Full Version: The Simple Guide to Finding a Real Estate Mentor
Hey guys! So this month’s Simple Guide is all about how to find a real estate mentor.
The world’s best athletes have coaches and in fact, they have multiple coaches who work alongside of them to help improve their skills and provide the training they need in order to compete at the best of their ability.
The same thing applies to real estate investing and practically any area of your life. We all need a little guidance and having a real estate mentor is literally the best thing you can do for your business.
Now there’s a right and a wrong way to go about finding a mentor, so my goal with this Simple Guide is to inform you how to go about finding and approach a mentor for real estate investing.
Why Do You Need a Mentor
Guys, to be quite honest, I don’t know many successful investors who have succeeded without a mentor.
Just think about all of the advantages of having a seasoned investor to bounce ideas off of and guide you along the way to help prevent you from making costly mistakes early on.
“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed,” Proverbs 15:22.
Having a mentor keeps you on track and holds you accountable because accountability is huge. You must have someone pushing you, someone that you trust, and someone that you do not want to let down.
When I look back at my life I now realize that I had many mentors. Many of them I did not realize that they were mentors at the time. Now looking back, there were all kinds from all aspects of my life. Some of those mentors taught me the right way how to do things. And from others, I learned how not to do things.
Building a business, being successful, and growing with a mentor is all about learning.
Here’s part of my personal story…
My dad introduced me to a gentleman who owned a timber company. He would buy large pieces of land (at least 100 acres) throughout Indiana. His business model was quite simple, he would purchase land, then his timber company would harvest the timber, and then once the timber was harvested, he would sell off the land.
He followed that simple system over and over again and was a multimillionaire because of it.
Now I didn’t know how to cut down trees or how to work the machinery so I wasn’t any help in that area. But I knew I could help him find land deals. So I worked for his timber company for about a year and a half as an independent contractor where I received a 10 percent commission on the deals I brought in.
I would carve out 2 to 4 hours out of my day to drive across Indiana searching for land and call landowners to simply ask if they wanted to sell their land.
My mentor was around 65 years old, he didn’t use email, he was terrible at answering phone calls unless it was convenient for him and he wasn’t a good speaker. He was a terrible business man and I just couldn’t understand why this man was a multimillionaire!
But I remember riding around with him and during our car rides and he would give me little nuggets, and one of the greatest lessons I learned from him was that bigger isn’t always better.
See, he had once had a pretty big business with 15 employees and a huge overhead. He almost went bankrupt and almost lost everything when his business expanded.
The lessons I learned from him have made a tremendous impact on the way I do business today. His stories about almost going bankrupt have prevented me from making a lot of costly mistakes in my company.
Bigger isn’t always better.
As I got into the real estate investing game and I started making money, I found myself being pulled in so many different directions. I was wholesaling, rehabbing, flipping… just so much of everything. I wasn’t happy.
I was trying to go to BIG with my operation. I needed to simplify. That is when I decided to focus on one thing, wholesaling. And I was not going to complicate how I did it.
That is how I arrived at the name for my company, Simple Wholesaling.
It was that advice that I got from the man I worked for in that land job that helped me to build the cornerstone of my business that is growing today.
That man was just one of the examples of a mentor that I had in my life and didn’t know it at the time, but helped me to realize how important having a mentor truly is.
When it comes to real estate investing, one of the key components to being successful is experience and that is why I do think that it is tremendously important to have a mentor.
Throughout the sections of this month’s Simple Guide we will discuss what to look for in a mentor, how to find a mentor, and the effects of having a mentor… but I think this section is the most important.
For someone to understand the importance of why they need a mentor and accept that notion, is a game changer.
Once my company, Simple Wholesaling, got rolling and I started to feel like was doing well, I stopped doing some of those things that were influencing me the most.
I stopped asking questions.
I stopped seeking help.
I stopped reading books.
When I stopped all of those things because I thought that I knew it all, I also lost me DRIVE.
