Real Estate Entrepreneur Identity Crisis
One of the challenges I face pursuing my business ventures is taking on too much. Ever feel like when someone asks you what you do, you somehow have to think real quick? I know I do, and here are some things going on in my mind.
Real Estate Investments 
Rosen Development, LLC is my real estate investment company. I buy fix, and flip properties locally here on Oahu, and wholesale properties in pockets of the country. I seem to have a ton of buyers in the Phoenix, So-Cal area, and getting the word out for Columbus Ohio, Indianapolis, and a couple more.
In real estate investing when I first started I had all these thoughts going on my mind like:
- What strategy should I pursue?
- Who is the best at teaching this stuff?
- Should I wholesale? commercial? buy and hold? lease options, subject to’s? Private money?
- And then the best course of action with marketing and goals
- Should I even do real estate? With all the negative out there with the banks and price drops?
Website Consulting
Then I started a web consulting company under the same name. We help entrepreneurs save time, money, and energy by offering profitable and a cost effective web strategy based on their current business model. The division of my company that does websites also is focusing on affiliate marketing, speaking, promoting others, and of course working with my dad at Pitbull Mortgage School.
Then I have the most important priority and that is being a husband and father to 3 girls.
WOW!!! Can someone help me balance this stuff?? I often feel stretched too thin, or not focusing all my efforts on one single goal.
So really I dont have the cool, slick answers for you. Just saying its tough..But my Pastor was talking about the word he uses most often lately is “NO”. He said that all the great things people bring to him often will get in the way of his vision and the time he spends with his family. So maybe that cool answer is to say “No”
Someone I recommend that is seriously great at sorting this all out is Shae Bynes from Good Faith Investing. Her book is really fantastic and real. Know what I mean?? You can pick her book up right here.. Click here to view more details
On another note, this is day 5 of my 30 day blogging challenge.
Here are the most recent posts.
- Lease Options (Interview with Top Expert) who happens to be Bill Walston. He has some of the greatest know-how when it comes to lease options. And I love that strategy!! He can also be found on twitter. www.twitter.com/resherpa
- Building a Wholesale Buyers List (part 2)
- Mobile Video Mareting (video) August 2nd FREE, Live training on using Video and Mobile. I had to put my Uncle Ira in an armlock to agree to doing this for free:)
- Flip This Condo! Almost done now with the rehab! Great contractor, just great. Now it’s selling time!!
Let me know your thoughts, and let’s talk soon
“Bucket Filler” Wholesaling
Hey Team! I know, I’ve been slacking on the posts. Feel pretty disconnected from the blogosphere lately. Been working on some deals and really in the trenches with things. Anyways, I need to share something that inspired me and have to share. I was reading a book the other night to my daughter called “Have you filled my bucket today?” The idea is that everyone has an imaginary bucket that is with them at all times. And your bucket only has one purpose…To hold all of your good feelings and thoughts about yourself. You feel on top of the world when your bucket is full and miserable if your bucket is empty.
So…how do you fill your bucket? How can you have more of what you really want in life? More joy,
Bucket Filler
happiness, peace, money, deals? You give of yourself from your own bucket to others. You show some selfless act of kindness, tell someone you love them, or simply help people by going out of your way to fill a need. All day, you have little chances of filling other peoples buckets and then your bucket will overflow. Ideas to really do this can range from giving someone a smile, holding a door open for someone and telling them have a great day, to showing your family how much you love them. Kinda mushy huh? LOL I am getting this all from a kids book! hahaha
Then there is the “Bucket Dippers” in life. These are the negative losers of the world who think that in order to fill their empty buckets they have to knock over yours and dip into yours and take what you have. These people never have enough..they are always lacking and walk around with a bucket that is empty.
How can we be bucket fillers as real estate investors? Here are some ideas that I am going to start doing more..
Bucket Filler in your business
- Writing a thank you email to anyone who helped you. Such as your webhosting company, list broker, realtor, birddog, anyone..
- Go out of your way to help a seller regardless of pay. If you work in any stage of the foreclosure process you know these people could use the bucket filling. Make them feel special, get them a gift card or call out of the blue just to say hi.
- Help a newbie land their first deal!
