Let Go to Grow: Building Systems to Expand Your Real Estate Business

It seems that real estate investment tends to attract a lot of Type A personalities. It also tends to attract many people who want to be involved with every step of the investment process, like myself. The problem is, when we are too involved as investors, we get in our own way. If you find yourself getting overly involved in the details, learning to let go can really unlock the potential to grow your portfolio.

Focus on the Big Picture

When starting out as an investor, it is important to be involved with the details as we learn the process. We certainly want to have a good understanding of the investment we are making, learn all about what goes into managing a property, and grasp all the tasks required in running a real estate investment business. The problem is that by spending too much time tangled in the details, we will quickly lose sight of our big picture which is where our focus ought to be.

Real Estate is a Business

Whether you own one door or a hundred, real estate investing is a business, and you should treat it like one. Consider yourself the President and CEO of your own company. As the head honcho, it is up to you to steer that company toward your long-term goals, because if you won’t, who else will? In order to stay focused on the big picture, you can’t let yourself get bogged down in the day to day minutia of running a business. This is where letting go comes in.

Letting Go

With one property, you may be able to handle everything yourself without much impact on your lifestyle, but what happens when you want to expand? Could you still manage everything on your own with 5 properties? 25 properties? At some point we all hit a wall where we can no longer handle everything on our own. At this point, we learn that have to delegate some of our workload if we want to continue buying properties. It may be difficult for some of us, but in order to make your real estate investment business a success, you must learn to let go. Focus your energy on building sustainable systems that will support your bigger picture, whatever that is. Put a trustworthy team of professionals in place to help you operate that system, and then get out of your own way by letting each member of your team do what they do best. You’ll eventually hit a wall where you are forced to let go in order to grow, but why not start letting go today? photo credit: Ian Sane