Jill Friday – Showing up for Work (LA 1583)
Jill Friday – Showing up for Work (LA 1583)
Transcript:
Steven J Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit:
Happy Friday.
Steven J Butala:
Welcome to the Land Academy Show. Entertaining land investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit:
And I am Jill Dewitt broadcasting from sunny Scottsdale, Arizona.
Steven J Butala:
Today is Jill Friday, and she talks about showing up for work, no matter where you work. Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on landinvestors.com online community. It’s free. If you’re already a member, join us on Discord.
Jill DeWit:
Land Academy member that is. Yep. Kevin responds to this post, which says called do neighbor letters work? So I guess this is the post?
Steven J Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. Is this Kevin’s thing or this the post and then comes Kevin’s thing?
Steven J Butala:
This is Kevin.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven J Butala:
Kevin our awesome moderator in Discord.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. So Kevin’s saying, “Look, I have used neighbor letters with good success. I don’t always use it, a neighbor letter, but I have sold several properties using neighbor letters. I don’t call them the neighbors. I send letters. My letter’s very brief. I offer the property at a good price and let the recipient know that I will be putting it on the market at a higher price. I include a large aerial view showing the parcel so that they know where it is in relationship to their land. I have sold landlocked parcels and other vacant land this way.” Good stuff. Just like a little tip. Is that what the point was here?
Steven J Butala:
I have an entire business operation where I only sell property to the neighbors. Neighbors letters are awesome. And they’re really, really inexpensive. What do you send out? Maybe 600 letters, sometimes. Maybe 300 letters.
Jill DeWit:
God, maybe-
Steven J Butala:
When you buy a piece of property-
Jill DeWit:
… maybe a hundred.
Steven J Butala:
You buy a piece of property, you send out 100, 200, 300, maybe 500 letters to all the people who own property around there, that quite simply says, “Hey, I know you have property here and I just, I’ve got an off-market property. It’s probably a lot less than you spent to buy the one that you have, and if you’re interested, give me a call. I’ll sell it to you off market. We can get the deal done really easy. No financing, no real estate agents. None of that stuff. I just closed on it with escrow, so we can use the same agent. It’s only going to take a few days.”
Jill DeWit:
Cool.
Steven J Butala:
What’s going on?
Jill DeWit:
I don’t know. You’re just running. I’m just letting you go. It’s easier.
Steven J Butala:
Let’s let Jill talk.
Jill DeWit:
This is my goal in life. Just going to pick the easiest path, especially today.
Steven J Butala:
Today is Jill Friday, and she’s going to talk about showing up for work. This is the meat of the show.
Jill DeWit:
Yes. Whatever you do, this kind of ties into what you talked about this week, which I thought was really interesting, the millionaire thing. Because you talked about having a plan. And I think for a lot of people having a plan might involve a job. It might involve a W2. It might involve a paycheck. And one of the things about… And I hope that you realize if that’s your life and you have that job, you’re getting a paycheck, that it can and should fit into your plan. You are still in control. You should be there because you want to be there. You picked it. You’re not trapped. Trust me. I know this. It’s really interesting, too, that whole mindset. You brought that up earlier. I worked at a job. I kind of, I started to fall into that. You can get a little brainwashed thinking that you’re trapped somewhere and it’s oh, good and you’ll never find anything better.
Jill DeWit:
Because people tell you that. And it’s really your coworkers around you that are just in a little trap and little hamster wheel. And you think that this is all that I can make. And so I was 17 years at a company doing that, and you don’t have to do that. I left, and I’m so glad I did. But while I left though, here’s what I did. I did the best that I could while I planned my exit. This is my point number two. So number one is you have control. You should be there knowing you have control and you can leave any time. You picked this. Number two is do the best you can while you’re planning your exit and show up.
Steven J Butala:
Yeah, show up. Exactly.
Jill DeWit:
Be on time. You don’t want to get fired from this job, by the way. You want to look good.
Jill DeWit:
You still might learn some things from this. And you might take some people with you. I remember leaving a job one time where they’re like… It was the very last job before I left to do this full time with you. And I had several coworkers going, “Can I come work for you?”
