What Will Make Me The Most Money?

I live about 15 miles outside of Washington, DC which means I was trapped in my house all day Tuesday. There was no way I was leaving my house because of the inauguration traffic and all of the road closures. Anyway, most people know that I read one book per week and I just finished reading “Seven Years to Seven Figures” by Michael Masterson. Anytime I read a book I fold a piece of paper in half to take notes, and also to use as my bookmark. One of the notes that I took was a question you’re supposed to ask yourself if you want to be a successful business person. You want to know what that question is don’t you? Fine. I will be nice and tell you. The question you should always ask yourself is “What will make me the most money?”

Ok, What Will Make Me The Most Money?

Yes, the question seems obvious but I think very few people actually take the time to answer it. Other books I have read in the past have mentioned this same question, but in various ways, which is why I ask myself the question every time I make an important decision. Unfortunately, most people just go through the motions and get in their routines. You need to stop that now!

For example, let’s say you’re doing a rehab. You should constantly be asking yourself what repairs/improvements will give you the biggest return on your investment. Or, let’s say you’re negotiating a subject-to….if you’re going after a non-motivated seller you could be wasting time on a deal that’s not going to close, while you should be chasing other deals. Or, and here’s a big one….let’s say you’ve had a rental property that’s been vacant for a while. And you get someone who shows up with the cash to move in; however they have terrible credit and no income. Now, the rookie investor is going to take the cash and lose money in the long run when they have to spend months to evict someone. The seasoned investor will be patient and realize they will make a lot more money in the long run by getting a qualified individual in the property.

I really hope you will do this. Just do it for one week. For an entire week, anytime you have a business decision to make ask yourself what will produce the most money. Actually, you should ask yourself this question about everything, even if it has nothing to do with real estate. Also, go buy the book that I mentioned in the beginning of this post because it discusses the importance of real estate in every persons portfolio.

Okay. One more quick thing. If you aren’t spending two hours per week driving for dollars then you might also want to ask yourself this question: “How come I’m not willing to take the necessary action that will help me quit my job in 2009?”

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