Action Plan

I am proud that my sister is following in my foot steps and has acquired her own real estate investment education package. She been taking her courses and putting it into practice. Recently she came to me and asked "Melanie, how are you making it work? What are you doing?".

The strategy that works best for me to have success in my real estate business is my Action Plan that was at first put together for me by my mentor. So to help her move forward with her business I put together a presentation explaining how to put together a strong action plan.

I would like to help you in your real estate business as well so I am making this presentation available to you as well.

All you need to do is click here and fill out the access form. There is no fees, and I will not be sharing your email with anyone else.

Education And Continuing Education

If you know me or have followed my blog at all, you know that I have invested a lot of time and money towards my education. My investing education that is. My husband and I started our investing career by taking extensive courses on the stock markets as well as real estate investing.

Success can be achieved without a formal education. You can learn to invest through experience. In fact even if you start with a more formal education, you still need experience to succeed. Its a necessary step. I have come across many successful investors that obtain their level of success on experience alone. They would come across and complete one deal. Then they would repeat the process. They would learn new things along the way that they can apply to their investment strategies. Slowly they build a portfolio of investments and are doing quite well.

So why didn't we do it the experience way? Well for one, I lacked the motivation to start and the knowledge to even know it was possible. My education first opened my eyes to the possibilities. I had a preconceive notion that investing in stock and real estate was out of my league. So I never attempted to invest. I concentrated more on getting a job and saving, which I now know wouldn't have gotten me very far. Mostly if you take in consideration the crippling injury my husband would sustain along the way.

Also, the time frame to reach success without formal training is much, much longer then through education. You only learn the lessons when you come across them. You only learn what not to do after you've done it. And if the mistake wasn't too costly, you can keep on going. I have paid a lot for my education, but the truth is that those who have learned by trial and error have paid more then me.

Remember, my education also comes from trial and error; but they come from someone else doing the trial and error and I learn from their experience. I can avoid pitfalls and costly mistake. I also get a vast source of information right from the get go. Experience and action are still required to reach success, but the path as been paved ahead of me making the process that much easier.

A good thing about formal education, is that you can acquire it at any time and at any stage of your investment career. The more experience you have the more habits you will have formed and you may need to change a few of them. Your ego may be your biggest obstacle. However, isn't it comforting to know that it is never too late.

I am of the belief that we are never done learning. The minute you quit learning is also the time you will quit growing. Rules are forever changing and there is always room for improvement. So it is important to dedicate a certain amount to education all throughout your investing career. It is true that a larger portion should be dedicated to education in the beginning when your knowledge is more limited, but as your expertise grow, you should still dedicate to learning.

There will be a time, when you have acquired a good foundation to your investing knowledge that you should start branching out into other topics not as directly related to investing. Such as business, accounting, sales, and so on.

In fact, now that I have taken almost every course available to me on the topic of real estate investing and stock investing; I have started branching out in educating myself in other aspect of my business.

I have started a course on branding and marketing. Now that I have the skills to invest in real estate, I need to concentrate on finding investors and joint venture partners. I need to learn how to find them, how to make them see the value in my investment opportunities. I am really enjoying this course and see tremendous value in it. I am also glad that I didn't try to add in on sooner. It was important to first develop my skills and then grow my brand.

I am also taking a course on sales and negotiation. Some people are natural sales people, like my sister for example. But I lack her skills in that department. Sales and negotiation doesn't have to be a skill you were born with, it can be learned. This courses is a big eye opener for me. I have a very nurturing personality so pushing for a sale is very hard for me. In fact I would have trouble getting to the topic of sale at all. I had a wrong perspective on this. I saw a sale as me winning, when in fact it is to my investors/partners advantage to get involve in the deal. I just also happen to benefit as well. I was of a thinking that if someone was a winner the other was the looser.

I have also added trainer's courses. This class teaches me to train and present. At this time, my speaking engagement are not the main focus of my business, but training always was. I am not teaching investment to the masses at this time. I do however need to educate my realtors on the strategies I am using. I need to educate sellers on the benefit of a VTB (vendor take back). I need my mortgage broker to understand the process of a Lease Option (rent-to-own) and how to do it properly to protect all the parties involved.

I have learned that the way I perceived the information I am presenting can be very different from the way it is received. You want to present the information in such a way that the receiver is always with an open mind. If you trigger a concern, your message is no longer going through. For example, if someone approaches me and says "How would you like to make more money?" my brain screams MLM SCAM and I quit listening. There is a technique and path to follow to get the message through without triggering a gut reaction that way.

My new education is fascinating. It is not investing related per se but it is very valuable to my business. I do have a lot on my plate with these courses and it unfortunately have kept me away from blogging. Think however of all the more information I will have to share with you, so that you too may benefit from my knowledge and help grow your business.

What Is The Desired Result?

