There Is No Such Thing As Free Advice!
I remember the first time I attended my first high-priced seminar. It was about learning how to buy multiple investment properties without spending any money (which is exactly what I needed since I was virtually broke).
The problem was…
The seminar cost $15,000 and ran for only 4 days!
At the time I had been working at an investment bank in a low-level role earning a measly $26,000 per year. The seminar I was thinking about attending cost the equivalent of 7 months full time work, for only 4 days of information!
I remember leaving the introductory night to the seminar early because it costs so much money. But it got me thinking…
You see, I had been searching for ways to become wealthy, starting with nothing, for a while and hadn’t found many things that appealed to me. More importantly, I hadn’t found anything that I could do starting with no money.
I really started considering whether or not I should take a seminar like this. It would mean that I would have to take out a personal loan to pay for it.
So I started asking my friends and family what they thought about me attending a 4-day seminar for $15,000 on how to buy real estate with no money.
And do you know what they said?
Literally every single person I spoke to said that it was a scam. That I was getting ripped off. That instead of spending $15,000 on a seminar, that I should put it towards a deposit for a house. That I was wasting my money and that I shouldn’t be doing it.
But something inside me pushed me forward. Maybe it was my strong desire to become wealthy. Maybe it was because I had no other options available to me at the time to create wealth starting with nothing.
So, against everybody’s advice, I took out the personal loan and attended the seminar.
And can you guess what happened?
IT WAS THE BEST 4 DAYS OF MY LIFE!
The information I learnt at the seminar literally changed my life.
I learnt how to buy real estate using none of my own money. And I was given an exact step-by-step plan on how to do it. It was fantastic.
But that wasn’t the real value I gained from attending.
The biggest benefit I received from attending that seminar was a change in mindset.
Rather than having a scarcity mindset, where everything is too expensive, where there isn’t enough, where everything is too hard, where I would never be able to achieve success…
… I gained an abundance mentality, where $15,000 was nothing in the grand scheme of things, where there was an abundance of wealth available to me, where I could achieve almost anything I put my mind to.
But the biggest impact that seminar had on my life was…
KNOWING THAT I WOULD BECOME A MILLIONAIRE!
And that was priceless.
After the seminar I literally implemented everything I learnt exactly as I was told. And in the next 18 months I secured over $3,000,000 worth of real estate using none of my own money.
In one transaction I made over $35,000 cash profit with less than $2,000 outlay. In just one transaction I made more than twice the cost of the seminar, and 22% more than I made working a full year at the bank!
But…
If I had listened to the advice my friends and family had given me, I would still be working at the investment bank, maybe making $30,000 to $35,000 a year.
Here’s something else I learnt from that whole experience…
ONLY TAKE ADVICE FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE ACHIEVED RESULTS.
You'll find that people who have achieved success have been in the same position as you are now. They have had the same challenges, they have had to overcome the same obstacles and they have had to learn the same things you need to learn to achieve success.
You'll find that advice from successful people greatly differs to advice from people who haven't achieved success. If you have successful people around you, then great! Take their advice.
But if none of your friends or family have amassed great fortunes, then listening to them is like hiring an overweight personal trainer: if they haven’t been able to achieve success themselves, then what right do they have to advise you on what you should do to achieve success?!
In today’s society you have a higher chance of achieving financial success than during any other time in history.
One of the greatest resources we have available to us today is learning from people who have already achieved what we strive for… financial freedom.
You can literally save years, if not decades, of trial and error by learning from the mistakes and the successes of people who have started with nothing and amassed great fortunes.
There are literally thousands of courses available to us today for sale at just a fraction of their real worth. Courses that show you the exact steps to follow to achieve success in whichever endeavor you choose to follow.
So learn to politely ignore the advice of friends, family and anybody else who gives you advice on things they haven’t achieved success in themselves.
Because even though their advice is free, it will be the most expensive advice you ever receive… it might hold you back from making millions, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars.
Posted by on May 7, 2006 8:27 PM | Permalink
Comments
Hi Alex,
I read your article on "attending high-priced seminars." I am curious. Do you think you are the exception, or the rule?
LMK.
-Greg
Posted by: Greg Wilson | May 8, 2006 12:01 AM
Hey Alex,
Great advice, your experience w/ family members almost mirror what I went through. About a year ago I decided to get my real estate license, but prior to enrolling in the course I asked some friends and family if they thought that would be a good career move. "oh yeah" they said, "but you will never pass the test". I've had my sales associate license for about a year and a half now and I'm studying for my brokers exam. So I have learned to trust my decisions, although advice is nice, always go with your gut.
Posted by: Carlos B. Miles | May 8, 2006 7:13 AM
Keep up the great work on your blog. Best wishes WaltDe
Posted by: WaltDe | September 1, 2006 5:13 PM
I agree that it makes no sense to ask broke people whether or not wealth strategies will work. Useful mentors are not only those people who have experienced similar hardships or obstacles that you have, but also people who have first hand knowledge of how to rise above them. Fear of failing holds you back. I work with extremely successful entrepreneurs who advise me on how to create wealth in my life. I've learned this happens more effectively as I help others repeat and share what I have learned.
They need to recognize wealth is a state of mind before it can motivate them to transform their lives in other ways.
Posted by: Liara Covert | December 27, 2006 3:07 PM