“Real” Estate Entrepreneur

Well, Real Estate Entrepreneurs, what do you think this blog is going to be about. It is about how I feel today and how I feel about life. I have been writing a book for years about real estate investment and entrepreneurship and today I realize that there are no shortcuts. I was offered a position as BIC for a franchise and it just wasnt something that I was interested in. Why, because it wasnt for me, I am an entrepreneur not an employee. Same “E” different life.

I believe wholeheartedly in manifestation and we are manifesting a great life ahead.

I believe that entrepreneurship is like breathing. Not like unconscious breathing but like conscious sport breathing. We all know how to breathe, well we hope so. When you are able to breathe consciously you are able to give yourself so much more in life. You can work harder, longer and have more energy for everything that you are doing. In entrepreneurship, when you are on a role, doesnt everything come easier to you? How do you stay in that universal flow? By practicing over and over? Much like your conscious breathing?

Well, that is my two cents for today and hopefully you consider what I have to say. Also, try this, only breathe out of your nose for the next couple of days. If you cant do it, come back and donate a dollar to the blog. If you can do it, comment on if you were able to do more with more oxygen in your blood and if you feel better than you did before you were consciously breathing.

Tags: charleston real estate, Personal Growth, Real Estate Entrepreneur
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Hello fellow Real Estate Entrepreneurs and Happy Friday to you all!!
Today, I wanted to dive into that dirty word “Procrastination”.  We are all so very guilty of the urge, but take comfort in the fact that most entrepreneurs embrace challenges and therefore avoid procrastination.   (most of the time)

I am going to list some helpful tips to try. (I am just FULL of tips and tricks, yes?) Try them all or try just one at a time and let me know if you notice a difference in your motivation levels.      p.s. ’tis much easier to stay motivated when you schedule your tasks and actually (yes actually) stick to the schedule.  You will accomplish soooo much in way less time. 

Here we go:

1. Do NOT, I repeat Do NOT put mundane tasks on your daily to-do list.  Yes, we all must check our mail/email, and we all have to do laundry, dishes etc.  By putting these tasks on your list, you are creating an escape from the important things that are more of a priority.  Like, shall I say….. make money today…..Check!
2. Simplify tasks that can be.  For example, if you must send out information about a property to other investors or clients; how about email blasts or posting this information where it can be easily accessed by large numbers of people.  One post=more free time, know what I mean?
3. Prioritize your list.  Some may disagree, but I like to place the most important tasks at the very top of my list.  You will sometimes find that these may be the most time consuming and/or difficult ones.  That’s precisely the point; when you have completed the one you were contemplating procrastination on, you will feel great and motivated to complete the remainder of the list. 
4. Check your email only when you have plenty of time to reply to important ones.  If you are in a rush, you will end up having to read them again= waste of precious money making time.
5. Don’t take personal calls while you are working on business related tasks.  This is what voicemail is for. 
6. Lastly…….Just Do It!  Once you get started, you will start a momentum that will last until your list is done for the day.  Admit it, You feel awesome when you cross something off, don’t you?

I hope these easy tips will help you free up some time!! 

Because we all know that TIME=$$$$$$$.

Good Luck to you all!

Tags: procrastination, Real Estate Entrepreneur, time management
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Well, here we go again Charleston Real Estate Investors.  This is the real estate entrepreneur, and I am going to give you just a short tidbit on a fun and easy way to save some money.  At my house we have an allowance account.  Just like you give your kids or you remember getting we put a bit of money in our account every week separate from all of our money and we build up the excess very quickly.  We like to spend a good bit and we put $300 in our account every week.  That is not saying that we couldnt easily live off of $200-$250 per week.  Even dropping to $250 per week would save another $200 per month.

For us $300 allows us to spend $75 on gas between both vehicles, $100 on groceries, and $125 on miscellaneous.  We can go to the movies at $20 a bunch of times, or go to the movies and buy a couple or really do whatever we want.  It also aids us in not buying big stupid purchases that are caused by spontaneity.  You know the things that you buy because the box looks cool.  Well, check out our website at www.charlestonrealestateinvesting.com

Go out, make mistakes, and make some money!!!  Thats what Im doing!

I just wanted to add a couple of things real quick.  This $300 is just for my spending money.  It includes things like movies, clothes, oil changes, and the like.  It does not include things like business marketing materials, recurring phone bills, utility bills and the like.  Of course this account is a goal oriented account and say we had some emergency we would of course use the money from one of our other accounts.  Comment!

