The Pyramid of Success
(not just for Note Buying)
April 15, 2010 by notebuyingprofits.com
Filed under Real-Life Case Studies
Have you ever stopped to wonder, to really wonder, why it is that certain people succeed and others don’t?
I’m sure you’ve heard these before:
- Skill? “Hard work is the key to success.”
- Smarts? “It takes brains to make a fortune.”
- Network? “Look around you – if you don’t have wealthy friends, you’ll never be wealthy.”
- Money? “To make a small fortune, start with a large one.”
Yes, they’re all part of the solution, but they’re just the icing on the cake.
The cake of success itself is another thing entirely. And it’s neither fantastic nor surprising. It’s actually very simple. It’s a combination of faith and patience.
John Wooden, famed UCLA coach who grew up in southern Indiana, coined a definition of success in 1934 that went as follows: “peace of mind, attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you’re capable.”
[Note: one of the most powerful and inspirational collections of interviews and talks is at www.Ted.com. If you have an iPhone, download all the videos under the "persuasive, inspiring, courageous and ingenious" tags and prepare to be wow'ed. John's talk is at: http://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success.html.]
As a teacher and a coach, Wooden created something he called “the Pyramid of Success”.
At the apex of his pyramid to success are those words “faith” and “patience”. “You must believe, truly believe, that things will work out as they should,” he tells us.
Now, just pause for a minute.
Do you believe? Do you truly believe, that your investment business, that your venture into notes, that your efforts that you are beginning to, or currently are, engaged in right now, will bear fruit?
Do you?
Because if you’re faltering.
If you’re wavering.
If you’re hesitating at all.
Then you need to revisit the faith you have in yourself and in your team.
Back to Wooden. Another fascinating and insightful point he mentions in his talk is completely counter-intuitive for a coach.
“Never mention winning,” he says.
As a coach, that sounds like downright lunacy, doesn’t it?
But he explains: “You can lose when you outscore someone in a game, and you can win when you’re outscored.”
Upon reflection … upon long reflection … it dawned on me that I’ve experienced what he’s talking about several times. Very recently, in fact.
I’ve felt and seen that same thing happen to me recently, as a note investor.
Let me tell you a little story about a deal – about 3 deals actually, that I recently did. We took down three pools from a seller and felt we got them at pretty good prices. The seller was coming out with another pool, and we felt like this would be a no-brainer. We had a track record of bidding, of winning, and of funding.
Well, guess what? We weren’t even asked to bid on the new pool. We had to pull it out of the seller that they had a pool that they should send us to bid on!
So here I was, the winning bidder on 3 prior trades, and I wasn’t even asked back to the table?!
What happened was this: the rep we’d been dealing with was let go from the company, and a new boss came in to help clean up the delinquent loan mess for the company. And everyone who had touched or come in contact with the rep who’d been let go, was considered tainted. Why? Because the new boss believed that the rep hadn’t drawn in the appropriate bids on the loan sales he managed. “Too little competition,” he told me. “We need to clean this up a bit and get a proper sale out there.”
“You can lose when you outscore someone in a game,” said Wooden. And he was right.
We can lose when we win a bid. Make someone mad. Don’t close a trade right. Don’t pay someone what they’re due when you say you will… and you will feel the pain of losing, even though you feel that you’ve “won.”
So, as my birthday comes and goes for the 41st time – take this to heart, as I’m taking it to heart: the apex of the pyramid of success holds the key to the questions you have about what you are doing, and whether you will achieve what you are looking for.
Don’t waver in your faith that you have in yourself, your team, and your venture.
And have a little patience.
It won’t all happen today, or tomorrow.
But it will happen soon.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but boy, what an amazing city!
Very timely post. I just called my mother. 92 today.
I have heard John Wooden interviewed before. He demonstrates the difference between intelligence and wisdom.
Here are 2 interviews he did with Charlie Rose:
http://www.charlierose.com/search/search/10071?text=john+wooden
Faith and patience are indeed the two key elements. One follows from the other. They are crucial but often are not naturally present. Earned success at an early age often can provide the base or sometimes religion can be the source.
The irony is that often action has to derive from these non-evidence-based sources prior to confirmation by experience.
