Two Ways to Solve Every Problem (CFFL 0110)
Two Ways to Solve Every Problem
Jack Butala: Two Ways to Solve Every Problem. 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.
Steve: Jack Butala here from Land Academy, welcome to our Cash Flow From Land Show. In this episode, Jill and I talk about two ways to solve every problem; you can throw money at it, or time. Jill, that sounds fun. I’m sure I’ll let it go sideways somehow. Before we get into it, let’s take a question from a caller.
Jill: Okay, Erica from LA called in and … nice. Erica from LA called in and asked, “I know you guys are for real, but I don’t know why anyone would want to live way out in the middle of nowhere.” I love that, that’s so funny.
Steve: That’s not a question, that’s more of a comment.
Jill: I think it’s funny how that comes up.
Steve: We should devise a system where these super often frequent questions would go every other one.
Jill: Okay, that’s a good idea.
Steve: You go this time or unless you want me to.
Jill: Oh no, you go. Rock, paper, scissors.
Steve: Let me ask this … okay, ready?
Jill: Rock, paper, scissors. Okay, ready? All right, here we go.
Steve: Best out of three?
Jill: All right, just one, I just want to do one.
Steve: Just one?
Jill: Okay, ready? One, two, three.
Steve: Oh.
Jill: Shoot.
Steve: We both got the paper. Go again.
Jill: All right. One, two, three.
Steve: Oh.
Jill: Ah, I won.
Steve: She won.
Jill: I got paper, he had rock.
Steve: I put rock.
Jill: Yeah, now you got to answer the question.
Steve: Why would anybody ever want to … first of all, we never use that phrase anymore here. We don’t say, “Middle of nowhere.” I got sick of it about six years ago, it snucks it’s way back in this office. Not this office but now that we have Land Academy.
Jill: I hear it now and then, but you know what, everybody kind of gets it, they’re good about it.
Steve: Here’s the thing, there’s a bajillion people that want to live everywhere, okay? The internet’s never been more popular, it’s getting better and better and better. There’s technology for solving your own water and sewer, and all the stuff that’s required to live on properties; it gets better every year. Man, I mean, if there is problem selling these type of assets, Jill, then I guess we wouldn’t have done just about sixteen thousand transactions.
Jill: I know, that’s the best part. It’s like … my product is flying off the shelves, so …
Steve: I’ve begun to say this, “Why would anybody want to live in Manhattan?” I wouldn’t.
Jill: That’s an even better question. You’re right.
Steve: I’d love to go to New York for two days, it’s like Las Vegas, two days and that’s it.
Jill: Let’s think about this; you can see the sky, you can breath, you can park, people aren’t running into you. Yeah, why would you live downtown? Next.
Steve: You know, I never heard a million people say this, I don’t understand this, but I’m going to make my point here in a second. Why would anybody live in Southern California. There’s so much traffic, there’s a ton of pollution, and I personally think that person’s nuts. I know you agree, Jill.
Jill: Did you really just say that?
Steve: I love Southern California …
Jill: Okay, thank you.
Steve: … but it’s just … to each his own. People line up that are … don’t want a mortgage, first of all. It costs next to nothing to live in a lot of these places. And we don’t just sell properties that we have in the middle of certain places. We sell properties everywhere, so no, I think, really, the root of the question is, “Yeah, you can buy it cheap, but does anybody really gonna buy it from you?” That’s what I think the root of the question is.
Jill: The answer is, “Yes.”
Steve: The answer is, “Absolutely yes.” Just make sure you buy it super cheap.
Jill: You know, you just brought up a whole other point … am I …
Steve: No, I’m glad we … every time I take a little longer to answer this, thinking that we won’t get the question anymore.
Jill: No, you bring up a good point that … how many times people are calling me back on a mailer for a property that might be way out in some county in whatever size, but they have six more in there that are even better, and they’re willing to let me have those all at one time. For example, from one person you can buy four acre property, and you can buy a nice quarter acre property in the middle of a subdivision in Riverside from the same person. You never know what they have. It’s good stuff. I have a question for you.
