A recent article in the Dallas Morning News has a study from PMI that says out of 50 major metro areas, D/FW has the lowest risk for home price declines. If you want to read the whole article, click here.
In part 1 of this series we talked about the importance of having specific and deliberate steps in place to ensure that you’ll make the kind of money you’d like this year. We also talked about reviewing last years plan to see if you had planned properly in relation to the end result you hoped to achieve.
You see, most people only plan a couple of weeks in advance, with the majority looking forward only to the next day! If you haven’t planned out exactly what you’re going to do week by week for the entire year, how is there any way to know whether or not you are going to hit your income goal for the year? The answer: You’re Not!
But you ask, “How in the world am I going to know what I need to do on a specific day 3 months from now?” Its much easier than it sounds. You’re not going to know all of the small tasks that are going to pop up, however you should know your key activities that provide you with money making opportunities. Those are the actions you need to have specifically planned for the entire year.
To ensure your success you should be able to look at your calendar and know exactly what money making activity is taking place at any point in 2008. If you don’t, then your just working to make a buck tomorrow and hoping the money will come the next day. So, for example, if my goal is to buy4 houses this month and I would like to have them renovated and on the market within 60 days, I should have on my calendar the exact activities on specific days that I am going to do the activities that will bring me those deals. That might be putting together a post card mailing to farm a neighborhood for deals, searching for bank owned properties every Tuesday & Thursday, or putting out signs to buy houses every Friday.
Once you have each deal, your crew should be alerted to the date they must complete the project by, and you should also have each marketing step outlined so your ready to market the property the day it’s complete. These are simple examples, however they are often overlooked even by experienced investors. Following are 4 easy steps to follow to keep your success on track:
4 Simple Steps for Maximum Success in 2008
1. Determine precisely what it is you want to accomplish for the year, for example, income of $300,000, and write it down.
2. Block half a day for focus time, and write out exactly what it will take to get there, considering marketing costs, time, people and any other necessary resources.
3. Print out a blank calendar of each month for the entire year, and deliberately plan the key money making activities that you know you must accomplish that will get you to #1. Do it all the way through the last week of the year. Now you have your entire marketing calendar for the year!
4. MOST IMPORTANT: Put deadlines on every task, project, and marketing piece! This is the only way you will get the job done! The time alloted for a project contracts or expands based on the deadline you give it. Whether you give a task a longer or shorter timeline, it will take that long either way! If you don’t give it a deadline at all, it will probably never get done.
Following your new roadmap each day and working to your deadlines is the quickest way to become a master implementer, which consequently will mean big profits. Of all of the successful people I know, all of them use timelines/dealines on every task they have. All the way down to time limits for phone calls. If you don’t use strict, enforced deadlines on your goals, tasks, and activities, your time will expand for the task and it will not get done. Using these 4 steps in a calculated and deliberate manner will help you reach your goals this year!
An easy way to get into the habit of working on specific timelines is to have a daily planner that is formatted in 15-minute blocks. If you plan and work your tasks in 15 minute intervals you’ll be amazed at you much you get accomplished each day.
Until next time,
Adam
According to an article in the Dallas Business Journal. The Dallas housing market is the 15th most affordable market in the country. You can find the article here. DBJ - Dallas Ranks 15th
Have a great weekend.
John
Recent article in the Dallas Morning News about home prices in Dallas. Link is below.
DMN - DFW Homes are Undervalued
Best,
John
Here is something for you to think about. You aren’t investing in the Real Estate Market, you are investing in a Deal. There is a difference! So many people get focused on the headlines they read in the newspaper. Real Estate Market Heats Up, Real Estate Market Cools Off, Real Estate Prices…….etc etc etc.
But the point is this, at any given time, there are deals worth investing in. The overall market maybe going up, down, or sideways, and its important to have a sense of what is going on in the big picture. It helps you create your buy and sell strategies and shapes your expectations. But you aren’t investing in a “Market” you are buying a deal. If its priced right, and the value is there, what is going on in the big picture matters very little, a deal is a deal in any market.
