Don’t Let Feelings Get in the Way (JJ 625)
Don’t Let Feelings Get in the Way
Transcript:
Jack Butala: Jack and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: Hi.
Jack Butala: Welcome to the Jack Jill Show, entertaining real estate investment advice. I’m Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit: And I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting from sunny Southern California. Well, actually, technically, I’m not really in Southern right now, we’re in Northern California, but anyway …
Jack Butala: Broadcasting from Northern California, where the birth of the computer happened.
Jill DeWit: Yup.
Jack Butala: Today, Jill and I talk about how not to let your feelings get in the way. You know what’s the number one-
Jill DeWit: I have an idea. Don’t have feelings. Don’t feel.
Jack Butala: Number one thing that causes people to not succeed is emotion. It’s total, full-blown … This is not my opinion, it’s a fact.
Jill DeWit: I believe it.
Jack Butala: And we’re all guilty of it; we sit around saying, “Yeah, wonder if I could do this.”
Jill DeWit: I believe it.
Jack Butala: “Wonder if I should do this today at all. Maybe I should just make a fire and watch a movie.”
Jill DeWit: “Wonder if I should even get out of bed.”
Jack Butala: Yeah, that’s it.
Jill DeWit: Uh-huh. “I’m a failure, there’s no way I’m that smart, I’ll never be that person, I can’t catch up, I’m not worthy.”
Jack Butala: So we’ve all been there.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: What do you do to … Well, have you not gotten out of bed ever?
Jill DeWit: Oh, sure.
Jack Butala: Really?
Jill DeWit: No, not like this. No, by choice not gotten out of bed.
Jack Butala: Oh, yeah.
Jill DeWit: Remember that? That’s called Naked Sunday.
Jack Butala: Oh my gosh. What the heck? Happy New Year.
Jill DeWit: That’s right. Anyway … I’m sorry, was that not the question?
Jack Butala: That was not the question.
Jill DeWit: Oh.
Jack Butala: Have you ever not gotten out of bed because you’re just all …
Jill DeWit: Morose?
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: No.
Jack Butala: I haven’t either.
Jill DeWit: I haven’t. Now, have I noticed I’m leading … Have I noticed I’m not my best? Absolutely.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Have I felt myself slipping into a little funk mode? Sure. But, you know, I recognize it, I solve it, and I move on.
Jack Butala: You have little mantras, don’t you?
Jill DeWit: All the time.
Jack Butala: What are some of the things going through your head every day like?
Jill DeWit: “Jack did not mean to do that.” Just kidding.
Jack Butala: “I know there’s better guys out there than Jack; however, it’s too hard to find them.”
Jill DeWit: Man, that’s right. “You did not waste that many years in your life.” Just kidding. I’m just kidding.
Jack Butala: That’s so awful. I had somebody say that to me one time.
Jill DeWit: What?
Jack Butala: A long time ago, yeah.
Jill DeWit: They accused you of wasting-
Jack Butala: “Well, I just wasted six months of my life,” you know, when you’re breaking up with them.
Jill DeWit: That’s funny. It’s kind of like that movie we watched the other day. That was really cute. All right, no, so what was the question?
Jack Butala: I didn’t really have one.
Jill DeWit: Oh. All right, we’ll talk more about it.
Jack Butala: I think this is kind of a food-for-thought episode, if … Whoever you are, I don’t care if you’re the Vice President of Acquisitions for, you know, a real estate investment trust, you could always use more education and more advice, and less emotion.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, that’s true.
Jack Butala: You know, there’s so … Even this day and age, I mean, look at who we elected. And I don’t … I’m not for or against any administration, but I’ve never seen so much emotion, charged emotion, both on the part of the administration and the public. It’s just very … We live in a very emotional time.
Jill DeWit: I think you can … People can pull it out of you, even when you don’t want to be … You don’t want to go there, if that makes sense.
Jack Butala: Yeah, right.
Jill DeWit: So I understand. All right, can we read the question and then get to this, because I have a lot more I want to say, too.
