Real Deal REInvestor Network

Tuesday was a pretty productive day. How was yours?

My Tuesday...

- Managed to strike two joint venture deals to get RealDealCommunity.com (and thus HIS investments) in front of many thousands of real estate investors in the next 30 days.

- Streamlined more of the MMM video marketing instructions, videos and strategic marketing plans for the apprentice specialty marketing team that will be implementing this buyer-list-growing marketing strategy for our company this year. 

- Wrote an 11 page Real Estate Investor Networking Tips booklet as a "freebie" we plan to to give away for more buyers' list building

- Reviewed a spreadsheet aggregated from over a dozen sources by our staff with over 4000+ Real Estate Investor Associations and Organizers including website links, email addresses, and phone numbers. -- > this is a tool that will be used by this year's MMM JV calling team as they prospect for joint ventures on behalf of HIS Investment company.

(I'd be surprised if a larger "REIA Club List" exists anywhere in the world)

- Put in a merchant account application to accept credit cards for another business I've started outside real estate.

- Called and sang happy birthday to a business associate

Oh yeah, and I woke up at 11 am, had a leisurely panini lunch with my girlfriend Teather and shopped at a half-priced used book store for fun.

Tuesday.

Just another day.

Do I have more hours than anyone else?

Nope...but I DO use them more effectively than many people. ;)

You can too!

Danny Welsh
Chief Marketing Officer, HIS Real Estate Network
Mentor, MMM Challenge

Spent some time reflecting recently on the energizing and amazing 3 ½-days Rainmaker Summit and 1-day Global Ambassador Program presented a couple of weeks ago by Bill Walsh’s Powerteam International.  The days were long but well worth every minute.  The group of entrepreneurial business owners participating was of high caliber.  The presenters and coaches were tops!  This was a personal and business development educational event that also built community and great connections.  When you find yourself in the midst of excellence it is good to share a bit about the experience.  Since you couldn’t make it… I’m highlighting portions of the event for your consideration.

 

Many readers may have experienced similar events, but many may not have attended such a personal and business development coaching session.  This kind of training should be a life-long occurrence; it serves the seasoned as well as the new entrepreneur.  Just being appraised of what was presented may serve as a benchmark of your awareness of the tried and true as well as of current trends.

 

The focus was on unlocking your passion and becoming inspired about your true personal and business ‘vision’.  Clarifying your ‘vision’ and then your ‘why’ begins the process of empowerment which ignites the power to pull you to your biggest goals, living your dreams.  The ‘why’ is always what keeps you motivated when the temptation is to quit.  If you haven’t identified your vision, your core foundation for being, it is essential to do so.  Taking the time to really discern your ‘vision, why, passion’, will make such a difference in all that you do in life.  Those currently participating in the MMM Challenge application process with the Real Deal Community are being asked to look at this very issue.  If you have already built your current business with a clear vision and why, it might be a good time to take stock and see if you are really on track.  Are you congruent with what you say and believe versus what you do?

 

Another key focus of the event was on having solid business plans and systems.  Planning must include the systems that will help to keep you moving forward consistently.  Systems are critical to a thriving business.  For example, the McDonald’s system is instrumental in its international success.  Success or failure often hinges on the quality of systems that have been put into place, or lack thereof.  Systems serve to make your processes repeatable at the same level of quality time after time.  Small business owners, like so many of those in real estate investing, often have to do all aspects of the business themselves.  This solo operation may lead to inefficient systems which can make the business cumbersome and sluggish.  It really takes a team!  Real estate investing is a business and you should be looking at your venture as such.  Realizing early on that you are starting a business that requires planning, development, and the implementation of effective, supportive systems, can help you avoid serious and expensive mistakes down the road.  Many investors that I have run into don’t really view investing as a business and often think that it suffices to just go buy a house and flip it.  And, for some that works, for awhile.  Now there are lots of gurus out there that say they have the ‘magic bullet’ for a winning system.  One pops up about every other week; they take turns.  Once you know you have the need for systems, or need to update yours, be sure to do your due diligence about which system you build, use or buy.  Thinking though your business model is crucial to supporting your success.

 

And, here it was again.  Every time I turn around (not only at Rainmaker), a consistently repeated part of the product development and marketing plan that seems to be getting extra emphasis is value, value and more added value.  Value has always been part of the business proposition but ‘value’ is truly becoming a key way of distinguishing yourself from the pack, from all the clutter out there.  Sometimes the added value is a small thing but can make an impression that keeps bringing the customer back, and referring others.   What are you doing to make yourself memorable?  How do you differentiate your business? Would your customers refer you to their family and friends? Why?

