Justin B. McClelland

You ever have a long list of stuff to do and you know what’s a top priority, however you start with the stuff you feel like doing?  That’s what I face all of the time.  On one hand, at least you’re getting stuff done…but on the other hand, priorities are priorities for a reason.

Anyway, since I’ve been making to do lists every night before sleep, I’ve doubled my production.  Nothing like seeing your list with all check-marks on it, right.  Even though I get my lists accomplished now, I still struggle with doing the stuff I don’t feel like doing at the time I need to do it.  I’m getting better at it though.

Like right now, I’m on my way out the door to get some boxes from Wal-Mart (you know how they stock shelves in the middle of the night).  If I don’t leave to go get them now, I won’t be able to put any signs out this weekend.  Trick off this task and I waste a week of advertising.  Also, as a side note, I’ve got an idea about these signs that I’m not sure has been done before.  I may post about this later.

I made a post to BiggerPockets for the first time in a long time.  The article is about using a software called ShortKeys.  It’s awesome for automating some repetitive keystrokes, check it out.

And my new found recreation is adding to my compilation of hot verses.  I spit hot fire…at least more so than Dylan.  Volume 2 of my mixtape just hit the streets, I got the hood going crazy….I’m so focused…that’s what’s up…real talk….check my swag…I’m so ill….okay, I just ran out of Hip-Hop buzz terms but you get where I’m coming from.

And speaking of the hood…remember when I was venting about some people would claim that Champaign had it’s “rough” areas…and I was like, there’s no such thing in Champaign?  Well anyway, yesterday I went to the hood for real.  A lady called me telling about two properties that she practically wanted to give away.  So I went to check them out…they were in Washington Park, IL….what I learned later to be the worst part of East St. Louis, IL.  I knew it was going to be bad, but damn!  Even my Mom tried to pull rank on me and tell me not to go.  I assured her that I wasn’t going to get shot in the day-time (not that I knew that for sure, it’s just what I told her).  These properties where in bad shape, but for practically free, I may be able to find someone to buy them.  It’s a long-shot though…this neighborhood is that bad.  The owner accepted my verbal offer of $500 each and it would be an option-contract (yes…$500).  Even with this negotiated, I’m not going to put too much time into this.  I’m learning as I go what to put the most effort into…this stuff will just sit on the back burner from the get-go.  And I guess your Mom always knows best…I don’t watch the news (intentionally) but I walked in on this story on the news this morning.  This happened less than 100 yards from the houses I looked at and less than 6 hours after I left from there.  Crazy stuff.

Anywho, on a positive note. Check out this hot flame:

J-Suave Mixtape v2

Business, Real Estate IL, Mixtape, Option contract, washington park

5 hours, 900 pages, 2 magenta, 1 cyan, and 1 yellow ink cartridge later, I’m finally done with my end of the yellow-letter campaign. The printing of all those pages took alot longer than expected and I also went through more ink that I originally thought. But, the end result was well worth it (can you ID what is the handwritten font and what isn’t?), in my opinion.  This morning I met with my new local assistant and dropped-off all of the letters, envelopes, etc. so that she can hand-address my envelopes and stuff them.  She says she can have them done in a week.  So about a week from today I should be ready to launch my first mass direct-mailing.

On another front, I happened to come across an email that stated that the biggerpockets.com site is looking for additional guest bloggers.  I think I’m going to try out for a spot as a guest blogger that contributes in the area of Computer Technology uses for REI.  My try-out article will most likely be a step-by-step how-to guide to produce a yellow letter campaign, just like the one I’ve completed.  I’ll mention the exact computer software used and everything.  I’m guessing there are other investors out there that may want to know exactly how I did this.  I’ll let ya’ll know how the try-out process goes.