And that is one of the greatest things that a mentor can give you, the drive to want to be better.
I mentor is going to help you gain experience, share stories of things that helped and didn’t help them, listen to you, and help push you.
Why do you need a mentor?
To help you get you from where you are to where you want to be.
Now I am constantly seeking advice and help. I seek it from people that are doing what I want to do. I read and listen to books from experienced entrepreneurs, real estate investors, and christian leaders any chance I get.
Think about it this way, when do I feel closest to the Lord? The answer, when I am deliberately seeking Him. If I am not spending the time I need in scripture, serving, or in prayer, I feel further away from Christ. I have to pour into Him for my cup to be full.
It is the same in business, I can’t just sit back and let the business ideas or deals come to me. I need to educate myself and put myself in situations that allow me to be successful.
Two of the greatest things that have happened for me and my business over that last two years were in for form of mentorship.
I hired a business coach and I joined a Mastermind Group of real estate investors.
I had to allow myself the to accept that I needed help and I went out there and found the help that I needed.
There are so many places out there to find that right mentor of you, but not every mentor is for you. Over the next few weeks we will take a look at how what to look for, how to find that mentor for you and the possible results that can come from it.
This is important because you should think of the relationship with your mentor as a partnership and you are trusting this individual with your business. So before jumping into a partnership, you want to make sure you both fit well together and mutually benefit from the relationship.
Early in my real estate career I jumped the gun, and worked for someone whose values didn’t match mine and I later learned that he was running an unethical business.
My Personal Story
When I first jumped into real estate investing, I had purchased my very first property off eBay for $10,000 and turned around and sold it for $15,000. I had lots of experience in eBay and had practically sold everything you could imagine so after buying and selling my first property, I began looking for more deals and began searching for other investors on eBay.
My search led me to a guy named Jeremy. His parents were very successful entrepreneurs and they gave him 1 million dollars to start a business. He decided to venture off into real estate investing and began buying houses all over Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio for as cheap as possible to sell on eBay.
So I connected with him and learned that he needed someone to sell his properties on eBay for him. Since I had already sold all types of crazy on eBay from cars, bootleg movies, you name it, I offered to use my experience to help sell his properties online and he agreed to pay me a 20 percent commission from the deals I sold on eBay.
Now guys, he had a million dollars at his disposal and was buying hundreds of cheap properties at a time. Mind you, he hadn’t seen the majority of the properties and most of the properties were in terrible shape. They were so bad that most of his properties did not sell.
After a while, I began to notice that his business was pretty messy. Buyers were upset because the properties were being misrepresented on eBay, and his buyers were pursuing me because they thought I was responsible for the misrepresentation since I was posting the properties online. So he would make his buyers happy by simply paying them off to keep them quiet.
It was a total mess!
He just wasn’t running an ethical business so I hurried and built up enough money to leave and start running my own business.
Was he a mentor?
Yes, very much so. I learned a lot from him, good and bad.
You see, the great thing about mentorship is that mentors not only teach you what to do but they also teach you what not to do and Jeremy taught me a lot of what not to do.
You have to be very careful when choosing mentors and truly spend time finding someone who shares similar values and has your best interest at heart.
I don’t want you guys to go out out just seeking anyone to be your mentor, so follow this Simple Guide to help determine what to look for in a mentor.
What to Look For in a Mentor
Before seeking out a mentor, think about your goals and your core values. It’s critical that you have your goals and values outlined so that both you and your mentor are on the same page and are clear on what the end goal is.
A lot of people ask me to be their mentor and I’m just thinking, they don’t even know me. What if they don’t like me? There are several successful investors out there who I wouldn’t want to mentor me because our values don’t measure up.
My first mistake with Jeremy was that I never asked him about his core values. I never asked him about his business structure. I probably wouldn’t have done business with him if I had known how messy his business was.
So take a moment and ask yourself these questions…
What are my core values?
