How do some the top real estate investors plan for the next year?
Sometimes small differences separate those who fail in real estate vs. those who thrive… and the end of the year planning rituals give these top investors a huge edge over their competition.
What are you doing this time of the year to plan for a successful year ahead? Well, here’s a peek behind the scenes of what these top real estate investors do to hone their mindset and get laser focus for the year ahead.
Real estate investors continue to thrive by using solid real estate investment strategies. Wholesaling and flipping are continuing to push momentum as well as the multi-family market.
However, perhaps even more than ever, is the ability to adapt to move within the market trends is hugely important. The ability to plan ahead.
So we reached out to some top investors and real estate professionals to see if they would share what type of mindset they have when penciling in their strategies for the coming year.
Use these strategies below and implement them in your own business before you get too far into the new year!
5 Mindset Habits To Help Create Effective Real Estate Investing Goals For The Year Ahead AND Actually Achieve Them
Doug Fath – Legacy Capital
I love doing end of the year planning for the upcoming year. In order to make this planning as efficient as possible, there are three things that set me up to hit the ground running to create my yearly goals.
1. Accurate Numbers
I have the books for over a dozen of my entities reconciled on a monthly basis (thank you MY HQ Pro) so by the time I get to December I have accurate numbers through the end of November. This is super important because you need to account for your current year goals before you can create new ones.
2. Strategic Planning
I’ve always been a big planner but Dan Sullivan’s Strategic Coach Program has helped me take strategic planning to a new level, so by the time I get to the end of the year, I already have a pretty good idea what I’m up against in the new year based on my previous written goals (Life Time Goals, 3-Year Goals, and 1-Year Goals) that I review on a quarterly basis.
3. Inspiration
There aren’t many authors that can do this but there is something about Robert Kiyosaki’s writings that speaks to my soul and gets me inspired.
I re-read and skim some of my favorite books which are primarily from his “Rich Dad” Collection.
I’ll go through my highlights of “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, “Cashflow Quadrant”, “Guide to Investing”, “Retire Young Retire Rich”, “Increase Your Financial IQ”, “Conspiracy of the Rich” and Keith Cunningham’s “Keys to The Vault” and “The Ultimate Blueprint for an Insanely Successful Business”.
By this point, I’m ready to rock and roll and create my new annual goals which I create in the following format.
- Yearly Goals
- Vision Board
- Word of the year
- Context – focus for the year
- Business Investment Strategy (from Kiyosaki’s “Who Took My Money”)
- Visual Illustration of my Business Investment Strategy
- High-Level Goals – “Retire Young Retire Rich”
- Personal Financial Statement – how do the fulfillment of my goals show up here
- Personal Financial Statement – Results from the current year compared to new goals for the upcoming year
- Growing & Development – “Rich Dad’s” 3 paths to wealth and how I plan to learn and grow in each of those areas this year
- Financial Statements of Poor, Middle Class, and Rich (always a good reminder)
Daniil Kleyman – Rehab Valuator
I think for any proper, true self-reflection, you need to be able to get away from your regular physical and work environment.
For me, that means going out of the country. At the end of each year, I try to take a trip to truly disconnect from my regular “world” and “grind” to assess where I’ve been and where I’m going.
[At the time of writing this] Right now, I am sitting on my balcony in Maui overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We got in last night after spending 11 days in Thailand. Both destinations have been sunny, peaceful, and idyllic which all offer great scenery for taking time out and really thinking about what’s important in life.
So that brings me to my year-end assessment and planning for the next year.
I ask myself these questions…
I think goal-setting has its place and I do some of that for the next year. But there is a deeper process that I engage in and it starts with asking myself the following questions:
- Am I engaged in the kinds of activities every single day that I truly enjoy and want to be engaged in?
I think focusing on goals is important but I want to make sure I am enjoying life and my work every single day, not just the thought or the prospect of the prize at the end of the journey. So I try to make sure that my daily activities and my work involve things I am truly passionate about.
If you can get to that point, then the end result actually becomes less important. If you enjoy the journey, then the destination matters less and less.
I make a list of the high-level work I do all the way down to the daily routine stuff and if there are things on the list which I don’t truly enjoy doing, then I make a game plan for how to outsource or delegate more and more of it out.
And if there is an entire business or business segment which I realize doesn’t truly bring me satisfaction (I run multiple companies and within those companies multiple business niches or segments or revenue generators), then I start thinking about getting rid of that business or business segment altogether.
- Am I living the kind of life I truly want to be living? This is more of a bigger picture lifestyle and lifestyle planning question.
