Jill Friday – Don’t be that Guy (LA 1573)
Jill Friday – Don’t be that Guy (LA 1573)
Transcript:
Jack Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit:
Happy Friday.
Jack Butala:
Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land, investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit:
And I’m Jill Dewitt. Broadcasting from sweet Scottsdale Arizona.
Jack Butala:
Today, Jill and I… Well, it’s Jill Friday. And she’s going to talk about, don’t be that guy.
Jill DeWit:
Yes. This comes up now and then. It’s so interesting. You’d be surprised how many people call us and they track us down at Land Academy because they’re trying to find out if this person’s legit? Is this a good deal? Is this person real? Are they a good person to do business with?
Jack Butala:
I don’t know how they trace us, Jill’s right, but I don’t know how they trace it back to us, but they find out. So a member sends a bunch of mail out and they call Land Academy for some reason. And they want to check to see if they’re legit.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Jack Butala:
And so I don’t know how that the train of that, that trail happens on the internet.
Jill DeWit:
We used to have a little tag, little icon graphics that we would share that you could put Land Academy certified or something. I wonder if people are still using that. If you are, go for it. I love it. I think it’s cool.
Jack Butala:
I don’t know. It’s kind of hokey.
Jill DeWit:
It’s fine. If they want to do that, I think that’s fine. It’s like saying I’m a member of whatever association and people look at that and go, that must mean something.
Jack Butala:
Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It’s free. And if you’re already a Land Academy member, please join us on Discord.
Jill DeWit:
I like it when you say, join us on the Discord. I was waiting for that. Oh, this is Janet. Janet wrote, everyone keeps sending mail and working your deals. She’s very vocal in my Land Academy ladies group too, by the way. Our big win today is a property we acquired for $11,500, all in, with title, photos, et cetera. We’re closing on today for $52,000. Keep at it. We can all do this. Thanks Jill, Steven and Aaron. Oh, that’s sweet. She’s awesome. Janet has been with us for a couple of years now.
Jack Butala:
Really successful and vocal. We’re proud of you.
Jill DeWit:
Congratulations. And thank you for sharing that, I love those.
Jack Butala:
Today’s Jill Friday. And it’s the name of the show is called, don’t be that guy. I have a feeling this is going to be a Jack roast today.
Jill DeWit:
No, it’s not you.
Jack Butala:
This is the meat of the show.
Jill DeWit:
No, it’s not you, it’s just, now and then, even we run into this. We are really good at trusting. You and I both will go in with good… Assuming everyone has good intentions, right? And then I find out later, shoot they didn’t. And maybe it’s on a deal or maybe something unrelated to this, maybe it’s renovations on a house and they didn’t follow through, like they said they were going to follow through, the time commitment, the communication, whatever it is. And all it does is just make it bad for everybody. It makes me never want to work with them. Never want to do business with them. And gosh, it’s hard to even write the check at the end and then I’m having to do more work and they’re not even happy. They’re not happy. Nobody’s happy. You know?
Jill DeWit:
So I just wanted to remind everyone. You don’t want to be that guy. What I want you to do is think about this. You’re starting your business, whatever it is. I want you to sit down and think of your own company motto and how you’re going to roll. Because the foundation you lay is going to continue through you, your partners, your employees, all of it. And you want to be consistent. And the best thing I can say is do the right thing. And that’s our motto, our motto, which you, I think you probably said it in passing a long time ago, but boy, it stuck with me. And now it’s like, it’s always on the forefront of every decision that I make, which is, it’s important to do the right thing, even if it costs money. So what does that mean?
Jill DeWit:
All right. I promise you, I’m going to pay you X and we are way down the path of something. And you know what I found out, darn it, I did that wrong, but you know what? I promise you. I really promise you, can I afford it? Yeah. I’m not going to make as much money on this, but you know what? I promise you. I’m not going to be that guy, that’s going to last minute, come in, you know, five yard line and changes the terms. You don’t want to do that. So that’s how we are. For example too, somebody, they buy a property and for whatever, it doesn’t happen very often. I can’t remember the last time it happened. I need a knock on this, but it does now and then maybe that’s not what they thought they bought and wanted something changed. I don’t know.
Jill DeWit:
I don’t care. You know how many times I refunded things and then sold it for more later. It’s comical.
