| Have you been waiting for the perfect time to | | | | a commission merchant for commodities such as |
| move forward to ramp up your real estate | | | | grain and meats. The business at first was a |
| investing business? Has all of the bad news | | | | partnership, but when his partners did not share |
| regarding the real estate industry slowed you | | | | his vision, he bought them out. Rockefeller was |
| down to a standstill? "Surely if I wait until next | | | | never a gambler but always a planner. He |
| year," you've been thinking, "the market will have | | | | abhorred speculation. When he was sure of a deal, |
| corrected itself and everything will be safer." | | | | he was not afraid to go to banks and borrow |
| You've attended a few real estate investor club | | | | large sums of money. Profits were continually |
| meetings and you've heard all the talk about the | | | | invested back into the business. |
| "good times" in real estate. Sub prime loans were | | | | But Rockefeller had his eye on two new areas: |
| plentiful, prices were constantly going up, and | | | | railroads and oil. And it was in these industries he |
| bargains were everywhere. So you've decided to | | | | would eventually make his millions. |
| wait it out. Surely those good times will be back. | | | | He had the foresight to see that Cleveland would |
| If you will listen to your reasoning (really listen), | | | | no longer lead in areas of agriculture, but rather in |
| you'll quickly realize that it is fear and | | | | raw industrial materials. Oil was one of these. |
| procrastination talking. The famous German | | | | With no hesitation, Rockefeller entered into the oil |
| author, Goethe, once said: | | | | business. His plan was be cautious with every |
| Indecision brings its own delays and days are lost | | | | penny. Waste was not allowed. He studied to find |
| lamenting over day. Action - there is courage, | | | | ways to use every by-product of the oil that was |
| magic in it. Anything you can do, or think you can, | | | | refined. |
| begin it. Once started, the mind grows heated. | | | | He was not hesitant to step into the barrel |
| Begin the job and the work will be completed. | | | | making business to make his own barrels to ship |
| A high school athletic director was so wearied | | | | the oil. He was not hesitant to set up a drayage |
| with his students coming up with excuses for not | | | | business so that it was his wagons and his horses |
| working out; he finally wrote up a list of excuses | | | | that transported the barrels of oil. |
| and posted them on the bulletin board so they | | | | Because at the time refining was still very |
| could simply choose the one that they liked best. | | | | primitive, he built improved refineries, along with |
| Does that describe you? Do you have so many | | | | building holding tanks. Rockefeller was the first to |
| excuses for not taking action in your real estate | | | | even think of or consider the use of holding tanks. |
| investing business that you could make a list and | | | | While other refiners were "disposing" of what |
| check them off? Business philosopher Jim Rohn | | | | they saw as "waste," Rockefeller used it to |
| says: | | | | manufacture dozens of products such as varnish, |
| I used to say, "I sure hope things will change." | | | | lubricants, paraffin, and cleaning fluids. |
| Then I learned that the only way things are going | | | | His plans were intricate and his vision big. Every |
| to change for me is when I change. | | | | detail was thoroughly thought out. Nothing was |
| If you allow external circumstances (downturn in | | | | left to chance. No undertaking was embarked |
| the real estate market) rule your thinking and | | | | upon without thorough investigation. |
| your actions, you will be defeated from the | | | | Eventually Standard Oil became a massive |
| outset. | | | | monopoly. Rockefeller's holdings would mount up |
| This is not to suggest that you take undue risks | | | | to become worth many millions. So much so that |
| or to buy property just to be buying property. | | | | his later years would be spent in giving away all |
| But by taking wise, calculated steps, you will grow | | | | that money. John D. Rockefeller is remembered |
| your business. Action is imperative. Inaction kills. | | | | as much or more so for his philanthropy as for |
| Decisive Action | | | | his leadership in the oil industry. |
| Born in 1839, philanthropist and oil magnate John | | | | Make Your Plans; Chart Your Course |
| D. Rockefeller in his lifetime stepped forward into | | | | Take a good look at your real estate investing |
| business ventures that would have frightened | | | | business. Do you have detailed plans? Have you |
| lesser men. And did so at a very young age. | | | | charted a course? Are you taking positive steps |
| Once he saw his way clear to enter into a | | | | each day to move toward your goals? Can you |
| transaction, he moved forward with decisive | | | | look at your neighborhood, your city, your town, |
| action. | | | | and see the opportunities for building your |
| When he was only twelve, he had saved up $50 | | | | business? Is your marketing plan in place? Is your |
| by working on neighboring farms. With the | | | | investor website up and running? Are you |
| encouragement of his mother, he loaned the | | | | brainstorming to create new ways to find |
| money out at 7% interest. When it came back - | | | | motivated sellers and wiling buyers? |
| with interest included - he was convinced that he | | | | There will never be another John D. Rockefeller. |
| would always be the master over his money. | | | | He was a man who was in the right place at the |
| At age nineteen, Rockefeller as an employee of a | | | | right time with a vision to do the right thing. But |
| produce firm was arranging complicated | | | | what is stopping you? This can be your right place |
| transportation deals that involved moving a single | | | | and your right time as well. And you can make it |
| shipment of freight by railroad, canal, and lake | | | | so. |
| boats. His pay was small, but he was learning a | | | | If you are looking for distractions to put off what |
| great deal. On the side, he expanded into | | | | needs doing to build your business, you'll find |
| ventures on his own. By studying each venture | | | | plenty of them. Excuses are a plentiful as flowers |
| carefully, he only stepped in when confident they | | | | in spring. If you wait until you are ready, you'll |
| would be profitable. He moved into complicated | | | | never get started! |
| deals without a moment's hesitation. | | | | Get rid of the distractions and excuses and |
| Before his twentieth birthday, he left employment | | | | replace them with your goals list, your action list! |
| and started his own business in Cleveland, Ohio, as | | | | And do it today! The time is NOW! |