Are you a poser?

When I was a young punk, I was into skateboarding. We had a term for people that bought the right clothes, had a board, but didn’t learn much about riding – they were posers. They posed – they looked the part but they didn’t walk the walk.

Now that that I’m older (I’m still a punk, just not young anymore), it occurred to me, am I a poser? Do I look like an investor – or am I really doing it?

See I’ve been in the investor community for some time. I got my first house to flip back in 2000. Since then I’ve done lots of different things, built up a little portfolio, been a property manager, learned about up and down markets, seen people come and go.

Years have gone by. My recent accomplishments have been pretty limited. I’ve got a shelf full of courses. I’ve had my head in the local investment groups. In most ways I look the look. But am I walking the walk – or have a stumbled? In many ways I’m not so different from someone who’s new to investing.

What about you? Do you have goals in writing? Are they specific? Are they dreams or goals? Do they determine what you’re doing this week?

Are you tracking on new leads (assuming you aren’t just managing a mature portfolio)? Do you have a marketing plan? Are you poised to take your investing to the next level?

My answers to these questions are not so good. My goals are a little vague, my marketing is a little scattered, and my lead follow-up is spotty. My weeks are at times on track and at times derailed by so many life things that distract from where I want to be.

Thus begins this blog. I want to use this space to get myself on track and walk through things. This is meant to be a window into an investor taking action or at least struggling to do so. The blog is a frank look at what’s going on so that we can all learn together what it looks like to be an investor in the trenches – day to day. My plan is to put up a blog entry about every 2 weeks.

So let’s work through this together so we aren’t just a bunch of posers!