Congratulations on becoming a Platinum Member of Commercial Academy… and welcome to the team! This is one of the most important steps you’ve ever taken for your Commercial Real Estate business career.  So now you may be asking yourself: Where do I go from here? What does it really take to be successful? How do I close my first deal?

I believe there are three simple steps to take in order to achieve successful results through the Commercial Academy platform:

  1. Focus on your Goals and Make them Achievable
  2. Take Massive Action and Track All of your Activities on a Daily and Weekly Basis
  3. Stay Accountable and Don’t Give Up

Scott often says at his events: “It Only Takes One Deal, One Time To Change Your Life Forever.” TM

Well, after closing my first deal within the first year of joining the program and then closing an even bigger deal a few months later, I can assure you that this journey has definitely changed my life… for the better.

Within a few months of becoming a Commercial Academy Platinum member, I quickly applied Scott’s 90-day Action Plan and got to work in laying down the foundation, locating opportunities, evaluating deals, constructing and presenting offers, due diligence, and funding the deal. Within nine months, I managed to put five potential value-add properties under contract.  Nine months later, I closed my first 13,400 SF strip center.  Only a few months later, I closed on a 82,500 SF shopping center with 2 drive-thru outparcels.

As you can probably see, this is a numbers game and that’s how it worked out for me.  I acted on enough good deals so that two good ones closed. While some people may be able to close their first deal within a month of joining the program, others may take up to a couple years to close. It doesn’t matter how long it takes – what really matters, is that it will happen.  But it only happens when you start with goal setting.

1. Focus on your Goals and Make them Achievable

First and foremost, focus on your goals and make them achievable. This is important when you’re planning for your initial In-Take call with Scott. Take the time to think about your goals, everything that you want to achieve and write them down. Make your goals SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound) and attainable.  Ask yourself: “Why do you want to do commercial real estate?” and “What are you willing to give up to achieve these goals and dreams?” When writing down your goals, think about both your long term and short term goals.  For some, it may be financial freedom and having the option one day to no longer need to work.  Setting goals has to be the most important step. It is what fuels you to put in the necessary action each day, each week, every month to reach your goals and dreams.

When you know your why and you set your goals, you are more driven to put in the time to learn, make calls, take rejections, and keep going when a deal goes sour and you need to walk away after having spent endless hours and possibly some money. Staying focused on your goals also means you will need to give up certain things in order to achieve your goals. You’ll have to walk away from bad habits and activities that are holding you back in order to start creating the right habits for your successful future.

2. Take Massive Action and Track All of your Activities on a Daily and Weekly Basis

The second step is to put in massive action during your first 90 days and track them daily and weekly. I remember listening and relistening to Scott’s 90-Day Action Plan and online webinars several times. As you can see in the results below, I spent a lot of time on the Commercial Hub and Academy’s websites, getting to know the software and evaluating the deals. I also reached out to brokers, building relationships and practicing the scripts provided in the training manuals.  During the first 90-Days I spent a good amount of time reviewing the audio and webinars in the Commercial Academy Learning Management System.

In shaping my future plans, I took time to figure out the asset types I wanted to buy, including the submarket, location, size, demographics, etc. I wanted to invest in. Once I had my lists obtained by Commercial Academy, I immediately began searching and reviewing over 100 listings in different market segments, calling up 40 brokers and building about 10 good relationships with brokers from different submarkets. From there, I submitted about 10 LOI’s, got 4 rejected, and 1 under contract. As I said, it is a numbers game. And as you build relationships with brokers and subscribe to their newsletters, you’ll begin to receive more deal flows.  As Scott says, it’s not a matter of “if,” it’s a matter of “when.”

Also, the more experience you gain by doing this, the better you’ll get at it. This is how it worked for me and perhaps you’ll have even better results than what I had.

When evaluating a deal on the Commercial Hub, make sure you do a full evaluation by filling in all the necessary information before submitting the deal for coaching to review. Once you have an appointment with a coach to review your deal, be prepared to discuss the deal by doing all the necessary homework to gather all information, including requesting and analyzing various property reports. These reports are invaluable for providing the history about the property, the market, demographics and sales comparisons in the market you’re looking to purchase. Continue to follow up with the broker to get all the information needed to enter the full evaluation. Don’t just rely on their marketing offer memorandum and pro forma projections. Do your own projections and understand how the numbers all work. Coaching can assist you with this, as well.

This is a listing of all of my activities I recorded after 90 days in the Platinum program:

3. Stay Accountable and Don’t Give Up

Once you’ve completed your first 90-Day Action Plan, what should you do next? Do it again! Make sure you track and compare your results each quarter and look for any ways to improve your search and deal evaluations.  Like anything else that you’re trying to achieve – practice is the mother of skill. Find ways to stay focused and accountable by joining weekly calls with other Platinum members or reach out to Diamond members you introduce yourself to at quarterly meetings for help and inspiration.

One other very important aspect is that this business is about building meaningful relationships and networking. Whenever possible, take the initiative to network by getting to know others in the group. Make sure to attend all 3-Day training events and when possible, attend your couple DIC Mastermind events so you can  surround yourself with like-minded professionals who can help you grow into your business. This is Give & Take so offer your help and show people how you can add value to them on an existing or new deal. By acting this way, you’ll not only get to know people better, but you’ll build rapport and trust with them.

I truly hope that these few tips will help you in your Commercial Real Estate journey with Commercial Academy. It has been an exciting journey for me and I look forward to hearing about your own successes at future events. Please introduce yourself to me and let me know if I can help you in any way.