14 tips for investors to do every day
1.) Review Your Big Goals
What is it that you are trying to achieve?
$10,000 per month in passive cash flow? To quit your job? To flip 24 houses per year? Wholesale 10 houses per month? Like a GPS in your car dashboard guiding you toward your destination, write your goals down and hang them on your wall so you’ll be continually reminded of where you are headed and you’ll be sure to stay on the right track.
2.) Define Your “Why”
Real estate is not easy, especially when you are in the midst of a stressful or confusing time. It’s easy to get disheartened and forget why we are working so hard and why we have those big goals we defined above in #1. For example, I’m going through an eviction right now with a rather nasty tenant. It’s a bit stressful and extremely expensive and I can’t help but think to myself, “Brandon… is it really worth it?”
You see, those big goals I have are bound to get diluted when emotion enters the picture and I forget why I have those goals. For example, if my goal is to make $10,000 per month in passive cash flow, that’s great BUT I will care a whole lot less about that money when tough times come. However, if I focus on why I want $10,000 per month in cash flow (so I can spend my time with my family and I’ll be able to watch my kids grow up firsthand) there is little chance of that goal becoming diluted. So take a moment each and every day to “define your why.”
3.) Review Your Action Steps
While big goals are great, it can also make you feel overwhelmed. If your goal is to flip 50 houses each year, where do you even start? Therefore, it’s important to break those big goals down into actionable steps. Rather than thinking only about the 50 houses, let’s make a plan for getting the first house flip complete. First, you need to get your financing lined up. That might mean making 10 phone calls to various hard money lenders this afternoon. Now THAT is an actionable step.
4.) Ask Yourself “Am I Moving the Needle?”
Take a moment each day to ask yourself, “is what I’m doing right now moving me toward my goal, or am I just doing busy work?” So much of what we do each day makes us feel productive, but fails to “move the needle” and make any dent in your true plans or goals.
I’m reminded of the famed “80/20 rule” popularized by Tim Ferriss in The Four Hour Workweek, which states 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts. Are you working on the 20%, or are you keeping busy with the 80%?
For example, you may have a goal to wholesale 10 homes this month, but are you spending all your time choosing the perfect logo for your website? Sending out 1000 direct mail letters will probably move the needle, but choosing red instead of blue is not going to do a thing for your business other than make you feel productive.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Using Direct Mail Advertising to Grow Your Real Estate Business
5.) Evaluate Deals
Evaluating deals doesn’t come naturally to most people, so I think it’s important to spend a few minutes every day analyzing deals.
No, this doesn’t mean you need to sit down with the BiggerPockets Rental Property Calculator and discover every possible nook and cranny of a deal (though, when you are pursuing a deal, you better.) Instead, just learn to do quick math in your head. When you are driving to the grocery store and see that ugly house on main street, ask yourself “How much would I pay for that thing?”
This is when the 50% rule, the 70% rule, the 2% rule, and all those other rules of thumb come in handy. You don’t need to get it perfect, but the more practice you get, the faster you get and the more deals you will get. So make it habit to run the numbers on at least one property each day.
6.) Spend Time With Your Family
It’s easy to get consumed with real estate and forget the ones that all of our efforts are for: our family. Be sure to carve out time every day, no matter how busy you think you are, to put down the cell phone, shut the laptop, and enjoy time with your family. Don’t worry, there will still be real estate deals when you get back.
7.) Network
Many people think of networking as a formal event where professionals in oversized suits exchange business cards, but this is just one manifestation of it. In reality:
Networking is not an event, it’s a lifestyle. (Tweet This!)
This doesn’t mean being obnoxious and passing out your business card to every stranger you lock eyes with, but allow your passion for real estate to shine forth in your conversations. The most popular question in most conversations tends to be “so, what do you do for a living?” Use this moment to shine! You never know when you are going to find your next private lender, motivated seller, tenant, cash buyer, or whoever else you need to take your business to the next level. Make networking a lifestyle and do it every day!
8.) Learn One New Thing
“They” say you learn one new thing every day. (I don’t know who “they” refers to, but “they” say a lot of stuff.)