Just wanted to throw in an update.  I think next week we are going to lower our allowance to about $200 and get gas out of our other account.  This is because the more business we are doing the more we are driving and we need to spend the money on gas.  I am believing that gas is too important to have a limit on it.

Tags: charleston real estate, managing, Real Estate Entrepreneur, real estate investment
Posted in Experience, Motivation, Real Estate | | 1 Comment »

This one is something that I have struggled with for years and something that I am finally beginning to understand.  Ill start by saying I was hanging out with a buddy of mine the other day who is much farther in real estate entrepreneurship than I am annd is also a mentor.  check out his website www.woodruffinvesting.com

Well, he was talking to me about my team and how I need to use delegation to create efficiency.  Well I am new to the team concept let alone delegation.  I have always been the type of person that would work twice as hard to make sure something was done correctly.  That often times meant doing it myself.  While that works well in the beginning you will eventually get to the point where you dont want to work from sun up to sun down 7 days a week and you may begin to resent your business, your dream.  Now why on earth would you ever want to resent your dream. 

Well, here is what I have found in delegation.  I now delegate the smaller prospecting and the renovations to our properties so that I am able to focus on the bigger paychecks of listings and the investment management.  I now have buyers out looking for investment property and mobile homes while I am able to keep the big ball rolling and growing. 

My buddy told me to use this delegation as  a tool to manage time and its working.  Right now I am writing this while on the phone negotiating a short sale.  This is something that I am unable to do if I am out putting up bandit signs or answering calls from unqualified leads.  Start thinking of your business as a business and begin to grow.  Dont go wild though, dont over extend.  I like to think of it as taking just a bit bigger than baby steps. 

Well this is a short one, get out and do something!!!

Make Mistakes!!!

Tags: charleston real estate, managing, Motivation, Real Estate Entrepreneur
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We are all very aware of the benefits of good time management:

• you actually gain more time by taking some time to manage your time efficiently 
• you will become motivated and energized
• you will reduce procrastination or “the dread”
• you reduce anxiety when you know you have plenty of time to complete everything on your list

But, HOW on Earth does one actually do this?  First, there are a few key things you must do before you can organize any aspect of your time:

Find something enjoyable in whatever you are doing.

Try to be an optimist and seek out the good in your life. I know, I know….this is the most difficult. 

Find ways to build on your successes. This seems to have a domino effect.

Stop regretting your failures and start learning from your mistakes.

Remind yourself, “There is always enough time for the important things.” If it is important, you should be able to make time to do it.

Continually look at ways of freeing up your time. Are you wasting time doing unnecessary things on your computer???

Examine your old habits and search for ways to change or eliminate them.

Try to use waiting time­­-review notes or read goal related material.

Keep paper or a calendar with you to jot down the things you have to do or notes to yourself.

Examine and revise your lifetime goals on a monthly basis and be sure to include progress towards those goals on a daily basis.

Put up reminders in your home or office about your goals.

Plan your day each morning or the night before and set priorities for yourself.

Maintain and develop a list of specific things to be done each day, set your priorities and the get the most important ones done as soon in the day as you can. Evaluate your progress at the end of the day briefly.

Look ahead in your month and try and anticipate what is going to happen so you can better schedule your time.

Try rewarding yourself when you get things done as you had planned, especially the important ones.

Do first things first.

Have confidence in yourself and in your judgement of priorities and stick to them no matter what.

When you catch yourself procrastinating-ask yourself, “What am I avoiding?”

Start with the most difficult parts of projects, then either the worst is done or you may find you don’t have to do all the other small tasks.

Catch yourself when you are involved in unproductive projects and stop as soon as you can.

Concentrate on one thing at a time.

Put your efforts in areas that provide long term benefits.

Be sure and set deadlines for yourself whenever possible.

Delegate responsibilities whenever possible.

Ask for advice when needed.

ok, so more than a “few” things…..but trust me; try them for a week.

You will be amazed at how much more productive you will become.

Tags: Real Estate Entrepreneur, real estate investment, time management
Posted in Business, Experience, Motivation, Personal Growth, Real Estate | | No Comments »

Good Afternoon Real Estate Entrepreneurs!!

Today, I wanted to tell everyone about something great that we have had in the works for a while. 

