Epic Real Estate Investing - Stephen Gregg, Success, Napoleon Hill's "Do What the Wealthy Do" Homework | 623

Episode Date: April 3, 2019

The only difference between you and someone who is succeeding at what you want to accomplish is the size of their dream and time. If your goal is not constantly on your mind then it's going to be difficult to set yourself for success. In today’s episode, Matt’s mentor, Stephen Gregg, tells you more about these processes, opens up about why he had to start over, how he experienced that, and what he learned on his thorny way to success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All righty, back again with another episode of Way Back Wednesday. We're going way back back at a time, like more than nine years ago, almost 10 years ago. Actually, more than 10 years ago. Where it all started, the do-over show. We just started our ninth year on the epic real estate investing podcast. But I've been doing this podcast thing for almost a decade or over a decade now. And it started with the do-over show. And for now, right here on Way Back Wednesdays, we're bringing back those old episodes.

And I listened to last week's show. I enjoyed that one, too. And hopefully you did as well. and I think this is just going to be a really good fit here on the Epic Real Estate Investing podcast as, you know, getting your mind right around your business, regardless of what business it is, getting the right mindset, it's key. It's just so important. And it's where it all starts for your results, right? Actions just aren't going to happen unless there is a thought that precedes it. And we want those to be good thoughts. So we do good actions and we create great

results. Anyway, these episodes are more than 10 years old now. And many of the domain names and email addresses and stuff like that that you might hear in these episodes, probably aren't going to work. I haven't gone through and listen to them all over again to go check. So just an FYI. But I was able to go back and repurchase one of those old domain names.

Imagine that it was still available. As you'll hear me reference it on the do-over show pretty frequently. And that's the domain name free-dover.com. Free do-over.com where you can download the three pillars to creating the ultimate do-over. Something like that.

I won't explain any more right here because I'm pretty sure I cover it thoroughly on these old episodes. But it was just an FY. I wanted to let you know that that is up and live. So if you'd like to grab that recording, you can at freedoover.com. That URL is live once again. All righty?

Now, enjoy the show. This is Terrio Media. During an era where countless people, businesses, and organizations are feeling the pinch, running out of time, running out of money, losing confidence, feeling as if life is. unfair praying for another chance and unless something is done life is going to pass them by fortunately in the nick of time there is now a place where the ignored underestimated and unknown steps to producing results and making life work are revealed save your career save your business save your health save your relationships save your life get from where you are to

where you want to be, faster, and with greater ease than you ever thought possible. Say hello to your do-over. Welcome to your do-over, the place where you get to hear, learn, and take action on the ignored, underestimated, and unknown steps to producing results. And this is the show where I get to show people dissatisfied, unhappy people, discontent people, that people that are just, don't like what's going on in their current situation. I show them how to start over, discover a better life, and get lasting results. I show them how to do it easier. faster, smarter. The whole intent is that they never have to do over again. They'll never have to start over again. If you're in that situation, get ahead and start on your doover by going to

freedover.com to download the three pillars of creating the ultimate doover. It's an MP3 audio recording. It's yours absolutely free and you can get it at freedoover.com. So go ahead and get started. Don't hesitate. Discover a better life and get lasting results right now at freedover.com. All righty, I initially set out to keep my podcast under 30 minutes, preferably around 20 minutes. And I've noticed that when I conduct an interview, time sort of gets away from me. So today we do have an interview, and I'll get into it right away. I want to honor that commitment of 30 minutes or less. What you're going to notice today, you're probably going to notice a similarity of today's guests in relation to our last two guests.