A Fresh Re-Start:

2013 was when I decided to fully concentrate on real estate, as a part of that I started this blog and published my first post. My intention was to blog about different topics, once a day. I am pleased with the information that was made available through my blog but as you may have noticed my last entry was in November 4th 2013.

It is time to re-evaluate.

I find the best way to figure out what needs to be done is to concentrate on the desired result. What am I looking to accomplish with this blog? What do I want out of it? That is right, I have a motive. It wouldn't be worth all my effort and time commitment to maintain this blog if I was not getting something in return. I look to obtain mostly four things out of this blog.

• Networking: I'm a mother of young boys living in a remote area. Although I am well aware that in real estate investing, networking is key; my lifestyle doesn't easily support evening network events. So this blog as become my indirect network tool so that fellow investors can connect with me on some level. Can you feel the connection yet?
• Educating: Anyone who is going to invest in real estate should have a certain level of education on the subject to do so safely. Not only is it important for myself to be educated in real estate investing but I believe that my financial partners should be as well. They need to be able to interpret the deals I am presenting to them so that they can see the value and be confident and comfortable to move forward with investing with me.
• Learning: Posting on this blog is forcing me to keep up to date with my own education. It makes me learn the lessons in the experiences I am confronted with. It makes me seek the necessary information I need to move forward and to do so well enough that I can turn around and teach it to someone else. That is when you know the information you are learning as being fully absorbed.
• Offer Support: I am a real estate investor, just like you. The hurdles I have come across, you probably will as well. The information I have needed will most likely be useful to you as well. So although blogging is a great benefit to me, it can also be a great benefit to my fellow investors like you.

Now that I am clear with the results I want from this blog, one obvious thing comes to mind. I can not maintain daily blogging. It takes away from the time I need to dedicate to my business and to my family. And lets be honest, do you really read my blog each and every day? I didn't think so. I can still provide the same level of quality information at a slower pace and that will allow you more time to absorb. Going forward I will try to blog once weekly.

Q&A:

The Q&A's have provided amazing insight for me, and I trust is as for you as well. However due to the high cost of the meeting software I was using, I could no longer offer the service for free; and I was uncomfortable collecting a fee for it. 

The Q&A's had such great value that I also do not wish to drop the whole concept. So going forward, the Q&A will be continuing (YAY!!) but they will no longer have a live component. I will ask that you submit any questions, and a video or interactive presentation will be made available to view here along with the other past archives.

Step On It:

Monday was back to school for us. After weeks of having taken advantage of the easy schedule with no  pressing reason to get out of bed (for myself, my husband was still hard at work with the farm); it was time to set the alarm again. I woke without too much grumbling and got the kids up, the lunches made and sent them off to the bus. I sat on the couch, and contemplated my options for the day. Should I watch some TV? Tidy the house? Go back to bed? Go back to bed was a definite favourite.

However, before I could put that great plan into action, I got a text from a fellow real estate investor with which I have informally formed a working partnership. The text said "Happy New Year! Are you good to go this morning?" With my warm bed calling my name I almost wanted to reply "Ugh NO!" But instead I said "Sure, I'm good to go". I am very grateful to her for having reach out and restart my momentum, it would have taken me quite a bit longer.

Without momentum, I wouldn't have actions, and without actions, I wouldn't have results, and without results there is no success.

The first thing we did when she arrived was to evaluate our current situation, we then reassessed our goals and set a plan of action. This was not complicated or over formal, we kept it quite simple. Took notes in a notebook and only after realised we had accomplished all those tasks.

• Evaluate Current Situation: We discussed ongoing deals, which stage it was at and what was left to accomplish.
• Reassess Goals: We discussed which strategy we had been concentrating on and if that was still were our interest reside.
• Plan of Action: We started listing off what we needed to accomplish, which task to do now and which would be for during the week and so on.

Just like that the momentum is started and picking up speed. I hope you get yours going as well if you have also slowed to a stop over the holidays.

Happy New Year!

Step On It: Taking Action

A few weeks ago, while discussing training packages, I had someone tell me that although money was no issues he would not make any decisions at this time since he didn't not want to make an emotional decision and he would think about it.

It is probably a good thing he didn't commit to purchasing. Since he is unable or unwilling to take action on the spot, he would probably be a terrible real estate investor.

Let me explain. The advantage I have over other potential buyers is that I can provide an offer on a property
I'm looking into within a half hour. It increases my chance to be the first offer received and accepted. If other offers comes in afterwards, it's already under contract. Also, realtors took notice of my quick trigger offers, and would start sending me pocket listing to me. It's to their advantage to try and get an offer in place before they go through all the problem of listing on MLS. I can also take action on the raw information, I don't need to wait for the pretty package.

The reason I can do this with little risk is because of the exit clauses I have in place. Those are my safety nets, my protections.

