These are tough questions that so many people have asked me. Based on my current position and the blessings I have experienced, I really would not have done anything differently. I’m very pleased with my current situation as an investor, and I fear that if I had done anything differently, then I wouldn’t be where I am today. In my opinion, a more appropriate question is:

“Based on your experience, in which direction are you going from here and what advice do you have for a new investor?”

While my plan for the future is still in process, I have some advice to offer new investors.

Tip Number One : Quality Over Quantity

In the past, I set goals to complete a certain number of deals and as a result, found myself at times pursuing volume over quality. This sometimes put me into bad situations, costing me both time and money. For example, I might have paid too much to buy a home just so I could say I did a deal and hit my target. While I did experience many situations that other investors never encounter, this is not the way to do business.

Today, I realize that I didn’t need to do as many deals as I’ve done. Now I pass over a ton of opportunities that I would have taken years ago. Rather, I sit back and cherry-pick, waiting for the “home runs” to come along.

That’s not to say that beginning investors should wait for the big deals. Most don’t have the resources to compete with the experienced investors, including myself, who don’t need the smaller deals to survive but can afford to be patient. We can bide our time until the best deals present themselves and still have enough resources to take advantage of them when they do.

What I am saying is that beginning investors should do what they need to do to survive, keeping in mind that it is better to do one quality deal than a multitude of average deals. As a beginner, you must get into the game, but do it carefully with good deals. Then go from first to second to third to home, taking it one step at a time. Crawl before you walk and walk before you run. Otherwise, by rushing into things, you run the risk of making mistakes that will set you back months or even years.

Tip Number Two : Set Goals And Put Them On Paper

I did not have concrete goals when I began, so two years after getting started, I was in about the same place as when I started. I ran around in circles and covered a lot of ground, but didn’t get too far from my starting point. Only then did I develop a plan (smart, huh? Only took a few dozen “seminars” and a few more whacks upside my head).

So I teach my students to put together a plan sooner rather than later, preferably before they even start investing. Anyone who drafts a realistic plan and sticks to it can achieve as much in one year as I did in three.

Not that creating a plan is easy, especially when you don’t know what to expect. Accurate goal setting is actually very difficult, and not many people teach you what you need to set REAL goals. Most teach goals that get people excited, good in the sense that it usually prompts people to take action, but bad in that it develops unrealistic expectations and sets people up for disappointment.

To set realistic goals, speak with experienced investors in your chosen field (wholesaling, rehabbing, lease-options, “subject to”) and get their honest opinions regarding profits per deal and the average time required to complete a deal. Then, based on this and your current resources of cash and credit, set your long-term cash, cash flow and equity goals for one year, three years and five years. Once you have these long-term goals, fill in your short-term goals of three, six and nine months by outlining the steps you need to take to accomplish your long-term goals.  Unless you draft a plan similar to this and truly commit to it, you are going nowhere.

Tip Number Three : If Possible, Keep Your Best Deals

Looking back, I have owned a lot of homes that I wish I would have kept. I don’t regret having sold them since every sale contributed to my success, but I did have some gems that have more than doubled in value since I sold them.

When I sold, I just didn’t believe that the areas would take off like Realtors and others were telling me. So I cashed out and used the profits for other things. If I had held the 50 best deals that I have sold to others and done nothing else, my net worth would probably be three times higher than what it is today.

Not that I’m complaining. My net worth used to be negative, and today it is pretty respectable. I’m just advising you to hold onto your best deals if you can. Sometimes, though, it is necessary and understandable to sell a property for cash profits even though it would be nice to keep it. Use your best judgment.

Tip Number Four : Don’t Limit Your Profits

When you purchase a great deal, don’t feel obligated to pass all of the savings on to your buyer. I could have generated more profits than I did from many of the properties that I wholesaled. Often, when I purchased a SUPER deal, I passed along the SUPER savings to my buyer with the attitude that I should only make $2k-$4k per transaction.

Well, this was a mistake. My advice to you is to take what you can get. Don’t inflate your prices above the market and gouge people. Give them a good value. However, don’t think it’s necessary to limit your profits just so a buyer can benefit. After all, this is business.  Let the market set your price. There will be plenty of times when your profit isn’t as large as you expected. Take advantage of the big hits when they come.

Tip Number Five : Separate Business And Charity

Sometimes, I used my business as a charity when I shouldn’t have. My recommendation for you is never to do the same. Don’t let someone live rent free or give someone else more for a service than what it makes good business sense to give.