 

It is important to keep your train on the track once you start the journey.  Given that you clarified the vision of where you are going and why, and developed your plan and systems, it is necessary to measure your results so that corrections can be made that further your business success.  Since there are only 86,400 seconds in a day, time organization and accountability really assist you in staying on track.  Is this aspect covered in your business plan and systems?  Staying focused and on target will make a significant difference as you build, maintain or grow your business.  Master mind groups, accountability partners, as well systems benchmarks/metrics, can all help you stay on track.  If you aren’t using a great time management system, then it is time to decide which vehicle will be one that you can work with effectively.  Then use it religiously!

 

Do you have a brand?  Once you know who you are as a business, and what you are offering, be it wholesale products, commercial JVs, short sales, notes buying, tax liens, or any range of those products/services, it is so very important to build your brand.  You guessed it, differentiate yourself from others, or join your competition and work together as affiliates who help one another grow their related businesses.  Having a brand isn’t enough.  You must advertise that brand.  Online and offline presence is essential.  Your  social media brand will need to be promoted.  Syndication is one way to connect your activity throughout the social media world and drive traffic to your website or Word Press blog.  If you are using Word Press as your interactive website, you probably won’t need an informational and/or store website. And now, Face Book is moving to the use of the ‘i-frame’ that will allow you to move your website on to your Fan Page.  Be sure you have a clear brand and a unique selling proposition.  If you aren’t sure how to do that, there are many who excel in that service who would be more than ready to serve you.  Then again, you can take the time to research and study branding and then review-copy-alter the best of the best concepts that you find online and in other publications. 

 

Offline marketing has years of proven strategies and tactics, though some of those are shifting with the move toward online marketing. Sheila Stewart, an executive business coach with a proven track record and years of experience in marketing and advertising, provided a plethora of ideas about marketing strategy, advertising and sales.  It was clear that the integration of offline, online, and mobile ways of finding, and then meeting and exceeding customer needs, should be the integrated thrust for today’s business marketing.  Have you identified your strategies in this arena?  There are many pieces to fit together but the sooner you start to understand the pieces, how they fit together, and how they serve you, the better off you will be.  Finding virtual assistants (VA) to help put some of these tactics into place can be fairly inexpensive.  However, it sure helps to have a basic understanding of what is happening with online and mobile marketing in order to hire and manage your VA’s effectively.  And, be sure to have a seamless approach that integrates the best marketing strategies and methods to serve your targeted market segment(s).

 

 Austin William Walsh, a 19 year old entrepreneur with his own business since age 16, covered the role of Face Book in social media and how one must truly understand the sales funnel, how to drive traffic, and how to utilize social media as a part of that funnel.  Social media is continually evolving as we see with Face Book out-pacing Google.  Overall, there was a substantial focus on building and using Face Book Fan Pages for business, and how to build and monetize your brand.  Probably an understatement, but doing business online will be essential in the near future, if it’s not already, especially in real estate endeavors.  If social media is an area that you aren’t utilizing or just starting to look at, it is definitely worth your time to familiarize yourself with the dynamics of this marketing medium and make it a part of your business plan. 

 

There is definitely a major trend toward the use of short videos in all online presence.  Get your flip-cam and start to explore how to use and edit.  Videos are already beating out ‘text’ advertising.  A new emerging company, MOJO, headed by Ira Rosen out of Scottsdale, is positioned to capture the mobile market through the use of video that can readily be dropped directly into the text message being sent out to the mobile world of i-Pads, Droids, Blackberry’s, etc.  MOJO knows that video email utilization, currently not on the market, will only grow and provide business owners the capacity to have direct access to existing and potential customers.  This mode of direct customer contact will result in a higher percentage of text messages opened due to the embedded videos.  Video has a much higher capture rate than text.  The industry is definitely moving toward mobile strategies.  Soon we’ll all be making our own 30 second spots and connecting directly with the world!

