Wow! It sure is amazing how time flies, isn’t it?

Sooooo much has happened in only a year …

2009 Kicked off with the Creative Real Estate Solutions in Today’s Market Video Series, then MustKnowInvesting.com turned 1, Trevor Mauch and I launched our Private Money Blueprint System (Holy Cow! What an Undertaking!), the Battle of the REI Blogs, and MUCH MORE.

Thank goodness I decided to get my butt out of bed this past weekend and go to church. That’s where I got the idea to do this post because they put together a “year in review” video with all the highlights of 2009. So, I thought it would be really cool to do a post called …

A Year in the Life of MustKnowInvesting.com

Let’s just jump right in … here we go …

The “Creative Real Estate Solutions in Today’s Market” Video Series

We kicked off the year in January with the Creative Real Estate Solutions in Today’s Market video series (over 2 1/2 hours of solid content). It was a 5 part in depth video series on wholesaling, private money, subject tos, owner financing, and much more. And at the end of the series, we took on a very limited number of students in our mentoring program.

One of those students, Justin Wilmot, a twenty somthin’ self proclaimed surfer dude from Florida, had quite the year; he closed his first wholesale deal, locked up a million dollar credit line through a private money lender, and closed his first rehab deal. To say Justin’s life will never be the same would be quite the understatement.

Happy B-Day!

On January 19th 2009, my baby, MustKnowInvesting.com turned 1. It was a great day, a milestone, an accomplishment. Few people (other than fellow bloggers) realize how much work goes into maintaining an active blog.

Thousands of hours have been poured into the idea and implementation of everything you see, read, listen to, and watch here. To see my blog grow and mature over that first year was awesome (and now my baby is almost 2 … whew … children sure to grow up fast … haha)

The Private Money Blueprint

For the next few months, I published 2 to 3 new articles and videos per week and spent countless hours, nights, weekends preparing for our Private Money Blueprint launch.

Let me give ya a little back story …

Trevor Mauch and I had partnered up in August of ‘08 to teach people how to get private money. We taught a couple free 100% content webinars and there was a HUGE demand for more information. So, we created a pilot program to teach 20 lucky students how to get unlimited funds for their real estate deals using private money.

After the program finished, our students raved; they wanted more.

Next, we wrote the home study manual (an arduous task), commissioned Trevor’s web guy to put the private lending websites together (an expensive task), built the Private Money Blueprint Membership site (another big task), and put together a plan to launch our private money getting system in May (a “thank goodness we hired help” task … thanks @ChrisBrisson).

Whew … I get tired just thinking about all that stuff.

Anyway, much time was spent on the Private Money Blueprint project (which was birthed from MustKnowInvesting.com) and it all culminated in May when we launched; quite the accomplishment.

The icing on the cake has been the amazing results our students have gotten from our system. It’s so awesome opening up my email each morning to find another success story from a student.

The Investor Connect Contest

After things settled down from the launch, I wasn’t sure what my next “little project” would be. I had a few ideas but nothing slapped me across my face UNTIL … I had the idea for the Battle of the REI Blogs contest (more on that in a little bit).

So, in preparation for “battle”, I decided to run a small contest on my blog to get my feet wet, to learn the ropes. There was a bunch of awesome prizes and a really cool “social” component to it.

I called it … The Investor Connect Contest.

The coolest thing about it, the winner of the contest Noel Roberts, closed his first deal just a few months thereafter. Check out the email he sent me recently …

Oh yeah, and to top it all off … Noel, aka Kid Cash Flow, is only 18 years old!

So whatever your excuse was for 2009 of why you didn’t close your first deal, or why you didn’t achieve your REI goals … might as well trash it. Noel didn’t have any of the “Big 3 C’s” … Cash, Credit, or Credibility … and it didn’t stop him.

My Short and Sweet Skateboarding Career

LOL … y’all got a good laugh at my expense on this one. Make sure you watch me drop into the half pipe at the 5 min 26 sec mark.

