Decisions You Make Affect the Rest of Your Life (CFFL 0248)
Decisions You Make Affect the Rest of Your Life
Jack Butala: Decisions You Make Affect the Rest of Your Life. 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: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit.
Jill DeWit: Hello.
Jack Butala: Welcome to our show. In this episode, Jill and I talk about how the decisions you make will affect the rest of your life. Great show today, Jill. Let’s take a question posted by one of our members on SucessPlant.com, our free online community.
Jill DeWit: Cool. All right, Chazz asked, “Does trying to get out of the game in case this happens, but I was wondering, what if I come across someone with multiple lots that wants to unload? Can they all be put on one deed, or would it be better to make them all separate, and just write one fat check when the notary meets to sign? Should I create a purchase agreement for each? Thanks, y’all.”
Jack Butala: Yeah, you know, this is a good question, and it comes up a lot. Not comes up a lot, it just comes up every once in a while, and it’s worth explaining in very simple terms. The answer is yes. In fact, Jill and I do it all the time. We buy property, a ton of property on a single deed. Jill and I have literally purchased, done one deal with thousands of properties on one single document, and then you sell them off individually, and there’s nothing wrong with that, it happens all the time. I think it gets confused because we use the car title analogy a lot, you know, and you certainly can’t put, like, more than one car on a car title. They’re all individual. Yes, the answer is …
Jill DeWit: That’s my first choice, too.
Jack Butala: Yeah, me too.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, I mean, that’s the thing. I mean, wouldn’t it be great if you could? What if you’re a dealer? I mean, I’m sure dealers have different things, but, you know, if I’m buying –
Jack Butala: Maybe you can.
Jill DeWit: Say if I’m a dealer and I’m buying ten Priuses, I don’t want to do ten versions of the same thing, I just want to do one with the ten on there.
Jack Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, you can, and it’s a great thing. As long as it’s the same grantor, and the grantee, of course, is you.
Jack Butala: That’s the key, I guess, right, Jill?
Jill DeWit: You just got to make sure the grantor is exactly, exactly, exactly the same. It can’t be one that’s husband and wife, and then one has just the husband. Then you have to do different deeds, but if it’s all just –
Jack Butala: That’s a great point.
Jill DeWit: – yeah, the same, the same seller, you know, and it’s all worded the same and everything, it’s just going to be great. Put ’em all on one deed. Knock yourself out. Hey, the recorders like it, too. You know, they only have to record the one, and you save money on it because you’re only sending in the one form, and the notary’s doing it once, so it’s all much easier, and those are my first choice. I look for those now, by the way. When I sit and scan our acquisitions –
Jack Butala: Yeah, me too. Which one’s easiest.
Jill DeWit: – with stuff going down, who’s got multi things on there, okay, are they … I look at who’s, is it multiple units, do I want it, are they all alive? There’s a few things that I look at really quick. Seriously.
Jack Butala: I know, I agree. Absolutely.
Jill DeWit: I scan for some issues and make sure, you know, and then I go, “All right, now let’s look at it.”
Jack Butala: That’s going to happen to you, listener.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: I mean, it can easily happen to you if you send a ton of mail out. We have multiple members. We have a couple members who joined the group and send out, you know, literally 25 000 letters in a week after they learn what they’re doing, and they’re just inundated, and they pick the best ones and they make a ton of money.
Jill DeWit: Maybe not 25 000, but …
Jack Butala: I have two examples.
Jill DeWit: 6500. I remember one went, we were like, “Ah.”
Jack Butala: I have two examples of recent members who have sent out that much mail.
Jill DeWit: They have help.
Jack Butala: Yes, they have help.
Jill DeWit: See, that’s the thing, it’s not like it’s one random person.
Jack Butala: They’ve been in the business, they’ve been in the real estate, so they know. They have a little bit of … They came to us with a little bit of experience, you know.
Jill DeWit: Not would you recommend somebody …?
Jack Butala: No, jeez.
Jill DeWit: Okay. I’m like, “Where you going with that?” I would not recommend someone starting out. I would recommend, I don’t know, two, three thousand, to start with.
Jack Butala: Yeah, 1500, if you’re brand spanking new in the industry, totally 1500. If you kind of know how to convey deeds and stuff, maybe 3000, yeah.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). But why not come back?
Jack Butala: I’ll tell you what you want to do long before you do that is get a website up, get all that stuff up, because, and I say this in our programs, all of them, because once that thing hits the mail, man, you’re not going to, you’re going to be doing deals, and you don’t want to be doing the website at that time and trying to figure out what phone number you’re going to use and all that. I see that happen a lot. “Wow, let’s send some mail out and see what happens. Oh my gosh.”
