Get Rid of Your Fear of Flipping Houses Once and for All
I talk to people all the time about how they want to flip and grow rich - a catchy little spinoff from Napoleon Hill that lots of house flipping pros seem to use these days - but something always seems to stop them...
I was curious. So we did a little survey here at House Flipping School in advance of the launch of our House Flipping School One-on-One Coaching Program to really find out what prevents people from getting dirty and starting to flip and grow rich.
Starting to Flip and Grow Rich...What Stops YOU?
We made the survey pretty much open-ended with a few questions so that people could fill in what they really were thinking.
I'm no professional survey taker, but I figured that would help.
I thought I’d get the usual answers like these:
- I can’t find the money (yep)
- I can’t find the deals (check)
- I don’t know how to analyze a good deal from a bad deal (definitely)
- I don’t know how to manage the rehab (without a doubt)
- I don't know where to start (absolutely)
The list went on and on - we got nearly 100 responses - but what I didn’t expect was the most common underlying theme in seemingly all the answers.
The biggest thing that stops people from living their dreams, taking that first step and learning how to flip and go rich is....
The Biggest Problem Is Just Getting Started
People are just terrified of making mistakes.
When it comes to house flipping, there are some big dollars exchanging hands, so its understandable.
But "big" all depends on your perspective.
For example, I just bought a buildable lot at a town land auction sight unseen for $50,000.
Scary? You bet.
Did I do it? I did.
If I were Donald Trump, would I have been scared?
Probably not.
Maybe buying a tract of land in downtown Manhattan sight unseen for $50,000,000 may shake up the Donald...but not a measly single family lot for $50K.
The point is this: the hardest part sometimes is just THE DOING...and to overcome this, it depends on what your fear threshold is.
But here's the good part, you don't have to go out and buy Trump-sized land blocks to overcome your fear...all you have to do is just do it - but on your size and your scale.
Overcoming your fear of getting started is one of the biggest obstacles to the flipping houses and flipping and growing rich.
Fear and The House Flipping "Flip and Grow Rich" Mindset
Take a look at just a sampling of the fears we found from people taking our survey:
- “I don’t have the knowledge of the house flipping process and I might screw it up”
- “Just plain fear of the unknown”
- “I work full-time so I can’t do it with the time I have”
- “I have no idea how to find houses to flip”
- “Doubt and indecision as to what to do”
- “Lack of a good mentor”
- “If I do, what would my boss say if he found out”
- “I don’t have the confidence to do my first house flip deal”
- “Fear of what happens when the house flip doesn’t sell”
- “Don’t know how to analyze a deal to know whether its good or not”
- “I have no idea how to estimate renovations”
- “I have no clue how to manage a rehab”
Although this is only a partial list, what’s the overriding theme?
Fear.
So how do you control fear and as they say: "just do it anyway"?
You change how your mind THINKS about fear.
Pain, Pleasure and House Flipping
Nearly all responders in the survey expressed a deep interest in learning "a system" of house flipping. One that is repeatable and can allow them to flip and rich not just once, but over and over.
This was cool because the message to me was clear:
Show a logical system of how to flip houses - but help me get out of the way of myself!
We were thinking of releasing a paid coaching product so I figured this validated the kind of thing we wanted to sell to people. Not just to SELL them but actually HELP them get to where they wanted to be.
The answers in the survey helped me adjust House Flipping School One-on-One Coaching Program so it was exactly people wanted. At $9997, it wasn't for everyone, but that's cool, we didn't want it to be.
We wanted it for people who are really serious - and although I guaranteed people would get back the tuition on their first house flip, it was a killer way of helping a handful of really dedicated students.
So what does this have to do with fear?
Everything. Because "Week 1" of the program is all about fear and how to overcome it. And instead of just teaching it to our lucky three students, here's a taste of it below.
Why Does Fear Hold You Back?
The reason fear is such an obstacle is because people will do more to avoid pain than they ever will to gain pleasure.
One of the most important concepts on human behavior is that at the most basic level, there are two opposing forces that motivate people to do everything they do in their lives:
“The desire to avoid pain or the desire to gain pleasure”
Unfortunately, these opposing patterns make people go back and forth between taking action to create some kind of change and losing their motivation to do anything at all.
The problem is that the majority of people do nothing at all.
What you need is LEVERAGE.
House Flipping Leverage
Leverage is the idea that to get anyone to do anything (including learning how to flip and grow rich), they must associate massive PAIN to NOT changing, and massive PLEASURE to changing immediately.
The motivation then comes from using both forces, pain AND pleasure to get them to take action.
The “pain” part serves as the short-term motivation, while the “pleasure” side kick-starts the long-term motivation.
Either You Control Fear or Fear Controls You
The trick is that you must visualize the countless pleasures and satisfaction associated WITH taking that first step and making an offer on a property...
Think of this:
- The supreme satisfaction of actually doing it
- The experience and fun you'll have
- The profits you'll make and what you can do with it: putting your daughter through college, paying of all your credit cards, buying your wife a big gift at Christmas, having the solid satisfaction of staring at your massive checking account balance...
Whatever it is - visualize the pleasure to DOING IT...and learning to flip and grow rich in the process.
And associate massive FEAR and LOSS with NOT doing it:
- Feeling the shame, discouragement and pain of DOING NOTHING.
- Feeling the embarrassment of not being able to control your own fears
- Feeling of loss when someone else buys the property and does a fix and flip successfully
Flip and Grow Rich Ain't Easy But...
Let's be clear, by just “controlling fear” and “associating massive PAIN with NOT house flipping and massive PLEASURE to doing your first flip” this is not going to guarantee you success.
You still have to follow the 70% Rule, learn how to do ARV the right way, learn how to flip houses with no money, build your house flipping team, and so on.
But when it all looks good, ACT
No time for second guessing . . . take action and flip and grow rich.
If you made it this far, please leave me a comment below! I’d love to hear about what you think!
