#91: Seven Great First Steps in Real Estate Investing

Foreign welcome to the Passive Income MD Podcast where we talk about creating your ideal life through multiple streams of income. I'm your host, Peter Kim. If you enjoy hearing about this stuff, make sure to hit subscribe so I can bring it to you every week. Now let's get on with the show. Hey everyone, hope you've had another great week. You know, this past week in particular, I've had a lot of conversations about how to get started investing in real estate. You know, I tend to talk about real estate quite a bit and the question that always comes up is, you know, what's the best first step? Now, I don't know if there's one perfect first step, but I've got seven great ones for you to talk about in this episode. Before we get to that, depending on when you're listening to this, I wanted to announce a few things we've on March 9th through 13th, 2022, we've got one of our signature events, the virtual summit Leverage and Growth Summit for Physicians where we talk to 30 plus physicians about how they were able to create other income streams outside of medicine, to take control of their lives right both in and outside of medicine. They're following their passions, they're doing different things, starting businesses, a lot of cool, cool conversations and it's all absolutely free. So look out for that. Coming soon again, it's one of the highlights of my year just to talk to so many people. I know a lot of people said they look forward to this as well, so look out for that. And also coming up in April, we're going to be having our next class of Passive Real Estate Academy where we teach people how to confidently invest in passive real estate investments like syndications and funds in four weeks. So that's going to happen again in April. If you're interested in that, head over to passiverealestateacademy.com and you can just get on the waitlist where we'll give you some announcements and, you know, possibly a discount as well as some announcements for when it goes live. So take a look at that head over there. Get on the wait list. And now we're going to get into today's episode Again, we're going to be talking about seven great first steps in real estate investing. Let's start with number one. I think this one's actually a pretty good one to start with, right? It's to figure out your goals and write them down like at the end of the day, just so you know. I mean, I like real estate investing. I do, but I Just see it as simply a vehicle. It's a vehicle to get me where I want to be. Right. To help me achieve my ideal life. I think that's the point of all investments, right? Whether you're in real estate, stocks, whatever it is. It's to help get you to a place in life where you feel in control, like where you're safe, secure, free, or whatever it might be. Now, I know so many people start this journey without knowing where they exactly want to end up. And I think that's kind of like taking a trip but not knowing where you want to go. Now I did that back in the day, back in med school, in college, before, where we just landed a certain location where we kind of needed to end up. But you know, I think most of us in life don't want to do that when we have our families and we, you know, we have a certain way place where we want to be. So I think that a lot of people have a hard time actually figuring out how to get from point A to point B because they never actually determine what point B is. So the key is to get specific about what you're looking to accomplish and, and when you want to have it by. And those who know me, I'm a fan of the smart system S M A R T. I'm not going to go to it right now, but I had a previous episode on it look for that and then you've got to write it down. There's something special about writing goals down, whether it's the intention, getting it outside of yourself, seeing it on paper. And it's also a way for you to log it and work through it and iterate and that sort of thing. So absolutely, number one, figure out your goals and write them down. Number two, another great step is just to read books. Now I think books are still relevant today with all of the new technology out there, all the different forms of media available to us. Yes, books are still an amazing resource. I mean, they typically take a fair amount of commitment, right. To complete them. Right. Versus just reading a quick blog post, whatever it is. But there's so much depth in some of these things and you're gonna get it all in one place. If you're able to take someone's knowledge, like the, you know, the 20 to 25 years of knowledge, whatever, and they condense it into a book, it's to your advantage to read that and to leverage their experience to help you get where you want to be. On my blog, I put a post on, you know, some of My favorite books, especially when it comes to real estate investing. I'm just wondering what some of yours are. Feel free to let us know. Number three, read blogs and forums. Now, this is a simple one. I mean, many of you know or found me through my blog, right? I mean, I hear people who say that maybe they don't have the time to sit and read an entire book. Now I get that we're all busy. I think it's like that initial resistance to committing to entire book that keeps people from starting their investing journey. Some people are like, I can't read the book and so I can't get started investing. Well, if it's a time issue, then there are solutions for that, right? You can start by reading a blog article one at a time, right? There are ones that are very specific on certain topics or there's forums where people have asked certain questions. Maybe it's questions like, you know, you've thought about in the past, right? There's really no excuse for you to not be able to find maybe two to three minutes during the day while waiting in the line