**WARNING** I’m about to get nerdy!
Escape velocity is defined as the lowest velocity that a body must have in order to escape the gravitational attraction of a particular planet or other object.
As an engineer major in college, and now pilot, this term has been used quite a bit in my vocabulary, but it has never been used when talking about real estate investing. I’ve never thought about how taking off in my aircraft can relate to buying real estate, but in a recent BiggerPockets podcast the interviewee (a rocket scientist) put the two together. You should absolutely listen to the podcast, but for the sake of my blog post let’s make the analogy a little easier to understand:
If you are on an airplane you’ll notice that it takes a massive amount of energy and speed for it to take off. You probably sit back tight in your chair, grip onto the chair arms with white knuckles and say a little prayer. You go from zero to hundreds of miles per hour in a very short amount of time. The aircraft travels thousands of feet down a runway, bouncing and shaking, and burns hundreds of gallons of fuel to get into flight. But once the aircraft is airborne, it’s easy riding. Way less energy is required. Way less fuel is used. Way less bumpy. You can now just sit back and relax.
Let’s compare that to real estate investing. Your first deal is going to take a lot of time, energy, and money. It’s going to be scary. There are going to be a lot of questions, a lot of research, a lot of mistakes. You may even lose some sleep over it. It takes a lot of energy to get into flight and buy that first property. It’s going to be bumpy. But once you’ve completed your first purchase, it gets easier. Your next purchase isn’t as scary. You’ve already made mistakes, and have learned from them, so you won’t make the same next time. You already have the contacts you need, and knowledge of the process, and the metrics to look for. You may even find out that you don’t need to use your own money. You get to a point where you’re on autopilot at 30,000 feet. It becomes easy! Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
In my last blog post I talked about gaining financial freedom through creating passive income. And to do that, you have to understand this concept of escape velocity. You have to take action. You have to make the choice that you will spend the massive amount of energy and time to buy your first deal. You’ll find that once you’ve escaped, it becomes way less bumpy.
So, here’s your challenge: in the next 90 days take action and buy your first real estate deal. Spend the immense amount of energy required to escape. Then, enjoy the ride!
Oh, and then tell us about your success!
Written by Stuart Grazier