Sleeping Under Our Desks this Week (CFFL 0084)
Sleeping Under Our Desks this Week
Jack Butala: Sleeping Under Our Desks this Week. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It’s super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don’t even have to read it. Thanks for listening.
Jack Butala: Hey, Jack Butala here for LandAcademy. Welcome to our Cash Flow From Land show. In this episode, Jill and I talk about how we’ve slept under our desks for about a week during our new product launch, Data to Doorstep. Jill, I haven’t done this since public accounting. It was brutal, but I think it’s worth it in the end. A lot of people have signed up for the program, and I’m sure that they’re … As they did before, you’re going to see the rewards in all this. I’m going to say it’s probably not been one of your best weeks either.
Jill DeWit: Can you tell by the circles under my eyes?
Jack Butala: Before we get into this, let’s take a question from a caller. Go ahead, Jill.
Jill DeWit: Okay. Jackie from Sacramento called in and asked “I have a seller who answered my offer but he has 17 lots and I only want one. I don’t want these properties to go to waste. What should I do?” Steve …
Jack Butala: What would you do?
Jill DeWit: Oh, gosh. I’d keep … I would … He has 17. If I really only want one, I might only buy one. If it’s a question of I don’t have the right cash now, I … That’s my reasoning, I’d find a way. I’d work it out. There’s always ways of happening. There’s always ways of doing it. Cash should never hold you back is my answer.
Jack Butala: Yeah, you never want to … That’s my answer, too. You never want an acquisition, a good acquisition, to go to waste because of money.
Jill DeWit: Because that’s silly.
Jack Butala: There’s so many people out there that are ready to buy property … They have way more money than they do opportunities.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: This is a good question because as a member pro here at LandAcademy, we have what’s called a deal board on our website, on SuccessPlant.com. You can post these kind of opportunities and say hey. You can describe the situation exactly like she did. Just you simply post it on the board and say “I’ve got these other lots.” Then all of our other members, our hundreds of hundreds of members can take a look at the deal. Without disclosing the person’s name or anything like that. Decide if they want a partnership or how they want to work it out. It’s been going great so far, the deal board. That’s a great way to use that. If she’s not a pro member …
Jill DeWit: I would do … I would do an auctions.
Jack Butala: Option it, that’s what I was going to say. Go ahead.
Jill DeWit: I was going to say, you have two ways. You can A, find a buyer. That’s not hard. B, option it, start selling them, work out an agreement with the person. Start selling them on your website and all of your venues by signing an agreement and all that good stuff where you negotiate the price or the deal board.
Jack Butala: If you don’t know what an option is, it’s really simple. You say “Hey, seller. I only want one property. Here’s your cash. It’s great. Now I have-” Whatever she has. “16 or 17 other lots. What I’d like to do is just say look, I’m going to market these properties for X price, or not even disclose a price. I want to buy your lots, but it’s going to take me about 60 days to do it, and I need to find a buyer. If you’re not in a super hurry, let’s do a little single one-page agreement. I’ll market the properties and when I find a buyer, we’ll do the deal.”
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Exactly. That’s easy.
Jack Butala: Yeah. A lot of times, people do options. Us included. Because it’s not that we don’t have the money, it’s just because maybe the price isn’t perfect for us. We’ve got a marketing machine going on here. It’s easy for us to throw 16 additional properties into our marketing machine, sell the thing, and then go back to the person who owns it and say “I got it all. I’m going to put it all together.”
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: Everybody wins. Then that person gets maybe sometimes a little higher price. We take the margin. The person who’s … If you know us at all, the person who’s buying the properties is the real winner because they’re still way undervalued.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Awesome. Good question. Thank you, Jackie.
Jack Butala: Yeah. Man. What a week.
Jill DeWit: I know. I’m so tired. Yeah.
Jack Butala: I had no idea this was going to take this much energy and work.
Jill DeWit: I know, and I love it. I still appreciate, even our number one, right-in-hand, our office manager. She’s been pulling in crazy hours. We all went out to dinner last night and remember I told you, I think she pulled a 14-hour day, and she’s like “No, no. It was 13.25.” Because that’s how she is. It was really funny.
