Today they guys talk about Peak servicing, pruning in your business, branding, and finding trusted vendors.

The first topic Robby and Chase discuss this week centers around an idea Robby got from a podcast by a New York Times & USA Today bestseller named Michael Hyatt. The topic focuses on scaling too quickly and cutting back the waste to optimize your business.

Speaking of pruning, Chase is reminded by Robby about a servicer he will no longer be using for his loans called Peak Servicing. Chase got a loan that he thought would be great to try them out with, which he did, but fast forward to today and they are no longer in business which Chase had to hear through the grape vine. Luckily, they are working with another servicer to help take on the loans they did have and Chase shouldn’t lose too much time in the potential nightmare of switching loan servicer’s midway through your deals.

While on the topic of getting lucky, Robby talks about a JV note deal where it doesn’t look like they’re going to make any money on a deal, but Robby has Jeff do some grassroots marketing in the asset’s area and it looks like they’re going to be able to break even on the deal rather than lose between 5 to 10k.

Chase & Robby reflect on the principles & best practices for testing vendors:

• Invest in small time research
• Validation from people in the local market
• Eased concerns through an interview

Ultimately, you get the results of your research and your efforts.

This leads Robby to tell a great story about the trials & tribulations they went through in finding a property manager in South Chicago. He also talks about determining the value of a specific situation by analyzing the time invested in finding a good property manager vs the actual amount of your investment. At the end of the day, your attitude will play a big part in this and understanding what’s the worst case scenario.

The topic of attitude then reminds Chase to discuss a brand new charter school his nephew is attending where he has to wear a uniform that has the school’s motto on it in big bold letters which is “no excuses.”

They then go on to discuss a weird sentence in a Forbes magazine from April, written by the editor in Chief, Steve Forbes, about Obama Escalating His War on Prosperity. One of the things that stood out was the line “even your IRA’s aren't safe as Washington starts floating the idea that these accounts should be required to hold a certain amount of government bonds.” Robby had not heard about this before nor is he sure if it’s real, but he thought it would be an interesting idea to float out there.

With so many investors in their industry holding self directed IRA’s, they contemplate the consequences of such an action.

The last topic they deliberate about concerns a webinar about Branding Yourself Chase did with the guys over at FlipNerd which is a BiggerPockets type investing network. Two things of interest that Chase discusses from that are:

1. “Your brand is a commonly held set of beliefs about who you are and what you deliver.”

• It really encapsulates the idea that you can’t really create your brand anymore because of the way the internet has given way to the current connection economy. To a certain extent, your brand is a story given to you by the people you interact with. Your brand is going to be built based on your ability to deliver on the promise you are making and how you deliver against it.

1. The other great concept is an idea that came from Seth Godin about “taking the long cut.”

• It’s the notion that you should stop focusing on the short cut to success and instead focus on what your long term road to success is as that’s what will create your business’s longevity and really cement yourself in the fact that you’re here for the long haul and you’re willing to do what is right.

Chase recounts a great story that Seth Godin tells about Nike, it’s owner Phil Knight, and their decision against working with Sears.The issue centered around devaluing the Nike brand which went against the promise Phil Knight was building his business around.

That’s all for this week everyone and thanks for listening.

If you have any questions, comments or potential deals to send our way, email us at [email protected].

Listen to this Week’s Show and Learn:

• The pitfalls of scaling too quickly and how to prune the business to optimize for the future
• How Chase handles a servicing company that closes shop in the middle of a deal / loan.
• How Robby salvages a deal that almost ended up costing him $10,000
• The best practices for testing out new vendors
• The difficulty of finding good property managers in South Chicago
• A rumor that Washington brass are floating around the idea that IRA’s should hold a certain amount of government bonds
• What it takes to build a successful brand in today’s World
• And much more!

Featured on the Show:

• Michael Hyatt
• FlipNerd
• Simon Sinek - Author of Start with Why
• Marvin Gaye - I Heard it Through the Grapevine

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Thanks for listening to our show! We’ll be back next Wednesday morning.

Cheers,

Chase & Robby