I’m 50 years old and I’m an old school business guy! I was not on Facebook or any other social media platform until 3 years ago when I started to get involved in real estate.

Let People Know Who You Are And What You Do

I joined a multifamily mentorship group and they encouraged me to join Facebook so I could be a part of a Private Facebook Group. I joined and almost immediately saw the value of connecting with other like minded real estate investors all across the country!

I attend a lot of conferences, both real estate related and entrepreneurial conferences. I kept hearing over and over the following;

• people can not do business with you if they do not know who you are and what you do
• if you are not on Instagram you are just “dumb”

The first one I got, but the second one surprised me! My kids started using Instagram in their middle school years and I always just thought it was a kids picture app. I met many entrepreneurs much smarter and much more successful than me telling me this, so I decided to take action.

Hired Instagram Mentor

I was going to an entrepreneurial conference in March 2019 and told my wife “my goal for the conference was to meet someone at the conference that could teach me this Instagram thing.” I went, I found someone and hired him to help me get started.

It was VERY UNCOMFORTABLE at first. He told me I had to post EVERY DAY!

AGAIN, that felt very UNCOMFORTABLE!

What am I going to post about?

This feels very braggadocious!

He asked me “who do you want to listen to, someone with 100 followers or someone with 300,000 followers?” Point taken. I’m starting with zero followers.

Followed Advice

I took his advice and started posting every day. For the first 30-45 days, it was very uncomfortable, then it became a habit. I now get up in the morning brush my teeth, go into my office and try and read a chapter of the bible and pray. I then make a post on Instagram.

So what’s been the result?

I’ve connected with so many great people that I never would have connected with had I not started an Instagram account. I’ve made connections with people that want to invest in my next syndication deal. I’ve connected with many people that I may partner with in the future. I’ve met many podcast hosts that I’ve been a guest on their show. I’ve met many great investors that I’ve asked to be on my podcast. I’ve met people just looking for advice on how they can get their first deal.

Here’s what I learned?

I could have let “the fear of what other people think” stop me from getting started with Instagram but what I’ve realized is it’s not for those people. There will always be those people that judge you or actually want you to fail. The great news is that there are also all these people out there that would like to learn from you. They may be a year or two behind what you’ve accomplished and they would like to learn from you.

I love that! I’ve had so many people help me along the way and I’m excited to expose these opportunities to more and more people! I feel like it’s a way for me to give back! I wish I knew all of this sooner but I’m glad I know now.

Why do I share this story with you?

Social media can be a time waster but it can also be a great way for you to connect and help others that you would not have otherwise.

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