BSO now officially has a Non-Profit Organization; The BSO School of Financial Literacy.  Long name, right?  I wouldn’t shorten it because it encompasses what the organization’s mission is entirely.  Among my many other talents, (ha) I am also a Certified Grant Writer for Non-Profit Organizations.  I am in the crazy process of developing some winning proposals for this coming fiscal year.

Our mission is to rebuild the communities of Charleston, one family at a time.  We intend to do this by offering free Financial Literacy classes to anyone and everyone who is willing to attend.  We will be teaching basic skills such as bank account management, budgeting, credit establishment and repair as well as first time home purchase tips.  We will also be offering free advanced Real Estate Investment classes to those wanting to become financially free.  Our classes will be taught by Joey; our Real Estate Investment Expert, John; our Contractor Supreme and by a few certified credit repair specialists as well. 

We are so excited to be adding this new chapter of service to our company.  Our ultimate purpose is to help those that cannot help themselves.  Stay tuned for more updates from the BSO School of Financial Literacy (BSOSOFL).

Please check out our website for some awesome free Grant writing tips!!!  www.charlestonrealestateinvesting.com

You can email me if you need any help or advice with fundraising for your Non-Profit as well  (I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve)

Tags: charleston, grant writing, Non-Profit, Real Estate Entrepreneur
Posted in Business, Experience, Personal Growth, Real Estate | | No Comments »

What is the difference between a 110 and 220 electric socket?  Well, 220 hurts much more.  what is the importance of the p trap on all of your drains?  Without a p-trap toxic gases can come back up through your pipes and hurt people.  These are just a few of the many things I have learned over the years of renovating my own properties.

Working with the permit office and zoning boards is definitely an art to master.  We tried to get one property rezoned for 6 months before we finally got it to closing.  Pretty lengthy transaction, wasnt it? 

In this business, you have to learn as you go.  There is nothing that a book is going to show you over experience.  For one thing that book wasnt written by people that live in your city and city ordinances change.

Another thing is that I can rent a 50′ electric snake for $30 bucks for a day or I can pay a plumber $300 to snake out a drain.  What do you think is the most financially feasible.  Now I expect that as the years pass I will be able to pay for these services as my time becomes more valuable but until then I will fix a lot of things myself.  For those of you that are new to real estate or moderately experienced as I am, keeping costs down is a huge factor in your portfolio.  We can not afford to pay a plumber to fix a leaky faucet because that will cost a good portion of the rent that is needed.  Are you with me?

Get out and do it yourself.  Ideally, you get to know a plumber, a contractor, an electrician, and a couple more labor workers.  If you dont though, do what I do and check out youtube on how to fix things.  If you do have an electrician buddy, then call him when you are stuck.  Definitely, buy a power stick.  I am not sure of the actual name but one of those pens that tell you if there is power going to the line.  After probably two years of getting shocked all of the time, I was smart enough to spend the $7 that seemed so senseless before.  That was a well spent $7

Check out our business site at www.CharlestonRealEstateInvesting.com

Tags: charleston real estate, investing
Posted in Experience, Real Estate | | 2 Comments »

Happy Monday Charleston Real Estate Investors!! 

 I have experienced working in a Business Casual environment where there were “grey areas” of appropriate vs. inappropriate.  I would like to think that common sense tells people that something you might wear to do yard work or to the beach might not be suitable for work.  Even in a business casual work environment, clothing should be pressed and never wrinkled. Torn, dirty, or frayed clothing is unacceptable. All seams must be finished. Any clothing that has words, terms, or pictures that may be offensive to other employees is unacceptable. Clothing that has the company logo is encouraged. The term “casual” is often misleading. 

We run our company from a very relaxed yet professional atmosphere.  We work in a professional office setting in an executive office suite.  However, we are a young couple and feel that we should dress as ourselves and portray “Real” Real Estate professionals.  Joey usually wears nice flip flops with his dress slacks and a very nice polo shirt on top.  I normally wear dresses and sandals.  Nothing is ever inappropriate. 

We are trying to develop a brand image for our company, BSO.  We feel that relating to our clients is highly important in helping them to feel comfortable with us.  Think about it:  when approached by a salesman wearing a suit and tie, you instantly feel the urge to reject whatever he is selling.  He could be giving away free gold coins, but you start preparing yourself to say no before he even begins.  I know that I do.  I start to feel pressured and anxious to leave.  When we are approaching a homeowner with a property of interest to us, we try to relate to them in appearance.  We have found this to be extremely effective when dealing with lower income areas. 

