I have always been a big advocate of  making use of the expertise of others in real estate investing to minimize the time and learning curve to creating wealth.   All some investors need is a home study course. Others require live seminars and boot-camps. However, in all these programs, the investor has to go out and get their own experience, learning from their own mistakes. If they’ve understood the training they’ve received well, hopefully their mistakes won’t be too costly or serious, and they’ll be on their way to making good money.

The Mentoring Alternative

On the other hand, some would-be investors really benefit from live mentoring with an expert. Mentoring works because it gets you up to speed without the setbacks and expense of time and money, because of your lack of experience. It also frees you of the fear and anxiety of making a bad decision through ignorance or inexperience — a fear that holds back many beginners from making decisions that could get them started. It’s a bigger investment than a 3-day seminar, but considering that the profit on the average successful real estate deal on a single family home is about $30,000, it only takes 1 successful deal to return the investment many times over.

Is Mentoring for You?

I have attended many seminars, used home study courses, and been students of some great mentors. We also create home study courses, give boot-camps, webinars and have mentored real estate investing students. So, I have personal experience on who could benefit most from mentoring. And I’ve found there are only two  key things that will guarantee a successful learning experience. I will share them with you now.

1) First, you have to be a person that is willing to take full responsibility for your own success. Blaming others or making excuses guarantees failure. Even expecting others to do things for you is serious obstacle to you achieving your desired success. What I’m saying is that you have to fully embrace the attitude: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me!”. A mentor can point out the best path to take toward your goals.
A mentor can answers questions and provide advice and show you techniques that will help you avoid beginner mistakes. Remember, the apprentice is the one who does the work with guidance from the mentor. It’s the full doing of every detail and step of the tasks that creates confidence and leads to mastery and success.

2) Second, you have to have the "Intention to Succeed". Intention is much more than a hope, wish or desire. It is a knowing that you are going to accomplish your goal. No matter what anyone says to you, no matter what obstacles or setbacks turn up on your path, you will continue to move forward toward your goal. You may have experienced this feeling as parent’s commitment to raise his/her children in the best way possible, or in fulfilling a solemn promise you made to someone close to you. You’ve heard of the expression: “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” This is what it means.

Everything else is just a matter of learning, doing, getting feedback and doing again.

I still seek out mentors whenever I need them. The investment has always paid off many times over. Even though I am quite busy, I've decided to offer 1 on 1 mentoring to a small group of motivated individuals. I have experience in all areas of real estate investing and the coaching is individualized for each student. It can cover everything from goal setting, business operations and strategy, building a team, marketing, deal analysis, negotiating, managing properties, selling and anything in between.

Many people think that a coach or mentor is something only for athletes and the rich and famous. I can understand why most people feel this way.  We all know Tiger Woods and Micheal Jordan have coaches.   Many people are hesitant to get into a mentoring program.  It cost money.  Maybe you don't have it.  But  I want you to consider this saying: 

"If you continue to do what you always have been doing,
you will continue to get what you have always been getting" 

A coach can help you avoid mistakes and point out what you are doing wrong.  Its better to pay upfront to avoid mistakes that could be costly!

I started doing  research about coaching and mentoring programs, in all areas life as well. I researched health coaches and what they do; I researched life coaches, business coaches, fitness coaches, spiritual coaches and more.  You can find a coach or mentor to help you with almost any area of your life! I found many programs available and prices to fit any budget. Coaching is not just for the rich anymore! There are programs for one on one phone coaching, group phone coaching  (fancy term for a teleconference), live group coaching and live one on one coaching and mentoring. I couldn't believe all of the success stories I would hear from people who had a coach.  They would say things like "Having a coach, forces you to do what you know you need to do to become successful". "Having a coach keeps you accountable and on track every day".  "Having a coach is like having a business partner without having to split my profits".

I spoke with many coaches,along with students who had participated in coaching programs. I reviewed many programs to see what works and what doesn't. There are a lot of real estate coaching programs available and lets face it, most of them have a very bad reputation. I have heard stories about most of them.  On the internet you can read horror stories about good, hard working people who have invested thousands of dollars into some real estate guru's coaching program only to find out that they still haven't purchased their first property. Not only that but most of the people selling the coaching and providing the coaching don't know or understand the speaker's teachings. This can be very frustrating to the student who just purchased a coaching program, thinking that the coach was familiar with the teachings of the speaker. This is not a good way to start off a coaching relationship.

I'm not saying all real estate coaching programs are a bad investment .  There are some that are bad, some that are good and a few that are great!  I am saying is that some  are more interested in "selling" the coaching than "delivering" the coaching. But when you find the right coach and program for you, you will literally be amazed at how easy and  simple it can be to become a successful investor.

A coach should not only teach you the mechanics of how to invest but also help you in the areas you need help most, but they also hold you accountable to what you need to do to become successful. A good coach will pat you on the back when you need it and kick you in the butt when you need it too. A good coach also knows when you need each of the above. A good coach is someone you build a relationship with over time and will give you assignments during each session so you have something to work toward and can see your progress. They share your successes and help you through your failures. That's extremely important if you want to get the maximum results from your coaching  experience. A good coach will lead you in the right direction based on what YOU want to do with your life. They will not try to slam you into a particular area of investing if it is not the area you want to focus on. See, everyone has likes and dislikes in different areas of real estate.

For example, I am a terrible landlord. I don't like it and I am not good at it. When I started investing, my tenants had me trained to come to their house (really mine) to pick up their rent. What a total waste of my time. A good coach will ask probing questions to find out what you like and do not like about real estate. They will find out where you are both financially and personally in your life and then where you want to be. They will then help YOU come up with a game plan for success and how to make the dream a reality. A good coach will bring out your strengths and help you with your weaknesses. They will help you see the big picture and then break it down into small manageable steps so you can see your progress immediately.     

When I finally decided to start my coaching and mentoring program I literally spent days traveling across the country and visited marketing firms, coaching companies, and talking to the actual coaches themselves. I found out what they taught and how hey did it. I found out what works and what doesn't. I found out who to model my program after and who to stay away from. I found out what I needed to do to personally train my coaches. See, I wanted to make sure that they knew all about me, my philosophies and how we do business. I made sure everyone on my team knew my business philosophy which is the same as Truett Kathy of Chic Fillet which is to "Put People and Principles Before Profits, Then Everyone Profits".

I created my own coaching and mentoring program to make sure that the students could learn in detail. I  totally customize each program to the student.  You can start in any area of investing you desire no matter what your experience level or area of interest in real estate is.  I am happy to say that after having our program in place for a while now we already have many, many happy students who have been through our coaching / mentoring program and are well on their way to a prosperous career investing in real estate. I get an email almost weekly from a student who did their first or next deal by going through our program. That's an awesome feeling to know you contributed to someone's success.

If you are interested to apply for our coaching / mentoring program, email me directly:

duncan AT duncanwierman DOT com
   

Sincerely

Duncan Wierman