The #1 Reason Land Investors FAIL (And How to Avoid It)
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The #1 Reason Land Investors FAIL (And How to Avoid It)
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In this episode, Ron Apke and Anthony Weiler share the traits that separate those who crush it in land investing from those who give up too soon and end up with a failing land business. With real-life examples of students from all walks of life—software engineers, truck drivers, and even tourist attraction managers—they illustrate how determination, adaptability, and resilience are the ultimate keys to success.
They emphasize the importance of consistent effort, leveraging community support, and overcoming the mindset shift from working a 9-to-5 to running your own business. Whether it's learning from setbacks or staying proactive during slow periods, this episode is packed with insights that will fire you up to take your first steps.
Ron & Anthony also dive into the topic of market selection, dispelling the myth that you need a perfect strategy to land your first deal. Ron shares how he turned five minutes of market analysis into a $500,000 payday, proving that action beats overthinking every time.
They stress the importance of just getting your marketing out there, learning as you go, and adjusting strategies based on real-world results.
If you’re serious about transforming your life through land flipping, this episode delivers the motivation and practical tips you need to get after it. Don’t miss out on their advice—this could be the push you need to land that first deal and build unstoppable momentum!
⬇️ Watch or listen to the full episode below!
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Ron: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the real estate investing podcast. I’m your host, Ron Apke, joined again by Anthony Weiler. Today, we’re talking to Anthony about the struggles of getting your first deal. And we see this a lot. Um, but yeah, welcome to the show again. Happy to be here. Yeah.
So struggles to getting your first deal. I think it’s everyone’s struggle looks different, but so many people who have come on the podcast to have, uh, who have, I’ve talked to one on one who you’ve coached, like not saying it’s a hundred percent of the time, but a good portion of the time, like there are hurdles.
Um, we talk a lot about the first six months. Like you get past those first six months, um, because there are going to be times like, Oh, what am I doing with this? Um, and like times where it’s just a struggle and getting through those times is so important is that’s like a common thing for most people who are successful in this business.
Anthony: Yeah. I mean, it’s just being able to, to ride those waves. I mean, This is a tried and true model, but there will be times to where there could be low points. And it’s just figuring out certain things that you may not be getting. But what we’ve seen over time is that six month mark for the most part is where things really start to take off.
So just being able to handle certain obstacles and hurdles. And the biggest one is getting that first deal, that proof of concept, right? And then after that, you get that itch and you’re not stopping.
Ron: And, uh, not to call you to call you out, I guess. Um, I remember when you first started coaching people, like you would come to us sometimes and be like, yeah, their mail’s just, I don’t know if his mail’s not working or whatever.
It is internal. And I want people to understand that this works for people. This works for a ton of people. Um, it is not the mail’s fault. It’s not the text messages fault. It’s not the strategy’s fault. It is on you. And I, I, I, I want to make that kind of blunt and hard, uh, because like it is the reality and maybe sometimes like just like county just didn’t work.
Um, but if your mindset is blaming the business model, saying this doesn’t work, you’re wrong. It does work because, uh, hundreds of people in our community are making six figures a year doing this. Um, But do you, do you remember talking about that as far as it’s just, it’s just like, and I remember looking at some people’s business models who you’re coaching.
It’s like, no, they’re not responding to people. No, they’re not doing this. No, they’re not consistent. Why aren’t they listening to what we’re actually saying? And like, do you remember those conversations?
Anthony: Yeah, definitely. Cause I was, I was taking a look. I was like, man, am I, am I missing something or what’s going on?
And when we took a deeper look, like you said, it’s like, okay, well it’s either, It’s lack of consistency with the marketing or, and they’re not leveraging us with coaching either to like not responding. And it’s just, you know, going off of the beaten path and what’s tried and true are the people that, you know, send out mail consistently.
You do, you follow up text messages and you, I mean, you have consistent marketing, you’re following up with your leads, you’re leveraging us. I mean, that’s, what’s going to take you to the next level. And it’s just shown within the community. But yeah, I do remember that conversation. I was like, You know, even myself is like, like there are those ups and downs, but it’s just like, you have to refresh your memory and be like, man, look at all of this.
And you know what I’ve been able to do and what everyone else is able to do. And we’ve talked about it time and time in throughout this podcast. If you start from the very beginning to like the first episode to now, the main word that we probably say is consistency is just staying consistent. And then like the results will show.