Jack Butala: Oh, sure. Absolutely.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Jack Butala: Let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the jackjill.com online community. It’s free.
Jill DeWit: Okay. Dan S. wrote, “I’m in Canada, and I’m interested in getting started in land investing. My question: Is it easier for me to get started here, or should I be following the steps to get going in the United States? I’ve been going through the podcast and haven’t come across the mention of anything outside of the US, so I’m just looking for some suggestions. Thanks in advance.” Ooh.
Jack Butala: Good question, Dan. I feel qualified to answer this.
Jill DeWit: You are qualified, yes.
Jack Butala: Number one, Canada, as I know it, does not have the equivalent of RealQuest Pro, which is a collection of all assessors’ databases in the country, or, for that matter, DataTree. We are licensed providers of both, as well as TitlePro247. So, there’s no Canadian version of that, to my knowledge. Man, if there is, would somebody please let me know? I know that CoreLogic, which owns RealQuest, is trying to do it in Australia, or they’ve done it in certain sections of Australia, but not, so far as I know, in Canada. And if they did, I’d be all over it. We would be licensed providers the next day of that data. So, for that reason, it’s very, very difficult to do this in Canada without getting assessors’ databases. I don’t know if there’s laws in Canada where you can call the province and get the raw data, the assessors’ data.
Jill DeWit: Right, if it’s public, public …
Jack Butala: I’ll find out. I’ll write that down. Yeah, if there’s laws that make the tax roll public information.
Jill DeWit: Public no matter what, exactly.
Jack Butala: So there’s that. Canada also taxes you right at the transaction, whereas in America, you file a tax return in April, so there’s lots of transaction taxes that make this a little bit more difficult. That said, I’ve done a bunch of deals in Canada by simply … I did this incredibly simply. You go to mls.ca, and there’s tons of property, and you sort for exactly what you want. You can find properties on there on the ocean for $50,000-$60,000. And sold them to Americans. I haven’t done that in years and years and years, but it’s possible. And all that was — my experience, although we made a bunch of money on it — was a distraction from actually sending mail out.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: So, to directly answer your question, you’d be crazy not to do this in the States.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. Do it in the States. Yeah, unless you have the tools and the resources there to mirror what we’re doing here, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s just wasting time.
Jack Butala: You don’t have to be here, by the way.
Jill DeWit: Right, yeah.
Jack Butala: Just do it from your living room.
Jill DeWit: There you go. Yeah, and that’s the beauty of it, too. Lot of people don’t know this, that … And I still have people say, “Well, I’m not a citizen, I can’t own property here.” Yeah, you can. There’s a lot of people running around that don’t know that. You do not have to be a citizen of the United States to own property in the United States, and so you can be investing, and we have a lot of investors in our community that are international. They’re Europe, and we have Canada, we have Caribbean.
Jack Butala: Japan.
Jill DeWit: Asia, mm-hmm (affirmative). We have a lot of … So you could be buying and flipping land, like Jack said, from your living room in Toronto, or wherever you’re sitting, and it’s US land.
Jack Butala: Everybody wants to buy … Everybody wants to own a piece of California, specifically people in Asia, so bear that in mind if you’re a US seller like us. Expand your horizons about where you market your real estate. There’s lots of agencies that specifically market property to Chinese … To mainland China.
Jill DeWit: You know what else is cool? There’s some communities, there’s some pockets, if you will, in the United States that I’ve noticed a ton of Canadians, for example, the Phoenix area. That could be your niche, Dan. You could be sitting in Canada selling all kinds of property, US property, to fellow Canadians, because you speak their language — you know what I mean — and make that your niche. You could be the Canadian pro of US property.
Jack Butala: Exactly.
Jill DeWit: I might go do that.
Jack Butala: You might go do that, like, you, Jill DeWit?
Jill DeWit: I might go do that. I might go do that. Exactly. If you don’t … That doesn’t sing to you, Dan, I’ll do it. So, thank you, Jack.
