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The posts in this category are about real estate: Real estate investing, tips for real estate professionals, and more. Read what I’m thinking on topics like buying and selling properties, doing deals, the real estate market, and succeeding in real estate.

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10 ecourses a real estate agent should write

By Aaron Hoos on December 12, 2012 in Business, Real Estate

Real estate professionals struggle with differentiation. They face a lot of competition with other agents but prospects have a hard time telling one agent from another. If you are a real estate professional, an ecourse is one way that you can set yourself apart… while building a list of people who may eventually need your services!

Here are 10 ecourse ideas for you to offer:

  1. Top trends in home-buying or home-selling right now. (Answer the burning question everyone wants to know: “Is NOW a good time to buy or sell?”).
  2. Top ways to sell your house for more money.
  3. Top ways to get the home of your dreams for a lower price.
  4. (If you specialize in a particular neighborhood) Top reasons to live in this neighborhood.
  5. (If you specialize in helping out-of-towners move to your town) Step-by-step to move to this city.
  6. Top things to look for when walking through a home.
  7. (If you specialize in helping first-time home-buyers) Step-by-step to buy your first home.
  8. A crash course in understanding a purchase contract.
  9. Top questions to ask a real estate professional before working with them.
  10. Websites a home-buyer can use to do preliminary research so they know where they want to live and what kinds of homes they want to look at.

34 ways to get more referrals: The ultimate referral guide for financial and real estate professionals

By Aaron Hoos on October 18, 2012 in Finance, Real Estate

Running your financial or real estate practice takes time and effort and money — and a good portion of that investment is spent on putting potential clients into your sales funnel and trying to turn them into paying clients.

Getting referrals makes for more profit because you spend less time, effort, and money to find potential clients.

So, how do you generate referrals? I’ve collected the advice, best practices, and ideas I’ve used and seen, and combined it with a comprehensive list of ideas collected from the web for a go-to reference on referrals.

Just before I get into the list, I want to highlight something that you’ll need to think about: There are two kinds of referrals but we often use the same word (“referrals”) to describe both. Some referrals occur when a client GIVES YOU the name and contact information of someone they think you can help, and you contact that person. Some referrals occur when a client SENDS someone to you. In the list below, I’ve included tips for both types of referrals.

