Lessons From The Rich Dad Annual Forum

ORLANDO, FL – It was quite an honor to be asked by the folks at Rich Dad to speak on the subject of Short Sales and Foreclosures at their Annual Forum a few weeks ago.  It was four days of 12 hours a day intense real estate investing education.  I feel like I met and spoke with just about everyone of the more than 1000 people in attendance in that 96 hour period.  What I learned from interviewing all of these different types of investors was quite interesting and I wanted to pass it along to you. (Plus, in case you are wondering about my experiences with hanging out with Robert Kiyosaki himself, I'll touch on that as well.) So onto what I discovered that I think you will find quite intriguing.

The Skeptic

Some people came up to me and said, “Ya, I've been in real estate for 20 years and I know for certain that in my area, short sales the way you do them don't work.” I, meanwhile, had a booklet printed out showing closing HUDs that totaled more than $300,000 in profits on some deals that had closed in just Jan and Feb 2010. When someone would say something like, “it doesn't work in my area,” I would say, “Oh, it doesn't huh?” Then I would flip to some closing statements with addresses in their area proving that the way we do the business absolutely works everywhere. The look on their face was priceless. A whole new world had opened up to them. So that was lots of fun.

The Strictly Long Termer

Since Robert Kiyosaki is the creator of the famous financial board game, “Cash Flow”, there were a number of long term investors in attendance. I asked the simple question, “What would you rather have; $30,000 now or $300/mo for 5 years?” Not a single person opted for the $300/mo. Why? Because $30,000 is more money than $300/mo for 5 years and it's also cash in your pocket right now. Many of these people were not producing quick cash from their real estate investing endeavors. Don't get me wrong, I love building long term wealth with rental units, but I noticed that so many investors were missing out on the joys of big chunks of quick cash. There's nothing wrong with doing BOTH in your investing life…building long term wealth AND putting big chunks of cash in your pocket.

The “Doer” vs the “Thinker”

There were really two different types of investors there; the “Doers” and the “Thinkers”. When I asked the Doer type how their investing was going, they would say things like, “It's OK, just closed on our 3rd deal in two months, made a little over $60,000 but we really need to get our act together and start really making some money.” That's what it sounds like when you are talking to a “Doer”.  Then, the “Thinkers” would answer something like this, “I've been reading and gathering information the last couple years, just want to make sure I have a firm foundation before getting started.” The problem with perpetual “thinkers” is that they don't realize that action is the only way to truly create correct thinking.  It's not until you start taking action that your thoughts will become focused on the correct direction. For example, how could you really know what a seller is going to ask you until you actually talk to one?  The bottom line is that if you are a perpetual “thinker”, it's time for you to start “doing” or else you risk staying in the exact same place as you are now.

The Pleasant Surprise

Guess who showed up? One our students, Michele Evans, all the way from Los Angeles, CA! What a pleasant surprise it was too. Michele and I had never met in person before because she had joined the program through a webinar. It was an incredible compliment that she would make such a long trip to meet me in person. What I realized was that our program is much more than just a system that helps people make big money in life. It's changing people's lives. Michele is an inspiration to us all and proves that anything is possible when you have a big enough “why”.

The Robert Kiyosaki

So for all the Robert Kiyosaki fans out there, here's what I learned about him. His heart really lies in spreading the message of Financial Literacy. In fact, in a closed room meeting over the same weekend as the Annual Forum, when those around the table made comments like, “well Robert, other gurus are doing this and that,” his response was something along the lines of, “Look, I'm just the messenger. I don't care what everyone else is doing, what matters most is getting out the message of Financial Literacy. It's not about me, it's about the message.” Well spoken, Robert. well spoken.