Epic Real Estate Investing - How to Replace Yourself with Virtual Assistants​ | 1121

Episode Date: February 5, 2021

In today’s episode, Matt is joined with Greg Brooks, a Director of Business Development at Rocket Station, a Leading Business Process Outsourcing Provider! Stay tuned as Matt and Greg discuss how you can outsource some of your REI operations and build an efficient virtual team that you can TRUST! Moreover, you will find out how you can apply for the next week’s workshop on the same subject, held by these two gentlemen!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Terrio Media. Success in real estate has nothing to do with shiny objects. It has everything to do with mastering the basics. The three pillars of real estate investing. Attract, convert, exit. Matt Terrio has been helping real estate investors do just that for more than a decade now. If you want to make money in real estate, keep listening. If you want it faster, visit REI.

iAse.com. Here's Matt. Hey there, Epic Investor. It's Matt. Terry O. From Epic Real Estate, where we show people how to invest in real estate with an emphasis on retiring early. This is the Epic Real Estate Investing Show. And I do this show because I know that most people are living a life of financial sacrifice and betrayal. So what we've done is we've built a system that creates an opportunity for one's money to work harder for them than they did for it. saving them and their families from a lifetime of financial worry.

I know that real estate works, and I believe everyone deserves a chance, and that's why I'm here. So if this is your first time here, glad you found us. If you like what you're here, make sure you hit the subscribe button before you go. If this is not your first time here,

welcome back, and thank you for sharing this with your friends and family, because I would not be here if we're not for you doing that. You're the best. Thank you. All righty, so first month of the year is behind us. So how'd you do? It's already going fast.

isn't it? I can't believe it's February. So are you on track to reach your 2021 goals? It's not too late, though. No, don't beat yourself up. If you got a slow start, it happens. You're a human being. It's easy to make up for lost time this early in the year. No big deal. Just recalculate your numbers, right? And back into what a typical day looks like for you. And then just take it one day at a time. You know, for example, last week I shared with you my goal for 2021 to make an extra $1 million this year. And if you missed it, go back and listen to last week's episode and you can see how I break it down. But I backed it down to submitting just six offers per day. That's the plan and taking weekends off even. And it can be that simple to just wake up each and every day and decide who are the six

people I'm going to send offers to today. That's all you got to do. And, you know, if I can knock that out in an hour, so be it, I'm done. If it takes me all day, then that's what it takes. But it's just six offers per day. It can be that simple. It can be that simple of a daily discipline, that simple of a daily practice. And if that sounds like an overwhelming amount for you right now, like, oh my gosh, how could I possibly do that? How about do this? Just start with one offer per day. Just one. Can you do one? I mean, at the end of the year, at the end of 12 months, that's 365 offers. That right there, should get you five to ten deals. If you are focused on that one offer per day

and you submit it to the person that you think has got the best chance of accepting it that day, even if some days it's a shot in the dark, it's still one offer a day. No one can do a deal with you unless they have something to authorize, something to agree to. So you've got to put it in front of sellers. And some offers will have a higher quality than others. And some days, like it'll just be a flat out crapshoot, right? You only got one dice, though.

But you throw that one offer out there and see if you hit. But it's better than not doing one at all. Certainly, we want to increase the odds by trying to talk to motivated sellers. That's what we do as real estate investors. We play in that off-market world. We're looking for financially distressed, personally distressed, or owners with properties that are distressed. That's who we want to submit to.

But gosh, if you get to the end of the day and you just didn't come across one, pull up the multiple listing service or Epic Property Finder and just go in and pull one of those deals off. Choose something that kind of fits your category, fits your criteria as far as a property goes, look for something that's got some sort of sign of distress. You can put TLC in the search terms. And that's going to say this house needs a little bit of fixing up to do. So that might, you know, be a sign that there's a deal to be had there. You can look for extended days on market, someone that's got a property that hasn't been able to sell.

and you can just call up that real estate agent and say, hey, I would like to buy this property, I'd like to put an offer in on this property. I don't have representation. Will you represent me? You'll get very few knows by doing that. And that's not a great strategy to bank your whole real estate investing career on, but it's a whole lot better than not submitting an offer at all that day. All righty?

