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by a ‘deal.’ Instead of ‘doing my first deal,’ perhaps
the description of the result could read as, ‘Buy my
first positive cash flowing rental property that earns
at least $200 per month without having to use my
own cash or credit to acquire the property’ or ‘Close
my first deal and earn $5,000 or more in net profits
after all expenses.’” Knowing what a successful result
is helps an investor to determine the steps needed in
order to accomplish the goal.
Another critical aspect to setting goals in the
probate investment business is that they are time
sensitive. If an investor sets a goal to “make money
this year,” it not only doesn’t describe exactly what
the goal is – in other words, how much money? – but
it also doesn’t give it a specific time frame. A year
can be a long time in business and a lot can happen.
Regarding time-specific goals, Carlton said, “They
have a time by which you need to accomplish them
by. They also have interim steps along the way that
can be monitored. These sub-deadlines or schedules
are critical to success. There are no unrealistic goals;
there are merely unrealistic timeframes.” In other
words, if you want to build a probate business that has
two million dollars in holdings, it can be done, but it
may not be able to be done overnight. This is a case
where setting goals in terms of phases can be even
more important.
The goals an investor sets for their probate real
estate business should also be challenging. The
writers at Real Estate Champions say, “Goals need
to challenge you to capacity or beyond your current
capacity. They will stretch you and mold you into a
new person. Jim Rohn wisely said, ‘It’s not the money
that makes the millionaire successful; it’s what he had
to become (as a person) to earn a million dollars.’ If
you took the money away from that millionaire that
millionaire, would make it back twice as fast as before, because he learned the skill to make it in the first
place.” As a probate investment business grows, the
person running the business grows in knowledge and
ability as well. This is the reason that setting challenging, big goals is critical. The other reason to set
challenging, big goals is that they are entirely attainable in the probate industry. As discussed earlier, the
probate industry is rife with opportunity that cannot
be seen in other areas of real estate. In fact, investors
have the upper hand in the probate real estate market
since Executors need to sell properties in order to get
the cash needed to close the probate.

Ask Questions to
Develop Action Plans

As investors set their goals, they also need to develop
the actionable part of the process. While many investors may say, “I would like to make $100,000 dollars
this year,” figuring out how to get there is the hardest
part of the process. This indicates the need for an
action plan. Exactly what needs to be done to achieve
a goal? Take time to think through the process by
asking excellent questions.
If an investor wants to net $100,000, here are just
a few of the questions that can be asked to develop an
action plan:
•How much income do I need to make gross in
order to net $100,000?
•Do I want to make that money in rental profit or
in buying and selling homes or by using a combination?
•What roadblocks do I see ahead?

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Thinking through the process in terms of questions provides the environment for a much more creative problem solving process for probate investors.

What If Goals Aren’t Met?

Just like New Year’s resolutions, there are many times
that goals aren’t met in probate. Does that mean

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Continued on pg. 25

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