Business Signs Tell You to Go from Part Time to Fulltime (LA 714)
Business Signs Tell You to Go from Part Time to Fulltime (LA 714)
Transcript:
Steven Butala: Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: Hello.
Steven Butala: Welcome to The Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit: I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting from sunny southern California.
Steven Butala: Today, Jill and I talk about business signs that tell you you should go from part-time to full-time wholesaling land or houses.
Jill DeWit: I have a good list.
Steven Butala: This is a good week.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: This is the kind of week I like. This is Business Week. It’s Get Your Business Kicked Up to the Next Notch Week, or whatever … I don’t know. That’s not the formal name.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: You got all that stuff, though. You got all the things that, in the beginning, that just trip you up. You got your wits back about you. You got your confidence. You know the business works. Now, it’s just all about doing some deals.
Jill DeWit: You just passed all your tests, whatever your personal tests were. Sometimes people question-
Steven Butala: You convinced your wife.
Jill DeWit: Well, they question not only, “Is what we provide …” but, what you can … How do I say this? It’s not just about if the business is a viable business. It’s, “Are you a viable candidate to make this business work?” They both have to be on the same page.
Steven Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: Jill and I just got off the phone with a guy who already has a business, and he’s going to add this to it. Which, I think, he’s already knocked out that whole attitude part of it. His attitude is correct.
Jill DeWit: Do you remember we had that list a while back, though? We thought about, “What are the top three things of all of our most successful members?”
Steven Butala: Yes. Yeah, go ahead.
Jill DeWit: Number one was they know how to run a business. They’ve been a business owner. They are a business owner. You have to have that mentality and have to be able to know to get things … If you have a successful business, you’ve been through a lot of crap.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: You know how to cut through it, and to-
Steven Butala: Cut through it. Get over it.
Jill DeWit: Power through and get it done, and get there. If you didn’t have a successful business, like you never conquered accepting credit cards for your business, it wouldn’t work, kind of thing. So, you’ve got through all that, and there’s always obstacles.
The second one was understanding data. You have to be able to …
Steven Butala: Spreadsheets.
Jill DeWit: You can’t say, “I just finished Excel 101, now I’m ready.”
Steven Butala: Yeah, that’s not going to work.
Jill DeWit: Then number three was you really have to have some funds, or access to … We want to be honest. I don’t want you to come here with $80,000 in debt, and you have one credit card left that you’re living off of. This is not for you. You need to be able to-
Steven Butala: Yeah, you got some other stuff to do first.
Jill DeWit: You’re not going to be able to sleep at night, and that’s not the right way to start something.
Steven Butala: You just got to have the right attitude. You have to get … whatever it is, get over it. That’s not Land Academy specific, that’s your life.
Jill DeWit: That’s anything.
Steven Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: Wow, we got off on a tangent fast there. Before we get into the show, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on TheLandAcademy.com online community. It’s free.
Jill DeWit: Well, that was actually good, though. We just laid the foundation to go from zero to part-time. Now, we’re going to talk about, after this, to go part-time to full-time. Okay.
BD Jones asks, “Hi, all. I’ve done several deals so far-
Steven Butala: Perfect.
Jill DeWit: Nice.
Steven Butala: That’s what this is all about.
Jill DeWit: “All have been through a title company and relatively local. I’ve got an out of state deal, now. Would like to sell it just like I’m buying it, trading a cashier’s check for a deed. I understand how to buy out of state. All of my sellers, so far, have been out of state. But, how do you sell out of state? I can’t imagine telling someone who met me off Craigslist, ‘Send me a check, and I’ll send you a deed.’ Or, even, ‘Hire a notary to bring me a check and her or she will send you the deed.’ I guess the latter may work, but people will be suspicious. Curious, how do you all sell out of state with an in-house closing? Thanks.”
Steven Butala: Go ahead.
Jill DeWit: Really? Okay.
Steven Butala: [crosstalk 00:03:52] I can answer it anything [crosstalk 00:03:53]
Jill DeWit: You usually love to jump in. I’m like, “Oh, you’re letting me go here first.”
