An important message from Jack Miller:
Fear is Failure's Collabotator. Fear has robbed more people of success than
any other factor. Fear is what freezes a deer in the headlights. Fear is what
makes a person aim low to avoid failing instead of trying to get to the top.
Fear of rejection keeps people from making low or creative offers and aiming
for higher profits. Fear of the future is what motivated me to settle for a
mediocre career in the Air Force rather than becoming an entrepreneur at an
early age. To avoid going out on their own, fear drives people into college to
get a degree in a specialty that they never work in.
The irony of being controlled by fear is that its basis is almost always created in
the mind as we imagine the worst possible consequences of the decisions we
make rather than the best possible results. Fear comes in all shapes and sizes:
Fear of rejection. Fear of loss of a job or a promotion. Fear of failure. Fear of
disapproval. Fear of change. Fear of making a decision. Fear of government
harassment, lawsuits, or physical abuse. So, ultimately, while reasonable caution
is a good thing, irrational fear of the un-knowable, un-seeable future is not. It's
an emotional choice that people make who don't understand changing events,
aren't willing to find out more about them, and aren't willing to confront them head on.
The difference between taking blind chances and taking calculated risks is knowledge
and experience. When a professional takes a stroll across Niagara Falls on a tightrope,
what seems like a terrible risk to observers amounts to a walk in the park to him;
because he knows what he is doing, and has done it before. The same principle
applies to buying, financing, selling, fixing, and managing houses. Why do you
suppose so few brokers actually buy/sell/rent their own houses versus entrepreneurs?
I think it's because listing, selling, and managing houses for a fee incurs no risk of
money or credit; while investing and lease/Optioning does.
As a broker, I knew more about houses than my customers. I did all the work from
listing to settlement. Despite my expertise, I settled for a fraction of the profit that I was making for others simply because I didn't want to risk investing my own money. I readily gave up half of the profit I could have made. When I realized this, I made a big change: I began charging 50% of the profit, payable only when I sold the property. My income tripled overnight. Later, with very little money and no customers, I used short-term Options to control properties until I could sell them. As I gained experience, I began closing on some of my Options and keeping houses as rentals. Sometimes I Lease/Optioned properties . My income and equities grew by leaps and bounds. If I were starting over today, I'd do exactly the same thing. In today's market even greater profits are attainable.
When you're out of work and there's nothing to lose, taking a chance on yourself
isn't nearly as risky as quitting a good job to go out on your own; thus there's
very little to fear. Fortunately, I had gotten a Salesman's license a year or so before
losing my job, so nothing prevented me from going into real estate sales; but I had
to be practical. I set a Go/No-Go point for the next three months as to how much
money I had to earn listing and selling houses in order to continue to avoid a regular,
low-level job. Because I really didn't want to ever be fired again, I worked like a
fiend to meet my goal, and I was able to continue on in the house business. Once
I proved I could make a better living, I never looked back.
Getting a real estate license is not such a bad idea. It requires minimal study or
expense and can provide income if you lose your job. If you don't like real estate,
a Mortgage Broker's license is about as easy to get. If you do this while you're still
employed, you can shorten the time between losing your job and beginning to earn
money. You'll also enhance your employment opportunities because many States
require that businesses that provide real estate or financial services have at least one
broker on the payroll. It also eliminates restrictions on Master Leasing and flipping
Options on houses that some States impose on non-brokers.
Fear is Failure's Collabotator. Fear has robbed more people of success than
any other factor. Fear is what freezes a deer in the headlights. Fear is what
makes a person aim low to avoid failing instead of trying to get to the top.
Fear of rejection keeps people from making low or creative offers and aiming
for higher profits. Fear of the future is what motivated me to settle for a
mediocre career in the Air Force rather than becoming an entrepreneur at an
early age. To avoid going out on their own, fear drives people into college to
get a degree in a specialty that they never work in.
The irony of being controlled by fear is that its basis is almost always created in
the mind as we imagine the worst possible consequences of the decisions we
make rather than the best possible results. Fear comes in all shapes and sizes:
Fear of rejection. Fear of loss of a job or a promotion. Fear of failure. Fear of
disapproval. Fear of change. Fear of making a decision. Fear of government
harassment, lawsuits, or physical abuse. So, ultimately, while reasonable caution
is a good thing, irrational fear of the un-knowable, un-seeable future is not. It's
an emotional choice that people make who don't understand changing events,
aren't willing to find out more about them, and aren't willing to confront them head on.
The difference between taking blind chances and taking calculated risks is knowledge
and experience. When a professional takes a stroll across Niagara Falls on a tightrope,
what seems like a terrible risk to observers amounts to a walk in the park to him;
because he knows what he is doing, and has done it before. The same principle
applies to buying, financing, selling, fixing, and managing houses. Why do you
suppose so few brokers actually buy/sell/rent their own houses versus entrepreneurs?
I think it's because listing, selling, and managing houses for a fee incurs no risk of
money or credit; while investing and lease/Optioning does.
As a broker, I knew more about houses than my customers. I did all the work from
listing to settlement. Despite my expertise, I settled for a fraction of the profit that I was making for others simply because I didn't want to risk investing my own money. I readily gave up half of the profit I could have made. When I realized this, I made a big change: I began charging 50% of the profit, payable only when I sold the property. My income tripled overnight. Later, with very little money and no customers, I used short-term Options to control properties until I could sell them. As I gained experience, I began closing on some of my Options and keeping houses as rentals. Sometimes I Lease/Optioned properties . My income and equities grew by leaps and bounds. If I were starting over today, I'd do exactly the same thing. In today's market even greater profits are attainable.
When you're out of work and there's nothing to lose, taking a chance on yourself
isn't nearly as risky as quitting a good job to go out on your own; thus there's
very little to fear. Fortunately, I had gotten a Salesman's license a year or so before
losing my job, so nothing prevented me from going into real estate sales; but I had
to be practical. I set a Go/No-Go point for the next three months as to how much
money I had to earn listing and selling houses in order to continue to avoid a regular,
low-level job. Because I really didn't want to ever be fired again, I worked like a
fiend to meet my goal, and I was able to continue on in the house business. Once
I proved I could make a better living, I never looked back.
Getting a real estate license is not such a bad idea. It requires minimal study or
expense and can provide income if you lose your job. If you don't like real estate,
a Mortgage Broker's license is about as easy to get. If you do this while you're still
employed, you can shorten the time between losing your job and beginning to earn
money. You'll also enhance your employment opportunities because many States
require that businesses that provide real estate or financial services have at least one
broker on the payroll. It also eliminates restrictions on Master Leasing and flipping
Options on houses that some States impose on non-brokers.
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