Building Confidence - by Becky Sanders

For many of us, the biggest hurdle to overcome in getting started in this business is a lack of self-confidence. Honestly, this was my biggest problem when I was getting started and it almost ended my business before I got started. Luckily, it didn't :).

Once you've read your course materials a few times, been the bootcamp once or twice, and have familiarized yourself with the forms and contracts, you don't need more education to get started. Certainly you'll want to continue your education, but you know enough to go and make some deals. So what's stopping you? Is it fear of rejection or humiliation? Or is it that you don't have any professionals lined up to help you close your deals? Well, we'll talk about both of those.

Your confidence will come when you know you have the means to close your deals and you stop caring about what others think of you. Having your team of professionals lined up and in place will help immensely. I've talked about this many times on this board because I think it's very important. You need to have an attorney that can review your contracts and handle your closings, a title company that can run your title searches and provide title insurance, a realtor to run comps and make offers for you on listed properties, a mortgage broker that can help you with your funding as well as funding your buyers and sellers, an insurance agent or broker, a private money lender and/or hard money lender, and even other investor-contacts to buy from, sell to, and discuss what's happening in the marketplace and get referrals from.

The courses and bootcamps have taught you all you need to know about the mechanics of making deals and making money, but you need to know how to fine-tune that in your specific marketplace. Make your local contacts and get your team.

Now, you've already done that but you still haven't gotten anywhere? Are you advertising and receiving calls? So what if you flub up on your phone calls, a truly motivated seller won't even care. They just want to know if you can solve their problem. Have you been in anyone's living room yet? It's very nerve-racking the first couple times, but the confidence comes in the doing. After about 10 phone calls, you'll become very good on the phone. After about 1 living room closing, you'll become very good at doing your own closings.

Remind yourself why you've spent all this money on getting educated about real estate investing and listen to motivational tapes every day. Do you want to be like Ron LeGrand or Cameron Dunlap or Beau Etheridge? Are you still thinking that you can't be like them? The only difference between you and them is that they took those first steps. They've been where you are today. You must do what most people are unwilling to do to become different and create wealth for yourself and your family.

Identify what is your fear and then focus on how you can fix that. If you're afraid to pick up the phone and call those FSBO's, then what you need to do is pick up the phone and call them. If you really, really cannot bring yourself to do that, then have someone do it for you. Are you a super performer at your day job? Why is it that you work so hard for someone else but cannot seem to do it for yourself? Perhaps you need to pretend as though you are working for someone else. If you were employed by someone else to call FSBO's and screen sellers, you'd probably do it because it's a job. So consider yourself an employee. Your spouse can be your boss or your corporation can be your boss. You are now the office manager and must make these calls. Go do it! Figure out what is going to motivate you.

Maybe you've been using a realtor and have made 30 offers and none have been accepted. What is it that you're doing wrong? Your offers are not too low - so throw that thought out the window. MAO is what works for you, and we're only in this business to make money, so don't even think about paying too much. Maybe the marketplace just isn't hot at this moment for buying listed junkers. But what about that untapped market? Those vacant houses that aren't for sale. Find them, find the owners, and inform them that you'd be interested in buying. Every vacant house has a motivated seller whether the owner knows it or not. So don't think that you're invading their privacy or are being a nuisance. You are OFFERING A SERVICE! People want and need you, but they don't know how to find you. So you have to find them. Do your advertising and call those owners of vacant houses and call those FSBO's.

All my life, I've cared (too much) about what other people thought of me and I wanted everyone to like me. Perhaps you are the same way, or perhaps you aren't. When I first started advertising, I got four kinds of callers. Motivated sellers (and I made some deals this way), not so motivated sellers, and I was honest with them and told them that because we're an investment company that buys for a profit, we probably wouldn't be beneficial to them right now and I actually made suggestions on realtors they could use and asked them for referrals if they know anyone who needs to sell quickly, then I got calls from other investors who have become good resources and some have become friends, and then I got the occasional seller who cussed me out and told me that'll never buy a house. Well, that's the worst that happened, and it actually made me laugh. I have a thicker skin and I'm actually trying to have a little bit of fun as I do this. I've met some wonderful people through this business, not only other investors, but sellers, buyers, professionals, and even contractors.

I started out as treating this as a real estate business, and it scared me. But as I've gotten better at what I do (and I improve all the time), I've truly learned the meaning of this being a people business. I heard Ron LeGrand, Cameron and all those mentors tell me that at the bootcamps and on the tapes, but I never understood it until I started to get to know the people on the other end. I enjoy trying to help sellers sell their house, buyers buy a house, contractors get some work, and brokers get some business. I like the people I do business with and I enjoy trying to make a deal that works for all involved. I am a problem solver and so are you.

I started this business to make money. But if that's not reason enough (and believe it or not, for most people that's not reason enough), then perhaps knowing that you are helping to solve people's problems will be good enough motivation. It feels so good when a seller thanks you for buying their home. They don't care that you bought it at a steal, you've solved their problem. Feel good about what you do and your business will flourish.

I wish you all much success and make sure you enjoy the journey towards your goals