Time for some focus and *maybe* some guidance

I've been thinking a lot about my poor time management and how I'm going to overcome this insanely large hurdle on my own. I loved all the comments I received after my previous post, "So Apparently I Suck at Time Management." It would seem I'm not the only one! Yes, we all obviously get the same 24 hours each and every day, and its heartening to know that many of us still have not figured out exactly how to make the most of them.

I realize that first and foremost I must learn to focus better. With so many different things that need my focus, I have been crazily trying to do them all at once, which is only creating chaos and not results. A month of floundering is enough for me to know that things aren't going to simply fall into place on their own, I need to be proactive about setting specific times and days for each focus area. A written schedule (and maybe even a timer) will be my next order of business.

The second idea that has been rolling around in my head is the possibility of finding a mentor. It makes my insides recoil to even contemplate it, but the thought is there nonetheless. So far I've gotten in the game with no mentor, very little advice, and only a few books and home-study CD's. I'm the type who learns just a little, then hits the streets and gets to the fun action part of the game. I am a fiercely independent person and can not stand to be told what to do, how to do it, or to answer to anyone else. Gee, I wonder why I often didn't get along with my previous bosses! I also really like to pave my own way, learning from my mistakes and not buying into anyone else's "proven system for success." My success will be my way, not simply a copy of some other more successful person's.

But, with the clock working against me and so many other things pushing me back, I'm starting to think that having a little guidance and a little pushing from an outside source would be a big benefit to help get my priorities straight faster. I did manage to start my real estate investment business on my own and got my feet good and wet with all the mistakes and challenges that go along with that. Now that I'm in the water though, I think I'm realizing that wading into the shallow end and really swimming through the deep water are two very different concepts, and that I'll learn to swim much faster if I have a swim instructor standing along side of me.

So now comes the question of WHO I will choose to be my swim instructor. The choices are nearly endless, especially when I have several different interests within the field of real estate. Then there's the question of going with a well-known name or a local "Joe" who is doing well. I do have a short list of about 4 or 5 individuals, but which one at the top of the list varies depending on the day/week/latest webinar I've logged into. I'm very pleased to have connected with most of them through various social media, especially Facebook. I think that seeing the interactions of these people in their everyday lives and businesses helps show their true character and lets me know if they are someone I can A) get along with and B) respect and actually want to listen to.

I leave tomorrow morning for another long postponed trip to see more family this week. Next week (after my return) starts the new daily FOCUS plan and further decision making of engaging a mentor. Gonna be giving myself some tough love and really working to get my top three priorities some individualized attention. Call it my mid-year resolution!

An Affiliate Program Fence-Rider

I can't decide how I feel about affiliate-type programs. They seem to be the current fad in all real estate type marketing right now, and some of it is really making me angry. One guy's "Make Millions" system in particular has been offered to me via email, Facebook, and Twitter so many times by so many DIFFERENT people that I've about had it with all of them and am close to disconnecting myself from ever last one of them. Anyone want to wager a guess about whether or not I'll buy this training system?

Its like a pseudo-direct marketing/MLM system, which I've never been fond of personally anyway. Not to say that they aren't valid products or methods of selling, Warren Buffet has one and even Trump is getting in the game. Its just the SHOVE IT IN YOUR FACE attitude with no regard for the relationship (or often product) that I can't stand. I myself recently joined a direct sales company for the first time, more for the product than the opportunity to make money, but I can't and may never bring myself to hawk it to every last person I meet. Talk about a big turn-off for your friends, huh? I do believe in the product though, and will talk about it if someone first expresses a need or interest in it.

But back to the fad of affiliate programs in real estate investing. I can see how it is a tremendous opportunity for some people to "cash in" on someone else's product and make some extra money. And most of us do need extra money. And of course, the someone else that created the product essentially gets free advertising, paying only a small fee to the hawker after a sale is closed. Genius. Really, a great system in theory.

What happens in reality though is that everyone in investor clubs and on the internet is out there shouting about everyone else's programs, systems and software. It turns into meaningless noise that leads to confusion about the motives of the hawker and makes many of us sick. Even some of the Facebook groups I'm a part of and joined for sincere networking and information sharing are apparently nothing more than a group founded by someone that wanted to bombard more people with their affiliate links. Gee, thanks for the group, I joined because I needed more stuff to delete from my inbox.