at Starbucks or before a case starts or whatever else it might be, walking the dogs, you know, where you can set aside, or you should be able to set aside two to three minutes to do that and just gain a little bit of knowledge. You can get a nugget of wisdom even from some of these short posts. I mean, it's funny because even the blogs I've written over time, some of the ones that I thought were like the short ones maybe didn't have enough value in it, but some of those are the ones that people really rallied behind the most and felt like it was most relevant for them and helpful. So you never know. So take a look inside. There's so many blogs, so many great forums out there. I also have a list of some of my favorite blogs, real estate investing blogs, on my site as well. That's great. First step. Maybe we'll put those in the show notes as well. Okay, so look out for that. Number four. This one you're doing right now, you're listening to a podcast, right? But. Or listening to an audiobook. Now, you might not have the time to sit and read, but again, there has to be some time in your day where you can listen and absorb information in, like, audio form. Now I find the best time to educate myself is in the car. Because you're stuck in the car for your commute or wherever, you know, wherever else you might be. And that's a great place to. Instead of Listening to music, which is great as well. It's a great time to relax. But there's an opportunity for you to bring a classroom to you right during that time, whether it's 20 minutes, 30 minutes, some of us live in high traffic areas for even longer than that. It's a great use of time without spending any extra time in your day or having to carve out any extra time in your day, because that's the time you have to spend anyways on those commutes or while walking your dog. Again, that's one of my favorite times, too, to listen to podcasts and educate myself. There are so many amazing resources out there in audio form. You know, I listen to podcasts, right? Audiobooks and even book summaries. There are companies that have really come, gone out and condensed books into short, short little audio segments. And those I find are extremely powerful too, because if I find a topic or subject matter in there that I want to dive into, then I can go dive into it and take a look further. Now, every book that I've mentioned, like, on all these lists, they all have audio versions of them. And also when it comes to podcasts, like, I mean, I guess I have an endless list of podcasts to get through, but there is never a time where I sit down and go, all right, there's nothing else to listen to. There's always some things to listen to and some more to learn from. And hopefully this podcast has served that need for you. But there are plenty of other podcasts on either real estate, Investing Upon Life, about money, and these kind of things which can help you on your journey and help you figure out how to take that first step. Number five, go to a real estate meeting or conference. Obviously, things are a little bit different right now in today's world, but these real estate meetings and conferences are around, whether they're both virtual or in person. I mean, I still remember what it was like to go to my very first real estate investor meeting. I went alone. I didn't know a single person there. I just read about it. I found it online, and I went by myself. I totally felt out of place, like I was the least educated person in the room. And it's weird because, you know, especially those who have come up pretty far in our, you know, medical or professional careers, you know, it's been a while since we heard the person. The least educated person in the room. And so when I was there actually was. It was humbling, but in a lot of ways, it actually encouraged me, motivated me to learn more So I sat and I talked to people, I listened to their stories, I listened to strategies, I wrote them down. And it felt like my eyes were open to a whole new world. And it was, it was fun. I mean, I learned a ton. So since then, I made a commitment to go to at least one major real estate conference a year, maybe two. You know, in fact, you know, that led me to create my own real estate conference. You know, pimdcon or the Financial Freedom to Real Estate Conference. We did it initially in person in 2019, I think that was, and we've done it virtually since. But my hope is that in 2022, maybe we'll be able to do a hybrid version. If life is a different place right now with the pandemic, hopefully be able to do it in person. But I think it's important to immerse yourself in it, be around other like minded people, network, connect, learn from others. And it's a great place for you to figure out like how to keep continue moving forward. Now there have been times when I've had one conversation like outside of one of the main lectures, and that was a conversation that changed my whole path and trajectory. I think it's extremely powerful when you talk to people and this is an amazing first step that I think anybody can take, right. Whether it's virtual or live or in person. Number six. Now talking about talking to people, you can talk to a friend, a colleague, a family member. I mean, I'm confident that you know someone in your network that has some experience investing in real estate. If you're connected through Facebook groups, like our Facebook group Passive Income Docs, there are tons of people who have invested in real estate. If you're part of our platinum investor club through Passive Real Estate Academy, there are tons of people who've invested. Right. And are down the line from you. Right. And now have a little bit more experience than you do now. It might not be somebody, somebody like really close to you, but I mean that'd be ideal. But maybe it's one of the physicians you interact with on