Jack Butala:
That’s the right thing to do.
Jill DeWit:
And it’s the right thing to do. So it works out. So I want you to think about your company culture and your motto and stick with it. Number two, I want you to, part of this is to, is how you roll your business. When you’re dealing with customers, clearly explain the steps on how the process is going to go. Don’t make it hard, be honest and upfront with what you can do and your time and stick to it. Like I was talking with contractors, that’s kind of what’s going on in my world. But I mean, even, let’s just say with a notary, if I’m dealing with a notary and we’re going along and I keep thinking, we’re going to close on the first and the first comes and goes, oh, you better believe I’m mad.
Jill DeWit:
My seller’s mad. I don’t want to lose my seller. I shouldn’t, you know, we need to all follow through with what we commit to. Don’t be that guy and promise something you can’t do. And maybe it’s you, maybe they’re going to close and you don’t have the money in place. You can’t wire the money. You’re like, shoot. I thought it was going to take longer. You need to really accurately prompt, you know, say what you can deliver on. Three, why are we doing all this? Because you know what? It’s going to come back. And here’s how it’s going to come back. Your reputation is going to, and I mean the good one or the bad one, I’m going to roll on the good one. If you stick to your stuff, do what I’m talking about. And you’re that guy in a good way, your reputation is going to be repeat buyers.
Jill DeWit:
And we’re getting out how awesome you are. And their friends are going to want to buy from you. I’ve had this too. I’ve had, I remember one time this guy bought a property from us and he sold it to a guy. It was like basically a break room conversation. He bought a property from us. He’s not an investor in any way. He just bought it. Right? And someone in the break room said, oh, I’d like to buy that off you. And he sold it. So then now they’re both coming back to me. And then he’s sharing where he got the property. So now I got two guys from the break room at this company now coming to me to buy more property because I sold them great property at a great price. That’s it. What would you like to add?
Jack Butala:
Why would somebody be that guy? Let’s think about it for a second. Why would somebody sit in the back of a classroom and heckle the teacher? Or why does somebody ever heckle a standup comedian in the audience? Why does somebody talk behind other people’s backs? This is not real estate now, this is just, we all know people like this. We all do. Why would somebody as a contractor sign up six jobs where they only know they can do three.
Jill DeWit:
I don’t get that. Is it greedy?
Jack Butala:
Here’s why. Here’s my theory. And I’m going to get all psychological here for a minute. Because they’re insecure. There are people… When you fail at something, there’s two ways you can handle it, or when you make a huge mistake. You can say, and I’ve said this to all of our kids, 50,000 times all throughout their childhood, you can sit there and say, God, I’m a terrible person. Or you can say, I’m a great person. I just made an honest mistake here. I really screwed this up. Or I made some bad decisions and you know I want to chalk it up to a learning experience. I am going to make it right. Whatever happened, whoever it negatively affected. Yeah. I signed up for six jobs. I can only do three. I’m either going to give people’s deposits back or I’m going to overly communicate and overly reschedule to get this stuff done. As a seller or a buyer, it’s the same.
Jack Butala:
I over-committed. I’m sorry, seller. And I’m happy to make this right. I can either buy it next month, when it comes out, I can go get funding. There’s a bunch of things to do, but I want you to know when this phone rings, I’m going to answer it and together we’re going to work it out. People don’t behave that way because they’re insecure. There’s a handful of people since we started Land Academy that have weaseled their way in, one way or the other, it’s almost always the ones who ask for discounts. That’s just a red flag for me now on everything. And then they try to get in and sit in between us on this show and talk about themselves and promote themselves and then go off and do whatever they’re going to do.
Jack Butala:
Why would somebody do that? Here’s why, because they’re insecure. Why wouldn’t they just do the right thing? Why wouldn’t they just take the steps to start their own thing or however, whatever it is. I mean, we are here to help entrepreneurs make hoards of money and it’s, and that’s not just limited to buying and selling land, and when Jill and I are about to start the Jack and Jill show slash you know, showing up for life, which is all about how to succeed at anything you want to succeed at. So you have to ask yourself if you’re one of these people, cause they always know who they are. These people know. If you say, are you one of those guys? Oh yeah. I am one of those guys. Why? I don’t know. Yeah, you do. Because you’re insecure.
Jill DeWit:
Isn’t it going to come back?
