What sets successful real estate investors apart from mediocre investors? Right here today, you will learn all it takes to be a successful real estate investor.

Whether you’re a new real estate investor or if you’ve been doing it for a while, it’s possible, even likely, that the way you’re thinking won’t get you where you want to go.  As a real estate investor, or any kind of entrepreneur, how you look at things can make all the difference in whether you’re successful or not.  The problem is, most of us don’t start off with the right frame of mind.

I’ve been an entrepreneur for over a decade and I still need to be reminded of these points on a regular basis.

Let’s look at 6 areas that we probably all need an attitude adjustment on from time to time.

Who’s Responsible?

As a real estate investor, you’re an entrepreneur.  That means you don’t have a boss to answer to.  That part may sound great.  But that also means you’re 100% responsible.  Whether you make money or not is 100% up to you.

It’s not a matter of whether real estate investing works.  If you look around you, you should know it works.  Many people have become wealthy through real estate investing, including many average people with no experience.  And many more make a decent living doing it.  Do these people have something you don’t?  No, probably not.  They just took action and did the best they could with what they had.

You’re 100% responsible for your success.  If you don’t view it that way, you really can’t be successful.  Otherwise, you’ll be looking for other people and things to blame when things don’t go the way you want.  But if you recognize and accept that it’s you’re responsibility – 100%, then you’ll have the determination and persistence it takes to be successful.

Gaining Momentum

When you’re starting a new business, it’s like trying to roll a giant boulder.  At first, it will take a lot of effort and you won’t see much progress.  It can be discouraging.  Or it may feel like you’re not making any progress.  But if you keep pushing, what will happen?  Things will start to roll.  Then you’ve got momentum on your side and you can keep it rolling with much less effort.

But what would happen if you start pushing and then you get distracted with something else and stop pushing?  Then you’ve got to start all over again and it’s going to be really difficult again.

Many entrepreneurs never get past this stage.  They push a little bit and say “it’s not working” and stop pushing before anything starts moving.  Then, later on, they decide to push again and, before anything starts moving, they get distracted with some other opportunity.  They’re always starting over from scratch with no momentum on their side.  The beginning is the hardest part, and that’s the only thing they ever experience.  So entrepreneurship feels impossible.

Trust me, I’ve been there.  I have a whole notebook full of business ideas, different businesses I could start, different opportunities I wanted to pursue.  Many of them were good ideas.  But the problem is, I wasn’t sticking with anything long enough for it to be successful.  I would start one thing and at first, it was exciting.  Then I’d put a lot of time and work into it.  But then things would get difficult.  Rather than pushing through and finding a way around obstacles, I’d decide to pursue some other idea or opportunity, and the same thing would happen there.

It’s incredibly frustrating!  I felt like I was never going to be successful, even though I had a lot of knowledge and good ideas.  And to be honest, if things continued that way, I wouldn’t have.  It wasn’t until I was really focused and determined to see one thing become successful and ignore everything else that things started working for me.

I’ve seen the same thing happen to many real estate investors, so that’s why I’m sharing this with you.  You have to be willing to focus on this business 100% and keep pushing.

Just like trying to move a huge boulder, at first it’s going to be a lot of work and you won’t have much to show for it.  This is the phase where massive action is needed.  You have to push and push until things start to move.  If you keep pushing, things will happen.  Experienced investors will tell you, the hardest deal you’ll ever do will be your first one.  Don’t give up.

Also, don’t worry about the wrong things in the beginning.  Don’t worry too much about your business name, the perfect domain name, what type of business entity to set up, trying to learn every possible detail, etc.  I’ve seen some investors put off taking action because they can’t come up with the right business name, or the right domain name for their website.  They let those things hold them back for weeks, months, even years.  When you’re just starting out, those things really don’t matter too much.  You can change them down the road if you need to.  Don’t waste time on details that don’t really matter.

I’m guessing you have already either read a book about real estate investing or gone through some kind of program.  That’s great.  But there are certain things you can only learn through experience.  Don’t be afraid of failure.

Success is the result of failing over and over again.

Little failures are necessary.  Welcome failure.  Failures are some of the best learning experiences, and they’re a necessary part of success.

