What to Do When Plan “A” Fails…

Face it… Plan “A” fails from time to time.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

When it does, what happens next?

Do you just give up, quit, and stop moving toward your dreams and goals?

Come on. Get real.

There was something cool on Facebook recently that said, “When plan A fails, remember that the alphabet has 25 other letters!”

That’s a pretty cool way of thinking about things… so cool that I decided to do a Periscope session on the topic. Give it your attention for a few minutes.
[youtube id=”LvKMxSENzFI” width=”600″ height=”350″ autoplay=”no” api_params=”” class=””][/youtube]

My point is that you are not locked into Plan “A.” You’re going to come up with Plan “B,” Plan “C” and so on. That way, if Plan “A” fails, you can take another tack.

Keep that in your mind as you’re out there becoming a real estate entrepreneur and when you're doing your first deals. (Or really any deal today or 10 years from today.)

There are no shortcuts on the way to success! Share on X

Truth is that sometimes what you think is going to work great doesn't. (Especially your first time out of the gate.)

In fact, chances are…

• The first offer you submit probably won't get accepted.

• The first time you ask an investor to let you use his capital, he may say no.

• The first time you try to get a tenant for a property, you may not get him.

So what? Now what?

You work until. That’s what!

Until when?

• Until you get to your goal.

• Until the deal is done.

• Until you have raised capital.

• Until you get tenants.

• Until … whatever.

This is something I have talked about in almost every live presentation and since I first started my podcast. Give this one about time and your mindset a listen…

There are no shortcuts.

Listen, as an entrepreneur you aren’t punching a clock, so “until” means exactly that. “Until you get the job done.”

The problem is that most of us do not have a correct understanding of the word “until.”

How do I know?

Cuz I get this question a lot: “Hey, J., how long is it going to take me to get a deal done?”

That one always makes me chuckle.

The answer is UNTIL YOU GET THE DEAL DONE.

In real estate investing you work UNTIL the deal is done. Share on X

Here's the point…

There is no crystal ball.

No one can tell you how long it's going to take you to get a deal done. There are lots of different pieces to the puzzle.

If you want the full picture, then you must commit to the end result. You also have to be committed to sticking to the path… even when you encounter roadblocks and detours along the way.

What roadblocks and detours?

In life there are always roadblocks and detours. Don’t let them stop you. Share on X

There are always roadblocks and detours… even in everyday life.

For example, let's pretend that you're hungry. You say, “I'm going to go to the grocery store to pick up some food so I can eat.”

Seems logical, right?

What if logic exits your brain and you’re left with just your feelings? You’re going to be in trouble if you let your emotions rule.

For example, you say to yourself, “I am going to go to the grocery store, but the last time I went there the cashier was rude to me and she hurt my feelings. Maybe I don't want to go that bad.”

But you don’t stop there.

You keep talking yourself further and further away from making the decision to get into the car and drive to the store. You tell yourself,“I don't know how long it's going to take me to get there. All the lights aren't going to be green, so I'm just going to sit at home.”

Really? What's going to happen? You're not going to eat.

That’s a pretty extreme example, but it can be like that when you’re taking your first steps inbecoming a real estate entrepreneur. You can talk yourself out of taking your first steps because of the “what if’s” that are involved.

You must change your mindset to get yourself beyond the “what if” syndrome that can hold you back from reaching your goals. This is such an important piece to becoming an entrepreneur that I devote a lot of time to it, helping others get over that hump.

Even early on in my podcast I talked about shifting your mindset. Here’s another episode from the early days you might enjoy on the topic…

The bottom line is that you have to make the commitment to yourself to keep going, no matter what.

To succeed at anything requires commitment to work past roadblocks. Share on X

In our example of going to the grocery store, what if you tell yourself that you’re committed to getting there, so you jump in your car, turn the ignition and hit the gas? You’re going along just fine when all of a sudden you hit a red light.

What then? Do you turn around and go home? Do you tell yourself, “I guess grocery stores aren't for me”?

Come on. That’s not realistic.

You're going to wait for the red light to turn green and you’re going to keep heading toward the store.

What if after that first red light you hit another? Do you then turn home?

Um… NO.

What if when you arrive at the store the parking lot is blocked off and you see a sign that tells you to go around the other side to find parking.That’s called a detour. Are you going to turn around and go home?

If you hit a red light on the way to the store, do you just turn around and go home? Share on X

In our example, you’ve hit two red lights and a detour.

But you are still going to find parking, walk into the store and get what you came for. Do you know exactly when that will happen?

No…

You committed to the trip and you will keep going until you are inside the store, standing in the check-out line buying your food. How long it takes in irrelevant.

It’s the same in real estate investing.

You keep going UNTIL you do your first deal. Then you keep going UNTIL you do your second deal. You just keep going after that, pushing your goals further and further out. You commit to working UNTIL you reach your goals.

If you want to build a portfolio of assets, you will have to change your mindset from what you have been trained to do, which is wait for someone else to take care of you as you receive a paycheck every two weeks.

You have to train yourself to think that you will work until you get to your first goal, then your second, then your third and so on.

As you are building assets you will need different pieces. For example, you will need a property to purchase. You’ll need title and escrow. You will likely need to raise some private capital.

You will work until all the pieces are in place!

Truth is that concept of “working until” stops a lot of people from becoming real estate entrepreneurs.

• They try something once and it doesn’t work out, so they quit.

• They try to raise capital and they don’t get it right off the bat, so they quit.

• They go to a bank for a loan and get turned down, so they quit.

Working “until” stops a lot of people from becoming entrepreneurs. Share on X

Based on their very short introductory experiences in real estate investing that don’t go exactly as they planned, they quit and tell me real estate investing doesn’t work.

Really?!

It sure works well for me; it works great for lots of other people. (Hmmm…. Maybe cuz they didn’t quit when they hit a few red lights, roadblocks and detours.)

Real estate is for every person on the planet.

Know why?

Cuz everyone needs a place to live, work, playor lay.

That’s right. You live in a piece of real estate and you work on a piece of real estate. In either case, that real estate can be owned by you or by other people. (They are called landlords.)

You play in and on pieces of real estate. Every time you go to the movie theater, guess what that is? Someone else's real estate.

We may not want to think about it, but eventually we all lay in a final resting place. Guess what that involves? Real estate.(Even the cremated typically end up “residing” on the mantle inside a piece of real estate.)

Truth is, from the cradle to the grave we are involved in real estate… but maybe you never thought about it that way before. Wouldn’t it be better to own some of it and rent it out than to just keep paying rent to those who do?

Everyone needs a place to live, work, play and lay. (It’s called real estate.) Share on X

And here’s something else for you to think about…

Next time you’re driving around, take a good look around. Real estate is everywhere.

There are stores and restaurants, houses and condos, apartment buildings, schools, recreation centers and parks, parking lots, large office complexes, hotels and, well, you get my point.

The people that own these pieces of property all started out just like you, wondering how they will build their assets, wondering how long it will take and learning that they would work until they reach their goals.

A lot of them also had investors who funded their deals. And if that’s something you’re curious about… if you want to know where to find these “magical” investors, you can stop wondering. Click the box below and download a free report on 39 Perfect Places to Find Investors!