So there's one a day. That's it. And so if that still sounds like a lot, I mean, like of six offers. offers that I'm doing, it still sounds like a lot. Like, you know, you do the one and like, maybe that's already overwhelming. But just start with one. But Matt, how are you going to do six offers per day? Well, very much in the same fashion that I just explained to you.

I'm going to look for those high possibility type situations that, you know, a discounted offer of some sort could be accepted. But I've also got help. I mean, I do a lot of it myself. I would say I'm responsible typically for two to four of those offers every day. Sometimes I do them all. Sometimes I just do one. But typically it probably hovers between two and four, probably two to three is probably the accurate number.

But I've got help there to bridge that gap. And my guest today is going to shed some light on not only how I do it, but how you can do that too. And so, yeah, without further ado, please help me welcome to the show from Rocket Station, Mr. Greg Brooks. Greg, welcome to the epic real estate investing show. Hey, Matt. Appreciate you. I appreciate you having me, my friend. For sure. You know, I know Robert really well. We go way back with former endeavors we have participated in, both personal and professional.

But I don't know too much about you. So what were you doing just before you joined Rocket Station? Yeah, yeah. No, and say Rob has, Rob's passed along some great words about everything that you do in the Epic. Epic Crew does. So I appreciate you having me. But no, I am. So I came up. It's funny. I actually, I'm close friends. with the nickel family. I worked with Robert's brother, who's actually our C-O. Mark, we came up fresh out of college, was chasing the dream of being

an athletic director and his brother, Mark, who's now our CLO is doing the same. So we actually worked in Austin together for a short time. And then I kind of went a different way, went corporate, worked for one of the largest CPG and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. and

was basically leading their sales division within the military. which being a Canadian kid, my family's all still up just outside of Toronto, was not only a whole new endeavor for myself, but kind of seeing the inner constructs of what makes the military machine go from a back end standpoint was really eye-opening.

So I said worked for some of the largest CPG and pharmaceutical companies servicing the military industry. And then was fortunate enough to cross-pass again with Mark and say Rob had just launched the Rocket Station brand as a standalone virtual staffing solution. And they were looking for someone to kind of help build out their sales team. And here we are. That's great.

Super. So you caught my attention when you said you were an aspiring athletic director with Robert's brother over Austin. Is that at UT? So no. So we weren't at UT. We were at the little, like not even the little brother.

We were just down the road in San Marcos. We were at Texas State. So it used to be Texas Teachers College way back in the day. If there's any older listeners on here. But yeah, and beautiful Sam Marcos. which I don't know when I was getting recruited to play, how I didn't know where San Marcos was. Have you ever familiar with Texas, Matt? You've been down to the off?

I've been there a handful of times, but never passed the, not too far past the airports. Gotcha. So Sam Marcus, the Guadalupe, an offshoot of it runs like right through the entire campus. So it's built into hill country, beautiful, picturesque. I mean, you get a heck of a workout because you're walking up and down, walking down those hills. But literally you have a section of the river that you can raft and float that goes right through campus. was there for about a year and a half, was hard to leave. But hey, it led me to hear, so it's not too bad. What did you play? So I played soccer in college.

Okay. Yep. Yep. So went to school in Arkansas, I played Division I there, and then started working at my alma mater, University of Central Arkansas. And then it was chasing that dream. Just didn't want to give up the, I wasn't quite good enough to take it to the next level, but it didn't want to give up the dream of being around sports in some capacity.

Right. That's great. So what was it that made you leave the pharmaceutical sales to gum and and work with Robert. What did you see that excited you about Rocket Station? So I had dabbled in real estate myself. So it was familiar, you know, kind of our core, our core consumer is property managers, real estate investors, both large and small, right, from passive portfolios all the way up to 10, 11 figure year operators. So had that commonality, was looking to kind of take it a little bit more seriously myself, as well as kind of being the typical sales guy, the great thing, how our company structured

and really what we sell to our clients is like, it's all systems and processes. And I had gone from kind of the young buck sales guy who went from one specific market to running the entire North America region as well as sections of the European what they call the Okonis section as well and had really kind of learned about how important system and process and how that leads to trust and being able to track your teams via KPIs and just having a certain amount of systemic organization can really allow you know allow you to flourish and I mean candidly I mean it's it was It was Johnson and Johnson. So it's big corporate America.

