“There Will Be Blood”

Just yesterday I saw “There Will Be Blood”,the new movie with Daniel Day-Lewis.

Man, of man, this movie illustrates two of the most profound real estate investing lessons you will ever hear.

You got to listen up – as these two lesson can change your life.

In fact, I’m going to go as far as to say that if you don’t understand these two critical lessons, and fast, you’ll never make any real money in this business. Period.

What are these two investing lessons YOU absolute must know??

Well first things first – a little background on this new movie.

And don’t worry – there are NO SPOILERS here.
I promise I won’t ruin anything for you in case you haven’t seen it yet.

Here’s the real short synopsis of the film.

Daniel Plainview (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) is an “oil man”. He’s travelled all across the west digging and drilling from oil.

And he’s seen the ugliest side of it all -from being trapped in a shaft to seeing the man at his side crushed by a rigging accident.

He’s one tough as nails entrepreneur.

And this dude has seen it all.

There’s this one scene where he’s essentially swindled a bunch of rural folks out of their farms in hopes of discovering oil on their land.

He’s spent months and months and thousands of dollars of equipment trying to hit oil.

Finally, after all this hard work and after risking everything, he hits oil!

There’s just one problem…

The oil flow gets out of control and catches fire from a flame on the rig.

In a single flash his entire project goes up in a burning inferno!

Everything he’s worked for.

Everything he’s risked.

It’s burning to the ground as all his workers and the towns people who trusted him watch.

One of his top men looks at him – his face and eyes filled with defeat.

And that’s when it happens.

A single moment that defines a true entrepreneur from all the fakers and wanna-be’s.

When everybody else in the town and all the other oil men are running for the hills – Daniel Plainview smiles and says,”You know what this means? There’s an ocean of oil under that rig.”

Whew!

Read that again.

When everybody else is running for covering and packing their bags, Daniel has the insite to know that if this rig caught fire and exploded – it means that there’s even more oil under than land then they planned for!

And so he pushes on even more aggressively and more passionately to reach his goal.

As an investor you probably hear certain motivational words of wisdom countless times. But sometimes it’s not until you see them in action that they actually stick.

Think about yourself and your own investing ambitions -

Think about the dreams and plans you have to build an empire -

When adversity strikes, are you the kind of investor that just puts their tail between their legs and ducks away before anybody notices?

Or are you the kind of investor who steps it up to a whole new level and finds opportunity within crisis?

IF tomorrow you bought a house at 60% of fair market value but then you couldn’t flip it for six months and lost all your profits – would you give up and say this doesn’t work?

Or would you rejoice and say – wow, you really can buys houses at 60% of market value. I figured out half the equation. Now once I figure out how to sell them I’ll be stinkin’ rich!

Or if you get 6 homeowners who agree to sit down with you to negotiate and you close NONE of them.

Are you the investor who gives up and says this doesn’t work OR are you the investor who says -
“wow, I’m so great at getting leads, once I learn to close them, they’ll be no stopping me!”

You see – the single most profound truth about truly achieving wealth and success is this -

True wealth and success lay just a little ways beyond where ordinary people give up and throw in the towel.

Just like every other oil man would have packed up their bags and scrapped the whole project, it takes a true entrepreneur like Daniel Plainview to strike the gold.

And frankly, it’s the individuals with the guts like him, and maybe even like you, who truly deserve all the glory and rewards of success.

Herein comes the second lesson…

Later in the film, a couple powerful oil tycoons come to meet with Daniel.

They want to buy out his entire operation and make him an instant millionaire.

Daniel stares them down with a sinister grin.

He tells them first they have to answer one question.

Ready?

“If I sold you everything and became a millionaire, what would I do? What would I do?”

Whew – this film hits the nail on the head again.
Golden investor lesson #2.

Want to know why so many investors fail and never experience the riches that everybody knows is possible in real estate?

It’s because they go into it with the completely wrong mindset.

They want to make a ton of money and “get it over with”.

Daniel Plainview had the true heart of an entrepreneur.

He knew that success was not about some final resting place where you get where you want to go and then give up.

The true joy and victory is in the battle of getting there.

This is the truly fulfilling part.

Like the famouns quote about how Alexander cried when he realized there were no more worlds left to conquere.

Can I be real with you?

TOO many investors, frankly almost all of them,just want to get rich and get it over with.

This attitude is the exact reason they never will.

And let me say, I’m preaching to the mirror here too!

Sometimes I find myself saying I just wish I accomplished all my goals and had all the success I ever dreamed of.

Then I slap myself in the face (either hypothetically or literally) and realize THIS is the journey.

The daily victories and battles…

The bitter defeats…

The struggles and triumphs…

The hunger and desire to be greater and more successful…

This is the journey and the destination.

Grab hold of this truth now and now only will you instantly find yourself on a new road to success, but you’ll find a new joy and fulfillment in the process.

I hope these two investing lessons from “There Will Be Blood” really inspired you the way they did me.

As for the overall movie, it might not be for everyone, but it was extremely well done and acted. And frankly, as an investor, is worth seeing for those two scenes alone!

(By the way, as I’m sure you can guess with Daniel Day-Lewis acting, his character is not as balanced as these two examples I gave, so I defintely don’t endorse all his investing and negotiating techniques. Especially the one he uses at the end of the movie

Now drink your milkshake, drink it up!! (sorry, you’ll have to see the movie to get that one)

damian