All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten...and 365 days w BP

A year ago tonight, as I write this blog, was the day I came across the site. It was likely late, and a weekend night...much like tonight. I found myself falling into a rabbit hole of real estate investing information...a hole that never had an end, or a definitive answer for much as I have learned. Every question had a myriad of answers, every property has too many variables to give ANYONE a clear answer. I have realized I had fallen in love with it as I had Philosophy in college and firefighting as a career. Its not about what you know, its how you apply it you YOUR situation. I was hooked, I am hooked, and I'm not ashamed to say I hook others (as a mentor).

I have been a real estate investor now full-time for one year. Our gross rental income went from 86k (based on two former houses that rented out after moving from) to 141k and if we just fill the properties we already currently own at average rental prices...we will be at $231k gross rental income. Now, I didn't hit my goal of having 25 units under my belt, nor will I by Jan 1. I currently have 18 units and a SF flip in a high end Chicagoland suburb teetering on under contract (we are renegotiating price based on due diligence and discovery findings). I lost out on a 5plex I had to let go because I just didn't agree to terms with the seller after negotiating for over 6 mos (though I still feel they will come back to me) and I have an offer on a 7 plex awaiting a contractor's bid for renovation (but I already have financing for the purchase and renovation from a local bank (if that's not crazy enough for you stick with me). But as I sit and write this, I have five more numbers I have hit and the lessons learned from them will take me far into my investing career. So, as we look towards a new year and look back on the old, I have to ask you, "What are the most influential numbers you have hit in the past year and what's the greatest lesson you have learned from them?"

My income, my net worth, yeah those are all well and good but they aren't the numbers that really matter to me...these are and they come with important life lessons.

1 - I have ONE member, our patriarch, of my investment group fighting for his life after just starting to liquidate his portfolio  (DON'T STAY IN THE GAME TOO LONG)

2- I have TWO employees that I get to learn from and teach everyday (STAY HUMBLE)

3- I have mentored THREE people through Bigger Pockets, one way or another, and have watched one learn the contractor/skill side of the job (he approached me to partner in his fist deal today), one I have seen take information from Bigger Pockets and my suggestion that she roll her interest into a niche business (and is now opening up elder care homes in IA so that our loved ones aren't pushed into nursing homes when they just want to feel "at home" but need a little more help than they will let on), and the third, my newest investor to mentor, has so much prior experience in project management and contractor negotiation experience outside of the business that it drives me crazy wondering what I will be able to help her to achieve. (HELP OTHERS AND GIVE BACK)

4- I spend FOUR days a week with my kids at home. I play and teach them more than I work those days but those are the days I try and keep my professional obligations to a minimum. There's no point of having "Bigger Pockets" if you have a small dead heart that misses out on the most important things in life, what else are we doing this for? (MAKE YOUR FAMILY A PRIORITY AGAIN)

5- I have a team in FIVE different locations. I have a project outside of DC, one in the Chicago Suburbs, one in the Quad Cities IL side and one on the IA side, and one in Clinton, IA (BUILD YOUR BUSINESS AROUND GOOD PEOPLE, NOT JUST NUMBERS)

If this first year taught me anything else it was that you only get what you ask for. So, think big, speak as if you were trying to inspire the room, and always ask everyone you meet if there is any way that you can help them, professionally or otherwise. Those thing all pay off in dividends.