- Call someone who maybe you wronged in the past and tell them its cool. You forgive them.
- Or, someone you may have screwed over. Come up with something that would make things a little better.
- If you know of a cash buyer in a specific area, let a wholesaler know!
- Give leads freely to realtors, lenders, vendors, and other investors who may specialize in a niche you are not doing.
- Give thank you’s to your buyers that really mean something. Like a round trip ticket to Hawaii, or a special weekend cruise for there family.
- If you have tied up something from a seller, go out of your way to help them practically. If they are old, maybe help them with their groceries, or move something in the house.
- Send a compliment to someone out of the blue on social media.
There are so many things we can do, and would love to hear ideas from you guys. And seriously I am guilty as anyone for passing up opportunities to fill someones bucket.
I think the best way to start is with our own families.
If you want to get the book, I recommend Amazon or the library. If you do not have kids, just pretend you do and I am sure the place wont erupt in laughter and throw tomatoes at you.
But wait, theres more! I wanted to share some quick resources I found recently:
Couple quick resources
**A great interview that Josh Dorkin did with Michael Zuber. Right there on BiggerPockets blog section. Michael really opened my eyes to buying and holding. Great job!
**Investorloft a powerful search engine for real estate deals nationally. Do not know why, but only now I am starting to use this.
Have a fantastic Memorial day weekend!
To your success
~Matt
Don’t be scared homie
“Don’t be scared homie” is courtesy of mma star Nick Diaz accompanied by his no fear attitude. 
There is a word out there that seems to be running wild and stifling dreams. That word is FEAR! Everyone faces fear in their life. Its what we do when we have the fear that matters.
As a real estate investor, you will face the four letter word. Just do not let fear stand in your way of your dreams. Faith and fear can’t live in the same body. All the big players once had massive fears that they all had to overcome.
Are you afraid of making offers? Picking up the phone and cold calling buyers? Afraid of the unknown?
I actually think that people are so comfy with their current situation that they are uncomfortable in success or moving forward in life.
Well, for whatever reason fear stifles many and is the # 1 killer of dreams in America.
Lets break down fear for what it really is:
False Evidence Appearing Real
You simply need to conquer that inner voice saying that you are not worthy, that you should play it safe and keep doing what you’ve been doing.
We are all afraid of going beyond our comfort zone and stretching ourselves..I understand. It is the same with coaching wrestling. Same in athletics as business.
One way that I know how to kill fear is ACTION. Action kills fear!!! So cliche, I know but it is so true. Another way to kill fear especially for action takers is education. If you are well trained and know what you are doing, you will carry that confidence with you and this can be a game changer. I believe in education and learning something new everyday and applying that new skill.
Jump in! Make it happen! Now! Right this very second!
I love movies that reference overcoming fear and achieving greatness like; Miracle, 300, Gladiator, The Kings Speech.
Or…A Christmas Story when Ralphie finally snapped and beat up the neighborhood bully!! Yeah!!!
Some quotes that I love:
“It’s not what you know, it’s what you do with what you know” ~Unknown “An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” ~Friedrich Engels “Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” ~Peter Marshall “Well done is better than well said” ~Unknown “You have to risk going too far to discover just how far you can go” ~Jim Rohn “Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often” ~Mark Twain “A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided” ~Tony Robbins “It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through” ~Zig Ziglar Here is a video for you that will inspire and motivate. This will fire you up
Make it happen and come visit me in Hawaii when you cash a couple huge checks
Jim Ingersoll’s “Investing Now” Book Review
Jim Ingersoll’s Investing Now
This is a really great book loaded with content. No fluff, hype, salesy stuff, none of that. Fresh off the press practical content from someone who lives and breathes real estate investing.
Why I love “Investing Now”:
- For starters, I like the size and shape of the book. Do you read in bed? Ever fall asleep with a large hard cover book? Yeah, you know then…you wake up with a dent on your forehead:( This book is small, and softcover also good for the airplane:)
- His attention to details on the rehab process were very mind opening. I have a whole new perspective of curb appeal, kitchens, and bathrooms, flooring, landscaping, etc.. In fact in my recent wholesale deal it really helped me look at the deal with a whole new set of eyes.