In the case of the training package; he also had is exit clause in place. The contract included a ten days right to cancel and a satisfaction guarantees.

Step On It: The Benefit Of A Loosing Deal

I learn in every deal that I am involved with. Not the only the ones that I have closed on or the ones that have worked out the best. In fact the deal on which I have learned the most, we never manage to close on it.

On this particular deal, we tried to arrange a wholesale, which turned into a potential joint venture partnership. From that partnership we were exposed to different negotiating tactics and creative financing. When one strategy didn't work we tried a different one, following our potential joint venture partner.

It as thought me how to look at one deal in multiple different ways. As a Buy/Rent/Hold to a Wholesale and so on. It was the same with financing. By that time we had always purchased our property by personally qualifying for the mortgage and providing the down payment which had being 20%. In this particular deal the property was an eight plex so we would have needed 35%.

The first thing we where exposed to was that the vendor was willing to hold a VTB for a portion of the purchase price. In the eye of the bank, they still would only provide me with 65% but from the purchase price less the VTB lowering significantly my deposit. Unfortunately at the time we didn't have access to that amount of money. Which made us entertain other financial strategies.

In the end, we ended up holding the property under contract for nearly four months and we weren't able to come up with a suitable solutions in a timely fashion and we ended up cancelling our contract. A week later, I was discussing the deal with a fellow investor and on the spot he offered to purchase it from me as a wholesale deal.

Since we were concentrating on purchasing the property we had stopped considering wholesaling it. Had we kept that as an option all along; we could have wholesale it out.

"When in doubt, Wholesale it out" - wise words from my trainer

Well I can now say, that is one lesson we have now learned.

You may enter into a bad deal, or struggle with a deal just to have it dissolve in your hands unable to close on it. If you take the time to learn the lessons that deal as to offer, it was well worth your time.

Step On It: Growing

It's easy to stop and stick to a strategy we have mastered when learning real estate investing. It takes a constant commitment to continue to grow.

Step On It: Record Keeping

The only way to know how your business is doing is to have updated record keeping. For me, record keeping includes the bookkeeping as well as keeping track of all the details for each properties we own.

For our rentals, I keep a spreadsheet with the details of the tenants, the rent collected, all the expenses and the debt repayment. I keep such a spreadsheet for each property for each year. As my property managers send me their report, I transfer the information of the income they have collected and the expenses they where in charge of. I keep most expenses in my control but the management fees and any maintenance fees I leave in their care. Before any major maintenance they contact me with a quote for approval. This system works for me, since I keep the control. Should I ever list one of my properties to sell, I have all the information ready to go.

The struggle is to keep on top of it. It is easy to get behind and to just randomly update our records. I'll admit that is a struggle for me. With work, and kids and life in general it's easy to put this on the back burner.

So I'll make a half way through the year and then some resolution. I shall catch up to my record keeping and maintain it. The kids are about to go back to school, I'm hoping having days to myself will enable me to catch up.

Step On It: Follow Up

I don't know about you but I hate to pester people to follow up with something I've already contacted them on once. Makes me feels troublesome. But follow up is a very important part of a real estate business. There can be a lot of missed opportunity if we do not bother to follow up. I guess I will just have to get over being bothersome.

A big part of my real estate system is requesting the income and expenses on a property and sending in offers. I send request on so many that I need to keep a database to keep track. Once I receive the information back I contact the realtor with the details of my offer. If the gap between my offer and asking price is too big, I still send an email explaining where my first offer would be and explaining that I am aware that we will probably not come to an agreement.

This is where the following up starts. When I receive information on a property I change the status on my database from "requested #'s" to "sent offer" or some other comment depending on the situation. I need to also keep track of which properties I have not received the required information. For those properties I call the listing agent. My email as already gone unanswered so I do not bother to email again at this point.

Sometimes when I send my request for further information, I am made aware that an offer as already being accepted. I take note of this on my database. These are the ones that really needs to be followed up on. I normally asked for the date when the final condition is to be lifted. Shortly after that date I contact the realtor again, this time probably by email and inquire about the status of the sale. If the deal fell through, as they often can, this is a great position for me to step in with my offer. In fact I have gotten some of the best properties under contract using this method.

Step On It: Maximize Your Education

Financial education for most of us comes in our adult life. I don't mean learning the value of money here, I'm talking about seeking financial freedom. Most of the population will not seek out this type of education. If you are reading my blog, you are different. You are seeking further education to obtain financial freedom.

There are many courses and webinars out there dedicated to financial education and investing. As you may be aware, I reached out to Rich Dad Education to grow my knowledge on financial freedom. Regardless of the method you choose, we are all exposed to the same hurdle. We are adult students.

