Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:
Jack and Jill here.

Jill K DeWit:
Hello.

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

Jill K DeWit:
And I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting from awesome Dallas, Texas.

Steven Jack Butala:
Today, Jill and I talk about what the real-time commitment is to run your land business. Doesn’t matter where you are, you might be on the road in an RV or you might be in your 20 years-plus office.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, that’s the thing. Most people come to us having full, awesome, brilliant careers, really smart. We have a lot of very smart brainy people, scientists and pilots, and analysts and accountants in Land Academy. And you’ve got pharmacists. You know who you are. You’ve got time commitments, you’ve got little kids and so it’s a really valid question. Like, Boy, I want to do this, but I can’t give 40 hours. I can’t even for sure say I can give 20. So what is the real-time commitment I need to start and run my own land business? And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

Steven Jack Butala:
Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on a landinvestors.com online community, it’s free. Before we get to that, did you know that we have a commercial printing company solely created to help you get inexpensive direct mail offers in the hands of sellers quickly? It’s called Offers 2 Owners. Offers the number 2owners.com. Jill and I set this company up several years ago and now we’ve share… We’re obviously, now sharing it with members and non-members. Today, fast forward to today, we mail about seven to 800,000 offers a month, and we can do everything for you from start to finish, pulling the data, scrubbing it, collecting comps, and getting it even in first class mail if you’d like to, call 800-725-8816 or email support@offers2owners.com for more information. Nice script writing.

Jill K DeWit:
Thank you very much.

Steven Jack Butala:
I appreciate that. You clean that up pretty well.

Jill K DeWit:
I did. Josiah wrote this is the first email from the seller. Talk about an easy transaction. So here we go. In quotes, “Mr. Ronco, my name is John Smith. I own 40 acres of land in County USA. You recently sent me an offer to purchase it for the sum of $58,244 and 27 cents. The APN is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. I’m currently considering listing my property with a local realtor for the sum of $125,000. I have done a comparable market analysis, CMA and similar properties around mine have sold for around $3,000 an acre. My property is as good or better. I have no liens, no past-due taxes. I have no encumbrances ever or currently. There’s no debris.” This is nice. I can’t believe the seller wrote all this. “There’s no debris, mobile homes, structure, automobiles, or trash on my property. The property is primarily oak woodlands with about six acres cleared.
I left occasional trees on the cleared land for aesthetics. The property is beautiful. That being said, I will sell you my property for $60,000 under the following conditions.” So I want to back up for just a second there. So the offer was-

Steven Jack Butala:
58.

Jill K DeWit:
58, so he says make it 60 even. And he thinks you can get 125. Okay. So, okay, “That being said, I will sell you my property for $60,000 under the following conditions. I pay no closing costs, recording fees, or any associated costs of the transfer session of my property to you or your company. In addition, we must close transfer, complete the sale within two weeks of signing the sales contract.”

Steven Jack Butala:
Love that.

Jill K DeWit:
I checked out the property and the comps and that’s the end of the thing. So I’m like done, done and done. That’s who we are. So Josiah went on to write, I checked out the property and I checked out the comps. The guy isn’t lying. It’s worth $125,000 all day and we might even be able to push the price higher because it’s so beautiful, perfect for hunting and growing pine. So we talked on the phone for a while yesterday. I asked why he’s selling so cheap because he paid 55,000 in 2013. He said, “Well I’m old and I really don’t need the money.” We’re meeting for coffee next week. Super cool guy. I got 10 to 12 hate calls yesterday. Who freaking cares? Bring the hate. There’s always going to be sellers like this out there. That’s it. I want to add, I had a conversation with a person. There’s a person that we’ve got into now on many of our mailers, not all, but a lot of our mailers were doing… Were bringing this third person to help alleviate some of the workload for us as partner, right?
And this person was having a conversation with me about when do we consider this mailer done and move on to the next one. And what we’re doing is I need two weeks, two weeks, two weeks, two weeks, two weeks. Let’s just do it. I don’t care. Get the mail out. And in their head they’re like, but hold on a moment, again, how do I know that was enough time? And did we get enough juice out of that mailer? I said, “You know what? Hold on just a second. We just got done talking about all these deals right now. If one of those deals that we just went through pans out like we said we did, I think that’s a successful mailer. How about you?” He’s like, “Yeah, done. Got it. Don’t need to talk about it again.” So just like Josiah just did here, some people are like, Oh, I didn’t get the percentage I thought I was going to get.
And they really try to dig into the percentage. But when you get to a certain point, you’re not concerned about that. And I love it. I see professional investors in our advanced group make that shift. They’re not trying to funnel land deals down and know that it’s got to be this many calls, this many this, this many that. That’s one way to look at it because the numbers work out and you’re doing just fine to… What do you want to add?

