Full-timers- How did you do it?

Question

I really aspire to do REI full time and I have been working very hard toward that goal.  What things did those of you who are doing this exclusively do?  I assume most of you were working at a full time job “for the man” and did the REI on the side whenever you could like I am.

What changes did you make to your approach?  What books did you read?  What time management techniques did you use?  What did you do to finally put yourself over the top?  When did you know you could do this for your sole means of support? Looking back what would you have done differently and what did you do right?

As always thank you for any advice.  I really appreciate all of you.

Mike Nelson · Answer

I developed my own system that worked for me based on what I saw and experienced as well as those suggested by others. I do virtual wholesaling mostly. I started when I had a full-time job and I hired a VA to talk to sellers.

As I grew as an REI, I looked for more ways to do more business. I explored other markets and learned a lot of new stuff, courses, books, other REI's. Plenty of mistakes along the way. As I go along I hire a VA to handle the area. I partner with other wholesalers and continuously widen my network. And on top of it all, I continue to work on improving my system.

Deborah Saddler · Answer

Mike Nelson, that's really good, but even with a few VA's how easy is it to do the Virtual Wholesaling?  I know having them, and delegating work frees you up.  But Like you said you have to have a system.  Would definitely like to know more about the Virtual Wholesaling?

Mike Nelson · Answer

Deadrick Colbert, when I started with my first VA, basically what she did was talk to sellers and found out motivation, qualified leads, set appointments and did follow-ups. Now I have several VA's calling and handling different areas. I also have a social media VA who helps me with my social media, real estate marketing and internet marketing efforts.

You would want to look for someone who has great oral and written English, a fast learner, eager to learn, and honest. A little challenging to find all those in a person these days but most of my VA's are referral from another VA. There are plenty of skilled workers from the Philippines. They have great communication skills and the callcenters are big there so you might like to find someone who has that experience.

Deborah Saddler, onlinejobs.ph and odesk.com are good places to look for skilled virtual workers.

I hope I'm not straying away from the topic here. The question asked how I was able to do REI full-time, I owe it a lot to delegating and outsourcing work to the right kind of people and developing a system that works for me.

Kyle Hipp · Answer

Steve- I hear ya. I expect to finish my first true flip on friday. It will be finished on time and budget... if I get done by friday. I havs been there everyday since the begining except for last sunday to monday night as I spemt a little family time up north. I did hire out some things, plaster work was a real lifesaver as they did a fantastic job and did 90% of what was needed. My problem has been sleep. I was put on 12 hours at the start of my project but I did not work my days off like I normally would. So after seven days on I had 2 off. I would work 12 hours at work and 6 at the house. It is tiring but I did have a couple 8 hours shifts in there and am back on 8 hours at work today albeit night shift.

I was able to plan the project in a lot of detail prior to closing so that laid out a nice blueprint. I had a couple views of the house prior to closing so I was able to figure most of the issue out ahead of time. No major surprises came up just more wallpaper under paneling that I wasn't have expecting. A couple fits issues with an old house and out of square nature.

My biggest help has been my fantastic wife who was able to manage the homefront while I am busy busy. I did make time for my young son and they would come out to visit while I was working on the house. My little guy tried to help and wasn't as helpful as he thought he was. ;) The biggest thing is that we both know what we are doing this for. We know that we are doing this to make our lives better and by sacrificing now I will have the opportunity to be home a lot more down the road when I can set my own schedule.

I guess my biggest advice would be to set aside planning time. If you can see that hiring a painter will save you 14 days and cost $1,000 that might be worth it in the grand scheme of things. Also planning will allow you to work as efficiently as possible. That has come in very handy for me when I don't have any engery to focus on anything other than the task at hand... good luck

Mark Forest · Answer

Me too.  My problem seems to be time management.  It is taking WAY too long for me to rehab my properties even though I work on them all day long on my days off. Just when I think I am done I will find something like the crawl space full of water and another project begins. It is very frustrating and expensive.

Thank you for your post.

Kyle Hipp · Answer

I am not full time yet but did not plan on being yet either. I have gained a lot from  developing a model. I follow the model designed and I progress as such. At any given point I can stop and analyse where I currently am and project that with my model and see where I should be in a certain time frame. The great thing about this is it allows me to take a break a bit at times as I have a hard time turning my drive off. I also get to look back and see that I am consistently meeting milestones before plan.

I am primarily a buyer of distressed properties who rehabs and repairs to rent out as a long term hold. My future path moves towards a mix of flips and buy amd holds in line with my model. I am a husband and a father as well as the sole breadwinner in the family so it is important to take a more conservative approach as my little guys really enjoys eating everyday and I wanna keep that up for him. I am in the process of my first flip currently and it has gone surprizingly well where I should finish within my 1 month timeframe, while working and on budget all while selling target remains conservative. I have lately embraced opportunities and put myself out there which has really increased my word of mouth advertising. I continually keep up to date on laws and guidelines as well as constantly searching for best practices and creating efficiencies in all aspects of my operations.

I think lastly something that is ofter overlooked. You must believe in what you are doing. I can operate much more confidently because I am utterly convinced of the path I am on as each day further solidifies my belief. I believe and can clearly see how my time spent on learning laws and practices and networking and developing relationahips are payin off each day and extrapolate that out into the future. I know a lot of people worry about the economy or the government spending or taxing or trade policy or ..... If I was convinced that hyperinflation was right around the corner or that China was going to take us over or that the stock market is gonna drop 90% or that the greatest of all Depressions is right around the corner turn I could never succeed. I would not be able to succeed bwcause my gut would be fighting every step of progress. I need to have a confident but realistic appropriate view  of our

Raymond B. · Answer

Steve Might,
VA = Virtual Assistant

Raymond

Mark Forest · Answer

I have a stupid question.  What is VA?

Deborah Saddler · Answer

Mike Nelson, I would like to know who you recommend for VA service?

Deadrick Colbert · Answer

Mike Nelson can you give me some pointers on how to find and work with a VA?

Full-timers- How did you do it?

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