Knowledge Is Not Skill (Stop Over-Learning)

I know for a fact that some of you are absolutely addicted to learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, especially if you— some of you guys are engineer brains. I know because some of them are the best of the best in our community. I see it and I hear it in the community all the time, and in the Deal Labs that we run, I see it and I hear it. Ah, you know, and I gotta get another podcast, another book, another training, another YouTube video. That's a biggie, and good as long as you're watching ours. Another strategy, another, another, another, another, another, right? It's that constant, constant learning, maybe to perfection or the perceived perfection. And you might be mistaking that for progress. I want you to weave it in, but I don't want it to be all that consumes you. And it may not be progress, by the way. And at some point, learning becomes a very sophisticated form of what? Procrastination. I can tell you with certainty that you don't need another piece of information, right? You need some real in-the-trenches reps. We always talk about us being in the trenches. That's what you need. So let's get into it. Happy Motivational Monday, by the way. I want to challenge you today because I do see this constantly. People tell me, Chris, I'm, you know, I'm still learning. I got to make sure I know all this first, this creative stuff. Again, a piece of that is great, but a question for you though. What's the question? How long— this is just, everybody's gonna be different here— how long have you been learning? Just think about it, gut check. Has it been, for you, 3 months, 6 months? Has it been a year? Has it been 2 years? I don't know. I'd like to hear from you if you want to email me this answer. And at what point are you gonna actually do something with it? That's so important, even if it's not perfect, because there is a huge difference. I'm gonna call it a gap again. Between knowing something and being able to actually get in the trenches and do it. And this doesn't even address the fact that this market for creative deals, this market demand for you to help sellers and buyers too right now, this market opportunity for you in general is enormous, absolutely enormous. Which means what? Which means your opportunity cost to just keep learning and never doing is huge. It's costing you lots and lots of money in missed 3 payday deals. Here, think about almost anything you've ever gotten good at. I don't care if it was when you were a kid. Just think through this. Did you read about it until you became great? Of course not. That's likely not the case. You did it, right? You maybe screwed it up like when you first started riding a bike, as a simple example. Then you made some adjustments so you wouldn't get so many cuts and bruises, and then you did it again. And eventually you developed that skill, whatever that is. Okay, cool. Well, real estate's no different. And please remember this, I'm going to say it probably 3 more times. Knowledge is not skill. All right? Knowledge is not skill. See, you can know what owner financing is, knowledge, and still freeze when a seller gets on the phone or throws a curveball at you. You can understand conceptually subject to, and still have no idea what to say when the seller asks, hey, what's in this for me? Like, how do I win here? You can watch someone structure a deal, like we structure deals, hundreds of them, right here on YouTube, and go, ah, I get it. Then somebody hands you the deal, your own deal, and you suddenly freeze, and it's just different. Why? Because knowledge came from just you watching, observing, but skill comes from the reps in the trenches. Big distinction, and it's a super important one. By the way, guess what happens here at our private deal labs that I mentioned a little bit earlier? We do live calls, live deal structuring, and all hands-on applicable things with you. To learn more, by the way, real quick, go to dealabnewport.com/youtube. Dealabnewport.com/youtube. Here's the trap, in my opinion. Back to the topic. And it's my video, so I get to voice my opinion. People want to feel ready before they act, right? But you're probably not going to really ever feel perfectly ready in your mind. Reality is that your first seller call is going to be super uncomfortable and probably suck. Good. I remember critiquing my son-in-law and partner Zach's first few calls. When he started with me over a decade ago, man, oh man, they were awful. Most students start the same way. Now fast forward a decade or so later, and Zach, who was awful on the phone day one, crushes it now having done hundreds of deals. And you're gonna see him make live calls for you right at Deal Lab, and if you bring your leads, he'll call your sellers for you right at Deal Lab. Okay, back to my point. Your first offer also might not be perfect. Good. Your first deal analysis may take you forever and frustrate you. Perfect. Let us help you do that. That's how you get good at it. You'll never forget when it's your deal. That's called learning. That's how you get better. And those steps, those frustrations are necessary and important, super important information. And this is also why the proximity, I always call it, and the association with us is so incredibly important. Here's another question for you. You want to shorten your learning curve? Like ideally you want to shorten your learning curve? Get around people already doing what you're trying to do, right? Let them hear your calls. Let them look at your deals. Let them correct you on the fly. Then go do it again. That's how you compress time. Okay? Oh, and by the way, I heard somewhere that the Smart Real Estate Family community does exactly that. Okay, so here's a gut check. How much did you consume, let's say just in the last 30 days, versus how much did you actually execute in whatever lane you're trying to get better at? Let's call it in creative. Be honest. Learn versus execute. Only you know the answer. In other words, how many seller conversations, how many offers did you make, how many follow-ups, how many deals did you put in front of somebody more experienced than you to help you with? See, those numbers tell me a lot more about where you're headed than how many hours of training you watch, right? And I just, I just don't want you to confuse busy with production, busy with productivity, because you can't sit at your computer for 8 hours and feel busy. You can, but that's not gonna get you anywhere. You know, I see it, researching markets, changing your CRM around, looking at properties, watching videos. Making another spreadsheet for you engineer brains, checking crime rates and populations and whatever else creative avoidance activities you get lost in. I've seen all of this, but not do one thing that moves you closer to the actual revenue, 3 paydays in your pocket. It's a game changer for you and your family as soon as you get after it. And by the way, newsflash, as I always say, that's not productive. Not at all. You know what? Sometimes productive is just Purely uncomfortable, period. So back to the basics: make the call, which will help you then make an offer, which will help you then follow up with things you've been avoiding. Ask for help on the deal you're stuck on. Just do the thing. So here's my challenge. Ready? Let's go with 30 days. You can go with any period. I'm going to stick with 30 days. Stop measuring what The heck you're learning and start measuring reps. Like literally self-accountability if you don't have a coach yet with us. Each night, how much of that was learning, how much was actually reps? Seller conversations, offers, follow-up deals, deals in front of a coach, just how much of that was actual? If you're not currently in our Smart Real Estate Coach family, then bring your questions and deals to our free sit-down every Thursday at 4 o'clock. It's for you. You don't have to be in the community to come to that. Every Thursday, we've been doing it for I don't know how many years now, since 2017. Then track all that because if you start stacking good reps, your confidence changes, your language changes, your posturing and your ability change. And eventually, guess what? Those 3 payday deals averaging $45 grand to $350 grand start to dramatically change what? Your bank account, your lifestyle. You get to start designing it. Without thinking about all this crap. And one last thought, I mentioned information a bunch of times. Well, information has never been more available than it is right now. So information is no longer an edge. It's not your edge anymore. But execution is, because people still don't take action. They're afraid to. So you don't need to know everything. You need to know just enough to take the next intelligent step, and then you need to just take it. And we'll guide you. Get the reps. Like, get uncomfortable simultaneously. I promise you, you'll get better. And get to our next Deal Lab. I keep bringing it up. And then truly, we can get after it together.