In my past life, I was a pharmacy technician. I came at a point in my career where to move forward I would have to upgrade my high school education and proceed to a more advance pharmacy technician program. At one point I decided I would give it a try and enrolled for a correspondence biology course. At that stage in my life I was married with two toddlers. Finding time to dedicate to studies was very hard for me. When I did sit down with my text book, the distraction proved to be too great for my learning success. I never did pass that course.

Sometimes, we have younger attendees at the three day basics. Whether it is real estate or stocks, the young teenagers will answer questions that are asked to the group correctly before everyone else in the room (the adults). Kids are little sponges and can absorb a vast variety of information much better then adults can.

So how, as adult students, can we ensure we will get the most of this education we are seeking out later in life?

You may come across a great teacher and your learning experience will be effortless. If the presenter is not to par, you should be able to still make sure you get the most of the information provided. Or if your source of learning is directly from books, you will have to take a few extra steps with the information you are getting to truly get the most of it.

The 8 Learning Principals:

1- Multi-Sense Learning: When two or more senses are used.

Confucius says:
I hear and I forget
I see and I remember
I do and I truly understand

 When getting access to new information, may it be from a presentation to a book, be sure to get access to the information in multiple ways. Take notes when a presentation is verbal. If reading a book, read out loud to also hear what your eyes are seeing. Most of all, put to practice what your are learning.

2- Active Learning: Learning by doing. When actively involve in our learning there is a greater learning and application. For example, problem solving, discussion, case studies. Put to practice what you are learning to the events around you, present of past.

3- Primacy and Recency: We have a tendency to remember more the first and the last part of any sessions. Introduction and summary are vitally important for learning.
To maximize your learning you can cut up your exposer to the material, this is called "Chunking". Lots of mini sessions aid memory. If the presenter is not doing this for you; in between those session create your own introduction (summarizing what you learn in the previous session) and at the end of you session create a summary (what you learn in the session you have just completed)

4- Feedback: The learners and the presenter needs feedback to ensure that the material is been understood. When in an interactive session (live webinars or live classes) be sure to provide feedback. Participate to the questions and discussion to make sure you are properly absorbing the information that is been presented. When learning from a book feedback may be a little harder, but when summarizing the portion you just learn; feel free to reread the passage that may not be clear to you.

5- Reward: We all feel better if our efforts are rewarded. Training must include tangible results to feel positive and satisfied. This set up a virtuous cycle for learning. Be sure to take the time to take notice and to reward your success.

6- Practice and Repetition: Memory requires repetition; practice and recall of the material. The doing is such a big part of the learning process. If you are not going to do the doing, you may as well forgo the learning. When reading, I really enjoy the books that have the action list at the end of each chapter. When an action list is not made available to you may they be your books or other form of learning, be sure to create your own.

7- Meaningful Material: You will learn best when the material is relevant and can be utilised in practical ways. Be sure you expose yourself to the education that you are seeking to reach your goal. I was at the library today and noticed a book titled "A Canadian's Guide To Saving Money". I didn't pick up that book. I am not interested in learning to save, I'm seeking to learn how to invest my money to make it grow.

8- Holistic Learning: Get the context on the big picture and then specific details will provide a logical framework of thinking. Our mind will be better equipped to properly store specific information when it know where that information will fit in the grand scheme of things.

Humans are social creatures and have a need to belong within a social setting. When a course is well prepared, they will take the social aspect of their course in consideration and it will fit into the curriculum. If not, be sure to take those task upon yourself to get the most of your experience.

• Introduce yourself
• Participate to group activities
• Take advantage or outside socialising opportunities

We need to be comfortable to learn effectively. But too much comfort could also make us drowsy. In a larger group setting it is hard to keep everyone comfortable. So take a few steps to ensure your comfort to maximize your learning. Dress in layers so that you can keep comfortable no matter the room temperature. Bring snacks and drinks so that you are not distracted by hunger and thirst.

Try to keep distraction to a minimum if you can. You will probably not learn a lot from a book in front of a TV with your favourite show on.

Looking back now, I can see why I struggled so much with my biology studies. I exposed myself to one form of learning, the text book and the distractions where great and it was information I did not put to practice. With the Rich Dad Education classes, the information was made available to me in different stages and in different mediums with lots of hands on practice. My learning from those classes were very successful. 

Step On It: Step One, Buyers List

Have you heard the saying "Your Network Is Your Net Worth"? You may have also heard, "When In Doubt Wholesale It Out". Those are two great statements. As a real estate investor, you will in fact be more successful if you have a large network. The bigger your network the easier it will be to wholesale your properties that may not meet your criteria.

So it is only natural that your first step when starting to invest in real estate is to build your buyers database. It's not enough to just collect business cards. You need to get the contact information, as well as the fellow investor's type of deal they concentrate on, the area where they are looking to invest, price range and criteria. From now on, every time you meet with a new investor, ask these questions so that you have an idea of where they fit. Write those details on the back of their business card. Once you get home, add their information to your database, and send a quick email re-introducing yourself referring to where you met.

