One of the things I generally do is that I let my students know some "things" about the year ahead including some personal things about what's going to be transpiring with me for the duration of the year.
Before I go into anything, I wanted to bring up a gripe...just because I'm in that type of mood right now.
So...a couple of days ago I got rid of my Lincoln Navigator for a few reasons:
1) I started to feel something strange. I'm not sure if it was guilt or...something. But I felt like I was committing a crime against the environment for driving around this massive beast just for myself and my little 4 1/2 year old daughter 99% of the time. It no longer made any type of sense whatsoever. And it was quite sudden, too.
2) I'm sick of this "status" nonsense and trying to "fit in" with society. It makes me want to puke just thinking about it lately. I'm tired of everyone on my neighborhood block having new cars, trying to top one over the other. It's so...sad, sickening, nauseating, and so far from any kind of spirituality on any level. And I'm no longer choosing to drive something I really don't care for just to be a "cool dude" in the eyes of someone else.
3) I originally bought the Lincoln Navigator to "show up" my ex-husband right after we split up because he took the other Navigator that was under his name (that I drove all the time). And what a useless endeavor that was. (Talk about a spiritually bankrupt decision on my part!) This was over 2 years ago. And I needed to change that energy.
What did I end up doing?
I've always been a fan of Toyota/Lexus products and I haven't had one in a good 5+ years.
And it was time to get rid of my Made-in-Detroit gas guzzler that is only beat out by the Hummer beating out my former 11-miles-to-the-gallon beast by 2 miles per gallon.
But, honestly, it was time for an energy change all around. I figured that we are up on 2013, I can get my last tax write-off, and...what the hell?
A few days before I traded in the Navigator, my neighbor across the street got a mid-size SUV made by Infiniti. I was going to get the same model because it has a 3rd row seat which comes in handy when Ronnie and the kids come out in the summer. But...I didn't want them to think I was copying them and I'm not really big on Infiniti so...I went with a small Lexus SUV instead.
All of a sudden, my neighbors across the way started giving me the cold shoulder since I parked my new vehicle in the driveway. Hmmmm. My imagination? Maybe.
Except what happened next sort of surprised me.
Today my neighbor came up to my door and hands me a gift card. She says, "Here's the gift card back that you gave us for Christmas. It was unnecessary." And walks off.
WTF?? What planet am I on? (And you thought living in a "well off" area was some how better? Pullleeeezzzeee! These people are weirdos across the board!)
Who gives back a gift?
I'm thinking about it now and it's...laughable actually. What can you do when you live on a block that's full of nothing but circus characters trying to one-up each other every day? Who lives like that?
And my neighbors wonder why I don't bother talking to them.
Very quickly, I want to go over two (2) things; what to expect for 2013 and what to expect from me:
What to Expect for 2013:
Apartment and MHP investing are already heating up. Mid- to large-size investors are picking up everything they can get their hands on starting this past summer of 2012. Commercial-commercial is starting to heat up, although not as much. Investors are looking for stabilized properties that are rehabbed and leased up.
This means your Opportunity Opening is with rehab and/or leasing up underperforming properties, namely apartment buildings and MHPs. Serious investors don't have the time or interest in rehabbing or stabilizing a property in any fashion whatsoever and that can be your niche...and a very profitable one at that.
SFRs (both flipping and buy-and-hold) have been hot from the very beginning of 2012 and continue to do so. Investors are picking up SFRs by the handfuls each with their own different strategies in mind. Some rehab and flip. Others are just hanging onto them until the economy gets better with the intention on flipping them later. Some are buying and leasing them out. You can get into this game as well because there are too many properties (especially foreclosures) and not enough investors to swoop them all up. You have all of this year and a good part of next year to make big money with SFRs.
Banks are making commercial loans/mortgages much easier to get if you fix your freakin' credit already. Even residential loans are getting much easier to get. The government is kicking up FHA loans (for residential) and SBA loans (for commercial) programs, making it extremely easy to get these types of loans. Just clean up your credit. And you can do this inside of 6 months if you are consistent with the process.
The stock market will struggle this year with its typical emotional roller coaster ups and downs but...who cares? You shouldn't be putting your assets into the stock market anyway. Real estate is where it's at, baby!
And yes, you can make 2013 the year of your financial independence...but only if you actuallydo something about it. That means 2013 has to be your year of action! And this is pretty much your last year where you can get a solid shot at becoming financially independent starting from nothing or near nothing.
What to Expect from Me in 2013:
I've been undergoing some massive spiritual and emotional changes over the past 6 months. I think many of you have noticed.
I think the hardest part for the past couple of years is the distance between me and my hubby, Ronnie.
Strangely, this past fall, after going through the 5 Stages of Grief and Loss, I finally came toAcceptance. And it was a long, hard road for me.
It was during this time when I decided that my days of training would be coming to an end soon just because it's time for me to focus on different things just to keep my soul and heart expanding.
Somehow I always feel some personal responsibility when a student gets my course in the mail and stuffs it under his bed without ever removing the shrink-wrap. Even though I've helped thousands of people become successful just in the past few short years, I still focus on those I wish I could help more but couldn't. And that's the part that bothers me the most.
The other part is that I don't ever want to be one of those people who has 20 years of teaching experience when, in reality, I felt like I had 1 year of teaching experience times 20 years.