 

One other note of interest about MOJO was my conversation with the principal, Ira Goldman.  He is an older entrepreneur who told me he didn’t even know how to use the computer three years ago.  Ira connected with a young man in his twenties, Cory Sanchez, who had a technical background and a great idea.  This connection led Ira and Cory to building a primarily ‘twenty-something’ staff to support a million dollar idea.  Ira and Cory were definitely on fire about the video product they are bringing to the market.  The real point to share here is that there is a great need and value to pair skills and wisdom regardless of age.  If you think you can’t jump into the online world, then you are right.  You can’t.  If you take action, pursue ongoing education, connect with the right partners, VA’s, etc., then YOU CAN!  I am a firm believer that you can learn new things if you are open to it.  It is a right, privilege and choice to learn new things; it is a choice to stay open to possibility.  Who of you are holding the next greatest idea, invention or service?  Are you open to the realm of possibility of pursuing joint ventures that are collaborative and mutually supportive?  Can you be an old dog that can learn new tricks?  Can you be a young buck open to the wisdom and experience of those older than you?  Merge the best of both worlds and see what you can come up with that will serve the planet in new ways.

 

Speaking of blending ages in business, as a result of this Summit I now have a new master mind partner who is in middle school.  He attended the entire event, sat taking notes on his laptop and already has a business building personalized backgrounds for Face Book Fan Pages, LinkedIN, Twitter and YouTube.  Got to love the spirit!  He will definitely provide great insight into anything that I am working on, and it will be easy to support his entrepreneurial ventures.  As a former teacher, a Dean of a middle school, and a professor, I must say I was impressed.  And, as for college student and entrepreneur Austin Walsh, whom I mentioned earlier, he already makes a six-figure income and speaks internationally.  He noted that when he is goes to a party, which he loves, he is busy looking around the room to see how he might, from a positive perspective, monetize the situation.  Austin is acutely tuned into cause marketing as well and really comes from his heart in his dealings with people.  How many of you are thinking that way?  How many of you are taking action?   I absolutely love to see resourceful young people who are not totally programmed for the ‘moo-baa’ herd mentality of life.  Are you involving your children, nephews and nieces, in your business in real ways?  Do they have a sense of all that goes into your business?  Have they participated in some way?  Do they get to see you win?  Fail?  Do you encourage their entrepreneurial spirit?

 

As a side-note away from the Summit, while on the topic of role modeling for and encouraging entrepreneurial spirit in youth, I’ll share how one of my accountability partners involves his ten year old daughter. This investor does a hearty business with gut rehabs and buy and holds.  His daughter goes along when he goes to work on houses and gets to see what happens to ‘ugly houses’ that eventually transform into ‘desirable’ housing.  She has helped to sweep and knock away cobwebs, helping her dad in small ways.  She also comes along to our accountability meetings and does her homework, but still is exposed to the process of our group holding each other accountable.  She even saved her own money to buy her first laptop computer.  She’s not being rushed into overly mature ways of being, but is learning about business, work ethic, the value of money and her dad’s role as a businessman.  I daresay she will be prepared to take on life as a successful entrepreneur at an early age if that is her choice.  It is my hope that you are modeling entrepreneurial behavior for any young person in your life. 

 

Ross Goldberg, an SEO expert and author, also presented his perspective on creating web-based traffic.  He supported the use of content based links as a viable way to increase your website ranking despite other alleged guru’s suggesting other methods were now more effective.  Ross noted a number of tactics useful to drive traffic to your website, including:  social media marketing, Digg and other similar sites, RSS feeds, blogs/directories, videos, press releases, article and e-book marketing, squeeze pages, affiliate marketing, and web directories links. Don’t know what all of those tactics entail? Check the web and start to understand the pieces and which will work for you.  No matter what the marketing presenter’s background throughout the event, the point of commonality was their emphasis on how to achieve effective online marketing.  Do you think that you might want to pay attention to this aspect of your business?  Yes, or yes?!

 

The topic of Google AdWords was presented by Perry Marshall, Internet entrepreneur and the most quoted authority in the world on the subject of Google AdWords and pay-per-click advertising.  Perry shared information on how to increase your click through rate and reduce the cost of your advertising budget on Google.  He also offered split testing techniques.  Entrepreneur Scott Rewick, the One Hundred Million Dollar Man, continued the internet discussion sharing his many year’s of wisdom on low-cost media buying strategies that attract new customers.  All the presenters were great and filled their presentations with lots of useful content.  It is good to learn from those who have been very successfully involved in the industry for years. 

 

And, not to leave out real estate, Marco Koslowski, shared his Luxury Home Sales program.  He deals with properties $700,000 and higher.  Interestingly enough most of these homes that are currently being auctioned off are going to international buyers.  America is on sale!  Marco is such a positive and animated presenter who is the embodiment of a rags to riches story, now owning eleven different business and ready to launch a new clothing line.  Marco persisted with hard work, failing before winning, and developing systems and fine tuning them, all recurrent themes for those who eventually make it to the top.  There isn’t an overnight get rich quick elixir.  You have to get involved, get your hands dirty and your mind fired up, and just do it!          