I was one of 10 million, right, and was looking for something where I could kind of put my own touch on things. And it was just perfect timing. You know, they were Rob and Mark and the team that we have here in Dallas had done a great job, but we're really looking to take that next step. And it kind of gave me the freedom to be able to come in here, put my own twist on it while having the super successful, stable business

with all the support on the marketing end to just get after it, grow it and scale it. My team is quadrupled in size in the two and a half years that I've been here. So it's been fun. It's great. You know, as long as I've known, Rob, he's been in the virtual staffing industry. And as well, he's a very, I met him in a real estate mastermind. So he's got, he's very experienced when it comes to real estate too. And I think that's important as to what he does, because that's his primary customer. I think that helps a lot. But we lost touch for a little while. And I wasn't aware that he actually started this company rocket station, right?

So I have all the confidence in the world because I have all the confidence in the world and Robert. But how long has it been around? So for sure. So as a standalone brand, we've been around almost three years. As you know, Rob, both from being an investor himself and kind of doing it on the side for his friends. And then finally kind of coming to that, oh, this is a business. I need to focus on this. I mean, he's been doing it almost 10 years himself.

But yeah, as a standalone brand, a little under three years is how long Rocket Station's been around. which great name. I mean, my dad still thinks I work for rocket mortgage and wants to understand why I can't go golfing with Ricky Fowler. But yeah, it's been, it's been great, man. It's definitely the company name has certainly resonated with kind of the traction we've been able to gain here over the last 18, 24 months. It's perfect. So you mentioned your primary clientele are property managers and real estate investors. Do you do real estate agents as well? Do you work with? Yeah, we do. I would say on the, that side, we service more of the brokerage side. We certainly have top performing agents.

We work with like just top of mind because I was just talking to her, one of the largest EXP agents up in the, up in the Maryland area. So certainly if you have a business that is of that size, definitely. But that side, the retail side of our business is probably more cater to like a brokerage type setup with multiple agents and a lot of moving parts. Got it. So for the real estate investors, the property managers, what are the types of tasks that they could look to a VA to take off their plate. For sure. And I kind of preface a lot of my calls with a lot of people, like, how much of your business is done on the phone or on the computer now, right?

And especially after last year for most people, even if they're behind, it's, we all got really good at it. Yeah, but yeah, try trial by fire. So really, like, if there's anything that a client is doing on the phone or on the computer, like, we can do it for you. Well, the thing that we don't do, like, we're not, we're not consultants. We're not the matterios, right? We're not trying to teach people and sell business plans.

But if there's anything from an operational standpoint, meaning sales, leasing on the property management side, everything on the investing side from cold calling, running your marketing campaign, operating your PPC, all the way through the back end to the disposition management, all of the admin stuff. I mean, it's sales.

It's what really resonated with me, Matt, when I made the jump over, is like real estate at its core is like the ultimate trial ground for sales, right? because it's the classic transaction-based business. It's follow-up, follow-up, follow-up, and then follow-up one more time. So if there's, like I said, as long as for us that the client is just set up to be virtual, which a lot of people are, you know, CRMs, VoIP phone systems, you know, using a lot of the top leading platforms out there, you know, we can do it, right?

For us, we always take a two-step approach where it's number one, we want you to show us. We want to walk through, understand your business, which I feel like is a little bit different than what most people are used to in the VA space. But for us, it all comes down to this systematic approach and what it is you're trying to accomplish, but more importantly, how you want to get it done. And then as long as the infrastructure is there to where it's on the phone or on the computer, we can get you somebody in the seat, custom match to your need to be able to come in and rocket every day. Perfect.

So you mentioned custom matched. What does the custom part of that look like? For sure. So a big part of what we do on the front end is just the HR piece, right? A lot of people, I feel like last year, if you were using VAs or using service providers or even just trying to grow as we were all in some capacity in lockdown, we started to realize like the whole world is your talent playground. If you can find the right people and put them in the right C's to succeed to succeed, you can make it happen. So from a personnel standpoint, the custom for us comes down to basically eight weeks that we spend with all the candidate really getting to know them. I mean, there's a reason why companies like Johnson and Johnson have massive HR departments.

is because finding understanding and training human capital is, I mean, it's the lifeblood of any business at any size. So we really, really help our clients, like be the easy button. We do personality profiling. Like I said, we spent eight weeks with every candidate, testing them with on the job training, knowledge training, really getting to know the person outside of that, you know, 30 minute interview because how well are you ever going to get to know somebody that way? Putting them on the job, you know, putting their feet to the fire and understanding it.

