Jack Thursday – Hope is Not a Business Model (LA 1871)

Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:
Audio. Three, two.
Steven and Jill here.

Jill DeWitt:
Hello.

Steven Jack Butala:
Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.

Jill DeWitt:
And I’m Jill DeWitt. Broadcasting from… Wait until you hear this one. The Batman Building location.

Steven Jack Butala:
Really?

Jill DeWitt:
Yep. Wait until you hear about this.

Steven Jack Butala:
Bat cave?

Jill DeWitt:
Oh, no. The most recognizable building in the city skyline is the AT&T Building, more commonly known as the Batman Building, because of the large pillars on either side of the structure that make it look like Batman.

Steven Jack Butala:
Oh, we got to go see that.

Jill DeWitt:
Located in downtown Nashville between 3rd and 4th Avenues, AT&T Building stands 33 stories tall and is the tallest building in the state of Tennessee.

Steven Jack Butala:
That’s fantastic.

Jill DeWitt:
I know. That is a fun fact, specifically for Jack.

Steven Jack Butala:
We’re in Nashville, by the way.

Jill DeWitt:
Yes, and he loves-

Steven Jack Butala:
She fails to say that.

Jill DeWitt:
… Batman. So, there we go.

Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s talk… Today’s Jack Thursday, and I’m going to talk about hope is not a business model. Before we get into it, let’s take a question, posted by one of our members at landinvestors.com online community. It’s free. Please don’t forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel, comment on the shows you like.

Jill DeWitt:
Can I comment on the hope thing, by the way, real quick?

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. Why do you think it’s… Every time I say it you laugh.

Jill DeWitt:
Well, because I didn’t get to get my comment out before you went the next sentence, so I want to… The hope thing. People think luck is a strategy, too. Like, “Oh, how’d that all happen?”
“I don’t know. Just got all lucky.” No you didn’t. You made it happen. And I think hope… We’ll talk about it more. We’ll get to this.
All right, I hope I pronounce this correctly. JaTisha wrote, Hello. So I got signed purchase agreement back in the mail and the seller left his phone number and no email. Multiple ties calling the number. It says the number you’re calling is not accepting your call. So I found the guy on a search engine here and he’s 90. That’s probably true. He may not have an email. That’s probably true. I’ve tried five, six other phone numbers of family members, but they’re all disconnected. Aw.

Steven Jack Butala:
Lot of people had a lot to say in Discord about this, which is how I gauge whether or not we should choose questions to put them on the show. Boy, if I had a nickel.

Jill DeWitt:
What was the general consensus?

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah, this is if I had a nickel.

Jill DeWitt:
Oh, why? Well, we have his address. Why don’t we write him back? Because I’ve done that. If it’s a really good deal, now he is interested. Right? And he signed it and sent it back. I would do my due diligence, see if I still want it, and then write him back and say I’m not be able to reach you at this phone number. Where can I reach you? Or you want to call me here? I’m available every evening between six and eight or whatever it is, the local time, and give him a different number or the direct number right to you and let him call you back.

Steven Jack Butala:
So, I understand that, Jill. That’s Jill’s personality type and that sometimes works.

Jill DeWitt:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
The real solution to this is to send out more mail, because this… I have had… I’m not going to try that hard.

Jill DeWitt:
Well, no, no. I’m not going to try that hard, too, but I’m still going to… I could have my team, when I say me, my team-

Steven Jack Butala:
Write a letter, I get it.

Jill DeWitt:
… Good for you. But doesn’t hurt to write one letter back to the guy while you keep on moving on.

Steven Jack Butala:
What sucks is that these deals, usually like this, are great.

Jill DeWitt:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
It totally fits a profile for what we do.

Jill DeWitt:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
The fact this person’s age, in my opinion, is insignificant. This can happen. We have a deal right now that where the person’s just not responsive. I’m not sure if they changed their mind or I’m not sure what’s going on exactly, but people just go dark.

Jill DeWitt:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
You should plan for it.

Jill DeWitt:
Keep trying.

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.