Jack Butala: Today’s topic: Don’t let your feelings get in the way. Don’t be emotional. Just get the stuff done. This is the meat of the show.
Jill DeWit: That’s so funny.
Jack Butala: We already alluded to it a little bit, Jill, and I just think everybody out there really knows what we’re talking about.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Jack Butala: Yet you let it creep in.
Jill DeWit: It’s true.
Jack Butala: So, do you have any … This is kind of your area. Do you have any quick advice to just get yourself out of your own head and get some stuff done?
Jill DeWit: You know, I have to … It’s hard, I have to force myself. You have to force-
Jack Butala: You make it look easy.
Jill DeWit: Oh, thank you. You don’t see the tears on the inside.
Jack Butala: You’re walking around crying on the inside.
Jill DeWit: Yes. I’m just kidding.
Jack Butala: Welcome to the last show … Welcome to the last episode of the Jack and Jill Show.
Jill DeWit: [inaudible 00:08:34] Tears on the inside. That’s a … Title of my new book. My Life With-
Jack Butala: Tears on the Inside.
Jill DeWit: … My Life With Jack.
Jack Butala: How to Have a Successful Relationship: Tears on the Inside. [inaudible 00:08:54] marriage.
Jill DeWit: That’s right. How to Survive Life with Your Partner: Tears on the Inside, and working with your partner. It’s awesome. No, no.
Jack Butala: Learn to live with your disgust.
Jill DeWit: No.
Jack Butala: These are good titles.
Jill DeWit: Well, you know what’s … You’re writing them all down, nice. No, but you know what? So here’s what it is. You’ve got to force yourself, and after a while, you’ll get back on track. Those days that it’s hard, you don’t want to get out of bed, you don’t want to follow the schedule, you don’t want to come home, you are wiped out, but you allotted two hours tonight to go pick a county, and all you really want to do is sit down and have a … Pour yourself a nice glass of scotch. [inaudible 00:09:37]
Jack Butala: Well, you can pick a county with scotch.
Jill DeWit: Well, yes. Pick several counties.
Jack Butala: I do it, actually.
Jill DeWit: I’m sure you do.
Jack Butala: I understand your point.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. But if you … Once you get going, then it becomes a habit, and then it’s your lifestyle, and it’s silly, but it’s just like going to the gym. It’s like, once you start … You know, those first couple mornings, it’s really, really rough, and then after a while, you start feeling good. “Huh, you know, I kind of like this.”
Jack Butala: I never really realized until recently, until last year, how important habits are. Your body gets used to it, your biological clock gets used to it, getting up in a certain time of the morning and doing stuff. If you get into habits, it only takes two weeks. I heavily researched this.
Jill DeWit: Not 30 days?
Jack Butala: It takes two weeks for your body to, if you get up at a certain time, to completely change. Like, think of jet lag, how fast you can get over that.
Jill DeWit: Oh, that’s true.
Jack Butala: So it’s just a habitual “I know it’s painful in the beginning” thing, but if you come home every day and spend an hour on this, or however it works, or you spend all weekend, after two or three weeks, you’re going to … It’s muscle memory, so to speak.
Jill DeWit: Exactly. So, and like I said, I have a mantra, and you know what’s funny? I know a lot of people do that too. I say it in my head, I remember, and I have little mantras that I do, and sometimes I write them on my phone. I actually have little notes to myself. I’ve known people that have had sticky notes and other little notes around to remind them of things. Maybe on the back of your visor. This is not crazy, Jack, so … Are you looking at me like I’m crazy?
Jack Butala: No.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Jack Butala: Hey, whatever works. I don’t think that any of this stuff’s crazy, honestly.
Jill DeWit: Okay. So whatever it is, and, you know … Do it, and stick to it. The other thing that I do for myself is I reward myself when I get through some tough times, and once I get that mailer out, or once I get some properties, you know, whatever your goal is, whatever your … These feelings are keeping you from doing something, so you push through it. I reward myself, and that motivates me.