I’ve learned that I need to run my business for a profit, and that I need to do all I can to keep it profitable. I’ve also learned that it’s OK for me to be charitable with my profits, but that I can’t be charitable with my business. Giving your business away before you make profits cuts your wellspring off at its source. It’s not prudent, and your business will suffer greatly as a result if you choose to do so.

Tip Number Six : Hold On To The J.O.B. As Long As You Can

I know it’s hard to hear this, especially for those of you disgusted with your current position, but I recommend that beginners with good jobs hold onto them for a while. They provide a safety net while you are learning and particularly allow you to establish yourself with banks and credit card companies. Convincing these organizations to work with you as a self-employed person is tough.

Tip Number Seven : Start As Early As You Can

I first became interested in investing at the age of 18, and I wish I had pursued it from that age. Instead, I waited 10 more years to get started.  As of this writing, I’ve only been investing for 5 years and it’s hard for me to imagine, based on my current position, where I would be if I had started when I was 18 years old.  It’s never too late, but you need to start NOW!

Tip Number Eight : Use Partners Wisely

Use a partner only when you need them. In other words, choose someone with time, money, knowledge or skills that you don’t have. They should bring to the table something that you need. All too often, two people with a dream and nothing else decide to be partners. Not good. Partners need to complement each other, not have the same qualities.

Today, I teach others to use partners strictly on a deal-by-deal basis. The form of partnership I teach most often is one where one person puts up all of the money and the other is responsible for everything else.

In retrospect, I would not have taken on the one partner I had. In time, I didn’t need a partner anymore, yet I still had one and felt as though I was giving half of everything away. He probably felt the same way.

Tip Number Nine : Dare To Dream

Finally, I’d like to stress that if you can dream it, you can do it through effort and perseverance. Having money, a decent job, and good credit make investing easier, but are not necessary.

When I began my career as a real estate investor, I had no money, no job and poor credit. In the past five years, through the grace of God, I have come a long way. So set your goals and start taking the steps necessary to achieve them. Reevaluate and adjust every so often, but don’t quit and don’t let anything stop you.

About The Author

Stephen Cook is an author and active investor that started out in Baltimore, MD. He has bought and sold over 450 properties. Steve pursues many avenues of investing and specializes in the wholesaling and rehabbing of properties for profit as well as new construction. These days Steve spends most of his time teaching others how to become LIFEonaire’s. Not only are his real estate investing students successful in business, but they live full and abundant lives.

For more information on real estate investing, check out his new course: “Flipping Like a Pro”

If you haven’t signed up for the forum yet, you should sign up now. You’re missing out on a great way to join in the conversation, get new investing strategies, and get answers from successful investors around the world.

Here’s a few of the topics in the forum:

“Newbie Investor” -- Steve & Other members help out a “new” investor that is struggling to get the ball rolling with great advice on what the focus should be and how to overcome some of the obstacles that some investors face when just starting out.

Integrity -- A great post by Steve that discusses Integrity. Steve is known by many to live his life and conduct business with complete Integrity and that’s also how he coaches his students. This posts discusses Steve’s feelings on Integrity and it’s a bit controversial to what you’d expect!

Current Investing Strategies -- In this post a few of our members are discussing current investing strategies to use in their local markets, while they try to figure out the most efficient way to grow their investing businesses.

And there’s quite a few more discussions that you’ll find like: Updated Reasonable Rehabbing Costs and Marketing to Cash Buyers.

Steve spends a good amount of his time now hawking that forum and making sure questions get answered. So if you want expert advice, encouragement, or new investing ideas head over to the forum right now and join the conversation.

Profiting from your hard money lenders

Having a good hard money lender will help you to become more profitable.  You will be able to take advantage of deals when they come available.  You will be able to act quickly if need be.  You will be able to obtain a pre-qualification letter from your lender to give yourself more credibility when making offers, and finally, you will be able to act as the bank by connecting your wholesale buyers with your lenders so they can borrow money to buy properties from you.

Pre-Qualification Letters

If you are pursuing a lot of properties listed with real estate agents you will need a pre-qualification letter to submit along with your offers on many distressed properties, particularly those that are owned by institutions.  You can obtain a pre-qualification letter from a hard money lender for this purpose, and in fact, your offers will carry more weight when submitted with a pre-qualification letter from a lender that is active in your area whom most real estate agents--particularly the ones that specialize in foreclosures--will recognize.

