{"id":51238,"date":"2013-12-01T05:33:36","date_gmt":"2013-12-01T12:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=51238"},"modified":"2021-03-16T10:13:27","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T16:13:27","slug":"2013-12-01-most-important-lesson-house-flipping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2013-12-01-most-important-lesson-house-flipping","title":{"rendered":"The #1 Most Important Lesson in House Flipping"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I\u2019ve probably mentioned here on this blog, we are now doing a local MeetUp<\/a> for real estate investors, tradespeople, Realtors and anyone who is interested in house flipping and buy-and-hold real estate investing.<\/p>\n

Our rationale for starting our local MeetUp wasn\u2019t to shill educational products.<\/p>\n

The primary goal was as follows: although through REIAs investors and people get together to network, share and learn – we felt it wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

As many people probably know read here on BiggerPockets<\/a>, I run a house flipping business as my primary business.<\/p>\n

But one of the most frustrating things for me when I first got into the \u201ceducation\u201d business<\/em> (so to speak) was the fact that so few people took action<\/strong> on the things that we espoused both on posts here on this awesome platform<\/a> as well as on our own site.<\/p>\n

Although not every single piece of content I\u2019ve ever written is Pulitzer prize-winning material<\/em>, the basic message is the same over and over again:<\/p>\n

Overcome your fears and take action<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Fortunately, my real estate investing and house flipping business is going extremely well right now and I\u2019m very fortunate thankful (especially at this time of year)<\/em> for all the good fortune I\u2019ve had building my team<\/a> and making money doing something I truly love.<\/p>\n

But more importantly is the feeling I get when doing what I do instead of the actual moneymaking part of it all.<\/p>\n

More important than the money we make on our house flips is the feeling I get when we improve local neighborhoods, provide clean safe beautiful living space for a new family and help others achieve their dreams as well as gain continued employment in the many industries and people who help us with our flips.<\/p>\n

As much fuss as there is about \u201cmaking money flipping houses\u201d, it\u2019s not my true motivation nor is it the true motivation of anyone on my team.<\/p>\n

David Versus Goliath and the Lessons Learned<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a new book out called David versus Goliath<\/a> by Malcolm Gladwell. Although I haven\u2019t finished reading it yet, one of the first chapters is about the correlation between making money and happiness.<\/em><\/p>\n

I found this chapter to be extremely interesting because Gladwell \u2013 who does exhaustive research on each and every topic he ever writes about \u2013 stated scientific evidence that there is a strong correlation between the level of a person\u2019s happiness to how much money they actually make.\u2026up to a certain point, then it drops off considerably.<\/p>\n

This was absolutely fascinating to me.<\/em><\/p>\n

He said that far more important than money to someone\u2019s happiness is the feeling of \u201ccontribution\u201d in what they do professionally. He states in the book that at roughly $75,000 per year, you\u2019ve reached a peak in your happiness with regard to money providing happiness. Anything after that, there\u2019s a downward slope of diminishing returns.<\/p>\n

Although I don\u2019t necessarily agree with the $75,000 per year in income (in my opinion it would be a few times that)<\/em>, the logic was fascinating.<\/p>\n

The analogy he used in explaining this had to do with health and wine.<\/p>\n

As many of us know, having one glass of wine each night has a positive impact <\/a>on your overall health.<\/p>\n

If that consumption goes up to 2 to 3 glasses per wine per night, the positive health effect starts to diminish and somewhat level off.<\/p>\n

When you exceed 2 to 3 glasses per night and go into the four, five \u201ckill the entire bottle\u201d<\/em>, the effect on your health is obviously negative and somewhat harmful.<\/p>\n

He states that the same thing happens with wealth \u2013 citing the $75,000 mark as that point of diminishing returns.<\/p>\n

Fascinating stuff in my opinion\u2026<\/p>\n

Intrinsic Motivation in House Flipping<\/h2>\n

What does this have to do with house flipping?<\/p>\n

Getting back to the reason why we started our meet up \u2026<\/p>\n

We certainly didn\u2019t do it for the money<\/em> \u2013 although with coaching and educational products, we all know there\u2019s an enormously rabid industry for this. We decided to do it because of our mission and what we want to do to help other people.<\/em><\/p>\n

