What to Learn and What to Outsource (JJ 590)
What to Learn and What to Outsource
Transcript:
Jack Butala: Jack and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: Hello.
Jack Butala: Welcome to the Jack and Jill Show. I’m Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit: And I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting this week from sunny Southern California, where every homeowner is a multimillion-
Jack Butala: What?
Jill DeWit: I’ve noticed that.
Jack Butala: Have you noticed this?
Jill DeWit: I have noticed this.
Jack Butala: How can this possibly be?
Jill DeWit: It’s a little bit not normal.
Jack Butala: It’s not normal for me.
Jill DeWit: Right, that’s true.
Jack Butala: Imagine a situation where you buy a house, and then you just live in the house, go about your business, and then 10, 20 years later you have $4 million worth of equity.
Jill DeWit: It’s crazy.
Jack Butala: Jill and I … go ahead.
Jill DeWit: I was going to say we talked to a guy the other day. Remember? We were looking at renting a house right on the water, and you said 35,000. Like I said, “No. They paid 55,000,” or something ridiculous.
Jack Butala: They paid $55,000 for a property that’s probably worth six to $8 million more.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: This is in the late ’60s, early ’70s.
Jill DeWit: And by the way, they’ve done nothing to it.
Jack Butala: No, I know. He cupped his lips and whispered to Jill, “Oh by the way, there’s no garbage disposal or dishwater.”
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: And I said, “Why isn’t there?” He said, “Well, the owners don’t want to change the property at all.”
Jill DeWit: It’s hilarious. It is so darn funny. Oceanfront.
Jack Butala: Oceanfront, oceanfront. None of this ocean view business. This is oceanfront.
Jill DeWit: It is hilarious. I love it.
Jack Butala: I just think it’s a beautiful concept. Every time I walk around some of the small towns in Southern California, I think like, “This is what America, all over America should be like, where you earn 11 to 15% on your home every year and that’s why you’re a homeowner.” Unfortunately, that’s just not the case for most of the country.
Jill DeWit: That’s the way it’s supposed to go. You’re right. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
Jack Butala: Well, I’ll tell you. This crowd, they act like it too. I told Jill several times in this neighborhood, I don’t know if that guy’s homeless or retired. He looks the same. He smells the same.
Jill DeWit: Exactly. Yeah, that’s hilarious. I love it.
Jack Butala: Ask any real estate investment.
Jill DeWit: I hope it’s entertaining.
Jack Butala: This is a little bit of a new format for us today.
Jill DeWit: It is.
Jack Butala: Today, Jill and I talk about what to learn and what to outsource. It’s the meat of the show. Oh, it’s not the meat of the show, because we haven’t gotten the new script down yet.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, that’s okay.
Jack Butala: Before we get to the meat of the show, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the JackJill.com online community. It’s free.
Jill DeWit: Okay. Jared shares … Flash asks, “I sent out a mailer of 1,888 … ” Nice. “I’ve gotten 35 calls in the last two days with 33 over some real hate. LOL 10 [cussed 00:02:53] me out.” You know, I never understand this by the way. What’s the point of that? But, okay, whatever.
Jack Butala: Your mailer works. Congratulations.
Jill DeWit: One said he was going to report me to the Better Business Bureau. That’s great.
Jack Butala: Well, you know how old he is.
Jill DeWit: That’s so funny. Do people even still use that? That’s so sweet.
Jack Butala: I hope not.
Jill DeWit: That’s so nice. That’s not a dead thing. “One left me a better review on Facebook, and the rest were some variation of me being a crook and trying to steal their lands.” Awesome. “Most of it is fine to me, but it’s starting to make me wonder if I priced the offer too low. I went into LandWatch and other sites … ” I’m sure, “And offered significantly less than the lower price there, so I know it was going to be priced low.” I think you did it right.
Jack Butala: Me too.
Jill DeWit: “But to my original question, there’s a lot of hate being priced too low. What are some of the signs I may have priced it too low? Thanks guys.”
Jack Butala: So, if I had a nickel for every time Jill and I have explained this … and this is a great question by the way, Jared. It’s not a bad question. I’m just saying there’s a templated cycle that happens after you send a mailer out. First, you send it out, then you get some hate. Then you get a couple of calls with some interest. Then you get some letters back in the mail that are signed saying-
Jill DeWit: To choose the good stuff.
Jack Butala: Yeah, but you can’t have executed letters and executed purchase agreements, like this is what you’re really going for without the hate. That’s why I included the question in here. It’s a really good question.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: It’s not all peaches and cream what we do, but it’s real profitable, and it’s a lot of fun.
Jill DeWit: You know what I was going to say? Think about you. This is how I look at it. I think about it personally. Okay, say, my current car. What if for some reason, I am then thinking about selling it? It’s on my mind, right? This person happens to send me this stupid offer on my car. First, I’m going to go, “You must be nuts. I can understand this.” I’m putting myself in their shoes. Then there’s a phase where I know I’ve slept on it a few days, and I go, “You know, an offer’s an offer.” I haven’t had anybody make me an offer, and I’m actually thinking about this. So, maybe I need to reconsider this. This is my cycle as a seller. Potential seller.
