Here is what I wish I had differently from the start

Happy Monday!

As we cross over the 6 year anniversary of when I got an offer accepted on my first investment property, I have been reflecting on what I wish I had done differently going back to the beginning of my 6 years of buying, selling, and building a business.

If you haven’t heard my full story before, THIS PODCAST INTERVIEW that I did a few years ago I think is the best break down of my RE Origin story so go check that out if you want to hear the long version.

Long story short I quit my W2 in 2018 without a plan and got into real estate after some soul searching. My initial investment funds came from liquidating a corporate IRA that I had saved from my corporate career.

In the past 6 years, I have flipped and/or wholesaled hundreds of properties and at its peak my RE portfolio was worth about $14m and 58 doors.

I could give the cop out answer of “I wish I had kept every property!” but that’s an unrealistic statement and everyone who says that only feels that way because of the insane boom Real Estate has had in the past few years.

Hindsight is always 20/20, so let’s not use extreme unpredictable situations to give advice to prospective investors trying to figure it out.

So with that being said, going back in time I wish I had spent less time learning Real Estate and Investing, and MORE time learning how to NETWORK and SELL.

Understanding Real Estate has no doubt been very helpful and has allowed me to now make offers and structure deals with a level of mastery that doesn’t happen by accident.

The problem is everyone who knew how to Network and had strong Sales skills back in 2018 is now miles ahead of where I am.

The thing is the soft skills of learning how to sell and build trust are highly transferable to any industry and any economy and allow you to ALWAYS have access to the best opportunities.

Im by no means upset with how my story has gone, but there are peers that were strong with their people skills that have accumulated portfolios in the hundreds of millions and now regularly produce high 7 figure incomes that started about the same time as I did.

So how would I have done this?

• I would have joined my Business focused communities earlier.

• I would have sought out sales training and intentionally worked to practice and grow my sales skills

• I would have attended more meet ups with higher players

• I would have GOT A JOB at a company that encouraged me to GET PAID to develop these skills

• I would have walked LESS properties that I wasnt serious about buying but wanted the “experience.”

Part of this is my engineering personality back then was drawn to the passive work of RE analysis, another part was I didnt know how important human skills were.

Either way, I have no doubt that anyone looking to figure it out should focus on building their network and ability to sell first.

If they can do that, they’ll never have to worry about money or freedom in their life.

Thoughts? Questions?

Hit me up on INSTAGRAM and let me know!

-Mike