Put down the paintbrush!
I mean it. Put down the paintbrush right now. Stop working on your houses!
I know this may sound absurd and counter-intuitive to some of you. Your houses are the gems you have to sell, after all; they must be in pristine condition. And no, I am not discouraging your industry or hard work, I commend it. However, I am sure you’ve heard this old business adage before: “Work smarter, not harder.”
The Most Valuable Resource
In becoming an entrepreneur, whether in real estate or not, time is the most valuable resource. While other resources such as money, people, and other resources are important, time takes precedence among them all. Why? Because all those other resources can be replaced, but time? There’s no refund.
While you may argue that money can buy time, remember that it can only buy other people’s time, but you can never buy your own time back. If you properly manage your time, though, you can gain more of the other resources you need to become a successful real estate entrepreneur.
I was reminded of this last week when I was at a speaking event. I was sharing to my audience all of the mistakes I’ve made in my real estate business. Believe me, there have been a lot of mistakes.
Are you an Entrepreneur or a Worker?
Before all this, I was working at a job and it was difficult and unfulfilling. I wanted to be my own boss. And because I wanted to work for myself, I knew that things had to change. I was going to have to think and do things differently.
Let’s say, for example, you spend 10 hours of your week physically working on a rehab project. You are doing manual labor such as cleaning, painting, and landscaping. You do all that because you want to save money. Hiring someone would mean paying him $8 – $15 per hour. So, at best, you saved yourself a whopping $150!
And because you wanted to save $150, you lose 10 hours that you could have used to find a new private lender or a new deal. Even if it’s not a great deal, you should at least make $15,000 in profit. You could have also found a private lender who is happy earning a 7% interest rather than 12% — that’s a huge impact to your bottom line. We all know finding a lender or a deal would probably take more than 10 hours. Let’s say, you spend 10 hours every week, and in a month, you find a new lender or a new deal.
That’s way better than saving $150 a week, isn’t it?
If you are working on becoming a successful real estate investor, you shouldn’t have time to work in your houses. You need to focus on working on your house buying business instead!
If you are an employee, you stop at a certain time each day, like a 9-5 shift. Once it’s 5, you leave everything behind at the office. That’s because the entire company system is the strength. As an employee, you are just part of that system which will keep running with or without you. But, if you are an entrepreneur, you need an insane amount of time especially at the start. An entrepreneur does not rely on a system, an entrepreneur makes the system, and the entrepreneur is the strength behind the system.
Outsourcing, especially in the real estate business, will take off a huge burden from your shoulders. It’s also a way of taking care of yourself so you don’t burn out.
Some of you may not even actually work in your houses, but perhaps, wasting time somewhere else. Just take this into consideration: If you are really serious about becoming a true investor or entrepreneur, you have to become really efficient with your time and you have to be focusing on activities that have a huge impact on your bottom line.
Trust me, I made the same mistake before. The sooner you are able to apply the knowledge and experience in order yo use your time to implement the system you are creating, you will have the money to outsource the simple tasks and truly become a Business Owner.
All the best,
Brant