- Justin

Real Estate Champaign, Entrepreneurship, House, IL, Mail-Merge, Marketing Campaign, Real Estate, Schwaps, Urbana, Virtual Assitant, Wholesale, Yellow Letter

Man, I have been slacking completely on my blogging. I’m back on it though. I haven’t posted any ‘Accountability Tuesday’ updates lately because as I mentioned, I wasn’t going to do so until I completed the launch of my direct mail campaign. It’s still not launched yet. I’m very close however, as I have the mail-merge setup, all of the stationary, and I’ve selected a college student with nice handwriting to handwrite my envelopes and stuff them (all 900 for $120 or $0.13 each). This same college student is going to act as my phone receptionist and field my calls during the day. I found this girl on CraigsList and haven’t met her yet, however she stands far above the other candidates and just from the looks of her on paper. She sent me her resume and this girl is solid, college senior, great relevant work experience, good GPA, etc. I’m to meet her this weekend so that I can get her the materials to get started on this first project of hers’. I can already tell, this girl is a real go-getter…my kind of people. I’m already loving the idea of having a local assistant.

My attorney is on vacation, so I’m still waiting on some things from him that I have him working on. And it all concerns the usage of Birddogs in Illinois but on a completely different level than you may be familiar with. I’m looking to implement both buy-side and sell-side Birddogs. If it’s possible and safe from being misconstrued as a non-licensed practitioner of Real Estate, he is going to construct a proprietary model for my business to use Birddogs. My bill from him is going to be through the roof, but it will definitely be worth it if I can make this happen in my biz.

On a non real estate note, but business related, I am now a Mozenda affiliate marketer. That may not sound all that special, but I haven’t mentioned that I am the ‘only’ Mozenda affiliate marketer! This came about all because I happened to like their software, I posted a YouTube video about it, they noticed it, they interviewed me for an article, I asked about their affiliate program, they said they didn’t have one, they offered me a deal to become one, and here I am. This is an awesome opportunity, because not only is their product superior to their competition, but they are going to pay me $5 per trial sign-up and additional if those trials convert to memberships. As soon as this arrangement was made my mind started racing on how I could market and expose their product. There are so many voids in the marketplace it is ridiculous, GAME-ON! I did some research on Google and found that for the key term “Data Mining” (which is what this software does) ;245,000 people searched by that term on Google in July of 2009 alone! Let’s just say if I can advertise on Google and other places and send 10% of 245,000 to http://www.GetMozenda.com, which would make 24,500 monthly visitors. Their conversion rate is currently approx. 3%, which means 24,5000*3% = 735 people sign-up, which for me means 735*$5 = $3,675 gross monthly! This is going to take a little of my time away from Real Estate, for good reason as you can see.

I have a phone meeting with a web development firm out of New Hampshire this evening, about working with them and structuring an arrangement that will allow me to outsource my web projects to them, while I serve as the project liaison. Hopefully this will workout. Another source of income doesn’t hurt.

So, I’ve got a lot going on. I’ve been slacking on my other areas because of it. I think I gained about 7 pounds since I’ve been so busy. I need to quit eating the garbage and get my ass back in the gym regularly, no excuses. I’ve only taken like two weeks off and I feel like a bum, you HAVE to workout to keep yourself up. But anyway, that’s it for now. Stay on your grizzy.

- Justin

Real Estate 61802, 61820, 61821, bandit signs, banditsign, Blog, Buyer, Carleton, Central, Champaign, ChampaignHome, ChampaignHomes, Cheap, Colin Egbert, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, FHA, Guru, home, Homes, House, Houses, HUD Appraiser, IL, Illinois, Investment, Investor, Justin Bernard McClelland, justinmcclelland, Landlord, Nathan Jurewicz, Preston Ely, Properties, Property, Real Estate, Realtor, Rehabs, Rental, Schwaps, Section, Sheets, ShortSaleKid, sign, Urbana, Wholesale, Wholesaler, Wholesaling

Real Estate 61802, 61820, 61821, bandit signs, banditsign, Blog, Buyer, Carleton, Central, Champaign, ChampaignHome, ChampaignHomes, Cheap, Colin Egbert, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, FHA, Guru, home, Homes, House, Houses, HUD Appraiser, IL, Illinois, Investment, Investor, Justin Bernard McClelland, justinmcclelland, Landlord, Nathan Jurewicz, Preston Ely, Properties, Property, Real Estate, Realtor, Rehabs, Rental, Schwaps, Section, Sheets, ShortSaleKid, sign, Urbana, Wholesale, Wholesaler, Wholesaling

Another Friday night posted at my favorite spot; On the couch, with my laptop on a TV-dinner table. I fell asleep, after going for a long-run (7 miles and could’ve ran more, I still got it!) after work at around 10pm and now I’m up at 3:43am. Don’t know what that’s all about. I’m trying to decide if I should go back to sleep or start Saturday now. Either way, I’m blogging in the meantime.

