Ask Steve Now!
“People think a mentor has to be a specific person that’s live that they meet…
…I’m going to tell you that’s the most effective way, but Ben Franklin is my mentor.
Robert Kiyosaki’s my mentor; I’ve never met him.
Donald Trump is my mentor; I’ve never met him.
I read and I get the mentoring that way.
Change
I know something that’s on a lot of people’s mind is this is the last day in November. We’re headed into December. 2009 is all but over. It’s over.
And the question I’m going to just keep asking and try to remember to ask is this: Are you in a better financial position or worse financial position than you were at this time last year?
If you’re not in a better financial position, then what are you going to do differently in 2010 than you did in 2009, because unless you change, your financial position will not change. You’ve got to change what you’re doing.
Clues
Now, of course our sales pitch, our encouragement, our idea for all of you is that you should own some real estate. You go look at the millionaires in the United States. 70 percent of them own businesses and real estate. Of the entire percentage, 90 percent of them — 90 percent of the millionaires in the United States have large amounts of real estate in their portfolio.
So this is one of those things where I talk about success leaves clues. And I want to share this with you because I was doing some shopping today—Christmas shopping early this morning—and I was thinking about how success leaves clues. And bear with me because I’m going to sound like I’m bragging, but please bear with me because I do not mean this as bragging at all.
But I’ve been married to an incredible woman for 23 years. We still have a very passionate, very—happy to be married to Josie 23 years. We’ve been together 25 years. At 45 years of age I’m very happy with my physical condition both weight-wise as well as my athletic ability—very happy with it.
Following Maps
I am more than happy with my financial position. I exceeded all expectations that I had for my life already, so everything now is just icing on the cake. I’m a principal in nine apartment complexes, a principal at Lifestyles Unlimited and I just could not be happier.
And I’ve accomplished all of this—in other words, here’s the warning. Please bear with me ‘cause it sounded like I was bragging. Here’s the thing. I would not have any of that stuff that I just described—the long-term relationship, the fitness, the real estate, the businesses, the charities that I’m involved with—if it had not been for successful people leaving maps for me.
If you look at my relationship with Josie, it’s because I had a mother and father who were married for 40 years and I watched what they did that was successful. I watched what they did that was not successful and effective. I didn’t do the stuff that they found ineffective, and I did all the stuff that they found that was effective. Success had left a map.
No Excuses
Now, I want to be very careful here because I think you heard an odd pause there for a second. What I’m afraid is somebody out there’s going to say, “See, that’s why my relationships all stink. It’s because my parents had bad relationships.” No. That’s not an excuse, because I was fortunate enough I could have a mom and dad I could model.
There are tens of thousands of books out there written by couples who have had successful marriages. So maybe you didn’t get to use your mom and dad, but you could use those books.
So don’t hit me with the excuse for any of the stuff I’m about to analyze. Of the excuse, “Well, Steve was lucky ‘cause his mom and dad stayed together for 40 years.” No. All you had to do was go, “Huh, my mom and dad didn’t stay together, so I’m going to do the opposite of what they did.”
Books as Mentors
Find what people who failed do and don’t do it. That’s a simple formula for success. Let’s go to the financial side. I give credit to my mentor Del Walmsley for grabbing me by the shirt collar once in a while, shaking me, and explaining the things I was doing wrong with my money and mentoring me and walking me step-by-step through my first few deals—and really to this day still mentors me on every single deal that I do.
And see some of you are—and I bet it’s the same people that were earlier saying you were lucky that your mom and dad stayed together—I could have said, “Dog gone it, my mom and dad were never really financially successful, so I can’t ever be financially successful.” I hope I’m getting that point across.
Sometimes you’re going to have to go outside your family to find your mentors. So don’t hide behind that because your family wasn’t rich, because your family wasn’t in shape, because your family wasn’t into long-term relationships. Whatever you want there’s a book on it somewhere and there’s a mentor for you.
Additional Income
That’s the other thing I don’t like. People think a mentor has to be a specific person that’s live that they meet. No, not always. I’m going to tell you that’s the most effective way, but Ben Franklin is my mentor. Robert Kiyosaki’s my mentor; I’ve never met him. Donald Trump is my mentor; I’ve never met him. I read and I get the mentoring that way.
But the main thing that I want to get across here is success leaves clues. Now, here’s my question to you: How many of you own businesses and real estate outside of your earned income? Now, how many of you don’t? All right.
Those of you that don’t have additional forms of income from either real estate or a business, 70 percent of the millionaires in the United States own real estate and businesses that produce the majority of their income. Of the total millionaires, 90 percent of them use real estate as one of their main vehicles — 90 percent.
Don’t Wait
What has to happen to you for you to realize that you need to own a business or own some real estate? Does a deity have to come down here, sit next to you, look you dead in the eye and go, “You need to own some real estate”? Is that what you need? You need a God to come down and say, “You need some real estate”?
I’m telling you, don’t wait for that. Odds are against it. It’s not going to happen. But what if there were clues? What if a little clue was out there, “Seven out of ten millionaires in the United States own real estate and/or businesses”? There’s a clue there.
And this is one of those points I’ve joked about before. This is one of those- there should be an epiphany going on in everybody’s head right now — everybody. There is no excuse. This is that joke of, “You’ve heard it; you can’t un-hear it.” Why don’t you own something?
And the problem is that as I say that, a million different excuses come to your mind. The problem is every one of them’s bogus. It’s a lie—every excuse or reason you have why you don’t own a business or don’t own some real estate. It’s a lie, but you believe it. So you think it’s true and you act as if it’s true. And oddly enough because you act as if it’s true, it is true for you.
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