Setting your goals for 2006
Happy 2006 everyone!
I hope everyone had a nice holiday and a great New Year. Now that the holidays are over, it is time to get back to being focused on whatever it is you do in real estate. Have you set your goals for 2006? Before you do that, look back at the goals you set in 2005. Did you reach or beat them? I hope you did and I hope they were worthy goals. 2005 was a very profitable year for most of us in real estate whether you were the landlord, wholesaler, realtor, mortgage broker, or all of the above. If you did not meet your 2005 goals, I encourage you to determine why. I firmly believe that you learn more from your mistakes and mishaps than from your accomplishments. I bet if you did not meet your goals, your two main problems were time management and marketing. Both elements are critical to being successful in real estate. What about those of you brand new to real estate investing? How do you guys and gals set your goals? I will give you the goals I started with and maybe they will help you form your own. When I first started in real estate, I took my goals to the lowest granularity possible. On a daily basis, I hear people with monetary or property goals that never get accomplished. I think for most, their goals need to be broken down into more manageable chunks. For example: Instead of “I want to make $100,000 next year”, research what it will take to meet that goal. As a mortgage broker, I know that 5 loans a month will almost guarantee that income.
However, that is just not simple enough. How do you get 5 loans a month? Telling as many people as you can that you do mortgages would certainly help. When I began in financing, my initial goal was to talk to at least one person about mortgages every single place I went. Gas stations, restaurants, Easter egg hunts, book stores and bars were all places where I forced myself to talk to people about mortgages. This is a very easy-to-manage goal and it certainly helped me in meeting my other goals. It is not that different to take basic goals and apply them to investing.
When I began investing, one of my goals was to talk about real estate to at least 5 people a day during the week and 30 people a day both Saturday and Sunday. That is 85 people a week. Who were these people? “For sale by owners”, realtors, mortgage brokers, landlords, bankers, investors and buyers were the people I spoke to every week. Folks, it is so true what everyone says, “Real Estate is a numbers’ game”; if you talk to enough people, then you will find deals and gain knowledge! Lao-tzu said: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Attack and achieve those New Years’ resolutions by having easy to manage goals and you will certainly have a profitable journey in 2006.
Happy Investing
Ray Higdon
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