- His approach to marketing for sellers was awesome and simple! Code violations, vacant properties, looking for burnt out landlords. With clues overlooked like looking for large items of stuff on the curb in front of a house. Follow the path..could be an eviction that leads to a frustrated landlord willing to sell fast.
- Strategies on going to the courthouse for sellers that were phenomenal.
- He mentions BiggerPockets and Joshua Dorkin a couple times. How freaking cool is that!! And the numbers are staggering. Over 61,000 members, over 288,000 posts, over 700 articles, over 1,000 user maintained blogs that total over 10,000 blog posts!! That is gigantic!! I am glad he mentions that cause everyone should be on BP.
- 4 key elements to improving your offer with REO’s: (gotta read the book for his explanation).
- YouTube video strategies, social media, and creating a blog to sell your properties. Tie in a video of the property on your blog and integrate it with all your profiles.
- How to sell your house in this market we are in by really making the house top notch, first class and stand out from the rest of the houses in the area.
- Great case studies with pictures.
- Private Money strategies and techniques that you can do today!
Basically he goes into flipping properties from A–>Z and does not leave one rock unturned.
Love this book! And it’s less than $15 bucks.
To order this book, go here –>
For more information on Jim Ingersoll and what he does, go to InvestingNowNetwork.Com.
P.S. Thank you all for voting for me in the REIMillions Contest for best REI blogs. We took 4th place! Wooohoo!! Results will be posted and sent to all the REI.Com members here shortly.
Vision: The Missing Ingredient In Real Estate Investing
Vision: The missing ingredient in the real estate investing business! ” Without vision, the people perish” Proverbs 29:18
Websters definition of VISION…“The act, or power of imagination” “A thought, concept, or object formed by the imagination
Zig Ziglar on VISION: “If you do not see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner
Jim Rohn on VISION: “You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight”
P.S. Whoever Retweets this will have their site or twitter handle linked up on this page…
P.P.S. The event is at the Mirage this year..not the Monte Carlo. We are sold out of all rooms at the special rate
Special Thank You for the RETWEETS!!! Woohoo!!!
- Greg Harris TheWholesaleKnockoutKing (Great blog on wholesaling and many other things related..)
- Jim Ingersoll www.investingnownetwork.com ( I am currently reading his book in real estate investing!! LOVE IT and will give a review when I get back from Vegas. Thanks Jim!
- Bill Walston http://www.billonbusiness.net/ (A good friend of mine who is excellent at lease options and tax strategies)
- Florida Foreign Investors Club http://floridaforeigninvestorsclub.com/ (New contact I have made recently. Great info on the Florida real esate)
- A HUGE thank you to REINewswatch. They posted this out to there readers, and I appreciate that. They are a real estate investing blog and news aggregator. Basically they have a ton of FREE content!!
You might be interested in these topics:
Growth, Goals, Takeaways from 2010
Happy Holidays everyone!
I am on the Island of Hawai’i a.k.a the “Big Island”. My wife’s family is from Kona so we’re here recharging the battery, setting some simple yet big goals for the year, and having a good time. I think as we look forward to making 2011 a huge year, it’s fair to look back on 2010 and evaluate what just happened. For my business, we covered alot of ground. So here are some key highlights and takeways that perhaps we can all learn something from.
Key Takeaways:
- Moving forward I will evaluate potential powerteam members with more scrutiny. One of the biggest factors is integrity
- Other things to consider is honesty, know how, and competency. But if their integrity and values do not match with yours, stop wasting your time.
- Having targeted and specific cash buyers for deals needs to be a key area of growth moving forward especially for the Memphis market.
- Attracting private money in Hawaii I believe is a gigantic opportunity in order to be a huge turnkey operation. We have a good amount of serious cash investors, but not all of them can close on 5-6 $300k deals monthly. 15-20 Private lenders that are willing to put up the cash for a solid return will be seriously sweet to have.
- Sifting through all the Guru stuff, I really landed some amazing courses that everyone serious about investing should have in their arsenal.
**Marc Imhof’s Wholesaling Quick Launch. This training is very legit and worth thousands. The training has video and PDF’s for every area you can imagine in wholesaling real estate. Course includes forms, how to use the forms, how to setup your private bank, deal analyzer, how to locate cash buyers, code violation properties, and so much more!! Not to mention the software that honestly I have not purchased yet, but from the looks of it is better that Freedomsoft.
