It’s highly likely that you’ve heard the terms ‘real estate investor’ and ‘real estate entrepreneur’, especially if you’ve spent any time at all in the real estate investing world. While many people use these terms interchangeably, however, there are some slight differences between the two that can actually make a world of difference.
Let’s take a look at what each term means so you can decide for yourself if one path or the other looks better for YOU.
Definition of a Real Estate Investor
As a homeowner, you might feel like you’re already a real estate investor. After all, you’ve invested time, money, and energy into purchasing and creating a home for you and your family. While your home could very well be an investment for you, and maybe even the largest one you’ll ever make, that doesn’t necessarily make you a real estate investor.
As a homeowner, your focus is typically on one specific property and getting the most out of it while you live there. There’s less of a focus on what you might gain from it in the future.
In contrast, a real estate investor is someone who buys real estate with the intent of generating income, building long-term wealth, or generating profit through the development and sale of real estate holdings.
Definition of a Real Estate Entrepreneur
In simple terms, you could think of a real estate entrepreneur as someone who takes real estate investing to the next level. He or she does everything that an investor does but with one big difference – an entrepreneurial mindset.
According to Merriam Webster, the definition of an entrepreneur is “one who organizes, manages, or assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.” Typically, a real estate entrepreneur goes about managing their investments with a ‘full steam ahead’ attitude. They’re often the first to recognize and seize opportunities, are self-motivated, and are typically seen as ambitious or more likely to take appropriate risks that could lead to big rewards.
So, while the investor and entrepreneur essentially do the same tasks, the focus or intent with which they do them are often at different levels. One might start out as a real estate investor and stay that way their entire life. Or, they could ramp things up, develop a different mindset along the way, and turn into a real estate entrepreneur.
How to Become a Successful Real Estate Entrepreneur
After seeing the similarities and differences between a real estate investor and a real estate entrepreneur, does the entrepreneur resonate more with you? If so, there are a few characteristics you must possess in order to see success.
To become a successful real estate entrepreneur, you should:
- Have or develop the entrepreneurial mindset – If you’ve already started and succeeded at one or more businesses, you’ve got it! However, if this is new territory for you, develop a positive mindset with the willingness to charge forward while always improving and learning more.
- Commit to learning all you can about real estate investing – What you don’t know will hurt you. The more you learn, the better you will be equipped to do what it takes to be successful. Rather than facing the pain of failure yourself, learn from other people’s mistakes with real estate investing. Similarly, learn from their successes and follow successful investors’ real estate tips.
- Build partnerships and develop meaningful relationships – Partnering with other real estate investors or seeking the help of a reputable real estate agent or real estate broker can help propel you along the road to success. When you understand your own talents and shortcomings, you can find others to partner with who can fill the gaps or meet a specific need.
- Create and follow positive habits – Practice self-discipline, manage your time and money wisely, visualize your success, and keep the big picture in mind.
From Real Estate Investor to Real Estate Entrepreneur
My wife and I are living proof that it is possible to start out as real estate investors and quickly progress to becoming real estate entrepreneurs. Having several other successful businesses prior to entering the real estate world, the transition was natural for me, but not without mistakes along the way.
If you’d like to learn more about how to become a successful real estate entrepreneur, I invite you to subscribe to my YouTube channel. There, my wife and I share how we went from owning $0 in real estate to owning $5 MILLION in real estate by the age of 30. We also share tips and strategies we’ve learned along the way to help us become successful real estate entrepreneurs in the Detroit metro area. If we can do it, you can too!
