Some people quit their 9-5 jobs to become real estate investors because they dream of getting out of the rat race.
However, they often fall into the trap of turning their real estate investing business into a JOB! It ends up taking a ton of their time and instead of being stuck at a desk in their employer's office, they are stuck at a desk in their own office... and they aren't enjoying the satisfying freedom that they could have.
One of the methods I use to run a successful virtual real estate investing business is to outsource some of the work to someone else.
I've talked about this important team member in the past: You should get a virtual assistant to handle many of the tasks that you shouldn't spend your day doing. These are the same tasks that tend to keep other real estate investors stuck at their desk:
- Answering the phone
- Making phone calls
- Posting ads
- Handling email
- Filling out forms
- ... even finding deals for you!
You're probably thinking: "Yeah Right DM … I don’t have any money to Hire a VA!!!"
Keep reading because I'm going to show you why it's possible (and even PROFITABLE!) to hire a VA... and you could be making a BIG real estate investing mistake if you don't.
Here's why you NEED to hire a virtual assistant
Now, you might be wondering: "Hey DM, how can I possibly afford to hire someone else if I haven't done any deals yet???" Well here's the good news: Virtual assistants are extremely affordable (you can get highly skilled ones for as little as $3/hour!) which means you can do your deals even faster.
Imagine how much more money you could potentially make by outsourcing a lot of the busy work to someone for $3/hour while you focus on the more important stuff.
Here's some math to show you what I mean: Imagine that it takes you 12 hours to do one wholesale deal – from setting everything up to getting a property under contract to talking to investor-buyers, etc. And let's say that you earned $10,000 for doing this deal. (I'm just using some example numbers from my own business. Of course you might charge something different).
Now, if you spent the full 12 hours doing the deal, that's okay. But if you were able to get a virtual assistant to do most of the work – say, about three quarters of the work – then you'd pay them $3/hour for 9 hours of work ($27 dollars) and you'd only do the remaining 3 hours of work yourself.
So you could spend 12 hours of your time to make $10,000...
or
... you could spend 3 hours of your time to make $9973. (And you'd have that extra 9 hours to do something else).
Which would you rather do?
That's an easy one for me! I would pay $27 to get 9 hours. That's a return on investment ("ROI") that I love to have… especially if it means I get to float down the canals of Venice in a gondola with Deena.
The other good part about hiring a virtual assistant is this: You build your team without the annoying expenses of benefits, insurance, vacations, and renting office space.
I've just made it INSANELY easy to hire a virtual assistant
Click this SECRET link to get access to some of the best -- and most affordable -- virtual assistants around. It's really simple and fast (and doesn't cost anything to look for one). Just sign up and post that you are looking for a virtual assistant.
In fact, you can copy and paste this information to simplify the search process...
Hi! I'm a real estate investor. I'm looking for a virtual assistant to help me do deals.
I'd like to start work together for a few hours a week on a trial basis. As I get busier, I'd like to increase the amount of time we work together on an ongoing basis.
Responsibilities: You will make calls and answer calls (via Skype), respond to emails, fill out forms, do basic web research, and post information on websites like Craigslist.
Requirements: Must speak and write English well. Must have Skype and be able to send and receive faxes.
See how easy that is? Just copy and paste. You'll get a bunch of virtual assistants applying. Some won't be right for you (maybe too expensive or they can't speak English very well), others will be right for you. Pick some of the ones that seem to be the best fit and set up a 5 minute Skype interview with them. On the Skype interview, find out what times they work and whether they are comfortable on the phone.
Then get started! In no time at all, you'll have added an ESSENTIAL member to your team and they'll make you more productive with a huge ROI.
Check back soon because in my next blog I'm going to ask a burning question that many real estate investors ask about working with a virtual assistant!
Your virtually-productive friend and mentor,
Mark Evans DM,DN
PS, I'm in the process of publishing another book and in this book, one of the chapters of the book details a successful real estate investor who relies on virtual assistants to help him. In fact, he's so successful, he has a team of 5 virtual assistants (4 full-time and 1 part time) to help. Stayed tuned to learn more about the book.