BiggerPockets

My colleague Nick Ikonomou and I share some common beliefs about the traits which are found in virtually every successful person - especially in real estate investing. Nick shared them with his friends, and I am now doing the same.

1. They are willing to learn. The greatest learners become the best teachers. Never ending improvement, as the Kaizen principle insists, should be an individual's primary goal in life. The only failure in life is the failure to participate. There are no right or wrong ways of doing things, each providing a result that can be assessed and worked on from the learning that the outcome provides. This perfectly fits in with the following success factor.

2. They take action. I have never seen anyone being successful by doing nothing. By default, doing something has to be a move forward. Doing a lot means that the law of averages will ensure that success falls your way. 95% of the population "can't be bothered". To jump into the 5% of the population who are successful isn't hard. It's just a genuine decision to do something and persevere. Successful people work on improving their time management by learning how time works and what it means to you.

3. They mix with the right people. You can mix with the right people and you can mix with wrong people. The choice is yours. You either fall into those groups or you seek them. Because successful people don't gloat because of the Australian tall poppy syndrome, you need to do your homework and ask people about their success. They are more than willing to tell you because if they initiated the conversation, that might have been construed as gloating. Look for a business coach and/or a mentor. Surround yourself with the best accountants and lawyers.

4. They are great networkers. Successful people go out of their way and meet as many people as they can because they know that the more people they know, the more opportunities come their way. Staying in your business or at home most of the time produces little results.

5. They have a dream. These people are the greatest dreamers. They have strong beliefs that one day they will achieve what seems impossible to most. The law of attraction means that you shall receive what you crave for if the craving feeds itself with all the other attributes of success.

6. They don't allow dream takers interfere with their dreams. The most dangerous people in your life can also be the people you hold most dear to yourself. These can be some family members, friends, neighbours and business colleagues. Respect the opinions of those who are successful in their own right. Otherwise, you will receive pretty much the same as what those dream takers are experiencing. Most of all, respect your own intuition. Most of the time it's the right decision for you anyway. Remember, why engage in other people's situations when yours is different. You have different expectations, experiences, financial and personal needs. Why live it through other people's lives? It's one thing to have a dream, but to stick to it is the most important part of achieving the dream. It is said that the journey is far more exciting than the final achievement, so, choose to have an exciting life.

7. They have integrity. Have you seen people having a go and temporarily have a hiccup? Well, you can lose everything and rebound twice as fast if you maintain your integrity. Once you lose your integrity, it's over. Practice the integrity that you wish other people to treat you with. Set an example rather than stoop to the behavior and reactions that you are not impressed with.

8. They are great communicators. The best tool to master is to have great communication skills. Honest, straight forward communication totally outweighs fancy use of the language which also can have another name for it. Study personality profiles and the way people process information and the results of improved communication will reap you many rewards over and over with a win/win outcome in most cases.

9. They are willing to share their knowledge. The best way to remember the best parts of your success are to verbalise them or write them down. Share it with those who ask.

10. They have a balanced life. Working too hard in any one area creates imbalance. Work out what you like the most and bring them into your life as you go. There are many tools available to assess the "perfect you".

I am more than happy to help you on many of these points.

The only failure in life is the failure to participate.

That's very motivational, but certainly untrue. For example, I'd say buying a property at retail (taking action) and losing your life savings and ruining your credit due to negative cash flow could be considered a colossal failure! You could learn something from that (don't take action without knowledge), but such a failure is totally unnecessary and not something positive. Most people that have this experience will learn that business is not for them (and rightfully so).

To jump into the 5% of the population who are successful isn't hard. It's just a genuine decision to do something and persevere.

I also disagree with that. Being successful IS HARD! It takes a lot of effort to become educated on the business before you start and YEARS of hard work to grow your business to the point of success. That's why the vast majority of newbies in any business fail in a relatively short period of time.

Mike

That list of reasons is entirely accurate, but by no means complete. Most people are interested in success but so few are actually committed to it. They like the idea of success but aren't willing to do the work necessary. That's why guru and success coaches are in a great business, they spout motivational drivel to the masses who want to believe there is a magic bullet that will turn them into the next Donald Trump. They go to clubs to watch The Secret (I can't believe how many of them there are) thinking that all they need to do to have something is wish for it. Of course then they go home they sit in front of the TV eating potato chips and wonder when their ship is going to come in. As Mike would say, ridiculous!

