On the one hand, being a real estate investor is something that virtually anyone can do. If you have an interest and a little bit of money, you can purchase a piece of property to profit from it. At the end of the day, that’s all you need to do to be considered an investor.
But if you want to be a successful and savvy investor, you need to think about things from a decidedly more professional standpoint. If this describes the type of career you’ve always seen for yourself, there are a few essential skills in particular that you’ll certainly want to spend time developing.
- Sound Communication
Arguably, the most important professional skill you’ll need to succeed as an investor is communication. This is true in any profession, but it’s particularly relevant here. If you have an objective in mind, you’ll likely need people to help you along the way. Therefore, you need to be able to vocalize what you’re trying to do, how you’re trying to do it, and why it’s so important to help make sure all parties play the role you need them to.
Take wholesale real estate, for example. Here, you’re acting as something of a “middleman” between a buyer and seller. You get a seller to agree to one price while a buyer agrees to a higher one. You get to keep the difference as a profit. You’ll need to not only be able to identify opportunities that fall in line with your investment strategy, but you have to get not one but two parties onboard.
Why should these people work with you at all? Why do they need a middleman? What’s in it for them? Effective communication can help enable collaboration and the foundation of sound long-term investment strategies.
- Financial Literacy
Financial literacy is an important professional skill because you’re attempting to take an investment and generate a healthy return on it. At a bare minimum, you’ll need to come into any transaction with a comprehensive understanding of the markets. This means how they got to where they currently are and where they’re headed.
You’ll also need a deeper understanding of investment trends so that you can capitalize on them before anyone else can. Even financial literacy in terms of risk assessment is important so you have your expectations in order (and know what you’re getting yourself into) with each transaction you’re a part of.
- Analytical Prowess
Along the same lines as financial literacy, analytical prowess will also serve you well in the world of investing. To return to the example of wholesale real estate, consider the sheer volume of information associated with even a modest transaction. You have data about the house. You need to be able to look over comparable properties in the area. You need to know about the community and employers and why someone would want to live there. This is all before you can determine if a property is even a good investment to begin with.
Analytical prowess will help you better understand large volumes of inherently complex data. This puts you in a position to make the most informed decision possible, no matter what.
- Adaptability
As the events of the last few years have taught us, the world changes constantly. Sometimes, it happens quickly, and sometimes, it does so in literally unprecedented ways. That’s why you must always be adaptable as a professional investor. That way, you’ll have the resilience you need to pivot in the face of market fluctuations, regardless of what they happen to be.
- Technological Acumen
Speaking of things that change rapidly, you’ll also need to stay up-to-date on everything going on with modern technology to give yourself a fighting chance to succeed. Technological acumen allows you to understand the types of tools that can give you a competitive edge and harness them to your advantage. That means leveraging software that allows you to efficiently analyze factors like the market as quickly as possible. It means wading through massive volumes of data to empower strategic decision-making to wind up with the most enduring financial achievements possible.
Can you get to this point on your own? Certainly – but technology makes it faster, easier, and far more efficient.
- Networking
There’s a familiar saying that reminds us, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” In the world of investing, it’s actually both. You’ll certainly need all the professional skills outlined above – but you’ll also need to be able to draw on pre-existing relationships and create new ones to thrive.
So if you haven’t already started to hone your networking skills, you must do so immediately. You never know who might be able to help or what you might be able to learn from the most unexpected sources. Not only can a keen ability to network expand your opportunities, but it can also help increase the insights you have to draw from as well.
- Emotional Intelligence
Finally, never underestimate emotional intelligence’s impact on your ability to succeed as an investor. In this context, you’re really talking about the ability to handle relationships judiciously and with empathy. That goes for the people on your team and who you’ll ultimately negotiate against. To succeed at even a modest negotiation, you must be able to see things from someone else’s perspective. You’d be shocked by just how many people are incapable of doing this. But as you hone your emotional intelligence, you’ll see how it can impact your larger investment abilities.
Build Skills to Benefit You in Your Investing Career
Overall, the seven aforementioned qualities represent the type of multifaceted skill set you’ll need to thrive in the fast-paced, malleable investing world. Whether you’re talking about investing in the stock market, real estate, or something else entirely doesn’t matter – the landscape is incredibly dynamic. Therefore, developing these skills now is in your best interest, as they’ll pave the way for the holistic approach you need to thrive tomorrow and beyond.