**Joe McCall’s Wholesaling Lease Options..Amazing strategy that if used correctly will give your sellers another viable option to consider.
**Fortune Builders Training: I was blessed to have someone give me full access to the online courses and let me tell you…WOW! I had no idea how thorough they are! It’s basically a 6 month course with action items at the end of each video.
**Drew Downs and Jeff Nemeth’s Do deals today with cash buyers Solid strategies for finding cash buyers, and tapping into the short sale opportunities out there. Another really great source for you to use, and in my opinion a must have.
**Steph Davis Flip This Wholesaler Ebook. Fantastic book that covers every question someone might have in wholesaling REO’s. You can get this for under $50 bucks!!
**Shae Bynes Financial Freedom GPS (A must for every entrepreneur out there!) A guide and compass for taking control of your business and finances. A must read especially going into the new year. Yes…under $50 bucks also!
**I also got to love Constant Contact for the lists you can make, email templates and the simplicity of placina q cash buyer by specific criteria with list. It shows your email analytics, who opened the email, and what pages they visited. Also…no opt in required. You just need to be sure they are on your list! Its just much easier than a double opt in. And…there is a 60 day trial!! No credit card needed.
Highlights from 2010
- Launched MattsREIBlog.Com and was nominated by BiggerPockets as “honorable mention” for top 20 best real estate blogs
- Launched my wholesaling efforts in Memphis TN and closed deals! All from my home office in Hawaii
- Learned a TON from Shae Bynes, Greg Harris, Bill Walston, Julie Broad, Steph Davis and many others
- Started Rosen Development LLC, which will be used for my consulting on social media and real estate investing
- Spoke at my dad’s national hard money conference which is out on DVD
- And was truly blessed to be connected to great people like you!
My next post we will get into some goals of yours, and mine. I am still formulating my thoughts on that and will put it to paper very shortly!
Have a safe and prosperous new year! And Happy Holidays..
Matt
Dealing with stress through exercise
The other day I was having a day that I felt the weight of the world on me. Literally I felt overwhelmed with a massive mountain looking smack at me. My tendency is to attack and bully my way through “stuff” and get over the mountain. I guess that is the competitive side in me that made me successful in wrestling. So I was telling my wife about all this, and before she offered me some cheese with my whine, she made a great suggestion. She said why don’t you go for run? Now I exercise regularly and coach so I am pretty active physically. But lately I haven’t exercised to simply clear my mind. Grudgingly I said fine. And I was so happy I did! After the run I felt like my mind was free to think again, my body wasn’t all wigged out, and I felt much better.
So…Let me encourage you when all else fails just drop what you are doing and move around somehow. Forget about the gazillion webinars, and emails that flood your inbox. This will clear your mind better than anything I know of. Besides and of course having a strong spiritual foundation. If you are sedentary, just put some clothes on and walk for a few minutes. Trust me you will feel great! If you are in shape, then workout hard! Its o.k to get borderline psycho when you train. It gets all the aggression out so you don’t feel bottled up so much. Same thing happened the other day when we went for hike. The fresh air, time with the family really gave me a fresh new outlook on things. Below are some pics of our recent hike up around the Makapu’u Lighthouse.
That’s my tip for the day, hope it helped you!
P.S… Next post has to do with a new wholesale success, as well as a deal analysis on something I am doing here on the Islands.
Family at Makapuu
Does your job suck?
If you are reading this, I’ll bet you have a entrepreneurial streak in you. I got to thinking about how much jobs give me the creeps when I was looking for something on my desk and came across an old employee manual. Skimming through it, I read something that gave me the shivers. It says…“You are entitled to two(2) fifteen(15) minute paid breaks each workday. These breaks should be scheduled with your manager” Crazy huh??