I just checked out my Thursday post and found that I forgot to post again providing details of the past 8 days. Well you see that I received a follow-up mailing from the city of Champaign about the bandit signs. I thought that was amusing, especially the detective work required to find my home address and such to mail to. The Champaign zoning administrator probably RSS’s this blog for all I know. Sometimes, I feel like I disclose way too much. But I really don’t care. That’s what makes this blog different. I’m keeping it real 100% and sometimes “keeping it real goes wrong”. But it’s all in fun to me, life is not that serious.

The video I made about using Mozenda to screen-scrape got noticed by Mozenda, so I thought that was pretty cool. After finding my YouTube video, the company interviewed me and I am featured in an article about their software. Which reminds me, maybe I’ll make a video tonight about the data obtained using Mozenda for my direct mailings. Actually, first I need to find out why my damn audio gets out of sync with my video when I do recordings.

I’ve got the key to a commercial property in town. The owner, who is in Chicago, wants to get rid of it and gave me a call. I told him that I don’t normally invest commercial, however that I’d check it out. I have a buyer who buys both residential and commercial. The owner has the property listed, but also has the option to sell it FSBO (executive-agency listing). Communication between me and the buyer was lovely prior to receiving the key in the mail, but now that I have it, I can’t get in touch with the guy. He said that he wanted to view the property, perhaps I’ll drop the key off at his office. Yeah, I just thought of that right now. Why do I need to tag along anyway? He can check out the property and then tell me what he would want to buy at. I can then go from there and compose an offer. I wonder if I need to look into different contract forms, since it’s not a residential property offer?

I’ve been active on CraigsList. I posted an ad looking for an investor-friendly Realtor , I also posted an ad looking for a phone receptionist to take my incoming calls. I’ve received one call from a Realtor who seems pretty legit, perhaps we’ll be able to establish a lasting business relationship. I hope he doesn’t fall off into the abyss like so many other Realtors, I’ve come across. You communicate with them for a few days and then they just stop responding to you. Just unprofessional as shit! As far as the phone receptionist, I’ve received quite a few replies about this job and have yet to start screening candidates. But this should be a great alternative to PATlive and easier on the budget.

I’ve decided to start a Web Development Company. I used to freelance web design on the side of my nine to five, I’m now finding that my time is much better spent dedicated towards real estate. However, I still receive prospective client leads and requests for bids on projects. While I don’t have the will or the time to spend time designing and programming, I’m going to leverage my connections and sub-contract the development work. I realized that I should be doing this after spending entirely too much time on web projects and also having to turn a few projects down. I’m in talks with a few prospective sub-contractors currently regarding this joint-venture. This will be very hands-off for me and all I would have to do is act as a liason between the client and development team. Easy money, don’t know why I’m just now thinking of this. Not too early to start diversifying my investment portfolio right?

That’s all for now. Have much more to write about, so perhaps I’ll post again later today.

- Justin

Real Estate 61802, 61820, 61821, bandit signs, banditsign, Blog, Buyer, Carleton, Central, Champaign, ChampaignHome, ChampaignHomes, Cheap, Colin Egbert, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, FHA, Guru, home, Homes, House, Houses, HUD Appraiser, IL, Illinois, Investment, Investor, Justin Bernard McClelland, justinmcclelland, Landlord, Nathan Jurewicz, Preston Ely, Properties, Property, Real Estate, Realtor, Rehabs, Rental, Schwaps, Section, Sheets, ShortSaleKid, sign, Urbana, Wholesale, Wholesaler, Wholesaling

Real Estate 61802, 61820, 61821, bandit signs, banditsign, Blog, Buyer, Carleton, Central, Champaign, ChampaignHome, ChampaignHomes, Cheap, Colin Egbert, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, FHA, Guru, home, Homes, House, Houses, HUD Appraiser, IL, Illinois, Investment, Investor, Justin Bernard McClelland, justinmcclelland, Landlord, Nathan Jurewicz, Preston Ely, Properties, Property, Real Estate, Realtor, Rehabs, Rental, Schwaps, Section, Sheets, ShortSaleKid, sign, Urbana, Wholesale, Wholesaler, Wholesaling

I haven’t updated for a week, as I went to D.C. last weekend and every time I go out of town it throws off my rhythm. That D.C. trip should be my last out of town trip until probably October. So, I should be able to work without interruptions for a quite a while. I’ve got a lot to write about from the last 8 days. I’ll post with some details later today.

