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jlspartz

Simple questions

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I am new to this so I think these are simple question but would like to know the answers, or opinions.

 

How do you seem like a professional when starting out, working as an individual. Should I get a separate phone number (virtual phone number with voicemail)? Should I have an LLC? Otherwise, what reference do you use if there's no business name?

 

What keywords do you search for online when hunting for sellers? Must sell, immediately, job, divorce... any others? And what do you email them for the first time to perk their interest and not turn them off?

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I am new to this so I think these are simple question but would like to know the answers, or opinions.

 

How do you seem like a professional when starting out, working as an individual. Should I get a separate phone number (virtual phone number with voicemail)? Should I have an LLC? Otherwise, what reference do you use if there's no business name?

 

What keywords do you search for online when hunting for sellers? Must sell, immediately, job, divorce... any others? And what do you email them for the first time to perk their interest and not turn them off?

 

First things first.

Get your LLC.

Don't use a virtual #.

This is a people business, you don't want to direct them to a black hole. Use your cell phone, and get an unlimited minutes plan.

get a url, and start putting the pieces in place to create a business out of this.

I know there are some people that work this like vietcong popping up occasionally on Craigslist, getting a seller, getting a buyer, then ducking back in the tunnels, but when you are as gorgeous as I am, you want to be out there!

Get your LLC, get your URL, and develop your biz and website, and go at it as if this is your own business you are developing, because it is!

 

As far as seeming like a professional, the first thing I did is get a haircut.

I still like 80's music though.

 

Seriously, if you want to seem professional..which you do...approach it like a professional.

That means a business plan and everything. It also means getting as much education you can on your new business so you can have confidence when you talk to people.

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And what do you email them for the first time to perk their interest and not turn them off?

I prefer to keep it general and generic for a greater response rate. Besides, too much info upfront is sure to confuse some folks and turn some others off. You are the one that will sell the idea, not your craftily composed email or business card.

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Get your LLC.

Shouldn't you see if you can make money, and like the biz, before spending money on this?

Don't use a virtual #.

Er, why? Keeping your personal line private is usually considered sound business practice.

I still like 80's music though.

So I should have Kajagoogoo or Berlin playing when I meet sellers? How about Metallica and Megadeth? Master of Puppets and Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? are classic thrash. :angry:

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I am new to this so I think these are simple question but would like to know the answers, or opinions.

 

How do you seem like a professional when starting out, working as an individual. Should I get a separate phone number (virtual phone number with voicemail)? Should I have an LLC? Otherwise, what reference do you use if there's no business name?

 

What keywords do you search for online when hunting for sellers? Must sell, immediately, job, divorce... any others? And what do you email them for the first time to perk their interest and not turn them off?

 

If you are on limited funds then setting up a business may be an issue. I know several investors that run their business off a cell phone and do quite well. I would not get a LLC until you have done a deal or two just to see if you are going to stay in this business.

 

I have seen too many GURU's spout about getting Corp's, LLC, TRUSTS, 800# even before they get a deal. Save your money and plug it into marketing.

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Get your LLC.

Shouldn't you see if you can make money, and like the biz, before spending money on this?

Don't use a virtual #.

Er, why? Keeping your personal line private is usually considered sound business practice.

I still like 80's music though.

So I should have Kajagoogoo or Berlin playing when I meet sellers? How about Metallica and Megadeth? Master of Puppets and Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? are classic thrash. :angry:

 

The LLC is about $250 and it's well worth it to me to approach it as a business, and structure it that way. I'm all about making a business of it and not a hobby, but that's just my thinking.

If someone isn't serious enough to spend $250 to create a business, then they deserve the rotten hell hole they call a 9-5.

I figure if you approach it as a hobby, it will always be a hobby.

I think most of the people that try to make money in real estate fail partially because they don't approach it as a business.

That's what happens when the late night infomercial A$$ clowns make it sound like all you have to do is sit around in your jam jams eating cereal and make money.

I have always used my cell phone as the # for the sellers or t/b's to call. If I had them call an automated #, I'd lose most of them.

They don't call my house phone....not sure what that # is anyway.

If people are trying to do business with you, or give you money, why lose 75% of them because they can't reach you.

It's all about having the systems in place.

I'm a die hard Scorpions and Wasp fan. Although Megadeth's Secret Place is awesome.

Now that i've ranted, I will go sink my head into a 12" Toby subwoofer with Pantera blasting out my colon.

