A Leader prepares before anyone even shows up to the field of battle…
Contingency plans are very important in our everyday lives and in the World of Real Estate Investing. All to often the human trait that I’m susceptible to is ‘complacency’ with my business operations. You know those moments when things are going well and on autopilot -where you’ll make just one less call or perhaps put off finding that new contractor for another day. Just as we must continuously strive for a better well-being in our personal lives, it is these same principles that must be applied to all aspects of our real estate investing too.
For our real estate investment portfolio’s and/or business operations to not only survive but thrive, we must not only constantly refine our processes for automation and simplification we need to reach out into our own new directions (of leadership) and develop our business for growth and sustainability.
Let me give you an example: The other day I had to turn down a moderate rehab investment opportunity as I did not have a general contractor in my list of contacts available to handle the project. A missed opportunity! Whereas with just a little work of stopping at just one more new rehab project on the road and meeting a new GC or asking another fellow investor whom they might recommend, I would have had another team lined up for a new investment that would of paid off dividends 3-7 months down the road. That missed opportunity slowed the engine of growth.
Do you see my point? How does that apply to you in your life?
When I ask about how it applies to you in your life I mean it. As I believe that I must first work on myself personally and how I apply being the best I can be to myself… Amazingly -when my own house is in order my investment and business operations follow in lockstep with my personal well-being.
What I’d like you to focus on is the continuous pursuit of lining up two of everything (at a minimum)… It’s important not to set ourselves up for frustrations and failures by being dependant on anyone person (that includes ourselves too) or thing…
You see – I had a lot of time and money invested into my system to have that one moderate rehab project (mentioned above) come into my pipeline and then disappear with lost opportunity due to not having just one more general contractor (that I was confident that could do the job the way I like) in my sphere of influence. Now truth be told I have a few -just happens that everyone was tied up!
Frustrating -but you see my point?
In order to eliminate chaos, simplify the processes of running my operations, and REACH for continuous growth (not to mention stability), I must learn to let go and outsource different processes of my operations to those that have greater skills (than I). As an independent self-starter -that runs contrary to my normal thinking as I like to be independent from everyone and everything. Truth is that that thought is so wrong. I must let go, find, educate, and trust others that can ultimately help me reach my goal too.
So with that said, we need a minimum of 2 (or more as your operations grow) of everything right? Two plumbers, realtors, attorneys, wholesalers, painters, lenders, appraisers, general contractors, and the list goes on….
We must constantly reach out to not only move away from being to dependent on ourselves -as we can only do so much right? We must reach out to have a stable of professionals that will enable us to reach our goals -too. Check out my “Marketing Real Estate Investments…” article for how important it is to have professionals as a part of your team. In this article I mention the fact check of a real estate investment property not selling just at the moments of the first ripples (of problems) in the Charlotte, North Carolina real estate markets. Had I not caught the falling knife, I could of easily sold that property for $20-60k less -the difference of a nice profit or an upsetting loss.
So outline your Contingency Plans for your real estate operations (if not life too). Independence is one of the goals -right? Then line up your sphere of influence to include professionals (at every step of the way) to help you achieve those goals and dreams. By the way this plan -we must constantly work on it, constantly refine it, and constantly reach out (as the leader of our operations) to achieve that growth (we so desire) and the stability to get there.
True Independence isn’t created without being dependent on others….
