The Contents of Ben's Brain: First Blog Post

How's it going folks?

Ben's Brain here. That's right – Ben's. Brain.

Based on the title of my blog, I can only hope you are having a flurry of abstract images flash through your mind featuring a bodiless brain, sitting at a computer, that has somehow mustered a way to tap away on the keyboard. Yes, this grayish-colored cranial organ has somehow found a way to communicate, through typed words, without the assistance of a humanoid body. Inside a dark room, in an empty house, the brain is perched in front of a glowing PC monitor... it's slippery lumpiness glistening from the blue and white luminosity of the BiggerPockets webpage. For ambient sound, imagine squishy, gooey noises that are mixed in with the slow, repetitive tap of the keys being pressed in succession.

Now that I've provided such a disturbing mental image, I must come clean and tell you that I am not a bodiless brain, but indeed a whole, intact human.

*Gasp*

Now that you know the truth, I hope you can forgive me for painting such a gruesome picture in your mind. Still, even though I am a whole person, these thoughts and ideas that I voice in the form of this blog post do resonate from the depths of my brain - Ben's Brain.

My brain has been at the helm of this body of mine for some 32 years now. Suffice it to say that my brain and I have been through a lot together. We've learned so much, experienced an incredible number of events, and interacted with thousands of other brains. There was even that concussion back in 2003 - but that's a whole different story. story. story...

It's all really incredible when you think about it from such a different (weird) perspective. All of the lessons we learn, the experiences we have, the excitements, the let-downs, the thrills, the challenges, the disappointments - everything that ends up forming us into we've become all really transpires in that 6” space between your ears. It's the cumulative effect of all the experiences and decisions we make that make us, and our brains, who we are.

Now, I'll show you how all this applied to Real Estate...

My brain had a fairly comfy existence until this Real Estate thing came along. Up until that point, most of the big decisions were made for me and I was simply following orders. I didn't have to think creatively very often because other people were doing the thinking for me. Really, if it weren't for this Real Estate thing, my brain would probably only be working at about 4% capacity - not the ludicrous 10% that's it's operating at currently.

For me, everything changed when my J.O.B. security began to feel less... well, secure. At the time was working with a military contracting company, and for the longest while, things seemed great. I made good money, had a good schedule, was in a management position, had health benefits, and I only lived about 2 miles from work. Sounds pretty sweet right? Well, it was. However, I was living under the myth of "job security", and was blinded into thinking that the job was mine for as long as I wanted it. Silly brain.

Things really started changing when the ownership of the company started having trouble. Essentially, there were 2 partners that owned the company and they each had very different ideas of how the place should run. The “bad” partner that owned 51% basically fired the “good” partner that owned 49%. From that point forward, the company began a slow downward spiral. People were getting laid off left and right. Contracts were being cancelled. Moral plummeted. It was ugly. It was at this time that I knew that the writing was on the wall for me, maybe not immediately, but I knew at some point in the near future my job was going to be going bye-bye.

It was then that I took out a sheet of paper and a pen and started brainstorming business ideas. I knew that I had to come up with another way to support my family. So I started writing anything and everything that came to mind. Within 10 minutes or so I had a list of around 40 items on it. There were plenty of dumb ideas on the page, but there were also a few that could possibly work. From there I made a pros and cons list using the top results from the brainstorming session. Eventually, through a process of elimination, the word “Real Estate” came to the top of the stack.

”What's up with that?” I asked my brain. “I don't know the first thing about Real Estate”. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Like most people, I at least knew that there was a lot of money to be made in Real Estate. I knew that there were plenty of millionaires that made their fortunes from Real Estate. Just about everyone has heard the name Donald Trump – so, I can't say that I didn't really know anything about Real Estate. Actually, I knew enough to know that somewhere in the industry of Real Estate was a way that I could plug in and create a different way of life of myself and my family.

So, “Real Estate” it is. Now what? I didn't know what that meant at the time. I mean there are 1000 ways that you can make money in Real Estate, but each way requires it's own unique focus, skills, and process. Should I become a realtor? Should I flip houses? Did I want to buy a bunch of rentals? Maybe I could be an Appraiser or an Inspector? Heck, even the RotoRooter guy is involved in Real Estate. I didn't know which way to turn or which path to pursue, but I did know that I needed to better define what my needs were if I was going to figure out what direction to head in.

Back to the drawing board...

Next, instead of looking at the specific “profession”, I looked at what I wanted to get out of it. What were the needs that should be met? How much money did I need to make? Basically, what were the results that needed to be produced by whatever path I chose to go down in order to have the results I wanted. Alright, so looking at it this way gave a more focused perspective.

Here were my basic requirements that I wanted my new career to provide...

1. 1) I did not want to have to commute and/or travel on a daily basis.
2. 2) I wanted the be able to grow the business and not hit the “glass ceiling”.
3. 3) I wanted the ability to systematize and automate the business.
4. 4) I wanted consistent, measurable income.
5. 5) I did not want to build a business based on high-risk ventures.

