And I’m taking the medicine too, so we’re in this together.

I had a training session for some of my students last night and when polled 74% of them did not have a business plan.

No plan at all for success.

It was shocking but not surprising.

And as we went through the training to teach them to create their value statement, business plan and investment criteria it became clear from the questions asked that there was very little interest in establishing these foundations.

Instead, many of the questions were all about short cuts.  Even illegal ones.

In the gurus’ quest to make their marketing messages resonate with the masses, you got screwed.

Exhibit A: Recognize these marketing pitches?

* This software finds, analyzes and sells houses for you at the push of a button.
* Unlimited funding with just $10 down.
* 1 million cash buyers in 10 minutes
* You find it and we will fund it and flip it for you.

It looks great in the sales video and then you pull out your wallet and buy and after two minutes in the program reality sets in.

You have to do work.

You have to put up websites and send postcards and talk to leads (talk to them?!) and negotiate with sellers and do your due diligence and qualify for financing and develop and nurture partner relationships.

All the stuff you were trying to avoid doing in the first place.

I get it.

I suffer from it, too.

Not in real estate investing because I know that takes work.  I’ve been doing it successfully since 1994 and there is no easy button. (Trust me, I looked)

There are tools and training that make it simpler and give great guidance but there is nothing and no one that will do it for me.

Here’s the paradox.

I’ve struggled with my weight since college.

I was a skinny kid but then I quit exercising and discovered beer and pizza and for years it’s been a struggle.

I want to lose weight and intellectually I know that to do that I need to cut calories and exercise.

But I reject that in my never-ending quest for the magic pill that will give me Sandra Bullock’s body.

Over the years I’ve spent so much money on contraptions (Ab Roller anyone?), pills, powders, creams and even injections that were supposed to make me lose weight.

Exhibit B:  Recognize any of these pitches?

* Rub this cream on your thighs and cellulite disappears
* Sprinkle this powder on your food and lose 50 lbs with no exercise
* Take this pill and it blocks all the fat you eat so keep enjoying all your favorite foods and still lose weight

When I decided 2012 was the year to get serious about my weight loss, guess what I did?

I made a plan.

I got a Fitbit to track my calories in and calories out.  I cut out alcohol (no more Oregon Pinots), limited my calories to just 1200 a day of juiced organic fruits and vegetables and started running on the treadmill.

The result? I’ve lost 23 lbs in 29 days.

Way more than I ever lost with any of the miracle pills or easy buttons.

I created a plan and I am doing the work to achieve the results.

Thank goodness I finally got real.

Want to succeed in real estate investing?

Want to experience the freedom that so many of us enjoy now that we have mastered the skills involved and reap the financial rewards?

Then quit looking for the shortcut and start doing the work.

Create your plan.

WORK your plan.

Treat it like the professional business it is and quit dabbling.

Quit complaining that courses don’t work because everyone knows that courses don’t work.  PEOPLE do.

Tools and training will assist you on your journey but no tool or training can ever take the place of you doing the work necessary to succeed.

If my weight loss stalls I’d be the biggest idiot in the world to blame the treadmill, juicer or Fitbit.  Those are my tools but I have to do the work to get the results.

Get real with me and make 2012 the year you finally quit looking for the easy button and get to work.

On May 17^th my niece and friend Denise was killed by her ex-fiancé in a murder suicide.

It’s horrifying to type those words but I still feel numb.  It’s as if your brain just shuts off the pain because it is too overwhelming to process.

Denise was an amazing woman and I admired and loved her very much.

She was an accomplished woman who had just completed a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice and accepted a position as an adjunct professor at a local college.

She was a patient, loving and fiercely protective single Mom to two amazing kids, Aaron and Marina and a symbol of persistence and achievement in our family.

Denise and I had many conversations about goals and the future. She had accomplished so much but there was still so much she wanted to do.

For years she put everyone else’s needs ahead of hers, but with Aaron on his own and Marina graduating from high school (sadly one day after her death) Denise was on the verge of realizing so many of her life’s goals.

One day as we were making funeral preparations her Mother, in discussing how hard and long Denise had worked to earn her graduate degree, wondered aloud in agony, “What for?”  It’s a moot point because of course Denise had no idea her life would be cut short, but I know there were many things she put off until “someday” and that day never came for her.

I’ve taken a long look at myself since May 17^th and inventoried the things that I’m putting off.  If I were to die today, what goal or opportunity or conversation would I miss?  What friend have I put off seeing because I’m too busy?  What exotic vacation have I put off because I don’t think I can get away for that long?

When my Grandmother died she had several dresses that she had never worn because they were too nice for everyday and she always intended to wear them “someday.”

Here’s what I think I’ve figured out.

We need to live every day as if we might not be here tomorrow.

Tell the people we love that we love them every day.  Never pass up an opportunity to share a kind word.  Be grateful. Work toward our goals and accomplish with a vengeance that which we are passionate about. And wear the darn new dress today.

What about you?  What have you put off until “someday?”  What life experience or passion are you putting on the back burner in an effort just to get through the day?  What opportunities are you missing?  What goals are you avoiding?  Who would be thrilled to see you or hear your voice on the phone telling them that you love them?

As you go about your day today I hope you think about these things.  And start living your life to the fullest… today.

You’ve seen the news. More borrowers are under water with their mortgage payments, according to Zillow.com.

