Brant Phillips Show 29: Real Estate Investing That Is Built To Last

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Welcome everybody to The Brant Phillips Show, the show that is about one thing, one thing only, about results. What we’re going to talk about today is about creating results in your real estate investing business that last. Building results that last. The reason this is coming up is because I was preparing to do a webinar. Actually tomorrow I’m doing a webinar about built to last, about how to create an investing business that has built to last. Not just built to do one or two deals or built to thrive for a little bit while maybe the market’s up or you’ve got a favorable supply and demand issue in your area, whatever it may be but building a business that is built to last.

Some of you may be familiar with a book written by Jim Collins and I think there was a co-author but I can’t remember his name. If you’ve ever read any of Jim Collins’ work specifically Built to Last, you know that Jim Collins is very, very, he goes very in-depth with his research and his analysis. Basically what this book was about was they went to do research to determine what were some of the key characteristics of the companies that had proven over time that they were built to last and to sustain market fluctuations, decades and decades of time, different leadership, which is really important for big companies to be able to handle that transition from different CEOs and what not, just different leadership.

One of the things that they found was that they went in with what they believe, their summations, what they believe were they were going to find. They thought things like that a great company that’s built to last needed to have this great idea and that they needed to have this outspoken, very charismatic leader to lead the company and that the bottom line like absolutely maximizing all their profits was the dominant goal and that they would spend a lot of time, focus on beating their competitors and just other things like that.

What they really found is that none of those things were true. None of those things were true or that important to create a company that was built to last. I’m going to tie all this back into a real estate investing business here in just a minute about some of the things that I’ve seen that a successful real estate investing company will, some of those key characteristics.

Here’s what Jim Collins in Built to Last cited as some of the key characteristics of these companies. One, he said he found that they preserved a core ideology, a core ideology and this could be like your mission statement. Personally for you, this is like your why? This is, who do you identify yourself as like? What are you called to do? What are you doing?

Another thing was that they had, you’ve heard this, it’s called BHAG, Big Hairy Audacious Goals concept. They believe in setting these really big goals that quite frankly may not even be achievable but something to drive them, something to help push them further and just to really have paradigm shifts on what may even be possible by looking at things through a different way. These companies owned a cult-like culture, like the people that work there and that create the company and the leadership are, they’re playing all in. They’re playing all in with their company, with what they believe in and what they’re doing, what the mission is and they create a cult-like culture, it’s really important, extremely important. I think you’re starting to see how this could tie into your own business.

They consistently try new things. They consistently try new things. They’re never satisfied with just good enough. They’re always looking to improve things. They actually refuse the idea of having a great idea. Not that great ideas aren’t good but they don’t think that some great idea is going to be their salvation and save them. They believe that being consistent, consistently innovating, trying new things, setting big goals and just doing the work on a day in, and day out basis are actually the things that are going to help them last, be built to last.

They worry very little about their competition, and their competition, they worry very little about them. Rather they stay focused on their core ideology. They concern themselves with what their beliefs are. They focus on the things that they want to manifest and create with their business. So that’s so much more important to them when they continue on. They set really big BHAG goals. They set super goals like I said that may be nearly impossible, or maybe even impossible but because they have this cult-like culture, there’s like this indoctrination that people go through and it creates this tightness and this unity in the culture which creates a synergy and a power that helps them to just go out and experiment new things, try new things and just consistently innovate. Those are what Jim Collins findings were in Built to Last.

Now I want to talk a little bit about what I have seen successful real estate investors, what I’ve seen them do. What are some of the key characteristics of a successful real estate investing business, things that have been extremely important to me and I’m going on 11 years now, going into 12 years of doing this. Quite frankly, I’ve seen a lot of people come into this business and succeed and do well over time but I’ve seen a lot more come in, do a deal, maybe last a year or two, maybe one market cycle, they last and then they’re out.

What are some of those characteristics? I think it all begins with clarity. Just being clear on what it is that you want, being clear on what it is that you’re going to do, what are your investment goals, beginning with the end in mind, because if you’re not clear on your goals and what your business model is, then I would be very concerned my friend, I would be very concerned my friend. Ye are the one that is chasing two rabbits and will catch none.

You have to be really clear because there are so many opportunities in real estate to make money, there are just literally hundreds of opportunities in real estate when you look at actual deals, like properties, investment opportunities. There’s thousands, and thousands and thousands of opportunities and you’ll learn very quickly the difference between opportunities and opportunity cost because anything that you set your focus on is costing you something. So if it’s not providing the return that you’re seeking to help you quit your goals, or to reach your goals you will be out of business and you will quit and give up really, really quickly. Your clarity on who you are and what your business goals are, the specific type of deals that you’re doing is so important. We specifically, we have a business model that we identify and target the exact properties that we want to buy.

