I remember a conversation I had a student and very dear friend of mine. He was someone that I met as a result of real estate and is a constant reminder as to why I continue to build my businesses. (To this day, 99% of my closest friends are people that I’ve met at seminars and events).

But before I take a moment to tell you what the title of this audio newsletter means, I want to take a minute and reflect on some of the people that have been important people in my life as I got up and running and while I continue to run the course with frequent dips and turns!

In a special report I wrote several years ago entitled “7 Critical Success Tips for the New Real Estate Investor,” I talk about some of the key principles from Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

Right now, I want to talk very specifically about one of the most important principles of success and that is your team. In the book, it is referred to as “Your Mastermind Team”. Generally, we think of this as being the key people that you need to surround yourself in business.

In real estate, this team would consist of lenders, brokers, agents, attorneys, etc.

But, even more important than some of these professional members are the personal relationships that you begin to build. These are the people that are there to pat you on the back when you aren’t feeling on top of your game. These are the people that inspire you and motivate you to go that extra mile when you’d rather just stop or take a break. These are the friends and partners that you will be building a lifetime of memories with.

This is what it’s all about…

I have been fortunate to have come across so many of these people in the short time that I have been at this game! And these relationships are more important to me than any amount of money that could ever be amassed through real estate, internet marketing, sales, or any other entrepreneurial endeavor.

Over the course of the next year, I will be paying tribute to these individuals as I roll out my next project, which is geared to helping people create multiple streams of income through real estate. You will have the opportunity to meet many of my teachers, mentors, partners, colleagues and friends both in the real world and through some audio tributes on the new site.

And what’s nice is that as you move forward and do things the right way, so many of the people that you develop relationships with will be all of those things on different levels.

But right now, I want to share a quick story of a good friend of mine… and the reason I have written this article. I want you to think of the message as you get focused on your business

“Don’t Forget to Look Back Up At the Mountain”

What does that mean?

Well, if you know me personally, you know that I am always running at 300 mph, doing 50 different things and trying to manage them all by myself.

Perhaps you know someone else that fits that bill? 😉

Anyways, I will never forget the call I got this call from a student who has also become a very dear friend and an inspiration to me. We were talking about what we were both working on and I, of course, rambled on 15-20 projects I was trying to handle at the same time.

He said to me, “Wow. You’re always doing so many things.” And as most of us busy people do, I said, “Yeah, well you know. That’s all fine and well, but I have to do this, that and the other thing.”

He must have sensed some frustration in my tone because his next statement has made an impact and still comes to mind every single time I ramble off all my current projects.

And what he said to me was “Heather, when I used to live in Colorado and would take people skiing, we would go down the mountains, which can be pretty overwhelming your first few times. And as I would ski alongside people, I would see how intensely focused they were on reaching the bottom and accomplishing their goal.”

I wasn’t real sure where he was going with it when I responded with a silly comment like:

“I guess you never really think of goals that way, huh?”

But what he said next was what really stuck.

He said “Well, what I always did was stopped them half way down the mountain and made them look back up at what they had just skied down. It was a different perspective when they were able to take a breather and look up at what they had just done and to see the accomplishment.”

Then he said, “Heather, when was the last time you stopped to look up the mountain?”

We get so focused sometimes on where we are going that we forget to look back at where we are coming from – or how far we’ve already come.

As we move into a new year and a new cycle in our business… and think about all the things that we want to get done in this next year, and how maybe we could have done things a little different and achieved our goals a little sooner.

Maybe this past year wasn’t “your” year to get up and running. Maybe it was your year to incubate and let things process.

But, the time is now…

Charge forward with your goals… start taking massive action…

And remember to stop every now and then to “look back up the mountain” from time to time.