Friday Fab Five – Flipping Houses, Transforming Your Habits, Your Competitive Advantage, & More

The Friday Fab Five is a series where I share five articles, books, or resources that I’m currently using and enjoying. There are many wonderful resources about real estate, personal finance, entrepreneurship, and life out there, so I’ve narrowed them to some of my favorites that I think you´ll enjoy. 

Here are this week’s Friday Fab Five. Enjoy!

1. How to Build a Strong Competitive Advantage in Real Estate Investing

In this article, I give you specific methods to out-play your competition in real estate investing. Too many investors run around chasing the same deals with the same methods as everyone else.  At one time or another, I’ve used each of these 12 in methods in my own business in order to build my own competitive advantage. Although it’s never been easy, these methods have helped me to never have a problem finding good deals for our real estate business.

This was my latest blog article on real estate site BiggerPockets.com so please be sure to leave comments. Your comments help me by letting the editor know people like what I write.

• 12 Competitive Advantages to Develop for an Investing Edge So Strong, It’s Almost Unfair  

You can also see an archive of my posts for the last 2 years on my author page.

2. Transform Your Habits Using Science-Based Ideas

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Aristotle

You probably already know the importance of habits.  Philosopher Aristotle was even talking about their importance over 2,000 years ago in ancient Greece.

But both breaking old habits and starting new good habits can be hard.  That’s why you need to base your efforts on sound practices.

My favorite information on habits comes from a guy named James Clear. His blog/newsletter also happens to be one of the few I regularly read from beginning to end (Thanks, Lisa Harrison for recommending him to me).

You can get James’ free 45-page digital book called “Transform Your Habits” at the link below. You’ll be added to his newsletter, but you can unsubscribe right away if you’re not interested. I highly recommend you read the book and take notes. I have.

• Transform Your Habits

3. My 5 Favorite Lessons From The Book on Flipping Houses by J Scott 

If you currently flip houses or want to, I know you’ll get a lot out of The Book on Flipping Houses by J Scott. I haven’t found any other books on flipping that are as thorough and systematic as this one.  You get both the big picture AND the details all in one package.

I recently wrote an article for BiggerPockets.com that outlined my 5 favorite lessons from the book, so you can read this for a summary of the best ideas and then decide to buy the book after.  Enjoy!

• 5 Highly Actionable Tips From the #1 Book I’d Recommend on House Flipping

4. Guerrilla Marketing – Get the Word Out For Less Money

I was digging through my bookshelf, and I came across a long-lost favorite that really helped me launch my real estate business in its infancy in 2003 and 2004. The book is called The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook by Jay Conrad Levinson and one of my favorite business thinkers Seth Godin.

I used this handbook to put together marketing campaigns on the cheap. I used business cards, flyers, shirts, car signs, newsletters, referral campaigns, and more to build a steady stream of business. It was a treasure trove of ideas.

The book is a bit dated because it doesn’t include internet marketing (published in 1994), but at under $2.00 on Amazon, it’s still a deal. Whatever business you’re in, including real estate investing, this is a good book to have on your shelf for ideas and inspiration.  I’ve also linked below a new book in the Guerrilla Marketing series about social media. I have not read it yet, but I plan to soon.

• The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook
• Guerrilla Social Media Marketing
  

5. What Do YOU Want to Be When You Grow Up?

Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up ’cause they’re looking for ideas.”

― Paula Poundstone

I saw this quote this week and just had to stop and smile. How often do we adults ask little children “what do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a daily occurrence.

Yet really the question should be turned back on US.  We’re the grown-ups. Are WE being what WE want to be now that WE have grown up?

This really gets at the core of my mission here at Coach Carson.  I see money as an obstacle to people living the life they were born to live. We’ve grown up and given up on our dreams in order to grind away at jobs or schedules we don’t really like.

And that idea hurts me. It’s not ok. Let’s handle this money problem. Let’s only spend money on what’s important. Let’s save. Let’s build wealth and income.  And let’s get back to doing what matters.

You deserve it. The world deserves it.

And I want to help in my own little way with my articles, videos, and some online classes in the near future.

Thank you!

That’s all for this edition of the Friday Fab Five! I hope you enjoyed it.

If you know someone else who could benefit from my weekly articles, it would be an honor if you’d ask them to sign up at coachcarson.com/newsletter.

I’d love your feedback. Please comment below to let me know what you like (or don’t like) and any suggestions for improvement or future resources to include.

Enthusiastically your Coach,