I am asked every single week what the ONE thing I have learned is to become successful. Warning, once you open that discussion with me, you better have the coffee brewing because you can’t shut me up LOL. I think it is because I have been an entrepreneur my entire life with several business ventures in widely dissimilar categories requiring specialized knowledge, marketing and talent to help build.
What I lacked was ONE THING
Clarity.
Clarity (aka focus, pin-point, and accuracy, precision) is a very important requirement to become successful. I’ve always known it but IGNORED it up until now.
I chose to become clear, I began hanging around other successful people WHO WERE ALREADY VERY CLEAR. I don’t remember who originally said it…but “to become successful, hang around other successful people”. I was amazed by talking with them how precise they were in every aspect of their Real Estate investing.
The simplicity of this works because in socializing with successful people, you begin to change without knowing – you act, talk, think and dress like them. You begin to understand a ‘language’ to which you have never really paid attention and you ‘see’ things in a new positive, opportunistic way.
Another thing begins to happen; those with whom you USED to circulate slowly disappear. For some odd reason, you no longer ‘talk their language’ & your interests become more advanced. You notice subtle negative energy (their always complaining, so busy, no time, etc) and it brings you down every time you see them.
It’s human nature to emulate the crowd in which you are involved, and once you shift focus to a different mindset, the subtle inconsistencies with your current social atmosphere start to become more obvious. It doesn’t mean however you suddenly remove all your friends from your life, it just means you are AWARE of who will assist in your forward action to success and who is there to help you unplug and do mindless stuff – without clarity :).
It REALLY IS that simple.
Looking back to that first year of investing, every one of my gurus helping me along was right. Not one piece of advice was incorrect. “Write out your ultimate plan”, “Know EXACTLY why you are buying Real Estate”, “Pick an area and become an expert there”; can you see the common theme of clarity?
So let me continue the advice to you: become CLEAR on what Real Estate investing is to do for you! Whether you are the actual person finding the deals and running the investment OR the joint venture/ money partner wanting a fantastic return on your money without doing any work.
Am I clear now? Absolutely, AND I am devoted to work with people who also have a clear objective rather than those who ‘just want to be rich’. My wife and I continuously avoid the “I don’t know” people and gravitate to the “I will” people.