Commitment

FAR 156 Expected Air Date: 06/5/18 Opening Good morning everyone I’m Roger Blankenship your host. I teach people how to make money in real estate. We don’t encourage everyone to drop what you’re doing and start flipping houses like you see on TV but we do encourage everyone to include real estate as a part of a balanced investment portfolio. Let’s talk about real estate! Let’s talk about life. On this show we try to bring you the best news and how-to information, resources, statistics, demographics, trends, styles, ideas, techniques and introduce you to people who are turning all of this into successful businesses and careers. Years ago I was visiting with a friend in a small town in rural north Georgia and we were touring his farm. He was a chicken farmer. That’s right, a chicken farmer. If you’ve never been to a chicken farm, try to imagine a barn that’s the length of a football field. Now imagine 6 of these lined up in a row, each one filled with a hundred thousand or so chickens. Now imagine a powerful ammonia smell that is especially difficult on hot summer days. That doesn’t tell you what it’s like to actually raise the chickens, but that’s what it’s like to be there. As my friend told me about the process and how it worked with the packaging company, I grew especially interested when he told me how much money he could make from each chicken house. As I did the math in my head I started picturing myself as a chicken farmer so my questions turned a bit more personal. “What does it take to be in this business and stay in it”, I asked. He thought for a moment and then said, “well, you kinda have to like chickens.” I think that’s true about anything you’re going to do. If you want to be a real estate investor you don’t have to love real estate. You just kinda have to like it. You have to like it enough to get out of bed every morning and make things happen. Because this business isn’t going to come to you. It’s out there and it’s within your grasp, but you have to go get it. I want to think more about farming today because it’s June and the peak of growing season and indeed here in Georgia, some crops are already coming in. I’ve never been a farmer, but when I was a kid and all the way through my high school years my dad maintained a garden, usually a couple of acres. And my sister and I were part of the labor force to make that garden productive. We were there for the planting, the cultivating, the weeding, the harvest, AND the preparation of the food for long-term storage. There are several important steps in growing a crop and I’m intimately acquainted with them all. But nothing is more important than planting seed. Without that, you’ll never have a crop. Today I’m going to use this analogy for your business. “Business Gardening”

1. Prepare the soil. Get your training, Do your homework, Prepare your presentation, practice your pitch. Get your heart right, your mind focused, and your hands and feet ready to work.
2. Plant lots. Seed is inexpensive. In business it’s your time, your conversations, your networking, your energy. Don’t worry about using up all your energy, you’ll have a fresh batch tomorrow.
   1. Plant even where you haven’t prepared the soil.
   2. Don’t try to control the results from a limited planting, just plant lots of seeds.
   3. Finding deals? Work lots of sources and work them a lot.
   4. Raising money? Never selling, but ALWAYS informing, ALWAYS listening,
   5. Need contractors? Interview lots and constantly.
   6. Growing your market? Talk to a LOT of realtors. Plant LOTs
3. Plant everywhere. Don’t worry whether your patch of land gets enough sun or water. You never know what will come up.
4. Plant all the time - in business continue to plant while you are cultivating the current crop. Plant even while you are harvesting. Plant in the morning, plant in the evening. Plant all day long. Every conversation is a potential connection. In time you will find it difficult to cut loose and just have a relaxing time with friends without talking about your business. Good! You are almost there. I’m not saying you should never relax and have a good time, but honestly, 98% of us don’t need any practice with that. We need to get serious enough about growing our business that it consumes our thinking. In the winter time my dad often sits at the window looking out at his garden. Not saying a word, he’s just thinking about what he’s going to plant and where he will plant it next year. He’s making a schedule. It looks like he’s relaxing and doing nothing, but what he is actually doing is creating next years harvest.
5. Plant more. This is a tough time to find a deal. If that’s the way you choose to look at it, then it will be. There’s always something tough, always a challenge. But there is always an opportunity. And it is ALWAYS there for the person who is looking, listening, working, and PLANTING SEED.
6. Fertilize the gard...