Ron: You do one of those word bubble things where they kick number 100%, like why are people successful?
Consistency. Um, but yeah, just, it’s not even all marketing or all of that. It’s just like when you break, some of these people are so scared to have hard conversation with. Hard conversations with sellers. Leads are extremely expensive in this business, qualified leads. And if you’re scared to have a tough conversation, if you’re scared to pitch double closing, you are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, and you might just lose out on the business model as a whole, because you’re going to get down about it.
And those are, those are the type of. Inputs are the type of things that people aren’t doing who, uh, are quote unquote failing or who aren’t successful in this business yet. Um, if you make those adjustments, you definitely can be, but some people are, it is not just a marketing game. This is a sales game as well.
Like you need to be able to talk to people. You need to be willing to, it’s not about being the best sales person in the world. You don’t need to be, but understanding the business model, following through being quick. Uh, Landon, I think Landon was. Uh, when he was on the pod, I know actually when he was on the podcast a few weeks ago, he was saying he calls everyone back when he gets a mailer for a property he owns.
He calls everyone back. He said it’s like a 33 percent response rate, not even live answer. He said he got zero live answers and 33 percent of one third of people actually called him back or something. And like the delay between that was incredible. And like, Those people don’t make it in this business because of that.
Um, it’s actually interesting. I might try to start calling people and see what they say.
Anthony: Yeah. I remember listening to that and I thought that was fascinating. I’ve noticed a couple of people in the community say the same thing too. I think Nick was an example. Nick, I don’t know his last name. Yeah. Yes, exactly.
And he was saying he’s, and he’s like, I think only 10 percent of people are actually taking this business model seriously. And one thing that I’ve noticed too, people ask me all the time. It’s like, what makes people successful or not again, consistency. But there’s so many people afraid to be on the phone, which is absolutely like mind boggling to me.
I don’t know if it’s because I came from like the B2B tech sales world and like, I’m comfortable talking to people. But you, you have to get on the phone. Like, what do you think is going to happen? If you just send out a mail and a text, like you have to talk to them and you will have to have those times where you negotiate and if you’re uncomfortable with sales, like, and if you’re part of the coaching program, we’ll focus on that.
I’ll send you plenty of books and materials so you could practice on it. But you just have to have those conversations and get those reps in like Justin. Um, when he was on the podcast a while ago, he didn’t have a sales background and he was just cold trying to get those reps in. Yes, exactly. So you have to be dedicated and work on that.
Ron: I respond to the text messages. I don’t, I haven’t ever called mailers. I don’t think, but I do respond to the text messages and they never respond to me. Like it’s, it’s legit. Are you interested in selling your property in X. X County, Alabama, very recently. I’m like, yeah, what can you offer? No follow up text.
Um, no phone call, nothing like that. Like something is broken. You’re, and I don’t want to say it’s all operations because sometimes people just go and dive into operations. I need to fix this and tweak this. No, you’re just scared to talk to people on the phone or follow through with leads or really do the business model.
And I think that’s a fallback is people like making it. Making excuses about the efficiency of this or you hear competition stuff like that.
Anthony: Yeah.
Ron: And it’s not the reality of it Every single thing every single business in this country has competition within it and the cream rises to the top at the end of the day Like there’s a reason land.
It’s not scared of competition in this business There’s a reason why you’re not scared of competition in this business because you’re taking action you’re making things happen and you’re making deals happen and And Um, yeah, I mean, every, everything’s got competition, right?
Anthony: Yeah, exactly. And I think that kind of ties into like struggles with getting your first deal is that mindset acts, um, aspect of it.
It’s like, Oh, is this too good to be true? There’s, I hear there’s too much competition. People, you know, their mailers aren’t landing. It’s like, you know, just take action, you know, see the, see what type of results that you’re getting, find ways to improve. I mean, you’re starting, you’re starting a business.
Like it’s, it’s not going to be, what’s the, it’s not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows at the very beginning, right? Like, it’s just get after it. You’re running a business and there’s, there is some competition. Like just get after it. Find a way to stand out, leverage the community and you’ll be in a good spot.
Like we’re here to take care of you. Still a high level opportunity.
