BiggerPockets

Expecting the Great in 2012

Sunday, January 29

Greetings! I pray that you had a blessed 2011 and spent time enjoying your families.

As we get ready for a new year, it's always good to reflect on the journey of the past year. For Bell Investments, our journey was a unique one indeed! We experienced 50% occupancy over the summer of last year, we sold one of our properties and took a loss, and our webpage was hacked and our webmaster has yet to recover our archives. If you're saying 'ouch',  imagine how we felt!

However, even with hardships, we saw great progress. To help fill our vacancies, we ran a move-in special and tightened up our screening process. As a result, we were 100% by October and have had more tenants pay before the 5th since we started renting properties, averaging 80% of rent collected before the 5th!  This allowed us to put more money in reserves and start the rehab on one of our vacant properties we acquired almost two years ago.

The biggest move of our company took place on Sept. 16, 2011. We participated in Project Homeless Connect, an event organized by The Community Alliance for the Homeless and sponsored by local businesses in Memphis. Homeless individuals were brought into the Pipkin Building to receive all types of services. Bell Investments was the only permanent housing vendor there and we were swamped with individuals needing housing. After talking to the other non-profit organizations represented there, they all had the same issue...they needed permanent housing for their clients who were ready to transition into self-sufficiency. God was calling us into something far bigger than ourselves!

After much prayer and consultation with several non-profit leaders, we decided to step up and fill the need- we would offer our properties as permanent housing for non-profit agencies.  There was only one problem....our properties were all occupied. That's when we decided to reach out to other local investors with vacant properties. We discussed fair referral fees and discussed every concern that arose. On October 1, our Landlord Partnership Program was introduced and we've been eagerly serving our community since. Our Operations assistant, Rita Mitchell, has taken our program to another level, helping over 20 individuals since its inception.

What did I learn in 2011? That God is pleased with good intentions! If you want your business to succeed, you must learn to be a servant. This also means helping your tenants in times of hardship. Remember, we are only one incident away from being the receiver...

Make 2012 your best year. Learn to give,live, laugh, and most importantly LOVE.

To Your Success,
Sonja Bell

Being a Servant: The Essence of Success

Monday, September 19

Jesus got them together to settle things down. “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,” he said, “and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage.” [Mark 10:43-45, MSG]

I had this verse in the notes of my iPhone since the beginning of summer. We were talking about serving others in Sunday school and the verse was so appropriate for Bell Investments that I kept it in my phone. Recently, I lived this verse with several other servant-minded people in Memphis.

Bell Investments participated in Project Homeless Connect, an event designed to assist homeless individuals with their basic needs. Every vendor you could think of was there, including medical services, legal services, food, clothing, employment, and housing! What a privilege and an honor to be a part of such an outstanding project. Our mayor, A.C. Wharton, has set a plan to end homelessness in the next 10 years and this event was the kickoff to this effort.

I arrived at the Pipkin Building at 7:40 a.m. Friday morning to setup our information and I was in awe of all the volunteers that arrived. We worked non-stop until 11;45 a.m.; I had to return to work. Bell Investments was the only housing vendor that offered permanent housing. After only four hours, we had over 30 individuals with completed applications and about 40 people on our waiting list.

What is the lesson here? It’s simple….whether you’re serving the middle class tenant or the low-income tenant, God has blessed you with the gift of offering people housing. It’s a service!  And if you don’t have any housing to offer, be a blessing to another landlord.

Note to Self… successful businesses are all about sowing seeds. Even if you don’t have the business volume that you want right now, keep networking, keep advertising, keep speaking excitedly about your vision, and most importantly, keep providing excellent service!

Take the Lickin' and Keep on Tickin...How to Handle Your First Real Estate Loss

Thursday, August 18

Howdy!

This week has been bittersweet. I had to sell our Lauderdale apartment. Although it wasn’t what I wanted to do (we’ve exhausted every opportunity to get rehab funds), it didn’t make any sense to keep it and not do anything with it. The cool part about the sale is that the property will be put to good use. Our buyer is a non-profit agency that hosts an aftercare program in the area. What a wonderful opportunity to be a blessing!

One of my elementary school classmates, Brian Hall, is a great motivator and is soon to be (in my opinion) one of the most influential ministers in our community. His father was such a positive influence for all of us back in the day and it’s so awesome to see Brian following in his father’s footsteps. Talk about sowing and reaping :0)

Here’s a facebook status that Brian posted a couple of months ago about tenacity. I hope that it blesses you and encourages you to keep going…

 Good Morning, Fam! The gift of life has been granted again...cherish this precious gift. Today is your day!!...today's word is tenacity. With tenacity, it is impossible to fail. Without it, it's impossible to succeed. The world belongs to those who simply refuse to quit. The option of quitting has to be ignored, and the will to try again must always be pursued. There is, inevitably, always one more avenue to explore. Whether it is in your personal or professional life, if you think you have thought of everything, you haven't. If you think you've tried it all, you haven't. If you think you've reached the end of your rope, you haven't. Assume that the solution and key to your success lie just beyond your next attempt. Breakthrough is closer than you think! 

