Do Not Fear Mistakes

Do not fear mistakes, there are none

Miles Davis assembled some of history’s greatest jazz musicians.
He once said: “Do not fear mistakes, there are none.”
There’s a story told by Herbie Hancock (who played with him as a pianist). It goes something like this…
Once when Hancock was playing with Miles’ ensemble, he hit what he considered to be a bad cord on the piano. He thought he had “reduced that great night to rubble.”

But Miles was an innate improviser and he responded on his trumpet with a series of notes that made Hancock’s misstep sound intentional.
Hancock said later, “He did what any jazz musician should always try to do, and that is to make anything that happens into something of value.”
This isn’t just true of jazz musicians.
I talk a lot about jazz when trying to explain what it takes to be a successful real estate investor because I think there are so many parallels.

So much of what we do is improvisation. And we often make mistakes that look to be insurmountable.
But I found that some of the biggest mistakes I’ve made have also brought me the greatest value.
Some of the biggest challenges I faced in my business have turned out to be blessings that have transformed my business, my income, and my life.
Back in 1991 my business crashed. I had built a 17 million dollar business from scratch in less than 4 years, but the Savings & Loan crisis hit that year and the market value of all the properties I was building dropped dramatically.

I was working with bank lenders at the time (something I don’t recommend these days) and those lenders came to me and asked me to put up more money if I wanted to continue building the houses I was working on. Because the values had dropped, they wanted me to have more equity in the deal.
I was so far leveraged at the time it was impossible to come up with more cash.
So they took the properties back from me (yes, that was in their 100 page contract) and left me with nothing.

I had no choice but to improvise.
I had no choice but to figure out a different solution.
I knew I no longer had credit and I didn’t have cash, but I needed a way to start making money again because my wife and I had a new baby at home.
I had literally lost everything except a few thousand dollars I scraped together to rent a U-Haul and move us back to Indiana.

I decided to become a real estate agent because I knew a lot about houses and I could easily get a license (it was easier back then). What I didn’t know at the time was how to talk to people. I didn’t understand sales. I didn’t understand the Socratic method. I didn’t understand consultative selling.
I thought salespeople were all scum bags and crooks. And here I found myself, at age 32, a salesperson. Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Millionaire to penury in a matter of months.
I had to create a new paradigm around selling.

I reframed my idea of what sales and business could be. I felt that if I could bring benefit to the people I’m working with – that would be ethical and worthwhile.
So I built my new business with the idea of being an “ethical real estate investor.” It’s almost an oxymoron. Those words don’t always go together – it’s like “jumbo shrimp” or “military intelligence” (thank you George Carlin).
Most people feel about investors the same way I felt about salespeople before I became one.

When you face challenges, when you make mistakes, your options get reduced. When you have fewer options, you have to be creative in how you approach those challenges.
I had no credit and no cash. I was also deeply embarrassed and humiliated by my loss. Everyone I knew saw what happened to me.
I had to learn how to buy houses with no money and no credit – and I had to get money rolling in pretty quickly.

That is where the techniques I teach today came from.
If you want to be a real estate investor. If you want to create a business that you can be proud of and pass down to your children, you are going to need to learn how to face your challenges and think creatively.
You are going to need to learn to improvise and play jazz with your business.

If you would like my help and if you’d like to learn from my experiences – and if you’d like me to show you how to build your own portfolio and systematize your business. If you’d like to use my systems and have me walk you through the process step-by-step… I’d love to work with you.
If you want to work with me personally (not a hired hand), you can find out all about my Six Month Mentor program here:
http://www.ZeroDownInvesting.com

This website will show you how my program works, what is included, what it costs, what you can expect from me and what I expect from you if you sign up.
There are 3 training videos on the site that go into great detail about what you need to do to build a profitable real estate investing business.
They add up to about 2 hours of education. I call them my “Advanced Training” because that is exactly what they are. If you know nothing about real estate, they may be a bit over your head.

The techniques I teach in these videos come from my personal experience and you won’t find this information anywhere else.
If you aren’t interested in working with me personally or can’t afford to join my mentor program, these 3 videos will still be worth your while.
They will give you an overview of my entire business and show you how to model YOUR business after the step-by-step systems I’ve created.

Even if you ultimately decide not to join my mentor program, I can safely say this Advanced Training Program can completely transform your thinking about building a real estate investing business.
I think these ‘Advanced Training’ videos are one of the best training programs I’ve ever created – and they won’t cost you a dime.
They distill my 35 years as an investor and 20+ years as a coach and give you a complete outline of how we build a powerful, profitable, consistent, reliable, ethical, PEACEFUL business.
They give you the milestones, benchmarks, and SOPs (standard operating procedures) you need to succeed.

That’s it for today!
I hope you will join me.
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