Jill Friday – How to Manage Your Team & Business from the Road (LA 1812)
Jill Friday – How to Manage Your Team & Business from the Road (LA 1812)
Transcript:
Steven Jack Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit:
Hello.
Steven Jack 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 Jack Butala:
Today is Jill Friday and she’s going to talk about how to manage your team and your business from the road, just like we’re doing right now.
Jill DeWit:
And I hope you interact and have some points too.
Steven Jack Butala:
Of course.
Jill DeWit:
I’m sure you do.
Steven 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 I help you. I’m going to tell a real brief story here. Back in the day, it was really, really difficult to find property that didn’t have a post office address, like 123 Main Street. All we had was the state, the county and the assessor’s parcel number. And so we just had to make do with it and figure it out.
Jill and I, about two years ago, developed a product called Neighbor Scoop/Parcel Fact. They’re both one and the same. We’re about to convert those together so it’s just Parcel Fact. It’s where, while you’re on the phone with the seller, type in the state, the county, the assessor’s parcel number and make a quick decision or get all the facts so that you can intelligently talk about the property with the seller on the other end of the line. You send out 10, 20, 30,000 mailers. You can’t keep that stuff straight, and so this tool is custom designed to be able to interface with sellers in real time. Check it out at NeighborScoopd.com or ParcelFact, F-A-C-T, .com.
Jill DeWit:
Kalu and Joey wrote, “We have a 50 acre property we have under contract at $115,000. The seller signed and returned back the offer. It has some issues, like nine utility easements, fire damage in the back, and a difficult slope at the entryway, likely unbuildable.” Why are we still looking at this? I’m not sure.
Steven Jack Butala:
I know, let’s just go through it.
Jill DeWit:
But how many red flags do we need? “The broker’s opinion came back at $175,000 for a wholesale, fast turnaround, and maybe upwards towards $250,000 if we wait six months. We thought the numbers were a little tight. We’re buying for 115, right? We went back to the seller and to verbally negotiate and he wouldn’t give a new number considering all these factors. And then he asked us for a number, which I said, ‘It would need to be in the high sixties or so.’ And he said, ‘Well, let me have a realtor or two go out.’ And several days later, now he wants 225. What do you guys think I should do you?”
You know what? I’ll be truthful. Here’s the story. They got the software, 115, they dig in a little bit, has all these problems, right? They reach out to the brokers. I’m just reiterating and making it hopefully easier to understand. On the low side, sell for 175, on the high side for 250, if you hang in there for a bit. This is still questionable because of all these issues that concern me, honestly. They go back to the broker and say, “All right, unless…” This is a very good real example. We say, “We’re either going to walk right now or…”
We talk about this all the time on Thursday. You’re going to go back to this guy, go back to your seller, and give him a number that you feel really good at. This is what Kalu and Joey said. All right, obviously we felt good at 60. They went back and said, “It’s 60, 69, whatever. Somewhere in the sixties, we can do it.” The seller unfortunately said, “Well, wait a minute. Let me get another opinion.” Right? That’s what happened. And so the seller called some brokers. And now they’re want to hang out with their 225 number, because probably the guy says, “I can wait six months to get 225.”
What do you do? Do I go back and try to change something? Well, wait, we have 175 signed. Would I try to even push that through? Uh-uh (negative). Truth time, I would have one more phone call with the person and I would leave the door open and the phone call would contain this. Okay, we all know, I probably talked to the same broker too, that fingers crossed that could happen in six months. But let’s all remember too, we have this problem, this problem, this problem, this problem. It may not go that way. I respect you, and if you’re not in a hurt cash crunch or something, I get it and I wish you all the best.
But I’m going to let you know, I still would buy it right now. And I will actually tell you, I’ll put aside 60K. I could afford to do that. I could put aside 60K for the end of the month. Give them some deadline, that you’re going to really kind of be hanging out. Say, “I encourage you to do you a little more research, make some more calls, sleep on it. Do you want to wait and fingers cross? Because I’m a sure thing, I’ve already done all the homework. I’ve gone through all the research. I’m a ready to go buyer.”
Even so, if you’re thinking about going with an agent who knows how long that’s going to take for them to even get somebody? And then how many of those buyers are going to have to go through to finally sell a property? Because I’ve been there, done that. This is my business. This is all I do. Right now, I’ll tell you, 60 now is officially my highest and best offer, because no matter what, I’ll take the risk and whatever goes wrong, I’ll figure it out. It’s 60K. I will buy you out, no contingencies, [inaudible 00:05:28], whatever it is. And now, like I said, through the end of the month and other than that, I wish you all the best.
