One of my students has been a chef for many years. He contacted me a while ago and asked me to mentor him to become a real estate investor. He would call me regularly as he put together a plan. He was well-prepared. But when it came time to execute, he had trouble actually doing the work.
"It's EASY work," he said, "but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it." He tried again another day and still struggled. "I don't get what the problem is," he said. So we talked further and we made a realization that I thought I would share here because it's possible that some of my other readers also feel the same way.
We discovered that my student wanted to DO real estate investing but didn't SEE HIMSELF AS a real estate investor. To some people, that distinction might not be a big deal but to my student (and maybe to some of my other readers), that distinction is big enough to create a psychological barrier to success.
He agreed that he had all of the skills and tools he needed to be a real estate investor.
He agreed that real estate investing was simple to do.
But he just couldn't bring himself to do it because it felt like it changed who he was. He saw himself as an chef and a husband and a father – the three ways he defined himself for years (and three ways he was very happy being defined as). He didn't see himself as a real estate investor. That was the obstacle for him. By trying to "become a real estate investor" he had created his own psychological barrier because he felt like he wasn't being true to who he was. And he would over analyze the deals to give him a real reason (TO HIM) to back out of the deal and carry on in his day.
So we tried something else. Instead of "becoming a real estate investor, he decided to just do a real estate investing deal. Just one deal... with no expectations for the future.
And within a month, guess what happened?
He did the deal.
Then he was able to follow it up with another deal. And right now, he is working on his third deal.
The difference is all in what he thought about: He wanted to invest in real estate deals rather than become a real estate investor. It might seem like a small difference to some but it was a huge difference to him. That small change in his thinking meant that he didn't feel forced to quit his work as a chef (which he loved). It just meant that he could increase his income by investing in real estate.
Is the same problem holding you back from investing in real estate?
I have always been interested in making deals. So real estate investing is a way for me to be "The DM". It was easy to become a real estate investor because that is part of being a Deal Maker.
And for some of my readers, they see themselves as real estate investors so there is very little that can stop them from doing deals. They attack their first deal with enthusiasm because it's who they are.
But I meet a lot of people who want to invest in real estate yet struggle at doing it... and maybe it's because they face the same obstacle that the student (mentioned earlier in this blog post) faced. Is that you? Do you define yourself as something OTHER THAN a real estate investor even though you want to do real estate investing deals?
I'm going to guess that a lot of you define yourself as something else: A chef, a doctor, a biker, a mom, an art collector, a police officer, a writer, a weightlifter... whatever. And if you define yourself in those ways, you might struggle to become a real estate investor because you don't define yourself in that way.
Here's the good news
You don't need to BECOME a real estate investor. All of the books I write and the resources and training I provide is meant to equip you to do real estate deals but there's no rule that says you have to define yourself as a real estate investor.
If you are struggling to be a real estate investor but you want to do deals, consider this blog post to be the "permission" you need to stop struggling and start succeeding: You don't have to be a real estate investor to do real estate investing deals! You can be a chef, a doctor, a biker, a mom, an art collector, a police officer, a writer, a weightlifter... and still do deals.
How to trick yourself into doing your first deal
If what I've been saying so far in this blog post is resonating with you then here's what you can do to start doing deals:
First, stop trying to be a real estate investor. :)
Instead, just start doing a deal. Don't think of it as your first deal (because that implies that you'll do more deals in the future). Just do the deal. Make it a goal to do a deal. (Hey, even chefs and doctors and bikers and moms do real estate deals). Follow the instructions I give on this site or the step-by-step instructions I provide in my latest book Virtual Real Estate Investing Made Easy.
Click here to learn more about Virtual Real Estate Investing Made Easy
Here's what COULD happen after that
After you do your first deal, you will likely think to yourself "Wow! Well that was easy. I could do that again." And then you might go out and do another deal. And a third. And a fourth. Before you know it, you could potentially be doing deals on a regular basis. And it will seem easier for one reason: Because you are being true to yourself and how you define YOU.
Your friend and mentor,
Mark Evans DM,DN
PS, There are lots of people out there who are struggling with the same limitation of not being able to do deals because they think they will have to stop being themselves and start being real estate investors. Using the social sharing tools below, share this post with people in your network to free them up to do deals! They'll thank you for it!