I've sacraficed doing some larger deals, important once-in-a-lifetime projects, and other special endeavors I really wanted to participate in just to keep heading up my Apprenticeship and Mentorship Groups.
With that said, I already started limiting my hours of working on training students starting this past summer. Many of my students began panicking earlier last year when they first learned I'd be shortening my schedule but, rest assured, I didn't disappear nor do I plan on completely disappearing for awhile.
In fact, I've committed to all of 2013 to train, guide, and instruct my students. Just on a more limited schedule.
As one of my other businesses is exploding beyond my wildest imagination, I'm taking more time to focus on new types of marketing and product development that is out of my realm of expertise. And this is exciting for me. It keeps me passionate about life.
I'm also focusing on some new types of real estate investing that I never considered before. I'm also considering moving one of my companies out of California to a location in the greater Detroit area just because doing business in California sucks ass.
Regardless, I'm going to be available for my students all throughout 2013.
P.S. And after thinking I ditched out my Made-in-Detroit Navigator, I read the paperwork on the Lexus SUV I bought and it was...Made in Detroit at the Toyota plant.
Yes, I think I do live in the Twilight Zone because nothing makes any sense anymore.
A lot has changed in the world of real estate in the past couple of years. Let me give you the good, bad, and ugly of it all as we prepare to enter 2013.
Let's get The Ugly out of the way first:
The Ugly:
Real estate agents and brokers are still losers, even more now than ever because of their lengthy time in starvation mode. It's like letting a caged dog out of a hot box after starving him for a couple of weeks. Not a pretty sight. And yes, he will attack you, probably eating you in the process. And no, none of them got any smarter, more professional, or kinder in the last few years. I have to say that it's probably the meanest and angriest group of "professionals" since the lynch mob in the 1800s.
There are still some very creepy unscrupulous characters out in the world of lending. Although they can't get away with the former lending practices that got us into all that financial trouble a handful of years back because of so many newly implemented federal regulations, they are a little more brazen with their front-end scams such as "money-up-front" loans, ridiculously high loan application fees, equity partnership scams, due diligence legal fee scams, and a wide variety of other illegal behavior that's pretty obvious unless you're emotionally desperate to do your deal, then you may actually fall for the scam at hand. There are still Uncle Guido loan shark types out there with super high loan points and borderline illegal interest rates that make investing in any type of property not only incredibly risky but just plain stupid.
The Bad:
Many sellers still think they are selling at the peak of the market, even after watching their property rot on Loopnet with no activity for years and years. They also think that their property is the hottest thing since the Gold Rush in California and won't budge on their price, probably even thinking their building was built out of 24K gold bricks; this is how deluded many of them still are. Yet on the flip side, because the market heating up so fast in the commercial real estate realm, many of them can actually hang on for a little longer and get what they're asking for. Maybe more.
Competition pretty much took over the commercial real estate investing market virtually overnight, especially with apartment building investing. This happened because everyone realized (at the precise same time) that the market wasn't getting any lower on pricing, interest rates weren't going to get any lower and commercial banks started lending with much less strict mortgage criteria. This "perfect storm" happened over the summer, probably while you were at the beach. Tighter competition means that the days of 100% owner financing are officially over. So is expecting a lot of seller carry.
The Good:
Investors are picking up properties so fast (expecting that they'll start going up soon) that they are limited to choosing stabilized properties in order to manage their cash flows and/or appease their investor partners. Most of them are notin the position to rehab or lease-up an underperforming property. This leaves the REO and underperforming property market pretty much wide open for you.
Investors are leaving smaller properties alone. This includes 4-plexes ("quads"), SFRs (single-family residences), smaller MHP properties (up to 20 pads), and smaller apartment buildings (5 - 16 units). The good news about this is that smaller properties are much cheaper to function. Your operating expenses usually never exceed 35% on these properties and can be as low as 20%. (Bigger properties have operating expenses as much as 65% or higher in some cases!) Having a bunch of smaller properties is the way to go because the cost to operate them is much less, thus putting more cash into your pocket.
Becoming part of an equity partnership deal is super easy now. Every investor and wannabe investor with money wants in on real estate right now. Long gone are the days of twisting an investor's arm to get him or her to invest in a deal or convincing them how awesome apartment building investing is. Their pens are poised to write checks. Now! You just have to find these people through a variety of specific methods that I've taught over the years. (Now is time to use these methods; get my point?)
Commercial mortgages are actually much easier to get than you think. If you have good personal credit, you're in. Even if you have no built business credit yet, you can still buy a building under a newly formed LLC and use yourself as a personal guarantee since all loans under $1,000,000 are recourse loans (requiring a personal guarantee) anyway.
Gaining access to unsecured lines of business credit has never been easier because of a newly implemented government program encouraging commercial banks to lend more money to businesses to get the economy rolling again. Banks get special incentives for lending money to businesses. Of course, this requires that you take some time to build some business credit which takes anywhere from 3 - 6 months. Good business credit can put you in an unsecured line of business credit in the low- to mid-six figures which can, in turn, be used for down payments on properties. Since you're going to be focusing on smaller properties from now on (priced $100,000 to $1,000,000), having unsecured cash will easily give you the 20% required for the down payment on these deals.