Hard Money Lenders and Your Buyers -- A Match Made in Heaven

It is extremely helpful to have a stable of hard money lenders to call upon to finance the purchase and rehab of properties that you may want to buy.  However, even if you never buy a property for yourself, the second and most important reason to develop contacts with as many hard money lenders as possible is that hard money lenders will be your best and most reliable resource in making sure that your deals are consummated when you sell homes to other investors.  You want to become the bank.

Many prospective buyers for your wholesale properties are not all cash buyers, whether they claim to be or not.  In reality, most cannot simply write a check from their bank account, but rather must borrow their money from other sources.  Depending on their source of funds, this may or may not be OK.  If an investor doesn’t have a legitimate source of funds, then it is your job to screen them a little further to determine if they qualify for you to take them to one of your hard money lenders.

Many are capable of making mortgage payments and completing a rehab and would love to buy your properties if they could come up with the cash.  In this case, it is your job to take control of the deal and lead them to the money.  Become the bank as well as the provider of the property.  But be careful.  Maintain control of the transaction and use some discretion in deciding whom you take to your lenders.

You don’t want to burn bridges with your lenders by bringing them deadbeat buyers who default regularly.  Your buyer’s credit report should show an intent to repay all of their debts on time, and they should have some source of regular income which gives them the ability to make mortgage payments to your lender.

Ultimately, you want to be able to take anyone who wants to buy a home from you (assuming they meet your minimum criteria) to one of your lenders.  I have developed a regular following of investors who buy from me because not only do I find the properties but I also line up the financing, and you can too.

This is a three part series. Here’s part one and part two.

About the Author

Stephen Cook is an author and active investor that started out in Baltimore, MD. He has bought and sold over 450 properties. Steve pursues many avenues of investing and specializes in the wholesaling and rehabbing of properties for profit as well as new construction. These days Steve spends most of his time teaching others how to become LIFEonaire’s. Not only are his real estate investing students successful in business, but they live full and abundant lives.

For more information on wholesaling properties for profit, please see his new course:

“Flipping Like a Pro”

Finding Hard Money Lenders

Finding hard money lenders isn’t really a mystery.  At least it isn’t a hard mystery to solve.  You just need to get out there and take the right steps toward uncovering them.

There are many different ways to locate hard money lenders or private lenders.  When talking with other professionals, I tend to refer to my lenders as “private lenders” simply because not everyone is familiar with the term “hard money lender.”   I have found most of my lenders by asking for referrals from other investors, attorneys, accountants, insurance agents, etc., who are generally willing to help me because I do what I can to help them.   Some of my favorite people to ask are settlement/closing attorneys.  They usually prepare the loan documents for hard money lenders and most attorneys will be able to give you at least one name.  In fact, on a number of occasions the attorney whom I asked for a referral was a hard money lender themselves.

Accountants are also a good source for hard money lenders since they have clients who are sitting on a lot of cash and need to do something with it.  In some cases, they even have clients who already hold paper.  Such people are great to approach about lending money since they already understand the business of lending.  They have either taken back paper upon selling a property or they have lent their own funds to someone.  Real estate paper is a very secure investment, and people who understand the business of lending don’t mind doing real estate loans, especially when the LTV is low and the interest rate is high.  If someone trusts their accountant enough to let them handle their finances, then a referral from an accountant should carry a lot of clout.

Another method of finding hard money lenders is to write down the addresses of homes undergoing renovation.  With few exceptions, if I go to the courthouse with ten addresses to uncover the lender involved in each of these renovation projects, you will find that a private lender is funding at least one of them.  Contact the lenders that you discover and get to know them, especially if they have already lent money on a home in an area where you want to invest.

Insurance agents who sell hazard insurance policies (particularly those that specialize with investment properties) have to put a “loss payee” on all of the policies where a lender is involved.  The loss payee is the lender, so the insurance agent can tell who are private lenders and which ones are not.  An active agent could probably go through their records and come up with dozens of names of people who have lent money privately on policies they have written.

Mortgage brokers can also be a good source for locating hard money lenders, particularly those that work with investors on a routine basis.  I personally feel that any mortgage broker that deals with investors should have a hard money lender in their bag.  If they don’t, I wouldn’t consider them a good mortgage broker.  You may have to pay the mortgage broker a fee for the referral, but it is worth it if it means getting a deal done.