Then a few more days go by going, “You know what? He really is the only one interested,” and I looked him up now, and it’s a legitimate offer, and I’m going to call the guy back. I’m going to do something. That really happens.
Jack Butala: Try to have somebody in your life that their first answer in everything is no.
Jill DeWit: Oh gosh.
Jack Butala: Like hey, would you like to offer some ice cream … No!
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: What do you mean? Oh ice cream? Oh wait a minute. Yeah, I do want to go.
Jill DeWit: I have a former friend like that.
Jack Butala: A former friend?
Jill DeWit: Former friend. Former friend who broke up with me.
Jack Butala: Oh your girlfriend?
Jill DeWit: Yeah, yeah.
Jack Butala: I’m sorry, Jill.
Jill DeWit: I know. I think I was a little too upbeat. That’s the thing.
Jack Butala: That’s what I’m saying.
Jill DeWit: That’s the truth. That’s the truth. My former friend broke up with me because everything for her was no. I was always like, “It can’t all be bad.” Everything in your life can’t be bad, but in her mind, everything is bad. She just couldn’t handle me because I don’t see everything in life as bad.
Jack Butala: Hey, landowner. I would love to send you a $10,000 cashier’s check next week for your property. Hey, wait a second. Wait a second. Before you answer, I know your property’s worth 20 grand. But do you really want to spend all the time and the energy and get into this whole thing that you probably don’t know anything about? Or would you rather just have a $10,000 check? Okay, now answer. It’s not that hard. So, Jared, just tough it up. It happens with every single mail campaign. It happens to us, even after 20 years. Just learn to laugh about it, and make sure you treat them with respect, and it’s going to be fine.
If you have a question, or you’d like to hear the answer to your question on this show, post it on the JackJill.com online community. Everything’s a little different today, Jill.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: Today’s topic: What to learn and what to outsource. Boy, they’re two separate things. This is the meat of the show. So, go ahead.
Jill DeWit: So, since we’re doing a new format here, Jack, and I mean, when you put this question to me, boy, I could go a lot of different directions with this.
Jack Butala: This is half the fun.
Jill DeWit: All right. What to learn, and what to outsource? This is going to be good in life or business?
Jack Butala: We could make it life.
Jill DeWit: I like this.
Jack Butala: We could make it land. We could make it real estate. We could make it marriage.
Jill DeWit: I do not need to learn how to run a household. I’d rather outsource that. I do not need to learn how to raise children. I’d rather outsource that. Just kidding.
Jack Butala: That’s one thing you can’t outsource.
Jill DeWit: Just kidding. I know. You cannot outsource that.
Jack Butala: Kings and queens and celebrities have been trying to outsource raising their children since the beginning of time.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, that boarding school is not crazy honestly.
Jack Butala: It all ends in one kid being a serial killer.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: You can’t outsource child rearing.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. How come the wealthy … Let’s all think about this, everyone. How come the Uber wealthy use the boarding schools and not the rest of us? Maybe they’re onto something?
Jack Butala: Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. I think there’s a lot of cases where most of the people have gone to boarding schools at a very young age. They’re very well educated and the same people.
Jill DeWit: That’s what I’m saying.
Jack Butala: And that’s okay?
Jill DeWit: That’s kind of what I’m saying.
Jack Butala: What?
Jill DeWit: I mean, really, is that bad?
Jack Butala: You’re wrecking me up here, yeah.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Jack Butala: When I say, “Insane,” I mean like a serial killer.
Jill DeWit: Oh. I thought you said, “And sane.”
Jack Butala: No. Insane.
Jill DeWit: I thought you said, “Well educated and sane.” Oh insane. All right. I don’t know.
Jack Butala: The point is, there is some stuff in life and in business and in being an investor you got to learn, and there’s a lot of stuff you can outsource. So, what I’m noticing with some of our newer members … the seasoned ones have this figured out down to the dime. But what I have noticed, too, it’s a little bit different for each person. So, you’re going through a regular acquisition on let’s just say a house. What are you outsourcing? What do you do yourself? What do you think?
Jill DeWit: Mail. Any silly admin thing that … An admin task that a $12 an hour employee can do should be your trigger that you should not be doing that.
Jack Butala: So, I’ll just ask you the questions.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Jack Butala: How about getting access to the data? Can you outsource that?
Jill DeWit: Getting access? Turning it on?
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, your assistant can get you access. They can do it.
Jack Butala: How about writing the actual offer?
Jill DeWit: No. You got to do that. You got to price it and all that.
Jack Butala: How about sorting the data? Scrubbing the data?
Jill DeWit: Yeah, you got to do that.
Jack Butala: That’s my whole point to this.
Jill DeWit: You can’t trust that.
