What is the 1 thing that has contributed most to your success?

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What is the 1 thing that has contributed most to your success?

Shiloh LundahlPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes

Last night before bed I was watching wrestling matches on YouTube. Not the fake wrestling such as WWE or anything like that, but the actual real elite wrestlers like Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Snyder, and pretty much anyone who has wrestled under the coaching of Cael Sanderson at Penn State. And even though my wrestling career was limited to only wrestling in high school, as I was watching some of these elite athletes, I thought to myself that I can contribute much of my success in real estate, with my family, and in life in general to the sport of wrestling when I was a teenager. It taught me some of the basic fundamentals of hard work and success.

What would you say has been the one thing that has most led to your success in real estate or life in general?

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Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
8y

@Shiloh Lundahl   For my 20,000  post and I wanted it to be something special.

I contribute whatever success I have had to my Father... and as we move through this business life and I am on the back side of my career it will be measured with things other than Monetary rewards.

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  • Caleb Heimsoth
    Rental Property Investor · Durham, NC · Member since 2016 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    8y
    Shiloh Lundahl I would say it’s a combination of my family (parents mainly) and being taught what work ethic looks like. Combine that with my personality type of being hyper focused and numbers driven (im an engineer) and I think it all combines well for REI. Work ethic means things for different people but when my dad tells me stories of teaching himself advanced math in high school in his dimly lit room or doing farming chores at 5 am every day, it really put things in perspective. Then I hear stories of how my grandpa borrowed a ton of money to start his farm and basically worked for 30 years 7 days a week with no vacation to make it work, it teaches you the true value of hard work. So you combine that mentality with an addictive (read goal based) type of personality and a lot can happen. I wanted to be an engineer at 14. 8 years later and thousands of hours of studying later it happened. I discovered I enjoyed real estate and now 2 years later it’s still going strong. I am the type of person that truly enjoys only a few things and if I find something like that (like Real estate) it will become a huge part of my life.
    10Reply
  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    8y

    @Shiloh Lundahl   For my 20,000  post and I wanted it to be something special.

    I contribute whatever success I have had to my Father... and as we move through this business life and I am on the back side of my career it will be measured with things other than Monetary rewards.

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  • Caleb Heimsoth
    Rental Property Investor · Durham, NC · Member since 2016 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    8y
    Jay Hinrichs well said. Congrats on 20k! I just hit 2k, which I feel is some sort of cool irony.
    5Reply
  • Dave Van HornPro Member
    Fund Manager · Wayne, PA · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8y

    @Shiloh Lundahl Great idea for a forum thread!


    I'd say if I had to put it in a word, it would be: Adversity. That can take many forms for people and maybe it's not something you can pinpoint exactly to one thing but if I had to say for me it started my father leaving our family when I was young.

    Once that happened I instantly became the oldest man in the family that marked a major shift for me at the time. There was only one way out and that was on me. And I quickly learned the only way to success was through hard work and education. So not long after my father left that I got a job as a newspaper boy (and an incredible newspaper boy at that! I even sold so many papers that I won a contest to go to Disney World haha) and then I was awarded a scholarship to one of the top schools in the Philadelphia area.

    It wasn't always easy after that but I was definitely struck with a sense determination that has definitely impacted my success ever since.

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  • Mike Dymski
    Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2016 · 5k+ posts · 13k+ votes
    8y

    persistence and habits done over extended periods of time

    6Reply
  • Account Closed
    Rental Property Investor · Friendswood, TX · Member since 2010 · 663 posts · 508 votes
    8y

    Zigging when everyone else is zagging.  Sometimes being on the other side of the coin is not bad thing....


     When I bought our first deal in 2008 , it was on loop net and we got the contract for about 20% less than asking price.  Where were all the guys who are in bidding wars on multi family  (today)when little old me (newbie at that ..) from 1,000 miles away was trying to buy this thing?  Upon asset exit we had 5 offers before it was even on the market ( note i was a seller when more people were buyers in 2016)- note the one we took was 100k down hard day 1..... ( i wish i had cajones to do that...)

    Another one:

    Market being hammered ( in general) 2011- bought a townhouse 60ish ( later to be sold for 120ish in 2016.  Had another one under contract at 30 k a couple months later but got cold feet that i was overpaying ( later was sold for about 100k).  Note  lots of buyers upon sale  - not so much when I was buying. 


    Got into MHPs in 2013 and they weren't super sexy, still aren't but sexier i guess now... so thats what I'm doing.

    I have thought about this, and going against the grain in investing , I feel has served me well.  I feel like I can get outsized returns but just picking the few that I see what Im looking for.


    When you pay for a pre packaged return ( think turnkey 10% , think investment in a syndicate 8% ( 20%IRR) ) - that good feeling comes with a cost of return.


