Take Imperfect Action (LA 1319)
Take Imperfect Action (LA 1319)
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 how to take imperfect action. We interviewed one of our members. Her name’s Bei. She’s been a long-time member. The show actually airs next week.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, cool.
Steven Butala:
Not this week but next week. And she said … I asked her a couple of things like, “What really separates … I mean, you’re in this for life now.” She quit her job. She did everything correctly, in the right order and about the right time frames. And she’s doing really, really well financially. Plus, which I always miss and Jill always catches, she has this good life balance. She’s not a crazy Type A entrepreneur like most of us.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Butala:
So she said, “I take imperfect action.” And I think that’s what we want to talk about today.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Butala:
Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of the members on the LandInvestors.com online community. It’s free.
Jill DeWit:
Jessica wrote, “Really basic question, but I’m looking at Google Maps and Google Earth Pro trying to understand what I’m looking at. If I look at this parcel that stretches along this road up to the intersection in the 3D model on Google Maps, it looks okay. Maybe a bit hilly, but probably buildable. But, then, when I look at it at Google Earth Pro …” Okay, wait. Google Maps. Got it. “… Google Earth Pro, it looks way too hilly. How do I know what is too hilly? In other words, when will the hills limit my buyers? Why are these views so different?” I use these all the time, but I want … This is more you.
Steven Butala:
The way that these 3D-rendering satellite images appear on the internet and appear to us as users is much more dramatic than they are, so … I’m sorry. It’s the reverse. In real life, they are going to seem much more dramatic than they do when you’re looking down at them. The same way when you’re looking in an airplane and you’re looking at stuff, and it’s like, “Oh, it’s not that big of a deal.” But you stand there, and wall’s 22 feet tall, or whatever. So my professional recommendation is to learn how to use layers in these maps. One of them’s called Terrain. And before all these renderings and these maps, somebody my age, that’s the only thing we had.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Butala:
So you can see it’s 300 peaks, 400, 500, 600 feet, or whatever. And, believe me, something that’s 600 feet’s not buildable. There’s two questions in here, so that’s the deal. It’s like in your car where it says, “Things in the mirror might appear to be closer than they are,” that’s very much what’s going on here. It might appear to be okay on the maps, but it’s not.
Jill DeWit:
And we have that. I think we have a Terrain setting, I’m sure we do, in NeighborScoop.
Steven Butala:
We do. I know we do.
Jill DeWit:
And if you look at a hill, it’s like it’ll have circles, like an outline of the hill, and that’s kind of the levels of the elevation.
Steven Butala:
Yeah. Like the rings in a tree.
Jill DeWit:
Uh-huh (affirmative). Exactly. That’s cool. What else was I going to say? I have another cheat way to do this. You can always call. Worst case scenario, you’re really not sure. You’re having a real hard time with this. You could call Planning and Zoning. They’ll get out a map and help you, and I think they … Won’t they? They’ll talk about that. They’ll probably talk too long about it.
Steven Butala:
That leads me to what I really think this question is about. “Should I buy this property, and can I use it?”
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Butala:
“Can the person who I’m going to sell it to, can they put something on it?”
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Butala:
And Jill just answered this question. You really have to call and find out.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly.
Steven Butala:
And look at the neighbors. If the neighbors figured it out without digging a hole, then it’s maybe okay.
Jill DeWit:
Is that funny? You and I were recently coming back. We had lunch at a place, a Mexican joint, on the way out of Lake Arrowhead. And there’s a restaurant on the side of a hill, like a mountain, really, that defies gravity. And we’re sitting there having lunch going, “I’m not sure I feel so safe.” It’s like totally built on stilts so, so often, you really don’t know. I took pictures of the view, but I should’ve taken pictures at it from a different angle, on the side or something, just to show people, “This is one of those properties that we probably would’ve thought, ‘Don’t bother.'”
Steven Butala:
Oh, for sure.
Jill DeWit:
But they made it work, right? And it’s like … There’s nothing around there, by the way, so they figured out the plumbing. They figured out the power. It’s the craziest thing.
Steven Butala:
This is a fantastic point, actually. I’m glad you brought that up. In most places … Not all places. In most places, all those things happened a long, long, long time ago. You’re never going to build a house on stilts right now. You’re not just unless it’s a very special situation, especially in California.
Jill DeWit:
Right. And you’re loaded.