What are some things I am passionate about in life?
What is one area I am struggling with in my business?
How can a mentor help me in this area?
Guys, really take time to think about these things because later on you’ll want to evaluate your potential mentor and ask a these similar questions to ensure your values and personality match.
What’s Next?
Next you want to look for someone who is actually doing the business you want to be in.
So if you haven’t decided already, you’ll need to decide which real estate investment strategy you want to pursue.
When you’re first starting off, it’s critical that you know and understand the various investment strategies out there. Then you’ll need to pick one investment strategy and find a mentor who has experience in that field.
There are so many strategies out there from wholesaling, fix and flipping, buy-and-hold, owner financing, wholesaling land, apartments, the list goes on but I would strongly recommend focusing on one strategy and mastering that one strategy first.
Often times as real estate investors, we go off on tangents, trying out new things and ventures and we lose focus. At one point in my business I was trying to do everything. I was wholesaling, rehabbing, flipping and I really didn’t know what I was doing because I didn’t have any experience in construction. I had contractors ripping me off, I was losing lots of money and I was stressed out!
My first mentor taught me that I don’t have to do a lot of things. I just need to do one thing really well and stay focused on that.
I receive a lot of requests for mentorship and oftentimes our values don’t match or they aren’t wholesalers and honestly, I can’t provide any value to anyone who isn’t wholesaling.
So first pick one investment strategy starting off and you’ll want your mentor to specialize in that strategy as well.
Finding that right mentor can make all of the difference in the world for your real estate investing career, however there is a right and a wrong way to go about finding a mentor.
In this Simple Guide, I want to share a few best practices on how to find and approach a real estate mentor.
So without further ado, let’s jump into this Simple Guide!
How to Find A Seasoned Real Estate Investor
The best way to find a seasoned investor in your area is to simply go to where investors hangout.
My first suggestion would be to start your search on BiggerPockets. This site is your one-stop-shop for everything real estate and is an amazing way to network with other investors.
When searching for investors on BiggerPockets, I would suggest using keyword alerts to find local investors in your area.
For example, if you’re based out of Indianapolis, your keyword alerts would be along the lines of “Indianapolis,” “investor,” “Indianapolis wholesaling,” “Indianapolis wholesaler,” etc. Once you have your keyword alerts set, will receive an email each time your keyword is used in a post. This will allow you to keep an eye out on those who post frequently using your keywords.
I would also recommend attending your local Real Estate Investors Association (REIA) meeting because a lot of investors hang out there and that’s an amazing way to connect with local investors in your market.
If you’re a licensed agent and have access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), you can search for cash buyers who have purchase properties in your market of the last six months.
You can also utilize Meetup.com. There are tons of real estate investor meetings you can attend and connect with investors that way.
So now that you know where to find investors, I know you wondering, “Well how do I approach a seasoned investor?”
Here’s my advice…
Don’t Ask to be Mentored
Here at Simple Wholesaling, we receive lots of requests weekly from people asking us to mentor them but that’s not the way you want to go about it.
Just think about…
When you find someone you are interested in dating or potentially marrying, do you approach them by asking them to marry you immediately?
No way! That would be so weird! The first time you meet someone, you don’t immediately ask them to marry you. You get to know them first, foster a relationship and then maybe pop the big question.
The same thing follows for approaching a mentor.
It All Boils Down to Relationship
Real estate is all about relationships and you need to make sure the both of you fit well together and will mutually benefit from the relationship.
Once your potential mentor is found, invite them out for coffee or lunch and spend time developing a relationship and truly getting to know them personally.
In your first meeting, I would ask these questions:
What are your core values?
What are some things you’re passionate about in life?
What kind of investing do you do, and how do you do it?
What would be your suggestions for me, as a complete beginner?
Do you partner on deals on a case-by-case basis
Discover Their Needs
Real estate investors are extremely busy people. They already have a lot on their plate and if they decide to take on a mentor, they are sacrificing time from their own business, time from their team or time from their family because being a mentor is a time commitment.
