22 Dec You Can Choose Who You Do Business With!
If you've never been in business for yourself before, there are a lot of things you may not be aware of from the get-go. One thing we see all the time is that people feel like they need to capitalize on every business opportunity that comes their way or they feel like they need to do business with everyone who reaches out to them.
This is just wrong!
Remember why you got into business in the first place: the freedom to do what you want! As a business owner, you get to choose who you work with. No one else does.
So here are a few things to remember about who you do business with…
1. You Don't Have to Do Business with People That Waste Your Time.
This really applies to any business, not just real estate. You don’t have to do business with people who waste your time!
You know who they are. These are the folks who suck the life right out of you. They drain your energy. You should only be doing business with people that add value, provide increased profitability, and add energy.
Take it from us. We have a very strict selection process for who we work with. We don't work with anyone who raises their hand because we only want to work with people who are committed and ready to take what we teach and use it. We're not interested in wasting our time on people who aren't going to put the effort in.
At the end of the day, you're putting effort into this relationship. Shouldn't they?
2. You Don’t Have to Do Business with People That Are Rude.
Sometimes you might be on the phone with someone and absolutely hate the conversation you're having with them. Some people are just plain rude, and it's perfectly okay to say, “You know what? I really don’t want to talk to that person again. They are just so rude.”
In some cases, you may even want to hang up on them. Do it!
If someone brings negative energy to what you're doing, you can shut that down right from the beginning—and we recommend doing so. That's your right as a business owner.
3. You Don’t Have to Do Business with People Who Are Impossible to Set An Appointment With.
If you can’t pin a person down, how can you do business with them? If you haven't experienced this yet, you will. There are people with busy schedules that find time to meet. Then there are people who will simply never put in the effort to set up an appointment.
If you're playing phone tag with someone, leave them a message and say, “Please, if you miss me, leave me times I can reach you.” If they can't do that simple action, then they're not worth your time.
4. You Don’t Have to Do Business with People Who Are Impossibly Demanding.
These kinds of people cost you time and energy, effort, resources. They will cut into your profits and make you miserable! None of that is worth your time.
Many people feel that if they don't work with everyone they come in contact with—including the four types of people mentioned above—their business will fail.
That couldn't be further from the truth, and to show what we mean, here are two questions to ask yourself. These questions will show you that there are many ways to grow your business and that you don't need to rely on those people to do it.
Question #1: What would the impact be on your business if you spent 80% of your time with people that were a good fit for you AND you spent 80% of your time on MPAs (money producing activities)?
Instead of focusing on a lot of different people and a lot of different activities, most business owners need to refine their focus. If you haven't heard of the 80/20 rule, it's quite simple: It states that 80% of your returns come from 20% of your actions. (And it's true.)
Put 80% of your effort into those things and you'll make some amazing things happen.
Not sure what to focus on? Check out Chris's first book, Real Estate on Your Terms, or listen to our podcast where there are plenty of additional money producing or high payoff activities from Chris and his guests.
Question #2: If you got three great referrals today from each of your sellers, who would they be from?
We’ve had people we bought homes from with owner-financing who have sent us four deals! What if you did that? What impact would that have on your business?
How about local realtors? How about wholesalers and rehabbers? They send us leads for deals that aren't in their wheelhouse. One rehabber sent us five leads that were very profitable over the course of a year, so they ended up hiring us to train them to do the deals themselves.
These are just two things you can do to dramatically grow your business. Just imagine if you put this to use every week in your business. What could you achieve?
The best part? You certainly wouldn't have to deal with those four types of people we mentioned above!