This quote says it all:
Make a distinction between being interested and being committed. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you are committed you follow through - no matter what - no excuses. - Mike Krzyzewski , Duke Blue Devils

:cool:

Richard,

I think you said it best: This list is accurate but by no means complete.

You'll notice that I didn't say the items on this list are the "ONLY" things you need to succeed. These are just some of the many keys to success.

Fact is, there are lots of things that are required to succeed at anything in life. The other thing I've learned from the many boot camps I've attended and taught is that people quickly become victim of information overload. Whether they get excited or overwhelmed (or both) they can't allow everything to sink in and process immediately, so they get frustrated and give up or try half-heartedly and fail. It is no coincidence that 90% of the people who take boot camps are professional students but don't actually take action ... and succeed with their new knowledge.

People turn to blogs and postings for ongoing advice and ongoing learning, because each posting only represents one idea that might help you. In my case the advice is tried...tested...and proven to help someone in the past (if not myself then one of my students) and so it might help someone else.

There is not a one size fits all that I know about, and it's a shame when people spend more time trying to find the 'what ifs' and 'yeah but's' in theories that have made other people succeed, rather than devote their energy to succeeding in their own life. But there are usually many common attributes that exist in successful people's code of conduct that does not exist in what people do who fail. Every single person is unique and will have their own personal distinguishing factors. But the more we can learn from others, the more we can benefit. Stephen Covey has many best selling books, including The 7 Steps Of Highly Successful People. There is nothing to say that if you only focus on the 7 steps you are guaranteed to succeed. Any many people have probably tries those 7 steps and failed. But if the 7 steps are common to those who do succeed, then they must be considered, and then those who fail must look for the additional factors that might have hindered them.

p.s. Nobody ever said success would be easy. There is an old saying that "nothing good life comes easy".

Jeff, I understand your point about motivational fluff. However, it wasn't really to get people to go to the back of the room and buy something that makes me richer but won't necessarily benefit the purchaser. It is more to help those who feel de-motivated in these difficult times or feel overwhelmed because they took a course and feel like they're thrown to the wolves.

As for MikeOH who replied suggesting that taking action could be costly … you are absolutely correct. I said: The only failure in life is the failure to participate. I never said take action without gaining some knowledge or just throw enough stuff against the wall and hope something sticks.

When I began several years ago, I spent over $20,000 on courses, boot-camps, and mentors, hopeing to learn everything I needed to know to avoid mistakes and only experience profit. Well, about 90% became professional students and never took action. Then they blamed the courses they took, saying that there was something they taught at the course that was a scam. I am proven success that taking action leads to success. BUT…I didn't do it without first investing time to research and learn, and money to learn from those who already succeeded (and failed). And … when I found deals, I took action which was to analyze the deals the way I was taught, but also take action … IF … and only IF the numbers worked for that deal!

People will never stop learning, and the real estate world will always change. Things that used to work won't work anymore, and new things will work better than others. But, when I made the decision to learn, persevere, and keep up with this industry, that was an important decision, and one of the many action steps I took. But I would never write a check for a property that didn't prove to be profitable with multiple exit strategies available to me, which would minimize risk.

Like Richard quoted above:
Make a distinction between being interested and being committed. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you are committed you follow through - no matter what - no excuses. - Mike Krzyzewski , Duke Blue Devils

When I said: The only failure in life is the failure to participate….I by no means meant that if participate you are guaranteed success. Far from it. Success takes hard work and knowledge. But one thing is true (and quoted by several famous athletes) … You'll miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Michael~great list and allot of truth in it. It is like any equation. Take something out and replace it with the opposite, and you can have complete failure. Thanks for the post and, thought for my day.

It is simply wrong to lump every guru/coach into a stereotype. Most of the successful people I know have worked with a coach.