Jill DeWit: Yeah. Be ready. Exactly.
Jack Butala: Today’s topic is the decisions that you make will effect the rest of your life. Jill and I did a show about this, relatively similar show, almost a year ago, and it’s been very, very popular, and I wrote the title to this because there’s someone near and dear to us who’s making some decisions right now that I wonder if they’re maybe the best decisions to make, and I’m about to have a conversation with that person and explain to him in very simple terms that the decisions that you’re making right now are going to effect the rest of your life, but in terms of this show, this is the meat of the show by the way, you can make some real estate investment decisions within the next 30 days, that really will affect the rest of your life.
Am I stealing your inspiration thunder here?
Jill DeWit: No, not at all. No, I’m just kind of sitting back going, okay, I’m just about to … You know what I’m about to do? I’ about to put my feet up, and I’m about to get comfortable.
Jack Butala: Why, because you can feel it?
Jill DeWit: Yes. No, and it’s a good thing. I hear a nice talk coming, and I’m good with that.
Jack Butala: I say this to young, very young men, specifically who work with Jill and I, and we don’t have any super young men working with us right now, but they come and go, and right around those late teen, early twenties years, the decisions that we all make, really, whether or not to get married, whether or not to go to school, what to invest in, all those decisions like that, they affect the rest of your life, and you can just as easily make a decision to get into the real estate business, you know, after you’re done with work, and start learning about it, and doing some deals. It doesn’t take a lot of time or money. Takes a lot of commitment, but not a ton of time and not a ton of money.
I don’t care what age you are, Jill. You can start making those decisions right now.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Exactly.
Jack Butala: A lot of people, they start in this business, regardless of age or experience, and they think that it’s all about that real estate deal and finding that right piece of property, and it’s not. It’s about analyzing data, using data, and then making the right decisions. It’s not so much, “Oh, I can’t, I live in a place where this just wouldn’t work,” it has nothing to do with that, everything to do with analyzing data.
I said this sentence to a super good friend of mine recently, because he was shocked and amazed that we have most of the people on our staff are tech people. He’s like, “What does that have to do with real estate?” and I said, “Look, we’re just a tech company who happens to sell real estate. All this stuff applies to other things.” He looked, because he’s a tech guy, he’s like, “What the heck?” and I could see his eyes, starting to think, “Well, maybe I should get involved in this,” and I said, “Yeah.”
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Exactly.
Jack Butala: What decisions have you made recently, Jill, that you think are going to affect the rest of your life, good or bad? Hopefully not bad.
Jill DeWit: Where I live.
Jack Butala: Oh, that was fast.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: Do tell.
Jill DeWit: Well, I live in two places. Maybe more some day, I don’t know, and so making that decision was partially business driven and partially personal driven, so, you know, making these decisions, I hope that you think about it from all different angles. I guess that’s it. Don’t be selfish. Make sure it’s the right decision for you, personally, make sure it’s the right decision for you financially, and make sure it’s the right decision for your people, but whatever age you are, I mean, this is it. This is it, right now.
Jack Butala: Michael Jackson was right. This is it.
Jill DeWit: Right. Right now, wherever you are sitting listening, whether you are in your car, on a train, on a beach, in a coffee shop, in your living room, wherever you are listening, this is it right now, and the next decision you make, you know, are you going to get up and do something, are you going to sit here and let the evening go, are you going to show up at the office, you know? I mean, this is it. Can’t go backwards. You’re only going forwards. Now I’m turning really inspirational here.
My big thing is it doesn’t matter how old you are, because I hear people all the time that say, “Oh, I’m past that,” and that makes me so mad. “Oh, I’m fifty. Oh I’m sixty. Oh I’m whatever.” So what? It’s not too late.
Jack Butala: I literally had a person work for me a lot of years ago and he was right out of high school, and he said, “Man, I could have been an engineer, I could have done this, I could have done that,” and I stopped what I was doing, and, you know, sometimes boys, they need to be really, you need to be demonstrative, almost tough love with them. They just don’t listen the way girls seem to listen, and I really, I probably was across the line, and really kind of shook him and said, “Listen, man, you’re 19 years old. You can do anything you want,” and I probably would have said it to somebody who’s 59 years old. Do anything you want.
Jill DeWit: Wait, the 19 year old was saying, “I could have been an engineer”?
