I Lept for It

Well here we're are, October nineteenth.

I've had some set backs and let downs. Two possible mentors jumped ship on me before we even unknotted the rope from the dock hitch. I spent three weeks handwriting yellow letters and sent them to my absentee list from my driving for dollars and I have yet to hear a peep from anyone (though in reality that was from a list of like fifty people and statistically I knew it was a long-shot).

Still, I learned one or two lessons in all of this.

The first is that I can't hold my dreams and action-steps for anyone or anything, regardless of what they're selling. I am the only person that can make the change I want come about and even though that shiny object over there looks like it might get you to where you want to go faster, you can't rely on it to always enlighten your path. So I have to use what I have in my toolbox to feel my way forward and along the way my eyes are adjusting to the darkness and things are slowly becoming clearer. If that analogy was too heavy or obscure the point I'm trying to make is that you can't put your plans on halt for anything except death. Even if you come across a pro that is singing your praises and promising you an assured path to success, continue following through with your actions steps because even if they are serious about helping you, they could get hit by a bus tomorrow and then you wasted all that time.

The second thing I learned is really not a knew bit of information but a solidification of old news. Real estate investing is not a get rich quick niche. If you're lucky - which I am not - nothing you do is going to work the first time or give returns immediately. I drove around for almost a month to collect 100 addresses for my driving for dollars campaign thinking one of those houses would bring me my deal. Then I mailed half of them thinking the same thing. Good thing I'm not surprised that nothing came of it. Maybe I'll get a bite later on but I read enough about marketing to know that it's going to take hammering that list a few times before I get a snag on my line. Even then it may turn out to be nothing.

With that being said, I did finally take the leap into direct marketing like a pro.

I got on Melissadata.com and ordered a list of 978 absentee owner leads. Then I got on Vistaprint.com and designed a postcard and mailed it to 265 people on that list. Why only 265? Because I have a very tiny budget for marketing and I know I'm going to have to send out a few campaigns before I get a good lead that closes. The rest of the list I'll mail to with typed "white-letters" because it's easier and less expensive than buying a handwritten-font, buying yellow pads and printing off on those. I might try it later but for now I'm short on time, money, and I only have a small amount of patience. I also don't want to get slammed with motivated sellers calling me all at once. I'm a one-man show here. I split the 978 person list up into thirds. the first 300 I hit with postcards. I submitted that order today!!!! It turned into 265 because there were duplicate names for several addresses. That means some of the houses on my list have the same owners. So that's DONE!!!

My next step is to mail-merge a campaign letter and fill in the addresses and home-owner names, print them off a hundred at a time, handwrite the envelopes, stamp them and mail them each day (I have a job that gives me a lot of free time so don't feel sorry for me. I'm not losing time with my family). I'm going to shoot for another 300 letters mailed out nearer the end of the month and then the last of the list will be hit the end of the first week of November. Hopefully this spreads out the three mailings enough that I won't get hit to hard at one time.

In total I spent $148 and change on the list. $226.22 was spent on the postcards (that includes 500 new business cards) and I think I'll spend another $300 on the stamps to get this next mailing going. Not too much.

So there you have it. I'm taking action and making things happen. I also got a personal invite to my county's REIA group and I'm being allowed to pay the membership fee in installments. Why? Because my motivation impressed the right person. I thank BiggerPockets.com and it being a source to interact with all types of people for this opportunity. I'll get to make contacts in all areas of real estate investing from agents to lenders to lawyers and other investors of all kinds. I'm going to a "Creative Financing" course tomorrow!

So, there it is. A newbie on the move. Thanks for reading. I'll update you soon.

Ben