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah, to wrap that up, Jill’s exactly right. There’s a reoccurring career-long theme as instructors for Land Academy that Jill and I see. We see very, very bright people who are results-oriented, goal-oriented, and on a schedule. And when they begin their career with us, not their career but their career with us, they are full, chuck full of questions like, what’s my mailer yield going to be? How much money can I expect from this mailer? How long is it going to take before I start to get calls? And then when am I going to get a return on my mail investment? And these very, very specific questions and they have a pen in their hand, holding their breath, waiting for Jill and I to answer them and what they want us to say, Well, it’s going to take two weeks. You’re going to make about a 400%… None of that’s true.
And then all the questions stop because the first mailer goes out, they buy a couple of properties, they spend five, $6,000 on a mailer, they get 40, $50,000 return and we never get the questions again. And they call us maybe if we’re lucky and say thank you or email us, but usually not. And so if you’re in that situation right now, and I’m not complaining, I love this. I used to not like it. I love it now because I know it’s going to happen. If you follow through on your mail, just like Josiah’s career path, the person who asked this question, a career path alumni is super, super, used to be a roadie for a band. So really, really successful and a lot of fun to hang out with. So this question generated a lot of responses in Discord and my favorite response was to it, embrace the hate, send more mail. Somebody said that. I love that.

Jill K DeWit:
It’s totally fine.

Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s topic, what’s the real-time commitment from a land business? This is why you’re listening. I have a bunch to say, [inaudible 00:08:43] just nail it.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. You go ahead. Because I kind of went in hard on the question. So you take this.

Steven Jack Butala:
If you’re a Land Academy member and you’ve gone through the… And studied the material that we provide, you know this. But for the rest of you, I’ve broken down this business in 10 steps, 10 or 11 steps. There’s steps that you need to plan for no matter where you are in your career, you’ve never done a deal or you’ve done 150 deals or more, you need to start mentally planning to outsource the stuff that I don’t believe that you really need to work on. In the beginning, you might not be able to afford it or you might want to just do it because you’re learning, but at some point, it would be crazy for you not to outsource this. I’m going to reel off the 10 steps and then I’m going to go back through the 10 steps and briefly tell you, yeah, outsourcer are… Continue to do it for the rest of your life.
Number one, identify target markets and test those markets to send mail. You will always do that forever in your life. You will never outsource it and it’s going to be shocking to you how little time it takes. Less than a half hour a mailer. Number two, order the mail. Call concierge data or do the mailer yourself. If you need to do the mailer yourself in the beginning, that’s great, but you need to in the back of your head, plan for having someone else do the mailer for you. Jill and I happen to be all set up with concierge data to have that happen. Number three is execute the mailer. Two and three are kind of the same. Number four, approve and price the mailer. Concierge data’s all done with it, or you’re done with the mailer, you have to price it. You’re going to have to do that for the rest of your life. There are no tricks to this. There are little-

Jill K DeWit:
No easy buttons.

Steven Jack Butala:
Cute little products out there that always fail.

Jill K DeWit:
Every single one that says, “Oh, I’ve been using whatever.” Then you read three more comments are like, “Yeah, it failed here. This didn’t count for that. This didn’t work. I don’t use it anymore.”

Steven Jack Butala:
There’s not an app for that.

Jill K DeWit:
Exactly.

