Latest / The Academy Presents podcast / Chaos to Clarity: How Systems, Priorities, and SOPs Help Investors Scale Without Burning Out

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Chaos to Clarity: How Systems, Priorities, and SOPs Help Investors Scale Without Burning Out · The Academy Presents podcast

• 0:01
  Did you know that 90 % of the world's millionaires
• 0:05
  invest in real estate? Well, I'm Angel with the
• 0:09
  Academy Presents Real Estate Investing Rocks,
• 0:11
  and I'm here to help you if you want to go for
• 0:15
  your piece of that pie. Are you new? Are you
• 0:19
  new to this and you just don't know where to
• 0:20
  start? It's okay. Are you someone that has invested
• 0:25
  but you feel stuck, you feel like you've lost
• 0:27
  momentum, you don't know where to really head
• 0:30
  from here? Are you a seasoned real estate investor
• 0:33
  who is doing great, but maybe you just want to
• 0:35
  hone a few skills here and there? This is the
• 0:38
  place for you. The Academy Presents Real Estate
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  Investing Rocks podcast will connect you with
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  industry experts so that you can save time, avoid
• 0:48
  costly mistakes, and begin living the life you've
• 0:52
  dreamed of all through real estate investing.
• 0:56
  You're already taking the first step. just by
• 1:00
  joining us here today. Hey guys, thank you so
• 1:05
  much for being here and for being a part of this
• 1:07
  summit. It's just awesome. I said it like every
• 1:10
  single time I think I get on here that these
• 1:12
  are my six favorite days of the year and I'm
• 1:14
  super glad that you're a part of it and I am
• 1:16
  super glad that we get to hear from Janet Fields
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  because she and I have been chatting a little
• 1:20
  bit here before we started recording and I think
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  this is going to be truly amazing because I already
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  heard stuff that I'm like That would be really
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  awesome. So I'm super excited to hear what she
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  has to share with us. And Janet, I'm going to
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  kind of toss it over to you and let you tell
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  us a little bit about your background and what
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  you can bring to us today. Yes. Well, I'm Janet
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  Field, CEO of Oak Trust Properties down in Charleston,
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  South Carolina. I pretty much was born into the
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  business, grew up around real estate, just through
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  osmosis. I learned a lot about business when
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  I didn't even know I was learning about it. I
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  bought my first book of business in 2014, worked
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  alongside my father doing a DBA as his company.
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  Eventually we did another acquisition and then
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  we joined forces, brought all the businesses
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  together and recently I just actually just bought
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  him out. So now I'm just one big sole company
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  owner. I have about a dozen people who work for
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  me and we manage about 600 properties. I have
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  many other businesses I'd like to get started
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  in the next three to five years, and they're
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  all feed off of real estate. And I'm super pumped
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  about that. Now that's awesome. I think that
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  one of the things that really is a bottleneck
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  for people is how do I do this? How do I keep
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  going and get additional properties without spreading
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  the people that I'm using too thin? or without
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  or being that small fish like there's a lot of
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  times when I feel like with our 72 unit we are
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  a small fish. Ah but you can be a little giant
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  you can be amazing and find your niche and just
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  be so amazing at the right thing for the right
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  people so you attract the people that you work
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  excellent with and you can say no to the people
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  who don't fit your um your format as well and
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  use more of your mental bandwidth and stamina
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  that like take more than they give. So it's it's
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  not always bad to be a little fish in the big
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  sea, especially when you're excellent at your
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  craft Well, I know that like one of the things
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  that we kind of chatted about was um, I personally
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  am not good at prioritizing and Like a few weeks
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  ago when I was left here to fend for myself It
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  wasn't pretty because I don't just like I don't
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  see people in like I don't see people in these
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  Roles that make them more important than anybody
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  else. I just see even Well, that's the way I
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  see problems and that's the sad the way that's
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  why I see tasks It's all even all the flames
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  are just as high the heat coming off of them
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  is just as hot and so I don't know what to do
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  first and I know you were saying that you sat
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  down with your team and y 'all like Just yeah,
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  it's all out there We did so We have an excellent
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  team of people who really are they're urgent.