Well, you know what? Part of it is transparency and our transaction record. I don’t have those questions, because people can look us up and see this is not our first deal. I say that’s number one. Do you have a website? Is there some substance to it? It’s like any business I go to. If I go to a business and there’s no website, I’m just talking to a guy. I’m like, “How do I know this is not a throwaway phone number, and it’s going to be gone tomorrow?” But, if I have a website, and a presence, and a credibility, and heck, a track record, you could see deals, that takes a lot of it out of it. That’s [inaudible 00:04:33] for us.
The other thing is, too, we have it set up now, people can check out and pay with a credit card. There’s credit card security-
Steven Butala: I love it when you answer my question.
Jill DeWit: Okay, thank you.
Steven Butala: Beautiful.
Jill DeWit: Okay, thanks. There’s security in credit cards. Some people just plot down credit cards. There’s that, versus a cashier’s check. That would be the easiest thing for me is to offer another form of payment to make it easier for them.
But, my third point is if they don’t have any objections, don’t dream them up. Seriously. I wonder, too, if you’re going, “No one’s going to believe me. I shouldn’t even do this.” Well, hold on a moment, BG. Go down the path first, and go through it-
Steven Butala: BG. It’s BD.
Jill DeWit: BD, excuse me.
Steven Butala: Bee Gees.
Jill DeWit: Assume that there are no objections. Then when there are objections, then address them, and answer them, and solve them. That’s the easiest thing, too. If you just say, “Hey, here’s how I usually do it in these situations. Here’s the deed. I’m going to show you the deed. If you need to see some documentation …” Whatever. I don’t know. If they need to have it all spelled out what’s going to happen, and just … I guess, go down the process. Unless they say no, then follow all the way through, and it’s going to be fine. What do you want to add, Steven?
Steven Butala: There’s two types of real estate deals, land deals. There’s deals that you do, you close through title, because they’re big, dollar big. Then the other kind is the ones you don’t, you process yourself, because they’re small. If they’re small, you need to take credit cards, you’re going remove this whole thing from your life. It’s not just the trust factor, there’s a lot of paper moving around, and a lot of stuff. Then you’re going to lose some sleep. They’re going to lose some sleep. Do yourself a massive favor and get credit card processing today.
I’ll tell you, you didn’t hear this from me, but if you go get PayPal, which you probably already have, if you process one land deal on PayPal, it’s not going to send off any sirens.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Steven Butala: It’s truly not part of their program. It’s not part of their accepted product type to sell. Stripe, PayPal, and whatever. BluePay, I think.
Jill DeWit: [Moncleric 00:06:51].
Steven Butala: Moncleric. All those. They eventually will say, “Knock it off.”
Jill DeWit: Right.
Steven Butala: But, in a pinch here, if you need to sell property, you can send them a … even with PayPal you can do it. It’s not a ton of money. But, you need to start down the path with a company like Heartland Processing Systems, which we have. We spent a year talking to them and setting up a whole department for all of our group, so you can just call and get … Start down that path. It’s not going to help you immediately, but start down that path.
The other thing you could do if you’re bent on doing it this way, is have a buyer call the people you’ve just sold property to, and say, “Is this guy a stand-up guy? Did he follow through on it? Does he really own it?” And, build a case. But, I’m telling you, it’s a lot of work.
Jill DeWit: Shouldn’t need to do that.
Steven Butala: It’s a lot of calls, and paper, and all that.
Jill DeWit: [crosstalk 00:07:39] do that. You know what? Here’s a [inaudible 00:07:40] to, if you have the presence, if they do have any objections and they’re not comfortable with it, then fine. Move on to the next guy.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: It’s okay.
Steven Butala: Yeah. But still, you’re kicking the can down the road, you need to accept credit cards, period.
Jill DeWit: Well, that’s a process, too, learning it.
Steven Butala: Yeah, but he could do process of payment right now on PayPal for one deal.
Jill DeWit: That’s true. Exactly. No one would know.
Steven Butala: Get the thing done.
Jill DeWit: And, set anything up. Don’t put in there, “For sale of 10 acres in Nevada.” Don’t put that in the PayPal thing, because that might set off a little red flag.
Steven Butala: Exactly.
Jill DeWit: You could put an APN number, and no one would know if it’s an invoice or an APN.
