If you’re reading this blog, then you probably know something about my approach to real estate investing (and life in general) is a little different than other people’s.

I like to keep things simple.

I like to get things done.

I find the best way to get things done is to keep them simple – and that applies to everything from farming to flipping houses.

Keeping things simple and focusing on the end result has gotten me a long way, but it’s really a little more than that. There are lots of “coaches” and “mentors” out there telling people to KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) or to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) goals or throwing out any number of other acronyms and cute sayings that claim to simplify things but really just gum up the works for a lot of investors. Not me. I’m not just about keeping things simple and getting things done. I’m about keeping them simple and getting them done old school.

You see, I did not grow up the way most people today grew up. Who I am and how I got to where I am today is largely due to the fact that my upbringing was way, way different than that of the vast majority of the U.S. population. I’m the old of a dozen kids (cumulatively) on both sides of my family. I grew up as the oldest of 6 with my Mom and my stepdad. I grew up early, which may not be all that uncommon, but I also grew up in a way that takes the term “old school” very, very literally because I grew up in an old schoolhouse off Afton Road in northern Michigan. You can read all about how I grew up, what I learned, and how I applied it to generate massive returns in real estate and other business ventures in my book, Lessons from the Old Schoolhouse, but I will give you the short version now and tell you that the one-room schoolhouse was not like you are thinking (Little House on the Prairie, I bet) but rather a drafty, one-room building that had been left open to the elements for more than a decade that boasted an indoor outhouse and a Ben Franklin stove that was already an antique when we moved in. So, you can see that we were literally old school when I was a kid.

On top of all that, I learned to be old school in other ways as well. Mainly, I learned that if I wanted something to change – for good or for bad – I was going to have to do it myself. That encouraged several character traits that ultimately ended up being great for my businesses and real estate investments. Those character traits are:

1. Creativity
   When you’re Old School, you work with what you have. I had to mow lawns, go to school, take care of my younger siblings, and help grow/gather/trap food any way I could when I was growing up. Needless to say, if I wanted to get a deal done – like one time when my brother and I wanted “candy money” for after-school treats – I definitely had to get creative in terms of how I earned money, how I saved it, and how I made it grow. That creativity has served me well daily as it helps me finance deals other people can’t, put very little money down on properties that others would have to put down 10% or 20% to get under contract, and grow businesses that other owners have given up on completely into hugely profitable operations.
   
   
2. Confidence in My Abilities
   As a kid, I spent a lot of time taking care of myself and my younger siblings. I also started multiple businesses from a very young age and, in third grade, started a “gang” to defend myself and my friends from bigger bullies who were stealing our lunches and our lunch money. I did not always make the right decisions, and I definitely wasn’t perfect, but I realized early on that I was going to have to rely on myself to change how things were for me and I started doing that in short order. When you’re Old School, you know that you have the ability and the determination to get jobs done – Old School investors and entrepreneurs persevere like no one else!
   
   
3. Leadership
   Not everyone who grows up Old School is a leader, but if you look at the best, most effective leaders out there in the world today, you will see that a lot of leaders are Old School today even if they did not grow up that way. Old school leaders are not afraid to give clear directions, delegate when appropriate, and build operations (businesses, political movements, investments, whatever the case may be) that are self-sustaining. I grew up having to do things for myself, but I also learned that the network of people in your community (local, virtual, or otherwise) is incredibly valuable when it comes to accomplishing bigger things than I ever could have alone.

That is Old School: when you rely on the people you know you can trust to build bigger and better than you could on your own.

Old School investors sometimes have a hard time getting started or finding their network because not everyone works like us. Not everyone thinks like us. Not everyone demands the quality of results that we do. Not everyone is built like us. And that’s okay, but it can be hard for the Old School investor or Old School entrepreneur who is trying to get things going and growing but can’t find others with a similar mindset.

That is why I’ve started the Old School Real Estate Investing Meetup & Strategy Session, one of northern Michigan’s only real estate investing meetups and the ONLY Old School Investing Meetup in the state. You can find our inaugural meetup information and join our free Facebook group where you can network with Old School real estate investors and entrepreneurs just like you by clicking here.

Let me know how being Old School has made your life better by leaving a message in the comments, and let’s do something great together…Old School, of course!

Dana

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter and get your own copy of Lessons from the Old Schoolhouse by clicking the button below.