I am well known for saying to students that you have to just keep going till success starts. There is no magic wand.

So I love it when I get success stories from people who do actually keep going. Received an email from an acquaintance down the line part of which reads…..

“I thought I would share with you some good news – after 107 offers I have finally found my first deal. Having only been living in NZ 14 months and a great deal of that time has been travelling back and forth to the UK. Its been hard work with all the travelling, looking for the deals (you’re right – they are out there) and trying to get an education in this exciting business.

The property concerned has a RV of $270k – I put an offer forward of $180k (private sale) done a little negotiating and the vendor accepted.”

107 offers might sound a lot, but the man just made 90 grand in a day. Only have to do that once a year and it beats workin.

I was speaking last week at a PIA in Auckland and another of my students came up and said how much better they were feeling now that they had their first 3 deals on the go. He said “I know now that the deals are everywhere, I just have to find them!!”

I see so many people who give up it is great to see someone keep going until it happens.

How about you?? have you given up on your dreams lately?? What have you decided just won’t ever happen??

Don’t settle for survival, you were designed to have a creative, fulfilled life. But only you can make that happen.
And you make it happen by not giving up!!

It has been said that good is often the enemy of the best. I found myself talking about this at one of my courses recently and was reminded of it today when watching Bill Wilson on Shine TV.
Bill was talking about this isue from a Christian perspective but it is so relevant for all of us to understand.

You see whenever we are fighting a battle that isn’t ours, or pursuing a dream that isn’t ours, we lose.

In a Christian context if the enemy can get us fighting any battle except the one God wants us to fight, then we are spending energy uselessly and being kept away from God’s best.

As investors if we get sidetracked into pursuing things that we are not good at, if we focus on aspects of our business that we are not well equipped for, then we will be ineffective and ultimately fail.

You see we are surrounded by plenty of “good” ideas, but are they “God” ideas, are they the best.

I daily get emails from people asking me if they should attend our events in November? I think to myself, how can I possibly answer that. Do you need to learn great systems to help you invest more? Does your mindset need tweaking?/ Do you have issues of fear of failure, fear of debt or low self esteem to conquer? Do you want to succeed badly enough to take the info I may provide and use it? How do I know?

Similarly I have had countless offers to get involved in all kinds of business ventures. I automatically say no to them all now, because I know the best use of my time and energy is property investing and education. I know that this is the best thing for me, I feel like I was born to do it. I know that God has called me into it as part of changing the nation of Fiji.

Getting involved in a cashflow business is probably great, it is a good idea, but it would keep me from the best idea, more property investing.

I know many of you get discouraged by your lack of progress and think that you need to try something new or different.

That may be true. But it may also be true that you need to stop focusing on the little battles, stop beating yourself up over things that aren’t so important and focus on the things that are really important.

One of my “students” was telling me today for the hundredth time that there are no good deals on the Shore at the moment. “Nonsense” I said. ” You can find no good deals on the Shore because you keep telling yourself and me that there are no good deals.” So this person is effectively preparing for battle and waving the white flag of surrender at the same time, whilst wearing the enemy’s uniform. If the enemy doesn’t get her then her self talk, friendly fire, will!!

I find I am constantly tempted to spend time on things that are not good for me or constructive. One of the sad truths I have had to come to terms with recently is that as you get known to be successful, you get an exponential amount of bovine eschatology coming your way as well. I hear all kinds of things about me and get all manner of nonsense emails from people that would really get me down if I A: believed them and B: dwelt on them.

So decide for you what is really important. Which battles do you need to prepare for? Which challenges have actually got your name on them? Don’t get side tracked. On the weekend I was talking about this in the context of goals. Know where you are going and you give yourself a fighting chance of getting there. A pilot once told me that a plane is not heading directly towards it’s destination for most of the flight. 90% of the time it is correcting itself. But the target is clearly defined and locked in, and that pulls the nose back on track over and over again.

That nursery rhyme reminds me that we often behave like sheep don’t we?
Going against the flow is often the most difficult thing to do because everything within us wants to find the path of least resistance.

We met with some friends today, one of whom trains some top runners and other athletes in Auckland. His partner is a great runner and she was commenting about her propensity for bad starts in sprints. A “bad” start is defined as lifting your head up early out of the blocks, which reduces your forward speed.

It was interesting that even though she practised it over and over and over again, and had a top trainer, when she got into a real race, her head would pop up early.

You see she was wired to do what was normal, what you and I would naturally do. If you start running fast you want to look up to see where you are going. But in a competition this will slow you down.

Well this is a perfect analogy for investing. We naturally want to do what everybody else does. What does everybody else do?? Well basically nothing but talk.
So we attend the seminars and get the education and get taught how to keep our heads down so we can get more forward speed. We play games and role plays until we get comfortable with keeping our head down. Then we get into our first real deal and we revert back to lifting our head up and slowing down.

How do we start to fight this??

Well firstly understand that what you have to do to succeed is NOT normal, NOT average, NOT the path of least resistance. It will require commitment, practise and perseverance.

It may NEVER GET EASY. It will get easier but you will always have to think, OK how do I get the best head start on this. How do I keep my head down and drive forward.

I buy lots of property because I look at a deal and I either buy it or I don’t, That decision is often made in less than 2 minutes. And I never revisit the decision. I’ve bought it now, lets get on. I own some great properties because I din’t wait. 5 minutes and they may have been gone.