Steven Butala:
In certain places … Yeah. I mean, it’s not even a thing. It’s just to get it passed with the building department and the municipalities. It’s like building a marina now. It’s never going to happen.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Butala:
It’s just not going to happen, at least here. There’s certain places, like Arkansas … My point in bringing this up is like, “Oh, my gosh. I got this piece of property. Right next to it is this four-star restaurant on stilts. This property’s got to be worth a bajillion dollars.” It’s not because that was built in the ’20s, probably, before there was really even zoning or … There was a time when there was no zoning.
Jill DeWit:
Boy.
Steven Butala:
There certainly wasn’t any [crosstalk 00:05:34]
Jill DeWit:
Wouldn’t that have been great?
Steven Butala:
Certainly wasn’t anybody looking over your shoulder when you decided to build something. The attitude back then was, “We won the war, or we’re about to win … We won the first one. We’re going to win the second one. Let’s build some stuff. Let’s make this a better place.” And the attitude now is absolutely not that. It’s like, “Let’s stop progress,” in most places.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Butala:
There’s places in the center of the country … I’ve noticed Arkansas recently … where it’s like, “You want to build something, just please go build it. Just be responsible about it.” And I think that’s like a dream.
Jill DeWit:
I know. That makes me think of this property. One time I sold this huge property to these guys in West Texas. So rural it’s not even funny. And the conversation was, “Who’s going to know?” Short of putting a casino out there, because it was huge, no one driving by would know what you’ve done.
Steven Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
It’s kind of funny. I’m not advocating that, though. I’m just saying I can see people doing that, and I’m sure it goes on.
Steven Butala:
Yeah. Common sense applies to all this stuff.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Butala:
If Google Earth is … How many times on the Thursday call have we reviewed property, and we said, “This looks great. This looks great. This looks great”? Then we go to the street view, and it’s like you look straight up at it like it’s the Great Wall of China.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly. Isn’t that crazy? I love that feature.
Steven Butala:
Yep.
Jill DeWit:
I use it all the time, too.
Steven Butala:
Today’s topic, Take Imperfect Action. This is the meat of the show.
Jill DeWit:
That was a good interview we did with Bei.
Steven Butala:
It was great.
Jill DeWit:
I’m excited for that coming. I think everyone’s going to get a lot out of it, and we did one a few years again with her that people still talk about.
Steven Butala:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jill DeWit:
It’s going to be really good.
Steven Butala:
She’s a former … Well, she is a marketing and a branding expert, so she brings a lot of real hands-on corporate type continuing education to the group. And this is a great example, take imperfect action. I mean, what does that mean to you? I’ve used this term probably 25 times, since we had that interview, with people.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, really?
Steven Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
That’s sweet. That’s really cool.
Steven Butala:
On and off the camera.
Jill DeWit:
What it is is just do it.
Steven Butala:
Just do it.
Jill DeWit:
Don’t stop. Who was I talking to recently about this? I can’t remember who it was, but it was somebody in an online community. I’m like, “You just got to get going. You’re not going to be perfect.” If you spend a month picking an area, and a month downloading the data, and a month scrubbing the data, and a month pricing the data, and then a month getting your letters just perfect, and then getting that in the mail, okay, now, what, six months have passed? You’re not going to get anywhere. You can’t do it. You have to just dive in and go for it at some point.
Steven Butala:
There’s a hundred … I applied this immediately to not getting a mailer out. I don’t know why.
Jill DeWit:
Me, too.
Steven Butala:
Okay, good.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Butala:
So there’s probably 25 reasons, at least, why somebody would never get a mailer out. What do you think?
Jill DeWit:
I know one. They’re afraid to answer the phone. Right out of the gate, I have heard people saying they’re afraid, “I’m going to do it wrong. I’m going to overprice and underprice, and the people are going to call me back, and they’re going know I did it wrong.” Seriously. And they’re afraid to answer the phone.
Steven Butala:
You know what, trust me, these people know less about this real estate than you do, first of all.
Jill DeWit:
It’s true. Yes. So what my answer to thing is, “Get over it, number one.” So five phone calls in, you got this. You will feel like a pro, I promise. And if you’re really worried and/or you don’t have the time, but you have the resources, hire somebody. Get somebody like PATLive to answer those calls, screen those calls, for you. They’ve been doing it for a lot of our members for years, especially people that have full-time jobs, and they just can’t be around during the day when these sellers are calling back. And they’ll weed through them for them.
