How To HAVE FUN In Real Estate Investing!

If you started your business or you got into rental properties for financial freedom and to own your time, and all of a sudden you've given all your time and all your fun to a job that you absolutely hate, you could have had a job pretty much anywhere that was probably better. How to have fun in real estate and business in general. Hey, I'm Christian Osgood, shooting a solo video for you today. This is something that I learned through my career and in real estate and business. I mean, I've used it in all of them. Investing in real estate when you're getting started, it's not as important. And that's only right at the very beginning. At the beginning, you do in fact need cash flow to run any business. And this is true for our property management company too. Is it fun? No, starting a business is really hard. But there's, there's some really fun pieces that you do look back on like, wow, I remember that struggle when I got launched. This is true for every business. I've never seen an exception to it. And when you're buying a piece of real estate, that is also just running a rental business. So this is really just a business thing. But you will hit a point and it will be fairly early on once you get through that initial launch phase and you have a business that is growing and operating, you're going to make decisions along the way to acquire different assets, financial decisions, include different people, all the directions you can go. People have a tendency to go, hey, I'm only looking at the money here. I'm growing the business, I'm growing the business, I'm growing the business. It's all about expansion, expansion. What is my next move? What is the next adventure? And people end up being miserable and creating jobs for themselves. If you started your business or you got into rental properties for financial freedom and to own your time, which is I would say 99% 9% of people, and all of a sudden you've given all your time and all your fun to a job that you absolutely hate. You could have had a job pretty much anywhere that was probably better. Don't create a job for yourself that you hate. Instead, choose your adventures very specifically. First of all, don't sink your business. So like, does it make money? Is this going to be a venture I expect to be profitable? That opens up the field. There's a ton of stuff that makes money. Does it make sense? Which is one that Cody and I have missed before multiple times. Just because it makes money doesn't mean it makes sense. But is this something that works with the rest of my business? That pushes my long-term company goal forward and is not going to distract myself and my team from more critical projects. So it doesn't make money, doesn't make sense. And then will it be fun? Is this going to be something that I sincerely enjoy doing? We've had a video before on the Robin Hood Village Resort. Was it a good idea? And the consensus was no on a business front. However, on a personal front, it is the single most interesting asset that we own. I love being there. I love the kayaks. I love our little boat there that we've never actually put in the water, but I love that we have one. It's fun to walk through the historic cabins with that team and solve problems with that team. A few times a year I fish down there. It's fantastic. That asset rejuvenated me and got me excited. Now, was it really hard? Yes. Did we learn a lot? Yes. That one failed the test of does it make sense? It definitely makes money. Does it make sense? It is super fun. I don't regret doing it because I took a step back from the business and we did something that is truly fun. And I don't regret it at all. Now, things that were not fun, I didn't need to do, that did make money and make sense. There's 2 triplexes Cody and I bought. We got a price that was ridiculous. We got seller finance terms that were very, very good. Check 1. Makes money? Easy. The only problem with them was they were mismanaged. I own a management company. Kensho Property Management, kenshopm.com. Check it out. All we have to do to flip those properties to get the value up is manage them better than the last person. We're uniquely equipped to do that in Central Washington. So does it make sense? Absolutely makes money, makes sense. This is what we do. However, we were buying bigger buildings at the time. They don't really move the needle. Like, 3 more units on a 150-unit portfolio doesn't do that much. What ended up happening is we spent way too long to get basic renovations done because we were worried about bigger projects. We made the same mistake with a tiny home. Does it make money? That thing leased as an extra cabin at the Robin Hood, especially through the summer, 1,000% at a quarter of the price. It would still make money. Does it make sense? I would like to think so. I have a whole resort of cabins and it's basically painted up, fix up the floor, and it's an additional cabin. I would make the argument it probably makes sense. Is it fun? It's renovating a tiny home. That would be really fun as a hobby. I don't have time for that. I'm running the actual resort and the property management company and all— we're running all the contractor teams. It's mostly my wife, but running all of them throughout Moses Lake ended up being a project that could have been fun but just wasn't that fun. So we haven't gotten to it because it doesn't hold my interest. So when you're doing this, this is a rule that a lot of people skip in business, but if your goal is, hey, I want to have this adventure, I want financial freedom, you got to follow the first two rules, and they're really simple. And there's so many opportunities for things that make money and simultaneously make sense for your business. Do ask that question when you're getting established: is this going to be fun, and is this what I actually want to do with my time? Because you could be in a position where you could have just gotten a job doing literally anything else and liked it more. So make sure it crosses, crosses off all 3 boxes. You get a check across the board: makes money, makes sense, and it will be fun. Because this adventure— you have a limited time in business because you have limited time being alive. So choose what you want to do, choose your adventures, make sure they make sense, and move forward from there. If you found this helpful or just a good reminder, I always appreciate a like on these and a thumbs up. If you guys have questions or disagree, post in the comments. And thanks for watching.