Create Systems or Die!

Mike: Welcome back to the FlipNerd.com REI classroom, where experts from across the real estate investment industry teach you quick lessons to take your business to the next level. And now, let’s meet today’s expert host.
Alex: Hey, guys. It’s Alex Pardo, your host for another REI Classroom, and I’m going to share with you how to create systems in your business. I mean, systems is obviously a buzz word that most real estate investors and entrepreneurs have heard or know about and so many people are out there preaching about the importance of systems and automation in your business. But yet, I think a lot of people miss the boat in that they don’t talk about how exactly do you create those systems. So that’s what I’m going to share with you on today’s Classroom.

Mike: This REI Classroom real estate lesson is sponsored by UglyOpportunities.com.

Alex: Okay. So systems. Everybody understands the importance of them. One of the things I’d like to start by sharing with you is, if you haven’t read the book “The E-myth” by Michael Gerber, I highly, highly recommend that business. I think it’ll change your . . . you’ll kind of have a paradigm shift about how you think about just business in general, and how you want to build your business from the ground up so that it relies on systems. And there are a lot of great examples in that book. And it’s something that’s applicable to real estate, or really like I said, any other business.

But a lot of people come to me and they say, “Well, Alex, how exactly do you create systems? I understand the importance of having systems in my business, but what does a system look like and how do I create that? So one of the things you want to do is . . . the way that we’ve gone about creating systems that has been very beneficial in our business is, we will, using a screen capture service, like, you can use snagit.com, you can use Camtasia or ScreenFlow. You can even use Skype and record it. You want to use a screen capture software and you want to walk through a particular process, step by step, A through Z.

So I’ll take, for example, running comparable sales. Your screen will capture you walking through the process of how to run comps. And what you want to do is you want to be very detailed and specific. And I’m talking about as detailed as, “Well, first, you go to this URL and you type in the URL.”

And so once you’ve recorded that video, let’s say it’s 15 minutes of training on how to run comps, what we do is we turn that video over to our virtual assistant and our virtual assistant will watch the video, and essentially create a standard operating procedure. And she uses a tool called Snagit. And so she has red boxes and callouts and arrows. And what I encourage you to do is make sure that it’s in a bullet style format. You don’t want it to be paragraphs. And you’ll know you’ve succeeded if you can turn that video and that standard operating procedure over to a 15- or a 20-year-old, and without much intervention on your part, they’re able to pretty much successfully accomplish the task.

A couple of quick notes and tips on when creating systems. Make sure that you start the video and the SOP by letting them know what the overall objective of that task is and what the successful outcome looks like. And I think that that’s an area where a lot of people just . . . they fail to document that. And it’s very important because a system is predictable, it’s reliable, and it gives you the same outcome every single time.

And so think about McDonalds. Why does McDonalds employ 15- and 16-year-olds behind the cashiers? Because they have manuals. They have a standard operating procedure for how to process an order, how to do the burgers, how to make French Fries. It’s very simple and no matter what McDonalds you go to in the world, and you know Michael Gerber talks about this, it looks the same. I don’t eat fast food, but I’m pretty sure the food tastes the same. And so think about how you can apply that in your real estate business. And that’s how we go ahead and create systems and document the process.

And then you just want to have a location, whether it’s a CRM or whether it’s Google Docs, where you have the link to the video and an attachment with the SOP. And then, just break it up by category. So running comps, and you’re going to have your manual and your training system, how to speak to sellers, how to sell properties, how to market properties, and just . . . don’t get too overwhelmed. It’s that same “how do you eat an elephant?” It’s a bite at a time. You’re not going to systematize your entire business in a day, a week or a month. But every week, focus on one or two systems and little by little, you’re going to get to the point where you’ve documented your entire system from A to Z. So hopefully, you’ve enjoyed that.

Mike: HomeVestors, the “We Buy Ugly Houses” folks, is a franchised system of hundreds of real estate investors that have purchased over 65,000 houses. If you’d like to learn more about the most powerful real estate investing system in existence, whether you’re a pro looking to take your business to the next level or whether you have no experience at all, but a burning passion to be successful in real estate investing, please visit FlipNerd.com/ugly to learn more.

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