Get Out of Your Comfort Zone & Network With Like Minded People

Meet Potential Investors

Bigger investment deals are put together collaboratively through investment partners. You should always have a habit of meeting new people and coming out of your inner circle, where you may not be able to work with them in a business manner. I remember I was talking with my close friends, whom I have known for years and would go out with quite often, but I could not do business with them. The practicality is you may need to have two groups of people in your circle: one for having fun and leisure purposes, and the other for brainstorming and doing joint venture partner projects. Mixing business with friendship can restrict your decision making wondering if it would affect your relationship. When working with a group of people solely business related, they are all more open minded and understand all decisions are to better the business.

I remember, after I fired my job, I was remodeling two properties — one got executed, and the other one was supposed to be remodeled and sold in Toronto — but I had a cash shortage in the middle of the project, for $60 000. I knew none of my friends or family members could lend me that much money on short notice. Instead of selling one of my other properties, I have creatively raised $140 000, executed this remodeling project, and acquired an investment property. That was from someone within my network, with whom I have established a business relationship. As long as there is a common genuine interest and complete honesty, there are ways you can attract potential investment partners. Meeting new people every week, and weeding out the unnecessary ones, are critically important. Once you establish your clientele, with a good reputation and visibility to the general public, the investors will be after you.

One of my mentors used to say that if you have periodic meetings with potential investors or business partners, something positive will eventually occur. Either these individuals may do business with you, or introduce you to others. Everyone works hard to earn their savings. It would be very difficult for someone to easily give away their savings to someone else. It takes time for people to trust you and let the money work for them through your creative projects.

I encountered a great experience last year. I knew this friend of mine for over twenty years, and he knows how savvy I am. He would sometimes approach me for real estate related advice, and I genuinely wanted him to be involved in real estate projects and get the benefit out of it. One day, I called him and said “I have a great opportunity; you could achieve better than 15% annual return on investment, and I will make sure, legally, that your investment funds will be secured.” He said he really wanted to be involved but, at that moment, he was financially stuck. He did not stop there but continued, and said, “I have four friends who really like what you do, and they might be interested.” I respected his situation and told him we would do a deal when he was comfortable and ready. That night, he connected me with his four friends and, even without meeting three of them, they committed to do projects with me. We have executed many more since. It does not matter, rich or poor, having a good relationship with business potentials, and letting the others know your business growth and success, is more critically important than spending thousands of dollars on marketing to strangers at the beginning.

For the past nine years, I have given many real estate acquisitions and sales business to my lawyer, every year. He knows me well and, for me, his team would turn things around, even with 24-hours’ notice. We were chatting freely after a private money lending transaction, and he commented that this transaction has a slightly higher interest with the initial fee. I had already analyzed the transaction; instead of complaining about higher interest and not doing a deal, as long as you would still make a profit as per your numbers, you should be fine. As you know, lawyers charge a lot of money, and they deal with profitable clients. An idea popped in my mind to pick his brain. I told him, “Yes, I do understand it is a bit higher in interest; and as you know, my business is growing with multiple venture partners. Do you think you may have clients you could introduce me to, to do business with? I should be able to get them a good return on investment, and the capital would be secured.” He immediately said, “I do have clients who would be interested in doing business with you, and you don’t need to pay the additional percentage of fees you just paid.” It’s honestly unreal, isn’t it? You never know where your future business partners or leads are hiding. Always keep your eyes and ears open, and be ready to capitalize it.

Be Unique and Stand Out

Being unique is what helps differentiate yourself from the competition and allows you to be more prominent in your industry. You don’t want to be one of many trying to do business in the same manner as others. I remember, in the early nineties, the first computer I used was an Apple INC. Macintosh. It was very user-friendly compared to the competition, even for the level of technology 25 years ago it was very easy to use. While an early version of Windows had so much trouble with DOS prompts to execute many operations. Apple also came into the mobile phone world very late, compared to Motorola, Palm Pilot, Nokia, and Blackberry. Blackberry was the pioneer in the smart phone business, with higher security features and the addition of a keyboard. Steve Jobs introduced the smartphone very late in the game, but came with many unique features that allowed him to compete with other smartphone companies. He put so much emphasis on user interface and the slickness of the smartphone he had introduced, that it became a sensation.

I remember when I was flying on business trips, in the mid-2000s, and if you carried a Blackberry phone, people were thinking you were in a management or executive role. These days, almost everyone is carrying an Apple or a Samsung phone, and the early players got wiped out. In a business, if you aren’t unique in how you serve your customers, you will not last long. When many people are drowning, if you are trying to get help in a similar way to others drowning, you‘ll get mixed in the crowd and lessen your chance of getting noticed. If you wave your hand higher than the others drowning, you will be noticed, and most likely you will be pulled out from the water. Learn to adapt to the market and satisfy customer needs in your own unique way.

Don’t feel shy about being different from others. If you are an out-of-the box thinker, you may run into confrontations at work, or with others on collaborative tasks. It is good to be different, as long as you bring valuable thoughts and ideas to the table. Some people listen to everyone, and don’t object to anything; they pretend to be very easy going. Since they are not listened to, they suffer a lot themselves. At the same time, they lack creativity. When I was quitting my six-figure salary job, with flexible hours, most of my family members, friends, and colleagues thought I was crazy. Nothing made me change my mind from having my own venture and determining my own destiny, on my own terms. Since I have been in the engineering industry for over 20 years, and have a wealth of unique experience as a RF Designer, finding a job is very easy for me. Instead, I do part-time technical engineering consulting, while focusing on developing my own business, and I can make the same salary as when I was an employee, in less than six months. In a year, I am able to free up 50% of my time by doing this.

If you are a student or an employee, feel free to express your good ideas, and train yourself to be unique from others. Don’t get too comfortable with what you do. Get out there and get into action.

Procrastination

Many people are stuck because of procrastination. Instead of sending an investor report or analyzing a deal, you may end up checking Facebook, your WhatsApp messages, or you may be spending too much time browsing through your twitter feed. You think you will only be a few minutes, but you would have easily already spent 30 minutes. I have a habit of checking the news quickly, for 5 to 10 minutes, in a predetermined period of time, while starting my day. I found it was consuming way more than what I had promised myself. The reason is, when you read news in the media, they seldom bring news that would motivate people. The media and the news channels, either online or on TV, bring all sorts of negative news, which you have no control over or have nothing to do with. Their business model works perfectly because most of the viewers are flocking to that kind of product. My personal experience is that you don’t waste the amount of time you spend reading the news or watching it, but your mind would still remember and get distracted. It will bring down your productivity. It’s always good to be disciplined, and achieving what you ought to achieve on a set date is critical for your end results. You must stop satisfying yourself doing noncritical tasks and putting off the critical ones that are absolutely necessary.