What are your thoughts on this type of attire when put into a business situation? 

www.charlestonrealestateinvesting.com

Tags: business attire
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Attention: Charleston Real Estate Investors

I was just wanting to give you my thoughts on how we operate.  I was writing this to talk with some prospective members as we begin to grow.  It is a compilation of what I have learned to be some of the best attributes as well as some of the things that I want in people.  Being a part of our team is far beyond a job or working for someone.  Here are some of the things that I wrote down

Start off by saying that the prospect is probably not a match for our team.  We need to say this because we are in need of certain types of people.  Most people wont fit into our team and there should be no hard feelings from the beginning.

This is not a job, it is a lifestyle.  Now I dont expect people to do this at the level that my wife and I do because sometimes we go a bit too far.  I do expect members to enjoy what they do and want to do whatever their role is.

Everyone wins, we never take advantage of sellers – Simple as that, we dont work a situation that is not a win-win.  We dont need the negative brand and we dont need the bad karma.  Obviously, everyone can’t  benefit at the same level but everyone will benefit when working with us or we will not work the project.  Everyone will also be in agreement that they are benefitting.

We think and act, out of the box.  We are innovative because we are free to try different things and try to stay away from the status quo.

Take great pride in this brotherhood.  Being a member is a great honor as well as responsibility.  This is a brotherhood of people that care and that will care about you.

Business isnt about money, it is about helping.  We believe that money comes and helping is the true benefit.  We dont lower any prices or anything like that and we have continuously made plenty of money in real estate.  As long as you help, you will receive what you deserve.

We always carry the attitude that we are the best at what we do.  We may not know everything but we know someone who knows that so we can proudly believe and proclaim that we are the best at what we do.

No negativity at all.  We believe that the thoughts that you originate actually dictate your life.  This is true per the reticular activating system of the brain.  It is basic psychology.

Pride, determination, ambition, loyalty, confidence, among other honorable attributes unparalleled by others.  These are standards that we have of our members.

We continuously strive for personal growth, we are always learning and expanding our horizons.

We enjoy the challenges of life as well as the victories.  The challenges in life are what make us grow.  We are then stronger and wiser and we look forward to these times.

We are all accountable for our actions.  Regardless who tells you to do something or not to do something.  You are accountable for your actions.

We follow intuition undoubtedly.  We believe in those “just a hunch” moments and try to live them.

then I get into

What we do

How we do it

How to negotiate

Those will have to be in later blogs

Tags: charleston real estate
Posted in Experience, Motivation, Personal Growth | | No Comments »

First of all, you may all wonder where all of the highly “brain stimulating” posts are derived from.  Yes???  I have to toot on my own horn for a moment for this explanation.  After almost ten years, I am back in college again.  A senior at that!!  I am studying in pursuit of my BS in Legal Studies with the full intent of attending Law School here in Charleston within the next two years.  The class that I am currently taking is just so fascinating and amazingly time appropriate for where my incredible husband Joe and I are at in our professional lives.  I have already learned so much in regards to thinking and the importance of positivity and clear goal setting.  I want to share with all of you the mastery of thought training.  You will find this to be the most important thing you will ever do, and it just may change your life.  

Ok, so back to the lesson at hand.  This week, I discovered that the tools of Critical Thinking are crucial to the organization of your life.  What exactly does it all mean?  We all have thoughts racing through our minds at a constant speed.  But when you leave the thinking to run its own course, it can become biased or even distorted.  Ironically, the entire basis and quality of our life is structured around our minds and our thoughts.  Shouldn’t controlling your mind be at the very top of your priority list? 

Here is a quick checklist for reasoning your thoughts:

1- All reasoning has a purpose; state it clearly and be realistic

2- All reasoning is an attempt at solving a problem; think of this as a mathematical problem and break it into manageable sections and sub-questions

3- All reasoning is based on assumptions; are they justifiable?

4- Identify your point of view and try to look at others as well

5- search for opposing information as well as supporting information

6- draw your conclusion and state the consequences; pros and cons

Seems like alot of steps for just one problem, right?  Sure, but anything that is worth anything requires a bit of work, right?  The point of doing this consistently is that it trains your brain to think logically and not impulsively.  Soon, it will become automatic and you will see amazing results!! 

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to reply and I will be happy to answer

Tags: charleston real estate, thinking
Posted in Business, Experience, Motivation, Personal Growth | | 2 Comments »