You see, I was in a network marketing company the last three years or so, and we were in the business of selling real estate investing. The motto was, we just don't teach real estate investing. We create real estate investors. awesome company, awesome product. What was so great about it is you could make your money actually using the product or you could make your money selling the product. And there's a lot of us, the most successful within that company, chose to do both. It just kind of went hand in hand. So awesome company, awesome product. You know, I'd still probably be involved full time had there just not been such an upheaval in the leadership in my territory. I mean, in a nutshell,

just with less support, became more difficult to generate a living from it. But I was able, fortunately, to take the education and place the majority of my attention on that of being a real estate investor. I mean, that's essentially why I got involved in the first place. And I'm really grateful that the company delivered because here I am making a living and building my fortune as a full-time real estate investor. An additional benefit of that company of being involved with that particular company was the number of amazing and successful people I was able to meet and establish relationships with. You see, the compensation plan, it was absolutely ridiculous. I mean, the compensation plan within that company was so lucrative that it attracted the best

of the best within that industry of direct sales and network marketing. I mean, some highly successful and skilled people came to that company. And right out of the gate, they started earning very high six-figure incomes in their very first year. And if you've ever been in that industry or been involved with the company, you know, that's, you hear about those stories, but they seem to be that unicorn in the woods. Like you never actually get to put your hands on it or experience it yourself. But for example, John Wilson, who we had on a couple shows ago, I mean, he had a couple, I don't know, three or four six-figure months in his first year. I mean, he still holds the record for the biggest grossing month in that company of 250,000. $56,000. So you can see that type of money would attract a lot of people, and it definitely

brought out the best of the best. And they've all taught me so many invaluable lessons that I've asked several of them to come on the show and share their words of wisdom. I mean, they are extraordinary individuals that have insight that you just might not otherwise have access to. I mean, they've all since left the world of network marketing since that company, and they've started new endeavors, and they're producing similar results. And that's one thing I learned about network marketing. And it was my very first exposure to the industry. And the skills and the lessons that you learn within are the types of skills and lessons you probably wouldn't learn anywhere else. And those skills, they translate beautifully to the business world, whether it's

within network marketing or not, it doesn't really matter. And that industry, it'll really reveal what you're made of. You will come to know yourself and who you are. You'll know if entrepreneurship is for you or not. In fact, Robert Kiyosaki, he suggests that network marketing is better than an NBA for real world application. And I don't think that's too far from the truth. I know Donald Trump, he's actually on record as well by saying if he lost everything and had to start from scratch, it'd be within network marketing. That's how he'd do it. Okay, sorry, getting off track. This is not a podcast or even an episode about network marketing. I was just, I went off on a little tangent there. Sorry, I was attempting to lay the groundwork for my next guest,

and I'm very excited to have this next guest. I mean, he's one of two mentors in my life that has made the biggest difference in my professional life. I mean, he's really showed me what work looks like. I mean, he taught me words like intent and focus. And he's one of the main. I mean, he taught me words like intent and focus and vision. And he taught me what they mean. And certainly we all know what they mean, right, but to actually see somebody put them into action and take them to the most literal meaning and implement them into their life, there's power behind that. It made a tremendous difference in my life just being able to witness it, to watch it, to watch somebody actually walk the talk, so to speak. I mean, we know so many people out there that talk a great game,

but are they really walking the talk? Are they walking their words? Are they practicing what they're preaching? And this gentleman, he certainly did. I mean, he just, generate almost $700,000 in his first year in that network marketing company I mentioned earlier. And it doesn't matter what endeavor you take on. It doesn't matter what company was. Those are amazing results. And it's because he's focused and he has an amazing work ethic. He's moved on from that company, however, since, and he's in the middle of his do-over. He's launched his own company. He's going to tell us all about that. He's going to tell us what it takes to actually start over. I mean, another amazing story of rise and fall and rise again because he did lose

it all in between. And I just wanted to introduce you to him. A really good friend of mine, Stephen, Greg, Steven, thank you for taking time out of your schedule to share with us your do-over. No problem. Thank you for having me. You bet.

I'm glad to have you here. Well, you know, and things are, I know things are going really well for you right now in the world of business. You seem to have stumbled across a nice little invention, and you're going to be taking that to TV from what I hear, and we certainly want to hear all about that. But can you begin with what you were doing

just prior to your current endeavor and lead me up to how you are where you are today? Sure. I was at a business that had to do real estate investing. And we had joined that company in 2006. And when we first got into that business, it was a tough time. My wife and I, we just thought out we were pregnant with a second kid. And then we got into that business and we were a little tired on money. So it took about, you know, a few months to get going.

