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I’m very thankful that I’m not in the business of selling books and tapes to unsuspecting people who think they can get something for nothing, and not have to work to build a successful business. On the contrary, I run a real estate investment club of passionate students and true entrepreneurs who REALLY want to be successful, and not just talk the talk. That affords me the great luxury of being able to tell the TRUTH about real estate investing, and not just blow smoke up people’s posterior in order to get them to drop an Andy Jackson on one of my “starter courses”.
As a part of that “truth-telling” which I am somewhat infamous for, I have been sharing with my readers and students the “5 Things You May Not Know about Real Estate Investing”. In the first two installments of this series, I discussed the fact that real estate investing doesn’t always go exactly as planned, and it is not always as easy as they say on the late-night TV infomercials. The third thing that you “might not know” about real estate investing, is that it does take SOME money to become an investor.
Now don’t get me wrong…there are more strategies than you can shake a stick at to BUY (or control) REAL ESTATE with none of your own money. You can use private money, hard money, transactional funding, sandwich lease options, take over a mortgage subject-to, joint venture, wholesale, owner finance, and the list goes on and on. But I’m not talking about BUYING real estate. I’m talking about GROWING a sustainable business that can make you extremely wealthy in the years to come.
Far too often, those who buy into the TV infomercial pitch are on their very last dime, and barely able to keep the power turned on. Why do you think these infomercials are aired late at night? It’s because depressed, desperate, and broke people oftentimes can’t sleep…and spend their insomnia hours flipping through the channels hoping for a solution to their problems. The only problem is that they mistakenly think that buying the course is the last step in the journey towards financial freedom. They quickly discover, however, that it’s simply the first step…with a lot more work and personal investment required in the form of time, energy and resources.
I’m not here to try and make a quick $50 off of your fears, so I can give it to you straight. The fact of the matter is that it WILL take some working capital to get your business off the ground. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money, but you will need to set aside some of your monthly surplus to INVEST in some marketing, print a few business cards, and get yourself in a position to WIN in your new business.
It’s amazing to me how many people I have met over the years who were willing to run up TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars in student loan debt, to get a degree that only earns them $40k/year, but they won’t spend a few hundred dollars to get their investing business up and going, though it can earn them infinitely more. They tell me how they’ve been TRYING to get into investing for months, and when I ask them what they’ve done to GENERATE leads…they just stumble over their words and don’t have a coherent answer.
The truth of the matter is, you CAN buy real estate with no money down. In contrast, you CAN NOT grow a successful real estate investing BUSINESS, without setting aside some seed money and maintaining a consistent marketing budget. However, if you “do the right things over time” and will consistently invest in your marketing and education, you will be miles ahead of the competition…and well on your way to achieving your investing and entrepreneurial goals.
Now, it’s your turn to talk. How much do you think is a good start-up budget to market for motivated seller leads? What has given you the best “bang for your buck” in the past? What do you think is the MOST IMPORTANT thing to spend money on when first launching a new business? Comment below, and let’s start a conversation…
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It takes time , drive and persistence to be successful. You must invest in yourself by taking action. I have been doing investing for a long time and it has paid off. Tomorrow at 4:00pm I am closing on two very nice properties and paying cash for both. Just keep working and networking and it will payoff in the future in a big way .