HOW TO GET MORE REFERRALS

  1. Just ask for referrals: This seems like the most basic advice but it’s easy for a financial or real estate professional to skip the question. Yet asking it is so easy, it takes 10 seconds, and it can dramatically boost your business.
  2. Not just clients or friends: When we think of referrals, it’s easy to think of your clients or your friends and family as key referrers. And they probably will be. But they won’t be the only ones. You can get referrals from people who don’t become clients.
  3. Explore your internal blocks of asking for referrals: What keeps you from asking for referrals? There’s an internal block — some kind of mental list of objections — and you need to overcome it. Take a long look inward and overcome that internal resistance! Often, I think that internal block has to do with embarrassment at asking for something so seemingly personal as your client’s friend’s name and contact information.
  4. Prepare to address your client’s objections: Along with your own internal objections (above), your clients might have some objections about giving you referrals (instead of just referring people to you). If you are prepared for these objections, just as you would be prepared for any objections in a sale, you can handle them. Check out this article on the topic: Objections to getting referrals. In my opinion, one of the biggest things you need to do is outline what you will do and say when you contact that referral.
  5. Shape your client’s thinking: When you ask for referrals, be specific about who you are looking for. If you just ask “is there anyone else that you think I could help?”, you’ll be met with blank stares because they know a lot of people. However, you can shape your client’s thinking by asking “Is there anyone on your bowling team who I could help?” or “Do you know of anyone else on this street who I could help?” This was a tactic I learned when I was a stockbroker.
  6. Write a script: Yeah, we’re going old school with this tip! When you first started out, you probably had a script or two for every sales situation. Now’s your chance to write another script — this one is a “tack on” that you add to the end of any conversation — in which you ask for a referral. Make it fast and smooth and positive.
  7. List the benefits to your client: It’s easy to skip asking for referrals because we think it benefits us and the referral… but not the referrer. But that’s not true. Take a few minutes to think of the ways that your client benefits when they refer someone to you. For example, if you are a real estate professional, your client is helping their friends find the house of their dreams by referring them to you. That’s just one benefit… there are a bunch of other benefits.
  8. Know the two types of evangelists: There are two types of people who “evangelize” your business and send referrals. Learn what those two types are and read about how you can help your evangelists. Source: How to get your customers to talk about your business.
  9. Practice asking for referrals: Like everything else you do in your profession, asking for referrals is a skill that requires practice. So practice! Start by practicing in front of the mirror. Then practice in front of your spouse. Then practice in front of family and friends (who might actually do some referring!). Then, as one website suggests, practice in front of your low-risk clients. After all of that practice, you’ll be ready to ask anyone and everyone for a referral!
  10. Social media referrals: I’m only scratching the surface when I suggest that social media is a great tool for referrals. Use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to get referrals. But don’t abuse those sites: It takes time (just like offline) to build relationships, establish credibility, and finally to ask for a referral. Start by posting interesting, authoritative content and remember to recommend other people!
  11. Set the stage for your clients: Your clients lead busy lives so as they are going through their day, they don’t always remember to refer people to you. But you can set up triggers that will help them to remember. For example, say something like: “Next time you’re at the gym, can you mention my name to the people who play basketball with?” They might not remember at other times but there’s a greater likelihood of them remembering when they walk in the gym because you’ve planted the idea in their mind.
  12. List who you know: Chances are, you’re not tapping into the potential market you already have. I’ve heard someone estimate that we all know an average of 200 people. So sit down and list everyone you know. Once you’re done with the list, put it away for a day and then take it out and write down more: Your hairdresser, your dry cleaner, your dentist (don’t forget the hygienist and the receptionist). Heck, you probably know more than 200 people. Then go out there and tell them about your biz. (What does this have to do with a referral? Well, nothing in this step except that you are growing your own business while you are reminding yourself that your clients know the same number of people).
  13. Give to get: Remember that giant list of people you just listed? Why not refer someone to each of them. Your hygienist is probably looking for a house and your dry cleaner probably needs a new accountant. Send them to your peers. Some of that good referral karma will come back to you.
  14. Enable your customers to refer you: At the end of each visit with your client, hand out some business cards. Say something like, “You already know how to get in touch with me but here are some business cards in case you know of someone else who I can help.”
  15. Make referring normal: Clients don’t refer because it feels weird to them. But if you make it seem normal then it’s okay. For example, point out that most of your clients refer at least one person a year (or whatever your referral rate is). That sets the stage for you to say: “so who would you refer to me?”
  16. Be an expert: Pick a topic that resonates with your clients and their friends and become write a book on that topic. Imagine that you are a financial advisor and your client is talking to his friends about their retirement accounts. Their friends say: “I’ve been looking at ETFs” and your client says: “My advisor wrote a book on ETFs.”
  17. Be exclusive: This is a counter-intuitive way to get referrals without even asking for them! Tell your clients that you have strict guidelines about who you serve and that you can only help people who fall within the following parameters… then list a series of attributes of your perfect client. For example, you might say: “People refer their friends to me all the time and I love to help people out but you should be aware that I only take on clients who have a net worth of $250,000 or more.” Don’t make the parameters too exclusive; just make them detailed enough to appear slightly more exclusive than anyone else.