So that when it comes time for us to fill the seat and the role, that you need. Number one, we've spent the time with you to really deep dive into what it is you actually need from a skill set standpoint, but then also having that ability to match because we've got this litmus test of we know this person's strengths, weaknesses, areas where they've had the opportunity to succeed and grow. So we're able to get those right candidates in the seat so that they can come in and it's the right butt right seat type mentality there. So you've got the, the the initial interview and then eight weeks of training, you had said, what does that training look like? How do you actually prepare them for the field?

Yeah, no, no, for sure. So the first two weeks of that is all of your due diligence, right? So virtual, I mean, I've experienced this multiple times. I'm sure you have as well. I mean, the little one fires up his kindergarten Zoom class and I get kicked off my internet, right? It happens. So the first two weeks is really all your classic HR background, you know, background checks, personality profiling. checking internet bandwidth, computer processing power, just all of the fundamental,

do you have just the core resources to be able to work in a true enterprise, a true staffing ecosystem. And then if they get through there, the six weeks, it's on the job. So especially with Robert's background, right, a lot of how this business was structured was based around servicing the real estate professional. So whether it's just running them through module-based training, where they're making, you know, live calls, if there are someone coming to us from a sales role, if they're working in CRMs, testing their data

management capabilities. Obviously, a big part of what we do is the education of real estate in the US. You know, understanding the unique relationship that investors have with buyers, with sellers here in the markets that they're serving is really where we try to get the candidate. And we're not trying, we're not trying to like train them on your business before we know you. But what we're trying to do is I tell all of our clients and all the people I meet with, like, we're bringing them 80% of the way there. You know, we're getting that baseline fundamental knowledge from a combination of kind of in-classroom, classic education seminars, talent LMS-type platforms, as well as mixing that with on-the-job training, doing internal call campaigns for us and really testing you when you're in the heat of battle

to really get a good gauge as to like what your skill sets are while also giving the virtual team member that extra for when they get paired, right? you're not having to onboard someone and get going just to have to start in the basement to teach them, this is what a buyer's list is. This is what a CRM is. We're getting them to where they're ready to go. The final piece is just how do you want them to operate? What do you want them doing? And then, boom, taking that final step, helping our clients onboard that knowledge, and then you're off to the races. How involved are you in that, once you've identified the right candidate for your client, how involved are you in that transition? Is that an ongoing thing or is that

just a couple day thing or hour thing? Yeah, no for sure. So that is an ongoing calibration. So not only through what we call the initial launch, right? So once you start with your VA, we have a dedicated operations team that plugs in there. And they have very tight 30, 60 and 90 day windows with goals based on internally what we see, you know, equal success as well as what the client wants to see from the VA over that timeline. So I mean, at the root of it, like, it's real estate investing, right? There's always more to do. Nobody's got enough hours in the day. So what it is is setting a plan with our client on a B2B level so that we can get in and hold the VA accountable. And not only that, like it's not, you know, it's not like a dictatorship type setup. Like what we're

truly doing is making sure we're using the knowledge, using the resources to be able to educate, make sure the VA's got all the support, everything that they need to be successful, while also maintaining that B-to-B relationship. At the end of the day, for us at Rocket Station, you brought us in to solve a problem most of the time, right? Either your leads are falling through the cracks, or you've got a backup in your transaction coordination, or you've got a bunch of deals you need to dispo. So we need to stay focused on solving that issue for you. So having that B-to-B relationship to take those, number one, have real-time auditing and calibration to make sure the VA is getting up the speed, but then also supporting you as the client, just to have that candid feedback. Nobody

likes to have to pull someone into their office to, hey, you didn't do this right, or hey, you missed that or hey, you know what I mean? So we handle all those conversations and not only monitor it, but be proactive with our clients to make sure that they're getting the results that they need so that we can just stay focused on, you know, whatever that goal is and kind of take the pain out of, you know, hiring. Hiring should be exciting. And unfortunately, it's a beating for most people, right? Because they rely on themselves. Yeah, it's the, that's, uh, I noticed when I was running my business and I joined and started interacting a network with other business owners. And the big conversation was always about hiring and management of your personnel.