We got down to a point where we had no money. But then, you know, the business aren't taken off for us. And we generated a lot of income, you know, high six-figure incomes. over the next 12 months. And then we decided to, you know, expand our business because real estate was booming in 2006. And so we opened an office and then expanded more. So we opened a second office. And, you know, so I started doing really, really well for us.

And my lifestyle started doing real estate. She bought a bunch of properties. I was, you know, doing the business side of our company. And, you know, things were going, you know, right in the direction we should that we felt it should. And then, of course, 2009 hit. and things changed and the industry changed and got more challenging for us. So we had to take some conscious decisions.

Do we keep, you know, going and robbing Peter to pay Paul? Or do we, you know, cut bait and just move on and try something different? So we had to make a decision. We did. We shut out our offices and we had to restart all over and things got very, very challenging for us at that time. And, you know, my wife and I prayed about it. We thought through, what should we do? what direction should we go.

And a friend of mine called me today, who's been a great friend of mine for a long time, who had this product called Max's Mears, Blas for Cars, and he said a very profound statement to me one day. So, Stephen, one challenge that you've had all these years was the same challenge that I've had. Terry said, you know, the one thing that you need to do is you've got to own the product.

Once you own the product, then you have a lot more control of what goes on. and that's what happened. So, you know, that day we made a decision that I was going to go back, partner back up with Harry, and help him market product worldwide. So I did. So I called him up and told him, you know, what I needed and the direction I wanted to go with it. I laid out this whole marketing plan, and he accepted it.

And so from that point out, we were rebranded the company, and I will back on television with it. We're hopefully going to be led to another big influencer company the next couple of days, and the business is, you know, going in the right direction. And so that's how we got to where we are now. It was a challenging road, but it's definitely going well. Well, congratulations. I like stories where people pull themselves back up out of adversity,

and that's basically what this whole podcast is about. And, you know, when things are going really good, it's easy to feel unconquerable. What was the first sign that things weren't going so good, and how did you respond? Well, it was funny. The first sign that things weren't going so well was, and beginning of 2009 the month of January,

in that business, the industry, of course, changed of real estate and our funding stopped. And the first sign was when I started getting a lot of cancellations. I had like 10 or 11 cancellations a row, and the owner of that company called me out of the blue, which never happened in the two and a half, three years before that. and he called me wonder what's going on.

And I didn't know what was going on because I wasn't doing anything different. I was doing the exact same way, but people were afraid and they were holding onto their money. And so, you know, when you have a $20,000 a month expense every month and zero income come in, it's a little challenging to deal with that. So we knew we weren't going in the right direction,

but for the next six months we did persevere and we made it through. But that's when we noticed that, you know, Things are changing. And either we're going to change with it or we're going to fall by the wayside. So what we did was we had to look at where we were. We had to look at the assets we had. We had to look at the situation we were in and make some conscious decisions of which direction we were going to go.

And we did. And, you know, sometimes those decisions weren't easy. Actually, they were very difficult decisions, especially when you have hundreds of people relying on you for the livelihood. We had to look at the big picture. what was best for them and what was best for us. And we did. We made a decision to shut down the offices,

and I'm grateful I did because I look back at a lot of my friends that were having a hard time at that time are doing a lot better now because of the decision that we made. How would you respond differently today under the same circumstances? Well, you know, hindsight of 2020. So if I look back right now at the situation we went into, I may have made a little bit different decisions. I would have probably got more into real estate investing itself.

I probably would have invested more into some of the properties that I was marketing and some of the things that I was learning. Probably would have done more of that. To generate a little bit more of a stability, I also probably wouldn't have invested so much into the office and into the foundation that we did. I invested a lot of my personal money. and put a lot of my personal credit, things like that on the line, to market the business.

And looking back at it, I definitely would have done that for me. I would have gone more slower pace and got more partners involved versus me taking on that full responsibility, which would have left me a lot more liquid at the time. So some of the things I would have to differently. Got it. What is one mistake that you made in your first endeavor, that last endeavor, that you swear you'll never make again? Well, one of the big mistakes that I made that I would never make against. I think one of the biggest mistakes that I made was putting the cart before the horse.

