Top 5 Reasons to Like Failing

Its curious how the human mind works. Whenever I learn something new, it seems that I can usually gain more knowledge from the "Ooops, don't do that!" moments than the ones where I easily succeed the first time. If I'm learning a new computer program and click the right combination of buttons the first time, more often than not I can’t exactly replicate it a second time without re-reading the directions. But, if I clicked on the wrong button for something along the way, it’s a sure thing that the mistake raises a red flag in my memory the next time so that I do NOT click on that again!


Strange as it may sound, I am actually eager to fail just for this reason. Many new investors I meet circle forever in a "just looking" cycle. They look and look at properties, waiting for the legendary fool-proof house where they can't go wrong to show itself. It goes without saying that they are currently still looking. (Hint if you're one of them - look in the same place where the unicorn and the goose that laid the golden egg went to hide from the world) Since I know that I'm not going to be able to avoid failure forever and that statistically most new RE investor’s first few deals don't go as planned, I'd much rather just get it all over with than orbit uselessly in space searching for a myth. Why stall for time when I can just get the learning process started and move on towards becoming more successful? So here are my top five reasons that I actually LIKE failure in the real estate world:

1. You can be sure you won’t make THAT mistake again!


2. You’ll have great laughable stories for your networking meetings… you know, after time has healed the wound a little and you can talk about it without tearing up…


3. Failures thin the pack, the ones who aren’t passionate enough tend to just quit, leaving more meat for the rest of us


4. Newbies think you are a wise and seasoned investor when you dispense your experienced and from-the-heart advice.


5. You'll have that much more drive and determination to do better the next time

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t plan to fail, and there are certainly some things, like parenting, that you can bet I would NOT like to think I failed at. I’m actually an optimist and always have super high expectations that I will succeed in everything I do. However, in regards to real estate and many, MANY other adventures in your life, you really must be mentally prepared for failure to happen. I don’t think there’s any experienced investor in my real estate network or even any of the Guru’s that could honestly say they’ve never made a mistake on a property. You can bet they learned a lot from those mistakes, though, and never made them again!


I’m big on quotes, and I love this one: “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” (Henry Ford) There’s tons of them out there similar, choose which ever you like best. There’s also the story of how Edison failed over 10,000 times before finally perfecting the light bulb. While still working on his invention he asked by a reporter if he felt like a failure. His response: "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." It only took 1,000 more attempts to learn what NOT to do. The point is that if you want to be successful, you need to embrace failure for what it is - a learning opportunity.


Embracing the possibility of failure is still no excuse for not doing everything in your power to set yourself up for success. After all, the goal is to make money, NOT to fail (which usually costs money). Do all your due diligence, ask advice, get educated, be cautious for goodness sakes, over and under estimate everything where appropriate, but KNOW you can NOT KNOW everything and you’ll probably mess something up at some point. Your attitude about that failure is one of the biggest determining factors in how successful you will be in any of your life endeavors, especially real estate. Come on over to my way of thinking and get ready for some of the best educational opportunities of your life.



Happy investing!