Steps for Building Your Real Estate Empire
It’s the small, consistent tasks in which ‘overnight’ successes are found. Whether you are trying to get discovered as an artist, get a startup off the ground, or become a real estate mogul, it’s usually the small things you do every day that make the big difference. Branson, Dyson, and Colonel Sanders have all experienced this first hand.
It may be that 322nd real estate blog post that gets noticed and really goes viral, the 100th investment property purchase that is the real pot of gold, or year four that you wake up and realize you have built a multi-million dollar property empire. However, each commitment you make to your business is a step in the right direction. Taking small daily actions might not be as exciting as hitting those huge home runs, but on the other hand, they make it a lot easier to get there. So what are some of the small things you can do today, that can produce really big results in the future?
1. AB(L) – Always Be Learning
No matter what you are starting out with, you can learn everything you need if you take a little time to do so. You’ll keep growing towards your goals, and maintain them if you keep on learning. This doesn’t require working to obtain a Masters Degree. That may be a noble goal, or something fun you want to do, but it doesn’t have to be that intensive. It could start out as working through a real estate investing education course, attending a workshop to learn a new DIY trick, hacks for improving your real estate marketing ROI, reading a book, or learning more about the fundamentals of different housing markets by browsing stats. Just dedicate a few minutes to learning something new each day.
2. Focus
If you are going to build and maintain a substantial real estate empire, you’ve got to be focused. This elite level of focus requires re-focusing and honing in on what is most important. A few minutes of this every morning will make sure your actions and decisions stay in alignment with where you want to go. What are your big goals? What small tasks done today will make the day a success and take you closer to your goals? Remember, if you aren’t moving forward, you are essentially moving backwards.
3. Grow Your Contact List
In real estate, your success is directly correlated to the number of new contacts you make each day. This can be a lot of fun, as well as highly profitable. Try to exchange business cards with ten new people each day. Who can you connect with? What groups and activities can you participate in that will introduce you to new contacts? If you can’t get out, can you make 10 calls to other real estate industry pros to connect? At a minimum, add 10 new social media contacts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+.
4. Be Smart with Your Money
Daily money decisions make all the difference. Even small savings can be compounded to make huge financial gains with time. Each money decision should be questioned with “am I getting the most out of this dollar?”
Aspiring real estate moguls will find they are competing with brokerages, agents, investors, startups and other marketers every day. It is those that consistently achieve the highest ROI on every penny that continue to lead in all market cycles.
5. Hit the Pavement
A real estate agent and investor’s ability to win in any market often relies on their ability to evaluate deals and make offers faster than everyone else. Driving neighborhoods, visiting open houses and viewing new listings is a great way to build on this expertise. Take a different driving route every day, check out a new listings, attend broker opens. This way you’ll instantly be able to recognize a sweet deal, or horrible dud and be able to make a strong offer in seconds.
6. Be Prepared to Make Offers. A lot of them.
If you want to build a real estate empire, you are going to need a lot of properties. If you are going to have a profitable empire, you need to find good deals. This means making a lot of acquisitions, and more offers. If you close one out of five offers, and make five offers a day, you should be able to close on one property deal a day as your pipeline grows. If you refer to number 5 on this list, it shouldn’t take you very much time at all. If you are coming up short on inventory, get on the lists of local real estate wholesalers so you always have fresh deals to pick from on your desk.
7. Take Time to Think
Take time out to think each day. Think about where you can save and create better margins, who you can recruit to fast track growth, and spend a few moments meditating on those really big ideas.
8. Network
Making new contacts is great. So is alone time to think with clarity. However, the best ideas and deals are often the product of meeting and brainstorming with others. Find someone to lunch with, grab a coffee with, or hit the gym with and trade ideas with.
9. Lend a hand
The more people you help and serve, the better you’ll feel and the more your real estate empire will grow.