 

No way have I touched on all the topics covered and the incredible team of presenters at the Rainmaker Summit.  Topics such as asset protection, building business credit, and more, was also covered.  The long weekend’s value for me was ‘priceless’.  The networking and connections alone were worth the time.  In order to keep your self fresh, on top of trends, aware of new methods of doing business, refreshing that which you already know, and further challenging yourself to grow, invest in yourself.  Attending such an event has the potential to open your creative juices, unwrap your potential, create new partnerships, and help you get un-stuck if that is your situation. 

 

I invite you to identify a seminar or workshop, such as the Rainmaker Summit, that you feel is worthy of your time and funding and go for it.  It’s time to enrich your self to richness!  Since you weren’t there, I hope that you have gleaned a snap shot of what I consider quality continuing education, an invitation to the ongoing process of achieving personal growth and greatness.  See your ‘vision’.  Support it with your ‘why’.  Build your plan and systems.  Be accountable.  And, passionately take action KNOWING you can do it! YOU CAN!  Now go do it!

 

 

Remember, the quality of the life you lead is the quality of the questions you ask yourself and others: here are some POWER QUESTIONS to regularly use when you feel overwhelmed or have difficulty getting everything done you'd like to

1. What is my #1 priority for the day?
2. What is my #1 priority for the week?
3. Who  could help me with this or even do it FOR me in a fraction of the time it'd take me to figure out or get done? (and is there something I can do for them in return?)
4. Who do I know and what valuable resources do they have that I can access at NO cost, that will enable me to do this faster, cheaper, or better--  while having them happy to allow my use of them? (resources could be time, specialized knowledge, skill sets, tools, cash, employees, customer lists etc)
5. Is this important or is this urgent? (If one, time block it and get it done in chunks making it your priority 1 each day until finished. If two, deal with it AFTER your priority of the but get it done so that it doesn't hang over your head multiple days. If both important AND urgent, do it first and finish before tackling anything that's just one)
6. If I accomplish only this ONE thing today, would I be satisfied with my use of time and progress towards my goals today?  (great way to tell if your "priority task" of the day is in fact your best use of time)
7. Will this nagging problem in my personal or business life that is struggling me VANISH when I can just write a check and have done with it? (if so, put the problem to the back of your mind and focus on the solution = action to create income to make that problem disappear)
8. Am I being "busy" or "productive"? (if you're in the ocean and want to be back on dry land, busy treads water, productive swims closer to shore even if only inches at a time)
9. What "time-sucking activities" can I reduce more or completely eliminate so I have more time for both business and family? (doing this once a month as a 30 minute self-evaluation that you SCHEDULE in your calendar can work WONDERS for you)
10. What on my schedule do I need to do but DREAD doing? (Can I do it early in the morning so it doesn;t hang over my head all day? Can I delegate it? Can I outsource it?)

Hope that helps!

Danny Welsh
RealDealCommunity.com Managing Member
Chief Marketing Officer, HIS Real Estate Network

Continued from

http://www.realdealcommunity.com/magazine/read/_9.html Part 1

http://www.realdealcommunity.com/my_profile/blog-view/blog_494.htm   Part 2

So to continue from Part 2….

After deducting the “necessities” from the average person’s day-to-day routine, most people honestly have an average of something like 2 hours and 42 minutes per day with which they have to work to change their life for the better– just like “Johnny Wealth Builder” the average guy we profiled in my last article.

If you don’t believe me take the challenge yourself and get really disciplined for one month in recording your time expenditures.

I hope you do, and I hope you find that all your free time is going to improve your lifestyle and help achieve your goals.

But for most people, they simply must use their discretionary time more intelligently than many of the activities that are popular to spend your “free” time doing— activities that add NOTHING of value to a life. And, if these people care… if they truly care… about improving their lifestyle and achieving their goals…

This Has Got To Stop!

So, what comes first? What’s the action plan for getting every second chance out of every minute we’ve got?

I’m gonna tell you what I think, and what works for me (usually anyway!) but, before I do, I want to make an important observation: Many people hate it when I write stuff like this. They think I’m judging them, or else they think this type of information is not as usable or tangible as the hard-hitting techniques in business they’d prefer to see.

