All Forum Posts by: David Beckley

Hey Charles,

I am big on business plans and mention that frequently in my posts here.  I have a couple different business plan/models, one for flipping and one for cash flow and I make adjustments to them whether class A/B and then for C/D properties. Reason is each category of property , at least to me, has different set of challenges, opportunities and costs so the numbers are different. 

Keep in mind the real costs (financial and stress) of class C/D properties can really add up and devour any anticipated ROI if not careful. Consider playing it safe if you are new to the game.

I'm one of the guilty parties that had a link to my business website. A site that offers lots of content like my Deal of the Month and my Pawn Shop of Real Estate blog. That link generated a measly few thousand a year in consulting fees which I considered reimbursement for the content and time I contributed to this site. I definitely would not count it as profit considering the clients I mainly consulted with are essentially competitors I'm teaching to be better at taking deals from me. 

One could argue that I should use some of that consulting money to upgrade to Pro. I could argue that I answer lots of questions with in-depth responses, have done a podcast, a book launch interview, flew to Denver paying my own transportation and hotel expenses and spoke for 3 hours at the conference (not to mention the time involved in preparation), and have almost 2,000 posts with just as many votes, and answer several emails a week from other members - all at my expense. Let me say that again, ALL AT MY EXPENSE. Heck, I didn't even get a free copy of the book I helped promote, but I did pay for one!

Quite frankly, after reviewing the Pro benefits I didn't find that it was worth the investment for me; I've never downloaded a single file, don't need any analyzer tools, and in my highly competitive market, if I have to post a deal on a public website to find a buyer, well, it's probably not really a deal. In my opinion, Pro is for those who do come here with an agenda to profit from other members of the site. I'm not syndicating, lending, selling any turnkey "deals," conducting seminars, or offering expensive mentoring programs. So, without the ability to slightly promote my small consulting business, I'm much less interesting in investing more of my time in this site adding to the long list of content previously mentioned, which will now assuredly be at 100% of my expense with no opportunity for financial recuperation.

What you've done is boxed myself and many others in. Do I choose to upgrade to Pro in order to promote my consulting business allowing me to recoup my daily investment of time in this site, or do I choose to continue as a basic user showing up here willing to freely give away hard earned experience in what is becoming a more competitive business with tighter margins and keep contributing content? 

I think it really only makes financial sense for me to drop the mic and walk away.