Increasing your chances of finding a hard money lender has to do with the circles that you run in, the people whom you ask, and the number of people you ask.  Chances are if you are asking the cashier at your local convenience store if they know of any hard money lenders, the answer you get is going to be, “Huh?”.  If you ask an attorney or title company who works with a number of investors in your area, it is much more likely that you will find someone who will be able to provide you with the names of several lenders.  If you don’t get anywhere the first time, don’t stop asking people until you find one.

This is a three part series. Here’s part one and part three.

About the Author

Stephen Cook is an author and active investor that started out in Baltimore, MD. He has bought and sold over 450 properties. Steve pursues many avenues of investing and specializes in the wholesaling and rehabbing of properties for profit as well as new construction. These days Steve spends most of his time teaching others how to become LIFEonaire’s. Not only are his real estate investing students successful in business, but they live full and abundant lives.

For more information on wholesaling properties for profit, please see his new course:

“Flipping Like a Pro”

What exactly is a hard money lender anyway?

Private--or “hard money”--lenders are private individuals with surplus money available for investment.  Some have deep pockets while some have limited resources.  Based upon their own personal criteria, they lend this surplus money, primarily on a short-term basis, to real estate investors who use it for a variety of profitable purposes including buying and repairing distressed properties.

Why is it called “hard money”?

Don’t be confused by the term “hard money.”  It doesn’t mean that this money is difficult to find or obtain.  Actually, it is some of the easiest money to procure.  So why is it called “hard” money, you ask?  Good question.

In the world of finance, money is either “hard” or “soft.”  Hard money has stricter terms and a clearly defined repayment schedule.  Softer money has easier terms and a more flexible repayment schedule (e.g., debt service subject to available cash flow).  In the case of private financing, the terms for hard money loans are exceptionally harsh with very low loan to values (LTV’s), higher than market interest rates, and a lot of upfront points.

Typical Terms for Hard Money Loans

Terms for these types of loans will vary from lender to lender and will depend upon the experience level of an investor as well as the length of an investor’s relationship with a particular lender.  Generally, a hard money lender will provide a loan for 50-75% of the after-repaired value of a home at an interest rate of 12-18% for a period of 6 months to five years.  They will also charge between 2-10 points as an upfront financing fee.  As you invest, you will discover that these terms will vary from lender to lender.  Some will only charge interest while some will amortize their loans.  Some will lend repair money; others won’t.  Some will place the repair money in escrow to be drawn out as the work is completed; others will let you leave the settlement table with it.  Some will lend closing costs; some won’t.  Ultimately, when finding hard money lenders, you will need to determine their terms and how they might fit into your plans as a wholesaler.

Lending Criteria for Hard Money Lenders

Like terms, lending criteria also varies from lender to lender.  Each has their own preferences with regard to areas in which they will and will not lend and types of investors to whom they will and will not lend.  Some will check your credit, some will not.  Some will do their own appraisals, some will not.  Some will charge for an appraisal, others won’t.  Some will charge an inspection fee for each draw from the repair escrow, others won’t.  Some will only lend in certain areas while others will lend everywhere.  Some are more numbers-driven when it comes to decision-making while others go more on their feelings about you and/or the neighborhood.

What about my credit?

With terms so favorable to the lender, most hard money providers are concerned primarily with the value of the property, placing less emphasis, if any, on the credit of the payor.  They just want to know that in the event the payor defaults they will possess an asset from which they can extract their original investment and possibly more.  However, this is not to say that lenders desire to go through the hassle and expense of taking back and reselling a property but merely to point out that due to the terms of the loan, private lenders are secured, and feel secure, whether a borrower pays or not.

Hard Money Lenders Are People Too

You must keep in mind that most hard money lenders are private individuals.  They are not institutional investors who have a set standard of guidelines dictated by the federal reserves.  They can be flexible, they can be tough.  They are people just like you and I.  You can talk to them.  You can befriend them.  You can laugh and joke with them.  They can be your neighbor, your doctor, your attorney, or your bus driver.  They usually don’t advertise that they lend money, but instead are found through word of mouth.