Steve: Yeah.
Jill: I was sitting here trying to do the math and I got a little confused. Have many zeros in a bajillion?
Steve: I don’t even think that’s a real word.
Jill: I know it’s not a real …
Steve: It’s not?
Jill: No, it’s a Steveism.
Steve: Do I say it too often?
Jill: No, it was just funny so you said it, so I was just wondering how many zeros that is. Is it more than twenty million? Probably.
Steve: Oh yeah, I think it’s more than a trillion. I just think it’s one of those things where it’s a lot. It’s endless.
Jill: Yep.
Steve: I think it’s infinity, but that’s so silly.
Jill: Yeah, I know, bajillion is better.
Steve: Okay. Are you making fun of me?
Jill: No … yes. Yep, I am, you caught me. All right, so, you want to make fun of me?
Steve: Well here’s my question to you, now that we’re on the topic. What’s the last two problems that you solve in your life? It could be like, “Where’s the salt shaker,” I don’t care.
Jill: Well, you know what, one that …
Steve: But most recent.
Jill: One parlays into you making fun of me.
Steve: Okay.
Jill: All right, ’cause I actually went to the DMV today.
Steve: Oh my God.
Jill: I know, you’ve been telling me, “Nobody goes there.”
Steve: This is what’s been happening. Jill bought a car, she’s got to get the title and all those stuff. They have these places out here where you just walk … it costs like thirty-five, forty dollars, so that’s the thing, but there’s no line, you walk right up, you sign the stuff and handle it to them. They’re licensed … what do you call like …
Jill: Third party providers.
Steve: Yeah, okay. Like we are with the data.
Jill: Yeah, it’s true.
Steve: You hand them twenty-five, thirty, forty bucks, and they get the whole thing done for you and you get it all in the mail and it’s over. She’s been doing … kicking and screaming. I know DMV …
Jill: I’m like, “No, but it pays …” Because, you know, I’ve had too many times I’ve been fooled by having good luck at times, like I walked in … the last car I walked right in and walked right now. I was like, “Piece of cake.” I didn’t know I accidentally timed it perfectly, so this one’s not so much.
Steve: If it costs two hundred bucks, I would do it.
Jill: Well here’s a problem I solved today. [crosstalk 00:06:16]
Steve: Okay, hold on …
Jill: That’s how I tie into this.
Steve: You saw that as time or money?
Jill: Money.
Steve: Right. Did you get to finally get it?
Jill: No, but I’m going to.
Steve: You’re going to solve it with money.
Jill: Yeah, I’m going to solve it with money. I waited forty-five minutes, I had another appointment and I had to leave. I was wondering what happens when they’re calling your number and you don’t go, how long do they wait?
Steve: Not really long.
Jill: Okay, good, all right.
Steve: I’ve sat there to know, paid attention to every detail that’s … yeah, you’re not the first person to walk out of there with a number in their hand. Although, if that were me, I would hand it to somebody.
Jill: You would think that would work, but there’s all these different levels; “J” means title, and “A” means license, so I can’t just hand it to someone and know it’s going to benefit them, or I would have.
Steve: They’re squashing you from doing the right thing, doing a Samaritan type thing.
Jill: Exactly.
Steve: That’s terrible, actually.
Jill: I know, I’d love to help somebody out, but it doesn’t work that way. That was my problem and I’m solving it with money. What about your most recent …
Steve: One time, I was going to a baseball game; I bought four tickets and there was only two of us. Might probably it was with you. I started walking around saying, “I’ve got two free tickets, I don’t want any money.” People were running away from me like I was a leper or something, and it’s because they think I’m a scalper or I’m trying to sell them something. I’m not joking. Finally, one guy walked up to me, apparently I freak them … “Yeah, just take them, man.” Because I thought I was going to have the luxury to pick and choose who I’m going to sit next to ’cause all the tickets were in a row, but no, it was like I had trouble giving it away.
