Having Trouble Taking That First Step
Hi. I just thought I'd throw this out there at you folks. I have wanted to invest for many years, but my main problem is fear of taking that first step. Any pointers or supportive responses are greatly appreciated. Thanks. 
Hi Elena,
Welcome to the board.
You are in the right place .So please take your time to read the www.archives.There are so many posts and articles which is giving advice on getting started and there is a beginners forum as well where you can post your questions.
once you are familiar with the different tools in RE.Please come back and ask more focused questions.
Good Luck
This might help you. This is an article by someone OTHER THAN MYSLEF and I take NO CREDIT FOR IT WHATSOEVER. But I saw your post and thought it will come in handy. It did for me and I believe it will also for you and others out there experiencing the same:
ACT IN SPITE OF FEAR
The formula for manifestation in our physical universe is known to be "thoughts lead to feelings, which lead to actions, which lead to results." Most people have plenty of thoughts and feelings, but the breakdown for many seems to be ability to take "action". The culprit, of course, is fear. That is why to succeed in life you must cultivate the trait of courage.
Courage is "taking action is spite of fear". In fact, you can only experience courage in face of fear. Fear is our greatest obstacle to living happy, peaceful and powerful lives. The true definition of fear is "anticipation of pain." Since anticipation is based in the future and the future only exists in our imagination, fear does not exist in reality. It only lives in our head.
Therefore, it is our own protective mind that prevents us from taking the actions necessary to attain our dreams. As the cartoon character Pogo so appropriately states, "We have met the enemy and he is us".
The protective mind is like an over worried mother. It is constantly creating "doom and gloom" scenarios trying to scare the heck out of us, in the hopes that we won't try anything new. Its favorite words are "what if." "What if this happens? What if that happens?" Even though none of these things have actually happened, and chances are none of these things will ever happen, this "soap opera" script continues to blare loudly in our head.
Unfortunately we tend to take this mind frick as gospel and our wonderful ideas of growth and opportunity, become full of uncertainty and doubt. Recognize that our protective mind is not necessarily to be believed; that its agenda has nothing to do with making us happy or successful, but only to keep us in a place that is safe, secure and familiar.
Unfortunately many people wait for their fear to subside before taking action. Big mistake! It is not necessary to get rid of fear in order to act. It’s not necessary to “kill” the cobra! The more effective strategy is to learn to "tame" the cobra of fear by acknowledging the feelings and then taking action anyway.
Fear itself holds no real power over you. You and you alone give fear its power. If you allow fear to stop you, it will. If you recognize it as the protective part of you, doing it's job (far to well), you can simply say to your mind, "thank you for sharing" and then proceed into action.
Realize that successful people have fear. Successful people have doubts and successful people worry. The only difference between those who succeed and those who don't is that successful people act in spite of their fear, doubt, and worry. So can you!
The darkness of fear begins to disappear in the light of action. Because your protective mind (where fear resides) lives only in past or future, fear cannot exist in the present moment.
Actions, however, only exist in the present moment, meaning that in the midst of focused action, fear dissipates.
The voice of fear is not you. It is only a conditioned "tape" from the past projecting into the future. Once you can recognize that you are the one playing the tape and not the tape itself, you are free!
Ask yourself, "What would I do, if I absolutely knew I could not fail?" The answer will give you a good indication of what you would do and who you would become if you lived based in heart and spirit vs. fear!
EXERCISE
Think of your dreams, your relationships, your career, your time, your recreational activities, and your environment (where you live and with whom you associate). Where in your life are you letting fear, doubt or worry stop you from taking the necessary actions for happiness and success? What would you do if you could not fail? From this day forth, begin to act as if you could not fail and watch as miracles unfold!
Declaration:
I act in spite of fear, doubt and worry!
I take action towards my happiness and success!
Good luck and happy investin
Shikely,
Thanks greatly for posting this. I am going to print it and send it to my own worry ridden Mother.
cya,
NS
Hey,
The best thing you can do to get started is find someone who has been in the business and stick to them like glue. Most people would call this a Mentor.