  18. Set a weekly goal: I love this one and I wish I did this when I was a stockbroker! This idea comes from Ray Silverstein’s article on Entrepreneur.com. Among his short list of referral ideas, he suggests setting a weekly referral goal. I like this because it decouples the idea of referral-asking from your interactions with clients. Of course you’ll ask clients but you’ll also need to (probably) ask other people for referrals as well. Strive to reach a goal then stretch yourself by increasing the goal.
  19. Contest idea #1: Have a contest among your clients for the most referrals. Give a prize for the winner. Be careful with this one because you might end up getting people who aren’t qualified to be your clients… but if you communicate the contest correctly, it might be a fun way to educate your clients on your desire for referrals.
  20. Contest idea #2: Have a contest between yourself and another professional to see who can get the most referrals. This makes asking for referrals fun and gives you a little extra incentive to remember to do it. The loser needs to buy the winner lunch. (Although if you both increase your referrals then you have both truly won).
  21. Redefine referrals: The word “referrals” conjures up a businessy feel. And asking clients if they have anyone to refer to you isn’t much better. I really like Dan Richards’ idea from Advisor Perspectives. He talks about “getting introduced”. Instead of asking your clients for someone they’d refer, just change the terminology and ask them if they would introduce you to someone you can help. It feels WAY less threatening.
  22. Be unique: No one sits around and says “my real estate professional was bland” only to have someone else exclaim: “so was mine!” People share things that are unique and memorable. Although you should avoid the chicken suit syndrome, you should find ways to be memorable in your business. You can get referrals just by being different.
  23. Create non-threatening referral situations: I hate referring my friends to professionals because I’m afraid that the professional will hassle them. But I would definitely be open to a situation where there was a seminar or workshop on a relevant topic and I was invited and strongly encouraged to bring a friend. (Make the event an exclusive event and only give out two tickets per person, or two tickets per spouse).
  24. Written reminders: Include a referral reminder in the footer of your direct mail and in the signature lines of your email. My favorite is: “A referral is the best way to thank me for my service”.
  25. Make the referral about your availability: This is the one I use most often when I want more business (PS, it helps if it’s true). Send out an email to your clients and let them know that you have some availability to take on one more client and before you open it up to the world, you wanted to give them an opportunity to reach out to their friends/family/peers/colleagues/contacts first. I love this method and I’ve never been disappointed with the results!
  26. Show up: I think this is one of the least-utilitzed ideas in financial and real estate but it’s so powerful. Become your client’s biggest fans. If they are playing softball, go to the game and cheer them on. If their kids are in piano, attend the recitals. Your clients will love it and, as you’re standing around at the end, they’ll introduce you to people. Those other people will see that you show up for your clients and they’ll look around and wonder where their financial advisor or real estate agent is. Sure, this might make you really busy but you’re out doing prospecting work.
  27. Another “sneaky way” of asking for referrals: This is the first time I’ve heard this idea and I love it! In Rain Today’s Rainmaker blog post, they suggest that professionals list out the qualities they want in a referral and then go over it with clients. I think this is a great idea to do regularly. Pull out the list (hint: DON’T call it a “referral list”) and go through the points with your client.
  28. Network with the hubs: Some people hang out in a circle of friends and coworkers and never really expand beyond that. And some people are hubs — especially entrepreneurs and business owners who serve a lot of clients. Get to know them. Tell them about your business and who you serve. Focus on peer-professionals (financial advisors, real estate agents, accountants, and attorneys) because they are likely to have clients with similar needs. But also consider your friendly hair dresser and barber because they have a captive audience for 15 to 30 minutes and those people spill their guts about their financial and real estate needs. Check out this excellent (but difficult-to-read) page on Tier 1 and Tier 2 Centers of Influence. This page has a bunch of great ideas about referrals.
  29. Make referrals a condition: I love this tip, mentioned by PJ Weiland at SuccessNet: “Make giving referrals a condition of doing business with you.” That’s brilliant.
  30. Thank your referrers: A simple thank you goes a long way. Express appreciation for the referral and invite them to send more referrals at any time.
  31. DON’T contact the referral: If you’re scared of referrals, you’ll love this one: Once you’ve asked your clients for referrals, don’t contact them. Instead, thank the client for suggesting those names and ask the client if they would tell them about you next time they see them. Although this takes the control away from you, it increases the likelihood that the referred person will get in touch. (Source: Inc. Magazine’s “3 Tricks to Getting Sales Referrals”)
  32. Incentivize your referrers: When someone refers someone to you, do something nice for that person. Send them flowers or a gift certificate or something. (Note: There are might be some regulations around this). This blog post from nimble.com gives some good, easy, and inexpensive ideas for incentives. If you’re not sure how much to spend on incentives, figure out the lifetime value of your clients. Once you know how much every client is worth on average, you know what you can comfortably spend to get quality clients who will be profitable quickly.
  33. Go on a referral frenzy: If you are out of the habit of getting referrals and you want to get started, schedule your own little referral frenzy — a short period of time when you commit to asking all of your clients for a referral. You can tie it around an event to help break the ice. For example, if the new year is approaching, why not contact each client and say this: “It’s almost the new year and I want to start out with a bang. That means adding a couple of clients to the list of clients I serve. Would you kindly recommend someone to me? Thanks in advance!”
  34. Motivate yourself: Figure out how much money you make from an average client. Then do the math. If 1/10th of your clients referred another client to you, your income would boost by 10%. So how many clients do you need to ask for a referral to get a 10% raise? Since the close rates on referrals are so high, you might only need to ask 40% to 50% of your clients. That’s right: If you just add a 2 second “who else do you recommend?” onto the end of your sentence for half of your clients, you could potentially boost your income by 10%.