Like I said, I've been warning everyone for a couple of years now that the window of opportunity is closing for getting your foot in the door on apartment building investing with little or no money down, owner financing, and by using creative financing methods.
And I also mentioned that the window of opportunity has just officially closed.
Instead of letting it depress you, instead you need to look at what's left on the table for you to make a killing with.
1) Smaller properties like small apartment buildings, MHP properties, and even SFRs.
2) REO apartment buildings and unstable properties requiring a revamp on management.
But...if you're going to get these properties, you're going to have to put some "skin" in the game. This means putting money down. And you can get this money by changing the face of your personal credit and building business credit.
My students with good credit get anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 in unsecured lines of business credit.
Students with marginal personal credit but with built business credit get anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 in unsecured lines of business credit.
Whichever category above you'll end up in by this coming summer will still get you in the investing game because you'll be able to raise the money for your EMDs, due diligence, and down payments to play the investment game.
Yesterday I met a nice young man by the name of Victor while shopping. Right now I'm in Michigan spending time with my husband's family and looking at property for acquisitions.
And a rare occurrence took place. I was recognized in public.
It happens here and there but not often.
I didn't have the foresight to give Victor my business card and since he says he reads all my emails, I'm going to give Victor a special prize when he calls into my office.
So, Victor, if you're reading this, call my office and ask for Lea. She's in the office from 9am to 5pm PST...that's 3 hours behind you. I already instructed her on what your special prize will be if you can tell her which store we met in and where it's located.
This is what I call synchronicity of the universe.
And it will now be up to Victor on how he chooses to use it.
What's interesting is that Victor said he was just on my website before meeting me. Victor is ready for a change in his life. He happened to bump into me. Think about it: what are the chances? I live in California. I happened to be out shopping in a busy mall in Michigan. (This is something of a pet peeve of mine, shopping in crowded places because my basic motto is "Get it on Amazon.com or Don't Get It at All!")
Since Victor happened to be there at the right time...or maybe it was the other way around...I'm going to give him an opportunity to further the opportunity in his life if he chooses to take it.
This is the universe opening doors for him...because Victor is ready.
Are you ready?
It got me thinking about my students and how many of them have been sitting around thinking about changing certain aspects of their lives, yet they don't for one reason or another. Yet I have a slew of other students who have decided to make the changes and they've become successful as a result of it, mostly by having a Take-No-Prisoners attitude.
This is the point you need to get in order to have the right follow-through.
The start of a New Year is always a good momentum starting point. This is when many of us are gung-ho, clutching to a list of "resolutions" that we swear we'll follow through with this time. Because this year will be different.
This coming year will be different but only if you want it to be.
Unless you believe the end of the world is tomorrow...in which case there won't be a 2013 at all. (Somehow I have a feeling we'll all still be here.)
I've found a single success formula that will always work...but only if you do it.
It's actually compacted into a single word: Action!
Sometimes your plan may be out of whack and that's okay. As long as you're pushing through with some kind of action, sometimes other opportunities or directions are presented to you. Sometimes you alter or tweet the plan and that makes it work. Sometimes you realize the plan isn't what you wanted after all, in which case you devise another plan and go for that instead.
But none of this can occur until you proceed with action in some direction that best matches your desires right now.
Many of my students ask me where to start. Of course, the answer changes every 6 - 12 months depending on what is happening with the real estate market and economy.
Right now, my recommendations for the upcoming year is the following provided that you're someone who likes to do things yourself (like I am):
1) Get your personal and business credit in functioning order. This will allow you to tap into unsecured lines of credit to purchase apartment buildings, single-family homes, access cash for a business start-up or whatever you want to do. You can't make a living working for someone else unless you're a CEO or other high falutin figure. You have to make money as an investor, business owner, or both.
Fixing/rebuilding your personal credit while getting your business credit up and running will not only help you acquire investments and business cash but it'll allow you to "roll" your money-making leverage up in the fastest possible increments. And you can do this all yourself without sharing any of your investment or business proceeds with an investor partner.
2) Starting with SFRs. When I first got started in investing eons ago, like many other investors I got started flipping fixer-upper single-family homes. Later on I adopted the methodology of buying SFRs to rent them out. Then, of course, the economy greatly shifted, I moved onto the more lucrative apartment building investing, and I long left SFR acquisitions and flipping in the dust.
Then last year I started flipping SFRs again, only because the economy came around, making flipping an incredibly lucrative enterprise. This generally happens when the economy shifts from a recessive flatline to a slow progressive improvement. Flipping is awesome during these times and...we're now officially in "these times" to make fixer-upper flipping work.
If you're interested in acquiring even more cash for your passive income real estate (i.e. apartment building investing), it's best that you inject your own cash into those types of deals which you can now easily raise through SFR flipping. But this opportunity won't last forever. Just as the window of opportunity has closed for no-cash-no-credit deals with 100% owner financing, you can now get your own cash and credit together to do your own deals and increase your net worth 1,000 fold in the shortest amount of time possible.
At my Detroit event in March 2013, I'll be talking at great length about the SFR flipping opportunity as well as the Total Wealth Building System and you'll even be able to access a million-dollar line of business credit during the event. For more information on this, go tohttp://www.monicamain.com/flipping_frenzy.