That’s crap. If my working with a lot of high achievers like the contributing instructors in The Greatest Real Estate Giveaway and others has taught me anything it’s that the fundamanetals (i.e. how we choose to spend our time) are often more important than what we know. These readers don’t want to get the fundamentals right… no… they want to skip right to the “details” or the “magic formula”. But, listen up: your life, just like my life, is already filled with details, tons of them, to the point that your mental file cabinet is tossing out more information EVERYDAY for lack of use or need than your computer could ever hold…and, of all these details, almost NONE are doing a darn thing to enhance our life.

Unless you’re clear on the basics, the details just pour over the cup.

Here’s something else: Success in life or in business isn’t necessarily complicated. I honestly think it can be and should be simple. The real answers are, really, so simple… they are almost corny. But “simple” is like Forrest Gump’s momma said: “Simple is as simple does”. Simple does NOT by any means mean “easy”. Running an ultra marathon over broken pavement in the scorching heat of Death Valley is very simple. All you have to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other for 50+ miles. (No Teather, I still am not convinced to walk 60 miles with you in the 3 Day breast cancer walk for a cure, try someone else!)

Simple as can be. Difficult beyond reason.

I want something for each of us in Real Deal Community, something kinda big. I want this year, starting TODAY, to be absolutely special for you. I want you to achieve more this year than you have achieved in all the previous years of your life. Of course, that means you’ve got a lot of “details” to attend to in the coming 365 days… but to really achieve something of note… you’ve got to attend to the right details.

In order for this to be that year for you…we need to get this in pinpoint-specific focus for you. Let’s see if I can get a commitment from you. Just for approximately the next 10-days. Just from the time you read this letter and the time your calendar pops up “Finally Done!” 10 days from today. I’m not gonna lie. This is gonna be SIMPLE. In fact, it could even be EASY. But for some of you…you just won’t do it regardless of how much you realize it could benefit you greatly.

Oh well. I’m throwing it out there for everyone anyway.

This commitment will cost you maybe 20 or 30 bucks and will likely take less than five minutes of your time for each of the next 30-days.

Here’s all I’m gonna ask you to do: Go to a local drug store, a Radio Shack or wherever and get yourself one of those cheap micro cassette recorders and 30 of those little micro cassettes. You’re welcome to get a digital voice recorder and pay more (they’ve got some awesome features), but that’s not necessary and I’ve yet to even figure out how to use the nicer digital one I have but hopefully soon!

Keep your recorder with you at all times during this month experiment and use one micro cassette each day to keep a running “time log.” Use it approximately once every hour of your day to take a quick bearing on how you spent the preceding hour. Your audio entries should only take a few seconds each.

They should sound something like this:

“7:15 to 7:50:” Drove to office.

“7:50 to 8:40:” Breakfast and newspaper

“8:40 to 9:30:” Returned work emails from coworkers about upcoming project

Etc., etc., etc.

That’s it.

If you;re cheap or broke, just use a notebook and write it down.

That’s all I want you to do. I know, I know. You’re already twelve steps ahead of me. In fact, you’re ready to graduate without taking any tests because “you already know what this is all about”.

Think ol “Johnny Wealth Builder”, our average guy with his 2 hours and 42 minutes per day to spend (invest) to better his life already knows the basis of my evil convoluted scheme to change his life for the better?

Baloney.

“Johnny Wealth Builder” most likely doesn;t have have a clue. Please just trust me on this. All you’ve possibly got on the line to lose is $20 or $30 and a couple or three hours out of one lousy month.

Flip the coin over and all you’ve got to possibly gain is everything you’ve ever wanted to achieve in this life.

Think I’m exaggerating? Think again.

Danny Welsh

Chief Marketing Officer, HIS Real Estate Network

Director, The Greatest Real Estate Giveaway

So to continue from Part 2….

After deducting the “necessities” from the average person’s day-to-day routine, most people honestly have an average of something like 2 hours and 42 minutes per day with which they have to work to change their life for the better– just like “Johnny Wealth Builder” the average guy we profiled in my last article.

If you don’t believe me take the challenge yourself and get really disciplined for one month in recording your time expenditures.

I hope you do, and I hope you find that all your free time is going to improve your lifestyle and help achieve your goals.

But for most people, they simply must use their discretionary time more intelligently than many of the activities that are popular to spend your “free” time doing— activities that add NOTHING of value to a life. And, if these people care… if they truly care… about improving their lifestyle and achieving their goals…

This Has Got To Stop!

So, what comes first? What’s the action plan for getting every second chance out of every minute we’ve got?