Real estate agents: Solve these 5 problems to get more repeat business

By Aaron Hoos on October 17, 2012 in Real Estate

You work hard for your buyer-clients to help them find a home. You search through house after house until they finally make an offer and it’s accepted. You wish them well, they move into their new home…

… so why don’t they call you up when they need to upgrade to a new home in 5-7 years? You sent them a fridge magnet and an annual Christmas card, so why did they go with another agent?

There are a few reasons for this (including this top real estate marketing mistake that I describe in my Real Estate Marketing Manifesto) but on Tara Nicholle-Nelson’s blog REThink Real Estate, she provides an interesting list that real estate professionals should read and memorize.

Her blog post is Top 5 homebuyer regrets — It’s a list of 5 regrets that people experience after buying a home.

Don’t read this as a list of things your homebuying clients will experience after they buy a home. Instead, read this list as a list of ways you can proactively serve your clients by equipping them with the information and advice to avoid these problems!

I’ve listed the problem and my suggested solution below but again you should go over to her blog to read the whole post.

  1. Premature buying: People buy because they feel pressure to buy. And you probably need to pressure some of your clients a little to get them to make a decision. But premature buying can be avoided by helping your clients develop a prioritized checklist of what they want in a home and then helping them find as many homes as possible.
  2. Buying too small of a house: This is where your expertise comes in. People often buy products and services (not just houses) because of what they know or need right now. But life changes and you need to advise your clients that a slightly larger home might be better for them. Keep it low-key by telling them about a previous client in a similar situation who wished they had bought a larger house.
  3. Buying a home you can’t truly afford: This is a hard one for you to handle with your clients since you’re not also their financial advisor (and since you’re trying to tell them to buy a house that is slightly larger than they need right now). But you can professionally and sensitively educate your clients about costs, and point out that the mortgage is just one of many costs they’ll incur as a homeowner. Make sure they are aware of other costs that they will face.
  4. Incompletely resolving buyer conflicts: In Tara-Nicholle’s post, she explains that couples (as well as other groups, such as parents and children or siblings) might buy houses together but one member of that group might feel over-run by the either. You can work magic in this area by making sure that everyone is heard and their view points are appreciated.
  5. Taking on a “fixer-upper” that exceeds skill and budget: This connects with the third homebuyer regret and you can help your homebuying clients to see the reality of what they are taking on if they buy a house that needs work. Some homebuyers might be okay with that but you’ll want to ask your clients about their level of repair experience and involve them in conversations about what time/money/effort costs they are willing to incur.

Buying a house is hard. Homebuyers can be overwhelmed by the choices and complicated process and might end up with regrets when they are done, and Tara Nicholle-Nelson’s blog post outlines 5 of those regrets. You can help your homebuying clients overcome those regrets, which increases their satisfaction and loyalty.

Value: The whole versus the sum of the parts

By Aaron Hoos on August 14, 2012 in Business, Finance, Real Estate

It’s a weird fact that the value of a car is actually less than the sum of its parts.

In other words, if you were to go to a car dealership, you would actually spend less on the car you drive away with than if you were to buy the individual parts from the manufacturer and assemble it myself.

Don’t believe me? Go to an autobody shop and ask how much a single panel costs then do the math yourself. Your car costs less if you drive it off the dealer’s lot (versus if you were to buy the parts individually and build the car yourself).

I use this example to illustrate something you notice in business valuations, equity investing, and even in real estate investing: We can place a value on something (a business, a stock, or a property) but that value is one number for the whole thing. There is also a “sum-of-its-parts” value as well.

Here’s a business example:

If I were looking to buy a business, I might identify the value of the business by looking at its balance sheet to examine its assets and liabilities, but I would also look at its cash flow and profitability to help me identify the business’ earning potential in the future.

But what if I wanted to buy the business but didn’t care about its earning potential in the future. Maybe I like the property it’s sitting on and the computer system they have and their list of customers. In that case, I might value the company different because I only care about the sum of its parts rather than the whole.

Here’s a stock market example:

If I were looking to buy a stock, I might value the stock by looking at the market capitalization (which is calculated by multiplying the outstanding shares by the stock price). This is the full value of the company if I were to ask every partial owner to sell me their shares right now.

But I might also consider the sum of the company’s parts by looking at the Enterprise Value (which is calculated as market capitalization plus debt plus minority interest and preferred shares minus cash). This takes into account not only the cost of buying every share but also the impact of other aspects of the company’s balance sheet.
(Note: There are other measures to value a company besides market cap and EV; I’m just presenting them here as two alternatives that each represent value in a different way).

