Let’s be clear about what we’re doing here…
The goal of this lesson – and from a bigger picture, the goal of this new series about “Freedom Through Outsourcing” – is to give you freedom.
Financial freedom? Sure.
Freedom to live a mobile lifestyle? Absolutely.
But most importantly, freedom to do anything you wish with your time – the most precious asset you have in life.
That’s where we’re headed with this. It’s our destination.
Let’s call it ____ ’s Freedom Island… a magical land of milk & money, where all your dreams are realized.
It’s not that far off, you know, and the directions for getting there aren’t as complicated as you think.
We’re going to create the road map together.
But before we can do so, we need to make sure we know exactly what this destination (your personal “Freedom Island”) looks like.
So just stop for a second and tell me why you’re a real estate investor in the first place.
Why the heck did you choose THIS route, instead of what everyone else and their mommas – and their mommas’ mommas – are doing:
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twiddling their life away for 40 years,
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taking the occasional “keep-it-short-or-get-fired” vacation,
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trading their time for paychecks,
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saving for a retirement that may or may not come,
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and having no real idea about what to do with themselves if/when they retire.
(Because it’s easier to go with the grain, don’t ya know.)
So why are you an investor? What is your real “reason why” for doing this?
More time? More mobility? More money? More FREEDOM?
Probably all of the above. But what – specifically – will you do with the freedom that can be enjoyed by outsourcing your work to Virtual Assistants?
We need to start here and work backward.
So take a minute and write down your “reasons why,” in the form of short-term goals (benchmarks of immediate freedom; 1-3 months), medium-term goals (major lifestyle upgrades; 6 months to 3 years), and long-term goals (the destination; 5 to 10 years).
Be extremely specific:
TIME – Freedom of Working Hours
Short-Term Time Goal (the currently “achievable” goal – a benchmark of immediate freedom)
“I want more time in the short-term so I can ___________________”
Medium-Term Time Goal (signifies a major lifestyle upgrade)
“I want more time in the medium-term so I can ___________________”
Long-Term Time Goal (the destination; your big, hairy, audacious “reason why”)
“I want more time in the long-term so I can ___________________”
MOBILITY – Freedom of Location
Short-Term Mobility Goal (the currently “achievable” goal – a benchmark of immediate freedom)
“I want more mobility in the short-term so I can ___________________”
Medium-Term Mobility Goal (signifies a major lifestyle upgrade)
“I want more mobility in the medium-term so I can ___________________”
Long-Term Mobility Goal (the destination; your big, hairy, audacious “reason why”)
“I want more mobility in the long-term so I can ___________________”
MONEY – Freedom of Finances
Short-Term Money Goal (the currently “achievable” goal – a benchmark of immediate freedom)
“I want more money in the short-term so I can ___________________”
Medium-Term Money Goal (signifies a major lifestyle upgrade)
“I want more money in the medium-term so I can ___________________”
Long-Term Money Goal (the destination; your big, hairy, audacious “reason why”)
“I want more money in the long-term so I can ___________________”
The end result of this excercise depicts your Freedom Island – where your time, mobility, and money goals are the reality of your life. Along the way, we have layovers at places called Short-Term Land and Medium-Term Land, which are pretty cool places in their own right.
By the way, we included money in the above exercise, but it’s not money you’re working toward. Everyone tends to think so, but they’re wrong. And falling for this misconception – pursuing money for money’s sake, or for the things it can buy – will get you lost, never to find your own personal Freedom Island.
Money is not the end goal. Freedom is.
Freedom to live the lifestyle that you dream about, and to actually do something lasting and meaningful in this world – a legacy that extends beyond your years.
Money is important, but freedom is infinitely more so. Don’t forget that.
Freedom materializes in your life when you’re able to increase the amount of money your business generates, while at the same time decreasing the amount of time you actually spend in your business (at least on the unimportant, outsource-able tasks).
The farther apart your time and money get – as your work-time heads south and your income heads north – the more freedom is created in the middle.
Makes sense, right?
But just a second… It seems like something is fundamentally wrong with the equation.
“Work less, and make more money?”
How is it possible to increase the output ($$$) while decreasing your own personal input?
It doesn’t seem possible, especially if life has been conditioning you to believe that no matter how hard you work, you can’t seem to achieve any meaningful results. Indeed, very few real estate investors ever figure this out.