But, no matter what, every person has said, “All right …” But my favorite was our friend, Ken. We were teaching him, and he says he felt so beat up that he could take a baseball to the face and it wouldn’t hurt. Oh, that was funny. I’m like, “Oh, Ken.” And it’s not that bad. These sellers are not mad at you, I promise.
Steven Butala:
Oh, I think they are.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. Well, I personally … It’s so funny. I love that the person that I have on my team now that this is one of their primary jobs is answering the phone. She’s like me where she makes it a mission to get them to come around and befriend them. That’s her mission. And get the seller talking. So that’s one example.
I’m trying to think … Another one, actually, I find a lot of people doing that they need to get over is just buying the property. They’ll get the mail out, the calls are in. They’re looking at them, and they can’t make the decision. They’re afraid to say, “Yes. I’m going to follow through. I’m going to buy this property.”
Steven Butala:
I think this, in concept, this silly little three-word concept, applies to so much stuff other than real estate and in life. And I think that, before you got to Land Academy, there’s a long history of you either taking imperfect action or not.
Jill DeWit:
I just thinking about [inaudible 00:10:40]. I had a funny one of like parenting. People don’t really think about that too much before they go into it. “Let’s have a baby.” You know what I mean?
Steven Butala:
I was just thinking the same thing.
Jill DeWit:
That’s hilarious.
Steven Butala:
“I’m getting married,” and all kinds of stuff.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. All right. There we go. Talk about taking imperfect action.
Steven Butala:
I mean, I think you go into those things, even as a super young person, really thinking, “This isn’t going to be perfect.” I don’t think there’s any delusion about that, do you?
Jill DeWit:
I don’t know. I wish I would’ve taken more time and thought about those ones. Trying to think-
Steven Butala:
It applies to everything.
Jill DeWit:
It does. Here’s one. We talk about the with our kids. Picking a degree, picking a college. A lot of people, that’s scary, “But what if I make a mistake? I don’t …” I’m like, “Just …” And they almost will like, “I need to take some time and think about this. I need to take a year off or something.”
Steven Butala:
No.
Jill DeWit:
Like, “Hold on a moment,” right?
Steven Butala:
No, no.
Jill DeWit:
If you know you want to go into some professional thing that’s going to need a degree, just start college, and you could tweak your path a little bit. That’s, I think, a good imperfect action.
Steven Butala:
I have a long, long history of taking imperfect action in my academic experience.
Jill DeWit:
Tell us.
Steven Butala:
For instance-
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Please share.
Steven Butala:
… the vast majority of tests or exams or final exams or midterms I’ve taken in a college setting have been cold. I didn’t study at all.
Jill DeWit:
Wow.
Steven Butala:
Talk about taking imperfect action.
Jill DeWit:
And here you are. You did it.
Steven Butala:
Intentionally never crack a book, go to a couple of lectures, and walk in and take the exam. I don’t know how kids take exams now. We had to go in there.
Jill DeWit:
That’s scary.
Steven Butala:
That’s my whole college career.
Jill DeWit:
That’s scary.
Steven Butala:
And I still got that piece of paper at the end.
Jill DeWit:
Wow.
Steven Butala:
And it wasn’t perfect.
Jill DeWit:
Good for you.
Steven Butala:
So I don’t know what experiences need … We all know somebody who’s just got to walk around and be perfect, like the house has got to be perfect. Everything’s got to be perfect, and they walk around upset-
Jill DeWit:
And mad.
Steven Butala:
… or disappointed.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Butala:
Disappointed in themselves and disappointed in the world because stuff’s not perfect all the time.
Jill DeWit:
That’s true.
Steven Butala:
That’s not going to work.
Jill DeWit:
That’s not fun.
Steven Butala:
It’s crazy.
Jill DeWit:
You’re never going to get anywhere. My point in this whole topic is if you don’t take some action, you’re never going to get there. I actually want it not to be perfect.
Steven Butala:
So do I, Jill. I’m glad you brought that up.
Jill DeWit:
I want you to come at this and know you’re going to make a mistake and ready for it, and you’re going to tweak it, fix it, and move on and not do it again. That’s my thing, too. Whatever imperfect things you do, please don’t repeat them.
Steven Butala:
I was going to close with that. Jill is a perfect example of massive success imperfectly, and she doesn’t care.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Look at me. Just kidding.
Steven Butala:
We’ll send out a mailer. I’ll send out a mailer, and whatever comes back, and she knows it’s going to be not perfect at all. In fact, this whole business model is imperfect. She changes, she adapts, and overcomes and makes deals out of this stuff. And it’s not like she sat herself down ever, and I think, sat down and said, “Well, this is how it’s got to be because the mailer sucks.” She never comes back to me and says, “Well, you’re an idiot. What were you thinking with these prices?”