Here’s a real estate example:

If I were looking to invest in a property, I might look at how much it cost to buy the property from the seller, which could be acquired via a real estate agent who gives me a “market comp” (which is an estimated selling price based on what similar houses have sold for recently).

But maybe I don’t want to buy the house because I want to fix up that house and rent it out. Maybe I love the property but think that I make more money in other ways – perhaps I can pull the brand new furnace out of the property to put into another property, and then I can turn around and sell the house without doing any more work on it because I know that a developer is going to pay top dollar for the land very shortly. So my value of the property is defined by its parts – the furnace and the land.

TWO VALUES

My point here is that I talk a lot about value but value is perceived in different ways. You might think of it as the difference between the value of the whole and the value of the sum of its parts (or, at least the value of the sum of its important parts). (I also wrote recently about value being the amount someone would pay and the amount of benefit it provided to them… but now I’m talking about two different kinds of value!)

Think of it like this. The value of the whole business (which I’ve represented in green) and the value of the sum of its parts (which I’ve represented in blue). In many cases, the value of the whole business is often more than the value of the sum of its parts.

But the graphic above doesn’t give the whole picture because those two values are never static. Each type of value rises and falls, sometimes together and sometimes independent of each other. There are times when the value of the whole is worth less than the value of the sum of the parts. It looks more like this…

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

It matters because when we understand that there are two different values, we can make money.

As an entrepreneur, you might find businesses that you can buy at a lower price but whose sum-of-its-parts value is much higher. In this way, you can easily add assets (like equipment or a customer list) affordably. Take the example of a hair salon. If there is another hair salon nearby that is going out of business, you might be able to buy it quite cheaply, and easily make your money back by selling off the equipment, keeping the customer list for yourself, and by renting out the space to a different business.

As an equity investor, you might find undervalued stocks whose whole price is worth less than the sum of its parts. As the company improves and its stock price improves, your position improves. (This is a classic Warren Buffett play, by the way). If I were to give you an example, I’d suggest that Research In Motion fits the bill. The value of the company as a whole is very low (and getting battered down every single day) but there is a point at which the value of the company as a whole crosses under the value of the company’s sum-of-its-parts. In other words, someone could come in and buy the stock from its shareholders and then part out the company – selling its patents and its enterprise software and its customer database – and potentially make more than what they paid for all of its share prices. (Disclosure: I’m not sure what that price would be, but I suspect that we’re pretty close as of this writing!)

As a real estate investor, you might find a piece of land that you can buy and then subdivide into smaller lots to build and sell as a community. (In fact, you don’t even have to build the subdivision yourself; you just need to subdivide it and find a builder who will buy it from you and build). This is a very common way that real estate investors play the difference between whole value and sum-of-its-parts value.

Every business has a value as a whole and a value as the sum of its parts, and those two values move up and down. Scrappy capitalists are the ones who know those two values and pounce when the time is right.

Simple but brilliant real estate marketing strategy

By Aaron Hoos on June 16, 2012 in Real Estate

Real estate professionals are always looking for an edge to help them sell more houses. There are a lot of houses to sell (and many more coming on the market) and a lot of real estate professionals vying for those sales.

What can a real estate pro do to help them gain just a little extra attention?

Jake Palmer is a real estate investor in New Brunswick Canada who has found a great idea to attract more attention to the houses he lists:

He recently listed a house as “Not Haunted”.

Yes, you read that correctly! He advertised a house as not haunted. It’s funny, quirky, clever, and different enough to gain some attention. And all he did was add one of those little rider signs to the bottom of the lawn signs. But his funny little addition gained him national attention.

Apparently, it’s not the only humorous sign he’s created. According to the Daily Buzz, he also advertises houses as “Love Shack, Baby” and “Indoor Plumbing” Learn more and see some photos of his signs here. So funny!

This is such a simple but brilliant marketing strategy. It didn’t require any extra work or expense (other than the small cost of those additional signs) and it has attracted a lot of attention.

Now, I’m suggesting that you go out and print up similar signs for the houses you’re listing. But Palmer’s ingenuity has helped him deliver extra value to his customers. Maybe it’s time to break out the thinking cap to find creative ways to gain attention for your listings!