I’m gonna tell you what I think, and what works for me (usually anyway!) but, before I do, I want to make an important observation: Many people hate it when I write stuff like this. They think I’m judging them, or else they think this type of information is not as usable or tangible as the hard-hitting techniques in business they’d prefer to see.

That’s crap. If my working with a lot of high achievers like the contributing instructors in The GReatest Real Estate Giveaway and others has taught me anything it’s that the fundamanetals (i.e. how we choose to spend our time) are often more important than what we know. These readers don’t want to get the fundamentals right… no… they want to skip right to the “details” or the “magic formula”. But, listen up: your life, just like my life, is already filled with details, tons of them, to the point that your mental file cabinet is tossing out more information EVERYDAY for lack of use or need than your computer could ever hold…and, of all these details, almost NONE are doing a darn thing to enhance our life.

Unless you’re clear on the basics, the details just pour over the cup.

Here’s something else: Success in life or in business isn’t necessarily complicated. I honestly think it can be and should be simple. The real answers are, really, so simple… they are almost corny. But “simple” is like Forrest Gump’s momma said: “Simple is as simple does”. Simple does NOT by any means mean “easy”. Running an ultra marathon over broken pavement in the scorching heat of Death Valley is very simple. All you have to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other for 50+ miles. (No Alan O’Brien, I do NOT want to sign up to run in your next marathon, sorry bub, try someone else!)

Simple as can be. Difficult beyond reason.

I want something for each of us in Real Estate Web Academy, something kinda big. I want this year, starting TODAY, to be absolutely special for you. I want you to achieve more this year than you have achieved in all the previous years of your life. Of course, that means you’ve got a lot of “details” to attend to in the coming 365 days… but to really achieve something of note… you’ve got to attend to the right details.

In order for this to be that year for you…we need to get this in pinpoint-specific focus for you. Let’s see if I can get a commitment from you. Just for approximately the next 30-days. Just from the time you read this letter and the time your calendar pops up “Finally Done!” 30 days from today. I’m not gonna lie. This is gonna be SIMPLE. In fact, it could even be EASY. But for some of you…you just won’t do it regardless of how much you realize it could benefit you greatly.

Oh well. I’m throwing it out there for everyone anyway.

This commitment will cost you maybe 20 or 30 bucks and will likely take less than five minutes of your time for each of the next 30-days.

Here’s all I’m gonna ask you to do: Go to a local drug store, a Radio Shack or wherever and get yourself one of those cheap micro cassette recorders and 30 of those little micro cassettes. You’re welcome to get a digital voice recorder and pay more (they’ve got some awesome features), but that’s not necessary and I’ve yet to even figure out how to use the nicer digital one I have but hopefully soon!

Keep your recorder with you at all times during this month experiment and use one micro cassette each day to keep a running “time log.” Use it approximately once every hour of your day to take a quick bearing on how you spent the preceding hour. Your audio entries should only take a few seconds each.

They should sound something like this:

“7:15 to 7:50:” Drove to office.

“7:50 to 8:40:” Breakfast and newspaper

“8:40 to 9:30:” Returned work emails from coworkers about upcoming project

Etc., etc., etc.

That’s it.

That’s all I want you to do. I know, I know. You’re already twelve steps ahead of me. In fact, you’re ready to graduate without taking any tests because “you already know what this is all about”.

Think ol “Johnny Wealth Builder”, our average guy with his 2 hours and 42 minutes per day to spend (invest) to better his life already knows the basis of my evil convoluted scheme to change his life for the better?

Baloney.

“Johnny Wealth Builder” most likely doesn;t have have a clue. Please just trust me on this. All you’ve possibly got on the line to lose is $20 or $30 and a couple or three hours out of one lousy month.

Flip the coin over and all you’ve got to possibly gain is everything you’ve ever wanted to achieve in this life.

Think I’m exaggerating? Think again.

So to continue from Part 1….

We’ve each of us got to get this straight in our head: The only thing (except for God and chance maybe) that is going to make any difference at all in our life… is…

What You Do!

So, what are you and I going to do with those 8,760 hours you’ve got to work with in the next year?

Well, it’s not going to blow your pants down if I remind you that what you do with a lot of those hours will be outside your immediate power. For instance, you’ve almost got to spend approximately 2,920 of those hours sleeping. True, you could sleep less than 8 hours a day… but… that will likely be counter-productive to you. The most recent research indicates the vast majority of Americans need MORE than eight hours of sleep per day… and yet… most of us get less.

