I get this question all the time, “Should I quit my job and go all-in on real estate investing?” The answer is… maybe. Recently I sat down with one of the members of our 7 Figure Runway mentoring group, Ron Angel, to talk about this question. Ron has a stronger mindset than just about anyone I know which is important, because what’s going on in your mind is the #1 indicator of success in this business (or ANY business).
If you are contemplating quitting your W-2 job a few important questions to ask yourself are: How committed are you to your real estate investing goals? What are you willing to give up to achieve the life of freedom and income you want for yourself and your family? What are you NOT willing to give up?
Here is a little more about Ron’s journey. Ron was in the military when he and his wife bought their first house which he knew he would turn into a rental. They bought another one and both moved on to separate careers with no real desire to make real estate a career. Fast forward to COVID, Ron had been working as a software engineer and realized it wasn’t really what he wanted. He wanted to have more time with his family and more control over his schedule. He then decided to figure out how to give himself more time and freedom. He started networking online and found a Mastermind for Veterans called The War Room. He also hired an Executive Coach. He prepared himself for a long term plan of five years to transition into real estate but with the help of his coach and a mindset shift he realized he could move much more quickly and ended up leaving his job in one year.
So, how can you prepare yourself to make the big shift from your job to real estate?
The first big game changer is investing in programs or being around people that are now making or have already made the big move into real estate successfully. This allows you to see that it is possible. Coaches also can make a huge difference in speeding up your trajectory.
How do you hire a coach and is it easy?
There are many ways to find coaches however it is a big expense. High Performance coaches often come with fairly high price points so it is a commitment that can be difficult to make. However if you hire the right coach, you will feel the difference right away as your attitude shifts to hope, excitement and your life begins to immediately change because the mindset you are operating from changes.
When do you leave your job and how do you make that decision?
There are of course many ways you can do this. You can make an exit plan that you may or may not stick to fully for various reasons. Regardless, we recommend you make the transition as smooth as you can without delaying by getting stuck in what we call analysis paralysis. It is scary to leave a secure job with a salary and benefits, but eventually you will have to make the leap.
What Ron did was plan out his finances with his coach so he could create a runway for his family and his business that would allow himself time to build his real estate company. He focused on getting clear on what he really wanted in life and what the next steps were to get there. Ron’s shift to move his timeline forward more quickly was largely due to mindset and feeling like he could do what he needed to do to quit his job in one year instead of five.
What is the first sign that you are ready to leave your W-2 job?
Most people assume that they will continue on their career path and work up their job ladder with promotions. When you realize that what you want isn’t the next promotion you can start to get clear on where else you might want to go. Once that happens you can begin to make a plan.
If you are sitting on the sidelines saying ‘I want to,’ you also want to be spending time with people who have made this transition successfully so you can ask them questions. Find out personally how these people have done it so you see that it is possible. Then start taking small actions so you start to see results. For example, send out your first batch of mailers and watch the leads come in. Then you work on the next step and make appointments, etc. Action leads to Results and Results lead to Belief which inspires more action (courtesy of Tony Robbins).
The challenge that you have in taking action initially is that you may not believe that the results will materialize yet. But when you are around others that have already done it successfully you are inspired to take those first steps.
Pro-Tip:
See the results in your head before they happen. When you truly believe that you will be successful you take action. Over time you build momentum and more results bring more action.
If you are one of those people thinking about quitting your job but just don’t quite know where to start, I hope this gives you a few ideas of how you can begin to take those first steps.
