I don't need anything, so I don't waste time sugar coating.

Once upon a time I thought, "The customer is always right." and "build a team so you can grow" and all that other cliche stuff.

The reality is that I rarely met a real investor at a club or meetup, they all seemed too busy doing real estate deals or spending time doing stuff they liked.

Its a niche market, real investors who don't care about being acknowledged, or care about selling you a book. Those were the ones that paid me well as a General Contractor and they never went to meetups. They didnt' need anything a meetup could provide. They had deals and a way to get money and they knew how to hire people (me) to get it done right. (pay me right)

I worked for a few of the "hustlers" who wore fancy stuff to dirty job-sites and seemed more concerned with getting it done fast/cheap than having a great end product. Most of those guys didn't want to pay anyone a fair amount and constantly were looking for new people to work with as a result. 

I saw how easy this all really is, from first hand watching every way you could be an investor. Some tossed cash at problems, some ran from them, some got mad and blamed everyone else, and some just walked away. But, the successful/happy ones...they knew what they spoke on and knew who to ask when they didn't. It wasn't magic, or a secret, or even years in the business. It was simply letting the best people do their best work and knowing that putting it all together with everyone "Banking" off your idea's and efforts, would too make bank and with very little stress or problems you couldn't solve. Letting go of ego and pride is hard and letting go of money even harder. But nobody is excited to work with an investor wanting to work with them IF they get an "investors pricing" type of deal, when they could spend their time with people willing to pay them what they are actually worth.

The bottom line is that I want everyone to be a success, but too many can't drop their ego enough and others don't have enough confidence to succeed. This business isn't easy, unless you know who is full of cliche and who is really making things happen. And those making things happen are rarely out boasting or posting about their services, they are too busy out making things happen.

Trust, but verify. If you fail at either you won't be a success.

(note- I am no longer a G.C. and this is not a way to advertise my services as one, although it would be a unique way to go about it if it was...but its not.)