You are a STARTER

You are brand new or part time, and have a low budget, so you need to make the most of your TIME. This setup is all about Organized Hustle

Starter Blueprint
Empire Builder Blueprint
Passive Investor Blueprint

Lean Investor

Welcome to the business!

Since you're a Starter, this means you've got a limited budget and little to no experience doing real estate deals.

Not to fear!! InvestorFuse is here.

On this page, we're going to break down EXACTLY what you need to have in place when you're just starting out.

Here are the different sections:

  1. What is the goal?
  2. What Strategies should I use?
  3. How do I find the deals?
  4. How do I close the deals ?
  5. How do I put it all together?

Throughout each section, we'll also answer the question:

What tool do I use?

To capture each tool we recommend and what it costs, we created a spreadsheet, which you can use to map your total budget.

DOWNLOAD REI SYSTEMS COST SPREADSHEET

Just go to the appropriate tab...and it's got literally everything you need and all the tool links referenced below.

Ready to make some money!? Let's begin...

Goal

Your goal is to close your FIRST or next deal, so you can generate cash to re-invest and buy back your time so you can own a deal-doing business.

See what I did there? A "Deal-Doing-Business" is much different than just YOU goin out there doing deals all the time.

Like anything, each strategy below requires CONSISTENT effort to produce results.

Don't be like most starter investors that give up after 2 weeks of trying without results.

You are in it for the long-haul here.

Set your expectations appropriately:

YOU LIKELY WON'T GET 
YOUR FIRST DEAL WITHIN 3 MONTHS

Yes...I said it. Expectation management is KEY.

Expect to stick with the strategies below for a minimum of 3 months before you cash your first check.

If and when you close a deal in 30 days...you will be pleasantly surprised when you get that cash money wired into your bank account.

And I'll be super happy for you! I know it's possible because I see it daily.

Just keeping it real...

But do NOT give up after 30 days, 60 days, or really even 90 days.

Remember, not every home-owner you speak with needs to sell immediately. It takes followup, and consistent touches with existing leads and new leads to produce motivated sellers.

Persistent, organized hustling is the name of the game. You must utilize your TIME wisely if you are low on cash.

Let's get to it!

Business Strategies

PRO TIP: Pick ONE strategy and stick to it until success. Every time you switch strategies, a baby Koala dies (and you lose momentum and lower your chance of living your dream life)

FOCUS= Follow One Course Until Successful

1. Wholesaling

We recommend you begin with a simple wholesaling strategy.

This will be your fastest path to cash.

With wholesaling, you are spoon-feeding discounted deals to other investors...

and making quick fortunes in the process by "assigning" the discounted purchase contracts.

It requires:

  • No cash
  • No credit
  • No contractors
  • No agents
  • No property managers

Resources

Want something for free? 

My partner Matt Viebrock created this training that breaks down the entire process of wholesaling for free.

CLICK HERE FOR 
FREE WHOLESALING COURSE
(use the pwd "8020fuse")

Want something more advanced? 

Go here for a paid course I recommend that shows you a way to capitalize on all the defaulted mortgages caused by COVID.

It's a very timely strategy and it's just $49 to get everything you need.

2. Joint Venture: 

Joint venturing, or "JV'ing" is when you can find a buyer for another wholesaler's property and get paid a part of their profit.

Resources

This video walks you through how to do a "JV" deal, also known as "Co-Wholesaling"

We also talk about this in our FREE WHOLESALING COURSE that I mentioned before.

3. Birddog/Property Finder

You can find a DEAL for another wholesaler and take a small commission or "finders fee" with no risk.

Resources

Our client Khang talks ALL about this strategy on this free/super-energetic video here.

We also talk about this in our FREE WHOLESALING COURSE that I mentioned before.

CLICK HERE FOR 
FREE WHOLESALING COURSE
(use the pwd "8020fuse")

4. Loan Brokering

This is where you can help other investors buy a house using funds from the "Capital Syndicate" and take a small percentage of the total loan.

It's a quick way to expose yourself to deals and other active investors, without talking with sellers.