Steven Butala: Couple of shows ago, I was actually laughing about how to deposit money, and this is a question about it. It’s a concern people have.
Jill DeWit: It is. See, I told you.
Steven Butala: “How do I deposit this money in my bank? Someone wants to give me money.”
Jill DeWit: I know. “People are trying to give me money.” Take it. Take it. Cool.
Steven Butala: Today’s topic … I’m sorry. Were you done?
Jill DeWit: I guess I am.
Steven Butala: Are you done?
Jill DeWit: Yeah. It’s fine.
Steven Butala: Today’s topic is what are the business signs that tell you to go from being part-time to full-time in the land flipping business? This is the meat of the show. I know you’ve written down all kinds of cool stuff.
Jill DeWit: Okay. I wrote down three things. I’ll blast them now, and then we can talk about them and see if you have any to add. Because, I think this is good. The number one business sign … Sounds like Dave Letterman. “The number one business sign you need to go from part-time to full-time is …”
Steven Butala: “Your mom kicks you out of the house. Number nine.”
Jill DeWit: There we go. Yeah. You’re losing money, since your day job is taking too much time.
Steven Butala: What the heck does that mean, Jill? Explain it to us.
Jill DeWit: That means that you’re full-time at another job, and you’re part-time at your land business. Your land business is taking over your day business.
Steven Butala: You’ve used all your vacation time. You’ve begged your boss to … you had to go do this thing.
Jill DeWit: All your sick time is gone. You’re about to fake a back injury, because you need to be present, because you are losing … you have had those deals going, “Wow. How much money did I take home in my day job? And, what could I have done if I close those deals?”
Steven Butala: Your job’s costing you money. You’re looking at yourself in the mirror after you’re done shaving, and you’re [inaudible 00:10:00] “If I didn’t go to work today, I could probably make twice as much money flipping dirt.”
Jill DeWit: Bingo.
Steven Butala: That is a good indication that it’s over.
Jill DeWit: That’s it. My other thing is, too, and your wife’s unhappy. There’s a little PS to that, too. Not only are you standing in the mirror going, “I could make more money, and my wife’s about to shoot me, because when I come home, I run to my home office. And, she doesn’t see me until 10:00 at night.
Steven Butala: Oh, that’s a problem.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. Two. That’s part B of that. That’s 1B.
Steven Butala: If you have an unhappy wife, chances are …
Jill DeWit: Oh, here we go.
Steven Butala: This is not an uncommon-
Jill DeWit: This has nothing to do with the show. Go ahead.
Steven Butala: If you have an unhappy wife, there’s all kinds of stuff going on. Because, really, what she should come to you and say, “You know, I haven’t seen you for two weeks. I love you anyway. Is this going to end? I’m being patient, and I understand you got to do this for us, and the whole thing. But, it just can’t be endless.” That’s how a wife should approach this.
Jill DeWit: I have to open the door, and slide in meals, and close the door.
Steven Butala: She shouldn’t approach it like, “You don’t love me. I knew you didn’t love me. You love your computer.”
Jill DeWit: You love to go on this tangent. Is there something going on you want to share?
Steven Butala: Not with you.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Steven Butala: You’re perfect, actually.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. Thank you. You’re silly. All right. Ready for my number two?
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Okay. Number two reason the business signs that tell you you are a real estate junkie.
Steven Butala: Yeah. Wow. This is brilliant.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. You can not drive down the street without trying to estimate property values.
Steven Butala: God, I do that every day.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Steven Butala: Do you do that?
Jill DeWit: I do. I do. Well, you know … I do. Yeah. I got Number Two doing it with me now. Because I’m driving, he has to read off the numbers to me off Redfin, or something like that.
Steven Butala: Excellent. That’s great.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. When I’m in other states, and stuff, it’s hilarious.
Steven Butala: I’m so fascinated, right now, with putting houses on water, like in Sausalito. They just have floating houses, and they’re for sale, and they’re not expensive. Like in Harry Met Sally, that kind of thing.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Steven Butala: I’m in.
Jill DeWit: I’ve been watching a few … I don’t if I caught a whole series, or what, but I’ve seen shows on renovating those, too, which is really kind of cool. Oh, gosh, well the HGTV couple did one. They did a whole houseboat flip.