A Great Resource

Hard money lenders are a great resource for real estate investors, particularly a beginner with limited resources (e.g. cash and credit).  Having a hard money lender on your team enables you to confidently make offers on properties.  It enables you to purchase properties when your offers get accepted, and it provides you with the funds necessary to do the repairs if needed.  In fact, I have heard of some cases where individuals have even been able to borrow holding costs, but I have never met any lenders myself who will actually do this.

Tomorrow we’ll be release part 2 of 3. Inside we’ll discuss strategies to acquire hard money lenders and how to utilize them for your real estate business.

Do you have any tips for acquiring hard money lenders? Or questions about hard money lenders? Post them below in the comments!

This is a three part series. Here’s part two and part three.

About the Author

Stephen Cook is an author and active investor that started out in Baltimore, MD. He has bought and sold over 450 properties. Steve pursues many avenues of investing and specializes in the wholesaling and rehabbing of properties for profit as well as new construction. These days Steve spends most of his time teaching others how to become LIFEonaire’s. Not only are his real estate investing students successful in business, but they live full and abundant lives.

For more information on wholesaling properties for profit, please see his new course:

“Flipping Like a Pro”

Dear Steve,

I recently looked at 20 homes for sale in my area. After inspecting the homes, I decided to make 2 offers, but in each case the seller’s Realtor just laughed at me. I mean, they really laughed hard! I’m not getting any offers accepted and I’m becoming very discouraged. I don’t think that we have deals like you do where I live. Can you help me? It just seems like most homes in my area sell for the full asking price or more.

-Discouraged Newbie

Discouraged Newbie is making one or possibly two mistakes common to new investors. They aren’t targeting motivated sellers and/or they aren’t making enough offers.

Targeting Motivated Sellers

Where I live, most homes sell for their full asking price and above as well, but some don’t. The only difference between me and Discouraged Newbie is that I concentrate on the sellers who are motivated to sell at something less than full price. Typically, these are banks or individuals who have a VACANT property which needs work. I stress the word “vacant” for two reasons: 1) vacant properties are nothing but trouble for the owners and 2) 99% of the properties I have bought during my career have been vacant.

Handling Rejection

Even though I focus on motivated sellers, most of them aren’t motivated enough to accept my offer. If I make 30 offers, with 27-29 of them, chances are that the seller is going to say “No,” or someone else is going to offer more. I strike out much more often than having a seller say, “Yes,” to my offer. But I’m not concerned about all of the, “No’s.” I accept them as part of the process and forge ahead, knowing that if I make enough offers someone is eventually going to say “Yes,” particularly if my offers are targeted toward sellers who have some degree of motivation.

Making Lots of Offers to Keep Your Funnel Full

In this business you cannot make money without inventory. It is extremely important that you always keep your pipeline full, and the way to do that is to constantly make offers. Many people come and tell me that they look at homes all the time but never buy anything. They say they find motivated sellers but none of their deals ever goes through. My next question to them is, “How many times have you put an offer on paper?” They are usually able to counter their answer on one hand.

In order to buy properties, you must make offers. Sounds simple, right? Yet it’s surprising how many new investors have trouble overcoming this hurdle. Personally, I average 40+ offers per month, sometimes many more. Over the course of one weekend on two oaccassions, I made about 40 and bought 9 houses on Monday. To this day, this stands as one of my most productive offering sprees, netting about 1 out of every 4 properties (each was sold separately, by the way, not as part of a package). And you know what? I never would have bought all of those homes if I hadn’t made those 40 offers. Just like I would rarely, if ever, buy anything if I only made one or two offers a month.

When I look at 20 homes I make 20 offers, not just 2. In fact, sometimes I make 30 offers when I look at 20 homes. I make offers even on the homes I couldn’t get out to see. If I’m targeting the right properties (i.e., those with sellers who may be motivated), odds are that there will be several sellers out of 20 with enough motivation to seriously consider my offer. What I don’t try to do is select who those 2 or 3 sellers might be. The chances of me picking the right ones are very slim. And why should I? My low offers will fish out the sellers motivated enough to respond and thereby tell me where I should invest my time. Too many wholesalers try to pick the motivated sellers from a group by themselves when making offers is the easiest way to find out.

I make offers on every single home that interests me where I think the seller might be motivated. Some I inspect; some I don’t. Some are priced ridiculously high; others are priced ridiculously low. Some are in great areas; some are in bad areas. Regardless of location, condition or price, there is a number that works for every home and that is what I offer. On occasions, I’ve asked sellers to pay ME to take their homes because no other number worked for me. Sure, most of these offers are rejected just like most of my other offers. Even on the weekend that I bought 9 homes, most (31 of 40) of my offers were rejected. In general, though, some of my offers are accepted, and those are the only ones that count.

