Diary of a group of newbie real estate investors...2/14/2023

Happy Valentine's Day folks!  We have some great meetings planned for Boston AREIA over the next few months.  And, the ideas behind the speakers who are joining us came from this group of Mastermind students.  So when you check out the upcoming events, know that is was through conversations with this group that prompted me to invite our speakers over the next few months.  

This past week I was really excited to hear from a few folks in our group who have been driving for dollars and compiling a list in search of off market properties.  We discussed the use of batch dialers like Mojo.  I personally use phoneburner, but any system with CRM capability to track your leads is good.  I do like that Mojo has a lead source you can get to target specific types of real estate leads.  

We also learned that our investor who purchased what was going to be a long term buy/hold property at auction may have to pivot to a rehab and sell because his contractor found some moisture issues in the basement.  The question is, would a basement dehumidifier take care of the issues?  

We talked again about setting your schedule.  Some folks have full time jobs, are going back to full time jobs and some are only focusing on real estate.  So, how do you stay accountable to your goals and business when "LIFE" happens pulling your focus everyday? 

When I first made the leap into being a full time entrepreneur I just jumped in and did everything I could to work on my business.  If it wasn't a potential money making task, I didn't do it.  I didn't organize my office everyday before I got to work.  I never spent time on sorting my paperclips.  If I wasn't working my business, I was taking care of my kids.  My motivation was different then many of our mastermind crew.  I was a single mom with 2 kids and no child support.  If I didn't produce income, we wouldn't have a roof over our head.  

It was when I had consistent money coming in and I was comfortable that I slowed down a little.  I quickly realized that I had gone from my number 1 employee to someone I might need to fire.  And, I did fire myself a few times.  I rehired myself every morning.  Then I did something very simple that I learned from a network marketing guru.  He said to take a weekly schedule that had the hours of 5am to 10pm listed.  First you have to figure out when you can't work your business.  If you have a job and can't work during those hours, cross them off your schedule.  If you have a lunch break, leave that hour open.  You can't work when you are feeding your family, so cross off dinner time.  Schedule time for your loved ones and cross that time off as time you can't work your business. 

By the time you are done, you will see hours of time that are open.  These are the times you can work your business.  In those time spots, put dollar signs.  The dollar signs spaces become your weekly schedule.  And, just like any part time job you might have, in order to get paid, you have to SHOW UP FOR WORK!  Make sure you don't spend time organizing your paperclips.  Focus on money making activities.  Go driving for dollars, set up and send a direct mail marketing campaign, get a predictive dialer like Mojo and start making phone calls, be sure to schedule time for networking.  Yes, networking can be a money making activity as long as you know how to listen to the folks around you. 

So many people are nervous about getting on the phone and calling people.  I'm excited because one of my good friends Dickens is going to join us at an upcoming meeting to share all about Dialing for Dollars.  We've all heard about Driving for Dollars, well Dickens will share how you can Dial for Dollars and call hundreds of potential sellers every day.  Are you up to the task???

Until next time....I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Happy Investing, Bernadette Trafton, Boston AREIA Chief Connector