Jill DeWitt:
But yeah, don’t… Keep trying, but don’t make it your sole focus.

Steven Jack Butala:
Right. Don’t put it in your head that the deal’s going to get done. It’s hard to look at a deal and say, “I’m going to make $90,000 on this and the guy won’t call me back.”

Jill DeWitt:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
It’s tough, especially in the beginning.

Jill DeWitt:
To do your due diligence real quick, because I’ve had some that I’m like, I looked at them and I’m like, thank God I didn’t try that hard, because I don’t want this one anyway. Seriously.

Steven Jack Butala:
Today is Jack Thursday and I’m going to talk about how hope is not a business model. This is why you’re listening. I had a conversation with somebody a couple years ago that came to us and said they were a member and also a social friend of ours. And I didn’t know they were a member. We were hanging out with them and they joined Land Academy six or eight months before that. And we were sitting at our residential bar having a beer and he said, “I joined Land Academy about eight months ago.”
And I’m like, “Geez. Oh, great. I didn’t know that. Did you send a mailer out?”
And he’s like, “No, I’m not going to send a mailer, ever.”
I said, “What the heck is that?”
He said, “Well, it just gives me hope.”
And so this is a relatively successful guy already doing some other stuff, and it made me start to think that… And I’ve known… Jill and I’ve known this for a long time, that at least 50% of the people who are in Land Academy are here for the information, potentially the entertainment, to be a part of a group, and be a fly on the wall.
Maybe they intend to send a mailer out, maybe they don’t, but they’re here and they stay here for quite some time. And I’m trying to… I don’t think that those people intend on ever being anything else other than just here for the education. On the other side of that bell curve, there’s people who… Actually, the people that are just the fly on the wall are probably in the middle of the bell curve.
On the end of the bell curve are people like us where we obsess on it, send out tons of mail, and we are in Land Academy. We are Land Academy. There’s this third group where I think that they have this thing, this hope, that their life’s going to change, but they don’t do stuff. They don’t take action to make a change.
And so, hope can’t be a business model. You can’t just hope that something’s going to happen without actually taking some serious action.

Jill DeWitt:
That’s not where I thought this was going, so it’s very interesting to me.

Steven Jack Butala:
What did you think?

Jill DeWitt:
Well, a couple things. I do know people, though, that have come forward and said, “I’ve been with you for a year and I’m just now sending out my first mailer.” And then they can take it from there. But being part of the group and absorbing it all and everything, I know is very beneficial to them.
And then for whatever reason now after a year, they’re ready. Something finally kicked in. So, I look at this, hope isn’t a business model, like luck isn’t a business model. You can’t just come in and just wing it and hope… I hope I’m going to hit a ball. I’m going to swing, I hope I hit it. You need to practice.

Steven Jack Butala:
That’s how I play golf, by the way.

Jill DeWitt:
Well, yeah. And it shows.

Steven Jack Butala:
I close my eyes while I play.

Jill DeWitt:
Yes. So, that’s why everybody asks, “Do you guys play golf?”
We’re like, “No.”
So, I’m still trying to wrap my head around how to word this. I guess that’s it. You don’t hope you’re going to be a professional. You know what it is? You don’t hope you have to know…. I mean, that’s what I think it is. Kind of ties into one of our shows this week about how much energy you’re going to put into something.
If you really… You know what? I did a podcast a long time ago. Just changed my own subject. I did a podcast a long time ago and I talked to people about if you want to be an investor, there’s no reason you can’t wake up tomorrow morning and say, “I’m an investor.”

Steven Jack Butala:
I agree.

Jill DeWitt:
And I’m going to put a different hat on.

Steven Jack Butala:
Totally agree.

Jill DeWitt:
I’m going to wear a different… I’m going to wear this Land Academy shirt. I’m putting my hat on. I’m going to pretend I’m driving a pickup truck, even though I’m not. I’m going to have the attitude that I’m driving a big pickup truck and I am a land investor, effective today.

Steven Jack Butala:
I love that.