occasion. I mean, that's what I did in the beginning when I wanted to find someone who invested in real estate. I mean, anesthesiologist. So I had the luck to be in a lot of different rooms and talk to different surgeons and different doctors. And I just would ask them, are you investing in real estate? Who out there is doing that now? It felt a little awkward for me to approach someone about the topic, but I found that people who invest in real estate, they love talking about it, right? I mean, like me, right? No one got where they're at if they're successful in real estate without having some guidance, without having other people help them along the way. So I found that people are extremely giving when it comes to that and they're willing to pay it forward if you simply ask. So why not utilize other people's experience, again, leverage their knowledge and wisdom and, and use that to help guide you and to help you figure out what you need to do now again, this is a great first step that anyone can take and it just requires a little bit of asking around. Number seven, you can take a real estate investing course. Like, we all love taking courses. I think in terms of, like, we've all spent a lot of time educating ourselves and we understand the power of taking a course. We can learn, you know, so much in a short period of time. I mean, I don't know about you, but it feels like every year I have less and less time to do all the things I want to do. Your family is growing, you know, your practice growing or other, you know, commitments are growing. And so I've been hyper focused on figuring out how to maximize my time. I'm all about high yield content and resources. And as everyone knows, the human listening to this podcast, I can't say it enough. The most limited resource we have as busy professionals is time. And we have to value that extremely high, right? I mean, I feel my time is extremely valuable. I put a number on it, you know, in the high one, hundreds to thousands actually, you know, as doctors who make decent income. But what good is like, for example, money if it can't help you for your time? So instead of spending hours and hours of like just aimlessly looking on the Internet or whatever for the right resources and information, I found that some of the most high yield learning for me is to find a course on it from someone who is experienced and knowledgeable in the field and then leverage that, right? It accelerates my learning and shortens the learning curve, you know, to find a course and learn from them, right? They have a certain amount of period of time, they packed all their knowledge and information in that and it's a finite amount. I'll take it. I know that I'm going to leverage that and learn from it. And I've learned to value my time because I'd rather be spending some of that other time doing things I love, right? Not just sitting there on the Internet, just, you know, searching all around. So I've spent thousands and thousands on these courses over the years, but it saved me hundreds of hours. And again, I'd rather spend the time with my family and friends. They've also saved me from making some big mistakes. And how much is that worth to you? Right? One mistake that you make can be a six figure mistake. I, you know, I made some of those mistakes before and I wish I had courses or some sort of knowledge base that kept me out of the mistakes. And so that's kind of why we also created our course. Right? And again, shameless plug here. We created Passive Real Estate Academy to try to really shorten the duration of learning and try to pack it into one. Now, I'm not just saying take that course, but there's so many other amazing courses out there on every subject or any subject that you can imagine and think about how important your time is, how valuable it is, and if you want to learn a certain skill. I actually believe that, you know, taking some sort of course is one of the best things that you can do. I think it's a great first step and everyone can take this. So I know you've heard these seven great first steps and you're wondering, so what should the first step be? I mean, honestly, again, I think number one is probably the best one, right? Where you define your goals and write it down. But to be honest with you, I usually go back at them and I ask the people who ask me, like, what should be my first step? I say, what do you think you should do? Because I think, you know, right, what do you want to do and what can you do now? They usually know the answer. The answer is, honestly, it's whatever gets you moving and taking action. That is the great first step. Life is about momentum, inertia, overcoming inertia, whatever that might be. One of the things on this list, it'll get you moving, which will probably lead you into other things. And the next thing you know, you're, you're moving like quickly down the path to where you want to be. And I'm so excited that you're listening to this and that. I'm hopefully part of your journey in some way. If there's anything else we can do to support you, always feel free to reach out to us at Passive Income md. Right? Otherwise, let us know if there's another first step that I'm missing here or if you've taken one of these first steps. We love hearing from you. Reach out to us. And otherwise, have a great week and let's talk again soon. Enjoy the show. Let me know by dropping a review in the podcast app you're listening to us in. And if you haven't already, make sure to hit subscribe. Are you part of our community yet? Join thousands of physicians who are also on this journey to creating their ideal lives through multiple streams of income. You can join us on our Facebook group Passive Income Docs, and you can always learn more at our website, passiveincomemd. Com. Thanks again for allowing me to be a part of your journey. See you next time.