And that’s it. Don’t chase them. Don’t try to talk them out of it, because you know what? There are some problems. You really have to do this and it’s like having a discussion with yourself a little bit sometimes. Do I really want to chase this guy? No, there’s always going to be another deal around the corner. Oh, but Jill, I could be leaving $100,000 on the table. Maybe, but it’s still questionable and I don’t want you to have to work that hard. Open another envelope. That’s how I would, truthfully, handle that.
Steven Jack Butala:
Open another envelope. Boy, I have nothing to add, Jill.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, thank you. Thank you.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s exactly what I would do. I would say, “65 is my offer.”
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
And that’s it. Just what Jill said.
Jill DeWit:
Watch what happens. I’ve had a guy that said, “Oh, I’ve got a guy on the hook for 25.” I’m like, “I’ll give you five.”
Steven Jack Butala:
Yep.
Jill DeWit:
Right now. And he slept on it. And he called me the next day and said, “I’ll take your dumb five,” because he knew I was right.
Steven Jack Butala:
Or they’ll call in six months and say, “This is a mess.”
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
Just get me out of it.
Jill DeWit:
It still didn’t happen. Will you still give me 60?
Steven Jack Butala:
Especially in a situation where there’s utility easements and stuff and fire damage.
Jill DeWit:
There’s problems.
Steven Jack Butala:
Utility easements and fire damage are not a bad thing on land.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
Difficult slope at the entrance, unlikely buildable-
Jill DeWit:
There might be-
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s a huge, huge issue.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
How we get a quarter of a million bucks for a property like that, and you’re trusting a real estate agent? Really?
Jill DeWit:
Yeah, and even then you got to do some more homework. Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
I come back to dating. You can only overlook two or three things on a date.
Jill DeWit:
What?
Steven Jack Butala:
You can’t overlook 15 problems. This has 15 problems.
Jill DeWit:
There is that. That’s where I’m like, “How many red flags do I even need?” I don’t even know if I would pay 60.
Steven Jack Butala:
I don’t like anything about her except her nail polish color. That’s what this deal is.
Jill DeWit:
Great. Awesome, and she’s a hearty eater. I’m sorry. If I was a guy, I could not date a woman that sat there and picked at a salad. I watched it happening out the window last night as we were sitting, having dinner. There was a girl that had a salad and then I watched French fries get delivered. That was her dinner, and she’s picking at her salad and just eating French fries. I’m like, “That’s not a fun date.”
Steven Jack Butala:
You must have been having a great time with your date yesterday if you were watching someone that was outside and what they’re eating.
Jill DeWit:
Well, conversation wasn’t moving along as fast as it could. I had some downtime, kind of like now. Let’s get to the show.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s Jill Friday. Obviously, it’s Jill Friday. She’s going to talk about how to manage your team and your business from the road.
Jill DeWit:
And your partner.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is the meat of the show.
Jill DeWit:
And your date. Okay. I want to talk about this, because this is a real thing, right? Look at all of us running our own businesses and we’re not always in the same location. Maybe we are. Maybe you have a team in an office like we do. We have both. We have a team in an office and we have remote employees. How the heck do you do that? And then what if all you have is a team in the office, or maybe they’re in your office. That happens a lot of times. And you’re leaving and you’re leaving them alone. Uh-oh, how do I make sure anything’s going to get done, and nobody’s just kind of goofing off and nothing’s getting done? Jill, what do I do?
That’s what this is about today, managing your team and/or your business from the road. It’s really about both. The first thing is, before you leave, make sure you and your team have all the tools you need. If you could see what I’m sitting here staring at right now, you would say, “Oh, I clearly see there’s a lot of thought that went into that.” And that’s you. That’s a compliment to you.
Steven Jack Butala:
I wasn’t listening.
Jill DeWit:
Steven makes sure that we have extra monitors, we have our laptops.
Steven Jack Butala:
[inaudible 00:09:39].
Jill DeWit:
We have extra monitors. We have different audio equipment, but we have special audio equipment. We have not just my laptop keyboard. I have a real keyboard, like I use at home, everything like I use at home and I have a place to work. That’s even thought out too. Before we leave the road, he’s got a place to work, I have a place to work. We can’t be crammed in a little hotel room for a month. That would never work. And then try to get our business done? That’s not possible. That’s for making sure I’m set up for my business, and also wifi. Don’t forget that one. That’s the last one, is make sure where you’re going has internet, wifi, everything you need because you’re running your business from the road.