Resources

This course teaches you how to do it step by step. He even provides the source of funds.

_______

Now that you've chosen a strategy that calls to you...it's time to start geneating opportunities where you can SOLVE a home-owners problem and make a profit for your service.

Lead Generation (Sorted by $)

Leads are the lifeblood to your business, so you'll want to get this up and running as soon as possible.

Then, you'll want to get it off your plate so you can focus on doing deals.

As I said for picking the strategy: Pick ONE method and stick to it until success. Every time you switch strategies, you lose the chance to see results, build momentum, and learn how to improve your lead generation.

Be Scientific

Try something, test results, and tweak until successful. Marketing is like a science experiment. You don't know what's going to work well for YOUR business until you try something, and continuously optimize the results.

The biggest reason investors fail is they simply don't do enough lead gen...

Inconsistent marketing is the death blow to most investors

The following are the most "lean" ways to get leads in the door that we know.

They are also the easiest strategies to systemize for consistency.

It will cost you either TIME or MONEY to generate leads.

This is the cost of doing business.

The goal is to invest marketing dollars (or hours), so you can get a return, in the form of fat deal$.

Note I say "invest." It's best to think of expenditure here not as a cost, but as an investment.

So...we sorted these strategies based on your starting budget.

With marketing for leads, you'll want to try a few things in your market to see what works.

As soon as something works....STOP EVERYTHING ELSE and do more of what works.

Remember, FOCUS.

Before we begin, a big question you might have:

"Where do I market?"

Answer: Start in your backyard.

Yes, you can do this business virtually....but you can do that LATER.

For your first deal, choose your own market or nearest major metropolitan area.

Cool?

Alright here we go...

Method 1: Browsing For Dollars -FSBO's (Free)

There are also plenty of public websites that have For-Sale-By-Owner (FSBO) listings you can target.

The goal is to contact these FSBOs and run through the seller script we provide below to determine if they are motivated to sell.

Resources

  • Searching Craigslist. This post provides a great step-by-step for quick results
  • Posting on Craigslist. This post gives you everything you need
  • This post provides a detailed guide into more FSBO sites and how to actually reach out to the listings
  • Facebook Marketplace: This is increasingly used for home sales and you can definitely find some deals on there if you look consistently enough.

Method 2: MLS Hacking (Free)

Did you know that over 93% of ALL HOME SALES are from real estate agents listing properties on the MLS (where agents list their houses)?

You can't deny, we're still in a real estate agent world, and they can be an investors best friend.

What if there was a way to source OFF-MARKET deals from them, before they hit the MLS?

This is called "Pocket Listings,"

And my friend Kyle Nolan Good teaches investors how to build relationships at scale to keep your funnel (and pockets) filled.

Watch Kyle's FULL WORKSHOP here

This free training covers

  • How to use the MLS as a data source
  • How to position yourself as someone agents want to send deals to
  • How to automate your communication via email

Other Resources

This video covers other ways to use the MLS to find deals for free.

Method 3: Driving For Dollars (Low Budget)

There are PLENTY of distressed deals in your background...if you can find them!

Driving around and finding vacant looking houses is an easy, inexpensive way to find your first or next deal.

(Eventually, you'll want to hire someone to do this FOR you.)

When you find these properties, you can research the owner and contact them to see if they'd like to sell their house.

Then FOLLOW UP with them over time until they are ready to sell.

TOOLS

  • DealMachine: This app lets you track your driving for dollars routes, pull up information about a house and its owner, AND begin reaching out to an owner...all in the same app. Here's a video from their CEO, David, talking about how to use this system in conjunction with our tool, InvestorFuse.

Method 4: Texting (Low-Medium Budget)

One of the CHEAPEST forms of marketing is text messaging.

With this strategy, it is a numbers game...meaning you'll need to text hundreds and hundreds of numbers just to find someone interested in selling.

TOOLS

  1. Data source: Use Propstream to pull a list of Absentee Landlords.

Here's a quick video of how to do that..

