Different ways to learn

I talk to many, many people, and I learn so much along the way.

For example, the reason I started my property investment courses and the mentorship programme was to help people learn from my experiences – avoid the mistakes, save time and money, and get there quicker.

I’ve always understood the value of paying money to learn in a day or a year what it took someone else many years or a lifetime to develop. The money you pay is always a fraction of the true cost and the true value.

But not everyone learns this way. For example, someone who attended my property course some years back, couldn’t resist the attraction of going with the crowd, following the advice of the ‘gurus’ and buying property during the boom when many deals were overpriced.

He bought at low IRRs and with poor cashflow, but bargain on capital growth, expecting the rising market to cover him. Even though everyone said you can’t go wrong with property, things did not go as expected and now he is out of pocket in a very big way every month. Luckily he is able to survive because he’s highly qualified and has ways to increase his earnings significantly. But of course it has been a strain for him.

He’s someone who perhaps needs to learn by first-hand experience because even when he learns from someone else like me, his nature is to test it out and see what happens. And there is nothing wrong with that so long as you can survive it. It does mean slower wealth creation and much higher financial stress. But the lesson, once learned, is going to go so deep that you will never forget it.

Another student of mine had already bought 14 properties when he attended my property course and learned about the crucial second calculation. He decided shortly after going home and doing the calculations on all 14 properties, that 8 of them were not actually the good investments they looked like when he bought. So he sold them. He sold when the boom was still going, so he got good prices. And he freed up a lot of money to put into truly good investments. And had the calculations not worked out for any new prospects for a few years, then he would have done what I tell everyone to do: if there is nothing to do, do nothing! Two “okay” buys do not add up to one good one. And any mediocre buy is an opportunity cost that is slowing you down in terms of wealth creation. Something that Warren Buffet understood. But it does take guts, to ignore the criticism and to resist the temptation of jumping onto the bandwagon.

As you can imagine, he is doing very well today.

Think about your own style of learning. If you’re like the first guy – that’s fine. You need lessons that go deep. Try and choose lessons that are real, but not too expensive! You should consult the Formula for Riches to find out how to make sure your lessons do not hurt you if they go wrong.

If you’re like the second guy, then learn, learn, learn all you can by studying what other people do. Knowing that the prices for the right kind of wealth creation books and courses are always just a tiny fraction of what the lessons cost when lived through in real life!

However you prefer to learn, I hope you find the lessons you want and need, and the ones that help you grow!