Other than a spouse, the other major influence on
people’s decisions is the opinion of their friends and family. I guarantee that if you start telling your
friends and family you want to invest in real estate, several will jump in with
horror stories they have heard about nightmare tenants, or my personal
favorite, “You’ll have to fix toilets at two o’clock in the morning.”
I too encountered these same negative people when I was
considering making my first investment. Now, years later, some of them come to me for investment advice; the
rest still tell me what a bad investment real estate is. I just smile and say, “I’ve had great luck
investing, I’m sorry you didn’t have the same experience.”
I recommend that if you want to achieve and enjoy
success, eliminate these negative people from your daily life; at the very
least, start reducing the amount of time you spend with them. I know that sounds like a bold statement and
probably feels uncomfortable, especially if they are significant in your daily
life. I have people like this in my own
family; I try to see them only on family occasions when lots of other people
are around, so I’m not forced to talk with them one on one for extended periods
of time.
Another strange phenomenon you will experience is
that once you start to experience success, some people whom you consider close
friends or family don’t seem to be happy for your success; instead, they seem
resentful. It’s not that these friends
and family members are necessarily jealous, or want you to fail; it’s that when
you experience success, it causes them discomfort because they are forced to
evaluate what they are doing or not doing in their own lives.
Seek out and
surround yourself with successful, positive, like-minded people. If you don’t know any, go find them. These are the people with whom you want to
share your time and energy. There’s a
saying, “If you hang out with garbage, eventually you start to stink.” This advice applies not just to real estate,
but also to your life; the negative influences in your life will start to chip
away at your positive attitude.
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