What's holding you back from achieving your dreams?

I want to ask you a couple of very blunt questions and they could offend you if you looked deeply enough into yourself and discovered answers you didn't like. But trust me when I tell you this it will help you out in the long run.

Question #1

My first question is: How long have you dreamed about success as a real estate investor?

1 week?

1 month?

1 year?

1 decade?

Okay, that question was easy enough.

Question #2

Now the second question: Have you achieved your dream of success as a real estate investor yet?

Everyone who reads this will have an answer that will fall on a spectrum between "Yes" and "No". Some might be avid, successful real estate investors who are kicking it every day. Some readers who dream of the financial freedom that comes with real estate investing but you haven't done it yet. And some (I would say MOST of my readers) fall somewhere in between – perhaps learning and getting educated about how to invest; perhaps struggling to get started on the first deal; perhaps struggling through the first deal; etc. from the paperwork to what to say to the buyers and sellers without messing up.

The simple graphic below illustrates the spectrum I'm talking about, and the blue dots represent the people who might be reading this blog post. Some people will be on the Yes side, some people will be in the middle, and most people will be on the No side because you have not yet achieved your dream of success as a real estate investor.

If you answered the second question with "Yes" then good for you. You've achieved what many have not. However, you'll want to keep reading because the next question is still important to you.

If you answered the second question with "No" or were somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, keep reading because the next question is going to determine whether or not you will EVER be successful…

Question #3

Now the third – and possibly the toughest question yet: What action have you taken to move forward?

This is the toughest question for many people because they dream of success but fail to do the one most important thing and that is to take action. They dream and they learn and they think and they plan. These are all important but they DO NOT take the place of action. If dreaming and learning and thinking and planning lead to action then you WILL be successful. But if they take the place of action then you will not. (I know that sounds like a harsh thing to say but I truly want you to succeed and I want to make it as easy and clear as possible).

My saying is this, “If you worked your Real Estate Business as much as you thought about it, where would you be? “

(And to the people who have achieved their real estate investing goals, keep moving forward! Just because you have achieved your real estate investing goals doesn't mean you are done. Try something new; reach for a higher goal; become more efficient; keep moving forward). We all can improve. This is a constant in life.

Question #4

Here's the fourth question and this one can really help you if the third question revealed that you weren't taking the action you needed to take: What is the one thing holding you back from success?

I'm not saying there is only going to be one obstacle or challenge that is keeping you from succeeding but there is usually one BIG thing that seems to make it difficult to move forward… at least a little bit. If you can identify and solve that one big thing you can take action (at least until you hit the next big challenge… then just ask yourself this question again).

Please don’t be like most and say money is holding you back and or credit is holding you back. They can be an OBSTACLE but they aren't holding you back. You have to dig DEEPER than that. (Make sure to read the PS so I can tell you what the #1 thing that holding real estate investors back from accomplishing their dreams.

Once you have identified the one big thing holding you back, guess what you have: You have the very first action on your to-do list toward becoming successful. Write it down and work on it. Solve it and start moving forward.

Your honest-answers friend and mentor,
Mark Evans DM,DN

PS, I would love to hear what you answered for the 4th question. Please put it into the comments below! I'll choose a couple of them in upcoming posts and give you tips and ideas to help you solve them.

PSS The 1 thing that I see daily from clients is they think that money and credit is the obstacle. Don’t get me wrong. It stinks not to have money and/or credit to get started but I also started with no credit and no cash so you need to not focus on what you don’t have but what you DO have. You must focus on being creative on deals and working daily to get better at it. I didn’t become a dealmaker overnight. So focus on what you do have and not what you don’t have and you’ll make it much further in the real estate business.