Markets going up create opportunities, and markets going down create other types of opportunities. So next time you see that headline, keep that in mind, and keep trying to focus on finding deals that will help you make money and achieve your goals no matter what the “market” does.
Best,
John
The Dallas Business Journal recently had an article about the foreclosure rate in Texas slowing. Just thought it would be of interest. The link to the article is here.
Dallas Business Journal - Foreclosure Rate Article
John
Think about successful people that you admire… There are probably several things you notice outwardly about how they achieved their success that you see and can notice outwardly. But there are many things that happen behind the scenes that make people successful that you don’t see. Adam has talked about planning and goal setting and those are definitely behind the scenes factors that contribute to success. But another thing I would add to that list is efficiency in your actions. You have a plan, you know what to do, but are you doing it with the least amount hassles in the quickest amount of time???
Everyone probably says, sure…..fine be efficient, but what is a practical way to accomplish that? Here is a prime example. In one of my earlier blog posts, I talked about building a trusted team of professionals around you. That is one way. But specifically and more importantly are you being as efficient as you can be with those folks on that team. I will use our company as an example because its something I see EVERY day. Ok, you chose www.wefundhouses.com to be your hard money lender. I think thats a good choice. But, have you taken the time to review all the information about how the loan process works, what steps to take to get funded fast? Have you applied for a free pre-approval to speed the process up even more? Do you know how to submit draws and what is required there, so once you are funded and working your rehab you get remimbursed in the fastest possible time? We put alot of time and effort into making our processes clear and straightforward. But if our borrowers don’t learn the processes they waste their own time and slow themselves down! We are ready to respond in the shortest amount of time possible, but often the delays are caused by people not taking the time to familarize themselves with how the process works.
You can apply that same lesson to all the people on your team. How does your contractor’s invoice process work? Does your lawyer return voice mails or emails faster? How does the my plumber/electrician/flooring contractor schedule their projects?
See what I mean? Learn the way your teams process work the fastest and……..get it done faster!
Hope you have a great one.
Best,
John
The Years Just Begun…and would you believe that a lot of people have already forgotten about their resolutions for the new year?? Hopefully you’ve already deliberately planned out how your going to achieve your success in 2008. If not, you better get on it. 1/12th of the year is almost gone already!
If you’re looking back on 2007 and unsure of where the year went, and your bank account isn’t where you want it to be, I can almost guarantee there were two major deficiencies: ONE, Lack of Purposeful Planning to take deliberate steps to reach your business and personal goals. TWO, following your plan in a calculated manner each & every day until you hit your goals.
Most entrepreneurs start out each year gung-ho to plan their huge successes writing out what they want and how they’re going to get it. For many, the problem is that it begins AND ENDS right there. There is no follow through. Let’s face it, we’ve all been guilty of it.
Not that you don’t have any intention of following your plan - most start out strong, and stay really focused…at first. By the 3rd or 4th week of January your focus has waned a little bit & by mid-February you may have even forgotten where you even put your plan that you spent so much time writing out. Why does this happen to us?
Its’ really quite simple.
First, our plan may be realistic, however it’s not deliberate. What I mean by this is we haven’t taken the extra time to break down each step into the smaller steps that we must focus on each month, week, day & even minute in order to achieve our goals.
Take a look at last year’s plan (if you can find it). When you wrote it out, did you start by saying, “I want to make $240,000 this year. That’s $20,000 per month, $5,000 per week. I need to sell “x” number of widgets per month, & I’ll hit my goal”? Or, did you look at what you wanted to make for the year, break it down into smaller increments & then take the time to plan out every single action and marketing step you would need to take each & every day, each & every week for the entire year?
Take a look at it and compare to your end results for 2007, and in a couple of days, I’ll post part 2 of this article and I’ll outline 4 Simple Steps for Maximum Success in 2008.
Until next time,
Adam
P.S. Kick your start your year now. Get a Pre-Approval letter for funding to make sure you beat your competition when making offers. You can get it here now: www.WeFundHouses.com
