How To Grow A Team (The Smart Way)

New real estate investors start out on their own, learning the ropes and sweating every detail. That’s a great way to start in the business because you get fully immersed and learn every detail of the business. But if you want to scale your business, and start investing to enhance your lifestyle (instead of just creating a job for yourself), you’ll need to create a team. In this blog post you’ll read some tips and strategies to help you grow a team.

Learn the ropes first. It might be tempting to hire a team right away but if you learn what you need to do first then you’ll lead your team more effectively because you’ll know exactly what you expect from them. For example, if you’re a rehabber, rehab a house or two on your own before adding a team member. (The added bonus is: if necessary, you can jump in and help out when needed).

Hire for experience? Perhaps the biggest challenge you’ll face is whether or not you should hire someone with experience. Experienced people cost more and they can be easily hired away by someone else for more money. Plus, they have their own way of doing things and it’s sometimes hard to train them to do things the way you want. On the other hand, inexperienced people are, in my opinion, preferable for many roles because they don’t cost as much, you can train them to do things the way you want, plus they’re likely to be loyal to you because you helped to establish them. I usually prefer to hire people who have a bit of knowledge, some experience, but ultimately are DRIVEN and HUNGRY. (I recently recorded a Periscope video about this topic, and you can watch a saved version of this video by clicking here).

Pay them well. It’s weird but I see it often: Investors want to make a lot of money in their business but they’re super-cheap when it comes to paying their team… as if they believe only THEY should make money. When you pay your team well, you’ll get great work from them and they’ll be more loyal. If you’re worried that you can’t afford to pay your team well (especially if you’re just starting out) then pay them as much as you can afford and incentivize them with bonuses from the profit of your company. This is a powerful method to really tie rewards to successful work.

Lead your team. Hiring a team does not magically create a hands-off business for you; it just changes the kind of work you need to do. Wrap your head around this! When you hire a team, you’re no longer picking up a hammer or a paint brush but you should still expect to work… only now, you’re checking up on your team, helping to solve their problems, making sure they have everything they need to do their work.

Adjust your expectations. Working with other people requires you to adjust your expectations. You might hold yourself to a high level of perfection and be willing to work 24/7 but your team might not necessarily feel the same way. I’ve found that the hungrier you hire someone and the better you pay them, the more likely they will feel that way but it’s not always the case. You’ll need to adjust your expectations, but also make sure you’re clear to your team about your expectations and priorities. (I’m not saying you should let your team do whatever they want; but you should also not expect them to work 24/7 if you’re not paying them for that).

Building a team is an ENTIRELY different “animal” than investing yourself. It comes with different problems and different headaches… but a team also helps you to grow your business dramatically so the opportunity makes it worthwhile. I talked more about this in my recent webinar (the replay is available for purchase at LevelUpRealEstateTraining.com).