Whenever I hear new and struggling real estate investors and their stories of why they aren’t successful yet… they lay in just 3 categories:

1. Money – They "don’t have enough money" and don’t know where to get it to get going or to get to the next level in real estate.
2. Time – They "don’t have enough time" to put into their real estate investing business… so they don’t know where to start or know where to get the time to take their business to the next level.
3. Knowledge – They "don’t know enough" to get going or to the next level (a terrible excuse).

Those three categories are where 99.9999999% of all real estate investor frustrations fall under. Heck… before I ever bought my first property I just knew that I "didn’t have enough money "… "didn’t have enough time "… and "didn’t know enough " to get going… then I realized that those are pretty sad excuses if I was really committed to making real estate investing work in my life.

Then I realized that those were pretty poor excuses … and that I had to figure out how to get access to money, how to make more productive time in my day for real estate, and to learn what I needed to know to get me to the next step.  Once I did that, I bought my first multi-family property within 30 days.

Here’s What You Can Do…

Really… it’s nothing new or revolutionary that you can use other peoples money to buy real estate or you need to be more efficient with your time management to help you be more productive.   Everyone already knows that… right?

But, we always seem to make it more difficult on ourselves to actually implement those ideas.

What I found that held me back the most that prevented me from buying my first property (when I was 21) wasn’t the money (I was broke, but I was able to get the seller to carry back almost all of the purchase price)… but it was how I managed my time and my focus .

BEFORE I bought my 4 unit apartment building I…

• Was scattered in what I was learning .  I was trying to learn about every single real estate strategy in existence and thought I couldn’t get started until I learned them all (big flaw that leads to failure a lot)
• Spent way too much time thinking about things that didn’t matter … and not enough time thinking about things that would directly lead to my success (this is a biggie)
• Didn’t have my priorities straight.

AFTER I bought my 4 unit apartment building I…

• Realized that from then on I would ONLY LEARN the things that I needed to know to directly move me to the next step. If what I was learning wouldn’t directly help me get to my next goal… I put that book or home study course down immediately.
• Woke up in the mornings with a clear game plan every day for what I needed to get done that day… and how I would do it (waking up productive is hugely important)
• Went after only the things that would get me to my immediate goals and the quickest path to income.

Managing your time is one of the most important aspects of my success today… and I’d still say that I still pretty much waste a lot of time every day.

Instead of learning more real estate investing techniques… focus on ONE goal for the next 60 days … and don’t quit until you reach that goal.

A Quick Action Plan

1. Decide what your most pressing real estate related goal is … and write it down at the top of a blank sheet of paper.  Be specific.  This is the ONLY goal and end that you’re going to be working toward for the next 60 days.For Example: Before I bought my first property I was scattered and didn’t have a specific type of property that I wanted to buy in mind.  So, I decided that I wanted to find a 2-5 unit building that netted me at least $400 a month in positive cash flow… and the seller of the property had to carry back almost the entire note. That’s pretty darn specific… and that’s what I ended up finding and closing on within 60 days from that specific goal.  During that 60 days that ONE SINGLE GOAL is the only real estate related thing I worked toward… I didn’t confuse myself with wholesaling, finding financing, etc.  I knew that if I could find the property in my goal… all of the other details would work themselves out.
2. Decide what specific bits of information you NEED TO KNOW (that you don’t know now) in order to reach that goal.  Again, be specific… and stick to ONLY the things that you absolutely need to know to get it done… not what you "think" you should know… what you NEED to know.For Example: For me, I had done a bunch of reading the year before I bought my property… so I had a decent base of knowledge.  But, what I didn’t really know that I NEEDED to know was how to evaluate a deal quickly and accurately.  Once I could learn that… I knew that I could come up with a purchase price that would ensure profit for me if it was accepted by the seller.So, I went out and asked other investors in my city for their answers and bought a $10 book at the bookstore that taught me a few different ways to analyze income properties.  Remember here, I didn’t have a clue how to get private money, how to wholesale a deal, how to landlord, etc.  But, none of that information is stuff I truly NEEDED to know to get my first deal done.  Ya, it would have been nice to know that stuff… but it wasn’t absolutely necessary for me to get my first deal done.   All I really needed to know was how to analyze a deal correctly… the rest would fall in place once I found a deal that I felt penciled out.
3. Relentlessly go after that ONE GOAL. .. and don’t learn anything new that you DON’T absolutely need to know to get to your one goal.  Seriously, this is what divides the successful people from the unsuccessful.Successful people focus on a specific goal and go after it until they reach the goal (it took me over a year to get to my goal of buying my first property, but I never gave up).  Unsuccessful people pick a goal… work it for a bit, get frustrated… then make up another goal, learn more stuff… etc.  That doesn’t work.For Example: Before I decided to focus on that one goal I was scatter brained and would change goals if I didn’t reach a prior goal within a month or two.  But, once I decided to make a specific goal and work only toward that… it made things a lot easier for me… and I was way more clear headed in the process.

