10 Things I’ve Learnt (Part 10)
Take Action NOW
Over the past 9 weeks I’ve revealed nine things which I’ve discovered over the past 20 years of investing in property for myself, and so now it’s time to complete the series. Number ten on the list is this: Stop procrastinating and get started!
Whilst to some this may sound somewhat ironic, being made redundant by my former employer was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. It forced me to get started there and then. If I had just sat back and procrastinated, I would have gone broke – and with a family to feed this wasn’t an option.
Previously, I had only ever taken very small steps to get into property, but redundancy pushed me into getting started straight away. It pushed me to take action.
And this leads me to share with you my final piece of advice in this ten part series – you have to get started now! Don’t wait a year, five years or ten years… take action today and stop procrastinating because otherwise, you’ll never make a real go of it.
I can understand that you might be plagued with questions on how to make the perfect plan. You might be asking yourself if you should find your property first or your JV partner first? You might be questioning if you should source a property and then raise the finance, or raise the finance before finding a property? But here’s the thing, there probably isn’t a perfect plan or even a perfect deal, so don’t let these thoughts stop you and instead head out to find both the property AND the finance.
If you’re new to investing then it would be fair to say that your knowledge is incomplete and your education probably far from perfect. Don’t let this put you off. We don’t know what the future holds and so it’s impossible for us to plan for what might happen. What’s more, in my opinion I think it’s actually better to go and do a few “imperfect” deals now and take some action rather than wait a year, two years or even five years anyway.
You have to think that your education and knowledge will never be complete. I’ve been in property for over 35 years and investing for myself for over 20 years, and I still don’t know all there is to know about property. Things change all the time; laws change, markets change and even techniques change. Strategies that worked in the past may not work today. So, don’t wait until you’ve got all of the education before you start – start taking action now and build on your education as you go along. After all, you’ll have to continually “learn” and will have to adapt with the changes anyway.
It’s also been said that: “The greatest investors are those that can make quick decisions using incomplete or imperfect information”. Let’s think about this. These individuals know that their information is incomplete or imperfect, but they make a decision anyway. Unlike others, they don’t wait until they have all their ducks in a row to take action – because they know the probabilities and are aware of the risks, and they use this “imperfect” information to make an informed decision. And most of the time, it’s the right decision.
So, don’t wait to get started. Stop procrastinating and take action now. And, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, vow to continue no matter what is thrown at you – because this is how you’ll succeed.
Here’s to successful property investing
Peter Jones B.Sc FRICS
By the way, I’ve rewritten and updated my best selling eBook, The Successful Property Investor’s Strategy Workshop, which is an account of how I put together my multi-property portfolio, starting from scratch and with no money of my own, and how you can do the same. For more details please go to ThePropertyTeacher.co.uk