This coming year of 2013 can be your year...but not if you plan on sitting on your ass and doing nothing. Every successful person out there -- smart or stupid, with or without resources -- all did one thing and one thing only: they created a simple plan and executed the plan. That's it. Nothing more!
No, you don't have to win the lottery or "get lucky" to make things happen for your life. You just have to have a simple set of instructions and play out the instructions laid out. Just like every other successful person has and does.
And I just laid out the instructions in #1 and #2 above. Now you just need to execute them.
If you have any questions, call my office at (661) 295-5050.
As for Victor in Michigan, Lea is waiting to hear from you after 9am PST.
Before I left the office last night, Lea told me that a lot of my students who were calling in about the raising capital website building that we are now doing were wondering about one thing...
Are we going to be doing everything for the website?
Funny that she mentioned this because I was also bombarded by quite a few emails asking me the same thing.
Are we going to be doing everything for the website?
Well, let's define all of the elements that are needed for a super successful raising capital website that will be so awesome, it'll get investor partners writing checks for the down payments on your real estate deals.
1) You'll need a website with multiple pages, including the page in which your hot deal will be located. Yes, we will be doing this for you.
2) You'll need a means of capturing prospective investors' contact information including their email addresses. Yes, we will be setting this up for you including a short "auto drip" campaign and a "bait" report (which you'll also get from us).
3) You'll need fresh copy on your site that will instantly draw in the interest of your prospective investor. Yes, we will be including that on your site.
4) You'll need a hot deal. No, we will not be providing that for you. You will have to get a deal that you want funding for and we can do the rest for you.
One of the other things my students seem to be concerned about is their level of experience and if investor partners will be interested in working with them.
The answer: yes, they want to work with you. If you are presenting an awesome money-making opportunity for them with a basic plan on how you're going to pull it off, they want in. Period!
The basic "rule" though is that the property (or opportunity) will have to be local to some degree. You can't realistically dream of capturing the interest of a prospective investor if you say, "Here's my Loopnet deal, I want 50% of it, and we are going to acquire this as partners yet I'll hire a management company."
No, no, no! This isn't how it works.
Instead, you're essentially saying, "Here's my deal, I want 30% of it for overseeing minor cosmetic rehab and lease-up, we are going to acquire this as partners, and since I'm fairly local to the property, I'll handle every aspect of this deal while you wildly profit!"
The other thing that my students don't seem to understand is that there is this huge wave of interested investor partners coming out of the "mass wealthy" pool. These people are doctors, dentists, lawyers (yuck!), engineers, and other professionals who have lots of liquid assets but no clue on what to do with this money.
Yet they are all in the same boat.
Time is running out for them. It's as simple as that.
These people can only continue working 40 to 70 hours per week for so long before they will realistically drop dead from exhaustion (or blowing their brains out to escape the rat race), they're all getting up there in age, and they are desperate for a real plan on maintaining their lavish lifestyle while cutting back (or eliminating) their work schedule!
And you're their plan.
I've had more "mass wealthy" invest in my deals just in the past 2 years than I've ever had in my investing career.
I had no "mass wealthy" invest with me 10 years ago. I had 1 invest with me about 5 years ago. Now 95% of the investor partners who invest with me on deals are part of this "mass wealthy" pool.
Interesting how quickly things change.
What's awesome about these people is that you don't need to twist their arm on the opportunity. You don't need to convince them of having a high level of experience. Just going through a course on real estate investing makes you much more qualified on the subject than they'll ever be!
This is quite the opposite, by the way, if you're trying to deal with professional investors (which has become very difficult to do these days because they micro-manage everything).
Remember, I've been warning everyone for a couple of years now that the window of opportunity is closing for getting your foot in the door on apartment building investing with little or no money down, owner financing, and by using creative financing methods.
Okay, so you know you have to set up a website to start drawing in these investor partners.
But it takes more than just having a website out there.
A website is like an island. It can be there in the middle of the ocean. Unless people know about it, the island is useless, bare, and lonely.
So, you won't be getting just a website from us. You'll be in full understanding of exactly what you'll need to do to market this website with a cutting-edge, bona-fide step-by-step plan on what to do to drive boatloads of qualified investor partner traffic to your site so that you can get your deal(s) funded virtually instantly!
This is a far cry from what I had to use to get investor partnership money only a handful of years ago.
I had to use investor mailing lists. I had to create a kick-ass mailing piece, talking about specific deals I was working on. I was limited to mailing to Southern California investors and I had to meet with them one-on-one to "sell" them the deal.
This was costly, time-consuming, nerve-wracking, and a miserable process And I hated every minute of it. But I was able to acquire tens of millions of dollars in property from 2003 through 2012 without sinking a penny of my own into a single piece of investment real estate.
I only wish I had access to the type of technology and the online raising capital "system" I know about now back in 2003 because I would be into the hundreds of millions of dollars in property by now.
However, reality is, most people cannot do what I did to raise capital because it takes a certain type of personality and very thick skin.
Now you don't have to anymore.
For a very limited time, I'm offering you an opportunity to have your own Operation Money Magnet website developed and up and running so that you can ring in the New Year with getting your hot new deal funded and launched.
I already had quite a few students sign up by the time I left yesterday. I'm putting a limit on this since I don't want to overwhelm myself or Rafael nor do I want any of my students waiting to get a complete website.
