As you start to get more deals under your belt, your weaknesses will become more and more apparent. It takes a lot of time and effort to go through the process of finding a deal, working the deal, and closing the deal. Consider what you’re good at and what might be better handed off to someone else.
Your focus should be on areas that can grow your business, instead of minor rehabs or calling cold leads.
Think about the opportunity cost of you trying to rip out old carpet. It will take you hours of your valuable time to complete the work. You maybe saved a few hundred dollars when you could have been securing your next deal that will bring you thousands of dollars.
This is when you should start thinking about finding someone who can help take some of the work off your hands. Certain things have to be done by you but most of them can be handed off to another person on your team.
Inevitably, there are areas that you aren’t a fan of for various reasons and having someone help with those areas can be extremely helpful.
Building a team takes time and who you decide to hire first depends on your needs. Ask yourself where you’re struggling and what your strengths are as a real estate investor.
It could be a virtual assistant who helps with administrative tasks or even lead generation. Maybe you need someone to go out and meet with motivated sellers. Some might just need a reliable general contractor who can handle your rehabs. It all depends on your needs for your business.
Start off with one person and grow your team as your business grows. It’s important to delegate tasks to your team that will allow you more time to focus on your strengths. When training your team on tasks they’ll be handling, make sure to provide them with detailed explanations and give them time to learn the task.
If you have a virtual team member, video trainings can be useful. There are many sites that allow you to record your screen and voice so that you can show step-by-step what needs to be done. Not only does this allow them to refer to the training as needed, but it also allows for easy training if you have to hire someone new.
In the beginning, make sure to spot check every now and then so you know they’re on track and don’t need any further training. It’s better to spend the extra time early on so that you don’t have to backtrack to fix mistakes.
When they have questions, let them know that they need to come up with a possible solution before coming to you. This allows them time to think through the problem and become less dependent on you (which gives you more time to focus on growing your business).
Be there for them for guidance and motivation, but set up an environment where they have the opportunity to thrive!
Many real estate investors who have an established team have incentives in place so that there are milestones and goals for them to work towards. This incentive gives them something to strive for. It also helps them stay accountable and also allows you to track their progress.
Incentives can be different dependent on the type of work they’re doing. Set up a structure that allows them to achieve the incentives if they put in the work (nothing too easy or too difficult). Consider if you want to have team goals or individual goals, or both.
To the micromanagers out there, take a step back and let them have more independence in their job as it makes sense. As they get more comfortable in their position, provide them with more projects that allow them to take control and run with it.
Be there to assist as needed but stay mostly hands off until the end when you can review, provide praise, and let them know your suggestions.
For outside of the US virtual assistants, make sure to provide detailed steps for them to go off of for their tasks. If you set up clear expectations for tasks that are repetitive or on a schedule, they’ll be able to go through their daily tasks without help.
Once you have your team comfortable and confident in their positions, your schedule should allow for you to focus on ways to improve your business. Strategize on ways to make your business more efficient so that you can continuously experience growth and in turn, more success.
Don’t try to do it all yourself. You’ll run yourself into the ground if you do.
Having a team doesn’t mean defeat; it shows that you’re an entrepreneur who can delegate to achieve maximum success!
