Jill Friday – What I Wish Everyone Knew About Getting Deals Done (LA 1797)
Jill Friday – What I Wish Everyone Knew About Getting Deals Done (LA 1797)
Transcript:
Steven Jack Butala:
Steve 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 the Valley of the Sun.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today is Jill Friday and she’s going to talk about what she wishes everyone knew about getting deals done.
Jill K DeWit:
Yes. I have a couple things that I can really take a step back and go, “Man, why is the planet not doing this? Why is everyone in Land Academy? Why is everyone in this? What is everybody … Why are you not doing this?” I don’t care what you’re doing. You want to get deals done? There’s some universal things that I wish everybody understood.
Steven Jack Butala:
First, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community, it’s free.
Back in the day it was nearly impossible to find these rural properties without a postal address. All we had to go on was the state it was in, the county it was in, and the assessor’s parcel number.
Well, Jill and I developed a tool since then called NeighborScoop, where we make it real easy to input those three things and immediately find all we need to know about making a first tier purchase decision or a nix decision on buying a property. Check out neighborscoop.com.
Jill K DeWit:
Evan W. wrote, “I’m excited to share that I officially joined the quitters club.” Yay. “After nearly 10 years in sales for Corporate America, I grew sick and tired of the politics and realize how little control I had over my future. Joining Land Academy is by far the best decision I have made professionally.”
Steven Jack Butala:
Wow.
Jill K DeWit:
“This community has been priceless.” This is so nice. “I have learned so much from the discussions and have been inspired by the success that so many of us are experiencing. Thank you @stevenjackbutala and @jilldewit, for your open-handed approach. My family is entering such a wonderful season because of you and this gift you have given us.”
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s so nice.
Jill K DeWit:
“I’m also incredibly grateful for the investors in this group that I have partnered with. You have trusted me to be the frontline of your business and allowed me to do what I do best, connect with sellers, negotiate what appropriate, and ultimately get deals done.”
“More than anything, I’m so thankful for my wife’s help and support in making this transition. I would not have made this jump without her belief in me and the steadiness she brings to my life.” This is amazing.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is a Academy Award speech.
Jill K DeWit:
It is. “I hope this post encourages everyone who is looking to leave their W-2. The two biggest catalysts for me were getting consistent in sending out the mail and leveraging my skillset and partnerships with other investors. I look forward to learning so much more from this group and contributing when I can. Cheers to all our success.” Aww.
Steven Jack Butala:
Congratulations. That’s fantastic. Boy.
Jill K DeWit:
Evan, that’s great.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is why we’re here.
Jill K DeWit:
Totally.
Steven Jack Butala:
I never get tired of hearing that. Thank you.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s awesome, thanks.
Steven Jack Butala:
And congratulations, that’s amazing.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. Yay.
Steven Jack Butala:
God, I remember when I quit my job.
Jill K DeWit:
Remember when we quit? Yeah, exactly. You know what’s funny, I don’t remember my first deal at all. I know you do and I know a lot of you do, and I don’t know why. I just, I don’t remember my first deal, but I do remember quitting. I know what that felt like.
Today is Jill Friday. What I wish everyone knew about getting deals done. This is the meat of the show.
Steven Jack Butala:
Hey, Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
Thank you. So here’s the deal. I’m going to try to make this easy. And if you have a light bulb moment, I’m excited about that. It’s probably going to be like a, “Yeah, you’re right. I know you’re right. I’ve been thinking about this,” but here we go.
Number one. What I wish everyone knew here. Just, and again, I’m trying to tell you why, what … Because people come to me all the time and say, “Why are you so successful? What’s so special about you? How can I be a you?” I’ve done Intensives on this. It comes up in Career Path all the time. I’m nonstop talking about this.
And if you want to be me, number one, you got to do this and just get deals done, or whatever you’re working on. You just got to make sure, it sounds simple, but calls are being flipping answered and emails are getting responded to. I cannot tell you how many times I get letters in the mail, it’s kind of funny. They’re from Land Academy people and I’m testing you. I’m like, “Let me see if they answer their phone.” I could be a seller. I’m calling you back, and guess what? I’m not getting a response. I’ve had some weird things that … And no one gets back to me. I’m like, “Why are you guys not getting deals done?”