You can also use me to write your mini-business plan, PowerPoint, and to do your YouTube online video presentation for your site. All you do is supply the deal.
You decide whether gaining access to hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars in investor partner down payments for your deals is important...or not.
Okay, you remember that over the past week and a half I've been sharing different details about how you can change your life by the end of this year, making 2013 your "magical" year...including giving you a 21-page Magic Report (for those of you who requested it)?
After putting together the report and mulling over it for a few days, I realized that there is one element that trumps over everything else when it comes to being successful in everything that I do.
Now, this doesn't work unless you have both an action plan and the motivation (and enthusiasm) to do the plan.
Plus...you have to be doing the plan.
As I mentioned (about 5 emails ago), you have to be working a plan. Once you start working a plan, the Universe will start making ways for you and altering your plan into something that is better for you. The point, though, is that you have to be working a plan into a productive direction in order for the Universe to start helping you. If you plan something but sit on your ass watching Judge Judy, the Universe will do nothing for you.
With that said, I can now get down to business with "my secret."
Once you get rolling with the implementation of your action plan, you can't care about the outcome. That's the rule.
Part of the reason my life works so well is because I don't give a damn day to day what the outcome is (or isn't). I have learned to trust that things will work out.
Bottom line: I set forth a solid and strong plan in motion and I then let go, not giving a damn what happens from that point forward.
Seriously...I don't give a damn. I completely let go and understand that whatever happens, happens.
Now, in order for this to work well you have to obviously have a solid action plan and be implementing that plan. You have to be doing the very best you can do with the resources that you have. You can't beat yourself up if you don't have enough in resources including knowledge, experience, money, etc. Again, do the best you can with what you have and you'll be surprised at what will open up for you.
After a time when you start to realize that the Universe will begin "helping" you along the way with knowledge, people, and other resources, you'll start to trust that you'll be taken care of with whatever endeavor you decide to go forth with.
And with trust you'll get more results from the Universe. With more results, you'll have more trust. With trust, the flood gates will fully open.
And you'll never have to worry again about what to do in any situation or circumstance. You'll always be taken care of. Automatically.
To be clear, the secret is to give it your all and not give a damn about what happens. When you can truly let go, you'll realize just how miraculous things will start to happen in your life.
Over the past week I've been giving you a thorough breakdown of how to quickly and easily start changing your life.
Now, as you know, while you're doing the spirital stuff, you have to also play the game of economics. As I briefly mentioned, you can't sit under a fig tree, meditate, think positive thoughts, and suddenly a check for a million dollars is miraculously mailed to you from the clouds.
That's not how the rules were set up on this earthly plane.
And if you're going to make it (and big) you have to create an action plan that works well in giving you piles of money into your bank account as quickly as possible.
There has never been a better time to get quick money from real estate. And it's actually a surprising strategy to use to get it.
One of my newer students who got started with the Real Estate Cash Flow System last month has already flipped 2 houses and made a total of $17,200 in the process. All in only 5 1/2 weeks.
I have another student who flipped her first house in the last 3 weeks and she's made $6,750 on the deal. Not bad. (She was disappointed because she thought it would have been more but the deal she's working on now will be double that.)
Flipping properties is now back "in" style just because it's do-able in our current economic conditions. This is how I started in real estate 18 years ago. (Damn, am I that old already?)
Of course, as our real estate market got crazy out of control, flipping got harder and harder to do since everyone and their mom was doing it. Plus, it got harder to find fixer-upper deals out there since everyone was snatching everything up at viper speed.
That ended the days of flipping.
Everyone knows what happened next. The real estate bubble burst. And we're still trying to sort out the foreclosure mess (which will take another 5+ years at this rate).
We're at the bottom. You may have been dubious when I told you this earlier this year but now I don't have to convince you that it's true. Real estate prices aren't getting any lower. Interest rates aren't dropping anymore.
And, believe it or not, not everyone got caught up in the foreclosure windfall. There had been a big chunk of the population (that they never talk about about on the news) that didn't lose their homes, didn't even own a home, and didn't damage their credit in the past 7 years with the real estate foreclosure calamity.
Even better, these people are buying property now.
Plus, the FHA program has come back in full force, making it affordable for people to get into a house without a huge down payment (since banks have gotten so strict on so many purchasing elements to get a conventional home mortgage). The FHA program had just about died not so many years ago. Now it's becoming more popular than ever.
It was in the month of May when I realized that banks were back in the business of lending. Yes, May. Of this year (2012). For awhile they were in "watch-and-wait" mode but I think they, like everyone else, got sick of nothing (good or bad) happening and that life moved on.
Plus, there is a way through transactional funding (deferred) that you can buy, fix up, and flip a house without using your own money. This has never existed before a year ago this month let alone 18 years ago when I first got started in the business.
I introduced this successful strategy of flipping for profit to my students in a double-whammy at both my 3-Day Vegas Boot Camp Seminar and in my Real Estate Cash Flow System, both introduced at the same time. It's the first time I've ever revealed to my students how to get that cash needed for down payments, earnest money deposits, due diligence, closing and other costs to purchase larger cash flowing passive income properties.
Within a short time (much shorter than I expected), I have students who not only absorbed the materials but they are using it for success. Quick success!
