Daily Checklist or something?

Question

ok..this question is for the full time wholesalers out there. can you guys share if you have a daily checklist of some sort..or maybe a weekly routine? A specific system? For example, like on monday..you do this and this..tuesday you do this and this.ect. and have mandotory objectives for every work day and specific duties for certain days. Or do you place a few ads, put some bandit signs out.talk to a few people..and sit around the office and wait for the phone to ring?

Please share any type of checklist or daily objectives you do in your day to day business that are working for you.

thanks in advance.

Please share any type of checklist or daily objectives you do in your day to day business that are working for you.

thanks in advance.

Aaron Schwartz · Answer

Chris. good ideas thanks.
                    
                    Jason, Travis, let me rephrase my question. Take the basics, as in Marketing, Prospecting, Selling..ect And put it into a Specific daily routine examples is what I am looking for..
                    
                    For example.. in most businesses you have a daily checklist of SPECIFIC and DEFINED duties. not just go market go prospect. go sell.
                    
                    My question is for anyone who uses a specific daily plan that is in writing.

I realize that sometimes you are going to get busy going out and looking at potential deals from leads on certain days that will not allow you to complete the daily checlklist. But some days when the phone isnt ringing i wanna have a list of things to get done that can continue to bring me deals and grow my business. A  specific guideline of what to do on a daily basis. Something that i can sit in front of me and check off after completing on a daily basis. Therefore if u have a specific idea to place in a daily checklist or you use one please continue to share.
                    
                    something similar to this:

Daily Checklist
                    
                    Place Craigslist Ad â–¡
                    
                    Market Current Deals, Email â–¡ Phone â–¡ Newspaper â–¡ Flyers â–¡
                    
                    Follow Up with Previous Leads â–¡
                    
                    Drive Daily Farm Area â–¡
                    
                    Daily Farm Area Mail Outs â–¡
                    
                    Daily Farm Area Phone Calls â–¡
                    
                    Find 3 New Potential Buyers In Farm Area â–¡
                    
                    Neighborhood Flyer Handouts â–¡
                    
                    Flyer/Post Card/Business Card Placement at 2 businesses/restaurants â–¡
                    
                    Select Tomorrows Farm Area â–¡
                    
                    Website Lead Check â–¡
                    
                    Marketing Supply Check â–¡
                    
                    Budget Review â–¡
                    
                    Record Daily Seller Leads â–¡

Daily Notes:

Aaron Schwartz · Answer

ive personally never bought from a bank. But i dont think it really matters what the bank is asking for it when you make your offer. You base you offer on what its worth and your criteria for buying whether you offer is the same as the listed price or 50k lessor.

Travis Gosnell · Answer

4 categories should be:

Marketing
Buying 
Selling 
Funding

And again I think too marketing is the key to this business and any business.  Leads = deals.  There are other things that go into this - sales/presentation skills - deal structuring/negotiation, etc. - but you need leads to better yourself in the other areas.  Get out there and start marketing.

If you have money - then try direct mail campaigns - depressed market - you can usually get by with sending mailings out to a whole geographic area but the targeted lists work great too - but geographic marketing is blanketing a whole area with a message - costs money.

If you don't have money for marketing or much - bandit signs - networking - driving for dollars - etc.

Before starting marketing you will need to pick you area.  15-20k homes at medium price range + or - 20% (depending on your business model) but we are talking about wholesaling - so usually the fixers are in this - 20% range.

Hope this helps.

Chris T. · Answer

It's easy to spend time marketing as that is usually the starting point but it's also easy to spend too much money marketing because it's fun and easy and because you want to try and get your phone ringing.  So I would recommend spending the rest of your time on things that don't cost anything.

Reviewing your budget, balancing your statements, organizing, networking, and tracking down cash buyers are a few things that are free and will help you stay within your means.

I have a stack of potential deals that I've already done the numbers on and talked to the owners.  These are the ones I made an offer on and couldn't come to terms with.  When I have down time I go through that stack and call them back to see how things are going.  Half of my deals have come out of that stack probably 3 months after having first spoken with them.  One reason is because time is a great motivator.

I also have a lot of postcards that have come back to me and I spend time trying to track down the owners.

Driving or walking your farm area and talking to owners off of your targeted list is a way to drum up some business.

I personally recommend spending 95% of your time trying to determine who on your targeted list is actually motivated instead of blanket marketing because if the home owner's don't have equity and they aren't motivated then there isn't a deal to be had.

Once you start working a few deals you'll find that there isn't enough time in the day to do everything you want to do.

Jeff Warner · Answer

Only you can determine what NEEDS to be done on a daily basis. I can tell you that one thing that helps me is using the "Tasks" function on my phone. I put a list of things that needs to be done into my Tasks every night so that when I wake up I already have my day planned out. Any smart-phone these days will have something similar.

Another thing that helps me is having email on my phone, that way I can be running around and I can get emails and faxes (fax comes to my email) without sitting at my desk.

Your day to day operations will depend on your goals and where your at as a wholesaler. To me, marketing is the most important aspect of this or any business. You need to spend your time marketing for deals and buyers as well as making offers on properties. None of that will go smoothly without a list that keeps you on task. Overall, you need to set your goals and keep yourself accountable.

It seems easier than it really is. For people that are use to showing up at a job and collecting a paycheck, getting started in any business can be a major shock.

This is sort of off topic but important...I highly recommend that if you are working for someone that you continue to do so until you are making more money in your own business then you make at your job. The only reason anyone should leave a job with a secure income is if that job is literally holding them back and financially no longer makes sense. Be prepared to not earn a single dollar for 6 months and you'll be ok. Not to bash the guru's again but there are too many of them that make this business seem so damn easy you'd be a fool not to jump in and get rich...that is just not reality.

Jeff

Aaron Schwartz · Answer

Thank you and your more than welcome to it!

And I will add those in there thanks for the ideas Chris! HAppy Thanksgiving!

Chris T. · Answer

I like your checklist and I now I'm going to use it!  :D

I would add specific times for going to the court house and looking up foreclosures, probates, divorce, bankruptcies, forcible detainers, and housing code violations.

Jason Bentley · Answer

It's possible that you don't have an organized set of daily tasks because you haven't identified exactly where you want to go. As the saying goes, "it's hard to hit a target you don't have".

Someone else above mentioned that you're the one who'll end up deciding the right mix of daily activities to do based on your needs. I think it helps to start backwards. You've probably got a sense of how many deals you want to be doing per month, lets say that number is five. Based on your past experience you should also have a general idea of how much of your 4 core activities it takes to complete one deal. The 4 categories being:
Marketing
Prospecting
Networking
Meeting (face to face)

Once you break down the amounts or time spent for each category to reach your monthly target, you can average them out in time/quantities on a daily basis and have more than enough things to do to keep you on track.

Robert Mack · Answer

Adrian,

Try making a new thread with this particular question in the REO section, you'll get more answers that way.

Adrian Johnson · Answer

Thanks all, this is good information.  Question I have is about doing offers.  What are some examples you have of what the banks originally asked for and what you bid and gotten offers accepted.

Daily Checklist or something?

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