#3 Real Estate Seminar Education

My 2007 was packed with seminars. What I want to discuss today is, what is all of the hype about with these seminars, how do they work, is it worth your time and money? I will totally come out and admit that I was a "Seminar Junkie" for awhile there and probably would still like to be in a sense. But on the other hand I would also call myself a Seminar Guru in the sense I know & understand what these platform speakers are attempting to accomplish and what they want to do to their audience.

I know and have seen the following on stage: Robert Allen, Alan Cowgill, Marshall Sylver, Jeff Schnitter, JJ Childers, John Childers, Bill Barnett, Matt Bacak, Lou Castillo, Josh Brown, Joel Bauer, Dave Lindahl, T Harv Eker, Blair Singer, Jeff Adams, Adam Ginsberg and some others I don't care to mention. Now, this is not a 'bash blog'...I'm not going to bash on these guys in anyway. I have respect for most of these guys and I'm not going to single them out. I'm going to simply explain the psychology behind seminars and help you decide if it is worth your time to get involved.

For one, if you want to make some real money...become a Platform Speaker like the above candidates. I don't know of a more lucrative business that public speaking at a seminar setting. Ok, back to the topic at hand, the way they look at things is:

How many butts do we have in seats?

Are these pre-qualified people?

Did they pay to get in or was it free?

And what is there interest? (internet marketing, self help, real estate, entrepreneurs, etc)

The next thing that they will do is teach, educate and share whatever it is they specialize in with the ultimate goal to convert 10%-30% (or more) of the people in the room. After their pitch, they will close and the next objective is to get you to stand up out of your seat and walk to the back of the room, pull out your credit card and enlist.

This is the basic idea...now are seminars worth your time? It depends on the topic and the speaker. For me...it was worth it. It was very expensive, I did get out of hand at times, as far as getting closed by platform speakers, standing up and running to the back of the room to sign up! The other problem that I faced is, I would purchase a 3 day seminar or a home study course...and would not implement the information. It became a habit of gathering and collecting information. I became this squirrel of information preparing for winter. But winter never came and my information just collected dust.

Would I be where I am today without seminars? No. The other point I would like to make is there is no silver bullet. I thought and felt that by attending X seminar that I would become a millionaire. Not the case just yet. One needs to create a team, implement and begin a business from scratch. So what has happened to me in essence this year, is a mental transformation from "Seminar Junky-whatever they tell me goes and everyone else is stupid" to an "Old School-way of doing business...seek guidance and counsel from professionals outside of the seminar arena."

I fell victim to thinking that the only professionals that could assist me on my Million Dollar Business journey were those in the seminar business circuit. And that came at a very expensive price with very little value. I began to change and realize that life, business and entrepreneurship are not Utopia. Business became very difficult and I needed to change the way I thought of doing business and how I was doing it. I didn't have any local professionals, they were all out of state. Now, I prefer to have everyone local: CPA, Attorney, Financial Plannter, etc.

For instance, I was purchasing distressed foreclosed homes in Detroit from Southern Utah, site unseen. But this is how I was taught from all of those seminars. I had a system in place and professionals who would do the due diligence for me and relay the information via email or phone. Did this work?....yes & no. Would I do it again? Probably not. What have I learned? My first few houses were in terrible areas. Did my contractor say anything to me, my Realtor, property manager? Nope, not one of them mentioned anything to me like, "Hey, Travis you may want to rethink this location." It's my responsibility, I understand that, I don't blame them for my poor decision. It was just a different way of doing business.

Anyhow, my point...I am now an "Old School" hands-on business man. Which brings me to why my family and I have moved to Detroit, Michigan of all places from Saint George, Utah. Enough about me, lets get into real estate deals, entrepreneurship & business. Until then...never give up on your Entrepreneurial Desires.