Even if I never make a cent from our MeetUp group, the rewards so far has been tremendous. The idea of surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals who all really want to be successful in the exact same industry you\u2019re in is unlike any other feeling I\u2019ve experienced.<\/p>\n

The feeling I get when I speak with others to help them achieve their goals \u2013 whether it\u2019s financial liberation from a job or just a few thousand extra dollars to help pay down credit card debt, it\u2019s the feeling of helping and empowering others that really makes me feel tremendously good.<\/p>\n

And my sense is that this is what Gladwell was talking about in a roundabout way in his book.<\/p>\n

Push-ups and House Flipping<\/h2>\n

Having said all that, once I try to help someone though, it\u2019s really up to then whether or not they take the bait, do something about it and take the first step on the road to success.<\/p>\n

As someone wrote in my last blog post<\/a> here on BiggerPockets:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t hire someone else to do your push-ups for you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Jim Rohn<\/p>\n

No matter how hard a coach, mentor or someone who just wants to help can push someone to do something, the coach can\u2019t do their push-ups for them!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So what happens to you if you do read the mountains of helpful information here on BiggerPockets, cruise the Internet for how to flip houses<\/a> or maybe buy a couple of Kindle ebooks on house flipping…only to do nothing<\/span>?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Where does that actually get you?<\/em><\/p>\n

It gets you nowhere<\/strong>. You now have all this knowledge in your head \u2013 all this stored energy \u2013 but you never actually put it to use.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like having a Lamborghini sitting in your driveway and never taking the tarp off to take it out for a spin\u2026<\/p>\n

The Most Important Lesson in House Flipping<\/h2>\n

Why do people NOT<\/strong> take action? I’m not completely sure but I have an idea. It\u2019s likely the result of just plain fear.<\/p>\n

And excuses<\/em><\/strong>\u2026man, I\u2019ve heard them all.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s the fear of things not working out so you just decide not to even try at all\u2026<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s something that was burned into my memory banks ever since I was a boy by my father. He was an old Italian who had no real formalized education but he definitely knew business and he knew human nature.<\/p>\n

He told me that the REAL key to success, whether it\u2019s in house flipping or anything that you do is this:<\/p>\n

What happens if you try something and it doesn\u2019t work? Try again!<\/em><\/p>\n

And if you try again and it doesn\u2019t work. What do you do? Try again!<\/em><\/p>\n

And if you try again and it doesn\u2019t work. What do you do? Try again!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The common thread in this age-old wisdom, trying and DOING<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Notice that there is no \u201cread hundreds of articles on BiggerPockets, go to lots of REIA meetings and then do nothing\u201d<\/i> – in this advice from the old man\u2026<\/p>\n

Instead it\u2019s get out there, take action, learn what doesn\u2019t work, take more action, learn what doesn\u2019t work again and keep taking action until you successful<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pivot, learn, pivot, learn, pivot, learn\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Simple advice? Probably. But not SIMPLISTIC by any stretch.<\/p>\n

The Power of Taking ACTION<\/h2>\n

Something happens to you when you do something that you haven\u2019t been able to do before. It\u2019s this feeling of empowerment<\/em> and accomplishment<\/em> \u2013 a great feeling of having conquered something you otherwise thought was unachievable. This is the whole \u201csuccess breeds more success\u201d principle.<\/p>\n

And when it happens to you for the first time, you\u2019ll never forget it for as long as you live.<\/em><\/p>\n

But the first step is to actually go out there and TAKE ACTION<\/strong>. And although I know that most people won\u2019t, what do you have to lose if you do?<\/p>\n

And if its true that the be-all end-all of making money in a year in fact does cap out at $75,000 per yea<\/em>r, \u201cmaking money\u201d probably shouldn\u2019t be your true motivation anyway.<\/p>\n

It should be that irresistible feeling of accomplishment<\/strong> and having done something that you never thought you were capable of doing before. And THAT makes you feel tremendously successful and is its own true reward…<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve made it this far, please leave a comment below.<\/strong> What you think, what is the key to success? If you have an opinion, please put it in the comments section below<\/strong><\/span>, I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts.<\/p>\n

Photo: Trey Ratcliff<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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