Jack Butala: Yes. Yes.
Jill DeWit: How’s that possible? Because I screwed up my first year in college?
Jack Butala: You know what happens, is that he didn’t even, he wasn’t going to college.
Jill DeWit: So what? So it’s …
Jack Butala: You know what ended up happening with him? He went and became an engineer in school.
Jill DeWit: Do I know this person?
Jack Butala: Yes, you do. I will disclose it, they got married on our boat. First boat.
Jill DeWit: Oh. Oh. Okay.
Jack Butala: And he’s doing great now. He’s got two kids.
Jill DeWit: The sister, to the sister?
Jack Butala: Yes.
Jill DeWit: Got it.
Jack Butala: Exactly.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Jack Butala: They have two kids and he’s an engineer. I’m not sure what kind. Or maybe he’s not an engineer, but he went off and did go to, at least, he got at least a year two year degree and did something technical.
Jill DeWit: Okay. Got it.
Jack Butala: I think the root of it is that what happens with this, kids this age, that age, and I think maybe even older people, they see their friends, you know, make some decisions earlier in their life, maybe four year earlier, or I don’t care what, and they’re doing well, and they sit there and say, “Man, I should have done that,” but, you know, I know people that in their forties going to medical school.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I think that’s so cool.
Jack Butala: So do I.
Jill DeWit: I think it’s really good. Well, you know what’s nice, I think, too? I noticed this a few years ago, that people re-careering. Remember there was a big downturn, well, you know, we’re coming out of it now. Remember, everybody was losing, you know, people were, jobs were hard to come by a few years ago. A lot of people were displaced, a lot of lay offs and cutbacks, right? I know would hear a lot of people, and people that I know, that were re-careering not by choice, but by force. They were forced to go re-career, but, and then at the end, most people I talked to were grateful for that, like, “You know what? Yeah, I got laid off, I couldn’t get a job, da-da-da, so guess what I did? I was going to be a nurse anyway, now I’m in nursing school.”
Jack Butala: Isn’t that great?
Jill DeWit: I know.
Jack Butala: When those things happen, it’s great to go, that’s a perfect time to go back to school.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. Instead of looking at it like a bad thing, “Oh, here I am, I’m still unemployed, it’s been two years,” because we know those people, you know, they did something about it, and I, you know, it’s never too late, and whatever it is, you just do it.
Jack Butala: I read a career paper one time, a long time ago, and it said that people who are determined and wealthy and successful, if they lose it all, they did a study, like multiple decade study. During a downturn, when they lose it all, it takes about two years for that person to get right back to where they were, regardless of the resources that they have, just because it’s –
Jill DeWit: It believe, because I know people that have done that. That’s about right. Wow.
Jack Butala: Yeah. I personally have multiple real estate based friends that have, like, they came back from bankruptcy.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: And they’re right back where they were before the whole thing.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Jack Butala: They just know what to do, and they have that self-confidence.
Jill DeWit: I know someone in the medical profession that had a issue, and it took two years to get back on their feet.
Jack Butala: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jill DeWit: Interesting.
Jack Butala: This is the technical two. Two minutes of property investment advice from our fifteen year, fifteen thousand transaction experience.
I had it.
Jill DeWit: Jack’s looking for something technical right now. This is great.
Jack Butala: I know, I’m all inspired, no, I really had it, and I didn’t write it down.
Jill DeWit: Here’s the technical two. I got it.
Jack Butala: You do it. Can you do it?
Jill DeWit: Yeah, technical two. Be ready for whatever life throws at you, like the technical two.
Jack Butala: Oh, you know what it was? Have a side business, no matter what you’re doing. Have a side business.
Jill DeWit: That was funny.
Jack Butala: I know, I met a medical doctor once, this is when number three kid was really, like, in pre-school, and there was a medical doctor there with the same aged child, and he created a business, because his child was born with severe food allergies, so he created a food, a mail-delivery food business that was specific for the kids who had food allergies, and within two years, was done with being a doctor completely. He loved that. He was not happy about being a doctor, but it was a great story.
Jill DeWit: That’s a great story, yeah.
Jack Butala: Even medical doctors have little side businesses.
Jill DeWit: Well, and it came out of a need.
Jack Butala: Always have a side business. Yeah.
Jill DeWit: I mean, that’s the greatest thing ever, and it was like a need and a passion for it, because it was for his kid.
Jack Butala: He told me this funny story.
Jill DeWit: That’s awesome.