Which, of course, makes us a nation of people who are sleep deprived… and… sleep deprived people suffer from fuzzy logic, poor critical thinking skills, make bad decisions, and are more at risk for all types of bad luck and health problems.

Whatever you do,most of us shouldn;t try try to become more productive by getting less sleep. That tactic will backfire on us. UNLESS you have a clear idea in your mind that you are one of those rare, rare individuals who is wired differently to require less sleep and even thrive on less— and make sure it’s not just your opinion but something you often hear from other people who have observed you— unless that’s the case, sleep 8 hours, ok?

By the way, did you know that domestic housecats sleep an average of 16 hours per day and lions in the wild sleep an average of 20! Be honest, and think about this. Search your memory for the animal in your estimation that is always happiest. That just seems to have an inner reserve of contentment that just oozes out of it. That literally purrs with pleased satisfaction (whenever awake). I think the happiest mammals on earth are domestic housecats. You should see my girlfriend Teather’s cats (maybe I can talk her into giving me a picture to post for you!) Jack and Tai…they are so darn content it’s irritating.

But then again, I’m thinking it may be lions. But what do I know about lions, I’ve never met one.

Note to self: sign up for safari soon.

Tick, tock. OK, I don’t want to give you the thought that I’m wasting your time, which is growing more valuable to you by the minute, right?

But…

I love sleep, don’t you? So sleep more. Just remember to get your 8 hours and remember above all that whether you are the lion or the gazelle, if you want to survive when the sun comes up- you better be running!

So, moving on…after chopping off the time we need to spend sleeping, we’re down to 5,840 hours to work with in the coming year. Assuming you’re playing with a full deck upstairs and you’re not yet rich or retired— you want to make some money in the next year, right? That means you’ve got to spend a significant amount of time earning enough just for the needs of yourself and your family.

Not to mention ‘getting ahead’- which if you’re a member of Real Estate Web Academy I’ll imagine is a HUGE priority for you.

To do this, let’s say you still work the proverbial 40 hours per week. You know, that old grind your 9 to 5 if you’ve got one.

Actually let’s take it off of YOU.

I don’t want to get this too personal, as that can sometimes hurt folks. Let’s say instead of “you”, we’ll call a generic person who could be reading this “Johnny Wealth Builder” (kind of like John Doe..feels better when it’s anonymous, eh?)

Also, “Johnny Wealth Builder” has got to get ready for work, get to work and get home from work. Some of you have a long commute, some are lucky enough to work at home… but… I’m going to decide how much me “Johnny Wealth Builder” spends on this arbitrarily, randomly, and some may even get out the Webster’s and smack me with “capriciously”, but, hey, it’s my show!

Let’s say our friend Johnny needs an average of 10 hours per week to get ready, and get to and from work. Yes, that is a random number. But this isn’t science class, folks!

Since you may be miffed, here’s a bone for our ‘proverbial case study’. Let’s give “Johnny Wealth Builder” a two week yearly vacation and a regular J.O.B… which means… “Johnny Wealth Builder” is going to use up 2,500 of his hours (50 hours per week times 50 weeks per year) on work-related activities and vacation (which everyone needs and deserves from time to time!).

We are now down to 3,340 hours we’ve got left in the coming year that “Johnny Wealth Builder” can choose where to spend or invest that time to better his life..

Tick, tock.

Ah, but we ain’t at the end of our subtractions yet. No, Sir. But rather than beat the dead horse and continue to pound the nail and belabor the point… let’s make one more big deduction for what I’ll call “Necessities of Life.” This might include getting your car repaired, playing with your kids, giving time and encouragement to your spouse and friends, spending time with family, dealing with the mail, shopping for groceries, , shaving, taking some “down time” to let yourself recharge… and so on.

The time necessary to take care of the “Necessities of Life” will, invariably, differ from person A to person B… but… I honestly can’t even imagine these very basic day-to-day activities taking anyone (who actually has a life, anyway ) less than at MINIMUM 3 to 4 hours per day…

Where does that leave “Johnny Wealth Builder” ? This means that he’s going to have to burn up at LEAST another 2,000 hours from the pile of time he’s got stacked up for the coming year.

Now, I’m gonna take a break from all this arithmetic. Even with these “simple numbers”…you’ve got the idea by now, right? You can see now that the average Joe we called “Johnny Wealth Builder”, you can see his time slipping away, can you not?

I wonder if you can, friend, follow me as we inch a bit closer to the truth: Contrary to what I said earlier, “Johnny Wealth Builder” (and perhaps you?) really does not have the full 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, totaling 8,760 hours to decide what to do with in the coming year.