Jack Butala: Is that what’s on her time card?
Jill DeWit: She really … That’s what’s on her time card. Steven said “We are paying you for lunches, right?” She said “Well I don’t take a lunch. I eat at my desk.”
Jack Butala: Oh, we got to make some changes. Yeah.
Jill DeWit: I’m like that’s the right answer for her. We got to help her out. My point is she even rallied …
Jack Butala: We should put her on salary.
Jill DeWit: Everybody rallied for that. Let’s talk about that later. I don’t know. I haven’t decided what’s more motivating. I haven’t decided … For her. Everybody’s different. For you it’s salary. You know what, for you it’s salary. This is a very good topic. Some people, and I was the same way. Once I had a flat rate salary, I went above and beyond.
Jack Butala: Yeah, me too.
Jill DeWit: I would always pull more hours and stuff.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Because … I didn’t have to think about it, but I was so concerned because I was getting a good salary. I didn’t want to jeopardize my job. Some people look at it like “Oh, I can relax a little bit.” You have to find the right sweet spot for that person. I don’t know yet for her which is the sweet spot, but she’s definitely getting some bonus or something this week for killing it with us.
Jack Butala: Right. Yeah, yeah yeah. That’s what I think too.
Jill DeWit: Because man, talk about going above and beyond. We’re all … She was working like 6am to 6pm and at 7:30, she still hasn’t said a peep at night. Really? Not like “Well I’m off.” Or anything.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: She’s just staying with “Okay, what else do we need to do?” With a smile on her face.
Jack Butala: Yeah, that’s the … She’s in her twenties, and that’s the difference between being in your 20s and being in your, whatever you are.
Jill DeWit: Oh, my gosh. You and I are like rawr.
Jack Butala: I’m getting too old for this. I sound like my father when I say that. I really am. I mean it about public accounting a long time ago. I really just sleep there.
Jill DeWit: Oh.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: I never did that. I only … Through school, through college. You’re pulling an all-nighter because you procrastinated and you had like a project due or a big paper due.
Jack Butala: Full disclosure, we didn’t sleep under our desks. It was just really …
Jill DeWit: Almost.
Jack Butala: We were here very very late and got here very very early. There were 5 hour nights of sleeping and rest work.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: Yeah, so this new product that we launched, it’s called Data to Doorstep. I’m super jacked about it. It’s all the … Basically all the tools that Jill and I have been using for years and years and years to flip land. They’re now accessible to our members.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: Our pro members. It’s very simple. You pay a monthly fee, $200 a month.
Jill DeWit: For program members.
Jack Butala: For program members, and you get access to the first american title data and access to a very industry-specific printer to get offers to people that you choose in the database.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: We show you how to do all of this stuff. Right to the doorstep for less than the price of a stamp if you hit a certain minimum.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: That’s how the pros do it. I think we qualify as pros.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). We do qualify as pros. I don’t know, maybe when we hit 20,000 deals. We’re only at 16,000 deals. I’m not sure that’s expert-level yet.
Jack Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: What do they say? There’s a rule of thumb for that. It’s 5 years? Or you know what I mean?
Jack Butala: I think it’s like $10,000 or $5,000. If you spend I think it is $10,000. No it’s $5,000, I can’t remember.
Jill DeWit: There’s a rule of …
Jack Butala: It’s one of those two. It’s called … That’s the title of the book.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: I think it was written by a soccer player.
Jill DeWit: Oh.
Jack Butala: One of his things … One of his things was, maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I’m confusing two books. It was written by somebody who said if you can’t, her whole premise was, if you put this amount of time into something and you’re not an expert, then that’s not the right thing for you.
Jill DeWit: Something wrong. That’s so funny.
Jack Butala: Have you put 10,000 hours in this?
Jill DeWit: Oh my goodness. Well this week or you’re?
Jack Butala: No, I know you haven’t.
Jill DeWit: Be more specific, please.
Jack Butala: I’ll tell you put 10,000, 20,000 hours in dealing with people and customer service and that whole thing.
Jill DeWit: Oh, gosh. Boy, wonder how many … Aw, I don’t even want to. I’m not going to do the math on that one. That’s too high.