The best way to collect fellow investor's card is at network meeting, investment groups, advance real estate classes, and so on. The problem with this is that sometimes you will end up with a lot of sellers and not always a lot of buyers.

So where can we find real estate investors that are interested to buy. How about investors that are already owning real estate properties? One of the best way to find those investors is with "For Rent" signs. You can do this  in any area, doesn't have to be local. So since I've been looking into multi units in the Maritimes, having potential buyers in that area would be my best option, should I ever need to wholesale a property.

Step On It: Are You Getting Good Help?

I don't know about you, but my first relationship lasted much longer then it should have. In fact if we would have been honest with each other we wo'uld have realized much earlier that we simply were not right for one an other. But we tend to hold on and put unplaced or unearned loyalties in new relationships. As real estate investors, we must rely on a lot of relationship with many people. Our realtors, lawyer, accountant, joint venture partners, mentors, and so on.

Of course, we interviewed a few different realtors, lawyers, accountant, etc. or we were suppose to. Once we select one, a lot of us will feel obligated to be loyal to there services. If they are doing a good job, no problem. Carry on as usual. The problem arise when things start going wrong.

Now, I would like to think that if a major mistake is done by someone in our power team, we would all move our business elsewhere. The truth is a lot of us would not. They would provide an excuse and we will accept it. Giving second chance, maybe a third. The key is, when someone on our power team starts showing incompetence, we should take action and avoid having their lack of know how cost us any more money in the long run.

So how can we find out if our power team is competent. Well let's start by making a list of all the skills each employed individual should have and then rate them. For example, a realtor should be quick, mostly when requesting numbers and sending in offers. How are they doing? If by doing this exercise you realize that someone on your power team is not quite to par, you have three options. Replace that person with someone better. Teach and train that person to fit your needs. Or change nothing, the problem with this option is that things may just get worst as time pass and it should not be an option as all.

In the event of your mentor, make sure that the person mentoring you is actively doing what you seek to learn from them and that they are successful at it. They will have done mistakes along the way but if they do not learn from them, they will not be able to teach you how to avoid them as well.

Loyalty is a great thing, but it should not come to the expense of our success.

Step On It: Routine & Repetition

Today I went to Chuck E Cheese with the boys. As always they had a blast and as always I spent way too much on tokens and crappy pizza. But it's all part of the fun and we make sure to make it a periodic at best trip. It's a treat.

While I was there, a man was playing on the arcade game named Skee-Ball. It's kind of like bowling were the ball will land in different holes which are places strategically. The smaller hole that award the most point is the smallest in the most hard to reach  spot. The points awarded varies from 1000 to 10,000 depending on the hole the ball lands in. If your total score was above 43,000 points; you would get a hundred tickets that can later be redeemed for toys.

This man would put in his tokens and sets himself up and would proceed to throw each ball at the same angle in the same manor and at the same speed, to the best of his ability. Over half of the ball he threw would land in that 10,000 hole. Impressive!!! Having played this game when I was younger I can admit I have NEVER gotten a ball in the high score hole. I would have taken a video to show all of you, but it is my experience that strangers do not appreciate random people taking videos of them.

This man perfected his technique until he was able to get his ball into the 10,000 hole. Once he figured that out, he repeated the same process again and again and again, getting the desired result again and again and again. We both, from the look of it spent, the same absurd amount of money on tokens today. But he ended up with a lot more tickets then we did. Now I am not jealous, those tickets gets exchange for toys that can be easily bought at any Dollar Store for a fraction of the money that we spend on tokens.

I'm mentioning this in this post to discuss the power of routine and repetition. A month or so ago I posted about creating a system. Once that system is in place, maintaining it with a steady routine and repetition will ensure that you constantly get the desired effect and success. Once it become a habit, and the more practice you get at it; it becomes second nature and the results become easier to obtain.

Ok simple, create a routine, form a new habit. Right!  Easy for me to say.

Well here are some tips from the research I did. By now, if you have followed the recommendation from my post, create a system, you have a good idea of needs to be done.

Now you need to decide on timing. Most people have greater energy for creative thinking in the morning since self controls depletes as the day wears on. This would be the time of day you want to dedicate to critical thinking tasks and trouble shooting.

Midday tends to be when the energy and coffee high dissipate. This would be the time of day to designate to boring routine stuff. Answer emails, file, data entry or even run errands.

Evenings is where you would plan for the next day. Create your to do list, complete the get ready tasks for the morning (lunches, lay out clothes, etc), and declutter for a fresh start in the morning.

Now if you are a night owl, of course you would rearrange your timing to fit your need. The same for other activities that may take president, work, family time and so on.