- Justin

Real Estate 61802, 61820, 61821, bandit signs, banditsign, Blog, Buyer, Carleton, Central, Champaign, ChampaignHome, ChampaignHomes, Cheap, Colin Egbert, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, FHA, Guru, home, Homes, House, Houses, HUD Appraiser, IL, Illinois, Investment, Investor, Justin Bernard McClelland, justinmcclelland, Landlord, Nathan Jurewicz, Preston Ely, Properties, Property, Real Estate, Realtor, Rehabs, Rental, Schwaps, Section, Sheets, ShortSaleKid, sign, Urbana, Wholesale, Wholesaler, Wholesaling

I’m waiting now for a call from a website client at the moment and just thought about some more info to share. I started implementing my craigslist campaign a few days ago and had some frustrating experiences. The post I made initially, “Your stupid if you don’t buy from us” got flagged almost within the hour. This at first, alarmed me. I thought the po po’s were going to show up at my door or something. As I was scrambling to hide the guns and dope, I realized…”maybe there is more to this”. I did some research and found an article that hipped me to the game. You can check it out here:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/616225/craigslist-flag-war-what-is-it-good-for-location-location-location

After reading the article I reposted my ad and it got flagged/removed within another hour (but I forgot to re-word it). The third time was a charm and my latest post has remained visible for a couple of days now. I’ve received a few leads, through the post so the efforts are paying off. I almost need someone to flag it again so I can repost it. In the world of internet forums, it’s like everytime they remove a post it gets made ’sticky’ or is ‘bumped’.

Not only did I post an ad to gain buyer leads, but I also posted an ad in search of an investor-friendly Realtor and I posted an ad looking for a phone receptionist to take my phone calls and complete lead-sheets (no mo PATlive). These posts are still fresh, so I’ll tell the results in time.

Peace Out,

Justin

Real Estate 61802, 61820, 61821, bandit signs, banditsign, Blog, Buyer, Carleton, Central, Champaign, ChampaignHome, ChampaignHomes, Cheap, Colin Egbert, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, FHA, Guru, home, Homes, House, Houses, HUD Appraiser, IL, Illinois, Investment, Investor, Justin Bernard McClelland, justinmcclelland, Landlord, Nathan Jurewicz, Preston Ely, Properties, Property, Real Estate, Realtor, Rehabs, Rental, Schwaps, Section, Sheets, ShortSaleKid, sign, Urbana, Wholesale, Wholesaler, Wholesaling

So I forgot to post yesterday. I’ve got a lot of things going at once. I think I’m going to drop the Accountability Tuesday idea and just make Accountability Updates every once in a while. Actually, scratch that, I almost coped out just then. I’ll just have to remember to make those weekly posts every Tuesday. It’s just frustrating to review my posts and see things still pending due to others. When people don’t get in touch with you when they say they will, they deserve a three-fingered slap. I’ve got folks holding up my progress!…that’s my job…not anyone else’s…I guess they didn’t get the memo.

They say, when you start making money you attract more money and I truly believe in this. Oh, how the tables will turn when business picks up and people’s commission/pay check depends on me. When I have folks begging to do business with me I will only do business with those who are on top of their game. None of these folks who say, “I’ll call you tomorrow” or “I’ll shoot you an email by the end of the day” and FAIL to do so. I should have the right to fill a tube sock with sand and hit those people upside their heads, like Homey the Clown used to do on “In Living Color” back in the day.

Or better yet, how about some good ole’ fashioned hazing. To do business with me you have to endure an intense ’screening’ process.

HAH!….but I digress. So here is the accountability update:

1. I didn’t place my Virtual Bird Dog course order because of a bit of a cash-flow issue. I’ve reprioritized this and I’ll have to do this after my check arrives from the freelance project I completed.

