| Valentine’s day is great and all. The good Lord knows I need a regular kick in the pants to show my wife, Kathy, how much I love and appreciate her, but I believe it is just as important to give ourself a little love too. Just the other day a friend and I were talking about the importance of self-care and how it’s so easy to let success get in the way of true happiness. Although real estate investing is definitely a business that can make you really, really wealthy, and probate is the single highest profit producing niche in real estate, none of that money, wealth or success matters if you can’t enjoy the fruits of your labors. The past 12 months have definitely made me more aware than ever of how precious our lives really are. It saddens me to see so many people push aside their family and health in pursuit of real estate, as if it’s the most important thing in their life. Now, I understand that we all are in this business to make a profit and, therefore, we should be utilizing our time to generate the best income that this business will produce But…I’d like to offer you a word of advice: Remember why you got into this business to begin with.If you’re like me, the reason you began your real estate journey was because of a desire for personal freedom. To be free to do what you want, when you want, and with who you want. Freedom. That’s what I call absolute freedom. Of course this type of freedom requires money, but there are many things that money cannot buy. And the biggest thing money can’t buy is time. So while you are building your real estate “empire”, I encourage you to acknowledge that each and every second of your life is a precious gift. Let your work be a process that you look back at as not just time spent acquiring wealth, but rather time strategically invested to actually give you more freedom. And never at the expense of your health, your relationships, and your time. Something I have done that has allowed me to continue to build my empire while creating memories with my family is to involve them in different parts of my real estate business. I make it fun for them and for myself, and I’m sure you to can find ways to share your process of growing in your real estate business with someone special in your life too. At the very least make it special for you and enjoy every step of the way of your real estate business. For example, I approach every conversation I have with a seller with the objective of really tuning in to what the person is telling me and to walk away from that conversation with the feeling that I’ve made a new friend. That’s probably one of the reasons I love probate so much since it’s a true people and relationship business. |
| Committed to your success, Ernie “It’s About More Than Just Money” Vargas | The Probate Fox |