So, now I just screened all of the different options I had of getting involved in Real Estate against my handy-dandy list of requirements. Now instead of just jumping into a particular profession in Real Estate and hoping for the best, now I at least had a general direction... a compass, if you will. After all of the other options fell away against my new criteria, what I was left with was a single option. Wholesale Real Estate.

Again, I found myself at a point where I was't entirely sure of the next steps to take. What I did next was I began to educate myself on all of the principals of wholesale Real Estate. I read books. I attended seminars. I went to REIA meetings. I hired a coach. I did everything I possibly could to allow my brain to soak up all the detail based around the core principal of wholesaling houses.

Direction... check! Knowledge... check! Action... geez, do I have to?

So the next part, “action”, was probably one of the most uncomfortable experiences that I've ever put my brain through. I knew that I had to get out there and make things happen, but MAN, it was uncomfortable! Setting up marketing pieces sucked. Talking to strangers sucked. Struggling to negotiate sucked. All the doubts and insecurities of jumping into something that was completely new, unknown, and foreign, well... sucked. STILL, after stumbling forward, making plenty of mistakes, doing things the wrong way, the hard way, the stupid way – things actually started to make a bit of sense!

I was able to get my first house under contract in Macon, GA. It was a 3/2 brick ranch that needed probably 20k in rehab. I marketed the house to my tiny little buyers list and actually drummed up some interest in the deal. After several awkward conversations, I received a written offer! Holy crap, a written offer! Now what the heck do I do??

Next I took the both contracts to a random closing attorney. Seriously, completely random. In retrospect, I think got pretty lucky having found someone who was willing to double-close on this house for me since double closings are sometimes tricky to get closed. Still, the deal (mostly) went off without a hitch. A week after the paperwork was turned in, the closing occurred as planned and I was given a check for $6,911.40. I could hardly believe it. Holy crap, this actually worked!

So to recap, I've closed 1 deal, I'm still employed at my job, but things are really looking pretty dire. I'm really wondering how much longer I'll be able to keep the job. I'm not yet to a point where I can quit, but I REALLY want to make the Real Estate thing work. Pretty stressful times around this point in my life honestly. Brain, thanks for not blowing a gasket – you're the best.

Next, I re-invested a HUGE chunk of the profits from my last deal into a monster direct mail campaign using my new secret weapon – the Yellow Letter. I bought a HUGE list of absentee owners, went to staples and stocked up on envelopes and yellow pads, went to the post office and bought thousands of stamps, and buckled down for a hand-cramping-direct-mail-a-thon. This was one of those turning points for me. I had optimism that this wholesaling thing was going to work, but I also had the pressure of knowing that if I didn't do something big, and RIGHT NOW, that I might find myself jobless and without any real income. You've heard of Massive Action, right? We'll this is a prime example of just that. I wasn't 100% certain of the outcome that would result from this monster mailer, but I knew that I had to do something big if I wanted to see some BIG results.

Over the course of the next 2 weeks, I implemented “Operation Monster Mailer”. My writing hand was so cramped from writing thousands of letters that it took on a rigid claw-like shape with a sickly yellow hue. I had to finished the last 200 or so letters by training myself to write with my toes. Just kidding about that part. Anyways, then over the course of the next several weeks, I took dozens of calls from motivated sellers – and as a result of those calls, I put 4 houses under contract. Now, we're cooking! See brain, I told you this would work!

From the money I made from the monster mailer, I had enough cash reserves, momentum and optimism for me to put in my 2 week notice at my job. Now, let me tell you... THAT was a good feeling. A little scary, but mostly a good feeling. All this time I was so convinced that I was going to get canned and I was just waiting on the day when I was going to be told that my number was up. The way it worked out though, I was actually able to be pro-active, and make the choice to quit. Let me tell you, that felt great.

From that point forward I've been focused on growing and scaling up my Atlanta Wholesale Operation. Things have been going great. We often close as many as 2-3 deals per week, and we're steadily gaining more popularity and momentum. The success we've seen in the wholesale realm has opened up other opportunities with buy-and-hold houses and retail flips. The journey has been a tough one, and a trying one, but ultimately a very rewarding one.

One of the best parts of owning a Real Estate Wholesale company is that we are often approached by people that find themselves in tough times with their homes. The website that we operate through is benbuysatlantahomes.com. The website has been a great tool for letting homeowners know that we are able and willing to figure out a solution for whatever challenge they find themselves in with their property. There have been so many people that we've been able to work with and help out of tough situations, and it's always highly rewarding to create Real Estate transactions that are truly win/win all the way around.

So, be inspired. We've all been through a lot on our own individual Real Estate journeys, and if you're anything like me, you've still got a long way to go! I think the main take away from this post I that you're going to reach points along the way where you have to take a little leap-of-faith. It's important to be able to recognize those opportunities and take advantage of them because it's in those moments that you'll make some of the biggest advancements. Now, I don't mean you have to take crazy, mindless risks, but rather to just make some moves and let faith be your guide.

With all that said, I hope you enjoyed this introductory post from The Contents of Ben's Brain.

I wish you the very best on your Real Estate journey.

Ben Clardy