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By Alan |
How to Avoid Training
Your Competition
By: Alan Brymer
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| One of the questions I am asked frequently
is, "If I get an assistant, how do I avoid training
my competition, but also get someone with the
initiative to make things happen on their own?"
This question assumes that the only people with
initiative are those who are interested in investing
in real estate. This is simply untrue. Don't
you know plenty of people who are interested
in real estate, but don't take the initiative
to do anything about it? Likewise, there are
plenty of people with initiative who would be
willing to work as your personal assistant,
but are not necessary interested in investing
themselves. |
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How many secretaries and office managers do you know that
work for accounting firms and actually wish they were crunching
numbers and preparing tax returns? How many receptionists
in law firms want to be the ones preparing legal briefs
at 1:00 in the morning or cross-examining a defendant in
a heated courtroom? Probably not too many. Assistants apply
for their jobs because they like working as an assistant,
not because they are fascinated with the type of product
or service their employer provides.
Real estate investing is no different. It is not necessary
to hire someone who is interested in doing deals of their
own someday, and I don't recommend it. It is likely that
with such a person, any of the following things will happen:
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- They will leave you in order to go try to do deals
on their own. They may be completely unsuccessful
and never become a major competitor, but it will still
waste your time replacing them with someone new.
- They might steal your prospects, deals, and secrets.
They might start their own investing business while working
for you and steal your seller leads, potential buyers,
private lenders, and top-secret marketing methods. This
could cost you tens of thousands in lost deals.
- They might ask you to pay them more than you need
to. They feel like they're doing as much work as you,
so they should be entitled to a piece of the action. Little
do they know that anyone can spend their time working
on a deal. But you are the one putting your name and money
on the line and obligating yourself to perform every time
you do a deal. If this doesn't mean anything to them,
ask them if they'd like to share the risk as well and
owe tens of thousands on a deal that goes bad. The chances
are they won't, and if that's the case, why should they
get a piece of the profits when things do go well?
- They might get jealous and difficult to work with.
In this case, you can either continue to deal with their
bad attitude and let them hold you hostage, or you will
let them go and spend your precious time hiring and training
someone else. Either case is a waste of your time and
should be avoided.
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Because of these reasons, I don't believe it's worth the
risk in the first place to hire someone who wants to learn
how to be an investor. If they want to learn how, let them
find some deals and wholesale them to you. Anything else they
do is not worth paying more than an hourly rate.
So how do you find someone with initiative who will also stay
with you for a long time? Here is a short list of a few simple
things you can do to find someone who won't go out on their
own.
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- Ask them in the interview if they have any interest
in investing. Very few people are going to flat-out
lie and say they have no interest if they do. In fact,
they will probably be sure to tell you that they want
to be an investor because they think it will make you
want to work with them even more. I should add, though,
that many applicants will say they wouldn't mind buying
an investment property someday. This is understandable.
What you want to avoid are the excited, go-getter seminar
graduates who want to go out and make a lot of money today
(this is your competition in training). You can usually
tell who these folks are-just let them talk and they will
reveal their ambitions.
- Look for people who don't need the money you'll
be paying them. These assistants don't really want
to learn how to be an investor; they just want something
to do. For example, someone whose children are all in
school during the day or have all moved out of the house
may have some extra time on their hands and want to spend
it doing something fulfilling and make a little extra
money at the same time.
- Use a non-compete clause. I had an attorney
draw up an employment agreement that includes a non-compete
clause with stiff penalties if your assistant decides
to become an investor themselves or even work for another
investor. That's something else I would do to weed out
future competitors from the beginning and keep them from
getting any wild ideas once they've started working for
you-unless, of course, you don't mind. In that case, go
ahead and let them, but at least you will be in control.
- Make sure to gripe on occasion about what a pain
tenants/cash flow/rehabs can be. You know that investing
is never as easy as it appears to be, and that there are
some really annoying things that come up. You don't have
to lie, but make sure that you vocalize your grievances
to your assistant from time to time as a deterrent.
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Having said all this, I believe in a world of abundance
and not scarcity. You may wonder why this topic is such a
big deal. Here's why. The abundance theory is something to
console yourself with when you lose a deal. It's not a good
enough reason to spend your hard-earned time, talents, energy,
and money teaching someone everything you know for free so
that they can desert you once they have gotten everything
from you that they want-unless that is your plan all along.
I have mentored plenty of investors, and it is very rewarding.
But the key is to be in control and do it intentionally
with both of you aware of and consenting to the arrangement.
If you don't desire to be used and discarded by other people,
it makes sense to learn how to be in control, and has been
the purpose of this article. |
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