Jill DeWit:
Could you imagine? What if I came back and said, “Okay. You screwed this up. Here’s the phone. You do it.”
Steven Butala:
Right. And we’d be partners for 20 more minutes after that.
Jill DeWit:
That would be … Exactly.
Steven Butala:
And I don’t ever go back to her and say, “Why can’t you turn these into deals?”
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Butala:
“Why can’t you … You got 48 phone calls yesterday, and you didn’t make one transaction happen.” Can you imagine if that’s the kind of partnership we had?
Jill DeWit:
Oh, my goodness.
Steven Butala:
It would be done.
Jill DeWit:
That would not work.
Steven Butala:
That would be the last week of our partnership.
Jill DeWit:
“I’ve been listening to your calls, and here’s what I think you should have done.” Whoa. That would be bad.
Steven Butala:
That stuff never, ever happens.
Jill DeWit:
No.
Steven Butala:
It’s not even happened once, now that I’m thinking about it.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-mm (negative). [inaudible 00:14:30]
Steven Butala:
Just take some action and the sooner you fail, the sooner you’re going to succeed.
Jill DeWit:
Happy you could join us today. Five days a week, you can find us right here on The Land Academy Show.
Steven Butala:
Tomorrow, the episode on The Land Academy Show is called How to Improve Your Acquisition Confidence. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Here’s my question.
Jill DeWit:
Ready.
Steven Butala:
How much … And I’m going to talk about this on the Thursday call today in great detail. How much should we be talking about stuff like how to improve your acquisition confidence versus, “This is a 40-acre property. It’s on the road. This is what you should be buying. This is what you should be buying”? Just dry, verbatim, real estate. Rural vacant land advice on how to buy and sell land.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Maybe that’s better. Maybe confidence is not necessary.
Steven Butala:
Oh, my gosh, Mrs. Sarcasm today.
Jill DeWit:
I’m totally kidding, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
Steven Butala:
I’m asking myself, but I’ll tell you why. Because I’m a student. I’m a student in a different group, just because I want to see how they do it, and I want to learn.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Butala:
You never stop learning.
Jill DeWit:
And how’s it going? What kind of student are you, babe?
Steven Butala:
Well, I’m the dry one.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Butala:
So I’m sitting there listening to these guys teach this whole thing, and they do a bang-up job, by the way, just … I mean, I’m really like, “Wow.” These guys have … They’re the Land Academy of their little real estate niche.
Jill DeWit:
You do realize everyone’s going to write in, now, and ask you about it?
Steven Butala:
Well, I’m not going to tell them.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Butala:
I’m really not.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Butala:
I will talk about it in great detail for our members on Thursday.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Butala:
But I really … That’s going to be the theme this week, like should we be talking about how to improve your confidence, or should we leave that to Tony Robbins and really talk about real estate?
Jill DeWit:
Oh.
Steven Butala:
Or should you be Tony Robbins in this little duo thing that we’ve created?
Jill DeWit:
I kind of thought that was the whole information/inspiration thing.
Steven Butala:
These are open-ended questions. I don’t know the answers, you know?
Jill DeWit:
Well, we could call this Inspiration Week. Let’s [inaudible 00:16:35] Inspiration Week, if that’s how it’s going.
Steven Butala:
This is Inspiration Week.
Jill DeWit:
I think we need a little bit of both.
Steven Butala:
That’s not crazy. This is Inspiration Week.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. Surprise. Truth time.
Steven Butala:
Oh, truth time.
Jill DeWit:
Truth time. We goofed. We’re going to call this Inspiration Week now. We just decided [crosstalk 00:16:50].
Steven Butala:
I forgot a truth time.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. That was funny.
Thank you for tuning in. We hope you find our content valuable, and we really appreciate your support. If you haven’t already, please check out our YouTube channel and hit the Subscribe button.
Steven Butala:
And your comments and suggestions help us create the type of content you’re here for. Hitting the Like button helps to support our channel’s algorithm and gauge your interest in future shows. It’s all about the data. We are Steve and Jill.
Jill DeWit:
We are Steve and Jill.
Steven Butala:
Information …
Jill DeWit:
… and inspiration …
Steven Butala:
… to buy undervalued property.
—————————————-
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me directly at steven@BuWit.com.
The BuWit 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 Apple Podcasts.
