Mentoring -The Secret to Success

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
― Benjamin Franklin

Every one of us out there in life wants to be successful. We want a healthy, happy family, and we want our businesses to thrive. While few in business ever really want to talk about it, unquestionably our biggest fear is failure. Many of us out there work extraordinary hours to ensure success and provide for our families. Like Mark Warner said “My success was due to good luck, hard work, and support and advice from friends and mentors. But most importantly, it depended on me to keep trying after I had failed.”

So let’s talk about mentoring. It’s how people who are great at what they do learned, and it’s how our team learned. It has been said that experience is the best teacher.  But what we suggest is why spend valuable time reinventing the wheel? Part of our Flipping Houses University series talks about learning from others mistakes and the value of time.  Instead, if you learn from those who have been successful before you, you become more successful much faster.

Don’t get us wrong. We highly recommend reading as many books ( we recommend The Book on Flipping by J. Scott) and listening to as many pod casts you can on investing in real estate. As experienced and active investors we are keenly aware of how to lay the foundation for a successful real estate investing business while simultaneously staying ahead of current markets, trends and practices within the housing market. You will definitely put yourself ahead of others by educating yourself and learning the basics. But also check out conferences, seminars, bootcamp etc on flipping houses. Find out what information you can learn to increase your own success.

Our point is some of the greatest, most successful people out there were mentored. You might find it interesting to find out who some of these list as their mentors. Check out this list.

Here are some notable ones

Oprah Winfrey mentored by Mrs. Duncan, her 4th grade teacher.

General Colin Powell mentored by his father, Luther Powell.

Dr. Martin Luther King mentored by Benjamin E. Mays

Henry David Thoreau mentored by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quincy Jones mentored by Ray Charles

Warren Buffett mentored by Benjamin Graham

Let’s take a look at the last example. At the moldable age of 21, Buffett came across the renowned American economist and professional investor Benjamin Graham.  Warren Buffett, through Graham’s mentoring, became the world’s most successful investor and the most prolific mentor-mentee partnership was born. Warren Buffett went on to own Geico, the company run by his mentor by his own company, Berkshire Hathaway.

The bond shared was a teacher-student one, the in depth understanding and knowledge possessed by Benjamin Graham left the young Warren with the right concepts and perception of how investment systems operate. This mentee used that insight to become one of the richest people in the world. If you take a closer look at some of the most successful figures throughout history, chances are you will find the majority had a mentor that made a positive impact on their lives.

Here are a few of our favorite quotes on mentoring.
“You know, you do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself.” ~Diana Ross

“Alexander the Great valued learning so highly, that he used to say he was more indebted to Aristotle for giving him knowledge than to his father Philip for life”. ~Samuel Smiles.

To learn more about Part-Time REI visit us at http://part-timerei.com/

Or visit us on FB at: https://www.facebook.com/PartTimeRei

Linked In http://www.linkedin.com/company/part-time-rei

Erik Hitzelberger has been Real Estate Investor since 2007. While learning the ropes in the market down-cycle, he now teaches others how to use his systems and leverage other people’s expertise to achieve their own goals.

Erik Hitzelberger – who has written 194 posts on Part Time REI.

---