How are you working ON your business instead of IN your business?

Question

We hear this a lot: work ON your business, not IN your business.

How are YOU implementing this advice? How are you working ON your business?

Did you start doing it at a specific time in your investing journey and do you wish you'd have done it sooner? Was there a specific "aha" moment for you? Is there some specific kind of advice you'd give yourself regarding this topic when you were starting out?

Jónas Tryggvi Stefánsson · Answer

I don't think anyone can tell you if you're going too fast or too slow, it depends on how your current path is aligned with your goals.

That being said, I'm in the same position. I expect my growth to become exponential but in order for that to happen I need to create the processes to make it happen but for now I'm participating in the reno but that's not sustainable long term at all.

I suppose it's going to happen with documentation and then outsourcing to qualified people after the processes have been made. I think one should stay within one's area of excellence as possible.

Petur Karlsson · Answer

As a new investor with my first investment property under rehab, I am actively participating in the work with my contractor. Some would say it's working IN my business, but as far as I'm concerned, I am learning a LOT of lessons about the structural components of real estate, how the work is done, what material prices and labor costs to expect for various components, the scope of work that I hadn't accounted for, small details that are useful to know when looking at the next property, managing contractors and subs, taking ownership of shortcomings and finding creative solutions to tackle problems, and equally important; Having an absolute blast while I'm at it, fueling this passion!

While driving to and from the property and while working there, I tune into a bigger pockets podcast every single time, get in some sweat equity to bolster the "jump start" into investing, nurture a healthy relationship with my contractor who I intend to employ indefinitely, learning about his strengths and weaknesses, all while taking so many lessons with me into the future.

Actively participating in the rehabs is NOT my long term plan, but for where I am at in the journey, I feel perfectly positioned. I am holding business meetings with my wife where we plan long and short term objectives and split tasks between us. For example, our goal after BRRRR-ing our first rental property is to rehab our primary residence and convert it into a rental, subsequently buy a duplex where we live in one side and rent out the other while also setting up the next BRRRR deal. (Four rentals in the medium term PLUS house hacking our way into free housing, freeing up additional money to invest each month)

I have home office work sessions where I contemporaneously log all my real estate activities, do the bookkeeping and keep all the filing organized (physically/virtually), communicate with relevant parties like lenders, subcontractors, agents, etc. I want to scale up and build a more elaborate funnel for finding and creating deals and expand my network, but all in all, I feel good about the trajectory and am also remaining on the safer side by avoiding over leveraging or spreading myself to thin.

Do you feel like I'm taking it too slowly? This is how a lot of the big shots started their journey as well. You've got to start out by hustling and this approach to me is worth more than a $150k, 4 year university degree.