​How I managed a full-time job and real estate investing.

I recently read that no one gets extra time in the day. That hit me pretty hard. Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook with 24 hours in a day. Oprah, she only had 24 hours in a day to dominate daytime TV. Ultimate entrepreneur Elon Musk, with his multiple ventures, can only count 24 hours in his day too. With this in mind how can we create the life we want, while living the life we have?

My answer is just get started. Momentum builds momentum, success breeds success. When I first decided to get serious with real estate I didn’t have a lot of time in my mind. I had a full-time job, a wife, obligations at church and I was enrolled in a MBA program. Even worse, my schedule was inconsistent from day to day. Some days I would be at work by 6 am, and somedays wouldn’t start until 6 pm. As a Helicopter Instructor Pilot, my next day schedule was determined the night before at 5 pm. That meant it was difficult to schedule meetings in advance, set a daily schedule, or really do any of the things recommended in time management books. Instead I had to squeeze in whatever time I could find whenever I could.

So how did I do it? My answers were Partnerships, focused investment, and making investing a priority.

The secret to most of my success is working with other people. Plain and simple. I am only one person with limited skills, but when I combine with others my skills can complement and create a real team. I started wholesaling by paying for marketing but having calls answered by another investor who didn’t have any capital. Was it the best setup? No, but it got me started and we did deals. I had a fourplex, did I do any day to day work? No, I had a property management company that I trusted to deal with all of the issues, and I only answered questions a couple of times a year (granted this was after a few years of ownership and renovations complete). Most importantly for me is I got rid of the idea that I needed to have 100% of every deal, or even 51%. I began working on commercial deals with another investor and we were often able to pass individual tasks back and forth. This allowed two things, first it allowed things to get done when either wasn’t immediately available, and secondly it was built in motivation to keep working on deals. I came to believe that I would much rather have 1% of a $1 billion than 100% of $100,000 (that’s a difference of $9.9mil if you didn’t do the math yet). By working with others, I lost out on some control, but I gained so much more. When I didn’t have enough time, I worked with other people.

Sometimes I feel like I am cheating because I discovered the next principle. Focused investment. There are probably 100’s of ways to make money in real estate, but by learning to say no to most of them I have been able to grow my business much faster. People ask me all the time about flipping houses, I typically nod along, then tell them I have no idea if it’s a good idea. I understand how the process works, I believe I could make money doing it, but I also have decided to not spend the little bits of valuable time I have on that strategy. Though many of my friends make great returns flipping and renovating houses, the truth if I tried to that and commercial real estate I would probably still be looking for deals or be torn between only a few smaller deals. The other guys that I see as successful and want to emulate typically do the same thing, they find one strategy and really focus on it. When time is limited I don’t try to do everything.

Finally, when I didn’t have “enough” time, I made investing a priority. It’s amazing how much can get done in a week when you don’t have time to do everything. When I made investing a top priority sometimes things didn’t get done. That meant maybe the grass was a little longer than my neighbors wanted, but I was able to evaluate a few more deals. When I was getting started and also working on my MBA I didn’t spend a lot of weekends at the beach, and when I did my head was usually in a book. However, now that I am a full-time investor I can go to the beach when I want, including during the week. I have found, and others have backed up with research, when I get busy I also often get into a zone or flow and I am to accomplish much more than when I have too much time on my hands. Procrastination is a time management tool. When it is the only tool you have you left, it is amazing how effective it can be. I can do more paperwork when I am against a clock than when I have an entire day to eventually get to it. So, when I didn’t have time I typically was able to get more done by ensuring that investing was at the top of my priority list.

There it is, how I managed a job and investing. I partnered, I focused, and I made it a priority. If the business luminaries have 24 hours a day, then I do to.