It takes 21 days to make or brake a habit. That means for 21 days, when establishing a new routine, your old routine is fighting you. It WILL be uncomfortable. Start small, commit to your new routine for 4 days. Everyone can commit for 4 days. On day 5 evaluate what you have done, how is the process working out. Then make an other commitment, this time for a week. Now it's been 11 days. By this time you should start seeing progress towards your goals. Things should be starting to come together. Make an other commitment for an other week. 18 days down now, only 3 to go to make this new habit permanent. At this time, evaluate the life style. Is this something that is working out for you? Is it still a struggle to commit and stay motivated? If so, you may need to consider if this is really the life style for you. If your why is clear and strong enough, the thought of the next three days and beyond are not even on your mind.

Well good luck with implementing this new routine. Wish me luck as well as I do the same.

Step On It: Procrastination & Distractions

We are in the middle of summer break now and I don't know about you but with the kids at home, the nice weather outside, and to top it off a trip to the library and bunch of new books to read; my attention is not staying on the proper task at end. Distractions are abundant and I'm procrastinating my little heart out.

So I decided for this blog to research ways to keep on track and to share it on here for my fellow procrastinators. Here are the keys I've come across.

1. Set Achievable Goals: Take the to do list, if you don't have one put together yet, create your to do list. Now break it down. For example on my list I have do the bookkeeping for the Inc's and the farm, To break it down I can have for different task; sort the receipts, sort the invoice, scan bank statements, etc. Now focus on the daily task. You can only work one day at a time.

2. Attain Solid Focus: Set a specific amount of time for a task, small enough that it can be accomplish without stopping. Before you do this, make sure everything else that could interrupt is taken care of. In my case that would be to make sure that my kids are fed (if near meal time) and entertained and that the kitten is also fed. Then go at it. For example, I could say for the next 60 minutes I will work on the research for my next post on this blog. Have a specific schedule, include break times.

3. Proper Motivation: Once works fall in priority it can become a chore, and we lose interest altogether. You can try to keep yourself interested by challenging new ideas for your work. But some important task are simply boring to do, but they still need to be done. In that case try to find motivation to complete a task that is uninspiring by setting up a reward after it is accomplish. For example, after I finish sorting through all the receipts I will ... read the next chapter in my book... have a snack... play a quick game on the computer. Whatever it is that will motivate you.

4. Get Plenty Of Sleep: If you are running on no sleep, distraction will seem more soothing for the tired mind. Being sleepy is it's own form of distraction. You will not be able to stay focus and on task if your eyes keep closing. When you know you have a day that you want to dedicate to work, turn in early the night before.

5. Unplug: Stay offline. There is nothing more distracting then facebook and email. Mostly since they beep at you to get your attention. It is amazing the amount of time that can be lost checking status updates. It's not enough to simply say "I just won't check it for a little while". Close the window, you can sign on again when the task is completed. In fact that could be your reward for motivation.

6. Share Your Progress: One way to keep yourself focused and highly motivated to complete your task if to commit to sharing your progress with others. Do this with someone who is doing the same thing as you so you can report to each other. You wouldn't want to have nothing to report. Also keep your crossed off to do list. Then you have the visual of your accomplishment as you cross something off your list. It's highly rewarding to draw a line across something that is finally done. And the list doesn't lie. Now I spotted my husband to do list once and the first thing he crossed off was "Write Down To Do List". :)

7. Isolation: Cut off the distractions. Sometimes it's from yourself with lack of focus, sometimes it's the other things you would rather be doing but when the distraction are coming from other people trying to get your attention or just catching your attention, isolation is key. Close the door to your office, put up a sign that says "do not disturb" or "disturb for emergency only". That is what I do with my kids, once I know all their immediate needs are taken care of I explain that I need to work and will be closing my door. They are not to open it unless then for an emergency. It will take a few tries to understand what is considered an emergency but overall they seem to get it. If isolating yourself in an office is not a possibility I would recommend you do it with headphones. Play something that is not too engaging, something that is easy listening. If you find yourself signing along or getting up to dance, it's not the right selection.

I invite you to start implementing these tips along with me and see if we can get our daily To Do lists cleared up. 

Step On It: Taking A Family Day

The ultimate reason we are seeking financial freedom through real estate and stock investing is for our kids. On father's day, my oldest boy made a "newspaper" for his dad. The headline was "You have been voted best dad of the year" then lower there was a comment saying "When my dad is not working he plays with me" then there was a section of things to know about my dad and the three things where "He's a macanack (Mechanic)", "He work's a lot", "He's a farmer, just like me". That was a little though on my husband. He is pretty busy with work and the farm; but he probably doesn't work that much more then other dads. But maybe me being home makes the kids realise there is an alternative.

So family is big, and while we are working on reaching our goal, it's still important to make room of what really matters.