Steven Jack Butala:
Number five, manage the bound flow of responses. This is where it kind of, Jill takes over in our real estate life. Do it in the beginning and then get somebody to answer your phone, whether it’s PATLive and then you’re going to have to… However that manifests itself for you, maybe do it for the rest of your life because that’s what you’re really into. Or maybe you get somebody else to do it. Jill’s kind of a hybrid. She’s got a couple of people working for her where they do the brunt of the work. And then that gets you to number six, make the decisions. No one can make an acquisition decision except you. That takes about five minutes a day. Number seven, acquire the property. After you’re used to doing this a few times, you need somebody else to do this for you. Number six, list it with a real estate agent or sell it. You shouldn’t do this. In the long run, you shouldn’t do this. It’s the same mechanical thing, process. Number nine, sign and approve the listing agreement. Five minutes a day. Number 10, manage the sale of the property. You shouldn’t do this. Somebody else should do it when you’re ready in your career. And then number 11, sign and approve the sale. Only you can do that.

Jill K DeWit:
Isn’t that great? When you break it down like that, it doesn’t seem so overwhelming, but when you sit back and go, I’m starting my own land business, then it’s like, oh, that’s a little scary when you say it like that.

Steven Jack Butala:
So a typical work week, when you’re doing a mailer, it should take you a good eight hours to complete a mailer or manage it through if you’re brand new. But the more you do it with concierge data or however you choose to do it, the shorter that timeframe will get. And then everything else is maybe an hour a day. You can do the entire thing for an hour a day. Do I recommend doing that? And just saying, Well, Jack said it just takes an hour a day. Do what you need to do before when you get…You need to get 10 or 15 deals under your belt. Look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I enjoy doing this and it’s going to work and I want to take it to the next step or not.” One of those two things. If you choose to move on, then I really want you to in your-

Jill K DeWit:
Which way? Move on forward, like yes or no? Move on-

Steven Jack Butala:
Move to be a land acquisition extraordinaire.

Jill K DeWit:
Okay, good. All right.

Steven Jack Butala:
Then I want you to go back into the program and really look at the equity planner and the tab, that’s the organizational flowchart. And I want you to really start implementing these things because I’ll tell you why. When you get these other things out of your life, you’re going to double and triple and… That’s when it becomes scalable. When you have somebody else doing the mail, somebody else answering the phone, and you are spending all the time working on finding new places to send mail, researching that, maybe finding a land specific type that maybe recreation land, maybe like info lots or whatever that is. And then signing stuff that people put in front of you.

Jill K DeWit:
Thank you.

Steven Jack Butala:
An hour a day is what it takes, maybe. In the beginning, the first 12 months, maybe 18 months, it’s not an hour a day because there’s a huge learning curve. You spent most of your time learning.

Jill K DeWit:
Remember the 4:00 AM club?

Steven Jack Butala:
Mm-hmm.

Jill K DeWit:
We had a group of people in Land Academy that would get together on their own and I don’t know if they would Zoom or what they were doing, but they would get together and kind of chat and they called themselves a 4:00 AM club because they were all up early and bouncing ideas off each other. It’s probably still… I’m sure a version of that is still happening right now in Discord because you can… There’s always somebody live. I mean, 24/7, there’s somebody in Discord when you pop in there.

Steven Jack Butala:
Oh, geez.

Jill K DeWit:
Because our group is worldwide and everybody has such varied schedules that they’re like, Hello, Anybody there? Someone’s going to respond. But the 4:00 AM club, that was a time that they had. They’re like, we have jobs, we have kids by 6:00 AM, I need to be waking kids up, getting ready for work, and getting out the door. So from four to 6:00 AM, hey that’s my time. That’s when I focus on my land company. And so you kind of do what you have to if you’re… I think the biggest thing, and I talk to people about this too, when they’re thinking about this, it’s got to come from you. And it did for me. For me, I snapped, and something in me… First, the business clicked with me, if that makes sense. And then what’s so funny?

Steven Jack Butala:
For me, you said I snapped like-

Jill K DeWit:
Well that’s true.

Steven Jack Butala:
Like Jill’s only ever snapped once.

Jill K DeWit:
Well, yeah, that’s true. When I turned 40 and we’ll talk about that another time. That’s true. A lot of things happened that year. Because I did snap.

Steven Jack Butala:
Some people just get a [inaudible 00:15:44].

