I don’t know of any other business where one day you can feel like Warren Buffet and the next week, you feel like you need to be in the soup line…. Real Estate is not like HGTV. It can definitely kick your butt, but if you stay in it longer than a year, you learn some valuable lessons that can carry you throughout life and other successful business ventures. 

I definitely learned how to budget ladies. And I can tell you that if you keep spending without a limit or making your money or “Investments” in your business carry it’s own weight, or bring in revenue, you are setting yourself up for the soup line. I’ve been in that line, I’ve been reminded of that line. Not going back….

I used to know it like the back of my hand. If I finished a box of business cards, that meant a certain amount of business must have come in.

If I held a certain amount of home-buying seminars, I should sell xx amount of homes from that. 

I played red light, green light with my spending- not because I wanted to but because I had to, if I wanted to continue my entrepreneurial lifestyle. I knew that I really could not have a successful real estate business and be trying to sell houses part-time.  I needed to be available in the middle of the day for closings, showings, and negotiating contracts.  

I learned that you can’t have this GREAT business, work from home and still have EVERYTHING that you normally enjoy in your life stay exactly the same. 

I asked you if you were truly open to the inconvenience of success, because GREAT things don’t just happen when you’re ready, have free time, on the weekends, or when you’re bored. Opportunities sneaks up on you when you are running a gazillion things already, when you’re tired, you’re broke, and you don’t have the skills yet.  Those small windows of success are sneaky buggers and I’m sure our divine designs it that way. 

But are you ready?  Are you really ready to sacrifice?

$175, $175, $175. Yep that number is etched in my brain. That is exactly how much my 3 favorite bracelets get at the local pawn shop. How do I know this you ask?  Success has asked a lot of me many times and I learned that I was ready to sacrifice.  I didn’t know I was until I was packing up my 234 business books and selling them to Half Price books.  My paltry $31 dollar check nearly broke my heart, but my pride wouldn’t let me pack all those books back up… That was 2005. I found out that you can come back from failure, or simply not having found your groove yet. Hell, it can take a while to find out exactly where you are supposed to be in life and what you are supposed to contribute to the world. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for not knowing your exact path now. 

But if you know your path, and haven’t moved on it…… that’s another story. 

This journey is so long, and I’m only at the beginning, but I can share a few things with you. 

You CANNOT have the exact same life, lifestyle, accoutrements, disposable time or income, especially in the beginning of building your business, if you are REALLY doing something great. There will be sacrifice. 

Most of us are doing much better than others and can really figure out how to budget a start, maybe not complete 5 years in business, but a start. But once you put that money out there, once you declare to the world that you are going to start this business, you have to become a guardian of your money and profits, and revenue.  It’s abso-freaken-lutely mandatory ladies.

I mean, is that what you are really expecting? To still be able to spend all that you want and develop some earth moving sh*t that totally changes the game.  Let me be real with you….. not possible. 

The soup line has taught me many lessons, but why don’t you just take my word for it.  Make your money work for you. Make a budget. Follow the budget. Follow these steps:

#1 Spend some,

#2 see if it works, 

#3 see if the project can pay for itself

#4 set a limit on the spending

#5 make adjustments where needed

#6 if it still isn’t working after you’ve given the project/biz it’s due diligence

#7 then damn stop.

Excuse me, red light.