2. Completed the freelance web projects for the most part so that’s a huge plus.

3. Dropping the VA idea for now. This is due to the postponement of the implementation of my web strategy. I will officially launch my huge web marketing campaign after deal #1. I feel like I have a decent web presence right now that can hold me over until then.

4. Additional squeeze pages are being postponed. This is due to the fact that I’m still waiting on my lawyer to get back to me with some crucial information. The information is regarding birddogs and his information will determine the copy for the ads that will attract birddogs who will in turn send prospects to the squeeze page.

For the next week. I’m going to solely focus on getting out my direct mail campaign to homeowners in SW Champaign. This is tied to the purpose of the Mozenda videos I made a week or so back regarding screen-scraping the Champaign county assessors’ website. I plan on using a Yellow Letter campaign including handwritten letters and envelopes. However, I’m going to do this all with a computer and with my own handwriting and I’ll use mail-merge (no way will I write by hand to 450 people). This may not make a lot of sense right now, but I’ll post a video about it soon.

Peace Out,

Justin

Real Estate 61802, 61820, 61821, bandit signs, banditsign, Blog, Buyer, Carleton, Central, Champaign, ChampaignHome, ChampaignHomes, Cheap, Colin Egbert, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, FHA, Guru, home, Homes, House, Houses, HUD Appraiser, IL, Illinois, Investment, Investor, Justin Bernard McClelland, justinmcclelland, Landlord, Nathan Jurewicz, Preston Ely, Properties, Property, Real Estate, Realtor, Rehabs, Rental, Schwaps, Section, Sheets, ShortSaleKid, sign, Urbana, Wholesale, Wholesaler, Wholesaling

Today, I didn’t step a foot outside. I’m a bit upset because it was such a beautiful day. However, I had to make some progress on a freelance web project that I took on. Honestly, this may be the beginning of the end in regards to my freelance web development career. It’s almost not worth it. Although I have a degree in Information Systems, it’s just not something that I have a desire to do. I’m pretty much finished with the web site that I was workin on, so that feels good.

On a real estate tip: I came across something that many investors who pride themselves on organization may appreciate. And that is wipeable poster board. You can buy this ‘wipeable’ poster board from any Arts and Crafts store like Hobby Lobby, Micheals, etc. This stuff is great as it is like having a Dry-Erase board without spending the money on a Dry-Erase board. Each sheet only costs $3.00 each. I have bought about 5 sheets of this stuff and posted it all over my apartment. I have notes all over the place on my walls staring me in the face.

Lastly, I spent some time and edited my Twitter background image. While I edited my BG image, I thought that I should be implementing this graphic on CraigsList to attract buyers. I serouisly don’t give a **** what people think right now and am focused on success. So, I posted a CraigsList ad that includes the graphics used on Twitter to attract buyers and the title text reads, “You’re stupid if you don’t invest with us”. That’s eye-catching and should generate some click-throughs at the least. While I’m typing this, I just had a craving for a outside-the-club BBQ frank. That’s off-topic, but honest. Anyways, CraigsList…I’m starting to realize that Champaign-Urbana is such a small town that it’s not hard to get noticed. Sometimes, I think that can hurt you as some folks just are filled with jealousy and envy, but I don’t care at this moment. The way I see it, this whole real estate thing is just for fun. I’m not starving, homeless, or in need of clothing (thank God), so anything extra is just that. This entrepreneur thing is just a game. It looks like I’m getting off on a tangent, so I’m signing off for the night. Peace Out! I need another Brewski.

- Justin

Real Estate 61802, 61820, 61821, bandit signs, banditsign, Blog, Buyer, Carleton, Central, Champaign, ChampaignHome, ChampaignHomes, Cheap, Colin Egbert, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, FHA, Guru, home, Homes, House, Houses, HUD Appraiser, IL, Illinois, Investment, Investor, Justin Bernard McClelland, justinmcclelland, Landlord, Nathan Jurewicz, Preston Ely, Properties, Property, Real Estate, Realtor, Rehabs, Rental, Schwaps, Section, Sheets, ShortSaleKid, sign, Urbana, Wholesale, Wholesaler, Wholesaling