I’m going to share my wealth-building and real estate investing lessons in a ten-part blog series where I outline what I learned from my first ten deals. This introductory post is about the beginning of my journey. My hope for this sharing is to inspire others to make the same journey, encourage those who may have started but are wavering, and to invite people to share their own lessons so we can grow together.
The Spark That Started It All
I read Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad in 2006, just after graduating high school, and decided to build wealth through real estate. In college, I was a member of Toastmasters and made it a point to take the professionals and business owners I knew out for lunch or coffee to ask them this question:
“What did you want when you were my age? Did you achieve it, or are you on your way to achieving it? Why or why not?”
Most of the answers I received went something like this: “I wanted to be wealthy, and I also wanted to have a happy family. I now have a happy family, but I’m not rich. I had to sacrifice my professional life for my family because it’s not worth the grind to try to have both. You have to sacrifice your family to be rich, or sacrifice being rich to be with your family.”
The Mentor Who Changed My Thinking
Out of the twenty-three people I asked, one man had both a very happy family and wealth. He told me the only thing he would have done differently at the start of his journey was this: he would never have sold any of the real estate he bought. His lesson was simple but powerful—buy and hold income-generating real estate, manage it well, and keep it forever.
This single lesson became the foundation of my philosophy.
Studying Wealthy People
At the time, I also started studying wealthy and successful people to look for patterns. I read every personal finance book I could find:
- The Millionaire Next Door
- The Total Money Makeover
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- The Intelligent Investor
- Think and Grow Rich
- The Richest Man in Babylon
- The Millionaire Mind
And many more.
A theme emerged: wealthy people learn to make money, leverage that money to make more, and then structure everything to minimize taxes. Over and over, real estate was the tool they used to leverage their money to make more money, and be tax efficient.
So, in 2010, I asked myself:
“Why go through three separate learning curves—first making money, then learning to invest money, then learning to do it all in a tax-efficient way—when I could go through one longer learning curve and do everything through real estate? If I do this, my learning curve will be longer but my exponential growth will be bigger.”
That’s when I committed to building wealth through real estate.
Quotes That Guided Me
As I write this, a few quotes come to mind:
First, Marianne Williamson’s words, which I first heard in the movie Coach Carter:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us… We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.”
If you’re thinking about building real wealth for your family but have doubts—let this be your reminder: you are more capable than you think.
Second, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once wrote:
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy… Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”
If you’re thinking about building wealth but don’t know where to start, use this as a call to action: start now. Be bold. Have vision. Make a plan, and then work your plan.
Third, a quote I can’t quite trace but have always remembered:
“As you light the path for others, you can’t help but light the path for yourself.”
Fourth, The Bible reminds us that without vision, people will perish and that man makes his plans, but the Lord establishes his steps. From this we learn three things:
- We are required to be leaders with vision.
- We must make plans and submit them to God.
- We are called to follow those plans faithfully.
For the rest of this year, I’ll be sharing the lessons I learned from my first ten real estate deals. I hope and pray you’ll learn from my mistakes, be inspired to take action, write back to challenge my thinking, or share your own lessons with me. I don’t know exactly where this will go—but I have a vision, I’ve made a plan, and I am walking faithfully.
To your success,
Schuyler
