Scaling Your Business with Partners (LA 859)
Scaling Your Business with Partners (LA 859)
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: And I’m Jill DeWit broadcasting from sunny southern California.
Steven Butala: Today Jill and I talk about scaling your business with partners. Jill and I had the unfortunate event of being trapped in a car for about 10 hours on the way back from the holiday weekend between Scottsdale and Los Angeles.
Jill DeWit: Yesterday.
Steven Butala: And we watched about 400 episodes of Shark Tank.
Jill DeWit: Yes, we did.
Steven Butala: And it dawned on me that all these guys are doing is bringing on partners and scaling up what ends up being a holding company or an investment portfolio of companies.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Steven Butala: To their benefit. It’s a win, win situation. So, we’ve been doing that for a really long time with the boot selling ground program. We’re about to launch a couple other companies that are driven by people who are better at the stuff that we’re about to go do, than us. They’re our partners.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: I figured, heck, logical extension of everything seems to be having a show and talking about it.
Jill DeWit: Isn’t it fun to spend that much time in a car with your significant other too. I just gotta say, Steven, that quality time that we got to share together yesterday was just, oh priceless, and I cannot wait to do that again.
Steven Butala: Somebody said to me, “You know, there’s these things called airplanes.”
Jill DeWit: Yes.
Steven Butala: It would of been just as bad, I think, in the airport.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. That was my thing. Last minute, do we jump on a plane, but I’m like, no, this is the worst day ever. We would be standing in line at security. That could be worse.
Steven Butala: And sitting on a tarmac for a year.
Jill DeWit: That’s true. Yup.
Steven Butala: Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. And it’s free. As you’re listening, please drop your questions into the comment section below.
Jill DeWit: Mark S. asks, “How are you planning for 2019?
Steven Butala: That’s a brilliant question.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: Sometimes the shortest, easiest questions are the most brilliant and the most difficult to respond to.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. I already got a couple answers.
Steven Butala: Go ahead.
Jill DeWit: So for me personally, it’s what this show’s about. We’re gonna talk about that. The second part though is, I’m just thinking, from our members perspective, if I was a member, here’s what I would be doing. First of all, if I was a brand new member, I would be blowing through 1.0 and 2.0, which is now available, as fast as I can. I would have it open on one computer, and I would be doing it on another computer, and I would be trying to send out mail within seven days. I would not waste my time.
Jill DeWit: So, that’s one thing I’ve learned from our now, three and a half years of doing this with a group. The size is the longer you wait, the easier it is to keep waiting. If you just don’t think about it.
Steven Butala: That’s totally true.
Jill DeWit: And you just go for it, you will be fine. It’s like I tell the kids, we’re not going to let you fall that far. You have us, and you have your community here. We’ve all made all kinds of mistakes, separately and together, the same ones sometimes, and we’re going to help you. Whatever it is, we’ll help you through it. So, that’s what I would be doing if I was a brand new member.
Jill DeWit: If I was an intermediate member I would be watching 2.0. I would be upping my property numbers, the dollar amounts. I would be shifting into, like we talked about last week, shifting into being the ring leader, if you will, and not doing all the work myself because then you’re going to grow.
Steven Butala: I’ll take it even a step further, do exactly what you said. But I would take a calendar for 2019, divide it by 12.
Jill DeWit: That’s good.
Steven Butala: Obviously, one each for one month. Then divided by 52 each week and get to your goal. Make sure December of 2019, you’re sitting around, essentially, like we are because it’s just about December of ’18, sitting around saying that was probably the best year we’ve ever had. If it wasn’t, it was in the top three.
Steven Butala: So, that’s what you want to set yourself up for. Get an Outlook calendar or whatever system works for you and break the tasks down. There’s a huge part of it, plan academy 2.0, called equity planner where, it’s a spreadsheet with a bunch of tabs. The very first tab is, set your goal. So, if you want to make 12 million bucks next year, divide by 12, divide by 52, and right in there it says, this is exactly, for your product type, how much mail you need to send out. Then, back into it again. If I’m going to send out this much mail during January, can I answer the phone? Probably not. Well, I need to get [inaudible 00:05:01] live and just work through every single, little step of the way.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, so good.
Steven Butala: That will get you to where you’re sitting, at the end of November, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, googly-eyed at your business partner or your spouse saying-
Jill DeWit: Googly-eyed.
Steven Butala: I can’t freaking believe we just made this kind of dough.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: It’s not hard.
Jill DeWit: Nope.
Steven Butala: Yeah, googly-eyed.You like googly-eyed?
Jill DeWit: I like googly-eyed.
Steven Butala: Out of all the stuff that I just said, she picks out the phrase googly-eyed. Of all The kick-butt advice.
Jill DeWit: Whatever.