Home prices fell another2.6% in the last quarter of 2010.

Now, nearly a third (27%) of homeowners with mortgages are upside down in their loans. While that is bad news for the homeowners, be prepared to see even more motivated sellers on the market this spring.

Zillow’s report says that higher foreclosure rates are on the horizon because the banks have been under scrutiny for their paperwork practices, according to CNN Money. The temporary halt in foreclosures is expected to end soon, so now is a great time to get out there and hunt for motivated sellers.

What to look for?

• For sale by owner signs – Call the seller and tell them you would like to discuss their situation.
• Real estate listings that appear abandoned – Fallen signs and untended yards are a surefire sign something is causing the home to sit empty.
• Craigslist – Motivated sellers, investment properties, must sell, for sale by owner are all keywords to search.

Since Ronin pooped out I went back on Sunday with my sister in law Veronica and niece Alysha. Alysha works for a company in Boulder, Colorado that manufactures industrial radios for the government. Like the ones they use in war. She works on an assembly line and, even though she’s intrigued by the idea of working for herself and creating multiple streams of income, she’s scared.

So in the last 5 years or so she’s picked my brain about how I achieved financial freedom, has gotten free access to all of my training courses, attended a few internet marketing seminars on her own, joined a network marketing company and read a ton of books about creating a business.

But she hasn’t actually DONE anything.

Here’s the bottom line. You can’t learn your way to financial freedom.

There is always going to be a new course touting the latest “secret” strategy that’s “guaranteed” to make you money online or in real estate but guess what?

No course, training, seminar, software, technique or strategy will ever make you a dime.

What we end up with when we buy a new “must have” training course is simply more information and a false sense of momentum!

The truth is we are no closer to achieving our goal after we buy (and hopefully consume) the latest bright shiny object than we were before we bought it.

I know because I used to be the exact same way.

When I was first getting started in real estate investing, I bought EVERYTHING. Literally. I have a custom library in my home with 6 shelves dedicated to books, DVD’s, videos and CD’s about investing in real estate. Every strategy there is. Every guru imaginable.

Every time I’d buy something new, I’d read it (or sometimes NOT), put it on the shelf and think, “Why aren’t I rich, yet?” “Why isn’t this working?”

It wasn’t working because I wasn’t working yet.

It’s not until we actually DO SOMETHING that there is any potential for generating income and it’s not until we TAKE ACTION that we are in any way closer to our goal.

The problem with the never ending stream of education and how-to courses is that we get so caught up learning that there is no time left for doing.

False Momentum is the feeling we get by buying more stuff that promises to lead us to income. It’s not really moving us forward; it’s actually crippling our chances of success by distracting us from the real issue… making money.

And with the saturation of product launches there appears to be something we “must have” about once a month.

Now, I’m not saying that information is bad. Information is GOOD. I’m a huge fan of continuous learning but only if it’s specific to a problematic issue in my business and can help me improve that area of my business.

Random information can turn bad when it’s completely off topic and  just confuses us more than helps us achieve our existing goals.

I call it the “Shiny Object Syndrome” and here’s how it usually works…

I buy a book on lease options and think – “Hey, this sounds great.” Then I go to a seminar on lease options and think, “Wow! I can really do this.” Then I get home and make a list of all the things I’m going to do to launch my lease option business and suddenly I see an ad for a short sale course.

I buy the short sale course and think, “Hey, I can do this.” Then I go to a seminar about short sales and think, “This is awesome – I’m gonna be a millionaire!” Then I get home and make a list of all the things I’m going to do to launch my short sale business and suddenly I see an ad for mobile home park investing.

I think you can see where I’m going with this.

This was me. And I think this is a LOT of people. It’s definitely Alysha.

Is it you?

If it is, here’s my best advice to you: Stop Learning, and Start Doing!

Make a decision about the business you’ll start and then START IT. Take action. Make some phone calls, put out some bandit signs, put up your website, go to the local real estate investor’s association meeting, write down your investment criteria, call a portfolio lender, put up a Google Adwords campaign, put together your presentation for potential private lenders, DO SOMETHING.

I know it seems like you need to have ALL the answers before you take action but you DON’T. That’s the biggest myth of all. At some point you just have to go for it. You will soon see for yourself HOW. You’ll make mistakes but that’s OK. That’s how you learn. Heck, I’ve learned more from my mistakes than I’ve ever learned from something that went flawlessly.

So, here’s your mission. Today is the day that you end the era of false momentum and usher in the era of ACTION. Trust me, you’ll never look back and regret taking action. The only regret you’ll have is waiting so long to get started.

One ongoing issue that I keep running into is the appalling lack of, well, anything really in the emails I get.

Usually it goes like this..

1.  I get an email that I can barely decipher.

2.  I delete said email because I am not a mind reader.

3.  I get a 2nd email from the person accusing me of being just like “the others” and never answering my email.

<sigh>

Let me ask what would YOU do with this:

See? I’m not sure either.

Is there a question? No.

Is there any actual sentence? No.

Is there at least a stab at using 4th grade grammar skills and punctuation? No.

I’m not sure about you, but this is a prime candidate for the DELETE button.

Here’s a tip…

I enjoy your emails. I really do. And I even reply to (most of) them.  But if you write, to me or anyone else and expect a thoughtful reply, PLEASE make an attempt to articulate your question and use appropriate capitalization and grammar. It’s just basic respect.