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  They like to get things done. They're really
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  fuzzy high -energy people and They're they're
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  really effective But everything became an emergency
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  and not everything that's emergency and it sent
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  us in a hundred different directions So we all
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  came to the same table and we lifted up every
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  task that had to be done everything and With
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  the 12 brains that were there we had quite the
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  list so we went through that list and we said
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  hey like Is this a priority? Is this an emergency?
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  What is it? We're going to have three layers
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  of priority, one, two, and three, red, yellow,
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  green. How does this need to be done? And everything
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  was an emergency the first round through. And
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  we had to say, OK, well, how will we actually
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  move forward if everything's an emergency? An
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  emergency to us meant that it needs to be taken
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  care of within one business day, 24 hours. So
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  we had to go through that and talk about how
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  this physically wasn't possible. And if somebody
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  hadn't signed their lease yet and we have 30
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  to 60 days to do that, is that really an emergency?
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  No, it's not an emergency, but we would like
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  to see action. So then we went through the list
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  again and said, okay, guys, we only have this
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  much time and space in our lives and in our work
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  weeks. How can we actually get these things done?
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  And we looked at them again with a more critical
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  eye and we started prioritizing and say, okay,
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  this is a level one urgent thing. This is a level
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  two thing and this is a level three. And with
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  those, we set up criteria. So if it's urgent,
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  it needs to be done within the first 24 hours.
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  And we probably need to let somebody know and
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  assign it within two hours. I have companies
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  that They move a work ticket in two minutes.
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  So it all depends on your criteria. I hate common
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  press. They work on a trailer board 24 hours
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  a day. It's insane So we would do that and each
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  thing we just set out the criteria of like what
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  that meant to be that urgent or not that urgent
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  and It works great for a really long time and
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  then everything became urgent again. We went
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  back to the table and did it again and it's It's
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  an ongoing thing and I think it's always going
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  to happen. It's just something you have to keep
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  in check because customer service, the outside
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  forces want everything quickly. We want to serve
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  and we want to be the best, so we love to deliver.
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  But everything being an emergency just pulls
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  you in a hundred directions. So as the visionary
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  of the company and the person driving the company,
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  we have to know the absolute end goal that we
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  want. And then all these little goals need to
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  be able to speed into that. So if you think everything's
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  emergency or everything's priority, you're never
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  gonna get to that end goal. So it's just laying
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  it out on the table again and getting organized.
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  Sounds so simple. Yeah, so simple, not at all.
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  So once you've got it set out, you said it lasted
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  for a while and then you all had to revisit it.
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  Do you feel like there's a time span that it
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  works? Can you set out, say, we need to revisit
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  this every six weeks, or we need to revisit this
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  every three months? Can you do something like
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  that and keep it all in check? You really can.
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  I just got out of another meeting with 30 people.
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  We talked about small businesses and finances,
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  and they actually said, I reviewed my fees once
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  a year and he said that we should be reviewing
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  our fees quarterly and I was like, oh god, okay,
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  great. So now you're asking me how often we should
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  be doing this and we didn't have to do it but
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  four years later. So four years we got through
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  this but I'm thinking the catalyst of the change
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  actually was personnel. I really think it was
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  a cultural change and who was at the top? pushing
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  the company and creating the urgency. I really
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  think it was a personality thing. So I don't
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  think it needs to be revisited all the time unless
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  you're adding a whole bunch of new tasks to the
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  table. I think you could get away with it annually
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  in just a quick overview with your top line people,
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  your leadership team. But if you have a lot of
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  personality change or core value changes, you
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  probably do need to look at it then too. Yeah,
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  I was actually just talking to a friend of mine
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  who was listening to some of what I went through,
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  right? And he was like, so you kind of have to
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  debrief after those things. And like you put,
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  you know, like what happened? Communication broke
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  down. Why did it happen? Life events. How do
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  I fix this? Well, next time if there's life events,
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  communication needs to occur. you know, within
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  48 hours, it needs to occur twice a week. He's
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  like, and then every time an event happens that
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  you're not happy with, you go through this process.
