{"id":134662,"date":"2021-02-15T13:30:38","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T20:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/?p=134662"},"modified":"2024-01-27T11:26:21","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T18:26:21","slug":"finding-motivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/finding-motivation","title":{"rendered":"From Lazy to Laser-Focused: How to Find Your Real Estate Motivation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n      <iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=BIGPOC8518626683\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>  \n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m lazy. Often unmotivated. Did I mention I lack focus, too? Oh yeah, and I\u2019m hopelessly unorganized. And yet, I\u2019ve had some success investing in real estate. As of this writing, my partner and I have 28 units and we\u2019re still expanding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So how does a lazy dude acquire 28 doors? Let\u2019s back up for a minute and rewind the tape.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Related: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/real-estate-investor-financial-freedom?itm_source=ibl&amp;itm_medium=related&amp;itm_campaign=opt\" target=\"_blank\">Quit Your Day Job and Find Financial Freedom: Here\u2019s How to Become a Real Estate Investor (Full-Time!)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Where I started<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back in my 20s and early 30s, I got stuck in a dead-end job that was truly a bad fit for me. And since I\u2019m lazy I didn\u2019t do anything about it\u2014until I couldn\u2019t take it anymore. They had cut my pay and my hours, and yet required more output all at the same time. I desperately needed a way out and I thought real estate was the way to do it. It was one of the few times in my life I\u2019ve actually been right about something.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Except that my timing was off. I thought getting into real estate as an agent would give me the flexibility, income, and lifestyle I wanted. I met with a Realtor over coffee to ask him some questions about the business. Long story short, he talked me out of it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What? Yep, he talked me out of it, or I talked myself out of it based on what he was telling me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I kept grinding it out at my miserable job for two more years. I\u2019m such an idiot.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Moving to real estate<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fast forward past the &#8220;two more years&#8221; part. I saw a post on Linkedin about getting into real estate part-time. I figured, what do I have to lose at this point? I met with the broker, got licensed, quit my job after eight months, and the rest is, well, history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Related: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/get-your-real-estate-license?itm_source=ibl&amp;itm_medium=related&amp;itm_campaign=opt\" target=\"_blank\">8 Reasons Smart Investors Get Their Real Estate License<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a couple of years as an agent, I got the investing bug. As luck would have it, so did my buddy. We educated ourselves, lined up financing, set up an LLC, and were off to the races. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, let me be honest here. I don\u2019t think I would ever have gotten started with real estate investing if it wasn\u2019t for partnering with the right person. So let\u2019s get into why that was so critical. How did my laziness, lack of motivation, lack of focus, and disorganization play into our partnership? Here are four ways that I\u2019m winning now.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Why you need a partner<\/h2>\n<h3>Accountability<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once we started our venture as 50\/50 partners, there was an immediate shift to shared accountability. If it were just me, then I would have had the world\u2019s worst boss. Instead, I\u2019m accountable to my partner and our business. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Win number one.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Responsibility<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have a very real financial vested interest in the business. That is a motivating factor like none other. Skin in the game, as it were. I have a shared responsibility to manage and grow those funds in our real estate investing. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Win number two.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Vision<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For a partnership to work, there needs to be a shared vision. My lack of focus when it\u2019s just me can lead to the oft-talked-about shiny object syndrome. But when we share a vision for the future of our business, that is a powerful way to achieve laser-like focus. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Win number three<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Systems<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Businesses need systems. It\u2019s what makes them run as efficiently as possible. Since my buddy and I are across the country from each other (and our properties as well), we need to have organized systems in place (thank you Dropbox!). <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Win number four.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If I can invest in real estate as a lazy, unmotivated, unfocused, and unorganized dude, then <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">anyone<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can do it. Don\u2019t let your perceived weaknesses hold you back a second longer. Real estate investing is incredibly rewarding and the world needs more good people like you to offer up their unique skills and vision. Now go get it!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/webinars\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-91217 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/blog_ads-01.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"85\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/blog_ads-01.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/blog_ads-01-300x36.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lazy? Unmotivated? Don&#8217;t give up your investing dreams. Here&#8217;s a step-by-step plan to take you from couch to CEO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110702,"featured_media":135374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4241,7119],"tags":[240,5002],"class_list":["post-134662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-business-management","category-biggerpockets-daily","tag-advice","tag-newbies"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110702"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}