Ron: Very, very high level opportunity re relative to the amount of money you need to put in and the amount of money you can make out. That’s what an opportunity is in business. Like how much money do you have to put in? Like, what is the barrier to entry?
And then, uh, what is the potential for it? And it’s still extremely high opportunity. Like, I don’t want to under cut that. Like I want to be very clear, but that being said, like you need to do the right things. And the people who don’t do the right things, um, It lines up very, very clear with the people who don’t do the right things, who are making excuses about the business model, about the competition, about all that.
Um, yeah. And I look internal too, about our education too. Like, okay, what can I improve to make people make it clearer about that? And we’ve been adding to the education. Um, but again, like, I don’t want to give people like, Oh, it’s the education’s fault. Oh, that’s this. Like you got to look into in life in general.
Like you got to look internal. What am I doing that I can do better? It’s a hundred percent here. My son tried to, my son just, uh, went defeated in a soccer honest, honest, defeated. Oh, in town, I think in a, uh, soccer season. Yeah. He’s a, it’s coaches. Oh, it’s the. This Oh, my team wasn’t no, what, what could you have done better to make your team?
Not Oh, in 10, like your team sucked. You were a part of that horrible team. Uh, and like, that’s just reality. Maybe that’s not the right way to parent, but that’s what I told him. Yeah.
Anthony: So I wanted to ask you, what do you think then is like the main struggle then with the first deal? Is it something like internal?
Is it the mindset aspect thing? Aspect of things is it taking action? Like if you had a pinpoint on like one thing, like this is the biggest indicator.
Ron: I think people get on such a high about the idea of a business model. And I remember when I first like the high of the business model and then like it’s not exactly what they pictured.
Um, and then there’s difficulty like I don’t try to Paint this business model as all rainbows. Can it be? Absolutely. People are quitting their job left and right from this business model. But that being said like there are hurdles and the ability Resilience. I said that with Daniel a few weeks ago when we were talking about it.
I think it’s resiliency, honestly. Um, entrepreneurship, you need resiliency. There’s, even after you’re successful, like there are gonna be struggles. Um, maybe you hire, you gotta fire people. There’s so many different things, but I think resiliency and that’s just a mindset thing. Yeah. But I think resiliency is huge.
Anthony: Yeah, I, I completely agree with that. That makes complete sense. Especially too, when you said there’s a big emotional high getting into it. I, you remember it?
Ron: Yes, absolutely. I remember talking to you and your dad, I say it all the Verizon store, T Mobile store or something. And your dad was messaging us or messaging me on our, uh, online chat.
And, uh, yeah, you guys, and, uh, and I mean, you, just that decision, like how much did it change the trajectory of your life? Like, it’s insane when you look at one decision.
Anthony: Yeah. It’s absolutely crazy. I mean, I had a boatload of private student loan debt. I was like, shit, like investing in this and then marketing, I was like, is this going to work?
And it’s absolutely changed my life and it’s changed plenty of other people’s lives too. But yeah, it’s a big emotional high. You want things to work. And then you just start thinking about all these, what ifs like, Oh, did I, did I make the right decision? But like you said, resiliency, being able to like, no, this is what I signed up for.
These are my goals. This is what I need to do. Here’s a blueprint strategies and frameworks. There’s a network of people I can connect with to and even leverage for capital. It’s on me. Yeah.
Ron: And you guys had a lot of struggles. Like, it’s not like you guys didn’t have any, you said it took three mailers to get your first deals. Is that correct?
Anthony: Three mailers to get the first deal. We did two in Arkansas and I was like, shit, I’m leveraging my dad’s money. He’s like, Anthony, this was a terrible decision. You suck. But then our third mailer got his three deals and that got us to grow and scale from there. Um, but yeah, it was, it was difficult at first.
Like, but again, you stay consistent, you’re resilient, you believe in this, you believe in yourself and just being able to. Take on that fear.
Ron: What? So that’s a zero to one deal. Like you definitely had struggle was getting there and like, it was, you could have easily quit after that. Like I’m down 4, 000, whatever the number is you’re down.
And then you made 30, 40, 000 on that third mailer like that, just taking that next step resiliency, like I just said, um, of like, this is the plan. I believe in the process, everything like that. And like you never, cause we were coaching you guys one on one. It was never like external blame. It was like, okay, what can we do better?