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  And yeah, your SOPs and I was like, 100%. Whenever
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  we have a hiccup like that, I do a discovery.
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  Because I want to know what the catalyst was.
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  There's no who the catalyst was. It's a what.
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  What was the catalyst? What was the tipping point?
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  What was the braking communication? And you go
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  pinpoint that. And then you work backwards to
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  find out what went wrong and how can I fix that.
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  And then you fix it. You update the procedures.
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  You get somebody else to review the procedures.
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  And then you push out the procedures. And it's
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  just a routine over and over and over again.
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  But you have to be the one to raise that red
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  flag and to say, pump the brakes. We have a thing
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  to change. If we don't change this thing, it's
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  going to happen 100 times across the board. That's
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  so smart, too, because I'm looking at things
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  that I learned during all of the world falling
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  down around me. I know that every single property
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  we have, we're going to have two accounts. Because
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  when one property management company, when you
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  change from one to another, you lose access to
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  those funds. And so by having two accounts, at
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  least you can still have some money in play.
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  instead of not being able to access any of it.
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  Yeah. So like we learned that, but like being
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  able to say, well, how did I learn that? Well,
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  I learned that because this happened, this happened
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  and this happened and get to go backwards. Yes.
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  To fill in those gaps so that you could still
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  have a procedure for it in the future. Cause
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  like, like it's just in my head and that's, that's
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  my biggest downfall is things are just in my
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  head. Yes. And when you're a doer, I feel like
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  there's, you know, I have boxes for people so
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  I can understand them. And I really feel like
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  there's doers. There's people with all this energy
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  and you're always like, slow down, right? Well,
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  I'm one of those people I have to tell myself
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  to slow down. I feel like you might be one of
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  those people too. And we like the big ideas.
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  We want to do something 30 to 50 % of the way
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  and then we want to go to the next thing. So
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  we need somebody to fall behind us and like just...
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  pull all the questions out of us. And I have
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  an assistant who does that. And I say, okay,
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  here's my wonderful idea. Now go. And she's like,
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  pause. I have a million questions for you. I'm
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  like, can we make it 10? And she's like, okay.
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  So then she efficiently goes through and we do
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  have to regroup and refine it a little bit, but
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  you have to have somebody to slow you down a
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  little bit, even though it's painful and we hate
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  it. But yeah, I don't like the details. But by
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  looking at the outcome and going backwards, it
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  kind of forces you to go back and think about
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  the details. It does. And then get those details
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  on paper. So that's a really effective way around
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  my own personal shortcoming. And I have a hard
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  time believing I'm the only person out there
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  like that. No. And I think a lot of us self -reflect
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  already. And a way to make it more productive
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  is to record the process. Wow. Yeah. definitely
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  something I need to sit down and actually do
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  before I forget because I think that this as
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  painful as all of this was I think it's one of
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  those things kind of like childbirth or I don't
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  I don't know those traumatic events you kind
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  of forget about how traumatic they were you romanticize
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  about it yeah and so you just forget about it
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  and then when it comes around again you're like
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  man this is horrible I don't remember it being
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  like this when it's probably the exact same yeah
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  it's the exact same yeah and I think if we if
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  we record what we know And we can multiply our
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  knowledge through the people who work with us.