Now let’s think about your team. You got to make sure they have the tools that they need. Do they have all the equipment, and they have a good setup? Sometimes we have employees that work in the office and then they go home. I give them extra monitors to take home with them so they have their monitors at home. They have their headsets at home. They have keyboards at home. They have extra stuff. I always make sure they can do their job efficiently from wherever they are.
Number two, more check-ins. This is really for the team. We have gone from weekly and biweekly check-ins to pretty much daily. They really are. There’s daily check-ins while we’re on the road. Lot of it is we threw a double whammy in there where we hired a new employee at the same time too and it’s a really important employee that does a lot of front-facing customer work. They need some extra love. We have daily check-ins, and then in addition to our daily check-ins with our team, we encourage them to even have more interaction amongst themselves. What if I’m out of pocket? Use each other. Lean on each other. That’s why you’re here.
Number three ties into this too. There probably are no real major fires that can’t be solved while you’re out of pocket. You need to relax and you have to trust them. And that’s why you hired them. If you cannot trust them, they should not be in that position. They shouldn’t be in that seat. They should not be getting a paycheck. That’s the truth. And then my number four point here is send them love. Send them some love while you’re away. I do it by buying lunch every Friday. They know why we’re gone and they get to pick. They take turns picking what they’re having. And they don’t go crazy with the bill. It’s not like caviar Friday. That would be funny.
Steven Jack Butala:
That would be wasted in our group. What is this?
Jill DeWit:
No one would pick caviar Friday.
Steven Jack Butala:
They would take tequila Tuesday.
Jill DeWit:
They might do tequila Tuesday. Yeah, but they don’t do caviar. But they take turns picking, might be pizza might be awesome, great sandwiches.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s good, Jill. I didn’t know you did that.
Jill DeWit:
While we’re away, we’re buying lunch on Fridays. And I know they look forward to that and they get together. Our team is pretty social. I mean, they’re in different offices because there’s tech guys with headphones on, video things, doing their stuff, but they still get together and visit. And this is another way to make them. Let’s all have lunch together and talk for a little bit and chill out. I want them to be happy while we’re away.
Steven Jack Butala:
One of the reasons you probably chose to join Land Academy or add buying and selling land to your current revenue stream, whatever that might be, is because it doesn’t take eight hours a day to do this. In fact, if you do it right, in my opinion, just buying and selling a few pieces of property a week, it only should take four or five hours an entire week. What you don’t want, and I see a lot of people do, especially on the road is be on call.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
And when the phone rings answer it. Oh my God, Jack, all you say is, “You’ve got to answer your phone.” Here’s what I mean. If you’re not in startup mode, you’re not getting a phone number or setting up your business or doing your website, all that’s in the past. You’ve done a bunch of deals or let’s say four or five deals and you’re comfortable with the process, and maybe you have a couple of VAs, maybe even have an employee. Maybe not. What you need to do is dramatically step up your organization. You need to say, and Jill and I actually have gotten by default over the years, pretty good at this, “At 9:30, we’re going to have a staff meeting. At 10 o’clock, we’re going to have a meeting over here to look at real estate deals. And at 10:30, we’re going to do this, this and this.”
We’re going to make calls back to potential sellers or Jill will just have some type of scheduled discussion with her transaction coordinator about where we are in the deals, that we’re on the sell side or the buy side or whatever. If you really step up your organization and practice it when you’re not on the road and just really establish a routine, you’re going to end up working a couple hours in the morning every day and that’s it. The real variable is calling sellers back, because really only you can do that.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
And so you can call them back and say, “I’m sorry, I don’t have time to talk now, but if you’re free on Thursday, between 2:00 and 3:00 PM,” or whatever. But just that level of organization, if you step it up a couple notches, it will solve a lot of hours working.
Jill DeWit:
I would even go a step further, and I love your point. What we’ve done is train our staff that… Okay, great. Thank you. We take all the in calls, right? Whether it’s PATlive or your internal staff, you can have it set up where I always return calls between 2:00 and 4:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And that’s all you’ve got to do. You tell seller, “Hey, this is great. Okay, Mr. Smith.” Or you don’t need to go that formal. We aren’t that formal. “Jill does her calls on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Are you around this Thursday? And what’s the best number for her to reach you?”