Give them a reason to take time out of their busy day to invest in you.
If I was a newbie investor, here is what I would do…
When approaching a potential mentor, I would take the word “mentor” out of your vocabulary and ask one of these two questions instead, “How can I bring you value?” or “Hey, is there anything I can help you out with?”
This approach is more inviting because it isn’t a self-centered approach and a great way to build a relationship with an experienced wholesaler like myself is by bringing the investor value.
You can do this by figuring out a way to get hired at their company. Even if they’re not hiring, find a way to justify a job.
If your potential mentor runs a small business, find areas of opportunity where their business is lacking and offer to help in that area.
Offer to drive for dollars, clean their office, take motivated seller calls, manage properties, scope land, whatever it is, your communication needs to come across as simply wanting to help and learn.
Create and Add Value
Look for opportunities to create and add value to their life and to their business somehow. If you see the opportunity, you can run after it and create value.
When I was working for the timber guy, I didn’t know how to operate the machinery so I knew I couldn’t add value in that area but I knew that any entrepreneur in the real estate business needs deals. They can never have enough deals because that’s how they make money. So I added value by helping my mentor find land deals and the deals were a huge value to him.
If you listen to our podcast, you guys might know Jaren who is our podcast co-host. His story is a great example on how to create and add value to an investor’s business.
Jaren’s Story
Jaren had previously worked for BiggerPockets and was moving to Indianapolis from Oakland, California. At the time, although he has experience in both fields, he wasn’t for sure if he wanted to pursue real estate or marketing.
After moving to Indianapolis, he decided to obtain his real estate license and began searching for someone ethical to work for.
He first tapped into his network for recommendations by asking Brandon Turner from BiggerPockets to connect him with reputable investors in the Indianapolis area. He then provided Jaren with a list of names and he first connected with Stephen Barton who was being mentored by me at the time.
I eventually sat down with Jaren and the entire focus of the conversation was how could he add value to Simple Wholesaling.
Jaren was a licensed real estate but at the time, we didn’t need him in that capacity. I knew nothing about social media so I put Jaren in charge of social media and content because that is where he was needed most at the time.
Guys, Jaren took this opportunity and ran with it!
Although he was working part time, he continued looking for opportunities to add value and worked around the clock to produce content and wrote our very first ebook.
Regardless of how much I was paying him at the time, I saw the hunger in Jaren and I saw the value he brought to my business and he quickly worked his way up to a full-time position. He went from working part-time managing our social media accounts, to transitioning to our sales and marketing manager to now serving as our dispositions manager, podcast co-host and real estate broker!
Jaren’s story is an wonderful example on how to add value!
I gave Jaren an inch and he ran a mile with the opportunity he had with Simple Wholesaling.
One last big tip for you…
If you want to get in great with an investor, find a way to bring them some deals. That will get you noticed in a huge way and immediately add value to your reputation.
The Effects and Results of Having a Mentor
When I first started this business, I had a mentor and my business was super successful starting out and quite frankly, I thought I knew it all.
So for about 3 to 4 years, I stopped reading. I stopped asking for advice. I stopped building my knowledge and wisdom because I thought I had it all figured out.
Although I was seeing some success in my business, once I had hit a certain point, my business became stagnant and I realized that I had stunted my own company’s growth because I failed to continue seeking wisdom.
In my most recent years, I’ve hired a business coach, I’ve got involved in a mastermind group, I read and listen to books nonstop, and I am constantly asking questions. I’ve found great mentors and colleagues to learn from and because of that, my business has doubled due to mentorship.
Paying for Mentors and Coaches
Now, I’ve had my fair share of mentors. Some that were free and some I have paid for. So here’s some advice if you’re considering paying for a mentor or coach.
If you are willing to pay for a mentor, determine how much you are willing to pay and look at it from an internal investment perspective. Don’t look at it as an expense but instead look at it as an investment.
