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I honestly feel bad for this person however
heroic or honorable their intentions are. Sadly, this
person is simply trading hours for dollars which is
basically having a J.O.B. Many real estate investors I
also speak with are in the same boat. The worse part of
this is that if they want to take a vacation, it’s tough if
not impossible if they are the do-it all person. If they
want to increase their income, they will have to spend more
time working to accomplish that. There is nothing to sell
when they want to move onto something else or retire.
There is no income if they are sick or become
incapacitated. The stress of being a soloprenuer is
daunting and often overwhelming. It’s one of the reasons
that many don’t make it long in the business. Besides, no
one can great at everything.
It doesn’t have to be that way and the information I’m
about to share with you will probably revolutionize the way
you think about your business. Notice I said BUSINESS,
that’s exactly what you should have, not a J.O.B.
Before I share with you how making small changes can help
you can create the business of your dreams without going
broke, I want to share this simple yet eye opening example
how much doing it all yourself is costing you financially.
Let’s say that you want to earn $75,000 per year, after
expenses. That’s about $37.50 per hour based on a 40 hour
a week work week. With that said, do you think you are
paying yourself too much for some of the activities you do?
Is sending faxes, stuffing envelopes or following up with
the title company a job that you should pay someone $37.50
an hour to do? I don’t think so and I’m sure you don’t
either – so what’s a busy real estate business owner to do?
There are ways to change this and I’m going to cover a few
of them in this report. I’m also going to go into detail
about the pros and cons of several of them as well as how
to implement others. Remember this report is REAL
information to help you see your real estate business as
just that, a BUSINESS.
Leverage is one of the most powerful things you can add to
your business and perhaps your life. It’s how you increase
your income without working more hours. It’s adding people
to your business help you grow it and to enable you to
generate more sales and also enjoy more free time. It’s
using systems and tools to ensure that the people you bring
into your business are effectively doing the job you’ve
assigned to them the way you designed it and that each of
your customers is receiving the best service, each and
every time.
Let’s look at People first – this is often the most
challenging yet the one that most business owners jump
right into without doing a great deal of research. It’s
often done wrong and yields less than desirable results.
This leads to negative feelings about this and often
stagnates a business’s growth because if it. For many
reasons this is understandable. Bringing someone into your
business requires you to take on another role “manager”.
There are several ways you can bring someone into work with
you, as an employee, independent contractor or as virtual
contractor. While I’m not entirely against employees,
don’t get me wrong, it’s not perhaps the best first choice
for a small growing business. I am very aware of the
challenges and expenses involved with hiring one especially
too early in your business. Nonetheless, it is an option
so let’s discuss how it’s done effectively.
• Solicit applicants – advertise the position
• Screen applicants – It’s suggested that you
interview the person over the phone briefly to
pre-screen them then two additional times before
hiring them
• Negotiate salary - this salary won’t just be
what you’ve agreed upon with employee, you have
to pay taxes on both the federal and state level
• Provide training
• Manage the work they do
• Provide work space
• Provide benefits.
Bringing people into your business is a huge expense and
it’s easily understandable why many people feel they will
never get to that point, or even want to. Additionally,
having another “mouth to feed” is also quit overwhelming.
But without people, you are always going to be the one
doing ALL THE WORK.
The other alternative is to hire non-employees or contract
labor. This is the method I prefer but a word of caution,
contract labor has it’s draw backs also. You are limited
in the control you have over the person’s time, because if
you set hours, then they are employees. The benefits
however are of course you can bring this person in for
special projects or events and when those are done, you
don’t have to be obligated to continue to employee this
person for other activities. Many of the same above apply
such as:
• Solicit applicants – advertise the position
• Screen applicants – It’s suggested that you
interview the person over the phone briefly to
pre-screen them then two additional times before
hiring them
• Negotiate compensation
• Provide training
• Manage the work they do
• Provide work space
• You may also have to pay a retainer to keep this
person available to you on a regular basis
The last is to go into cyberspace and locate a virtual nonemployee.
Usually this person, also called a Virtual
Assistant will have general office skills however in recent
years we’ve seen this expand. Now it’s pretty easy to find
someone who indicates they have specific knowledge in a
certain industry. When using this option, please keep in
mind here are the basics you’ll need to do:
• Solicit applicants – advertise the position – or
search for them online
• Screen applicants – It’s suggested that you
interview the person over the phone briefly to
pre-screen them then two additional times before
hiring them
• Negotiate compensation
• Provide training
• Manage the work they do
No matter which option you choose to help you grow your
business there is no doubt, you will have to have help
enjoy the freedom that owning a business can afford you as
well as helping you maintain your sanity.
Before you add any one to your business you first must
determine what jobs can you give this person, what are you
comfortable delegating?
Here’s an exercise to help you get started:
– What feeds your passion? (What do you like to do
the best?)
– What are your core competencies? (What are you
best at?)
– What is drudgery? (What do you dislike doing in
your business?
