I'm a big believer in the power of mentors to help you collapse time frames, see opportunities you never realized existed, help you to think differently, and to become way more successful than you could have by yourself. For this reason, I've invested a lot of time and money to learn from my mentors. Those investments have definitely paid off!

In the spirit of paying it forward, I want to share the three most valuable lessons I've learned from my mentors:

1. Focus on Relationships for Life

For those of you who have heard my story, you know that one man was a very important catalyst to my growth and success in real estate - Robert Helms. He's the host of the Real Estate Guys Radio Show and he's an incredibly successful investor and developer who has done over $1 billion dollars in deals. He has taught me a lot in the 3 1/2 years I've known him. The number one lesson I learned from him was to "build relationships for life."

Most people are very transactional and short-term in...