You have to get to that place eventually if you are going to accelerate your success. Over analysis has killed many potential successful people and ideas.

Fear and subsequent lack of action has probably cost you a fortune already. You’ve listened to the voices in 2003 saying the boom was nearly at an end, then in 2004 you were warned to wait for the slump. 2005 it surely can’t continue, don’t buy anything now. 2006 we are definitely headed for trouble, not only don’t buy but sell what you’ve got.

In the meantime I have generated millions in equity by buying and buying and buying and never selling.

How long will you wait?? Till pos cashflow returns?? What if that occurs only after Jesus returns?? What will you be saying to yourself in 5 years when you could be retiring but instead you are hoping you don’t get made redundant??

Time to get control of your life, time to get control of your finances, time to……..
go and watch TV for the evening instead??? I pray not!!

I was talking to 170 people at a business mentoring evening at a church recently. It was great to be able to talk about what God was saying with an audience that would understand what that means.

I found myself talking a lot about deciding what you really want out of life and making a decision to either have it or stop saying you want it. I keep meeting people who say they want to be successful investors but they never take the action required to get off the ground. It becomes a mantra that they speak regularly but it never connects to action.

How many things have you told yourself you “really must do” and yet never do. I guess we all do it to some degree but that’s why we need to decide the things that we really want and actually get them. I really want to lose weight for example but I am consistently not taking the action required to get the right result. I don’t want it badly enough I guess. But I do want to serve the nation of Fiji so I do take the action necessary to achieve that. Because that is at the top of my “I really must do that” list.

So thought for the week and homework for those interested:
1. Write a list of the things that you “really must do”
2. Reduce the list down to the top 5 things/goals you want to achieve
3. Pick the one that really matters the most
4. Chuck out the rest and nevre mention them again
5. Pursue the one goal until you achieve it.
6. Start back at 1 once 5 is complete!!

One of my students has negotiated a good property recently and today the vendor wanted to see her solicitor with the agreement before signing.

The vendor came back and wanted 2 changes.
1. The late settlement interest figure had to be changed from 9% to 12% as her solicitor said it “had to be 12%”
2. They had to draw up a second original agreement as it was only binding if each solicitor had an original.

Now both these things are absolute nonsense and a timely reminder to us all that we need good professional advice. There are plenty of people who don’t know what they are doing. Make sure you deal with people who do!! Imagine what other drivel this lawyer would be telling clients.

And remember, you will have to spend money sometimes to get good advice. If you aren’t willing to invest in yourself then don’t invest in property.

I’m too afraid to add up what I’ve spent on getting educated and seeing people like Matthew Gilligan and others to ensure I am set up right. But I’d do it again and I continue to invest in myself because it is necessary and the results are great. My forum is an incredible resource of advice from professionals for five hundred bucks a year however I still tell people often to go and see a professional as the laws are simply complicated, (pun intended).

So do yourself a favour today, decide that you will invest in yourself and not begrudge the money, it is not a “cost” or “expense”, it is an investment.

What would it “cost” you to have a lawyer as bad as the above example giving you advice on your investing??

I met with a developer this morning who had a project that an agent friend of mine had talked him into considering selling.

This developer currently has 5 projects on the go in the upper North Island and has been in the game for many years.

What was fascinating was how “pragmatic” they were about their business. Their comment was, “We’re happy to complete this ourselves, but there are plenty of deals out there, so we’re happy to just clip the ticket and put the profit into other deals”.

So it was interesting that their attitude as developers was that there was no shortage of deals. As you know I share their views that there are deals everywhere but it was refreshing to hear it from a much bigger fish than I.

They operate at a different level and take for granted the things I try to teach others. The concepts we find difficult they have as established foundations in their business.

I know I sound like a broken record lately but I believe this mindset stuff is just so critical. Do you believe that success is within your grasp??

I was talking to a lease options student today who was kind of telling me why lease options wouldn’t work in his town. He’d been told by someone that what I taught wouldn’t work there. “So your town is different to the entire rest of the country” I said. “There is no one in your area who ever gets a bluestone mortgage?” At first he tried to tell me that his area was different to the rest of the country. Sadly when I challenged him on his mindset he ultimately has become negative about the very strategy that could provide him with the cashflow he needs. So he will never achieve his goals because his head is in a bad space. The unfortunate thing is that his negativity is growing because he won’t allow himself to think differently. And the ironic thing is that one of the most successful lease options businesses in the country operates in his own town

So what about you?? What stories are you telling yourself today??

If you really struggle with this can I encourage you to consider joining us at Behind Closed Doors, we will teach you how to change your mindset and how to stop self sabotaging your success.
More info HERE

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighbourhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something.

As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting,
“What was that all about and who are you?
Just what the heck are you doing?
That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money.
Why did you do it?”

The young boy was apologetic. “Please, mister…please, I’m sorry but I didn’t know what else to do,” He pleaded. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop…..”
With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. “It’s my brother, “he said. “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.”

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.

“Thank you and may God bless you,” the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message:

“Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!”
God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It’s our choice to listen or not.

Thought for the Day:

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.
If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.
He sends you flowers every spring.
He sends you a sunrise every morning. Face it, friend – He is crazy about you!
God didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.