I’m sure you’ve seen the videos, the television commercials, and the banner ads all over the internet that say, “Make $20,000 in the next 20 days” or “Wholesale a Property for $10,000’ or “Buy Income Producing Rental Properties with No Money Out of Pocket.”

I will be the first one to tell you that it is possible to do all of those things. My business partner Chris and I have personal experience with deals like this and a lot of our real estate investor clients do as well. That being said, real estate is difficult and risky and you need to make sure you are doing the following things in order to succeed.

Educate Yourself

Pretend you’re back in school and you need to read a book or study for a test. You do whatever you have to get the best grade on that test and in that course. You should certainly be consuming all the information you can about your new career in real estate, the industry, strategy, etc. You need to constantly be educating yourself, following mentors, and consuming content related to all aspects of real estate investing. Even experienced real estate investors continue to educate themselves to get better at their trade. They regularly read books, listen to podcasts, take courses, and attend boot camps and events.

Shadow an Experienced Investor

Instead of getting your hands dirty when you’re completely green, follow someone around while he or she gets their hands dirty. I believe all new investors should figure out a way to shadow someone who knows exactly what they are doing. Go to a local real estate investment group—a Meetup or networking group—and ask someone if you can buy them lunch or coffee to chat. Or better yet, throw them a few hundred bucks and say, “I’d love to shadow you and learn from the best. I promise to stay out of your way, but I’m curious to see how you market, negotiate with sellers, find capital for deals, manage construction, etc…” Tell the person you want to learn all about the industry and are willing to pay for his or her help.

It wouldn’t cost that much and I’m sure you will find someone who would be more than happy to help you. Something I’ve learned about successful people is that they like to talk—about the good and the bad. A lot of them are open books who would love to share stories with you related to how their real estate transactions work. So let them help you succeed.

Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring

After you have a grasp of the business and are ready to start investing, make sure you have someone who can help take you through the process.
Someone who looks over your shoulder, who can coach, consult and mentor you. It can be someone who will do it for free or someone whose services you retain. Better yet, it can be a partner who helps you navigate the transaction on a deal you’re working on with a split profit share.

Can you do it yourself? Yes. Can you save lots of time and money by having someone experienced help you? Absolutely. You don’t realize what you don’t know and chances are that your new mentor or coaching, partner has been through it before and will fast forward your learning curve.