Closed a 56 unit yesterday - 88 units for the year - 4 lined up

[Chris Jackson]

Ended the year with a 56 unit close yesterday. Super hustle to get it closed by end of year or else some penalties (even though we weren't the ones dragging our feet) heh.

Closed 88 units this year. 20 of which were SFRs. Have 4 SFRs lined up for closing in January.

Putting in an offer on a 50 unit by Tuesday.

Lessons Learned this year:

Networking – We spent more time networking this year and that yielded big results. We are going back to basics. I cant say this enough. Human relationships are built over time from an investment of time. Social media can be used to help continue the relationship but our focus has seen that networking first, blast emails and social media are second. We have definitely created great relationships from social media first however the vast majority of relationships have developed from that human contact first with a continuation from that relationship in other communication forms.

Busyness – You are not as busy as you think. This was the busiest year I have ever known. I am a father of 2 kids under 4 a husband and have a partner in a tech company I help run as well. If you are really really busy take a step back and think about what you are working on. Isolate and focus on tasks. Finish them. Adjust the level and length of your multitasking. Mornings for me are for writing, really thoughtful calls and strategy. On the days I don’t listen to myself and go right into the reactive email world I’ve lost the day. Sometimes that’s unavoidable and the right choice as reactiveness to certain issues are the priority.

Scale – Scale scale scale scale scale. I ask myself all day. What can I automate. Should I not automate that. Can I automate what my partner is working on. Can I do more. Should I do more. Can or should another person do this task better than I am doing. When you challenge yourself and solve those questions you can do more.

Self Awareness – What do I suck at. I really had to ask myself this question and when I answered it I just set it free. I am not good at it that it. I never will be good at it. I don’t want to be good at it. When you set it free and delegate it or have a partner that has those skills you let them work on it and never question their work on it. You suck at it, let them do it and spend your time working on the stuff you are great at and then you can say to partner “We don’t have time to go over this right now as we are crushed on other things but we are putting an all cash offer in at 800k, do you trust me?” “yes Chris I trust you”. That’s how you get more things done with higher levels of excellence with the help of self awareness

Goals and Why are you doing this – This is really important. Set goals yes and course correct to get there. The second part of the why is really important. Is this deal right for us. Sometimes a deal makes money but is not the best deal for you as a company as it will take you offer you vision. Hardest thing for anyone to answer for you. Go to your mentors, go to your partners, walk a long walk. Listen to your gut. Trust your gut. Its so powerful. When you start trusting your gut you can look across the table form a high net worth individual and say no. You will get goose bumps in that moment as you have just decided with confidence about your life. You can go home later and puke and second guess yourself but in that moment you knew it was right and you will trust it again. That’s how you train your self confidence.

Self Confidence – Self confidence is something that takes time. I learned this year that you have to be patient with yourself. Self confidence is viewed as something that is binary , either you have it or you don’t. That’s a bunch of crap if you ask me. When you do something new you are going to feel like you don’t know the answer and yes over time as your confidence develops you know that you will come to the answer but feeling like you don’t have the answer is totally ok. Trusting yourself that you will get to the answer is confidence. That comes across is my meetings with investors, brokers and bankers. I know when my truth is uncertainty and I know when that needs to be expressed. My confidence allows for a vulnerability to be expressed as we all humans don’t have all the answer all the time. Let yourself have time with self confidence. Working through tough problems without giving up allows for you to train your self confidence.

Waking up excited to go to work is a privilege worth the sacrifices to get there and worth the sacrifices to stay here.

Good luck in your 2017. Get at it.