    Most the stuff I do , i have to look at it through a different lens.  I have to see what others might not see on the surface.  I want to try and get the returns into the 100s of percents , not 15%  not 20%.   If i went conventional routes that wont be the case, say buying a 150k house that rents for 1500.  I focus a lot more on the deals and the spreads  as opposed to volume and really want to seek out those anomalies ( or what I feel are anomalies.  Meaning i give a lot of thought to where I think the market might be undervalued or overvalued and invest accordingly. (note i might be wrong but i try and built in spreads that account for a lot of error and the occasional misjudgment) . 

    6Reply
  • Will GastonPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Columbia, SC · Member since 2010 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    8y

    @Shiloh Lundahl great question.

    For me as a landlord, “the one thing” absolutely is getting a great deal. If you get a great deal, you’re able to:

    -Obtain financing much more easily

    -Afford to be a great landlord by using cash flow for CapEx and repairs

    -Afford the best property management

    -Hedge your risk of losing money in any RE cycle 

    -Actually make money in RE instead of losing it!

    4Reply
  • David Fernandez
    Real Estate Agent · Vienna, VA · Member since 2016 · 289 posts · 253 votes
    8y

    Persistence and my mindset that anything is possible; however, I don’t think I can point to only 1 thing that built this mindset. It’s been the combination of many factors, people, and situations that helped be developed this mindset. 

    For sure my parents and seeing them succeed building a company from scratch, playing competitive sports since I was a kid and making it to the Junior Olympics, overcoming a career ending injury before turning pro, great teachers and mentors, living in 3 different countries and traveling to over 50, meeting people from many different nationalities and backgrounds and take the time to hear their story and learnt from them, doing long distance endurance sports (half-Ironman and Ironman distance triathlon) qualifying for the World Champiomships, being open minded when meeting new people and ideas, never accepting that things are the way they are just because, etc. 

    2Reply
  • Andrey Y.
    Specialist · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8y

    Specifically being different doing things the opposite of most around me.

    2Reply
  • Steve Bracero
    Real Estate Agent · Westboro, MA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 471 votes
    8y

    @Shiloh Lundahl

    Great topic! Consistency and patience are critical for me 

    1Reply
  • Shiloh LundahlPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    8y

    @Caleb Heimsoth and @Jay Hinrichs thanks for your responses. I think the example of parents can be so important to help teach kids values such as hard work and persistence. 

    Thanks for your comments and congratulations Jay on reaching 20k in posts. As your vote count indicates, you have contributed a lot to the community.

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  • Chang Hee Lee
    Real Estate Broker · Champaign, IL · Member since 2017 · 49 posts · 19 votes
    8y

    @Shiloh Lundahl Every morning I wake up and don't feel like getting out of bed, I think of those that didn't even have a bed to sleep on. Every time I eat, I remind myself of those without any sustenance. Every time I feel lazy, I think of all the resources and opportunities I have compared to so many in the world that are without. It is these blessings that motivate me to work harder, a way for me to show gratitude for all the great aspects of my life and continue to drive me forward.

    6Reply
  • Matt P.
    Investor · Columbus, OH · Member since 2015 · 625 posts · 601 votes
    8y
    @Shiloh Lundahl Great post. My brother and I wrestled from elementary school until we we're in our early 20s. I attribute a lot of my success in life to lessons learned from that great sport!
    1Reply
  • James E Regan
    Member since 2018 · 2 posts · 1 vote
    8y

    work, work and more work

    1Reply
  • Account Closed
    New to Real Estate · Teaneck, NJ · Member since 2018 · 167 posts · 60 votes
    8y

    Mindset is everything. Work very hard on yourself dont ever stop learning. Make alot of mistakes and dont be so hard on yourself when you mess up its life there will be failures.

    4Reply
  • Craig Bellot
    Property Manager · CT · Member since 2014 · 687 posts · 329 votes
    8y

    The most important thing for me would be continual education via books and courses as well as solid relationships with honest like-minded investors.

    1Reply
  • Dan H.Pro Member
    Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes
    8y

    I was the best wrestler on my high school team and had a few lame offers to wrestle in college (I tore my ACL so that path was gone) and wresting has many lessons that can be applied to life.

    However, for me, similar to @Jay Hinrichs , it was a parent but not my Dad but my Mom.  My Dad worked a government job and had some good success considering where he started from (not as much success as the Poor Dad from Rich Dad, Poor Dad but also no where near the education of Poor Dad).   However, my Mom was the entrepreneur.  She purchased empty land (did not pan out great but showed the entrepreneur) while still married to my Dad. 

