Inspiring Stories of People Who Wouldn’t Take “I Can’t” for an Answer
By Vena Jones-Cox

I, like every other group leader and educator in the country, can tell you a million stories about people who signed up for a group membership/class/bootcamp, and then did absolutely nothing with that resource, despite being of sound mind and body and getting all the education and help they needed to “do it”.

I can also tell you a million stories of people who said, “I REALLY REALLY want to do this [the membership, class, property purchase etc] and I know that it’s exactly what I need, but I CAN’T because [I can’t get off work this weekend, I don’t have the money, I can’t get a babysitter for 3 days, I already bought x, y, and z]”.

And, thanks to people I’ve encountered who simply wouldn’t let “I can’t” get in the way, I have come to realize that, no matter what the excuse, that’s all it is. It’s never about the money or the time—it’s about the commitment.

To wit: I recently sold a property in Columbus to a father of 5 (with a 6th on the way) who was 40 years old and positively determined to buy his first house.

This property needed fairly major work—new furnace, wiring, flooring, paint, carpet etc—and was priced accordingly ($750 down, $300/mo for 7 years), but Don is a skilled handyperson who was going to have no problem either doing the work or making the payments.

What he WAS going to have a problem with was paying for the materials. His day job—working as an automotive technician—pays his rent (which dropped $325/month when he moved) and supports the large family, but doesn’t leave any spare cash to buy the approximately $7,000 in materials he’ll need to put this house into tip-top shape.

But Don wasn’t going to take “I can’t” for an answer. He applied for the property, then went out and got a part-time job AT HOME DEPOT so that he could 1) get the employee discount on materials and 2) earn enough extra to pay for them.

He explained to me that he could work there for 6 months, get everything he needed, and then quit, and that he and his wife had agreed that this was a necessary and desirable sacrifice to get a home that they could raise their kids in for the next 20 years.

WOW. Would you consider doing such a thing to get together the down payment for an investment property? Or the money to take that course you swear you want to take? Because some people do.

Another investor I know raised $18,000 delivering pizzas as a 2nd job to get the money to start buying notes (and has now made literally millions doing so). And one of my own students sold everything in his house that he could spare on eBay to raise the money for mentoring (and now flips well over 40 properties a year). And another quit his job because his boss wouldn’t give him Friday off to go to a class even though he’d asked for it weeks in advance (and has been full-time in real estate, shortsaling dozens of properties a year, since then). And another attended my wholesaling bootcamp with her 11 year old in tow because she couldn’t find a babysitter for 4 days. And another went, as an adult, hat in hand to her parents to get $2,500 to attend a wholesaling bootcamp that she positively couldn’t afford. Oh wait, that was me.

So WHY can’t you put together $500 for marketing again? And WHY can’t you go to that out-of-town seminar?

Bottom line is, you don’t really want to, or you’d find a way to do it, as thousands have before you.

We spend so much time telling ourselves that X is out of our reach because of money, or time, or hassle, or whatever that we don’t think outside the box about how to MAKE it happen. Or better yet, refuse to believe that there IS a box.

So ask yourself, what’s REALLY behind your excuses? Are you worried that even if you spend the money on the marketing/property/class/membership, you can’t or won’t make it work for you? Are you afraid that your family/friends/colleagues won’t support you in your efforts and sacrifices? Or have you just not sat down and thought about what you could do/sell/cash in/change to get what you’re telling yourself—and me—that you want?

I’ve taken the words “I can’t” out of my vocabulary. I may say “I don’t want to do what it takes” or “I don’t want the results that badly” or “I won’t” or “It’s not worth it to me”, but I try to be honest with myself about why I’m not taking on another project or making the time to travel to an event or expanding my business to include another strategy. “I can’t” is not only untrue—it’s demoralizing and doesn’t encourage creative thinking about a problem.

What about you?

Reprinted with permission of Vena Jones-Cox. To get more free articles and tips, subscribe at www.TheRealEstateGoddess.com