FEAR and How it Affects your Ability to be the Most Successful Investor You can Be!
Did you realize the number 1 reason investor students don’t ever really become successful has nothing to do with how smart they are, how well trained they are or how much time they have to invest? None of these are at the top of the list.
You might be surprised to know the number 1 reason is actually FEAR!
WHY WE FEAR
I always say, “there’s only one thing holding you back from success, and it’s located between your left ear and your right ear, and it’s called Fear!” Fear is the one big obstacle that can hold you back from success, but it’s a natural response to doing anything new for the first time.
Approaching a total stranger can trigger a fear of rejection, and that fear erodes your confidence and you come off as begging — even if you don’t think you are! And nothing shuts a deal down quite like sounding like you’re begging. It’s a dangerous cycle that is easy to fall into and hard to break out of.
However, to be successful in real estate (or most other forms of wealth-building, for that matter), you will need to overcome your fear. Some people are natural extroverts who can power through the “clueless newbie” stage and get straight to work, but many people struggle with the fear of speaking with strangers and of rejection. I’m here to tell you that anyone can conquer fear, with time and practice.
For one of my episodes of The Mentor Podcast, I spoke with guest, Todd Foster. Todd’s a self-proclaimed, shy introvert who was able to find tremendous success and wealth-building using the real estate investing methods I teach.
Todd worked in the corporate world as an engineer, but he was unhappy in his role. He desperately wanted to leave and start his own business instead. So, he quit his corporate job and struck out on his own to become a real estate agent. Pretty soon, he was struggling to make things work primarily due to his introverted nature.
As Todd told me in our conversation:
“I didn’t have a lot of success. In fact, I was pretty miserable at it. I was horrible at talking to people, I was shy, I was introverted, I didn’t know how to approach people, I didn’t have a system to follow. And then you came to town in August of 2013, and things changed drastically for us.”— Todd Foster, The Mentor Podcast episode #34, ‘Getting Over Your Fears’
By working with me, Todd was able to overcome his fears and build a thriving business doing between 2-4 deals per month. He was finally able to get out of the corporate hole he’d found himself in and live his dream of working for himself, all because he learned to conquer the cycle of fear. He became so good, in fact, he’s now one of my mentors.
All it takes is a change in mindset, plenty of practice, and then executing on what you’ve learned using the right script. Literally anyone can do it, if you have the willingness to try. That’s the beauty of my scripts.
My episode with Todd and co-guest Tony Pearl (another one of my mentors) can be a valuable resource to help you understand why fear is a dangerous thing that can hold you back from success, and to show that anyone can conquer their fear regardless of their personality type.
You can listen to that episode here:
Overcoming Fear: MINDSET
Changing your mindset is the first step to overcoming fear. You have to have the drive to succeed, the motivation to get started, and the willingness to learn. It’s about understanding that fear is a choice, and that you have the power to make a different choice eventually leading you to prosperity and a life that you choose and you control.
Look, my methods have created real estate millionaires and multi-millionaires all over the country. And every single one of those successful investors had to start somewhere. The important thing is to understand that if they can do it, you can do it too.
Using the scripts I’ve perfected over years of trial and error, you can overcome common objections and concerns and can often get a yes out of a seller who started out saying no. And even if that doesn’t happen (and sometimes it won’t), that’s okay too. It just means you move on to the next lead with a little more experience and a little more practice. Real estate is a game of numbers, and the more leads you work through the more often you’ll hear that coveted ‘yes’.
Understand that fear is normal. But also know that you can get through it, and that beating your fear is a vital step to succeeding in real estate. You will get rejected, but that’s okay. You’re offering them an opportunity, and if they don’t want to take it, then it’s important to move on. You have to work through the prospects who say no to get to the ones who will say yes.
Practice makes perfect. It’s true in real estate investing just like it’s true in everything else. One of the best tools for preparing yourself is to practice what you will say and how you will respond to common seller objections. My scripts are carefully set up to keep the conversation going in the right direction, but it is important to sound natural even when using a script to steer the conversation. And the only way you’ll get there is to practice, practice, practice.