In other words, I started building the business and I put a strong marketing team together without setting up a strong foundation first. In other words, having my bookkeeping in place, having my corporation structured properly. having the foundation of the business before I started building the business. I kind of went first. I kind of went and built this big business and then tried to do the backtrack and build a foundation. And that's equivalent to trying to build a house.

And let's say you build this beautiful mansion on this nice hill, but you don't dig a hole and you don't put any spent in the ground. That house might look good for a short period of time, but when the winds come and the rain you know, Paul, the house is going to fly right down that hill because there's no foundation. And I feel that's what happened with me, and that's exactly the opposite of what I did in this business now. I built a strong foundation. I have the systems in place now, and now we're starting to build on top of that foundation.

So I think that's one of the biggest mistakes I've made, and one of the greatest lessons I learned was to build the foundation first before our building the building. I think that's really great advice. I know I have a lot of business owners that have listened to this show. Great advice. Well, Stephen, now that you're on your way back up, what new habits or disciplines have you had to adopt in your do-over? Well, one of the disciplines that I had to adopt was understanding, delayed gratification.

That was a challenge because in my previous business, we would earn a substantial amount of commission up front. And it was, you know, 10,000 hours out of time. time. And so it didn't take long to make a lot of money. And so what happened is it started to develop bad character habits internally, which means, you know, I can make a little bit of money at a bad month, in a two-sale month was a $20,000 hours long. And, you know, it developed lazy work habits and work ethics. And so it took a long time to get that out of my system. because before that I used to work for a company on TV with the duck,

you know, the big insurance company, and I worked for that one, and I had very, very strong work habits, where I would work a lot for a little. I had very strong work ethics and work habits, where I go to this company and I was able to, you know, have a lot of success without that same type of work ethic. And so now coming back to this business, our profit margins is a lot smaller,

or actually our income is a lot smaller from the initial sale. But overall, if we plant a lot of seed, we're going to grow a bigger harvest over time. And so I had to learn that delayed gratification. You know, plant the seeds today. And, you know, if you want to plant corn, if you want to raise a farm of corn, when you're planting corn, you're not eating corn.

You're eating franks and beans. And so I have to understand that now that, you know, I got to plant all the seed first. and I got to water that seed and I got to fertilize that seed before I can eat corn. Before I just plant a little, eat little. I eat little, eat little, and I plant, and I ate as much as I planted, so when it was time for the winter season it came, there was nothing stored up. And so those are some of the mistakes that I made that I definitely had to adjust in my mindset first and then in actions.

That's a great analogy. Great analogy. What is the biggest challenge for you in your do-over right now? And what are you doing to overcome it? My biggest challenge of my do-over now is patience. Because, you know, it's kind of like, I don't know if you have In-N-Out Burger where you are, but, you know, In-Out Burger is a very good burger, and they happen to like to put them right next to the 24-hour fitness as well.

I like to go to the gym, come out in-and-the-out burger is right there, and you smell that burger. You just got rid of doing the cardiovascular. but the burgers aren't they, you've got to have one. But see, if I had never eaten it in an out burger, I wouldn't have that temptation that ended up burger. And so the same kind of thing with this. I've tasted success in a major way.

I know what that tastes like. And I tasted it quickly. And so the biggest challenge that I have to deal with right now is, one of the biggest challenges is patience, is, you know, being patient enough to allow the food to grow, to allow the things that I'm planting to grow so that I can reap the harvest later. So that's definitely one of the challenges that I'm dealing with that I have to work through. We have a similar experience on that level of tasted a lot of success and then being completely humbled

and then having to start all over again. I can relate. What are some of the ways, Stephen, that you are using technology today in your do-over? Well, it's interesting to say that. You know, one of the things that I've had a lot of success over the years in sales. That's been my background. I've been in sales my entire life. I don't know anything other than sales.