I hope that this will inspire some of you to get out there and start making more offers. If you make it your goal to make an offer a day, then you will start to buy properties. If your offers are at the right price, then you will sell properties and make money.

You don’t need to make offers as I do, but you do have to make some if you want to buy houses. Do your homework, get your questions answered, and overcome your fears. Then make it your goal to average an offer a day because, as we all know, “An offer a day keeps the bill collectors away!”

Happy Investing!

About the Author

Stephen Cook is an author and active investor that started out in Baltimore, MD. He has bought and sold over 450 properties. Steve pursues many avenues of investing and specializes in the wholesaling and rehabbing of properties for profit as well as new construction. These days Steve spends most of his time teaching others how to become LIFEonaire’s. Not only are his real estate investing students successful in business, but they live full and abundant lives.

For more information on wholesaling properties for profit, please see his new course:

“Flipping Like a Pro”

Hello everyone! While you have heard some bits and pieces from me in recent years,
you really haven’t been experiencing the Steve Cook of old. I want to take a few
minutes to I’ll you in on what has been going on, and I want to encourage you to please
read through this email. What I’m going to share is BIG, and will be of great benefit to
you.

For those of you who do know my history, you know that I started one of the internets
largest real estate investing web sites, www.flippinghomes.com. I had more traffic then
anyone else and my forum was the most active on the internet. I spent countless hours
helping investors all around the world to build their businesses. Since starting that
website, many things have changed in my life. I’ve been married, have 3 more children,
moved halfway across the country, and I’ve been teaching this thing called LIFEonaire!

LIFEonaire is something that was given to me back in 2003, just shy of 10 years ago.
It’s been a burden on me ever since the August day that it was revealed to me. I’ve be
passionate about sharing the LIFEonaire message with people and it has flipped many
lives upside down. The deeper I got into learning about LIFEonaire myself, the more I
was pulling away from real estate investing. The LIFEonaire message is so powerful I
felt that I needed to share it with the whole world, not just real estate investors. My
motives were pure, but they were misdirected.

I’ve been gifted with this platform in the real estate investing industry, and this is exactly
where I’m supposed to share the message. Why do I say that? Let’s just say that the
same way LIFEonaire was given to me, the revelation that I was not being faithful to
doing what I’ve already been trusted with was also given to me. So I’m back! I’m
coming back, and going deep into real estate investing education, but it’s going to be
real estate investing and LIFEonaire.

I have never stopped investing, nor have I stopped teaching investors. I have dozens of
the nations top investors who have been with me this whole time that I have been laying
low. I’ve been teaching them how to use real estate investing to live as LIFEonaires
and now I’m going to share it with everyone.

I plan on getting a forum back up and running at www.LIFEonaire.com/forum/ and being there to answer all of your questions. I’ll share with you what I’m doing today along the
lines of hard money lending, joint ventures, rehabbing and new construction. We’re
going to recreate the best place for real estate investors on the web and I’m asking you
to join me. Without you, I’m nothing. Posting and answering my own posts won’t be
fun, but helping you and watching you grow will be incredible.

So join us at the forum and let me show you how to grow your Real Estate business and how you can be a LIFEonaire!

One of the things that I teach and spend a lot of time on at our short sale events is the fact that marketing needs to be your number one priority. Without the phone ringing, you’re never going to get any deals. This relates to whether you’re running a short sale business, rehab business, lease options business, rentals, anything. We are in the business of marketing, not much else. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other things to do in our business, however, marketing needs to be our number one priority each day. Most investors I know don’t spend the majority of their time on marketing efforts. Instead, they fill their days with activities that take time but don’t produce results. What does produce results is consistent marketing efforts.

Here’s the deal with marketing; You never know when it’s going to work and when it’s not. As you can see from the depiction below, not all of the marketing efforts (even though the marketing was consistent) produced the same result on a daily basis. There were times when the incoming calls from the marketing efforts were much slower than others. The challenge is, you never know when those results are going to be high versus low. This is why you must do your marketing consistently every single day.

