So I had, what I think is, a great idea.I was creating the copy for my (door hanger) brochure yesterday, for a half-fold brochure with 4 sections of content, and I was running out of content.I didn’t want to overload the pamphlet with text and I wanted to make the main messages as effective as possible.With my rough draft, I could only think of content for 3 of the 4 sections.Then it hit me!Page 1 through 3, could contain content of mine, while page 4 (back cover) could be an advertisement of another company.This could be any real estate related company; appraiser, lawn care, handyman, etcetera.I’m thinking that if I add their advertisement to my brochure, the advertising costs of mine would be subsidized.
I would communicate that these brochures will canvas select zip codes in Champaign-Urbana within a specified time window.I just need to come up with a pitch and a flat fee, so that it’s a no-brainer for the other company to do business with me.Also, I’m thinking I should only solicit other local small-businesses as they may be more flexible with their advertising methods.
It’s been 5 days now since my last post. It’s a shame, but it took me way too long to figure out Windows Movie Maker, YouTube, and the various video formats that don’t work. Anyway, I have the knowledge now and more videos are to come.
Once my tax refund arrives, I’ll officially be in full swing of things.The refund will enable me to kick-start my marketing without having to scrape together funds from my W-2 income.Which, scraping was the original plan until I realized that April was packed with travel expenses (I’ll have traveled out of town for three weekends by the end of the month) leaving me with no cash to scrape.
You may be reading this and say, “why don’t you use other people’s money to get started”.That is very good businesses practice; leveraging money borrowed.However, without a track record in real estate and/or a hypnotic sales pitch, I feel extremely uncomfortable soliciting for funds to borrow.I do realize that I am hindering myself by not borrowing in the beginning.But, it’s just a personal quirk that I won’t overcome soon.I hate asking anybody for anything.And if I do, I’ll make a presentation so clear that it would be stupid to deny me.As a beginning investor sans stats, it’s very hard to do that.But once I get in the game and put some numbers up, I’ll have no problem approaching private and public lenders with a resume they can’t deny.
After about 16 hours of reading, I completed the entire blog www.flipthiswholesaler.blogspot.com.This blog provides a very comprehensive account of a property wholesaler, by the name of Stephanie, from the beginning of her Real estate investing career to now.It’s inspiring to see how she was able to overcome her struggles in the beginning and work her way through adversity.I’m very grateful for her blog as I was able to gauge myself by it.Meaning, that in observance of her strengths, weaknesses, and mistakes, I can map my plan more appropriately.
Here is what I observed.
Strengths:
- Frequently placed her bandit signs to attract wholesale buyers
- Worked with other wholesalers and marketed their properties for a percentage
- Called ‘For Rent’ signs to get in touch with landlords who may want to acquire property
- Formed a Real Estate Investment club to network with other investors and market her properties
- Consistent exercise regimen (health first)
- Utilized Craig’s list to its full potential
- Blogged frequently and her REI followers provide feedback
- Developed a lucrative relationship with a Mortgage Lender
- Implemented a direct mail campaign
- Gained MLS access through an Appraiser friend
- Formed network of Realtors to work Short-Sales through
Weaknesses:
- Fielded all calls herself
- Spent a lot of time lost in neighborhoods
- Electronic equipment failures resulted in productivity loss
- Stuffed and addressed her direct-mail pieces herself
- Didn’t have a company website
Mistakes:
- Accepted a personal check for an earnest money deposit
- Slacked on marketing once a few deals where in her pipeline
I plan on mirroring her strengths and learning from her weaknesses and mistakes by:
- Utilizing a call-center
- Using Map Quest and eventually purchasing a GPS unit
- Purchasing the highest quality electronic equipment when feasible
- Utilizing an online direct-mail center with postcards
- Company website www.schwaps.com is already live
- Only accept certified checks, money orders, and cash for earnest money deposits
- No breaks until 7-figure net worth is obtained
I have just read through my first issue of “Realtor” magazine.There is great stuff included in the issue.As a non-realtor, but rather an investor I still found great content in regard to the Real Estate market and advertising methods.
A long time ago, I was at a conference where a speaker mentioned that, “as long as you learn something new from each experience, it is worth it”.I feel like I can at least learn one new ‘nugget’ of information each month from both my REALTOR and Illinois REALTOR magazine subscriptions.
This once a month blogging is a thing of the past. I never intended to post so sparingly, however it always seems that every time I think about updating the blog with an entry, it’s a month later.
I’m going to shoot for a blog frequency of once per two days. I do realize that I’m blogging to an audience of zero at the moment; however that doesn’t matter to me. If I don’t have any subscribers for years, that’s fine with me. The purpose of this blog is for documentation, accountability, and self-inspiration. I know eventually others will want to stay current with my story, that’s a guarantee.
The Skeleton Marketing Plan mentioned from a month ago, is indeed complete. I’ll post that soon, it’s been a long day and I don’t feel like posting it now. Most of the day was spent fine-tuning my social marketing strategy for Schwaps. The Web 2.0 components selected were; YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and ActiveRain. Combine those sites with this blog (justinmcclelland.com) and the company website (schwaps.com) and I should be covered. I also, need to update this blog with some widgets for some of those sites. That way the sites will be interconnected in a way.
That countdown timer that I put on this site is really moving fast! It’s a far stretch to meet that 7-figure goal as time rapidly passes; however I’m still shooting for it. If I come up 100k short…so what. So anyway, that’s all for now and according to the new schedule, I shall blog again by Sunday at the latest.
P.S.
No millionaire that I have heard of has his road to financial freedom documented. Ha Ha, I’ll be the first. I’ll teach others (sans outrageous “guru” fees) and my blog subscribers will receive the Real Estate Investment education at no charge.