Click Here to Watch me bust my tail skateboarding

Be on the lookout for Part 2 to this one … coming soon in 2010 :)

How to Become a CIA: 7 Part Creative Real Estate Investing Series

This was all about getting you ready, willing, and able to close on your first or next deal by delivering the information, tools, and resources to get it done. There was the “CIA Manifesto”, video tutorials, downloads (MP3s, forms, etc), guest expert Stephani Davis from FlipthisWholesaler, Dusty Keefe, master negotiator, and MUCH MORE.

The participation and feedback during this series was absolutely incredible … thanks to all who participated and all who continue to study the series.

This free in depth creative real estate investing series is POWERFUL. If you haven’t taken this training yet, write it down on your list of goals for 2010.

Battle of the REI Blogs

With 13 of the top REI bloggers in the world on board, over 5,000 visits to my blog that week, and over 1,100 votes …

What a killer event the Battle of the REI Blogs turned out to be!

One of the funniest parts about it was the trash talking between the bloggers over on Facebook. Right before the battle began, I logged in to my FB account, and my profile had been decimated by the likes of JP Moses who posted a picture of a pumpkin throwing up with the caption, “The Effect Your Blog Has on People”, Trevor who posted a pic of a line graph showing how much more traffic his blog gets than everyone elses, and Stephani Davis who posted a pic that said, “My blog can beat up your blog” … haha.

It was on!

But, shortly after the Battle ensued, it was clear that Julie Broad and Ron Mead were the forces to reckoned  with. As they blew by the competition, the rest of us were scrambling to compete.

End of the day, when the smoke cleared, Julie Broad of RevNyou was crowned champion; Ron Mead, who made a valiant effort, brought home the silver.

Thanks once more to all the REI bloggers that competed AND to you, our subscribers for contributing your votes.

Oh yeah, one more thing … if you haven’t checked out The Ballad of the Battle of the REI Blogs yet, that’s a must watch. It’s my lyrical and piano playin’ debut … Enjoy!

Contributors from Around the Globe

A BIG thanks goes to all the contributors here at MustKnowInvesting.com. We appreciate all the tips, tools, and techniques you’ve shared with us.

Jamel Gibbs taught us how to flip for profits. David “The Diamond” Oswald showed us when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em and inspired us to take action. Shae Bynes shared how to network our way to wealth.

Julie Broad pulled back the curtain on finding hidden bargains, showed how to overcome obstacles, gave us the 10 commandments to negotiating great real estate deals (and much more … Julie was MKI’s biggest guest contributor).

Stephani Davis contributed in style with her Wholesaling 101 video as part of the How to Become a CIA series. And my bro (not literally … but might as well be), Dusty Keefe taught us how to negotiate like a pro in Part 2 of the CIA series and how to control real estate with zero liability in Part 7.

Happy New Year

It was an incredible year here at MustKnowInvesting.com, and it wouldn’t have been the same without ya :)

Thank you for your time, your attention, your contributions, your feedback.

Looking forward to a phenominal 2010 together.

Happy Investing!

~ Patrick Riddle … aka P-Rid

P.S. For all you social media heads out there, let’s connect. Here’s my links … follow me on Twitter, Friend me up on Facebook, Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.

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Welcome … to Part 7 of the “How to Become a CIA” creative real estate investing series … How to Get Full Control of a Property with ZERO Liability …

(if you’re new to the series, you may want to start with the introduction)

In our final part to the “How to Become a CIA” training series, Dusty Keefe is gonna teach you how to get full 100% control of a property with ZERO liability … so if, for any reason, you can walk away from a deal unscathed, unharmed, without a financial loss.

How does that sound? Did your jaw drop when you heard that for the first time?

Well, if you’re like me … it sure did!

You may be thinking … “Hold on a minute , Patrick, Dusty, soooo what you’re telling me is that I can contract a property, and if I don’t end up closing on it myself or wholesaling to someone else, I can walk away from the deal and even get my earnest money back??”

