Have you noticed there is an endless list of things you need to learn about buying houses? One of the things I love about this business: you can study 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the rest of your life and never learn everything there is to know about investing in real estate.
I always hear people say they don’t want to learn that much about investing. Most want only to learn one or two techniques that will give them just enough information to start buying houses and making money. These people are looking for a shortcut, but what they don’t realize is this will lead to an average income at best. Most people get excited about learning how to be a real estate investor, then they gain only a couple different techniques and when they don’t get instant results, they move on to the next get rich scheme taught by the future traveling Guru coming through town.
Let’s think about learning as much as you can. Think about what craftsmen and professionals such as doctors, attorneys, certified public accountants, teachers, professors, and every other type of specialist in any profession all have in common; they continually educate themselves to be better at what they do so they can help more people.
How long would a Doctor with only a limited knowledge about medicine stay in business? How long would an Attorney remain in business with only a miniscule understanding of the law? How long would a Certified Public Accountant stay in business without knowing the IRS tax code? Would you want a teacher or professor teaching your children who only have the minimum education required to be a teacher?
Each of those professional people who have a thriving business all have one thing in common: they have spent many years in advanced training to further their education which gives them the specific knowledge they need to stay in business. Let’s face it, if general experience is what it takes to create wealth, doesn’t it make sense that college professors would be the wealthiest people on the planet? But we all know that is not the case.
So what does all of this have to do with investing in real estate?
If you want to be a successful investor, you need to learn and keep learning from the best teachers in the real estate investing business to acquire the specific knowledge you need. I’m not talking about learning from the so-called Gurus; I’m talking about teachers who have spent years in the business, learning how to do deals and create the most income and best lifestyle possible for their families.
The truth is, all of the professional people I mentioned took extra time and effort to be the very best they could be in order to help more people. If you want to be the most successful real estate investor you can be, why would you only learn just enough to get by, ensuring you are only able to make a few dollars but never really become wealthy? To be successful, you need to be the very best you can be, and you can’t rush that process. It takes time and effort, no matter how fast you would like to have the knowledge you desire. The more you know, the more money you can make, and better life you can live.
Your income will be in direct proportion to your level of specialized knowledge in investing. I have been a student of real estate investing for well over 35 years, and I will continue to do so for the rest of my life. Forget about taking the fast track. Be smart, keep learning as much as you can about investing, and never stop. Markets, money, and what the public want is continuously changing, and you need to be able to capitalize in your marketplace regardless of these changes. Start taking only quality training from seasoned teachers who teach different techniques that will allow you to explode your business, as well as your bank account, in the fastest way possible.
