How to Build Wealth Faster (& Overcome Shiny Object Syndrome)

Mike DeHaan: [0:00] What's going on, guys? Welcome to today's collecting keys Friday focus. If this is your first time here, my name is Mike DeHaan, and I am an ex Boeing engineer who became a real estate investor and who now is a guy who talks about business from real estate on the Internet. And I don't know. I guess people sometimes get value because we have well over 400 of these episodes, and people keep reaching out and following and enjoying what we do. So on these Friday episodes, we like to do a little bit of a deep dive into something that we've been thinking about or, you know, a topic that we got from a listener or something similar. And on this one today, I kinda wanna talk about something that I think is one of the biggest, honestly, like risks or habits, I guess, that new entrepreneurs have that kinda like damages their growth. And this is spurred by a conversation that I had with a listener on Instagram. I didn't necessarily ask like this specific question, but it was just an observation that I kinda made. And and so when I look at like the big picture, I I've done a decent amount of work with newer business owners and investment entrepreneurs over the past number of years since we started the show back in 2021.

Mike DeHaan: [1:08] And there's always this kind of like shiny object syndrome that becomes a common issue. Right? Like, once someone knows how to make a little bit of money or once they face some kind of resistance, I guess for lack of a better words, in their growth or their their kind of plans, They're always kinda jumping around to the next shiny object, right, or something they feel like is gonna be easier. And I've been doing a lot of things about, like, why exactly does this happen? And having this Instagram conversation the other day, it kinda like hit me about why like that people are so prone to this. And I think it's because there's this constant need, and I don't know if it's like a new thing or something that's always been there of people that need or like in a rush. Right? Like they have these deadlines, whether they're intentional or psychological, where they feel like they need to hit a certain thing or a certain level at a certain rate. And whether it's due to FOMO, like they are looking at other people and they're saying like, why aren't I as good as that person? Whether it's out of like desperation because they're unhappy with their life situation. Whether it's because they're like, well, my kids are getting older. I need to be available for them before they grow up. There's this constant just drive for to to do things faster. Right? And like this FOMO that exists and this general just like feeling of desperation.

Mike DeHaan: [2:30] And and I don't really I like think that is one of the most damaging things that can happen to new entrepreneurs and new business owners, especially people that kind of start to figure it out. And so in the case I'm talking about with this listener that I was talking to on Instagram, he's a young kid. He's local. I've talked to him for a while on and off over the past couple years. And, you know, he's been desperate trying to get his business going. He's working an internship right now. They've done a couple deals. They have really showed you consistency. And he's like, if you had $2,000 and you wanted to build a business wholesaling real estate, what would you suggest that I do? And my response to him was like, honestly, bro, I'd say you save your $2,000 and you get to work and you save up until you have 10 or $15,000 and you then you're able to invest in some systems that are actually gonna be effective for you. Right? Instead of, like, kinda trying to run the shoestring thing. And his response to me, he goes, yeah. He's like, I figured you would say that. And then he said, quote, I'm only what do you say? I said, I just turned 22, so I guess I still have time. And that really kind of floored me that someone at the age of 22 years old is even kind of like flirting with the idea that they maybe don't have time to be successful. Right? Because 99% of you guys are listening, 22 is like freaking young. Like that's like, you're barely an adult.

Mike DeHaan: [3:48] I learned that you you you became able to drink like in the last eighteen months. Right? And now for some reason, there's like all these young 20 year olds that think they don't have time to be successful. And is that like entering adulthood and they sort of are realizing that their life in front of them now is no longer planned? Like, what does that look like? Like, what the cause of that? I don't know. Like, I remember being that age, and I got an engineering degree. Right? And so I kind of had like a career, but there wasn't this massive rush to try and figure out how to like get rich. Maybe it's because we didn't have Instagram, we didn't have things that were creating FOMO yet, and so that wasn't really an option. You just kinda went to job went to get a job, and you worked with your boss to get this career plan that was going to be, like, where are gonna be in five years, in ten years, in twenty years. You kinda just went along with it. Now you have all these young kids that are, man, I just need to get rich, like, tomorrow, otherwise, I'm running out of time. And I see the same thing happen with 22 year olds, 28 year olds, 35 year olds, 40 year olds. And even at 40, right, like, you're still relatively young if you look at big picture of life. And stuff can happen so incredibly fast if you stick to the same thing and you don't get impatient and you don't try to rush and you don't get the shiny object syndrome. Right? So even from my own perspective, real estate investing wasn't even on my radar until I was 28 years old. And so now I'm 34, I started investing in in real estate six six and a half years ago.