Hey, this is Brant and I hope you’re enjoying today’s show. If you’re in a place in your life or your business where you just feel stuck or you just don’t know what actions to take to help you get unstuck or on to the path to creating the results you truly desire, please take a few minutes and go to my website brantphillips.com. There are some really valuable resources and information that may be able to help you out. If you’re interested in really speeding up results with the help of a coach or mentor and adding true accountability and guidance to your life and business, please reach out to me from my website as well at brantphillips.com or going directly to www.brantphillips.com/coaching. Now, let’s get back to the show.

Because we’re really clear, because we know how important that clarity is to help us sustain success and sustain our business year after year. After clarity comes commitment and you need to understand that commitment and creating success, there’s a price. There’s a cost to commitment and there’s also a cost from your lack of commitment.

You need to be willing to serve your commitment for a long, long time quite frankly until that commitment will serve you. Meaning you need to be committed to your business, to your clarity, to your purpose, to your business model, building your teams, building your systems to a point until they will begin to serve you. There’s a lot of work that’s involved to do this but when you have that commitment, this playing all in attitude no matter what and when you’re committed to the right things, over time, the pay off my friends, it’s going to be well-worth what you endure but you have to be committed. Because if you come into this business with a lack of clarity and a lack of commitment, exit stage two. You are done. you’re done before you even start so just don’t even start until you get clear and you make up your mind that you are committed to endure the good, the bad and the ugly and keep going because when you keep going, that’s when the reward’s going to come my friend.

Another thing that I’ve seen successful businesses do that are sustainable businesses is they build a solid team, they build a solid team. They acknowledge and identify that you can’t do this alone. None of you are going to do this alone. The ones that do it really well, they consider everyone a team member. I know investors that look down on contractors. I view contractors as a member of our team and they’re absolutely critical. Not only employees, not only our staff members that are commission-based, like those are all team members but so are our contractors. Our private lenders are our team members.

I don’t know if you guys have heard kind of the conversation A players versus B players but I’ll tell you that I’ve worked with both. I’ve worked with some C players which are not viable at all. I’m building a team of A players. I want a team of elite A players that play at a high level. They are going to help you not only be more profitable but make your life and your business more enjoyable but they help you create this business that will last and sustain multiple markets.

Another thing, another key characteristic is marketing. I see so many people come into this business and they rely on others for their deals. Not that you don’t want to build a team of others to help you to create deal flow but if you can’t market in this business, I’m telling you it’s just a matter of time before you’re going to be extinct. You have to become a marketer, absolutely non-negotiable. You have to become a marketer to build a business that is built to last. You have to understand marketing, you have to know your marketing costs, you have to know what type of marketing is going to drive you the deals that you want. If you can’t market, you’re not going to be able to sustain market shifts and different market cycles. You may be able to make it in certain cycles, in certain markets for certain periods of time but not for the long-term. Commit to learning marketing, commit to being a marketer.

Financing, especially for my friends in the single family home, house flipping, landlording, owner financing, my friends, you have to master the art of raising private money, you have to master the art of raising private money. Robert Kiyosaki calls this the number one skill of an entrepreneur. In just like the rule of marketing, it’s true for financing. You have to master the art of raising private money because you can’t rely on the banks. Hard money lenders will kill your deals. You have to learn how to create win-win scenarios, how to raise private money in any market so that money is not an option, like the lack of funding is not an option I should say because you always have money for your deals and this is how you create a business that is built to last.

Last but not least and definitely not least all these are all equal, I would say equally important, equally important. They all intertwine together but one of the core, core beliefs in our business is that every deal you do needs to have multiple exit strategies. Every deal that you do needs to have multiple exit strategies. One-trick ponies will not last very long. You need to develop the skillset so that you can thrive, succeed, sometimes just survive in any market that the deals that you do, you target your marketing for deals that you could flip, that you can rent, that you can owner finance or that you could just wholesale. Either way, you have multiple ways to make money, multiple exit strategies, multiple ways to generate income with every deal that you do.

My friend when you do that, when you integrate these key characteristics of being very clear, being committed, building a strong team of A players, develop the ability to market, to raise private money and to identify and target deals that provide you multiple exit strategies so you don’t care if the market’s going up or down, well, then my friend, you have built a business that is built to last. Well, that’s all my friends, that’s all I have to share today. I hope this was impactful for you and I want to encourage you to go out, take action, take massive action to create the results that you desire in your life and in your business. With that, I’m signing off, this is Brant Phillips and I wish you all the best.