Today, for Canada Day, we took the boys to the town's celebration. There was mini golf, bouncy castle, money pit, a live band, ice cream, etc. We had loads of fun. Afterwards we met family and friends at the dug out and had our Second Annual Dingy Dug Out Race and BarBQ. That was also quite the blast. The boys where out on the water for a good long time.

We finished the day with fireworks.There is just something magical about a sky lit up with sparkly lights.

Hope your Canada Day was awesome and that you too got to enjoy a special family day.

Step On It: Evaluation

It is almost the end of the school year and the report cards will be coming home, third and final one of the year. An evaluation of how the year as gone.

I came across an article about a mom who would start to slack off in her parental duties toward school and homework as the school year progressed. We start off with energy and great intentions, but as time passes, we start cutting corners and slacking off.

This is true in many aspect of our life, not just with school. That is why we need to evaluate and reassess. With our business we do it yearly with taxes, to a certain point. But we really should schedule a time where we evaluate all the  data we have on our properties and see if we are in need of making changes.

So I'll take on that challenge and suggest you do to. Report card time!

Step On It: Analysis Paralysis

Of course we have all heard of analysis paralysis. It's something that I see a lot of with new investors. They get so overwhelmed about learning the new material they are given that they stay stuck at that stage of learning.

Wikipedia says it well. "Analysis paralysis or paralysis of analysis is the state of over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation, or citing sources, so that a decision or action is never taken."

In fact, by never moving forward from the leaning process, you are actually limiting your learning. That's right, by continuing to only learn about investing you actually learn less. Robert Kiyosaki has demonstrated that with the cone of learning.

The cone of learning explains how much is absorbed from the material that we read vs the material that we hear vs the material that we see and the material that we put to practise.

So by not applying the information we learn, we might as well never bother to learn it at all. Of course the books are good, the seminars and demonstrations; but it's important that we plan to take action and make sure that we actually do it. If you wait until you are fully confident you will never do it.

So this week, if you haven't already, start taking action and become great.

Step On It: Focus

Working hard is not enough to be successful, you can work really hard everyday and end up spinning your wheels and just going around in a circle. Without focus, you may not get to where you want to go. While learning a new investment strategy, it's important to focus on practising the tasks that will get you results.

In real estate investment, there are many strategies that you can work on: flips, buy/rent/hold, lease option, land development, etc. Although I think it's good to know all strategies so that given the opportunity you can take advantage of any situation, I also think that while learning these strategies, you'll need to focus on one at a time.

A lot of task will be necessary for each strategy, for example having your buyer's list database, or having your power team in place. These are task that are good to concentrate on no mater the strategy you are trying to master.

Also, don't get caught up on the administration details. I've witness a lot of people in the real estate investment world get distracted on sideline event. I agree that seminars are great networking opportunity, but you can easily become a seminar junkie. They can also become expensive quite quickly mostly if they require travelling.

I've seen a lot of people getting started in investing get caught up on the minor details of their business card, or website. Again these are good things to have in place, but a business card will only be of use to you if hand them out regardless of what it looks like and a website, no matter how pretty, will do you no good without traffic.

So do spend some time on every aspect of the business that you are working on mastering but concentrate the majority of your time on the task that will create results. As a real estate investor the two major task should be finding deals and finding financing; every other task should pale in comparison.

Tony Robbins, motivational speaker and author of Awaken the Giant Within, talks about the power of focusing on what you want and the three pillars you need to go through. Pillar one is get focus and clear, pillar two is get the best tools, pillar three is resolve your inner conflicts.

Step On It: Take Action Today

This weekend I was working at a 3 days basic stock trading event held by Rich Dad Education. Our speaker was no other then Andy Tanner who is one of six Rich Dad's Advisor. What an honor that was and what a great speaker he was. 

 

Andy is full of fascinating information. He has created the four pillars of investing which is a great program that I strongly recommend from the little bit I was exposed to this weekend.

"Let me guide you through you financial education to discover the 4 pillars you must know to achieve the success you desire. - Andy Tanner"

You can hear from Andy Tanner on Rich Dad Radio, he was aired August 18th '12, September 22 '12 and November 10 '12

He spoke of the Financial Analysis on the Sovereign level, mostly for the U.S.A. It's a grim picture! What is coming, will not be pretty. If you have invested money the traditional way in the stock market, the best thing you could do is get some education now to protect yourself. The minimal thing you should do is to demand a protective stop on your current investment. Your bank or stock broker will recommend not to do this, they will not want to do it, and they may not know or be able to do it. But you should have that talk with them... NOW!!

Part of the problem with the US Finances.

 

Step On It Monday is normally on how to keep momentum with real estate investment, but protecting any other investment if they are at risk in the market, that should be addressed now.

Step On It: Creating A System

McDonald's is the most successful burger franchise of all. Is it because they have the best burger? Please, have you ever ate there, the burger is not that great. So why are they so successful? That is because McDonald's as develop the best system.