Jack Butala: How do you … What’s an example?
Jill DeWit: Well, they’re all girl examples.
Jack Butala: That’s okay. I have some guy examples of this. I can make some stuff [inaudible 00:11:52].
Jill DeWit: Oh, all right. All right, well, you know what? I mean, depending on the thing, I might treat myself to a little spa day. I might go shopping. And then the big ones, like maybe we closed a good deal, man, I’m going to go buy that watch I’ve been looking at. You know, stuff like that. That’s not crazy. Don’t go crazy and, like, go backwards, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
Jack Butala: Here’s my secret, and I’ve talked about it on the show in the distant past. I just get up, and I do what’s in the calendar, like a machine.
Jill DeWit: You know what, and that sings to you.
Jack Butala: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jill DeWit: So here’s the thing everybody has to understand and respect: Everyone is different.
Jack Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: Jack’s way doesn’t work for everybody. My way doesn’t work for everybody. Your way won’t work for everybody, and you have to respect that. Another example is YouTube. Jack, you are a huge calendar person, you’re a huge YouTube person. I am neither. I use a calendar so I don’t … You know, so I’m not running around not knowing where I’m supposed to be, because I can’t remember it all, but I don’t use it the way you do. And then also, when I’m looking up something, you’re a huge … You go right to YouTube, you want to see it. I like to read it. I’m going to get out the manual, while you’re going to watch a video.
Jack Butala: Yeah, we understand your point, everybody’s different.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Jack Butala: I just think that what really does not work for me … What’s important is you need to know what works for you and what doesn’t.
Jill DeWit: True.
Jack Butala: What does not work for me is waking up in the morning and checking to see how I feel. If that’s what this show was about, that would be a disaster for me.
Jill DeWit: Got it. What if you wake up in the morning and you’re ultra-inspired, and you want to go way above and beyond? Is that okay?
Jack Butala: Yeah, so what I’ll do then is I’ll take a look at what’s in my calendar, and I’ll cram it all in to getting it done before noon, and then I’ll go do what I want.
Jill DeWit: Oh.
Jack Butala: Because “inspired,” in the way you just used it in context there, means “I just want to go do what I want.”
Jill DeWit: No. Well, maybe it’s work-related, though. Maybe you decided, “I want to really work ahead.”
Jack Butala: Okay.
Jill DeWit: You know, maybe like today-
Jack Butala: Writing day.
Jill DeWit: … “You know, I know” … Yeah, maybe writing. Yeah, maybe, “You know, I’ve been eking out a page or two a day. You know what? I’m going to write a whole chapter today,” and you’re, like, ultra-inspired, so you’re off-script, you’re off-calendar, but in a positive way, because of how you felt when you woke up. A, does that ever happen to you?
Jack Butala: Yes, but I already kind of answered it. I will … I have to get the stuff done that I say I’m going to get done. Like, this show is a great example, you know. This is not … This is hard. It’s not difficult.
Jill DeWit: Is that a man thing?
Jack Butala: Yeah, part of it is.
Jill DeWit: Oh.
Jack Butala: It’s not difficult, this show; it’s time-consuming, and so it consumes a pretty good chunk of one … A half of the day a week. Anyway, it’s as far as you’re concerned, then there’s a bunch of other stuff that’s got to go on. So, if I got up every week and said, “Eh, maybe we’ll do the show, maybe we won’t,” it just doesn’t work.
Jill DeWit: Oh, no, that’s true.
Jack Butala: There’s some stuff you have to do, and that’s all there is to it.
Jill DeWit: That’s true.
Jack Butala: You have to get offers in the mail.
Jill DeWit: That’s true. You’ve got to answer the phone.
Jack Butala: You and I have the luxury — I don’t know if it’s a luxury, it didn’t happen on accident — of having a staff that does all the stuff that we don’t want to do.
Jill DeWit: It’s not a luxury, we worked really hard for that. I’m dead serious.