For instance, if I pay a mentor $1,000 and I make $10,000, then it’s worth it. If I pay a mentor $10,000 and I make $100,000, then it’s worth it.
It really just depends on if your mentor legitimately has what it takes get you to the next level.
My Mastermind Group Experience
Earlier this year I was approached to join a mastermind group called the Collective Genius. This mastermind group connects you with the nation’s top real estate investors and the group meets once a quarter to share best practices and business tips.
Now this specific mastermind group costs roughly $20,000 to $25,000 a year, not including traveling expenses. Although being a part of this group was a huge financial commitment, it was a significant investment that has benefited Simple Wholesaling tremendously.
The resources and the connections alone were totally worth it for me!
Since joining the Collective Genius, not only has my business doubled, I am also able to provide the Simple Wholesaling Podcast with the best content due to the endless sea of guests we have from members of the Collective Genius.
Be Very Cautious
Although I have seen a significant return on my investment by joining the mastermind group, if I was just getting started, I would be careful on going out and spending $20,000 on a mastermind group because the investors in that group are doing lots of deals a month.
So it’s important that you understand where you’re at in your real estate investing journey and choose your mentors accordingly.
Ask yourself, are you just getting started? Are you doing one deal a month? Five deals a month? Ten plus deals a month?
You want to find a mentor suited for what you are currently doing and want to do. Once your business starts to grow, your mentor will change.
Guys, I put in a lot of thought and consideration before joining the Collective Genius. It’s funny because I had previously hired a business coach who charged $250 an hour (which was a lot of money at the time) and I was just thinking, wow, I’m going to pay this guy $250 an hour to sit down with me a couple of hours a month.
But when I was approached by the mastermind group, I actually asked my business coach if it was a good idea to join. So essentially, I had a mentor, mentoring me about a mentorship program.
Have you guys ever attended a timeshare presentation?
They spend two hours hyping it up to get people excited about the timeshare. If that doesn’t work, they’ll bring someone else up to speak about it. If that doesn’t work, they’ll tell you what happens if you don’t invest into their timeshare. They are using your emotions to convince you to purchase their product.
Guys, I’m going to be completely honest with you all…
That’s how a lot of mentorship programs out there are. If you attend those free real estate investing seminars which is a whole system in itself to convince you that you need their mentorship program in order to succeed in real estate investing. They normally charge $20,000 to $50,000 to join and those programs simply aren’t worth it. They’ll actually encourage people to put the balance on their credit cards, putting people into a bunch of debt before they even start their business.
So you guys have to be really careful with that because mentorship should not be a high pressure situation from either end and successful mentorships should grow organically.
If your potential mentor isn’t in the business and isn’t doing deals themselves, then steer clear. People really play on the emotions because emotions are such high driving forces.
Think Outside of the Box
Although I’ve seen much success from paying coaches and mentors who I meet with in person, I have also invested my time and money in mentors who I don’t know personally.
You can do the same and find people who inspire you and you can either subscribe to their YouTube channel, purchase their book, follow them on social media, the list goes on.
Don’t limit your options.
Follow Through
Guys, I can’t express how important it is to follow through with your mentor!
If you want to see results, you must take action!
Don’t just pick your mentor’s brain, suck everything you need from them and never contact them again. This will give you a bad reputation!
Don’t let your mentor down and as a result, your mentor will appreciate your work ethic and will want to invest more in you.
Conclusion
My business suffered when I didn’t seeking wisdom through mentorship and I don’t want your business to become stagnant like mine did for a few years.
Even when you start to crush it in your business, never stop seeking wisdom!
The real estate industry is forever evolving so seek knowledge as often as you can. Read daily, listen to podcasts, watch youtube videos, find an accountability partner, join a mastermind, do whatever you need to do to continue to learn and grow.
If you do these things and take action, I guarantee your business will soar!