Yep, you can. And that’s exactly what Dusty is going to share with you in his video below …

(quick note … the techniques and strategies discussed work best when negotiating directly with sellers. Soooo, get your marketing plan off the ground so that sellers call YOU when they need to sell … not a Realtor)

How to Get Full Control of a Property with ZERO Liability

Here’s what you’re gonna learn today …

>> What Holds Back Most Investors and What to Do About It

>> How to Use Exculpatory Language to Safeguard Your Success

>> How to Control the Closing

>> The “Must Know” Clause for All You Wholesalers (Tip # 4)

>> And Much More!

Watch the video below …

(If reading in your email subscription, click here to watch the video)

Wasn’t that some killer content?

Let’s send a BIG “Thank You” to Dusty for putting this together for us!

I hope you guys and gals have enjoyed the 7 Part “How to Become a CIA” creative real estate investing series… it’s been a blast putting it together for ya AND the feedback, all the comments, have been great!

… Part 7 wouldn’t be complete without the action plan so here you go …

“How to Become a CIA” Action List

1) Go back through the entire series again … Start HERE. Study each Part, watch every video, DO the homework … and leave your questions and comments …

2) And above all else … Take MASSIVE Action!

This series has provided the education, the tools, the resources, and the support for you to begin making big money investing in real estate. By applying the techniques and strategies that define a CIA, you can start investing in real estate RIGHT NOW regardless of your age, race, connections, background, finances, credit …

The choice is yours … and yes, that’s right … it’s a choice.

You either choose to be successful, to take massive action, to learn from your mistakes, to take 100% responsilbity for your results … or, you choose to fail, to quit when the going gets tough, to let adversity overcome your will, to listen to naysayers, to cast blame on everyone and everything but yourself.

Remember, the choice is yours!

If you’ve enjoyed this series, if this has helped, let me know by leaving a comment.

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you soon …

~ Patrick

Here are the links to the rest of the 7 Part “How to Become a CIA” creative real estate investing series:

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

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Welcome … to Part 2 of the “How to Become a CIA” creative real estate investing series … Negotiate Your Way to Wealth …

(if you’re new to the series, you may want to start with the introduction)

This week, master negotiator, Dusty Keefe, is gonna teach you how to negotiate your way to wealth.

Ever since getting started investing years ago … back in 2002 … Dusty has been a full time negotiator for our buy, sell, hold business. He had some sales experience prior, had studied books on negotiating and sales strategies, and naturally filled that position for our company.

Today, having negotiated with hundreds of buyers, sellers, tenants, contractors, and other investors … Dusty has become quite the master at his craft.

And, if you’ve ever met Dusty in person, you know this … the man never stops negotiating.

Dusty and I were going through a drive thru recently and before we got up to the window, he told me to get a free french fry. He didn’t say “Order another fry”, he said “Get a free fry”. I started to feel a little uncomfortable because I didn’t feel like asking … but, realized quickly that I was exhibiting weak behavior.  Sooooo, when we got up to the window, I asked for a free fry in a certain way that I thought would be compelling for the employee to give it to me …

… and you know what … I got a free fry.

This is a very simple example, but it shows how Dusty thinks … how the mind of a master negotiator functions.

I talked Dusty into sharing some killer negotiating techniques and strategies with us in the “How to Become a CIA” series … hope you enjoy!

Negotiate Your Way to Wealth with Dusty Keefe

Here’s what Dusty’s gonna cover …

>> What’s the Big Deal About Negotiating

>> Why Most Beginners Struggle with Negotiating (hint … it’s not your fault)

>> The “Must Know” Moving Parts of Every Negotiation

>> 3 Step Easy Process to Negotiating Great Deals

>> And Much More …

Check out the video below …

And is if that wasn’t enough smoking hot content … after we shot that video for ya, Dusty decided that he wasn’t done. (instead of putting the script mentioned in the video below, he did a video with it) …

The bonus video from Dusty is all about combating seller suspicion and anxiety.

You see, some sellers will come into their meeting with you being extremely skeptical. They think that you, the “big bad investor”, are going to rip them off or something.

Dusty unveils the exact script of what to say to handle this HUGE problem before it handles you. (you can find the script in our book as well, The Advantage of Real Estate) …

He shows you how to use the higher authority angle while maintaining the reluctant role AND how to position yourself on the seller’s “team” … VERY powerful!

Check out the video now …

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