This shocked me. I'm used to hearing the success stories begin to trickle in about 3 or 4 months after I introduce a success secret to my students. I didn't expect to hear on people's successes so quickly!
You stuck with me through the journey so far. Congrats to that!
(Toast!)
Now, we have a final part of this journey for me to reveal to you.
(By the way, if you missed any piece of the journey or want all of it in once simple report, go to www.monicamain.com/magic_report and get all of it in one simple easy-to-read PDF document.)
Let's go back to the very beginning when I spoke about moving energy. If you want to begin changing things, moving energy comes in many forms. We talked about cleaning and organizing, which is the first you should do.
When setting up your work environment, use a lot of light. Have music. Use fragrances. Have a fountain or fish tank. This moves all the energy while you're working on your action plan.
In the morning and at night when you are doing your gratitude exercises, you'll need to add something to it now. Once you have your action plan and you start moving on the track of the plan, begin adding this into your gratitude exercise. Pretend as if you have already achieved your goal or you know you are about to. Be grateful for what has come (as if it's already happened) or be grateful for what's about to come (if you can't pretend it's happened already). Feel excited about it.
If you start to experience doubt, let go and quickly shift gears into thinking about other things you are grateful for even if it's your child's beautiful smile or a joke someone told you the other day.
This can also become more powerful if, while feeling grateful and getting that "warm and fuzzy happy feeling" that you let it become a visualization fantasy and allow yourself some visual pictures of the things and situations to come with your goal or action plan. Visualization is not for everyone. If you have a hard time visualizing or find that you become negative and doubtful in these types of sessions then don't add this into your daily ritual.
Whenever you are talking to people in your journey to reach your goal, thank them for their time and their efforts in helping you. Be very genuine in how you speak to them when you express this gratefulness to them.
When you are given something small, really feel the thankfulness and express it openly.
Make gratitude a moment-to-moment thing you embrace in your life and you'll notice all kinds of doors opening for you instantly. The waters of life will quickly begin parting for you.
Now...I cheated because I do have one more piece of the puzzle but this is only for those of you who are serious about all this I've been teaching you for the past several days. And no, this isn't some course or anything to buy from me. There really is one more thing I want to tell those of you who are serious and it's in my magic report that you can get without paying me a cent for it. You just have to tell me you want it by going to www.monicamain.com/magic_report and you can get this report instantly via email.
This is one final thing you can use to implement into all of these secrets I've been sharing to put you over the top with everything.
Let me give you a crash course on flying an airplane...not that I really know the mechanics of how to physically fly a plane but I got the concept of it.
Most planes are off course most of the time. Both technology and the pilots on task are responsible for keeping a plane on course, on time, and on point for its final destination.
Before you can take off, you have to know where you're going. Obvious, right?
Yet, why do so many people set goals and have no idea how they will get there?
Why do so many people set goals that are so entirely unrealistic...so much to the point that they psych themselves out before they can even get started?
Why are people so unwilling to do things for their future?
Okay, these are open-ended rhetorical questions, correct?
Maybe.
An obvious point is that you can't take off in an airplane without knowing your destination.
Even if you know that you're going to Chicago and nothing else...that's all you need to know to get yourself up in the air. You don't need to necessarily know what you are going to do the second you touch down. You don't need to really have your hotel picked out provided that you have some idea that there are hotels in the immediate area where you'll be staying. You don't have to know where you're going to eat while you're there. You don't really have to know much except some broad idea of where your destination will be.
Back to life in general...
Saying that you want "financial freedom" is equivalent to saying you want to take a vacation but you don't know where. Again, the plane can't take off until you have some idea of where you want to go first.
A better statement would be that you want to have "financial freedom through real estate."
A bit better but not perfect. This is almost equivalent to saying that you want to take a vacation somewhere in the southeast of the United States. Again, no specific destination means the plane can't leave.
Even better, you'd say that you want to have "financial freedom through passive income real estate via residential-commercial apartment building investments."
This is almost perfect...but not quite. This is equivalent to saying you want to take a trip to Florida but you don't have a city in mind yet. Again, the plane can't leave until you know exactly where you want to go.
To make it even more specific, you'd add that you want "to make a monthly net income of $10,000 like clockwork." Or whatever your financial freedom point or goal is.
Now we just created a flight plan. Now the plane can take off. This is equivalent to saying we are choosing to fly to Miami.
Of course, there is a lot of stuff to decide. Where to invest. Where to get the down payment. How to locate properties. All this stuff is equivalent to trying to plan the further details of your trip like what you are going to eat for each of your 3 meals each day you are there or where you are going to stay or what color your rent-a-car is going to be. These are details that can be worked out when you get there.
When people start stressing out over the details, they never get very far. They get overwhelmed and end up paralyzed. When they are paralyzed they do...nothing!
Life is like a dark road. The only pieces revealed to you are those that are a short distance ahead in which you headlines can light up for you. That's the only piece of the road you need.
The magical part of "making plans" is that your plan will never go off the way you originally intend. And this is awesome. Because a better plan reveals itself after you get off your ass and start progressing forward in some manner and in some direction. Any positive direction.
Case in point: One of my newer endeavors ended up being successful in a completely different realm than I could have ever planned. One of our most successful products was sold via direct mail. Yet it wasn't cost effective enough since postage is so high and printing costs are excessive.