Jack Butala: You have to manipulate and understand the data yourself.
Jill DeWit: I see a lot of people doing this wrong-
Jack Butala: Me too. That’s why I wrote the show.
Jill DeWit: … before they come to us. This is interesting because I have a lot of folks that think that I can just give the … you’re right Jack. They think that I can just call the county, get a whole load of information. I’m trying to keep it G rated still. Then I can push it off on my Philippine assistant. I mean, not that that’s not bad having the [assistment 00:10:17], but not the best way to do this, and then let them scrub the data, sort it, price it, and get it in the mail, and then I’m going to go from there. Mm-hmm (negative). Too many people are doing that, and you need to know the data. You need to manipulate it like you said, Jack. It’s stuff you can’t … you don’t even know if the county pulled the right stuff for you.
That’s one of my things where I was just talking about the other day. In the office, I was explaining to the staff, too, about why this is so important. Only you know the parameters. You need to pick the county. You need to figure out what you want. You want to jump in here?
Jack Butala: Yeah, sure. I do want to jump in. I’m really serious about this. There are certain things you have to do yourself. I don’t care at what level you are in any business or in life. I meant this to be a life/business topic. I’ll tell you what happens to us. I have never outsourced scrubbing data. I go in a neighborhood and we do an SFR mailer and I go block by block, or it’s depending on if it’s a … what type of neighborhood it is, but I never even considered outsourcing scrubbing data. What we do outsource, and I’ve outsourced in the beginning … here’s the whole thing. You sit around in life and when you get real comfortable with stuff, that’s real familiar to you, like sending a letter.
Everybody sent a letter, every single person who’s listening to this. So, it makes sense to send a letter. If you’re going to send a thousand letters out, it makes sense to you like a human, because you’ve done it so many times. Sent your water bill in or whatever. Not anymore, but you’ve done it. Hopefully, if you were at a certain age, you’ve done it. To stuff a bunch of envelopes and get in the mail. Then, darn it, you knew it went out. That’s it. Well, it’s the 21st century here. That’s absolutely one of the things you need to outsource. You’re going to waste a lot of time mechanically putting a piece of paper in an envelope. That’s why we outsource that entirely with offers to owners.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: So, answering the phone. You do not need to answer your own phone. There are people who do this on the planet. All over the planet now, with the internet, but you do need to call them back. The ones who are interested, have expressed some interests. So, there’s the things that you need to outsource and things you don’t, and that’s really what you have to really kind of figure that out for yourself. Lucky for us, there’s two of us. So, I do the stuff that I’m good that. You do the stuff that you’re good at and actually enjoy. And it turns into profit most of the time.
Jill DeWit: And sometimes it’s rock, paper, scissors, and you have to do this … we shove off what we don’t want to do on the other person who lost.
Jack Butala: Oh my gosh. Have I shoved some stuff off on you recently?
Jill DeWit: Oh no. No. Never. No, that’s the beauty of our relationship, Jack. All you do all day long is, “Jill, if you wouldn’t mind … ” That’s my life.
Jack Butala: That’s not good.
Jill DeWit: Well, it’s real. It’s okay. All right. Sometimes you got to do stuff you don’t want to do. But you know what?
Jack Butala: Boy, that’s for sure.
Jill DeWit: That’s the thing too. Just because you don’t want to do it but you’re good at it. Guess what? You get to do it.
Jack Butala: There’s a Yin and Yang to all of this, isn’t there?
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Jack Butala: I don’t know. I think we’re much better together, Jill. Let’s just leave at that.
Jill DeWit: Today, we are. Like yesterday I wasn’t so sure.
Jack Butala: Oh my gosh.
Jill DeWit: Just kidding.
Jack Butala: That’s not what I thought we’re going for [inaudible 00:13:52].
Jill DeWit: Well, you opened up this new format, and told me to kind of just run with it. So, that’s what I’m doing. This new format is half therapy for Jill.
Jack Butala: Jill’s therapy doctor.
Jill DeWit: Yes, it is. That’s exactly what this is. So, all right.
Jack Butala: Well, you’ve done it again. Wasted another 30 minutes listening to the Jack and Jill Show. Join us tomorrow where we discuss public disclosure. How much is too much to talk about?
Jill DeWit: And we answer Andrew’s question about five-acre properties in California with mineral rights.
Jack Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition. Good show, Jill.
Jill DeWit: Okay, good. Thank you for letting me … sorry. Apparently, I had to vent a little bit there. So, thank you, Dr. Jack.
Jack Butala: Dr. Jack.
Jill DeWit: For letting me have that time on the couch.
Jack Butala: Oh my gosh.
Jill DeWit: Right. Share the fun by subscribing on iTunes, or wherever you’re listening. And hey, while you’re at it, rate us while you’re there. We are Jack and Jill.
Jack Butala: We are Jack and Jill. Information-
Jill DeWit: And inspiration-
Jack Butala: To buy undervalued property.
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