Steven J Butala:
Did you really?
Jill DeWit:
It was so sweet. Yeah. They knew I was over here secretly doing other things and plotting and planning and stuff. I wasn’t showing off in any way, but they could just kind of tell that I was half in, half out. But when I was there, I was there. I always hit my numbers. I always did a great job.
Steven J Butala:
Me too.
Jill DeWit:
I always showed up. I never… So, and it was sad because when I did leave, too, they’re like, “Oh, would you stay?” And I’m like, “I’m sorry. I can’t. Because now at the point I’m making too much money over here. This is costing me money. I can’t stay.” They’re like, “Okay, we get it.”
Steven J Butala:
Thank you for leaving your job, Jill.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, you’re welcome.
Steven J Butala:
If I haven’t told you recently.
Jill DeWit:
You know what’s so funny about that? I’ve always been one of the people that when you leave a job, and you put in your two weeks notice, there’s people who are like, you know what? We’ve had employees like this. They put in their notice and they’re like, you know what? You could go tomorrow. We’re not doing anything here anyway. We will happily pay for the two weeks. Please don’t come. Seriously. And that happens, I think, the majority, more than half the time, I think that happens. I never got that. I put in my notice, they’re like, “Okay, we got 10 days left with Jill. How can we maximize Jill’s time? Could Jill, can you train this person over here? Can you do this over here? Make sure… Here’s how we want…” I’m like ahh. They trusted me so much, which is really a compliment because… And I liked that. It was cool.
Jill DeWit:
So, and then my third point in the showing up for work and doing a good job, knowing you have a plan, is someday this is going to be you running this company. You running this business. You want those people working for you, too. You want to be that kind of person because I think you’ll attract that kind of person. What would you like to add?
Steven J Butala:
I just think if it’s worth doing, you just show up for it. If it’s not, then don’t. I don’t think that… Every job I’ve ever had, I either was going to take the company over myself or I was going to start my own company. So, but while I was there learning, I always told myself I’m here to learn. And when I stopped learning, when I start being the smartest guy around, then you just need to leave. And ultimately, I left. I am by no stretch the smartest guy in the Land companies at all. I’m pretty darn good at data and a few other things, but not anywhere close to how Jill performs and with no hope of that ever happening. So, but I do show up for my part, and I think it’s important to do the right thing and show up for stuff.
Jill DeWit:
You’re incredible at your part. That’s the good news. We’re together. We’re a team to be reckoned with. Separately, we could do it, but you’re right.
Steven J Butala:
Yeah, we can.
Jill DeWit:
We wouldn’t be as good or as effective.
Steven J Butala:
And neither of us are as good as most of our staff members at what they do. I’ve said this in the past. I’ve had every job here at all these Land Academy companies, and I’ve failed at every single one of them except the job I have now. And I have always replaced myself with somebody better.
Jill DeWit:
That’s a compliment I think. I like it when you were like, “I found the right guy. I found someone smarter than me to do this.” Some people are threatened by that. I’m not threatened by that.
Steven J Butala:
No, neither am I, geez.
Jill DeWit:
I think it is really good. Thank you. You went a little too far.
Steven J Butala:
Oh.
Jill DeWit:
That’s okay. How about…
Steven J Butala:
Join us next week. Oh, happy you could join us today, sorry.
Jill DeWit:
Happy you could join us today. Happy-
Steven J Butala:
I got a new teleprompter. I don’t know how to use it.
Jill DeWit:
I know. We’re just like, oh God, thank goodness it’s Friday. Happy you could join us today. Five days a week, you can find us right here on the Land Academy Show.
Steven J Butala:
Join us next time week for another interesting episode. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit:
That’s funny.
Steven J Butala:
I love this teleprompter though.
Jill DeWit:
I know. I’m so glad that you do. Ah, happy you were here with us today. By the way, if you need access to ownership information, including FEMA flood maps and overlays and seller phone numbers, please check out neighborscoop.com and parcelfact.com provided by investors, created by investors, that’s us, for investors like you. We’re Steve and Jill.
Steven J Butala:
We’re Steve and Jill. Information.
Jill DeWit:
And inspiration.
Steven J Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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