However, I want to take that common saying to a whole new level and encourage you to learn one new thing about real estate investing every day. There are a lot of easy ways to do this, but here are a few of my favorites:
The BiggerPockets Podcast Real Estate Forums Blog Posts Talking with Other Investors Real Estate Books (Like these, my top 21 favorite) The point is, spend a few minutes each day learning new tricks and strategies and watch your business grow.
9.) Diet and Exercise
Let me ask you a question… have you ever seen a hearse followed by a U-haul? Probably not – because the truth is: when you die, you can’t take it with you.
As much fun as wealth, financial freedom, and security is – it’s all temporary. Making $10,000 per month in passive cash flow does you no good if you are dead. Therefore, I’ve included “diet and exercise” on this list because it makes the other items possible by extending your life and helping you live a more fulfilled existence.
People spend thousands of dollars on courses, programs, and classes to help them make more money, but freak out over spending an extra $50 eating organic or $30 for a gym membership. Something is clearly wrong here. So, take at least 20 minutes every single day to get your heart pumping and watch what you eat or you might not be here in 20 years to enjoy the financial future you are working so hard to build.
That said… I’m starting P90x 3 next week. Who’s with me?
10.) Help Someone Else
There are a lot of people out there trapped in a life of mundane, 9-5 monotony - and you hold the key to escape. Why not spend a minute or two helping others get on the same path you are? This is the true spirit of BiggerPockets: real estate education through community.
There are a lot of ways you can do this, like going out to lunch or attending your local real estate clubs, but perhaps the easiest is to simply hop onto the BiggerPockets Forums once a day for ten minutes and answer a question or two. There are a lot of unanswered questions every day, and chances are – you know the answer to some of them.
Keep in mind, you do not need to be an expert to help others. Even if you are just starting out, you can always help others by teaching what you’ve learned so far, sharing your experiences, or simply pointing them to the educational sources that you’ve found helpful in your life.
As an added benefit, not only does teaching someone else benefit them, it also benefits YOU. Teaching is perhaps the greatest way to cement a new topic into your head.
11.) Evaluate Your Systems
Perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned from being a host on The BiggerPockets Podcast is the necessity of systems in business. (After all, nearly every guest has mentioned this aspect as key to their success.) A system is a process or order to the tasks in your business that help you maintain stability and control through a variety of changing circumstances. For example, having a step by step guide for screening tenants that you follow for every tenant helps to take the guesswork out of running your own business. (In case you are interested in that, I wrote up every single detail of my tenant screening system here for you to use or adopt!)
When just starting out, having well-oiled systems may not seem important, but it’s those very systems which allow you to scale your business without losing your mind. By creating those systems you are able to eventually hand those systems off to other people so you can focus on the activities that only you can do that move the needle for your business. So take a few minutes every day to evaluate your systems and find ways to improve them.
For two excellent books on this subject, see:
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less by Sam Carpenter Ultimately, the point is: spend time each day to work ON your business, not just in it. Systems are how you do this.
12.) Read Something Motivational
I find it helpful to spend a few moments each day reading something motivational. As Zig Ziglar says, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” It doesn’t need to be long, but reading a quick blog post from Seth Godin or Gary Vaynerchuk can get you pumped and motivated for the work you have to do.
13.) Relax
Finally, after all these things you “should do each day” I want to give you the easiest one: take a few minutes every day to relax and have fun. Do something completely unrelated to real estate investing. Watch an episode of Law and Order. Read a bit Game of Thrones. Take a walk around your neighborhood. By relaxing from “work” you’ll be able to focus more intently when you are working and grow your real estate business even stronger.
14.) Plan Your Tomorrow
One of the last things you should be doing each night before heading to sleep is to plan your tomorrow. By taking five minutes to write down the items you want to accomplish tomorrow, you will accomplish two things:
Empty your mind so you’ll sleep more stress-free Be able to start working on the most important thing right away in the morning. Most people wake up, lazily get ready, then spend a while trying to figure out what to do first. By writing down your to-do list the night before, you’ll be able to jump right into your tasks immediately and get far more accomplished than others.
Source: Brandon Turner
Dy Associates is an Oakland Real Estate company specializing in commercial, home and investment property in the Oakland and East Bay Area. We provide real estate services including buyer agent, seller agent, short sales, commercial and investment acquisitions, loan facilitation, hard money lending, financing assistance property management. Articles are provided as information only. We do not provide legal or general investment advice.
