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.

Here are the results of the survey.  We had over 1,000 investors take the survey so I feel like we got a great sample.  And most importantly, we got great insights!

Section 1: The State of YOU

Are You Actively Investing in Real Estate?
57.4% Yes
42.6% No

If no, why not?
1. No money
2. No funding
3. Don’t know where to start
4. Fear
5. Can’t find a deal

What is your investment strategy?
47.9% Residential Buy/Hold or Fix/Flip
38% Wholesaler/Birddog
36.4% Commercial Buy/Hold or Fix/Flip
19.3% Bulk REO
17.7% Master Lease Options

What is your biggest gripe about real estate investing?
1. Takes too much money
2. Can’t get funding/financing
3. Can’t find good deals/properties
4. Banks
5. The gurus make it look so easy

Section 2: Real Estate Investing Products and Services

Have you purchased a home study course in the last 12 months?
62.4% Yes
37.6% No

Have you attended a live seminar in the last 12 months?
37.1% Yes
62.9% No

Who are your favorite gurus/experts?
1. Susan Lassiter-Lyons (yay!)
2. Dave Lindahl
3. Patrick Riddle
4. Preston Ely
5. Larry Goins

What’s your biggest complaint about the products/services/seminars available for real estate investors?
1. Hard sell/Hype
2. Cost/Expensive
3. Little details always missing from the courses
4. Lack of support
5. No complaints

Section 3: My Content and Products

What would you like to see more of from me?
38.3% Webinars
29.2% Coaching
27% Live Webcasts
26.7% Videos
26.1% eBooks

What topics would you like to see me develop training about?

52.2% Creative Financing Strategies
45.2% How to Raise Private Money
38.6% Commercial Investing
35.8% Due Diligence/Deal Evaluation
29.2% Wholesaling

Section 4: Coaching

Would personal coaching help you achieve your real estate investing goals?
77.3% Yes
22.7% No

What is most important to you in a coaching program?
58.4% Cost
40.4% Credibility of Coaches
39.9% Guarantee of Success
39.6% Access to Coaches

If you could design the perfect coaching program for you what would it include?
68.5% One on One Calls
52% Accountability
43.6% Mastermind Calls with Other Students
42% Step by Step on Specific Deals
38% Partnering on Deals

Section 5: The One Question

If you could ask me one question what would it be?

5 Marriage Proposals (A new record. Thanks but I’m taken!)

Funniest Question: I love your hair. What gives it so much body? (I use Kerastase Chroma Thermique Thermo-Radiance Protecting Milk and blow dry it upside down.)

Best Question: What is the one thing you attribute your success to? (In a word: persistence.  I rarely take “no” for an answer and always keep trying to find a way to make it work.)

So, there you have it!  The 2012 results.  What do you think?  Did the responders get it right? Let me know in the comments below…

Today, we’re going to talk about building the one page business plan for real estate investors. Most business plan templates are long – somewhere between 6 and 10 pages or more. And there is a time and a place for that, but the one-pager is manageable and you can actually get to it if its one page. Jim Horan writes a book that guides you through the process fittingly titled TheOnePageBusinessPlan. He has a few different versions of it – one for the creative entrepreneur and one for the professional consultant. As a real estate investor interested in acting as an authority on a particular deal type or as an investor seeking creative financing options, these books could be just what you need. Take a look at their table of contents before you select one for purchase.

But for today’s article, let’s hit the high points on what goes into a one-page business plan for real estate investors.

Start with your business vision. What is the end result for your business this year or at the end of your business plan period? Your vision statement is the plan you have for your business. It’s articulating what your business will look like after you make this plan work.

Write down your value/mission statement. This section serves two purposes – it gives you an answer to “what do you do?” and it helps you make decisions about who to work with. In other words, your vision statement acts as a gut check. If a deal or person isn’t in line with this mission, why would you work with them? Sure, we’re all in business to make money, but do you really want to compromise your values? This statement helps you determine what those business values are.

Set clear objectives. Your objectives are the three to seven things (these numbers are manageable) you want your business to do this year or over a set period of time. Maybe you want to set yours business plan up for the next three to five years. The key to objectives is to make sure they fit three criteria – realistic, measurable and they have a date attached.