The original "plan" was to sell this product via direct mail. We went forth with the plan. It worked but only marginally to where we ditched the campaign just to have something else happen after I "let go" of pushing the business forward.
Ronnie went into a gas station owned by an associate of his and the guy was complaining about a supplier for this one particular product (stocked in our warehouse) couldn't provide him with enough of the product since it was selling so fast.
The only "problem" was that the product we had in our warehouse was in bottles. I had to work on a means of individually packaging each supplement capsule for this type of retail sales.
A door automatically opened in our exact precise product line that we would have never "figured out" by thinking about it, toiling about it, worrying about it or even trying to plan it.
Even more strange, Ronnie is working the distribution network of this product in the greater Detroit area. Another gas station owner associate who said he'd buy the product from him once we launch our individually packaged line suddenly sold out his interest in the gas station and couldn't get our product in his store.
Since he likes Ronnie so much (who doesn't?) and he was getting out of the business, he gave Ronnie a list of all the major distribution warehouses he bought all his products for the store from including contact names and phone numbers. (When does that ever happen?) Again, this wouldn't be anything you'd ever "plan" in the process of moving forward with success.
Let's move forward, shall we?
Figuring out where you want to go needs to happen 2 ways:
1) In writing.
2) Visually.
Write down specific goals (like the one I used above with the $10,000 a month in passive real estate income from apartment buildings).
Then create a visual of these things.
I like the concept of a "vision board" because I know first-hand how powerful it is. Whenever I stopped using a vision board, I found that years would go by with no progress. When I would use my vision board, each year by the year's end, I'd have accomplished 99% of the stuff on the board.
Most of us are "visual" people. We respond to pictures. It ignites a feeling within us. So, get some pictures of all the stuff you want and start gluing it to a poster board. Hang the board up where you'll see it everyday. Make sure everything that's on your board is what you want because you will end up getting everything on your board within 18 months or less.
Now, it's not simply enough to have a list of stuff and a pile of pictures of everything you want in life. You have to go a step further.
Remember, God can't mail you a check from the clouds.
So, you have to have some kind of loose plan on how you're going to acquire your list of stuff you want.
Not to overwhelm you, we'll start with only 1 - 2 items. Usually the financial one is the most pressing. The other should be the "minor" one like a new relationship or something not as pressing.
Do not choose to go forward with 10 goals at one time otherwise you won't be focused and nothing will happen.
Focus on 1 - 2 goals with a loose action plan and nothing outrageous, physically impossible, or overwhelming. (I.e. "I'll have $10 million in property by December 31st of this year," or "Some old guy will die and leave me all of his apartment buildings and I'll meet him at a bus stop on Valentine's Day." You get the point, I hope!)
A loose plan may be something like, "I'll have 3 apartment buildings in the next 12 months that will give me a $7,500 monthly cash flow (net) and I'll be finding all of these properties in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I'll begin looking for these properties online as well as finding a buyer's agent in that area to assist me with both acquisitions and foreclosure properties. I'm also going to work on my business credit as well as finding investor partners to assist with the down payment money."
Now, to seal the deal and make this all happen at lightning speed, I have something else.
Okay, yesterday I left you hanging on which of the energy flowing elements you should do first while you're devising your list of exactly what you want.
Now, you probably don't remember the list and it doesn't matter. I'm only going to be talking about one of the elements right now.
My most unproductive days are when I'm sitting amongst a pile of crap on both of my desks. (I have 2 desks.) In fact, a single unproductive day can easily and quickly slip into a full week of non-productivity when there is piles of crap everywhere.
I feel busy all day, every day. Yet nothing gets done.
When I finally realize what's happening, I'll take everything off my desk. I'll then grab a bottle of spray and a paper towel. I spray, wipe, and get rid of all of the dirt. Then I organize everything including throwing paperwork and other stuff away. Other stuff I file away.
Immediately after I get done with this simple and quick cleaning process, my productivity comes back. Projects that were stumped become "unclogged." Everything starts to resume back in a full force working order.
All from cleaning my desk.
About 18 months ago was the last time I visited my dad at his house in San Clemente, California. My dad is usually a very clean and neat person. He always has been.
However, the last time I was at his house showed a completely different thing than what I was used to.
This, unfortunately, explained why his life was a mess.
I went to his house and there were boxes everywhere. Paperwork was stacked in corners. You could barely walk through the place without wanting to scream!
I lasted all of 10 minutes in his house then left.
I no longer wondered why he was almost confused and disoriented about his life. He was in a depression and a downward spiral. This was right before I discovered him ripping off my company and then lying to me about it.
And right before I permanently fired him which, of course, sent him in to further personal and financial problems.
All because his freakin' house is a disaster.
There is power in getting rid of things that no longer service you. Give them away. Other people can use the stuff. Make frequent trips to Goodwill or the Salvation Army with your stuff. There is power in circulating your unused stuff and putting it back into circulation for others to make use of it.
What you have left, make it neat and organized. Organize paperwork and receipts. Put old paperwork and documents into bank boxes and store them out of sight and out of mind. Get rid of dust and dirt.
Not only will you begin to think more clearly (and feel much better) but you'll also realize that the Universe will respond. It will begin to move in your favor just because your obstacles are now gone.