Jill DeWitt:
If anybody asks me, I’m a land investor. That’s my attitude. That’s how I’m talking, that’s how I’m thinking, and I am doing deals right now. That’s how I think you should go through all of this. Wake up tomorrow and decide what you’re going to be, what you’re going to do.
No hope your way through it, feel your way through it, test it, try it, play around, whatever, see what happens and blame somebody else. Put your head down and get serious about it and you will do it.

Steven Jack Butala:
Jill and I have had this conversation many times. We’ve had family members who, through the course of us knowing them through their lives, have said more than one occasion, “Well, this is going to all end, because I’m going to win the lottery.”
And so, that’s hope as a business model and it’s not a good idea. So you got to take action. That’s my whole point.

Jill DeWitt:
If you really want to win the lottery, you can, but what are the odds? You got to follow the odds all the way to the end. If it’s one in a million, you got to get through the million. You know what I’m saying?

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. I mean wouldn’t it be easier-

Jill DeWitt:
You do that, too.

Steven Jack Butala:
… To play the odds of sending mail out.

Jill DeWitt:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
A properly priced mailer in a thought out location, you’re going to buy a piece of real estate for every, let’s just say 2000 mailers you send out. So, costs a thousand bucks to make 80,000? I’ll play those odds.

Jill DeWitt:
You know what’s funny about this? I’m going to end on this little story. My brother, my little brother, has always had that luck and I swear he manifests his stuff. Let me tell you what goes on with him.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been with him to the zoo. Our little local zoo would have these money-making events where they have you come, they close up after hours and you buy painting… You donate. Events to raise money for the zoo, right? And there’s a drawing of some kind and there’s something that he wants in the drawing and doggone it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood next to him and he wins the dumb thing.
But I swear he’s in his head. It’s not hope, but he’s in his head saying, “Jeff DeWitt, Jeff DeWitt, call Jeff DeWitt.” And then they do call Jeff DeWitt. I’m like, I look at him like, How the heck do you do that? But you know what? Then I’ve done it, too. And I hope that you’ve done that.
You can… You just have to put your head down and do stuff. And I think there’s a lot going on in here.

Steven Jack Butala:
Hope alone, is not going to work.

Jill DeWitt:
Right. Hope and perseverance. Hope and energy.

Steven Jack Butala:
What’s that saying?

Jill DeWitt:
Take hope out. I hope everybody sees me.

Steven Jack Butala:
Plan for the worst.

Jill DeWitt:
Kill it.

Steven Jack Butala:
Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

Jill DeWitt:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
In the middle of all that, do some stuff.

Jill DeWitt:
Mm-hmm.

Steven Jack Butala:
Send a mailer out.

Jill DeWitt:
Replace hope with attitude. Replace hope with… What’s the word I’m looking for? Confidence. And then you’ll be great. How’s that? Happy you could join us today. Five days a week, you can find us here at the Land Academy.

Steven Jack Butala:
Tomorrow is Jill Friday, and she’s going to talk about taking due diligence with a grain of salt. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.

Jill DeWitt:
Today kind of sounded like a touchy feely Jill Friday anyway.

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.

Jill DeWitt:
With hope.

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.

Jill DeWitt:
Today wasn’t a day to… One of your day-to-days.

Steven Jack Butala:
Right.

Jill DeWitt:
Was kind of a touchy-feely, which I like. I have a lot to say on those days.

Steven Jack Butala:
Mm-hmm.

Jill DeWitt:
Thank you.

Steven Jack Butala:
That’s good.

Jill DeWitt:
Uh-huh. Thank you. By the way, I know we said this before, but we’re going to say it again. Thank you for tuning in and we hope you find this all valuable. Yeah. We hope. We know you find this valuable and we appreciate your support.
So, if you haven’t already, please check in our YouTube channel, hit the subscribe button and comment on this stuff, because you know what? It gets back to us. It gets back to our team. It’s all relevant and we use it and we appreciate it.

Steven Jack Butala:
We are Jack and Jill. Information…

Jill DeWitt:
And inspiration…

Steven Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
Out.

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