These tips fit almost any self-starting entrepreneur. If you are wholesaling real estate, you are an entrepreneur, whether you think so or not. As any sport or industry you are in, the only way to succeed is to have passion, discipline, and humility.
Organization/Structure – If you are not structuring your days or having some sort of tracking system for your activities, you won’t succeed. Why? Because too many times you can get caught up in the little issues that don’t pay. When wholesaling real estate, you will have to talk to buyers, sellers, attorneys, design campaigns, hire out services, etc… and you will need to organize each part into small daily chunks. I suggest the first chapter of Chet Holmes’ “The Ultimate Sales Machine”. Basically get the top 5 most important items you need to do, and do them first each day. Follow through, and do your best to not skip a task!
Learning/Education – Wholesaling real estate requires you learn a few things, perfectly. Negotiating, real estate law, marketing, are all different areas of your business you will need to constantly be reading about and getting better at. Not only reading, but implementing what you learn is vital. Negotiating a contract with a seller can be a tough situation and saying the wrong things will hurt your chance of being able to get a contract. Take at least 1 hour a day to read or review something for your business. Wholesaling can be very difficult if you don’t hone your skills and try to get better.
Drive – Although this may seem like a silly tip to advise others on, you would be surprised. What happens the minute you have to do a $2,000 dollar direct mail campaign? Most people don’t do it because they feel like they are going to “lose” that money. Pushing your limits and driving through fears will help you reach any goal. Hiring your first assistant may be the most daunting task, but if you are driven, you will bite your lip and say, “screw it”. Many wholesalers come and go because they lose their drive and don’t push themselves enough!
Humility – This tip goes along with education. If you come in thinking you’re the hottest wholesaler in your city, yet have never done a deal, it will be hard for you to take advice and grow. Wholesaling houses for a profit may look easy and fun at the seminars, but in practice, it takes time and patience for things to click together. You must leave an ego at the door and have an almost childlike attitude when starting. You are not dumb or wrong for making bad offers, just young. Don’t take any comments from a buyer or seller to heart, and have the humility to take it in stride. Also, when you do cut your first big checks, enjoy it but don’t think you are done yet!
Persistence – This basically ties everything together. You will want to stay on task and complete all your to-do’s on a weekly basis. Making a cash offer on a house for 15K when the seller wants 50K may be a nervous thing for most, but if you just keep at it and you have studied your market, you won’t break a sweat! Confidence will grow and the deals will come!! Take time to think about all these tips because with out these pieces, you will just flail around and fall and/or quit before any real result!