Well, I didn't know anything other than sales. But a few years that are, you know, recognizing the internet and marketing and stuff like that. So I had to make a decision that I was going to become an Internet marketing guru. I was going to learn Internet marketing. And at the time I said it, I didn't know anything about Internet marketing, but I didn't need to know. I just knew I needed to make the decision that I was going to learn. is going to become an internet marketing special. So I got on the web and I started learning things,

started reading books and going to seminars and learning from people that were much better than I was. And so the one thing that I did is I set up an entire internet business now where not only do I teach people how to succeed on internet marketing, I actually have a business and I run an internet marketing business. But one of the interesting things that I've learned over the last year, years is that no one person knows everything about internet marketing. And that's what I thought I had to learn over the years.

I thought I had to learn everything. I don't need to learn everything. I just need to know what I'm trying to accomplish. And then if I can't do it, I know how to attract people that do know how to do what I want that. And so that's what I'm doing this time is I'm building my business by way of internet marketing, by way of, you know, technology of the web. And so, yeah, it's definitely drastically different than my last business where it was all hands-on.

You know, the answer to this next question might be somewhat similar to your last answer, but what service or technology is making the biggest difference for your business right now? The biggest technology that's helping my business right now is Internet marketing and the Internet itself is the technology that I can say that's making the biggest difference for me right now. I'll also say, I don't know if this is called a technology, but my ability to attract the right people. In my last company, the president of that company was the person that I had respected tremendously, and he said a sentence one day. I was at a big workshop one day, and he said, you know, he used to run a real estate of lesson college. That's what he did.

and he said a sentence, whether it was true or not, I don't know. But he said this sentence that it stuck with me. He said, you know, it's interesting how I run a college that have never been to college. And he said, well, how did I do that? He said, I don't need to know how to run a college. What I need to know how to do

is attract people smarter than me that know how to run the college. And so when that stuck, when I learned that sentence, it made me realize that I don't. need to know whatever, you know, business I get into. I don't need to know all the details. I don't need to know all the fine lines and how it all works. I just need to know what I'm trying to accomplish and then sell other people on how I want to accomplish it and get them to

buy into what I'm doing. And so because of that, it's really expanded my business business and I call that a technology because it's more of a mindset. It's a mind shift. But don't Those are the two things that's helped me tremendously. Hopefully that answers your question. Yeah, absolutely. You know, there's a massive trend going toward, or a massive trend in business, going towards the practice of delegating,

of really focusing on your strengths and then finding somebody else for your weaknesses. It sounds kind of like that that's what you've discovered and you've discovered on your own. What would you say is the most important character trait of the people that you do surround your self? self-with. What is the most important characteristic of the people that I surround myself with

is right mindset, right attitude. Because, you know, you can have people with a lot of skill, but if they have the wrong attitude, then most of the time nothing will get done. I could say attitude is very, very important, and it has to be a positive attitude. An attitude of hope,

an attitude of that things can change, that things can be different and they're willing to do what it takes to make it different. You know, I've been through a lot of challenges in my life, you know, a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but I've always had hope. I've always had faith that things will be different.

That's probably because of my strong faith in God, but also is that I just believe that things can change and things can be different no matter what the circumstances are in front of me. So the people I surround myself with, I like to have those type of people with that same type of mindset. What's in your future right now that really excites you?

One of the things that really excites me right now is the ability to see Maxie View, my company, go from nothing to a multi-multi-million dollars. A multi-million dollar company over that few years. To see, you know, help my friend Harry take this company, to wear him going out, selling one product at a time at home shows to be a national brand name

product. I believe that one day people are going to walk into a car dealership and say, do you have Maxiviews for my car? And, you know, they're not going to be asking for Maxibu. It's going to be asking for Maxxiv. Kind of like you go to the store and you ask for Vaseline. You don't ask for a petroleum jelly.

I don't even know of any other kind of petroleum jelly. I just know Vaseline, that's it. And so my goal is to see this company go to this level where Massive view is the brand and that's it. So I'm excited about that and the reason I'm excited about that is not for the money is to give me the freedom to be able to do what I want to do for God. I actually have a goal to put the workshops and I wrote a book on living the Christian life and training and stuff like that.