Jack Butala: Yeah. You want to know what I learned about myself this week? I’m not a very good IT person.
Jill DeWit: What are you talking about?
Jack Butala: I’m not. I’m not. I need, I’ve hit the glass ceiling of my IT talent. Period.
Jill DeWit: I don’t … I don’t know, you keep surprising me all the time. You know it’s funny you say that because just before this call, I was updating some things on the back end of SuccessPlant, and to get the right font and the right size, I’m actually having to go into the text formatting and input the codes and I’m like “Am I really doing this?”
Jack Butala: Good for you.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Jack Butala: I’m proud of you. Don’t you hate that?
Jill DeWit: I do.
Jack Butala: I wish I never heard the word WordPress.
Jill DeWit: Or code.
Jack Butala: It’s just not set. We shouldn’t be doing this.
Jill DeWit: I know, it’s just kind of funny that … It’s easier for me sometimes, because it’s a little thing. I just need it updated. I could give it to one of my people and they could add it to their list of things to do or I could get it done in 5 minutes.
Jack Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: That’s what I did, and I’m just like … I’m sitting there going … I’m a little bit impressed with myself by the way.
Jack Butala: All right, us too.
Jill DeWit: I can’t believe I know how to do this stuff.
Jack Butala: Again, full disclosure, last week we hired a … Full time, we hired a …
Jill DeWit: Tech.
Jack Butala: Not even a tech person but a person who does WordPress and websites and HTML and all that. For the first time ever, full time. For me, ever.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: I’ve had a full time … Because I’m tired of, up until now I’ve been outsourcing it completely, and it’s a tough time … Right now it’s a tough time to get people who know … People who know how to do this stuff, they’re non-available.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: We need it just like you said, right now.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: The goal there was to hire this person and then at some point, not in the near future but at some point, make this person available to our members.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: That’s our next product launch. We are going to make our assistant staff-
Jill DeWit: There’s going to be 2 different things.
Jack Butala: Our land assistant staff, available to our members so that they can do deeds and all … Basically like a really specialized virtual assistant kind of program.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Jack Butala: It’s not going to happen real soon, because I don’t want to sleep under my desk next week.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: Actually, that’s the real reason. I need a break from this.
Jill DeWit: Well you know what I just thought about, it’s really nice too. Not only were we bringing in our staff but it’s our paper, our printers, our whatever. We’re making it all available.
Jack Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: That’s pretty valuable to folks.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: You know getting stuff in the mail and everything, they don’t have to do it.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: You know or drive to the post office.
Jack Butala: It’s amazing.
Jill DeWit: Our people are doing it for us anyway.
Jack Butala: We have people in different countries that are doing this.
Jill DeWit: That’s true.
Jack Butala: Because they don’t ever really have to like leave their computer.
Jill DeWit: Well they’re going to be probably our number one fans of this new program too, because they are international. Their business is here but they’re residing there, so it can be all handled. Anything that they need we can do here from them with the deeds and the signing and all that. Super easy.
Jack Butala: What kind of acquisitions calls came in during this week, the under the desk thing?
Jill DeWit: Oh my gosh, that I haven’t answered back?
Jack Butala: Yeah, that’s my question.
Jill DeWit: You know what’s interesting, I have a few good ones they’re … When I don’t get right on those calls, sometimes they get even more excited.
Jack Butala: Because you don’t return their call immideately, yeah.
Jill DeWit: Exactly, so they’re even more ready to giev it away when I do call them back, but I’m almost like “Ah, right.”
Jack Butala: It’s like the cookie jar on the top shelf.
Jill DeWit: What’s the cookie jar on the shelf?
Jack Butala: You just can’t reach it, so you want it more.
Jill DeWit: Ah. Did you come up with that on your own? Oh, okay.
Jack Butala: No, no no. Wow you didn’t … Go ahead and criticize it, and then I’ll tell you [inaudible 00:11:48]
Jill DeWit: No. No, no no. I just hadn’t heard from that one. I was like I understand the concept but I hadn’t actually heard that phrase anywhere. The cookie jar on the top shelf. That’s kind of funny.