And that's like the most boring book to buy is like business management. But once you become an entrepreneur, you start making some money, you discover that that's the most important thing in your business. Yeah. Exactly. And that's like the, I'm sure you went through it. I know I went through it even as like a high level manager. It's like that's the part. It's like there's the glory of, you know, the YouTube, you know, type fame that you see.

And you're like, really like when it comes down to it, business isn't that hard. People suck. Right? People are always the hard part. So it's trying to balance that and really having a system, but more importantly, like having a partner. A partner in accountability is what we do. And how we try to execute against it just to save that headache. Got it.

So if I'm understanding correctly that once you identify the candidate, there's still like a almost a middleman management. for that person that works with your client, right? Yeah, exactly. And both sides of the coin there, supporting you as a client, but also supporting the virtual team member. The cool thing at Rocket Station is we have this awesome internal corporate culture, number one, like standing for accountability, but then also just making sure that the VAs are accountable,

that they're coming to work, that they're motivated, they're hitting the KPIs. So just kind of wrapping all of that stuff that every boss comes in, like, oh, I got to, I should probably talk to Kathy today and give her a pat on the back. Like, we handle all of it. To where you can stay focused on your best and brightest. Stay focused on wherever your area of brilliance is.

And we'll take care of the rest and make sure everybody's happy, content and crushing the goals for you. Awesome. Yeah, when I first heard about virtual assistance was probably, I don't know, 10 years ago, I read the book, The Four Hour Work Week. Yeah. And he just made it sound so easy. You can go find some guy in Pakistan paying $4 an hour and all your problems are solved. And that's even like, I think a more recent one that a lot of people,

talk about like what that I deal with is like the traction model, right? There's like a little small chapter in there in between the goal setting and the org chart where they're like, yeah, and just write down everything you do. And they just kind of leave it at that. Like number one for an entrepreneur, like from what Rob's told me, Matt, like I feel like you guys are fairly similar in this like sitting down as an entrepreneur and putting business on hold or finding the extra hours to document what you do, right? How we do follow-ups, what our scripts are, what software is. Where do we click to start this drip sequence? Like, you're never going to do it. I'm never going to do it. It's hard. But there are individuals out there that that's their

area of expertise. And that's what that's really like the level of commitment that we bring is you've got if you're having a conversation with Rocket Station or you're looking to hire a VA yourself, like you're doing something right. There's an opportunity there. So let us help you kind of structure it and be that download, right? Get it out of your head. Let us organize it so that when you launch with some with a virtual team member, like they've got that that chance to get going and be. successful in what it is you want them to do. Yeah, the big mistake that I had made, and I'd made this mistake for about two years. I was a very slow learner with this process.

But it was, I think, just having unrealistic expectations for how that relationship was going to go and how they were going to perform on the results that I would get. And in hindsight, it's clear as day that it's not a push button type thing. They're real people on the other end. It's not just this technology that you talk to through your computer, you know. What are some of the other big mistakes you see people make when they go to hire virtual assistance? For sure. And I think you kind of hit on it there. I just feel like for whatever reason, especially within the real estate industry, VA so often are just sold as this magic pill.

Everyone needs a VA. You got to have, oh, you need a VA to do that. Get a VA to do that. But it's the structure of it. It is a person. It's not a robot, right? The software is great. A lot of a lot of us do now in our businesses has been automated and we're better for it. But especially in real estate, there are touch points. It's a lot of touch points that still need to be made. And so many people just sign up for this VA. They see four bucks, five bucks, 15 bucks. And they're like, oh my God, this is exactly what I need. Who care? And there's no thought process as to like, that's going to be someone who is going to need to know what you want them to do and how you want it done because they've never met you before. And there's just no thought