- Am I pursuing my passions?
- Am I engaged in regular learning?
- Am I traveling and seeing enough of the world?
- Am I helping others regularly and giving back?
Again, I think it’s important to ensure that our life is designed according to our ideals right now, not someday later.
So I make sure that my plan for the following year includes all of these activities and if I don’t have the means to do something, then I make a game plan for finding those means.
Those are my starting point questions.
Once I answer those questions, then I back my way into what my specific goals and activities for next year should be so that I am able to continue leading the kind of life I want to be leading.
Those answers guide what I do, not some arbitrary revenue figures or goals that are rooted in someone else’s expectations of me.
Alex Pardo – FlipEmpire
“9 Things You MUST Do To CRUSH the YEAR”
Well, my friends, it’s that time of the year again. As we get ready to embark on another year, I’d like to share with you the process I go through to ensure I set myself up for success, and crush my goals!
I’m not talking just about setting goals, and I’m definitely not talking about “new years resolutions” (which completely suck in my opinion).
I think most people understand the importance of goals, but few people approach this important task with the level of thought and attention I think it deserves.
After all, how can you have what you want out of life and business if you don’t know “WHY” you want it? How can you stack the deck in your favor so that by this time next year, you’re feeling accomplished, successful, happy and fulfilled?
This post is aimed at helping you CRUSH IT (and my hope is that this process will help make it your best year ever!)
The following 9-step outline will walk you through my systematic approach to document my vision, my “why”, set the goals I will accomplish in the new year, as well as an action plan to help guide me along the way.
(Quick Tip: Did you notice what I said there? I said, “…set the goals I WILL accomplish”. You always want to state your goals as if you already achieved them)
Here we go:
1. Year-End Reflect & Review
Take out a legal pad of paper (you’ll use this a lot), and write down everything you accomplished this year. I often find that I accumulated many more “wins” than I thought, and this process will help you begin to appreciate the progress you made (even though you may not feel like it).
Now take some time to think about the challenges you encountered along the way. Write them down, but most importantly, write down what you learned as a result.
2. Focus on your “Wins”
Look at your list of accomplishments and focus on the positive. Don’t worry about the goals you didn’t accomplish, but look at where you were, and all the progress you made throughout the year.
It’s always more productive to focus your attention on the gap between where you were, and where you are now, opposed to focusing on what you weren’t able to accomplish!
3. Express Gratitude
Write down everything you are grateful for… do not let your hand stop, just let it flow! It’s amazing what expressing gratitude does in our lives, so make sure you adopt this practice on a daily basis!
4. “Cut the Fat”
Make a list of the things you don’t like doing, and/or don’t add value to your life/business, and decide if you can: Delegate it? Outsource It? Automate It? Or, completely remove it from your list?!
5. Write out your ‘January Letter’ (Vision)
I got this from my friend Sean Terry, and it’s a great exercise. Mentally fast forward to Dec. 31st of the following year, and ask yourself what would have had to happen in that year for you to feel happy, successful, accomplished, etc.?
Then write yourself a letter as if that year just finished and you accomplished everything you wanted to accomplish.
TIP: Make sure that you embed emotion into this exercise. Imagine what it would feel like after you’ve crushed your goals…
6. Create Emotionally Driven (S.M.A.R.T) Goals, and most importantly document your “WHY”
Document exactly what you want to accomplish in the coming year, and “WHY”. I like to focus on 1-3 goals max, and for the following categories:
- Family
- Spiritual
- Health
- Business
- Personal
S.M.A.R.T Goals are: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Based
(Each goal should have a quick sentence or paragraph on “WHY” you want this goal. Remember to write them down as if you already accomplished them!)
7. Reverse Engineer Your Goals
- Break them down into quarterly goals
- Then break those down into monthly goals
- Then break those down into weekly goals
- and finally daily goals
8. Set Your Calendar
Start with the most important thing first (ex. if Family, schedule all vacations, family time-off, etc…), then move on to the second most important thing (ex. Business goals). Everyone will be different, so you have to be self-aware.
What’s most important to you?
9. Recharge Your Batteries
Take some time off to do what you love. Think about what energizes you, and do that! You can’t imagine how beneficial this is for you, your family, and your business.
That’s it, my friends. I’ve come up with this throughout the years, and I hope you find it valuable. You are getting ready to do big things next year. People are relying on you, so follow through and make it happen!
Oh, and one last parting thought…
It’s not always about the destination, but the journey.
