Leverage may be a dirty word right now, but it’s still the best way to build wealth.

LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE: Lets begin with OPM–Other People’s Money

Leverage has gotten a very bad name in this current financial crisis. And lets be honest–debt and the deficit we’ve accumulated is the bane of our country’s present financial problems, not to mention so many individual’s over-leveraged experience, along with the anxiety-filled, sleepless nights that come along with it. What were we thinking!?!

But measured, reasonable, wisely applied leverage is still the best way someone with limited means can become someone with great means. It begins with a critical difference in mindset.

A consumption mindset asks: “How can I manage my debt in order to live the richest lifestyle possible.” The pursuit of this kind of life is an invitation to a stressful, workaholism that is something to be avoided like malaria.

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A non-leverage mindset asks: “How can I scrimp and save, and use whatever is left over to slowly build my nest egg.” The question to ask here is, “Am I avoiding leverage out of the decision to live as debt-free as possible or out of fear?” The former has a lot to be said for it, the latter is just another way to try to avoid all risk.

A leverage mindset asks: “How can I use borrow money wisely to multiply my money-making and business building activities in order to accelerate my returns?”

The biggest difference is NOT how we invest the money we HAVE but how we invest the money we DO NOT HAVE. It is how we leverage the money that we DON’T HAVE that can make us wealthy.

A leverage mindset does not look at an investment with the objection: “I just can’t afford this.” Instead it strategically considers, “How can I best use leverage to pay for this investment in a way that increases my overall return without taking on undo risk.

And don’t forget all those other…

OTHER PEOPLES’ RESOURCES that will leverage your TIME, TALENT & TREASURE…

OPE-XPERIENCE–Learning from MENTORS via in person books, etc.

OPE-XPERTISE–Using business ASSOCIATES to do what they are better trained at

OPM-ONEY–Borrowing CAPITAL which yields a higher rate than you are paying for it

OPT-IME–Building a skilled & committed TEAM to compliment and further your mission

OPS-YSTEM–Working to create the ULTIMATE in LEVERAGE: A TURN-KEY SYSTEM

Leveraging your time: never forget the 80/20 principle.

LEVERAGE: Adapting our Business to the Reality of Pareto & Parkinson’s Laws

Being busy is a form of laziness–lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. -Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek, p. 73 ff

Pareto’s Law–the 80/20 principle (Vilfredo Pareto, 1848-1923)

80% of Pareto’s garden peas were produced by 20% of the peapods he planted

80% of the wealth was in the hands of 20% of the people

Don’t expect loan modifications to solve the foreclosure mess!

On average the 1st lender loses $58,000 for every home that goes through foreclosure. You’d think they’d do everything possible to keep homeowners in their homes. Well, it’s a lot harder than it seems. It didn’t even work for Hitler!

Is our mission to make money or to solve people’s problems?

Obviously we have to feed our families and we want our real estate investing efforts to do so much more; namely, provide us the FREEDOM of doing something we love and getting paid enormous amounts of money to do it…. BUT we only get paid if and when we help people by providing valuable, creative, and timely solutions to their needs.

Of course, we can make a buck without a care in the world about solving people’s problems. But we do so at the risk of making everything about the money. When people around us—employees, partners, sellers, buyers, other real estate professionals and business people—begin to sense that money rules our every decision, they will resent it and our business relationships will enviably suffer. And there is something even more frightening—our soul will shrivel and die. “What does it profit a man,” asked a poor but insightful carpenter from Nazareth, “to gain the whole world but to forfeit his soul?” The answer is no less true today.

Online or bust!

Here’s some statistics to consider in building your real estate investment business:

–In 2000, 28% of buyers said that they used the Internet as an important part of their home-buying selection process.

–In 2006, 70% said they did.

–As of 2008 the National Association of Realtors says that the number is 86%.

From 28% in 2000… to 70% in 2006… to 86% in 2008. Given these statistics, where do you find your buyers, not to mention your sellers and renters?… The answer is clear: ONLINE. The implications of this gigantic change in the real estate marketing landscape is nothing short of breathtaking and requires rethinking our entire marketing strategy.

We’ll cover the implications of this change much more in depth in an upcoming training video. Stay tuned.