Lay down your strategies. Your strategies are the tactics you will use to achieve your goals. These are the “how you will get there” statements. Some example REI strategies include:

• “Attend weekly REIA meetings and make X number of contacts per week.”
• “Build my list of people who I know that may be interested in real estate investments by X date.”
• “Get my REI website up by X date.”
• “Develop relationships with a bird dog Realtor, a wholesaler and a contractor by X date.”

The important part of your strategies section is that they line up with your vision and help you achieve your objectives. If they don’t pass this test, take them off the plan. This plan needs to be solid, so delete the fluff and be realistic about what you can do. Measure your time and be sure to challenge yourself.

Spell out your plans. Your plans are the less solid objectives. These are the things you want to achieve. The key word here is want. It would be nice if they happened, but they don’t have to happen to make your year.

See some sample one page business plans here.  We’re going to talk about other types of business plans this month, but this should serve as a guide if you’re looking for a quick start guide. Stay tuned for more business planning tips on The Investor Insights blog this month.

Building a responsive buyers list is hands down the best way to succeed in wholesaling.  And when those buyers have cash – whoa Nellie!

Here’s a simple 5-step method guaranteed to build you a FREE list of cash buyers:

1. Search the MLS (you or someone that has access such as a Realtor, appraiser or friend) for properties that have the words “Cash Only”, “Cash Offer” or “Cash” under the “financing” section of the listing.

2. In the criteria, make sure that you select only listings with a status of “closed” not pending, active, or expired.

3. This report will show you all the MLS transactions in your area that closed for cash! Yeah, baby!

4. Search the property address on the corresponding County Tax Assessor’s website.

5. The new owner of record will appear with their mailing address.

You now have a cash buyer, the address of the property purchased and their mailing address!

Take some time to build this database and start mailing postcards or yellow letters to them immediately letting them know that you have great deals on houses.

Decide to have a great day. The first step to having a great day is to decide to have one. If you wake up to positive thinking, it will be easier to focus on positives the rest of the day.

Focus on priorities. Did you know that the average person spends almost no time each day on what’s really important to them? That’s why it takes so long to achieve simple goals. We let the minutia get in the way of our priorities. Add these three words to your vocabulary each day – focus, priority and no. Saying no to distractions, people and other positivity drains will help you have a better day, most any day of the week.

Be disciplined. I had a great comment on a blog post earlier this week. The reader said that she has set aside a day a week just to deal with admin work. Discipline is invigorating. This reader decided to restrain all of the distraction work to a single day a week so she can focus on her priorities the rest of the time. That’s a huge less in discipline.

Visualize your success. Many people believe that a dream board or vision board is a key to success. This little device can be a poster board on your wall, a post-it note you keep in your wallet or a message you write on the mirror. It’s a visual reminder of what you are trying to achieve. Don’t underestimate the value of this seemingly silly exercise. If you can see it, it can happen. If you can see yourself with seven cash flowing properties by the end of 2012, you will have a better day and take strides toward achieving that.

Lie to yourself until you believe your positive thoughts. There’s a great little book called What to Say When You Talk to Yourself. This book is full of science on why we have negative thinking. It’s a gut check into why you don’t succeed – because you don’t know how to be nice to yourself. But the really interesting thing about this book is that in it, we learn that the brain is incapable of distinguishing between a lie and a truth when we talk to ourselves. Isn’t that fascinating? We believe what we hear the most. If it’s negative speak from our parents such as “you can’t possibly do that” or “you’ll never amount to that,” we start to believe it about ourselves. But if you can start some positive thinking such as “I’m worthy of my goals,” or “I owe it to my family and myself to be happy and successful,” you’ll reprogram your brain.

Stay in tune with your health. When you’re providing your body with fuel and exercise, you’re calmer, more positive and more focused. Don’t deprive yourself of good nutrition and exercise. It may seem like the thing you can mark off your list, but if you can eat right and exercise 80 percent of the time, you’re going to have better days, better moods and a better life.

Associate with positive people. If there’s anything that can bring down your day, it’s a negative Nelly. This goes back to saying no. You can choose every action you take and every person you spend time with. Be sure you are hanging out with people that have a positive influence on you. If they don’t, they aren’t worthy of your time. It’s totally personal – you need to have great days to be successful.

Stay tuned to the Investor Insights this month for more on goals, planning and achieving the success you deserve!