I often hear from a new student who tried to send out mailers to get short sale leads for one week and didn’t get the results that they were looking for during that week, so they quit altogether. This is foolish. There is no way you can calculate how beneficial your marketing efforts are when you only tried for a few days. I usually encourage my students to try a new marketing piece for at least 60 full days before making a decision as to whether or not it will work. Most people don’t do this. Instead, most people base their results on marketing efforts of only a few days or maybe a few weeks of effort at best. If you happen to be starting your marketing during one of the low dips in the below illustration, you would naturally have an incorrect assumption about whether or not your marketing efforts are producing results. That’s why it’s imperative you are consistent with your marketing efforts on a daily basis and give it enough time to make it stick.

Not only that, but most students don’t take the time to track their marketing efforts. They base their decisions off of a “feeling” of how many calls they got this month rather than the hard data to back it up. One thing I learned a long time ago is this; “Numbers don’t lie. People do.” Don’t base your judgment as to whether or not you’re marketing is effective on your memory. Use hard data and do it the right way.

If I can encourage you to do one thing in your business for the next coming year it’s to focus on marketing and be consistent in your efforts. All too often I see people making goals on how many deals they want to close this month when what they should be focusing on is how much marketing they are going to produce each day. The one thing that is completely out of your control is how many deals you’re actually going to close this month. What you can control however, is how much marketing you’re going to get out there. Focus on what you have control over, not what you don’t.

Looking to have a great 2013? Make sure you come out to our Lifeonaire Event on February 21st in LA, California.. You’ll have a chance to get a vision for 2013, your life, and your business. You’ll also get to meet other great Lifeonaires like the one mentioned in this article!

For many organizations, a mission statement serves as a marketing tool. In fact, they make it such. Even if it is supposed to be used as a marketing tool, the core of the organization needs to be the main driving force behind it.

Your mission statement is supposed to be viewed by the leaders or owners of other organizations and your potential customers. Your staff will also view it. Writing it for any single group will make the mission statement look very different. It will look different to consumers, leaders and the staff. It may look selfish to consumers, misguiding to staff or unprofitable to leaders.

Therefore, your mission statement should be made so that it is for everyone to see. It needs to convey your message to all 3 principle groups. It needs to be real and convey what you really want to achieve in the long run. It should show that your company will serve everyone, from your clients to other organizations.

A mission statement should never be such that it only conveys that it serves only a few people or groups. This will only lead to disaster.
Writing mission statements is a great exercise for business leaders. It helps them realize what the company stands for and what they are providing. This will help them take the company in the way that is needed.

Here is an example of a mission statement written to address all the potential audiences that may read it.

New Coaching Program

Steve Cook Enterprises -- Our organization’s primary goal is to raise tomorrow’s leaders by using education about real estate investing as our platform. When our staff sees success and changes the lives of our students, they find their rewards. When they dedicate their lives to providing a spark to the future with the best services possible, they find their rewards. It is our firm belief that we share our blessings and bless others as well.

Do you have your own Mission statement? Share yours in the comments below, or try to create one and see how it works here!

Normally, during a week long vacation we’re going somewhere, doing many things, and often busier than when working. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get home from a vacation and almost feel like I need a vacation from my vacation.

During these two weeks off, I had a lot of down time. I did a lot of music recording with my band, spent a lot of time with family and my kids just hanging out and playing, had lots of lazy days reading, listening to music, sitting next to a warm fire in my fireplace… and basically didn’t have a whole lot planned, and it was nice.

Don’t get me wrong, I had plenty of stuff to do. I sold my Porsche over the break, so I got to pick out and buy a new car, I chopped firewood, I played in the snow quite a bit with the kids… But the point is, it was an awesome break from the day to day minutia that we can all get buried in.

What does this have to do with you? Well, there are HUGE benefits to taking this kind of time off with nothing to do and nothing planned and I wanted to share this with you so that you can experience the incredible things I’ve experienced these last two weeks.

1. First and foremost, I spent quiet time with God.

I’ve been frustrated most of my life with my relationship with Christ because I’ve always felt like the relationship was one way. I would pray and pray and yet I never experienced the clouds parting, the deep voice coming from the sky telling me exactly what to do, how to act, what to believe, etc…

I always wanted to hear from God in some way, and it never happened. That is, up until this past two weeks. As crazy as this may sound to you, God actually (literally) spoke to me for the first time during this break. (And NO, there was no alcohol or drugs involved… this was the real deal!)

