What have you asked for lately?

-By Jaime Willis

"We find what we expect to find, and we receive what we ask for." -Elbert Hubbard

I know that we've written on this subject on our blog before, but it's a topic worth repeating. Achievers ASK questions. Lots of them, to lots of people, all the time.

Last week, Matt and I were doing some financial planning for our business, which led me to do some personal financial planning. I asked myself what I wanted to have accomplished financially by the end of 2012. Goals like this are usually pretty easy to come by -- I want to be able to pay my bills and rent with ease, I want to pay down my student loans, I want to buy a car and have money saved for a down payment on a home. Nothing too crazy, right?

When I mapped out my financial goals against my anticipated income, I determined that I would be "ready" to look at housing at the very end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013. It's a big goal, and it made sense to me that it was going to take a long time to get there.

Here's where it gets interesting. I shared my goal with a friend of mine who is a realtor. As a successful realtor, she immediately began asking me questions -- Where (city, neighborhood) did I want to buy? What kinds of property (condo, townhouse, rowhouse) was I looking to buy? What was my budget? What were my must-haves?

The first SPARK from this conversation came when I decided to share my "dreams" with her, not just what I thought I would actually be able to buy. I am very grounded in reality and know how much real estate is in DC and how much I am willing to finance, but that didn't stop me from telling her my favorite locations and types of homes.

When I did that, something amazing happened! She realized that I was operating under a lot of false assumptions about the housing market. She was able to share with me different financing options that don't require the homeowner to put 10-20% down. She enlightened me to a few different neighborhoods that offer the type of housing I am interested in.

By the end of the conversation, I realized that it may be possible for me to buy property THIS year, not 18-24 months down the road! I'm actually doing a conference call today with my realtor and mortgage broker to talk details -- how cool is that?

You may be saying, "Oh, Jaime is just really lucky. That kind of stuff is always happening to her." I'll admit that lots of great opportunities ARE coming my way, but not because I'm lucky.

Opportunities manifest themselves when you ASK for them.

If you are a bit nervous about doing this yourself, why not start with something small? The next time you go to a restaurant, ask them to make you something not on the menu. For example, did you know Chipotle will make you a quesadilla if you ASK? Even if you think you know the answer, ASK anyway. You may be surprised to find that you didn't know as much as you thought!

What can you ask for today?