Bruce’s Wealth Blog

Anyone who has heard me speak live has heard me say that we are not in the real estate business, or the money business.  We are in the people business.  I truly believe that tenet.  Our success is based on the relationships and networks we build.  Our very existence as investors is based on solving the problems others need solved.  On Monday, I had a meeting that was set up by a Pennsylvania Realtor® I had forged a relationship with.  The meeting was with an investor with very deep pockets.  This investor gets about 30 sellers who need short sales every month.  He needed someone to work the short sales so he could buy.  That someone is the Realtor® who set up the meeting with me providing all of the back office support.  This will take our typical short sale load of 90 to 120 short sales on our desk at any given time to between 150 and 180 short sales or more.  Not only will my short sale volume increase, but the investor himself is now a resource I have to help my Inner Circle members.  It is all about the relationships.  If I had not formed a relationship with the Realtor® in the first place, none of the rest would have happened.  The best marketing I have ever done, is the same as the best marketing you will ever do – Network and build relationships.

 

But now, it is confession time.  As much as I teach, preach, believe, and live the truth that this business is about people, I still find myself regressing back to the money.  I caught myself doing this last week when I welcomed some new Inner Circle members.  As soon as I saw them sign up, I started making a mental calculation in my head.  You know, the one where you start spending money you haven’t even received yet.

 

Don’t get me wrong.  I do have a personal interest in seeing each and every Inner Circle member find the success they want and to reach the dreams they want to reach.  I am very devoted to them.  But the fact that I made that mental calculation told me something about my heart.  It revealed something to me that I didn’t want to see and am embarrassed to admit.

 

After the meeting with the new investor client I started picturing what that additional $30K to $45K per month income would look like for my business.  Again, the investor and Realtor® will make more money on these deals than I will, and I will do everything I can for them.  But that mental calculation said something about my heart. 

 

This is something that we all struggle with whether we want to admit it or not.  We are lured into real estate investing with the promise of big, quick, and relatively easy money.  Some investors get out as quickly as they got in.  But for those of us who stay, we eventually come to understand the truth that this is not about money, it is about people and relationships with those people.  Yet, even with that realization there is still a part of us that reduces those relationships down to a dollar amount.

 

You may be thinking why this matters if we are doing good things for other people.  If they are better off because of the things we do for them, why does it matter?  If you are better off because of the things I teach you, why does it matter?  It matters because it goes to motivation.

 

A close investor friend of mine came to me a couple months ago complaining that some of the people he is associated with have not been loyal to him.  I told him that the reason people aren’t being loyal to him is because he has done what most of the rest of us have done.  Even though he was teaching ethics and honesty, he was luring them with the promise of big money.  He was teaching them how to make more money.  He had reduced the relationship he had with his students down to a dollar amount, and then he expected loyalty from them.  The focus was on the cash not the relationship.  Is it any wonder there was no real sense of loyalty there?  The reason why there was no loyalty was because there was no strong basis for a loyal relationship.  It was a result of his own doing, and he is not alone.

 

I have a student in Texas who was complaining about the Maryland law.  He had no idea how anyone could make money if they could not collect the fee up front.  He was shocked to learn that I had no trouble collecting fees after the services were performed.  The difference?  He was focused on the money.  I was focused on the relationship.

 

Many national speakers have been teaching (and some still do) to grab the deed.  Create a situation where the homeowner cannot back out of the deal.  This is dangerous, unethical, and downright wrong on so many levels.  But I bring it up for this reason:  The reason investors feel the need to do this is because they are focused on the money, not the relationship.  The truth is that if the seller wants to back out, it is a bad deal.  The other truth is that if there is a relationship established between the seller and the investor, the likelihood that the seller will back out is near zero.

 

Most students don’t believe me when I tell them that networking is the best marketing they will ever do.  It is too easy and inexpensive for them.  I have built my entire business on these relationships.  Like everyone else I have made really stupid mistakes.  Yet I am still in business.  The only reason I am still in business is because of the relationships I have been able to form with others.  Even though I am good at building these networks and relationships, I will still sometimes make that mental calculation.  That mental calculation harms the relationships I am in and I am working to fix that problem in my heart.

 

So what about you?  Are you pursuing money or are you pursuing relationships?  Are you looking for loyalty but not building the foundation on which to base and expect that loyalty?  Are you focused on what you get from a transaction, relationship, or other event or are you focused on what you can offer to others?  I am not asking you to answer these questions on a superficial level.  I am asking you to go much deeper.  Most people would say my mental calculation is no big deal.  On the surface, I agree with them.  But when I look deeper, I believe it is a big deal and one worthy of change.  Are you willing to dig deep, see the truth that you may not want to see, and then work for change?  If you do I believe you will reap the rewards.

 

Take care and happy investing!

 

Bruce..