In truth, with such a high percentage of our hours already reserved, “Johnny Wealth Builder” probably doesn’t even have 1,000 “discretionary” hours to decide what to do with in the next year. That’s a bit of a humbling thought, but I doubt you’re prepared to challenge me on it. Most people literally cannot envision and implement a lifestyle that has more.

That gives any of you who see your life like “Johnny Wealth Builder” something like 2 hours and 42 minutes per day with which you have to work to change your life for the better.

And, I feel certain, most of you have lives so keyed-up, hectic, and jam-packed with activities that… truthfully… you only have a fraction of even that small amount of “free” time each day. And, I hate to do it but I bet whatever amount of discretionary time you do have, if you’re like most people…. you use almost none of it to seriously advance the quality of your life.

But you’re NOT like most people, are you? No, you’re here trying to improve your performance and results in every area of your life…and you recognize that “free” time is NOT “free”. At least, I imagine that’s the kind of 15,000 people who’ve thus far joined our happy community.

But for most people, they simply must use their discretionary time more intelligently than many of the activities that are popular to spend your “free” time doing— activities that add NOTHING of value to a life. And, if these people care… if they truly care… about improving their lifestyle and achieving their goals…

This Has Got To Stop!
- Danny Welsh
Director, The Greatest Real Estate Giveaway

How are things? Do you have time freedom in your life? Do you own your time?

Do you find yourself moving forward in your investing business and career, and you’re growing as an entrepreneur with unstoppable momentum?

Great!

This brings me to the subject of I want to talk about… which is directly related to everything much of my own struggles as an entrepreneuer, and probably a lot of what I’ve ever written about success or investing. I’m about to illuminate something you really, really need to think about.

Listen to me: just 365 days from today, one more entire year will have passed into oblivion, recorded into history, engraved in stone. It doesn’t matter who you are— mother, father, teacher, preacher, businessman, president— 365 days is all you are going to get in the next year. No more, no less.

Broken down, that comes out to 8,760 hours… or 525,600 minutes… or… 31,536,000 seconds.

Tick, tock.

Now, let’s say you are richer than old King Solomon and you’re willing to pay through the nose to have more time in the coming year than other folks. It’s not so much that you want more time, per se, not for the use of it….you’re just so rich that you want something other people can’t have. Let’s say you want just 10 extra minutes, just ten measly little minutes that could as easily be used brushing and flossing extra vigorously as doing anything important like transporting a cardiac arrest patient to the hospital or exciting like hitting double overtime during March Madness (yeah baby! Go U of L Cardinals!) and sinking the winning three pointer.

Let’s say you just want TEN minutes…just enough to show how important you are…

and you’re willing to pay one million dollars for each of those 10 minutes.

So you’ve got 10 million dollars to throw away on a flight of fancy that has no real significance. I mean, really, what could you do with those extra 10 minutes, anyway, assuming you could get them?

Doesn’t matter.

You can’t buy them. They’re not for sale.

You couldn’t even buy one extra minute….or even one second… for 100 billion dollars. Time is not for sale. It’s as simple as that. Not at any price under the shining sun. During the next year, not one single solitary person is going to have more gross time than you and nobody (except those Lost Souls who regularly go to the self-checkouts at Wal-Mart) is going to have less.

The time we get from day one to day 365 is the great equalizer that ties everyone together. No one person gets any more time in the day than any other person.

So what’s the point? Well, check this out. Here is the “so what” of it: The difference from where you are right now, today… and where you will be 1-year from today, depends on one thing and one thing only. It depends on…

What You Do with Those 8,760 Hours You’ve Got to Work with in the Next Year!

Tick, tock.

As much as we like to think positively, what you just think about isn’t going to effect any change whatsoever, and change, dear reader, is what you’re looking for in your life— isn’t it?

Ideas without ACTION are just waiting to get dusty and surrounded by cobwebs.

Although no one will deny the power of goal-setting and knowing what you want and communicating it clearly to yourself and to others, I have to break it to you that what you just plan isn’t going to create any significant change either. Just planning’s never resulted in my successes, nor anyone I know.

How you feel isn’t going to make a great difference. What you read; what you learn; what you study; what you discover… none of these things… none whatsoever… is going to make a single scintilla of difference about where you are 1-year from today.

We all need to get this straight in our heads: The only thing (except for God and chance maybe) that is going to make any difference at all in our life… is…

What You Do!

So, what are you going to do with those 8,760 hours you’ve got to work with in the next year?