I am not dissing jobs, but think about this for a second. Do you ever hear people say, “Well you know, money doesn’t buy you happiness.” And yes, that is true, but it comes pretty darn close:) Funny thing is that those comments always come from life long job people. They spend their best waking moments going to work for someone else’s dream. Playing fake nice guy for the BOSS. If they say money doesn’t buy happiness, then why are they spending 80% of their life making money?? What about your family?? What about the things you truly desire to do? If they stopped paying you, would you still preach this stuff? I would have to imagine that the “love” you have for your job would end quickly if they stopped paying you.
Here are some reasons why being your own boss is so great.
Benefits of being an entrepreneur
- Income is not limited
- Allows you to have a clear vision and direction for your family
- Work from home
- You call the shots. No early morning meetings where you get chewed out:)
- Pursuing your passion will bring out the best in you
- More time with family!
- You control who you have to see everyday
- Wear whatever you want while you work
- Gives you the opportunity to match up your dreams with the income needed to fulfill those dreams
- Spend Mondays at the beach, and send picture messages to your old office:)
- You wake up to your kids, not an alarm clock that shakes you to the core
On the other side of the coin, however, is the risk you take. Remember as a kid at the beach or pool when everyone said “come on jump in the water, it’s so warm.” Yeah…well we all knew that it wasn’t true. The same goes for venturing out on your own. When you first jump in, the water is pretty cold, but let me encourage you to keep swimming because you are closer to success (warmer waters) than you think. The key is you gotta hustle!!! Passion, hustle, grit. When your buddies are out at the bar for Monday night football, you’re working it…10pm-2am is prime time!!
I have a special offer for you today. Developing the spirit of an entrepreneur has to come from within. And quite honestly, it does not matter if you are new and afraid, or if you are seasoned and financially independent. If you do not go back to the basics of sound business principles and financial stewardship then any fast success you have had or want to have will fade faster than you think.
Financial Freedom GPS
A trusted friend of mine Shae Bynes has an ebook called Financial Freedom GPS that could very well be the best ebook I have read on the topic of financial freedom. Shae has agreed to provide this ebook for a limited time at a 30% discount. For the price of a good lunch, you can equip yourself with real time money making strategies that you can use today to get you free from your job sooner than you think. Go ahead and download this book now before she comes to her senses with this price:) Click here to view more details or go to the banner below:
P.S. Want to make some fast CA$H!? Get on the VIP buyers list if you are a serious investor, or know someone who is. I will pay you a very nice fee for the hookup. Enjoy the book and please leave a comment below.
Combat these REI dream stealers..
Hey Team,
Let me share a story…
I coach youth wrestling for kids ages 4 up to high school. One of the biggest issues I face is the parents saying very negative things to their kids. I hear all of the names they call them, the threats, yelling, the mean looks. I have kids on the team that have amazing natural talent. Heres the story.. I have an 8th grader that is athletic, aggressive loves wrestling and has crazy talent. Our first freestyle wrestling tournament comes, and his first match is a high school kid who just took 5th in the state wrestling championships. Did I tell my wrestler who he is wrestling? Nope. I encouraged him and told him he can beat this guy!! And guess what, he believed me!! He went out there and was winning the match until….his dad came by and started yelling at him while video taping the match. The dad started yelling out how stupid he is, and to do what he says. I can tell if someone is going to win or lose just by the look in their eyes. And what I saw almost immediately was a defeated look. I went over to the dad, turned off his camera and told him to be quiet:) My wrestler lost that match to a good kid. But he lost because he beat himself and let someone else steal his passion. After the match I told him how proud I was that he wrestled so well. Then I had some “words” with the dad. This is a very common occurence, and the crazy part is these lashings come from parents that have never wrestled before. Imagine that!!! Could it be that they have absolutely no clue what they are saying??
If you are new to the REI world, you might be getting an earful from many sources, including family, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, you name it.
Let me be the one today that says you can do this!! You are closer to achieving your goals than you think!
Bottom line is if you have a burning desire to succeed, then none of these people and the things they say matters one bit. You need to get fired up about your future. Stay educated, fired up and watch out for these situations:
“Whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve” ~Norman Vincent Peale
Silent Dream Stealer’s
- Family and Friends: They could be parents, in laws, close friends. They mean well, but have no clue what they are talking about. (love them from a distance)
- Media: Television, radio, articles. Many of them have a negative dramatic tone that people are drawn to. Don’t get sucked up in this. This kind of material is poison to the mind.