Jack Butala: It turns out, here’s a back story, really quickly. That’s hereditary, he said. I don’t know this, please don’t –
Jill DeWit: Was it a peanut allergy, what was it, do you know?
Jack Butala: Yes.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Jack Butala: It was multiple allergies.
Jill DeWit: Oh, okay.
Jack Butala: He said it’s hereditary. Please don’t email if it’s not with all this. That’s what he said, I don’t know if it’s true or not. Anyway, he said he called his sister, so he was born in the Philippines, and all of his whole family’s in America, and he called his sister and said, “Remember when grandma’s head used to get the size of a balloon and we would say oh, yeah, grandma’s head’s the size of a balloon again. Turns out she had an allergy to whatever.”
Jill DeWit: That’s hilarious. Oh my gosh.
Jack Butala: Nobody really wanted to figure out why grandma’s head was the size of a balloon once a week.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, kids, nobody knew. Yeah. That’s funny. Maybe grandma shouldn’t be having x, whatever it is.
Jack Butala: It’s a good thing you’re not allergic to vodka gel.
Jill DeWit: Oh my goodness. Where did that come from?
Jack Butala: I’m just joking.
Jill DeWit: Oh, no, no, no.
Jack Butala: I indulge enough for the both of us. I’m just joking around.
Hey, if you have a question, or you want to be in the show, call 800-725-8816. Inspire us, Jill.
Jill DeWit: It’s hard to be inspirational after the whole show was inspirational, but, and what I wrote down is really a piggy back of this, which is, you know, it’s the rest of your life professionally, and I think that’s what we were talking about, but I want to talk about some fun stuff.
Jack Butala: Yeah. Fun stuff.
Jill DeWit: Do some fun stuff now. Not only is it the rest of your life professionally and with your people and your world and your career, I mean, we’re talking about your career, and, you know, reinventing yourself, whatever. I just want to say cut loose and know … That’s one thing about Jack and I, there is no shortage of cutting loose.
Jack Butala: There really isn’t.
Jill DeWit: We are pros at that, and you have to be really careful, because you could do it wrong, and be instant gratification, and then you’re so far in debt, so I’m not saying, “Take that cruise, I don’t care if you don’t have any money,” don’t do that.
Jack Butala: No.
Jill DeWit: But I’m saying do some stuff. Do some stuff. Don’t wait. “You know what, when I hit at that birthday, I’m going to do x.” Uh-uh. Take the surfing lessons now, do the whatever you want to do now. Jack came back and did a motorcycle thing again that I’m okay with now, so in the right place now, it’s not like on the freeway everyday.
Jack Butala: Right. Must be smart about it.
Jill DeWit: Everybody wins.
Jack Butala: Work it into your life.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative), but don’t wait, you know. Do some stuff now.
Jack Butala: That’s great advice. You know, I was watching shark tank, and the guy on the end who owns a sports team, what’s his name?
Jill DeWit: Mark Cuban.
Jack Butala: Yeah. He’s my favorite.
Jill DeWit: I like him too.
Jack Butala: He always has been. I was watching him. He never, he almost, he very rarely buys, he just gives advice. Have you ever noticed?
Jill DeWit: He’s pretty good. He just sits back. He doesn’t, yeah.
Jack Butala: But I’d noticed a theme to what he says, and a lot of it is this: “Just stop whatever you’re doing. If you don’t want to do it, just stop it.” I’ve heard him say this multiple times. If your bills are too high, I don’t care where you are in life, get six roommates and just stop, but your time is so valuable, especially if you have the entrepreneurial-type personality. Don’t waste your time paying bills. I’m going to get an email for this. Stop what you’re doing, get rid of your bills, whatever you need to do.
Jill DeWit: Oh, that kind of thing. Not like ignore the bills.
Jack Butala: Get control. Yeah. Well, I don’t know, maybe that’s one way to get rid of bills.
Jill DeWit: Put them in a box, back of the closet, and then go have some fun. That’s tax advice. Get rid of you bills.
Jack Butala: That’s exactly what Jill does, actually. I’m not joking.
Jill DeWit: That’s right. I don’t know where they are to do.
Jack Butala: Not bills, but it’s out of sight, out of mind a lot with Jill, and it’s just a big mess and I’ll go in and clean it up. Not even figuratively. I mean literally.
Anyway, his advice is, get rid of the stuff, and I don’t care what you have to do, get control of your time.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Jack Butala: Don’t waste another minute if you’re killing yourself working for somebody else. We have some members who have pretty high-level large company positions, you know, VP and up, and they hate it.