Jill: Yeah. That’s really funny. I’m not surprised, some people they have a little bit … their guard’s up, like, “A little too good to be true.” No this one’s okay.
Steve: This has nothing to do with real estate, I love this.
Jill: All right, well, still on our topic.
Steve: You know what this reminds me of? Jill and I had a dinner with an umpire. A [Major 00:08:20] League umpire ’cause it’s spring training in Arizona. This is the sentence he slipped into the conversation, “I hate baseball.”
Jill: It’s true.
Steve: I don’t know why that makes me laugh so much.
Jill: I know, and he repeated it, he said it again even louder.
Steve: Like he said it to himself often, only out loud this time.
Jill: Exactly. That was funny.
Steve: All right, that was a DMV problem. What other problem you solved with money or time recently? I’m telling you, it’s all money or time.
Jill: What about you? I know you’re right. I wrote down some examples though.
Steve: Yeah, go ahead.
Jill: Here are my examples; do you want to spend years learning how to get your burger joint or sandwich shop, I’ll use sandwich show, as profitable and established as Togo’s or do you want to just buy a franchise and be done with it.
Steve: Let’s use Subway, no one knows what Togo’s is [crosstalk 00:09:23]
Jill: Okay, Subway.
Steve: I think Togo’s a California thing isn’t it?
Jill: It is.
Steve: Yeah, well, let’s just say McDonald’s, who cares.
Jill: Okay, let’s say McDonald’s even.
Steve: We know you’re going to try to start your restaurant, and go through the trials and tribulations, and probably a lot of money. Probably trying six or seven times in locations. Or you can take the safe way …
Jill: Figuring out the equipment …
Steve: … and spend half a million bucks on a franchise and get it done. I agree with you. I think you’re probably leading up to Land Academy.
Jill: No, actually, I’m not. I was going to leave that out of it. Are you serious, why are you saying … sometimes you say that is show is just about our day-to-day business, [crosstalk 00:10:07] I want lands stuff, I wasn’t going to say …
Steve: You can take fifteen years to learn and fail like I did or you can buy another Land Academy program for not very much money. [crosstalk 00:10:17]
Jill: … leaving you out of it.
Steve: I thought you were going to play it that way.
Jill: No.
Steve: Hilarious, Jill.
Jill: Thank you. Now I have one other point to make if you want. Basically, I know we’re going to talk more about the time versus money. Let’s do the time versus money, then we’ll get back to my last point at the end.
Steve: I’ve pretty much ran out of stuff to say about [crosstalk 00:10:35]
Jill: Okay, well, it’s going to be a really short show. My other point to make is, having said that, now and then there are some things that do require expertise and knowledge. For example, if you think you’re going to buy your way into being an MD, that’s not going to work.
Steve: That’s time.
Jill: Right, and experience. You can’t, I mean it’s time, you don’t have an option on that one.
Steve: Education is generally time. You can’t … that’d be cool if you could pay somebody to learn for you.
Jill: Right, but no, but when you buy the franchise or people who buy our program … we took a lot of the learning curve out of it.
Steve: That’s what I mean.
Jill: Yeah, I mean it’s true.
Steve: But then you got to go and doing stuff, it’s not going to happen overnight. None of this does. It’s not … I’m going to lose customers over this … it doesn’t … and our group’s pretty good about this, our Land Academy members, they get it. All of them are extremely thankful for just telling the truth about it. It might take twelve or eighteen months to really start killing it. That might be a little be long, some people are doing it, like, eight months.
Jill: I think it depends on the person, too. Some people are knowledge and they’re like sponges. We see that with our staff.
Steve: Right, yeah, that’s a great example.
