Through over a decade of starting various business and now working with students who want to get started with apartment building investing, I've come to the conclusion that the only way you can master any new skill, start any new business, or change anything meaningful in your life is to address each of the following three elements:

• Knowledge
• Action
• Support

If any one of these is missing in the process, the goals you seek will be incomplete, delayed or most likely, will never happen.

My wife's been doing this “Insanity Max 30” DVD work-out program in which you try to hang with drill sergeant Shaun T until you have to take a break, at which point you've “maxed out”.

Truly insane.

I play tennis competitively and am therefore in pretty good shape. Or so I thought. Until I did one of these sessions. Geesh.

I maxed out in minute 10 and never really recovered. My wife was egging me on, at first encouraging me and then calling me a baby, which worked for a little while until I finally gave up at around minute 20.

Then it dawned on me.

If I really wanted to get in shape I should exercise more and maybe even do this insanity program. I would get the knowledge (what to do and how to do the exercises) from the DVD. Of course I would need to take action to actually do the exercises, otherwise I wouldn't be getting the benefit of the knowledge. And doing the exercises with someone else would encourage me and keep me accountable to keep going and stay on track.

You need all three of these to affect worthwhile change in your life: knowledge, action, and support.

And it's the same thing with starting-up your real estate business.

Let's say you want to get started with wholesaling, flipping houses, or syndicating apartment buildings. Here are the 3 things you MUST do to acquire the necessary skills, convert those into action and successfully launch your start-up business:

Read the complete article on the Bigger Pockets.