That's very interesting. I have a lot of friends who are very successful and I don't know a single one that ever paid a "coach". In fact, the only people that I know that are always promoting paid "coaches" and paid "mentors" are paid coaches and mentors themselves.

In fact, if you attend REIA conventions or other guru events, every paid coach and paid mentor will tell you about the tens of thousands they themselves spend on coaches. The funny thing is that most of these people are not really full time real estate investors, they're full time motivational materials sellers.

Mike

Hmm, some of these comments above are very interesting to me as well.

I can not speak for others in this thread, but what I do know from my personal/business success/failures, the hours and hours of research/education I have logged, and my years of learning how to better my networking skills are this:

- Great Athletes work with coaches
- Academy Award winning actors work with coaches.
- Politicians work with coaches.
- Many successful CEO's work with coaches.
- Mega success Oprah Winfrey has worked with a coach
- Master motivator Tony Robbins has worked with a coach
- Zig Ziglar is an amazing motivator/coach.
- The main role of a father is that of a coach.
- David Allen is a Coach (GTD has changed my life!)
- Most successful people carry a very positive attitude.
- Common sense must be a factor.
- You are only as strong as the weakest person that has influence on your life.
- There is no such thing as a free lunch!

Even Albert Einstein said: " We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

So I have found that proper coaching, surrounding myself with a positive sphere of influence, and attendance to least one motivational experience a quarter has been VERY important factors to growing my business and personal life.

At the end of the day, a persons actions and words will tell you most of what you need to know about them. You are the only one who can decide who has the power of influence on you.

It may be hard to become successful, but it sure is one great ride!!!!!!

It doesn't take a lot of thought to make this kind of a business work, just adherence to basic, proven, repeatable principles. That's one trait of successful people that's been missed here. They keep it simple.

AMEN!

In addition, if you need to pay a coach to remind you to get out of bed in the morning and work on or in (whatever the proper guru nonsense phrase is) your business, then you simply aren't going to make it. Successful people figure out what needs to be done and do it - all without paying a coach to hold their hand.

Mike

I have no problem with listening, but God also gave me a discerning mind and two hands to operate the shovel when I need to.

My dad, who went from being a penniless missionary to now owning over 300 rental units, once gave me advice that many investors could stand to follow:

Shut up and get to work.

Actually I was told that more than once as it had applications to about 90% of business/investing scenarios.

This thread seems to get more and more interesting. As I placed a post to try and help some people out there, there are others like Harrison and Tim who realize the value of a positive attitude. It seems that no matter where you look there is someone hell bent on proving the rest of the world wrong.

MikeOH - your points are valid and I certainly don't dispute them. But what I think many people have tried to suggest (and possibly made clear) is that there are always multiple factors to consider. Furthermore, EVERYONE in this world is different. They need different motivators, they have different learning styles, and they are at different states of their careers.

In your previous replies you have proven that you keep trying to come back to the point that nothing comes easy or falls into your lap, and you must always sacrifice a lot to succeed. You have also come back to the fact that you don't know anybody with coaches. You might very well not know people who have used a coach, and I am sorry if you personally had to sacrifice a lot (or feel like you have had to sacrifice a lot) then that doesn't necessarily guarantee that the rest of the world must progress the same way you did, or do follow the same paths.

I NEVER said success comes easy, and everybody realizes that they must work to achieve and succeed. But nobody (also) ever said that coaches are to help people get out of bed in the morning. I know that Tiger Woods got out of bed very motivated every morning and very passionate about what he does. He worked very hard and put in more hours than one can conceive. And even after more success than most people will ever know, he still uses a coach. Sometimes a coach can see things from a different perspective. They can offer an unbiased opinion. And there are many other benefits.

Furthermore, I have personally succeeded, and when I started I didn't have much money, so I found other ways to start and make money to do bigger and bigger deals.

It is not a foregone conclusion that people must have money, must work hard, must suffer, and must sacrifice, in order to succeed.

They must have a plan, they must gain knowledge, they must align themselves with the right people if they want to avoid some pitfalls that you might experience on your own for the first time, and they must work hard.

p.s. listening more than speaking, using your mind to analyze the information (not just taking someone's word for it), and then true hard work will definitely be help you succeed.