Great words. So often we get anxious and want our success NOW! And we often give up when we don’t see immediate success. This post makes me understand that this is a process and that I need to be patient. There’s no rush. It makes me think of building blocks. I can choose to quickly build a pyramid and watch it fall like a house of cards or I can use more sturdy materials that are able to withstand some resistance.
Thanks Dean. Happy 41st Birthday.
Happy birthday, Dean and many happy returns!
Prior to attending the Note Summit, I had a bit of apprehension unsure of my resolve. It was at the tail end of the purchase of a multifamily which I struggle with for 7 months.
However, since leaving Vegas I am more determined more than ever to pursue the Note Business and faith that I will succeed has sustained me. I am making contacts with banks and brokers and feel confident that I am on the right track.
I awake everyday with, ideas, confront my shortcomings and review the 8 steps for fortification.
But faith that I will succeed propels forward.
Again thank you for putting out this great wealth of information at my disposal and thank you for the Summit which put me in contact with people like Jon from Willow Creek Capital and Ping Chen from Best USA Life who have been willing to review some of my deals for financing.
Samuel
The post reminds me of something in one of your testimonials that rings very true with me. Will Seminario wrote, “The gift was that I completely believed it can be done.”
So do I, and I credit you, Dean, with giving me that belief and vision.
P.S. Fifty??! You don\’t look a day over 49!
Happy Birthday Dean!
It is true. You have to really believe that you are going to make it and never give up. Since I started your course 3 months ago I’ve been calling banks and gotten nothing but “we don’t sell our notes.” Well, last week I called a bank and the woman said “hang on, let me get you their number.”
If there was a camera on me when she said that, you could put it on you tube or your site. People would laugh at how excited I was!!
I got my first tapes sent to me yesterday. Both residential and commercial notes and lots of them.
Game on!
So true in many ways. People do business with people that have treated them fair. Always good to follow up with those you have done business before, even if its to find out they are no longer there. The third issue which is so true is the three phases of bank meltdowns. Phase one is where people are switching jobs, leaving the mess they were involved in only to find a new mess that they cant believe someone would lend on. The new player believes everything their predecessor did was bad and wants nothing to do with it. I am seeing many lenders in Phase II and some touching Phase III.
Yup, it’s “game on” time. There will be many who fail in this business, just like in any business. And most – almost all I would venture to say – will be for lack of trying or impatience.
I often get that question “Dean – how long till I’m making a 5-figure a month income.” And it so misses the mark that I’ve become numbed to it. Because if that’s what you’re shooting for and you don’t get it within 2 months, is that reason not to pursue this business? Is the alternative that you’ll go interview with Goldman Sachs and expect your $60,000 / month salary plus bonus tomorrow? Even in the most lucrative of industries – investment banking and investment management – the “bonus” is a once-annual distribution after a heck of a lot of hard work.
Patience is not, however, a substitute for action and for determination. Build your foundation, build your team, build your network and force yourself to persevere.
Mark, nice work. You’re going places.
Samuel, way to keep the faith.
Russ, the fact that you need to act before you see the results of your acts – is exactly what Wooden meant by faith. That’s not irony.
Fritz, glad that I could help you to believe-now I want to see you replace me with you.
And finally, Robert – interesting analogy about going to the market and buying a deck of cheap cards and building your first house, rather than renting a truck and driving out to the timber company to haul home your supply of 2X10 Redwood planks. Although I understand what you’re saying in terms of “build a solid house if you’re going to live in it,” I also want to advise you to “live and learn”.
To speak in analogies again – if you go out and rent the truck and then drive out to the timber company, and then learn to saw and hammer and plane and join, and then spend a lot of time building. What are the chances of you ending up with something that may not be what you actually need?
Another way to think about it is: go build that first house with your deck of cards, and then you’ll find out all the problems with cards, and what you really need, and what’s important. Then you might choose cardboard, and you’ll address a couple of things that were the most critical problems you identified. But at least you have a house that you’re living in … now, rather than months from now.
It’s better to walk before you run, rather than run from a dead stop.
Said another way: perfection is the gradual refinement of what is, rather than the instant realization of what should be.