Anyone who has children or grandchildren will know about the excitement of Christmas!
The build up to Christmas seems to have got earlier and earlier every year and with it the ‘marketing hype’. The enticement of gifts are splashed all over the television at least by October and children ask with great enthusiasm, nay even demand certain items be delivered to them on Christmas Day – often without a consideration as to the cost, or effort involved by the parents.
When the big day comes the level of excitement is almost too much to handle as they flit from one present to another, rattling, feeling and prodding to try and guess the contents!
Eventually they settle on opening the biggest and shiniest one first! The paper is ripped from it with great enthusiasm and the contents are met with whoops of delight.
The seemingly less exciting presents are opened and put to one side while the ‘big present’ receives all the attention.
However, as with life sometimes that ‘big shiny present’ was simply ‘marketed’ well and actually once opened the box contains contents which are cheap and do not live up to expectations. Within 3 hours the toy is broken and with it the dreams of the child.
As parents we step in and offer sympathy, while trying to distract from the pending emotional disaster. Those presents which have been discarded as initially the less exciting ones, are rolled out. These often require a degree of thought or effort to construct and mean sitting down quietly and thinking things through. Yes sure initially this may seem daunting and possibly even boring, but once into they capture the imagination and deliver fantastic results.
In fact it is often these presents which require a little bit more work, and effort and are a little less shiny and exciting on the outside which deliver the greatest joy ultimately.
So as 2012 begins don’t find yourself being fooled by the wrapping and sparkling ribbons and bows often found in Property Investing- understand the true value of the gift beneath! Yes spend time looking at different property investment strategies, assess which works best for you and your family, prod and even poke them a little, but do not fall foul of becoming the eternal procrastinator who like a child flits from one strategy to another but never focuses long enough to make a success of anything.
Write your Property Goals for 2012 and in doing so assess whether your commitment to Property Investing this year is ‘money’ or ‘time’ focussed, as the property investment strategies will involve different levels of each. Put simply there is always a trade off between these two elements and those I see succeeding in property investing acknowledge this.
So review the ‘shiny attractive’ propositions with new fresh eyes and practice an element of the philosophy ‘if its too good to be true’, ‘it’s too good to be true’, while you assess the facts.
As a simple rule of thumb to help you with your money v time trade off, through my experience if something claims to require ‘no’ or ‘little of your money’ to start it will require more of your time to make it work. Likewise if something requires ‘more of your money’ it often requires ‘less of your time’.
You choose the route you wish to take based on your personal circumstances! Just choose the route with open eyes so you avoid the feeling of having gone down the wrong path.
Wise property investing isn’t all bright and shiny; it’s around getting your basics right and building the foundations that works for you so that you receive the greatest returns possible, for the longest period of time. It’s about taking the setbacks and picking yourself back up, it’s about saying ‘how can I learn from this’ ‘what could I do differently and better next time?’.
So my New Year wishes for you and your property investing would be the following:
• See beyond the hype – and assess opportunities honestly for what they are (remember the general rule of thumb).
• Cultivate Your Desire to Learn – learn the foundations of sound property investing, and build yourself a strong and financially secure future, building at your own personal pace.
• Focus Your Attention – build investment foundations which are strong in one strategy, before you move to enhance them with a further strategy. ( I have lost count of the number of people I have met whom seem to be chasing the ‘latest’ property buzz, who never mastered the previous buzz and therefore have not moved forward in their journey at all)
• Develop a Growth Mindset – Believe in yourself, certainly celebrate the wins, but don’t beat yourself up when things don’t go right first time. Don’t be fooled, the Property Investors you strive to emulate have all made their own mistakes, after all investing in property is not a risk free sport. But with a mindset which helps you grow, set-backs will be things you learn to go around, over or under. They will not stop your route dead in its tracks, because you will not let them – you realise this is journey. A journey you both wish to be on and enjoy!
Happy New Year from Venus Property Mentoring!