Make sure you enjoy the ride. It won’t always be smooth. In fact, I can almost guarantee it will be bumpy along the way, but it’s all part of the process in making you the best version of yourself!
Dan Schwartz
“The January Letter”
I didn’t originate this, but I can accredit it to Frank Kern for instilling this habit from a podcast I heard years ago.
The gist: Before NYE, write a letter as your future self. Date the letter exactly one year from today, and start it with something along the lines of “Dear [your name], it’s been one heck of a year!” followed by a description of your accomplishments in these four pillars of your life:
- Personal development goals: Health, mindset, and relationships (new workout habits, new mentors, etc.)
- Career/business/economic goals: What level of financial abundance you’d like to achieve, what person have you become in your field etc.?
- Stuff goals: What kind of cool toys, trips, experiences, and fun stuff did you do and acquire?
- Contribution: How have you given back to the world?
The point of the exercise is to mentally frame these accomplishments as if they already happened. It’s a powerful subconscious exercise.
You’ll find when you read this letter in a year, it’s usually eerily in line with what you were able to actually manifest…so dream big!
Trevor Mauch – Carrot
For me, it’s really 4 steps I go through each December and January that have really given me momentum in business and life the last 6-7 years.
Before that, I’d go through the same cycle every year.
I was too busy. Too overworked. Under compensated. Not as grateful as I should be. Not happy (with every reason to be happy as heck).
And in 2012 I had a transformational year.
I’m talking… increase my income (net income, not just revenues) and productivity by 10x, I’m consistently happy (has nothing to do w/ the money by the way), fulfilled, clear on my purpose…
… and yes… I’m still busy. I haven’t slain that dragon yet…
… but the work I do for the most part now is stuff I LOVE to do and my purpose and mission in life have become crystal clear.
It’s all a process.
Anyone can repeat it.
It’s 4 basic steps (that I went into in detail this week in a live Google Hangout that you can see below.
The steps are…
1. Mindset Re-Set
It’s easy to lose urgency for actually doing the important things NOW in life vs. waiting and thinking we have forever to do it. Time with family, creating your legacy, striving for achievement, etc.
So I recognize my own mortality… that NOW is the time to do those important things since there’s no guarantee any of us will be here in 10 years.
2. Solid Annual Planning Process
I do a 2 day “off-site”… fully away from the office and away from distraction. For me, it’s with the Leadership team at Carrot and we basically go through this agenda (and have a lot of fun in the process).
- Reflect and review the year behind us. What did we do great? Do not so great? Celebrate the wins!
- Mind-expanding s*** (pardon the french). Let’s really think big. Allow ourselves to get scared a bit. Then peel it back to what we want to accomplish specifically the next year now that our mind is expanded. What impact do we want to make? What legacy can we create right now? Why are we here????
- Product planning. What products/services do we need to have and improve the next year to march toward that big vision we just cast? Get specific.
- Marketing planning. What kind of marketing will it take to sell our product/service to reach those goals? Be specific.
- People planning. What gaps do we have currently or bottlenecks we need to solve to achieve all of that and still live the amazing lifestyle we want to live? Also what amazing people can we bring into our mission and how do we best enrich their lives?
- Process planning. Are there any processes we NEED to have in place to do all of that better? There always are. What will really unleash you and your potential in 2021 process-wise? Be specific. Tackle those first in the next year.
3. Structure To Keep Course During The Year
Most people do goal setting once and then they never check them again. I’ve learned I have to have guard rails on my year to keep me on course. Chunk down your big goals to 90 days so they seem more achievable and are easier to turn into action items each month. Have a solid daily “to do” process, and put other things in place to keep you on track.
3 FREE Resources to Build Healthy Habits
4. Crafting A “Winning Environment”
One great way to stay motivated, inspired, and on track is to surround yourself with things that inspire you.
So What Are You Doing To Plan A Successful Year Ahead RIGHT NOW?
As the old saying goes… “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.
The same thing doesn’t work for everyone as you can see in this blog post. So, borrow from what’s working for these top real estate entrepreneurs and implement those strategies in your own life right now.
My guess is less than 5% of everyone reading this will actually go out and thoroughly plan your year ahead. Those people will crush it.
The rest of the people will likely be looking back this time next year at the year that passed saying, “Man that year went fast. I had some goals I wrote down but I got off track and this year ended up just like last year ended. No real progress on my big life goals, no momentum, and nothing much to show for the year.
So it’s your choice… borrow from these best practices this year to plan an epic year ahead… or continue on with the status quo. I hope you choose to have a life-changing year (for the better) in 2021.
