Why Live?
By Vena Jones-Cox

Don’t worry, I’m not having an existential crisis. What’s on my mind this week is the value of LIVE events vs. all the homestudy and web-based real estate education that’s out there. So breathe a sigh of relief, but do read on…
I’ve found myself having a lot of debates lately, primarily with budding real estate entrepreneurs in their 20s and early 30s, about whether we’re in the last days of live educational events.
The argument, of course, goes like this: “Why should I take 4 days out of my life, pay for a plane ticket, sleep in a strange bed in a hotel that I also have to pay for, and get an achy butt from sitting in a chair 8 hours a day, when I can get the same information, on demand, and absorb it at my own pace, in the comfort of my own home, by getting it on the web or just buying a homestudy course with audios and DVDs?”
In fact, I’m getting a fair amount of pressure to convert all of my seminars to on-line delivery, and to sell downloads of manuals instead of actual manuals.
The part of me that is apparently an old lady with a cane to shake at these youngsters wants to screech, “You kids today don’t understand the value of reading, and you can’t focus for more than the length of a commercial, and when I was your age, we didn’t even have the interweb, and we had to listen to courses on audio tapes!”
But the part of me that’s a real estate educator AND consumer of education (and, by the way, holding at 29 years of age, thank you very much) has thought about this a lot. And that part thinks that live education is a real key to the success of most real estate investors.
The thing is, my years of experience and observation tell me that what makes a successful—not just knowledgeable—real estate entrepreneur is a combination of education, motivation, focus, and accountability.
I know a LOT of people who own a LOT of homestudy courses, attend every available webinar, and really and truly understand a LOT about how real estate works, and yet have never made any money doing it. Why? Because they can’t make the transition from “inside the head” to “out in the world”. The usual reason ascribed to this phenomenon is simply ‘fear’…but what, exactly, does that mean?
I think that a lot of the so-called fear apparently running rampant through the ranks of new investors everywhere is largely an inability to see themselves doing the thing they know HOW to do successfully. They read the books, listen to the audios, watch the webinars, hear the stories of the super-successful students and see the profit checks on their screens, but what they don’t see is actual, normal, non-guru human beings DOING IT.
Hearing or reading a testimonial is a whole lot different than talking to the guy who did the deal, and learning about the struggles he went through to do it (often not included in the testimonials, for some odd reason), and how he pushed through them and did it anyway. That’s more motivating than a million self-help books—AND it gives you someone to stay in touch with for more advice and motivation later.
And then there’s the fact that we all compare ourselves, consciously or subconsciously, to others. Actually TALKING TO people who aren’t just “trying” to do what you want to do, but are actually doing it, absolutely spurs you on—especially when they clearly have no intellectual, financial, or personal advantages over you.
Sorry, but you just don’t get that experience online, or by reading about someone else’s success. You can only get it by meeting them, and that means hauling yourself away from your computer screen and getting in the room with other human beings.
Furthermore, I’ve seen that the situation of being away from my “real life”, in a hotel conference room, studying something particular in a short period of time, makes me focus on that strategy in a way that’s just impossible when I’m getting it in short, interrupted, distracted bursts via listening to CDs in my car. Part of this is, of course, the ability to ask the instructor questions as they come to mind. But a bigger part is, I think, simply being away from the hustle and bustle of everything else that’s usually going on in my life and my brain and getting focused on one thing, almost exclusively, for a longer period of time. Bootcamps and conferences aren’t “vacations”, but they are certainly mentally refreshing.
Finally, I can say as an instructor that there are some things that just can’t be taught effectively without in-person interaction. Property inspection is one. Negotiation is another. I don’t care how good the video is, it’s really tough to do an adequate job teaching certain things on line or via DVD or audio.
So, sorry kids, I don’t think live events are going away anytime soon. If you don’t think that the networking and connections you make at a live event are worth the extra cost of hotel and travel, I’d suggest that maybe you’re not doing it right. If you can’t stand the idea of sitting in a classroom for 3 or 4 days because you’re afraid of getting bored, maybe it’s time to start developing some focus—it’s kind of an important skill for business people.
I make it a point to attend OTHER PEOPLE’S events at least 2-3 times a year, even after all these years in the industry, and so do most of the millionaires I know. Maybe that should inspire you to do the same.


Reprinted with permission of Vena Jones-Cox. To get more free articles and tips, subscribe at www.TheRealEstateGoddess.com