Jack Butala: I think it’s like an-
Jill DeWit: We should describe a girl that way. “Hey, she’s a cookie jar on the top shelf.”
Jack Butala: Yes, I would.
Jill DeWit: Hey, dude, you see that cookie jar. That was her doing that.
Jack Butala: It’s like the super hot girl in high school that everybody wants, but once you get to know her, that was the biggest waste of energy ever.
Jill DeWit: Dude, I’m going to use this tomorrow. Okay, so check this out. Tomorrow, I’m going to the Phoenix Open with my girlfriend. She has the rocking job that got us the 16th hole all access. Everything’s included. VIP you name it stuff. I’m pretty excited. She is newly single and I know that she’s hoping to meet somebody.
Jack Butala: Is she really? Is that what this is about?
Jill DeWit: Totally hoping to meet somebody.
Jack Butala: Are you going to get all gussied up?
Jill DeWit: Oh, totally, this is what this is all about. Of course.
Jack Butala: Oh, my God. I … I meant … I live in the dark.
Jill DeWit: I’m going to … We’re … That’s going to be our secret code tomorrow. It’s going to be “Hey, dude, cookie jar.” If we see a guy that looks really good we’re going to say “cookie jar”. Thanks to you.
Jack Butala: Are you going to take all your rings off for this?
Jill DeWit: I … I don’t know. No. I’m not going to take my rings off, but …
Jack Butala: Are you going to wear shoes that you can’t walk in after 15 minutes?
Jill DeWit: I am not going to wear 2-hour shoes, so I’m going to wear probably 4-hour shoes because I’m not going to be able to sit down.
Jack Butala: Do you both have like your outfits all picked out?
Jill DeWit: I’ve been thinking about this for a couple days.
Jack Butala: This is hilarious.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Jack Butala: You know this is perfect that it is a show, because we’re supposed to be working.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. Right.
Jack Butala: You got your outfit picked out.
Jill DeWit: Oh, totally.
Jack Butala: I mean no not right now. I mean like for the last week, we’re supposed to be working on stuff.
Jill DeWit: I am, but when my downtime, I’m thinking about the golf thing and what I’m going to wear. You better wait.
Jack Butala: You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to start saying stuff like this around the office. I don’t know how to do that. Figure it out.
Jill DeWit: What?
Jack Butala: Yeah, that’s what I’m … Not to you, but everybody else.
Jill DeWit: Oh.
Jack Butala: Oh, it’s not going to get done today then. What if I did that?
Jill DeWit: What does that do?
Jack Butala: Nothing would ever get done.
Jill DeWit: What does it have to do with me being gone for a few hours?
Jack Butala: A few hours. You’re taking the whole day off I hope.
Jill DeWit: No, I’m not taking a whole day off.
Jack Butala: You really should, Jill.
Jill DeWit: I would work in the morning. Dude, we’ve been sleeping under our desks. I can’t take the whole day off, but I can work until 11. That’s what I’m going to do.
Jack Butala: I really … Okay, whatever you want to do. I think you should sleep in, and …
Jill DeWit: Thank you. Thank you.
Jack Butala: That was rough, man.
Jill DeWit: Oh, my goodness.
Jack Butala: All kidding aside.
Jill DeWit: It was so worth it. I am so excited. Everyone is so happy.
Jack Butala: This is what happened. We worked and worked and worked and Jill’s pretty much a perfectionist about how stuff looks. I mean I’m a perfectionist about how the back end works, like can people actually check out? How’s the … What’s the experience like? Then can you actually use the product? How does it work. Jill’s all about does it look pretty while it’s happening. We’ve ultimately got it all done, but … We pushed the button before we all went … We pushed the … The promotional button and sent out notice to our existing members, not to new people yet, but existing members that this thing’s open and it just … We got flooded with orders.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: In a good, but we were set up for it.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: My point in saying this is that … Thanks …
Jill DeWit: We haven’t even done our big press release.
Jack Butala: Thanks to Jill and in some way, my team too, it all worked.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: People signed up and the stuff works, which is amazing.
Jill DeWit: Thanks to you. You negotiated all this. Good job. Thank you.
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