Love yall*staythirstymyfriends*

 Note to Self…

*If the situation’s not working, fix it or remove yourself from the situation!

*A dream deferred is not a dream denied

F.A.I.T.H

(Forsaking All others, I Trust Him!)

Be Blessed,

SRB

Do You Have a Brand? Setting Up Your REI Marketing Strategy

Sunday, July 31

I hope that you are having a productive week and staying the course on your investing goals :0)

I recently attended a Marketing for Success workshop and I had no idea that I would leave looking like a real clown…lol. Seriously, I’m in the process of rewriting my marketing strategy and I’m going to share some of the highpoints that I learned.

1. Identifying your brand- According to the brand identity specialists of Tactical Magic and Harvest, “brand identity is more than just names and logos; it is the art and science of using strategies, words and imagery in order to build a favorable perception.”
   • How do you want people to perceive your company? Remember, impressions can be positive or negative.
   • What is the core benefit to your customers? Whatever you offer must be better than anyone else. How do you differentiate from your competition?
   • Every part of your business must support your brand. Live your mission and deliver consistent experiences to everyone in your business circle!
   • Take the “logo challenge”. If you removed the logo from your various forms of communication, would customers/clients know who it is from the tone and consistent graphical execution?

1. Utilizing your website- Remember what I said earlier about delivering consistent experiences to everyone in your business circle? This includes your website. The internet is a crucial resource to reinforce your brand and bring potential customers. Owner of Simple Focus J.D. Graffam gives 4 tips for an effective website:
   • Be researched- when tenants go to your website, you must appear to be knowledgeable of your market.
   • Convert Visitors- use tools such as “a/b testing” and “multivariate testing” (google these terms) to see what customers are attracted to. Google Analytics also provides the business owner an abundance of information regarding site visitors and what they’re looking for.
   • Establish Trust- if you’re selling products online or asking for customer information, your website must be secure!
   • Don’t Screw It Up!- Remember that your website keeps the prospect interested; therefore the site needs to look professional. In addition, it makes absolutely no sense for you to spend money on an awesome website and your service is crappy….yeah, I said it! Say it with me…”consistent experiences”.

If you want to get more information on the companies that presented at the workshop, here are their websites:

• www.tacticalmagic.com
• http://www.harvestcreative.com/main/index.html
• http://simplefocus.com/

• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You didn’t come into the world knowing everything. God has given each of us specific gifts, so embrace those people whom God puts in your path.
• Attend workshops that will truly help your business grow. As an entrepreneur, you have to know not only your weaknesses but your company’s needs. If you don’t know where to start, don’t be afraid to ask for consultations.
• Linked In is awesome. One of the best business networking sites around. I found this workshop there and it only cost $30!

I have FAITH! Do you?

SRB

Patience is a Virtue: Have Faith in your Investment

Tuesday, July 12

The 2010-2011 season has been very good to the Memphis Grizzlies. During the playoff season,Fox 13 aired a segment reflecting on the NBA team’s
history. I hadn’t realized that the franchise was 10 yrs old! It
didn’t come into being without a good fight between Mayor Willie
Herenton and attorney Duncan Ragsdale.

I could imagine the criticism that the mayor received.
He wanted to build a new state of the art arena, while we had two
functional arenas already built. On top of that, the team that we were
campaigning for wasn’t that great. Many people saw the venture as a
waste of tax payer’s money. However, 10 years later, after many losing
seasons, the forum is finally experiencing sold-out games and fans
full of “Grizzly Fever.”

What’s the lesson learned? It sure feels good to see your investment, something you’ve supported, finally beat the odds. For those of you that have experienced bad deals, slow deals, low occupancies, and on-going
quests for funding, know that success requires hard work and…PATIENCE!

Note to Self…

• Everyone makes mistakes! It’s ok to take a loss sometimes (trust me). You have to see the long-term effects of a deal. I assure you, once you make one mistake, there’s a good chance that you won’t make it again. Your radar will be up and running :0)
• Two words…..DON’T QUIT!
• Two more words…..KEEP GOING! 

Have you checked your faith today?

SRB

Is SEO for Y-O-U?

Tuesday, June 28

Hey, there!

Just marveling in God’s goodness. I pray that God’s favor is smiling on you as well.

A couple of months ago, I was so frustrated with online marketing/social media/SEO/pay-per-click/etc. that I setup a job posting on Elance for an “online marketing specialist”. Needless to say that I ended up even more frustrated because I didn’t know that my post was too broad.

However, God saw favor on me and I found this article in my inbox from Elance. The topic is …..SEO Strategies for Entrepreneurs. I was so excited after I read this article. There’s hope for this chick after all :0)

I hope that this article helps you as much as it’s helped me. Now I can plan my marketing strategy effectively. Enjoy!

http://www.elance.com/p/blog/2011/06/seo-strategies-for-entrepreneurs-part-one.html?rid=23076