So my ultimate goal is to go do that as a full-time thing, you know, mostly full-time thing, you know, mostly full time. I want to be able to work, you know, two, three hours a day and go do work for God for the other eight hours there. So that's my ultimate goal. So that's what I'm excited about. That's where my future is going, and I know it's right around the corner. Yeah, it sounds like it. And from what I know of you in the past, I don't doubt it a second. Well, if someone wanted to learn a little bit more about your company and what you're doing, how would they get some more information? Sure. You know, they can actually go to our website at maxi view mirrors with an F.com. that's maxi view mirrors

dot com I check up the website or if they have a question they can email me direct at Steven S-T-E-P-H-E-N at Maxi-View Inc or they call my number

at 888-7-8-7-4-13 any of those take a reach me I'm sorry will you repeat the phone number real quick again and write that down sure sure it's 888 7-88 7-8-7-8-7-8 7-4-13, and my direct extension is 100.

Extension 100. Okay, I'll put that in the show notes as well so people can refer to that through the transcripts. No problem. Well, Stephen, I really appreciate your time with us and sharing so authentically and sincerely what you've been through and how you're pulling yourself back up, and it sounds like you're darn near there. What is one word of advice, or maybe you've got a few words of advice, that you would give to somebody that's listening right now that finds

themselves at a low point. Now, if you find yourself at a low point, the biggest thing I would do, the whole I had to do is, you know, really you have to really think through ultimately where do you want to go. What's your dream? Yeah, that's the biggest thing I've noticed over the years is that people lose their dream. They don't have a reason why they're doing anything.

And if you don't have a dream, if you don't have something that you're shooting for, a goal, then it's going to be very difficult to pull yourself back out. And, you know, there's a lot of people right now going through challenging times. But you've got to know why you're here and where you're going. And the next thing you would have to do is you've got to make a decision. You've got to make a decision that no matter how good things are, how bad things are, how challenging things are, that you are going to be different, that you're going to change and that you have the ability to do it.

Because every one of you, listen to this message, you all have. the ability to be different. But it's going to take you. It's not going to be because of your circumstances. No one's going to hand you anything. No one's going to give you something that you haven't earned. If it's going to change, it's going to be because of you. If things are going to be different in your life,

it's because you made a difference and you've made a decision to be different. That's one that someone brought me years and years ago is that, you know, The most wealthy person on this planet or the most successful person I can deal on this planet and myself, there's only two things different between them and I. It's time and the size of their dream. That's the only difference between you and someone who is succeeding at what you want to accomplish. Is the size of their dream and time. It's the only difference.

See, I hope after this call Or after this, you know, a little message I'm leaving you here That there will only be one thing different Which is time I hope that you take this information And you start developing a huge dream And I hope you decide to have a big reason

Why you're on this earth And why you want to accomplish Because then you can start putting in the actions So that it will start shortening that time span that's what I like to say that's great and thank you for saying that I mean you've been such a great mentor

and a great influence for me and I'm glad that you've been able to share your words of wisdom with our listeners and I think it's pretty clear they can see why I even had you on this phone call so thank you very very much for your time you know in the future would you mind if we asked you back

and you could bring us up to date with how Maxie View Mirrors is going absolutely no problem sure you can call me anytime perfect all right well i'll let you go i know you got a busy day and i will talk to you soon and we'll invite you back soon as well okay matt well thank you i appreciate it you bet take care step i thank you have good good good good good good great call i mean i hope you're listening to that there's a lot of really good nuggets in there especially right there at the end you know when i got out of the marine corps i remember hearing a quote from general cole and powell and he said something to the effect

that indecision has cost the american government american business and the american people billions of dollars more than the wrong decision. In other words, not making a decision can be more costly than actually making one, even if it's the wrong one. Now, that quote, it's stuck with me ever since, and I've referenced it at least 100 times in conversation since. And what I've come to know is indecision is broadly recognized as a success killer, yet almost completely ignored as a distinction in the world of personal development.