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, no. Oh, no, not me. This is done, this is done, this is done, this is done. Move out my way, everybody.

Steven Jack Butala:
Get a new husband, I’m going to get a new house.

Jill K DeWit:
Good job. New career. Exactly.

Steven Jack Butala:
New city to live in.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s right. New family.

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.

Jill K DeWit:
Exactly. That’s right. I had a few select friends that made the cut. That’s about it. So anyway. No, but if you are into this and you’re listening right now, I hope this happens for you. There’s going to be a light bulb moment and you’re going to get it. And you’re going to want it. And if that happens, you will start saying, “Nope, can’t go. Nope, not doing it. That vacation sounds fun. Not for me. This, this, and this.” And including like, Sweetheart, I love you. I need to spend the next six months, every weekend. I’m not going to coach the kid’s soccer team and I’m not going to do this. But trust me, there’s a reason why there’s something bigger. Because when I come up for air from all this, I can do all those things and more.

Steven Jack Butala:
This is really, really perceptive of you. This whole thing, because this has happened with Jill and I, now that I’m looking back on it, many, many times-

Jill K DeWit:
It does.

Steven Jack Butala:
We’re about to go into another-

Jill K DeWit:
We’re doing it again. We’re about to do it again.

Steven Jack Butala:
No one pushes back. I don’t push back when you say that, I need eight hours of work today. I’m like, great. I need to grease up the fishing rod anyway.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. Exactly.

Steven Jack Butala:
So I think that’s very perceptive, Jill.

Jill K DeWit:
So the time commitment is whatever it is for you when you’re at that moment and you will do it. So you might work, get up if you’re not eating or sleeping and at your day job or in a car, you’re doing this. That’s how we roll. And you will be successful by the way. And you won’t always have to do that. Happy you could join us today, five days a week. You can find us here on the Land Academy Show.

Steven Jack Butala:
Tomorrow, the episode on the Land Academy Show is called The Pros and Cons of Sending Blind Offers During the Holidays. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. I don’t know where I was really recently. I was listening to two young women, both I think young mothers, and then one was talking to the other in some public… They didn’t know each other and it was in some public environment. And one said, “When did the holidays start for you? Did they start at Thanksgiving or Halloween?” And the other one said, “Oh, Halloween. In fact, it’s already started for me.” And then she launched into this, You should see the decorations that I got. I went to this place and it did…” And that it was two women just who didn’t know each other and were best friends talking about the holidays and little kids and the whole thing. And I had a very personal awesome moment because… And across the country, nowhere close to anything where Jill can put up a Christmas tree. There’s nothing that she can do. I have to-

Jill K DeWit:
Oh, wait, I have two pumpkins. I do have two pumpkins because that’s all the space I have.

Steven Jack Butala:
I had this thought.

Jill K DeWit:
They’re little.

Steven Jack Butala:
I had this thought maybe we were not going to have any holidays today. We’re just going to be driving around in this RV, having fun.

Jill K DeWit:
Out with two pumpkins. Remember the time we went skiing and I had a little 18-inch Christmas tree from Target? That was the tree.

Steven Jack Butala:
One year we had a Christmas tree on a wall.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, that was fun.

Steven Jack Butala:
I’m not sure why that was because-

Jill K DeWit:
We didn’t have a lot of space. It was an apartment.

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. It was cute. I liked that one. That was one of my favorite trees. That was nice work here. Thank you for tuning in, by the way. Jack and I are very aware as we talk about these deals and things that we got going on, that not everyone has big bucks or a hundred grand lying around to buy land. Well, we fund many Land Academy members’ and even non-members’ deals every week. Check it out at landfunding.com. And in addition to us, our members within Land Academy and our closed group have combined… Last time I counted it was about 40 million that I see floating around there to fund Land Academy deals-

Steven Jack Butala:
It’s way more than that.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s what I think too. No one really tells you what they really have. But anyway, don’t worry about money for deals. It’s there for you. Just email support@landacademy.com. If you have any questions and you want to find out if this is for you…

Jack & Jill:
We’re Jack & Jill.

Steven Jack Butala:
Information.

Jill K DeWit:
And inspiration.

Steven Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property.