- Cyber-Bullies: They lurk the forums and constantly attack new investors basically telling them that they have to have all and every duck in a row before they can even have the audacity to start in REI.
- Guru Webinars: They all tout to have the answer to the latest and greatest system and strategy.(and some of them are really good) One moment you are a wholesaler, and then all of a sudden you are looking into developing undervalued land into a mall? Just pick a strategy and pour your focus in that.
- Realtors: As in any profession there are good ones and bad ones. Watch out for the ultra negative realtor’s that can recite all the laws that tell you that you can’t do something.
- You! Your own thoughts and unbelief can hold you back.
- Greener Pastures: Someone trying to recruit you into their business promising more money on autopilot. You ever get those emails from internet marketers that have the key to wealth? And again, oddly enough there are many ways to make a million dollars but if you spread your energy and focus on multiple strategies nothing will happen.
If you have not seen this video, I find it very motivating. From the movie “Facing the Giants” (great for family movie night:)
Please leave your comments below, and sign up for my monthly newsletter if you haven’t yet.
For real estate wholesaling education, marketing info, please visit our newly revised Trusted Partners page
Thanks team,
-Matt
7 Core Habits For REI Success
I was looking at my business the other day, and reflecting where I’ve been, where I am now, and where I need to be. Maybe its me, but I set my goals very big, and I feel that I am not going as fast and aggressive as I should be. So then I realized something about my daily habits. I have been operating my business and life at 211 degrees! It takes 212 to make things really boil, and up until this point, its been “simmering”. Years ago, I learned habits that successful people do, and remembered when I applied them on a regular basis, every part of my life started taking more of a shape to it. My goals were being exceeded, income was higher, and I think overall I felt better about who I am and what I am doing. So here it is, and I hope that this will help you also. These are 7 core habits that I am going to implement right away, and get back to 212 degrees for good! (especially the books!) You with me??
- One offer per day…Know your closing ratio and act daily/weekly. It may be much more or less depending on your market, goals, and strategy. Consistency is the key! What is your monthly goal, and develop an action plan to accomplish this. Have a marketing plan, know it, and act on it daily.
- Read 30 minutes per day. Your subconscious mind will absorb the information best right before you go to sleep. Some book recommendations are: How to win friends and influence people, The magic of thinking big, Greatest salesman in the world, Think and grow rich, Enthusiasm makes the difference. ***The books you read, and the people you associate with will determine the person you will become in 5 years*** I will come out with an entire book list on one of my next posts.
- Listen to 1 CD/DVD daily. Listen to 1 “know-how” training to 5 self image, personal development CD. Control what you hear, and turn your car into a university of success
- Attend your local REI meetings monthly. Attend personal development and events once per quarter. Again, get around others that are more successful than you. Rubbing elbows with people that are positive and fired up about life will make a huge impact on your actions. Not to mention the takeaways that you might use from each event. And I am not talking about the free, “get rich” pitch fest either. Going to conferences taught by real deal investors is what its all about.
- Find a Mentor. Once a month talk to that person that has what you want in life. Lay out your entire business to them and ask them what to do next. World class athletes have coaches to refine there skills…You need one too!
- Communicate with others via social media daily. Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, etc… Make comments on blogs you like. Find out what others are saying and doing and interact with them on social networks. Get in the conversation with these people. Learn what they are doing, and duplicate.
- Accountability Your word is always good, and your money is always good. You can lose all your money, but once you lost your word, you are done.
I know there is more to add or whatever, so please comment so we can all share in this together. As well as share with us your favorite book, CD, bootcamp, or really anything that comes to mind.
Clarify what you want–>Prioritize your vision by setting individual goals–>Define your action plan to achieve your vision–>TAKE ACTION!!–>Review with your Mentor Rinse and repeat… Focus–>Direction–>Balance.
To kick things off, if you have a few mins, watch this video by Tony Robbins that I found to be very applicable to this post. You can always bookmark and come back to it. I watch this video often. 
**On a side note my good friend Shae Bynes from GoodFaithInvesting said goodbye to a J.O.B and hello to FREEDOM today!!! Check it out and see how a good plan acted on can achieve amazing things**
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