Real Estate Investing is Just Like Weight Loss

Posted on March 22, 2009
Filed Under foreclosure real estate investing |

It amazes me how many people get started in real estate investing, only to fail when the going gets tough. As soon as someone discovers they can’t get rich in a week or two, they are on to the next “hidden guru” secret. It’s the same as weight loss - everyone talks about it, many try it, but few succeed. There are thousands of “get rich quick” and “get slim quick” gimmicks. No wonder both the real estate investing information and weight loss products industries make BILLIONS!

Weight loss isn’t easy… ask anyone who has tried it. However, the concept of weight loss is very basic - burn more calories than you ingest and your body will react accordingly. Unless you have a medical disorder, this formula works for just about anyone. Simple as it may be, the formula is HARD, meaning it takes a lot of DISCIPLINE AND HARD WORK. So, the weight loss industry has offered us thousands of ways to make it easier. Many of these solutions do work, but they only work if you put forth effort.

Now, let’s start with the premise you don’t need any of these “solutions” to make real estate OR weight loss work for you. You can eat less calories, go walking or jogging every day and you will lose weight. But, having knowledge of the caloric content of different foods is relevant. Also, for many people, knowing the carbohydrate content is relevant. Having the advice of a physician, dietician and personal trainer will help you prevent injuries and maximum your effort.

Same principle applies to real estate - you can go out and make hundreds of offers to motivated sellers and find a good deal. However, having information about how to solve the seller’s needs and construct an offer will help. Having an attorney, real estate agent or “guru” to assist you with constructing the offer and the paperwork will make it easier. Having advice from other people who have already done hundreds of deals will also make it easier for you to learn from other people’s success (and failures). However, whether it’s weight loss or real estate, the bottom line is not just knowing, but DOING. You can’t blame the diet if you don’t stick to it. Many people have successfully lost weight using the ZONE, WEIGHT WATCHERS, ATKINS and other similar plans. Many people have succeeded with the famous “guru” plans, but many have failed, likely because they didn’t give the required effort, NOT because the plan isn’t effective.

Both real estate investing business and weight loss are simple, but neither is easy. It takes a lot of work. Having a proven “system” or plan helps, but only if you stick to it. If the diet plan says, “exercise 3x times per week”, you can’t be sloppy about it and expect results. It’s like the people reading a book on the treadmill at the gym - if you can read a book, you’re not working HARD ENOUGH. Likewise, people call newspaper ads and say “hey, you wouldn’t want to sell me your house cheap, would you?” This is not DOING it is TRYING. You have to give 100% to a particular plan or formula before you say, “this stuff doesn’t work.”

Many people who are interested in weight loss join a gym or hire a personal trainer. From personal experience, I can say that both are great for weight loss. But, the weeks I didn’t show up, it was a BIG WASTE OF MONEY! The same thing goes for a real estate training system or mentor program - if you don’t put forth any effort, it won’t work! And, of course, you’ll likely get bitter about all the money you spent and blame the guru. After all, it can’t be YOUR fault!

That brings us to another topic - the “scam” side of the real estate and weight loss business. Sure, the “magic pills” that melt off fat are probably a scam. These snake oil salesman are offering the lazy and desperate people a solution - no work and results. Hah! If you bought into this scam you deserve to be parted from your money. Likewise, any real estate guru who promises riches with no work is also a scam. My favorite promise is “no selling involved” - that’s the biggest lie ever told. No business can be successful without a certain amount of selling of their product or service to customers - period! So, while there is a dark side to the weight loss and real estate investing information businesses, I assert that most people fail at both because of their own lack of action, not the fault of the “systems.” If you aren’t willing to work, another weight loss program or real estate seminar won’t get you any more results than you are currently getting - save your money and take MORE CONSISTENT ACTION with what you are currently doing.

However, if you are willing to work hard and take a lot of consistent action, a guru or program will likely give you more results. If you bought a book, course or program and already have results, another program, course or book will likely give you tools to get MORE RESULTS. I often hear about successes people have with my real estate programs, but a lot of them are not FIRST TIME successes. They are most often people who have already been successful, and, using my tools, became MORE successful. If someone asks me whether my program will make them successful, I ask, “what other programs have you bought?” If they have already spend thousands on other programs and have done NOTHING, I discourage them from buying mine. These people are looking for the elusive “holy grail” that all the other programs left out. More than likely, the missing element is lack of action on their part.

If you aren’t willing to take action on a massive scale, you won’t get more results by buying more products. If you have the discipline to work hard and take consistent action, then products and services will help you get there faster. Whether you are looking to get rich or lose weight, the bottom line is YOU!

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Attorney William
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