Ready, Fire, Aim (And Forget The LLC)

I try and read one book per week and I’m usually reading multiple books at a time. At the very least I have a daily goal to read 20 pages, which I usually exceed. The latest book I finished is called Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson.

It’s a great book that teaches you how to build a $100 million dollar business. (I’ve got a long way to go to reach that point but I’m working on it.) As you can tell by the title, the book is about taking action and figuring out what you need to do along the way.

For instance…

For one reason or another many new real estate investors are seduced by forming their own Limited Liability Company (LLC.) The sexiness of owning their own company occupies the forefront of their mind and they think they shouldn’t do anything else until they’ve got their LLC formed.

Many of these new investors (who I personally know) take 6 months or more to form their LLC, pick out the perfect name, choose the right checks, etc. And quite frankly, it’s nonsense.

Whenever somebody comes to me who’s getting into the real estate business and starts asking me a bunch of questions about the LLC, I immediately stop them and start asking them important questions, such as: What type of investing do you plan on doing? Wholesaling, lease options, subject-to? What type of marketing are you going to do to get deals? Where are you going to market, have you chosen the zip codes where you’re going to invest?

Unless you’re Donald Trump’s kid and lucky enough to be born into money…

Then you’re likely starting out with very little money and the LLC should not be your number one priority. Your first priority should be to figure out how to market, get your phone to ring and how to close deals.

And instead of spending 6 months doing absolutely nothing while forming your LLC, you can spend 6 months closing a few deals, while at the same time forming your LLC. Then once it’s formed you can open up your bank account and start using your business name and all that other good stuff.

But whatever you do, do not wait to get started. You don’t need an LLC to begin investing in real estate. You don’t need business cards, you don’t even need a website (although it is helpful.) All you need to do is send out some letters or pass out some flyers or put up some bandit signs and start closing deals.

Try and make sure that in the beginning everything you do is productive toward putting money in your pocket. And spending forever forming an LLC or taking weeks to choose the colors on your business card will not make you rich. So get going: Ready, Fire, Aim.