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Forget the Real Estate Courses: Here’s the One Thing Required For Investing Success

Brett Snodgrass
4 min read
Forget the Real Estate Courses: Here’s the One Thing Required For Investing Success

This week I want to share something on my heart with you that I believe to be very important.

Since I’ve been contributing on BiggerPockets, the connections I’ve made have been really powerful and insightful. I value all the personal questions and commitments I’ve been getting, so I don’t want to come across as mean or insensitive. Definitely keep them coming!

But a few times now, I’ve had new aspiring investors approach me asking if I offered a coaching or educational course that they could purchase. As it stands right now, I’m not in a place to sell a course like that, and when approached, the phrase, “Can I buy your course?” really struck an unsettling chord in me.

You see, there is a difference between the real estate industry and the information industry.

With the latter, you make money by the continual regurgitation of content and typically strive to have your audience in continual consumption of that content. In other words, I as the “guru” go and learn the secrets of a given subject, industry, craft, etc. and then turn around and teach them to you for a fee.

That’s not the industry I’m in, and in a lot of ways, I’m not the biggest fan of it, either. The truth is, I love giving away free information and being a helping hand within the real estate industry. I’m an investor and wholesaler, not an internet marketer.

One of the reasons I love BiggerPockets so much is that they offer their greatest value (equipping you to begin investing in real estate) 100 percent free and then simply provide an upgraded membership for access to extremely useful tools that give support to that. So, when I was asked for my “course,” I realized something I’ve seen a lot through the years, and I wanted to address it here.

You Don’t Need A Course, You Need Action!

If we take a moment and we look at the health and wellness industry, there are tons of fad diets, tips, tricks, industry secrets, etc., and a lot of people will switch from one to the next without results.

Related: Stop Dreaming & Start Doing: How to Turn Big Real Estate Goals Into Actionable Steps

The real estate “educational” industry is the same. There are tons and tons of courses out there, and a lot of people get the shiny object syndrome and continually buy and buy without ever actually using real estate to turn a profit.

But at its core, both losing weight and real estate are actually pretty simple: Eat less, exercise more; buy cheap, sell for more (or rent it out if you’re a buy-and-hold investor).

A lot of these courses are pretty much the same information, and you want to know something shocking? The only difference between people who make real estate work and people who don’t is action.

You can spend the rest of your life reading books, buying courses and studying, but you never fully “get it” until you put your hand to the plow and start making things happen.

You don’t need the latest and greatest industry “secret.” You need to do what works consistently over time.

Don’t Get Distracted

Lately, I’ve been reading a book called The One Thing by Gary Keller, and it’s honestly changing my life!

The whole premise of the book is that in business we have way too many distractions, so we need to learn to tune out the noise and focus on one thing at a time — and crush it.

My brand is called “Simple Wholesaling” because I do all I can to run my business in simplicity.

The guru world will try to give you just enough information to get you hooked so that you’ll continue to buy their “latest and greatest secret.” The truth, though, is that there is no latest and greatest secret. There are just investors who take action and those who don’t.

Just implement! Learn what you can and work with what you’ve got, and take ACTION.

Am I saying never buy a real estate course? No way! There is definitely some gold through all the dirt in the real estate “education” industry, and realistically, most of the courses you buy will work (some better than others), but the key is you have to be like the Nike commercial and “Just do it!”

I have a little saying that goes, “What’s easy to do is also easy not to do,” and what I mean by it is, though a lot of things are simple, in many ways, they are a struggle for us too.

Related: Why the Small, Seemingly Insignificant Actions You Perform Daily Are VITAL to Your Success

When we look at weight loss again, how many of us know what to do to lose weight but always procrastinate and put off the actions that lead to our desired result? All I’m saying in this post is that it’s a lot easier to feel busy by buying a course, rather than actually taking steps to making your real estate business a reality.

Like the book says, “What is your one thing that you can do today to reach your goals?” You should ask yourself this question every day.

Is This Your Hobby Or Your Business?

To finish all this up, I want to ask you a question: Is real estate your hobby or your business?

Hobbies are things that cost you money and things that you might do a couple times a week.

A business makes you money and is a daily part of your life.

If all you do is dream about it and learn about it, you won’t get there, friend! You have to skip all that, and just go after it. Today, I want you, right now, to stop what you’re doing and go tackle one major step toward growing your real estate business.

Then once you’ve done it, come back and share it in the comments section.

What ONE thing will be your next step in achieving your real estate goals?

Let me know with a comment!

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