You know, we heard right there at the end from Steve and how important it is to make a decision, to make a decision when it's time for you to start over, when it's time for you to do over. And I want to expound on that. I mean, but in a different way, let's talk about indecision. Okay, let's talk about indecision. By the way, indecision is also a decision, but let's talk about it specifically. You see, there are two types of decisions. Okay, type one is a yes or no decision.

What will happen if you say yes? What will happen if you say no? Type two is a right or left decision. You know, when you find yourself at this, the proverbial fork in the road, I mean, you can become paralyzed. Do I turn left or do I turn right? You know, the price is right. What's behind door number one or door number two? These two types of decisions have one thing in common.

They can stop us dead in our tracks. Indecision is toxic. It's absolutely murder to your progress. Okay, it'll destroy your success. It can cost you your entire do-over. You know, in any moment of decision, the best thing you can do, obviously, is make the right decision. The next best thing is the wrong decision.

And the worst thing you can do is absolutely nothing. Be really careful of the words. I'm going to warn you of these words when they come out of your mouth. And I want you to be conscious of this. I mean, awareness is everything. But be really careful of the words. Let me think about it. I mean, those words are typically the precursor for indecision. And sure, I want you to think about your decisions. Go ahead and think, but then decide. Decide swiftly. And here's why. Decision that causes movement. Nothing happens. I mean, nothing happens without a decision. Nothing will move without a decision. And the danger with nothing happening is you are unknowingly moving backwards. You're not just standing still while waiting to make the right decision.

You are moving backwards because life, it continues to move forward. So if you find yourself paralyzed by indecision, life is going to pass you by. You need to believe that. I mean, life is short. No, strike that. Life is fast. And the older you get, the faster it seemingly gets. So you need to make decisions because if you don't, whew,

Life is going to pass you by. You know, whenever you see a successful person or a successful business or organization or just in a successful event, someone at some point made a very courageous decision. They made decisions. So when you're due over, you're going to want to develop a reputation from making decisions and making quick decisions. You know, a while back, a really good friend of mine, he gave me a call on the phone one day and he's raving about this little town in Alabama where we could pick up these small little houses for $3,500. Yeah, I said that right, $3,500. I mean, I'm from Southern California. That sounds like a joke.

I mean, that's my mortgage payment. But we could pick up a whole house for $3,500. And my friend, he went on and on about how he was witnessing with his own eyes, the transformation of this little town. And one specific street in particular. I mean, he was, Matt, I already bought one house and I'm going to buy another really soon. You should at least pick up one for yourself. I'm telling you, this town is going to explode.

So I got off the phone with him. I was really excited because he wouldn't have called me and told me such a thing if it weren't true. But, you know, I kind of got depressed for a minute after I settled down. I started to rationalize because I'd realized that I'd only had $5,000 to my name, and I know rent was due. So I shared my situation with some friends, and I told them all about it. And to my surprise, a couple of my friends, they offered to just give me the money. They offered to loan me the money to do it.

I mean, my first shock was I didn't know the people that I was hanging around at that time actually had $5,000 to loan me or $3,500 to loan me. After they made that offer, my first response was of excitement and delight. But then I did follow it up with a let me think about it. I didn't want to let my friends down. They'd made a gracious offer. and I wanted to make sure I did the right thing. So to make a long story short, I never did take my friends up on that offer. I mean, they were so generous and gracious, but I never took them up on it.

Then six months later, property values in that area, they'd soar to $30,000 in six months. It's like a thousand percent return almost. I mean, a couple years later, there was up to $75,000. And even as the nation's real estate values took this significant hit in 2008, I mean, that little street was virtually unaffected as the value of that real estate today, I think, is sitting right around $100,000 the last time he told me. That was about a year ago when he told me about it. You know, by not making that decision to accept the gesture of $3,500 offered by my friends,

I mean, I lost a minimum of $70,000. And I lost the opportunity to give back a sizable return to my friends who made the offer in the first place. You know, had I accepted their offers, made the investment, and the opportunity failed, like it didn't pan out or, say, the street just took a nose dive. I'd have only lost a mere $3,500. In hindsight, I mean, it would have only taken me a few months to recover and pay back my friends. And that's where the lessons of indecision can be really painful. And as I describe it and as I talk about it, it's really a small decision.