I’ll share what He spoke to me at another time, but what I’ll tell you for now is that this was one of the most incredible experiences of my entire life. I have a renewed and refreshed faith that I have been wanting for so long. And what I learned is, perhaps God has been trying to speak to me in this way for some time but I’ve just been too busy doing “stuff” to listen.

2. Quiet Time = Vision Clarity

I got to spend a lot of quiet time time just thinking about what I want life to look like. And I don’t mean just for the next 2 weeks or 12 months… I didn’t just come up with a list of resolutions or goals… I really spent time with my vision (both personally and professionally,) and got clear on my direction and path, not only for the next year (which I did) but also for my life as a whole. Sometimes it’s easy to get so caught up in all of the day to day activities (especially business activities) that it’s hard to know (or remember) what you really want.

Instead, the easy path is just to schedule more, plan a new goal, set a new financial target, etc… Taking time off helped me really get down to what’s really important to me, not just the next promotion I’m going to do, deal I’m going to close, target I’m going to hit.

3. My personal life came first. Business came last.

One thing we teach at Lifeonaire is to put your personal vision first. Sometimes this is easier said than done, but try this one exercise and the next 12 months of your life will be totally different (way more fun!) than any other year of your life.

Here’s what I mean; Schedule your life FIRST.

We’ve all heard we’re supposed to pay ourselves first, but most people think this saying goes for finances only. Very few people actually pay themselves with their time first. When I was planning out my calendar for next year, I started by putting all of my personal aspects of my vision on my calendar first. The business stuff wasn’t put in there until afterwards, once all of the personal things I’d like to accomplish or experience were already loaded in.

This means I put all of the vacations I’d like to take on the calendar, date nights with my wife, time away for seminars I’d like to attend to help me grow personally. I scheduled time away for my guys trips, my time away with just no plans whatsoever, my time to record with my band, my time to be with family, camping with my son, a trip to drive race cars with friends, and a whole lot more. All of this got put into the calendar first, then the business trips, events, coaching retreats, etc… were loaded in at the very end.

Now, this calendar doesn’t have to be exactly perfect, but if you do this, you’ll discover that you have a whole lot less time to work in your business than you might have thought, which means if you want to actually have a life this year you’re going to have to become a whole lot more efficient with the time you spend in your business. This not only forces you to become laser focused on what you’re going to work on in your business this year, it also helps get you back to the root of LIVING LIFE rather than just creating a business that makes lots of money.

Don’t get me wrong, I want you to make a lot of money this year, but I know lots of people that make a lot of money and don’t have any time left to enjoy it. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be that guy. Money means nothing if it comes with a fish hook attached.

4. Business got crystal clear for me

Taking this time off, I realized that there are a number of things in my business that need to just go away.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the key to business success is often getting rid of what you don’t need rather than just adding more and more. (more goals, more customers, even more income can be a problem if it comes with a lot more fixed monthly expenses…) There are pieces of my business that are just there because they’re “supposed” to be there, (or so that book or seminar said…) not because they were ever a part of my actual vision for my business.

It’s made me realize that there is some fat that needs to be trimmed. It’s so easy to complicate everything in business when the truth is, my business is most profitable when it’s run in a very simple way. (Think of the real estate investor that’s trying to run a profitable short sale business while also doing rehabs, lease option marketing, a rental business, an internet marketing business, an MLM and more, all at the same time -- and trying to be the biggest and best at all of them.)

While multiple streams of income sounds great (and can be, don’t get me wrong…), sometimes the most profit (both financially and in terms of your time) comes from having laser focus. I’ve found that it’s often most profitable to become the absolute best at one or two things rather than attempting to become the master of many things.

It’s time to trim the fat.

The above being said, I have four questions for you to get your year started off right.

1. What are you going to do this year to actually have (or start) a relationship with your creator? (Matthew 16:26 -- For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?)
2. When are you going to schedule some time to do absolutely nothing so that you can get clear on your vision?
3. How can you begin to put your personal life first so that you professional life can prosper and you can actually have a LIFE? (hint: Try the calendar exercise and start to schedule business activities last for a change…)
4. What kind of fat do you need to trim in your own business so that you can become the best of the best at one or two things this year rather than trying to be the best at everything?

Answer these questions and you’ll be off to a great start for 2013. And if I could encourage you with anything to get your year started off, schedule some “YOU” time right now. Here’s to your best year EVER!

Shaun McCloskey