29 Sep No Excuses
Looking back on our previous podcast guest Jerry Green, we talked about his adversities in life and business and how he overcame and succeeded in those situations and trials without any excuses but with clear thinking and perseverance to move forward in real estate investing.
From a Bankrupt Contractor to Wholesaling
Their family’s electrical contracting business ended due to the folding partnership of the general contractor who owed them considerable money. While dealing with the banks, he pondered and decided to go into real estate, bringing along the knowledge he learned from a previous real estate seminar. Jerry, almost with nothing, had chosen to journey on real estate, sought guidance from a mentor using his parents’ credit card started to go wholesaling. Taking boards off windows, crawling through properties, and applying strategies in the rough areas, he started building on his business in real estate wholesaling even though his family opposed it. No excuses.
Old School Marketing
The way things worked today is a little bit different than before. It was a heavy grind mode. There are no lists, just going out in the streets driving for dollars and putting out flyers in the areas. No internet and cleverly running ads in the newspaper is a big thing. The only technological leap they have is a tape recorder to note addresses to be microfiched on the courthouse searching for the owners’ tax mailing addresses. He also built good old relationships too with real estate agents who are heavy on the REO space. The MLS that we know now was only a book, scanning them for leads weekly. Today, with the technology and convenience that we have to source information, it’s freaking easy. No excuses.
Source Funds from a Bank Basement
Unlike now, we have an REA to source funds from private money lenders back then; it was different. With no money to do fixes and flips, he pushed himself to new limits to reach exclusive small investor club meetings at the basement of an old bank building doing presentations on a flip chart. Pitching investors on-point with his knowledge and skill, he will take care of all the legwork. And anyone who wants to jump in all needs to do is write a check, shut up, and wait for a bigger check with things going out well in real estate. No excuses.
Heartbreak💔
Launching full-time and working crazy with his wife and other people helping things out, everything started to grow pretty well. Having traction in real estate, he built a new home with his wife to welcome a new family member. At the height of all these successes, abruptly, things began to go down. Complications towards the latter part of his wife’s pregnancy forced his wife to induce labor early. After the delivery, they’ve found out that she was bleeding internally and had a massive football-sized tumor on her kidneys. Shocked by the situation, he realized that things could change pretty quickly with the things he built.
With their newborn left in the hospital, they transfer to a different hospital for further diagnosis, finding out she has cancer. Jerry worried for fourteen hours straight, with his wife was in surgery to remove the tumor, including her kidneys. She was entirely dependent on dialysis, and later complications started to happen that ended in them not leaving the hospital for four months. He ended up sleeping in a Ronald Mcdonald House for four-month straight.
After thinking everything was doing well, they went back home only to find out that cancer had returned within 60 days and finally passed away ten months after their son was born.
Imagine Jerry built a business in real estate and a new home for his family, with this tragedy humbling him. He saw things could change quickly and the importance of doing something for the right reason, including real estate.
For almost two years of being almost non-functional, he rose back from recovery. It’s a good thing he banked so much in the properties and has enough support that he built up and continued to rebuild the real estate business he left off.
With so much heartbreak in a short period, he still managed to gather himself up to make his business happen. Toughening him with his tragedy, 9-11, and economic crises during that time, he just kept moving and moving. No excuses.
My Take
I’m not dwelling on his trials and tragedies in life. I’m trying to imply that this is to keep moving, pushing, and improvising to reach the goals you want to achieve. Whatever uncertainties you may experience, you may pause to recover or re-assess things, but don’t surrender. It applies to all of us. It is not only for the starters struggling to make their brand in this market but also for the experienced who may deal with known and unknown challenges in the real estate industry. So go ahead do whatever humanly possible it takes for you to succeed. Rise and crush it. No excuses.
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