Someone has to be the first to do anything. As logical as that sounds, it amazes me how many people don't want to be first. They want to be certain that any course of action or idea has been first tested by someone else. That automatically consigns them to the ranks of those who come in second or lower at everything they want to achieve. I think this is particularly true of professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants; yet human history is studded with the achievements of those who cast caution to the winds and decided to be first.
Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo, Columbus, Madam Curie, Pasteur, Edison, Ford, and Alan Shepherd certainly made life richer and more fulfilled for all of us because they were willing to try something that had previously been untried. Then there are those among us who take an old idea and find a new way to apply it. By putting an engine onto a glider, the Wright Brothers created military and commercial air applications of today. The tiny nation of Holland invented the corporation, which created a way to concentrate capital into a mighty force by spreading the risk to many investors with minimum risk. Capital thus accumulated was the driving force behidn the exploration and colonization of the entire world. In 1910, a young experimenter named Lee DeForest figured out that putting a third element into a light bulb, he could control its amplification remotely. This was the genesis of all modern computers. Bill Zeckendorf figured out how to divide property by area as well as time through the use of various estates, tenancies, and rights; and thus increase its value. Levitt conceived new housing areas that could be built faster and cheaper using mass production techniques. Various Levitt Towns can be visited today in New York, New Jersery, and Pennsylvania.
What's the point of this? How many opportunities have you let slip away because you weren't willing to try something new that you hadn't done; something that the people you ask haven't done either? Have you actually entered into a Lease/Option: A pure Option? Jointly owned property as a Tenant in Common? Raised money using a Partnership, Limited Partnership, LLC, Trust, or Corporation? Bought, sold, or leased air, subsurface, mineral, timber, or water rights? Divided property up between the ground and a structure built on it? Bought or sold a Note at discount? Bought, sold, or leased a Mobile Home, or Mobile Home park? Completed a tax-free Exchange? Bought or sold a house using seller financing combined with taking title subject to a loan? Shared equity and income with an investor who put up the needed cash, or with any entrepreneur who could deliver a fantastic bargain and do everything necessary to make it produce a profit without the need for any debt at all?
Count up the things you haven't tried yet and ask yourself; if you did begin to use new techniques would you be able to better cope with all the ups and downs of the market that have occured over the past decade?
