Dr Kelly Flanagan made the following comment in a recent post:
“I have been a witness to people who quit avoiding suffering and decide to carry it—venturing into the world full of courage, because they know they can bear the weight of it, because they know it won’t overwhelm them, because they know they can stand strong in the midst of it.”
Success doesn’t usually go to the most talented or the luckiest. It usually goes to the one who was beat down, failed, was rejected…. And then they got back up at tried again this time a little smarter. Every time they get knocked they get up again.
Four years ago my investing in rental real estate had almost bankrupted our family. I had to negotiate out of a deal I had made. I had made a commitment and it had led my family to the point… “where keeping that commitment would have meant taking food and shelter from my children.”
At that moment I could have quit, here are a list of excuses that would have convinced most it was a “smart decision to get out of rental properties:”
- It is too hard to find good tenants; especially in that neighborhood.
- Maintenance costs on older homes are to high
- The economy is so bad tenants don’t have money to pay rent
- You have to be rich to invest in real estate
- With all the new rules it is impossible to borrow money to renovate a home
I didn’t make a list of excuses, I made a list of lessons learned. Then I got better as a property manager. I became a better business man. And I became a better husband and father. Using these lessons I focused on the properties we had left. I was determined to do it better. Many of these hard lessons became the foundation of our current success.
2013 was our best year ever, and I still have lots of improvements to make to my systems and procedures. Our success would not have happened if it wasn’t for those hard lessons and experiences we had 4 years ago.
Our rental income is now a substantial source of income for our family. What once threatened to take food from my children, now allows me to stay at home with them 2 days each week. We are on our way toward our long term family goals.
I could have let frustration, suffering, struggle, and pain stop me from being a property owner. I could have let those failures beat me up. I choose to chalk-up the $50,000 loss to education expense. I chose to persist and pursue my dream.
My success in real estate hasn’t come because of luck, talent, or inheritance. Success came because I persisted after setbacks and failures. Letting my failures and setbacks teach me.
What is your success story? When have you been beaten down but kept going to find success?
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