I'm a relatively new investor. I've been doing this for a couple of years but I came in when things were as simple as buy low, sell high. Any fool can do that, right? Well maybe, unless you got caught in the big plunge like some of us did. So with everyone losing their butts the next logical step is short sales, right? Well, of course, so off down that road I went. Then I decided I wanted to learn about creative financing so I could buy some more of my own in the midst of the credit crunch if I wanted as well as sell to others with no credit. So then I started looking for a mentor to show me how to do these things. I met a rather congenial man who is relatively knowledgable and doing quite well for himself with these techniques. He tells me he'll show me how to do all he is doing. This sounded like a great idea at first. One thing I should mention before I proceed is that one of my most valuable assets is time. I abhor for it to get wasted. I love a quote by Donald Trump where he said, "if you lose money, you can get it back but once time is gone, it's gone forever." The one time this gentleman actually showed up where and when he said he would, he was late. He must have made a half dozen other appointments to meet me and didn't have the courtesy to call and tell me he would not be there. I would get a call from him days later wanting to meet again somewhere as he is telling me how busy he is and how he is running around all over the place. Suddenly, I stopped and thought about who I was attempting to learn from. Someone who was everything I was trying to get away from. He was unorganized and always busy. One of the reasons I started into this business is that I don't want to spend every waking hour working. While he might have been able to show me a thing or two about creative financing, I could have taught him an infinite amount about organization and time management skills; had he the time. To be able to teach, one needs more than just knowledge. They also need the ability to apply it. And its just as important to find a mentor whose goals are aligned with your own as it is for them to know how its done.
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