And that was, uh, that was what we respected it. Like having you guys as students, uh, was obviously it wasn’t hard because you guys believed in the business model. You’re willing to take risk, uh, quote unquote risk and just keep following through, but it would, it’s not hard to quit after that second mailer.
And that is the struggle of getting from zero to one deals. Yeah. Um, even if you would’ve got one deal from that third meal, like, okay, okay. Like now we’re, this makes sense. This is working. Like we just got to make some tweaks.
Anthony: Yeah, absolutely. Like you said, dude, it’s not, it’s not hard to blame it on other external factors.
Right. And then that’s, and that’s exactly, that’s the biggest thing too. Cause it’s like, it’s so easy, but when you take a step back and you look at all the testimonials and what people are able to do, and you’re reaching out to other people, hearing what they’re doing, and then it’s like, okay, it’s obviously like all on me, what do I need to do to get better and leveraging people in the community or, you know, Leveraging a coach, for example.
Um, yeah, it’s, you just got to do all the right things and get after and stay consistent.
Ron: How effective are you at? Like, I’ve probably asked you this before. How effective are you at like predicting the success of a student?
Anthony: That’s a good question because there’s some times are wrong. Yeah. There’s some people like, ah, they’re, they’re not serious.
They’re not going to do anything. And they just absolutely crush it. And there’s some people. They’ll say all the right things and you get a good vibe from them, but they’re just kind of putting on a mask. And then when, you know, if there’s any obstacles, they absolutely just crumble and you don’t hear from them again.
It’s like, well, what happened? Like, I’m here to help you, but they just, they just don’t respond or they just have given up on things. Right. Uh, so. I thought I had a good idea, but people just surprised me. They really do.
Ron: It’s a good thing. Cause that makes you put your best foot forward for everyone. For sure.
Anthony: You have,
Ron: um, and like seeing the like different, so many different types of people are successful in this business. Like we have the range, like it’s hard to really pinpoint, like this type of person does the best. I know like the, uh, traits and stuff, but as far as like, What kind of industry they come from.
Some people come from sales. Some people are teachers. Some people are engineers, like so many different spots, but if you’re willing to apply yourself, I think that’s when the people are the most successful.
Anthony: No, I love that. Cause it’s literally such a wide range. Like your brother, Mike, right? He comes as a software engineer, right?
Chad has a sales background. Landon came from finance. Christina is overseas. She does tourist attractions, right? Like it’s literally all across the board. People working for the government. And it’s just all walks of life with different skill sets, but they use that and they’re able to adapt and grow strengths and other things that are needed.
And you can, you get after it. Like literally all walks of life, even truck drivers, like just. All across the board, it’s crazy.
Ron: Yeah, it’s cool to see because Um, it gives the opportunity and that’s a nice thing about this business It’s not it to get to that one deal like there’s not and that can be a 30 profit deal There’s not that much barrier to entry financially Or even effort wise like it’s not like it’s just a it’s a little bit of effort education all that stuff Um, but it’s not a crazy barrier to entry.
Anthony: Yeah, and I think one of the things too when it when people struggle is because they come from such a community You know, from a nine to five background or working for somebody else.
And like we were just talking about, it’s all on you at that point. This is your own business. The results. That’s, that’s what you’re putting into this, right? Your output is what’s going to show, but the results in your business. Right. So I think that’s another hurdle for people like, okay, like this is actually my own thing.
I’m normally coming into a job. There’s. You know, I’m just, I’m just working for somebody. It’s not as much risk, but now again, there’s not, I don’t think there’s that much risk when it comes to this, but it’s just a different type of approach. It’s just completely different for people.
Ron: And we don’t shove this by any means down people’s throats in terms of like, uh, joining the program, doing this, doing that.
Like, that’s not how we are. Like, make the decision on yourself. Here’s what we can offer. Here’s what I think the potential is. Um, here’s how we think you fit. Um, and then they make the decision. So I think that, Forces them to have a little bit more commitment, um, when it’s not a hard sale or anything like that versus when it is a hard sale and people are like, okay, I don’t even know what I just spent money on all this.
Uh, when you actually can watch testimonials, um, listen to education, like see how things go, be in our discord community. I think there’s so much value in that, um, where people can come into the business on their own terms, not saying any, you know, One can hard sell you and force you to do something, but definitely happens.
