When you think of investing as a team sport, you will have access to people who have all kinds of resources you don't have. They will bring insight, knowledge, and relationships to your team. If you want to make more money, do what the most successful investors do. Become part of a team.

If you consider real estate investing as a team sport, you will see the advantages. Think of a team game, such as soccer. What happens when you are in a bad position to score? If you have a teammate in better position to make the goal, you can pass the ball. In a team game, when one player makes the goal, the whole team wins.

The opposite image of teamwork is the idea of the self-made man, who climbs up the mountain of success and boasts: "I am now the king of the world." (Few women are described by this model.) This is a competitive model, in which the "top dog wins." As a model of success, this model assumes that success is the result of single-handed effort, not a team effort.

In contrast, consider Napoleon Hill's MasterMind concept. The whole becomes more than the sum of its parts. Everyone becomes more successful by being part of a team. True success comes from surrounding yourself with like-minded people.

Let's be specific about how this idea of teamwork applies to real estate. What if you want to buy a particular property, but you don't have enough money or credit to buy it yourself? If you are limited to using your own resources, then the deal is not possible. You simply can't buy the property.

In such a situation, an investor who is part of a team will say: With an investor teamwork mindset, you say: "I can't afford to buy this property, but I know people who do have the money to buy it."

One way to make money when you can't afford to buy properties is to be a "bird dog." A bird dog finds good deals and then points them out to investors who can buy them. Instead of making money by buying properties, the bird dog makes money by finding them.

You can also make money as the deal maker. You can be the person who puts together the seller and the person with the money and arranges the deal.

What if you do have money and credit to be able to buy property? In this case, you can benefit from bird dogs and deal makers who bring deals to you. You become the investor who buys the property.

So what's the point? The point is that a team sport, such as soccer, needs different players playing different positions. You can play different positions at different times. You can play offense or defense. You can score or you can pass the ball to someone who can score.

If you understand that you're part of a network of investors, and that somebody has the money and can make it work, then it's not all up to you. You're not clawing your way up to the top of the mountain.

There are all kinds of people out there who are part of the real estate investor world who have specialized knowledge, money, and credit. The more you treat real estate investing as a team sport, the more successful you will become.