Jack Butala: I know we did. I mean, people answering our phones and managing a lot of stuff, so that is huge, you know, and that came with decades of work.
Jill DeWit: And it still takes work to keep everybody on track. You know what, that’s good news and bad news. Great, now I have a staff to answer the phone. Now I’ve got to motivate them, not just me. I’ve got to make sure they show up, and they’re doing the right thing, and all of that.
Jack Butala: Right. That’s a good point. That’s actually a good topic for a show. There’s a fine line between … Jill and I recently have hired and then let people go for this reason, and this reason only. They were actually more work working for … We had to do more stuff having them work with us.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. Yes.
Jack Butala: They needed so much hand-holding and so much instruction, and there’s only so much you can …
Jill DeWit: You’re right.
Jack Butala: There are people who bring stuff to the table, and there are people who don’t; they take it away from the table.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: So you have to decide which one you are.
Jill DeWit: That would be another … That would be a funny show, by the way. That’s really good. You know what, that’s the truth. You want to make, you want to be … Just surround yourself by the people that make your life easier, and you want to be that person for somebody else.
Jack Butala: Exactly.
Jill DeWit: I hope I do that for you.
Jack Butala: You do it a lot for me, Jill.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. And you do a lot for me too, Jack.
Jack Butala: Well, you’ve done it again, wasted another bunch of … 20 minutes, let’s say, listening to the Jack and Jill Show. Join us tomorrow, where we discuss how to choose a side business. Not just real estate, but how to actually go through the motions of saying, “Hey, should I own an ice cream shop on the side? Should I own a real estate investment trust on the side, or should I flip some houses?”
Jill DeWit: Love it. And we answer your questions. Should you have one, post it on jackjill.com. It’s free, anyone can add something in there. Please go do it, and we might reuse it on the show.
Jack Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit: We just thought of, like, four different new topics from that. That was good.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: It really made me think, and you’re right, when you brought up some of our recent … We had two, unfortunately, that are no longer with us, because that exact … At the end of the day … I remember you and I having this conversation. You said, “All right, if you spend an extra hour a day with this person, can you get them there?” And I had to look at you and go-
Jack Butala: Nope.
Jill DeWit: … “Well, for the extra hour … Well, number one, I’m not sure, and number two, for the extra hour a day, I could do the job.”
Jack Butala: They both had the technical skills; neither one of them brought the right attitude.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. It was up, and then down really fast.
Jack Butala: There was a lot of misrepresentation in the beginning about what was happening. And you know what I was thinking about? The people that we have working for us that are doing really well all came from other jobs, and these two people came from no job.
Jill DeWit: Oh, maybe that was a sign.
Jack Butala: So, I mean, maybe that was just purely coincidence, but … Hiring people and managing them is one of the things that I never realized how complicated, and how … Fortunately, I have you, because you do most of it.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Jack Butala: But I have never … I mean, dealing with customers is easier than dealing with employees.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: So it’s … You’ve got to be careful what you wish for.
Jill DeWit: It’s hard.
Jack Butala: “Man, if I really” … You know, you sit there and you say, “Man, if I only had somebody who could do this, this, and this,” but then, you know, now you’re managing somebody.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: So I’m not being negative about it; I’m just saying you have to really figure out what you can outsource, and what you have to manage.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: Best employees I’ve ever had are ones who work in different states. They just get the stuff done, I have no … Talk about emotion.
Jill DeWit: Or countries.
Jack Butala: Yeah. They just have no idea what they’re doing, but it just all seems to get done.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, you just show up and it’s done, there it is.
Jack Butala: And I bet if you had to ask them, they probably like that too.
Jill DeWit: That’s exactly it. Hey, share the fun by subscribing on iTunes or wherever you’re listening, and while you’re at it, please rate us there. We are Jack and Jill.
Jack Butala: We are Jack and Jill. Information …
Jill DeWit: … and inspiration …
Jack Butala: … to buy undervalued 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 jack@jackjill.com.
The JackJill Family of Companies include:
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.
