Goal setting is a very important process of any type of investing.  Moreover, with out clear goals, it is very difficult to understand what investment will help you to reach your goals

When we started in this business, we attended seminars, read books, and networked to discuss and learn.  What we found was that the very successful people all had clear, well defined goals.  When we met with them, they would ask, "Mark, what are your goals?  Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"  "Carol, do you see yourself with lots of property, a thriving network marketing business?  Tell me, what does it look like?"

These would be the most frustrating of conversations because we knew we wanted to be better off then we were.  We wanted money, we wanted to travel.  Besides that, we wanted to get stated and quit talking about goals!

Let me tell you something, that line of thinking got us into three network marketing companies, starting 3 businesses, flipping properties, chasing the big fish, and doing allot of busy work.  Think of this, Carol and I could best be described as two hamsters in those plastic balls running around on the floor of a department store.  The problem was, we were both in the same ball and through the dirty and scratched up plastic , we couldn't really see what we were working towards.  In fact, that plastic ball was a bit lop sided so when we got going in a direction, something would sill knock us off course.  Guess what, we never knew where we were going and in what direction we needed to head to get there.

What the heck do plastic hamster balls on the floor of a department store have to do with real estate investing?

The example is simply a graphical representation of the life we were living without clearly defined goals.

We now have clear goals!  We understand where we want to be, how much this life will cost, and what we are going to to do get there. 

As many people know, one of my goals is to celebrate my 40th birthday in Bora Bora.  That's a great goal but what about that excites me?  It's expensive, it's still several years away, etc. etc.   When things get thought, there is nothing about it to inspire me.  With Carol, her goal is to have a few homes on 150 acres around the Simcoe Shores area of Ontario where all of our family will live - in their own homes of course.  Again, big, nice, but boring.

So how do you kick these goals up a notch?  One of the lessons learned from Don, the author of the national best selling book on the left, is to write a letter to someone as if the goal actually happened.  Describe the sights, the sounds, the smells.  What are you doing, where are you and who are you with.  Describe it as if you were really their.  Tell someone who you want to share this with as though you were writing a letter to a very dear friend.  Once you do this, the goal, dream, and letter take on a whole new meaning.  In fact, once you share this letter with people today, it takes on a life of its own.  One which can't help but become real.  We call this the "I did it letter."

Click here for our I did it letters.  We truly believe that through helping you achieve your personal goals that these events have no choice but to materialize.

• Carol - I did it! 
• Mark - I did it! 

In summary, when we started, we didn't have goals and we were all over the place.  The smallest things would set us off our path and we were easily distracted.  Today, we have a very clear path, we know the destination, and we have a very powerful motivation to move forward, daily, with out distraction.

Once hamsters in a dirty plastic ball, we have now transformed like the Canadian Monarch Butterfly, flying on wings of inspiration, driven to complete our journey through what might seam like unbelievable obstacles at times.  

What are you doing today?  What moves you?  What is your dream, your goals?  Can you taste it, smell it, touch it?  if not, have another read of our letters and then sit down in a quite time and tell me what you are doing in 5 or 10 years.  Do it and I guarantee you will understand why you are investing with us and what you need your property to do for you between now and then.

• Carol - I did it!  Click here to find out what Carol is doing on 12/11/10.  Will you be there?
• Mark - I did it!  Click here to learn what motivates Mark.  Is that you waking up on the Wednesday in paradise with us?

Hope to see you