{"id":51031,"date":"2013-11-25T14:00:59","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T21:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=51031"},"modified":"2021-03-16T10:13:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T16:13:20","slug":"2013-11-25-find-exploit-unfair-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2013-11-25-find-exploit-unfair-advantage","title":{"rendered":"How to Find and Exploit Your “Unfair Advantage”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with Josh and Brandon and talk about a variety of topics related to real estate in the\u00a0BP Podcast 045: Finding Your Unfair Advantage, Rural Investing, and Getting Started with Tom Sylvester<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the title mentions, we spent some time talking about unfair advantages and how I have used them to create not 1 but 2 successful businesses. \u00a0Afterwards, I received quite a few emails and private messages from people wanting to know more about how I found my unfair advantage and some tips for them to find and exploit their own unfair advantage.<\/p>\n

What is an “Unfair Advantage”?<\/h2>\n

I define an unfair advantage is a skill, knowledge or situation that you have that most others do not. \u00a0It is your competitive advantage, one of the things that makes you unique and gives you a leg up compared to others who want to do the same thing. \u00a0It is often the case that people decide they want to do something, be it a new job, business or niche without first identifying what their unfair advantage is and determining how to use it to their advantage.<\/p>\n

How I have used my “Unfair Advantage”<\/h2>\n

The unfair advantage that we discussed on the show is one that a lot of people are jealous of, which is my father actually having 30 years of experience in construction. \u00a0He worked for the carpenter’s union, was a contractor on the side and built 3 of his own houses. \u00a0One of the common topics that comes up in real estate is “how do I find a good contractor”? Given my father’s background, between his constructions knowledge and the fact that he knows almost of of the contractors in the rrrrrrrural town<\/a> (in Brandon’s voice), this is a pretty big unfair advantage for us.<\/p>\n

When we first started, we did all of the work ourselves<\/a>. \u00a0We were able to do this because my father knew how to do it all and taught me as we remodeled our properties. \u00a0As time went on we realized that in order to grow our business we had to do less ourselves and hire out more of the actual work. \u00a0Because of the two reasons mentioned above, we are generally able to find and keep good contractors without a lot of effort.<\/p>\n

That is just one example. \u00a0Below are several other unfair advantages that I have had in my lifetime that I exploited.<\/p>\n