Maybe I'm just old-school. I still appreciate the idea that companies who want to make money need to invest money first in their product, employees and advertising. Isn't the saying that you have to spend money to make money? These affiliate programs may be the wave of the future, but to me they seem like a shallow attempt to get around that rule and make some quick cash. I very well may be wrong, but I don't think this fad will last. I also seem to remember that during the DotCom bubble many new businesses on the internet thought they were geniuses for getting around that same rule, and we all know exactly where 99% of them are now.

On the other hand, I know the value of first hand recommendations too. In fact, I recently found out that one of my successful real estate investor acquaintances learned from a particular system that I then looked up online. I've known this person for a time now and he'd never mentioned it before. Guess what, the system has an affiliate program. He didn't feel the need to SELL me on it, but his passing mention was enough for me to consider the program seriously. THAT's the power of an affiliate program in my eyes. When someone who uses the program and actually does recommend it to a few friends out of the sincere desire to help those friends, then it is great for the company to say "thank you for your belief in us and for trusting us with your friendships" with a small referral fee. I will gladly listen to my personal friends and value their advice much more than some stranger that sends me a Facebook message or mass email 3x a day about their "INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY."

So are affiliate programs good or bad for this business? Are they the future of advertising or is it just a fad to make a quick buck? I'm no expert marketer, and prefer to sit on the fence for a while, judging how the wind is going to blow on this particularly fast growing phenomenon and whether there will be any integrity left in selling if it blows one way. What do you think?

Investor Cardinal Rule: SHOW UP!

Last night I went to my local REIA meeting as I do every month. This night they had a particularly big turn out for the particularly energetic national speaker. I saw people last night that I haven’t seen at meetings in a while and also met investors that I’ve never met before. Which led me to wonder, why in the world do I not see these people every month???????

When I started out I took the advice of all the books and Gurus that tell you “Join your local investor club, it’s a great resource for education and networking.” Um, yeah, duh… I joined 5 of them and still go to the big 3’s meetings nearly every month as well as some others where I can fit them in. I average attending four real estate investor meetings a month, which is pretty much one a week. And up until recently, I did this while working a full time job, working my real estate business and having family commitments including two kids, so I don’t want to hear that people don’t have the time to go to meetings. I even ended up running one of those meetings as president, which was an even greater time commitment.

So do people just not care enough to make the time and commitment to attend??? One person told me that the meetings are sometimes dull so he didn’t bother to go or even be a member any more. I seem to remember a lot of high school and college being quite dull, but I went anyway and ended up learning a thing or two, or at least making some friends to hang out with later. And that’s really what its all about for me. Sure, not every meeting is going to be relevant to what I’m doing and not every meeting will have as engaging of a speaker as last night’s did, some may be downright dull, but I‘ve got news for you: YOU STILL NEED TO GO!!!

Unless you found a magic crystal ball in your Grandma’s attic, you do not know what tidbit of information you might pick up that will help your business, or what new contact you might make that will turn things around or open you up to new deals. I actually met Robert Cass with Local Real Estate Deals Media at a previous REIA meeting and that has gotten me started on an entirely new and WAY more exciting path than I ever would have seen. Where would I be now if I had decided I was too tired or too busy to go to that meeting? A very different place that I wouldn’t like nearly as much and doesn’t have nearly as much potential, I’m sure. What other opportunities are out there that I won’t know about if I’m not in the right place at the right time?

Networking is huge, especially in real estate circles. Just look at the success of online networking sites and the enormous numbers of real estate related people on them. Real Estate investing is really more about people than about properties, and some of those important people are your fellow investors. Sure, plenty of investors are very successful without being members of groups, or maybe they were members back when they started out and just don’t think its worth their time anymore now that they are successful (and to those I ask why they feel they don’t need to give back some of the knowledge and experience to others that are now starting out just like they were). But don’t they ever wonder how much MORE successful they would be if they increased their network and did so regularly?

Find your local REIA or other investor group, join, go to meetings. Go to more than one if you can. Maybe its not even a fellow investor you meet, maybe its just a guy that does windows, or someone that has private money to lend, or the publisher of a national investor magazine. How do you know who it will be or how they can help you? The point is you have to obey one of the cardinal rules of successful business people: SHOW UP. And I mean literally!