Here’s another example. When I talk to agents, let’s say I’m interviewing a broker to sell a property for me. What am I going to do? I’m going to pick up the phone and call them, first of all. And do they even answer the phone? Because if they’re not answering the phone with me, they’re not going to answer the phone with buyers also. Huge problem.
So you’ve got to make sure everything’s being worked. That’s it. And then that kind of spills into number two. What I wish everyone knew about getting deals done, you got to push. You have to wake up every day and push these deals through the system. You cannot wake up and go, “Huh, I got these five in escrow. I got this broker over here. Well, I’m just going to go golf. I’m just going to go lay on the beach.”
Steven Jack Butala:
Boy, that’s for sure.
Jill K DeWit:
“I’m just going to go … I don’t have to do anything. Those five people are doing those deals and these agents are over here doing this stuff. There’s nothing for me to do today.”
Wrong. You have to check in with these people. I have a thing with my team, it’s pretty much twice a week. With brokers and people selling, it’s once a week on … Well, usually Tuesdays, because I get the report on Wednesdays. But for all the escrow stuff, it’s twice a week that we check in on these. If you don’t push and get these deals all the way through the system, they’re going to fall apart. They just do.
People get confused, people fall behind, they walk, they change their mind. Just things get forgotten. They slip through the cracks. You don’t want to come up for air two weeks from now and find out from that broker that the paperwork that they sent them, they never got a response on from the seller. And now you can’t reach a seller and the seller thought you went dark. The seller thought you weren’t doing your thing, because it all went to their junk mail, because no one was following up with people and making sure stuff was going through.
I really, myself personally and everyone on my team, we are pushing these deals through. Not only just to completion, but to close early too. That’s always my goal. I know we agreed on the 30th, but by golly, if we got the title back quickly and we can do stuff, we can close on the 25th. Oh, we’re closing on the 25th. Why do we need to sit around and wait? I’m happy owning it. And my people are happy getting their money quicker, and the reverse. If someone’s excited to buy the property and we can close earlier, they’re like, “Yes, now I can start using it this weekend.” Do it.
And then my last point that I wish everyone knew about getting these deals done, attitude really makes a difference. I’m sorry.
Steven Jack Butala:
Totally. Totally. Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
You have to, with every single person that you are in contact with, whether they work for you, whether an agent, whether it’s a seller, a buyer, a broker, every single one of them, your job is to listen. Your job is to engage with them, and befriend, them and work through these deals together. That’s it.
Every person I’m working with, we’re we’re kind of in a partnership. Me and the seller, the sellers call me back. We’re going into a partnership together. He wants to sell, I want to buy. We’re working together to get this done. Behind the scenes I’m pushing it to get done kind of thing. And then also making sure all the calls get answered. Everything happens. All these things tie together.
With a title company, you better believe I’m engaged with them and we’re on a mission to get these deals closed, whether it’s the buy side or the sell side. We’re on the same team. And the more efficient we are and the better we get along and the more that we connect, it’s going to make everything easier and faster. And I’m going to argue, more fun.
Steven Jack Butala:
Let me bring this to the 35,000 foot view.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Jack Butala:
There are two types of things we all do when we get up in the morning all day long, whether it’s professionally, buying and selling land, or socially. Whether it’s with the people you live, your family. Stuff you want to do, stuff you don’t want to do.
Starting with brushing your teeth and all the way until the time your head hits the pillow at the end of the day. Stuff you want to do, stuff you don’t want to do. Deals are the same way. There’s a bunch of stuff that you probably enjoy doing. Maybe you don’t want to do any of it. If you don’t want to do any of it Land Academy’s not for you. Problem solved.
Maybe you like to do the mailer, but you don’t like to answer the phone. That’s great. Find somebody to answer the phone. If it’s the other way, find somebody to do your mail. That’s why we have a group. There’s a lot of companies out there that just teach and that’s it. Think about going back to high school or college, they just taught you stuff and said, “See ya.” That’s not what we do. We have all kinds of peer groups and Discord and all of that.
And so if you’re waking up, you’re brushing your teeth. And then you’re going to a job and you don’t want to be there, you better have a plan to get out of there or you’re going to die. You’re going to retire at some point on social security or whatever else that you have available, very, very, very unhappy. If you aren’t getting real estate deals done it’s because you don’t want to.
