By Sean Wheller
Often I get emails about this Guru and that Guru. I get asked questions and often asked to give my opinion about other peoples systems and so called Gurus.
Here is the deal, everyone wants to know what is good and what they should get involved in, but that said there is a catch to all this and I will explain this right now in the hope of clarifying the questions about all the systems and gurus in real estate and the property investing market.
If you really want to get the best out of this post or clarification you should first come to suspend your thought of “Good” and “Bad” as definition.
I know, for some this may be too much to ask, but if you can do this for the next 5-minutes (which should be short enough to mange) you may understand much more from what you are reading.
Usually, people who ask about Gurus and systems are at the beginning of their property investing journey and the field looks very much like an endless jungle.
Between market articles, real estate agents, property gurus, property systems preached by gurus, and the information available on the internet, one gets easily lost in this jungle.
When lost in the jungle and in “despair” of not knowing who is right and who is wrong, what is right and what is wrong, the risk lies in taking the first path out. In simple words, being tired of it all and traveling the jungle too much without finding the destination, all of the sudden the first path out looks like a good one, even though they may find at the end that it was misleading and hence the definition “fake guru” that leads people astray.
So how does one know if that path is good or not, or have they just taken the path of the so called “Fake Guru”. And here is the truth, which most don”t like to hear, but I like to tell it anyway. I like to tell it for those that want to hear the truth and empower themselves.
If you really want to find your way and empower yourself, read on, but if you like to listen to gurus that have “out of the box” systems, I suggest you stop reading because the rest may just strike a discord with you. THERE IS NO RIGHT PATH or WRONG PATH, which also means that NO Guru is RIGHT, but it also means that NO Guru is WRONG.
Now, you are back in the jungle and have no path, square zero. And this is the point where you should suspend all the notions and ideas of the right way. From here you will find the right way, I will tell you right now how you can do that.
To better understand what I just said, you must comprehend that this notion of the right way is very misleading. The Gurus go out there sell a system. Don”t get me wrong, that is fine. Then they tell you how it worked for all those wonderful people and then you say to yourself this must work for you because it worked for others, right?
Not exactly. If you know you have exactly the same situation as those people, then maybe that system will work for you, but if you aren”t exactly like those people, nor in their situation, then the chances slim it will work for you because the system may not be in your context. But you want a certain way, right? That is why you bought into the idea the Guru was selling.
The truth is and always was that there are not absolutes. Therefore, some systems may work for some people and some may not for others and some part of a system may work for some other people.
What this means is that there is no RIGHT Guru nor Wrong Guru. To find your way in the jungle you must use, from whatever system, idea, teaching, information you find the elements that work for you. This means that the only way out of the jungle is by creating YOUR OWN PATH.
Yes, that is right, you will need to cut “wood” and chop the proverbial trees to find your way out of the jungle.
Think there is another way? Yes, there is. The alternative is disempowering yourself and giving your power to some Guru and follow his or her way, hoping and praying that the “system”, “idea” or “way” suits your needs. Which brings us to the beginning, tired of finding the way out, and then you just take the first path you see in the jungle, no matter what the outcome. Which brings us to the next really important point.
How do you “cut trees and chop wood” to find your way out of the jungle. That is quite simple. First you get your proverbial “compass” and you find out where you are now. Then you think clearly about where you want to get to. This you do without any other persons influence, concepts or ideas (including Gurus) of what you need; only what you want. This is your moment and this exactly the way it should be.
Some people may feel a bit of discomfort with this idea; they may not like the starting point. But here is the good news. Remember you put yourself in the place you are right now, and if you don”t like the starting place, understand that most likely you put yourself there by following paths that didn”t suit you to begin with, so now you can change all that.
Then you can start collecting data, learning about property, listening to opinions and you start “chopping”. In other words, you use what suits you and you DON”T use what does not suit you, in other words, you chop it away, step-by-step, item-by-item and you include what suits you in the same way.
Yes, you have to be selfish enough to want your own good and selfish enough to stop listening to what other people or Gurus say. You do what is good for you and what suits you.
The next trick is to understand that you will have to learn and you will have to listen to as many ideas as possible to create you own path. Soon you will start to see your path and the light at the end of the jungle, the clear way to reaching your goal.
For some people this means they will only want cash flow positive real estate purchases, for some they will find out they want to trade in real estate, for some it may mean doing many things in real estate investing, but what it means most of all is that you will be doing what suits you at that point in time.
You see, there are many systems and many gurus and heaps of information. Furthermore, you haven”t seen nothing yet, because with the growth of the internet there will be more and then more and then some more. So you better start finding out what you want before you get lost for a life time in this jungle of information.
Once you know your starting point you will have to read things and collect data with a view to use what suits you and “chop away” what does not. In this way, if there is a Fake Guru out there you no longer have to worry about it, because you do what suits you.
You will be able to use parts of systems and maybe sometimes whole systems, while other times you will modify systems to suits you. Above all, you will know what you want, therefore will know if you see something that is of no help to you.
In the process you will see how both Gurus and Fake Gurus help you. Yes Fake Gurus help and they help more than you even know. They help you continuously define and re-define with time what you want and “chop away” what you don”t want by the mere examples which they give and your evaluation of those in your context. This will save enormous time to reaching your financial freedom and every other goal, because you won”t have to take a “path” that doesn”t suit you and pay the “price” in time and money for trial and error.
Once you learn how to collect data, learn to sieve though information to use what suits you all of the sudden you will use all data to your benefit. Even the data which you previously thought was “bad” because it will help you know what you don”t want and move closer to your goals by acting only on ideas and systems that suit you. As opposed to acting on everything in the hope something will work out.
Sometimes you look at a property portfolio and you really ask yourself, why did that person buy a property when they can”t afford it? Then you see someone that has acted on something that did not suit them in the first place, now they are paying the price for not empowering themselves with knowledge to make an educated purchasing decision.
You will see property investment listings in a better light, you will be able to see properties that you would like to research more and those that are not a good match for you.
To do all this, you must know what your starting point is and what your goals are. Then learn about property investing with an open mind, then take what you feel is good for you and “chop” the rest. Above all, remain non-judgmental when you collect data and understand that there are no absolutes in this world, therefore there is no Right and Wrong.
Do not think for one moment that you will not change your plans, you have to, the world evolves, once you reach your first goal, you will need to create a new path to the next goal, and then to the next and so life goes on.
In summary, there are no SYSTEMS that are GOOD as there are no SYSTEMS that are BAD.
By creating your path and using what is good for you, you will empower yourself to reach your own goals, not someone else”s goals, nor those goals of the good examples that the Gurus give. They may be good and it may be good for them, but you will need to evaluate that for yourself. And when you are in doubt, it means you may need more information before you can determine if something suits you.
You will notice that through continuous learning of many other peoples” paths and evaluation of Gurus systems without judgment you will be able to continuously create good solutions that suit you.
Do not fool yourself for one moment that instant or fast riches exist, (that is what Gurus usually sell). Here is the contradiction: THEY DO, but those riches did not happen in that famous instance that people love bragging about. It took years for people to achieve that instant wealth, they just don”t talk about those past years much. They only talk about the instant moment of glory. This misleads people to thinking that there are instant and fast riches that where created in that moment out of the blue.
Everyone in the world teaches us something, even if that something is identifying what we don”t want or does not suit us, as through their examples we have refined our plan and moved one step closer to our goals which will one day “instantly” create wealth for us through the path that we previously created.
About The Author
Sean Wheller is a real estate agent, investor and the founder of the largest online property investing education website in South Africa, http://www.PropertyInvestorNetwork.co.za that specializes in real estate training, and property investing courses and seminars.