing!
I'm not saying these do-gooders aren't honest, intelligent and well-intentioned.
However, you must ask yourself, are these folks qualified to give you advice?
Have they had any experience in what you're doing? It seems to be human nature
for people to offer advice on subjects they know nothing about.
What baffles me is how often the recipients of this so-called wisdom will listen
to it and even act upon it without ever questioning the credentials of those
giving it. Through many painful experiences, I've learned that when you take
advice from people who don't know any more about the subject matter than you do,
the quality of that advice is, at best, suspect. Plus, very often, listening to
unqualified advice can have a negative impact on your focus (see roadblock #1)
So, who should you be listening to? I believe in taking advice only from people
who are:
- Qualified experts in their field and
- Making a whole lot more money than I am.
And those people are out there.
Don't be afraid to seek help; just be careful where you go to get it, even if
you have to pay for it. I think you'll find that if you pay for the opinion of a
bona fide expert, the advice you receive will be more than worth the price.
4. Listening to Negative Thinkers and "Dead Heads"
Nothing kills the entrepreneurial spirit like negativity. With all the
challenges you face in business, you need to keep a positive, upbeat,
enthusiastic attitude about what you're doing. It's the only way you'll be able
to perform at your best. Negative thinkers and "Dead Heads" will only suck the
energy out of you and bring you down to their own miserable level (usually,
these are people who have failed in their own lives and get off trying to make
failures out of those around them). They'll make you question yourself, doubt
what you're doing and, if you listen to them, eventually give up entirely.
I'm sure when you first told friends and family you were going to be a real
estate entrepreneur, you heard things like, "You really believe that stuff
theysell on TV?" or "You can't make money in real estate, the market's too
slow." Or maybe "There's not enough appreciation to make a profit and didn't
they change the tax laws or something? "Yes, the "Larry Losers" of this world
have all the answers, don't they?
Meanwhile, they're working three jobs and won't answer the phone at night for
fear it will be a bill collector. I don't think your true friends or your family
would intentionally hurt you or bring you down. Usually they think they have
your best interests at heart. However, in the process of "trying to make you see
all sides" or "just giving you a few facts about the real world", they're
pouring buckets of ice water on the fire you need to keep burning in order to
keep on succeeding. It may be nearly impossible to completely cut yourself off
from these people. I suggest you simply tell them in firm, no-nonsense terms
that you appreciate their interest, but have no use for their negative,
sarcastic or skeptical comments.
Sure, it can be a rough thing to do and some of them may be offended, but if
they really care about you, they'll get the message. One of the best ways to
avoid negativity is to seek out positive and supportive people. Find successful
people or a group with common interests where you can share ideas and discuss
successes and failures with people who are genuinely in tune with what you're
doing. This is where clubs and associations can play a big role. If you're not a
member of a real estate association, I strongly suggest you consider joining
one.
Having said that, let me caution you, not all club members are doers. There are
people in every group who are going nowhere and are never going to achieve
anything in their lives. Pick out the winners and connect with them. When you
become a successful real estate entrepreneur (and you will), one of your
greatest rewards will be to share your blue print for success with others, "What
goes around, comes around." Before you know it, that sharing will attract people
to you like a magnet. I can't tell you the many profitable deals that have come
my way through people who wanted to hang around me because I was willing to
share my knowledge.
5. Lack of Action
There's an old saying that goes "Even a turtle won't get anywhere until he
sticks his neck out." Another old saying (that I made up) is "You're never going
to get rich sitting on your behind and waiting for it to come to you." You have
to make it happen. You have to get things started. You have to put the wheels in
motion. And if they get stopped, guess who has to get them started again. You
guessed right. Movement, action, activity, progress.....they're essential in any
successfulbusiness. Without activity on your part, nothing positive will happen
for you.
It starts with that first call, that first conversation with a seller, even the
first visit to a Realtor. But your ship can't come in if it never gets launched.
By action, I don't mean running in place. Sure, youcan go to the seminars and
listen to the tapes so often you memorize everything I've ever said. You can
acquire all the tools you need to do this business. But then the time comes to
fish or cut bait and you find yourself standing by creek bank watching the water
flow by.
My friend, all the education in world is worthless until you put it into
practice. The best time to start is now. And I mean right now. I want you to get
up after you've finished reading this newsletter and do something that will get
you going on your first deal. Call a Realtor for leads. Call a couple of sellers
in the classifieds. Drive around looking for FSBO signs, or place your own "I
Buy Houses" ad in the paper. Just Do It. You'll be surprised how taking a tiny
step will propel you forward towards your goals. You see, any one action on your
part can produce a result. Of course the more actions you take, the more results
you'll get.
