In honor of Memorial Day, we wanted to highlight military members interviewed on the podcast over the previous 12 months. Below is the Best Ever advice from 11 current and veteran military members:
“My best advice is get out there and take risks, but just make sure that whatever risk you take won’t break you. It doesn’t matter how many times you fail as long as you’re able to recover from that risk. And as long as you’re not going to get broken by whatever risks you’re taking, the pay-off will always end up being bigger in the long run.”
Click here to listen to David’s full episode.
Ashton: “No one is smarter than all of us, so I really think my best ever advice is to really get out and network with the people that are down in the business you want to get into and learn as much from them, and then bring them in on your team. Try to build up that team of people you’re going to work with.”
Chris: “I think you’re only as strong as the people that you’re surrounded with. They’ll not only elevate you, but they’ll support you in your weaknesses. If you come into an area that you’re weak, or you hit a roadblock, it’s fine to get through that roadblock and that challenge, but how do you correct it in the future? You’ve got to create some kind of process or system that then in the future will either simplify that challenge or make sure that doesn’t occur at all. Then you’ll be able to get through to whatever goal you’re trying to achieve without hitting those same roadblocks every time.”
Click here to listen to Chris’s and Ashton’s full episode.
“We have two ears and one mouth; use them accordingly. What I have experienced and witnessed throughout my career is that they’re telling you exactly how to win them over. You just have to listen, and you have to hear, and then use that information and apply it back. So, if there was one thing that all of us could do better at, that’s listening.”
Click here to listen to Bill’s full episode.
“Set goals based off of your potential and not your abilities. A lot of people have these limiting beliefs. They set goals off of what they think they can accomplish right now based off of their current experience, their current education levels, their current partnerships, or whatever they have. So, they set their goals extremely low. They use that SMART acronym, which I absolutely hate because the R in smart is realistic. I absolutely hate that, because you sell yourself so short.”
“So, I think the biggest thing is people sell themselves short because they want to set realistic goals for themselves. They do it based off of their ability and not their potential. So, a big example of that is the 10X rule. I read that and I was like, ‘Well, 20. Well, scratch that off and write 200,’ and that’s what was my goal, and I quickly went from 0 to 120 in a very short amount of time once I did that. So, absolutely set big, hairy, audacious goals, and then take massive action toward them. Don’t be realistic, because it doesn’t give you any room to grow.”
Click here to listen to Vincent’s full episode.
“Think big, but act small. So, think big on what they’re going to do, but make sure that you’re paying attention to the details.”
Click here to listen to Seth’s full episode.
“Focus on your strengths and think about how you can add value contributing to something bigger than yourself. Also, just do what you say you’re going to do. There are a lot of people that just don’t follow through and I think your word is really important.”
Click here to listen to Jamie’s full episode.
“One investor client will change the trajectory of your future because of what they teach you, the access to resources, and how they shorten your learning curve. So, if you’re working with investors, you make friends, and one or two of those friends are going to become your mentor. So, just start working with investor clients. Don’t worry, everything else will take care of itself.”
Click here to listen to John’s full episode.
“Look for the best-balanced deal. The best balance between people saying 1%, and what the property is really worth. The best balance for how much money you want to get in… But fundamentally, the best balance means you want to start now; don’t wait or let people tell you that you have to wait for a long time. Take the best balance that fits for you and start now.”
Click here to listen to Axel’s full episode.
Lindsey: “The people around you, both mentorship and community. And there’s that rule, the sum of five. We’ve surrounded ourselves with like-minded investors; there’s a couple of buddies that I have in special forces that are investors, and we do meetups and everything. And we’re just so driven every day by their social media posts, their text messages, everything. If we got down on ourselves a little bit or a little frustrated, we just look at our community around us and are immediately reinvigorated to go.”
Amanda: “Don’t be afraid of doing your first deal or doing additional deals, even if you don’t have money, because you can make it work. And that’s one thing that just this last year has taught us. We’ve found, we’ve also been able to borrow some money from our IRA creatively, and we’ve just found ways to make it work. If you find a deal and it’s amazing, you’ll find a way to make it work.”
Click here to listen to Lindsey’s and Amanda’s full episode.
“Use time to your advantage. The amount of time that you have to build with real estate is always helpful. So, for instance, a property that I bought four years ago, just by naturally taking care of it and increasing rents as tenants turned over is now worth almost 50% more than it was when I bought it, thanks to buying in kind of an up-and-coming area, taking care of it, and increasing rents. So, all of a sudden, even though cash flows were maybe early on $100 per door per month, and then $200 and then $300 — the cash flow has grown, but my value has also grown and I’m able to refinance and take cash back out and put that into other rentals. And it’s just amazing, the snowball effect that you have over time with real estate. It’s not ‘get rich quick,’ but it’s quicker than just throwing money in a savings account forever. And there’s a lot of power behind it. You make money in a lot of different ways. So, time is actually very helpful in real estate.”
Click here to listen to Megan’s full episode.
“Take steps and do it. Don’t sit and wait. Get some knowledge, which is free. You’ve got awesome podcasts that you can listen to. You don’t have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the knowledge. Get the knowledge that you can for free, pay a little bit of money to get some more refined knowledge, and then go take action. That’s it. Action will teach you more than any mentor or coach.”
“The second tip would be to find a good mentor. You don’t have to pay for that. That would be someone that’s done it, successful, who is willing to let you take them for dinner, take them for a coffee, bounce some ideas. If you can get a good mentor, you’re going to jump leaps and bounds ahead of everything else, and listen to what they say.”
Click here to listen to Gary’s full episode.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as an offer to buy or sell any securities or to make or consider any investment or course of action.