Learn the basic information you need to do a deal.  Don’t get involved with a property for emotional reasons.  Apply what you’ve learned.  Do a deal.  If it doesn’t go the way you hoped, you’ll be better equipped for the next one.

Put Yourself in Your Prospect’s Shoes

Here’s an exercise you should do before starting any kind of marketing:  Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes.  Imagine their situation and try to understand what they want and how they feel.  What challenges are they facing?  And what problems can you solve for them?  The better you understand the pains they feel, the better you’ll be able to get their attention, connect with them, and solve their problem.  Think of how you can create value for your prospects.  The more value you create, the more successful you’ll be.

Putting yourself in your prospect’s shoes will affect everything about your marketing:  the wording you choose and when and where you place your message.  If you miss this step and fail to really understand your prospects and what they want, getting them to respond to your marketing will be much more difficult.

I like to think about marketing as fishing.  If a fisherman is just fishing for fun, he may just have one line in the water.  But what if he’s really serious about catching fish?  What if his family depends on it for food?  He may have multiple lines in the water, and he may try different kinds of bait to see what the fish will bite.

I’m guessing you’re not getting into real estate investing just for fun.  You want to see results.  So you need to have as many lines in the water as possible, and many different types of bait.

What I mean by that is, you need to use as many different types of marketing methods as you can and, eventually, you’ll want to test some different messages, and see what gets the best response.  You’ll want to get your marketing message out in as many different places as you can.  I’ll be sharing many techniques with you.  Think of each of these as another line in the water.

Keep in mind, some of the things you do won’t work, at least not right away.  That’s OK.  Not everything is going to work all the time.  Some days fish love a certain bait, other days they don’t.  Some days they don’t seem to bite anything.  Sometimes a certain marketing technique gets a great response, other times it doesn’t.  It doesn’t mean it’s not a good technique, but it just might take time to see results from it.

Some of the things you do today might not get results until months down the road.  You never know.  But get as many lines in the water as possible, as quickly as possible.

Practice Makes Perfect

When you’re starting out, it’s generally best to start with some free or low-cost methods to get leads, for a couple of reasons.  For one, a lot of people starting out don’t have much money to invest in advertising.  Second, when you’re first starting out you may not get great results.

Learning to get leads is like learning to play an instrument or a new sport.  At first, it’s just going to feel really difficult and awkward.  It might even feel impossible.  You may not get very good results.  It’s just a necessary part of the process.  It’s better to get your practice in when you don’t have much money on the line.

So initially, don’t even worry about whether you get results.  Just think of it as practice or on-the-job training.  If you get some responses, that’s great!  But don’t worry if you don’t.  Marketing often takes time to see results.  The important thing is to get started.

Stick With It

Finally, one of the most important qualities as you’re starting out in real estate investing is persistence.  You’re going to face a lot of resistance, both from people around you and from within yourself.  People will tell you it’s not going to work, that you can’t do it.  You’re going to get discouraged and want to give up.  Realize that everyone goes through this.  It’s a part of starting a business.  And that’s what you’re doing when you become a real estate investor.

The people who are successful are the ones who don’t give up when things start to get uncomfortable and scary or when they feel some resistance.  They keep working, keep pushing forward. But again, they are the ones that eventually gain momentum and start seeing results. And also, they are the ones who do deals and get the big checks that have them smiling all the way to the bank.

If that’s what you want, it’s within your reach.  But no one else can do it for you.  You have to put in the work, and you have to keep putting in the work even when it feels like you’re not seeing results. And, you keep pushing because you know it has worked for other people and it will work for you too if you don’t give up.

Now that you know what to expect as a new real estate investor, you’re better prepared to weather the storms that may come.  You know it won’t always be easy, but that if you keep pushing forward, you’ll have the success you want.

As a member of our Done Deal Website service, you have an edge.  You have a powerful credibility tool that can make you look like a pro even if you’re just starting out.  It can give you the confidence you need to go out and do deals.  And it also can give other people the confidence to work with you because they see you invested in a professional website.  No one needs to know how little you paid.  And remember, our Master level even includes tools to help people find you through sites like Google, as well as an e-mail marketing system built right in.

Now go out and create the success you want!