6. Wasting Time with Un-Motivated Sellers
They may be interesting. They may be wonderful people. They may have
heartbreaking stories to tell. But if they're not motivated to accept your
offers, they're wasting your precious time and sucking dollars out of your
pocket. If you waste enough of your time waltzing around with people who aren't
serious about doing business, then you're not going to be in business for very
long. It's just that simple.
Trying to deal with unmotivated sellers is like trying to pick fleas off a dog.
Neither you nor the dog is going to benefit. Unmotivated sellers will think up
so many reasons "why not" and give you so much crap, you'll soon become
convinced this business doesn't work for you, only for other people. I can't
stress enough that these are people that you must avoid like the plague. But to
avoid them, you have to learn to recognize them, figure out their game and move
on. If you have listened carefully to my courses, it shouldn't take you more
than five minutes to pre-qualify a seller. Before we leave the subject of
unmotivated sellers, however, let me encourage you not to completely forget
them.
Even though they may be unmotivated, unwilling and uncooperative today (in which
case you should drop them like a really hot potato), tomorrow things may change.
The motivation of sellers has away of changing over time and today's" no"may
become tomorrow's "yes."
7. Chasing Dead-End Leads
Chasing dead end leads is very similar to dealing with unmotivated sellers and
can be a tremendous waste of time and energy. Unfortunately, many people never
really learn how to avoid it.
Well I can solve this problem very simply. Pre-qualify every prospect that comes
your way. I've found that if you spend as little as five minutes getting
pre-qualifying information out of a prospect, you may avoid spending hours and
hours gathering details about a property you never have a chance of buying. And
any time you can spend minutes to save hours, it's like putting money in the
bank. Some students of mine have a tendency to take a phone call from a prospect
and rush right out to look a house hoping something will develop. Especially if
business has been slow. They'll be out there measuring for carpet and gathering
useless facts before they even know if they have a chance to put the house under
contract. What a crazy waste of time, especially when you know you should never
leave your desk without a solid reason to do so.
Properly pre-qualifying a prospect will help you to determine if further action
is warranted. When making the initial contact with a prospect, you should ask
yourself three questions to determine whether you can make a deal:
- Can I buy the house wholesale?
- Can I create a subject-to deal or seller financing or both?
- Can I option or lease/option the house?
If the situation doesn't fit one of these three models, you don't have a deal.
It's that simple. There is no reason for you to waste any further time on the
conversation, much less traveling across town to look at a house you'll never
own. Five minutes is all it should take to determine if you can create a deal
with the prospective seller. Of course, you'll have to take the seller's word on
things like the condition of the house, mortgage balances, liens, judgments,
etc. However, if the information seems reliable, and you feel the seller is
motivated to pursue one of the three money-producing models we discussed above,
and then you should arrange a meeting and verify your assumptions about the
viability of a deal.
When I leave my desk, my chances of putting a house under contact are about 80%.
By the time I ease the Mercedes out of the driveway, I've fully qualified my
prospect and I know I won't be just collecting a lot of useless facts. So
instead of being professional fact finders, we should get into the business of
being professional offer makers. If you follow my pre-qualifying procedure on
every
lead, you'll save yourself a lot of wasted, un-productive hours and you'll start
to find this business really coming together for you.
Bio:
Ron LeGrand is a nationally recognized real estate expert and trainer with 25
years experience in both residential and commercial properties and a 20 year
history of hard money lending and brokering. His experiences include personally
buying and selling over 1,600 single family houses and completing over
$300,000,000 in Commercial Property deals with student partners all over
America.
He’s obtained current real estate developments across America with market values
exceeding two billion dollars, all under his control. His properties include
office buildings, industrial, commercial, mixed use and residential land
development, luxury condominiums, marinas, etc.
Mr. LeGrand is a highly sought after platform speaker whose addressed audiences
as large as 20,000 and as small as 100 in hotels and convention centers across
North America, sharing the stage with leaders such as Donald Trump, Robert
Kiyosaki, Rudy Giuliani, Tony Robbins, Larry King, Dr. Phil, Suze Orman, and
many others. For the last 20 years he’s been helping thousands of ordinary
people take their lives back and create financial freedom by implementing his
systems for success as real estate investors. Today he’s considered the
country’s leading expert and is referred to by many as the “millionaire maker.”
His book is in stores and online and over the years he’s created dozens of home
study products, held live training events on various real estate related
subjects. He spends much of his time passing on his experience at those live
training events, held in various parts of the country, while simultaneously
running over ten different business he owns and controls.
Ron LeGrand's 41 year marriage to his wife Beverly has produced four children,
nine grand children, and two great grand children.