But it's the smallest decisions that can change your life. In the subsequent three years, they turn out to be the worst for me financially than anything I'd experienced 15 years previous. Had I made a decision to join my friend on pursuing investments in that neighborhood, if I had taken my friends up on their generous offer to give me that $3,500. I mean, the impact of my life that I could have experienced with an extra $50,000, $100,000 or $200,000 during those years, those years that I was suffering. I mean, that could have opened up so many other opportunities, let alone spared me a bunch of heartache and regret and worry.

I mean, Napoleon Hill said it. The rich make up their minds quickly and they change them slowly, while the poor make up their minds slowly and change them quickly. You know, each time you just consider this, each time you put off making a decision. You rob yourself of time and a clear mind, resulting in lost days and performance. Nothing happens within decision.

And to compound the problem, more days are lost lamenting over the lost days. But the true cost of indecision, it's not limited to just wasted time and lost opportunity and lost money. Indecision, it exacerbates worry and makes it worse. It breeds heartache and sadness. Indecision can be debilitating.

I mean, it can take on a life of its own and it can creep into your character. It can be contagious. It can infect those around you. It can ship away at your self-confidence and the confidence others have in you. It will not only stifle your progress. It's going to stifle that of the people around you

as well. So here it is. Whether you think you can or cannot do, I know what you think I'm going to say, you're right, right? No, that's not what I'm going to say. Whether you think you can or cannot do, just begin. Just do it, if you will. I mean, just do the best you know how at the moment of decision. And what you're going to come to realize more times than not, just like I did, it's not always what we know or have analyzed prior to making a decision that makes it a good one. It's not what we do before we make the decision that makes it good. It's what we do after the decision that makes it a good one. More times than that, that's the case. So whether you think you can or cannot do, just begin.

So here's your homework. Make decisions and make them quickly. And then here's the second part. Stick with the decision and then act on the decision. Follow through. Don't change your mind unless you absolutely have to. Very simple homework today. Make decisions.

Make them quickly. Stick with the decision and then act. And don't change your mind. So that's it for this episode. If you didn't hear the last episode, episode four, I think you're going to want to go back and check that out. If you don't, your do-over could be a very disappointing one as we discussed the biggest barrier. And it's an invisible barrier, the biggest barrier to your do-over, one that'll completely derail your success if you ignore it. And I don't want that to happen to you.

And here's the other thing is nobody even knows it's there. I mean, it's invisible. That's why we call it an invisible barrier and it'll destroy you. So go back and listen to episode four if you missed it. So coming up next episode, we're going to go over the 10 stupid mistakes that newly-send self-employed make. So if your do-over consists of becoming self-employed, entrepreneurship, or even just starting a business, you're not going to want to miss that one. Here's your chance to take my hindsight and turn it into your foresight. So you don't make the same mistakes that I did.

Lastly, go to free do-over.com and download your copy of the three pillars of the ultimate doover. It's free. It's my gift to you. Don't waste this gift. And if it's not the best free thing you received all year, I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'll do something. At the very least, Let me know and let me know why. And if you like what you heard today and or if there's something that you'd like to hear more of, please visit iTunes at your convenience and leave your comments and suggestions. Much appreciated. I am Matt, the do-over guy, and I will see you next time on your do-over.

Thank you for tuning in to your do-over, where the ignored, underestimated, and unknown steps to producing results and making life work are revealed. And remember, knowledge is potential power. Take action on what you learned today. This is not your learnover. It's your do-over. To view the resources referenced in today's show and to retrieve a complete show transcript,

visit www. www.the-dover guy.com. Stay connected with Matt the do-over guy, terrio, on Twitter at the do-over guy, and on Facebook at www. facebook.com slash do-over guru. This podcast is a part of the C-suite radio network. For more top business podcasts,

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