Forget profit… Just do the first deal

By Aaron Hoos on June 13, 2012 in Business, Finance, Real Estate

Entrepreneurs put a lot of pressure on themselves to start a profitable business. Although that is the ultimate goal, it can be a huge obstacle at the very beginning. And I’ve seen that obstacle actually PREVENT entrepreneurs from starting a business — they’re so focused on “how do I earn a profit on this deal?” that they freeze up and don’t actually complete the transaction.

I thought about this problem from time to time but never put words to the idea until a real estate investing client of mine mentioned a similar problem that occurs among real estate investors. He says that aspiring real estate investors will similarly freeze up and avoid doing the first deal because they can’t figure out all the details and they’re worried about how they’ll make money on it.

The same can be said for first-time capital market investors who buy a stock and then watch that stock drop. (And there’s some kind of rule in investing that almost guarantees it WILL drop!!!)

There is a solution… and I have to attribute this solution to my friend and client, the real estate investor I mentioned above: Mark Evans (‘The DM’). Mark gives his real estate investing students some great advice that is as true in the financial and business world as it is in the real estate investing world: He tells his students not to bother trying to make any money on their first real estate deal. If they do, great. But if they don’t, don’t worry about it. Instead, just do the deal. See how it works. Work out the bugs. Watch how the money flows. You can always make money on your second and third and fourth (etc.) deals.

Entrepreneurs and capital market investors should learn the same lesson: Profit is important in the long run but in the short run, the more important lesson is getting started and learning how the business/stock/property/deal/whatever works. That takes the pressure off of making money the first time. Use whatever income you do make to cover some of your costs, but consider the real value of the transaction to be educational rather than financial.

Do the deal. Forget about profit for the first time… and learn.

I’ve recently started up a couple of other businesses and that is my initial goal. If you are starting a business, or buying a new real estate or financial investment, or even if you’re trying something new (like a new line of business or a new style of investing), steal this idea: Forget profit on the first deal. Just do the deal and “profit” from your new-found knowledge.

Rules of the Scrappy Capitalist: Rule 6 — Be relentless

By Aaron Hoos on May 14, 2012 in Business, Finance, Real Estate

Old school capitalists succeeded because they were well-connected in an exclusive “old boys network”. Whether they succeeded in business or in the capital or real estate markets, it was largely because of who they knew.

But the internet changed everything. It levelled the playing field, making it possible for anyone to start a business or make money in the stock market or real estate market. True: Not everyone who tries WILL succeed, but the possibility didn’t exist and now it does.

There are still obstacles and unknowns but that doesn’t stop today’s scrappy capitalists from rolling up their sleeves and fighting for success.

The ones who will succeed will apply a specific set of rules to become successful. There are six rules of the scrappy capitalist. So far, I’ve covered five of them.

Here’s the sixth and final rule that a scrappy capitalists follow to be successful.

SCRAPPY CAPITALIST RULE #6: BE RELENTLESS

If success in business or the markets were simple, everyone would achieve it. But it’s not simple. It takes effort, guts, persistence, patience, confidence and an internal fortitude. Those who lack these things (and can’t acquire them) will never become scrappy capitalists.

Like hammering a nail, success takes relentless effort to make it happen. Here are some ways that the scrappy capitalist can be relentless…

  • Starting a new project that takes an initial push to get into.
  • Working through the middle of the project in spite of the temptation to quit when the details become too detailed or the work becomes too arduous.
  • Finishing well even when other people have gone home.
  • Consciously focusing on the desired end-state to help reduce distractions or project-bloat.
  • Acting (i.e., working or investing or moving forward) when trusted colleagues and experts tell you you’re wrong.

Being relentless isn’t easy, and I think there are two huge reasons why:

  1. It seems to go against what everyone else is doing. That’s hard because sometimes scrappy capitalists need to go with the grain and other times they need to go against the grain. It’s not easy to know the difference. (And if you’re waiting for me to tell you, you’re going to be sorely disappointed… because I don’t think there’s a formula).
  2. Sometimes the smartest decision is to keep going when everyone else has stopped, and sometimes the smartest decision is to stop. It’s not easy to know the difference. (And if you’re waiting for me to tell you, you’re going to be sorely disappointed… because I don’t think there’s a formula).

The key here is to find something you believe in and stick with it through thick and thin. Push. Sell. Build. Convince. Learn. Struggle.

That effort will pay off. It might take years of toil and there will probably be times when the cost seems too high and the reward too low, but if you believe in it, keep moving forward.

Click here to view all six rules of the scrappy capitalist.

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