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  That's powerful. And that's motivating for me
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  is that I can share what I learned and make my
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  team stronger. And when somebody on my team learns
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  something, they can make us stronger. So we multiply
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  our knowledge so quickly that way. I think that
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  alone is powerful. So do y 'all use some kind
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  of program where you can all access documents
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  and add to them? Yes. The first thing is really
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  basic Google Drive. We have Google Drive We have
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  a systems and process folder and then we have
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  like a giant leasing folder We have a property
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  management folder and then we have I think that's
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  it. I think there's three folders Yeah, so we
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  broke it down into like categories like the main
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  chunks of the business and each of those main
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  chunks then we started breaking down into the
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  smaller chunks and then we'd write the processes
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  and we refine the process over the years and
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  add and add and subtract, and then recently we
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  got up on monday .com and started automating
• 13:13
  these processes. That's like Process Street or
• 13:16
  App Lead. I don't know if you've heard of those,
• 13:18
  but it's a software where you can assign somebody
• 13:22
  to a task, it prompts the task, it can automate
• 13:26
  and plug in the task, and it can pull the documents
• 13:28
  from, say, your client software, your Google
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  Drive and everything. It can automatically send
• 13:34
  emails and plug in stuff. It's amazing. Yeah,
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  there's all sorts of other things besides one
• 13:41
  -day .com that are more cost -effective and they
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  can multiply your efforts Ridiculously easy.
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  There's a huge learning curve and there's lots
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  of people out there that can help you with it,
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  but The automation behind it is amazing. It's
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  excellent for scale Wow, cuz like so we use So
• 13:59
  we use active campaign and there's like automations
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  in there. It's like this may not be the same
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  automations I don't know, but I have been very
• 14:06
  unsuccessful at creating automations and I'm
• 14:10
  assuming it's this big huge learning curve and
• 14:12
  I'm leaving out steps or so, I don't know. Sometimes
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  it's too big of a beast for us to do it because
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  we have the vision and we're not the tactile
• 14:21
  person who's gonna get into the nuts and bolts
• 14:23
  like we found the solution now here you go here's
• 14:26
  your gift you please make it work for us. That's
• 14:29
  the way I like to work. Well, if we have any
• 14:32
  problems, no, I'll solve it. But now you actually
• 14:34
  do it. Yeah, because anyway, I've had, I can
• 14:36
  tell people, hey, this is what I want. When somebody
• 14:37
  signs up for them for this, I want them to receive
• 14:40
  this, this, and this. And if someone doesn't
• 14:43
  open this email or doesn't, or, you know, deletes
• 14:46
  this email or whatever, I want a different set
• 14:49
  of emails to start going to that person and like
• 14:51
  different, like I know what I would like. And
• 14:54
  if somebody gets to the, for wants to buy an
• 14:57
  educational product or wants to come to the summit.
• 14:59
  And they leave their cart without checking out,
• 15:03
  then they should have a different set of emails
• 15:04
  that come to them. And people do it. I've got
• 15:08
  copies of it. And I'm just like, how do I put
• 15:11
  all that together? Yeah, I look at it and I see
• 15:14
  their automations. I'm like, oh, and I can't
• 15:17
  copy it. It's it's because we're not we're different
• 15:21
  kind of doers. We're big scale doers and we need
• 15:23
  somebody else to plug in the nuts and bolts for
• 15:25
  us. If we can draw the timeline. And like rough
• 15:29
  sketch in what it is and like decision matrix,
• 15:32
  just like on a napkin or something and hands
• 15:33
  to somebody else and say, here's my files. Now
• 15:36
  you go make this lovely dream happen. I feel
• 15:38
  like that's, that's where the power of leverage
• 15:40
  comes in for us. And that's so funny because
• 15:43
  Jason's like, would you quit taking notes on
• 15:45
  envelopes on the back of envelopes on the back
• 15:47
  of like pieces of paper, go get your iPad that
• 15:50
  I bought you with your little pencil and go write
• 15:53
  your notes down. He's like, it'll convert it
• 15:55
  to text that's searchable. It's like, no, I don't
• 15:59
  have time for that. It's just new. And change,
• 16:05
  I think change is hard for everybody. But I tend
• 16:09
  to be very averse to change. And when we're under
• 16:12
  stress and under pressure, we revert back to
• 16:14
  our old ways. Absolutely, and 100%. Whether they're
• 16:18
  good for us or not. 100%, exactly. So you went
• 16:23
  from. It was you and your dad. And recently you
• 16:28
  bought your father out, right? Yeah, I bought
• 16:30
  him out. He's been a very silent partner for,
• 16:34
  I don't know, probably five, six, seven years.
