Real Estate Articles » Starting Out Investing

If You Don’t Invest In Your Education, Then Don’t Expect Success

By: Jason H.
Submitted: 02:16PM on Tuesday 12 August 2008

There is a quote along the lines of “if you want to know the size of a man’s bank account look at the size of his library.” Another quote says “rich people have big libraries; poor people have big TV’s.” I don’t know who said these, but they are absolutely correct.

Quite often, I meet new investors who tell me that they are not going to purchase any courses or buy any products until they get their first deal and have some money (I don’t even say anything to the people who are stupid enough to make a comment like this. They are just a waste of time, because they will never get it)

Many of you know that when I first started in this business I was “duped” like many others and lost several thousand dollars. Of course I was royally ticked off, but I just kept going and investing in my education. That is one of the main reasons that I became successful. It is such common sense, but so many people don’t seem to understand.

People don’t want to pay $997 for a course, even though the information in that course could help them buy one more house a year with an average profit of $30,000. Or, people forget that getting a mentor will save you from making tens of thousands of dollars in mistakes--they would rather lose $25,000 on a rehab gone bad, than spend a couple thousand to learn this business the right way.

At a recent networking event, I was talking to an individual that heard me mention that I still invest thousands of dollars a year in my education. This person said “Jason if you are so successful then why do you need to spend all of that money, don’t you already know everything?” (another example of a small minded person). Successful people practice the principal of the “slight edge”. If I can get one good nugget of information that can help me buy more houses, or fill vacancies quicker, then it is worth thousands of dollars over the years to me. I am always looking for the edge over my competition and this is why I will never stop learning.

So for those of you who are cheap (and who are less likely to be successful) go to the library and start reading all of the real estate books they have. Then begin to network like crazy. For those of you who have “guts”, put that boot camp or next course on your credit card (education stuff only, no flat screens) and then quickly do a deal from your education and pay off the credit card.

Unfortunately, I know I am falling on deaf ears. The successful people completely understand what I am talking about and will never stop learning. The unsuccessful people claim that real estate investing is impossible yet they have never invested in learning how to do this business properly.

So for the successful folks (cheap people stop reading here), I recommend doing the following:

1. Read at least one book a month on success, selling, time management or real estate investing.
2. Attend at least one boot camp a year (not only will this make you money, it will help keep you motivated)
3. Never stop networking. You need to hang around successful and like minded people.
4. Instead of watching TV or listening to the radio, read a book and listen to educational CD’s in your car.
5. Instead of getting the usual junk for the holidays or birthdays get educational materials.
6. Stop hanging around negative people, no matter who they are.
7. Listen to teleseminars, read ezines, read blogs
8. Get a mentor. In fact, over your lifetime you will want to have several mentors

And for you cheap people, how come you don’t want to be successful?

At 02:51PM on August 19, 2008 - Rosie Nieto said...

HI Jason! Great Article. I will post it on my blog today! I tell people this all the time. I am all about education, networking and doing deals. There is a pound of truth in the statement "If you think Education is expensive - try ignorance". My biggest mistakes all come from when I think I know what I am doing - only to discover I didn't know - and boy was I stupid. Thanks so much for you information! I like what you offer! Rosie

At 12:44PM on September 08, 2008 - Lisa Logan said...

While there are some good points here, it raises red flags to me all over the place. You're saying why wouldn't you spend $997 to do a program that can make you $30,000? Well duh - the people selling the programs get rich off people buying the programs and not using the information. It's like people signing up for a gym membership but not working out. You're also asking for $997 of MY money without any guarantee. Oh, wait - I'm going to become a millionaire because you said I'm going to and all I have to do is give you almost $1,000 to tell me how to become a millionaire? This articles reads to me like this, "Do what I tell you to do and you're stupid if you don't". I'm sure you're successful for a reason but I'm not going to pay to find out way based on the delivery of the message.