Hoan Thai likes to compare learning to invest in real estate to learning to snowboard.
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Thai struggled to learn the technique, but eventually, sick of being bad at the sport, he decided to lean in.
“I said to myself, ‘Okay, Hoan, you know what? Fall on your face. Try. Try as hard as you can to fall on your face,” he said. “And I leaned into it to try to fall on my face. Guess what? The snowboard stuck and it turned and it did a perfect turn.”
Thai leaned into real estate investing too, and now he makes more than his bosses in his former career, working maybe five hours a week.
When Thai coaches aspiring real estate investors as part of his real estate mentorship brand — The Hoan Zone — a big part of his job is helping them get over the fear of “falling on their face” — that is, the fear of losing money.
“I spend hours with people to get them clear of these feelings,” Thai said, “for them to look at it objectively, to look at the fear.”
Thai came to real estate investing when he was dissatisfied with his career as an engineer. This came as an unpleasant surprise, since he had done everything “right.” He had scrupulously followed the path that society had told him would lead to a fulfilling life.
“I became an engineer because that’s what you’re supposed to do, right?” Thai said. “You’re supposed to go to college, you’re supposed to get the degree, and then you go get the job, right?”
“And then, while at work, I was like, ‘Man, I’m really bored.’ There’s gotta be more to life than this, right?”
Now he makes more than his bosses in his former career, working maybe five hours a week.