Jack Butala:
Because you don’t believe in yourself and you’re not looking in the mirror every morning like the vast majority of the people who are listening to the show, or certainly huge majority of Land Academy members and Jill and I, and our kids. Now I’m happy to report saying some stuff might go wrong today. And if it does, I’m going to deal with it. I’m going to answer my phone. When I do the basic stuff, I’m going to be a good person. I’m going to be a citizen. I’m going to make it right. No matter what happens, even if I make mistakes, which are going to happen.
Jill DeWit:
Totally.
Jack Butala:
I probably made 20 mistakes so far. And it’s not even noon yet. Actually, ask Jill. She’d tell you exactly how many mistakes I’ve made.
Jill DeWit:
There was another one. Pulling me in. That’s a mistake. I’m just kidding.
Jack Butala:
Then my final point is, we all know that there’s that guy, there’s that guy in every meeting room, every online Zoom call.
Jill DeWit:
Isn’t that sad? We all know, if I say, did we, you know, that’s so funny. If you say to this, don’t be that guy every, no matter what’s, if you walk up to a group of people and you don’t even know them, and they were talking, having drinks and you walk up and say, oh my gosh, they’re not going to believe what just happened, everyone don’t be that guy. Everybody has an example in their head like, oh, we know that loser. Whatever it is, we know what you’re talking about. We have a loser like that too.
Jack Butala:
So here’s what my opinion on that since like 99% of us are not that guy, there is one or two. Our challenge is the 99% of us is to deal with that guy. So I don’t mean punch anybody in the face, although that may be appropriate at some point, I just mean to out-talk him and outsmart them and make him feel like a little puddle if that’s what needs to happen in front him, not behind their back or any terrible passive aggressive stuff, but some people just need to be verbally shutdown. And I think I’ve told our kids, they’re all past these stages now, but when kids are bullying you or heckling, you’ve got to memorize sentences that are just going to stop them in their tracks.
Jill DeWit:
By standing up for yourself in the right way.
Jack Butala:
Yes. Yeah. That’s well said.
Jill DeWit:
You’re not trying to turn them. You’re not trying to be that guy back.
Jack Butala:
Right. Right, Jill.
Jill DeWit:
You’re trying to stand up for yourself.
Jack Butala:
You’re just trying to stop it.
Jill DeWit:
And make it stop.
Jack Butala:
That’s probably more prevalent than being that guy. It’s just managing that guy.
Jill DeWit:
That’s true. I look at it this way. When I come across that guy and I do still, you always will. I try to like, how can I minimize my interactions with them and get through what I have to get through with them. And then I’m never going to deal with them again. You better believe, I remember.
Jack Butala:
Yeah, me too. I do too.
Jill DeWit:
And I’m sure you do also.
Jack Butala:
Yep.
Jill DeWit:
We all know that guy.
Jack Butala:
Hopefully you’re not married to that guy.
Jill DeWit:
Again, how can I minimize the interaction and get out of this? On that note, happy to be doing this today. Five days a week, you can find us right here on the Land Academy Show.
Jack Butala:
Join us next week for another interesting episode. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. Hilarious Jill.
Jill DeWit:
That was really good.
Jack Butala:
Jill’s had that topic on the tip of her tongue for a couple months now.
Jill DeWit:
God, it just makes you mad. I hate having to give that speech. You know what it is? It’s like a mom thing. It’s like how many times do we have to talk about X? Like, God, you know, I hate repeating myself. Please don’t put me in that position. You know who you are. And I’m not calling anybody out. I’m just saying, this is just a valid thing to talk about and it comes up.
Jack Butala:
This is not… This isn’t about anybody specific in our group or in any way, because-
Jill DeWit:
It’s not a current topic.
Jack Butala:
Cause those people are gone now.
Jill DeWit:
Yes, they are gone. Again, we minimized it and got out of it. And sometimes it’s like, I don’t think you’re a good fit. Have a good day.
Jack Butala:
No one’s ever surprised when we say that. No one’s ever come back and said, well, no, what are you talking about? I’m a perfect Land Academy Member. I’m doing everything right. They say, oh yeah. Okay. Thanks.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, sorry.
Jack Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
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 and give us feedback on the shows you love.
Jack Butala:
We are Steve and Jill. Information…
Jill DeWit:
And inspiration.
Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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