What do you believe?

Over the years, I have worked with a very wide range of people who try to get started in real estate investing. I have taught school teachers, other business owners, laborers, housewives, government workers and many more people from many different walks of life. When I have met some of them, I thought that they weren’t exactly the brightest people. Others have blown me away with their intelligence.

I have been told by many people that they just don’t think they could do what I do for a living. They have said that I am just so smart after hearing all the technical issues that go along with some deals. Now if these people saw some of the stupid decisions that I have made over the years, they may have changed their opinion!

The issue is not intelligence. In fact, one of the most successful students I had was probably someone I considered to be one of the people I thought would fail. He was not exactly a very bright person in my opinion. However, he was able to grow his business and get many deals on a constant basis and was able to become financially free and well off in just a few years after starting his business.

On the other hand, I have seen very intelligent people fail miserably at the real estate business. After working with so many different people, I noticed a few things. There are some things that seem to make or break someone’s ability to make the business work.

One of the things that affects someone’s success or failure is their BELIEF system. Now I’m not talking about religion or anything like that. I’ll give you an example. When I was first studying the creative real estate business, I was inspired by the investors that I met online. Although I could see that almost all the people selling courses were just salespeople trying to push their product with hype, I found it very interesting that I was talking to some people who had actually done these “creative” deals.

When I was younger, I had a great interest in anything scientific. I decided that I wanted to get into a scientific or technical job when I entered my adult life. Due to a situation that existing when I was growing up, I ended up having to drop out of high school and was living in my car when I was 16 years old. This was devastating to me since I had straight A’s in school and plans for college.

I spent a number of weeks feeling sorry for myself and not doing anything much. Eventually, I was reminded about a scene from my favorite movie, Superman. There is a scene where a young Clark Kent is at the funeral of his earthly father. He says, “All these things I can do, all these powers…. and I couldn’t even save him”. I began to think about the fact that I always had perfect grades in school. I began to remember the fact that I had set up many different science experiments in my bedroom while kids my age were watching cartoons. I also remembered how when I was studying electronics when I was 13, I would go around and pull old TVs and radios out of trash cans as I went around on my paper route. Because I could not afford to buy electronic components, I would deconstruct these appliances, take out the parts and build whatever project I had devised.

As I remembered these events, I also remembered the fact that I knew nobody else my age who was doing or even able to do what I was doing. I made a decision at that point that I was the most intelligent person I knew and because of that, it was a complete waste of time for me to simply sit around and feel bad for myself. Here I was, waiting for someone to help me or save me from my situation when I should have been using my brain to work myself out of the situation I had landed in.

In the years that followed, I got menial jobs that barely paid enough to keep me fed. I worked labor jobs and low level jobs at restaurants. I had not given up on my idea of working at a technical or scientific job, I had simply allowed myself to be distracted by trying to make a living. Eventually, I began to believe that I truly was able to make this happen, in spite of not even having a high school diploma.

It was that BELIEF that enabled me to move my life in the right direction. Since I could not afford college or technical school, I joined the military to get training in electronics. When I got out, I soon found that few employers valued military electronics training! Instead of letting this stop me from attaining my goal, I started shooting for entry level computer technician jobs. I went on a number of interviews with the strong BELIEF that I simply needed to come into contact with the right person and I would be on my way. Each interview that ended without a job was just one step closer to the attainment of my goal.

Well, it happened. At an interview, I was interviewed by a guy who had been in the Air Force. He knew I didn’t have any experience, but we talked mostly about the military. I got the job! It paid even less than the labor job that I was working at the time, but it was a step in the right direction. Over the years, I worked my way up to higher paying positions. The last job I worked was for the state supreme court, working among highly educated people who all had advanced college degrees, while I did not even have a high school diploma.

The point of all this is that I was able to accomplish a goal that may have seemed impossible given my situation. When I began studying real estate investing, I developed the BELIEF that if someone else was able to do it, I was able to do it as well. This is what I have seen make or break many people. Even with me working right beside them, some do not truly BELIEVE that they can do it themselves. Here’s the bottom line- If you truly BELIEVE you can do it, you can. If you do not BELIEVE you can do it, you’re right about that too!

I was told by many people that it was impossible as I tried to get started. I was told that I did not have any experience or training and was going to fail. Believe me, I made a TON of mistakes, but as long as I held the BELIEF that I was able to make it happen, it did!

I did not share my story to pat myself on the back or say that I am so smart. I shared it because I see it in others again and again. I enjoy mentoring others because I am often able to build the belief in their mind that they are going to succeed, no matter what their intelligence, experience or education. This belief is what actually creates the succss. I still don’t have my high school diploma. What’s your excuse?

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