The excitement of any new business quickly wears off if the results do not meet expectations. Most new investors get started in the business with hopes of retiring from their investing income in just a few years. The reality, however, is that nearly half of all new investors will not make it past the first twelve months. What you do in your first year of business will set the stage for a successful career or will lead to frustration and eventually exiting the business rather quickly. Regardless of your background or how you got started, each investor will go through a rough patch in their first few months.
Like most other businesses, you may have started with one plan but quickly realize it is not working. You may have closed a deal or have one on the horizon and will do just enough work to see progression, but not enough to make a dent. Your first 90 days will not be an absolute statement on how your business will go, but it will set the tone of how you work, who you work with and how you will go about solving problems.
You can put all your eggs in one marketing basket only to find that it just isn’t working. Once you face rejection, it is difficult to pick yourself back up and start in a different direction again. For many investors, it takes years to develop a niche that they are fully comfortable with or come up with marketing that is successful. These lessons can be pricey, time consuming and very frustrating, but if you can come out the other end and see some results it will change your business for good. Most investors will slow down or give up when things don’t go as planned, but it is the successful ones that push forward.
Your first 90 days will be filled with plenty of second guessing and hesitation. You don’t want to make the critical mistake that will cost you money or a precious deal. It is fine to be diligent and prudent, but at some point you just have to go for it and live with the results. This doesn’t mean you have to make offers on every new property you see, but you need to jump on the ones that make sense to you. Trust your judgement. You will learn so much more by doing than by any book you read or meeting you attend. If you are serious about the business, these lessons will serve you well years in the future.
It is common for new investors to try to tackle ten projects at once and end up not really doing anything at all. A little of this and a start of that may make you feel like you are multitasking, but you really aren’t doing anything at all. Stick to one task at a time and don’t start anything else until you complete what you are doing. Whether it is your website, a new marketing list or taking a new lead, devote yourself entirely to whatever you are working on at that moment and on that day. The sooner you stop drifting from task to task the more productive your business will be.
The first few months are a make or break period for many new investors. If you stick to your plan and realize that the business is a process and takes time, you will make it through.