Jill: Some people you can tell them right away and they’re like, “Okay, got it.” They don’t even question it, they take it in and they really absorb it and they just do it. Some people, even though they’re telling you, “Okay, that’s how I’m going to do it.” They have to process it for themselves. I have to say that I’m guilty about this, too, sometimes. You know what I’m talking about?
Steve: I do. Want to have some fun listeners? When you go to a restaurant, for the next four or five times you go to a restaurant, watch whoever is waiting on you, not if you go up to the counter, but if you’re sitting down and your waiter or waitress comes, watch how they process your order. Most of them, they’ll look off into the air and if you say, “I’d like a Caesar’s salad and the chicken, please.” They’ll look off into the air and they’ll say, “So you want a Caesar’s salad and the chicken, please.” For whatever reason, that’s how they remember it. Some people can’t get it out of there fast enough. Some people have a hearing problem, and they walk up to you screaming some reason. This has turned into a rant a little bit.
Jill: This is really … how much time do you spend watching this? I never know …
Steve: I have way too much messed stuff going on in my head.
Jill: Wow. Who does that.
Steve: It’s awful.
Jill: What else do you look at Rain Man.
Steve: You bought into this mess. Who’s got the problem, Jill, really.
Jill: What?
Steve: You bought into this whole mess.
Jill: I did.
Steve: If I’m the mess, you bought into this.
Jill: Hook, line, and sinker. Oh my goodness.
Steve: All right, I’m going to ask you …
Jill: Oh no.
Steve: All you have answer is time or money. Say, like ten problems.
Jill: Personal preference?
Steve: Yeah, just this is Jill’s time.
Jill: Jill’s way.
Steve: Yeah.
Jill: This is good, okay. So, there’s no wrong answer.
Steve: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Kid’s homework.
Jill: Money.
Steve: We couldn’t even get one done before we started laughing.
Jill: Tutors, that’s what tutors are for.
Steve: Pregnancy.
Jill: Oh boy.
Steve: No, don’t answer that, please don’t answer that. [crosstalk 00:14:25] We got any more like that, half of our listeners would stop listening.
Jill: I will not answer that. Oh my gosh, now we got Planned Parenthood calling us, just kidding. That’s awful.
Steve: Dieting.
Jill: Time.
Steve: Yeah. Maybe money though.
Jill: Yeah, still, it takes effort.
Steve: Changing your tire, flat tire.
Jill: Money. No I want to learn how to do that, no. Time me babe. No. Could you imagine if I jumped out and said, “Here, time me.”
Steve: Yeah, you know, it’s all money. What would be the right way to ask this, we should have done this at the beginning of the show. Let’s talk about how much … solving problems, how much does it really cost if you think time is going to solve it. How much is your time worth is the question you should ask.
Jill: That’s the perfect way to end this.
Steve: Should you cut your own grass or not. I bet not. Should you paint the inside of your house? I don’t think so.
Jill: Here’s where I come in with that. Am I losing money ’cause I should be doing something else?
Steve: Yeah, that’s what I mean.
Jill: ‘Cause when you’re twelve, you mow your own lawn. You have kids or whatever, you have things … When you’re a starving college student, you should wash your own car.
Steve: There’s a cliché going around a lot of years ago about if Bill Gates saw a hundred dollar bill, it doesn’t make sense for him, financially, to pick it up.
Jill: “… to pick it up.”
Steve: Did you ever hear that?
Jill: No.
Steve: I always laughed at that. He heard about it eventually, and said publicly several times, “Listen, I [crosstalk 00:16:01] pick up the hundred dollar bills.”
Jill: “I’m gonna pick it up.” That’s hilarious. But theoretically, the effort it takes for him to bend over and stop what he’s doing, and lose his train of thought to pick that up.
Steve: That’s the theory. That’s an economic theory, and I don’t know if you know this, or probably don’t want to know, but accountants and economists have since the beginning of time, differ on everything. It’s sort of like Hatfield’s and McCoy’s, and so that’s an economic theory, and nearly all economic theory, I think it’s really ridiculous ’cause it’s not rooted in anything except theory in school.
