Richard, Ryan and Will are 100% right.
What you have here is the definition of a paradox.
Until the advent of the Internet, the only place investors had to turn for real world information was "the gurus". There was no medium to train investors on real world deals. So, yesterday's experts became today's "gurus" through the proliferation of books and the seminar circuit.
God Bless'em.
I have personally learned countless strategies that I implement in one way or another every day from Robert Allen, Donald Trump, Robert Kyosaki, Carleton Sheets, Dolf de Roos, etc. Without them and so many more, I wouldn’t even be in real estate or believe that someone with my background could succeed in real estate investment.
Saying that there is something dishonest or ethically wrong with a "guru" monetizing and marketing their expertise to the largest base possible is akin to saying that investors are morally and ethically wrong for taking advantage of the ignorance of others and making money on real estate deals. This is hypocrisy at its finest.
Shame on you!
Monetizing your talent and presenting it to the largest base possible is the epitome of enlightened entrepreneurship.
At the end of the day, isn't this the purpose of the Bigger Pockets web presence, to reach the largest possible base and monetize it?
Otherwise, let’s be honest, it would be a non-read newsletter at best.
If you want to define us as today's "experts", you must realize that we have all gained our expert status through tons of education (books, course work, gurus and real world), tons of money (spent, invested and lost) and countless hours of work and persistence.
Unfortunately, due to the myriad of nuances involved in every real estate transaction, you learn by putting your hand on the stove only to realize that it is hot and you just got burned. These experiences cost time, money and deals but lay the educational foundation so you are better prepared for the next deal.
I have often said that getting a real estate deal to closing can be like fighting a seven headed dragon and the closing table is where the dragon lives. You have to keep swinging your sword each time the next head comes by to take a bite out of your hide. Title issues, appraisal issues, underwriting issues, mortgage issues, ego issues, funding issues, etc., etc.
So, if you are fortunate enough to persevere and have monetary success, you get deemed as the authority or expert by your colleagues, friends, the general public and so on. And they start to lean on you and take up your time, often times to never actually take your “expert†advice they appear to so desperately seek.
For those with a soul, with the “authority†or “expert†moniker comes a responsibility to help others attain financial independence and avoid unnecessary pitfalls. Giving back and paying it forward.
I have felt this and spent tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of time investing in the success of others, all at no cost to them.
Here's the rub, unfortunately, no amount of internal desire to help and want to give back can overcome human nature.
As is well known, as a general rule, people do not appreciate anything that is given away for free.
Case in point, as is covered in the national media headlines daily; many people involved in the real estate industry have hit on very hard times. It's no secret that many investors, Realtors, builders, appraisers and attorneys have had to seek alternative methods of generating income.
What has happened to them was clearly defined in the book, "Who Moved My Cheese?â€. If you have never read it, buy it and read it because it will permanently ensure your flexibility and ability to see new opportunities and avoid disaster.
One would think that people forced out of their profession would clamor and kill for an opportunity to make significant income in their industry rather than go wait tables or work as a receptionist to make ends meet.
Though never intended to be what it turned into, one of our investment programs gained tremendous popularity with buyers, sellers, investors and new construction builders and the evolution of the market and unsolicited demand forced us to create a retail platform to support them.
This retail platform generates 1000s of buyers with cash and 1000s of sellers with property they want to sell via our program every month. It also generates daily unsolicited requests from other investors, Realtors, builders, property managers and clients who see what we are doing and want to work with us.
In an effort to give back and help my friends and colleagues who were struggling, as well as the inordinate amount of other investors contacting me, we created a program with which they could work with us in our system as Independent Investor Partners (this was done to allow them to remain independent, maintain their egos, desired schedules and hours). This program was designed to take entrepreneurs who didn't want to be employees and provide them a JV partner who handled everything so they didn't have to, so they could retain pride, ego, etc., and work independently and NOT as an employee (and just do deals).
We have multiple websites and an army of IT and support staff setup. I setup a Virtual PBX and Automated Call Distribution System (ACD) that they could log in to from anywhere and take live HOT inbound phone calls who had cash (that I paid for), setup email systems, auto responders, provided access to personal assistants, full IT support and plugged them into a system where they could work from anywhere at whatever time they wanted. We provided all of the leads, paid for every expense, support staff, overhead, etc.
I provided personal daily training where they got to listen to me do deals live on the phone, provided scripts, training, WebExs, you name it. Expenses to the tune of thousands of dollars per month. In short, I could not have provided more for free to a base of people struggling who understood the business.
The cost to the Independent Investor Partners was absolutely NOTHING.
Our average revenue per deal on these transactions is more than $8,000 with many deals being closed in less than 24 hours start to finish.
The end result was what Richard speaks of which is the 99/1 rule.
Though I am not a negative person and have no desire for this to be a "negative" post, the truth remains that 99% of the people will take up your time, suck the life out of you and never do anything with the wealth of knowledge that you freely give away, or, in his case, nominally give away. When it is free or cheap, they will allow you to incur ridiculous time and expense on their part and never produce anything.This results in personal time with family, professional time doing deals and inordinate amounts of money, totally wasted.
Due to the expense and time drain training and supporting others who had no intention of success, I made more money by myself than with more than 2 dozen dedicated “sales†people working with me as Independent Investor Partners who got the same exact leads that I got and had access to my personal support and IT staff. Several of these people had previously been millionaires.
It is important to understand that my objective with the program was to truly help other people who were struggling by providing them with the over abundance that I have been given and have no means to take advantage of. (I am one person with two young sons with only so many hours per day to work deals and thousands upon thousands of leads monthly that I cannot personally talk to or take advantage of…………these were given away for free and were the same leads I support my family and lifestyle on).
So, if you decide to criticize someone making money by monetizing their efforts and making people ante up (skin in the game), who also doesn't want or need to babysit other people, ask yourself this question (which we ask anyone now before we waste our time), "If we show you how to make money, will you do it and be accountable for your promise every week?".
When faced with that sort of commitment, 99% of people will confess the truth and never do it.
Only through this process can you find the 1% who are the diamonds in the rough and the next generation who actually deserve your time and effort.
So, be cautious to criticize a “guru†until you have walked in their shoes as an enlightened “expert†and understand why they have chosen to monetize their efforts. It isn’t always lust for the almighty dollar.
In many cases, it is disillusionment and the true understanding of of the outcome of entrepreneurial philanthropy.