I am going to try to keep this post short and sweet.  Why?  Because I am overwhelmingly busy this week!

Here is a list of things I have going on:

• We bought our first investment property last Thursday. That alone is a huge undertaking.

• We immediately listed it for rent on Craigslist and Zillow and began the search to find our first tenants. The property is in a perfect location, in a hot market, so we received a lot of demand for it.  We probably received 50 inquiries about it, and after screening each inquiry, I’ve scheduled at least 10 showings for it in the first five days and had to interview each showing.  More posts coming in the future about the process we used to screen our tenets.

• We did have several people apply for it, so I had to run background checks and credit checks on each applicant, and follow up with the references they gave me. Then, once we selected our finalists, I had to write a lease for them to sign to secure the property.   We are signing our lease on Friday, and our first renters are moving in on June 1^st. This will work out well as our first mortgage payment isn’t until July 1, so June’s rent will be an extra month ($1600) that will help us cushion our profit margin and build our cash reserves back up.

• Since our first renters are now moving in three weeks, this puts extra-urgency on our home improvement project schedule. We bought the home directly from the previous owners so, there were a lot of things we bought as-is, and wanted to update.  I take pride in my properties feeling clean and nice to live in.  I never want my tenants to think, yuck, when they look at something.  Here is a list of the projects we have planned for the next three weeks.  We should be able to upgrade the property significantly for under $1000, so we’re doing a lot of it ourselves on a budget.

Tile the upstairs bathroom.

We are tired, dirty, and cranky after 10 hours of tiling… but wow. Just made an eye sore, a signature room when showing the home for $300 pic.twitter.com/KpaAA2kuEA

— Wealth Well Done (@WealthWellDone) May 7, 2017

Re-grout and seal basement shower, and put on a shower door.

Need to put shower door on, new grout to make sure it’s sealed, and paint and should be fine for renters. pic.twitter.com/ZXjz0EJZIe

— Wealth Well Done (@WealthWellDone) May 11, 2017

Paint cabinets and update cabinet hardware in kitchen.

More projects… we hate the old outdated light fixtures and dark cabinets in kitchen. Will update light fixtures and try to pain cabinets. pic.twitter.com/dalb7sddYk

— Wealth Well Done (@WealthWellDone) May 11, 2017

Replace all damaged doors.

Fix duct-taped drier HVAC duct work, and secure to wall.

Next project on rental I bought… fix hvac work that’s hanging from duct tape tied to the cieling. pic.twitter.com/yK2nDwzA3A

— Wealth Well Done (@WealthWellDone) May 11, 2017

Tile basement bathroom floor edge.

Another project… I ripped off old warped vinyl border that was falling off. I found 4 × 4 inch almond tile I will border bathroom with. pic.twitter.com/qJZHqnPxQt

— Wealth Well Done (@WealthWellDone) May 11, 2017

Put on new countertop vanity in bathroom and paint bathroom walls.

New vanity top I found on Craigslist for $80. Old one is probably 1978 original and falling apart. Cabinet is durable oak. Will paint that. pic.twitter.com/aWjA9sSJvY

— Wealth Well Done (@WealthWellDone) May 11, 2017

Set up a professional deep cleaning with Cornerstone professional cleaners.

• On top of all of that, my wife’s grandmother had a health scare while traveling in Canada, and since we were the closest family to her, we made arrangements for her to stay at our home in Minnesota and get proper medical treatment until she was healthy enough to drive home to Colorado. Even though she has been a fantastic house guest, it’s just been another unexpected responsibility, and person living in our house, that’s been added to our plate.

• We have also been doing all of this while both Amanda and I have been managing full-time work schedules.

I did see this awesome quote on twitter last week that made me smile. I hope it’s inspirational to you:

If you want something done, ask someone who is already busy. – Unknown.

— Wealth Well Done (@WealthWellDone) May 11, 2017

So this week, as I am neck deep in all of this responsibility, I thought I’d write a post on how to stay focused when you have a million things going on in your life.   The truth about attaining wealth is that at times you have to be aggressive in life and take on more than you can chew.  You can’t sit back and wait for fortune and life to come to you, because it will almost never happen.  You have to be pro-active and assertive, and you have to be motivated to get up, go out, and build and accomplish the life you want.

The truth about attaining wealth is that there is never a perfect time to start.  There will always be things in your way.  There will always be the unknown things that pop up.  There will always be doubts in the back of your mind that make you question your decisions, and make you want to push your decisions off for another day.   But you can’t let that happen!  You have to start now even if the timing is difficult and life is hard!!!!  You have to fight through the difficulties or you never will!

The biggest thing that separates winning and losing in life, is forcing yourself to get up and conquer all the challenges in your way every day.  Everyday Excellence;  Consistently Awesome; has to be your motto to create wealth.

So here are three tips on how to stay focused and win when you have a million things going on in your life:

VISUALIZE  A PLAN!

• Make a plan, and mentally start preparing for what you have to accomplish long before you start working an actual project. I grew up a ski racer, and before each competition, we’d do a group visualization where we’d imagine each turn and how the race would go.

I still use this method when things get crazy in my life.  I mentally visualize, imagine, and prepare for each project long before I start working on them.   Even though I didn’t own the new property until last Thursday, I’ve been going to home depot for the last two months, mentally preparing for each project so I knew right where I could buy all the supplies I needed and wouldn’t have to waste time walking the aisles learning as I went.

MAXIMIZE YOUR TIME!

• Go to work, and maximize every free hour you have to get ahead of schedule. When we first bought the property, I estimated all of the work I had to do on the property would take about 100 hours.  Therefore, I knew I wouldn’t be done until I put about 100 hours of labor into the property.  Knowing that I had that much work to do, inspired me with a sense of urgency to start putting in those hours, because the faster I could put them in, the faster the work would be done before the new tenants moved in June 1^st.

ELIMINATE NON-GOAL ACTIVITIES!  

PRIORITIZE GOAL-BUILDING ACTIVITIES!

• Eliminate every activity that is not bringing you closer to your goals, and focus all of your energy to the tasks that are getting you closer to your dreams.

Unfortunately, for this month, I’ve had to give up a lot of the things I personally enjoy because they weren’t contributing to helping me achieve my goals.  That means no long bike rides, and long walks on my favorite trails after work each night.  No weekend spring weekend trips to the cabin.  I turned down an annual trip to go walleye fishing in May because I have decided to eliminate “fun” until those 100 hours of work are done.  I am not sacrificing these “fun” things because I have to.  I am sacrificing them because I choose to, and want to.  I am choosing to sacrifice them, because working hard now and accomplishing these goals will lead me to a better future.

I am choosing to sacrifice my fun today, for a better future tomorrow, and in a nutshell, that’s what the path to wealth looks like.

A great friend of mine who sold his million dollar business, to become a church pastor in his 30’s once shared this quote with me, which inspired me greatly, and I’ll never forget it:

Work hard now. Play hard later. – My pastor friend.

— Wealth Well Done (@WealthWellDone) December 21, 2017

So that’s it for us this week.  I have to get back to work!!!!!!!  Keep following us and find out what we turn all of this hard work into!

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