On this episode of Secrets to Real Estate Investing by House Flip Masters Holly is joined by guest Amy Jones. Amy started her real estate career by pulling weeds in Pomona California in 1991 for a slurpee! Amy’s path started by flipping houses with her father in the late 90’s.  Amy shared that when she turned 18 she packed up her car and headed out and she ended up in Colorado Springs where she worked as a pizza delivery driver. At the age of 20 she was promoted to restaurant manager and that is when she says she started personally flipping. Amy would flip broken restaurants and during that time she flipped 13 restaurants. Amy attributes what she knows about real estate and house flipping to what she learned during her time in the restaurant business. One day Amy called up her father and told him that she was tired of working the long hours on her feet all day and her dad told her to get into real estate and to help him find a fourplex. With the help of her father they have built a rewarding and profitable real estate career. Amy and her father have successfully retired Amy’s father with their real estate ventures.  Holly asks Amy to share her first deal with listeners. Amy says that her first deal was an accident. Amy purchased a mobile home for $3,000 and turned around and sold it for $5,000. She didn’t know it at the time but with the purchase and sale of that mobile home Amy had successfully completed her first flip. When she looked into flipping homes later Amy thought that because of the mobile home flip that she knew how to flip but she didn’t realize the elements that were missing from flipping real estate regularly. Amy did her due diligence and got ahold of various individuals to learn from; she learned from people who not only were educated in real estate but also actively practicing what they knew. Amy would take these people to lunch and get information from them about contractors, lenders, etc. so she knew who to hire and who not to hire.  Holly asks Amy what her suggestions are for individuals who aren’t the greatest in social settings or might be a little timid when approaching new people or presenting to others. Amy suggests that single individuals should go out and flirt with people and people who aren’t single go out and put yourself in awkward settings because the anxious feeling will go away when you’ve experienced and handled the awkward situations a handful of times.  Amy says that the best and most difficult thing about real estate is that there are so many avenues to pursue. She says that the best thing to do is to learn a little and implement a little. The best learning experiences that you have will be in the field; once you do something you know what to expect and how to do it better. When you make mistakes you will learn how to to not make that same mistake again or how to avoid it in the future. Amy says that even with 1,000 flips under her belt she is still learning.  Holly and Amy both advise having a network because if you don’t know how to do something you might have someone in your network who you can call or email that knows how to fix your problem and in turn you will continue to learn. Amy says that in business she has no competitors because your network is a great asset and they will connect you to others who can help you. Amy says that it is comforting to know that you are not alone in this business and it’s nice to know that you can pick up the phone and call a contact for help even though you might both be after the same property.  Holly and Amy talk about auctions. Holly advises that if you are just starting out in real estate that you stay away from auctions because it is a high stakes and high risks situation and you will want to have the knowledge before heading into an auction. Holly and Amy discuss the differences between auctions in California versus Colorado; while they are different in format both women agree that new comers should