Steven Butala: A houseboat? Or, one of those floating houses like in Seattle?
Jill DeWit: Excuse me, floating house, where it’s docked. It’s not like you go anywhere.
Steven Butala: In Texas?
Jill DeWit: You can move it there, but you don’t take it out.
Steven Butala: Right, right, right.
Jill DeWit: It was in Texas, yep.
Steven Butala: I’d like to see that.
Jill DeWit: It was in Texas.
Steven Butala: Did it come out … I’m sure it came out great.
Jill DeWit: Oh, it came out awesome.
Steven Butala: How big are they, like 2,000 feet?
Jill DeWit: Not that big, but it was two stories. Yeah, it was really-
Steven Butala: Did it look good, like outside?
Jill DeWit: Oh, my gosh, it was gorgeous.
Steven Butala: They have a porch and all that?
Jill DeWit: Absolutely.
Steven Butala: I got to see this episode.
Jill DeWit: It was gorgeous. Built-in bunk beds.
Steven Butala: Is there anything you didn’t like about it?
Jill DeWit: None. Nothing.
Steven Butala: All right, from a tax standpoint, there’s no balance sheet play, except for an increase in price. There’s no real property taxes. It’s probably, technically, a personal piece of property. It’s not real property.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, I don’t know.
Steven Butala: So, you’re not going to get property tax, but you will get a slip in a marina. But, if it keeps going up, and there’s some … Now, there’s nothing bad about it.
Jill DeWit: No, it was awesome. Yep. That was good.
Steven Butala: Slight different in the way it’s taxed with mortgage interest, but I don’t even think you’d get a mortgage on something like that. It wouldn’t technically be … I love this. I love this creative approach-
Jill DeWit: Just pay cash for it.
Steven Butala: Okay. Anyway. That’s not what this is about.
Jill DeWit: Enough of that tangent.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: You’re a real estate junkie. Got that out of the way. Real estate deal junkie is what you are.
Then number three, the number three business sign that tells you, your bank account doubled over night.
Steven Butala: I’ll tell you. Because, that parlays me into my … because, that’s your final number three.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, yeah.
Steven Butala: That’s when I quit my job.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Steven Butala: I looked at my bank account, and there’s $560,000 in there. I was actually running out of property to sell. I went in that day, and said, “I can’t …” I told the guy I was working for, who owned the company … I was an investment banker. I said, “As much money as we’re making here, I got to go.” It turned out to be a good idea. You know Seth Williams in the business?
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Butala: He just went through that.
Jill DeWit: He did.
Steven Butala: He was a government employee with pension, the whole thing. He gave up a lot. Lot more than I gave up. He’s very loud about the fact it was the best decision he ever made. He’s got little tiny kids in the house.
Jill DeWit: I know.
Steven Butala: Tiny little kids.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: Way more responsibility than you and I had.
Jill DeWit: Big decision.
Steven Butala: You just got to be sure, though. You really don’t want to do this too fast. I don’t know. What do you think is a good, basic timeframe? Two years?
Jill DeWit: Yeah. That’s the whole thing.
Steven Butala: Two years from when you start buying and selling.
Jill DeWit: At least a couple years.
Steven Butala: Yeah, that’s what I think.
Jill DeWit: At least a couple years. You want it to be … you really want to wait until you’re saying, “Oh, I should have done it six months ago.” That’s the right time.
Steven Butala: That’s right. Jill, that’s a great point.
Jill DeWit: Because, then you really know you’re really, really there. You don’t want to wake up today, and go, “Well, today’s the day. I’m going for it.” Because, it sounds there might be a still a little bit of a hesitation. There should be no hesitation. You are figuratively kicking yourself for not doing it sooner. Then you know it’s the right time.
Steven Butala: Here’s one of the big concerns that I had a long time ago in this business, that I’ve long since gotten over. Where you’re sitting there thinking to yourself, “Is the last deal I’m going to do? Is it really as simple as I’m just going to send …”
Jill DeWit: Have you ever thought that?
Steven Butala: Yeah. Yeah.
