I outsource across town and across the world all the things I choose not do and those things I’m not good at and shouldn’t do.
When I began investing in real estate, I did all the work myself. I mowed the yards, paint the places, returned the calls, showed the houses, … and truth be told, I wasn’t very good at any of it. I knew what needed done I just didn’t have enough hours in the day to do all that needed done.
I desperately needed more time and more money so after going through all the options outsourcing was the only way I could give myself time freedom and the best return of my money.
In order to get my investing business off the ground I had to make the cumbersome chores disappear. You could say outsourcing is the magic that makes painstaking burdens disappear IF you are willing to first write out simple direction for doing those burdens you want to disappear.
So, I did just that…
I liked the idea of having dozens of free ‘Traffic Sources’ bringing me deals and having multiple buyers already lined up before I even pull the trigger on a deal. Starting in 2002 I used Craigslist ads to find workers in the Philippines that could help with my marketing and emails. Since then, I have hired and worked with VA’s in Russia, China, Pakistan, Thailand, and Chile.
Using outsourcing, I got my real estate deals flipped quicker, built a massive buyers list and dominated my local real estate market. Now I wish I could tell you outsourcing was easy, it’s not. It’s not only hard it can be very expensive if you do it the wrong way. At one point I had three clocks on my wall to easily see the time zone of my staff.
And Craigslist and the Philippines had their issues. So, I started using Freelancer and elance to find belter quality remote help. Those companies also made communication and payments easier. In 2012 I hired Zakia from Pakistan to take over all my outsourcing needs except for web development. She is my longest VA hire and has truly been instrumental in growing my businesses. I like to say that she can do everything but get me my morning coffee.
I have one long-time local personal assistant, the Community Manager of the Real Estate Investors Association™ and den mother to my renters. She also handles calls from buyers and sellers, handles advertising for several of my businesses among other things that help out. I also have dozens of local contractors and a real estate agent, that I trained how to work closely with me and others on our team.
GET CLARITY. Most people hire assistants without clarity, then wonder why it doesn’t work. Before you hire, define the exact tasks you’re offloading. Map out your recurring time drains first—then find someone who lives in those specific tasks. Now, because I mastered outsourcing, I can do more than I ever could do otherwise and make more money while providing others with employment. I outsource many of my business dealings right down to a personal chief who makes my morning omelets’. I outsource across town and outsource across the world. Not because I’m lazy; far from it, I outsource because I’m very active in business and in my personal life; and outsourcing allows me to have more of a life.
Outsourcing allows me to take off for months every year all while my business hums along quietly in the background. Is it any wonder that Henry Ford said “I’d rather have one percent of 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own.”
And that’s when you have a real business; a business that operates and throws off cash without you babysitting it; when you don’t have to deal with anything but investing and marketing (the two true money-makers).