process there. And I think it's part of the industry, unfortunately, how it's how it's kind of sold. I think part of it too is real estate is unique. And this is me coming from like the Johnson and Johnson side of things in the corporate world, like even the software, the platforms. Like it's, real estate is very wild, wild west, right? It's always changing. It involves very, very quickly. But having that attention to details where there's so many investors, number one, they don't have time. Everyone's chasing the next deal. It's just not feasible for them to put that level. of thought into it. But number two, like I said, it's just, it's just, there's no forward thinking to me, like, that's going to be someone who you have to hold accountable to a number, who you have

to follow up with, who you want to coach and audit and make sure that they're staying accountable. It's just hire VA, it'll solve all your problems. And then that's when you see all the, you know, regardless of what chat forum you're in, all the nightmare stories of, oh, I hired a VA and did this and that and it just didn't work. And I wasted three months of my life. And It's a tough conversation to have, but it's like, I'm like, hey, you would have wasted three months of your life even if you hired someone in Vegas or Dallas. Like you were setting yourself up for that, right? Yep. Yep. Super. Well, we're going to be doing something together here and kind of go a little bit more through the nuts and bolts and the details of what it takes to work with a virtual assistant. There's a lot of visuals involved. So it's only so much that we can convey over a podcast.

We're going to do this next Wednesday. It's a free little workshop. So if VAs are something that you want to explore using in your business, you want to delegate, then I would highly encourage you to join us. If you want to jump to the front of the line, you just know and you like what you've heard already, you can go to VAs for real estate.com. They've got a little bit of a questionnaire, and then you can start the intake process there to see how you can make this fit.

That's at VAs for real estate.com. But if you can hold off in it, let's get all your questions answered and you get a real clear idea of how that works. You can go to Wednesday webclass.com. Wednesday webclass.com. That's next Wednesday, February 10th at 5.30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. And the whole subject is going to be how to replace yourself with virtual assistance. And Greg, is that you that's going to be leading us over there? Yes, that will be myself. I will be kind of running through some of the common mistakes that we see as well as help your listeners and help anybody, anybody that signs up, kind of get the right mentality around what you should be looking to get off your

plate as a real estate investor. Right. So we're going to go over how to define your roles and responsibilities, how to document those roles and responsibilities, and how to strategize those roles and responsibilities and how to ultimately delegate that to the right person and get it done. And so you can be working more on your business than you are in your business, right? The classic line, right? The classic line. I had to say it. Right.

And just so everybody knows, I'm literally going to be running you through exactly what our team does. Right. So it'll be exactly the process. And obviously we do it at scale. But every single tip tool, kind of thought construct that we're going to run through is exactly what our team does for all of our clients. So you're getting it from someone who's worked with, you know, 1,200 investors over the years.

So excited to meet and run everybody through it. Super. Sure. Can I make a request of you? Let's do it in a way that when they are watching, they can see like, if I'm going to go hire a virtual assistant, I want to do it on my own, this is the way I should do it. And then they can have that option. No, I think I'd just rather have somebody do it for me. Can we make a commitment to provide that type of value? For sure. Yes, 100%. We will literally show you from how, and we'll have some freebies to give away afterwards as well, as well as say if you show up, there'll be a nice little price. incentive as well, but just from content, we will give away everything from screening, questions, all the way from the finding and screening and going through there all the way through to how to figure out what you're going to have this person do and get that out of your head and document that. We'll have a ton of giveaways for everybody. Cool, sweet.

All right, so go to Wednesday webclass.com for next February 10th at 530 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. And Greg, thank you so much for being here. And that's when I'll see you next, I guess, if I don't see you before then. Yeah, man, sounds good. All right. Take care. Thanks, bud. See ya. Bye. All righty. So if this is making sense to you and you want to look more into this, dig deeper into it, meet us on Wednesday night. Go to Wednesday webclass.com and you can register there and save your seat.

And if you found this episode valuable, if you know somebody else that might want to attend as well, there's a good chance that you do know someone else. And when you think about it, when their name comes to mind, share it with them and ask them to click the subscribe button when they get here too. and I'll take great care of them. All righty, that's it for today. God loves you, and so do I. Health, peace, blessings, and success to you. I'm Matt Terrio.

Living the Dream. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. You didn't know home for us, we got the gas flow. This podcast is a part of the C-suite Radio Network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com. Thank you.