Starting a business and being your own boss is the American Dream. Tens of thousands of people start and operate new businesses every year and they are the lifeblood of the economy. However, the critical mistake of new business owners and why most businesses fail is that people make their business dependent on them. This creates a relationship between a business owner and a business that the owner themselves becomes the business. Here lies the trap of self-employment rather than being a business owner. So many get caught in the mindset that they need to do everything themselves because no one else can do it like they can. No one cares like they do. They say curiosity is what killed that cat. Analogous to that, scarcity is what killed the business (or more specifically the business owner). Business, at least a healthy business, is about growth, systems, and putting capable people in different roles to optimize business function. The business owner is the visionary that sees the path forward, not the worker bogged down with the day-to-day. More and more I am learning this in my own real estate business and more and more I’m taking the initiative to leverage. After all, isn’t that what building a business is all about? Creating something that in turn creates freedom for you? If you’re like most business owners, you may be asking, “But how do I find someone to do what I do?”. Well, let’s break it down and you can decide for yourself whether you would rather be self-employed or a business owner in the end!
Leverage, Leverage, Leverage
When I first started my real estate business, I was everything. I was trying to find leads, call them, put them under contract, find a buyer, and everything in between. This went on for a very long time. My perspective completely shifted when I read the book, Who Not How, by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. The premise of the book was that most people spend their time in business trying to figure out how to do everything themselves. It is for this reason that they fail. Focusing your time and energy on finding Whos to solve your Hows is how businesses are built. I read that book in October of 2021 and I’ve been manifesting that principle into reality ever since little by little. There is a direct correlation between finding Whos for Hows and business success and productivity. The more problems you can solve with your Whos, the more growth your business will see. Taking this step back from the day to day allows you to spot more Hows that need attention and bring in Whos to fix that issue in accordance with your vision. Leverage is the answer, but finding proper leverage takes time and patience. Finding talent is difficult and takes time and effort (a full-time job in itself). Instead of focusing on running your business, you should be focusing your energies on finding the Whos who are capable of running and systematizing your business.
The process in real time
In my current real estate business, we are acquiring, flipping, and wholesaling real estate using all sorts of creative finance. There are multiple roles in the day-to-day that are full-time jobs in of themselves. The three main jobs are acquisitions, transaction coordination, and dispositions. Acquisitions deals with finding deals and getting them under contract. Transaction coordination takes a deal from contract to close through the escrow process. And finally, dispositions finds a buyer or tenant for the property. Each branch together makes up a functioning real estate business. Over the past year, I have tried to manage all three of these at once. Even with partners, there was no clarity on our roles so everyone tried to stick their hands in everything which created chaos. Without clarity, there is only chaos! The process of what my business looks like now is as follows:
Acquisitions: I have recently brought on a part-time acquisitions manager who is amazing on the phones communicating with sellers. He has a great personality, understands the deals he needs to pitch and get under contract, and keeps great rapport with the sellers throughout the process. With the help of my partner Gary, we have a virtual assistant funneling leads to him after they have been pre screened via a text campaign. It is then when the VA will input the lead onto my acquisition manager’s schedule and he will handle the appointment. Right now, my acquisitions manager is still working a W2, so until this income can supplant that, I am assisting him on this end. My goal is to build a team around him that I can teach to do what we do so I can eventually take a step back from this side of the business altogether and focus on being a visionary for growth and networking.
Transaction coordination: This was something I always struggled with. Organizationally, I am serviceable, but a transaction coordinator was the first obvious need I knew I had to outsource. For a fee per closing, I hired an amazing transaction coordinator to handle all of my files. Now, I can sit back while my deals go from contract to close without much if anything falling on my plate.
Dispositions: This is our weakest department currently. I do have a dispositions manager who is also a realtor (hence why this is a good position for him), but our tactics need fine-tuning. I am actively involved in this process as well until we can develop a replicable process to handle every one of our exit strategies. I will eventually step aside from this role as well once we have some clear cut and proven processes.
After all that, what am I supposed to do?
As we’ve said earlier in this blog, as a business owner, your role is to work on the business and not in it. That is precisely what I intend to do. To break it down further, it is essentially paving the direction in which the business will follow. For example, some of the things I will spend my time working on are the following:
- Networking and raising money for new and innovative exit strategies.
- Looking for ways to get into multifamily real estate using a more predictable and easy process.
- Test new financing methods for acquiring deals.
- Making connections with realtors, investors, and other real estate professionals in the markets that we are in or are looking to break into.
- Make social media content to promote what we do and turn it into a system I can eventually leverage out.
- Create new lead generation systems such as website SEO and PPC (creating a system that runs itself with limited oversight in which I plan on leveraging out).
Without finding Whos for the everyday Hows of the business, none of the above would even be on my radar. It is the power of leverage that has allowed me to think bigger about my business and search for these avenues of growth in which I can explore. Finding Whos can be difficult, but you need to be looking in the right places to find them. I am fortunate enough to be part of a community of rockstar real estate professionals that are hungry to learn and be a part of something. Without our group, I wouldn’t have a fraction of what I have now. It all starts with surrounding yourself with the right people and you will find the right Whos for your Hows. It is those individuals that will set you free to test your creativity on growth and expansion that you never thought was possible. Let go of absolute control and you’ll gain so much more for it!