The more logical and more commonly accepted work-money equation is “work harder (i.e. work MORE), then make more money.” Plainly put, what most people believe is this: “If I work eight hours a day and make $50,000 a year, the only way to make $60,000… $80,000… $100,000 a year is to work harder.” This means either taking on another job, working longer hours at the job you’re in, or both.
The math is easy and entirely possible, but the whole equation sucks.
Working much more than eight hours a day is unsustainable, and it’s been known to cause failed marriages, regular mental breakdowns, and/or premature balding. Not good.
Working harder to make more money is, well, hard. Unnecessarily so.
But that’s what 99.9% of investors try to do, because they’re ignorant to the alternative. They end up working sixteen hours a day, burning themselves out in 60 days, quitting real estate, and going back to 9-to-5 servitude within the oppressive confines of their cubicles.
But not you.
You’re aware of the alternative, now. More money, less time. It’s entirely possible. Guys like me are living proof.
Now you just need a clear plan for achieving it yourself, and a clear plan for what to do with your time when you have more of it.
The plan for getting there starts with a change in thinking. It starts with you seeing yourself as a business owner, rather than a real estate investor.
What I mean by this is that you own the pie shop. You don’t bake the pies yourself.
You’re the owner of the football team, watching the game from your luxury suite. You’re NOT the quarterback on the field.
Most investors see themselves not only as the quarterback, but also as (i) the running back, (ii) the wide receivers, (iii) the entire offensive line, (iv) the head coach, and (v) the cheerleading squad as well. Trying to play every position on your own is a recipe for disaster. Besides, you look bad in a cheerleading skirt anyway.
Your responsibility within your business is to draft star players and architect a championship team, not to play the game yourself.
Your business needs you to be in this role of architect. Your business needs you to be in the role of business owner. Working on your business, not in your business.
But in order to become the architect, you’ll need to free yourself from the shackles of repetitive, tedious, unimportant tasks that drain your time every single day – like a leak in a gas line.
Mastering the art of “elimination” is a critical piece of the freedom equation, and architects continually look for patterns that enable them to eliminate and simplify their lives.
In the remainder of this series, we’re going to reduce your daily “To Do” list from 1,000 items to 2-3 items, all the while increasing your income.
We’re going to define all the critical tasks in your business – the select few that actually require you. Everything else, and I mean everything, can (and should) be outsourced.
We’re going to create freedom in your life (increase your income while decreasing the time required to get it) by replacing you with systems, automation, and outsourcing.
Until we have robots that physically walk door-to-door negotiating with sellers, analyzing deals, signing contracts, and depositing checks on your behalf, this outsourcing strategy goes farther than anything else out there in giving you the systems and the automation.
And while personal robots may not be far off, for now there’s still a human aspect to the business of buying and selling real estate. The thing is, this human aspect doesn’t have to be complicated, labor-intensive, or time-intensive. It can be simplified through outsourcing.
You need to outsource, and outsource fast. I mean today.
I can hear your objections & smell your fears (and they stink) …
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“Where do I find an assistant who I can trust?
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The Answer: We’ll show you.
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“I’ve never done a deal… how am I supposed to train someone else to run my business?”
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The Answer: We’ll help you with the plan.
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“No one else can do things as well as I can.”
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The Answer: You’re probably wrong. But even if you were right, if someone could do it 90% as well as you and it saved you six hours of work per day, would that be worth it?
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“I can’t even afford to pay myself right now, let alone hire anyone else.”
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The Answer: You can’t afford NOT to. And we’ll make it as cheap as possible, just so you feel better about it. You’re so high maintenance sometimes, my friend.
Modern technology has provided you with a gigantic leap forward in terms of systems and automation. The one thing left to figure out is outsourcing.
And your business needs you… Your family needs you… Heck, YOU need YOU to figure this out.
So stay tuned for more lessons in this new series about “Freedom Through Outsourcing”.
Honest Introspection – Take the time to write down your goals for time, mobility and money.
Understand – Understand that your business needs you to function in the role of “architect” and “business owner”, thereby working on your business (not in your business).
Stay Tuned – Stay tuned for more lessons in this new series about “Freedom Through Outsourcing”.