10 Months Down, Forever To Go…

Each year for my birthday I try to do something that makes my heart skip a beat.  From traveling to distant places to curating special events, I’ve used my birthday as an excuse to step outside my comfort zone.  Last birthday was no different when I decided to invest in myself by purchasing Real Estate Investing Coaching from Tarek El Moussa, host of HGTV’s show Flip or Flop. 

So, I’ll be honest and say I had no intentions of investing in this coaching or in real estate at all.  Over Thanksgiving break I traveled to Bucharest as an early birthday present to myself and binged watched Selling Sunset.  With that, I became inspired to start back studying for the real estate exam & started following some of the stars from Selling Sunset; as a result I began receiving Facebook ads for Tarek’s free weekend boot camp.  I’ve been to many “free boot camps” and stayed from anywhere from a minute to an hour, but for this Homeschooled by Tarek boot camp, I simply could NOT leave that zoom call; from the information presented, to the energy of the people that presented the information, I felt so in alignment that my energy & sense of self rose during the two day boot camp.  A week later, the money I’d been saving for a car, I decided to invest in Tarek’s coaching.    

When I told one of my friends, who owns rental properties, about my investment, his words were something like, “Tell them you got COVID and get your money back.”  He questioned the legitimacy of the program and why I needed to pay so much when he did it on his own with books and free resources… Thankfully the training warned us on how and why family and friends say such things; so I laughed him off and knew that I better prove him wrong or else I’d be regretting my investment.  I remember being so excited but also so nervous at the same time. 

After my first coaching session I realized that I was in WAYYYYY over my head when my Coach Jen Josey asked,  “What’s your game plan?…. Do you want to do wholesales, flips or rentals?”  Even after the boot camp I had no idea what “wholesale” meant as it related to real estate, and I didn’t know how rentals differed from flips if we “bought everything distressed”.  However, with each session, group meeting, and hours of re-watching educational videos, I began to understand bit by bit and I became so enthusiastic about finding my first deal! 

Within the first three months I started my LLC, launched my website www.TimeHillsHomes.com, sent out my first set of mailers, introduced myself online via social media and most importantly began making offers.  However, even though things were on a steady incline, I felt exhausted and out of balance.  A pivotal moment occurred when one of our coaches, Professor Bud, testified about how chaotic his life was in the first year of his real estate investing career & then he presented to us the importance of systems.  At that point I knew I had to reset my focus and stop chasing my first deal, and start chasing offering systems.  

April to now can best be described as “Chop Wood, Carry Water” a phrase I got from Coach JP that resonated with me so much that I now say it often.  It’s a reminder that you can’t escape the basic grind that goes as far back as hunter-gatherer days.   When it comes to real estate investing, it forces me to bring out my highest, nerdiest, punctual, self in a consistent day to day way that no profession has called on. Yet, the work as an investor is so rewarding and momentous because it can potentially feed my family for generations to come; nothing is more worthwhile than that in my opinion.  And so while this first year as an investor felt reminiscent of my freshman year at UCLA, anxious to find my way, I’m so thankful for Coach Jeff who reminded me in July how far I’ve come; “Frances, stop trying to graduate when you’re just in your first semester!”  

As a real estate investor based out of Brooklyn from California (two of the most expensive places to invest) I am so excited to share my real estate journey with you all… as the title says, 10 months down and forever to go!

What part of the journey are you most interested in? Follow @TimeHills to stay connected to let me know what you wanna read about in the next blog!