Resilience
By Jane Garvey
One of the most important personal traits for long term success in any endeavor is resilience. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, resilience is the “ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change”. It isn’t what happens, it is how you react. Your attitude is key.
When my late husband and I first started our real estate investing ventures, we were looking for a way to safely invest so that we would have a more prosperous future. Using our “afterhours” time to do something constructive seemed like a great idea. Many friends and family members questioned the wisdom of these ventures. They couldn’t imagine giving up their free time or taking on responsibilities like the ones we were choosing. Would our efforts really be worth it?
I will say that it has been an interesting journey. We were buying beat-up properties and rehabbing them. Some we were keeping for rentals. Both ends of the business presented lots of opportunities to learn. Our friends and family had many opportunities to tell us “We told you so.” We persisted anyway. It took about 3 years for us to recognize that the “real” jobs were holding us back and to muster up the courage to give up the certainty of the guaranteed paychecks. This was a big deal. It came with lots of questioning of our sanity by ourselves, our friends and our family.
Over the years being willing and able to adjust has been very important. Adjusting methods and direction is a continuous necessity. The market shifts, the business changes, the laws change, the people change, and the “tools” change. There will always be opportunities to do it better, or to do something different that will improve outcomes. Then throw into the mix the occasional unexpected repair, disaster, or other challenge and resilience becomes a necessity.
Keeping your attitude right is a challenge for many. This is something that requires surrounding yourself with people and voices that understand and support you. Most of us don’t start out with the encouraging environment needed. You can’t complain about things to friends and family and expect them to continue to encourage your self-flagellation. Many investors don’t feel comfortable discussing the successes of their business with these same friends and family either since it may feel like bragging. So, all these friends are reacting to is the airing of the problems. The rational question is – “Why would you do this?” They can’t be encouraging you when what you are doing takes time away from their relationship with you and seems to have nothing but downsides. I treasure these people as friends but try to avoid talking about the day-to-day business with them. Our time together is for rejuvenating.
Over the years I have found the real estate investment community is the best place to find people that understand and support. At any investors association meeting you will find people discussing challenges they are facing, and others offering possible solutions. Learning lessons from other peoples’ experiences can save you money, time, and stress. You will find people talking about opportunities and looking for guidance on how to make the most of them. These conversations can help you find the right opportunities to match your resources. You will find people sharing successes to help to encourage and motivate. Resources and contacts are often shared, easing the way to implementation of ideas shared.
It is time to surround yourself with the amazing resources of one or more real estate investors associations. Make the time to get involved. There is nothing like having people around you that speak your language, understand your wins and losses, and who will encourage you in ways too numerous to detail. This is the easiest way you will find to boost your resilience and speed you on your journey to amazing success.
Jane Garvey is President of the Chicago Creative Investors Association.