Steven Jack Butala:
Excellent. Excellent.
Jill DeWit:
There you go.
Steven Jack Butala:
Excellent. Excellent.
Jill DeWit:
And then it’s setting up the precedents. I can handle that and if there’s really something special and they can’t do it, that’s something special out of the box, and they’ve arranged a time for me. They’ll know, hey, I know you’re going to be around on Sunday. You said you’re not going to do anything. Can you call this guy at noon? He said he’ll be around and he’ll be by the phone. I’m like, “Oh, absolutely.” This is a good deal too, so I will take the time. Even if I have to step out of the movie or the restaurant or fill in the blank, I can take the time to do that, step out and have a 15 minute phone call. Big deal, because it’s important. This is my business.
Steven Jack Butala:
You really can do this from anywhere. This trip, Jill and I, we’re in a VRBO. We’re usually in a RV, and so what we end up doing is making sure that for Land Academy, we’re somewhere where there’s a very strong wifi connection on Thursday. The other six days of the week are travel days or we’re out in the middle of wherever and that’s it.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
And then we make sure that whatever Jill’s schedules to do callbacks on that we’ve got cell reception. It’s just one other step of planning.
Jill DeWit:
Yep.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s all it is.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly. And you can do it.
Steven Jack Butala:
We’re all entrepreneurs here too. We’re planners. I know people and we all know people that when they take a vacation, they turn everything off.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
All of it.
Jill DeWit:
I can’t do that.
Steven Jack Butala:
They turn everything off. They take half their clothes off.
Jill DeWit:
Meaning they put a bikini on is what he is saying, not like they’re walking around naked.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s not gender specific, just for whatever reason.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
I don’t know. I don’t go to a resort and sip a cocktail and sit at a pool and unplug everything for a week straight.
Jill DeWit:
Hold on a moment, sir.
Steven Jack Butala:
I could do that for a couple hours.
Jill DeWit:
Hold on a minute, sir. I kind of like that, but not for a week straight too. I could handle it for an afternoon and then this and that.
Steven Jack Butala:
Or Friday.
Jill DeWit:
You plan it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Let’s just say Friday. Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Mondays and Fridays. Come on. We’re on the same page. Happy you could join us today. Five days a week, you can find us here on the Land Academy Show.
Steven Jack Butala:
Join us next week for another interesting episode. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit:
Yes.
Steven Jack Butala:
People vacation very differently.
Jill DeWit:
Take half their clothes off.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’ve honestly gone on vacation in the past where it’s like this is… I’m going to be personal here for a minute.
Jill DeWit:
Uh oh.
Steven Jack Butala:
Why would you go on vacation to shop? Why would you go on vacation to have a culinary adventure? I don’t want to shop. I don’t want to go have nice dinners.
Jill DeWit:
I do both those things.
Steven Jack Butala:
I mean, once in a while. I’m not necessarily a big fan of going to museums, although we went to a museum yesterday, which was awesome.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. I like that too. You’re describing my perfect vacation.
Steven Jack Butala:
You know what I want to do when I go on vacation?
Jill DeWit:
You want to go hunt and fish?
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah, which is to do stuff, like go on a snowmobile vacation, go skiing.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, I do want to do that too.
Steven Jack Butala:
Go do some stuff.
Jill DeWit:
I’d do that.
Steven Jack Butala:
I would even go, I haven’t done this, but our kids have, on a Habitat for Humanity vacation where you’re just building houses all for a week or two weeks.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to hunt.
Steven Jack Butala:
Shopping in a new city?
Jill DeWit:
I don’t want to fish and I don’t want to build a house.
Steven Jack Butala:
Shopping in a new city and going to a show in a new city is the last thing I want to do.
Jill DeWit:
Sure. See, that’s okay. Ying and yang.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yep.
Jill DeWit:
We got it. Thank you for tuning in. By the way, by the time this airs, the emails may be out. I’m doing a special thing right now. If it’s not out, it’s coming out soon, let me tell you, because I’m behind, but I’m doing a special thing to prerelease access to sign up for Career Path number five coming this fall. If you are a Land Academy member, check your email. There either is an email from me or one coming soon. Keep an eye out for it with an announcement to join Career Path five, with something really special in there for you for signing up early. That’s all I’ve got there. We are Jack and Jill.
Steven Jack Butala:
We are Jack and Jill. Information-
Jill DeWit:
And inspiration.
Steven Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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