(Hey, why wait for "spring cleaning" when you can start organizing and cleaning now?)
I recently hired a contractor to redo my entire master bedroom closet. They are coming out again in the next couple of weeks to do my smaller master bedroom closet. I am also in the process of having bookcases built to make my dream library (since I have a huge book collection).
This is all clearing away the energy obstacles to make a clear path for the energy to begin working for you (and not against you in the form of blockages).
While you're working on all this, there's something else you need to do to make everything start popping for you...and fast!
If you're one of these people who need stuff to happen now, you have to start the next process. Remember, cleaning your house alone isn't going to single-handedly do it!
If you're one of my many students who really is ready to change every aspect of your life then you've been reading my lengthy emails from the past few days.
And I only have more magic!
By the time I'm done with these emails, you'll have the entire puzzle put together on exactly what you'll be doing now and through December to make sure that 2013 and beyond are your most awesome years to come!
By the way, I've never shared these strategies and techniques with anyone.
Why?
Because I didn't really discover all this stuff until a handful of weeks ago when I truly realized "The Secret" behind having everything in life you've ever wanted.
And now I'm sharing this groundbreaking information with you.
Now, hopefully you've been following me because I'm just going to keep adding onto what I've been talking about since this past Thursday.
If you remember, I started talking about moving energy. If you recall, this is what I said...
"There are several "things" that move energy:
1) Music (preferably peaceful or high energy)
2) Fragrance, smoke, or incense
3) Cleaning, organizing
4) You physically moving in the environment or exercise
5) A running fountain (constantly)
6) Talking, chanting, singing, or yelling
7) Lights
Moving energy makes things happen. But sometimes you have to take a step back and say, "Peace, be still." There can't always be light without darkness. There can't always be speed without stillness. There can't always be loud without quiet...otherwise the universe doesn't work properly. And your life won't work out well either."
While you will be able to create a peaceful magical life where things will come easy for you once you constantly feel gratitude while letting go and losing all doubt, you'll find that it's time to move energy in your favor to start making certain things happen.
I view the Universe much like ordering things online. I'm an Amazon.com junkie. I order something and in 2 days (or less), it's at my doorstep.
Of course, in order to make this work effectively, you have to have a computer (you) with a connection with no obstacles (i.e. a fast Internet connection with no wiring/wireless interference) and, most importantly, know what you want (to buy).
None of the elements themselves will help.
The computer won't help you get anything if you don't have the Internet connection or don't know what you want. The Internet connection won't help if you aren't part of the equation (i.e. no computer) or don't know what you want. The computer or the Internet connection alone won't help if you don't know what you want.
So, what we did in the days prior to this is get you (the computer) attached to the source with no interference by removing the obstacles.
Now...what do you want?
Because removing the obstacles and getting the "flow" going is only part of all this.
(Again, this is what most of the self-help new-age stuff is missing.)
The Universe can't deliver anything to you if you don't tell it what to bring.
It's obvious that in order to place an order from Amazon.com, you have to have a computer, an Internet connection, and know what you want.
But why do suddenly people get confused as to not getting what they want from "placing orders" with the Universe when they never actually place an order??!!
And no, it's not an "order" when you give a list of everything you don't want.
For example, if I call a car dealership on the phone and tell them that I don't want a POS car and I hate yellow and I don't want a gas hog and I hate American cars and I hate convertibles and I don't like cars with sunroofs and I also hate green cars too and I don't like cars made in Japan...what the hell do you think the car dealership is going to say?
Well...what the f*** do you want?
This is so obvious to you and me and everyone else on the planet.
Yet, sadly, when I talk to my students and ask them what they want, they don't know.
"I want to be rich."
Really? What does that mean?
In Ethiopia, being "rich" could mean having $1,000 and a brand new pair of shoes.
"I want a brand new car."
What kind of car? What color? What year?
"I want a new house."
Where? What city? What state? What country? What color? How many bedrooms? How many bathrooms? Does it have a pool? An attached garage? Do you want to buy it or simply rent it?
"I want a successful business."
What does "successful" mean? What kind of business? What kind of products/services would you sell? What would be your gross annual revenues? What are your net annual revenues? How large would your office and/or warehouse be? How many employees would you have?
"I want to have a nice body."
You get the idea...
I hope!
I've found that once you can narrow down exactly what things are important to you in obtaining in each area, you'll be able to move onto the next step.
For example, if you're find with your body and how you look, why create a "goal" when you don't need one just because some self-help book said you need to cover every aspect of your life?
Let's just be clear: Create precise goals in the areas in which you want to change.
Last year I asked my husband if he was going to write down some New Year's Resolutions. He said no because he had nothing to "give up."
I told him that I thought he had the concept wrong. I thought a Resolution was to Resolve a part of your life whether you had to give something up (i.e. smoking, drinking, eating like a pig, etc.) or to change something that wasn't working (i.e. starting a successful business to resolve a financial calamity, go to counseling to save a marriage, etc.). It wasn't just about giving things up.
So, the beginning is to start ironing out what you want. Don't mention anything about what you don't want. Start focusing on what you do want and write it down.
In the meantime, let's start working with your energy.
You remember the list at the top of this page?
In addition to figuring out what you want, at the same time you have to start moving energy. And you need to always start with...