Steven Butala: Jill’s like, “Oh, I like googly-eyed.
Jill DeWit: Equity planner, the 12 million bucks. No, I latch on to googly-eyed.
Steven Butala: This is the direct result of being with your significant other in the car for 12 hours.
Jill DeWit: Yes, now it’s 12, I thought it was 10.
Steven Butala: What was it?
Jill DeWit: I thought it was 10, now it’s 12. By the end of this show it’s gonna be, we were in the car for 15 hours.
Steven Butala: I didn’t even calculate it.
Jill DeWit: I know.
Steven Butala: That’s how bad it was.
Jill DeWit: I know. Oh God.
Steven Butala: I so tired by the time we got home. I parked the car all wrong in the driveway and got-
Jill DeWit: A ticket.
Steven Butala: I got a parking ticket in my own driveway. That’s how bad it was.
Jill DeWit: That’s awesome.
Steven Butala: Which I’m not going to argue about.
Jill DeWit: I know. I’m not even going to fight it. I’m just gonna pay it and say-
Steven Butala: Yeah, yeah, my bad.
Jill DeWit: Glad we’re still alive.
Steven Butala: You’re right. Sorry everyone. I can’t park. I was just so happy to get out of this stupid car, moment. Today’s topic, scaling your business with business partners. This is the meat of the show. I kind of feel like we just had the meat of the show. If you want to take it a step even further, what you need to do then, and Jill and I have very successfully, we’re walking leading examples of this. I do the stuff in these companies that she doesn’t want to do and vice versa. We’ve been partners since 2011 ish.
Jill DeWit: Nine.
Steven Butala: Is it nine.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: Eleven is when we really did it, started doing it full time.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: She ends up doing the sales part of it and, essentially, the people part of it, with employees, and customers.
Jill DeWit: It’s just the stuff that he does not like to do.
Steven Butala: Yeah, and I end up doing the planning and the back end, data piece, and a lot of-
Jill DeWit: The money part.
Steven Butala: We’re starting to see a bunch of members who are like us. They’re dividing and conquering. Some of the members that we have are doing it with other members that they met at live events, and things like that. We’re getting little reports, Jill and I get, we’re like parents. We’re always the last to know.
Jill DeWit: Yes, it’s true.
Steven Butala: It’s always way after we can do anything about it.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: Whether it’s positive or negative.
Jill DeWit: That’s true.
Steven Butala: So, scaling your business with a partner is imperative, and I brought up Shark Tank earlier. That’s what they do.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: They’re just the money people. So, we’re about to launch, at the end of the year this, we’re calling it the advanced group, which is essentially internet portal. It’s run by Justin [inaudible 00:07:59]. He’s going to be here this week and we’ll have him on the show. Actually, all of next week. We’ll record shows for next week. Then, he’ll be on a live webinar if he agrees to. He’s going to head that up for us for a pretty good chunk of equity.
Jill DeWit: Oh, on the Thursday call, you mean?
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Oh, okay good. Yeah, I pretty much assumed that. I already told the whole team that’s what’s happening. Justin doesn’t know it yet. But, that’s what’s happening. As you read this, Justin, because I know you, Justin.
Steven Butala: Justin doesn’t have the patience to listen or watch the show. He gets the transcript and reads it.
Jill DeWit: Zero patience.
Steven Butala: Because it’s faster.
Jill DeWit: That’s right, He just blows through, looks for the important stuff and that’s it.
Steven Butala: Which is one of the reasons, I think, he’s probably a great person for this job. It’s not a job. He’s a great partner for us.
Jill DeWit: Exactly, well I see three parts to this, okay. So, you just kind of touched on them. So the one, scaling your business with the partner. One could be like us. That’s perfect. Having a partner, dividing up the tasks, and it’s so great, and I love it. Like you said too, it’s fun. We get the feedback from other members that, “I do this, and my wife does that. I’m more like the Jill and she’s more like the Steven. I’m like, “That’s cool, that’s great.”
Steven Butala: That’s exactly how they say it.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: I’m the Jill.
Jill DeWit: Yep. I’m like, this is awesome. So, they figured that out. So, that’s one way of doing this and that’s excellent. Then another way of doing this is, like you said, finding someone within our group. Maybe there’s somebody in the group that’s a kick-ass mail person, but they hate posting property. They have so much property. They don’t know what to do with it because they’re getting hung up on posting the property, and that’s your forte, and you can post it and sell it and everything. You guys can figure that out and get that together. A lot of our members are doing that.
Jill DeWit: And then, the third way is what you guys are working on, on a big level, scaling your business with partners. What if your business is doing fantastic. The only hang up is, you are so good at it you keep running out acquisition funds. That’s what you’re working on too, in bringing another partners.
Steven Butala: That’s what the advanced group is for.