In the courses we have taken with real estate and stocks, part of what the mentors have done for us is provide a system. A step by step list of what we needed to do in order to succeed again and again. If you do not yet have a mentor to provide you with that, create your own system.

In the past, we have discussed the importance of writing down your goals. From that, write down a list of steps that you will need to follow to accomplish your shortest term goal.

1. Pull a list of properties that meets your criteria (ex: 4 units and up)
2. Email the listing realtor requesting the income and expenses
3. Run the received numbers
4. If the numbers work, sent offer

Obviously this is a very simplified list, but the more detailed and the more streamlined you make the process, the more you can accomplish.

Be sure to create a system for every aspect of your real estate business (networking, education, sending offers.) Also be sure to regularly review your system. What is working well, what needs to be tweaked. Write them down, make them visible and follow them.

Step On It: Dedicating Your Time

No matter what you are trying to accomplish; in our case investing in both real estate and stocks; to move forward you need to dedicate a certain amount of time to it. Unless that time is scheduled, your dedication will fluctuate. So first thing, figure out how much time a day or week you can dedicate to your goal.

Let say you've figured out you can do 11 hours a week, 1 hour a day on weekdays and 3 hours a day on weekend. Great! Now you need to allocate time to different activities you need to accomplish.

In my case, I want to dedicate my time to real estate investing. What do I need to do towards real estate investing?

• Networking
• Finding Deals
• Maintaining Current Investment
• Learning/Growing My Knowledge

Where is my timed better used? When I first got started, the learning was the most important, but as my knowledge base grew, it's became more important to apply what I had learn. Once I started accumulating investments in my port-folio, I have to continue learning, growing my business but I also need to dedicate time to my current properties to make sure they are managed properly.

• Networking - 35%
• Finding Deals - 25%
• Maintaining Current Investment - 10%
• Learning/Growing My Knowledge - 30%

When investing in Real Estate, networking is a very important part of your business, that is how you grow. Networking doesn't just happen, you need to have a plan and dedicate time to it. On top of networking, you need to actively search for deals, and when your have a deal, you need to continue dedicate time to it doing your due diligence up to closing. When you have ongoing properties you need to dedicate a certain amount of time to make sure everything is running smoothly, that the bills are being paid and the management team is doing their work. If you stop learning you stop growing. We will never know all there is to know about anything. It is important that we all understand that and continue to dedicate time to learn more may it be through books, classes or webinars.

For someone who as just decided they want to learn how to invest in real estate, but never has in the past, their priorities will be different.

• Networking - 35%
• Finding Deals - 15%
• Maintaining Current Investment - 5%
• Learning/Growing My Knowledge - 45%

Networking is a very important part of real estate investing. Even if you are not in a position to close on a deal right away, you might as well get started with your networking. Get in contact with fellow investors. You may not feel as though you are ready to more forward on deals but looking for deals is still important, that is how you put to practise what you are learning about investing in real estate. If you come across a great deal, then get it. If you can't then wholesale it to a fellow investor that you have met through your networking. I realise I've added time to maintaining your current investment when you don't currently have any in place. Use this time as prep work, get your maintenance team in place; property managers, property inspectors, etc. Also get your tools in place to keep track of your properties when you have some. Make up an excel spreadsheet that would keep track of income and expenses for example. Finally, learning, at this stage this category should have the largest time dedication but not all your time.

For someone who has capital to invest and wants to get involve into an investment opportunity but doesn't really want to commit to learn how to invest on their own would again have a different set of priorities.

• Networking - 40%
• Finding Deals - 30%
• Maintaining Current Investment - 10%
• Learning/Growing My Knowledge - 20%

In this situation, you can cut back dramatically on the total time dedicated to investing into real estate. Networking, get in contact with investors, get a sense of what they do and if it's someone you would like to invest with in the future. Make sure they know what they are doing. How did they get involve in investing? Do they have education background in this field? Who is their mentor? Finding deals would be dedicated time to checking the numbers presented to you in a deal. Is it in fact a good deal? A small portion is dedicated to maintaining. Make sure you are kept in the loop of how the investment is doing, make sure you are being paid as promised and when it was agreed upon. I am still dedicating time to learning, because even if you do have interest in learning how to be a hands on investor, you still have to be able to recognise if the deals presented to you are in fact good deals.

It is important to spend time toward you goal but it is even more important to make sure that the time spent is done so in a productive way ensuring you to get closer to your goal. Also you can try to find creative ways to dedicate time towards this. Do you commute to work? Then why not spend the 30 minutes or one hour drive with an audio book working on your "Learning". Or make social obligations into potential networking opportunities.

Make sure the time you are dedicating to investing are entered into your calendar or day timer, and if you've had to make changes to accommodate a different activity, reschedule the lost time.

How do you manage your time in order to be successful?