   During the 60 days I didn’t learn another new thing about real estate investing through the internet, courses, books, etc.  I learned how to analyze a deal… and I just went out and started looking at rental properties that were listed on the MLS, for sale by owner, and even ones that weren’t for sale.  And, all I did was just analyze what I had to buy the property for in order to get my $400 a month positive cashflow… and started making offers.  If those offers were rejected, I’d go onto the next deal, and the next… until I finally got an offer accepted.  That’s all I did.  And it works better than you’ll ever know!

Ya, I could have got worried that I had no clue how to:

• Market
• Find tenants
• Be a landlord
• Run a business
• Set up an LLC
• Find software that I could use to manage my rental properties
• Get private money financing
• Negotiate with sellers
• etc.

Really… I had no real clue about any of those things… but really I realized that all of those things were unnecessary to me reaching my goal… BUYING THAT SPECIFIC PROPERTY.

After I bought the property… everything else fell into place and I learned the new skills as I NEEDED to.

So…

Stop thinking that money or knowledge is your problem… IT’S NOT!

Time management and learning how to set your priorities, clearing out the trash in your mind that’s making you unproductive is what’s your problem.

Think hard about your specific SINGLE GOAL… and follow my little action plan for the next 60 days.  It’s easy once you do it.

If you’re trying to wholesale real estate… what’s your specific goal?  And no… "wholesale my first property" isn’t a specific goal… that kind of goal leads to failure.

"Wholesale a property and make $1,000 by (certain date)" is a specific goal.

Now, figure out what you really NEED TO KNOW to reach that goal… not what will make you warm and fuzzy knowing… what you NEED TO KNOW.  I’ll tell you from experience… finding money and financing is not a NEED for wholesaling… it’s a comfort.  Learning how to fill out the documents is NOT A NEED to get your deal done (if you find a true deal… you’ll find someone who knows how to fill out the documents, trust me).

The biggest needs for wholesaling are:

• Learning how to analyze a deal
• Learning how to find leads

From there, everything else will fall into place once you actually find good deals.

A Great Time Management Resource

A few months back I bought a course called "Wake Up Productive " by a guy named Eban Pagen .  This guy is not a real estate investor … he’s an internet entrepreneur who runs a $20 million business.  He knows his stuff.

Anyhow, I bought it with skeptisism … and have been blown away at the simple techniques I’ve learned every week that have helped me be probably 3 times more productive… think way more clearly… have more fun everyday… and overall reach more success and profits.  Actually, I put together a marketing campaign that netted me $6,000 more this month than I would have otherwise (not a joke… real money… just from learning new techniques to be more productive everyday )… because as part of this course I was able to cut through the clutter and learn what was really important to focus on… and what wasn’t.  I was surprised that a few of the things I thought were important… actually were making me a lot less productive.

I’ve bought a lot of time management courses and books over the last 3 years… but this thing blows everything else away I’ve ever seen.  And… it’s in weekly videos so it’s easy to consume (and you don’t have to read anything).

Eban kept some of the free videos online as "samples" … these videos are actual videos that are in the membership area… good stuff.

Take 30 minutes and go through these videos . .. you’ll be able to implement one specific idea that helped me add another 2 hours to my day (productive hours… and I don’t have to wake up earlier).  They do make you opt in to get the videos… but it’s well worth it.  And, you can just unsubscribe after you see the videos if you want.

Check them out … and start to focus as much on managing your time and focus as you have been on real estate techniques… you’ll be glad you did. If I had to recommend one time management course… this would be it.

Let me know your main frustrations with managing your time!  Where are you stuck? Leave me a comment and I’ll see if I can help you pinpoint your 60 day action plan goal.

Here's A Few Related Articles...

• The psychology of a thinker vs. a doer when it comes to real estate investing
• Self Improvement Tip of the Week: Thought is the child of action…
• Self Improvement Tip of The Week – Discover your passion for life…
• Why 95% of real estate investors fail miserably
• See An Actual Real Estate Deal In Progress – Quick Video

Categories: income properties, life success, real estate investing
Tags: eban pagen, Real Estate, real estate investing, time management, wake up productive