Jill DeWit: Yes.
Jack Butala: All they do is complain about it. They work 80 hours a week. They don’t even have time to do, to work on this stuff.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: If that’s you, man, take some vacation time and do whatever it takes to figure out getting out of that office cycle, you know. A lot of times, your house or your apartment’s too expensive and on and on and on. You got to get rid of that stuff. Work on the stuff you want to work on. Even if it’s start all over.
Jill DeWit: Do you really need that new car? No.
Jack Butala: No.
Jill DeWit: Get rid of it. Don’t make payments, do it right.
Jack Butala: Get a skateboard.
Jill DeWit: Have some fun. Get a bicycle. That’s really good. A, it’s, you know –
Jack Butala: It’s not far-fetched.
Jill DeWit: It’s not crazy at all.
Jack Butala: If you don’t like snow, get out of there. There’s lots of places in this country that don’t have snow.
Jill DeWit: Oh, that’s a good one, too. That’s a very good point.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: I mean, look where we are. It’s, we joke about that, you know what, they have dry cleaners everywhere, and they have doctors everywhere, you know? Move.
Jack Butala: We know some people, some friends, who are contractors in the Midwest. He was a contractor in the Midwest and he said, he moved out here, and said, “You know, it’s not frozen half the year like it is, there’s twice as much work in contracting because it’s not frozen here.”
Jill DeWit: It’s true.
Jack Butala: Simple stuff like that.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Exactly.
Jack Butala: Join us in another episode where Jack and Jill discuss how to use information, that’s me …
Jill DeWit: … and inspiration, that’s me.
Jack Butala: To get just about anything you want.
Jill DeWit: We have said everyday to buy property for half of what it’s worth, and sell it immediately.
Jack Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition. Good show, Jill.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: I love your inspiration.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. The whole show was kind of inspirational.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: I really like that and appreciate that and …
Jack Butala: I think we all have a lot more control over stuff than we think.
Jill DeWit: Oh, we absolutely do.
Jack Butala: I know you’re famous for saying that. I got really … Not since I’ve known you, but I got really hung-up in that. I think it comes with Midwest depression, you know?
Jill DeWit: Oh.
Jack Butala: And suffering. In the Midwest, apparently you get a trophy for suffering the most. Everybody sits around and tries to suffer.
Jill DeWit: That’s funny.
Jack Butala: Whoever’s suffering the most wins. I have a child. I don’t understand.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: I get a million emails from Midwest people now.
Jill DeWit: Well, you know, what’s interesting is, I even get, we all get caught up in it, you know? Not making time for the things that are important. We think that we can’t. We think that we shouldn’t, you know? Taking those chances, and “Oh, I can’t possibly do that.” What? I, and that’s one of the things that I have said to everyone, not just our kids, but everybody’s kids, and all that, like, there’s nothing you can’t do, you know? That was my big takeaway from Rich Dad, Poor Dad, was, you know, there’s nothing you can’t have. You just got to figure out a way. That’s it.
Jack Butala: That’s right. What are you famous for saying? How does it go, like, “Figure out what you want and work backwards”?
Jill DeWit: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Jack Butala: You know, that’s fantastic.
Jill DeWit: Where do you want to be in whatever it is.
Jack Butala: Deconstruct it, step by step by step.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, okay, let’s work it backwards and make sure we’re doing it the right way. Find somebody who’s there and who did it, and then follow them. Learn from their mistakes, which is like you and I.
Jack Butala: Make sure you want it first. You can get really hung up, I thought I wanted to be a medical doctor for a long time, and I spent some time in that environment and realized, I wasted some time, and found out I did not want to be that at all.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). That’s a good thing, too, yes. Find someone, and everybody’s flattered by that. Find a mentor, say, “Can I just follow you around for a day, or gosh, ask you some questions or something?”
Jack Butala: Find someone except me.
Jill DeWit: Right, I mean it’s … You’re so silly. But, I mean, talk about flattering.
Jack Butala: I’m not joking.
Jill DeWit: You are such a liar, you mentor everybody, you are so lying.
Jack Butala: I know I do, I’m totally joking.
Jill DeWit: This is what you do, by the way. Kind of your whole thing, now.
Jack Butala: We have an employee right now who’s incredibly interested in buying and selling real estate, and it cracks me up how many people have worked with us in the past that just don’t really have any interest in that.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: This one’s got legitimate, honest, heartfelt interest, and it’s going to be fun to see what happens.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Thanks.
Jack Butala: Information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.
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