I talked about this during an episode of The Mentor Podcast where I role-played with Debbie, going through a few practice scenarios to demonstrate to our listeners how effective my scripts are and why practice is important. It would be well worth your time to listen, to get a sense of how these calls should go and how my scripts can help you more effectively respond to seller objections. You can find episode #44 of The Mentor Podcast here:
During the lead up to the practice calls with Debbie, I explained that there are four common mistakes that new investors often make in their telephone calls. In fact, investors don’t even realize they’ve made these mistakes while they’re talking. You cannot recognize the mistakes you make while you’re talking, which is exactly why it’s necessary to record your practice calls and review them. When reviewing your practice calls, listen out for these very common mistakes:
- Begging
- Talking too much
- Sounding like you’re reading from a script
- Talking too fast
My scripts are short, simple, and designed to find out quickly whether the seller will accept the terms we offer. The scripts are designed to weed out the sellers we don’t want to do business with. However, it’s important to use these scripts correctly to reel in the sellers we do want to do business with. That’s why practice is key.
Each time you review a practice call, try to keep in mind the mistakes you made for the next call, and resolve to do better. Eventually, you’ll find that you sound natural and confident, and that’s when you’re ready for the real thing.
I recommend you do at least 20-30 calls to really understand your phone voice. Have someone else listen to your recordings as well, because they’ll often hear things in your voice that you would miss. I promise you, listening to your practice calls after the fact is the only way you’ll catch what you’re doing wrong so that you can correct your mistakes going forward, and this will go a long way toward helping you master the phone.
Overcoming Fear: EXECUTION
Now comes the hardest step: actually executing on what you’ve learned. If you’ve done as I’ve said, you’ve had plenty of practice and you have a good understanding of what you’ll sound like to any prospective seller. It’s time to put your skills to work. Using my system, making first contact with leads is mostly done by Virtual Assistants (VAs), and they’ll filter out the leads you need to be following up with. Now it’s time to reach out and ask those sellers the three key questions.
Steven Szumigale is a real estate investor in Erie, Pennsylvania. Real Estate Steve, as we call him, got involved with my Gold Club and Quick Start School, and in less than a year he had amassed around 25 properties at a value of almost $3 million.
Steve realized quickly that mastering the phone is the true key to getting deals done. He follows up with leads consistently and he carefully follows my short scripts. Persistence, practice, and dedication have been Real Estate Steve’s secret weapons that have allowed him to amass rapid success in real estate.
Steve recognized that making calls would be the biggest roadblock that could slow him down, so he powered through his fear. And he recognized that not every call will go the way he wanted it to and that sometimes he would mess up the scripts, but he also knew that the key was to keep going and try to learn something in the process.
As Real Estate Steve so perfectly said in our conversation…
“Oh, I would just get on and make the calls. I don’t care if I mess up or not. There’s enough of them coming in that if you mess up on a few, so what? Get the experience, record your calls, have people listen to them… You’re never going to get the deal if you don’t dial.” — Steven Szumigale, The Mentor Podcast episode #28, ‘The Story of Real Estate Steve’
Ask any one of the countless successful real estate investors who have followed my system and they’ll tell you the exact same thing. You have to change your mindset and be determined. You have to practice, practice, and practice some more. And then you have to execute in real, live calls with real leads. That’s how you learn, refine your skills, and make money in real estate.
Not every call is going to go your way. But even when a seller says ‘no’, there’s always the possibility that their situation may change and that ‘no’ will later turn into a ‘yes’. The call is the most important step, and as Real Estate Steve said, “you’re never going to get the deal if you don’t dial. Steve’s story is one that I think will resonate with a lot of new investors, so I encourage you to listen to the episode and let Steve’s success inspire you. You can find episode #28 of The Mentor Podcast here:
Getting on the phone and overcoming the fear is key because that’s what I’m afraid of, but if I never conquer the fear to try I will see myself in the same spot another year. It’s time to get moving.