Where to find the next step

Question

I've been investing in real estate for about 5 years now and have built up a decent portfolio with "okay" cashflow. I'm looking to ramp up my business but not sure where to start. So far, I've bought primarily from wholesalers but the deal flow has really slowed down causing me to want to create my own deals. I'm currently commited to spending $4k a month between hiring help and marketing for deals. Of that $4,000 - I'm spending $1,500 a month on radio ads, and $1,000 a month on direct mail. The remaining $1,500 is flexible and not dedicated on a specific expense.. The problem is, I feel like I'm going too wide too fast and not focused enough on the most important "next step". I'm struggling to determine what the "next step" is that will get me to my next goal of generating $500k of additional cash (to invest in a syndication). I'd like to hire help to follow the "ask who, not how" but I have no idea what I would hire them to do. I'm fine with upping my remaining $1,500 in order to hire a great attribute if necessary. Asking BP, what are your thoughts on how you would proceed?

Mark Shaver · Answer

Teaser: "Website builders like KW, Wix,... lose 82-92% of visitors in the first seconds of loading." == @Michael K Gallagher replied to @Allan Smith: "And I would have to agree with your points. As long as you are prepared to spend the money and are willing to track the results carefully it’s going to happen. But the most important thing, to your point, is to take the action."Michael, the action without the control can be damaging to the business. For example:1) You made your agency website using the Keller Williams website builder. But most likely you have not controlled the loading speed of your website. Google PageSpeed test shows about it:Your agent website only has 130 words, but they load slowly, 21 seconds. Because of this, only 18% of your visitors have the patience to wait until it's finished loading and start exploring your website. The other 82% of visitors leave your website before it even loads.2) Your other website is made by Wix website builder. The Google PageSpeed test shows about it:Your Wix website loads even slower, half a minute. Only 8% of your visitors have the patience to wait until it's finished loading and start exploring your website. The other 92% of visitors leave your website before it has even finished loading.Website load controlling Website builders (KW, Wix, SquareSpace, Carrot,...) are very slow. Long website loading time discourages most visitors. But website builders are popular among users who have no control over the performance and loading speed of their websites. These are mostly website owners who are making their first website. They are charmed by the ease of creating their first website with a website builder.When it comes to websites, I would recommend that you don't consider control as an afterthought. You have to control the process of loading the website from the first day you create it.

Michael K Gallagher · Answer

@Allan Smith this was a fantastic response! Also I think it’s worth noting in your search to find The Who not how, you did 2 things really well we hear about all the time:1) you actually took action! It didn’t work but you did it. 2) you tracked it and were as you said able to pivot. And maybe you did find that person and it’s you. That could be the highest and best use of your time as they say. And I would have to agree with your points. As long as you are prepared to spend the money and are willing to track the results carefully it’s going to happen. But the most important thing, to your point, is to take the action.

Allan Smith · Answer

Well naturally your primary bottleneck is deal flow. So you want to spend cash on things that will get you more deal flow, as directly as possible. Like, you could hire a coach and that would help, but a marketing agency might convert to deal flow quicker and thus be a more effective route to your goal.I tried the who not how thing on marketing to get more deals last year. Failed on four and $10k, no deals:A guy cold called me about his SEO service and pitch to profit share. I paid him the $800 start up fee and he did crap. Nothing.I hired a digital marketing agency. They made a great plan and promise, and simply didn't do the work and backed out of the deal. 0 results.Hired a google ads campaign manager who had several other real estate investor clients. Spent $6k for about 9 awful leads, though 2 were almost decent. Naturally, nothing has converted in the 7 months since.Hired a fb ads manager that later popped up on a lot of podcasts. I was paying about $400/lead for low lead quality (retail sellers, and some that weren't even sellers). Not profitable, spent about $3k and 0 deals.I came to the conclusion that hiring the "expert" doesn't work unless I research and vet a PHd-worth of vendors. So Allan is back to being Director of Marketing ha.You have quite a bit of money going into marketing, if anything, I would reserve your budget to spend on assistance with incoming leads as they ramp up. Someone has to take the calls, underwrite the deals, go look at them, make offers, follow up, follow up, etc. Do you plan to do all that? If so, add another marketing channel and make sure to pay close attention to each. test and gather metrics and pivot quickly.