3 Reasons Why People Fail in Land
JULY 23, 2019 / ERIN SPENCE / BLOG
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the senior manager here at Land Academy. I’ve been around these companies longer than Land Academy has been Land Academy, so I feel I’m qualified to speak on Land Academy members, and the successes and failures that I’ve seen. I feel that I’m genuinely very lucky, because I work for a company that “gets it.” Our systems work. The education works. The support works. I have seen many people change their lives in incredible ways, and right now I’m seeing it happen more and more.
I have also seen people fail. As head of customer service, I’ve spoken to all of the people who fail and leave Land Academy. I started to notice some common themes. Recently, we put out a survey to all of our members (past and present) covering everything from membership items and live events to what their biggest challenges are. Unsurprisingly, the biggest challenges that our members listed matched (exactly) with the reasons we saw members fail.
Here are the four reasons why people fail in land.
1. Consistency
Yeah, you can send out mail once, but can you do it again? And again? Can you manage the deal flow, the call volume, etc? This business does take consistency. You need to send out mail and regularly manage all other parts of the business. There is a regular ebb and flow in this business of either being “cash rich” or “money rich” depending on where you are in your deals, and that seems to be something that people struggle with. You also need to have consistency in being your own boss and managing your business. You need to put in the work, talk to sellers, post properties, etc.
The great thing is that SO MANY of these items can be put into systems to make your life easier. You can outsource phone calls to PatLive, posting to VAs, etc. We have plenty of members in our group who are just the “deal makers and county pickers” and outsource everything else.
2. Personal life
We have members come to us from all walks of life, but the most common type of person we get is a parent (usually with little ones) who is working a full-time job. Many make this work and are able to replace their income (and quit their job!) but for some it becomes too much and they never get their business off the ground. We’ve seen it all here from job switches and big moves to family ailments and spouses who don’t believe in the business.
Unfortunately, this isn’t something that we can solve for our members with systems or with our favorite solution – “send more mail!” It can take some time and some serious conversations (or bribes – ha) to get spouses on board, wrap up family affairs, etc. Often our members will have set times after their full-time jobs where they only work on land. The great thing about this business is that you can do it from anywhere, and at any time. If you can only call sellers back evenings and weekends – great. Call them evenings and weekends. If you need to travel to handle a family problem – take your phone and laptop there. The flexibility of land is invaluable, and we’ve seen members overcome all kinds of personal life speed bumps to be insanely successful in land. Don’t let it get in the way of your financial freedom.
3. Getting in your own way
This is the big one. Getting in your own way is the #1 reason why people in this business fail, and it was the #1 most reported struggle our members have faced. This happens most often in the form of a member who is afraid to pull the trigger or “analysis paralysis” as we like to call it.
The scenario is this – you’ve picked a county, downloaded data, priced your mailer, set up your systems and mailer template, checked your mailer…. then you check your mailer, check your mailer, think about it, wonder if you did it right, and check it some more. You have analysis paralysis. Here’s the deal – if you’ve followed the program – then you’ve got this. You just need to be confident, get over that hump, and push the button.
Here at Land Academy, we have developed some ways to help with this. First, we have weekly members calls where Steven and Jill spend over an hour and half answering questions, helping, reviewing member deals on screen for them, etc. This is a great place to get focused help from Steven and Jill, and can help push members through to send out that mail or closing that deal. We’ve also developed LandInvestors.com, which is our own forum-based site. Land Academy members get an upgraded account, but the site is free to the public so if you haven’t signed up I definitely recommend it. You can collaborate, ask questions, and more. Our entire staff, Steven and Jill, and our members are all a part of it, and the community that has been built there is incredible.
And if you still want Steven to take a look at your mailer after that or do a private deal review – we have that too. We’re here to help you be successful and build together.
In my experience and in our survey, we haven’t seen a single person struggle or fail because of things like struggling to sell land, not knowing how to price mailers, not getting a mailer response, or anything even resembling these. Coincidentally, *these* are the top things that people think are going to be problems before they join Land Academy. It just goes to show you that you really don’t need to be worried about the things that you harp on, and your biggest hurdle is yourself.
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