    My parents split and after that is when she really started displaying her entrepreneur spirit. She rode her bike an hour to work and an hour home to save money. She was making less than $10/hour in the early 1980s. She used the savings to build wealth. She purchased a SFR rental that she leveraged into other rentals and she started her own electrical contracting business. I believe her and her new husband never had a combined W2 over $50K yet she built up quite a bit of wealth. She was generous with her time and money. She was the rock of the family and a lot of people. All this from a 1st generation immigrant who came here with nothing and never earned much from W2 jobs.

    Of course, she is missed.  My brother never recovered from her death.  Her husband in many ways has not recovered.  It has been almost 10 years.  She told me on her death bed that her biggest concern was my brother and had me promise her I would take care of him if/when needed.  I never imagined that it would be right away (he was just over 40 at the time).

    Getting off subject, I learned the entrepreneur spirit from my Mom but mostly applied it much later than I should have.  I want to teach my son similar lessons which is also similar to the lessons of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books.  So if he answers this question in 20 years I hope I at least get consideration as the #1 contributor to his success.

    3Reply
  • Joe SplitrockPro Member
    Moderator
    Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
    8y

    @Shiloh Lundahl I think the only way to succeed is taking massive action. 

    When I was 18 years old, I was up late night watching TV. At the time infomercials were very popular. There was a guy named Anthony Robbins that was a self help coach selling an audio tape program called Personal Power. Never before and never since have I ever purchased anything from television infomercials. That night at 2AM in the morning, I purchased his audio program. I listened to the 30 day program and I can say it changed my life. 

    The biggest lesson I learned is that we are all held back from doing great things only by our own limiting beliefs. We can accomplish anything we want if we take massive action.

    One of my favorite stories on action is the story of a priest that prayed every night for ten years to win the lottery. Finally one night God speaks to him and says, "buy a ticket". The lesson this story teaches is that hoping and praying without action will get you nothing.

    Tony Robbins talks about problems and uses the analogy of weeds in your garden. He says, if all I was teaching was self help, I would tell you to repeat over and over again, "there are no weeds in my garden". He says, "of course we all know that would be stupid, because there would still be weeds in your garden. You need to pull damn the weeds!"

    Lots of things relate to taking action. Setting goals,  focusing on the one thing, etc, both relate to taking action. Ten X your goals is massive action. When people talk about analyzing 100 properties to find one deal, that is taking massive action.

    He also talks about how people say they cannot succeed because they lack resources. He explains that it isn't resources that hold any of us back, but rather resourcefulness. Lack of resources is just a limiting belief. People who succeed find a way, because they are resourceful.

    Anyways congratulations to you on 2000 posts and congrats to @Jay Hinrichs on 20,000 posts.

    11Reply
  • Account Closed
    Lender · Pensacola, FL · Member since 2017 · 658 posts · 626 votes
    8y

    The book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, which I discovered by accident when I was in my 20s.

    1Reply
  • Todd Dexheimer
    Rental Property Investor · St. Paul, MN · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    8y

    I would say having the guts to step out and buy at a time when everyone said not to. I had bankers, realtors and other investors tell me I was crazy to be buying! Also, persistence and drive are huge as well. 

    3Reply
  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Account Closed:

    The book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, which I discovered by accident when I was in my 20s.

    my dad gave me that book at about 16 YO s !!! 

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  • Bart H.
    Dallas, TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 745 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Shiloh Lundahl:

    Last night before bed I was watching wrestling matches on YouTube. Not the fake wrestling such as WWE or anything like that, but the actual real elite wrestlers like Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Snyder, and pretty much anyone who has wrestled under the coaching of Cael Sanderson at Penn State. And even though my wrestling career was limited to only wrestling in high school, as I was watching some of these elite athletes, I thought to myself that I can contribute much of my success in real estate, with my family, and in life in general to the sport of wrestling when I was a teenager. It taught me some of the basic fundamentals of hard work and success.

    What would you say has been the one thing that has most led to your success in real estate or life in general?

     Good relations with our 2 agents who helped us find contractors, taught us a lot about rehab and have given us excellent guidance about when to and when not to buy.

    0Reply
  • Andrew Jones
    Insurance Agent · Sacramento, CA · Member since 2017 · 45 posts · 33 votes
    8y

    Education.  My dad made me read Rich Dad, Poor Dad in freshman year of highschool and my decisions have been radically different from my peers ever since.

    1Reply
  • Max T.
    Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    8y

    As a former wrestler and now coach, I love the wrestling analogy for success.

    Don't quote me - but I've heard that the percentage of former wrestlers in brain surgery is crazy high...

    1Reply
  • Max T.
    Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    8y

    For me it was my parents - I grew up watching them build a portfolio of rental properties as a side business. They did it very slowly.... doing most of the work themselves and using very little leverage. But it worked!

    I've learned a lot about what to do and what not to do from their example, and it laid a great foundation for me to pick up new ideas from BP.

    2Reply
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