Jill DeWit: And that’s going to be … So, I want to throw that in there. I hope it’s okay I’m sharing that.
Steven Butala: I guess.
Jill DeWit: Okay so, but that’s what’s going to be coming because maybe you and your, it could be you and your spouse. You’re killing it, killing it, killing it, but you’re like, we’re not ready to take on some of these really, really big transactions. So, there’s a couple reasons why you want to deal with other people’s money too. Number one, you can do better deals or more deals.
Steven Butala: A lot more.
Jill DeWit: You can do a lot more deals, faster.
Steven Butala: In fact it’s limitless.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, and then … Exactly, and the second thing I like is, they’re not going to sign off on it unless it sings to them too. So, you’re already going to get another pair of eyes. So, by the time you present it to this group, whatever the format you set up is. However you presented to this group, it’s got a pass all your tests and all these, whatever your list of tests are. Then, it goes to the group and then they’re not going to fund it unless they feel fantastic about it too. And then it’s, that takes some of the pressure off too. I know we’re spending $100,000.00 on it. But, we all agree that it’s worth it.
Steven Butala: Yeah, it’s creates a system of checks and balances. And you want that. Jill we’re here … Well, nevermind. That was a crazy offshoot story. I think it’s fantastic.
Jill DeWit: Well you, kind of, started it now. If it’s not related to the topic then I think you should absolutely share it.
Steven Butala: Back in the day, you buy a record or you’d listen to an album on it, whatever you do now, and the first one is great. Then one of the [inaudible 00:11:23] because they collaborated on it and they got everybody’s opinion, including a producer, and the whole thing, and they’re real motivated. The band itself is mot-
Jill DeWit: The first album.
Steven Butala: Yeah, the first record. And then the second one is like, eh. Then, the third one is like, what happened?
Jill DeWit: I hate it when that happens.
Steven Butala: And then, the fourth one is usually there’s only one survivor, one band member that won, the compositional guy.
Jill DeWit: Just because he just hung in there the longest.
Steven Butala: Yeah, and he’s one that’s writing and doing all of it, and it’s awful. My point is, there’s a collaboration that goes on that you can’t that’s the … When you hear about corporate culture and all of that. That’s, that stuff. It’s the touchy-feely stuff that really ends up mattering. You have to have somebody, and it’s me, watching the money and watching the numbers. But that other stuff, the older I get the more I think that that touchy-feely corporate culture.
Jill DeWit: That’s me.
Steven Butala: Yeah. Really, really, actually, really matters in staying motivated and all that.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: Which is why I inadvertently just described a partnership.
Jill DeWit: There you go. That’s perfect.
Steven Butala: Well, you’ve done it again. You’ve spent another 12 minutes or so listening to the Land Academy Show. Join us next time where we discuss diversify, risk, with multiple lines of revenue.
Jill DeWit: And we answer your questions posted on our online community, landinvestors.com. It is free.
Steven Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit: All right, I gotta say, it’s cyber Monday. I have two things I want to say about cyber Monday. Number one, are you going to do any shopping online Steven?
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Because I am too.
Steven Butala: I’m not a black Friday person. I’ll be honest, walking around the mall trying to get save 20% is not my thing, but I will save 20, to 30, to 40% on computer equipment on Amazon.
Jill DeWit: Okay, that’s on my list and I was going to say I think, don’t you have a West Marine cyber Monday event that you have coming on right now. I have something on my desk I’ll give to you from them too.
Steven Butala: I’m getting updated electronics for the boat, entirely, at half off.
Jill DeWit: I’m gonna get another computer today and another video camera.
Steven Butala: Are you really?
Jill DeWit: Yeah, I am.
Steven Butala: Good for you.
Jill DeWit: I am, I’m excited. And then the other cyber Monday I want to share is, I have a lot to share, is I know the black Friday thing is over. But we’re continuing it today and calling it cyber Monday. So, if you’ve been thinking about this, wondering about this, should I do Land Academy? Should I not do Land Academy? I don’t know. Get in. There’s always a guarantee, anyway. if you, 30 days you want out, this is not your thing. We got you covered. That’s how we roll. So anyway, for right now still, it’s the code is cyber Monday, if you want to go to landacademy.com.
Jill DeWit: You get 1.0 and 2.0, no price increase, five hundred dollars off, and some other great stuff that we threw in there too. So, please check it out. And this community is getting, is solid, man.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: We have a really good group.
Steven Butala: I can’t believe what it became.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, please be sure to hit the subscribe button to stay up to date on our podcast. Like us and comment on what you would like to see in future shows. And if you’re listening on iTunes, please rate us there.
Steven Butala: We are Steven and Jill.
Jill DeWit: We are Steve and Jill.
Steven Butala: Information.
Jill DeWit: And inspiration.
Steven Butala: To buy undervalued property.
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