Jill DeWit: I’ve never thought that. What are you talking about?
Steven Butala: “Maybe I just got luck on these 42 deals I just did.”
Jill DeWit: Oh. “I’ll never find that again.”
Steven Butala: “Maybe some crazy thing that’s out of my control, like 15,000 Land Academy members are all going to send mail to the same county, or something like that, is going to mess up my revenue stream. And, I’m going to wish, six months from now, I would have …” I’ve never heard anybody say this.
Jill DeWit: I know.
Steven Butala: But I’m saying, it’s in the back of your head when you make that decision. Like, “I just got lucky up to this point, and it’s all going to fall apart now.”
Jill DeWit: I never had that.
Steven Butala: I’m telling you how you get over this. Don’t just mail one little tiny area, and expect … You can’t keep going back to the same well your whole life and expect there to be water down there. You can milk it for quite some time, but eventually, cow’s going to die. SO, diversify that. Diversify the types of property that you’re buying. Don’t just buy five acre properties in XYZ County in Texas. Buy different acreage types-
Jill DeWit: Infill lots.
Steven Butala: Infill lots are a good idea. Go to a different state. Maybe if you’re in Texas, go to Oklahoma in addition to Texas. I don’t know, I’m just choosing this.
Jill DeWit: Cabin type. Lake property.
Steven Butala: Cabin property. Which leads me into House Academy. The more you can diversify all this, and then start buying and selling houses, wholesaling them, the more you’re going to really, truly convince yourself. But I’m telling you, even if you just did, say in two or three county … we have members who just stay in two or three county area, and that’s it. And, they kill it.
Jill DeWit: They’re happy.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: They nailed it. Well, you know how they diversify? Once they get into it, they’re like, “Okay, now I know how to deal with everybody who’s lost a spouse, and their spouse is on the deed. Now I’m a pro with this kind of transaction.” So, they’ll still grow and learn other things, which is awesome. Maybe they’ll up their … maybe they’re in those same counties, and they’re upping the property size, and now they’re subdividing and making more money that way.
Steven Butala: That will never go away.
Jill DeWit: No.
Steven Butala: That will never go away. That’s how you retire in five years.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: You buy a big piece of property, subdivide it down into one to five acre properties. Do it all legal. Do it correctly. Do it with a partner, if you need to. That’s some dough.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: That’s recession proof, knock on wood.
Jill DeWit: I think we covered them all.
Steven Butala: You think?
Jill DeWit: I do.
Steven Butala: Well, you’ve done it again, then, I guess. You’ve spent another 20 minutes with us listening to The Land Academy Show. Join us tomorrow for another interesting episode where we discuss the signs that you’ve actually arrived, air quotes, in this business.
Jill DeWit: You’ve arrived.
Steven Butala: Your ship came in, and you’re standing there patting yourself on the back saying, “I actually did it.”
Jill DeWit: “I guess I am a real investor.”
Steven Butala: Yep.
Jill DeWit: And, we answer your questions posted on our online community found either from LandAcademy.com, or you can go straight there to LandInvestors.com. It’s free.
Steven Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition. You think we’ve arrived?
Jill DeWit: Is that a trick question?
Steven Butala: No, I’m asking you, really.
Jill DeWit: Oh, my gosh.
Steven Butala: Do you sit around and say, “Oh, I’ve arrived.”
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: Do you really?
Jill DeWit: Oh, my gosh.
Steven Butala: God, I never do.
Jill DeWit: Really?
Steven Butala: Yeah, never.
Jill DeWit: Oh. Maybe my list was smaller than yours, or something.
Steven Butala: I was talking to Number Three yesterday about the stages of wealth, the three … we’ll talk about it in the next show. There’s three stages of wealth through me, and we’re long past stage three. But, I just never stop moving forward.
Jill DeWit: See, that’s why … well, and I won’t, either. But, do I think I’ve arrived, and am I very happy with everything? Heck, yeah.
Steven Butala: You look like you’ve arrived.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: Your hair looks nice.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: You look like a million bucks, Jill.
Jill DeWit: I appreciate that.
Steven Butala: You are a million bucks, actually.
Jill DeWit: Thank you very much. Thank you.
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