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Why I Love to Drive, but Not for Dollars…

Mark Ferguson
5 min read
Why I Love to Drive, but Not for Dollars…

Don’t get me wrong, I think driving for dollars is a great way to find deals.

I do it myself all the time when I am out driving around, which I do a lot.  Technically I don’t go out driving neighborhoods just to find vacant or dilapidated houses.  I am driving around to complete one of my hundred tasks I have to do for my real estate business.  I could be inspecting a new REO listing, looking a potential purchase for a flip or rental, or inspecting one of my current listings or projects.   One of the reasons I love being in the real estate industry is I have the freedom to get out of the office.   In fact I spend A LOT of time on the road, so It is a good thing I love driving.

Driving has many benefits that I want to talk about besides driving for dollars.  It may not be the best thing for the environment, but hopefully we are all driving electric cars or hybrids.  One reason I love driving is I love cars.  I have three cars right now and I plan to collect them like I do rental properties.  A great thing about the real estate industry is the income you can earn, which allows me to have an Audi S4, Porsche 928 and supercharged Mustang.  If you have not seen my big goals on the forum; I also want to buy a Lamborghini Diablo in 2014.  I like big goals!

What Do You Listen to in the Car?

The point of this article is to describe the personal improvement aspects of driving.  I spend hours and hours in my car, by myself, and it is my choice how I spend that time.  Some people may consider it a waste if a day to drive four hours to do inspections on homes.  I have to do them as part of my job as a HUD listing broker and I don’t think it is a waste, if you use that time in the car wisely.

I used to listen to songs on the radio whenever I drove or listen to my personal music from my phone.  I started to realize I was listening to the same songs over and over and it became rather boring. Then I started listening to talk radio; mostly local sports shows.  I am a huge sports fan and enjoyed listening to sports for a while until I noticed how negative it all was.  As a sports fan, you aren’t really happy unless your team wins the championship.  With most major sports there are over 30 pro teams in each league.  The chances of your team winning the championship are not very good.  I realized most of the sports talk shows were full of negative people complaining about how bad their teams are or how they got screwed by the refs.  I decided to stop listening to talk radio last year and I haven’t turned it back on since then.

When I started my personal improvement kick last year I started listening to audio CDs in my car.  I listened to hours and hours of self help talk from Jack Canfield, Harv Eker, Tony Robbins, Steve Covey, Zig Ziglar and may more.  I started listening to some podcasts (great way to learn), I even listened to fellow blogger Ben Leybovich tell me about investing.  The great thing about listening to something productive when I drove was I was now using my time to complete my tasks for work and learning at the same time.  I was leveraging my time much like I leverage my rental properties.

In the last week I have something new I have started.  I have started listening to classical music in the car (not opera, I don’t like words).  I heard someone once say in one of the hundreds of CDs I listened to that listening to classical music was great for you.  They said it helps you relax, focus and feel good about yourself.  They were right!

How Classical Music Helps Me Focus

When I listen to classical music in the car it really does help me focus and put me in a good mood.   When I am listening to a song, I tend to get scatter brained and my mind is all over the place.  When I listen to talk radio I get annoyed at the hosts or callers.  When I listen to audio CDs I am focused on learning and thinking about what the CDs are talking about.   With classical music there are no words to distract me.  I am left to do only a couple things with my thoughts.

  • Look at the scenery or road, which actually can be very relaxing as well
  • Think about my day and what needs done
  • Think about my previous days and what I could have done better
  • Think about specific tasks or ideas that I need to work on

I think one of the biggest issues I have and that most people have is focusing their mind on specific tasks for prolonged periods of time.  There is so much going on in our world that we are easily distracted by our email, phone, internet, music etc.  There is very little time for us to think about the big picture or even small ideas without distraction.  When I am in my car listening to non-obtrusive classical music my mind is free to wander where it may or focus on specific ideas.   I think both scenarios are equally beneficial to help us succeed.

In the last week since I started listening to classical music in my car I have come up with an incredible amount of new ideas for my business.  I now see my car as a brainstorming session rather than a boring means to an end.

Cool Ideas I Have Thought of

Here are just a few things that I have come up with lately in my car;

1.  I mentioned my goal to buy a Diablo in 2014.  It’s a huge goal, but something I have wanted since I was kid.  In BP forums I talked about my goals for 2014 and one of them was buying the Diablo.  I had been thinking of ways to use the Diablo to market my real estate business so it could be a tax write off and generate business.  I thought of using the Diablo to park in front of open houses to gain traffic and attention.  Well as I was driving today I thought of parking the Daiblo of the busiest cross roads to the open houses with directional open house signs on it.  What better way is there to draw open house traffic!

2.  One of my other goals is to sell 300 homes in 2014 as a real estate agent.  I have a team of agents so it would not be all me selling 300 homes.  To get to that goal we have to change our marketing and branding.  I thought of a new website and a way to advertise my team while driving as well.

3.  I want to fix and flip 15 homes in 2014 and by 6 more rentals.  To do that I have to find a lot more great deals.  I have used driving to help me think of improved ways to track our direct marketing and new ways to try to buy foreclosures.  Not only am I coming up with ideas, I have time to remember old ideas I had or think about ideas others have given me more in-depth.

Conclusion

I am also a huge fan of visualization and affirmations to help me get what I want in life.  Classical music has helped with that as well.  I can now easily picture myself driving in the Daiblo with classical music blaring as I work the gears through the gated transmission….

What about you? Are you using your “Driving Time” to improve your business? How? Share with me in the comments below!

Photo: SpeedHunter XxX
 

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.