Get Into the Right Mindset, and You Can Make Money Doing Anything. Here’s How.

The following is adapted from A Renegade’s Rules by author Oliver Seidler.

When I first started working in investment real estate, I was beyond excited. Never again would I have to put on a server’s uniform. Never again would I have to bounce around town, from gig to gig, and crawl into bed exhausted at the crack of dawn. Never again would I have to wonder where the hell my rent was coming from.

I spent hours learning the ropes at my new job, because I was hungry for success. And it paid off: in my first year, I made $100,000 and was in the top 10 out of 150 salespeople at the company. In a single month, on my anniversary of joining the company, I made $30,000. I was still in my early 20s, and I was making more money than I could have ever imagined.

It was hard, no doubt about it, especially because it was a commission-only environment. But it taught me something really important, and it’s a lesson I think every entrepreneur should learn: you can make money doing anything, as long as you have the right mindset.

Circumstances Don’t Matter

On my first day at the real estate job, it became abundantly clear to me that opportunity exists in every circumstance. My new boss and I headed out to visit some of the firm’s properties, and I quickly found myself knocking on doors in one of Miami’s worst neighborhoods.

When we went inside that first run-down, boxy, cement-patched house, we saw that squatters had taken over. A man sat on the floor, eating SpaghettiOs straight from the can and watching a four-inch TV that looked like it had been through a few wrestling matches. The whole back of the house was flooded out, and in one of the rooms, we found a woman sleeping on a bare mattress. The plumbing didn’t work, and you know the place smelled horrendous.

After we cleared out the squatters and secured the place, my boss had me plant an “Investment Opportunity” sign with our contact info on the raggedy lawn. We put up these “bandit signs,” as we called them, all over the neighborhood.

The signs totally worked. The system my boss taught me pretty much boiled down to planting seeds in the morning and then harvesting all afternoon as I fielded calls from investors. In hindsight, the difference between the two halves of the day was hilarious: mornings spent crawling through windows and dodging gangbangers in the most dangerous neighborhoods in South Florida; and afternoons spent at a desk, taking calls like any normal office job.

You Have to Fully Commit

There are a lot of people who would have looked at those houses and decided there was no way they could make good money selling them. But they would have been wrong. Yes, the houses were terrible. And yes, the neighborhoods were bad. They were so bad, in fact, that my boss carried a gun with him every time we went to visit a property. But with the right mindset, none of that mattered.

So what exactly does this mindset entail? First and most importantly, you have to commit fully to what you’re doing. I learned my boss’s system, I followed the steps he set up perfectly, and I was consistent and allowed the results to follow. I worked hard and stuck with it, even when the system seemed to be working more slowly than I would have liked.

Second, you have to be open to learning. I used whatever extra time I had to learn from guys who’d been successful for a long time. I was “modeling the masters,” to borrow a phrase. I didn’t feel the need to waste a single second trying to reinvent the wheel; I just went to those in the know and asked them to teach me.

Finally, you have to trust yourself. I had never sold real estate before. But I trusted that I could make it work, and that if things got tough, I’d figure out a way to adapt and overcome.

Develop the Right Mindset

Recently, a business coach asked me what I look for in an employee. I thought about it before answering, but the answer was pretty clear. I want people who are willing to work hard, willing to learn, and willing to commit completely to whatever it is they’re doing.

I want the people who have a deep sense of their own abilities and their company’s ability to succeed. I want people who love to compete. And I want people who are self-starters — they find a way to complete every job without complaining, procrastinating, or criticizing others. They anticipate problems, and they possess integrity, a quality that’s nearly impossible to teach.

At my company, I want people like me, people who have developed the mindset I described here. That’s because those people are coachable, capable of delivering results, and are authentic and hardworking. Those are the people who have figured out how to succeed doing anything, and those are the people I want by my side.

Any Opportunity Can a be Good One

By committing fully to what I was doing, staying open to learning, and working hard, I built a solid foundation. I could find the right clients, I knew the right way to talk to them, and I knew what steps to take to close deals. As a result, everything came together, and it wasn’t long before I was making tons of money.

When you’re getting started in your career, opportunities aren’t going to look all tied up in a beautiful ribbon. But, if you have the right mindset, any opportunity can be a good one. You just have to be willing to throw yourself into it completely, follow the steps you’re given by people who know what they’re doing, stay consistent, and learn as much as you can. I promise: if you can do all of that, you can literally make money doing anything.

For more advice on how to develop a success-based mindset and make money doing anything, you can find A Renegade’s Rules on Amazon.

Oliver Seidler is the co-founder and CEO of PropertyForce, an industry-leading real estate investment company focused on culture and employee success. After quickly becoming a top producer in real estate, Oliver started his own company in 2006. He weathered the recession and extended PropertyForce’s reach outside of Florida in 2017, with future expansion plans in the works. Aside from work, Seidler mentors young businesspeople, invests in startups, and works with Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He is a member of EO and YPO.