Anthony: Yeah, absolutely. So I think those are all the key things that I had to hone in on when it comes to struggling your, uh, when it comes to getting your first deal. Were there any other things that you had on your list? Cause I think, well, I actually market selection is a big one too when it comes into that.
Um, is that something you wanted to touch on?
Ron: We can talk a little bit about market selection. I mean, What what are your thoughts on that as far as like, yeah, And I know you help people quite a bit in market selection. It’s definitely an important stage I think it’s a stage that some people overvalue because it is hard to predict.
I remember My most successful county ever like I did not have a good feeling going into it But I just hit the send button and yeah, we made like 250 300 000 actually more than that It was probably like 500 000 in that county.
Um, and just huge deals left and right and it was 1200 mailers And we legitimately made four to five hundred thousand dollars in that county Um, and it wasn’t It was five minutes of market selection.
Just like, all right, let’s do this. But what are your thoughts on market selection as a whole right now in this business?
Anthony: Yeah, as a whole, um, I think people analysis or process by analysis is a big thing for people, but when it comes to it as a whole, and I tell my coaching students this too, like I spend like five to 10 minutes when it comes to market selection, I have key indicators.
I look at certain things and at that point I take a look, okay, this doesn’t fit like my criteria or this fits. And you’re, you have. You have good indicators to target a market, but you’re not going to know at the end of the day until you actually just market and talk to people and see what the demand actually looks like from a seller standpoint.
Like you just need to get your marketing out. Just spend five to 10 minutes. Don’t go crazy with it. Get your mail, get your texts out, do your cold calls, whatever your marketing strategy is, and just get after it. That’s the biggest thing.
Ron: Yeah, it’s just data. And I think more accessibility data and we’ll add something to the land portal so people can kind of have quicker access, but it’s always going to be something that people do overthink.
And I’m not saying there’s no value in thinking about it a little bit, but it’s the predictability of how people are going to respond to your marketing, like your marketing matter. I can do a deal in any county in this country. I promise you give me 2000 pieces of data. I will get a deal. Um, And like, that is the mindset.
Like, how am I going to get a D every County has different strategies, not every, but counties have different strategy on what’s going to work. How aggressive should you price? Um, how should your followup be? Um, is there anything like that you should be targeting specifically for these people? And I think making the adjustments like that are more important than the actual market you suggest.
Um, but again, that’s just my perspective from it. I’m more of a volume type guy. If you’re being more specific, like if you’re going after subdivides, 100%, like you’ve got to understand the regulations, which is a common But, um, yeah, I think overall resiliency and, uh, taking action, consistency, like those are the biggest things to gain your first deal.
And the people who don’t get their first deal on this, it is a lack of resiliency, in my opinion. Like it’s like something got hard, they quit, um, or whatever. Like Landon talked about how much. Uh, not struggle, but like he was in a lot of credit card debt. I believe it was a high interest credit card debt with like a six month, 12 month grace period, whatever it was.
Um, like it’s not that, that’s a resilient mindset that he had. And he, if you listened to his first podcast, he did like, he never thought it wasn’t going to work.
Anthony: Yeah. And that’s the thing too, because I remember he had one deal. It was his first one and he had listed for sale and it was sitting on the market.
And I was like, well, thank God he was paid. He kept marketing. It was getting other stuff under contract because that’s what snowballed. Some people, like you said, the resilience factor is like, okay, well, I’m just going to wait for this one to sell, make it a proof of concept. Let me get my money back. I don’t want to take on the risk and, you know, send out more mail.
It’s going to cost me money, but then you pay the price of your business just slowing down. And Landon’s the perfect example of like, no F that. I know this works. Um, I already have one, you know, listed for sale. Let me get more under my belt. And it’s just going to start to compound at that point, which it absolutely did.
Ron: That’s really cool to see. Um, other than that, guys, if you’re watching on YouTube, hit the subscribe button below. Like this video, leave us a comment. Let us know if there’s any other topics you want us to cover. If you’re listening on Spotify or Apple, share this with a friend, leave us a review. Thank you so much.
We’ll see you next time. Take care, guys. As always, thank you for joining. Please do us a huge favor and like and subscribe our YouTube channel and share this with a friend. It really means the world to Ron and I, but more importantly, it could help change the life of someone else. Thanks for joining and we’ll see you next episode.
