Is Real Estate Investing Your Passion?

This morning I was a part of a youth mentoring group. Mentoring teens is something I’m passionate about and is something I commit myself to each week. Today we talked about passion and the ability to control your passion for something. In this post I want to focus on the passion for real estate investing.

When I first found out about real estate investing I was immediately attracted to it. I was attracted to:

The Money
The ability to help sellers
The ability to help buyers
The ability to be my own boss
The ability to grow MY own business

Once I learned about real estate, I knew that was it! At that time, I felt there was nothing that could compare; I bought my first real estate course and from the moment I received it in the mail, I couldn’t put it down…

All I kept saying to myself was…This is it! This is it! I finally found IT!

Hours and hours I sat there reading and just imagining myself putting together deal after deal after deal!

During this time, I was growing a family. I was married, had a child, and was trying to decide how I was going to run my business. As I began learning more and more about real estate investing, it was practically all I could think about. In fact, I spent more time on the computer learning and studying than I did with my family. I told myself that I was doing it for them and that I had to commit myself to my business. They would understand right?

Well the fact was that they understood my passion for real estate. However, they wanted more time with me. When my wife pointed this out to me, it hit me hard. Regardless of the fact that I was trying to get this business going I had to truly think about those around me and how they were being affected by my lack of attention. I was lucky enough to catch onto this quick and I began focusing on getting my priorities straight.

Family First!

You have to find that balance. You have to focus on fitting your business into your life and not the other way around. Had I kept going in the direction I was going, it would not have ended well. I would not have been happy and it wouldn’t have been fair to my family. My family’s happiness is crucial to me and I have to remind myself of why I’m really doing this in the first place.

With that said, don’t give up on your passion. Again it’s all about creating that balance. You have responsibilities to take care of when it comes to your family and your business. Therefore, its best to connect with others who can help you with your business while you spend time with your family. Start setting up your business to operate more efficiently by having systems and a team in place.

A true entrepreneur works on their business more than they do in their business.

People will try to deter you from going after your passion and tell you that you don’t have what it takes. When that happens you have to push harder because it is what you destined to do.

Create that balance in your life and live it to the fullest!

To your success,

J. Lamar ferren

ps. How were you first introduced to real estate investing and when do you know that was your passion?

Photo: doug88888

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.