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By Alan |
Only a Tired, Broke
Fool Does Everything Himself
By: Alan Brymer
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Why do you think most
investors get into real estate to begin with?
Is it because they like wading through 3 feet
of trash inside of dilapidated junkers? Is
it because they savor talking on the phone
so much that they found a way to make money
doing it? Could it be because they enjoy leaving
their families at the dinner table in order
to spin tires and get a deed signed by a seller
who waited until the night before the auction
to finally do something about their problem?
The odds are that if you're anything like
me, you don't take on the demands and risks
of real estate investing just for the fun
of it. The odds are you're doing it for the
money. Of course, there are the benefits
of helping people and there are those feelings
of accomplishment after finishing a rehab
or selling a house. But if you're investing
primarily for those reasons, go join the Peace
Corps, or get a contractor's license, or become
a Realtor.
The only reason I can conceive of someone
wanting to invest in real estate is for financial
gain, which is not an impure motive. Money
is what buys us the freedom to do, well, whatever
the heck it is we want to do. But what do
we end up doing? We end up working like crazy
and not doing the things for which we're investing
in real estate to begin with.
For example: When I started investing, I decided
to try to buy as many houses as I could in
order to avoid having a full-time job that
consumed all of my time. I planned on spending
my time at that point writing music (one of
my dreams). Now fast-forward three years.
I had become a full-time investor running
a fast-paced money machine doing deal after
deal every month. Guess how many songs I wrote
during those three years? Zero…point…zero.
Finally, I realized that I had to find a way
to get my life back again and create the time
to do what would make me happiest in life,
rather than filling in the time with more
work. I had been using assistants to do some
work for me, but decided to start delegating
as much as humanly possible. That's when I
went from working on 40 hours per week on
real estate down to 3 hours per day, and
so can you.
The secret, of course, is to get some hired
help, which everybody knows they ought to,
but few actually do. And even fewer still
do it right. Some people try it once, have
a bad experience hiring the wrong person,
and conclude that "you just can't find anyone
good enough." I think more people never even
take the first step and consign themselves
to a life full of tedious, bothersome chores.
These are the main excuses for why investors
don't get with the program and take control
of their lives again by hiring help:
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- "I'm not doing enough deals yet."
Who says you have to be? Hiring an assistant
does not have to be a huge deal. You could
always find someone early on to put in 2-3
hours/week for you doing simple tasks, like
putting up signs, taking calls from buyers,
and licking envelopes for your mailers.
In fact, getting someone else to send mailers
for you (which we both know you would procrastinate
doing yourself) will get you more deals
than you otherwise would.
- "I don't have the money." It's
funny that the people who say that they
have no money to pay someone $8/hr for a
few hours per week somehow manage to come
up with thousands of dollars to buy the
latest real estate seminar. Paying an assistant
is a leap of faith…you pay them for a while,
nothing happens immediately, but then before
you know it you're finding more deals and
have more time and resources to do them.
It works. But if you never take that leap,
you will just keep puttering along-not doing
any or many deals. But at least you're saving
a few hundred bucks here and there, right?
Sounds great…not.
- "I don't mind doing the work myself."
I don't mind cooking dinner myself,
but I don't want to do it for 10-30 hours
per week. Isn't there something you'd rather
be doing besides licking envelopes, making
phone calls and delivering simple messages,
asking the same boring questions to tenant/buyers
who call? If nothing else, get someone else
to do these things so that you can spend
more time doing things that are more productive,
like building a real business instead of
getting tied down in busy work.
- "I can do it cheaper and better myself."
Do you rehab houses yourself to save money?
If yes, stop reading right now because there's
no chance I'll get this point through to
you. If no, then you know that it makes
sense to pay someone else to do work for
you, so why not apply that principle to
other types of work besides renovations?
You can do an assistant's work yourself,
and it will be cheaper so far as less money
going out of your pocket. But it's not worth
it in the end, because there will be less
money going into your pocket as there could
be if you freed yourself up to do the things
that bring you more deals (or get someone
else to do those things). One extra deal
would probably pay for your assistant for
the next year or two.
- "I don't have time to follow-up with
anyone." Maybe you don't have the time
because you are doing everything yourself.
What if it took you 10 minutes to to follow
up with someone who would save you 60 minutes
of time by doing work for you-would it be
worth it? You'd find the time to coordinate
with them, wouldn't you? I look at spending
time with an assistant like I do spending
money on a deal or on marketing-a necessary
and very worthwhile investment. You'd be
crazy not to. Make the time and you'll have
more time.
- "No one else can do it like I can."
No one else can do what like you can-fold
letters? Pick up printer paper at the store?
Drop UPS envelopes off in the drop-box?
Last time I checked, anyone can do those
things. So, if nothing else, find someone
to do only the things that would be difficult
or impossible to screw up. This will give
you at least a few more hours per week to
do the specialized work that only you can
do. You'll find that once you've done that,
you can trust your assistant (provided you
hired right) to do other work for you as
well, starting with the simplest tasks and
working up to more complex things, all according
to your level of comfort.
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So, how many hours do you work each week,
and how many hours do you really want to work?
If there's a big difference between these two
numbers, hiring help will get you there. Otherwise,
things will NEVER get better, no matter how
many promises you make to your spouse. Or, if
you are happy with the hours you're working,
ask yourself, "How much more could I get done
if there were another Me getting at least 50%
more done than I am now by myself? In this case,
an assistant is also the answer to getting what
you want.
I have consulted with hundreds of investors
over several years, and our challenges tend
to be exactly the same. I have heard many, many
investors (ranging from newbies to pros doing
3-5 deals/month or more) complaining about the
same things:
"I wish I had more time."
"I wish I could get more done."
"I wish I could have some fun for a change
rather than being a slave to my real estate
business."
The solution is always the same, and every
investor who discovers this wonders how they
ever survived as long as they did without
it-Just hire some help. Find the right person,
and put them to work immediately. Don't put
it off any longer. Do it now, and you'll thank
yourself for the rest of your life.
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