– What are you using to leverage yourself? (Be
honest)
If you could hire someone to help you with your business
and money were no object – I’d have them do the following:
This is one of my favorite eye opening exercises; I hope
you found it helpful also.
BR>
Before you bring someone, anyone into your business, you
have to have systems in place to ensure that the work this
person is doing is consistent with the work that you have
been doing. This is another stumbling block that many
encounter.
One of my favorite books is The EMyth Revisited by Michael
E. Gerber. If you haven’t read this book please take the
time to do so. It will give you a whole new perspective on
your business. The book tells the story of why many small
businesses fail and offers suggestions on preventing it.
Much of it has to do with systems or lack thereof. Systems
are what can help you take your business to the next level.
They enable you to consistently deliver top quality service
to your clients always and from each member of your team.
They also empower those that you’ve hired to work on your
team to do their job effectively and with little
supervision form you.
Here’s a few suggestions on using systems to help you grow
your business and regain or retain balance in you life;
• Use check lists. NEVER rely on your memory. Sounds
simple, but often overlooked. Lists will help you
ensure that all activities on a listing or transaction
are complete. Checklists are also a great way to
communicate with your clients and team members. This
will eliminate unnecessary repetition of others on
your team. Using them to communicate with clients
will also help your clients know exactly what you are
doing and where you are on their listing or
transaction.
• Develop a written procedure for all of the activities
you do. Document everything from how you input a
listing, to how to close out a file after closing.
Having a written plan will not only make it simple to
hire an assistant or add to your team in the future,
it will give you a reference point to help you
discover where your time is being best spent.
Hint – an easy way to start this would be to buy
an MP3 recorder and dictate all that you do.
Email it to an online dictation service where
many will type your dictated word and email it to
you in a word format for about a penny a word.
• Devote time for income generating activities DAILY.
Don’t over look the power of this system. Review your
business, determine the steps necessary to create the
results you want then daily take steps toward that
goal. If it takes you 100 cold calls to generate a
new listing, then daily you must set aside time to do
these calls. 25 or 50 a day and you’ll be on your way
to the results you want. Putting it into your
calendar and making it a system will increase the
likelihood of these activities getting accomplished.
• Focus! Start day with a plan (system) and stay
focused. It’s easy to get off on something else as
soon as the phone rings but, staying true to your plan
will help you grow your business. If you have an
article to write, a proposal to prepare, cold calls to
make or anything else that takes focus, turn OFF your
email, and tell yourself you will spend the next hour
or however much time you think this will take on this
activity only. Then focus, focus, focus. You’ll be
amazed at how much you’ll get done in a shorter period
of time without any interruptions or distractions.
• Schedule time to work on your business rather than in
it. That’s right, put it on the schedule, just like
you would with any other important activity. Spending
time developing goals, new systems and solutions for
implementing them is a surefire way to increase your
business. Don’t get stuck in the day to day and
confuse busy time for business building time. Many
top professionals take one day off a month and work on
their business. They do not take calls, emails or any
interruptions during this time. They simply work on
building their business.
As a small business owner I am all too familiar with the
day to day distractions and time zapping activities that
come our way. However, in order to grow a business you’ve
got to be willing to do a few simple steps to set it up.
Growing a business takes leverage and requires you to bring
people into your business, teach them to do what you want
done. It also requires using the right tools for the job.
It requires you and your team to utilize systems.
Here are several resources you may find helpful in locating
talented individuals to provide services for your growing
business:
1.REVAnetwork.com – this is an excellent place to
view profiles of independent contractors who have
specialized knowledge specifically for real
estate professionals. They can be hired for a
simple onetime project or as an ongoing position
in your business. Generally these are virtual
contractors or non employees and will work from
their home office from almost anywhere in the
world.
2.Craigslist.org – this is a free resource to post
jobs and to review the resumes of those who are
seeking employment. My favorite is that you can
also make the resume submissions confidential.
3.Guru.com, Odesk.com and Elance.com – these are
great resources to post project to and receive
bids on. I personally have used all to have many
projects done within my company such as website
additions, writing articles, research and logo
design work.
Suggested reading:
The eMyth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
The Obsolete Employee by Michael Russer
The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris
Each of these will help you gain insight in to the power of
systems and well as the importance of having the right team
working with you to help you grow your business. Remember
FREEDOM is one of the most fantastic benefits of having a
business and being a Realtor is no difference.
So I challenge you to step back, take a look at your
business. Is it where you want it to be? Have you
explored hiring someone or changing the way you do some of
the activities? Think you can do it all and still have a
life?
The Online Closing Team at Transaction Management
Consultants is dedicated to helping our clients build their
business one transaction at a time. We are a team of
highly skilled coordinators here to help our clients focus
on the activities that create business and generate income.
We’ve created, tested and perfected the systems needed to
manage a transaction from contract to close.
For more information on the services offered at Transaction
Management Consultants – please contact Michelle Spalding
at Michelle@ProTMC.com or by phone at (407) 622-4862 or
Toll Free (866) 683-4862.
"Conditions are never just right.
People who delay action until all factors
are favorable do nothing." William Feather
