One of the most common traits of our clients is that they are very independent and are not afraid to take their future into their own hands. With that though comes the do-it-yourself mentality, or in other words, “I can do it better so stay out of my way.” While this works for some, we see the most successful investors build an All-Star team and use them to achieve investment success. Even the greats need the support of the team. Who knows where Bill Gates would be without Paul Allen, Steve Jobs without Steve Wozniak or Peyton Manning without his all-pro teammates. The following are some tips we have seen used by some of our most successful clients.

1. Find an advisor. This doesn’t have to be a paid financial advisor. It could be your banker, your accountant, a close friend who is not afraid to tell you the truth, and last but not the least your spouse or significant other. You need someone you are willing to share your goals with and who is strong enough to tell you something sounds like a bad idea; that the risk is much greater than the reward, but will support you if your decision just does not get the results you want.

2. Put experts on your team. While I trust my wife’s instincts, I don’t expect her to be an expert in some of the arenas we’ve invested. For real estate investments, we use one specific realtor. If we are going to purchase in a state he’s not licensed in, we get a referral from him but he knows that through thick or thin our real estate investments go through him. The benefits are stupendous; we find out about properties before they hit the market. And when we’re selling, we get an unparalleled service for he knows it’s not just one property at stake. When investing in stocks we, use one specific broker. There are many do-it-yourself systems out there but we’ve found dealing with this one person opens up opportunities we would not have had on our own such as iPOs, new stock ideas, etc.

3. Don’t look at the price of the service alone. Look at the value. There’s nothing wrong with shopping for price but make sure you’re comparing apples to apples. One of the tax attorneys we refer people to seems expensive on the surface but when you add up all the advice that he gives when on the clock, his rates are extremely reasonable. Plus, he is at the top of his field. There’re some investment advisors that charge more than others, but when you look at the return they give their clients they are well worth their fee.

4. What is your teammate getting from this alliance? Are they doing this out of friendship? How are they profiting from this alliance? These are questions you must ask yourself. I am partial to having teammates participate in investments using their expertise to make it successful. They then have the ability to profit more than their normal fee and now you have a fully invested team.

The last piece of advice and probably the most important is to realize the value of each teammate. You have to think of yourself as part of an organization or team and then, even if it’s your money, the success comes from the team operating for one common goal. I’ve seen it happen more than once where the leader of the team (investment) didn’t realize that the success was coming from others and unfortunately ruined something both profitable and fulfilling. So, value those that help make your investments succeed and you’ll achieve greater returns.