Jill: I agree. But I love how you wrapped this all up that sometimes your time is worth so much more than money. More than money.
Steve: Yeah. Almost always, I think.
Jill: Especially when we’re …
Steve: Especially if you’re listening to this show and you’re thinking about investing or you are an investor, or you’re going to enhance it somewhere, you want to start a side business, or all the other reasons that you might listen to this, whatever your mental illness is; that’s a great indication to me that you’re one of those people. You’re exactly right. A college student? Maybe not. Teenager, for sure not. They should do their own stuff.
Jill: It’s hard to let go sometimes though, too. I’m thinking who’s listening to this and what’s going on in their world. Sometimes you’re so used to running XYZ, whatever part of your day-to-day operations that it’s weird to let it go, but you should let it go.
Steve: We all know people that manufacture their own home improvement stuff. Jill, you and I know several people like that that they should have no business … they should never … they should always hire that out.
Jill: Right. Yeah.
Steve: If something else is going on …
Jill: They go home from work and they’re exhausted.
Steve: They manufacture another renovation project and their whole house …
Jill: The next thing they’re ripping out a wall, and I don’t think they saved any money in the end by the way, because they’re not professionals. There’s a whole other point, the professionals are doing it every single day, have all the right tools already paid for, they’ve done this job before, they can do it a fraction of the time versus you. You think you’re saving money doing it yourself, maybe not.
Steve: There’s a limitless way to avoid talking to your spouse.
Jill: Yes.
Steve: That’s a lot of that, I think.
Jill: Oh, that’s their reason for ripping out the wall?
Steve: Yes.
Jill: And their making their three-car garage and eight-car garage or whatever it is.
Steve: That’s why they have the cleanest golf clubs in the world.
Jill: Oh.
Steve: Stuff like that.
Jill: Got it.
Steve: Join us in another episode where Jill and I discuss a completely useless topic, or maybe your all important success in real estate investment and in life. You’re cracking me up with this DMV thing. What was the thinking there, because you’re like one of the smartest people I know, if not the smartest.
Jill: I don’t know why I have a hang up about …
Steve: Is it a control thing?
Jill: … you know why? Actually, I’ll tell you one of the reasons why, because every time I’ve ever seen those places alongside the road, it looks to me like a check-cashing set up and I have an innate thing that I don’t trust them.
Steve: Yeah. So, you’re going to use one this time right?
Jill: Well, I’m forced to.
Steve: Because it’ll change your mind forever.
Jill: All right, it does to me look like a check-cashing facility and I’m like, “This is stupid.”
Steve: I think it’s the greatest thing that ever was.
Jill: All right.
Steve: It’s a win-win for everybody, the DMV wins ’cause it removes people from waiting.
Jill: True.
Steve: And this person got a whole business sitting over there, doing whatever, and you can do everything. I don’t think there’s anything you can’t do.
Jill: They can’t do the driving stuff [crosstalk 00:19:46].
Steve: Except for the driving test, that’s right.
Jill: But all the registering and title and all that good stuff, yes. Are you done picking on me about that?
Steve: No, I’m just really surprised ’cause you’re … [crosstalk 00:19:58]
Jill: I know.
Steve: … usually you have a real specific reason when … well, now you did. You just told me.
Jill: I did. It seems sleazy to me.
Steve: Okay, that’s right.
Jill: Sorry, I didn’t know. I’ll look at it like I’m reinvesting in our community.
Steve: The one that I think you should go to is in a pretty darn good neighborhood. It’s not … people that use those, they don’t care about the forty bucks at all. So, I don’t know.
Jill: Okay, got it.
Steve: Let’s go buy some property.
If you enjoyed the podcast, please review it in iTunes . Reviews are incredibly important for rankings on iTunes. My staff and I read each and every one.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me directly at steve@LandAcademy.com.
I would like to think it’s entertaining and informative and in the end profitable.
And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes.