• 16:38
  So he wasn't active in the business. He was not
• 16:42
  operating at all. So it was nice to buy out.
• 16:46
  I mean, but I did have a person who worked with
• 16:50
  us for 19 years and she worked with them. through
• 16:54
  another company and then they started a company
• 16:56
  he started the company she stayed with them so
• 16:59
  she was like the nucleus so she had a lot of
• 17:02
  um knowledge just put up there and after i bought
• 17:05
  a book of business um I had an interest in marketing.
• 17:09
  I had an interest in sales and graphic design
• 17:11
  and I studied like Apple just for fun and Nike
• 17:15
  just for fun and I thought all those things were
• 17:17
  cool like in my teens and twenties because I'm
• 17:20
  a giant dork. So I knew that like those things
• 17:23
  were important and I knew that she had this great
• 17:25
  information but I also knew like there's no way
• 17:27
  that she can constantly sit next to people and
• 17:30
  hold their hand and spread this information.
• 17:32
  So I was like, you need to write systems and
• 17:33
  processes. And luckily I was a part of NARCM,
• 17:35
  National Association of Property Managers, and
• 17:37
  they would start saying, yeah, you need to have
• 17:39
  systems and processes. I was like, okay, great.
• 17:41
  I don't want to do that. That sounds like a nightmare.
• 17:43
  There's no way I'll ever do that. But I did sit
• 17:45
  down for a year and try to make a handbook, and
• 17:47
  that was a complete waste of my time and everybody
• 17:49
  else's. But then she did it, and it was great.
• 17:51
  And I realized the power and leverage at that
• 17:53
  point that I could get. somebody else to do these
• 17:56
  things that they're great at. And then I can
• 17:58
  be released from that and not feel like I have
• 18:00
  to and go do something that I'm excellent at,
• 18:02
  which is marketing and design and great big ideas
• 18:05
  where people are terrified of them. I'm like,
• 18:07
  it's fine. Nothing. It's fine. You can do it.
• 18:11
  Yeah. No, it's, um, yeah. I, I don't like living
• 18:17
  as close as I do to our property. I'm able to
• 18:19
  go out there and I can make some decisions if
• 18:21
  we're in, if we're in a pinch. I used to make
• 18:24
  decisions. And I don't know that they're the
• 18:28
  best decisions, but they're decisions and they
• 18:30
  get stuff taken care of. Yes. I just read something
• 18:35
  on that recently and it was like, no action,
• 18:39
  you know, that pauses everything. And even if
• 18:42
  like we only get the decision right 20 % of the
• 18:44
  time, at least we took action and we moved towards
• 18:47
  the goal. And that's the thing that a lot of
• 18:49
  people can't do is they can't move towards the
• 18:51
  goal. They have to have it. 100 % correct. And
• 18:54
  what is it? Purple Cow, advertising. Purple Cow
• 18:57
  is a book by Seth Godin, I think. Yeah, it's
• 18:59
  over here at our shelf. I'm like, I wonder where
• 19:01
  that went. Yeah, it's just like, like one of
• 19:03
  the biggest takeaways I got from that was launch.
• 19:05
  Just launch because you've got to test your product.
• 19:08
  Like you don't know if it's wrong. You can't
• 19:10
  have catastrophic until you experience it. So
• 19:13
  launch. let it work out the bugs, do small test
• 19:16
  batches if you have to, and then test it on like
• 19:19
  20 people, test it on 30 people, test it on six
• 19:21
  people. But you launched it and you're getting
• 19:24
  feedback from the market and then you can make
• 19:26
  your tweet.