Epic Real Estate Investing - Where Do You Find Your Epic Team? | Team Builder Episode 4 | Financial Freedom Friday

Episode Date: January 24, 2014

It's Financial Freedom Friday at Epic Real Estate! This is the 4th in a series of 6 lessons on how to build and "EPIC" real estate investing team. Get the rest of the lessons for free by subscribing to EpicRealEstateInvesting.com Or... Watch the video versions at EpicREI.tv Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're like many people trying to become financially independent, looking to break away from a nine to five job, or just wanting to generate extra cash flow, you've probably fallen into the get-rich-quick trap once or twice or maybe more. Don't feel bad because many of us have fallen in for the same schemes. Yes, including yours truly. Now, as long as you learn something from your poor choices and failures and don't repeat them again, then you can chalk them all up as just life lessons and move on. Okay? Why am I bringing this up? Well, when it comes to building your epic team, you're going to have to put in the work. There's no quick and easy fix.

But don't get discouraged. I mean, you won't have to break a sweat building your networking team. It's not physically hard. It just takes time, some effort and intent. And remember, you're not going to work with just anyone and everyone either. I mean, you will only add the best people to your team. This can make the process even more time-consuming. But in the end, the extra effort and patience is going to pay off for you big time.

I mean, it's where the magic that I mentioned in video one happens. It's where you stop chasing deals and deals start chasing you. It's where you stop searching for financing and financing just kind of finds you. It's where you stop working for deals and deals start working for you. It's where freedom rings. It's where independence exists. Now it's not easy. I've told you that and it takes time, but it is worth it.

So let's take a look at some of the best ways and shortest paths to finding people to add to your network. And keep in mind that these individuals might not necessarily become a part of your team. Not everybody's going to be a perfect fit. However, they might lead you to someone else who does have the perfect skills and success driven vision required to join your team. And in the following video lesson, we're going to go ahead and take a look at some ways to begin sifting through your network and selecting the right individuals for your team.

And let's see. Another point I want to touch on here before addressing it in more different. detail in our last lesson is the idea of keeping a database for your Epic Team Network. I mean, this is really an essential tool for you to have in your toolbox. And no matter what kind of database software you choose to use, there's countless possibilities out there. At a minimum, just make sure it has the ability to categorize contacts and set reminders. And if you don't know one, the affordable, efficient, and easy to use database that I use

can be accessed via a free 30-day trial at Epic Database.com. and you'll see a link below. I put it down there below for you. Now, I'm gonna lead you through five hotspots on where to begin building your network. And you'll notice that the net of potential epic team members, it begins to widen as I take you through these recommendations. I want you to focus your energy on the first three, however, all right?

Focus on the first three, but don't neglect the last two, as you can find some real diamonds in the rough with just a little bit of extra digging. So number one, the home front. Begin your search close to home and take a hard look at your circle of friends. I mean, some of these friends may have even come to mind as you watched video three. And even if your friends do not work in any of the professions related to real estate investing,

some might be very successful in another career path. And if any of these friends are successful, have already attained a level of financial freedom, and have a vision of life that matches yours, then that friend might be a perfect fit for your Epic Insiders team. If not, though, they probably do know a few. you real estate agents, contractors, attorneys, and they can provide you some names to add to your initial network list. And that actually leads us to the next hotspot. Referrals. Referrals are key

when it comes to building your network and more importantly for finding the right people for your epic team. And there is a reason why referrals are so important. First, these recommendations come from trusted sources like our family, friends, and coworkers. I mean, people who pass along a recommendation, put their own reputation on the line. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not putting my reputation on the line by recommending a less than stellar service provider to a friend in need. And this leads to the second reason. With referrals, you can save time and effort as you grow your network. I mean, here's a real estate investing example that shines light on this point. You know, instead of chasing after every lead that comes in from the general public, your job becomes

much easier if your bird dogs bring you leads that fit your exact criteria. Now, when you build your network with referrals, you can ask for recommendations that fit specific criteria, which makes it easier to find epic team members from this list. Hot spot number three, face to face, belly you cannot be successful by just talking to family and friends or doing your network building over the phone or even online. In order to grow your network and build your team, you need to get out there and pound the pavement. I mean, this is a people business, and to do deals, you must interact with people. But don't worry, there'll probably be free coffee, Danishes and donuts awaiting your arrival. Now, I'd like to see you at least once per week attend a real estate club meeting.

And if you don't know of any in your area, meetup.com is a great place to begin your search for a club near you. And of course, where you can find everything, go to google.com and type in real estate investing club and then your city. And if none are available, then search for other meetings where you can meet face to face with business professionals. Your city's Chamber of Commerce is a great place to start. And really at this point in your team building process, just about any meeting with networking potential is going to do pretty good for you. I mean, that's just what's great about real estate.

Everybody you meet lives in and knows many other people that either rent or own real estate. I mean, you can meet real estate contacts in just about any environment. Hot spot number four, cyberspace and social media. Now, not too long ago, I wouldn't even have brought up this network building topic. However, in today's environment, you really need to work the social networks to help grow your connections. I mean, they can no longer be ignored. There are a lot of people there.

And Facebook can be a great place to cast a really wide net and find like-minded real estate investors and even do a little research on business professionals. Now, while Facebook is a social network that I do recommend, it can be a little time-consuming to separate the wheat from the chaff. So this is why I almost always... prefer a business networking site like LinkedIn.com. Start by using your own personal connections within LinkedIn to ask for referrals and recommendations. A great place to start. Also, search LinkedIn groups for real estate investing related groups where people discuss relevant topics and

ask and answer questions and interact. And take a look at who stands out in these groups by providing expert advice and helpful recommendations without looking to promote themselves. Odds are you might just find a new person to move from your virtual network to your offline network. In fact, that is the goal with this strategy, to take online relationships offline. Now, there are a number of real estate-related social networks that are gaining momentum in the industry, and I have created profiles for myself at biggerpockets.com, realestateinvestor.com, connected investors.com, real wealth network.com, and RealTi411 guide. Having mentioned these now, though, haven't mentioned these different networks,

please understand that these are to supplement the first thing. re-suggestions, not replace them. Okay, deal, good. Hot spot number five, OPA, other people's ads. You see, I've taken a lesson from one of the tactics that bird dogs and wholesalers use to build their network. They scan online ads on Craigslist, they clip out newspaper classified ads, and they jot down numbers on marketing signs. They do this because on the other side of each of these ads is a real estate investor looking to buy or sell an investment property. I mean, this is a way to increase your network of real estate investors. Now take a note, a really healthy database of real estate investors of which you interact with

on a regular basis will be invaluable to your business in myriad ways. Do not look at other investors as competition, but rather allies. View them as such and the right ones will become some of your most valued relationships. But don't stop there. I mean, what other team members might have ads running around town? I mean, there are real estate agents, contractors, landscape, or tax? containers, property management companies, and many more that you could probably think of. Contact these people to introduce yourself.

Ask them if they attend any weekly professional meetings. I mean, just about everywhere you go, you see some sort of advertising from someone that you need on your epic team. Add them to the network list and start the process of weeding them out. So now you know where you will find a large network of real estate investors and business professionals. And in some cases, you know, you may come across people and you may know right off the bat that an individual does not have what it takes to be on your epic team. Make a note of that in your database, but keep their contact information on file. I mean, some of the people that you add to your database, they might not be a good fit today,

but maybe they could be just what you need tomorrow. Now, you need to narrow down these contacts, and you need to find the ones that are worthy of joining your team. And you're going to find out how to do exactly that in the next video. Come on. This podcast is a part of the C-suite Radio Network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com.