Finding one is pretty easy...
1) go to the local RE club. The guys selling the houses are in the business.
or
2) Call those the ads in the paper WE BUY HOUSES. Those are wholesalers.
or
3) Call the Bandit sign people.
Etc, etc.
Now here is the "trick"....most of these guys/gals do not have time to talk to you, as they get lots of calls each day, so you have to offer them something to get them interested in helping you. I would recommend offering them your time. Tell them you want to learn the business and you are willing to:
1) Handwrite address on envelopes
2) Deliver flyers door to door
3) Drive around neighborhoods looking for houses.
4) Get their coffee, go make copies, etc.
You are offering something for their knowledge and you will be gaining a huge resource.
Elena,
By your name I assumed that you are female . Being one myself, I want to put my 2 cents.
If you want it, you must try just for the sake of never regretting you never did. Even you lose the money (can happen), you always knew you treid. This sounds like stupid thing I would say to my teenager son, please forgive me.
It's good to be a female and be in this business. You probably will not be bale to do much of fixing up (please, forgive me all progressive feminists on this list LOL), but many other things you can do naturally a bit easier then man, because you have a good sense of intuituition (now, please all macho man on this list forgive me).
As much as I see mostly woman suceed in real estate investment, I don't know why not many there - probably because "investment" more stands for man business historically.
This site is very good resource center, you don't need (in my openion) spend much money on other training, just read as much as you can and apply as you go.
I wish you luck and trust me, it is not THAT complicated.
Yulia
The key is "action"....We can all do the research and training for however long we desire...But, if one does not act upon their desires/dreams, then one has failed...And failure is worse than fear...but they go hand in hand...When we fail or think we will fail then we've allowed fear to enter the realm...
We all have failed at something at some point in our lives...It us up to us to turn that failure into an opportunity...With hard work and dedication those failures leads to "Success"...
Once you become sick and tired of being sick and tired of how your life has been or seeing others succeed, then maybe that is when one will take action.
There are plenty of opportunities out here in this world...If one can come from another country and see the land of milk and honey, then we can do the same thing...One must be "creative" in opening the doors of opportunities...Do not let obsticles get in your way....
Find someone in this business who has been successful and "duplicate" they're techniques.
Anything worthwhile, sometimes takes time...But as long as you are acting upon reaching your goals, then you are on the road to "Success".
Good fortunes in your endeavor.
Peace & Blessings~
Quote:
On 2004-01-12 15:54, ElenaA wrote:
Hi. I just thought I'd throw this out there at you folks. I have wanted to invest for many years, but my main problem is fear of taking that first step. Any pointers or supportive responses are greatly appreciated. Thanks. <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif">
ElanaA,
You just got some excellent advice to go on and there is plenty more of that here!
Once you take that first step, there is no looking back and you will be asking yourself, Why did I wait so long! I did! Anyway, just trust your instincts and use this board for support! You will do FINE!!
Good luck!
"I have wanted to invest for many years"
Why have you wanted to invest? Was it for long term appreciation, income, hobby, learn something new, etc. You need to determine your goals and desired results with real estate. Once you do that then you can narrow your focus to the various strategies within real estate that match your goals, expertise, money situation, time constraints, etc. Pick one strategy (Wholesaling, Lease Option, Landlording, Rehabbing, Short Selling, etc) that matches your goals and other contraints. If you have zero access to capitol (either yours or borrowing) wholesaling is great but you will have a hard time being a rehabber. If you have zero capitol and want to be a landand then you need to only persue owner financed deals.
Once you have matched up with a strategy, get educated. Buy or borrow one of those "guru" courses to get started and try to meet other people that execute your strategy. Education and Buddies will eliminate the doubts and fears of getting started.
My 4 cents.
Brenda
I just started out myself as an associate broker, and am looking to buy my first place in manhattan. It is scary, but if you look at where you want to be in the long term, cautiously poke forward, run your ideas past friends and relatives, until you have enough info to act decisively, it should all come together from your hard work. At least this is what I hope. As my mother says: "The harder I work, the luckier I get!"