Jill K DeWit:
Thank you.
Steven Jack Butala:
If you don’t play the guitar well, that’s me, it’s because I never really wanted to learn.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh, I understand. No. Yeah, it’s very sweet of you. You throw yourself under the bus without a long time. He has three that I know of, very beautiful guitars. Because I think you came along thinking that the right guitar’s going to motivate you and it didn’t happen, and that’s okay.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s true.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s okay. No, so hope you got what you needed out of that, and I’m very happy.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’ve always wanted to be rich since as long as I can remember. And most of my adult life I have been, and it’s because I’m willing to do the stuff that it takes to do that. And along the way, there’s a lot of things …
I’m not the best person to answer the phone, and so I’ve collected tools and resources and people along the way to make sure that I get rich. And I would encourage you to do the same thing. Unless you don’t want to be rich, which I get.
Jill K DeWit:
No, that’s very true. That’s a valid point. We could end it on that. Whatever your happy spot is, that’s-
Steven Jack Butala:
Happy spot.
Jill K DeWit:
This is a good thing about … Don’t go there.
Steven Jack Butala:
Geez, Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
Don’t go there. You said it.
Steven Jack Butala:
You thought … I didn’t even think of it.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh yeah, right.
Steven Jack Butala:
Your mind’s in the gutter now.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay, anyway.
Steven Jack Butala:
I did not even think of that. You did.
Jill K DeWit:
Wherever you are happiest, that’s why … I can end it on this. Look, if you’ve been listening to us for a while, you know who we are, what we do, how we roll. And one of the beautiful things about Land Academy is you can dial it up, you can dial it back.
I know a lot of things this week Jack talked about was big numbers. You know what, what if you don’t want big numbers? There’s a lot of people that are like, “You know what? If I could just work a couple hours a month and make 50 grand a year extra because that’s going to pay for my kids’ college tuition, I’m happy. That’s really all I want.” I mean, that’s the beauty of this. Make it whatever you want to make it. And if it’s too hard, dial it back. You want to do much, turn it up.
Steven Jack Butala:
If you wanted to you could have absolutely no bills, none. You could generate your own electricity. You could buy a piece of land for cash, put a place on it. And we probably have several people in Land Academy, that’s what they’re shooting for, to get to zero. Chase it right down to zero, buy and sell a few properties a year and have the happiest life forever.
Jill K DeWit:
Which is coast. Nothing wrong with any of this.
Steven Jack Butala:
Control of your own time.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
Grow your own food.
Jill K DeWit:
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. Happy birthday week, Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh, thank you very much. It’s been great.
Steven Jack Butala:
We are in Santa Barbara right now. I hope everyone else is having a blast also.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. Those of you on the … What’s today? Today’s Friday. For those of you who joined us on the Thursday member call, you got to check out where we were yesterday, so super cool.
Hey, thanks for tuning in. And by the way, I’m not sure we’re going to do that.
Steven Jack Butala:
We’re not, Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
Notarizing thing, yeah. I don’t think I’m going to do this.
Steven Jack Butala:
Well, we are-
Jill K DeWit:
My commercial’s a little outdated here so I’m going to-
Steven Jack Butala:
What we are going to do is discontinue, not overnight, but at some point-
Jill K DeWit:
You got months.
Steven Jack Butala:
… discontinue request.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, just so you know. Land Academy members, you have RealQuest Pro, TitlePro, and DataTree. RealQuest Pro got us where we needed to be. We came along with TitlePro, there’s still some good stuff in there that I use it for. But you know what? Data tree’s replaced it all.
So like Steven’s saying, just getting the word out, just so you know. And don’t worry, we won’t surprise and pull the rug out. You’ll get emails and notifications, but I want you to really start … If you’re one of the 10 people-
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s a handful of you.
Jill K DeWit:
You know who you are
Steven Jack Butala:
And we know who you are.
Jill K DeWit:
You know what? You’re going to get personal emails here in a minute.
Steven Jack Butala:
No one’s going to be surprised.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. But knock it off with the RealQuest, get over to DataTree. And by the way, watch 3.0 and you’re going to go, “Oh, duh. I get it.”
We are Jack and Jill.
Steven Jack Butala:
We are Jack and Jill. Information-
Jill K DeWit:
And inspiration.
Steven Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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