Mike DeHaan: [5:16] And my lifestyle is completely different now, but the one thing I can say is that I've done pretty much the same thing since the beginning. Know, I started flipping houses, I started keeping rentals, and I went into wholesaling because I wanna get better deals. But wholesaling has been the core of my vertical income and my deal flow since late twenty nineteen. So as the recording of this, it's April 2025. That's like five and a half years I've been doing that. I'm a dinosaur when it comes to wholesaling real estate at this point. Almost everyone that I know that's been in the industry over the past number of years has gone. They've gone and moved on to something else. And the vast majority of those people are less successful than I am. Right? And that's not saying that to brag. I'm just saying that through a point that one of the reasons that I've been able to do well is because I've done the same thing for a weirdly long time. And when I think about that, the biggest challenge that I think as you're entering entrepreneurship is you're going to face these pressure points where you're going to have to work hard, you're gonna have to work more hours, You're gonna have to take some risks, whether that's hiring on staff members or making changes in business or taking home less money so you can reinvest in stuff. And that's what growth takes. Right?

Mike DeHaan: [6:24] And probably the worst thing you could do is get this shiny object syndrome, start a new partnership, start a a new business, try to do something else. Because all that's gonna do is detract from your growth. It's gonna create a whole new, like, direction of learning that you're gonna have to figure out. It's gonna divide your attention. It's gonna divide your capital. And ultimately, you're probably gonna be net in like a much worse place. I was just listening to an Alex Shmozzi podcast that was talking about this that came out this week. And he talks about, like pretty much all the Forbes, like rich list people except for Elon. Right? Almost all their wealth came from a singular business that they did for like twenty five to thirty years. And not saying that you need to be doing something for twenty five, thirty years to be successful, but those are billionaires. Right? If you wanna be someone that has like a couple million bucks, you can realistically do that in two, three, four years, but you have to do the same thing with intention over that pipeline, you know, over that timeline. And if you're trying constantly trying to like pivot between new things every six to twelve months when stuff gets hard, you're just never really gonna get anywhere. And so my point with this is that, as you are working and you are trying to like figure out what you wanna do, really do your best and not be in a rush.

Mike DeHaan: [7:36] Right? And just focus on what you're doing and to make sure that time doesn't just fleet like fly by, which can happen, work with intention. Right? Set weekly goals, set monthly goals, figure out what your day to day looks like, time block your your schedule. Right? And if you do that and you measure kind of how your growth happens in like a very systematic fashion, you probably will find that you don't get quite as much shiny object syndrome because you'll be able to look back and see the growth that you've had. And hopefully, it will inspire you to keep doing the same thing moving forward. So I don't know. Something to think about. It was just something that I was really floored with this 22 year old kid. It was like, I guess I have time. I don't know, man. Like, I'd started doing what I'm doing now, and I was 22, and I'd kept up with it until now, I can I don't even know where I would be? Because I would have been down like 22 twenty twelve. I'd be so rich, you guys. I definitely wouldn't be making this silly podcast, honestly. But, yeah. So just be intentional about stuff. Don't be in a rush, and enjoy the process, and be along for the ride, understand that successful business does take time. And everything that you that you do that kinda like distracts you from the main thing that you started to build proficiency in will just ultimately delay your progress and success that you're really trying to see.

Mike DeHaan: [8:48] So hopefully, that'll that's helpful for you guys, or at least gives you some something to think about. You enjoy this, please share it with all your friends. It's the greatest we ever can ever run the show. It's the word-of-mouth. So share it on your Instagram. Tell your friends about it. Share the link. You can find that anywhere that listen to their shows. I appreciate you guys for listening. I'll talk to you guys next week.