For more advanced training on getting the most targeted data. Watch this training from the master Tyler Austin (it's a long one, but it's darn good

  1. Skip Tracing: Use LeadSherpa skip tracing at $.15cents per hit (this is the best price you'll get in the industry)
  2. Texting system: Smarter Contact

Now that you've got your list squared away, it's time to start texting!

He even gives you tips on how you can get a Virtual Assistant to do the texting FOR you!

Sign up for Smarter Contact

Method 5: Bandit Signs (Low-Medium Budget)

They are cheap, and can get your phone ringing from people no one else is talking to...

There's a reason you still see them everywhere.

They work!

Just check with your local ordinance about the legality.

Resources

My friend Kirby actually created a whole 44 page e-book that shows you how to do this.

(And how to outsource it too)

Go here and enter your information for the free e-book in the green box

With this strategy, it is a numbers game...meaning you'll need to text hundreds and hundreds of numbers just to find someone interested in selling.

Tools

  • SimpleCrew: A mobile app that lets you track where you put your signs on a map
  • Google Voice: A free phone system. They'll give you a number you can put on the signs.

Method 6: Cold Calling (Medium Budget)

Ahhh cold calling. Most investors have a love, hate relationship with this one.

Much like texting, it requires HIGH VOLUME.

You (ideally an outsourced team member), needs to do a LOT of dialing.

Rough numbers we've seen across the board:

You must contact 100 leads in order to generate a contract.

TOOLS

  1. Data source: Use Propstream to pull your targeted list and skip trace them.
  2. Mojo Dialer: Popular, no fluff Dialer system. Basically what this does is allows you caller to never actually hangup...it'll automatically dial the next number on the list so your fingers don't get sore :)
  3. 2nd Dialer Recommendation: CallTools. This is more comprehensive (it does more stuff). I personally would recommend this one because like how well you can track your stats. It starts at $99/mo and scales up based on call volume.
  4. Call Reps: These guys will literally do your cold calling for you. It'll cost you around $1000/mo for 20 hours a week of service, and eventually will pay for itself over and over. Your time is worth WAY more than what you pay them. Why are they so good? They work with the top Cold Calling expert in the space, Brent Daniels.

Resources

I shot a video to show you how easy it is to get a cold calling campaign going. Just use Call Reps, not the company I referenced in this video, which is slightly dated.

If you have a bit more cash to invest...try the following strategies:

Lead Conversion

Generating opportunities is only half the battle.

CLOSING them is where the money is actually made.

This requires a separate set of tools.

Luckily for you, you don't need any fancy technology to manage this process.

You need:

AN EPIC SPREADSHEET

^^Make a copy of this and save to your Google Drive account.

This video will help you stay organzied and focus on the most important thing for you:

Additional Resources

  • InvestorFuse helps you automate your follow up. When you have a higher volume of leads...you will NEED this to systemize your selling

    When just starting at super low lead volumes, just use the spreadsheet above. Keep it simple.

    In the meantime, click here to learn more about our IF3 system.

Putting It All Together

Now that you've chosen a basic strategy and perhaps some leads coming in...how do you keep it all organized on a daily basis?

Answer: The Starter Dashboard

Quick business lesson:

What you measure gets managed.

Remember, as a Starter you have more time than money...which means that how you use your time will dictate the results you get.

It's not about "grinding" and being busy all day.

Instead, you still need to hustle...but in a systematic way.

Organized, Smart Hustle.

It's about focusing on the 20% of inputs that will produce 80% of the outputs:

To help you focus on the FEW VITAL TASKS, we created:

THE STARTER DASHBOARD

Here's a quick video from John on how to use it.

Time To Get To Work!

I hope this guide gave you the essential strategies and tools to start making the income you need to live your dream life.

If you've read this far, you have the capacity to do this.

The only way to fail is to stop.

Everything else is just an outcome...and you will learn by taking action.

Please keep in touch, and email me your results at dan@investorfuse.com. I'd love for you to be our next successful case study!

Go and get what's yours.

-Dan Schwartz, CEO, InvestorFuse

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