Dedicated to Success

[Sam Schultz]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post outside of my introduction. If you'd like to know a little more about me, please read that post and feel free to comment or send me a message.

I currently have a career in the blue collar industry as a Crane Operator. The hours are long, the pay is great, but I know that this isn't where I want to be 5 years from now. I recently had a major lower back problem, at 31 years old, that put me out of work for a few weeks. As of this post, I have not yet had my appointment with my neurologist to discuss the findings and route of treatment. As such, I have been using this "free" time to continue working. Only this time, my work consists of reading books and educating myself in the world of real estate. I am currently focused on reading the BP Publishing books "How to Invest in Real Estate" and "Investing in Real Estate with No (and low) Money Down".

My current goal is to read, at the minimum, 3 books a week for the next 2-3 months. These books will include real estate specific, as well as self-improvement subjects, among others. I can honestly say I have never enjoyed reading to the point I could sit down and read more than a couple of pages before getting bored. But something about this gets me excited and makes it hard to put these books down.

At some point I hope to aquire a mentor, but as of this moment I don't have anything of value to offer. All I can say is I have a burning desire to gain the knowledge necessary for success in real-estate.

Down to the point of this post, I would love to hear from any of you who would be willing to provide me with suggestions of materials that were key to YOUR success and how it helped you. Of course there is the obvious such as the podcasts, forum posts, and blogs here at BP. But I want to hear more about things outside of BP.

What book(s) helped you and how?

What are some suggestions you would recommend to a newbie to get started?

How fast were you able to successfully aquire your first property?

What investing method would you recommend to a first-timer and why?

Did you have a mentor and how did they help you?

These are just a few of the questions of the many that come to mind, but feel free to provide any information you feel could help myself and others. I want to be successful in this endeavor as I don't think my back problem will allow me to continue working in my field of expertise much longer.

Thanks for reading. I hope to hear from the lot of you!