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Sorry for the rant.

One evening I'll sip some tequila and post about why I even started doing this over 7 years ago.

And it wasn't to try it and see if I could do it. It was to get out of a &^#@! crap hole of a job and I was determined to make this work, and it required a lot of trial and error and garbage but mainly it required a very certain approach.

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I agree with both reasonings, but I think for me having a LLC would be better, because I'd feel awkward with no business name, logo, what do you call a website then, etc. Reason I asked is that I was told to save money and not get a LLC before, and so I was asking how to look professional without a business name.

 

Looks like a LLC is only $130 in WI if filed online. Maybe I'll reserve the name first. Crazy that companies ask for around $250 to fill out a 2 page form with only a couple questions.

 

My 9-5 is more like 7-6.

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Yeh, I agree with Pilot...

 

I tried the no website, no business thing and It was so hard to have confidence when talking to sellers...

 

Soo I am taking a step back and creating an LLC qnd website and then go after this CA full speed....

 

 

Pilot... You have been doing CA's and SLO for about 7 years? If so... How Well do you enjoy your lifestyle? :angry:

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I have always used my cell phone as the # for the sellers or t/b's to call. If I had them call an automated #, I'd lose most of them.

I'm not talking about an automated number, I'm talking about a a number that redirects to your cell, like Google Voice or RingCentral.

You answer your cell as normal so you don't miss a seller.

They don't call my house phone....not sure what that # is anyway.

I haven't had a house phone for about 7 years. I'm cell only.

I'm a die hard Scorpions and Wasp fan. Although Megadeth's Secret Place is awesome.

I never got into Wasp, but I have 4 or 5 Scorpions albums. Rock you like a hurricane!

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Yeh, I agree with Pilot...

 

I tried the no website, no business thing and It was so hard to have confidence when talking to sellers...

 

Soo I am taking a step back and creating an LLC qnd website and then go after this CA full speed....

 

 

Pilot... You have been doing CA's and SLO for about 7 years? If so... How Well do you enjoy your lifestyle? :lol:

 

Sometimes I take my lifestyle for granted I guess. I don't own a plane yet, but maybe that's because the ones I want are $650k. :angry:

The teachers and moms at my kids school always ask me .."What is it you do? You're always the only dad that is up here" I always make up stuff, like.."I name hurricanes"

So it is a far better life than I had.

Next week the family and I are going to Maui for 10 days.

And guess what? I didn't have to count up my available sick days, or vacation days.

I didn't have to ask permission from anyone.

I booked it, and we're going.

I will never work for anyone again. Not everyone is cut out to own their own business. Just like not everyone is cut out to be a doctor.

But I think if people are trying to learn real estate, there is something inside of them that is a spark of entrepreneurship. And that spark has to be feed by something.

For me, and I think for most, what throws the gas on the spark is the unbearable loathing I had for a job I had, when I saw so many men in their 50's that had worked all their lives and their only enjoyment in life was taking in air. The only thing they had to look forward to was retiring and hopefully having a few hundred thousand if that in company stock.

When you're around that atmosphere for awhile, it is an anchor on your soul, and it's sink or swim to get out.

Life is what you make it. If you work for someone else, you're not making it.

Go after it Kyle!

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Pilot, I agree wholeheartedly! I like to say I've been gainfully unemployed for about 20 years now. I was fired from my last job, a job I loathed, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. That forced me to get out and tap into my entrepreneurial side. I haven't had anyone tell me what to do since.*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Well, except for my wife, daughters, and mother in law. :angry:

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Pilot, you sound like me. My wife asked the other day why I want to work for myself so bad and i told her "I want my life back". I'm only 27 and have made it near the top of a corporate ladder (mainly because I think for myself and don't follow orders), and the higher up I get the less life I have. It got to the point where they just tell me I'm flying across the country in a couple days (not ask, tell me). I quit that job for that reason and work for another now that doesn't send me across the country like I'm an item they can loan out. I always felt it might feel different working for someone else, but I feel enslaved wherever I go, like they own my life. It's time I take control and live and work myself.

 

MC, I love the footnote.

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Yeh I tell ya what..We all are thinking on the same page....

 

 

I like my current job, but I feel enslaved to the system....

 

Im trying to have a good lifestyle but its not all about money...

 

If I could close one deal a month my life would change Drastically

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. . .If I could close one deal a month my life would change Drastically

Kyle, there is absolutely no reason you can't.

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