Business Plan

Since I was having such a hard time getting my marketing together I took the time to write out my business plan this week. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I really should have had it done 3 months but better late than never. I know how I am going to spend my marketing budget and how Im going to analyze and close deals. The business plan has really made me feel more confident and comfortable in what I am doing. it has also allowed me to figure out some missing pieces to my puzzle that I need to get together. For example I don't have a good option contract ready to go just yet. I have several purchase contracts. I remember reading in my contracts book about how to make a purchase contract an option contract so I will get that done soon. I am also in need of a joint venture contract just in case I need to work with another wholesaler to close a deal. I still have more work to do on the business plan but for now I think it will do its job, which is help guide me.

On another note I got my driving done this week and I drafted a second letter for my mail marketing to send out to the homeowners after about 2 weeks with no response. I also got another lead this morning. I believe it was another wholesaler, he said he would call me tomorrow. All in all things are coming together, slowly but surely.

Focus.

HubCap

Getting back on track

I would say this past week is a step back in the right direction. I ordered a car magnet that said "We buy Houses" and it had my phone number on it. I have been driving with it for about 3-4 days now. No hits from it yet but Im sure I will get a lead from it eventually. I also managed to get my butt back out there and drive around and I will be sending out a couple of letters this week.

A few weeks ago I mentioned something about sending mailers to Trustee sales I found in the news paper. I decided against it because of my limited funding. Marketing isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be but one thing is for sure, I am starting to shape the exact first deal that I am looking to close on. If the deal doesn't fit my particular criteria then it isn't a deal for me, HOWEVER I will be passing off leads to some other investors. I have someone in mind for short sale deals but I haven't called him yet because I don't have any leads. So aside from my few leads that I find for mailers every weekend, unless it is a marketing technique that keeps on giving I am not going to invest in it. I know I am moving slow but I can't burn my budget and be left with nothing.

For this upcoming week I have two goals. Get my letters out and finish my business plan. I should have had my business plan laid out first but better late than never.

Motivation

I have been hard on myself because I have not accomplished as much as I did in previous weeks. I feel as if I had underestimated the amount of planning that would have to go into my marketing especially with the limited budget that I have access to. The lack of accomplishment in the last couple of weeks has me struggling with motivation and a clear idea of what to do next. What I am starting to notice about myself is the trend of motivation and devotion. This goes back beyond the days when I started working real estate. I would get this great idea in my head, I would do a little research a little more thought and then forget about it. It might pop up some time later but it would disappear as quickly as it came. Then another idea would pop up and the cycle would start all over again. The first problem was not sticking to the same idea, I had no follow through. The second problem is my motivation level. I begin to work so hard that I forget to take a break to relax and enjoy the sunshine or spend some time with my family. As some would say I wouldn't "sharpen my saw". I watched this video in a time management class I took and in the video a man asked a question(I can't remember the guys name) Have you ever been so busy driving that you forgot to stop for gas? That is how important taking a mental breather is. If it isn't done then nothing works anymore.

In noticing this trend I can actually see where I am at in the cycle right now. My motivation level went down because I lost my focus. Since I can see where I am at I can get myself back on track but it isn't enough to be able to fix it this one time I need to be able to avoid it in the future if possible. I am going to keep up on my motivation levels by reading books on state of mind and spending some good quality time relaxing with the family remembering to keep my mind off of the subject of real estate.

Some weeks I may work harder than others and that is ok. As long as I am doing something day to day and I am fighting back that lack of motivation. Since I ordered some marketing material last week, did a little reading on short sales and had a nice conversation with Gogo about Joint Ventures, marketing and the lead I received last week I feel I made at least a little progress.

This week I will be working on my marketing plan a little more, ordering some more material and hopefully bringing in some more leads. Of course there is always reading to be done.

Until next time

"The attitude of mind necessarily depends upon what we think . Therefore, the secret of all power, all achievement and all possession depends upon our method of thinking."
-Charles F. Haanel

Anthony

I got a lead!

...but that is about as far as I could take it. The owner purchased the house at 100k as an investment property in 2008, refinanced it and now owes 185k. Right now the FMV of homes in the neighborhood that the property is in is about 100k to 150k. The house needs a little bit of work and has a bad smell(says the owner). Since he is current on his mortgage the bank will not do a short sale. There is probably a "option" opportunity here but im not exactly sure how to structure it. I think I am going to post it on a forum tonight and see what kind of responses I get.

In other news my marketing this week sucked...yet again..BUT the good news is that I am now a subscriber to the news paper so instead of sending out 5-10 letters a week I will probably sending out more like 20-30 letters a week. That should pick up my leads just a bit ;). I will also be structuring a little better of a campaign. This week my focus will be on designing a series of letters to send to homeowners that I can send over the course of a month or a month and a half. On top of that I am looking into doing something with probate. Since it is suggested that probate mailings be done more spread apart that shortsales I may be able to work it into my monthly budget for marketing...more to come on that.

I did get in touch with an investor agent today who is a rehabber...score one for the buyers list! I want to see if I can work some arrangment with him and use him as an agent.

All in all it wasn't a bad week..I think im just a work-a-holic and if I don't work for 80% of the day I feel like I didn't get anything accomplished. I am definitely making progress but my deadline is approaching very quickly and I need to get something under contract soon. Right now I am really feeling backed into a corner. My health insurance is going up this year, I have a baby on the way, Im already buying diapers and my family is very quickly not fitting in this 2 bedroom appartment anymore. The pressure keeps building as more and more reasons to make this work keep piling on so my motivation is going through the roof.

This week I want to stay a little more focused on one or two things rather than splitting my week up into a bunch of tasks and see if I get better results. So again I am focusing on designing my new letters/postcards then if I get that done I will focus on shortsales in the second half of the week.

The last thing I want to mention tonight is that Becky(wife) has signed up for a class to get her real estate license. This is going to be HUGE for us! I couldn't be more excited about it. Classes start the week of the 18th!

I may post again mid week but until then I wish you all luck!

HubCap