Why Being “Small” in Your Real Estate Business Might Be an Awesome Thing

In This Article

When you’re small, there is much to your advantage.

When you’re small, you’re capable of customizing your business experiences.

When you’re small, you can personally know every investor, bank, tenant, etc. You can afford to do the little things for your REI business that matter.

When you’re small, you can ensure every component of your business is getting the full attention it deserves.

When you’re small, you can see to it that everyone on your real estate team is on the same page as you. And if they’re, not, you can find out why just by asking.

When you’re small, you can change directions easily, because you either feel like it or because new opportunities have got to be explored.

When you’re small you can afford to care about the small things that can separate you from the big. When you’re small, you can pay more attention to the small opportunities that yield big rewards.

When you’re small you have control of your income, time, and mobility.

Once You Get Too big, Everything Changes.

Once you’re big, you can’t keep everything in front of you. You can’t nurture potential opportunities. You can’t know all your employees. You can’t know all of your customers.

You lose the critical feedback loop  between your tenants, investors, etc. Vacancy rates go up. Maintenance issues linger. Your properties become boarded-up.

You don’t have enough time or mobility. Your income may go up, but at a cost to your total liability.

Once you go big, you become a slave to your business. Once you go big, there’s no going back.

Getting big implies that there is a trade-off between quality and quantity. Quantity for the sake of quantity.

Small is Great… Big is Dangerous

Big gets too much attention. Everyone thinks that eventually going big is the ultimate goal.

Big is publicized because it makes for easy headlines. Biggest revenue, largest investment capital, most employees, fastest growth. There is always someone mentioning the big.

Biggest may be fun to talk about, but big doesn’t mean that it is best.

Small may not be easy to get excited about. When you eliminate the fascination of big numbers, you are will become aware of the details that matter in your day-to-day life. You will make decisions that will keep you small. You will become aware of the numbers that are representative of your quality of life.

Big can start great, but often ends in mediocrity. Big requires personal sacrifice that will change the course of your life.

We are small, and we should appreciate how being small benefits our quality of life.

Consider the small banks and investors you work with.

Consider the entrepreneurs who understand the value of staying small and who choose to do so.

Consider the entrepreneur who pays more attention to controlling their income, time, and mobility.

Appreciate the small entrepreneurs, businesses, and projects around you that make your life and business better because they care about the people and relationship more than the growth and market share.

Appreciate that you are building your REI portfolio small and slow. Know that because we are small, we have a deeper relationship with our investors, bankers, agents, local hardware store, etc. Know that we have a small business that provides value to our communities. Know that we have a small business that allows us to have a full-time (fill in the blank) outside of our REI business.

Small matters.

Small makes an impact.
Photo Credit: JD Hancock

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.